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