Now that Haruka was back, everything in their world seemed to be going right once again. Hotaru, who had become rather depressive and started doing badly in school, was her old self once again and trying out for a part in the new play at school. Setsuna was around a bit more often, though not as often as she would have liked. Usagi and Mamoru were pretty much the same as always, happy since their daughter was back in their life for good this time, but it was obvious that a weight had been lifted from their shoulders when Haruka had returned. Ami was preparing to graduate from college, which meant a lot of studying for finals on her part. There was a festival approaching at the Hikawa Jinja, so Rei was often busy with that, and when Makoto and Minako weren't busy elsewhere, or Minako wasn't out of the country for some photo shoot or another, they would help Rei out. Taiki often headed over to Ami's to help her study after prodding Yaten to go help at the Hikawa Jinja as well. Haruka was often to be found at the park running along the trail, working on her motorcycle or car, or just hanging out with Seiya.
One summer day, they both agreed that it was too pretty to spend the day inside, and too hot at the same time to do anything really strenuous. Their friends seemed to come to the same conclusion on their own, and soon they had arranged for a large picnic at the park next to the community pool. They set everything up in the shade of several sakura trees in full bloom and filling the air with their scent. Lunch didn't take too long, as many of them wanted to head to the swimming pool before it got too much later, and soon Seiya and Haruka were left sitting in the shade of the trees by themselves.
Haruka gave a small grin, shaking her head as she watched everyone head down to the pool with their towels and shed the clothes they wore over their bathing suits before diving in. Hotaru followed much more slowly as she kept a careful watch on Chibi-Usa, who could now toddle about with a certain amount of confidence. "Ever notice how they always leave us behind to finish cleaning up?" She asked as she worked at wrapping things back up and replacing the lids.
"Yeah, well.... I can't really say that I mind. It's a ready-made excuse to hang back for a few extra minutes and talk," Seiya explained as he helped her.
"You make it sound like there's something on your mind."
"Sort of..." Seiya finished replacing the last of the food items into one of the many picnic baskets assembled on the blankets before sitting back down and leaning against the tree and looking up at her. "What is it that you did all that time you were gone...? I know it was a hard decision and all, but couldn't you have thought about just as easily here?"
She gave a small sigh, turning her gave up the patches of sky visible through the branches and blossoms. "To tell the truth, I couldn't have. I guess... Well, you know how I am. I hadn't ever allowed my heart make decisions for me, even when it came to Michiru at times... and Nina. If I had, I doubt that I would be here any longer. So I had to get away from here, away from you to help factor that out and just give myself time to think without having so much of an influence from my heart. Plus, I guess... there were just some things I had to reconcile with myself." She gave a small smirk, settling down on the blanket a couple of feet away from him. "But I guess I did the exact opposite. I didn't realize it until the end of all my traveling - it's the reason I came back when I did. I would have stayed gone for much longer... I realized that all the places that I was traveling to were places that I had been to with Michiru over the years. So I gave up and let my heart make the decision for the first time since I killed that man..."
"Well... I guess that's understandable..." He smirked a little over at her. "I guess I can't really bring that up in any future arguments we may have, can I?"
She glanced up at him for a moment, then gave a small smirk. "No."
Seiya sat in silence for a few more moments before climbing to his feet. "Come on. Let's go join the others."
Haruka nodded her agreement and stood, the two of them walking together down to the pool. They shed the t-shirts and shorts they wore over their bathing suits - Haruka's a navy blue one piece and Seiya's a pair of red trunks.
Yaten caught sight of them and gave a teasing grin from his spot where he lounged in the sun. "Aw, now aren't you two such a cute couple..."
Haruka and Seiya just looked at him for a moment, not saying anything as Ami, Rei, and Taiki came up behind with him with water guns filled icy cold water and attacked. At the end of it, when he was shivering and drenched in the spot where he had jumped up, Seiya gave a small grin. "Yeah, I think we are." Then he dove into the deep end of the pool.
