Part 4 - Reunion and Assembly

Elza Gray.

When Haruka was a younger girl, a year younger to be specific, she had known a youth by that name, for it was around that time Elza introduced the sandy-haired track star to the girl who would later be the blue haired beauty she had shared her body and soul with: Michiru Kaioh. Elza has been Haruka's rival, had been Haruka's friend, and, above all, had all but vanished from Haruka's life following her graduating her middle school in favor of Mugen Academy. So why, Haruka asked herself, did her old friend call her back now? Her voice, usually calm and relaxed, sounded a tad anxious, a tad hurried, a tad, for all intents and purposes, frantic. "Haruka? Are you there?"

Glancing over at Michiru, silently, before turning her attention to the phone, Haruka nodded, vaguely aware that her nodding was entirely pointless since clearly phones could not transfer visual information like the movements of her head. "Yeah, I'm here. It's been awhile."

"Too long. Listen, I need your help."

"Help?" As though Haruka's life wasn't convoluted enough as it was. What could she possibly need Haruka for? What sort of ridiculous situation could be piled up on top of her shoulders now? What sort of irritating, annoying circumstance could be forced upon her now, on top of everything else that had plagued her? Haruka felt a tad bitter toward Elza, she noticed. It was partially that girl's fault Haruka had given up her body, albeit willingly and gladly, but she had gratitude to Elza for introducing her to a girl she'd be willing to spend an eternitiy with. Still, she felt a bit bitter toward Elza as she awaited the girl's response.

"Listen, I have to have a rematch against you," Elza said.

"A what?"

"A rematch. A race. You know."

"Oh, is that all?" Haruka laughed, nonchalantly, scratching the back of her head. A race? Now that was something she could get into, something she could be excited about. And here the soldier of the air had expected some sort of horrible circumstance she would have to deal with. Here Haruka expected something horrible and dreadful. But no, just a little race? A little competition? Nothing serious, if anything something to look forward to. With a small grin on her lips, Haruka asked, "When?"

"A few days from now should be fine," Elza said, smirking, "Hope you can handle it."

"All I need to know is where we need to run and how far."

"Let's run a 5K. There's a path by my current high school, I'll give you directions later, that's a 5K loop. Think you can handle it, Haruka?"

"Oh, you're on, Elza! I'll get back to you, though, I've been having some problems lately."

"Problems? Not with Michiru, I hope."

Haruka laughed, nervously. Oh, the problems were with Michiru, alright. Or perhaps about Michiru would be a fairer way to word that statement. Oh, how she longed to just hold the azure haired beauty in her arms right now, and was tempted to, with Michiru standing only a few feet behind her. But she couldn't; not with this phone in her hands, anyway. "Oh, not at all. Just with my parents. I'll talk to you later, Elza. I have other business to attend to right now."

#

Despite the numerous times Haruka tried to reschedule with Mako-chan, never once did Haruka manage to speak to the brunette. Not once, not even for a moment. Only rings and busy signals greeted Haruka's ears. On Michiru's suggestions, or perhaps orders was a more accurate word, the sandy haired lesbian had called every hour on the hour, but to no avail. Even worse was when she called Ami's house. The phone line was always busy. Haruka assumed this had something to do with Ami's mother being a doctor, and perhaps several calls were sent to her house, but it seemed impossible to just find a moment where the line was free to tell Ami to tell Mako-chan that they'd need to rearrange the schedual a little bit

Alas, in the end, the appointed time arrived.

At five o'clock the night following the phone call, both Mako-chan and Ami arrived on Haruka's doorstep. Mako-chan was a tall girl, muscular and for all intents and purposes big. By big, Haruka didn't mean stocky or anything, but she was built, much like Haruka was. Her long mane of brown hair, pulled into a thick ponytail, quivered along with the rest of her body. Ami, Sailor Mercury, the guardian of water, however, perhaps unaware of Mako-chan's unease, seemed perfectly comfortable, if not slightly timid as she usually was, as she relinquished her shoes after passing the threshold into Haruka's house. Ami bowed slightly, respectfully, with a pleasant smile on her lips. "I hope we aren't intruding," Ami replied.

"Well, don't worry," Haruka said, forcing herself to hold in the response "Yeah, you are intruding. Sorry to waste your time, but you need to get the hell out of my house." Naturally, Haruka never uttered any of those words.

