I'll Find You First The scream of the motorcycle as it blew by the aqua haired girl imprinted itself into her memory. Not usually one for motor sports, Michiru found herself intrigued by the high risk game the drivers played on the track. Their machines no more than a metal extension of their own bodies, they raced the bikes at break neck speeds and bent them until they almost touched the unforgiving pavement as they roared around the corners. There was just something about speeding recklessly into the wind's welcoming embrace that struck a chord in the young woman. Through the sound of her companion's inane chattering from the seat next to her, Michiru found that her cobalt eyes tended to linger on a single figure, the race's leader. Her brow furrowed as she examined the object of her attention's slender form, slightly smaller than those of the pursuers that chased after the bike that held the pole position. Beneath the fireproof suit, the slim form almost seemed feminine. The leader's features were hidden from view by a helmet, but somehow, Michiru envisioned that person's face. flashback "We shouldn't be here." Michiru said conspiratorially, the act of resting her head on her lover's shoulder belying her warning. The sandy haired woman chuckled underneath her. "A seven day training tour around the outer reaches of our solar system? No one will notice that we've stopped at Triton for an evening's break." Lying on her stomach in the long, aqua marine grasses of the Neptunian moon, Michiru leaned up on her elbows, her bare legs unhindered by her short, light skirt as they swayed back and forth in the cool air. She smiled wistfully as she noticed that the bright cheerfulness of the wildflowers that crowded the field were insufficient to distract her from her lover's face. Deep green eyes and a questioning expression on Haruka's angled profile wordlessly asked Michiru to speak her mind. The aqua haired woman played with her partner's feathery blonde bangs thoughtfully. "Haruka?" She asked, loosing herself in her lover's deep gaze. "Hmm?" The Uranian replied lazily, her arm underneath Michiru's waist tightening slightly around her slender form. "We'll always be together, won't we?" Michiru asked, a blush coloring her cheeks at such an uncharacteristic question. Haruka frowned. Her partner was not the type to question the love they shared and she was slightly put off by her lover's uncertainty. "Of course we will, our duty assures our togetherness!" The blonde's jaw clenched shut as she realized the brashness of her retort. She had meant to ease Michiru's worries that much more than duty bound them together, but it was too late to retract her words. Michiru smiled smally, knowing her lover was apt to overreact when she felt threatened. She knew Haruka had meant to say something much different, but she didn't need such an explanation to understand how she felt. She laid a soft palm on Haruka's smooth cheek in reassurance. "I meant in our next lifetimes." The frown the senshi of the wind had adopted melted slowly. "We don't have to worry about next lives, Michiru. As senshi we're granted long lives unless we were to die in battle." Haruka's brows suddenly met menacingly as her own words registered in her mind. Her body stiffened with worry. If Michiru were to worry about death, there must be a reason for it. "Wait, you're still sensing unease from the Earth again, aren't you? Do you sense something new?" Michiru's cobalt eyes glanced away from her lover. Now clouded and distant, she had begun to retreat to her own introverted world. "No. Not even Setsuna can pinpoint the unease from that planet." Haruka turned to her side, fully embracing Michiru in her strong arms, drawing her partner back to her both physically and mentally. "Don't worry, Michiru. No matter what, we'll always be together. Even in the next life, if there even is a next life at all. No matter how long it takes, I'll find you." The senshi of the ocean sighed softly, allowing her lover to soothe her worries and allowing herself to bask in the wave of honest emotion she felt from her. A smile tugged at her lips and her eyes lit brightly. "And if you can't find me, then I'll find you first!" /flashback "I'll find you first..." Michiru repeated her own words softly. "Earth to Michiru?" Her companion's voice broke into her mind and Michiru realized she was being shaken slightly. "Did you say something?" "Ara! I'm sorry, Elza." Michiru almost whispered, her quiet voice lost to the cheers of the crowd around her. The importance of the vivid images of her apparent daydream shattered to the mercy of her sudden alertness. A quick glance to the racetrack revealed that the figure she had been following earlier had won the race. "Isn't she great?" Elza clapped happily, enthusiasm shining brightly in her crimson eyes. "She goes to my school. She's the genius racer, Tenoh Haruka." "She?" Michiru