As the last notes echoed in the amphitheater, the crowd was silent. After a stunned minute, the crowd surged to its feet, clapping and cheering. There were even a few whistles from the American visitors. The green haired young woman on the stage smiled and bowed. She left the stage but was soon pushed back by a blond girl on for another round of applause.
In the front row, a young woman and a tall man were clapping the loudest. The blue-eyed girl had an odd hairstyle; her blond hair was pulled into two spherical objects, that resembled odangos.
She wore a sleeveless white dress that’s skirt fell a little past her knees. The man had black hair and dark blue eyes, and he wore a black tuxedo.
“ Wasn’t Michiru wonderful, Mamo-chan?” the young woman sighed.
The man nodded. “ Yes, her performance tonight was beyond words. Her violin playing was the best I’ve ever heard her do.”
“ Let’s go see her backstage,” the blond said enthusiastically.
Mamoru laughed. “ Usako, the performance isn’t over yet. Michiru still has to perform another piece.”
“ Oh, yeah,” Usagi said, making a face. “ I forgot. Oh well,I don’t mind hearing her play the violin some more.”
They sat down as did the crowd. Several rows behind them, several men were whispering to each other.
“ Is she the girl?” one man with black hair asked in Italian.
“ It has to be,” the man with brown hair replied. “ She fits the description perfectly, and see how her music sounds!”
“ Are you sure?” a third man asked skeptically. “ We _are_several rows away from the stage.”
“ Trust me,” the second man said confidently. “ See that blond girl behind the curtains? She fits the other description as well.”
“ Very well then,” the third man said. “ After the performance,you know what to do.”
Michiru finished bowing and left the stage. Waiting for her was a tall girl with short blond hair who resembled a boy. The girl was wearing a man’s dark suit. The two young women hugged.
“ You were fantastic, Michiru,” the girl said proudly.
Michiru smiled, snuggling up to her. “ Remember, Haruka, it wasn’t just me that was great. It was the violin too.”
Haruka kissed Michiru’s head. “ So what? You were still great.”
They were about to kiss when Usagi interrupted their personal movement by coming backstage. “ Hey, Michiru!”
Sweat drops appeared on the two older girls. Usagi noticed that they were looking at her in a funny way. “ Umm, did I interrupt something?”
“ No, of course not,” Haruka said, recovering first. “ We’re glad you came, odango atama.”
Mamoru entered then, carrying a big bouquet of roses. “ Here,Michiru. Usagi and I brought them for you.” He set them down on a nearby table.
“ Oh, they’re wonderful!” Michiru said, smelling them. “ Thank you. But how on earth could you afford them?”
Mamoru shrugged. “I have a rose garden on the balcony of my apartment. I always have a lot growing there, and in the winter I just grow them inside.”
“ You were terrific, Michiru!” Usagi gushed. “ I’ve never heard you play so well before.”
Michiru smiled. “ Well, it might have something to do with the special violin I was using.” She and Haruka exchanged secretive smiles, while Usagi and Mamoru just watched.
“ So where are you guys going now?” Usagi asked. “ Do you want to join us for dinner? I’m afraid that we took a taxi over, so we’d have to take one over to the restaurant.”
Haruka looked at Michiru. The green haired girl nodded, smiling.
“ That would be great,” Haruka answered. “ We can ride in my car.”
Usagi grinned happily, while Mamoru frowned. “ Aren’t you a little young to be driving?” he asked puzzled.
“ Errr, I got my license overseas,” Haruka answered quickly.
“ You two go on ahead outside. We’ll be right out,” Michiru said sweetly.
Usagi and Mamoru nodded and went out to the parking lot.
“ Now,” Michiru asked, putting her arms around Haruka’s neck,“ where were we?”
“Where’s Haruka’s car?” Mamoru asked Usagi as they searched for her car.
She pointed to the screaming yellow sports car. “That’s it right over there.”
Haruka and Michiru came out behind them. “Good,” Michiru said, “you found Haruka’s car.”
“It’s kind of hard to miss,” Mamoru said dryly under his breath.
Just then a black car raced by. The window flew down, and a gun was pulled out. Bullets flew from it towards the four.
