In the next morning, the smell of freshly brewed coffee was the first thing Haruka registered as she woke up; she sniffed audibly, briefly frowning to herself, then remembered that Michiru had spent the night in the guestroom, figuring that she had woken up first and had started to make breakfast.
Letting out a hearty yawn, she got out of bed, taking the time to stretch extensively before she made her way into the kitchen; there, she found Michiru at the oven, the smaller woman busy making ham and eggs, smiling at her as she entered.
"Good morning", she then said, "you woke up just in time, coffee's almost done and so is the food. I thought of making pancakes at first, but then I figured you might prefer something with a bit of meat in it."
"That's very thoughtful of you", Haruka smirked, "but you really didn't have to do that…"
"I like doing that", Michiru shrugged, "and I figured it'd be only fair, after you offered your guestroom for the night and I additionally woke you up in the middle of it because of my stupid nightmares."
"Never mind that", the blonde gave back with a little wave of her hand, moving over to her side to peer into the pan, "that's one of the perks of being a werewolf, we can get by with less sleep than regular people."
"That's good to know", Michiru replied with a slight smile, "cause I would feel terrible if another attack happened today and you'd end up getting hurt because of sleepiness caused by me."
"Not gonna happen", Haruka reassured her, then got distracted from their talk by the gurgling sounds the coffee machine let out as the coffee finished running through; quickly, she found two clean cups in one of the cupboards, asking Michiru how she wanted hers while she moved over to the machine, the smaller woman letting her know that she just wanted a splash of milk.
"No sugar", the blonde gave back, sounding so shocked that it made Michiru giggle, "really? How can you drink coffee without sugar?"
"I just prefer it that way", Michiru replied with another giggle, amused at how much this seemed to shock her companion; and moments later she knew why, as Haruka spooned a shocking amount of sugar into her coffee, the smaller woman raising an eyebrow at the sight.
"Alright", she then stated while deciding that the ham and eggs were done as well and moving the pan off the stove, "I hope for you that a fast metabolism is another werewolf perk, or you'll gain two pounds just from drinking that."
"It is", Haruka told her with a smirk, chuckling when she rolled her eyes in reply; after a moment, Michiru smiled as well, then carefully divided the food she had prepared into two equally big portions on the plates Haruka had handed to her, both of them sitting down at the kitchen table for breakfast afterwards, a surprisingly comfortable silence forming between them as they both were focused on eating and drinking.
It was strange, Michiru reflected, how oddly right this felt; when she had met Haruka and had realized that the blonde was the one who had been chosen to fight with her, she had been quite sure that this would be all they would do together, fight side by side until their mission had been completed, perhaps becoming friends over time, but in this moment, it felt as if they already were, despite the fact that normally, friendships took longer to develop than the short time they had known each other.
Still, it felt as if this was where she was supposed to be on such a lovely morning, with her fight partner and not sitting alone in her apartment; even though this was only the second time she was at Haruka's place, it already felt more like a home to her than her own, and she found herself wondering what this might mean, and if Haruka had similar feelings.
If she did, the blonde was hiding them remarkably well, appearing to be fully focused on her food; and thus, she didn't seem to notice Michiru glancing at her every now and then, either, the smaller woman deciding to keep those peculiar thoughts to herself, not wanting to freak the blonde out by appearing like some crazy clingy person who spoke of deep friendships after just meeting for a few times.
"So", Haruka finally broke the silence, after having washed down the last few bites of food with her coffee, stunning Michiru by how fast she had munched the breakfast down, "you think this woman's gonna make another try soon? She might want to set you up, like she tried when we met."
"Perhaps", Michiru had to admit, "so there might be another attack soon, maybe even today. She did seem pretty determined to get me out of the picture, and you, as well."
"As long as she doesn't shoot me with silver bullets, there is not much she can do", Haruka shrugged in reply, clearly taking the threat Kaorinite had made against her not as serious as the one which had been made against Michiru, "we can heal a lot, and I mean a lot. Apart from silver, perhaps cutting my head off might work, but other than that…"
"She might not know that", Michiru pointed out, "even if she does know that you're a werewolf. And I don't want you to get hurt, no matter if you can heal it quickly or not…"
"I'll be fine", Haruka shrugged off her concerns, "we have to make sure that you're not getting injured, your healing might be good, as well, but it's not as good as mine. So in case she does try anything, let me handle the rough stuff and stay at the back as far as possible, alright?"
"…fine", Michiru agreed after a moment, not all too happy about this arrangement, but figuring that Haruka was making a good point, "for now, all we can do is wait anyway. Which is quite annoying, but unfortunately, it can't be changed."