Ami, however, seemed to notice something about the way Haruka emoted, perhaps in her effort to restrain the words she longed to say. "Oh, you do have plans, don't you?"

"Well, don't worry about it. It's just that our parents are--"

"Oh, you mean those people?" Mako-chan asked, gesturing toward the car that had just pulled up onto Haruka's driveway. Haruka would've liked to respond, but unfortunately she had lost the ability to vocalize the exact words floating to the forefront of her mind due to her throat suddenly drying up, her tongue feeling loose and rather sandy, her jaw clenched and tense, beyond her control, beyond her ability to move the jaw up and down in order to allow words to bubble to reality.

She was grateful the car belonged to Michiru's parents, and not her own.

"Who're these two?" Mrs. Kaioh asked, as she arrived at the door, her husband glancing suspiciously at Haruka, then at Mako-chan, but surprisingly gave no such critical glance at the much smaller Ami, her soft face in stark contrast with Mako-chan and Haruka's rough, slightly intimidating appearances.

"They're friends, mom," Michiru said, emerging being Haruka as though on cue. She was dragging a brush through her long blue tresses, smoothing out her lovely tsunami of hair, her face sparkling as she smiled with those beautiful teeth of hers, an angel if Haruka ever saw one. She wanted to hold Michiru's hand right then and there, hold her against her breasts and never let her go, but if she did that no doubt her father would ignore the fact that she was a girl and just bop her over the head with the nearest blunt object he could find for touching his beloved daughter.

"It would appear we had a slight problem with lining up our schedules," giggled Ami, nervously, "But don't worry. We can leave if you like."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Mrs. Kaioh replied, "Stay! The more the merrier I like to say."

"But--"

"It's perfectly alright," Mr. Kaioh said, smiling down at Ami, then at Michiru, "You don't need to leave on our account. Are you more friends of Michiru and that girl?"

"I really have been demoted to 'that girl', huh?" Haruka groaned, planting her palm on her face as she shook her head.

"Well, yeah, we are," Mako-chan replied, in a friendly, cheerful voice. Mr. Kaioh looked at her now with a slightly more assured and relaxed tone. Her voice was girly and sweet, despite the formidable build of her body suggesting she had a deeper pitched voice, much like Haruka. "My name is Makoto, but everyone calls me Mako-chan."

"My name is Ami," Ami said, introducing herself.

"We're Michiru's--"

"Oh, I know," laughed Ami, "We could tell that much."

"Do you guys want to come in or what?" Haruka said, "We could have the dinner outside, but it's too damn cold for my tastes."

On that note, the group entered Haruka and Michiru's home, at which point Setsuna and Hotaru entered. Setsuna smiled and bowed when the Kaioh's arrived, but her eyes widened when she saw Ami and Mako-chan enter, especially Mako-chan's anxious glances at Ami, whom Haruka knew was completely oblivious as to the reason why Mako-chan really asked her to join her at Haruka's that night. Had Haruka forgotten to inform Setsuna on that fact as well, judging by the rather confused, if not downright startled, expression she wore on her face? Possibly--no, definitely.

Hotaru, however, dove for Ami, pulling the girl into her arms with a jubilant smile upon her lips. The young brainy girl almost toppled over, but was thankfully caught by Mako-chan and her strong arms, which held her for a couple seconds too long as Ami laughed in spite of herself. "Thank you. Almost fell there," Ami giggled as the Guardian of Thunder helped her back to her feet, the large girl's hands lingering a little too long on the smaller girl's shoulders, her fingers caressing her arm slightly as she relinquished grip on her.

Haruka smiled, slightly.

That smile was wiped away when she heard the sound of tires running up the driveway, her eyes widening as her pulse quickened. Words began to surge in her brain as she lowered her head. Words like lesbian, words like dyke, words like slut, words like deflowered, words like whore. Her hair obscured her eyes as she glanced over at Michiru, her face shadowed by her bangs, as she asked, in a rather un-Haruka-like tone, "Can you please get that, Michiru?"

