Hey again! I'm bad- I haven't written in forever and a day- gomen! Enjoy! I had to change a few things I wrote because they applied to the anime rather than the manga. I included some angst about how lonely Uranus-tachi were because Takeuchi-sama talks about how lonely they were, and how the memory of Silver Millennium kept them going.

Chapter Four

Sakura-mama was blunt when she had to be.

"So, Michiru is your lover?"

Haruka blushed, less from embarrassment (she had pretty much gotten over the embarrassment long ago) as from pure shock at the question. Even still, she looked her mother in the face as she answered. "Yes, she is." Haruka could be just as blunt if she wanted to.

Her mother nodded. "I like her. I can see why you chose each other. You complement each other, definitely. Only problem I see is that you're both very stubborn and almost antisocial, in a way."

"Antisocial?" That was a very odd word to describe both Haruka and Michiru, in Haruka's opinion.

"I said 'in a way'." Sakura snorted. "Sometimes it's like you were raised without anyone else around, and you're just now getting adjusted to the idea of actually living with people."

Haruka's mind slipped into the memories of a thousand years or more spent in the edges of the solar system, with nothing but memories and loyalty to keep her company.

Yes, Sakura-mama, Haruka mused, it's sometimes like that to myself, now that I have my memories back.

Something of Haruka'a emotions must have shown across her face, because Sakura's own face darkened with worry somewhat as she reached across the table to take her daughter's hand and squeeze it. The early morning sunshine made the brightly painted kitchen look even brighter than it normally would look.

Michiru almost floated into the room at that moment. "Good morning, Sakura."

Haruka smiled slightly at the slightly uncomfortable look on Michiru's face as she addressed the older woman in what her Japanese instincts told her was incredibly rude and informal way. It had taken approximately 10.5 seconds for Michiru to call Haruka's mother Tenou-san the night before when Sakura picked them up at the airport, and approximately 1.5 seconds for the untraditional woman to turn around and insist on Michiru and Setsuna calling her Sakura.

Her mother didn't hold with what she had called "useless tradition," such as honorifics like "san" and "chan." How Haruka'a ears still rang with her mother's speech on tradition. "Tradition and innovation are exactly the same in one way- neither is necessarily better than the other is. Some people hang on to tradition like's it's their life. 'It was good enough for my father and grandfather, so it's good enough for me.' What a load of excrement! Just because some idea seemed good and appeared to work it in the past doesn't mean it will even seem to work at any point in the future. One must always chose what seems like the best path; one can't take anything for granted, because things are always changing."

Her mother's voice in the present interrupted the echoes of itself in the past. "So, where'd the baby come from? I assume it's not either of yours, for the obvious reason." Michiru blushed just a bit, realizing Sakura must know about she and Haruka. Sakura continued, "So is Hotaru Setsuna's?"

"No, Sakura-mama, Hotaru is the daughter of one of our professors we're... very close to. His wife died a short while ago, and the poor man is going through a tough time, so we offered to take her for a while."

"That is the biggest load of excrement I believe I've ever heard, Haruka."

Haruka eye's shot up at her mother, as she blushed out of shock again. The story had sounded rather pathetic to her own ears, but to have it so bluntly declared a 'load' was disconcerting.

Sakura continued, "But I won't question you about it anymore at the moment. When you're ready to tell me, you'll tell me. But I won't let you think I don't know that story is a load."

Michiru's mouth, cliché-like, hung open. Her mother had never spoken to her like that.

Haruka cleared her throat. "Umm, if you think that's a load of excrement, I don't know what you'll think when I tell you the truth."

"Don't worry. I have a gift of knowing the truth when I hear it."

"Go ahead and tell her, Haruka," the low voice of Setsuna interrupted. All eyes jumped towards her, standing in the door way. "Go ahead and tell her, Haruka," she repeated, at the incredulous look on Haruka's face and balancing Hotaru on her hip. "It will do no harm. It might even help us."

"But…"

"It's okay."

"Okay." Haruka turned towards her mother. "You have that Tokyo newspaper delivered to your house, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, then, you've heard of the Sailor Senshi, the 'female crime-fighting warriors'?" Haruka grinned at such a limited definition of the Senshi.

"Of course. Exactly like some manga or anime, huh?"

"Well, we're considerably more than that." Michiru huffed, jokingly.

Sakura's eyebrow had never shot higher. "We?"

"Yes, we. All of us are Sailor Senshi. I'm Sailor Uranus, Michiru is Sailor Neptune, Setsuna is Sailor Pluto, and Hotaru is… Sailor Saturn." Without her mother even asking for proof, she took out her henshin stick, nodding at the others to do so. Setsuna, business-like, handed Sakura Hotaru. A moment later, three of the most powerful Senshi ever born stood in Sakura's kitchen, as she held another one in her hands.

"Well... That explains a lot, in a way," Sakura said weakly.

"Really? How?" Haruka had not expected that response.

"I always knew there was something... different about you." Sakura's voice was gaining strength again. "You always seemed to know when trouble was about to occur. Why, I remember once, you were about, oh, five or so. I took you to the park and you were playing in the sandbox. A few yards away, there was a play castle. There was a little girl with blond pigtails, a year or so younger than you, playing on the castle. Well, the play castle had one of those poles to slide down, so the one side was missing where the pole was, and the little girl was playing on that platform. All of a sudden, you left the sandbox and climbed up into the castle, just in time to stop that little girl from falling. It was the strangest thing..." Sakura's voice trailed off. Her eyes looked into her daughter's. "I've never forgotten that, how you seemed to know that girl was going to fall. That girl had a rather unusual name I believe, now that I think about it; her mother saw what was happening just as you stopped her from falling and ran over calling her name. I'm almost certain it was Usagi- I've always wondered what made her parents name her rabbit." Sakura laughed, but the three Senshi looked at each other meaningfully. They were all thinking the same thing: it was too much of a coincidence. That little girl must have been the Usagi they knew and loved as their princess. Haruka had to have sensed the need of her princess, even at such a young age. A small part of Haruka wanted to cry; it meant so much to her, after her recent unfriendly experiences with her beloved princess, to find out that she had always cared in such a way.

Sakura stood up and handed Hotaru back to Setsuna and then stood in front of Haruka. Her voice cracked with emotion as she spoke. "I just want to tell you how proud I am of you. I know all those strange occurrences in Tokyo were stopped by the Senshi; everybody does. Everyone knows you are more than simple crime-fighting eye candy, even if that's all the video games portray you as."

Haruka stood almost transfixed. She had never really imagined this moment, telling her mother she was a Senshi. Now her mother was telling her that she, her mother, was proud of her. She wasn't sure if she would have expected such a response had she imagined the situation. The only response she had now was to embrace her mother.

Gah! Not my best stuff, but, quite frankly, I'm unsure of where exactly to go with this now. Well, review please!