*Laugh and cry
*Live and die
*Life is a dream we are dreaming
*Day by day
*I find my way
*Look for the song and the meaning

"Kaze, I know you know where your mother is.  I need to find her.
Please, tell me where she is."  Haruka held her first-
born granddaughter Hikaru, while watching her daughter pace the floor 
with her second-born granddaughter Tsuyu, trying to calm the child 
down.  "I love her, Kaze.  I have since the day I held her to me in 
that garage.  Please."  Haruka looked away, the tears on her lashes.  
She would not cry in front of her child.

It had been a hopeless endeavor at finding Michiru.  Haruka had even
gone to Setsuna.  Hotaru did not know, she only knew what Kaze told
her of her adoptive mother.  Michiru did not want to be found.  Almost
a year had passed since they had been exposed.  Haruka had noticed the
king and queen had found themselves again.  Usagi had put weight back
on and Endymion smiled now.  Mamoru was trying to get to know Haruka
while keeping the father he knew close.

All that was missing was Michiru.  Haruka was determined to find her.
Haruka had just been existing for weeks, day by day searching for the
familiar face of her wife.  It was all she could do to just muddle
through her day.  So, she had come to her daughter, almost begging her
to share where her mother had run off to.

"Papa... I love you, but I promised Mama I would not tell anyone, even
you, where she went.  I cannot break my word.  Do you want me to be a
liar?"  Kaze's eyes were pleading with her Papa to understand.

Haruka stared into the face of Hikaru, the one-year-old smiling up at
her.  She and her sister were a spitting image of each other.  No, she 
did not want to make a liar out of her daughter, it would just upset 
Kaze and make Michiru even more angry with Haruka.  Haruka just shook 
her head.  "I just don't know where to look for her anymore.  She has 
done a good job of hiding from me."

Kaze stared out the window, patting Tsuyu's back, she wanted to help 
her Papa.  There had to be some way.  She smiled slyly.  "You know, 
some nights -- when the sky is clear -- you can almost make out 
Triton, you know.  Neptune's big moon?  Just almost, though."  She 
looked over her shoulder at her Papa.

Haruka nodded slowly, "Thank you, I will look on the next clear
night."  She got up and handed Kaze her other daughter, depositing a 
gentle kiss on Kaze's cheek.  "I love you, Kaze, and I will see you 
soon."

Kaze nodded, hugging her Papa, juggling both daughters.  "I love you, 
too, Papa.  Bring her home."

Haruka smiled, "I plan on it."

*People run
*Sun to sun
*Caught in their lives ever flowing
*Once begun
*Life goes till it's gone
*We have to go where it's going

Haruka stood outside Triton Castle, the tall structure looming above
her.  Deep in her memory she recalled standing here with her Uranian
family, anxious to meet the princess of the neighboring planet.  They
had become fast friends.  They grew up together, best friends.  The
tomboy and her proper friend.  Haruka chuckled to recall these
memories.  Haruka in her pants and shirt all muddy tackling Michiru in
her prim dress and rough housing in the mud holes.

The queen of Neptune had disliked the way Haruka behaved.  She had
tried to get Haruka to behave as Michiru did, wearing dresses and
sitting so still.  Haruka just couldn't do it.  Finally, when she was
15, she was allowed to just be herself.  It was the summer Michiru
turned 16 that they made love for the first time.  It had felt like
they had always known each other's bodies.  It had been magical.

Just as the first time had been in this lifetime.

Her life, the many times she had existed, had many paths in it.  Some
grown over, bridges burned...  Others had been well kept, treated with
such respect.  Her memories of her Uranian family were always close to
her, the memories of the Senshi, of Kaze, of Mamoru... all fresh and
vivid.  The most vivid, though, the ones she always tended were the
ones of Michiru.

Fresh from the shower smelling of the sweetness of the ocean.  Baking
in the kitchen, tasting of chocolate and sugar.  Dancing in the
palace, her skin laced with an exotic perfume.  Rounded belly,
swelling with their child.  Crying, needing the comfort Haruka
offered.  Hot beneath her hands, wet at the touch of her mouth.
Always Michiru, bombarding her senses and wiping all else from her
mind.  Nothing could replace her burning love.

All she had to do was convince Michiru of that.

