Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
The Second Story

AN: So I was talking Sailor Moon with my friend Midnight, and we were bitching about the general lack of PGSM outers fic. So we decided to write one. Enjoy.

London, Winter, Two Years Ago

Michiru felt as though she and Haruka were drifting apart. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was that was bothering her so much about the nature of their relationship, but the two of them seemed to spend more time away from each other than together these days. It was nearly Haruka's birthday and Michiru could count on her fingers the times that they'd seen each other since Christmas - which was rather depressing, since they lived together.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, cradling the phone closer to her ear as Haruka told her excitedly the details of the race she was going to be participating in two days from now. This race could make of break her career, as far as Michiru could gather, and Michiru was trying to be as supportive as she could from the safe distance of England. Haruka had already left for Africa the day before, leaving Michiru alone in their apartment with her feelings and the precious little that she could decipher from Neptune's memories about the past.

So far, Michiru had nothing, nothing solid that she could work with and no more than few fleeting glimpses of past splendor and a sense of dread to base her actions upon. All in all, it was just a bad situation.

Her other phone, the one that only her agent had the phone number to buzzed and Michiru opened it up to find a text message with some information about yet another teen-pop sensation that Michiru should consider preforming with as a way to start to insert herself into the more commonly listened to, and therefore better-selling markets of the music industry.

Her agent had been bugging her more and more recently. His latest thing was asking her to work with some Japanese and now international pop-idol who actually had musical talent on a few instrumental pieces that the young idol herself had written. His way of selling the idea to Michiru was saying that it would help her popularity among the youth of her father's native country; something that Michiru could have cared less about.

Michiru didn't really want to work with anyone from the 'pop' label of music, she'd worked with younger, more 'poppy', musicians before, and found them rather boorish, not to mention downright obnoxious at times; but there was something catching about this nineteen year old girl's songs that made her think twice.

That and the fact that she was so obviously Sailor Venus that Michiru thought she'd been slapped in the face when her agent had first suggested a duet. C'est La Vie? Michiru spoke some French, but she didn't need to be a rocket scientist to break down the way that one would say the name and chorus of that song in Japanese to realize that Aino Minako had written a song about her past self. It was something that Michiru was not ready to do, and Neptune's spirit seemed to be against, this duet, so Michiru had begged off from her manager, putting it off. She asked Setsuna about it, about the implications of her actions should she make contact with the inner senshi - only to be stonewalled once more. The cryptic woman said nothing other than that she should follow her heart and not forget her mission.

Michiru thought that Setsuna was trying to help her, really, while it was Pluto who was purposely trying to steer her off course and away from the logical process of her thoughts. She sometimes found it hard to remember that Pluto, along with herself was at war with her current, more modern, personality. The personality of Meiou Setsuna was something that Michiru had only seen glimpses of in the five months that she'd known of her destiny - and Michiru had learned quickly to heed the advice of the wise young woman with immortal eyes.

In a way, Michiru wanted to meet this girl, Sailor Venus. She was no stranger to Aino Minako's music, and she was curious who the person that Venus always sang about was - for Michiru had always thought that it was probably the princess she was pledged to protect. Some of those songs, however, seemed to speak of the sort of love that Michiru was herself struggling to reject. Being chained in by the past was not somethign that she wanted.

She would have to meet Aino Minako and see what she had to say about it.

She rang off with Haruka a few minutes later and turned to find Sailor Pluto standing before her in full uniform. Michiru jumped nearly ten feet in the air as she caught sight of the dark-haired woman, letting out a surprised squeak as she scooted backwards in her chair in her hurry to not look as though she'd just been taken completely by surprise by Pluto's sudden appearnance.

Michiru hated it when Pluto did that.

"Transform," the woman said with a distant smile. "You get to meet your partner tonight."

Michiru blinked, and then hurriedly called out the phrase that would allow her to materialize the sailor uniform and truly harness the power of Neptune once more.

Who would this one be? Uranus? Saturn? She wasn't sure, but she was curious to meet this new person. Pluto was gone by the time that Neptune was fully transformed, and Michiru quickly honed in on Pluto's magical signal and followed it out over the city. She eventually stopped in the park where she'd first awakened as a senshi. There were two strong presences here, and the weaker power of one of the creatures that they were supposed to be killing off in order to prevent the silence (how, Michiru still had yet to see).

"Pluto," she said, stopping just at the edge of the pool of light provided by the street lamps scattered sporadicly around the park.

"Neptune." Pluto responded curtly. She nodded her head to the tall figure of a woman behind her, "This is Sailor Uranus. She's going to be your new partner in your endeavor to stop the silence."

Neptune blinked and nodded, bringing a gloved hand to her mouth as she took in the tall blond woman that had stepped into the light. This was the lover than she'd forgotten, the face that she could not remember. The beautifully handsome face of a woman that Michiru had been struggling to remember for months now.

She lost all control of herself then, and pushed forward, into the light, into that woman's arms. She felt safe there, protected by an insurmountable force that would never fail to stand in her defense. Inside, Michiru is scream, telling Neptune to back the fuck off, that she doesn't even know this woman, and acting as though she's some sort of wanton slut is no way to earn anyone's respect. She already has someone she's in love with, and Neptune and the past life can just take it and stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

And yet she can't do anything. She was powerless against the emotions washing over her face, her heart, her very psyche.

She wanted this.

"Hello." Uranus said, her voice friendly, if a little taken aback. "I didn't know this was how the senshi greeted each other."

Pluto made a short that sounded decidedly like laughter, and rolled her eyes. Michiru saw her do it, and glared back as best she could while not moving out of Uranus' arms.

Well, this was awkward.

Neptune was in full control by then, but Michiru forced her own control over her past self's memories and emotions, enough to push away from Uranus. "I'm very sorry. I don't know what came over me. I'm Sailor Neptune." She offered her hand, "I guess we're going to be working together."

Inwardly, Michiru groaned. The fact that she had a face - a positively gorgeous face - to attach to the nameless lover from the past did absolutely nothing to make the situation any less awkward. she was going to die of embarrassment, she was sure of it - and the constant temptation of being around this person who she was so sure was part of the greater puzzle of the past life and her memories from that time was going to make working with Uranus harder than anything else.

She swallowed, hoping that she was ready for whatever it was that the future brought.