"Okay," Michiru replied, understanding Haruka's morose request at once. The blue haired girl approached the door, and opened it, allowing a trio of people entry to their house. Haruka's blue haired goddess stood awkwardly there, fidgeting with her hands ever so slightly, too graceful and elegant to look truly disturbed, but too anxious to look completely normal. "Hello there, Mr and Mrs Tenoh, and Fujiko. I take it the ride here wasn't--"

"Hello!" Fujiko cheered as Haruka turned around. It took a few seconds for Haruka to realize that her parents, who had been so anxious and upset before, seemed more relaxed, as though they had, and God she was hopeful this was the case, come to terms with the shock they had experienced before. It was impossible for this to be easy, but may be they had perhaps calmed down some, and were able to listen to Haruka's points.

Maybe.

"Hello there," Mrs. Kaioh said, bowing before the sandy haired lesbian's parents, "I'm Yumi, we spoke over e-mail."

"Yes, pleased to meet you," Mrs. Tenoh replied, smiling just as much as her counterpart, "I guess our daughters dropped that bombshell on you too?"

"That's one way of putting it," Mr. Kaioh replied, frowning slightly, "At least your daughter can't make my angel pregnant."

"Yusuke," Yumi murmered, tightening her grip on her husband's sleeve, glancing over at him with a rather threatening look that clearly said "If you want to eat dinner in the next month, you better not do anything to screw up this dinner." Yusuke responded to this death glare with a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his scalp, and a stuttered addition to his previous statement that clearly assured the Tenohs he meant no disrespect toward his daughter, and that she was a rather beautiful angel herself.

"Well, she was always our little angel," Mrs. Tenoh replied, glancing over at Haruka. She held her head in shame. Was? Was her angel? Why wasn't she still? Oh, yeah, because her flowers had bloomed, the petals stripped, the nectar sucked straight out of her insides.

"Well, there's no use standing out in the parlor, is there?" Mr. Tenoh finally said, speaking for the first time, "Haruka, where can I put my jacket?"

"Oh, I'll take care of that," Setsuna replied, walking forward.

"Oh, tha--wait, who're you two?" Mr. Tenoh asked, gesturing toward both Ami and Mako-chan.

"Friends," Ami replied, "I'm Ami Mizuno, and that's Makoto--oh, I'm sorry Mako-chan, I just blanked out when I tried to remember your last name." As Ami giggled innocently behind the knuckles she had placed against her lips, Mako-chan blushed slightly, her knuckles wriggling and twisting by her thighs. Haruka's father glanced over at his daughter, and looked like she was about to ask if the two of them were also lesbians, at which Haruka shrugged, feeling slightly more at ease now that her father had acknowledged her like he had.

#

"Doesn't the whole adoption thing bother you?" Mrs. Tenoh asked before nibbling on her food, a curious expression on her face.

They were at the dinner table, a circular structure with seats for everyone. From a counter-clockwise perspective overhead, one would've spotted Ami sitting by Mako-chan, then Mr and Mrs Tenoh with their two daughters, only for Setsuna and Hotaru to fill in the spot between the Kaioh's. Haruka longed to be sitting by her beloved Michiru, but, for whatever reason, both of their parents insisted they sat with them. At least Haruka could see her aqua-haired goddess in front of her as she ate the meal the entire family had slaved over to make. Haruka was biting into the rice she had prepared, as all four of them had insisted that was the only thing Haruka could prepare and not ruin.

"Not specifically," Mr. Kaioh replied, "To be perfectly honest, it was when your daughter came into my house wearing a tuxedo that I got nervous."

"A tuxedo?" Mr. Tenoh sighed, planting his palm over his forehead as she shook his head, sighing heavily.

"It was a joke," Haruka replied, desperate to explain herself.

"It worked, too," Mrs. Kaioh replied, "I felt it was funny."

"It gave me a freakin' heart attack. I thought you had impregnated my daughter," Mr. Kaioh replied, his voice heavy.

"But getting back to the whole daughter thing, do you really think these two girls can have the responsibility to raise a daughter?" Mr. Tenoh asked, desperate for someone other than his wife to see his way.

"Three, actually," Setsuna replied.

"Okay, I apologize, three girls?"

"I'm also older than both of your daughters," Setsuna replied, folding her hands on her lap.

"How much older? You don't look a day over twenty," Mrs. Tenoh queried.

Setsuna, who had lived for the past several millenia as the Guardian of time itself, replied, smiling a secretive smile, "I age really well."

"Good for you, then," Mrs. Kaioh replied, "I woke up this morning and found a gray hair, and felt fifty years old all of a sudden."

