17

Haruka walked out of the shower, and went to her wardrobe. She put on some loosen, worn out jeans, and a red t-shirt, and then she combed her wet hair with her hands, checking herself in the mirror.

She smiled to herself.

She couldn't help but smile.

Less than an hour ago, she had made love to Michiru one last time, with the morning sun bathing over them, as they moved together, slowly, tenderly. And then they had simply laid there, holding each other close.

The sound of the house slowly waking up to the morning, had finally made Michiru decide it was time for her to go back to her own bedroom.

So the blonde had regrettably let her -not without kissing her deeply-, knowing they were still on unsteady ground towards each other to let the girls -or anyone else, for that matter- find them together.

The tall blonde woman made her way downstairs, and into the kitchen, to find Makoto over the counter, making pancakes for everyone's breakfast.

Hotaru was already sitting on the table, still wearing her light blue pajamas, vaguely drinking her milk, with a sleepy expression on her face.

Minako was sitting right next to her, a tea cup in one hand, looking at the young girl, amused at her tired, robotic actions.

Nephrite was sitting across from them, drinking his coffee and studying some papers he had in front of him. Haruka nodded her head to him, and kissed Hotaru's forehead, as the girl smiled up to her.

"Breakfast's almost ready" Makoto informed her, not looking up at her, concentrated on her cooking.

Haruka poured herself a cup of coffee, and was about to lean against the counter, when a soft meow got her attention. She looked at the sliding doors that leaded to the backyard, and there she saw a small black and white cat.

"He's back!" Hotaru exclaimed, looking at the cat too.

She jumped off her chair, smiling, and Haruka handed her a bowl for her to put some milk on. The girl hugged her, before getting outside to feed the cat, at the same time that a wide awake, jumping Hikari, still on her pajamas, came running into the kitchen, closely followed by an amused Michiru and a frowning Kunzite.

The little blonde jumped up to her mother, smiling.

"Good morning!" she exclaimed, encircling her arms around the tall blonde's neck "Can we go to the parade today?" she asked, excited "You promised we could go this year!"

Haruka looked at her brother, but before she could answer anything, Nephrite answered, more to the tall blonde woman than to the little girl "Too many people"

"It's a parade" Makoto said, turning around and looking at the brown haired man "Of course there's people!"

"And it's fun!" the little girl exclaimed, now jumping back to the floor, and to her frowning uncle "You wanna come too?" she asked him, taking his hand in her small ones.

He looked at his partner then. And Nephrite raised an eyebrow at him "Don't even think about it" he warned.

The silvery haired man looked at his niece, kneeling down "Not today" he said to her "Maybe tomorrow, ok?"

The girl frowned a moment, but then she smiled happily at him "Ok!" she exclaimed, and then she ran outside to Hotaru, where the black haired girl was petting the little cat.

Haruka looked at her brother "Be careful with what you promise" she said.

"What do you want me to say to her?" he asked, taking a seat by the table and looking tired all of a sudden.

"How about yes?" Haruka ventured, smiling sarcastically at him.

She walked up to the table, sitting right across from the silvery haired man, and looking directly into his teal eyes "You don't know for sure he's here at all, but yet you want to keep us all locked up here, for what?"

"It's called protection" Nephrite answered for his partner.

The blonde woman glared at him "It's ridiculous" she said "If he truly wants to find me, he will, with or without you here"

Nephrite growled at her, at she had to take a deep breath not strangle him.

Michiru came to the table, sitting next to the tall blonde, and handing her the forgotten coffee cup she had left on the counter.

Sensing the blonde's nerves about to explode, she put a comforting hand in her arm, looking into her green eyes for a moment. A small, soft smile she couldn't hide, briefly playing on her lips.

"Maybe you can come up with something?" she said, in the most friendly, cordial tone of voice she could master, looking at the men in front of her.

"Look, I get it, ok?" Haruka said, before neither one of the men could say anything "The parade and all those parties, too many people, too many chances of us getting separated. I get it. But I can't put everything on hold here" she said, hands up in the air, signaling the house in general "I need the electrician to come back and finish his job, the pipelines don't work on the third floor, and I need paint!"

"We can get the paint for you" Kunzite said "But you're not letting any stranger into this house until I say so"

"And what about us getting out?" Makoto asked, as she put on the table a plate with the pancakes "We need to go to town tomorrow" she said, looking at the tall blonde, who nodded her head at her.

Nephrite frowned "Forget it" he said "You don't have to do anything, except being safe here"

Haruka looked at him, turning to the side, a finger pointing at the smiling black haired girl outside "See that little girl there?" she asked "She looks fine now, and she is getting better. But I'm not risking the chance of her having another episode just because you don't feel like being a nice, responsible man"

"I am being responsible here!" Nephrite exclaimed "I'm trying to keep you all safe!"

"I'm the one responsible for her" she said to him "You do your job, and let me do mine. She has a doctor appointment tomorrow, and she's going. End of discussion"

With that said, she stood up and went outside, kneeling next to the giggling girls as they fed and pet the little cat.

Nephrite followed her with his eyes, frowning.

"She has some health problems" Makoto said to him, noticing his expression "Lung damage. We have to take her to the doctor tomorrow. She needs her medicine, and they need to run some tests..."

"We'll figure something out" Kunzite assured her, interrupting her. But when his partner frowned at him, he let out a sigh "Look man, she told me about the girl's problems, ok? And trust me, we don't want a sick girl to add to our problems right now"

"She doesn't look that sick to me" he argued.

"Are you familiar with asthma?" Makoto asked him. When he nodded, she nodded too "It's kinda like that. Imagine an asthmatic person having an episode in the middle of the night. What do you do then?"

"You call an ambulance" Minako provide, before any of them could answer anything "You have to let them take her to that doctor's appointment" she looked at Kunzite, knowing he was the soft one, considering it was his family on the line here "I'm sure one of you can go with them, and the rest of us could stay here with Hikari..."

Nephrite was about to say something, but Kunzite lifted his hand to silence him "We'll figure something" he simply said.

Outside, Haruka and Hotaru were sitting on the grass, as they both watch a happy little blonde girl playing around with the now happy, bouncing cat.

The black haired girl turned around and looked inside, at the men still sitting and talking on the table, and then she looked up at her guardian.

"Are we in trouble?" she asked her, a worried expression on her pretty face.

The blonde woman looked at her, frowning. But then she shook her head, smiling warmly "Of course not" she answered her "Why would you ask something like that?"

Hotaru looked back inside "Because they won't let us go out" she said, now frowning herself "They don't seem like bad people... but they want us here" she looked back at the blonde woman "So I just thought..."

Haruka smiled at her, an arm going trough the girl's shoulders, hugging her close "Don't you worry about it, ok? They're just doing their job, making sure the bad guys stay away from us"

"But you don't seem too happy about it..."

Haruka chuckled then "You're too smart for your own good, kiddo"