Author's Notes: I haven't disappeared! I hope you are all enjoying the torment. I promise, it will get better, I just won't promise when. ^_^ Thank you for all your wonderful reviews! It's wonderful to see so many people enjoying it as much as I am!
The usual disclaimers apply. I do not now, nor have I ever, nor am I ever likely to own anything related to Sailor Moon.
"Setsuna-mama? Where's Haruka-papa? Isn't she supposed to come by?"
Setsuna looked over at the clock, a frown crept over her face. Eleven already? "Yes, she was." Haruka was probably already at the track and had forgotten to pick up Hotaru. The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth. From the moment they'd met, Haruka had doted on the girl, spending enough time with her that the older woman was considering looking into a house so they could all live together. That the blonde would have forgotten the younger girl seemed off. Not expecting an answer, she picked up her phone and dialed Haruka's number.
Her frown deepened. "Hotaru, how about we go to by the track to see if she's already there?"
Instantly, purple eyes brightened and the girl nodded. "Yes, please!"
Standing at the fence, the green-haired woman saw no reason to head into the office. Haruka's car wasn't anywhere on the track. No one was. She crossed her arms and stared at the empty stretch as if something would change. For several long minutes, nothing did.
"She's not coming."
Startled, she turned to look down at her now adoptive daughter. She'd left the girl at the car, already suspecting she wouldn't find the blonde racer but not wanting to fully crush hopes until she had to. "Hotaru?" Was this another of Saturn's abilities shining through? There was so much about the younger soldier that she didn't know. Her relief bubbled over into a chuckle as she saw her phone in the young girl's hand. "What did she say?"
"She's didn't. Aino-san called and said that Haruka-papa's sick."
Setsuna's frown returned. "So, you didn't speak to Haruka-papa?" Black hair bounced in the negative. She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Well, no point in staying here then."
"Are we going home?"
The older woman shook her head. "Not just yet." Her words were distant as she tried to decide if hunting down the other Outer Senshi was a good idea. She didn't like the idea of Minako tending to a sick Haruka. First, the woman was an unrepentant flirt when she was well, when sick her natural charm wasn't tempered by her ability to take care of herself. Second, and perhaps even more critical, she wasn't entirely sure if Haruka would say something she wasn't supposed to.
Her stomach remained traitorously calm. Her mind tossed around ideas quickly, things that could go wrong, complications that could be caused by Haruka's lack of discretion. Perhaps she was being unfair. Or was it she was hoping for Haruka to accidentally spill something?
She stopped short in the abandoned parking lot, causing Hotaru to pass her by a few paces before realizing she'd stopped. Garnet eyes stared past the blacktop. They needed information. Uranus couldn't wake Venus, but if Venus were already awake and aware within Minako, then perhaps a Uranus with her guard down was a good idea.
"Setsuna-mama?"
The voice was distant, echoing in her head absently. Oh, she was going to get it for this, but maybe just maybe Uranus would forgive her.
"Setsuna-mama?"
The green-haired woman blinked and shook her head, trying to clear the fog from it. Things would have been far more clear if she could have gone to the Time Gate, but she couldn't afford that right now. She would have to settle for the feelings it gave her, the pressures to act or not act.
"I'm sorry. I was just thinking."
"Are you ok?"
She nodded and smiled. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you. Now, how about we go shopping, hmm? Since we both know Haruka-papa doesn't enjoy that. Then you can spend time with her when she's feeling better."
Hotaru tilted her head, "We're not going to check on her?"
"Oh, we will, but I think it best if we wait a bit. We wouldn't want you catching whatever it is she has." She smiled slightly, "Aino-san will take good care of her. They've been friends for years." The teenager nodded, seeming to accept the explanation at face value.
Forgive me, Uranus.
##
The Moon Princess was having another birthday. It was an uncomfortable thing, wishing she were there. The pull the younger girl had on Uranus had awakened something else in the older soldier. Longing. It wasn't that being alone was easy, but when one lacked a comparison, it was bearable. She turned away from the monitor, clenching a fist and shaking her head. Measured breaths. Measured breaths were best. She hadn't been in love with the princess. That much she knew. But she could feel love radiating from her. That love broke through the wall she'd built around herself and there was the problem. She needed that wall.
"Watching her is an amazing thing. Isn't it? She's going to grow up to be a splendid ruler." The warm, gentle voice was startling in the silence of space.
Uranus spun around even though she knew who it was, in part because she knew who had intruded on her solitude. "Is there a threat?" The non sequitor seemed a more appropriate discussion than the princess. Certainly a more comfortable one.
Aqua hair bounced, teasing Uranus's senses, as the soldier shook her head. "No. I just knew you'd be watching her party, as I had been. I knew you felt as I did." The shorter woman clasped gloved hands delicately before her and looked up at the monitor.