"Yeah, too bad we have no idea how they choose their victims", Haruka sighed, making the smaller woman nod in dismay; then, she changed the topic by asking what her plans for the day were, and even though Michiru knew that she had paintings to finish and should practice her violin, she found herself telling the blonde that she didn't have any yet, feeling oddly jubilant when Haruka asked her if they should do something together, then, the thought of spending more time with the blonde making the feeling of how right this was only increase and once more prompting her to wonder why she felt so attached to her already and where these feelings might lead.
Since they had no real plan for what to do during the day, and neither wanted to suggest something the other might not like, they started their time together by going for a simple walk, with Michiru claiming that she'd hear the call from the sea the best if she was outside; and since Haruka, for reasons unknown to her, felt that another attack was about to happen, she agreed quickly to that suggestion, experiencing strange mixed feelings now as she walked along next to Michiru, somehow feeing simultaneously relaxed by the other woman's presence and agitated by the feeling that another attack could happen any moment.
"Sometimes, I wish those calls would come in a bit earlier", Michiru commented next to her, distracting her from her thoughts and showing her that at least about the next attack, she felt quite the same way, "and not just when it's already happening. One of these days, we might be too late, and the enemy will get their hands on a talisman."
"Then we'll take it from them", Haruka confidently gave back, prompting the smaller woman to wish that she could feel just as confident about this, "even if we are too slow one day, we might still be able to stop them. Or perhaps, the call will improve or something and warn you earlier."
"That would be nice", Michiru dryly replied, earning a low chuckle from the blonde; after a moment, she smiled as well, only to freeze in her tracks seconds later as the call they just had been speaking about reached her, sending shivers up and down her spine.
Next to her, just as she opened her mouth to say something about the feeling, Haruka stopped as well, her eyes narrowing; then, she took in an audible breath, Michiru once more belatedly realizing that she was sniffing, a frown furrowing her brow when she spoke up before the smaller woman had the chance to. "Something's… going on. I don't know how to describe it, but I feel something."
"An attack", Michiru clued her in, "somewhere… east from here. We better hurry."
And whiles she was still saying the last few words, she got moving, the blonde easily hurrying along beside her; Michiru had the feeling that she could have been much faster, without even breathing harder, but was holding back out of consideration for her, momentarily tempted to transform already just so they could run faster.
Then, she scolded herself for even thinking something so reckless, reminding herself of the fact that there were regular people all around; Haruka and she already attracted more than enough attention with the simple fact that they were almost running by now, several people turning to look at them with raised eyebrows as they rushed by.
"We're getting closer", Michiru let her companion know, earning a nod in response; briefly, she wondered what exactly Haruka was feeling, since, as far as she knew, the blonde wasn't connected to an element the way she was connected to the sea, then she shrugged it off and sped up even further, thankful for her Senshi stamina and strength, which allowed her to run without ending up out of breath.
"Almost there", Haruka said a few minutes of by now high-speed running later, with a distinctive growl in her voice, a sound which might have scared a regular person, but merely made Michiru smile, "find somewhere safe to transform, I'll go ahead and see what is going on. Maybe do some damage before you join in."
Even though she didn't like the thought of Haruka facing whatever was terrorizing people there alone, Michiru nodded, knowing that the blonde was better equipped for physical brawling than she was; and thus, she hurried off to find a secluded place while Haruka kept running, towards the park from where the strange call was originating.
It didn't take long until the first cries reached her ears, a low growl coming from her in response; not caring about anyone who might see her, not during such a moment of crisis, she reached for her wolf, not enough to go full beast form, but enough to let it be noticeable, a familiar tingle coming from her skin and an equally familiar twinge of pain from her jaw as her teeth changed.
She hadn't been running long enough yet to grow tired, but still felt fresh strength surge through her as the wolf came to the surface; with another snarl, she sped up even further, only to almost screech to a halt mere seconds later, yellowed eyes at first widening, then narrowing as she took in the scene in front of her.
Clearly, some sort of contest had been taking place before the daimon attack, something she figured had to do with lovers, if the giant heart-shaped sculpture was any indication; a young guy was on his knees in front of it, a seemingly unharmed girl next to him – and not too far away from them, she spotted the five other Senshi she had seen once before, when she had really fought by Michiru's side for the first time.
What the Hell are they doing, she asked herself after just staring for a few heartbeats, now raising her eyebrows, are they dancing?! At a time like this?
Obviously, despite how hard it was to believe, this was just what they were doing; the creature which had stolen the young guy's Heart Crystal was standing there and watching while the five girls were busy grooving away with an equal number of guys, the blonde shaking her head to herself as she wondered how they could not know that this had to be some kind of trap.
