Once back in Tokyo, the three brothers got a cab and headed straight to the hospital, stopping only briefly on their way there to get rid of their luggage at their apartment. Once they were back in the cab, Seiya forced a grin and looked at Yaten, who was seated in the front seat. "Aw, look who's actually worried about someone... it's almost like you care about them, Yaten."

Yaten scowled a little. "It's senshi business."

Taiki chuckled faintly, shaking his head. "Ah, so the tough exterior can be broken. Imagine that. Underneath all that annoying loftiness and desire to push everyone away, there's nothing but a big softy inside." That comment procured a glare from the direction of the front passenger seat, but before he could respond, they stopped at the hospital. Yaten quickly paid the driver as they scrambled from the car and headed into the hospital. It took just a moment to find out where Hotaru was, and they soon got to that floor. There they found Mamoru, Usagi, Rei, and even Setsuna seated in that floor's waiting room.

When they were spotted, Usagi rose and drew Seiya into a deep hug as Taiki and Yaten talked to the others to get an update on what had happened.

"Hey, Odango... aren't you supposed to be in your own hospital room getting looked at?"

Usagi smiled weakly at the nickname. "No... They released me when they found out nothing was wrong... We're still waiting for the verdict on Hotaru though...she was hurt pretty badly... she never even got to transform."

Seiya nodded, releasing Usagi to let her go back to Mamoru's side, looking over the group gathered there. "Hey... where's Haruka, Makoto, and Minako?"

The inner senshi assembled here exchanged glances, each sort of bewildered.

"Haruka didn't tell you?"

Seiya shook his head at Setsuna as Taiki spoke. "She was gone before we even got back to the hotel. Why, what's going on...?"

All was silent except for the bustling of nurses to and fro between rooms around them.

Mamoru cleared his throat a bit before answering. "Well, Nina was with us when it happened...."

Seiya paled and took off running as Rei called off the floor that held the pediatric ward at his retreating back. He soon found his way for the floor, and found Makoto and Minako on either side of Haruka, who sat with her head in her hands. He slowed down as he approached, almost afraid of what he would hear. Makoto was the first to notice and managed a weak smile. "So you guys finally made it..."

Haruka looked up, causing Seiya to stop in his tracks to see how much she had obviously cried over the past few hours. She gazed blankly at him for a few moments before lowering her head once more.

"What's going on...?"

It seemed a casual question, but they all knew what he meant. Minako answered. "Ami's in there with a few more doctors... no one else is allowed in. They almost didn't let Ami help, but finally let her because most of the pediatric staff is busy elsewhere."

They all froze, Haruka looked up again, as they saw a doctor emerge from behind the closed door. He dashed off, only to return a few moments later with another doctor and they both disappeared into the room once again. Haruka dropped her head once more, almost as if it were too heavy to hold up at this point. Makoto rose and took Seiya by the arm, leading him down the hall, out of safe hearing distance. "The truth is..." she sighed, shaking her head, "it doesn't look good at this point. She received the same blast that Hotaru did, and Hotaru barely survived... it's amazing that Nina has had the strength to hold on this long, to tell the truth."

Seiya gave a sad nod and the two turned to head back, stopping a few feet away as they saw Ami emerge from the room. She walked over and stood before Haruka who seemed reluctant to look up once again. Ami didn't smile, but a tear finally made its way down her cheek. "Haruka, I'm so sorry..."

Minako's mouth froze in an O of horror as Haruka rose to her feet. "Thank you, Ami..." With that, she turned and walked away without so much as a glance back at her friends.

Makoto made to follow her, but Seiya stopped her with a small shake of his head. "She needs some time alone."

It was then that their friends who had been in the waiting room below emerged from the elevator. Usagi dashed toward them, grinning. "Hotaru's going to be fine!" Her smile faded as the others caught up and they all seemed to notice the tears lingering in Makoto, Minako, and Ami's eyes, and the absence of Haruka.

Rei looked horror-struck. "No..."

Usagi's blue eyes filled with tears and she was wrapped tightly in Mamoru's arms. Ami finally had to sit down, and Taiki went forward and no one said anything as he sat beside her and wrapped his arms around her. Makoto went back to hold onto Minako, and Rei found herself clinging to a faintly surprised Yaten. Seiya just stood there for a few long moments, for once truly not knowing what to do.

It had seemed easy enough to become Haruka's friend and then help her dig herself out of the hole she had gotten herself into, and it was even easy to fight with her to get her friendship back... but now, it seemed as if there were nothing at all that he could do. Setsuna came over and placed a light hand on Seiya's shoulder. When he looked up at her, she gave a small gesture to follow her. They soon were in an elevator by themselves, headed back down to the ground floor. "Seiya, you have to go after her. We really can't afford even the chance of losing another senshi..."

Seiya gave an understanding nod of his head, a motion that belied the tempo at which his heart had just started racing. Haruka wouldn't try such a thing... would she? He glanced at the numbers indicating the floor that went at a painfully slow pace. "Why can't these things go faster..."

Setsuna gave a small smile and put her hand on his shoulder once more to prevent him from leaving right away when they reached the bottom floor. "I can't say for sure that she'll try something like that, Seiya. I thought I had a good idea of her strength, but this is the sort of thing that would have pushed me to do something drastic - the loss of someone so close to me. It's a miracle that Haruka went on for so long after Michiru's death, and I know it was because of Nina... and now, well...." They reached the ground floor and the doors slid open. She gave a small sigh. "You'll know where to look for her." Setsuna released his shoulder and he gave a nod before taking off running to look for a cab outside, knowing he couldn't possibly run the distance to her house and still be of much use.

He cursed as he saw none, which wasn't surprising, given the very early hour. With no other choice, he took off in a run.

"Seiya!"

He stopped and saw Setsuna standing next to a motorcycle with a small grin. "She left it behind." He ran back as she tossed him the keys. As he got on, an eyebrow lifted at her. She gave a small, knowing smile. "Well, let's just say I know her well enough to have taken her keys from her..." Seiya nodded before starting the motorcycle, pulling on the helmet, and then speeding away in the direction of Haruka's house. Once the house was in sight, he didn't even bother to stop and instead pulled off the road, heading into the woods behind her house. After some distance, it became impossible to navigate through the trees so he turned the motorcycle off and jumped off, then pulled out the key before taking off in a run.

He himself was unsure of what Haruka would do when made to suffer so much irreversible pain. He knew that she had seen Michiru die before, but never before had she not been able to follow her. Never before had there not been a glimmer of hope that they couldn't come back together. But wherever Michiru went, Haruka had always done her best to follow. Then when Nina had come along, she couldn't and then struggled to work at overcoming what must have been an almost unbearable pain, and at the same time making sure Nina grew up happy. Now that she had lost Nina as well... Seiya knew that to her, to her usual way of thinking that she would prefer to be a loner, it would seem that she no longer has something to hang around for. But he hoped and prayed as he ran that he was wrong.