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~                        Small Sacrifice                             ~
~                     A fanfic by Lucas Bates                        ~
~    Please direct all flames/comments to bl602@freenet.carleton.ca  ~
~    **Based on a series by Naoko Takeuchi, used without consent.**  ~
~    **Please distribute freely, but do not change the contents.**   ~
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		*               *               *

The light was blinding.  Or maybe it was just the fact that my eyes
hadn't seen daylight for a while.

I sat up, looking around to find out where I was.  I thought back to
the last thing I remembered.  It was extremely difficult, but I
recalled some kind of battle, and I had been hurt badly.  The last
thing I remembered seeing was Michiru's face over me.

Michiru.  Where was she?

The room I was in was all clean.  There was a window a few feet away
from the bed I was lying on, a nighttable beside me.  I looked behind
the bed and saw a light and a row of instruments.  I was in a
hospital.

The door to my room opened.  A tall man walked in, wearing a lab
coat, and an I.D. card.  He had dark hair.  "Ah, Miss Ten'ou, I see
you're awake."

I blinked a couple of times to clear my eyes, and I sat up.  "What
happened?  Where am I?"

"You're in the Tokyo General.  I'm Dr. Mitzuko.  As for what happened
to you, we don't really know.  Can you recall what happened to you?"

"No, I can't," I told him.  It was the half-truth.  I knew some of the
things that happened, but the rest were a blur.  I knew I had
transformed before the battle.  I couldn't let him know about my big
secret.

"Not unexpected, I suppose.  You were found in a forest outside the
city by a family camping there.  You had a pretty bad wound in your
abdomen.  It looked almost as if you'd been stabbed by something."

"Was there anyone with me?" I had to know if Michiru was injured too.

"Yes, a Kaiou Michiru.  Luckily you both had I.D. on you," he told me.

"Where is she?  Is she all right?"

"I'm sorry, but she is in intensive care right now, in a coma.  Miss
Kaiou was barely alive.  It looks almost as if she had lost all of her
energy."

More memories flashed back at me.  They were quite brief, almost
mocking me, because I couldn't really get details.  I desperately
tried to remember what had happened.  What had happened to Michiru
that she had lost her energy?

Dr. Mitzuko examined the area on my stomach where I had had stitches.
Pleased with the healing of the wound, he left the room and instructed
me to ring the buzzer if I needed anything.  What I really needed were
my memories, but I doubt any of the hospital staff could give them
back to me.

I laid back on the soft, comforting pillow, and tried to remember the
events that happened.  I had more flashes, but now I could keep them.
I was able to see images of Michiru and I attacking a monster
repeatedly, an image of Michiru attacking the monster on her own...

As I tried to sort through the images, I closed my eyes for too long
and fell asleep.

		*               *               *

I woke up again, maybe around early evening as compared to late
morning when I woke up the first time.  Actually, the movement of the
orderly bringing me my supper was what woke me.

He slid a tray over me and inclined the head of the bed so I could sit
up while eating.  He left my room, and continued his rounds.  I lifted
the lid.  Hospital food.  Blech.  Some of it could be good, some bad,
it just depended on what was wrong with you.

The table that the orderly had put the tray on fit over and under the
bed.  The tray he had given me looked rather unappetizing, but I ended
up eating it anyway.

As I munched on my food I thought about how much I wanted to be out of
here.  All I wanted to do was get out, get back to my car, maybe go
for a walk in the park-

A walk in the park.  As I thought about it, a slew of memories tumbled
like a rockslide onto me.  I dropped the fork and stared vacantly at
the meal as I tried to sort through the images.

I finally had a picture of what had happened to Michiru and I.

		*               *               *

It was a beautiful day, and Michiru and I had decided that maybe a
drive and a walk in the country might be appropriate.  We had packed
a small picnic lunch and drove off.  A nice relaxing day is what we
planned.

After driving for maybe an hour or so, we found a public park nestled
in a forest.  I parked the car, Michiru lifted the basket out of the
back seat and we walked towards the picnic area.

Apparently, we weren't the only ones with that idea.  The picnic area
was nearly full.  I managed to find a vacant picnic table, and Michiru
set the basket down.

We ate, watched some children play, and talked some.  Not exactly your
exciting times, but we didn't want to do anything overactive.

After we finished lunch, Michiru packed the rest of the food and
drinks that were untouched in the basket and I put the garbage away.
Then we started walking down a well-used path through the forest.

I'm not sure how long we had been walking, but it did seem that the
path went around in a circle, back to the picnic grounds.

As we got closer, Michiru stopped and tilted her head up, as if she
were listening for something.  "Did you hear something?" she asked.

I stopped too.  I didn't move, and strained to hear whatever it was
she was hearing.  I couldn't hear anything other than the usual forest
sounds.  "No," I told her.  "Why?"

Michiru frowned.  "I could swear I heard a scream."

"From where?"

"Up by the picnic area...  I think..."

As soon as she had finished saying that, there was now a very audible
shriek from ahead.  "Looks like you were right," I said.

She broke out in a run and I followed.  We heard another scream, and
we ran even faster.  Michiru, still ahead of me by a few feet,
skidded to a stop just outside the picnic area and dove into the
bushes.  I nearly ran into her, and before I could regain my balance
she yanked me into the bush with her.

"What was that for?" I demanded.

She turned around with her finger in front of her mouth.  "Shh!"

Michiru turned her head around again to look back out.  She peeked
up over the bushes and gasped.  I looked where she did and gasped in
surprise as well.

There was a large monster out there.  From our vantage point, I could
see people laying on the ground.  The monster, which looked like a
tree gone bad, had another camper in its grip.  I could see the energy
flowing out of the girl it held and into its leaves.

