Chapter 1: Coming to America
It was a bright sunny day as Michiru and her family made their way through the park. In her hands was a rather large picnic basket, her lover carrying their daughter on her shoulders while their house mate and friend walked along with them, talking to the young child and carrying the group's picnic blanket . After a few minutes of walking, they all came to a small clearing in the middle of the park, Setsuna laid out the blanket on the ground and Michiru began to place out the food. While Haruka and Hotaru went off and played in the distance.
As the young violinist sat there and watched her family play, she could not help but to feel a huge sense of happiness and fulfillment. She had found her one true love, she had a friend who she loved like a sister and together, they all helped take care of a young child who they all loved as id she were their own. What more could she ever want?
As she sat there in her sky blue dress, the young woman suddenly heard her 'daughter' began to cry and when she looked, she saw that Hotaru was on her knees and hunched over. Quickly, Michiru ran over to the crying child to see what was wrong...
"Hotaru..." Michiru whispered, "Hotaru what is wrong?"
"She.. she took it from me" the violet eyed child said in between sobs.
"Who took what from u?" the young woman asked with concern in her voice.
"Haruka-Papa..." she cried, " Haruka-Papa took it from me... and I though she loved me."
"Took what?" Michiru's asked, as a sense of dread began to fall over her.
All of a sudden Hotaru's clothes had changed and she was now dressed in her sailor fuku. Soon Michiru's concern was replaced with a sense of complete horror as she noticed Hotaru, or rather Sailor Saturn began to slowly fade away. "Why did Papa take it from me, Mama? Why? I thought she loved me?" the senshi of death asked in a pleading tone.
"Hotaru! Haruka does love you!" Michiru pleaded, as she felt tears swell up in her eyes. "She did not mean to hurt you! She loves you... I love you!"
"Like you loved me?" a new voice spoke up. When Michiru turned to see who it was, she saw that Setsuna was now dressed as Sailor Pluto and just like Saturn, she too was starting to fade away as well. "I trusted you... we trusted you! I loved you like a sister, I sacrificed my life to save yours and who do you do? You betrayed me and our daughter and after all we been through."
"Sets, please!" Michiru was all but crying now, "We are sorry... I am sorry!"
"I thought you loved me Mama? I thought you loved... me..." Saturn cried, as she faded into non existence.
"Hotaru! No!" the aqua hair woman cried, as she saw he daughter vanish in front her very eyes.
"She is gone..." Pluto whispered as she too faded away "and she is never coming back."
"No! No! No! Please! come back!" Neptune pleaded , as she now found herself all alone. Then, she began to notice that she to begun to fade out of existence, " NO! NO! PLEASE NOT AGAIN!" she cried in horror as her body, now clad in her fuku, began to fade away...
Michiru woke up with a start and in a cold sweat , as she found her self back in her air plane seat with her lover, Haruka. It had been almost 12 hours since they had left Tokyo on a flight bound for the United States and even though she had tried to sleep during the flight, the nightmares that had haunted her dreams for the last two weeks still followed her , even as the Boeing 747 that they traveled on cruised through the cool night sky. She just hoped that this trip would help her in some way.
Before leaving Tokyo the two senshi made sure that all of their affairs were in order. Michiru had pushed back all of her recording appointments for the next few weeks, saying that she needed some time to her self. While Haruka announced that she would not be taking part in a number of track meets that she was scheduled to compete in within the following weeks, saying that she also needed a break to have have some time to herself. They even ended up selling the same mansion that they had bought together just a few months earlier when they had adopted Hotaru and started a family in. But now with their new found guilt and shame, the two women doubted that they could ever recover the family that they had betrayed and lost. Hence they saw no reason to own such a home any more.
As the aqua haired woman looked around the air craft cabin, she saw that almost every one there was asleep, save for a few who were still up and were either working on a computer or were just unable to sleep and enjoying a night time meal. As she looked to her left, she saw that Haruka was still fast asleep and looked like she was very much comfortable. Just how was her lover able to sleep, Michiru did not know. But then again Haruka could sleep through an earth quake if she was tired enough. Right now her only main concern was trying to get back to sleep. They would be landing in Los Angeles soon and from there they would then take another flight to San Diego, where Haruka said that she had a cousin living there and that he agreed to allow them live with him while in America.