“Get down!” Haruka shouted as a bullet narrowly missed her ear.She pushed Michiru down, and protected her by covering her.Mamoru did like wise to Usagi. All the bullets went over their heads.They could hear the gun run out of bullets, and it was pulled back inside the window. The car drove right on by, and the smell of burning rubber filled the night air. When Haruka was sure that the car was gone, she helped Michiru get up.
Haruka looked at her girlfriend. “So they finally found us,”she said grimly.
“We always knew that they would,” Michiru replied softly.
“What’s going on?” Mamoru demanded, holding a terrified Usagi,who, oddly enough, wasn’t crying. The poor girl was probably in shock, Michiru thought. “Why were we shot at?” The two girls looked at each other and both nodded. “I guess we had better explain,” Haruka sighed. “I guess this means that we won’t make it for dinner. We’ll fill you in on the way to your home.”
The four climbed into Haruka’s car. The blond girl got into the right seat and closed the door. Putting in the key, she started the engine. She pulled the car out of the parking lot and onto the road.After a minute or two of composing herself, Michiru started.
“You see, it all started about a year ago, before we met you Inner Senshi...”
“Haruka!” Michiru called out to the blond girl in the pit.
Haruka turned around to see the familiar green haired girl waving at her from the stands. She grinned and waved back, then put on her racing helmet. She climbed into her race car, car number 910. She drove the car to the starting line, waiting, her adrenaline already pumping. THIS is what she lived for. This was one of the few things in life that she craved and would do anything in the world for.
“Here comes car 910, with the famous star driver, Tenoh Haruka!” the announcer said into the microphone. All of the girls in the stands started screaming excitedly, since they were under the impression that Haruka was a hot guy, and not a girl.
“Oh, Haruka is soo cool!” one red haired girl next to Michiru said.
“I wonder if he’s available...” another blue haired girl sighed.
Michiru looked at them, slightly amused. “ I’M Haruka’s girlfriend,” she told them with a touch of possessiveness in her voice.
“Ohhhh...” both girls said, looking at the lovely girl.They didn’t say anything else about Haruka’s availability, but continued to scream her name, albeit a little softer.
“OK,” the announcer said. “ Get ready. On your mark, get set...GO!!”
The cars sped off. Haruka took a very commanding lead from the start. However, a black car was right behind her. Haruka glanced at the number and noted with amusement that it was car 546,driver Kenoh Ryu, her biggest rival. He had always come in second after her, never beating her. Obviously, he resented her very much.
The race continued as the cars sped on. Several cars skidded out of control and off the road, but none collided too severely. That was what Haruka loved. The challenge, the risk of danger,the realization that she could lose control at any moment, the coming of face to face with death...
Coming around for the last lap, Haruka held onto her first position. Ryu had made several attempts to race past Haruka, but she was too experienced to let him by. Suddenly, Haruka sensed something was wrong. She couldn’t control the steering wheel. She had to slam on the breaks or risk crashing. She immediately tried,but they were dead. Someone had fixed her car, and she had a pretty good idea who. Haruka wasn’t going to panic, even as her car skidded off the road and into the wall...
Michiru noticed proudly that Haruka was maintaining a lead in front of everyone, including that Ryu. She hoped that Haruka beat Ryu again, since she didn’t like him. Ryu had once tried to hit on Michiru, but Haruka came and beat him up. Not that she had to.Michiru could have handled the situation herself with a few well placed kicks, but she didn’t mind Haruka protecting her.
Then Michiru noticed something odd. Haruka wasn’t doing as well as she had before, which was unusual. The whole crowd realized too that something was wrong with car 910.
“Haruka’s losing control!” one person yelled.
“His car’s going to crash if he doesn’t try to slow down!”
Michiru gasped as Haruka’s car drove off the track and into the wall, bursting into flames. “ Haruka!!” Michiru screamed. She didn’t notice the other fans in the stands screaming in terror as well.
She immediately ran to the site of the wreckage, where there were people all around, spraying the fire with water and carbon dioxide.
“Haruka!” Michiru yelled, tears streaming down her face. She started crying when she couldn’t see the blond anywhere.
