AN: This one's been on my mind a while, I had to break it up into several parts though. Here's how I imagine the outer senshi's first morning as one team. Expect more. I love their relationship so much!

Disclaimer: blah blah, renounces rights or whatever, blah…

Human Day One

Haruka and Michiru sleep in an unusually long time the day after the final battle with Eugeil. So long, in fact, that Haruka misses three calls from her manager about why she was not at the track that morning. And she knows Michiru is bound to have similar calls in waiting from the director of Mugen's student orchestra. She groans, tapping out a hasty text to her manager saying she's caught a nasty flu and then a similar text, which she reviews twice over for errors, to Michiru's director.

Her phone displays the time as being 9:45 in the morning. How the hell did we sleep so late, she thinks as she sits up and winces. Jesus-eff, that smarts. Her hand goes to her side – which is definitely still burnt and bruised from yesterday's fight. She carefully throws back the covers and rolls out of bed. She's still in yesterday's clothes. Carefully, she peels off the wrinkled shirt and examines her abdomen. Bandages.

"When did I remember to do that," she murmurs. Whenever she did, she managed to do a much better job than usual. The bandages covering her many burns and arrow wounds are neat and evenly wrapped; they're even tapped in a way she swears is professional. She checks on Michiru. There's bandages visible on her arms wrapped much the same way.

Of course, she realizes, smacking her face at her own stupidity. It was Pluto.

She'd been so exhausted after the time guardian had appeared that she barely remembers her saving them and then helping them home. She pieces together the rest of yesterday as she dresses. After co-piloting their helicopter home from the Aqua Cathedral, the mysterious time senshi had helped she and Michiru to their apartment, bandaged the burns and arrow wounds that riddled their bodies, and sent them off to bed.

Did she stay? Haruka wonders as she finishes buttoning her fresh shirt. We could use powers like hers if we're to prevent the destruction coming.

She hadn't dreamed of it last night, she realizes. That's a rare occurrence these days. Especially as their interactions with the inner senshi become more frequent.

She goes around Michiru's side of the bed before she leaves. They have a rule: whenever one of them stays over, they never leave without waking the other. She considers it especially important on these mornings after battles.

She bends down carefully, minding her injuries for once, and kisses Michiru's forehead. "Love?" she whispers.

Michiru smiles and leans up, eyes still closed, to kiss her in kind. Then she winces, as the pain from her wounds registers, and swears. "Why aren't they healed yet?" she complains, sharp eyes scanning Haruka for injuries. "And how are you any better than me?"

"You took more arrows than I did," Haruka remarks. "Which we're going to talk about later," They're going to talk about the whole battle later, Haruka decides. She can still see Sailor Neptune diving in front of Eugeil to save her, crossing a veritable firing squad in the process. Yes, they're definitely going to talk about it.

"Much later," Michiru says, settling back onto her pillow. "Went I've slept more…what time is it?"

"Ah…" She checks her phone again. "10:13"

Michiru groans. "I don't have to do anything today right?"

"Not unless another enemy makes an appearance," Haruka says. "But you'll feel better if you eat… should I bring you something?"

"Tempting," Michiru smirks. "No I'll get up in a bit."

"Okay," Haruka says, stealing one more kiss before she leaves. "By the way, I love you."

"I love you too," she hears Michiru murmur as she closes the door.

As soon as she turns around, she jumps, spotting the strange woman on Michiru's couch. Her long green hair obscures her face and trails all the way to the floor, and her lavender heels are still on her feet. She's wearing a matching lavender business suit that's severely rumpled from her night on the couch.

Sailor Pluto, Haruka realizes when she spots the henshin wand in the woman's pocket. So you did stay. Perhaps without meaning to, if the haphazard way she's fallen asleep is anything to go by.

She tip toes around the couch and through the living room to Michiru's kitchenette, slowly pulling a frying pan out from beneath the counter and then going to the fridge.

