Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all its components are the property of Naoko Takeuchi. Apollo is my own creation, and if you wish to use her, please ask me first.


DAYBREAK

Episode 7

Haruka had untransformed and was still holding Sailor Sun in her arms. Michiru had taken off Haruka's jacket and laid it on the unflinching girl in Haruka's arms. They were walking home, taking a less lighted route through alleyways. They finally made it home and walked inside. Haruka slowly walked up the stairs, careful not to have Sailor Sun hit her head on anything. Haruka walked into Kurai's room and laid her down on the bed. She noticed Sailor Sun's bloody arms and legs and turned to get a wet towel. She almost bumped into Michiru, who walked in with a basketful of wet towels for Sailor Sun's wounds.

"Do you think we should get her suit off first?" Michiru figured it would be easier to take care of the hurt girl if she weren't wearing the Sailor suit, which was sticking to her body. Haruka nodded her head yes and went over to Sailor Sun. She lightly touched the transformation brooch resting on Sailor Sun's chest and it started to glow. Sailor Sun untransformed and there lay Kurai, wearing the same thing she had been in that morning.

"Oh, like that just made it so much easier!" said Haruka sarcastically, growing more and more impatient.

"Well, then take her clothes off!" answered Michiru, getting scared that the more she and Haruka fought, the more Kurai was slipping away.

"What?! I'm not gonna do it!" Haruka wouldn't feel right intruding like that.

"Fine. I'll do it!" Michiru walked over to Kurai and glanced back at Haruka. "Get out, Haruka! I gave you a chance! Now go check on Hotaru!"

"What do you mean 'You gave me a chance'?" Haruka wanted to know what Michiru had meant by that last remark.

"Never mind! Just go!" Haruka left the room and went to see Hotaru. The little baby was in her crib, sleeping, as usual. Haruka got the idea that Michiru was hiding something…or some feeling.

"Haruka! You can come back now!" Haruka sprinted back into the room and saw Kurai lying on the bed in black shorts and a yellow tank top. Haruka noticed that she looked dead…

"Are you sure she's still alive?" Haruka was getting nervous.

"Yes. I checked her pulse and although it's a bit slow, she still has one." Michiru picked up a wet towel and placed it on Kurai's scratched face. Haruka figured she should do something so she grabbed a wet towel and placed it on a deep gash in Kurai's left hand. "Wait! There might be piece of glass in there!" Sure enough, when Haruka looked closer, she found a piece of glass the size if a quarter stuck in Kurai's hand.

"She must have dozens of shards of glass still stuck inside her," Haruka guessed.

"This is going to take a while…" sighed Michiru.


Michiru woke up and rubbed her eyes. She turned over on her left side but didn't see the familiar face in front of her. Michiru jumped up and noticed that Haruka was gone. She ran into the nursery, but only Hotaru was in there. Michiru suddenly remembered the past night's events and silently opened the door to Kurai's room. There sat Haruka, on a stool next to Kurai's bed, holding her hand. Michiru walked in and Haruka looked up at her. Michiru gasped as she noticed by Haruka's eyes that she had been up all night. Haruka turned back to Kurai and spoke.

"She still hasn't woken up. Her bandages are holding, but there's no sign of her recovkuraig."

"Do you think that we should take her to the hospital?" Michiru was certain that that would be the best thing for Kurai, since she seemed to be hurt severely.

"No! Then all the doctors will know too much!" yelled Haruka.

"What if we took her to that nice girl Ami? Her mother is a doctor and I'm sure she'd help us make up some sort of story." Michiru looked at Haruka hopefully, but Haruka could only think of the pain Kurai must have felt.

"Alright." Haruka got up. "Let's go."


"I wonder where she could be?" Haruka was pacing all around the room.

"I'm sure she's coming. I mean, they only paged her about a minute ago," replied Michiru, trying to calm Haruka down. Suddenly, Ami walked into the room.

"Okay. What seems to be the…" Ami stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Haruka and Michiru.

"Problem? We have a very big problem," ended Haruka, walking up to Ami and leading her over to the hospital bed. Ami glanced at the Kurai's face and jumped back.

"It's her! Sailor Sun!" she yelped, cautious of Michiru sitting behind her.

