Sailor Moon: Guarded (Haruka)

[lexie-b.livejournal.com]

Title: Guarded
Author: Lexie
Feedback: If you feel so moved.
sm_monthly Prompt: Pre-Series - Pool.
Word Count: 759
Rating: G
Genre: Gen
Summary: It was like someone was there with her, making sure she wasn’t panicking, wasn’t frightened as the water swirled around her.
Notes: Another Haruka fic; I plan to compile them into one fic at the end. Again, this one is a little wonky, but maybe wonky is my style.
Disclaimer: The characters of Michiru and Haruka belong to Toei, Bandai and Naoko Takeuchi. I make no profit from this fan-based venture.

It was her brother’s fault.

Her grandmother never got the pool fenced in – built when such safety measures as high fences and swinging gates were generally overlooked. Just uneven concrete around the long rectangle of the most beautiful aqua water.

Their parents had been sitting in the glass patio, sipping coffee and glancing outside at the four children running on the lawn – the two older boys with light brown hair, laughing and teasing the three girls, and tossing around a soccer ball.

“Throw it to me, Rafu!” Haruka had stood on her toes, stretching up to catch the ball, two messy blonde braids tumbling down her back. The red t-shirt under her overalls was a size too big, one of Dai’s old ones – she was going to be tall when she grew up.

And Rafu had thrown the ball to his sister – a little too high and a little too hard; Dai had tried to intercept it. His taller, heavier body had hit her thinner, lighter one.

Haruka had tumbled backwards, trying to catch her balance.

It might sound like a child would cause a sizable splash when they hit the water, but they don’t. They seem to slip in with not nearly enough sound.

Haruka had never taken much pleasure in swimming – lessons were preceded with yelling and sulking. She’d much rather be tearing around the yard or riding her bike.

Maybe it was the colour of her grandmother’s swimming pool, or the terror of suddenly tumbling into the water with grazed knees, of gasping for breath and feeling the water choke her.

But for a moment, time stopped, and her lungs stopped burning.

She was safe. The water felt almost familiar, like someone she glimpsed riding their bike every other weekend, or the neighbours at the beach house.

It was like someone was there with her, making sure she wasn’t panicking, wasn’t frightened as the water swirled around her. Somewhere, in the world above the water, there was lots of noise, and she kind of liked the quiet here.

And then something grabbed the straps of her overalls, dragging her away from the water, from the quiet and that almost-familiar feeling.

As she burst out of the water, coughing and gagging, everything seemed brighter, sharper, and there was too much noise.

“Haruka, are you okay?!” It was her father than was hurling her out of the water, his face pale as she looped her arms around arms around his neck, her sneakers scrabbling against the concrete sides of the pool. He held her tight, and turned around to her mother, almost hysterical, holding a mound of fluffy towels.

“Oh god, Haruka!” Her mother was there, stroking her hair and trying to wrap towels around her as she rested her head on her father’s shoulder.

“Noriko, calm down.” Haruka’s grandmother appeared, Akina balanced on one hip, and holding tightly to Tani’s hand. “Take Haruka inside, get her some dry clothes. Boys, I think it’s time you came inside as well.”

“We should call an ambulance,” Noriko protested. “She almost drowned!”

Juri shook his head. “Let’s just get her inside, Nori. A bath and some clean clothes, and I’m sure everyone will be fine.”

Haruka huddled closer to her father, for once allowing to be treated like a little girl. When they got inside, she let her mother fuss, let her grandmother run her a bath and brush out her hair, let herself be dressed in flower-print pajamas and tucked up on the couch in the living room with her plush penguin.

As she snuggled deeper into the quilts her mother kept tucking around her, she could hear her father lecturing her brothers in the kitchen.

“…irresponsible, stupid…”

Haruka closed her eyes. It had felt strange and safe underwater, like nothing really bad was going to happen to her. That she was always going to be safe in the water; that it would make sure she was protected.

It was strange. It was like the feeling she got when she was riding her bike down a really steep hill, or when she was allowed to climb trees, and she could sit right at the top, and wasn’t even a little bit afraid if the wind made the tree sway back and forth. It wasn’t as strong, but it was there.

She usually hated the fairy stories and the princess stories that Tani and Akina loved, but as she drifted off to sleep, she almost liked the idea of having a guardian angel to protect and watch over her.

Almost.