Enjoy the drabbles (a.k.a. stories) ^_^;; LOL!

Title: Lemon Tree
Author: mythopoet_blue
Theme: sm_monthly: Lemon
Genre: Drama/General
Version: Anime
Rating: PG-13


"Congratulations on another brilliant performance, Kaioh-san," the dark-haired host clasped her hand and kissed the gloved top. "I had hoped for talent, but you have far exceeded my most ambitious expectations! It is quite unlike any solo I've ever heard, but it was refreshingly beautiful because of it."

"Trying to get me drunk on flattery and wine, Koyanagi-san?" Kaioh Michiru raised a brow in amusement, her aqua eyes sparkling with merriment.

"Only a little," Koyanagi Ryu answered with a mild and amused smile of his own, completely unembarrassed at having been caught. "How could I convince you to come back otherwise? Other than flattery, I only have money, Kaioh-san. But, it seems I could never woo you with enough of it." Michiru chuckled at this with her host. "Now, where's that dashing young man you were with earlier? I heard he was a test-driver for the Circuit. My son is quite an enthusiast about the sport, but I apologize if my knowledge is lacking. I only know what I am told by the young, I'm afraid."

Michiru shook her head and smiled reassuringly. "Not at all, Koyanagi-san. Haruka would be surprised that someone even knows about the Circuit, here. Even though we have both attended several of these functions together, everyone still have their prejudices. Sometimes, it can be a little tiring to deal with."

"Well, opinions always have both truths and falsehoods to them, Kaioh-san." Koyanagi answered easily. "I, for example, was quite surprised at the circles you traveled amongst," Koyanagi added, grinning at her. "I would never have imagined you with such a striking person like Ten'ou-san. Excuse me for saying this, but it surprised me the first time. In some ways, I can understand Ten'ou-san being weary of coming here. It can't be helped, the way people have preconceptions. We humans are such surprising creatures. Sometimes, even when we do not meant to, we judge things to be a certain way."

"Hmm," Michiru was once again amused by her host's blunt but polite statements. "Funny, Haruka said the same thing on the way here."

"Michiru-chan," a voice suddenly sang out. The aqua-haired woman froze, as did her host, as they both paused in surprise at the familiarity attached to her given name. "Oh, unhand me, Vincent-kun, I can walk fine!"

"Yuukari-chan, I think you had too much to drink--"

"Do you know the woman, Kaioh-san?" Koyanagi asked coolly now, his jovial demeanor melting into cool politeness as they both turned to see the approaching dark-haired woman. Michiru stared, still quite in shock as the elaborate mask fell to reveal a beautiful face behind it. "Hamano-san!" Koyanagi blinked surprised when he recognized who it was. The flushed and beautiful face stared at them with wide, green-eyes. The pale, oval-shaped face was framed by thick, wavy black hair, and the dark-green gown hugged the tall, lilthe figure of the woman approaching them.

"Yuukari-san," Michiru finally acknowledged the other, pausing as she studied the happy looking woman. "Green contacts don't suit you very well," Michiru observed. The comment was added with an innocent smile as she tilted her head, bewildering Koyanagi even as Hamano Yuukari's pretty face fell into distress. "You must excuse me, Koyanagi-san," Michiru told her startled host, ignoring Hamano Yuukari's look of hurt as she turned from the other woman. "I think I allowed my escort to flirt a little longer than I should have. I hope there will be no more broken hearts than necessary, tonight." After an elegant bow to her host, Michiru turned and begun to glide away.

"Michiru-chan!" Yuukari called out after the other, blinking when she saw the other leave. The dark-haired woman persisted, chasing after Michiru through the crowd. Her face filled with desperation, though it did not diminish her beauty in the least.

"Michiru," Haruka appeared then with a raised brow and a protective arm around her lover. "Have you been flirting while I went to get us Champaign?"

"Abandoning me with the host, I think you're the one who had been flirting with that foreigner I saw earlier." Michiru replied dryly. Usually, she would have a light and airy reply for Haruka's teasing, but Hamano Yuukari's appearance completely changed Michiru's earlier good mood into agitation. Not many people could do it, but Yuukari never failed in that department.

"Michiru-chan, wait up!" Yuukari struggled through the crowd. Haruka glanced behind her shoulder at the dark-haired beauty running after them, eyes amused and curious as Michiru continued to lead her away.

"Michiru...-chan?" Haruka asked, brow raised in amusement. "So you have been flirting, after all. Abandoning beautiful women like that is rather rude and unlike you, though, darling." The blonde joked. However, the look Michiru shot her silenced Haruka into curiosity.

"Yuukari, you're making a scene." The handsome but younger looking man insisted, trying to catch up after his date.

