Dark
Skies, Bright Heavens
By Immora
June 1998 - February 2000
CHAPTER 11
Haruka wasn't too surprised when she woke up and found Michiru sitting
in a chair next to her bed. She rubbed her eyes and yawned a bit, taking
a few moments to stretch, and grinned at Michiru. "I really like waking
up with you here."
Michiru laughed and sat down
on the bed next to Haruka. "I couldn't wait
to see you
again," she said, "but I got so distracted just watching
you
that I didn't make you breakfast like yesterday."
"That's
okay," Haruka said, reaching up to take hold of Michiru's
shoulders. "I'd like to go out somewhere for breakfast
anyway. Not that
I don't like your cooking," she amended
quickly, "but I think it would
be nice."
"I
didn't think you meant it as an insult," Michiru said, taking
hold of
Haruka's hands. "And I'd like that."
"Good,"
Haruka whispered. She pulled Michiru down onto her and kissed
her
gently. "I'll get ready."
"That can
wait," Michiru murmured, her hands pressed to the pillow on
either side of Haruka's face. She kissed her briefly, smiling at
her.
"I'm enjoying your company."
"My
company, huh?" Haruka laughed, trailing a finger across
Michiru's
jaw. She pressed her lips to Michiru's cheek. "If
that's what you want to
call it."
"Silly."
Michiru's sighed and lay her head against the crook of Haruka's
neck.
Haruka wrapped her arms around her shoulders and smiled sweetly
at
her. They lay holding each other for several minutes, not
saying a word.
Michiru finally sat up and pulled Haruka up with
her. "Well, we should go
have breakfast then."
Haruka
quickly showered and dressed, then drove them to a nice
restaurant
for breakfast. She noted the sky was unusually dark.
She couldn't tell if
it was a thick storm cloud cover or something
else.
They talked a bit while they were eating. Michiru was in
mid-sentence when
her eyes suddenly glazed over and she went
limp. Haruka was quickly out of
her seat, rushing to support
Michiru.
"Michiru?! What happened?!"
"I...
I don't know..." Michiru carefully sat up and looked out the
window
with a gasp. "What is that?!"
Haruka
looked and also gasped in surprise when she saw what Michiru
was
looking at it.
A strange crystalline structure was
nestled between some buildings. It
shone black and gave off an
eerie light. It seemed to be getting larger
by the moment.
"That
explains the lack of traffic," Haruka whispered. "I
couldn't see
it from my building... But... what the hell--?"
The
sky seemed to grow darker and lightning shot through the air.
Haruka
backed away from the window and drew Michiru back with her.
"You had some sort of reaction, was it that... thing?"
"I
don't know," Michiru whispered. "I just... I suddenly felt
a deep
chill, like something wrong was happening. It's not the
same as when
the daimon appear."
"Well, we
shouldn't get involved," Haruka said, her mouth creased into
a
frown.
"Why not?"
"We already have a
mission, Michiru, a very important one. If we go
racing off to
stop that... thing... and something happens to us, what
happens to
our mission?"
"... True..." Michiru admitted.
"But what if people get hurt and killed
because of that
thing?"
"The Inner Senshi were awakened, right?
They'll take care of it. If it
was really serious, we would feel a
pull to it."
"I just can't stand the thought that
there might be something we could
do," Michiru sighed.
"But... you're right."
"Yeah, now we better
hurry and finish breakfast. I want to get away from
here, just in
case."
"Yes ma'am," Michiru teased.
They
started hurrying to finish their meal, and were surprised when a
shadow fell over them.
"Hello, Haruka-san, Michiru-san."
Haruka jumped a bit in surprise as she saw
Setsuna standing there, looking
even more serious than usual.
"Setsuna-san, I thought your post--"
"This is
important. I have to tell you while I can; I will have to remain
at
my post for quite a long time after this."
"Set--"
"Let
me speak. There is very suspicious activity going on at a school
around here... Mugen Gakuen. You will transfer there and keep an
eye on
their activity."
