Neptune's eyes were glued to the wrench as it was raised higher and higher, until it had reached the highest possible point; apparently, time had slowed down to a ridiculous degree, as it just hung there for a while, glinting in the sun, giving her time to wonder how much it would hurt, if the creature would beat her to death sadistically slow or if it would just bash her head in and be done with it.
And then, just as she thought the wrench would descend any moment, the monster glanced to the right, eyes widening in surprise – and that was all it could do as a second later, a tall, lean figure barrelled into it, with enough force to drive it a few steps away from the fallen Senshi, a surprised cry coming from the monster as suddenly, it had to fight to keep its balance.
Struggling into a sitting position despite the by now raging pain in her ribcage, Neptune, to her dismay, found that the monster's bulk was blocking her view on whoever had come to her rescue; obviously though, they were doing quite the damage to the creature, evidenced by the cries of pain it kept letting out, until it finally stumbled back and went down on its knees.
Realizing that this was her chance and that she had to act quickly before the second monster might manage to get out of the crater and attack, Neptune called on her power yet again, hoping with all her heart that whoever had come to help her realized what was about to happen and could get out of the way – the last thing she wanted was to injure her saviour, figuring that this surely was the worst possible way to repay them.
"Deep… Submerge!" she cried, putting as much power as she dared into it; and to her relief, it did the job, the monster letting out another, this time desperate cry – before it vanished into nothingness, the pure heart it had been carrying hidden somewhere within its bulky body floating where it had been standing.
One look told her that it wasn't a talisman, and all at once, she felt weary again, her pain suddenly so much worse as she had to realize that it all had been for nothing; bone-weary now, she slumped back down, staring up at the sky for a few seconds, now able to taste blood on her tongue, idly wondering if something within her had pierced something else when the monster had hit her with the wrench.
"Hey", a low and husky voice reached her ears, accompanied by footsteps approaching her, "don't faint. Sit up."
"Can't", she mumbled in response, a shadow falling over her now as the one who had rescued her stopped by her side, but she found herself suddenly too tired to even turn her head, the way the world was blurring at the edges telling her that she was close to unconsciousness, "hurts. Tired…"
"Come on", the stranger told her in response, quite heartless, she thought, unable to pinpoint if the voice was actually male or female, "I didn't save you just so you can pass out now. Sit up."
To Neptune's credit, she did make an honest effort to do just that, even managing to get one arm beneath herself for support; this was as far as she got though, the pain slamming into her the second she tried to sit up, a strangled groan coming from her as finally, it all became too much to handle, her eyes rolling back into her head as she lost the fight and passed out, the alarmed cry of her unknown rescuer being the last thing she heard before darkness claimed her.
The first thing she realized upon waking was that she wasn't in her Senshi form anymore, but had returned to her civilian self some time during her unconsciousness; normally, this would have worried her, but the fact that she laid on something soft and could feel a tight bandage around her ribcage distracted her, causing her to wonder if someone had found her while she'd been out cold – or if her strange saviour had taken her along, and what this meant for her, if perhaps, she had leapt out of the frying pan and right into the fire.
"You're awake", the same low and husky voice she had heard before passing out reached her ears, tearing her out of her ponderings; it took her more strength than it should have to open her eyes, but when she finally had managed to and turned her head, her gaze met her saviour's, her breath getting caught in her throat as she momentarily felt like drowning in those teal eyes.
The moment Michiru's eyes met the stranger's, the feeling of wrongness simply vanished, only now making her realize that it had been there all the time, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, but permanently present; within the blink of an eye though, it now was gone, her heart suddenly hammering in her chest as she kept holding the other one's gaze.
If her eyes had a similar effect on her saviour, it was well-hidden, the aqua haired woman noticed; there was no emotion at all showing on the – rather handsome, she had to admit – stranger's face, the lack of reaction giving her the chance to take in as many details of their appearance as she could.
Anyone else, she realized, probably would have thought at first glance that they were looking at a man; somehow though, she just knew that this wasn't the case, that she found herself staring at a woman, a quite masculine looking one, but still a female. Apart from her masculine features, Michiru figured that her hairdo probably did its part when it came to people mistaking her gender; the blonde hair was cut short, in a rather manly style, and looked as if she didn't put too much work into it, strangely scruffy and as if she just had gotten out of bed and not even bothered to comb it.
"At least you seem to be awake", the woman now said, raising an eyebrow, "cat got your tongue?"
"N-no", Michiru gave back at once, momentarily startled by the little stutter she heard in her voice – after all, she was the always composed, always elegant and graceful Michiru Kaioh, and she didn't stutter. Ever.
"I'm just… surprised", she added after another second, to her relief having regained enough of her composure to keep the stutter away now, "I didn't expect to wake up… here. Wherever here is."