Uranus shook her head, wishing she didn't feel as she did. Wishing she could take the other soldier in her arms to ease the ache. It wouldn't be fair, to use her though. Even less so as it would condemn the innocent soldier to treason as well. She tried to focus on the princess, on the monitor, but her mind kept being drawn to her companion. Looking over, she realized that the blue eyes were on her again, shining over smiling lips.
"What? I didn't say anything."
Neptune chuckled. "You don't have to. I know how you feel."
"No, you don't."
"She is a ruler of love." The shorter woman had turned back to the monitor, a reprieve Uranus was all too happy to accept. "I know you feel it too. She will rewrite the rules. She will unite our solar system as it has never been united before."
"You know I don't like it when you go all Pluto on me. Did you see that in your mirror?" Her tone left no room for misunderstanding her irritation and disbelief.
Neptune laughed warmly. "No, I didn't, but I can feel it none the less." Uranus stiffened as Neptune walked up to her, placing her hand over Uranus's heart. Neither of them were laughing now. "She has changed us, Uranus. She will change the universe."
She shook her head, stepping back and away from the temptation. They'd never discussed their love lives, and while Uranus knew her own preference, she wasn't sure of Neptune's. Couldn't allow herself to be sure. The doubt that Neptune felt the same way was the only thing that had kept her in check for the past six months.
She watched Neptune's face drop slightly as her hand returned to her side. Clouded eyes turned to the monitor. Uranus fought the urge to act on the desire to make the sapphire eyes shine brightly with desire. Her inner turmoil was disrupted by Neptune's words. "Love is a strange thing. I hadn't realized how powerful hers was. How powerful love could be." Neptune shook her head again in a movement Uranus knew intimately, one they were both perfecting. "When you're ready, I'll be waiting."
Before she could ask what the shorter girl had meant, Neptune was gone, leaving Uranus in her command room alone with her monitor and the image of Princess Serenity's laughing face as she clutched a plush toy to her chest.
"Neptune," she whispered.
Haruka winced as her eyes were assaulted with light. She tried to shield them with her hand but unless her fingers were completely pressed against her eyelids, they might as well have been transparent.
"Good morning." The chipper voice seemed even more harsh this morning. Haruka's soggy mind began to register that it had been more shrill.
"Morning," she groaned. "A little mercy, here?" Not that she fully believed she deserved mercy. She had, after all, come home from whispering prayers she knew her princess couldn't hear to drinking herself sick. Apparently not sick enough to not dream, though. She'd have to try harder.
In response, she felt the bed shift with the weight of her roommate. Haruka reached for the covers only to find them stuck. She tugged harder, but the motion hurt her head more. She gave up and pressed her hand against her eyes instead.
"You know, when we broke up, you told me you weren't a cheater." The voice wasn't shrill now but dejected.
"I'm not."
"Then why do you have someone calling you Haruka-papa?"
Her hangover immediately became the lesser of Haruka's worries. She opened her eyes wide only to shut them tightly again. "Hold on. Please, just, let me sit up." She grunted as she did so, struggling as Minako refused to stand up to make it easier for her.
Once sitting, Haruka risked a glance at the younger blonde. Minako sat staring into her lap and the phone she held in her hands. Haruka's phone.
"I never cheated on you."
"Who is she?"
"Hotaru?" She paused, trying to figure out how to explain things to Minako, realizing that no matter what she could say, just the way she referred to Hotaru was damning enough. Haruka sighed heavily. "She's a teenage girl who lost her family. She's been kind of adopted by one of my sponsors-"
"Meioh Setsuna."
She nodded, "By Setsuna-san," she was grateful that the honorific would aid her lame attempt at normalcy. Though she wasn't sure exactly how effective that would be at this point. "And she's taken a liking to me. She likes to watch me race and I enjoy spending time with her. She's less a daughter and more like a little sister."
"Why are you lying to me?"
Green eyes blinked quickly, squinting as she held her temples. "Lying?"
"What aren't you telling me?"
"Minako-chan, I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't been lying to you." Technically, that was true. She'd always been very careful not to lie to the blonde. Misdirection, half-truths, omissions, but never outright lies. Even her description of her relationship with Hotaru wasn't a lie. She'd accepted the mantle of Haruka-papa more out of deference to the respect Hotaru gave her than any desire to be the girl's father. Not that she would shy away from filling that role. The girl deserved more than she'd been given. The fact that she'd aged eight years overnight might have had something to do with it as well, but Haruka filed that under the omissions category.
"Yes, you are! You have been since, since, since I'm not sure when but you have!" Tears burst forth from Minako's eyes and despite her headache and the surprise at the accusations, Haruka reached out to comfort the younger woman. Minako slapped her hand away. "No! Not until you tell me the truth!"
"The truth about what?" She regretted the question the moment it left her lips. She watched the transformation on Minako's face, felt the air go out of her lungs before the other woman had even responded. Whatever was coming next was far worse than her pseudo-fatherhood.