"But you look just as old as your daughter," Mrs. Tenoh laughed, "Not a day over--"

"She ages well," Mr. Kaioh replied, smiling slightly as his hand interlocked with his wife's own fingers.

"Just for that complement, I suppose I'll make you dinner tomorrow night," Mrs. Kaioh replied, smiling mischeviously.

"But what about money?" Mr. Tenoh added, breaking up the slightly romantic moment between Michiru's parents, "I mean, I don't know if Haruka has a job, though she does make some money from race prizes to get by for a little while."

"Our Michiru's a violinist, and a very good one at that," replied Mrs. Kaioh, "She makes plenty of money in concerts. She was even in a concert with that boy band that was really popular a little while back, you know, the Three Lights?"

Haruka clenched her fists, tightly, as she remembered that band's lead singer, that pompous bastard Seiya. Damn Seiya, what she'd do right now if she could find him, for flirting wiht Michiru. Oh, when she had beaten him up that one time, it had been so satisfying. If only Usagi hadn't stood in the way of her assault, she would've ensured several times in the past that Seiya, that pretty boy, wouldn't have stood around her Michiru as frequently as he did.

"Something wrong, Haruka?" Mr. Tenoh asked.

"Nothing, I just, well--"

Michiru just giggled at this. "She was jealous of Seiya, you know, the singer of the Three Lights? He flirted with me a little, and Haruka got all upset over it. She looked like some knight in shinning armor trying to save me from Seiya. It was very cute, you know, Ruka."

"You don't need to just broadcast that to the world, you know," Haruka whispered, harshly, only for her azure haired goddess to giggle once more. She couldn't get mad at such a beautiful girl.

"You know, Haruka," Mr. Tenoh replied, slowly and carefully choosing his words, "You do seem to love Michiru, don't you?"

Haruka glanced up at this, curious. What was her father saying? Was he about to apologize? About to accept Haruka's life choices? The young lesbian held her breath, her eyes widened as she heard herself say, very slowly, calculating the precise words to say in the precise manor, "Of course."

Her father lowered her head, frowning slightly. "I see. I suppose nothing I say can convince you to change this sort of lifestyle choice?"

"Nothing."

"I see." There was a moment of silence. Haruka glanced to her father, his expression unreadable. Was he relieved? Angry? Sad? There was no way of truly determining this. Michiru glanced over at him too, clearly unable to either sigh in relief or brace for a new assault of yelling and stress. Finally, after an eternity of silence, thick fungus infected silence, Mr Tenoh spoke. "Well, look, Haruka, Princess, I just don't know if I agree with all the choices you've made. I feel you're making a mistake."

"Now, hold on here," Mrs. Kaioh said, frowning, "I'm not going to go out and say that I'm not a little worried about this whole ordeal either, but let's face facts here: the simple fact of the matter is that we can't determine whether our kids are making a mistake by following their hearts. Worst case scenario the whole thing blows up in their faces and they learn from their problems, leaving as stronger people regardless. The fact is that we aren't the sort of people who can say this was a mistake now or that was a mistake then. If you're right, and this whole thing is a big stupid mistake, then, well, in a few years time your daughter will acknowledge her stupidity and just go back to living her life as a little princess. But if she's right, and she truly loves Michiru as I think she does, then, well, that's all well and good for her, and I have no objections whatsoever. Nor should you, for that matter."

"I understand, but are you entirely aware of the full situation our girls are in?" Mr. Tenoh asked.

"I can imagine," Mr. Kaioh replied, "Judging by the way your daughter acted around us, I figure she has a slight tendency to be, let's say, a little open about her sexuality."

"What do you mean by that?" Mrs. Tenoh asked, her mouth thin. Haruka ran a hand through her hair. She had braved armies, braved the forces of evil that knew no bounds, and yet four adults frightened her more than any of that. Damn her weakness. She needed to deviate the conversation away from this. But how?

"You know, I don't mean to interrupt or anything," Ami said, smiling cheerfully, "But from what I read, statistically girls are more sexual creatures than males are, but even so, society prevents us from exploring our own sexual identities more than what people claim we should. What I'm trying to say is that the fact that Haruka would explore her own sexual identity in the way that she has actually frees her from the chains of establishment, so to speak. It's probably easier on her psychological stability that way, and she won't have to worry about, well, stress related to a suppressed sexual identity, and, um, why are you all looking at me like that?"