asked, realizing her original assumption of the racer's gender had been correct. "Yeah, she. The tabloids assume that Haruka is a man, but she doesn't seem to mind." Elza explained. "Tenoh Haruka..." Michiru repeated the name slowly as though it were somehow familiar, her voice too quiet to be heard as Elza shouted with the rest of the spectators. Standing on her tiptoes to get a better vantage point, Michiru's cobalt eyes singled out the feminine figure she had been watching as the racer approached the podium. The figure possessed a cocky, arrogant stride that was almost mannish and a gloved hand waved confidently to the crowds that cheered for the win. Climbing the podium to the winner's block, the racer gracefully removed the helmet that concealed a hidden identity. Michiru's breath caught in her throat at the vision of a blonde haired woman. An angular face and high cheekbones, a look that easily conveyed a false gender, Tenoh Haruka displayed a cocky and defiant expression as she waved to her fans. Damp, dirty blonde hair whose shortness did not make her immune to helmet head caused her sandy locks to stick out at odd angles, yet it only increased the woman's attractiveness... Michiru couldn't help but notice that she was captivated by Haruka's beauty. The remembrance of her visions and dreams slammed back into her like a tangible force and Michiru found that her hand came to rest on top of her heart. The similarity was startling between the Haruka on the podium and the blonde woman she had imagined. Could this Haruka possibly be the same vague woman from her memory-like dreams? Her breath caught in her throat as she realized that her heart knew who this person was, but her mind couldn't place where she could have met her before. Like a forgotten word hanging from the tip of her tongue, Michiru couldn't connect the pieces of the frustrating puzzle that formed at the edge of her mind. The hairs on the back of the aqua haired girl's neck stood on end and suddenly feeling eyes on her, Michiru went on full alert. She whipped her head back to look behind her, her eyes squinting threateningly as she scanned the rows of the stadium for the unknown threat. From the furthest reaches of the top row of the stands, Michiru was met with a pair of haunting garnet eyes. flashback "Yes. I think you should do it." The tall woman spoke with certainty as her knowing garnet eyes warmed even the darkness of the night that closed in around them. "Do what?" Michiru asked slowly, brows furrowed. Used to being the intuitive one, she was always thrown off when her friend, the Guardian of Time, knew what was on her mind. "Confess to Haruka." Setsuna clarified plainly, as though the thought were an every day occurrence or at the very least, something that should have been done long ago. A smile graced her enigmatic face as she laid a supportive hand on her friend's shoulder. "I think you should do it. You love her, don't you?" Michiru's jaw hung open slackly and a sudden blush tinged her cheeks. A serious, heart-felt dedication rippled through her and a drawn expression chiseled tight lines on her face. "I do. So much that I would die for her, Setsuna." Setsuna shivered despite herself as the intensity of Michiru's emotions caught her off guard and the stoic guardian of the Time Gate found she couldn't meet Michiru's eyes. With an expertise born from centuries of controlling her power to see the future, she pushed away the images that her friend's words had brought her. Images that proved Michiru's dedication to be frighteningly true. /flashback "Michiru? Michiru?" Elza's voice once again tore the cobalt eyed woman from another sudden day dream and she shuddered despite the warm sun. She afforded the red head next to her a small smile to calm her worries, but when Michiru turned back to find those haunting garnet eyes that had sparked more vivid images, she found nothing. Michiru's mind wandered back to the remembered fragments of images she'd seen in the past days. For mere daydreams, they had been startlingly vivid. Daydreams? No. They couldn't have been. Each time she had experienced one, they had been sparked by something. A vision? Perhaps. She was clearly seeing a defined event that had happened to herself at some point in time. Possibly it was reality, if it were a reality of a previous life. A previous life... Michiru's almost otherworldly sense of intuition gripped her firmly and the knowledge that her visions were memories of a past life was suddenly all too clear to her. Willing to accept that these strange memory-like visions were as much a part of herself as her own soul, Michiru concluded that they weren't dreams at all. And if they weren't dreams, and they had been awakened by Tenoh Haruka, the woman standing boldly below her, unaware of her presence, did that mean that this Haruka was the reincarnation of her lover of a past life? Haruka... that had been