Happy Disclaimer: I don’t own Sailor Moon. Then again, no one else on this site does either. I will say that if anything in this story sounds like a quote or similar to a situation in any other fic, it is completely unintentional.
What’s That Buzzing?! Outers Run Like Heck
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On the first warm day in May, Michiru decided we were all going out for a family outing. It was to be our last little carefree fling before we went out and got jobs. Michiru believed we were all being too lazy, and our bank accounts were slowly depleting. I didn’t notice so much, but Setsuna and Michiru were shop-aholics, and they were fast going broke. I figured I would get a job too, since I would be lonely alone at home all day, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do.
So on our last major weekend of freedom before the great job search, the three of us packed a lunch and went to the park.
~*~
Michiru and I got up early (it was before noon…it was early), and coaxed a grumpy Setsuna out of bed. Michiru had words of wisdom for her. "If you didn’t stay up all night online, you wouldn’t be so sleepy."
Setsuna would not be outdone. "If you two hadn’t retired to your room at nine o’clock last night to do stuff, I wouldn’t have been bored and I wouldn’t have gone online."
Michiru blushed a fiery red color and dropped the subject.
~*~
On the way to the park, I was in my element. Behind the wheel, the wind in my hair, the best looking girl in Tokyo by my side. I smiled winningly at Michiru, showing all my teeth. "You look scary when you do that," commented the grumpy Setsuna, who was stashed in the backseat with the picnic basket. She had her feet stretched out on the armrest between Michiru and me, her arms crossed. She glared from under dark sunglasses.
Michiru turned around and asked her seriously, "Do you have a hangover?"
Setsuna smiled slightly. "No..."
I started to cackle like it was a laugh-riot. "That would be so funny! I would love to see Setsuna with a hangover!"
"Thanks," she grumbled, and leaned her head back against the seat.
"She's just tired," decided Michiru. "Here, Suna." She then produced a Tootsie Pop seemingly out of thin air and handed it back to the cranky time god. Setsuna took it without hesitation and commenced to sucking.
I gave Michiru a loving look. "Sweetie..."
She smiled. "Well, all right." She handed me a sucker too and I happily stuck it in my mouth.
~*~
When we got to the park I got out of the car and lifted the picnic basket. Michiru carried a picnic blanket, which left Setsuna with Nepu-Nepu, the family goldfish, who had been brought along for the day. When Michiru said "family outing" she meant the whole family. Sometimes I think Michiru and Setsuna loved that fish more than me.
We found a lovely spot under a tree by a beautiful patch of tulips. Michiru was in raptures. "Oh, it's so gorgeous, Haruka!"
Setsuna made some indistinct noise and sprawled on her stomach next to the fishbowl. "I hear buzzing."
Michiru looked around anxiously. "I'm not fond of bees."
"Don't worry about them. They won't bother us." I opened the picnic basket and pulled out a container of baked chicken. "Drumstick, Setsuna?"
"Haruka! Michiru!"
I jerked up my head. "Inners..." We all looked up to see Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako standing there. As they looked at us, the air around Michiru and me seemed to sparkle and a mass of cherry blossoms drifted through the air as our hair fluffed out gorgeously in the magical breeze. The Inners swooned at us.
A pile of blossoms had come to rest on Setsuna's head. She glowered out from under them. "Why does it always do that?"
Michiru and I brushed blossoms off the chicken. "Beats me. It just does."
"Wow, Haruka and Michiru!" Usagi had stars in her eyes. "We can't believe you're here! What are you doing?"
"We're just having lunch." I muttered to Michiru under my breath, "Do we always have to be doing something fun and romantic?"
She whispered back, "To the Inners, our lives are nothing but fun and romance."
Setsuna snorted and bit into a hard-boiled egg.
"We're guy watching!" announced Minako.
"And telling fortunes," added Rei.
Michiru answered them. She was always so good with people. I never knew quite what to say to the kids. I got by, of course, but somehow I always managed to make one of them mad.
"How lovely!" Michiru exclaimed. "We were just having a family day out. It is a beautiful day, after all, and
we wanted to be in the sunshine and the fresh air..."
I held back laughter. The girls were hanging on her every word. They were still such children. "Hey!" I pinched Setsuna. "Those are my chips!"
"They are not! They're mine, and you know it!" She pinched me back.
"Are not!"
"Are too!" She shoved me over and sat on me. Anyway, as I was saying, the Inners were still such children....
"We're going to have our lunch. You girls have a good time, now." Michiru tilted her head, closed her eyes, and gave them that cheerful smile of hers.
The Inners beamed at us and pulled the drooling Usagi away in the other direction. "But they had cake!" the blonde was whining.
I tickled Setsuna until she rolled off me, convulsing with laugher, and I helped myself to lunch. "I love our princess, but she's still a kooky kid. I can't imagine doing anything as silly as the things they do."
"I hear buzzing again," said Michiru.
~*~
When lunch was over, we pulled out the large cake that Usagi had been admiring. It was a delicious yellow cake with white frosting and pink and yellow candy roses on the top. "Mmm...my favorite part. Desert." I pulled out a butter knife and prepared to cut the cake. Suddenly, a giant bumblebee went flying onto the cake and sat there. The girls screamed, and even I scooted backwards a bit. I caught my breath and said, "Don't carry on, girls. It's just a little bee."
Michiru clutched onto Setsuna. "That is the most GIGANTIC bee I've ever seen in my LIFE!"
Setsuna couldn't get any words out at all from sheer terror.
