CHAPTER 3: SAILOR URANUS, SAILOR NEPTUNE & SAILOR PLUTO
“Yaparii~! Papa Haruka’s home! Papa Haruka’s home!”
The cute sounds of Hotaru Tomoe Sailor Saturn rang across the hall as she rushed down to the front door to greet Haruka Tenoh Sailor Uranus. Haruka has just come back from a really tense race and was dying to get home and enjoy a little peace and quiet and spend some quality time of her own.
“Hey there, Hota-chan,” Haruka patted Hotaru’s head as she stepped into the house, closing the door behind her. “So, how was school?”
“It was great! Chibi Usagi and I both got the answers correct for a really tough question and we both were in charge of the cafeteria food this week!” Hotaru said excitedly about her day at school. “And also I helped Mummy Setsuna in the sick bay after school.”
“That’s really sweet, Hota-chan. Where’s Mama Michiru?” Haruka looked around.
“She’s in the kitchen fixing dinner. It’ll be on within half an hour,” Hotaru pointed towards the direction of the kitchen.
“Well, go and help her so that I can have my dinner earlier,” Haruka shoved Hotaru playfully. “I’m famished.”
“Hait!” Hotaru nodded and was soon bounding off towards the kitchen, calling out for her Mama Michiru.
Haruka smiled wryly as she walked towards the living room and sat down with a plop on the sofa. She sighed tiredly and rubbed her temples a little as she began to contemplate today’s race. It was pretty hectic and grueling and the weather wasn’t too kind either, what with the hot sun and all. She had to admit that the contestant who got the first runner up was pretty good. If she weren’t careful and hadn’t stepped on it harder through the last minute, she could be the one ending up as the first runner-up herself. Competing with boys sure wasn’t that of an easy job to do.
Come to think of it, she has been living a boy’s life almost all her life. She first discovered that she had the ability to shift genders when she was about 5. It kind of freaked her parents out a little, but they tried hard to accept their daughter’s condition. Doctors were baffled at her abilities and she would’ve become a lab rat for life if it weren’t for one of the doctors who felt sorry for her and decided to help her and her family sort of ‘disappear’ and move them to the Mugen state.
In Mugen, Haruka has adopted a male identity, and occasionally switch to the female identity just to have the feeling of feminine back in her for a while. She remembered meeting Michiru Kaioh Sailor Neptune at Mugen High and felt an unexpected attraction towards her. At first, she thought that there was something wrong with her for she was actually attracted to a girl—someone of the same sex as her original gender—but then she realized that maybe the masculinity that was part of her was the cause of this certain attraction for her. Besides, she was mysterious and gentle and beautiful and was a true talent in violin—who could resist her? Even some of the girls in her class wished they were boys so that they could be her boyfriend, so how could she avoid falling for her? Finally, she braved herself to confess about her feelings towards Michiru and explain her double gender ability to her. Lucky for her, Michiru was a very open-minded person and that she already liked her from the very first day of school, and soon they were going steady, becoming the most famous couple in Mugen High.
Haruka recalled again the first time she and Michiru discovered their Sailor powers. It was that fateful day when she and Michiru just finished celebrating their Junior High Graduation Night with the other Mugen Junior High graduates at a French restaurant. As they walked home together, their instincts somehow told them to go to the old building section of Mugen High. They knew they weren’t supposed to be there—it was off limits for demolition—but their legs just kept guiding them towards the old building. This feeling led them towards the old fish pond where Michiru got her Deep Aqua Mirror and to the old Arts & Crafts Room where Haruka got her Space Sword. As soon as their weapons were brought close together, their past life memories as Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune revealed, showing them their duty as solitary soldiers outside the solar system of the galaxy.
Haruka remembered seeing the vision given out by her Space Sword. She discovered that she was the odd one out—the special soldier who had the power of two genders. She could see herself standing at an altar in the middle of a vast planet of steel blue, almost like the colour of the wind. She never felt so alone, standing there, guarding out her post with no help from others. She remembered the scars and the pain she had to endure all by herself while fighting intruders who try to barge into the land of the Silver Millennium through her post. She could see herself foreseeing the calamity of the Silver Millennium and the darkness that forced it to its destruction, but she couldn’t do anything for she was bound to her post, never able to leave it unguarded, not even for a second. When all of Silver Millennium was lost and when she, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Pluto made the forbidden mistake of summoning the Forbidden Soldier—Sailor Saturn—to bring silent death to the Silver Millennium, the feeling of loneliness was truly extreme.
When the visions died out and she has come to accept her destiny, she found Michiru on her knees breaking down in tears, sobbing and crying about how lonely and dark she felt when the Deep Aqua Mirror showed her the story of her past life. That’s when Haruka held her in her arms and vowed that she would never be alone ever again…
“Haruka, what are you thinking? Daijobu deska?”
Haruka’s musings were broken when she heard Setsuna Meioh Sailor Pluto’s voice. Setsuna was standing beside her and setting a cup of tea onto the table in front of her. She was still clad in her doctrine uniform she often wear in the sick bay of Jyuban Elementary, the school where Hotaru and Chibi Usagi went.