her name, hadn't it? That of the woman in her memories. Could it be destiny, or was their similarity a mere coincidence? Yet as Michiru finally remembered to breathe and she focused on the woman on the podium who had drawn her full attention in the first place, a feeling of wrongness settled over her. Suddenly, she realized that for all the confidence that Tenoh Haruka's body displayed, the young woman's frightened hazel eyes told another story. A shiver ran down Michiru's spine as a phantom realization gripped her. Her memories of the warm and willing lover she had been with in her previous life betrayed the image of the hardened woman who stood on the podium. If this Tenoh Haruka really was the same woman from her visions of an uncertain past, then something had gone terribly wrong. ---------- "Hey, Tenoh, you just won the race! Would it kill you to crack a smile?" Immune to the flashes of the photographer's cameras as the media crowded for the podium shot, Haruka's eyes brightened. A grin pulled at her lips as she shrugged off the smack on her back she received from Tanaka, an opponent who had trailed her closely the entire race to come in second. Punching him in the arm, she attempted a genuine smile to get him off her case, but it soon fell from her lips and her automatic cocky grin once again took its place. It wasn't that she didn't know how to have fun or how to be happy, it was just that Haruka had never been predisposed to cheerfulness. She'd had a mediocre life with an above average upbringing, yet for all her fifteen years, Haruka had lived under a dark and quiet cloud of introversion. It was just who she was, and she was all right with that. She had never before questioned it. Yet since the haunting dreams of the end of the world had begun occurring, the shadow that had been cast over her mind had darkened further. She scanned the stadium, packed with cheering fans, both of motorcycle racing and of herself. Although the persona of the handsome playboy racer that had been applied to her hadn't been completely true, it was just easier to let the public run with it. In all honesty, the raving fans that wanted nothing more than to get her autograph or meet her in person was the last thing that interested her. Sure, the girls were cute, and Haruka had to admit that she'd used her fame to have a little fun with more than a couple of them, but she frowned further watching the shouting people. She found that at the moment, fame itself disgusted her. Then, suddenly, she caught a glimpse of something... someone, somehow familiar and her breath caught in her throat. Among the crowds Haruka saw a flash of aqua hair and cobalt eyes. Her form went rigid and a gentle breeze blew lightly around her form. The gentle caress of a familiar partner, both protecting and feeling protected by the one in her arms, an overwhelming sense of undying love... Haruka's hand reached her heart as her eyes once again tried to find the woman she had briefly seen, but her hazel eyes couldn't find her. An angry gust of wind suddenly tore through the stadium. Endless emptiness, the cold depths of space, a desolate loneliness unlike she had ever known before. A broken promise... A physical pain tore at Haruka's torso at the two frighteningly different emotions that each claimed importance in her heart. She knew these phantom feelings, she had felt them most of her life, a gaping hole that felt as though it came from the bottom of her soul. It's cause certainly hadn't been a result of an event during her lifetime, and she refused to believe that it could have come from another one, for why would anyone love her? How could anyone love her? She had always been alone. Always. Haruka pushed away the images that threatened to break into her mind and grasped onto the ferocious wind that promised to relieve her pain so long as she would forget the emotions that threatened to tell her more than she wanted to know. It was all Haruka could do to remain standing and feign an appearance of normality on the podium as her team charged at her with the standard bottle of champagne. ---------- Michiru woke with a violent start, bolting upright and slamming back into the headboard, her arms held tightly across her chest in fear. No longer did she dream pleasant memories of her past life. Instead, her dreams were filled with a nightmare landscape of what her sixth sense told her was to be the future. Cold waters threatened to consume the city, waves towering higher than the tallest skyscrapers vying for dominance in the sky. A freezing wind blew from the north, so cold it stole her breath. The seas screamed with rage, a promise of impending doom. It was a future full of darkness, death, and hopelessness. But this nightmare had ended differently than the others. This one held a familiar ray of hope, an angel of mercy. In this nightmare, a blonde haired woman in a strangely scant skirt and