Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Stories of Life ❯ Stories of Life - Wet Boardwalk ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Rated PG-13, however this is a Haruka&Michiru fic, do not read if you
find their relationship disturbing.

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon belongs not to me but to Naoko Takeuchi and Toei
Animation.


Ajax Presents...

Sailor Moon: Stories of Life

"Wet Boardwalk"
***

The lanky figure dressed in the racing suit leaned against the car,
taking a swig from a can of beer, and contemplated the surroundings. The
blistering heat of summer didn't seem to be having an effect on him, or
maybe her, for one couldn't tell the gender.

The track was not very crowded this day. A hundred meters away, a
racer and a mecanic were working on a car, racing suits peeled down to their
waists, white T-shirts underneath. The view wavered in the haze of heat from
the exhaust smoke. The figure pressed the beer against his forehead, cool
droplets of condensation running down the can. The grey asphalt seemed to
sizzle. It was pretty silent, and the figure felt a detachment from the
scene, as if he was looking at it from faraway. Background noise, the sound
of engines and the deep voices of the racers and mecanics buzzed softly in
his (or was it her?) head.

A girl emerged from the entrance in the stands, a beautiful girl who
walked in an elegant if somewhat unsure manner, scanning the area as if
looking for someone, and her eyes sparkled when she saw the figure leaning
against the car. At that moment, the other men on the track saw her, and the
cheering began. The girl smiled good-naturedly and amidst whistles and cries
of "Hey baby, you free tonight?", walked towards the figure, which started
another round of cheers such as "Hey, Ten'oh, she your girlfriend?", "You
lucky bastard!". A wicked grin on her face, Haruka put her arm around
Michiru and drawled in her ear, "They don't know I'm a woman, remember?"
And just to show her off to the other racers, Haruka drew Michiru closer and
kissed her passionately. Michiru made a startled noise and decided she would
take her revenge, especially when she felt Haruka smile against her mouth.
Pulling away, Haruka grinned at Michiru's flushed face and lead her out of
the race track, nodding farewells to the other men. Michiru fumed silently,
blushing at the people's stares.

They arrived at the parking lot outside the track. It was nearly
empty, save a few cars and Haruka's motorcycle, glinting metallic in the
glaring sunlight.

"Haruka! What's the idea-" Michiru started, only to be cut off by
another kiss, which left her breathless and with no solution but to glare at
that infuriating flirty grin on Haruka's face. After an exasperated "Oh, I
give up!", Michiru decided to take a different approach. "Hey, Haruka," she
said in her best seductive siren voice, "you could come sleep over tonight,
since my parents aren't home..."

"That means we're going to be all alone to do what we want..."
Haruka drawled sexily, before being interrupted by Michiru.

"However...I'm taking care of my baby cousin tonight, and she's a
handful, so I'm afraid I'll be very busy..."

"Oh, bother!" Haruka groaned disappointedly, slumping on the
motorcycle.

"Just kidding!" Michiru finished with a flourish, prompting a scowl
from Haruka. "But it is true that they aren't going to be home tonight..."
she nearly purred, "so why don't we ride straight to my house?" She got onto
the bike behind Haruka, and wrapped her arms tightly around her. She could
see Haruka stroke the body of the cycle for a second, as one might stroke
the horse they were riding, then the engine rumbled to life, and the bike
tore forward, quickly getting onto the highway. Michiru had long ago given
up asking Haruka to go slower, simply holding on tightly and leaning against
her. As the motorcycle whizzed on, Michiru, watching the scenery go by with
half-closed eyes, feeling sweat dampening Haruka's shirt from where she lay
her cheek on her back, feeling the wind cooling the perspiration on her own
forehead, had a rare flashback from her previous life.

* * * *

Neptune was a wet planet. It practically overflowed with water. On a
normal day, if you stepped onto the soil you would be ankle-deep in water.
The Neptunians walked on wooden boardwalks one or two feet above the water.
Crops grew in the water. The houses of the rich were built in stone, while
the houses of the poor people were built of wood, supported by wooden or
stone columns so that the floors of the houses would be above the water.

However, it never rained on Neptune. The heat of the sun was not
enough to evaporate the water. The sun itself was seen as a small sphere,
muted light peering through the gray clouds. The clouds were not formed by
water, but by a specific gas in the atmosphere. They were perpetually grey,
making the planet look as if it was going to rain any moment.

Neptune was also a barren planet. No trees, no bushes grew in the
ankle-deep water. The consequence of this was, if you stood on a boardwalk
and looked around you, all you would see would be water, sea green
stretching on and on into the horizon, and a few sparse houses built of dark
brown wood, joined by equally sparse narrow walkways. Neptunians imported
the wood from Earth and from Venus. It was expensive, but not as much as
stone or metals, and much easier to transport than those. Neptunians had no
stone, nor any mines, for all the digging they did on the soil would
immediately be flooded by the water.