The entire table had turned to look at her, a curious expression on all of their faces. Ami withdrew, slightly, holding herself awkwardly as she glanced down at her thighs. She lowered her hand on her smooth skin, bouncing her fist off of her soft flesh nervously as she glanced up at the people around her, only to shrink away a moment later. Mako-chan, however, seemed to struggle with herself not to confess the words she had been longing to say, to say that she loved her. Haruka could tell this, as could everyone else at the table, but no one wanted to say anything on that matter.

Rather, they directed their attention toward Haruka and Michiru.

"So what did you mean when you said that my daughter was open about her sexuality?" Mr. Tenoh asked, his voice holding a hint of accusation.

"Well, when she came in her tuxedo to my house, I thought that they had come because your daughter, who I thought was a man at the time mind you, had impregnated my daughter, but she said that was impossible because she had ovaries. Now, she could've said 'I'm really a girl' and left it at that. However, she didn't."

"But it was all part of her sense of humor, so it wasn't that big of a deal," Mrs. Kaioh replied, smiling sweetly while glaring venomously at her husband.

"I apologize on the behalf of my daughter," Mrs. Tenoh replied, glancing venomously at Haruka, who seemed to lower her head in shame at her mother's disapproving states, "But I must say this now: I'm not so sure that your daughter is quite as squeaky clean as you say she is."

"How so?" Mrs. Kaioh asked, her eyes narrowed.

Mrs. Tenoh withdrew slightly, clearly not willing to find herself into a confrontation against her counterpart. Glancing aside, she mumbled, "Well, you know what the two of them did together, right?"

"I assume they made love," Mrs. Kaioh replied, simply.

"You know, you seem awfully laid back about that," Mrs. Tenoh replied, surprised, "I mean, aren't you a little upset about that? About your daughter losing her virginity?"

"Well, she's a mature girl. She has the right to make the proper decisions."

"She's only seventeen."

"Doesn't matter. We've treated her with the respect of an adult since she was a young girl, so I can expect her to only make mature, adult choices, no matter how old she is."

Mr. Kaioh frowned slightly before saying, hastily, "If it's any consolation I'm not exactly happy about that decision either."

"Dear, shut up," Mrs. Kaioh replied, glancing over at her husband venomously.

"But think about it for a second! I mean, I understand that having sex isn't as bad as drugs or whatever, but think about it! Sex! We didn't have sex until we were in our twenties, not as a teenager!"

"What's sex?" Fujiko asked, clearly confused.

"Don't worry about it," Haruka replied, forcing herself to smile for her sister's sake.

"Is it what you were doing before when you were kissing Michiru-mama and--"

"Hotaru, shut up," Haruka hissed.

"You know, Yusuke, I completely agree with you," Mr. Tenoh replied, "I think they're way too young to make decisions like this, but even more so, I can respect you for saying that."

"Thank you."

"However, why did they do it? What possessed our kids to do something like this? What exactly happened? What were you two doing when it happened?"

"Precisely what I'd like to know," Mr. Kaioh said, frowning.

"How did you two meet?"

"When did you realize you were in love?"

"What are you going to do in the future, anyway?"

"One at a time!" Haruka stammered, running a hand through her short hair, her eyes wide and anxious. So many questions, so many queries, all of them overwhelming her, tearing her apart, straining her psyche, forcing her down into the ground with the weight of all of their parent's terrible, weighty questions, each one worse than the last. Finally, running a shaky hand through her hair, she said, slowly, "It all just happened in a rush. This girl, Elza, friend of mine, introduced me to Michiru, and Michiru, well, she had a crush on me first, but the moment she told me this, I knew I would do anything for her. Anything at all. I know the question you all want to know, right? When we lost our virginity? I know that's the thing you're all asking yourselves. Well, the truth is, we lost it after something really bad and amazing happened."

The truth was Haruka lost her virginity not long after the entire affair with Mistress 9, after she witnessed the messiah in the form of Usagi salvage the world from darkness, a beauty that left her in stunned silence. Now without the weight of the world on her shoulders, Haruka opened herself up to her lover even more than ever before, opening herself up to her lover. But how the hell could she share that sort of thing with her parents? She couldn't tell them she was really Uranus, could she? Of course not. She'd have to improvise something. "It was just that, well, after that whole affair with Mugen Academy blowing up, we were caught in that explosion."

