Chapter 9
a/n: I'm sorry, guys... I don't really have an y excuse for being away so long again other than I decided to change a lot in this chapter around. . Thank you for the kind reviews and encouragement. I hope you like it.
Haruka and the others arrived back at their house more than a little depressed. Michiru was safe, more or less, Haruka was grateful for that much. But they hadn't seen a trace of their enemy Not to mention, she could tell when she wasn't welcome.
"So, genius, you got a room for her to stay in?" Yaten asked. He had already undone his transformation, as had the others. The only one still in Starlight attire was Haruka.
"Your energy levels should be in check by now," Taiki said to her, ignoring Taiki entirely. Haruka blushed a bit. She couldn't say she liked the Starlight's tight-fitting fuku, but she had been female for over 24 hours now and she frankly wasn't anxious to switch back again. Nevertheless, she knew the consequences of staying as a Starlight were probably more than she felt like dealing with. Gentle laying the sleeping Michiru snbuggly gbetween two pillows, she touched the brooch and felt a warm light encompassing her. Only when the light faded…
Something was strange. The Starlight's power had left her, but she still hadn't felt as if she had changed all that much. Could it possibly be…?
"Hey, what happened?" Yaten asked. "You're still a girl!"
Haruka glanced down quickly to confirm he was correct. She was wearing her civialian clothing, but she was most defiantly still female. "Don't say it like it's a bad thing!" she snapped back at Yaten.
"But how?" Taiki asked, puzzled. "It was difficult enough to transfer our powers to you, let alone alter the transformation spell…" He pulled out his own Starlight Yell and held it up towards Haruka. "If you don't mind…?" Here Haruak shook her head and allowed Taiki to run the weapon this way and that near her body, checking for adbnormal energy levels. She ahd to admit, she felt much like a passenger stopped and inspected at an airport.
"There's no way you could've done this on your own," he finally concluded. "Your will might have directed the desired effect, but you still got a power boost from something."
"Michiru…" Haruka whispered thoughtfully. She had been protecting her planet. Perhaps she had also…
"There's no way Neptune could've given you so much as a static shock of energy," said Yaten firmly. "You saw her… she was out cold."
"No, it defiantly wasn't Neptune," Taiki mused, looking over the data he had collected once again. "This was closer to one of ours…" Suddenly all eyes in the room were looking at Seiya, who preceded to back down defensively.
"Y-You're not suggesting I gave Haruka a power boost, are you?" he asked.
"Well, it certainly wasn't me,'" Yaten asserted. "And I'd like to think that Taiki would know if it was him." Here Taiki gave a smug look just to back Yaten up that he wasn't responsible. Seiya began to blush madly. Truth be told…
"I did feel a bit of energy leaving me…" he admitted, which seemed to surprise Taiki and Yaten quite a bit. "Well…. I didn't realize what was happening…. I mean it wasn't like I was trying to chage her back…."
"Her powers should still work fine," said Taiki. "I'm just surprised you were able to do it, that's all." At this point, being the subject of their conversation, Haruka stepped forward.
"Look…" she muttered. "However it happened, I can't hide the fact that I'm grateful." She stole a quick glance at Seiya as she gathered up the infant Michiru in her arms and muttered an almost inaudible, "Thank you."
The next day, the Four Lights went out and invested in some much-needed baby supplies. (The first night ended with Michiru falling asleep next to Haruka, only for Haruka to wake up the next morning and realize that they did not have any diapers on hand. It was not a pleasant way to start the day.) With the income from the last CD sale, expenses were not much of a problem, although Seiya questioned what they would do with all this junk once Michiru grew back to her original age.
Haruka had somehow gotten dumped with the job of diaper-changer during Hotaru's few weeks of infanthood, so it wasn't much of an adjustment for her. If anything, it was more convenient since Michiru wasn't aging at the rate of a few weeks a day. Taiki also took to Michiru unusually well. Whenever she fussed, he would pick her up and coddle her or give her a bottle, whatever she needed. He might not have looked it, but Taiki seemed a natural nanny, Haruka finally concluded.
As a matter of fact, the only one who didn't seem to like to arrangement was Yaten, who unfortunately, was the most adept at making his displeasure clearly known.
"Taiki, she's spitting up at the table again! It's revolting!"
"So wipe her mouth!" Taiki yelled back. It was late afternoon after school and all he wanted was to relax a bit on one of the few precious days they didn't have a concert to practice for or another lead on the enemy to track. Perhaps it was impossible dream.
"I tried! She keeps moving her face away!"
"So hold her."
"I'm not touching her with a ten-foot pole! Arg, nasty! She did it again!"
Taiki sighed, ready to stand up and relieve Yaten, but Haruka somehow got in front him, muttering that she would take care of it. Seiya followed her curiously into the kitchen as she gracefully kicked Yaten out, picked up Michiru in her arms and put the bottle to her lips as if she's been doing it all her life.
Even so, as Seiya watched, he couldn't exactly say that Haruka had a cheerful expression on her face. Something was still bothering her, and he had a bit of an idea as to what.
"Listen…. about what Yaten said…" Seiya began. "Back when we were trying to rescue Michiru from the enemy…"
"What about what he said?" Haruka asked sharply as she gave Michiru her bottle. The small girl had slept for almost two full days and now she was quite hungry. Michiru also provided a perfect reason to ignore Seiya whenever he wanted to talk and she didn't feel like engaging him. It was quite frustrating. A few nights ago, they were actually almost getting along.
"You know…" Seiya continued. "About how the enemy shows up as someone attractive…"
"Yes, I did see her as Michiru, if that's what you're asking," Haruka snapped. "Anything else?"
"I wasn't asking that!" Seiya cried. He shook his head. any of his attempts to make amends with Haruka… they always ended up like this. Shouting matches.
"Look, what Yaten meant…. the enemy's not a mind-reader or anything like that. She'd probably been posing as Michiru for several days before she came to you."
Haruka paused to the burp the baby in her arms before she agknowledged Seiya again. "Let me ask you this question," she said. "If Yaten or Taiki suddenly accused you of, let's say… having a little fling with your princess…" Here Seiya turned scarlet. "How would you feel?"
"I-instulted, of course!" Seiya replied, still blushing. "I care deeply about my princess, and those feelings are not lustful! I would never…"
"That's why I'm angry about the enemy," Haruka replied quietly. She looked carefully at the little girl in her arms. "Everyone thinks I'm so mature… that's such a lie… I've come to depend on Michiru as the only person I can trust. Because she's the only one who actually knows everything about me."
"You mean, she knows you're a Sailor senshi?" Seiya asked. Haruka nodded. "But Usagi knows that too. And Minako and all the others."
"At first, they didn't know either. Heck, I thought for a while that Neptune and I were the only senshi in existance. Until I got all my memories back, anyway…" Here she shook her head. "Look, the point is, the enemy tried to pi n Michiru as some object for me to lust over when our relationship consists of nothing like that. And I plan to get back at her for instulting both of us."
Seiya nodded in agreement and watched as Michiru continued to suck away at her bottle happily. He was tempted to ask the most obvious follow-up question as to exactly what Haruka and Michiru's relationship did consist of, but somehow he thought the better of it.