tight fitting top spoke to her. And her voice had filled Michiru with hope. "We're destined to fight this Silence together, you and I. But I'm afraid the Uranus of this time isn't ready to meet you, Neptune, and I'm not sure she will ever be ready. I'm sorry, but please don't give up hope." Michiru shuddered at the remembrance of the woman's husky voice. Uranus. Her name was Uranus. And she had called her Neptune. Michiru didn't understand these things, but something about the names felt natural, as though she had always been named after the seventh planet. She had to find this Uranus. With her, she could prevent the approaching Silence. She had a duty to fulfill, a duty she couldn't place her finger on. Slightly frustrated, Michiru sighed and rose from her bed. 'What am I to know of such things? What do I know of saving the world from a terror known as the Silence? I'm just a normal fifteen year old student and artist!' Normal... until both her waking and dreaming thoughts had been dominated by memories of a past life... and a past love. Immediately, her thoughts returned her to the Tenoh Haruka of her dreams and the Tenoh Haruka of the present. Such similar, yet different people. She still wasn't sure she could connect the two of them. And now she had dreamed of another blonde haired woman, this one ready and waiting for battle, needing only her by her side in order to defeat any threat. Michiru almost laughed at the absurdity of it all as she crossed her apartment and set a kettle of water on the stove, hoping a cup of tea would calm her shaky, tired nerves. She couldn't help but wonder if she was losing her grip on sanity as such a young age. Pulling a chair from her lonely kitchen table, she sat before the previous day's untouched newspaper. Flipping through the stacks of paper for the arts section, she jumped slightly when the sports pages fell from her fingers and landed in front of her. The rest of the pages fell unnoticed as her cobalt eyes focused on the front page article. "Genius racer youngest ever to win..." Michiru's voice trailed off as her eyes trailed to the handsome photograph of Tenoh Haruka. The similarity to the lover of her past life was absolutely uncanny, but she also resembled someone else, someone equally important... "Sailor Uranus?" flashback An aqua haired girl bent to smell the fragrance of a peculiar red flower. Though she had never actually seen a rose before, she knew it was a flower from the planet Earth, an offering from their people to the Moon Kingdom. The young woman looked distrustfully to the sky in the direction of the blue planet currently hidden by the glare of the sun. She felt uneasy when she thought of the Earth, but she knew not why. Eager voices carried on the wind pulled her out of her introspective world, a place she was apt to frequent when troubled. She forced herself to focus. She was, after all, beginning a new life as a sailor senshi that very day, and at fifteen years of age and as a Princess of her home world of the Ocean Planet, Neptune, surely she was expected to act as such. Picking up her teal skirts that flowed about her, she began the daunting incline up the palace steps. The grandeur of the expansive castle lived up to its reputation with its white and sparkling architecture created from the materials of the rocky planetoid. The hanging gardens and water features that flanked the walkways were unparalleled and teeming with abundant flora from around the solar system. The smells and sounds from the courtyard outside the palace walls rang with the hustle and bustle of commoners, the prosperous peoples of the Moon Kingdom and the eight planets it presided over. Nine if one were to include the Earth, currently negotiating a treaty to align themselves with the Moon Kingdom. Nine planets that the Neptunian Princess would soon be bound to protect as a sailor senshi. A term once held for the protectors of Princess Serenity and the guardians of the heart of the solar system, Earth's Moon, it had recently been decided that new senshi were to be called to duty from the outer most planets. They would be called the outer senshi, compromised of Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and Pluto, the former two of which were to play lesser and greater roles, respectively. She knew not much of their mission, other than it was to be an effort to protect the borders of their solar system from the possibility of attack. Yet, the only sense of unease the young Neptunian Princess had ever experienced hadn't come from outside their territories. It came from somewhere within. She hoped that her fellow outer senshi would be able to help her understand her budding elemental powers so that she would be able to hone her abilities and become a strong warrior. Furthermore, she was looking forward to meeting her future partner, the senshi of Uranus. Though she had never met the Uranian Princess, she