Catsy and her sisters watched Emerald go, dressed to the nines in one of her many slinky, body hugging numbers. In her slightly hoarse sounding voice she laughingly said to her sisters, "Bet you she falls down before she gets out of sight." Both Berdie and Avery quickly took that bet, while Prisma decided to stay out of it. She frowned at them, but they ignored her, so with a sigh she went back to pining over Sapphire. The young man in question seemed completely oblivious to her, sadly. Just as she was about to go around a bend in the trail, Emerald caught her foot in the hem of her leg hugging dress, and fell down in a cloud of brown dust. As Catsy cheerfully collected her money in the background, Prisma quietly asked Sapphire, "Should we go help her?" Sapphire shook his head, a little smile tugging at his lips. "No, it'll probably help her get sympathy from those fools in Crystal Tokyo." "That wasn't fair," Berdie complained with a cute little sniffle. She still handed over her share of the money, though. "All's fair in love, war, and gambling," Catsy chuckled in reply. Her eyes widened as she looked over at the campfire, "Breakfast's burning!" All four girls ran for the fire, getting in each other's way as they each tried to save what they could of the burnt food. "Catsy, the fire was too hot!" "You just didn't keep an good eye on it!" "Where's the water, anyway?" "Wait, don't do that!" Splash! The bacon and eggs were completely soaked by the pail full of water. In the process, Prisma, Catsy and Avery also got pretty soaked, too. "Ooops," Birdy said, and quickly hid the bucket behind her back. She seemed to wilt a bit under her sister's combined glares. "It wasn't my fault!" she protested. "Birdy!" all three growled together, and then they leapt at her. Diamond watched the goings on and gave a soft sigh. "You just can't get good help these days," he complained to himself wearily. Haruka looked around her small office with clear satisfaction. It wasn't quite 'hers' yet, only the passage of time would really put her mark on the place, but adding a few personal mementos really helped. For poor Usagi's sake she had decided not to move into the set of rooms upstairs, leaving them the way Serenity had left them. 'Besides,' Haruka thought to herself a bit ruefully, 'staying over at the Palace also means that I can stay near Michiru.' The girl had rarely left Haruka's thoughts these past few days, whether she wanted her there or not. A soft knock on the door, then Makoto pushed it open and came in from the street. She was carrying a very large covered basket, "You missed lunch." She put the basket on Haruka's desk with a loud thump before uncovering a massive amount of food. Haruka looked at all of it with a goggle-eyed expression. "There's no way," she said to her laughingly, "that I can eat all of this alone." Makoto grinned back impishly, "I understand Michiru missed lunch as well." At Haruka's surprised expression Makoto elaborated, "Why not ask her out for lunch?" Haruka sighed softly. "Am I that obvious?" she asked. "Ami did have to point it out to me," Makoto said gently. She waved cheerfully and walked off, whistling to herself softly. Haruka shook her head and smiled. She gathered her things and locked up the office before sauntering down the street. She whistled to herself softly, the basket hanging on her arm. She smiled and nodded to the towns people she recognized. "Hello, Professor Tomoe," Haruka said with a wave. The town's one room schoolteacher, nicknamed "Professor" by almost everyone, gave Haruka a cheerful smile. "Hello, Haruka. Taking a special someone out?" Hotaru asked cheerfully. "There's a nice fresh water spring nearby the town, to the south." "A romantic spot?" Haruka said with a smile, absentmindedly wondering how many people knew she was interested in Michiru, anyway? "And how did you find out about it?" The dark hared young woman smiled back impishly, "I took my girlfriend there, of course." The twenty-five year old looked much younger as she pushed her shoulder length black hair back a little shyly, blushing at admitting that. Haruka waved as Hotaru politely took her leave. 'Wonder who the lucky lady is?' she mused thoughtfully. She shook her head and headed back to the Palace. She waved to the crowded tables on the first floor before heading upstairs. Michiru's door looked just like the others all in a row. 'So why am I scared?' Haruka found herself wondering. She raised her hand to knock, and froze. She took a deep breath and prepared to try again, when the door opened up under her hand. Michiru looked serious at first, then her face seemed to light up when she saw who was there. She looked over Haruka admiringly, the long pants, white shirt, gun belt and gold vest with the little tin star seemed to suit the handsome woman so well. "Haruka," Michiru smiled up at her sweetly, "what are you doing here?" Haruka looked at Michiru and suddenly found herself completely unable to talk. The lady stood in the doorway in a simple dress, but it hinted at the curves beneath it, the color perfectly suiting the woman natural coloring. Haruka stammered out "I.. I was going, I mean, picnic basket Makoto made, and you missed lunch too, so..." "You want to take me out to lunch?" Michiru asked, a little smile tugging at her lips. Haruka nodded gratefully in reply. "I'd love to," she said stepping out into the hallway. Haruka gently slid