"I am not, Vincent-kun!" Yuukari insisted stubbornly.

"Was she too clingy, Michiru? Her taste in men is a bit questionable, ne?" Haruka broke from Michiru's grasp and turned. With much flourish, Haruka bowed to Yuukari when they found themselves in a more secluded balcony. Long fingers reached out and caught a strand of Yuukari's long hair. "I am Ten'ou Haruka, pleased to meet you." Haruka bent and kissed the heavy curls of dark, glossy hair, causing the other woman to blush.

"Hey, that's my date," Vincent interrupted. The younger man had bleached blonde-hair. He too wore contact lenses, blue ones. "It's not very gentlemanly to go hit on another woman when your date is right beside you!"

"If you can't keep her by your side, then you're a lousy date," Haruka answered with a lazy and predatory grin. "Women like to be rescued from lousy dates, wouldn't you agree, my lady?" Haruka asked Yuukari huskily, nose nearly touching Yuukari's nose, until the older woman was blushing hotly.

"That's enough, Haruka," Michiru interrupted. "The sight is sickening from here."

Haruka blinked surprised and raised her head to see her lover looking away. Michiru's usually playful demeanor was suddenly cold and distant. "Are you jealous, Michiru?" Haruka asked, on uncertain grounds and trying to get back her footing as casually as she could. "I was only teasing her, a little."

Michiru did not answer, nor did she turn to look at any of them.

"I-It's rude!" Yuukari burst out in that silent pause, suddenly. "Ignoring me like that. I'm your mother, aren't I?" Haruka paused at this, completely surprised. Vincent as well was equally surprised, though he remained a spectator through most of the conversation. The only two women who were not at all startled at this revelation remained silent in those tense seconds. "Michiru-chan?" Yuukari finally whispered out timidly.

"I really hate melodramatic women," Michiru finally said nonchalantly. "Let's go, Haruka." Michiru turned then and walked towards the balcony doors they had went through not too long ago. "I think I'm getting a little tired. The people here aren't as agreeable as I thought they would be." Michiru told Haruka clearly, not caring if their audience heard. "You were right, after all. We shouldn't have come tonight."

Haruka didn't move, too preoccupied now with studying the woman who was Michiru's mother.

"Michiru-chan..." Yuukari turned then. "How could you say such horrible things about me? I am your mother! After all this time, aren't you glad to see me? After all this time--"

"I have no mother," Michiru grabbed Haruka's hand then and pulled the other now, forcefully, towards the exit. "At least, that's what I was told," Michiru grinned over her shoulder at the two people that still stood there. "And because I have never met this person nor do I have any memory of her, I won't doubt the fact that she doesn't exist."

As they closed the door, they could hear Yuukari's crying, even through the balcony door.

They didn't speak to each other at all, not until they got to the car. It wasn't so difficult, when Michiru was acting so pleasant, for Koyanagi to hold in his questions, though he obviously had a few. They excused themselves and left the party in pretended cheer, doning on their coats while Michiru gracefully pulled away their items that they had left at the coat-check.

"I didn't think I've ever seen you so harsh to anyone," Haruka finally said when the silence stretched too long for her comfort. Michiru didn't reply, looking out the window as street-lights raced by overhead. "I was surprised too, but I know now where Michiru got her good looks from."

"Don't compare me with that woman." Michiru said softly from the passenger side of the car.

Haruka stopped talking, surprised by the words and the tone that had more steel than she'd ever heard Michiru use. She had thought she had seen all the sides to this mysterious woman by now, but nights like these made Haruka feel like she was still just scrapping at the surface. The road stretched out before them, empty in the late-evening from traffic. "I really hate it," Haruka said, "when you get so far away like that. Sometimes, its like I don't know you at all when you keep your secrets while acting so honest about hiding them from me."

Michiru remained eerily silent.

"I can't reach you, if you don't tell me what's on your mind." Haruka finally added in the awkward quiet that settled between them.

"Lemons," Michiru finally said.

"What?" Haruka asked, taken aback. Is she making fun of me? the blonde wondered.

"I was thinking about lemons," Michiru elaborated casually. The aqua-haired woman didn't turn to look at her blonde companion, watching the scenery pass as if they were discussing the weather. "When I was young, we had a lemon tree in our backyard."

Michiru had a backyard? Haruka blinked but kept herself silent*.

"I loved it. It smelled wonderful whenever the flowers would bloom on our lemon tree, and I loved to take naps in the shade during my summers there." Michiru closed her eyes, thinking about the past. "One day, I bought a time-capsule and put a lot of precious things into it. It had been so popular amongst the villagers then." Michiru paused once more, and Haruka held her breath, wanting the other to continue. Michiru finally continued after some thought. "I took a lot of things I shouldn't have at the time. I put in my older brother's watch, the fish carving my grandfather gave me, the hair-pin my grandmother liked..." A small smile played on Michiru's lips as she opened her eyes again to the present. "I decided to dig a hole under the tree, to bury it.