"Um, Setsuna-san,"
Haruka said, "in case you forgot, I just switched
to
my school..."
"I know," Setsuna said. "But
this is very important. There's a dark energy
gathering there...
you must go there."
"I'm sure my parents
won't mind... it's a very new school, right? Many
top scoring
students go there... But all the paperwork--"
"Done."
Setsuna almost smiled. "I've already arranged all of it.
Your
parents can afford it, Michiru-san, and Haruka-san, you won't
have
trouble with all the money you earn racing."
"But--" Haruka tried to interrupt but Setsuna quieted her.
"I
don't have time," Setsuna said. "You start Monday. I'm very
sorry to
be so abrupt but this is our last chance to arrange
it."
"It's alright, Setsuna-san," Michiru said. "It's our duty."
Setsuna nodded and placed a package
on the table. "Your uniforms... I
must leave now."
"Go on," Michiru said.
"Good luck." Setsuna bowed slightly and left.
"That was very weird..." Haruka
said, staring after Setsuna. "She just
pops in out of
nowhere, and suddenly we're changing schools? What a
weird
day."
"Very," Michiru said with a
chuckle, opening the package. She instinctively
pushed it back
slightly when she saw the uniforms.
"What's wrong?"
"I... I don't know... maybe it has something
to do with what Setsuna-san
said..." Michiru looked at the
uniform. "I've seen this before... the boy
at the
track..."
"The one the daimon possessed,"
Haruka said, her lips compressing into a
line. She pulled out her
uniform. It had a crisp white dress shirt, a dark red
jacket,
muted green shirt and tie with a matching plaid pattern, and a brown
belt. Over the left breast pocket was a black star with a gold
infinity symbol
sewn into it, and underneath the star, a small
black strip reading "Mugen."
"The very same
uniform."
Michiru nodded, pulling hers out. "I
haven't seen the girls' uniform... hmm,
this is pretty nice..."
The dark red shirt had long sleeves with thick black
cuffs, the
waist trimmed in a small border of green and black stripes, with
a
dark blue collar and a muted green bow with black stripes coming off
of it.
The fabric of the shirt peeping out of the collar had a
black star on it. The
muted green skirt fell to her knees and had
a plaid pattern. Michiru held the
shirt up against her. "Does
this color look alright with my hair?"
"It's fine, Michiru."
"What are we going to tell our parents?"
Michiru said. "Out of nowhere, we're
changing schools... and
it's almost the end of the year."
"I'll tell my mom
it's closer to my apartment," Haruka said with a shrug.
"If
you tell your parents how good that school is... I don't think they'd
approve of you changing just to be with me, right?"
"Doubtful."
Michiru said with a sigh. "We'll figure it out later...
right
now, I want to get away from that crystal thing."
"I
don't think I've ever been to the ocean," Haruka said, looking
out
over the water after parking the car.
"I can't
believe it!" Michiru laughed at her. "It takes someone
attacking
Tokyo to get you to go to the beach..."
"I
don't think I'd ever come here at all if you didn't ask me,"
Haruka
said. "What's so great about it?"
Michiru
sighed deeply. "I would think you'd understand. As close as
the
wind and sea are, you should."
"Maybe if it
was summer instead of winter, I could appreciate it,"
Haruka
said. "January isn't exactly beach-going weather."
Michiru
laughed and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek. "We'll have to
get back out here in July then. I can't wait to swim in the ocean
again
instead of a pool."
"And get me into a swimsuit?"
Michiru's eyes twinkled. "You read my mind."
They cuddled together for awhile, resting their
cheeks together. Michiru
was thrilled to finally be back at the
ocean. She wished it wasn't so
cold so she could swim.
"Hmmm, your birthday is coming up soon."
"Yeah, so?"
"Fifteen..." Michiru nestled her head
against Haruka's neck. "I'll have
to make your birthday
special." Haruka's eyes widened a bit nervously.
