Chapter 10: Waters of Neptune
The next day dawned cloudy and windy. Haruka checked the internet and it told her that both would be gone by noon, to replaced by sunny skies and a gentle breeze. So Haruka set out at the agreed upon time.
Haruka could have simply bent the rough winds to her will and had an easy flight, but Haruka enjoyed a challenge. The winged teen launched into the sky, battling the strong gust of winds and winning. Grinning fiercely, Haruka managed to ride the difficult winds and make it look easy, though it took all her concentration and skill.
She approached Michiru's island, riding the winds just below a blanket of thick gray clouds. Haruka saw Michiru sitting on her rock with a light jacket on and a smile on her face. The airborne teen smiled and waved, then stiffened. The hairs on the back of her neck were rising, and for some reason Haruka felt she was in danger.
But before she could do more than look around, a large net was dropped over her. Startled, Haruka yelled and struggled as the net then flipped her so that she was roughly facing upward, her wings and feather crumpled uncomfortably.
A helicopter then dropped down from the cloud cover. Only as the blades came into view, was Haruka able to hear them. Damn, the winds muffled the sound of the blades and they hid in the clouds. And who the hell…oh shit. Haruka cursed as she made out the two men in the machine. It was Takuma and Shinobu.
Gathering her wits about her, the trapped teen called up her powers and formed her blades of wind. Directing them at the ropes holding her, Haruka didn't catch sight of the gun in Shinobu's hand till too late.
Hissing in pain, Haruka pulled then stun dart from her right shoulder, even as she felt the numbing sensation start rapidly spreading throughout her body. Quickly Haruka switched her powers and attention from cutting herself free to healing her body of the tranquilizer.
Down on the beach, Michiru was horrified, pissed and scared for Haruka at the same time. When Haruka had been shot though, Michiru was both scared and hopeful; if Haruka was fast enough, she could speed heal herself before she lost consciousness. If she couldn't… but Michiru's fears were dispelled as Haruka started to glow dark blue.
Hah! Go Haruka! Michiru thought proudly, grinning fiercely. Then frowned and strained her eyes. Shinobu was getting aiming another gun at her beloved, and Michiru had the sinking feeling that it was not another tranq gun. Switching her gaze to Haruka, the teal haired teen could see that she was still healing herself. No! Haruka look out!
"Takuma she's healing herself!" Shinobu called to his brother, reaching for his other gun.
"Fine, kill her. I want her, dead or alive!" Takuma snapped, busy with flying the helicopter. Shinobu grinned. Finally, he lets me do what I'm best at. The younger man thought elatedly.
Haruka had just finished ridding her body of the last of the tranq when she simultaneously felt a surge of fear from Michiru and the feeling that she was more in danger than ever before.
Looking up at Shinobu, Haruka saw Shinobu's snarling face, and saw him aim his gun. Haruka called up her winds in order to shield herself, but she was tired from healing herself so
quickly and the few crucial seconds she had to spend calling up her powers were all Shinobu needed.
"AAaaaaaaahhh!!" Haruka screamed as agony blossomed in her right wing. Shinobu had hit the first bone of the wings, snapping it in half and tearing one of the major blood vessels too. The pain was unbelievable, way worse than when she burned her hand, and Haruka was barely able to keep conscious. I need…to heal. I'm losing…too much blood. I'm going…to be spent when I get through. But I…don't know if…I can stay conscious…the pain is too much. She thought dizzily as her world spun. In the distance she thought she heard Michiru calling her name, but couldn't be sure over the roaring in her ears.
"Haruka! No!" Michiru screamed as Haruka's blood fell into the ocean in a thin stream. But then she saw something that scared and enraged her even more. Shinobu had raised his gun again and was now aiming for Haruka's heart. NO! I promised to protect her! Michiru thought, then realized something. Wait! Protect! She turned her will to the barrier that stood between her and her power. With her determination and the real threat of Haruka's life being in danger, the barrier collapsed immediately and easily.
Michiru was engulfed in teal light, and she felt a huge wave crash onto her. Opening her eyes, Michiru saw that not only was she glowing teal, the water encasing her was too. Remembering how Haruka said she harnessed her powers, Michiru was able to bend the waters to her will easily.
Within a second, the glowing teen had made the water carry her back into the ocean and close to where the helicopter was. Michiru directed the waters to form a waterspout under her, which lifted her into the air swiftly. She stopped when she was eye level with Shinobu.
Grinning much like Haruka had in the lab, Michiru raised her arms.
"Oh shit!" Shinobu cursed as the finned girl on the beach had started glowing teal. But when she had gone back into the ocean and then raised herself with the waterspout, the hunter knew they were screwed. He heard his brother curse as well, so he knew Takuma had seen Michiru.
