A shadow from another time
Is waiting in the night
Something happened long ago
Something that will not let go
-"Bury My Lovely" by October Project
Something had woken her that night. Softly, she had crept from Haruka's side, drawn to the mirror on the dresser with its face down, facing the wood. The faint glow left the dresser surface with a honey-browned reflection. With soft fingers, she had lifted it and looked into its depth. A million mirrors suddenly seemed to awaken around her, with a gentle ringing sound that filled the air.
Neptune...
Her fingers traced the rim of the mirror where the mermaid arched with jutting hips and flowing hair. The golden light dimmed and slowly, through the light, she felt herself falling. Swimming, she approached the surface, suddenly in need of a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Cool steps supported her kicking feet, and she found herself ascending the steps, uncaring of her nudity. Water, clear and clean, clung to her pearl-white skin like jewels.
Neptune...
"You are..." her voice half sung the words as her eyes lifted, from the shadow that marred the pale, clear steps beneath their feet. Slowly, her glance traveled up bare golden legs. Her eyes widened slightly as she noted the royal crest of Uranus. "...Uranus-hime." Their eyes met, the rakish eyes that deliberately studied her from head to toe only after their gazes had locked. Neptune stared back steadily though, unabashed and unaffected by the scrutiny.
"Do you usually swim unclothed, Neptune-hime?" Uranus asked with a flirtatious and mocking grin.
"You are on holy grounds, Uranus-hime," she answered with a clear and steady voice. "Of the two of us, you are the one improperly clothed." Without another pause, Neptune side-stepped around Uranus and continued up the stairs. Her aqua-hair, dangled wetly, clinging to her thighs and breasts.
"Did they not tell you of my arrival, Neptune-hime?" Uranus asked as she fell into step with Neptune.
"Meetings with you could be re-scheduled, Uranus-hime, but meetings with our gods cannot be." Neptune answered evenly, gracefully removing the hand draped over her shoulder.
"Ho," Uranus paused at the steps, glancing back over her shoulders. The white pillars floated in the sky-domed room. Beneath, the water was clear but dark, a strange blue-green color, bottomless and black beneath the brilliant surface. "Did you meet with the gods today, Neptune-hime?"
Neptune halted, quite a bit ahead of the white-haired Uranus. Turning over her shoulder, she arched a brow with a slow and mysterious smile. "Ask the gods, Uranus-hime. If you're good, maybe they'll give you an answer in the form of a riddle." With a swishing movement of her wet hair that clung enticingly to her body, Neptune continued up to where her maidens stood with worried expressions at her approach.
"We tried to stop her, Neptune-hime-sama," the head-maiden with pale-green hair stuttered shamefully.
"It's alright," Neptune shook her head as she shrugged on the robes. The light material clung to her wet skin, dipping into her lilth curves. "Next time, though, ask for more than a kiss for a bribe. The gods may punish you for having poor bargaining skills, otherwise." She advised in a murmur, blowing gently on the girl's ear when she was done. Instantly, the other went red before her bemused eyes as she pulled back. The maiden stuttered denials though Neptune knew the truth. The other maidens giggled knowingly from behind their leader, for this was far from the first time that such an incident had occurred. Uranus was rather predictable in the charms she bestowed upon her victims, Neptune had long found proof of such speculations.
With a swish of her robes, knowing Uranus was just steps behind her, she walked out of the prayer room and entered the hall. The blue, marble like floors were warm against her skin as golden fires cast amber sparks, dancing with the shifting patterns, beneath the soles of her feet. As Neptune walked through the grande hallways, she felt as if she had once again entered into the embrace of the waters. It soothed her slight agitation, ones that arose from her guest's unannounced arrival.
"Are you terribly furious with me, Neptune?" Uranus asked, dropping her title the moment they were alone. "I was just flirted a little. Your maidens are always fun to tease, and this one was a bit more stubborn than the last..."
Neptune did not answer. She only walked on in silence, knowing this discomfited her companion. Uranus always disliked the silence, so used to the whispers of the constant winds that howled and blew and whispered through the plains of Uranus. Neptune was more used to the silence of the waters, feeling only the currents and ripples beneath the surface communicate with her without sounds or words but the beat of the oceans of Neptune. Neptune was not used to words but echoes, but that was just the ways of her people, who lived mostly below water.
"Look at me," Uranus growled at her, fingers suddenly wrapping around the crook of her arm and spinning her around. The desire in those blue eyes burned into the core of her soul, but Neptune's expression did not even ripple to reveal a single emotion beneath her calm surface. Burning fingers weaved itself through her water-clogged hair, as the other's lips crashed upon hers, hungry and demanding. "I want you to look at me forever," Uranus told her hoarsely, through trembling lips and panted breaths. Impatient with her own desires, Uranus bent again and kissed Neptune just as fiercely as the first time. It slowed and became languorous, as hands explored her body.
Neptune...
The ocean pulsed around her as she returned her lover's hungry embraces. Those kisses that burned itself into her soul, trailed along her skin. Each touch was like a ripple that would turn into waves, circling out from the center of her being. "I too," she whispered into the blue and golden lights that embraced them. "Forever," she murmured brokenly against golden skin, aching for more and yet, seductively whispering her desires in the language of silent words. In the hum of her song-like language, Neptune pulled Uranus to her, deeper into the depth of her heart.
Should we never part, you and I.
The golden mirrors began to ring once more, singing a foreign song around her. Michiru closed her eyes and clutched her fingers tightly around the handle of the mirror. Since she had held the wand of Sailor Neptune, she had been drawn to Ten'ou Haruka, or rather, she was drawn to Sailor Senshi Uranus. Sometimes, she wondered, in the endless corridors of Neptune's memories, if such a consuming love was Kaioh Michiru's or the princess-warrior's of long ago.
In the golden mirror, Neptune stared back at her, reflecting her looks of confusion with a knowing smile. "Who are you?" Michiru whispered to the mirrors of her dreams. But all she felt was the burning lips of the woman she had loved and wanted in another life. And all she knew was the pounding of her own heart that drowned out the questions of the girl, Kaioh Michiru.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
The past sang to her, lulling her closer and closer to the sad, abandoned past.
Wake up, Neptune.
Those were the words that she woke to as she turned and looked to the face of Uranus, slumbering next to hers. She was so close, just beneath the fragile shell of Ten'ou Haruka. There, Uranus slumbers, the warrior she had once loved was just beneath the surface of this child. With soft kisses and murmurs in the forgotten tongue, Neptune closed her eyes and began to relearn the contours of her lover's body. Just a little more and she would be able to consume the other as it once was. Just a bit more and she would once again be able to drown into those blue-eyes, grasping her lover into her shore-less heart.
Wake up, darling.