Michiru
laughed and said, "We'll have a nice romantic dinner and a
quiet
evening at your apartment... What, did you think I was going
to say
something else?"
"Um... no..." Haruka laughed nervously.
"Sure," Michiru said,
giggling as she bent her head to kiss Haruka's
neck. "Your
mother won't expect you to spend the day with her, will
she?"
"Dunno," Haruka breathed. She was too
busy enjoying the kisses to bother
with speaking. She gently
kissed the top of Michiru's head and sighed.
"I love
you," Michiru whispered. She cupped Haruka's chin and kissed
her.
"Promise me... we'll always be together..."
"I..."
Haruka looked away. "I want to... but... This mission could
very
well mean our deaths. If we make that promise..."
Michiru sat in silent consideration. "Haruka..."
Haruka
gently wrapped her arm around Michiru. "As long as I'm alive,
I'll
be with you, I promise you that. I just... if something
happens to me, I
don't want to feel like I broke my
promise."
Michiru lay her head on Haruka's chest, eyes
shimmering. "Nothing will
happen to you. I won't let anything
happen to you. If it means my
life--"
"No," Haruka said sharply. "I don't want you dying for me."
"...
All right... I promise... For the sake of the mission... one of us
has to live... We can't go risking our lives for each
other..."
"I make the same promise," Haruka
whispered, kissing her forehead.
"Now, for the moment, let's
pretend that didn't happen and everything's
all nice and happy
again, hmmm?"
Michiru smiled as Haruka kissed her
shoulder. "That sounds like a good
idea."
"What is it, Kaolinite-kun?" a deep voiced man called.
"There
is an interference," she said, walking into the laboratory.
She
wore a white lab coat over her red dress. Her purple eyes were
alight
with anger. "This 'Black Moon Clan' that appeared is
gathering up energy.
It's temporarily interfering with the new
daimons."
"I thought I had finally perfected it,"
he muttered, lifting up two
beakers. "How are they
interfering?"
"I haven't been able to locate
targets. There's so much dark energy
concentrated in the area
thanks to their crystal that it's been hard to
target the
pureness of heart crystals."
He poured the contents of
two beakers together. "Very well... we will
wait for this to
pass..." His brow furrowed and he turned to Kaolinite.
"The
mistress wants us to speed up the daimon attacks. This is an
unexpected delay. When this Black Moon Clan is gone, we will
attack
more than ever."
"Professor..." she
paused and bowed her head. "Until this new batch of
daimons,
we attacked everyday--"
"That was when we needed to
use those inferior daimons," he interrupted.
"Now we
have much better daimons that will be more likely to retrieve
heart
crystals."
"Professor, if I might say so..."
she looked around to make sure no
one else had entered the
laboratory and stepped closer to him. "I never
thought this
Sailorneptune to be a fierce opponent, but now there's a
new
Senshi with her. I don't know her name yet. I'm becoming worried.
If
those other five Senshi survive battling the Black Moon Clan,
they
will be free to aide Sailorneptune and her partner in
defeating our
daimons. They might beat us to the Talismans.
Sailorneptune was
interested in examining the heart
crystals."
"What?!" he growled. One of the
beakers fell from his hands. "Do they
want the Talismans?!"
He clenched his fist as he looked out over
the laboratory he'd
poured so much work into. "We will defeat them,"
he said
forcefully.
Kaolinite bowed respectfully to him. "Your
genius will lead us to
success, Professor Tomoe."
"Indeed."
He turned away, a twisted grin marring his features. He threw
his
head back and laughed maniacally. "Master Pharaoh 90 will find
the
world eagerly awaiting his arrival."
Kaolinite
smirked in agreement. The pitiful humans of this world were
no
match against their master.
"I will speak to the mistress. You may go."
"Yes," she said, bowing
again. She disappeared, leaving her lab coat to
fall to the
floor.