had heard much about her and her wild, carefree nature, and the young woman was anxious to meet someone with such a reputation. It would be a welcome reprieve from the buttoned down Neptunian society she was so accustomed to. Her breath caught in her throat as she crested the stairs, foreign voices becoming louder, and finally she laid eyes on a group of people. She knew, without introduction, that they were to be her peers, her fellow senshi. The colors of their adornments were indicative of their heritage; blue for Mercury, orange for Venus, red for Mars, and green for Jupiter, each girl slightly younger than herself. Her eyes then trailed to a beautiful long haired girl dressed in flowing white, most definitely Serenity, the Princess of the Moon, who wore a slight blush on her face from the attention lavished on her by a handsome man that stood at her side. Naturally, the aqua haired girl's eyes shifted to inspect the man, trailing from his feet up. He gracefully donned knee high, polished black boots and a crisp blue and gold suit. A sword sat lazily on his hip, its jewels catching the rays of the sun. The weapon was an instant indicator of his lineage, and the fact that the gilded mirror enclosed in a satchel on her hip resonated with the sword's energy from across the room made the identification that much easier. A gentle smile graced the Neptunian's face, and not only for the admiration of the object of her attention's handsome profile framed by short cropped sandy hair. Clearing her throat, the outsider made her appearance known. The conversations ground to a halt as all turned to face the new woman who confidently approached the male figure in the group. She stood barely a head shorter than the other, and at such proximity, she could smell the woodsy cologne brought by the closeness they shared. Hazel eyes met her cobalt ones, and she could sense the other getting lost in her depths. Yet, curiously, she found that her staring mate had intoxicated her as well. Caught in the aqua haired woman's captivating gaze, all the previous bravado the blonde had displayed while flirting with the Princess of the Moon had somehow lessened. The beautiful new woman may have been the only one to notice, but what was once a steady hand seemed to shake slightly as it reached out to hers for an introduction. "Good morning-" "You must be the Princess of Uranus." The Neptunian woman interrupted evenly. Small gasps echoed around the two, each of the inner senshi caught off guard at such an insinuation. A deep laugh that pulled at the Princess of Neptune's heart filled her ears like music as the 'man' before her ran long fingers through short hair. "Very astute of you... Princess of Neptune?" the Uranian woman asked lightly. The aqua haired girl smiled and slipped her hand into the Uranian Princess' own proffered one, pleased at the strength in the handshake they shared. "Kaioh Michiru. Please, call me Michiru." She said, matching the other woman's alto chuckle with her own mezzo giggle. "Haruka. Tenoh Haruka" The blonde replied in like fashion. The taller woman's deep, husky voice sent a shiver down Michiru's spine and she found that when Haruka ended their handshake, she suddenly felt an indescribable sense of loss. "Prin...cess?" The senshi of Venus finally asked, her hopes of pursuing the handsome stranger obviously deflated. The other girls gasped at the revelation of a wrongly assumed gender The Uranian Princess turned to the others around her, a broad smile on her playful face. "Silly girls, I never said I was a man." She exclaimed teasingly. Conversation erupted, the girls' giddy voices echoing off the stone walls of the palace antechamber as they passionately laughed and conversed with and about Haruka. Michiru observed the sandy haired woman and laughed as Haruka teased the girls and ran them in circles with their adolescent questioning. Although such a loud, boisterous scene was uncommon to her, she felt herself taking pleasure in it, and a smile tugged at her lips at their antics as she was pulled in amongst the friendly group. Introductions completed and the excitement of the moment finally calming, Princess Serenity suddenly smacked herself on the forehead, her odango-like buns whipping back and forth from the effort of her emotions alone. "I totally forgot!" She cried in a high pitched tone, obviously upset that she had not remembered about her responsibility once being distracted by the allure of meeting new friends. "I was supposed to tell you to meet with Sailor Pluto in the Leo Room of the South Wing of the Palace!" Rei, the senshi of Mars, sighed in exasperation. Smiles on their faces, it was becoming quickly apparent to the two outsiders, however endearing it might be, the forgetful and adorably childish personality of their Princess and future Queen. As an argument began to brew between the two Princesses, the newly acquainted outsiders