Note on Planet Names: Ten'ousei=Uranus; Kaiousei=Neptune; Meiousei=Pluto; Dosei=Saturn; Kasei=Mars; Suisei=Mercury; Mokusei=Jupiter; Kinsei=Venus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Michiru awoke in her own room, Haruka stretched out on top of the blanket beside her. She sat up and ran her hand through Haruka's short hair, smiling at the calm expression on the man's face. Haruka had obviously been watching over her before exhaustion claimed him. Haruka's uncertain green eyes slowly opened, and the young duke groaned. Sitting up, he removed his sword from his hip and placed it on Michiru's bed. "You fell asleep." "I can see that," Michiru chuckled. "I wasn't the only one." "I didn't mean to, but it got dark and I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. Why did you fall asleep, anyway?" Michiru shrugged, noticing that she was only wearing her white under dress. "I just felt so comfortable there. With you." Haruka blushed, the color flooding his cheeks. "When you fell asleep I couldn't bear to wake you up. So I called your servants and carried you back here while they cleaned up the picnic. They seemed surprised that you felt comfortable enough around me to fall asleep in my arms." "You're the first, Haruka-kun. Why don't you return to your room and get dressed to meet my mother while I put some clothes on." Haruka nodded at the suggestion and left, completely forgetting his sword. Michiru took the weapon and laid it on her table while she dressed, planning to return it to the young duke when she saw him next. She forgot it. *~*~*~*~*~*~* Haruka looked at the man staring at her from the other side of the mirror and sighed. She really wasn't a man and it wasn't fair to Michiru to continue the deception any longer. She should just tell the young princess the truth and return to Uranus where she belonged and where her father must miss her. Her rebellion, while it had seemed like a good idea at the time, had taught her nothing she wanted to learn, and she was ready to go home. She had lost all interest in travel and adventure. Haruka decided that her plan was the best one and reached for her sword and henshin stick. Her sword was nowhere to be found. *~*~*~*~*~*~* Michiru curtsied to the duke, smiling when he bowed back. Catching a hint of the worry in his eyes, she took his arm and led him down the stairs to the throne room. "What's wrong, Haruka-kun?" "Did I leave my sword in your room?" "Yes, you did; you took it off when you woke up. I meant to bring it to you, but I forgot. It's better to meet my mother unarmed, in any case." Michiru nodded at the guard in front of the throne room doors and missed the look of fear, trepidation, and anger that crossed Haruka's expressive face before he followed her into the huge chamber. He did not like the idea of meeting the woman that had hated him from the moment he was born. Queen Shousha was a sight to behold. Her long, white-frosted sapphire hair was held back in a braid, though two white strands freely framed her youthful face. She sat in her single throne, and her very presence encouraged worship and loyalty. Haruka heard a soft sigh in the back of his mind and recognized his mother, who was still in love with the nubile Kaiousei Queen. An image of a younger Shousha flashed into the Senshi's mind, and the elegant Princess Kaiou Shousha had her daughter's aqua hair where it now was white. She was smiling, holding Kazeko's hand, content to watch Neptune set beneath the horizon of the moon Triton. Kazeko had been so happy back then. Haruka remembered that he was a duke's son just in time to bow before the queen. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty. I am Urakaze Haruka." "I have heard of you, young man," the queen replied. "You saved my daughter's life, though I have no idea why she was out in the city in the first place." Michiru flinched from the steely accusation and reprimand in her mother's voice, but Haruka's hand on her arm gave her strength. "I was looking for Haruka-kun, actually. I sensed a new presence in our kingdom and I wanted to see who had come." Queen Shousha stood up and walked over to Haruka, looking him over. "You look familiar, Urakaze Haruka. Have we met before?" "No, Majesty, not that I remember." Which was the truth, even though Haruka knew that the Neptunian Queen had attended her birth. "I hear that you recently returned from Ten'ousei; it is my home and you may have glimpsed one of my relatives." The Queen nodded at the explanation; she had been on Uranus so many times that it was hard to keep track of all the nobles she met. For all she knew, she had met the young duke's father without realizing it. "Are you two becoming close friends, Michiru?" "Yes, Mother. We went on a picnic yesterday. Haruka-kun has offered to be my guard and escort and I have accepted. I thought you might want to meet him." "It's nice to know that some chivalry still exists. Why don't you come to Michiru's birthday party later this week?" Haruka feigned surprise. "Me? I didn't think the party was open to just anybody." Shousha chuckled, for a moment the young woman Kazeko had fallen in love with. "I would think that you would realize that you are not just ‘anybody', my young duke. You saved my daughter's life and you have become her very close friend; in this palace, that is an achievement. I think that Michiru would be insulted if you did not attend." Haruka looked at the girl beside him, and she shrugged. Though her mother was clearly in control, Michiru would assert her own opinion if she thought it important. "You did