Hold Me Once Again (part 3 of 3)

a Sailor Moon fanfiction by SushiQueen

Back to Part 2
Michiru had eventually decided she'd had more than enough. She stood up 
from her seat, smoothed out her dress, and stomped out of the building, 
her heels clicking against the pavement. As if her night wasn't horrible 
enough, her dress came in contact with her shoes, sending her flying as 
her silky dress caused her to slip onto her knees. She winced and cursed 
under her breath. At least no one had seen her blunder. She brushed the 
dirt of off her attire and walked on as if it had never happened. Seemed 
like the world got a huge kick out of kicking poor, unfortunate souls 
when they felt low enough already.

This time, This place Misused, Mistakes Too long, Too late Who was I to 
make you wait

As Michiru continued to walk, Haruka kept driving, trying to go quickly 
without surpassing the speed limit. Considering that she had a tendency 
to drive when she was anxious, as well as she was a competititve racer, 
this was certainly a challenge. Somehow the sandy blonde was managing to 
do just that successfully so far. In the distance she eyed a tall, 
glorious-looking building at which the ball was being held. Haruka knew 
well she wasn't dressed for such an event, but that was the least of her 
worries at that moment. All she cared about was getting to Michiru 
before she had left. Her foot shook with anxiety as she pressed it 
heavily against the pedal, the vehicle steadily gaining speed.

"I'm coming Michiru," she whispered fiercely, mentally vowing to keep 
the promise.

Just one chance Just one breath Just in case there's just one left 
'Cause you know,
you know, you know

Michiru tried to ignore the pain on her wounded legs, but she could only 
take it for so long. Eventually she had to stop an lean against the wall 
outside of the building, falling weakly onto the messy grass. Gently she 
lifted her dress high enough to see her wounds and grimaced. They looked 
nearly as bad as they felt. Now she'd either have to wait for the bus to 
come for goodness knows how long, or miserably wait by the wall. In any 
case, the situation was agonizing. If only she had enough money to 
afford her own car. Previously she had always relied on Haruka for 
transportation, but ever since they went separate ways, she was forced 
to use buses and taxis and other unpleasant forms of public 
transportation.

Haruka miraculously managed to avoid the police and recklessly pulled 
into the parking lot of the building at which the ball was being held. 
Some cars honked and yelled at Haruka, but she was too preoccupied with 
her own emotions to notice or care. She drove into the first parking 
spot she caught sight of and parked the car. Haruka immediately got out 
of the car and dashed through the crowd of cars. The parking lot was 
bigger than she had expected and felt like a helpless animal caught in a 
maze. She cursed to herself as she looked around every corner, hoping 
the building's entrance would come into view. It took long enough, but 
this tactic worked. Haruka managed a victorious smirk while catching her 
breathe, and then headed toward the building entrance at a slightly 
slower pace.

That I love you I have loved you all along And I miss you Been far away 
for far too long

Still waiting to see a bus stop by, Michiru was curled up in a ball, 
trying to contain her emotions until she at least got home. Or the place 
she had tried to call home for the past couple of weeks, more exactly. 
She laid her head on a patch of grass, her throat stinging from trying 
to hold back the tears. Despite her efforts, her eyes fogged up with 
liquid, causing her to close her eyes. She tried to calm down by 
inhaling and exhaling deeply, along with trying to imagine happier 
times, but this only barely kept her from breaking down. This was too 
much for any human to bear. She buried her sloppy face into the grass as 
if trying to hide it from the world, her aqua hair sprawled around her. 
Her sadness was affecting her both internally and externally; her once 
luminous aquamarine hair that was full of life had dulled into a fade 
hue. It was like a healthy flower in the spring turning into a withered 
flower as the weather became harsher. At least the flower was fortunate 
enough to be put out of its misery. Michiru certainly wasn't.

I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go Stop breathing if 
I don't see you anymore

"Michiru, forgive me," Haruka said to herself as she wearily headed to 
the ballroom. Surely enough her outfit had drawn some unwanted attention 
to her, but Haruka told herself to not pay attention. Nervously she 
scanned the room, hoping to find a familiar blue-haired maiden, but 
after a while she didn't. Haruka's hand balled up in anger and she tried 
to quickly exit. Looks like that trip was for nothing. Great. Just 
great.

Or maybe it wasn't a waste. Haruka looked to the side and noticed a 
woman feebly curled up against the wall. She could have sworn that 
looked like Michiru, but she figured she was hallucinating. That is, 
until she thought she heard her name being called. Haruka froze in her 
steps to reassure herself that she hadn't gone crazy. Much to her 
surprise, that was her name being called. Alarmed, Haruka ran over to 
the women's side. "Michiru?!"

She turned over to reveal her face, her eyes still sealed shut as she 
repeated her former lover's name. Haruka gasped in horror. This was what 
she had put her loved one through? She felt lower than she ever had 
before. Haruka scooped Michiru into her arms and gently shook her head 
in an attempt to wake her up. After some time passed, the eyes opened, 
revealing teary yet beautiful teal eyes that could only belong to 
Michiru. At first Michiru didn't believe what she was seeing, but then 
she rubbed away her tears and saw that it was in fact reality. For a 
moment Haruka and Michiru stared at each other in disbelief, then guilt, 
then a whole spectrum of emotions before moving or speaking again. 
Michiru threw her arms around Haruka and burst out wailing, not caring 
at all if any passersby witnessed them together.