* * * *

Zee ran out of her house onto the wooden boarwalk, waving at her
little sister. It was a particularly wet day, for the windstorm the previous
day had brought with it the water of the oceans far away from her small
town. As she ran, her feet splashed the puddles on the boardwalk, spraying
water all around. The wood was slightly spongy, the moisture in the air was
almost tangible to her touch. She ran until her house was out of sight and a
fair distance away, then, finding a relatively dry portion of wood, sat down
on the boardwalk. Fishing out a thin, hollow stick from her pocket, she
brought it to her lips and began playing a simple, beautiful melody. The
breeze blew her sea green hair and whistled an even simpler tune in her ear.
Zee sat playing for quite some time, no noise disrupting the silence except
for her music. That is, until splashing noises from far away reached her
ears. Irritated, she stopped playing and looked up, trying to find the
source of the disturbance.

It was a beautiful horse, sleek, white and powerful, running as fast
as it could in the ankle-deep water and jumping over the occasional
boardwalk that came in its way. Its rider, a sandy blonde figure, was
leaning forward on the back of the horse, face nearly touching its mane. The
two formed a beautiful, flawless picture of motion, each in perfect harmony
with the other. Zee longed with the desire to somehow capture this moment so
that she could keep it for all eternity. She resolved to get out her
long-abandoned paintbrush when she got home and try to recreate the instant.

The horse was approaching. Zee was able to get a closer look at the
rider, and for an instant her breath was taken away. It was Prince Charming
on a white horse, the classic fairy tale come to life. Then she realised the
rider was female, even though you had to really look to notice that. It
didn't stop her admiration though. The rider was the most beautiful person
she had seen, and she felt irresistably attracted to her, even though she
knew it was wrong to admire someone of the same sex.

Then Zee realised the horse was coming towards her, and panicked for
a moment, frantically tucking her hair into place and straightening her
skirt to look as pretty as she could. Finally, it reached her and the rider
made it stop. Jumping down onto the boardwalk, she stroked the horse for a
second before turning to Zee.

Zee noticed the rider was two or three years older than her. She was
very tall, for one thing, lanky legs stretching forever, but she also had a
hard, confident look to her. She grinned at Zee, and her eyes boldly
assessed her figure. Zee blushed and looked away.

"Say," the rider said finally, grinning, "If you want me to leave,
you're not going to achieve it by ignoring me, so you might as well look at
me and swoon at how incredibly handsome a man I am."

"A man?" Zee said shyly, "but you're a girl."

A startled look passed over the girl's face, before being replaced
by an amused look. "Well, I see the Neptunians are as smart as they say.
Nobody on the other planets could correctly guess my gender. I'm Skye, by
the way." Zee shook the offered hand, and Skye sat down next to her.

"You're not Neptunian?" Zee asked, even though the answer was
already obvious: Neptunians only had turquoise hair.

"No, I'm here on duty from the Moon Kingdom, even though I am from
Uranus. No offense, but the people at your palace are a bit boring, so I
decided to take a ride."

"I see," Zee said slowly. She felt somewhat shy around this
stranger, who was as strange to her as one could get. Putting her hands in
her lap, she took her eyes away from Skye's face and looked instead at the
muddy legs of the white horse. They sat there for a few moments, Zee gazing
at the horse and Skye leaning back on her hands, giving a contented sigh in
the peaceful silence. Then suddenly...

"Hey pretty," Skye's voice huskily whispered in her ear, her arm
suddenly around Zee's shoulders, "Want to go for a ride? That horse is like
a dream..."

"Excuse me!" Zee moved away quickly, blushing at the feeling of
Skye's body so close to hers, flustered by her feelings.

"Oh come on!" Skye said, "It's not as if I'm going to kidnap you to
another planet and then demand a hefty ransom! Besides, I saw the way you
looked at us while we were coming, you wanted to be on that horse, didn't
you?"

"Well..." Zee stood there, undecided, while Skye mounted the horse
with sure, confident motions. Looking at the beautiful pair of the horse and
its rider, she hesitantly reached up and let herself be pulled onto the
horse.

"What's its name?" she whispered. She couldn't see the slight smile
on Skye's face as she put her arms around her.

"Heaven." The question was answered, and the horse started moving,
and then there was nothing else to say.

* * * *

The next day, Michiru and Haruka went riding. Being very good riders,
they were allowed to take the horses into the forest nearby. Haruka's horse
was pure white while Michiru's was a smooth, inky black. However, Michiru
couldn't ride as well as Haruka, who offered her a ride to show off her
prowess.
The white horse galloped through the forest. Michiru, feeling as she
had on the motorcycle the other day, feeling as she had in her previous life
on a similar white horse, feeling the horse's muscles flexing beneath her and
Haruka sitting in front, in control, she felt the desire that came from
another lifetime.

The next day, she sat and painted while Haruka rode through the
forest on her beautiful white horse.

* * * *

Author's notes:

This is the first story I've written in one sitting. The text file, with
only the title on it, has been sitting on my desktop for about a month while
I struggled to finish After School part 2. It turned out completely
different from what I originally intended. For one thing, it was supposed to
have Sailors Neptune and Uranus in it. Oh well. Maybe I'll do that later.

I've been so happy with all the e-mails I received about my previous stories.
Thanks to everyone who wrote!

All comments are very much welcome! Please send them to breaker@technologist.com
This and other stories are archived at:
http://ajaxbreaker.worldbreak.com/fic.html

Thanks for reading!



14.11.98