"However, I may have dug too deep." Michiru laughed softly at the memory, though it sounded a little sad. After a while her expression became very thoughtful again.

Haruka parked the car in their drive-way, but neither one of them made a move to get out. "I found a box under the lemon tree, that day. It was the day I learned I had a mother." Haruka was shocked at this, stilled by the statement. "When I was little, I heard a story about a couple who wished for a boy. I remembered being so surprised at how he had appeared in a peach. It was Kami-sama's answer to their prayers, but what a funny way to answer was what I had thought when I had heard it. When I was little, I had also wished to Kami-sama for a mother. A beautiful and gentle mother, more famous and better than all the mothers I have ever met. Everyone I asked told me I didn't have one, so I took those words to heart and thought it was how things were. I wasn't like the others because of that, but it didn't bother me most of the time. In my head, I had a mother too, and she was everything I thought mothers were supposed to be. Ironic, isn't it? In the end, I found my answer and she had been there all along, at the roots of a lemon tree." Michiru sighed a little to herself. "Lemons are sour, though, unlike peaches, despite looking very delicious the first time. Some things are just harder to swallow once you cut it open." Michiru glanced up at the stars, unbuckling herself and leaning close to the dashboard.

"Sometimes, people really should be careful about what they wish for from Kami-sama."

That mysterious air of hers... Haruka decided as she watched her lover looking through the wind-shield at the stars overhead, Even after telling me such things, didn't dissipate in the least.

"Lemons, huh?" Haruka grinned slightly as Michiru studied the blonde in return from the corner of her eyes. "The flowers must have smelled lovely then." Haruka leaned back and stared at the roof of her car, just beyond it was the endless sky.

"Hmm," Michiru hummed a soft agreement and closed her eyes. Her thoughtful look melted into a small smile. "Even I had forgotten how sweet the scent had been..."

In the silence, the tension between them eased though there were still many questions left unsaid. Sighing in defeat, Haruka could only grin a little wistfully at the many things she didn’t have the courage yet to ask. Tomorrow, the blonde decided then. Tomorrow, she'll ask another question. If she was lucky, Michiru would open that door to her past a little wider and maybe, one day, they would share something more than the blind love and fated companionship that they had built upon up until now.

Maybe, one day, they'll be able to be friends, as well.




*Just for those who are wondering, Japan is rather cramped. So people having backyards are unlikely in large cities. Haruka's surprise is due to her assuming that Michiru had grown up in a city.





Title: Aqua Revenge
Author: mythopoet_blue
Theme: sm_monthly: Practical Joke
Genre: Humor/General
Version: Manga
Rating: PG


"You know, that color doesn't really suit you," Sailor Neptune commented airily.

Star Healer's brow twitched slightly at this. "At least I didn't pick this paint color by choice." The other finally said as breezily as she could manage while the aqua dye dripped down her body, mingling with her frazzled white hair and getting into Healer's narrowed eyes.

Neptune's brow rose in annoyance. The decoy phage that turned out to be no more than a puppet, after all, was quite destroyed by this point though Neptune would rather have missed and hit someone else a bit more annoying and harder to kill than the supposed villain of the day. However, fate was not always kind to the Senshi. "Ironically enough, that's not really paint--" Neptune began.

Healer, too agitated to stay and listen, waved away the explanation. "Whatever. I'm going home to wash this off..."

Neptune smiled through her frown, suppressing her current irritation. After all, this was the plan. She had counted on that arrogance to get her revenge. It didn't, however, mean she had to like the treatment. Still, it will all be worth it in the end...

Neptune grinned at Healer's retreating back. Her calm smile was eerie under the street-light that came on as evening approached. "Enjoy your shower, Healer-kun." Neptune waved, her words laced with mocking cheer.

An hour later...

"Is this a joke?" Kou Yaten exclaimed. The shout was loud enough to rock the Kou residents. The girl looked at herself in the mirror with horror and disbelief. The swirl of pale aqua twisted itself into her hair, splotching and staining her pale skin like strangely colored bruises. Everywhere the paint had touched was now tattooed to her skin no matter how hard she scrubbed! Most of her face was now covered with splotched green while the other half was red from the steam of her heated bath.

Elsewhere in the city...

"Was that a little much?" Setsuna asked from her perch on the roof as Michiru giggled while looking into her mirror.