promise to be my guard, Haruka-kun, and I will be very visible and vulnerable on my birthday; I'd like it if you came." Haruka felt trapped; she wanted to leave and let Michiru find her own way and her own heart, but she desperately wanted to be near the princess and she didn't want to disappoint her. "I'll come," she whispered. "I'll come, Michiru-san." Michiru smiled, and Haruka replaced her duke image, albeit with a little effort. He bowed to the queen as he followed Michiru back to the younger noble's room, closing the door behind him. Michiru turned to her newest friend and smiled. "Mother never lets you have a choice." Haruka chuckled as he took his sword and replaced it on his hip, no longer sorry that Fate had forced him to forget it earlier that morning. "I did get that impression. My father was never strict and never paid much attention to me, so I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I don't think that your mother will ever let you be independent." "She said something to me as we left," Michiru admitted, hands folded in front of her soft lavender dress. "She told me that I ought to marry you as long as you're here." Haruka snorted. "She's sees me as nothing more than a possession. I will not bend to her will, even if you plan to." "That's just it, Haruka; I don't obey my mother, I just think the same way she does." Haruka, shocked at Michiru's loving use of her name, backed away, frightened out of her duke disguise. "This is not a good time to talk about this, Michiru-san," she stuttered, reaching for the door handle. "Maybe I should just go." "Maybe you should stay." Michiru's words halted the taller senshi, and she stood there, frozen. "I haven't told you everything," Haruka whispered as Michiru stepped closer, resting her arms on Haruka's shoulders. Haruka felt something pulling her, and her mother, in the back of her mind, pushed her, so she quit resisting. Haruka leaned down and did what she had been waiting days—longer, her whole life—to do. She kissed Kaiou Michiru. Wind, vicious and frighteningly strong, filled the city, echoing the fierce power of destiny that bound Michiru and Haruka, and as Michiru relaxed, pressing her nubile body against Haruka's, waves from the sea created by the powers of the ancient senshi crashed against the sapphire foundation of the castle, screaming, crying, desperate to touch the wind no matter the cost. The rushing wind excited the white-capped waves, tempting them, calling them to higher, more dangerous swells, until water flooded the streets of the city, pushed forward by the gale, the hurricane forming between the two mighty forces. In their assault against the land, they were inseparable. Haruka pulled away, pushing Michiru back, shocked to have found her hand wandering up the younger senshi's silky shirt. "No!" "Haruka—" "No, Michiru! This isn't right!" "Why not?" "Because I love you and I shouldn't!" Haruka gasped at her words, her fury at herself and her utter confusion whipping the winds to furious speeds. Michiru looked out the window and her hands flew to her mouth. "What have we done?" "Nothing," Haruka replied, barely able to keep her voice down. "And we won't." "Why not?" Michiru was as close to tears as Haruka had ever seen her, and she took an automatic step forward to comfort the princess. "It's not you," Haruka whispered; "it's me. I can't love you and I can't stay. I can't marry you and you can't be happy if I don't leave." "Why, Haruka? Why?" "Because I'm not the man I told you I was. I'm not a duke's son." "So what? I don't care if you're not a duke's son—" "You don't understand, Michiru," Haruka whispered sadly, touching the senshi's lips as the wind and waves died down. "I'm not anybody's son. I am Ten'ou Koshu's daughter, the Princess of Ten'ousei." Michiru stared at Haruka, her mind trying to digest that information but failing. "You are Koshu's daughter? You're the missing princess?" "Yes. That's how I got here, Michiru; these henshin sticks have the power to teleport their wielders. This sword was my mother's Space Sword, though I have only used it to protect you. I'm a Sailor Senshi, the same as you, and I have to go home and marry my own duke." "No," Michiru whispered, tears in her bright eyes. "It's not fair, Haruka, because I love you, too." Haruka nodded, fighting the tears that threatened her own eyes. "I know, Michiru, but it is the Curse of the Senshi to love and lose. Rei and Minako, Ami and Makoto, and even our princess and a prince of Earth love each other but cannot do anything about it. Don't you understand, Michiru? No matter how much we love each other, I must leave." "No! I won't let you! You're mine, and no one and NOTHING is going to come between us, even the stupid Senshi Curse. Why can't love be enough?" "We are princesses, Michiru and will soon be queens. All Senshi must sacrifice their love in order to serve their people." "I won't," Michiru whispered, holding Haruka even more tightly as the waves began to crash once more. "Never." "Soon we must," Haruka whispered. "But I can stay one more night." *~*~*~*~*~*~* That night, as Nereid peeked over Triton's horizon as they sped past Neptune together, a fierce and powerful hurricane formed off the coast of the magnificent city and screamed at the inhabitants of Triton Castle, called by the love of the princesses of Kaiousei and Ten'ousei, but held back. In her room, Queen Shousha desperately stared into the Aqua Mirror, henshin stick in her hand, begging for a sign. Who was calling the elements?
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