Several days passed with no word from Hotaru or Haruka. Finally, they both appeared at a New Year's Eve party at the mansion for pretty much everyone they knew. Their usual group of friends were there, along with co-workers of Ami, Makoto, Mamoru, and a few people Minako had been in a couple of movies with. Without any of the other party-goers noticing, they managed to get the former senshi together upstairs, away from the loud music and people below. Hotaru stood quietly by as Haruka started in on her explanation.

"Just to clear up any confusion there might be, I'm only telling you this because Setsuna has no problem with it, because she very well may not be back to see any of us until Earth freezes over - literally. As for myself, I feel that I've been fighting alongside a group of complete idiots since the outer senshi joined the inner senshi. For a group of people who claim to fight to protect love, you certainly have a knack for not noticing it when it's right there in your face."

Rei scowled. "Hey! Aren't you the one who kept trying to run away from the two people in her life that loved her when she-"

Makoto had the good sense to clamp a hand over her mouth. "Somehow, I think now would be a good time to keep your mouth shut, Rei," she said in a small whisper in her ear. "Haruka looks ready to spit nails as it is." She cautiously released Rei, then looked back to Haruka expectantly.

"I may have made mistakes in love in my past, but at least I faced up to my mistakes, and in the end, made up for what I did. But at this point, I don't think there's anything anyone can do to make this up to Setsuna. She was suffering for her love as it was."

Recent events and Setsuna's explanation of why it would never work out for her with the person she was in love with finally came together in his mind. "Setsuna's in love with Mamoru, isn't she?"

Haruka appeared too angry to reply, but Hotaru gave a little nod of her head. That was all it took for Mamoru to blush darkly, and Usagi to gasp, her hands flying up to her mouth. "Oh! And I went and teased her about standing under the mistletoe with him!"

Minako shook her head. "Kind of like rubbing her face in it, isn't it?"

"Especially with all those times we would sit there and constantly talk about Usagi and Mamoru being together..." Ami said with a small sigh, looking sadly at her friends.

"And Setsuna still hired Usagi and let her bring Chibi-Usa in to work with her every single day," Taiki pointed out, wrapping a comforting arm around Ami's shoulders.

Hotaru looked up at Haruka, then the two started away. Rei, sheepish about before, looked after the two. "Where are you guys headed now?"

"Hotaru's dad is having a party too, and some of the kids she's in the drama club with are supposed to show up, so I'm taking her home."

"Are you going to come back here?"

Haruka glanced over to Seiya. "I'm not sure."

"I'll go with you, then." With that, the three of them left. After some uncomfortable silence, the friends went back down stairs and tried their best to enjoy the rest of the evening, though none of them really did.

Nothing was heard for the next few days except that Yaten made a passing mention of Seiya returning home one the second for about an hour, then leaving with a lot of his things. Without any mention to anyone else, it was obvious that the two had decided to move in together. Nothing more was said on the subject, and the group saw nothing of each other for the next few days until they received word that Hotaru was having a birthday party. They all went, of course, but the only ones that seemed to actually be in the mood to enjoy themselves were those who were oblivious to the turmoil going on in their lives - namely Professor Tomoe and the teenagers that Hotaru had invited from school. The friends parted once again, and as more time passed, the more things seemed to return to normal.

Finally, nearly two weeks after Hotaru's birthday party, they received word that Seiya was arranging a sort of surprise party for Haruka at this cabin within the park. It was a building that had been built for this sort of thing, and it was set up within a grouping of trees, far enough from any trails to feel a little secluded. It wasn't hard to get the others to agree, and everyone showed up to decorate and set up tables for food and drinks as Seiya went to get Haruka on the pretense of just going for a walk by themselves.

Hotaru was assigned to watch out the window as the others waited in various hiding places, talking across the room to each other and occasionally daring to get up and get something to drink. "They're coming!" As everyone scrambled to make sure they could jump up on time, Hotaru darted to her spot behind a chair near the door.

The door opened, and right away, they heard Haruka. "Seiya, I really don't think that you're going to find a bathroom here-"

She was interrupted by Seiya flipping on the light, which was promptly followed by everyone leaping to their feet. "Surprise!"

Haruka was startled momentarily, then spotted Hotaru, narrowing her eyes at her in an attempt to look angry. "You know that I hate surprise parties..."

Hotaru simply blew a rasberry as the others laughed, and then wished Haruka a happy twenty-first birthday. The party got started around ten in the morning, they all enjoyed themselves until about one in the afternoon when they all helped to clean up, and the brothers took the presents Haruka had received out to Minako's car, who had volunteered to drive the two home later. They left the cabin to the next group coming in, and ended up going out to the lake to skate. It hadn't been planned, but luckily, there was a stand that had been put up to rent skates. After a couple hours of skating, they took a break from the ice and went to get hot chocolate from another stand that was usually there for the festivals and the winter-time activities that were always going on.