"Oh Goodness!" Mrs. Tenoh reached out and placed her palm on Haruka's shoulder, as though ensuring it was still intact. Haruka glanced over at Setsuna and Hotaru, then at Ami and Mako-chan. They all knew the truth about what had happened at Mugen, and knew far too well of the horrors that had taken place there. Hotaru especially was trembling, her eyes wide and terrified.

"We got out alright, mom, don't worry. A few bruises here and there. But, you see, the thing is that after that, well, we knew we weren't immortal. We knew we could die at any minute if something like that happened again, so we both agreed--"

"--we'd ensure that every second of every day should be lived to the fullest," Michiru completed, wearing a melancholy smile on her lips, "I had no problem opening myself up, and neither did Haruka. We just needed to experience something like love making before we died. It was a necessity, and it was an experience we've since repeated multiple times."

The table was silent for a moment or two before Mr. Kaioh said, "So you had sex with my daughter after you almost died?"

"That's correct."

"I see. I understand that the circumstances at first must've been extreme, but tell me who suggested to have sex first? Was it Michiru or was it you?"

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Mr. Tenoh asked, aggressively, "What do you mean by 'you'?"

"I mean your daughter, Haruka," Mr. Kaioh said, "Did she suggest to have sex or was it Michiru?"

"Now I know my daughter! If they said they both wanted to do it they both wanted to do it. My daughter wouldn't force someone to do something like that against their will." At the sound of Mr. Tenoh's declaration, Setsuna, Hotaru, Michiru, Ami, and Mako-chan all simultaneously glanced away, refusing to make eye contact with the clearly uninformed individual who had not seen Haruka threaten, beat, and kill several people to reach her ends. Haruka noticed this, and, in shame, lowered her head, her bangs falling over her eyes.

"Maybe, but that's why I said Michiru could've--"

"But the way you said it implied you didn't believe your daughter could tempt my Haruka."

"Now look here! Michiru is a very beautiful girl, but she isn't a temptress!" Now Haruka shook her head in disbelief. While Michiru wasn't truly a temptress, she could be quite the flirt sometimes. She knew that she had teased Seiya in her dressing room, and had come to terms with this. She knew that Michiru teased boys just like Haurka teased girls. Her blue haired goddess was almost definately bisexual, while Haruka was exclusively interested in women.

"Look, I was the one who suggested it," Michiru said, struggling to remain calm and majestic, but Haruka noted how her voice cracked at the end of her statement, how her statement trembled as her angel trembled, her knees buckling underneath her, "But make no mistake, we both--"

"So you are the reason my daughter lost her virginity?" Mr. Tenoh replied, anxiously.

"No, you heard her. They both agreed, so they're both equally to blame," Mrs. Tenoh said, "We shouldn't waste time pinning the blame on each other. We're not going to accomplish anything like that."

"She's right. Yusuke, sit. Now," Mrs. Kaioh replied, tugging down on her husband's shirt, pulling him fiercely back into his chair, a stunned expression on his face.

"Look, I think we all need to just think this over," Mrs. Tenoh said, anxiously, "I mean, when she first told me, I mean, when they both told me this, I was really bothered by that, and I'm sorry I reacted the way I did. I guess I just sort of overreacted. But, I've been thinking about it ever since then, and I figure that it's okay if you're a lesbian, but having sex at such a young age, and adopting a child, even with the clearly more mature Setsuna here, it's just too much for me to handle right now. I need time to digest this. I'm sorry, but, Haruka, Michiru, until I can figure all this out, I feel it's best you try to work out your own affairs, try to understand what you want and what you don't want, but most of all, try to understand if you really love each other or not."

"Anyone can tell their affections are genuine, Mrs. Tenoh," Mako-chan said, speaking for the first time, "It's clear they love each other, and--"

"Tell me something, Mako-chan, are you a parent?"

"No."

"What would your parents say if you started having sex, and they found out."

"I wouldn't know. My parents are both dead."

Mrs. Tenoh's eyes widened behind her glasses as she lowered her head. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"

"It's okay, I understand," replied Mako-chan, "It's all in the past, you know."

"Yes, well, Ami, what would your parents say?"

"Well, my mother would probably warn me about the dangers of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, show me some of the patients she's treated over the years who had sex before they were adults, crab victims--"

"Is your mother a gynecologist?"