Professor Tomoe went into the cellar area where a young
girl sat on a
throne, surrounded by piles of dolls and ornate
lamps. Her black hair
barely touched her narrow shoulders. Her
eyes were cold and red against
her face, hidden in shadows so
that her features were undeterminable. She
smiled as he
approached. A microphone dangled near her, and though he
could
hear her electronic-sounding voice, her lips were not moving.
"Do you have news for me?" Her voice seemed all around him.
"Yes,
our Messiah of Silence," he said, lowering himself in homage.
He
told her what Kaolinite had said.
"This cannot be
allowed," she said, frowning. "I need the energy of
pure
hearts. I need the Talismans to be found so we can have the
Holy
Grail."
"I will make sure more daimons are
employed," he said quickly. "Don't
worry, we will soon
have the Holy Grail and the world will be Silenced."
"It better be. Leave me."
"Yes, Messiah."
Haruka
and Michiru returned very late and found that things had returned
to
about as normal as they ever were. Haruka dropped off Michiru,
promising
to pick her up for school. Michiru smiled and kissed
her goodbye. She took
a deep breath as she started to go inside to
face her parents.
"Michiru-chan!" Ki called. "Come here right now!"
Michiru's heart thumped as she walked to the living room. "Yes, okaa-san?"
Ki came and
embraced her daughter. "We received a phone call today from
a
very elite school-- Mugen Gakuen. Apparently they've found out
your
academic reputation and your artistic talents, because they
asked us to
allow you to attend! They think you would be a
wonderful addition! Isn't
that great? You start
tomorrow!"
"That's... that's wonderful..."
Michiru inwardly breathed a sigh of relief
that she didn't have to
think of an excuse; Setsuna had some sort of
connections that
Michiru was grateful for. Then her anger started to
build; her
mother would have made an important decision like this without
asking
her if she would agree to it? "Well, I better get some
rest--"
"Oh, that package in your hands..." Ki
took it from her. "The uniform?
How did you--"
"It
was sitting by the front door," Michiru lied. "They must be
pretty
incredible, okaa-san, to deliver my uniform straight to
me."
"How wonderful!" Ki murmured. "Well,
off to bed with you. You have a
busy day tomorrow."
"Ah, yes, okaa-san. Good night."
Just as she'd promised, Haruka was right on time to pick up Michiru in
the morning. Michiru rushed downstairs with her things and was about
to head out the door when someone grabbed her shoulder.
"Who
is that?" Suteki asked her in an icy voice, pointing out the
window
at Haruka. "And what are you both doing in those
uniforms?"
Michiru panicked and tried to pull away from
Suteki. Their parents were
right in the next room; if Suteki said
anything...
"Suteki-chan!" Kanzen called. "Suteki-chan, get in here right now!"
Suteki
grudgingly let go and went to see her big brother. Michiru breathed
a
sigh of relief at Kanzen's intervention and went outside to where
Haruka was waiting.
"Sorry, Suteki tried to make trouble," she said as she sat down.
"That's all
right. We lost a little time to push our way through the
inevitable
crowds of fans, but I think we can manage."
"What makes you think there will be a crowd?"
"I think
when they realize they have two famous people walking the
hallways,
they will go wild."
Michiru groaned a bit. "I'm
really not in the mood for shoving my
way through to our classes
on our first day there. I guess we'll have to
try and deal with
it, huh?"
"We'll have to fight through the crowds of
girls surrounding me, trying to
get me to date them. But hey, at
least we'll be doing it together," Haruka
said with a
wink.
"Very funny."
Haruka laughed and
continued driving. "Well, we better get used to it.
Everyone's
going to be going nuts about us."
"What a bother," Michiru groaned.
Haruka parked the car and they got their
things out of the trunk. They
walked into the school, amazed at
it.
The school was an enormous skyscraper, with glass panes,
elevators,
snack machines, a few cafeterias, a large courtyard,
gardens, fountains,
with incredible sports facilities, an
auditorium, an enormous library,
science laboratories, and more
that they couldn't see.
And this was the place Setsuna said was swarming with dark energy.