Seiya asked Haruka to stay behind with him, and Taiki and Ami volunteered to get the two of them a hot chocolate. She looked at him curiously, standing with her hands in her pockets just as he was, having returned their skates with everyone else so they could go find something else to do after warming up.

"Haruka... there's not a whole lot that I can promise you at this point except for the fact that I love you," he began, nervously pulling his hands from his pocket.

She smiled a bit at him. "I don't need any promises from you, Seiya. Fate will bring what it will. And... I love you, too."

He returned the smile, nervousness fading away. "That's why I feel I can do this..." Pausing for just a moment, he slowered lowered himself to one knee, then looked up to find a slow blush creeping up onto Haruka's cheeks.

"Seiya..."

Bringing his hands together, he opened the small box that he had been hiding in his hands after bringing it from his pocket to reveal a silver ring within, set with a sapphire surrounded by tiny diamonds. "Will you marry me?"

Her smile widened, blush lingering as all she could do was nod her head.

"Is that a yes?"

She chuckled, reaching down to pull him to his feet. "Yes, it's a yes."

He beamed and took the ring from the box, removed the glove she was wearing on her left hand and slipped the ring on to the appropriate finger. As soon as he had, their lips met in a kiss that lingered on to a point where their friends and wandered back down with their steaming cups of hot chocolate in hand. Minako grinned at the pair. "Are you two sure you need something warm to drink, or are you just going to take care of that for yourselves?"

Seiya blushed a bit and accepted a cup from his brother as Ami handed one over to Haruka. It was Yaten who seemed to take notice first, frowning as he looked over at Haruka, then to Seiya. "Please tell me you didn't."

"Yaten..." Seiya began almost warningly, telling him without any further need of actually saying the words to back off.

The others appeared confused until Makoto reached out and took Haruka's left hand. "Minako's the goddess of love, and I'm the one who spots the engagement ring..."

Usagi squealed and came over to look. She winked teasingly up at Haruka. "And you were telling me it didn't mean anything when I spotted Seiya at your house for the first time..."

Hotaru simply hugged the older woman, and any conversation going on amongst the former inner senshi died away as their attention was drawn to Taiki trying his best to break up an argument between his two brothers. Haruka and Rei both started over to help, then found themselves running forward as the smaller of the two actually launched himself headfirst at the other. There was a small scuffle before the two girls managed to reach in without getting hit themselves, grab at someone's shirt, then yank. As Makoto ran over to help Rei with a still furious Seiya, Yaten was spinning around to attack whoever it was that had pulled him away. Voices had started raising as everyone made an attempt to break up the fight, but silence fell as Haruka caught Yaten's fist before it made contact with her face. "Unless you intend on learning how to perform with only one arm that's not splintered into pieces, I suggest you watch who you swing that fist at. I have absolutely no reservations about hurting you."

Yaten glared for a few moments, and it almost looked like he was going to try and take her on, but he quickly spotted the others who surrounded him and backed down. "Nothing else seems to get through to you two. Do either of you realize that any day now we're going to find Kakyuu-hime and then go home?! It's where we belong!"

"I know that, Yaten, and I probably expect it even more than you do. But if you hadn't noticed, we're both capable of making our own decisions. See, while you may be content to be miserable for the time you spend here which could be any amount of time, the rest of us intend to enjoy our lives. And right now, Seiya and I actually happen to enjoy spending our time together. You seem to be the only one who preferred to have us restraining ourselves from literally killing each other."

"You would have thought that you had had enough heartbreak by now!"

Haruka smirked, shaking her head. "Nope, not enough. But I long ago decided that I couldn't always make my choices based on my fears of the future. If I had, I never would have been a senshi, never would have fallen in love with Michiru, or met any of you guys. And while you might think at this point that that would have been good thing, think twice. If I had never become a senshi, our fighting would have ended long ago, because Earth would have been destroyed."

"That's a little conceited, don't you think?" Yaten asked with a small smirk.

"Not actually," Ami said a bit shyly, causing all attention to be averted to her. "Well, Haruka's strength has proven a big help in many situations, but I think what she's referring to is her talisman. Without all three together, the holy grail would not appear to help create Super Sailor Moon, nor would Hotaru been truly awakened as a senshi. Without Super Sailor Moon and with the strength of two senshi missing, they would have won."

"Then there wouldn't be any planet for you to search for your princess on," Rei pointed out. She glanced to the rest of her friends and forced a small smile. "Does anyone else want to get out of here and go somewhere where it's warm?"

There was a general mumble of agreement as the group started toward where they had parked their cars. Seiya came over to join Haruka, who smirked a little down at him as followed after Minako and Makoto.