Uranus held her tightly and rubbed her back. "Don't worry," she whispered. "We'll find her and she'll be ok." She ran her hand through Neptune's hair.
Everyone felt horrible for their lack of protection. They all swore to protect the child and the failed a few hours after the pact was made. They all hung their heads in shame except for Sailor Moon.
"Come on, guys," Moon said. "We can't give up. Uranus and Neptune never gave up on us," she encouraged her friends. "What kind of friends would we be if we just gave up now?"
Jupiter, who had joined the other inners just a second before, spoke up. "She's right. We have to go after that daimon."
Venus looked at Jupiter in shock. "Jupiter, you're bleeding. What happened?" she asked as she walked over to the brown-haired girl.
Jupiter still held onto her arm though the bleeding had slowed tremendously. Her gloves were no longer the crisp white color they usually were, stained with her own blood. "I got hit but I'm fine. It'll stop bleeding in a few minutes." She wasn't absolutely sure that this was true but she wanted to reassure her girlfriend anyway. She smiled to enforce what she had said.
Uranus still held her crying wife. "Mercury, can you track it?" she asked quietly. She bent down and kissed the top of Neptune's head as Mercury pulled out her computer and went to work.
Neptune pulled back slightly from Uranus's embrace and looked at her through tear-filled eyes. "I'm scared, Uranus," she confessed.
Uranus brought her hand to Neptune's face and caressed her cheek. "I know, but you have to be strong. We'll get her back." Neptune hugged her again and she sighed sadly. "She'll be all right. I know she'll be ok," she whispered, trying to comfort her soldier of water.
"I got it!" Mercury yelled out. "It's at the park, near the high school." She closed the machine quickly and looked at Sailor Moon.
The young blonde nodded. "We'll have to go on foot. There's no time to wait for a ride," she said, forgetting that they had all driven to the palace. As much as they all enjoyed going places on foot, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, they didn't want to waste any time and driving would be faster.
"Umm," Venus started. "We don't have to 'wait.' We have our cars."
Moon blushed slightly. "Oh, yeah. Let's go then," she said as she started to leave.
Uranus bent down and kissed Neptune before running out to their car. The two got in quickly and led the rest of the team to the park. When they stepped out of the car, the only sounds they heard were sharp, piercing screams. Knowing that it was Kiseki, the pair ran off in search of their daughter, not bothering to wait for the others.
Kiseki was laid on the ground behind a bush. She screamed as loud as she could, hoping someone would come for her. She may have only been a few days old, but she learned quickly that if she screamed, someone came to her. The thing that had taken her was horrifying and had cut her as it ran with her in its arm. It had set her down roughly and left her there.
Neptune ran in what seemed to be the direction that the screams were coming from while Uranus stayed a decent distance back and kept a look out for the daimon, sensing that it was close. After just a few more minutes of listening and searching, Neptune spotted Kiseki. She made a beeline for the child but just as she reached the baby, the daimon jumped in her path.
"Neptune!" Uranus yelled, speeding up when she seen the beast attack her wife. She jumped up and kicked the thing to knock it off-balance, not knowing that it was standing directly in front of Kiseki. As the daimon fell, she noticed Kiseki lying on the ground just under it but it was too late to grab her.
The monster continued to fall in what seemed like slow motion to the two senshi. When they thought for sure that it was going to crush Kiseki, something happened to the baby that shocked the couple; a sort of force field surrounded her and the fiend "bounced" back up onto its feet. Or, rather, what you could call feet. They were more like a combination of a lion's paw, a lizard's claws, and a bird's feathers.
The other senshi, including Mars and Pluto, caught up to Uranus and Neptune just as Uranus ran over and started pummeling the daimon. They all watched as Neptune also started beating the hell out of the monster. Pluto took the incentive to go over and pick up the screaming child, trying to console her. After another moment, when Kiseki realized she was being held by someone familiar, she stopped crying. Cradling the baby in one arm and holding her staff in the other, she took Kiseki away from the area where her parents were fighting. She had never seen her friends so angry in her life but she couldn't blame them. She'd probably feel the same way if something had happened to her son, Daisuke.