On my knees, I'll ask Last chance for one last dance 'Cause with you, 
I'd withstand All of hell to hold your hand

Several minutes passed before either of them spoke, as if both were 
trying to absorb all the events that had happened recently. Haruka 
tenderly grabbed Michiru's hand and stroked it empathetically. Finally, 
Michiru asked, "Haruka, how...how did you-"

"How did I know you were here?" Haruka finished, trying to hide a smile, 
since she figured this wasn't a good time to smile. "I guess you could 
say I have my sources."

At this Michiru couldn't help but grin a little too. Haruka did always 
have her own way of going about finding out such things. Neither were 
sure whether they should be laughed or crying, so instead they embraced 
until Michiru broke away due to her injured legs. She showed Haruka what 
had happened, to which her eyes widened. Immediately Haruka invited 
Michiru into her arms and walked all the way to the car, carrying the 
injured lady with determination despite being very tired. Michiru 
snuggled against Haruka's chest, hoping she wasn't staining her shirt 
with her tears.

I'd give it all I'd give for us Give anything but I won't give up 'Cause 
you know,
you know, you know

"In spite of all you've been through both tonight and over the past few 
weeks, I still think you look gorgeous," Haruka gushed as she cautiously 
set Michiru in the back of her car. Upon hearing this Michiru beamed. 
That meant more coming from Haruka than it would coming from a hundred 
people. Why'd she have to be away so long? Why couldn't this have 
happened sooner? Of course, then again, better late than never, as the 
overused phrase goes. Haruka gripped the steering wheel tightly as she 
drove off home. She told Michiru she'd help treat her legs as soon as 
they were inside. At last, Haruka and Michiru both felt the pain and 
sadness flow out of their bodies. The sadness that had been weighing 
them down all because they had been far away from each other for a long 
time.

So far away Been far away for far too long So far away Been far away for 
far too long But you know, you know, you know

Silence filled the car between that time and the time they pulled into 
the driveway. But unlike before, it wasn't a silence filled with 
tension. More of a silence that existed because both of them were still 
sorting out what had been happening and going through a wide array of 
emotions. It was more positive than negative, as both of them waited 
until their thoughts were sorted before speaking. They both knew all too 
well what would happen if you said something you ended up regretting 
later. Definitely neither would ever want to go through that again. So 
Haruka drove and Michiru stared out the window, wiping the occasional 
tear that slipped down her bony cheek, which in result washed away art 
of the thin film of dirt that had attached itself to her face when she 
had her head in the grass. Haruka tried to avert her gaze from the back 
view mirror as seeing Michiru possibly upset would result in her being 
upset as well. It was like they shared a heart and whatever one felt, 
the other felt.

I wanted I wanted you to stay 'Cause I needed I need to hear you say 
That I love you I have loved you all along And I forgive you For being 
away for far too long

Haruka guided her wounded lover to the door and snuck in quietly to not 
wake Hotaru or Setsuna. After closing the door, they shared another 
gaze. A forgiving gaze that told each other they were sorry for the pain 
they had unintentionally inflicted on one another. Neither of them spoke 
as they felt it was unnecessary, considering they could read each 
other's emotions so well that they could communicate without even 
speaking. Haruka grabbed Michiru's face and cleaned away dirt and tears 
with her thumbs before pulling her lovingly into a kiss. The kiss seemed 
to entirely cleanse any negative emotions from either of their bodies, 
as they also pulled each other into a tender hug as if they had never 
broken up. When they separated, Haruka remember she had to treat 
Michiru's wound. Strangely enough Michiru had seemed to forget it was 
even there.

So keep breathing 'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore Believe it Hold on 
to me and, never let me go Keep breathing 'Cause I'm not leaving you 
anymore Believe it

Haruka retrieved a wet towel from the bathroom and dabbed at the injury 
lightly before bandaging it. Michiru bit her lip to prevent screaming or 
doing something that might wake anyone up. By thinking about how happy 
she was to be in Haruka's presence again, she managed to do just that.

"I don't know about you, but I'm tired," Michiru said with a yawn. She 
stretched her arms out as Haruka flung her arm around her shoulders.

"I can't blame you. You don't know how many sleepless nights I had 
thinking about you," Haruka said, her eyes filled with passion as she 
led Michiru upstairs to what had been Haruka's own bedroom since Michiru 
had left. Hearing that reminded Michiru that she had experienced the 
same thing. But the pain was over. They could both put that behind them. 
Haruka jumped onto the bed, as did Michiru. They crawled in together and 
hugged each other tightly as if they hadn't seen each other for ages. As 
far as either of them knew, it had been ages. That aside, they cuddled 
each other for a while blissfully until both of them felt sleep overcome 
them.

Hold on to me and, never let me go Keep breathing Hold on to me and, 
never let me go Keep breathing Hold on to me and, never let me go

"Goodnight Haruka," Michiru mumbled in the blonde's ear before falling 
asleep. Her arm was draped over Haruka's chest with her hand delicately 
resting on her shoulder. Haruka reached up and put her hand over 
Michiru's, forming a firm yet warm grip. She knew Michiru was already 
asleep - and given the state she'd seen her in without really knowing 
what had happened before, she certainly couldn't blame her - but she 
answered back to her lover anyway before drifting into slumber herself.

"Goodnight Michiru."

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