"My place", the blonde gave back, not bothering to add any other information, where exactly her place was perhaps or why she had taken her there to bandage her up and not to the hospital; Michiru gave her another second to do so, but when nothing else came, she just felt awkward, something she hadn't felt in quite some time.
"Um, okay", she said after a few seconds had ticked by, just to break the silence, "well… Thanks. For not just leaving me there."
"Could hardly do that, could I", the other woman replied, a hint of amusement in her voice now, "pretty girl like you. Who knows who might have found you and what ideas they might have gotten."
She didn't even know her name yet, Michiru reflected, and she only had talked to her for a few minutes, but already during that short time span, she not only had made her stutter – but now, as she felt her cheeks heat up, also had made her blush, yet another thing she, the always so graceful and composed one, didn't do. Ever.
"You know", she said the first thing which came to her mind, just to distract herself from how much this offhandedly giving compliment had flustered her, "what you did back there was very brave. Attacking that creature like that, I mean. You could have gotten seriously hurt."
"You mean, like you did?" the blonde wanted to know in reply, this time making her scoff slightly; she had to admit though that the woman had a point, but that didn't keep her from giving her a hard look, a hint of steel in her voice as she answered her. "Perhaps, yes. But I've had worse."
Momentarily, she felt foolish for bragging like this, to someone who was a total stranger, no less; then, the other woman raised an eyebrow and smirked, the amusement back in her voice as she replied. "Did you. Interesting. Well, no worries, I'm no stranger to injury, myself."
"Interesting", Michiru mimicked her, "and while you might be no stranger to injury, you virtually are one to me. I don't even know your name yet." Momentarily, she felt quite witty for handling the name issue that way, without making it awkward again; and apparently, the other woman thought the same, since she let out a rumbling, low chuckle, the sound sending shivers up and down Michiru's spine, the third strange reaction in a row the blonde was causing for her.
"Haruka Tenoh", her saviour now told her, "but any pretty girl who ends up in my home after nearly being killed by some tire monster may simply call me Haruka. And you are?"
Only now, Michiru realized the dilemma she had put herself in – after all, the blonde had seen her as Sailor Neptune, and no one was supposed to know her civilian name if it could be avoided, her hesitation to answer prompting Haruka to raise an eyebrow, a hint of amusement in her voice again as she spoke up once more.
"If you worry about that thing you got going on there, the Senshi thing, no worries", she reassured her, briefly making her gawk as she so easily pinpointed her as a Sailor Senshi – before she realized that a group of them had been active in Tokyo for quite some time and probably was quite well known by now, considering how often attacks happened in crowded places, with more than enough witnesses around.
"I'm not going to tell anyone", Haruka added, "why would I? What you do is difficult enough, I'm not gonna make it harder for you by blabbing your identity to the world."
"…Michiru", Michiru told her after thinking about this for a second and deciding that she could trust her, even though she wasn't sure why, considering she didn't know her at all, "Michiru Kaioh."
The moment she said her surname, it felt as if some sort of connection had been made, something clicking in place which had wrongfully been kept apart before; and for some strange reason, she thought of how well their names went together, now nice it would sound to say "Haruka and Michiru" out loud, how strangely right and natural they sounded together.
If Haruka had similar thoughts, again they didn't show, even though she was smiling slightly now that Michiru had revealed her name; almost without noticing that she was doing it, Michiru smiled back at her, only to find herself forced to held back a groan moments later as the tiniest shift of her body on the bed caused a sharp stab of pain to run from her rib cage through the rest of her.
"If you're fine with being alone for a little bit, I can get you some painkillers", Haruka offered in response to her grit teeth, briefly making her wonder how anyone could not have painkillers of any kind at their home before she nodded, figuring that it didn't matter; she knew that she'd heal faster than a regular person, thanks to her Senshi powers, but depending on how badly she actually had been hurt, it would still take a while, and she wasn't all too keen on being in pain constantly until then.
"I'll be right back", the blonde told her in response to her nod, already rising from her seat; and now, as she wasn't just about to get killed by some creepy tire monster and had the chance to really look, Michiru fully noticed for the first time how much Haruka resembled the figure she always saw in her dreams, her tall and lean build exactly like the one of said woman, her breath catching in her throat as the remarkable similarity hit her.
Clearly, the blonde noticed nothing of her inner turmoil, just telling her to stay where she was and that she'd hurry; somehow, Michiru managed to nod, her eyes still glued to the taller woman as she turned and left the bedroom, the sound of a door opening and closing coming moments later, signalling that now, she was alone with her thoughts, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what all of this meant, why this woman of all the people in Tokyo had been the one to save her and if perhaps, there was more to her than she had thought at first.