Her aqua-haired companion only smiled innocently, purposefully setting aside the mirror to be faced-down. "I thought it was only fitting to identify alien intruders by their true colors." Michiru replied lightly.

"Aqua?" Setsuna remarked with dry skepticism.

"A rather nice shade of green and blue," Michiru corrected haughtily.

"A type of signature?" Setsuna observed.

Michiru blew at her tea and took a delicate sip. "Oh that?" Michiru pondered with exaggerating gestures, putting a long finger to her chin as she feigned ignorance. "Well," aqua-eyes met weary ruby ones over the rim of her delicate porcelain, "I call that poetic justice*."


* Michiru, here, switched from Japanese speech to English.





Title: Intuition
Author: mythopoet_blue
Theme: sm_monthly: Shattered
Genre: Humor/General
Version: Manga
Rating: PG


Crash.

Michiru and Setsuna exchanged looks as a whimper could be heard from the hallway. "Seriously," Michiru sighed a little to herself as their quiet afternoon was shattered by the noise.

"I hope its not the vase," Setsuna thought out-loud with a weary grin of her own.

Both women walked into the hallway to see Hotaru guiltily standing over the shattered pieces of one of Michiru's antique mirrors. Large, dark eyes were gleaming with watery tears just as a red apple rolled and stopped by Michiru's slippered feet. "I-I'm sorry!" Hotaru cried out guiltily, sniffling after her out-burst. "I didn't mean to break it!"

Setsuna hid her sigh of relief before smiling reassuringly to the little girl. "It's alright, Hotaru-chan," Setsuna set a kind and gentle hand atop the child's head. "Just be more careful next time, okay, Hotaru-chan? After all, we can't turn back time."

"Not while we play by the rules," Michiru supplied teasingly, causing Setsuna to twitch slightly at the jib.

"What were you doing before, Hotaru-chan?" Setsuna inquired, choosing to ignore Michiru's comment all together.

"I was told," Hotaru answered timidly, cheeks suddenly redder from a different reason than tears. "T-that you can see the person you will marry if you--"

"Eat an apple in front of a mirror and brush your hair after." Michiru supplied, surprising both Setsuna and Hotaru with her knowledge. "Well, I didn't see Haruka over my shoulder. She did, however, lean in to crab her cuff-links later on in the evening..." Michiru said thoughtfully, almost to herself as she remembered the past.

"It doesn't work?" Hotaru whimpered, eyes tearing again. "You didn't see Haruka-papa? A-are you going to get a divorce then?"

Setsuna and Michiru looked at each other and both fought hard not to laugh. "It's alright, it's alright, Hotaru-chan!" Michiru stepped forward and soothed the crying, panicking child. "Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa won't get a divorce, darling."

"They can't, they're not even married," Setsuna supplied, knowingly.

"Am I a love-child then?" Hotaru asked, excitedly, missing the glare Michiru sent Setsuna over her shoulder. The question, however, threw both older women off.

"L-love-child?" Michiru and Setsuna exclaimed surprised.

"I heard when two people love each other very much, if they have sex and kids and don't marry, then the kids are called love-childs!" Hotaru nodded. "I read it in my book! It sounded really romantic, Michiru-mama! Setsuna-mama!"

"S-sex..." Setsuna and Michiru both muttered in quiet horror as they sweat-dropped together.

Our innocent Hotaru-chan is being corrupted by society! The two women thought in unison.

"But now that I broke the mirror, I'll have bad luck!" Hotaru cried, completely changing the topic.

She's not going to ask us about sex! Setsuna and Michiru both thought in relief, together.

"Don't worry, Hotaru-chan," Michiru told her daughter with a reassuring smile. "If we bury all the pieces into the ground, it'll be alright."

"Really?" Hotaru asked eagerly.

"Really." Michiru nodded.

Hotaru sighed in relief, as if the burdens of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. "I'll go get the shovels and gloves, then," Setsuna declared, suddenly all too eager to vacate the premises. Michiru stared after her friend with suspicion, but the aqua mirror would have warned her if dangers were approaching--

"Michiru-mama," Hotaru turned innocent eyes to Michiru then. "Can you have love-childs through kissing? Is that what sex is? Why do they call it by two different names if they're the same? Ne? Ne? Michiru-mama?"

Michiru blinked at her daughter, trying hard to register the questions. A few seconds ticked by.

"Eh?!"

Setsuna cringed slightly when she heard the aqua-haired woman's surprised exclamation all the way from her place by the garage-door. The dark-haired woman winced to herself guiltily but quickly ushered herself out of viewing distance. Maybe she should take a little longer in locating those gloves...

"Hiding out here?" Haruka asked, peeking from beneath one of her many cars.

"Aren't we the same?" Setsuna asked the blonde, a little irked at the other for cleverly missing the entire conversation altogether.