They barely had time to
register their surroundings when a swarm of girls
surrounded
them.
"Oh my gosh it's really them!" "Oh
Haruka-kun! I've gone to all your
races!" "You're
dating HER now?!" "Haruka-kun, why don't you go out with
me?! I gave you my phone number at the last three races!"
"How could you go
behind our backs and someone?!" "Oh,
Michiru-san, you're so lucky to be dating
him!" "What's
his kiss like?!" "Haruka-saaaan!"
Michiru
pressed her hand against her forehead. "I think I'm going to
have
a headache when this is over..."
Haruka lightly
grabbed her arm and tried to push through the crowd of girls
who
didn't want to budge. She finally glared at them and they backed
off.
She rushed Michiru to the elevator and hit the close door
button before
any of the girls decided they wanted to join them.
Haruka consulted their
identical schedules and pressed the button
for the floor of their first
class.
"Well... I warned
you..." Haruka groaned. "I have to admit, I didn't think
it
would be that bad!"
"Your fans are just a tad obsessive," Michiru said.
"Just a tad," Haruka
remarked, grinning at her. "Ha ha, 'What's his kiss
like?'
Michiru?"
Michiru laughed and winked at her. "Quite
good, actually." She bent to kiss
Haruka, but stopped when
the elevator doors started sliding open. She
coughed slightly and
stepped back to let the new passenger on. The young
girl got on
the elevator without saying a word to them. Michiru looked at
her
quizzically, but the girl kept her eyes fixed on the elevator
doors.
Haruka looked around the elevator, eyeing the typical
safety information
that was posted and some school notices. A
brief article caught her eye.
It was about the man who owned and
had established the school, a noticed
genetic engineer named Tomoe
Souichi. He was also a professor at the
school. Haruka felt a
sense of unease when she read over the article.
For some reason, a
nagging sensation grew in her mind when she saw
the
article.
"Michiru, look at this," she said
quietly. "It's about the founder and
owner of the school,
Tomoe Souichi."
Michiru seemed to involuntarily flinch at
the name, and the girl let
out a tiny gasp that she tried to
muffle. Haruka looked at her with
some confusion.
"Is something wrong, miss?"
Now that she was paying
attention, the girl seemed sickly. She looked
small for her age,
very thin, with pale skin and black hair. Her purple
eyes seemed
lifeless. She avoided Haruka's gaze and kept silent. The
elevator
stopped on another floor and she quickly got off.
"Odd,"
Michiru said softly, turning her attention to the article. "It
has
a brief mention of an accident that he and his daughter miraculously
survived, but there's no other information about it. And his wife
died
several years ago in a fire."
"Very unfortunate..."
"Wait a moment. Look at this picture
of his daughter... She looks just
like that girl that just
left."
"Think it's the same girl?"
"I
think so... that would explain why she reacted to the mention of
the
professor's name..."
"Michiru, I have a very bad feeling, and I don't know why."
"I do, too. Maybe this Tomoe has something to do with the attacks?"
"A
mad scientist?" Haruka joked. "Maybe we're just too jumpy
about
all this."
"You're probably right,"
Michiru said with a light laugh. They reached
their floor finally
and got off to walk to their classroom. They weren't
too surprised
when their female classmates tried to block their way.
"Haruka-san,
we heard from downstairs that you are coming to our school
now! We
are VERY glad to have you, but we aren't letting you in until we
get
answers," one of them said in a forceful tone. "As your
loyal fans,
we need to know what this girl means to you!"
"But
your delusions of love will end if I tell you," Haruka said with
a
wink.
"We deserve to know! Michiru-san, is he your boyfriend?!"
"No," Michiru said, eyes twinkling
in amusement. After all, it was the
truth.
The girls
started screaming and hugging each other. "We still have a
chance, we still have a chance!"
Haruka just laughed
and winked at them. "Well, there's an awful lot of
you... I
don't know how I'd ever pick one of you--"
"Pick me! Pick me!" they all screamed.
