"Setsuna."
"Yes? What is it, Haruka?" Sailor Pluto's voice echoed only half-sleepily; the Guardian of the Gates of Time was used to being almost constantly alert.
"An emergency. I need to go to the future, to Crystal Tokyo."
"Where's Michiru?"
"Michiru can't know."
"Haruka… What have you got up your sleeve?"
The blond sailor scout sighed impatiently. "Dammit Setsuna, I'm serious. Do you think I'd bother you at this hour if it weren't important?"
Silence for a few moments, and then Sailor Pluto sighed heavily on the other end of the phone.
"All right. Meet me in one hour, in the park."
"Thank you, Setsuna."
"Right."
***
Haruka arrived at the park precisely on time. Sailor Pluto was already there, waiting for her.
"Are you going to transform?"
Haruka shrugged her blazer-clad shoulders, hands in her trouser pockets. "Only if I need to, when I'm there. I don't want to cause any confusion."
Setsuna gave her a very blank look, then turned away, raised her staff above her head, and unceremoniously opened the gate of time for Haruka.
"It is done." She said, staring into the glow of the magic opening, "You will have thirteen hours before the gate closes again. I hope that you find what you're looking for."
"Thank you, Sailor Pluto," said Haruka, as much for doing her this favor as for not saying, "I hope you know what you're doing." With a wave, Haruka ran towards the gate and disappeared through it.
After she had gone, Sailor Pluto swiftly closed the portal. After a moments pause, only Setsuna remained, watching the bright afterimage of the gate with a blankly thoughtful expression.
"I hope she knows what she's doing." With a wry smile, and a bit of a sigh, she turned to go home and put on a pot of tea.
***
The gate opened not too far from the palace at the center of crystal Tokyo. As she strolled casually through the teeming streets, Haruka breathed deeply of the tranquility that the future promised, if only their appointed tasks could be successfully completed. She was very well aware, after all, that the future, no matter how real it seemed in visits like these, could be quite easily changed.
That was, after all, what she was here to do.
At this moment, Haruka's determined reflection was shattered by a very familiar voice, coming from an adjacent alleyway.
"Tenoh Haruka. Come here. We need to talk."
Haruka had been half expecting this, but she turned to look anyway.
Space Sword unsheathed, mirror-image grin on her face, it was, indeed, Sailor Uranus.