"Hmm," Haruka shrugged and went under her car again.



"Well," Setsuna said thoughtfully to herself before beaming, "I'll go prepare that couch for you."

"Eh?" Haruka asked, peeking out questioningly at Setsuna's smiling facade.

"Well," Setsuna paused at the doorway, "I don't think you can hide the fact you were here all this time."

"We could always turn back time," Haruka replied casually.

Setsuna smiled tightly at this, rather annoyed at the intentional remark. "Next time, you won't be so lucky, Ha-ru-ka."

Haruka grinned at this. "Just because you two can tell the future," the blonde replied arrogantly. "Doesn't mean the rest of us can't have good timing."

"Well, intuition won't always save you." Setsuna said. Haruka remained silent under the car, missing the scary grin spreading over Setsuna's face. After all, the future held so many possibilities, Setsuna thought. Just because she had to play by the rules doesn't mean there weren't a few things she could bend...

And for Haruka's sake, Setsuna would definitely bend a few.





Title: Sacrifice
Author: mythopoet_blue
Theme: sm_monthly: "I have seen the future, and it doesn't work." -- Robert Fulford
Genre: Drama/Angst/General
Version: Manga
Rating: PG-13


"Why did you do that?" The softly spoken question had not surprised her, but she had no desire to answer it either. Wanting to do something for someone and sacrificing to do so was easier than living with the aftermath. Kaioh Michiru never wanted to be a heroine, never wanted to be unselfish or kind or beautiful. She desired only to play her violin and paint her pictures, but life was never fair in giving people just what they wanted.

"If I had died, would I have had to pay my passage over to the other side of the Galaxy Cauldron?" Michiru finally pondered out loud. "I think that's rather unfair, when life is so costly as it is."

Ten'ou Haruka's reflection in the window stared at her turned figure. She could see those long fingers clutching tightly at the white sheets. She wanted to say something reassuring, wanted to smile as if it didn't hurt to bare the weight, but it did and this was harder than she thought it would be. "Why do it if you're going to turn out like this?" Haruka shouted angrily. "That shot was meant for me. You didn't have to take it for me. Why did you do it when you didn't have to take it for me?"

"Shut up!" Michiru's repeated words was finally able to crescendo over Haruka's own, surprising the blonde into silence. She had covered her ears as best she could and bowed her head. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut but the words bounced around in her mind. She didn't want to be a heroine, but she didn't want to be less than the person she had been when she made the decision. If she became less than that person, all that she had done to be here would be meaningless.

So why was Haruka making this more difficult than it already was?

"I know," Michiru finally panted out, opening her tear-filled eyes as she stared at the sheets. "I know," she said hoarsely.

Haruka trembled at the evidence displayed before her of her failures. "I-I'm sorry," the blonde apologized, unwilling to sit down and turning away guiltily, instead. "But why?"

Michiru didn't want to tell and shook her head desperately in denial. She didn't owe it to Haruka to tell her why. In fact, Haruka owed her not to ask. She played the heroine she didn't want to be, and she needed a little more time to feel like the sacrifice was worth it - that being a heroine for the one she loved was worth it. She needed a little more time to heal.

And it hurts so much...

But Haruka didn't want to give her time. The constant questioning was finally getting to her. The haggard features of her lover, the pained expressions that were the evidence of the guilt that lived within the blonde... She didn't want to explode from that, so she had asked Haruka to tell her what was wrong, though she already had an idea. She was stronger than this, but the words that poured out and continued to pour out was making it more and more difficult for Michiru to hold in her own selfish emotions. Day-in and day-out, she was feeling the control slipping from her.

"Michiru?" Haruka's hands moved to her shoulders and Michiru fought not to flinch away. A part of her just wanted to be left alone to grieve for her losses. Somehow, it seemed so self-centered to do it in front of Haruka.

"Fingers," she finally felt Haruka tense and pull away, as if burned by their contact. Slowly, Michiru raised her hand to her face, glancing at last at the stomp, bandaged in glaring white before her eyes. Not long ago, there had been a hand there. But the posion, from the demon that had tried to kill them, had set in to rot away her flesh. It was decided then that the only way to save her was to amputate the limb.

Michiru was glad she had been asleep through it all. The coma saved her from denying a decision that may have saved her life. She knew the cost when she went in, and she didn't regret making it as much as she feared she would... but it didn't mean she could have lived through with it. "Do you want to know still, Haruka?"

Haruka was visibly shaken now, gripping the sheets while Michiru tore her eyes from the envious sight of hands. Two whole hands. Once, Michiru loved those hands, and now she detested the sight of them. Michiru had only one hand now, her index finger of her remaining hand was still splintered from being broken. She couldn't use either at the moment. Somehow, it was hard not to be a little hateful about the situation.