“Oh, nothing much. Just a small trip down memory lane, that’s all,” Haruka replied, sipping the tea. “Annou…How was your day?”
“Fine, fine. None of the kids’ bones were broken or anything,” Setsuna said as she adjusted her hair bun. “Hotaru has been quite a great help to me.”
“Much easier than your job as a member of the Tokyo Astrological Station, eh?”
“Kids will be kids,” Setsuna chuckled heartily. “You look like you’ve been through some tough luck today.”
“Hait. Tough luck, but it’s luck all the same,” Haruka stretched herself lazily. “Topped my opponent by 5 seconds before the finishing line.”
“Sugoi! Now that’s a record. I think I’ll go check out the medical supplies file before I go help Michiru set the table.”
“You go, girl,” Haruka said with a grin. “And I’ll just sit back and relax.”
“Baka! Lazy thing!” Setsuna huffed as she walked upstairs to her study, leaving the laughing Haruka behind.
Haruka stared as Setsuna disappeared out of sight. Setsuna was the oldest member of the Sailor Team and yet her beauty can outmatch the beauty of Rei Hino. Despite having copper skin resulting from a marriage of a Japanese father and a South African mother, her beauty never fails to captivate people’s eye and she often stood out from the rest of the Sailors. Her intelligence also went in line with all the elegant features she has on her, which made her even more outstanding and eventually the wisest of all the Sailors. Plus she was a keeper of time and tide and had seen many things through the sands of time in her post as the past life Sailor Pluto, and it wasn’t surprising that that’s where she gets all her wisdom from.
Which is why she was also slightly attracted to her when she started to get acquainted with her when they first met. Not that it didn’t arouse Michiru’s jealousy, but as they knew that they were all in the same fate of being solitary soldiers, they kind of swam through the whole triangle deal.
Haruka stole a glimpse at her left hand. Yup, the ring that she bought for the three of them was still there. When they have decided to leave Mugen and Jyuban altogether and leave their past behind to start a new life raising the reborn Hotaru after that terrible fight with Pharaoh 90, she had bought each of them a ring which symbolized their willingness to forget the past and live in the present. Now that they have come back to the place they never thought they would, she couldn’t believe that they still had the rings with them, when they knew that these rings were the ones that tied them down, making them believe that they could start anew with no strings attached with the other Sailors and deny their destiny.
She lifted her hand and took a long look at her ring. Maybe there is another reason they kept these rings. Maybe she bought these rings for another purpose than to start life anew. Maybe these rings meant something else.
Just maybe…
“Itadakimas!”
The family of Sailors sat down together to enjoy a hearty dinner. As Michiru brought in the dinner of salad ala mode, beef stew, omelette, chicken fillet and corn soup, Hotaru chattered merrily about her day at school and how she spent it with her really best friend Chibi Usagi and with the two fashion slave rascals Naruru and Ruruna. All the grownups chuckled at upon hearing the darnest things a kid could do behind the grownups’ back.
Michiru observed everyone quietly at her side of the table. Hotaru, with her purple-black hair and her fair skin, was the apple of their eye. She never fails to lighten up their spirits and bring a smile to their faces with her sweet, cute talk and her cheerful attitude, although sometimes when it comes to fighting the villains, she often switch to the Goddess of Death mode. Setsuna, the odd one out of the four of them, looked truly beautiful and unmistakably gorgeous and elegant in her own way. It is no wonder that many men in her Tokyo Astrological Station and in Jyuban Elementary admire her, all the children loved her and Haruka attracted to her.
And then there’s Haruka. Haruka has always been her life and her soul. They have always been in pairs everywhere they went. They were never apart. If she were to be alone, people would automatically start asking questions. They even fought villains and bad guys together before they met Sailor Moon. Of course, Haruka was having fun switching genders during battles, from a so-called Tuxedo Mask as a boy to Sailor Uranus as a girl, just to confuse the media. They were like peas in a pod—a match made in heaven, as they always say.
She had always liked Haruka from the very moment she saw her winning the car race for Mugen High, but she never dared to tell anyone or confess to her for fear that she would be mauled by Haruka’s fans. She was so happy when Haruka actually confessed to her but she didn’t expect Haruka to be a double-gendered person. Things were pretty complicated at first because she had to first accept that Haruka is originally a girl. But, as time went by, she had finally gotten used to Haruka being both a boy and a girl because not only she had a ‘boyfriend’, but also a best friend. When she had discovered her identity as Sailor Neptune and had seen the loneliness in her past, Haruka was true to her word that she would never leave her alone ever again, and she loved her more for that.
After dinner, as she washed the dishes, Haruka silently slipped into the kitchen and hugged her from behind.
“How was your day today?” Haruka asked as she rocked her little sweetheart to and fro lovingly. “You were pretty quiet and all and you didn’t say anything about your day.”
“Well, I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of Setsuna and Hotaru,” Michiru said in a pretend grudge tone, “but you certainly stood me up today, what with the last minute cancellation to duet with me for the charity show.”
“Gomene,” Haruka grinned sheepishly. “I kinda forgot that the race was today. I was looking forward to play the piano.”