"Let's get out of here before she destroys us!" Takuma shouted. Shinobu nodded, seeing Michiru's face twist into a vicious grin and her arms rising to undoubtedly attack them. Swiftly, the younger brother hit the knob that released the ends of the net that entrapped Haruka.
Takuma angled the helicopter away as soon as Haruka started falling, and pushing the machine to its top speed. Both knew that the distraction of having to save Haruka would stall Michiru long enough for the two of them to escape. Which they did quickly, disappearing into the clouds and out of sight.
"Ruka!" Michiru gasped as the wounded teen began to plummet to the ocean. Letting the two brothers escape, the water borne teen directed the water so she intercepted Haruka. She called up ropes of waters to catch the winged teen and was soon at Haruka's side in midair, assessing the damage.
It wasn't good. Haruka was still bleeding badly and was too pale. Getting both of them to shore quickly, Michiru manipulated the waters so that she 'stood' in a column of water that was like a skirt and moved along the ground at her command. Connected to this skirt was a 'stretcher' of water that held Haruka and hovered at the height of Michiru's hips.
Swiftly Michiru moved the both of them to her house and into it. Michiru was even able to prevent the ground where her column moved over from getting wet. She floated (for lack of better term) into the bathroom, where the first aid kit was. Lowering Haruka into the bathtub, Michiru felt a certain sense of irony mixed with hysteria.
"Funny, she tended to my wound after getting her powers and put me in the bathtub. Now here I am doing the same. Ironic." Michiru muttered to herself, trying to stay calm as she let the water flow away via the bathtub's drain. Sitting on the lip of the tub, Michiru leaned forward, placing her hand on Haruka's neck.
Good, her heart's still beating. She could speed heal this, but she needs to be conscious. The teal haired teen though, feeling her powers dimming and going back inside of her. Her hand and arm stopped glowing as Michiru moved it up to Haruka's face.
"Haruka. Wake up." She commanded, slapping Haruka's cheek lightly. The teen moaned and stirred, but didn't open her eyes. Biting her lip, Michiru moved her hand to the injured wing. She really didn't want to do this, but it was the only way she could think of to wake Haruka up.
Grabbing the broken bone in both hands, Michiru straightened the bone, snapping the two pieces, which had been at an almost ninety degree angle, back into place. Not surprisingly, Haruka screamed, her eyes flew open, and she cursed weakly. Before she could slip back into unconsciousness, Michiru got her attention.
"Ruka!" pain filled teal eyes turned to look at her. "You need to stay conscious and heal yourself. You do have enough power left right?" she ended worriedly, gazing at her soulmate. Haruka nodded weakly and closed her eyes in concentration.
Ever so slowly, Haruka's right wing began to glow blue and heal. After a few anxious minutes, the wing was healed and Haruka was regaining some of her color as her power created new blood to replace the lost. Opening her eyes once more, Haruka grinned weakly up at Michiru.
"Hey Michi. You were great out there. And just think, the good part of this was that you were able to unlock your powers." Haruka whispered, her eyes drooping from fatigue. Michiru laughed weakly and nodded. Using her column of water, which had stayed around her tail through the whole thing, Michiru carefully scooped Haruka into her arms and rose to a 'standing' position.
"You're so light Ruka." Michiru commented wonderingly as she began moving to her parents' bedroom. She didn't want to go in there, but her bed just wasn't big enough for the both of them and the bed in her parents' room was.
Gliding into the room, Michiru laid her now sleeping soulmate in bed and covered her up. Going around to the other side, Michiru paused to crack the window a bit. Slipping out of her column, the teal haired teen then sent the water out the window and used the last trickle to close the window. The strain of using her powers for the first time then hit her like a sledgehammer and Michiru had only enough energy to pull the covers over her before falling asleep beside Haruka.
HB here: hello all. My winter break is basically over and I feel I've gotten a lot done, fanfic wise. Let's see, I finished Reaching Him my Harry Potter fic, The Perfect Night, my SM Helios/Serenity lemon fic, and To Make a Dream Come True, the censored version of The Perfect Night.
Whew. And of course I just got this chapter up. Hope you like and that it's not too much like chapter 8. Next chapter is called 'Living Together' and while it's going to be similar to ch. 9, it WILL be different, I promise.
And thanks toKoneko Of The Moon's review, I'm now tentatively planning to make Born a series, with each pair having their own story. Pluto and Saturn would have their partners from my story The End…or is it the Beginning. But that is just tentative and depends on how satisfied I am with BoWaO when I'm done with it, and if the idea seems popular to my reviewers on BoWaO.
Okay, I think that is all. Please leave a review!
Ja ne!