“Hey, Michiru,” a familiar voice said from behind her. Michiru spun around to see a smoke covered and bruised, but alive, Haruka. She ran into her arms.
“Haruka! But how...?”
Haruka smiled. “You didn’t think that I was crazy enough to stay in the car, did you? I took your advice from awhile back and installed an ejection seat. I got out just I time.”
Michiru sighed with relief. “You scared me. I don’t think I want you racing again for a while.”
“OK,” Haruka said amiably. “I need to have my car fixed anyway. How about we take a vacation to Italy?”
“Well, Haruka,” Michiru said in flawless Italian, “ Italy certainly is...”
“Beautiful?” the cab driver suggested. “ Lovely? Fantastic? Wonderful? Gorgeous? Too good to be true?” The taxi drove by a large bill board with a nude woman on it.
“Different,” Michiru said.
“Here’s the hotel,” the driver said, pulling over.
“Thank you,” Haruka said. She paid the driver the fare as Michiru got out onto the sidewalk. The taxi sped off, but Haruka and Michiru hardly noticed. They looked at the hotel.
It was tall, with 30 stories. It was made of brick and painted white. There was the name of the hotel in gold letters on the building. Outside was a lovely rose garden and fresh trimmed grass all around. Men and women wearing the latest and most expensive Italian fashions walked in and out of the red doors that were held open by two uniformed men.
“Quaint,” Michiru said. They picked up their luggage and went inside. They ordered two rooms that were connected by a door. Then the two girls went to their rooms. The bell boy was a little weakling who took forever bringing up their suitcases, so Haruka just told him to get lost while paying him some money. He did as he was told when he saw the amount of money Haruka gave him.
Michiru went into the left room while Haruka took the right one. Michiru was finished putting her clothes away when Haruka knocked on the connecting door. “Come in.”
Haruka walked in, looking like a girl. She wore a very nice outfit. She had on a white shirt with a necklace that had a cross on it. She wore white shorts and comfortable white shoes. On her head she had a pair of shades.
“So, Michiru,” Haruka said. “ Where should we go first?”
“Let’s go to some museums,” Michiru said.
“Especially the ones dealing with music, hmm?”
“Yes, especially them,” Michiru answered, smiling.
“Well, that was fun,” Haruka said dryly as they came out of another museum. “How many places are dedicated to Stradivari,anyway?”
Michiru laughed at the blonde. “Really, Haruka. Antonio Stradivari was the greatest maker of violins in history. Of course there are so many places that honor his genius. I’d love to own one of his violins.”
“Then why don’t you just _buy_ one?” Haruka asked. “It’s not like we can’t afford one. We can afford _all_ of them.”
“Come on, Haruka,” her girlfriend said. “Aren’t you exaggerating?”
“Well, maybe ninety-nine hundredths of all the violins.”
Michiru considered her statement. “True,” she said finally.“But the problem is, no one wants to sell them.”
Haruka noticed that Michiru seemed depressed at what she had just said. “It’s okay, Michiru. Hey, how about we go to a concert tonight? I bought some tickets, and there’s supposed to be one of those Stradivari violins there.”
Michiru looked excited. “That’s great! I’ve always wanted to hear one of those.” Haruka smiled. She hated to see Michiru unhappy, so she was glad at her mood change.
“Good. Be ready at six.”
“I don’t like this color on me,” Michiru said, looking at herself in the mirror. “ Maybe I should go change.”
“Michiru!” Haruka exclaimed, pointing to a clock. “We’re going to be late! You look terrific!”
“Well, if you say so,” the other answered doubtfully.
“Let’s get moving!”
They left the building, looking gorgeous. Michiru wore a white dress, formal and demure. Haruka had on a black one that was louder, but not enough to be considered rebellious. In her right lobe she had in her gold hoop.
Haruka called for a cab. They headed for the place where the concert was being held. When they reached the large, empty looking building, they went inside. They found their way to the main hall,and sat down in their seats.
There were many people there, but it was unusually quiet. The girls wondered at this, but said nothing. Everyone clapped loudly as the violinist walked onto the stage. He bowed, waited for the applause to die down, then began playing. He was talented, but Michiru could surpass him easily. However, the Stradivari violin that he was using improved his abilities.