"Wow, Yaten... from how you act, I would have thought that ice water wouldn't really bother you... since you pretty much have it running through your veins."
Yaten just glared at Haruka until Rei gently wrapped a sun-warmed towel about his shoulders. He gave her a slightly surprised look, then smiled a little. "Thanks..."
Haruka smirked, sitting down on the edge of a lounge chair a few safe feet from the edge of the pool. After Yaten had had a chance to warm up, Rei gave a teasing grin and pulled the towel away as Ami and Taiki shoved him into the pool. He came up sputtering, only causing the three of them to laugh even more. Rei dove in after him, soon followed by Taiki. Ami looked over to Haruka and gave her a small smile. "Coming, Haruka?"
The blonde returned the smile with a faint one of her own before shaking her head. "No, I think I'll just lay out in the sun for a while... As long as you guys don't attack me like you did Yaten."
Ami laughed, shaking her head. "Of course not. It's just that Yaten usually doesn't join in with anyone willingly, and Rei had finally had her fill of it and decided to do something about it." With that, she dove into the water with her friends.
Haruka sat back and watched as she swam several laps down the length of the pool before joining the others in a game of volleyball. Hotaru got out with Chibi-Usa and walked over to Haruka, since that's where a bag of the little girl's things were. Hotaru settled down on the chair next to her, wrapping Chibi-Usa in a towel before getting out and preparing a small juice box and handing it to the pink-haired toddler. As she drank, Hotaru looked over to Haruka. "Are you alright, Haruka-papa?"
"I'm fine, Hotaru." Haruka gave her a small smile. "Quit worrying about me so much, you have your own life to live. Now let me watch Chibi-Usa for a little bit and you go and play with the others... the Dynamic Blonde Duo are at it again."
Hotaru looked out a the pool where the others played their game and Usagi and Minako dove for the ball at the same moment, colliding with each other. She gave a small giggle before standing up and settling Chibi-Usa down on the side of Haruka's chair. "I guess I'd better go balance out the blondeness..." She paused, looking down at Haruka. "And I'm not going to stop worrying about you. You're more a part of my life than anyone else here, you know that." She placed a faint kiss on the older woman's cheek before heading off to join the others.
Haruka looked after her for a few long moments and shaking her head. "That girl is far mature for her age..."
She heard a short, mocking laugh behind her and looked up to find Setsuna standing there in a dark green bikini. "Well, if that isn't the most hypocritical thing I've ever heard from you, Haruka." She smiled and scooped up Chibi-Usa who had squealed in delight as she recognized her, discarding the juice box and holding up her arms to be picked up. Setsuna settled down on the other side of Haruka into a dry chair, holding on to the smaller girl.
"Yeah, well... as you know, there were several issues that made me grow up a little faster than most."
"Yes, I know. I watched over all of you from the Gates. I wished that I could help you with all that you had to go through when you realized that you liked girls, even at that age. It was the first time I had ever seen you cry, Haruka, when your parents were so unaccepting at first. But you must remember, while the rest of you were reborn on Earth as babies and got to enjoy life to its fullest until you were awakened, Hotaru's life was darkened by events before she even became a senshi... and then when she was reborn, a second chance at early childhood was taken from her because of how quickly she grew up."
"I know... She holds something on her shoulders just the same as you, Setsuna... an extra weight that even as an outer senshi I don't really think I can imagine. But I just wish that I could help her with it, she deserves to be able to enjoy herself so much more than she does."
"Oh, Haruka... She is enjoying life more now than she was ever able to before. She's healthy and can do all the things that she wants... and she only wants to help lift some of the weight that you carry with you just as much as you want to help her. She, more than anyone else - even me, can fathom how you feel about Michiru and knows that the loss of Nina only made it that much worse for you. You two have a strong connection, Haruka, almost like sisters would." She looked out over the water at everyone playing. "Even you must have noticed that you two always know when something's wrong with the other, no matter how much you try to hide it from everyone. You've learned to read each other that well, better than anyone else could hope to. I think only the bond you had with Michiru might stand a chance in comparison." She grew quiet for a few long moments then smiled, looking back over at Haruka. "Now go play. It's as much for her good as it is for yours."