So with a heavy sigh, Michiru pulled her small blanket back over her and tried to get back to sleep like her lover. But if she had only looked at Haruka a little closely, she would have noticed the distressed look that would flash upon her face from time to time, or that she would mutter in her sleep 'I am so sorry , Hotaru...'
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The terminal at San Diego airport was crowed to say the very least, as Haruka and Michiru walked out of immigration and collected their suit cases. They had always heard that the airports in America had stricter security than in japan , but they were spared most of the security check points seeing that they were arrivals.
"Are you sure that he will be here?" Michiru asked, as she and Haruka walked through the crowded terminal with there bags in tow.
"I did tell Alex that we were arriving today" Haruka replied, "he should be here."
Just then, Haruka's eyes caught sight of a man with dark brown hair, was dressed in a dark blue T-shirt, black jeans and he held a dark cap in his hands. The dirty blond haired woman smiled a bit and called out in english, "Hey Alex!" The brown haired man saw Haruka, waved back and called out, "Haruka!" before walking to the two women.
"Michiru this is my cousin, Alexander. Alexander this is my girlfriend, Michiru." Haruka introduced them to one another.
"It is always nice to meet one of Ruka's relatives, Alexander-Kun." the violinist said, as she greeted Alex with a slight bow.
"Well it is an honor to finally meet the person who managed to capture my cousin's affection " Alexander replied with a friendly smile, "and please, call me Alex."
"Alright then, Alex" Michiru said with a smile, "I hope we are not inconveniencing you with us staying at your home."
"It's no problem, I have a few months home before I am deployed again. I do not see any other better way to spend my free time than with my cuz and her girl." he casually explained, "Well then, we should get going now. I am guessing the two of you would like to rest up after such a long flight."
The two women nodded in agreement, as Alex proceeded to help them with their bags and walked them out of the terminal. Where he told them to wait while he went to bring his car around to pick them up. A few minutes later, a black Jeep Wrangler 2-door pulled up in front the two women and Alex jumped hopped out.
"So this is your car?" Michiru asked, as she looked over the 4X4.
"Yep!" Alex replied with a smile, "So shall we be going?" The two nodded and after loading all their bags in, the trio was off and into the city of San Diego.
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"So I guess that they are really gone." Makoto commented, as she and the rest of the inners stood in front of a large mansion that had a for sale sign posted in front of it.
"Yea I guess." Minako added, as the realization that both Haruka and Michiru had left Tokyo slowly began to sink in. "I guess they must have felt more guilty than we thought."
"Well it would be a first for them." Rei replied, not making any attempt to hide her dislike for the now missing senshi. "If you ask me, them leaving was the best they ever had."
"Rei, now is not the time to be speaking ill about them." Usagi tried to reason with her friend, "They are truly in pain right now and all you can do is insult them while they are gone?"
"So what? They never once though of us as being fellow senshi and treated us as such and now because of their stupid actions they ran away!" the fiery miko countered, "If they were truly sorry for their actions then they would still be in Tokyo and accept their guilt. Thanks to them Setsuna left us and poor Hotaru probably has nightmares now. They probably didn't even say anything to the her before they left."
"But that does not mean that they are not human." Ami interjected, "Every one has a different way to deal with guilt."
"But they should have stayed and faced what they did, not run away and hope everything would be alright when they return." Makoto added, "and if we let them slide on this, then they would only go back to acting the same way as before."
All the girls just stood there in silence for a few more minutes, all of them chewing on their own thoughts about the two outer's departure and wondering what would happen when they finally returned. But finally they all left the former home of the outer senshi and made their way back to the bus stop.
They all had their own feelings about the two lovers leaving Tokyo and they all had their own opinions and views. But as they walked, Usagi could not help but to think of just what Makoto had said. If they were to come back to Tokyo and she accepted them back as if nothing had happened, then their was no doubt in her mind that Haruka and Michiru would start back acting as they always did as senshi.
It was then and there that Usagi realized that something needed to be done when they returned and as much as she hated to admit it...
Haruka and Michiru needed to be punished.