He played several songs. Michiru was enraptured by the violin’s sound. It was the sweetest music that she had ever heard before. More than anything else in the world, she wanted one of those violins.Specifically _that_ violin. For some reason, Michiru was certain that that violin was the best Stradivari had ever created. She wondered how she knew as she had never heard any other one before, but did not question her knowledge.
At the end of the performance, everyone stood up and applauded.The man left the stage.
“Who is that guy?” Haruka asked the woman next to her in perfect Italian.
“You don’t know?” the woman asked, surprised. “Why, everyone knows him. He’s the leader of the Italian Mafia, and he lives here. All who could buy tickets know that. That’s why we had to say the special password in order to get them.”
“Right,” Haruka covered up quickly. “I just-uhhh, has some memory loss.”
She turned to Michiru. “ I think we had better leave...”
“Right,” Michiru answered, having heard the whole conversation.
They quickly left the building and went into a nearby alley.
“Haruka!” Michiru said. “ I thought that you said that you bought those tickets!”
“I did!”
“Then how did you know the password?”
“I don’t know! I just went to buy them from some guy. He looked at me and said ‘cheese.’ I automatically said ‘whiz,’ and then he gave me the tickets!”
“Talk about your dumb luck,” Michiru muttered. “ So we just listened to some guy from the Italian Mafia while surrounded by hundreds of violent, illegal criminals who could have shot us at any moment, killing us instantly.”
“That sounds about right,” Haruka said.
Michiru was silent. “ Haruka, this might sound crazy, but I want to do something totally dangerous. It could risk us our necks. We could die. We might never get home-”
“Sounds like fun,” Haruka said, smiling devilishly. “ When do we start?”
“Haruka,” Michiru warned, “ I’m serious.”
The blonde looked at her, surprised. “ I know. So what’s your idea?”
“You know that Stradivari violin that that man was playing?”Michiru asked wistfully.
“Let me guess,” Haruka said, “ you want it, but since you know he’s never going to sell it to you, so you want to steal it.”
“How did you know?” Michiru asked.
“I can tell these things about you,” Haruka said, smiling. “All right, we’ll do it. First let’s get back to the hotel.”
“Michiru, tell me why I agreed to do this again,” Haruka whispered to her partner. It was night, and they were dressed in black and were crawling slowly up the fire escape of the building.
“As you said, and I quote, ‘Sounds like fun. When do we start?’”Michiru answered. “Great. Me and my big mouth.”
“Shhh...” Michiru hissed as a shadow passed by. They flattened themselves as much as they could to the stairs. As the shadow came nearer, they saw that it was just a cat.
“Phew,” Haruka sighed. “You know, I’m starting to have second thoughts about this. I don’t think that being caught and then blown away by a zillion criminals is exactly fun.”
“You’re not chickening out, are you?” Michiru asked as they continued their way up the building.
“Of course not,” Haruka said, her pride suffering. “I just want to get this over with so we can go home.”
“We’re here,” Michiru whispered. They were at the window of a room on the thirteenth floor. Carefully Michiru opened the window.
“What kind of security is this?” the blonde demanded as they crept silently into the room. “Those ten guards in front were easily defeated, and now this window isn’t locked! This guy isn’t very alert for a mobster.”
Fortunately, the room was empty. Haruka went to the door of the room and opened it. She looked into the hall. Seeing that no one was there, she motioned with her head to Michiru. The green haired girl followed Haruka into to the hall. Everything was dark and silent.
“Hmm. No one must be home,” Haruka quipped. She walked down the corridor until she reached the elevator. Next to it was a map. Turning on a flashlight, she studied it carefully.
Michiru looked over her shoulder. “I wonder where they’re keeping the violin...”
Haruka swerved her head. “How about that place marked ‘ViolinHall’?”
“Sure,” Michiru said, a little embarrassed at the fact that she missed such an obvious clue. “Let’s check it out.”
“OK. It’s on the twelfth floor. Michiru, I am _not_ going to go back down that fire escape.”
“Well, how about we take the stairs then?”