Haruka stared at her for a few long moments before shaking her head with a small chuckle. "Yes, mother." She rose and dove into the pool, swimming over to Seiya's team, since it was him, his two brothers, and Mamoru against Usagi, Ami, Minako, Rei, Makoto, and Hotaru. Makoto gave a teasing smile. "Well, I guess it's still kind of guys versus girls match..."
Haruka just smirked over at her as the ball was tossed to her to serve. "You're going to regret that..." With that, she hit the ball over the net with ease, neatly landing it in between Minako and Usagi only to have the two of them collide once more.
"Hey, no fair! Taking advantage of a handicap!"
Haruka tried to look innocent. "You guys have a handicap? But you have one more person than us, I would think that we had the handicap... What's the score anyway?"
Mamoru chuckled a little. "Eleven to eight, we're going to fifteen."
"That's not that bad..."
"You would think so," said Taiki, "but because of the blonde factor, we gave them a handicap of five points."
Haruka couldn't help but laugh as Usagi and Minako scowled. "Hey, I'm really good at volleyball, I was on the team at school! It's just that Usagi's so clumsy at everything that she's throwing me off whack by actually trying and only ending up with giving me a concussion!"
Everyone laughed as Hotaru swam forward and traded spots with her, putting the blonde in between Makoto and Ami. "There... I'm shorter than you, that way when Usagi dives for the ball, she won't hit me in the head." The others grinned and the game started up once more.
The game soon became a closer match with Makoto and Minako teamed up next to each other, even against the height advantage of Taiki and Mamoru being over six feet tall (though they periodically argued, with the help of Haruka, that this advantage might very well be cancelled out due to how short Seiya and Yaten were). It finally ended, though, when Taiki spiked the ball over the net after Haruka served, ending the game with a score of twenty-one to nineteen.
Hotaru got out of the pool and went to sit and play with Chibi-Usa while Mamoru tried to cheer up a pouting Usagi from all the jabs at her clumsiness earlier. Haruka got out of the pool as well and went to dry off. Then she sat down next to Setsuna once more to talk with her. Ami began her laps once more as Taiki sat at the edge of the pool, his feet dangling in the water as he timed her. The others started up various water games to help pass the time.
"So," Setsuna began with a smile, "how're things going with Seiya?"
Haruka looked to the pool to watch as the Seiya and Yaten hoisted Minako and Makoto onto the shoulders as the two girls began their attempts to knock each other down and Rei refereed, laughing all the while. "I don't want to get that close to him, Setsuna. I'm surprised I've allowed myself to get this close to him, to tell the truth..."
Setsuna's expression softened. "Haruka... can't you allow yourself some happiness? It seems you've been purposefully running away from it almost all your life... you even avoided Michiru for a while."
Haruka turned to her, her expression slightly hardened. She didn't notice that Hotaru had paused in rolling a ball back and forth with Chibi-Usa to watch their conversation. "I don't have to be able to see the future to know that he and I won't last, Setsuna. He only came here to find his princess, and then he'll leave. His duty to her, and love for his brothers... sisters, whatever, will outweigh anything we might ever have. I won't be the one to force him into such a decision. May the powers that be forgive me for this comment, but I would have even ignored my love to Michiru if it had come down to a choice between her or someone as close to me as those three are... If it had one day somehow happened that Michiru had decided that she rather fight against us, and she weren't under the control of the enemy... I wouldn't have hesitated in leaving her side to save you all. Sometimes your sense of right just out rules the heart. Every day now is like a battle of right over my heart. Even coming here was a small battle..." She shook her head and looked back to the pool as Minako was knocked from Seiya's shoulders. She pulled her gaze away and began pulling her clothes back on over her bathing suit.
"Haruka-papa?"