"No, a general doctor."

"Oh, so you must be pretty smart," Mrs. Tenoh replied, "I guess you must have a pretty good head on your shoulders."

Ami blushed, embarrassed by the compliment. "I don't know about that."

"Ami, you're a genius," Mako-chan laughed, patting Ami's shoulder with her hand, her fingers once more lingering a little longer than they should've, "She has an IQ of 300, and she's highly ranked amongst all the standardized test scores in all of Japan!"

"A prodigy?" Mrs. Kaioh stammered, visibly grateful for something to deviate the conversation away from their daughter's sex lives.

"I suppose," Ami replied, blushing deep red, "But it comes at a price. I didn't have a lot of friends until I met Usagi, and it's thanks to her that I met everyone here."

"Usagi?" Mrs. Tenoh asked, curiously, "Who's she?"

"Oh, buns head?" Haruka laughed, "Oh, she's a nice girl. You'd probably like her. A very peculiar individual, let's say, but she's friendly."

"She'll accept anyone, even if they have faults or try to hurt her," Mako-chan replied, "I was also pretty lonley. You see, people tended to be afraid of me because of my size, but Usagi never had a problem with it. She was always there."

"Still, people are still uncomfortable around me, aside from my close friends," Ami replied, smiling a sad smile, "There's a reason I never even had a date before."

"What do you mean? Aren't you and you an item?" Mrs. Kaioh asked, confused, pointing at Ami and Mako-chan.

"Huh?" Mako-chan drew her hand away from Ami's shoulder, blush running up her cheeks, as Ami cocked her head, confused.

"What do you mean by that?" Ami replied, "I'm not a lesbian, or at least I don't think I am. I'm not really sure to be honest. I've never had a crush on anyone, so I suppose there's no evidence in favor of me liking boys, and I've never put much thought into girls, so I don't know. Maybe I'm just uninterested in sexuality or romance."

"Now, Haruka, why couldn't you be more like that?" Mr. Tenoh asked, pointing toward Ami, who now hid her face in her hands as blush filled her cheeks.

"Dear, look, it's getting late, we should probably head out," Mrs. Tenoh replied, rising to her feet, looking down at her daughter with a small smile, "Look, Haruka, I'm sorry about before. No matter what, you're still my daughter, and I do love you. Just, next time, when you have a lot of stuff piling up that you haven't told me, can you maybe try telling me a little bit here and a little bit there instead of just dumping it all on me at once? Could you? Please?"

"I guess I could give it a try," Haruka replied, laughing awkwardly as though to relieve the tension.

"Alright, I'm almost done here," Mr. Kaioh replied, turning toward his counterpart, "However, I need to handle one thing first. My daughter must've been tempted by your girl's boyish looks."

"Wait, what!?" Mr. Tenoh stammered, spinning on his feet, "Boyish?!"

"Dear, shut up. Now," Mrs. Kaioh replied in a venomously soft whisper, enough to scare little children in their nightmares, but it wasn't enough for Mr. Kaioh to be deterred from his final blow against Haruka's father.

"I just need to know why you dressed her up as a boy, or encouraged that sort of lifestyle for your daughter," Mr. Kaioh asked, frowning.

"My daughter was--is--my princess, alright? I always wanted her to act feminine and sweet."

"Coming to my house in a tuxedo? Very girly."

"Oh, listen you little bastard, there wasn't a single moment during this whole dinner I didn't want to hit you really hard, but right now, I'm really tempted to submit to my urges."

"Look, if your daughter wants to dress like a boy, that's fine, but let's face facts that she said, in her own words, she 'has ovaries.'"

It was a that precise moment that Mrs. Kaioh reached out for Mr. Kaioh's shoulders, and pinched a visible nerve on his body. His body went rigid as it collapsed into her arms. With a dramatic cry, Mrs. Kaioh sobbed, "Oh, Yusuke! Someone must've knocked you out! Here, let me just bring you to the car! Don't mind us. Take care, Michiru, Haruka, everyone else. Let me just drag this body out. You deserve it for making a fuss, you idiot."

As Michiru's mother left through the front door, Haruka glanced at Michiru, a nervous glint in her eyes. "Remind me never to piss off your mom, alright?"

"Not a problem," Michiru said, smiling pleasantly.

"So, uh, what's for dessert?" Fujiko asked, curiously.