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 his/her 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/her
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 s/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/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 coloumns 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.
Stories of Life is all the one-shot Sailor Moon stories I've written.
This
particular one is entitled "Wet Boardwalk", there are two others which
you
can read at the Sailor Moon Romance Archive or ask me privately for.
Here's
my e-mail:
breaker@technologist.com
Please don't hesitate to write me all your comments or post them to
the FFML.
I've been so happy with all the e-mails I received about my previous
stories.
Thanks to everyone who wrote!
I hope you liked this story.
Ajax
14.11.98
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