"I do," Haruka murmured.

Michiru sighed. "I will hate you for this," she finally said. Before Haruka could retract her decision though, Michiru looked up at her lover and spoke the words she didn't want to make into reality so clearly. Not yet, but delaying it would be impossible for her sanity. "I saw the distant future for the first and only time in the mirror," Michiru spoke, "how the poison would enter your side and lodge into your spin. It would have paralyzed you, Haruka. You would had never been able to walk again, or feel anything from your belly down. I would have stuck by you but we would eventually drift apart because it would destroy you, your inability to ever run or race or do anything dignified again. I stayed in that future. Despite having turned both of us into bitter people who detested each other but didn't know how else to live or what to do to heal, that guilty woman stayed by your side till the end." Haruka was shocked at this revelation. "I was very careful when I realized this was what could occur. I watched out for the enemy I knew was coming. I should have known changing the future was costly for the person who wanted to do so. I thought, if I could just save you from that poisoned dart, we would be able to love each other forever."

"Michiru..."

"I never thought, I could hate you by simply saving you, Haruka." Michiru turned to the window and watched the other's reaction through the hazy glass reflection. "But right now, I can't stand the sight of you."

It's been over a month since Michiru woke with her left hand missing from her wrist. Sometimes she forgets that it's gone, and that she would never be able to play the violin again, or paint with two hands. Sometimes she forgets she doesn't have a left hand to tuck the wavered strand by her left ear, or tie the lace of her hospital gown behind her neck - her memory rekindled by the awkward bumping of her stump of a wrist to her neck. But, since she woke, Haruka had wanted to know why she would do such a thing. She didn't understand why the other wanted to know so badly. Knowing didn't change anything, not for her, anyway.

"It was my fault... after all." Haruka finally said, her blue eyes filled with remorse. Michiru couldn't keep the accusation out of her gaze. So she bowed her head and looked at her broken right hand, her strange stomp of a wrist, and the white sheets. She tried very hard not to look at Haruka's hands.

It hurts to look.

"I can't ease your guilt, Haruka." Michiru finally said at the revelation that would have been so simple for her a month ago. "I am not a saint. I am not the princess," she grounded out angrily, voice filled with bitter venom - cold and bitter. She had seen that teasing, desperate kiss from her window a week ago. The weakness within her lover's armor and her own.

She had seen many things since then. Michiru, unlike Usagi, did not forgive so easily of betrayals, even though she understood the reasons better than most. "I can't heal anyone. I can only be a sacrifice for the future that I desire and the ones I love. Because of such small weaknesses, my powerlessness... betraying me, Haruka, I won't forgive you." I won't be able to.

She needed time to heal. They both did. After everything she had done, she had only managed to save Haruka (in her own, small ways). In the end, it really did require that she sacrificed her whole self for such a small thing to happen. Even though saving Haruka had once meant saving herself, the world was different now. Somehow, while she had been sleeping, everyone had changed and so had she. Michiru smiled a bit bitterly at this realization.

She always hated the story of Sleeping Beauty. It seemed, however, that destiny liked to have its ironic foreshadowing of the difficulties to come...

"The fates are cruel to the pawns, don't you think?" Michiru murmured thoughtfully.

She heard the scrapping of the chair against linoleum floors and saw Haruka's retreating back. "Don't cry," she said to the shaking shoulders of the reflection she could see, the end was all too clear. She knew Haruka glanced back once and only once, that the things unsaid should be said now or never be said again. "You'll defeat the reason why I did everything," Michiru whispered to the empty room, long after the door had shut, and didn't understand why it didn't all work out like the way she had planned.





Title: Wishes
Author: mythopoet_blue
Theme: sm_monthly: Drunk
Genre: Drama/Angst/General
Version: Manga
Rating: PG-13


"Life is full of surprises," Tsukino Usagi declared forcefully, banging her fist against the oak table. "Ow!" the blonde winced as watery eyes turned tearfully to the injured limb. The night was young and Michiru had invited the younger blonde to come to a formal, Japanese dinner with her. The others insisted that Usagi needed better manners for the future to come and Michiru offered Usagi the invitation so she could gain some experience.

"Won't I be imposing on your date with Haruka-san?" the petite blonde asked timidly, though excitement shone in her blue eyes.

"Haruka doesn't enjoy these formal dinners." Michiru reassured Usagi with a smile.

"The women are all old and not very fun to flirt with," Haruka winked flirtatiously at their guest. "Even though it's true that young girls look their loveliest when wearing a kimono..." Haruka thought out-loud, her usually clear blue eyes clouding over as she day-dreamed.