As if those thoughts had been some sort of signal, the men suddenly changed, turning into somewhat gruesome looking monsters, their arms lengthening with ease and wrapping around the Senshi, their startled cries causing Haruka to let out a sigh – clearly, for whatever strange reason, they had not noticed that it was a trap, and now it was up to her to clean up this mess, at least until Neptune would arrive and join her.
"You again!" a familiar voice called out to her before she could get involved in the action though, another growl coming from her as she glanced around and spotted Kaorinite, "I thought I warned you to stay away from me! Die Heart! Get her out of the way!"
"Why don't we find you a dance partner, too, eh?" the daimon wanted to know in reply, either not noticing or not caring about the blonde's wolfish appearance; she let out a little snort in reply, then slid into a fighting stance, her voice cold as she replied. "No, thanks. I don't dance."
And with the last word, she shot forward, ignoring the monsters still holding the Senshi captive and going for the daimon who had created them instead; obviously, the creature had not been expecting this, since all it did was to take a step back, a yelp coming from it when the blonde barrelled into it and forced it down to the ground, the unexpected attack and the damage done by it ruining its concentration enough to break the spell which had conjured up the five other monsters.
"I warned you!" Kaorinite angrily shouted while the Senshi still were recovering from the unexpected attack, "I told you what would happen if you'd get in my way again!"
Her eyes turning skyward was the only warning Haruka got, and it almost came too late; with a snarl, she threw herself off to the left, lightning hitting the ground where she had been a second later, leaving smoking scorch marks in the grass, the daimon scrambling back frantically as well, clearly not having expected the attack to hit so close to her.
"You're fast", Kaorinite grudgingly had to admit, giving her another glare, "but that won't safe you in the long run, sooner or later, you will grow tired and then I'll get you!"
"Don't be too sure about that", the blonde snarled in reply, from the corner of her eye noticing how the Senshi were staring at her, looking rather abashed by her appearance; ignoring them for now, she let out another growl as she kept her gaze focused on Kaorinite, the redhead's eyes narrowing as she called on her strange powers yet again.
"Deep Submerge!" The attack didn't surprise her as much as Neptune had wanted it to, and she managed to jump out of the way in time; with a harsh curse, she glared at the newly arrived Senshi, then her gaze moved to the daimon, a hint of shrillness in her voice when she told it to take care of them for her.
"You leave me alone with them?!" the daimon protested, a protest Kaorinite didn't even hear anymore though; grumbling, the creature turned to face the Senshi, looking slightly nervous as it now found itself confronted with six Senshi and a rather pissed off werewolf.
Thanks to the rather unbalanced odds and at the fact that now, the trick with the dancing monsters didn't work a second time, the daimon was handled with easy and dispatched quickly; and afterwards, Neptune was the first to reach the pure heart, Haruka right behind her, still keeping up the wolfish appearance, figuring that it might be just enough of a disguise to keep the Senshi from recognizing her again, should they run into each other in their civilian form.
A quick glance told Neptune that it wasn't a talisman, the other Senshi watching with evident relief how she returned the crystal to its owner, one of them calling out to her afterwards, demanding to know who she was.
"Sailor Neptune", she replied, straightening up and facing them, not sure what to think of them – as far as she knew, they didn't share her mission to find the talismans, and from how they always seemed concerned about the victims of the daimons, she doubted they just would accept the fact that whoever carried a talisman would have to go on without their pure heart crystal, or perhaps even might die from the loss of it.
"What are you after", another of the Senshi demanded to know, sounding just a tad hostile now, "the pure heart crystals?"
"No", Neptune replied, not willing to tell them more; her short answer apparently didn't satisfy the other Senshi, since they all frowned, none of them asking her to clarify though, their gaze moving to Haruka instead – before the one with long, open blonde hair smirked, sounding appreciative as she spoke up. "And who's that hot guy fighting with you?"
"Venus!" the one Neptune knew to be Sailor Mars scolded, prompting the blonde to hang her head in shame, "this is really not the time to ogle hot guys!"
"He seems familiar", Venus tried to defend herself, prompting Mars to roll her eyes; she started berating her again, then seemed to change her mind about it, her gaze focusing on Neptune once more, her voice hard when she demanded to know what she was after and why she had come to Tokyo.
"My mission led me here", she replied, not bothering to sound friendly anymore either, "and it is none of your concern."
And with the final words, she turned and marched off, Haruka following suit; the other Senshi called after them, but neither of them reacted, the other girls soon left behind and out of sight, even though both knew that soon, they would run into them again, and that perhaps next time, things might not end as civilly as they had now.