Haruka turned to the them. “Let’s get moving.”
Sneaking quietly along, they moved down the long stairs until they got to the floor beneath them. They went behind a wall. Haruka carefully stuck her head out, looking around. The place was swarmingwith men.
“Damnit, Michiru!” she said. “This level must have fifty fatMafia guys on it!”
Michiru stood silent, her back leaning against the wall. Finally she smiled. “It’s nothing that Sailor Neptune and Your Anus can’thandle.”
“Ha ha,” Haruka snorted softly. “Your anus too. Let’s do it.”
“Uranus Planet Power, Make-Up!”
“Neptune Planet Power, Make-Up!”
The two girls held up their transformation pens as they yelledthis. (They weren’t heard, for some odd reason. The Sailor Senshi are just cool like that.) They twirled their pens around them. A yellow beam surronded Haruka as her fuku appeared on her. Her body twirled around and her mouth glimmered faintly as she opened her eyes. She smiled as she landed on the ground. Michiru was engulfed in astream of water. She was underwater as her sailor fuku came on her. She turned and lipstick appeared and vanished on her mouth as well. She landed next to her partner. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune had arrived!
“Should we attack them out right?” the girl clad in a dark blue sailor fuku asked.
“Yes,” the other, who wore a sea green fuku, replied, “we need to take them by surprise.”
“Great!” Uranus said. “I feel like kicking somebody’s butt today.”
The two girls leaped out from their hiding place.
“Deep Submerge!” Sailor Neptune yelled, a powerful rush of water coming from her hand. Her attack took care of two fifths of the men there.
Before the guards could react, Uranus stopped them. “World Shaking!” she shouted, felling the rest of them.
The two Sailor Senshi looked at each other, grinning. That was too easy.
“Let’s get that violin and leave!” Uranus said, looking at her partner.
Neptune nodded. They ran through the long showcase of violins, glancing at each of them. “There it is!” she said as she spotted it.It was encased in glass. She moved towards it.
“Wait!” Uranus said, stopping the overly anxious girl. “Do you have your blush with you?”
Neptune stared at her, one of her eyebrows raised in surprise.“Really, Haruka. Now is not exactly a good time to be putting onmake-up.”
“Just do it!” Uranus said. Neptune sighed, and handed over her compact. ( I don’t know where she kept it. It’s probably in the same place where Tuxedo Kamen keeps his roses.) Uranus opened it up,and blew some of the powder into the area. The powder revealed many laser beams surrounding the case.
Neptune made a gurgling sound. The blonde could tell that she was really pissed off. “How do we approach this, Ms. Einstein?” Haruka asked sarcastically. Neptune thought about it for a minute or two. “Now if we measure this angle, and find the value of sine 30, then plug the total values into the distance formula...”
Uranus sighed impatiently. “Why don’t I just do this? WORLDSHAKING!”
The blast shattered the glass. Fortunately, the violin wasn’tdamaged.
“Now what?” Neptune asked.
“Let me try to get by those lasers,” the other answered confidently, even though Neptune looked a bit skeptical.
Uranus avoided the lasers beautifully as she flipped, rolled, and stepped over them. Unfortunately, near the end, she accidentally miscalculated her aim and triggered an alarm.
“Forget this,” Uranus muttered as a harsh, loud beeping sound alerted everyone in the building of their presence. She grabbed the violin and raced out of the room, Neptune close behind.
Just then a couple of mobsters with large guns appeared in front of them. Neptune used her Deep Submerge to knock them down, and they raced past the bodies on the floor. Suddenly, a group of tough looking men started shooting at them from behind. They Sailor Senshi ran up the flight of stairs to the roof, which, by the way, was the thirtieth floor. By the time the girls reached there, they were just a _little_ tired. The Mafia was still behind them.
“Hand over the violin,” the leader of the group said, cornering them to the edge of the roof. He was being extremely generous,probably since he didn’t want to damage an incredibly expensive violin.
Neptune looked over her shoulder to see how far below the ground was. Pretty far, considering that they were on the thirtieth floor. They just had to take the chance.
All of a sudden, a large whirling sound filled the night air and an unexpected wind blew.