The anger built up in me.  This thing had to be stopped.  I pulled out
my transformation pen.  I looked at Michiru only to discover that she
had the same thought.

I stood up, stepped back a couple feet, and transformed.  "Uranus
Planet Power, Make Up!"

I could hear Michiru's voice yelling as well.  "Neptune Planet Power,
Make Up!"

The monster had apparently heard us, because it dropped the girl and
started over to where we had been hiding.  It didn't know, however,
that we had already bolted.  It found out soon enough when it heard
us again behind it.

"Wherever trouble is, so am I to clean up the mess.  Here I am, Sailor
Uranus!"

"And so am I, to deliver victory to the people!  Here I am, Sailor
Neptune!"

It looked at us for a second, as if it wasn't sure what to do with us.
Finally it decided that we were cannon fodder and started attacking.

The tree-thing waved its branches at us and sent razor-sharp leaves
flying in the air.  We managed to dodge the first barrage, but a piece
of my skirt got shaved off on the second.

I clutched the air above my head and yelled my attack phrase, "World
Shaking!"  The yellow ball of energy tumbled through the air and
managed to shear off one of its branches.

As I dodged another set of leaves, I could hear Michiru attacking it.
"Deep Submerge!"  The Deep Submerge caught it right in its trunk and
threw it back a few yards.  The tree got up again, and started
throwing more leaves at us.  Then I got fed up.  I threw another World
Shaking at the tree and followed in the attack's wake.  Just before it
made contact with the tree, I leapt onto the tree's head (or what
seemed to be its head) and stayed there until I could get a clear shot
at its mouth.

"HARUKA!!" Michiru yelled- she could get so worried at times like
this.  "Get off of it!"

I clutched the air again.  "World-"  Too late.  The tree grabbed me
and flung me to the ground.  I rolled into it and stood back up only
to have a branch run through my abdomen.  I figured the look on my
face had to be one of utter surprise.  The tree's monstrous face was
sneering at me.

Michiru screamed again and ran towards us.  "Haruka!!"

The only way to deal with a tree that has a branch running through
your stomach is to strike back with all the force you have.  My hands
found their way to the branch in my middle and clamped onto it.  The
tree yanked the branch out of my abdomen- something that hurt a great
deal, I might add- and tried to get away from me.  "WORLD SHAKING!" I
screamed with as much power as I could put into the attack.  Small
threads of yellow energy streaked towards my hands and I could see the
branch turning yellow too.  The branch abruptly shattered completely,
and the tree fell to the ground.  I wasn't long joining it there.

I laid there, seeing the trees and the sky above, still a beautiful
day.  Such a shame that I wouldn't live to see another day like it-
I doubted I would survive for too long.

Michiru's tear-soaked face appeared over me.  "Michiru-" I mumbled.
I was slowly losing consciousness.  The tears were still flowing down
her face.  "Don't cry..."

She closed her eyes briefly.  The sound of the tree getting up made
jerk her head in that general direction.  The concern on her face was
quickly replaced with a look of total and utter hatred.  She stood up
and slowly walked towards it.  My head rolled to one side, watching
my friend and companion stalk the monster.  Her hands were clamped
into fists.  It was pretty uncharacteristic of Michiru to be like
that.  She seemed almost impulsive.

The tree-monster got a glimpse of her face, and started to back away
in fear; it was too late to run away now.

She held her arms up in the air.  What happened then occurred so
quickly I have only a partial memory of it.  Michiru threw one Deep
Submerge after another at the tree until it finally changed back into
a regular tree with no evidence of it ever having the ability to move.

She stumbled back over to me, finally collapsing to her knees by the
time she got to me.  The attacks she had thrown had really drained
her.

I moved my hand and put it on top of hers and gave it a reassuring
squeeze.  A tear rolled down her face every now and then.  She looked
right at me.  "Haruka..."

"Michiru.  It's all right...  I don't feel any pain...  It's all right
Michiru- you can continue on your own, without me...  Accomplish our
mission."

She looked at the hand that was now holding my own.  Something had
just occurred to her as she looked at the gloved hand.  "Not without
you," she said quietly.  Michiru pulled out her transformation pen and
held it with her free hand on top of my chest, just above my wound.

"Haruka, I'm going to help you survive.  I'm going to keep you going
with my own energy."

"No, Michiru!  It will kill you!"

"Maybe so, but I have to do it."  She held it close against me,
closing her eyes to concentrate.  "Neptune...  Planet...  Power..."

I would have stopped her had I the strength.  A green glow covered us
both, leaving the last thing I remembered about the whole ordeal:
Michiru's face over me.

		*               *               *

I laid there for a moment, stunned.  Michiru had risked her life
trying to save me.  That wasn't the part that was surprising, because
I'd do the same for her in a moment.  The surprising part was that it
had worked long enough for help to get to us.

I finished my dinner, then made my way up to ICU.  Luckily visiting
hours were still on.  I found her laying in one of the beds, sleeping
peacefully.  I asked one of the nurses if I could have a chair, and
she brought one over for me.  I sat there, looking at Michiru.

For all I knew this was a sleep she would never wake up from.  I hoped
that she would wake up.  We were a team, and one with a purpose.

Finally I reached over the bars on the bed and gave her hand a squeeze
just to try to let her know she wasn't alone.  I looked up when I felt
a squeeze back.  "Michiru...?" I whispered.

"Mmmhh?  Haruka?"  Her eyes fluttered open.

"Michiru!"

"Where am I?" she asked.

"In the hospital."

"We're...  Alive?"

I nodded slowly.  "Glad to have you back."

"I'm glad that I did what I did.  I don't know what would have
happened if you had died."

"Thank you."

And with no doubt, her small sacrifice kept me alive and made us even
closer friends- the inseparable kind.

		*               *               *

			     The End