"Baka," Michiru muttered to herself, while rolling her eyes.

"Kimono?" Usagi exclaimed in surprised shock and panic. "That's really formal then!"

Michiru sighed silently at this but smiled at the blushing odango-blonde kindly. "It's going to be good practice, Usagi-chan."

After much reassurance and supplying the proper wears, Michiru was finally able to lead a dazed Usagi away that evening. However, before Michiru could teach Usagi much of anything for the evening, she found her charge drunk half way through on the small cup of sake provided with their meal. Michiru was disappointed but it was obvious that the night would have to end early because of it. Excusing herself into a private room with the odango-blonde, the aqua-haired woman pulled the giggling Usagi away from the party. In the calmer atmosphere, Usagi finally seemed to quiet-down a bit.

"Tea?" Kaioh Michiru offered the younger woman instead.

"Did you ever dream of being a super-heroine, Michiru?" Usagi suddenly asked, through blurry, alcohol-clouded eyes. Without waiting for an answer though, the blonde plowed on. "I did. I really wanted to be Sailor V, once. What a surprise it was when Luna found me and told me I was a Sailor Senshi."

"Oh?" Michiru asked, with a questioning brow, bored at having to wait for either Usagi to sober or for the party to disperse a bit more before attempting to leave. The kimono restricted her movements and she really didn't want to ruin the one she gave to Usagi either.

"I got what I wished for," Usagi said ponderously. "I got a lot of things that I wished for." Michiru poured the blonde some more green tea. The pale liquid hardly wavered in the simple clay cup. Michiru's graceful movements in every careful gesture she made mesmerized the drunken Usagi, even as the aqua-haired woman settled back down. "I wanted to be like you too, Michiru-san. The first time I met you, I realized that people like you really did exist out of my Manga." Usagi confessed, while her blue-eyes were wide with awe and admiration.

Michiru paused at this before pulling back. "I'm flattered that you think that way, Usagi-san."

"Of course, I got a lot of my wishes to come true...! Even if they don't always turn out the way I imagined they would have!" Usagi replied with a giggle behind her hand before quieting thoughtfully as she slouched onto the table, blowing a bubble from between her lips. "I-I guess a few made me sad." The blonde finally said after a moment of gloomy contemplation.

"Hmm..." Michiru hummed a little, amused.

"Oh yes!" Usagi cheered up considerably once more. "I will also become a beautiful and graceful Queen that everyone loved... like- like you, Michiru-san."

"I am not the person you imagine me to be, Usagi-chan. Just like a lot of wishes are made in ignorance... it is unwise to wish for things you only know the surface value of." Usagi was only half-listening by then though, if she listened at all. The blonde began to sink down even more, resting her head against the smooth wood surface. "I remember, once, Chibiusa-chan telling me how lonely she was in the future." Michiru added softly, resting her chin against her hand as she carefully eyed her future sovereign and current drunken companion. "I wonder, if that's the type of mother you would want to be?"

Usagi murmured in her doze. Michiru sighed at the sight, turning her head to the screen she had opened earlier when she realized it may be awhile before they will leave. Through the smog, the moon still shone brilliantly. Its cool light reaching them, spilling onto the wooden balcony of the old tea-house. The white light paused shyly at the doorway, deterred by the electric lights.

"Even with such certain futures, I still wonder what kind of Queen you really wish to be, Usagi-chan." Michiru turned and smiled at her charge. "Compared to the darkness, even a small candle has light." Standing to walk over to the opened screen, Michiru paused where the light ended and the darkness began. "You're rather beautiful without the sun," she said thoughtfully to the overhead moon. "Even on borrowed light, I guess the contrast is what really matters, ne? But, I hope, you will be a blaze and not just a flame, Usagi-chan. Even in the darkness, I'm sure... Some shadows know the difference."

Usagi continued to doze as Michiru made her own wish as she watched the waning moon.





Title: Wisp
Author: mythopoet_blue
Theme: sm_monthly: Hospital
Genre: Drama/Angst/General
Version: Anime
Rating: PG


Michiru remembers the irony of the hospital. She remembers her grandfather's worried eyes and the reassuring pat on her head as they waited for the doctors to tell them the results. She remembers the kind nurse and the cold doctor who told them the news of the failures of medicine and the triumphs of age and death. She remembers how her grandfather cried into her hair while a happy family of three walked by - a mother cooing to her new-born. And she remembered, thinking why the words of supposed comfort and how she passed away in a peaceful sleep was not at all comforting to the living who could not sleep at all with such words at heart.

