When Haruka woke up the next morning she was greeted by a new message in her voicemail from Usagi. The girl had told her she wanted to meet up and talk to her. At first Haruka assumed she wanted to meet up at the cafe and go for milkshakes but when she heard the blonde say she wanted to talk privately in the park she was somewhat surprised. She had no idea what was so important that it couldn't be discussed in public but nonetheless she found herself making her way out of bed and getting dressed, ready to face the day and whatever was going to come from it.
By the time she'd gotten ready and called the other inner senshi to find someone who could come watch the twins for an hour it was already past noon. She drove over to the park and when she stepped out she immediately spotted the odango haired blonde sitting by herself on a bench under a shaded tree staring at the snow all over the ground with a small smile on her face.
Haruka walked over to her and before she could say anything the younger girl had noticed her, her smile growing as she waved her over. Haruka sat down beside her on the bench as she gave her a warm smile. "Hey. What did you want to talk to me about?"
Usagi's smile began to fade as she folded her arms across her chest, shivering slightly as she sighed. "I wanted to talk to you about Taiki." she said quietly, her blue eyes fixated on the snowflakes falling from the sky.
Haruka's eyes widened as tried to shake off the nerves that had suddenly sprang up out of nowhere. "Usagi I-"
"No Haruka, please just hear me out." The moon princess said, cutting her off as the older blonde fell silent. "We've been friends now for a long time and I've always wanted you to be happy. You've done so much for me and I care about you a lot. I know losing Michiru has deeply affected you and now you've finally found love again and I don't want you to lose that. I know the one thing keeping you and Taiki apart is distance and I've decided what I need to do." she said softly, grabbing Haruka's hand as she squeezed it gently.
"Usagi please tell me you're not saying what I think you're saying."
"Haruka you've done so much for me as one of my sailor senshi. You've protected me and you're one of the strongest senshi out of all of us. But I have to let you go." she said quietly, tears brimming her eyes as her grip tightened on Haruka's hand. "I know in crystal tokyo you're all supposed to be there with me, protecting me, standing guard forever but I don't want that for you because I know your heart is elsewhere. You may be my soldier but you're more then that to me and you deserve to be happy. So Haruka as your princess and future queen I'm asking you to leave earth and go be on Kinmoku with Taiki."
"Usagi you can't possibly ask me to do something like that!" Haruka shouted, tears falling down her cheeks as the younger girl sniffled. "I was born to be a sailor senshi, you're my princess and I need to protect you at all costs. I can't leave you just because I fell in love with someone else, I can fall in love with someone here on earth!"
"But you don't love someone here on earth, you love Taiki and that's ok. Besides you going to Kinmoku could bring so much good. Kinmoku is a large planet with only three guards and they could probably use a fourth senshi. And you can still teleport back to earth so if there was ever an emergency you could always come home. Or if things don't work out with Taiki you can return home!" Usagi pleaded, tears streaming down her cheeks as the older scout pulled her into her arms. "Please do this for me. As your princess and your friend I want you to be happy above all else."
Haruka sighed as she rested her head on the odango haired girl's shoulder. "I... I'll think about it ok?" she muttered.
Usagi pulled away from the embrace, a smile lingering on her face as she wiped away her tears. "Arigatou Haruka." she said sweetly. "I just want you to be happy."
"I know." Haruka replied quietly. "I should get going, I want some time alone to think about everything."
"Alright, call me if you need anything!"
Haruka nodded and stood up from the bench, beginning her walk back to her car as Usagi watched her from her spot on the bench. She reached her car at the other end of the park and threw herself into the driver's seat, tossing the key in the ignition before speeding out of the parking lot, so many different emotions flooding through her as she drove off mindlessly.
Part of her was still mad at Setsuna, part of her wanted to go to Kinmoku and be with Taiki and the oher part was yelling at her that leaving earth would make her a traitor and she had to stay for her princess. She'd promised Hotaru she'd be with her in crystal tokyo, she'd be uplifting her entire life and moving to another galaxy. She was sad, lonely, angry, happy, scared and confused all at once.
Even though she knew she was driving too fast she kept her foot on the gas and kept driving with no end goal in mind. She finally came to when she realized she'd pulled into the driveway of the cemetary where Michiru was buried. She parked her car in an open spot and got out, breathing in the fresh air. It had been so long since she'd come to visit Michiru's grave last and she felt the urge to go and speak to her again.
She made her way over to her grave which had a thick layer of snow on top. She knelt down beside the tombstone, brushing the snow off with one hand as she smiled sadly at it.
"Hey Michiru. Merry christmas, sorry I'm a few days late. The twins are here, they're beautiful and I know you'd love them." she said softly before letting out a sigh. "You won't like this but I talked to Usagi and well... she wants me to move to Kinmoku so I can be with Taiki and I'm torn. I love Taiki but I have a duty to protect Usagi for the rest of my life, she's my princess! Well our princess I guess. I just... I don't know what to do Michiru. I know I should stay here and be loyal to Usagi but my heart wants to be with Taiki. I guess that makes me a traitor."