Michiru doesn't typically eat breakfasts. Too busy, she always says. And it's evident from the selection in her cupboards and refrigerator. She picks out the rice and the carton of eggs (both more than half empty) seeks out anything else of value on the shelves: cabbage… and, she grins, a pack of sausages hidden in the very back of the bottom shelf. That will serve her nicely.

She's nearly done frying everything up when Michiru emerges from the bedroom in shorts and one of Haruka's shirts. Haruka meets her eyes and holds a finger to her lips, gesturing to the still sleeping time senshi on the couch.

Michiru nods, stifles a yawn with her hand, and makes her way over to the kitchen. She grimaces as she hops up onto the counter.

"You said you were going to rest," Haruka observes.

"I thought better of it," Michiru whispers, eyeing the frying pan. "Add two more sausages on to that."

"Thought you hated these,"

"Not when I'm this hungry," she yawns, and glances over at the coffee machine in the corner. Her eyes light up. "I knew I loved you for a reason" she hums, eyeing the coffee dripping into the pot.

"Don't get up and pour it yourself," Haruka says. "Not until you stop wincing."

"I'll be healed up by tonight," Michiru insists. "Besides, I can walk just fine. In fact…" She lifts one of her bandaged arms up to eye level and slowly peels away the wrapping. "Yes – the burns at least are all healed."

Haruka is about to respond when a gasp from the couch catches their attention.

~TTWWSTW~

Pluto grips the garnet rod tightly in her hands as she takes in the red and black clouds overhead, generated by some massive black hole at the epicentre of the crumbling city. Slabs of stone riddle the ground along with bodies – shrunken, charred, and some completely fine save the sallowness of their skin and their unnaturally pale complexions.

Their hearts have been stolen, she realizes.

A deafening roar fills the space around her as the ground begins to rumble, rock and dust streaming up towards the clouds. She shouts as she spots the bright blue and red amongst the rubble – Sailor Mercury and Mars, and a ways off is Jupiter, in her dark green fuku, folded over a fallen beam. She doesn't see Venus, nor Neptune and Uranus. Nor…no…it isn't quite time for her yet.

Soon, the ever-present awareness of time and its unchangeable events echos in her mind.

But it's all happening now? She thinks confused, sprinting through the rubble. She can see, within the black hole, a light growing brighter and brighter. It's time now.

But her awareness of time is never wrong. She must surely be seeing things, for it continues to resound an unchanging Soon, soon soon. Not now…soon.

Then how am I experiencing this? Unless…

Unless I'm dreaming, she thinks. Just as she realizes it, the light within the black hole explodes outwards, silencing the roar in the air and overwhelming her vision.

She gasps, shooting upwards. She has been dreaming… but only those who slept dreamed…and in the time dimension she has no need to.

I fell asleep, she thinks, heart pounding. She never has, not in her entire memory of keeping watch over the doors. How utterly irresponsible, she feels the need to confess this transgression welling up in her. As soon as she sees the Queen next she shall have to kneel before her and confess her failings. She deserves a better guardian than me.

"Well someone was sleepy," a low voice chuckles and Pluto whips her head around to face the intruder to the time dimension, then blinks once, twice, and rubs a hand over her eyes. Oh.

She's in linear time: 10:45 JST, in Kaioh Michiru's residence, Juuban, Tokyo, Japan, Earth... She processes all this as she swings her legs over the edge of the couch and stands, using the back of the furniture piece for support.

The speaker, Uranus (no, Haruka), and her companion (Nep…Michiru) are both smiling warmly at her.

"Sorry," she says, voice hoarse. She clears her throat. That's strange, does sleep always do that?

"Do you want some tea?" Neptune (Michiru!) asks. "Or we have coffee as well."

"I've uh…never tried either," Pluto says, wrinkling her nose. Something smells…good.

"Get her coffee," Haruka says glancing up from something she's doing to survey Pluto. "She looks like she could use some."

"Why?" Pluto asks.