Michiru remembers the white-cloth over grandmother's face. It reminded her of the ceremonies she's attended when her great-grandmother had died, except that body had been placed on a futon and they had been surrounded by paper-screens, not white walls and metal-beds. There's a lot of contrast in the hospital, and Michiru remembered standing and looking, feeling uncertain about what death really was when healing succeeded in the one room over from their own. She was very sad that grandmother had died, but she didn't really understand what it meant or why grandfather had covered her eyes once he got a hold of himself in that room.

Michiru is older now and the person under the white sheet is someone she loved more fiercely than anyone else in all her young years. The body still seems very surreal and she wished it were wooden floors and a futon that she was looking at and not a metal-bed that supported this old body. The white walls are so cold and she trembles at the thought of such a person dying so alone.

This was not just a cold. Why did no one tell her the details earlier? Why did she have to learn the truth now that she could do nothing?

"Ojii-san," Michiru feels the strength leave her legs as she slid into a crouch. Her one hand clings to the metal railing as she sobs. Uncontrollable noises make their way from her belly, and she had no power to stop those horrid, whining noises. There's a crack in her heart and sorrow gushes from the wound, spreading into an ocean within her, and she has no power to mend that either at this moment in time. She had meant to write a letter earlier, to tell him about having tested into some of the best high schools around. She had wanted to show him the wonderful woman she was becoming - let him know of the wand that was able to turn her into a Sailor Senshi.

"It's always good to have a little magic in your life, Michi-chu," her grandfather had always told her that, and ironically it was something her life had never lacked. Was it that long ago when such phrases were said to her with his calming voice? When did such a brilliant life become no more than a memory?

"Ojii-san..."

Clutching the wand to her chest, Michiru could only feel the magic drain out of her with her tears. Even if she wanted to stop, she wouldn't have been able to. Miracles don't happen to everyone though... Isn't that right, Ojii-san? Michiru thought, lips trembling as she gasped and heaved for breath through her leaking tears. She was a heroine, but Death was neither a villain nor a being she could fight.

Behind the white sheet, her grandfather gave her no more wisdom or words of comfort. Those age worn hands that taught her to paint and fish could no longer cover her eyes from the truth of loss and mortality. In the room with a body without a soul, the unavoidable facts of the disappearing life, only made her cry harder.





Title: Lullaby
Author: mythopoet_blue
Theme: sm_monthly: Insomnia
Genre: Drama/Angst/General
Version: Manga
Rating: PG


"Hey there," Michiru murmured as she smoothed the soft black locks and kissed the warm brow. Under the moonlight, she rocked the crying baby, tucking the small head to her breast. Softly she hummed a song, singing an old lullaby her grandmother taught her long ago.

"Sleep, sleep,
little one, sleep.
You're a good baby,
now go to sleep."

Hotaru cooed and gurgled. Large eyes, dark with something old and young, looked up at her. Michiru smiled softly, looking into those dark eyes. It was amazing that not long ago, she would have sacrificed and willingly killed this child to save the world. Even now, as she felt a foreign feeling permeating into her heart, she was unsure if things would have been better if they believed in Sailormoon's visions earlier. If they had not fought so viciously for all those years, would things have been kinder and better to the humans they could not save? Would they have made it thus far?

"Do you know
where your nurse has gone?
Gone to her village
she won't be long."

Still, Hotaru was an orphan now. If they could have saved the professor, would things be different than now? What kind of man had Hotaru's father been? Did he love his daughter? What kind of monster would put a daimon in a child? Did he do it before or after the demon that possessed his own? Was she foolish for wondering on so many what-ifs. Michiru could not help but smile a bit relieved, glad she could at least wonder about such things now that everything turned out to be alright.

"What will she bring baby
when she does come?
A flute so lovely
and a thunderous drum.
And a thunderous drum."

In the lull of the silence and the slumbering child in her arms, Michiru raised her head to the bright moon overhead.

"Can't sleep?" Haruka's soft whisper pulled Michiru away from her contemplations.

Smiling, Michiru shook her head as she eyed her tired lover. It was true that Hotaru was without family now, but because of this, Michiru had a chance to build a new family around the abandoned child. With such excuses and circumstances, she could not help but be selfishly grateful.

"Haruka," Michiru smiled softly in the moon, "I'm glad."

Choosing to ignore the puzzled glance Haruka shot her, Michiru turned to the dozing Hotaru in her arms. This was such a precious child, who had the power to destroy the world, once, not so long ago. However, because of this child, Michiru was able to have the family she wanted with Haruka. Despite lacking sleep on nights due to her duties as Senshi or due to her new duties as a mother, because of her destiny and the choices she made, she was able to be with Haruka.

Everything, in the end, was worth it if that remains true.




I hope you enjoyed! This is what I have so far ^_^v A few others are pending write... ^_^;;