quietly slipped away unnoticed, descending the stairs rapidly enroute to their meeting with their fellow outer senshi, Pluto. Having noticed Michiru's slight unease in the group of girls earlier, Haruka half way teased the smaller girl with some amount of concern. "A little out of your element back there?" "Ara, apparently it's your turn to be the astute one." Michiru returned with a smile. "You're correct. I'm not used to speaking so freely." Haruka cocked in head in thought. "Oh, well then, I do apologize. I don't wish to offend. I suppose I can attempt to reign myself in." Michiru was touched by the Uranian Princess' gesture. "Yet it's obvious that it would not be your style to hinder your tongue." The taller woman laughed deeply. "Well, that's true, but I should try to behave for my future partner, for such a beautiful woman." She said with a quick, lighthearted and teasing bow of her head. The aqua haired girl's heart skipped a beat and her legs stopped moving beneath her, causing her companion to stop as well. Michiru's brow wrinkled with displeasure as she considered the possibility of the woman next to her adapting her refreshing personality. "Behave? I would never ask you to do such a thing for me. I think... I think I like you just the way you are, Tenoh Haruka." The flippant tomboy smiled and laughed, trying desperately to cool the blush on her cheeks. She wasn't used to being the one being complimented, but she found she couldn't help but bask in the other woman's honest affections. "Besides," continued Michiru, "I do believe I'm beginning to enjoy behavior such as yours." She admitted, joining in her partner's blush as Haruka smiled widely at her. "It's good for you. You know, to be open and care free. Makes life more fun." Haruka commented, forcing herself to tear her eyes from Michiru as she urged her legs to move once more. It was a duty to her kingdom that had brought her to the Moon Palace, not the Princess of Neptune, she reminded herself scoldingly. Michiru nodded in agreement and stole a sideways glance at the other girl as she caught up to her long stride. She didn't blame the young inner senshi for believing Haruka to be a man, everything from her angular face down to her wide gait masked her true gender. She was tomboyish and she was confident, she was outrageous and without a doubt, she was the most interesting person Michiru had ever met and the Neptunian Princess found all these attributes to be extremely attractive in the other woman. She couldn't help but feel a strong pull to Haruka. It was intense, frightening, and wholly new to her. "So, what kind of stuff do you like?" Haruka's searching voice shook her new friend out of her thoughts. Her hands on either side of her head, the tall girl gazed longingly at the blue sky. Michiru shrugged non-committaly. "Well, I enjoy playing the violin." "Violin! How proper!" Haruka commented with ease, realizing that such a beautiful instrument certainly fit its player. The aqua haired girl frowned slightly at her companion. "Am I to assume that the brash Princess of Uranus was not required to pick up an instrument?" This comment made the hazel eyed woman grumble beneath her breath as she kicked at an imaginary pebble at her feet. Michiru's frown was replaced with a mischievous smile at the childish display. "Pardon me? I don't think I heard you." "Piano!" Haruka grumbled louder this time. "I've played since I was young enough to touch the keys, but I've never had a reason to enjoy it. It was always something that was forced." "Maa?" Asked Michiru lightly. "Then perhaps we should play together. The beauty and enjoyment that can be found in music should be understood, even by such an opinionated and tomboyish person like you." She added flippantly, the teasing tone feeling refreshing on her tongue. Haruka snorted at the jab, the Neptunian Princess was learning and she was enjoying their cultural exchange as much as her partner obviously was. "What else do you like?" She asked. "I enjoy swimming." Michiru returned. "Of course, the ocean. You would love the sea, it must be an integral part of who you are." Haruka said thoughtfully, considering her home world. The cobalt eyed girl nodded. "Oh, I do." A soft sigh was uttered and she unconsciously reverted to her native tongue, reciting a short verse of an ancient poem. Haruka frowned as she observed her partner's distant expression. Realizing that Michiru had seemed to slip into her own world inside her mind, a nagging desire for the aqua haired woman's attention to return to Haruka spurred the Uranian forward. The taller woman found that she didn't want the Neptunian Princess to leave her for even a moment. "The ocean would be nothing without the wind to guide her?" Haruka asked softly, concentrating on loosely translating the verse. Michiru's eyes snapped open in surprise. A slight blush tinged her cheeks at the sudden implication