Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Knight for Neptune ❯ Chapter 4

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 4
by Katrina Kadabra

Michiru tossed and turned in her sleep all night, gripping ever tighter to the blanket at her side. She could feel the darkness slowly creeping over her. She kept seeing those awful images. Why? The city she loved was ripped to shreds before her. In her mind, her friends' lives vanished like a quick white smoke. And above it all stood the figure of a girl, a girl with fiery red braided hair and dark eyes with a gaze of ice. She stood wearing a heavy armor of gold and black, taking one glance at the destruction around her. And laughing. What this the new enemy Luna was speaking of? The one that was supposedly too powerful for the senshi to defeat on their own? Why did the images of destruction have to haunt Michiru as they did? It happened when Death Busters attacked too. And Michiru did not want to see it again.

"No!" Michiru suddenly screamed and jolted out of bed, waking herself from the taunting nightmare. As soon as she realized she was back in her bedroom, she clamped her hands over her mouth, hoping she didn't wake Haruka up. When her palms touched her lip, she could fee the skin was cold and damp with sweat. After a moment, the room still remained silent, and Michiru supposed that Haruka had actually managed to sleep through the whole incident. It was just as well. Michiru did not want to have to explain her irrational behavior again. That in mind, she laid down and tried to go back to sleep.

The next morning, much to Haruka's surprise, she found Michiru awake before she was.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" she said in a carefree tone, peeking her head into Haruka's bedroom. "Get up, I made breakfast." Haruka was shocked to see Michiru up earlier than her, but nevertheless, she quickly changed her clothes and walked into the kitchen.

"This is a surprise," she said, looking at the meal in front of her. Michiru had laid out all sorts of goodies, including scrambled eggs, Haruka's favorite. "What brought this up?" she asked.

"I decided last night," Michiru said. "I'm just going to go on with my regular life. I'm not going to let this knight thing bother me anymore." Haruka skeptically raised an eyebrow.

"Do I believe you?" she asked.

"You'd better," Michiru replied with a wink. "If you want to keep getting breakfast in the morning." She set a plate of bacon and eggs down in front of Haruka. "Now hurry up and eat, or you'll be late."

Michiru smiled as Haruka began eating the food she had made. Everything was as it should be, calm and peaceful. She would just pass off that nightmare she had last night. She would forget all this mess. It was probably just her overactive imagination anyway. So she hoped.

Meanwhile, in the darkness, a young woman approached her two companions. A woman wearing a gold and black armor with red hair done up in a tight braid.

"What do you think, Eos?" she asked in a cold voice.

Another girl with white skin and long yellow hair that reached to her ankles turned around. Her flowing hair followed like a cape. "I think if we're ever going to invade the earth, I'm going to have to get a makeover," she sighed, looking deeply in a red hand mirror. "I look a mess."

"No one's looking at you," the third one muttered. This one had short blue hair which curled slyly at the tips and was by far the tallest of the three there. She also had darker skin and a stronger build than Eos, whose frail body looked like it was going to be crushed by the golden armor she wore.

"Shut up, Cin," she muttered under her breath.

Cin ignored the amateur's petty insults and strode over to a large dark pool. The transparent liquid seemed innocent, but if one gazed into the water's surface hard enough, they would see not a reflection, but an image. An image of whatever Cin's power summoned it to be, in the case, a sparkling view of the solar system.

"There are ten Sailor Soldiers are earth besides the guardian of earth himself, Madame Garnet," Cin explained, running her hand over the water's surface. As she did, each of the planet's let out a sparkling glow, showing its power. "And each of them are going to try and fight us to the death before we can even get close to our goal."

"The moon is all I'm worried about," Garnet replied. "The lights from the other planets are weak, we should be able to overpower them easily." As she spoke, a few more flickers of light appeared in the dark pool. Upon seeing them, Garnet's eyes widened in anger.

"W-what the heck is this?!" she asked. "New stars appearing now? It can't be."

"Calm down, Madame Garnet," said Cin. This is not the present, but the near future. These are lights that will be showing themselves soon." She paused for a moment to glare into the water and this approaching threat. "Their power is similar to that light which protects the earth," she observed. "And each of them has appeared by one of the inner planets."

Garnet groaned in response. "What about the outer planets?" she asked, rubbing her forehead.

"Only one has appeared that we know of, by the planet Uranus. The others are... wait." Next to the greenish-blue planet, there was a small flicker. But Cin was having trouble distinguishing it. It was as if this new star was trying to decide whether or not to awaken.

"There might be another light appearing near Neptune," Cin said. "But it is still to early to tell."