Haruka and Michiru both frown, looking at each other and then Pluto. "Yah know," Haruka shrugs. "Cause you just woke up, and you look tired…"

"I'm fine," Pluto rushes to say, releasing her hold on the couch. She struggles not to sway on her feet. "I do apologize. I didn't intend to fall asleep here…I had not considered the physical toll inhabiting the primary dimension would enta…" Haruka abruptly points a flat-ended cooking stick (a spatula) at her and raises one eyebrow. "It's fine. It isn't like the enemy knows where we live," she trades a concerned look with Michiru. "Unless Eugeil told any others about our identities…"

"We'll just have to be on our guard," Michiru sighs.

"And I should still be on guard," Pluto insists.

"Relax," Haruka says. Pluto is weird, she decides. "We're human. Sleep is a requirement. As is food. D'you like eggs? Sausages?"

"Uhhh..." she considers, struggling to identify both words within her vast expanse of knowledge.

"Or have you never eaten those either," Haruka chuckles and turns to Michiru to see if it's gotten a laugh out of her too.

But Michiru isn't looking at Haruka. She's got her head cocked to the side as she takes in Pluto's wrumpled clothes…how she fidgets…how she's trained her eyes on the frying pan and is staring so intently at it.

"When's the last time you ate a meal?" Michiru asks.

"185,191 days ago…Earth days, I mean." Pluto says.

Haruka blanks "That's…ah..."

"507 years, four months, and two weeks ago." Pluto supplies.

"I eat five times a day," Haruka stammers.

All Pluto does is shrug. "Chibiusa came over for tea." And when neither of them can think of something to say for long minutes Pluto continues to explain. "It works differently for me – in the time dimension. I have no need of food…or sleep. In fact… and she looks down at the henshin wand. "I was… I mean I appeared here with this wand just yesterday. It is, to my extensive memory the first time I have retired my transformation since taking up my post. Perhaps an unforeseen consequence of dying via Time Stop…" her voice trails off as she realizes both Michiru and Haruka are staring at her with wide eyes. She feels herself blush. Strange. She identifies the feeling as embarrassment and reacts by squaring her shoulders proudly and lifting her chin. "So no, I've never tried eggs. They're a human food and I, unlike the rest of you, am the eternal senshi of time. So I am not human, not really."

She sounds so smooth and confident, Haruka thinks, trading a glance with Michiru can she not tell how sad and… bullshit that sounds. "Well you're human now," she says, plating up the food. "And these are delicious."

"Go sit at the table," Michiru directs, waving Pluto towards the small dining table by the wall. There are two chairs. "Take one, Haruka can borrow the chair from my desk." She decides, sliding off the counter and wincing. "I'll pour the coffee."

They're all seated in short order. Haruka is set on inhaling her food while Michiru approaches hers in a much more graceful fashion, both have one eye on Pluto as she picks delicately at the rice and eggs (having turned her nose up at the sausage). Each bite appears to renew the stunned expression on her face.

Indeed, Pluto considers the flavour in each bite thinking it's even better than the tea she once shared with Chibiusa. Has she ever truly eaten? Of course I have…just too long ago now to remember. The eggs are delicious. The rice is delicious. Even the cabbage, which seemed a bit droopy, is delicious. She longs to inhale it as Ur-Haruka does. But what kind of impression would that give…I am their guest. Indeed, I should play my role.

Eternal guardians of time shouldn't inhale their food. She decides. And such pride is all that keeps her from racing Haruka through breakfast.

"So," Haruka says through a mouthful, leading Michiru to smack her. "You gotta real name."

A real name? "I have always been Pluto."

"Oh come off it, I've always been Uranus too but I'm Haruka when there's nothing to fight."

"And you're hardly Pluto now," Michiru says.

Pluto pauses, setting down her chop sticks, and considers. "When I awoke yesterday, I found a card in my pocket with an alias that I used to get around for the day." She pulls it from the pocket of her suit-jacket and passes it to Michiru. "But it's never been my name."

It's a national ID card. Michiru checks it over on both sides, as legitimate as her own. "Meioh Setsuna," she murmurs. "And it lists your birthday…as yesterday."