Haruka walked to the door, studying the ornate carvings of mermaids,
ocean life and waves.  Everything about Michiru was elegant.  Her
past, her present, her future.  Haruka took hold of the doorknocker
and let it fall once... twice.  She waited.

*Then you look at me
*And I always see
*What I have been searching for
*I'm lost as can be
*Then you look at me
*And I am not lost anymore

Michiru softly loped through the huge castle toward the door.  Who
could have found her?  No one but Kaze knew she was here.  After a
year of only hearing her daughter's voice, it was odd to hear
something else.  She pulled the large doors open and was greeted with
the face of her lover.

"Haruka."

Haruka almost broke down there, to hear her name spoken on the lips of
a goddess.  For the past three decades she had felt so lost, confused,
always hiding or running from something.  She had not been able to be
secure in her life, always looking for something.  She had been so
stupid to not know that that something she had been searching for had
lived by her side the whole time.  In the moment that Michiru's deep
blue eyes met her own, Haruka knew she had been found, that she was
not lost.

"Michiru."

Just two words.  One look.  All summed up.  The pain, the need, the
hunger, the anger, the fear... all there, all at the surface.  It was
so important for Michiru to know her, to know all the facets she had
hidden from her for all those years.  Haruka stepped forward, her hand
outstretched.  In the softest whisper, "I found you."

Haruka stumbled.  The mightly Wind God stumbled to the humble Sea
Child, falling into the warm arms she had sought out, that she had
missed for so many months.  She felt her heart break into thousands of
pieces, felt tears on her cheeks.  She had never cried in front of
Michiru.  Never.  And now... in the dimness of Neptune, in the
coldness of the entryway, Haruka's dams fell, her eyes shed her pain.

She held on for what seemed like hours, but what was only moments.
Michiru's arms were strong and tight around her, holding her close.
After those few minutes, Haruka disentagled herself, moving back
slightly and swiping at her cheek.  "I'm sorry."

Michiru's own chin trembled.  "Come inside, Haruka."  She turned and
went back into the castle, assuming Haruka would follow her.  Haruka
closed the doors and went into the warmly lit halls, winding through
semi-remembered rooms.  Finally they came to what Haruka remembered as
the rooms they had shared so many years ago.  Almost like ghosts of
themselves, of happier times, of childish times.

"Welcome home, Haruka."  Michiru sat on the tall bed, crossing her
legs beneath her.  "You found me."

Haruka took a seat on the chaise opposite of Michiru.  "Please come
home, Michiru."

Michiru looked away, "No, Haruka.  The divorce is final.  We are
through.  I want..."

"What?  What do you want, Michiru?"  Haruka stood, "Tell me."

"I want you to go back to Earth and leave me in peace.  I want to
forget you."

Pain boiled in Haruka.  "You are a liar, Michiru.  I will not believe
that you stopped loving me because a piece of paper disolved the legal
union we had!  I know you love me, and you know I love you.  We have
always been together!  Always!  Dammit, Michiru.  I need you.  Please,
come home.  Come with me."  Haruka put her hand out, feeling the sting
of rejection when Michiru kept staring off to the side.  "Look at me!"

*And you say you see
*When you look at me
*The reason you love like so
*As lost I have been
*I'll find love again
*And life just keeps on running
*And life just keeps on running
*You look at me
*And life just keeps running... for you

Michiru looked up into the green eyes, so fierce.  She saw love there.
Strong, true.  Her reason for living.  All had been lost when she
thought Haruka loved Usagi.  She had endured so much and it had meant
nothing if Haruka did not love her.  In the silence of the castle, in
that outstretched hand, in those dark green eyes, and deep in her
heart, Michiru found courage.  In the face of Haruka she saw why
she had lived for this woman, why she would have died for her.  She
reached out and took Haruka's hand.

For better or for worse, for richer for poorer, she would be Haruka's.
And Haruka would be her's.  Life went on, yes, but it took them with
it.  It always brought them back together, they always found their
love again.  Michiru stood up, flushing under Haruka's gaze, and
wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck.  She brought Haruka's mouth
down to her for a scorching kisses, deep and filled with love anew.

"When I look at you, Haruka, I see the reason I love.  The reason I
exist.  I love you," Michiru whispered into Haruka's ear.  In a swell
of love, Haruka picked Michiru up into her arms and carried her to the
tall bed.

They found their reasons to love again in each other's arms.

--- End Part Twenty ---