“Hey, Uranus! Neptune!” a familiar female voice shouted from above.
Everyone looked up to see a large helicopter flying above their heads. Uranus and Neptune could see that the pilot was...Setsuna?! What was she doing here?
The gunmen were staring at her in shock. Uranus took her advantage. “World Shaking!” she shouted. Her power blasted some men to the ground and caused others to tumble off the building.
“Grab this!” Setsuna shouted at them, throwing down a roped ladder. The other two complied and took hold of it. They started climbing up. Then some MORE guys came running out on and started shooting at them.
“There must be an inexhaustible supply of these guys or something,” Uranus muttered.
Setsuna lifted the helicopter higher into the air and away from the building. By then, Neptune and Uranus had made their way intothe cabin.
“Hi, you two,” Setsuna said, smiling. “Nothing like a midnight robbery and being shot at to get your blood pumping, huh?”
“Right,” Uranus said. “ By the way, how on earth did you get to Italy? How did you know that we were even here?”
“I’ll tell you guys later,” Setsuna said. “Right now, we need to get out of here and get back to Tokyo right away.”
“Right,” Neptune said distractedly. She was examining her precious violin. “ It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “ Thanks, Haruka, for going along with this.”
“No problem, Michiru,” Uranus answered dryly. “ I just love living on the edge of danger.” Neptune didn’t hear her, but Setsuna smiled.
The next day, Kaioh Michiru and Tenoh Haruka checked out of the hotel, Michiru carrying a violin case protectively underneath her arm.They flew back to Tokyo safely with Setsuna, encountering no more mobsters.
“That’s basically it,” Michiru said. She brought out her violin case. Opening the clasps, she took out the precious Stradivari violin.
“This is the thing that’s causing all the trouble,” she said as she ran her fingers delicately over the intricate wood.
“So you _stole_ a Stradivari violin from the Italian Mafia who is now after you and wants to kill you?” Usagi almost screeched.
Michiru and Haruka looked at each other briefly. Michiru shrugged. “That’s about right.”
“That’s great,” Mamoru said sarcastically underneath his breath.He was still holding a very shocked Usagi.
Haruka glanced at the mirror in the front of the car. “Looks like we have some company, Michiru.”
Michiru looked at the mirror too. “It appears so.”
“What’s happening?” Mamoru demanded.
“That car behind us has been following us for the last half hour,”Haruka said casually. “It’s probably from the Mafia after us. I guess we can’t go home right yet.”
“I suppose we should try to lose them,” Michiru said.
“Okay,” Haruka replied.
“Why are you guys so calm?” Usagi asked, a little hysterical. She was hyperventilating.
“We’ve been through worse positions before,” Haruka said, smiling a little. “And then, we were against monsters and invincible creatures of enormous strength.”
“Don’t worry, Princess,” Michiru said soothingly, smiling softly.
“We’ll make sure that you and the Prince make it out all right. That’s our mission, after all. To protect you two, no matter what.”
Haruka started driving faster. The car behind them increased their speed too. She turned onto a street that had quite a few cars. She sped up, and swerved around the cars ahead of her. Unfortunately the black car stalking them did likewise. Haruka turned the car onto a deserted road leading up a dangerously steep cliff. As soon as they were there, she pushed the pedal to the limit.
Behind them, the car windows rolled down. Mobsters popped their machine guns out and started shooting like crazy at Haruka’s yellowcar.
“Damnit,” Haruka swore. “Everybody get down!”
Mamoru pushed Usagi down, protecting her with his body. Michiru bent down to avoid the incoming bullets that flew through the back window.
Haruka drove as fast as she could up the mountain. The road winded and twisted like a snake’s coiled body. (Whoo hoo! Simile!) The car was right behind them, shooting about a hundred bullets per minute. Haruka had to steer as best as she could while still moving fast.
“No problem, Haruka,” she whispered to herself. “It’s just like racing.”
The car skidded on the unpaved road and would have gone out of control had it not been for Haruka’s fast reflexes. Fortunately, the car behind her wasn’t doing too much better. Unfortunately, it wasn’t doing bad enough.