No one moved as Uranus and Neptune took out their anger on the daimon. After a few more minutes of fighting, the monster disintegrated. Everyone was surprised; they had never seen that happen before. They usually had to use their planet powers to defeat a daimon.
Uranus and Neptune walked over to the rest of the senshi after realizing that Pluto had Kiseki. Neptune took her baby from her best friend carefully and seen the cut that was on her cheek. Taking her glove off, she pressed it lightly to the scrape to wipe off the blood.
Uranus looked over Neptune's shoulder at her child and felt relieved. She looked up at Pluto and smiled. "Thank you," she said to her, intending it for everyone. She looked down and ran her hand lightly over Kiseki's head.
Everyone's transformations wore off and they relaxed a little. Usagi walked over and looked down at her friends' child. "Is she going to be ok?"
Michiru nodded. "It's just a scrape," she said before she sighed. "That was too close."
Usagi nodded. "I don't know how they even got into the palace. I'm sorry, Michiru."
Haruka looked at her queen. "Well, it probably didn't have anything to do with the fact that they could go invisible," she said, sounding slightly sarcastic.
Michiru looked up at her wife. "Honey, be nice," she said as she took the blonde's hand, carefully cradling Kiseki in her other arm.
"Sorry, Michi," Haruka muttered. "I think we should take her home now. We need to get that cut cleaned up."
Setsuna seen that Usagi was going to probably have them come back to the palace but she thought that it would be best for the three to go to their house. Just before Usagi said anything, she said, "That's a good idea. She's probably had enough action in just one day to last her a while." She looked at Usagi and shook her head. "I have to talk to you two later," she said to Haruka and Michiru.
Haruka nodded. "Let's go, Michi. We'll see you guys later." She escorted Michiru to the car where they put Kiseki into her seat. When Michiru stood up, the blonde put her hand on her wife's shoulder. "You're bleeding," she said softy.
Michiru nodded. "So are you," she pointed out. She smiled lightly at the taller girl and took her hands. "I think we all just need to go home and stay there for a while."
Haruka liked the idea and nodded. She opened the passenger door for Michiru and helped her in, closing the door and walking over to her own door. Getting in slowly, she realized just how bad her leg hurt. Looking down, she was pleased to find that it was just a few cuts and some bruises, nothing that wouldn't heal in a few days. She checked her watch to find that it was already nine o'clock at night. She carefully drove them all home, where she helped Michiru take Kiseki inside.
Michiru took Kiseki into the bathroom in the guest's bedroom where she cleaned up the scratch on her cheek and put a bandage on it. Taking her little girl to her nursery, she changed Kiseki into a pair of clean pajamas and laid her gently in her bassinette. She bent over and kissed Kiseki. "I love you, Ki-chan," she whispered before standing up and walking across the hall to her and Haruka's bedroom. She heard the sound of running water and realized that Haruka was in the shower. She went into their bathroom, undressed, and joined the blonde.
They cleaned each other's wounds and then got out, drying off and putting bandages where they needed to be placed. Michiru felt a severe pain in her wrist and Haruka told her that she had probably sprained it, so the blonde wrapped it with a roll of her athletic tape. They dressed and went downstairs, Haruka sitting on the couch and Michiru heading to the kitchen for a glass of water. When she returned to the living room, she sat very close to her wife and leaned into her, resting her head on the blonde's shoulder.
Haruka wrapped an arm around Michiru's shoulders and felt how tense she was. "Wow, Michi. You got really worked up earlier," she whispered. She made Michiru sit up and turn so that her back was facing the racer. Haruka began massaging Michiru's neck and the aqua-haired girl moaned. "That hurt, baby?" Haruka asked, her voice shaking with concern.
Michiru shook her head. "No, it feels good," she whispered.
Haruka sighed in relief. "Are you all right? You've seemed kind of run-down lately." She stopped her ministrations and Michiru turned to face her, looking tired. "You look exhausted now," she said as she placed the back of her hand on her wife's forehead.
"I think it's because I've been focusing all of my energy on Kiseki," Michiru suggested. "I've read that a lot of mothers get really tired for a few weeks after giving birth, so I didn't think anything of it."