She couldn't help the tears burning her eyes as her hand traced the cold marble of the tombstone. "I don't know what to do. Either way I'm making a sacrifice. If I stay here I'll lose Taiki and if I go to Kinmoku I'm losing all of the other senshi here. I guess I just don't know if its worth it to throw everything away for love." she whispered sadly, closing her eyes as her fingers traced the name etched in stone.
She stayed there in that position for what felt like hours when a hand on her shoulder shook her out of her thoughts, causing her to jump up in shock. However her panic quickly evaporated when she realized who it was standing behind her.
"Mr. Yamatashi?"
The old man chuckled as he gave her a warm smile. "Hello Haruka, its nice to see you although I thought I told you you can call me Hirotoshi. I apologize for scaring you, I haven't seen you here in a while and I wanted to come say hello."
"Yeah I've been meaning to come by here more often but life has been too busy, plus its been hard coming out here. Its still such a painful reminder."
"I understand." He replied kindly before eyeing her up and down. "You don't look pregnant anymore, I'm assuming you had your baby?"
"Babies." She corrected. "I had twin girls."
"Oh how wonderful, I'm sure you must be enjoying motherhood!" He exclaimed as he patted her on the back. His expression fell as he observed the solemn look on her face, concern etched on his face as he watched her. "You look troubled, is there anything on your mind?"
Haruka sighed, images of Taiki flooding through her head as she tried to push them aside. "Hai, as a matter of fact there is."
"Come follow me inside where its warm, I'll make you some hot chocolate and we can talk."
She followed him over to the little building where he worked and entered the small warm room where he led her to a sofa and handed her a blanket. She sat down and sighed, closing her eyes as she leaned back against the soft cushions while the old man rushed around to start making the hot chocolate.
"Well its complicated. You see I'm in love with a girl but she lives on the other end of the world and she doesn't want a long distance relationship even though she loves me back. I have an obligation to stay here but the person who I am staying here for has given me permission to go be with the girl I love. But I can't help feeling like I'd be betraying her and giving up everything I know if I went to be with this girl and I'm torn."
Hirotoshi walked over to her with a steaming mug of hot chocolate in his hands, carefully passing it to her before sitting down next to her. "That's a tough one but if the person keeping you here has given you permission to leave then you're no longer obligated to leave. You need to put yourself first and do what makes you happy. You have to decide whether or not this girl is worth giving up everything for."
Haruka sighed before taking a long sip from the warm beverage. "How do I know if she is or isn't?"
"You'll know, just follow your heart."
She watched as the old man stood up and walked away to his desk, sorting through papers as she stared into her drink, her reflection staring back at her in the dark brown liquid. She mulled his words over as she drank, going back and forth in her head with herself about what the right thing to do was.
"What would Michiru tell me to do?" she whispered to herself as she contemplated the thought. Part of her said that Michiru would tell her not to abandon her destiny and her princess but in reality that wasn't Michiru. Above all Michiru would have told her to put her own happiness first, she would have told her to follow her heart and not follow along blindly with the destiny that had been prechosen for her.
She stood up from the couch and brushed her pants off, walking over to Hirotoshi's desk where she sat the empty mug down. "Thank you for the advice and the hot chocolate Hirotoshi. I think I know what I need to do now."
The old man turned around, smiling at her before pulling her into a brief hug. "I'm glad I could help, take care." he said, before releasing her from his grip and walking off into a back room.
Haruka watched his figure vanish before turning and exiting the small building, trudging through the snow towards where her car was with a mission in mind.
It didn't take her long to find her car and drive home where Minako and Makoto were waiting for her. When she walked in she found the two sitting in her living room, laughing and watching tv before noticing her presence.
"Hello you two, how were the twins?" Haruka asked as she glanced around the room.
"Oh they were little angels!" Minako chirped.
"Yeah they were really well behaved, there's a still some formula left over if you need it." Makoto added.
Haruka paused for a moment before speaking. "Thanks for all your help but can I ask one more favor from you guys?"
"Sure what is it?" the brunette asked as Minako rapidly flipped through channels on the tv.
"Would you be possibly willing to watch the girls for an extra two or three hours? There's something I need to take care of and I could really use the help."
"Oh no problem!" Minako replied as she finally settled on a fashion network to watch. "We're happy to help."
"Arigatou, I promise I won't be long." Haruka said before rushing upstairs to her bedroom.
She entered the room and glanced over at her twins who were both sound asleep in their cribs. She smiled at them before turning to her dresser, opening the top drawer where her henshin rod layed. She picked it up, twirling it around in her hands as she let out a soft sigh before putting it in her pocket. She rushed back downstairs and headed out the back door, past the two inner senshi who were busy chatting away on the couch.
She headed over to the same spot she normally went to to transform and pulled out her henshin rod. "Here goes nothing." she said quietly before throwing her hand in the air. "Uranus planet power!"
She transformed and once the transformation was over she pulled out her sword and lifted it high in the air, closing her eyes as the image of Taiki filled her mind.
Before she knew it she was standing on Kinmoku once again, staring at the palace while the sky turned red in the background. She swallowed her nerves and marched up to the doors, determination filling her as she began to knock on the door.
There was nothing but silence in the air for what felt like an eternity until the door finally creaked open and tears flooded her eyes when she spotted that familiar brown pony tail and those damn purple eyes that shone like amethysts.
There she was face to face with the one who held her heart.