“You’re always that forgetful,” Michiru broke out of Haruka’s embrace to put in the dishes. “I had to team up with this boy just fresh from piano school and had never been on stage before. He almost had stage fright!”
“Gomenasai, gomenasai~!” Haruka apologized profusely. She went over to Michiru and hugged her from behind again. “Is there any way I can make it up to you?”
Michiru glanced sideways in a naughty way and took Haruka’s hands that held her waist, placing them onto her breasts. Haruka blushed a little as she knew what she meant.
“Are you sure you can handle me tonight?” Haruka asked with a slightly horny tone, rubbing her hand seductively across Michiru’s face.
“Haruka, I’ve handled more youkai-s and baddies than you can ever imagine. What makes you think I cannot handle a Sailor like you?”
“Hait, hait. You asked for it.”
With that, Haruka practically trotted out of the kitchen and her footsteps could be heard going up the stairs. Michiru sighed and shook her head weakly. When it comes to ‘intimate’ situations like these, Haruka would immediately be enthusiastic about it. She secretly knew that Haruka has a liking for both her and Setsuna (which is why Haruka invited her to stay with them in their quiet little home back then when they decided to start life anew) but she hoped that Haruka would not play favourites with either of them. Maybe Haruka buying rings for the both of them instead of just for one of them was pretty much a relief and reassurance that her love for her and Setsuna would never slant to either side.
Silently, she kissed the ring on her finger and made the same wish she made last time in her new home.
“I wish all of us will be together forever and never part. I wish we’ll never be alone again.”
Setsuna sat at her study table going online through the net looking for certain information. She absentmindedly clicked on icons and headings, not exactly sure what she was looking for or what she was doing anyway.
In the midst of her surfing the net, her mind suddenly came across Haruka. She remembered passing by the room Haruka and Michiru shared after tucking Hotaru to bed and saw the funny little door knob hanger that read ‘No Unauthorized Personnel Allowed’. She could only guess that Haruka and Michiru are spending a little ‘quality time’ together. She didn’t know whether to feel jealous about this or admire their loving hearts towards each other.
She had to admit; she did like Haruka. She had always liked Haruka. During the Mugen incident and her recollection of her past life as the Door Keeper of Time and Space, the first time she set eyes upon Michiru Haruka, Haruka was the first to catch her eye. When they revealed themselves to the Princess Serenity they swore to serve, she had already made a silent and solemn vow to herself that she would follow Haruka and Michiru wherever they went, even if it meant the ends of the earth.
During her days of following and fighting alongside Haruka and Michiru, she had discovered much goodness and great qualities on Haruka that she could not put a number to it. All she knew was that Haruka was her everything and she was willing to accompany her through thick and thin of life. She knew that Haruka was alone for too long—too long to endure another life of solitude and loneliness anymore—and she understood that perfectly well, for she, too, was a lone heroine herself, fighting for the cause and the protection of Silver Millennium. Most importantly, she had come to love Haruka—so much that she couldn’t bear to leave her in isolation again. She was willing to do anything for her, even if it means sharing her with Michiru.
“Setsuna?”
Setsuna turned around to see Haruka at her door of her study, wearing her half-opened shirt and slackers. Judging by the built of her body and the deepness of her voice, she could see that Haruka was in her boy state. Setsuna blushed a little and looked away.
“What are you doing here? I thought you and Michiru…well, your door had that door knob hanger and…”
“Hait, we were having a little ‘quality time’, but we’re pretty much done,” Haruka replied outspokenly. She’s definitely open to speak of things like these. “What are you doing all alone in here?”
“Just doing a little research of my own, nothing much,” Setsuna replied as she busied herself staring at an article on the screen that probably wasn’t relevant. “I’ll be in bed in a minute, why don’t you…”
Her words were cut short when she felt Haruka’s hands on her shoulder. She didn’t dare to move, but she felt a little awkward about being touched by Haruka. She had never been that close to her yet. She stammered a little, “A-re…Annou, Haruka, you…”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about certain things,” Haruka said softly to her ear, “and one of them would be the rings on our fingers. We thought we could start life anew without any ties with the other Sailors but in fact it was the rings that kept us from our destiny. We did say that we didn’t need these rings anymore, so why are we wearing it?”
“Maybe for sentimental reasons,” Setsuna replied. “Or maybe because it’s an expensive gift we shouldn’t just throw away.”
“Maybe it means something else. I’ve thought long and hard about it and I have finally come to understand why we kept these rings. It’s because we’re all lone heroes and come from lonely places with no one else to turn to but our own. We are lost stars drifting across the galaxy looking for a place to belong to. And we have found each other. Through these rings, we have found each other and we have finally escaped the fear of ever being alone again. Maybe I bought these rings because that’s what they meant, that we will be together forever. Don’t you agree, Setsuna?”
“Hait…” Setsuna replied as her fingers clicked on the online disconnecting icon. As she felt haruka’s touch growing more and more intimate and more seductive towards her, she finally succumbed to the feeling that was burning inside her since the day she first met her.
When her blouse fell onto the floor, followed by her skirt, she made no attempt to pick it up.
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