her arm protectively in Michiru's own, and was rewarded by the other girl's sunny smile. The went downstairs together, passing through the common room before stepping outside. As soon as they left the room erupted in conversation, but both of them ignored it. Haruka walked then over to the stables, talking of inconsequential things as they enjoyed the warmth of the summer sun. She led her mare out of the stables and helped Michiru up onto her back before climbing up behind Michiru. Keeping a gentle arm around her waist, Haruka took them out of town at a slow trot. "Are you all right?" Haruka asked Michiru softly. Michiru sighed softly, enjoying the feeling of Haruka's breasts pressing firmly against her back. "I'm fine," she answered her quite cheerfully. Minako watched Haruka and Michiru leave arm in arm, holding back the questions until they left. "How did it go?" she asked Mokoto impatiently. "They're both interested in each other," Makoto said with a shrug, "but I have no idea if it's going to go any farther." "We really shouldn't be trying to interfere anyway," Ami cautioned the others gently. "Messing with love usually doesn't work out too well." "Minako just has to pair up everybody," Rei said with a sigh, taking Minako's hand in her own. "It's part of her charm, as irritating as it can sometimes get." Minako blew a raspberry, and then Rei blew one back at her. They quieted down as the door swung inward and a very dusty young woman in a badly torn party dress staggered in. Ami led the charge over to her side, ushering the lady to a nearby chair, Makoto wincing at all the dust on her clean furniture. "Are you all right?" Ami asked her. She looked down at what was left of the outfit the lady was wearing and wondered what had possessed her to be wandering around the prairie in such a completely impractical dress? She made a note of all the cuts and scrapes on her and went off to get her medical kit from under the bar. "Not really," Emerald replied with a sigh. Her dress was wrecked, her clothes ruined, and her plan to seduce Haruka as soon as she arrived in town had already hit the skids. The woman in question had ridden right off before Emerald could even try to get her attention. "Who are you? And what in the world happened to you?" Makoto asked her even as Ami began to tend to the lady's various cuts and scrapes. Emerald yelped softly as Ami applied some alcohol to clean a still slightly bleeding scrape on her arm. "Sorry," Ami said in businesslike tones before putting a small bandage on it. "Eme.." Emerald started to say, before realizing that her name would be a dead giveaway. "Emi?" Minako echoed. She looked at Ami, "Almost the same name as you, Ami. We'll have to be careful about confusing you two." A very relieved Emerald quickly made up a likely sounding sob story, "I was kicked off my wagon train, when I refused to give..." she forced herself to blush brightly, "sexual favors to one of the overseers. The took away all my things and then dumped me a few miles from here." She sniffled softly on cue, "I'm so lucky I found you!" As they fussed around the lady, a quiet figure made her way inside. She barely made a ripple moving through the crowd to the stairs, and climbing up silently. She walked down to another door and knocked on it softly, calling out "It's me, love." Usagi opened the door, and smiled broadly at Hotaru, "You have no idea how good it is to see you!" She pulled Hotaru into an embrace, kissing her softly. Pink tinged Hotaru's cheeks as she breathlessly replied, "It's good to see you, too." Exchanging broad smiles they quickly went inside, shutting the door behind them. The spring was just as Hotaru had said, a oasis in the middle of rolling hills just far enough from town to be private. Unpacking the basket, Haruka noted that Makoto had thought of everything, including a checkered sheet to spread across the grass. She tethered her horse to a tree in easy reach of the water, then with a sweep of her arm invited Michiru to take a seat. She put out plates, then the carefully covered portions of food, "You know, I don't even know what Mokoto packed in here." Michiru laughed softly, "Whatever it is, we know for sure it'll be good." She reached out to help with a plate, her fingers gently brushing at Haruka's. She blushed slightly, lingering. Haruka shivered softly, the delicate fingers sliding up her own to linger on the back of her hand a moment. She slid the plate down, worried that she might drop it. She looked up to see Michiru smiling at her, her eyes cloudy and mysterious. Michiru slid forward, pressing her lips to Haruka's forcefully. She pressed her body up against hers, kissing Haruka feverishly, only pulling back long enough to say, "I've wanted to do that for days, you know." Haruka felt her fingers tangling in Michiru's hair, luxuriating in the kisses. "I've wanted you since I first saw you," she admitted. They kissed again, even as Michiru pushed her backwards on the blanket, the picnic basket pushed aside forcefully. Michiru sat on Haruka's middle, her hands resting on the front of Haruka's shirt. She could feel the breaths coming faster in her slim lovers body, the excitement there, "I'm glad." Haruka laughed softly, "Lunch is going to get cold." Michiru smiled down at her happily, undoing Haruka's shirt as she smugly said, "Sorry, but I don't really care."
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