“Haruka!” Michiru said. “How are we going to get rid of them?”
“I have a plan,” Haruka said, as she steered the car out of the way of a huge rock on the road. “Mamoru!”
The dark haired man looked up, then bumped his head against the car ceiling after the car ran through a large pot hole. “What?”
“I need you to throw some of your roses at that car!” Haruka said.
“Can you do that?” Mamoru looked at the other car for a second, then answered affirmatively. “Yeah, I can do it.”
“Michiru,” Haruka said, “You have to transform into Neptune right now. Even though it’s crowded, we need her powers.”
The green haired girl nodded. “Neptune Planet Power, Make Up!” She transformed into Sailor Neptune, albeit in a cramped and uncomfortable manner.
“Start throwing them, Mamoru,” Haruka ordered as she looked into the mirror at the car. “Be careful,” Usagi whispered.
Mamoru gave her a quick kiss. Then he rolled down the window and threw the roses at the gangsters’ car. The roses got onto the glass and their petals blocked the driver’s view of the road. The driver swerved the car, and it came dangerously close to the edge of the road. There were no railings along the road.
“Umph!” Mamoru said as he quickly drew his head back into the car, just as a bullet whizzed through the air. “That was too close!” He resumed his rose throwing.
“Michiru!” Haruka said as she concentrated on driving.
The Sailor Senshi opened the car door. (Yes, it’s still driving incredibly fast!) Holding on tightly, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she leaned out of the door. “Deep Submerge!” she shouted at the car.
The blast of water streamed from her hands. It hit the left side of car hard. The driver, whose vision was still blocked by the stupid rose petals, lost control of the steering wheel. The car veered to the right, and skidded of the side of the road. Neptune could hear the fearful screams of the men as they plunged to their deaths.
Neptune quickly reentered the car, slamming the door shut,breathing hard. Haruka slowly stopped the car. Then the four got out and looked over the side of the cliff. They could faintly see the wreckage of a car at the bottom of the ground. Usagi was trembling, Mamoru with a comforting arm around her. Haruka and Neptune watched them, unreadable expressions on their faces.
We could have died, Neptune realized suddenly. I mean _really_ died. It wasn’t as trivial as I said it was. It wasn’t like some monster hurt us a little or anything. Just a few well placed bullets, and one of us could have never seen a new day again...And it would have been all my fault. Because of my selfishness.
“Let’s get out of here,” Haruka said finally, her voice soft. The others nodded their agreement. They climbed into the car. Haruka carefully turned the car around on the narrow road, and they drove back to Mamoru’s apartment. The car was silent as each sat thinking about the night’s events.
“Here we are,” Haruka said as they pulled up to Mamoru’s apartment. “Good night.”
Usagi and Mamoru got out and walked slowly to the door of the building.
“Princess...” Michiru said softly.
The blond girl turned around. “Yes, Michiru?”
“I’m sorry...for all of this. I wish that I hadn’t...”
Usagi studied her face. It was quiet and vulnerable, her eyes filled with guilt and worry. It was a side of Michiru that she had never seen before. All of Usagi’s tension melted away from her body.
She smiled gently. “It’s okay, Michiru. I understand. Good night.”
“Good night,” Michiru echoed.
The yellow car drove away from the two standing on the street, watching them until they were no more than a speck on the horizon.
Meanwhile, the two girls in the car were silent. Finally Michiru spoke, her head faced towards the window.
“Haruka, you must be blaming me for what happened, and I can only hope that you can forgive me...”
“Forgive you for what?” Haruka asked, genuinely surprised.
“...For wanting the violin. If I hadn’t wanted to steal it, this never would have happened.”
Haruka smiled lightly, her eyes filled with warmth. “Michiru, don’t apologize. I don’t blame you. You know that I love you. I’d do anything for you, even risk getting killed for some silly trinket.”
(Aww...Haruka is so sensitive!) Michiru looked at her. “So you don’t blame me?”
Haruka laughed gently. “That’s what I just said. Michiru, no matter what happens to us, I’ll always love you. Remember that.” She kissed her softly on the cheek. Michiru smiled back. “Thank you.” “For what?”
“ ...For everything.”
The End