Michiru sighed with
exasperation. Haruka chuckled at her reaction and
waved to the
girls. "We all have class to go to! Come on, we can talk
about
this later..."
They rushed to obey Haruka's suggestion,
falling over each other as
they tried to get to their seats.
"You
shouldn't encourage them," Michiru whispered in Haruka's
ear.
"Weren't you the one telling me how annoying they
were...?"
Haruka coughed a bit and acted innocent. "Well,
yes... but that was
before you... now it's actually
amusing!"
Michiru sighed again and grabbed her hand to
drag her into the
classroom. "We'll talk more about this
later... the bell's about to
ring."
"Alright, alright..."
"Good morning class. We have two new
students today, Ten'ou Haruka
and Kaiou Michiru..."
Michiru
fidgeted as she stood still for the tyourei. Her classmates
still
were drooling all over Haruka, even as they tried to act like
they
cared about the principal's speech. Michiru sighed irritably
and
tried to act like she didn't care at all. Haruka was smirking
slightly
and looked like she was holding back a laugh. When their
teacher
finally led them back to the classroom, Michiru pushed
her way to
stand by Haruka.
"You really shouldn't encourage them," she murmured to Haruka.
"Jealous, Michiru?" Haruka said with a wink.
Michiru sniffled and
shook her head. "I don't want to see all
those poor girls
have their hearts crushed when they realize
you're just flirting
with them."
"Who said I'm just flirting?" Haruka laughed.
Michiru fixed her gaze on Haruka, and Haruka
politely coughed.
"That is... I, um..."
"Just be careful," Michiru said sweetly.
"HARUKA-SANNNNNNNNNN!!!"
the crowd of girls screamed when they
realized they were being
ignored.
The teacher whirled around and the crowd cowered. "I
won't
tolerate any more outbursts like that. The next one to
yell
out like that is cleaning the toilets after school. On ALL
the
floors."
Michiru latched onto Haruka's arm with a
smirk. Haruka sighed
and let Michiru drag her into the
classroom.
Haruka finally stopped rapping her fingertips on the desk when
Michiru gave her a sideways glance that clearly said "enough."
Haruka chuckled quietly and looked out the window, scowling at
the sight of the dark crystal formation still towering in the
air. She wished she knew what exactly it was, and how to get
rid of it. She noticed Michiru look out the window also. The
other students didn't seem to notice it, or if they did, they
were acting like it wasn't there.
When it was time for lunch, Haruka motioned
Michiru to stay
behind. Michiru nodded in understanding. They
stood by the
window together, looking at the crystal. "Do you
think it's
the same people making the daimon?" Haruka asked
in a low
voice.
"It doesn't feel the same,"
Michiru said softly. "If they are
made by these people...
the Deathbusters... they must be using
some different
energy."
"That wouldn't make sense. It must be
someone else." Haruka said.
"Have you heard on the news
about those Inner Senshi? There's
been strange attacks going on
for months... people losing their
energy. This must be the people
that caused it."
"That would make sense,"
Michiru said with a nod. "I wish we knew
if it was important
or not. I want to get rid of that thing,"
Michiru said,
shivering.
"I know, but we can't risk ourselves on that.
It isn't our duty to
stop big crystals," Haruka said with a
small smile.
"No, it's to find three special heart crystals," Michiru said sadly.
Haruka wrapped her arm
around Michiru's shoulders and pulled her
close. "We'll find
them. It's just going to take a little time."
"I hope so," Michiru hugged her. "We never wanted this."
"You'd have to be crazy to want this
responsibility," Haruka
chuckled. "C'mon, let's go get
something to eat." Haruka gave
her a tiny peck on the cheek
and led her out of the room.
"Kaiou Michiru and Ten'ou Haruka?"
Michiru looked up from her meal to see a
lovely girl standing
in front of her seat. She had straight white
hair falling to
her shoulders and ice blue eyes. She smiled at
Michiru and
sat down.