"Oh, it's not that bad. I'll just brush it away."
"Don't get it angry!" squealed Michiru.
"We should just give up the cake for lost," Setsuna said, covering up Nepu-Nepu's bowl with a napkin to protect her from the bee.
"It'll be okay. Watch." I lifted another napkin and swatted at the bee. "Go on, get away!"
Setsuna and Michiru squealed again and hid their faces against each other's hair.
As I swatted at the bee, it rose in the air and hovered in front of my face. I started to sweat. "Er...nice bee. Nice bee...so pretty and...YIKES!" I ducked. "That thing dive-bombed me!"
The girls screamed and jumped up, only to be cut down again as the bee made an attack on their heads. I jumped on them and tried to cover them both with my body, only to howl myself as the bee bounced off my head. Luckily I wasn't stung. That bee was so huge, I imagine it would kill us if it got us. "Hang on, I'll take care of it." I pulled off my shoe. The bee didn't appreciate my efforts. It dove at me and I screamed like the girl I was.
By then, Setsuna had gotten her shoe off and she was wildly smacking at it. My lovely Michiru lay face down on the blanket. There was a distinct possibility that she was allergic to bees. "I'll protect you, Michiru! I'll never let you die!"
She reached out her hand to me. "Love! I'll be happy as long as I'm with you! Please let me touch you." My beautiful Michiru…always so stoic in the face of death.
I felt one of those special, heart-rending moments coming on that Haruka/Michiru fans loved, but Setsuna cut us short. "Not a good time!"
We snapped out of it. "Agreed." The bee made a wild attack on Michiru, and I pulled her out of the way by the arm. I looked up just in time to see Setsuna fall. "PUU!" I yelled. Was she...STUNG?
She got to one knee. "That's it. I'm stopping time! That's the only way to stop that bee! It's mad crazy and it will destroy the world! No one is safe." She pulled her Time Staff out of that invisible place we all envied. "TIME STO..."
I caught her hand. "That seems a little drastic." The bee made another dive at us. Michiru jumped to her feet and started to run. I wasted no time in following the example. "Run, Suna! Run like you've never run before!" Holding tightly to Setsuna's hand, we tore like heck across the park, the bee following just behind us.
We passed the Inners a few minutes later. "Hey, what are you...?" called Makoto.
"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!" We tore by them without stopping to acknowledge them. We honestly didn't have the time to think. Michiru was screaming that she was going to die, and Setsuna kept trying to cough out the command to stop time, which would ultimately end her life. But I saw what I needed to save us from the bee. There was a creek running through the park directly in front of us. I put on an extra burst of speed, catching Setsuna up under my arm. Her eyes widened, but she said nothing. I lifted Michiru under my other arm with subhuman strength and threw the both of them into the creek. I then jumped in myself, and dove under the water, my cheeks puffed up with air. We all sat under the water for as long as we could - Me, Michiru, Setsuna, and the Time Staff - until hands pulled us up from the depths. As we were pulled over to the bank, spluttering, sopping wet, and freezing, we were starting to feel stupid. But we really had been in danger!
It was the Inners who were fishing us, the "brilliant" Outers, out of the creek. As Ami helped pull Michiru out, she asked us, "What on earth were you all doing?"
I panted. "There was this bee...it was going to kill Michiru and Setsuna. I couldn't let them die."
Setsuna clung to her staff, her hair dripping all over everything. "It was after Haruka, too."
Michiru held her hands apart to illustrate a large size. "It was HUGE!"
Ami looked puzzled. "A bee? Do you mean that bee?" She pointed to this tiny bee that was serenely sitting on a nearby flower. It gave a little buzz and flew away.
I looked at the retreating bee incredulously. "That was the bee?"
"That seems to be the only bee around," said Rei, studying the flowers.
I looked at my girls, who both seemed very interested in the ground, their faces bright red. "Er...I guess we'll just be going now." I started to stalk towards our picnic spot. I could hear Michiru cordially thanking the young girls for their help, and Setsuna echoing her before they followed me. I also noticed that those cherry blossoms did not show up like they normally did when we walked away from the Inners.
Once they caught up, Michiru ran her fingers through my wet hair. "It's okay, love. It really did seem like a giant vicious bee."
~*~
On the way home we were pretty silent. I was feeling a bit pissy about the whole situation, and admittedly rather dumb. Plus, we were getting my car soaking wet.
Setsuna finally broke the silence. "What a day, huh?" At least she didn’t seem as cranky as before.
Michiru nodded. "I’ll say. What a horrible experience."
Setsuna pushed her wet bangs out of her eyes. "So, Haruka…do you think we’ve become a laughing stock?"
The girls looked at me for my opinion, which I decided to give them. We had to face the grim reality of what we had done.
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair as we sped towards home and dry clothes. "Setsuna…Michiru…it’s even worse than that. We've become Inners."
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Well, not everyone can have a good day, can they? lol For anyone who didn’t get the last line, the Outers are often considered to be the more mature, sensible ones, when the Inners can be goofy and childish. In other words, the Outers showed very Inner-like behavior by running from the "scary" bee and jumping in the creek. Poor Haruka. She just can’t win! And yes, they were OOC. A – They’re supposed to be, and B – Everyone has to freak out about something. :) Anyway, I hope it made you smile.
Until next time,
~Lady Grizzy
setsuna_haruka_michiru@yahoo.com
Accompanying Illustration (cut, paste, and take out the spaces please): www.angelfire.com / anime / deathchild / images / suna_ruka_michi_bee.gif
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