of the ancient verse. How coincidental that their elements would be wind and water... She slipped back into the common language of the Moon Kingdom, glad that Haruka hadn't tried to dissect the deeper meaning of the poem. "You understood me? You speak Neptunian?" "Surprised? You'll find that for all of your apparent intuitiveness, there's more to me than meets the eye." Haruka said cockily, a hint of arrogance lacing her husky voice. Michiru merely smiled. She smiled and hoped that Haruka had meant what she said. Affording the sandy haired woman a mysterious grin, Michiru snaked her arm through Haruka's as they continued to search for the elusive Sailor Pluto. "I see you two have already... met each other's acquaintances." A bodiless voice called out with a certain amount of amusement. The sound of determined shuffling echoed in the hallway as Haruka thrust herself in front of Michiru thoughtlessly and acquired a fighting stance in front of the smaller woman. The blonde was not fond of sudden surprises. "Show yourself!" She barked fiercely. Light laughing was heard as a tall woman stepped through a stone archway. Lengthy sapphire hair swayed as long, shapely legs moved forward, unencumbered by a perilously short green skirt that was indicative of the senshi uniform. In her right hand was loosely held a menacing silver staff, standing at the woman's own impressive height. Her expression harbored a hint of amusement as she turned towards the two younger women. "Sailor Pluto!" Haruka and Michiru's voices exclaimed in unison. The sapphire haired woman nodded grimly. "Are you prepared to receive your mission?" The older woman's garnet eyes demanded respect, respect that even the brash Uranian was quick to give without question. As she and her new partner followed the woman even taller than herself, the sandy haired woman swallowed audibly as she was lead to her destiny. Mere hours later, after the two newcomers had been informed of their missions, they awaited their induction ceremony. A small-scale event, so as not to alert the public to a currently non-existent threat, Haruka and Michiru, now Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune respectively, awaited their Queen. As the setting sun lapped at the white horizon of the jagged Moonscape, golden orange rays of light illuminated the palace courtyard. A shimmering pool reflected the blue orb of Earth that hung largely above it. Sailor Neptune's eyes were glued to the reflection suspiciously as she pondered their mission. Guarding the solar system from outside invaders couldn't be too difficult. After all, there had never been any force strong enough to so much as threaten the Silver Millennium. For that matter, the entire universe had been at peace for the past millennia. But what... what if there was something out there? Neptune hardened her resolve as she tugged at the short skirt of her senshi fuku. Their senshi powers should be strong enough that any foe could be destroyed with the aid of her partner Uranus and their accomplice Pluto, and if need be... even Saturn... but no, Neptune did not want to think about that possibility. Surely such a drastic measure would not have to be taken. Even Pluto, the overseer of time didn't think that to be a possibility. Besides, the Queen's Ginzuishou would protect them all, wouldn't it? Neptune frowned, her brow creasing. She wasn't the only one to be thinking such dark thoughts. Her gloved hand tentatively reached out for Uranus' arm, resting gently on her wrist in a show of support. 'Somehow,' Neptune thought to herself, 'somehow, I feel as though whatever I'm up against, whether as a senshi or otherwise... I can get through it with her by my side.' The taller of the two senshi flinched at the brief contact of her partner, her stony face masking her turbulent, undecided emotions for the new woman at her side. The harmless flirting that they had played at was enjoyable, but she found that she couldn't be certain about her partner's true feelings. So she forced herself to shove her emotions and her thoughts to the side as she focused on her duty and training to come. At least those were safe emotions. Sailor Uranus shifted uncomfortably in her new fuku. Though she agreed that the flimsily scant outfit allowed for complete freedom of movement while fighting, she thought the feminine design rather impractical, not to mention embarrassing. Boots. At least she got to wear boots. Between that and the welcome rush of power that she felt in her newly acquired transformation, it gave her an endless amount of pent up energy and in the tomboy's mind, these two things balanced out the terribly feminine outfit. A glance to her left and Uranus found that Neptune seemed to sense her fashion embarrassment. She had learned that the aqua haired woman had a gift for intuitiveness, but with a sneer, Uranus found that thankfully, she kept her mouth shut about her