"Welcome to Mugen Gakuen. I'm
Yuri Viluy, the top student here,
and one of the science
teachers. I just wanted to get you two
acquainted with our
school."
Haruka raised an eyebrow. "Science teacher?"
Viluy smiled at her. "Yes, the students
that excel and demonstrate
leadership abilities are given the
opportunity to teach their
peers. I'm sure you'll find our school
offers students to chance
to develop to their full potential. I
understand you both
received very high marks at your previous
school. I've asked
your teacher permission to show you around the
school during your
next class."
Haruka didn't look
interested but Michiru said sweetly, "That
would be
wonderful. If you'd excuse us while we finish lunch--"
Viluy bowed and walked away.
"Why did you agree--"
"Setsuna-san warned us there's something
going on here. This will
give us the chance to look around the
school without arousing
suspicion."
Haruka sighed and
smiled at her, "I should have realized, hmmm?"
She
returned to eating.
Michiru suddenly dropped her fork and
stood up. "There's an attack,"
she mumbled, starting to
hurry out of the cafeteria. Haruka quickly
threw away their things
and rushed to follow her. Michiru was moving
a lot faster than she
would have expected. Haruka felt a disturbing
sensation on the
back of her neck. There was something very wrong.
Michiru
dashed outside into the alleyways nearby. Haruka follow her
and
quickly transformed with her. Neptune took off again, Uranus
in
pursuit. They could hear someone screaming in the parking lot,
and
leapt onto and over cars to get there as soon as they
could.
Neptune slid to a halt, Uranus nearly crashing into
her. "Oh... oh
no..." Neptune whispered. The heart
crystal flew from the victim's
chest.
It was Cindy Grey.
"World Shaking!" Uranus shouted as Neptune
dove for the crystal.
Neptune held the heart crystal with
trembling hands, examining it
carefully. Uranus punched and kicked
the daimon as Neptune turned
it over in her hands. It was so
bright, so full of life... she
felt her throat tighten. It
couldn't be Cindy, not Cindy... she
couldn't have the
Talisman...
"Well?" Uranus shouted between dodging and attacking.
"I... I..." Neptune started hard at
it. This was Elza's sister.
She was holding her life between a
pair of white gloves. Sweet
Cindy... it couldn't be her. It had to
be someone they didn't
know, that they wouldn't care
about...
Uranus grunted as the daimon's attack connected with
her. She
was thrown back against a car window, sending glass
shards
scattering. Neptune jumped in surprise and let the crystal
slip
a little. Her lips tightened in determination. She looked
down
at the crystal, not letting thoughts of friends and grief
cloud
her judgement.
It wasn't a Talisman.
She
practically shoved the heart crystal back into Cindy, then
attacked
the daimon. It let out its final scream then died.
Neptune
shakily propped Uranus up, whispering, "It wasn't a
Talisman...
it wasn't a..."
Uranus gripped her shoulders. "Shhh,
it's alright. I saw you
give it back..."
"You're bleeding--"
"I've had much worse," Uranus said,
her face paling. "This is
nothing." She carefully stood
up, twisting her head to examine
her back. "Ughhh... glass...
this will take awhile to clean up."
Neptune bit her lower
lip, looking down at Cindy. Cindy was
stirring a bit and
regaining color. "We should go..."
Uranus took
Neptune's hand in hers and kissed her cheek. Neptune
choked back
her tears and carefully hugged Uranus. "I was so
scared it
would be her. I thought I could handle if anyone had a
Talisman,
but someone we know...?"
"We have to do it. For the
sake of the world." Uranus drew away
from her. "You're
supposed to be the mature one," she said with a
soft
smile.
Neptune sniffled and nudged her in the side. "I
didn't think I'd
face a friend having their heart crystal taken. I
don't know what
I'd have done if she'd had a
Talisman."
"Hopefully we won't have to worry about
that. I'm sure it's nobody
we know or care about."
"I
hope so." Neptune made Uranus turn around, and then gasped
in
surprise. "The glass shards... they're... gone?"