She looked down to Hotaru and gave a faint smile, leaning down to kiss the girl on the forehead. "I need to be alone right now, okay? But don't worry, I'm not going off somewhere to sulk... I just missed my morning run the past week because of the heat, and it's cooling off a bit now, since there's a storm headed this way." With that, she walked away, heading back toward where she had parked her motorcycle.
The others noticed the clouds gathering in the distance and began climbing out of the pool as well. As they were drying off, Seiya glanced over to where his things lay, next to which Haruka's was. He glanced over to Setsuna, who had settled down to play with Chibi-Usa as Hotaru dried herself off. "Where did she get off to?"
"Off to run. She said it had been too hot this past week and it was cooler now that a storm was blowing in."
"Eh... that girl needs to get herself a treadmill."
Setsuna laughed softly, but Makoto bonked him upside the head. "Baka. She doesn't run just to run... Not anymore, anyway. She needs to feel the wind." She smirked a bit as she slid her arms into the sleeves of a button-up shirt. "We Earth soldiers need to get in touch with our elements at times to feel at peace... Ami swims, Rei consults with her sacred fire, Minako has this thing for getting people to fall in love, and well... me, I can't very well touch electricity, so I fight - adrenaline is as close as I can get."
Hotaru glanced up with a small smile. "I can't really touch mine either... death and all, so I just sort of meditate... Though sometimes I do like to walk around in cemeteries..."
Yaten gave a small shudder as he walked over, clothed once more. "Morbid little kid."
Hotaru blew a raspberry at him, which made everyone laugh as they gathered around. Rei bopped him on the head before the two of them excused themselves and left, leaving their friends smirking at their backs. Taiki and Ami left so that she get in a couple more hours of study time before her finals started the next day. The remaining group headed back up to where they had picnicked, snagging snacks out of the baskets to munch on as they loaded things into people's cars. Soon the Chiba family left with Hotaru, who was spending the night.
Makoto punched Seiya lightly on the arm. "Don't worry about her. She'll be back at her apartment before the storm gets too bad, I promise." With that, Makoto left with Minako, her arm about her waist.
Setsuna looked after the pair before bringing her garnet gaze to rest on the slightly shorter Seiya. "She's still afraid of getting too close to you, you know?"
He sighed, lifting her shoulders into a small shrug. "I figured as much. She's probably afraid of the fact that I'll more than likely leave one day... But what can I do? I can't lie and tell her it's not a real possibility, and I can't force her to love me for the time that I will be here. I can only hope that she'll understand that I love her anyway, no matter what." He glanced up to the sky. "I'd better get going before it gets too bad..." He looked from the sky back to her with a small smirk. "I'm not the ace driver that Haruka is... Need a ride anywhere...?"
"Sure. I'm taking a small vacation from the Gates. Drop me off at Haruka's apartment?"
"Staying with her? Can you get in? It doesn't exactly look like there's anyplace to put a key in that thing..." He joked with a small gesture to her bikini.
She laughed softly as they headed to his car. "No, there's not... But the guy at the front desk will know me. Haruka always has a spare key there for when I drop by."
"Oh, great... Haruka has a beautiful woman that stays at her apartment for days on end..."
Setsuna laughed once more as she climbed into the passenger side of the car that he had opened for her, pulling her legs in before he shut the door and went around to his side, climbing in and starting the engine. "Whatever you have going through that perverted male mind of yours, stop it. She has a two-bedroom apartment, I stay in the second room. Besides, I love someone else and if nothing else, Haruka's faithful."
Seiya gave her a surprised look as they pulled out of the parking lot. "You're in love? With who?"
She looked out the car window, falling silent.
"Alright, I get it. None of my business... Well, whoever it is, I hope it works out for you."
Giving a small smirk, she glanced over at him. "It won't. But I don't mind... I can still be happy, though. So don't worry about it."
He looked at her for a long moment as he paused at a red light. It was a wonder what the people of this system were like. They would suffer endlessly just to see the ones they loved be happy. He looked away. The light changed, and he drove on.