Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Knight for Neptune ❯ Chapter 1

Rating: PG

Notes/Foreword: I use one made-up character in the story, Taylor. Taylor's original appearance was in my first fanfic, "A Knight for Uranus." After that, he started making at least some appearances in most of my Sailor Moon stories. During Silver Millennium, Taylor was one of the guardians of Princess Uranus. They began to fall in love with each other, but the relationship was cut off when Taylor had to leave to protect Queen Serenity and Sailor Uranus was forbidden to leave her post. This was the last she saw of him until both of them were reborn in present time. Soon after meeting Haruka, Taylor recovered his memories and they fell in love once again. Taylor is carefree and easy-going when he's civilian (he usually lets Haruka have her way whenever she wants). As a fighter, he is highly determined and won't go down easy. His major purpose is to help Sailor Uranus upgrade, but this only works for short intervals, like when Super Sailor Moon used the grail to upgrade. He has brown hair, hazel eyes, and enjoys watching races (go figure,) reading, and fishing.

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A Knight for Neptune: Chapter 1
by Katrina Kadabra

Michiru sighed as she packed up her violin case. Tonight's concert had been a great success, as usual. A good promotion for her new CD, so Michiru was told by her agent. The aqua-haired girl placed her instrument down delicately as if it were made of glass, tucking the bow and shoulder pad into their respective compartments. The snapping shut of the case lock was the only sound that filled the room.

Michiru reached for her coat, laid neatly over her chair. Warm fur hugged Michiru's bare shoulders as she pulled it up, the dark brown material a sharp contrast to the dazzling white evening gown Michiru had chosen to wear tonight.

On Michiru's dresser sat her hairbrush with two pink bands wound around the handle in case of fashion emergency. Next to that was the plaque commemorating her first place performance at the Tokyo Summer Music Festival. And next to that, a photo of her, Haruka, and Taylor. Michiru pushed the frame away from her. It wasn't that she didn't like that picture. It was one of the few photos Haruka would allow to be taken of her wearing that cute little dress of hers. Michiru only wished there was a fourth person in the picture. Someone for her.

Michiru scolded herself for her childish thoughts. Love was not an option now. Not with another CD on the way out, and a new enemy lurking in the shadows. If anything, she should be happy she wasn't in a relationship. Poor Haruka, tied down with Taylor. She was going to be in a tight fix when her races starting coming. Of course, Taylor wasn't like a normal boyfriend. He was Haruka's knight.

Michiru sighed again and picked up the violin case, worn with years of love and dedication for its art.
As she headed for the door, the girl paused and turned around, looking over the empty space in the room.
"Who am I kidding?" she asked and turned off the light. "I'll never find someone for me."

As Michiru walked out into the night, the wind picked up just a bit and blew her hair forward, tickling the skin on her neck. It was dark; everyone else had long since gone home after the concert was over, while Michiru stood and waited anxiously for Haruka to arrive and pick her up. Haruka had been very busy lately, between the track team and school and of course, Taylor and the Sailor Senshi, that Michiru didn't see much of her. So she was happy for the little time she got even if it was something simple like getting picked up after a concert.

While Michiru was lost in her thoughts, a voice called out from behind her,

"Miss Michiru!" Michiru turned around to see a young man approaching her. A young man straight light hair, almost the color of snow, piled on top of his head. Deep, kind blue eyes were shadowed behind the lens of his large glasses. Now as he ran out to where Michiru was standing, he had to take a moment to catch his breath before speaking. Michiru knew this person fairly well; he was the stage manager at several of her concerts.

"Hello, Nathan," she said pleasantly. "What brings you out here?"

"Here," Nathan replied, still a bit out of breath as he held out a small cloth for Michiru to see. "I think you left this inside." She glanced down to see it was the handkerchief that Makoto had embroidered for her on her last birthday.

"You came out here just to give me that?" Michiru asked skeptically. Nathan turned bright red and looked down and the ground.

"Well, yeah," he said. "I just saw you always had it with you, so I thought it might be something special. Plus, I... I wanted to see you again and tell you that I... I thought you sounded gorgeous tonight, Miss Michiru."

"You're sweet," said Michiru with a soft giggle, taking the handkerchief from him. "Thank you." At this, Nathan finally seemed to warm up, at least long enough to take his gaze away from the cement at Michiru's feet.

"You're welcome," he said. "If you want, I can wait with you until your ride comes. You shouldn't be out here by yourself."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'll be fine on my own," Michiru replied.

"Are you sure...?" Nathan began, but his sentence was cut off by the honking of a car horn as a sharp yellow convertible appeared on the road and pulled up to the curb. The driver was a short-haired blond with blue eyes and a sparky attitude.

"Hey there Michiru!" she said winking, resting her arm onto the head of the passenger's seat. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting."

"Not at all," said Michiru formally, as if she were addressing a teacher or some other authority figure. The driver of the car smiled and turned her attention towards the boy standing there looking frozen to the sidewalk.

"Hi, I'm Haruka! What's your name?" she asked as she leaned over and opened the car door so Michiru could get in.

"N-nathan," he answered nervously. Michiru paid not a bit of attention to the conversation between Nathan and Haruka and the moment she was inside the car, she quickly pulled the door shut and said to Haruka,

"Well, let's get going."

Haruka shrugged and put the car into drive.

"Nice meeting you!" she said, and with that, the car sped down the road and disappeared around the corner.

The ride home began unusually quiet, even Michiru had to admit to herself. She couldn't say exactly what was causing the awkward silence. Maybe just that she couldn't quite think of anything to say, and apparently Haruka couldn't either. But she had to say something, talk about school or track or some other general topic. Otherwise Haruka might bring up...

"So..." said Haruka with a smile. "Who was the guy?"

"The stage manager for my concert," Michiru replied, matter-of-factly, mentally kicking herself for not speaking first.

"Yeah? He seemed to like you."

"That's nice," Michiru replied, still speaking in as few words as possible with the hopes that Haruka would get the idea and move off the subject. But of course she didn't.

"Ah," said Haruka knowingly, as if she had just solved the meaning of life.

"What do you mean 'ah'?" Michiru demanded.

"Nothing," answered Haruka with a wave of innocence and a mischievous pause before she added, "You just seemed a little sweet on him too." At those words, Michiru's cheeks flashed a bright red.

"Sweet on him?" she asked angrily. "Look Haruka, just because you're spending all your time with some guy doesn't mean you have to try and set me up too." Haruka's face fell.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to say anything to hurt you."

"It's fine," Michiru replied softly as she fingered her purse in her lap. "Don't worry about it."

The rest of the ride was silent until the yellow convertible at last pulled up in front of Haruka and Michiru's apartment with a slight screech of the brakes. Michiru gathered her belongings and stepped out of the door, Haruka following behind after she had put the top up and rolled up the windows, securing her vehicle for the night.

"I'm sorry if I said something to upset you," she said, walking up to the apartment door and inserting the key. "But you know, you really need to relax..."

"I'm perfectly relaxed," Michiru said, cutting off the last syllable of Haruka's words as she walked swiftly past her and into the apartment. Haruka sighed and followed. Apparently she wasn't going to get any farther with this tonight.