"You know her?" asked Michiru.

"Yes. She saved me, along with the others, from some kind of monster yesterday."

"It seems as if she saved everyone yesterday." Haruka was looking very doleful as she paced around Kurai's bed. Ami's face twisted into a confused expression and Michiru sighed.

"You see, Ami, yesterday Haruka and I were also attacked by a monster. I ran off with Hotaru while Haruka fought the monster. Just when I thought Haruka was going to die for sure, Kurai came and saved her…but got severely hurt in the process."

"That's her name? Who knew that I would be treating Usagi's twin sister…

"What did you say?!" Haruka had come out of her thought and was amazed at what Ami had said.

"Well, although I didn't tell the others, when I analyzed Kurai yesterday I saw that she had the same DNA as Usagi and Chibiusa, so I figured she was Usagi's sister and Chibiusa's aunt," Ami explained.

"That must be some computer if it picked up that," commented Michiru.

"Oh, it is." Ami was very proud that Michiru was finally acknowledging her. Ami reminded herself that there was someone who needed medical help in the room and she went over to the hospital bed. Ami slowly began to disentangle the bandages on Kurai's head and she finally got them off. "Ouch…" Ami was surprised to see so many scratches on Kurai's face. She looked down and saw all the bandages on Kurai's body. "When you say 'severely hurt', how severely are we talking about?"

"Let's just say this happened last night and she still hasn't woken up," replied Michiru. Haruka could barely speak as she watched Ami glance over Kurai, looking for any serious damage.

"It seems as if she's lost a lot of blood. What exactly did she get hit with?"

"Glass," Haruka muttered. Ami looked up to see Haruka staring out the window. Ami could see this was beyond her control.

"I better go get my mother."

"Wait! What if she finds out that we're Senshi?" Michiru was not about to let her secret out because of one visit to the hospital. Ami quickly thought and came up with a bright idea.

"I know! I'll just tell my mom that there was a big fight down at the café and someone pushed Kurai through a glass window."

"That'll work." Michiru sat back down in a hard chair and Ami left. "Haruka, come sit down."

"Why did she have to do it?" Haruka was still wondkuraig about the night before.

"Because she didn't want you to die, that's why." Michiru was getting incredibly worried about Haruka. She hadn't eaten a thing since last night and she still hadn't gotten any sleep.

"To save me, she sacrificed herself…" Suddenly, the door opened and Ami walked in with her mother. Michiru looked up while Haruka ran over to Ami's mother. "Can you help her?"

"Well, I have to see her condition first," replied Ms. Mizuno, a bit taken aback. She walked over to the bed and looked down. "Oh my God, what happened to her?!"

"She flew through a glass window…" answered Ami, a bit uneasy about lying to her mother. Ms. Mizuno glanced up at her daughter and nodded her head. Ami walked over to Michiru and Haruka and told them that they had to leave the room for a bit so that her mother could take care of Kurai.

"Do we have to?" questioned Haruka with a worried look on her face.

"Come on, Haruka, let's get some food into you." Michiru pulled Haruka out of the room while Ami stayed with her mother. Michiru and Haruka walked down to the hospital cafeteria and ordered two bowls of chicken soup. Michiru ate hers happily while Haruka played with hers. She finally started eating it when Michiru wouldn't stop complaining. The two girls finished their soups and went back to Kurai's room. Just as they reached the door, Ami opened it and ran into them. She was knocked back onto the ground.

"Are you alright, Ami?" Haruka extended her hand out to her and Ami took it.

"Thanks," she said as Haruka pulled her up.

"So…how's Kurai?" Ami took a step back so that Haruka and Michiru could walk into the room.

"Hello, Cold-Nose…" a tiny voice said, barely audible. Haruka sprinted over to Kurai and saw that her eyes were open. She was about to hug her but Haruka remembered the deep gashes on Kurai's body. Kurai noticed Haruka's hesitance and smiled.

"Hello, Pixie." Ami watched the scene and was about to leave when she heard a voice whispkuraig her name. She turned back round and saw Kurai hoisting herself up in order to see her.

"Ami. You have helped me enough already, but I need to ask one more favor of you," Kurai mumbled.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Could you bring my sister to me?"