"Who's Neptune?" The tears still flowed, silently now. Facing her now was the cold stare of Princess Serenity's personal bodyguard and double. While not in uniform, there was no mistaking that expression. "Who's Neptune and why have you been calling her name for months?"
"Months?" The response came out as nearly a squeak. Not one of her finest moments, but then again, when she'd taken Minako to her bed, she hadn't realized she'd have to worry about what past-life insanity she might vomit forth in her sleep. She hadn't known she talked in her sleep that much. None of the women who'd ever warmed her bed had ever said as much so how could she know?
"I didn't think much of it when you were screaming, but this wasn't a scream. You were calling to a lover and I want to know who she is and what she is to you."
No hangover could compete with Uranus's instincts. Her transformation stick was under her pillow, at least, that's where it should be, but reaching back to check wasn't advisable. Her stomach fell to the floor and her eyes flickered to confirm that the white blur she'd seen at the doorway to her room was in fact Artemis.
Silently, she turned from Artemis to Minako whose expression had only hardened further. Had she been an enemy instead of Venus, there wouldn't have been hesitation. Uranus would have emerged and killed on the spot. The problem was, Venus was on her side, in theory, and the question was very deliberate. This was important enough to Minako that it derailed her original complaint of what had to have been a phone conversation with Hotaru.
"Kick him out." The order was ground out through clenched teeth. She looked up, squinting still at Minako. "Kick the cat to your room and I'll answer your questions." She didn't want to answer any of the questions, but she had a better chance of getting some of her own if she did.
"Why does it matter? He's a cat." The defense fell flat.
"Let's go with, he's not supposed to be in my room."
"He's not in your room."
Minako and the cat exchanged looks, but neither of them moved. Impatient, Haruka groaned and stood up, shutting the door in the cat's face. She turned around to stare at Minako, dressed in her pajamas. "Now we can talk." She had no delusions that the moment their conversation was done, Minako would run to her room and spill everything to the cat, filling him in on what he couldn't hear through the door. Still, it was principle. She might not be able to prevent Artemis from knowing, but she sure as hell wouldn't be the one to tell him.
From the angle she was now at, she could see things better. The light wasn't as harsh, though her head still pounded. She ignored it, focusing instead on the very angry blonde. "What did you hear?" Her own voice was low, measured.
"Who is she, Haruka-san?" Minako had a history of getting side-tracked, but Haruka was well aware this was more Venus than Minako.
Similarly, Uranus was more present when Haruka answered. "Someone from long ago. Now, why do you care?"
"Did you cheat on me with her?"
"My turn, Minako. Why do you care?" Green eyes stared hard into blue. She could tell the shorter woman was feeling uncomfortable about the confrontation. Though Haruka wondered precisely what the other girl had expected. Arms crossed, she narrowed her eyes more and settled into her stance preparing to remain there for as long as it took. As long as it took ended up being three long silent minutes. She could hear the cat on the other side of the door but she refused to break contact with Minako for more than blinking. Haruka wasn't a patient woman, but for this, she was determined to make an exception. The time passed slowly as Minako remained silent, intending, she was sure, for Haruka's patience to give first. It didn't.
"Because I think I know her."
Haruka wanted to laugh. It was a good bluff. It just wasn't good enough. "No, you don't. You've never met Neptune."
"How do you know?"
"Because I do. Now, tell me the real reason." She arched an eyebrow, "And I mean the real reason."
"Because if you two are lovers, then," Minako closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly. Haruka swore she could watch Minako's face change as she decided to be honest. Her face smoothed as resignation replaced worry. When she opened her eyes again, they were harsh. "Then I will forcibly remove her from her post. It's forbidden."
The taller woman's hands dropped to her sides, clenching fists briefly. "We're not." Pain wracked her body as the denial rang through her being. No, they weren't. They had been, a long time ago, but they weren't now. It wasn't lying, but she would sooner resign her own post than give everything away for free.
Distantly, the fact that Minako had admitted her status, her own station to Haruka registered. She hadn't been garish and announce her status with pomp, but the way she spoke was of a leader. Through the pain, she chuckled low and moved to sit on the bed next to her roommate.
"How long have you loved her?"
The chuckle became dry and choked. "I really don't want to talk about it." Dry green eyes, she was perversely happy they'd remained dry even if they were dull right now. "Why don't you ask me questions you really want the answers to."
Confused blue blinked back at her before Minako tilted her head as if changing her perspective would help her understand. "But I do want to know. It's so sad."
"Venus, stop. Please."
The title had the desired effect. Minako stopped, her mouth frozen open in preparation for words that her lungs no longer had the power to feed. "Who are you?"
Haruka sighed. So Venus had recognized she was something other than a mundane human but not beyond that. She couldn't say she was overly surprised. "A member of a team you were never meant to meet or even know about."