Haruka thought about this and considered it. It sounded reasonable enough and made a lot of sense. "Well, I want you to just take it easy for the next week or so. I don't want you to do anything strenuous. Let me handle everything." She ran her hand over Michiru's hair. "No going out, no concerts, no art shows. I'll stay home and take care of Kiseki. I just want you to relax."
Michiru smiled and chuckled. "Ruka, it's not that serious," she muttered.
Haruka gave her wife a serious, almost determined look. "It is to me. You and Kiseki are the single most important things in my life right now and I don't want to see you like this. I want my old, energetic Michiru back." She gave a small smile. "Ok?'
Michiru smiled again and gave a slight nod. "Yes, ma'am." She moved over and wrapped her arms around Haruka's neck, hugging her tightly.
Haruka hugged her back, feeling relieved. "I love you, Michiru." She felt her wife's embrace tighten a little bit.
"I love you, too," Michiru whispered. After a few minutes of not moving, she let go of Haruka and laid out across the couch, lying her head on Haruka's thigh. "Can we just stay down here tonight?"
Haruka looked down and smiled. "Anything you want, but only if you sit up for a second." When Michiru sat up, Haruka turned so that she could sit with her back against the arm of the chair and stretch out across the cough as well.
Michiru sat back between Haruka's legs and relaxed, leaning into her wife. She felt Haruka wrap her arms around her waist and smiled, placing her own hands on top of the blonde's.
"Go to sleep, baby," Haruka whispered into Michiru's ear. A little while later, both of them had fallen into a deep and peaceful sleep.
The next day, Haruka woke to find Michiru missing. "Michi?" she called out as she got up slowly. Her leg hurt worse than it had last night but that was to be expected.
"I'm up here, Ruka," Michiru said from upstairs. She was in Kiseki's nursery, changing the baby's diaper.
Haruka started going up the stairs slowly, still not fully awake. She peeked inside the nursery and found Michiru lying Kiseki back down in the bassinette. "She ok?" she asked quietly.
Michiru nodded. "Her scratch healed really fast. It's almost gone." She turned and faced the taller girl.
Haruka was a little surprised. "Really? I wish mine did that," she grumbled. She shook her head lightly. "Do you want anything for breakfast?"
Michiru smiled sweetly. "That sounds great, but I know you aren't cooking." Michiru played back the hilarious memory of Haruka's last attempt at cooking breakfast in her head. It ended with pancake batter all over the kitchen and even in the living room.
Haruka felt insulted. "Hey, it wasn't that bad. It could have been worse. At least it was just me and not me and Hotaru."
"Eesh, don't remind me," Michiru said as she cringed. She walked with Haruka back down to the main floor of the house. "What did you have in mind?"
Haruka chuckled. "I was going to go out and get something," she said.
Michiru smiled and nodded. "Ok. You can just get whatever you want. I'll have whatever you get."
Haruka smirked at her wife. "You know, for someone who isn't very picky about what they eat, you have the greatest figure in the world." She reached over and poked Michiru's belly lightly.
Michiru batted her hand away. "You've got no room to talk, honey." She leaned up and kissed Haruka before pushing her towards the door. "Now get going. I'm hungry."
Haruka laughed as she stood in the doorway. "I can't go anywhere. You pushed me out here without my keys."
Michiru looked over at the key holder that hung on the wall and sure enough, Haruka's car keys were hanging there. "Which ones do you want?"
Haruka walked back into the house and wrapped her arms around Michiru's waist from behind. "Doesn't matter," she whispered. She turned Michiru's face with her finger and kissed her deeply. The kiss ended in a fit of laughter when both of their stomach's rumbled. "I'm going, I'm going," she said as she grabbed a set of keys. She leaned over and kissed Michiru one last time before walking out the door.
Michiru smiled and waved as Haruka left the driveway. She went over to the couch and waited for her wife to return.
AN: Finally, I get chapter 5 up! I'm sorry it took me so long to get this up. I've had some other ideas for other parts of my "Kiseki Files" and I decided to start writing on them before I forgot them. There's probably only going to be two or three more chapters on this section as I want to write a separate fic about each year of her life. I figured that would be more fun and easier for the readers to distinguish. That way, you don't have to go through the ENTIRE thing just to find a certain time-period. Well, anyway, here's chapter 5. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review. Ja!
Kuro no Kaze