"Fine way you decided to celebrate," Haruka throws in "So this thing says you're…25."

"I'm a fair bit older than that," Setsuna scoffs. "I've guarded the time doors since the dawn of time, as I shall guard them until the end."

Christ, she's so serious, Haruka thinks as an awkward silence evelopes the table.

Even with our own destiny what it is, how can her fate be so cruel, Michiru thinks. Her hand seeks out Haruka's beneath the table. She's suddenly grateful for every one of the senshi injuries she's taken with her to school and practice if they mean she gets to be human while she suffers through them.

"Anyways," Setsuna says after a time, setting down her bowl and downing another large gulp of coffee. "Thank you for your hospitality…but it's time I returned to my duty," she says. And she rises from the table, pulling the henshin wand from her pocket.

"Wait!" Michiru says, "you can't have been away long, surely you should stay a bit longer."

"To help us with this enemy," Haruka suggests.

"It is a tempting offer," Setsuna says. "But truly I know not how long I have been away – I recently died in battle in the future and it seems I was reincarnated here. I knew I would have to be at the Aqua Cathedral to help you and did so – but I have been absent from the time doors for an undetermined amount of time and I do not know what evils will have taken root there in my absence.

"But…" Haruka protests. "How much trouble can a set of doors really get up to?"

She flushes when Pluto raises an amused eyebrow in her direction before Michiru steps in with her own more reasoned argument. "Then why were you reborn here."

"To help you,"

"Yes but as a senshi of time…surely you already knew you'd have to do that."

"It was one of my few confirmed interferences in linear time." Setsuna confirms.
"Well then," Michiru gestures back to Setsuna's half finished breakfast. "Couldn't you have been reborn in the time dimension itself – or back in the 30th century – and still made it here.

Setsuna freezes, Henshin wand still clutched in her hand yes why didn't that happen…surely it would have been far easier for Serenity to reincarnate me into her own time… "Um.."

"You may have been reborn here for a reason," Haruka insists. "Stay and be human for a while – we could use the help preventing the destruction that's coming and keeping Usako from meddling in it. We keep having these dreams."

"The Messiah of Death is approaching," Michiru says. "We need to prevent it…and we could use time on our side."

They have no idea, Setsuna says, at last returning her Henshin wand to her pocket. They've no idea that the future Queen's integral to it all…or who the Messiah of Death is, and does…goodness they act like the inner senshi aren't even on their side.

Maybe I should stay…what good are the time doors if these times are much more turbulent. I should guide them.

"Alright," she decides. "I can stay…just for a bit."

"Good," Haruka announces. "Then finish your breakfast Meioh-san"

It sounds strange from a fellow Senshi. "Call me Setsuna," she says, reaching once more for her coffee.

"Of course," Michiru says. "We should probably spend the day getting you set up here – my couch is certainly not a suitable residence and," Haruka spots the mischievous glint in her girlfriend's eyes and groans when she hears next. "Are those your only clothes?"

I'm going to need a bigger boot for the car this time, she thinks as Setsuna nods in answer. She's going to drag us around half of Tokyo.

But, she glances out the window. It's a beautiful day. And even if she's carrying shopping bags, at least she's human to appreciate it.

And Tokyo is huge, and bright and teeming with life, she smirks as she watches Setsuna finish off her coffee. Their newest team member is in for a hell of a culture-shock.

"So can you tell us anything about the future, Setsuna?" she asks.

The time senshi smirks. "Not a bit."

"Not even who wins the next football match-up?"

"Haruka," Michiru sighs.

"I won't help you gamble," Setsuna chuckles.

"I wasn't asking anything of the sort," Haruka lies, crossing her fingers behind her.

Her girlfriend then starts in on what Setsuna's favourite colors are, patterns, skirts verses trousers, and whether she's heard music before – she hasn't – and seems to forget her injuries for the first time that morning. Haruka grins. Michiru clearly is excitedto have Setsuna around.

She's still weird, Haruka decides. But it'll be fun teaching her how to be a person.