Uranus raised an eyebrow. "How can that be?"
"I'm not
sure..." Neptune stared at the cuts, lightly scabbing
over.
"Maybe we heal a lot faster as Senshi..."
"That'll
be handy," Uranus remarked. "We should hurry up and head
back
to the building. It'll be suspicious if we're missing on the
first day.
Cindy will be fine."
They detransformed and
started to walk back to the building. Haruka
stopped Michiru and
grabbed her hand. "Michiru, you can't hesistate
like that
again, alright?"
Michiru's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh?"
"Well, you're the one so serious about
this--" Haruka winked, "so I
think maybe you should
follow your own advice, hmmmm?"
"I..." Michiru
sighed and blushed. "You're right. I guess I was just
a
little shocked to see Cindy's heart crystal. It's scary... to hold
a
friend's life in your hands..."
Haruka pressed herself to
Michiru and kissed her deeply. "Funny, you've
held mine in
your hands before... you're very good at it..."
Michiru
giggled and pulled Haruka to her. "Well, I guess you're
right...
after all..." she gave her a peck on the lips, "you
have my heart, and I
have yours."
"We should get
to--" Haruka trailed off as Michiru pulled her into an
alleyway
and kissed her passionately.
"There's a few minutes
left," Michiru whispered. "Please... if we're
going to
have to fight even during school... We aren't going to have
a lot
of time together."
Haruka gazed into her eyes, then
smiled and kissed her again. "I love
you, Michiru."
"I love you, Haruka."
Haruka started to dip her face towards
Michiru's neck, then noticed a
faraway look on Michiru's
face.
"After school... Hikawa Jinja..."
"You
can sense something is going to happen later?" Haruka's eyes
widened in shock.
Michiru shook her head to clear it.
"That was... strange... I've never
had anything like that
before..."
"It must be important that we go there,"
she said, gripping Michiru's
hand. "Do you think..."
"The
other Senshi." Michiru's eyes glazed. "They will be... we
have to
go there..."
Worriedly, Haruka supported
Michiru. "Why would they be there? They
can't handle a
daimon, from what I've seen on the news reports..."
"We'll
just have to see for ourselves," Michiru said weakly,
leaning
against Haruka. "Let's go back inside. We've been
gone too long already.
I'm sure Viluy is wondering why we didn't
show up for the tour yet."
"Michiru... I have a very
bad feeling about her. She has something to
do with whatever is
going on at this school."
"Do you think... maybe this school is the center for these daimons?"
"Maybe... perhaps Viluy like that red-head woman--"
"With the obnoxious display of cleavage?" Michiru said with a sniff.
"Ah... that is..." Haruka started to lead
Michiru back into the school.
"You know you're the only one
I'm interested in, hmmmm?"
"You haven't even seen it yet," Michiru said with a smirk.
"We can fix that
later," Haruka commented distractedly as they entered
the
building.
Viluy was standing there, waiting for them. "Ah,
I see you're back.
What kept you?"
"Nothing,"
Michiru said lightly. "Just getting some fresh air. Are
you
ready to give the tour?"
"Of course." Viluy
turned and gestured with her arm to the entire
building. Her white
hair seemed to shine with her cold smile. Haruka
tightened her arm
around Michiru's shoulders. "Welcome to Mugen
Gakuen, the
school for only the best students. We have a state of the
art
facility that will develop all students to their full potential.
Only
those with the strongest minds and the purest hearts will be
accepted
into our exclusive school..."
The wind and the
sea are forever joined, living as one for all time.
Without one,
the other can't exist. They meet as one at the horizon.
They
made it past their pain and began their lives together, to
be
inseperable for all eternity.
The End...
I would die for
you
I would kill for you
I will steal for you
I'd do time for you
I will wait for you
I'd make room for you
I'd sink ships for you
To be close to you
To be part of you
'Cause I believe in you
I believe in you
I would die for you
--From the song "#1 Crush" by Garbage