findings. At least her partner had a body worth showing off, she thought consolingly. The two senshi were pulled from their thoughts as a stunningly beautiful silver haired woman entered the courtyard. Queen Serenity. Standing even taller than the solemn Sailor Pluto who maintained her silence behind her, the Queen moved with liquid grace. Her dress flowing white and long, her bunned hair was almost a mirror image of that of her daughter's. The woman commanded respect and both Neptune and Uranus dropped to one knee in reverence for the monarch of the solar system. "Please rise." For all the woman's commanding body language and air of importance, her voice was soft and forgiving, as though she wanted very much to befriend her new warriors. Neptune and Uranus slowly rose, still unsure of themselves in their Queen's presence. As the woman approached them, even Uranus kept her head bowed slightly in a display of respect. Queen Serenity spoke softly. "Welcome, Sailor Senshi Uranus, Sailor Senshi Neptune. Today you choose to accept your destinies and become bound to my service. The life of a senshi is difficult. It is one of war, struggle, and challenge. I would not ask your lives of you if the Moon Kingdom did not need your protection. I will ask you again. Will you willingly serve your solar system, your planets, and your Queen? Fear no repose as you decide on your final answer and reply in honesty to yourselves." Feeling the compassion and concern emanating from their Queen, Uranus and Neptune again went down one on knee in unison, bowing their heads in a silent pledge. The answer to them was clear, that, If need be, they would give their lives for their solar system, for their planets and for this woman. They wanted to please this woman who had thought highly enough of their skills to allow them the honor to be senshi. Queen Serenity sighed quietly. She knew the two before her would be up against many odds and not only those of the battlefield. A slight smile on her lips, she turned to Sailor Pluto behind her and together, they left the two new outer senshi to their own devices. /flashback Michiru shook herself back to reality. "Tenoh Haruka... Sailor Uranus. They are the same person." Sensory overload threatened to overwhelm her and she reached out for her cup of tea like an anchor, only to find it cold to the touch. Somehow, she knew she had just relived one of the important days of her previous life. So, her lover was the same person as her partner, and they hadn't been on Earth at all... they had been on the Moon. Michiru did her best to catalogue her memories for further inspection as her fingers found her temple, the places and faces of the things she'd seen and the people she'd met all crowded her already full mind. Yet the one person she couldn't stop thinking about was Haruka, that confident, cheerful companion of a lifetime ago. Intriguing, exciting and willing, there had been an obvious chemistry between them. She looked just like the Tenoh Haruka of present... but their personalities were so different. Her lover had been Sailor Uranus, also, her partner in combat, a partner she needed to find in the present day. But if that dashing racer really was her destined partner, Michiru feared a cold reception. "We're destined to fight this Silence together, you and I. But I'm afraid the Uranus of this time isn't ready to meet you, Neptune, and I'm not sure she will ever be ready. I'm sorry, but please don't give up hope." The voice of Sailor Uranus from her previous dream of the Silence echoed forebodingly in her mind. A small squeak slipped from Michiru's lips as the jarring alert of her alarm clock came to life, shouting its insistency from her bedroom. She scurried to turn of the offensive sound that threatened to push her exhausted mind to its limit. Hitting her alarm clock harder than she had intended, Michiru collapsed onto her bed and stared into the growing sunrise of another Tokyo morning, the rays of sun heralding another normal school day. The only normality left in her life. Her brows furrowed with determination, Michiru rose and strode to the shower, vowing that she would find Tenoh Haruka again. ---------- Preview: Chapter 3: "Michiru..." Uranus whispered softly, concerned, breathless as she realized she had breached protocol and called her partner by her civilian name. The aqua haired senshi let it slip with a slight laugh. She loved to hear her real name from her partner's lips. Effortlessly in her exhaustion, she hid her true feelings by reverting to their game. "Well, I guess that was a draw. I think we both won that battle." Uranus frowned and refused to comment as she forcibly tore her eyes from her partner's face. Slowly, she carried Neptune off the battlefield. 'But I haven't won.' She thought bitterly. 'Because even though you're in my arms, you're still so far away.'
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