"Well then, don't wait around until it does!" Garnet barked. "We must eliminate the Sailor Senshi before they gather any more allies. Once we have the Silver Imperial crystal, eliminating all other obstacles will be a walk in the park."

"Michiru? Michiru!" Michiru groggily opened her eyes. A voice was calling out to her. Where was she again? She rubbed her eyes and ran her hand through her hair, waving wildly in the wind. Yes, she remembered now; she was sitting in Haruka's car on the ride home from school. The day had dragged on like Michiru had never known it to before, even band practice seemed to last for hours. Michiru yawned again.

"What's the matter with you?" Haruka asked. "Sheesh, you've been falling asleep all day. It's not like you. Didn't you sleep last night?"

"Not really," Michiru admitted. "I kept having this dream."

"Really? I slept just fine," Haruka replied. "What did you dream about?" Michiru was surprised Haruka would ask such a question. Normally, if danger was threatening the earth, she and Haruka both had recurring dreams about it, sometimes accompanied by visions during the day. The girls' thoughts were always in sync with each other's. But if Haruka wasn't seeing anything, then perhaps it really was just Michiru's overactive imagination.

"Nothing," she said quietly and tried to push the thought from her mind. "Hurry up and let's get home, I want to show you the dress I picked out for Friday."

"Okay, if you insist..." said Haruka with a smile. She pushed her foot down just a touch harder on the gas, and the car whirred with energy, taking off with a shot down the road.

Once they reached the apartment, Michiru anxiously got out of the car, almost before it had come to a complete stop.

"Come on," she said, walking to the driver's side and playfully pulling on Haruka's arm. "Let's go." But Haruka only laughed and pulled her arm back, almost taking Michiru with it. The girl caught her balance, however, and in return, whacked Haruka with the sleeve of her jacket.

"You're so mean!"

The game of tug-of-war over, the two girls headed into the apartment, Michiru ahead, who went straight to her room. As she rummaged through the closest, Haruka came in and sat down on the bed, waiting to see what it was Michiru had decided on for her little concert this week.

After glancing through the different outfits, Michiru finally came to the one she wanted, far in the back, and delicately removed the hanger from its perch. Carefully she pulled out the dress and held it up for Haruka to see. The material was a beautiful aquamarine, with a full skirt that flared out just a touch at the waist. Underneath was another layer of fabric, like satin with a metallic reflection so that whenever Michiru turned her hips, the bottom of the skirt let off a shimming sparkle.

"It looks great," said Haruka with a nod of approval. Michiru smiled and started to put the dress away.

"Hey, Haruka?" she asked, glancing up with the most innocent eyes she could muster. "If Taylor get happens to cancel on you..."

"Taylor is not going to cancel on me," Haruka replied. "I thought you said you were settled on this, Michiru. You're going there to play your solo, not to show off a date."

"It's not showing off," Michiru objected. "And this doesn't have anything to do with the knights. It's just... well, it's just that... I'm a little nervous. I haven't gone to a dance single before." Haruka sighed and placed an understanding hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "You don't need a date with you to prove yourself to other people. You're fine as you are." She patted Michiru on the shoulder and then headed for her room to look for her track uniform. Michiru followed behind. "Besides," Haruka went on with a grin. "If all the guys know you're available, you might just find someone..."

"It's them knowing I'm available that worries me," Michiru said, massaging her forehead. "You know how I get stalked by some of the fans. Remember in the music store?"

Haruka thought back for a moment. "Oh, yeah. That guy was kinda creepy, wasn't he?"

"Try obsessive," Michiru corrected. "What am I going to do if I get cornered by someone again?"

"I'm still going to be there," Haruka assured her. "And if anyone starts giving you trouble, I'll beat the guy senseless. How's that?"

Michiru giggled. "Must you always resort to violence?" she asked.

"If it gets the job done," Haruka replied with a shrug on her shoulders. "Listen, if you want to Michiru, why don't you ask someone to go with you? Doesn't have to be romantic, just a casual date."

"And who would I ask?" Michiru asked with a dash of sarcasm, even though she already had a good idea of what Haruka was going to say.

"I dunno," Haruka replied. "That guy who worked at your last concert, maybe. What's his name, Nathan? He seemed pretty nice. I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping you out."

"Couldn't think of anyone else, could you?" Michiru asked.

"Nope," Haruka answered with a grin. "But if you're going to ask him, you'd better hurry. The dance is in three days." She grabbed her tote bag and headed for the door. "I've got track practice, so I'll see you in a couple hours or so. Good luck, Aphrodite."