Haruka noticed that she was struggling in her sleep. As Haruka approached the bed, ready to push the nurse button at a seconds notice, the dim glowing on her hands and her tear stained face stopped her.

"Hotaru?"

She stood there in silence, watching her and then checking the machines. None of the machines were going off, no emergency lights were flickering, so everything seemed to be okay.

That was when Hotaru's hands began to glow a little brighter. Haruka gasped and immediately looked to the doorway. If a nurse came in here and saw this, who knows what would happen? Haruka put her hands on the girl's shoulders and began to shake her gently, all while mumbling a silent apology for waking her up after such an ordeal.

"Hotaru? Hotaru! Wake up!"

Hotaru groaned and she opened her eyes very little but some, she seemed so tired as if she hadn't slept in days. Slowly, as well her hands stopped glowing.

She felt the shaking of her body and her eyes met harukas hands and more tears swelled the childs' eyes before she turned and quickly hugged the blonde senshi, hiding her petite face in her shirt. She suddenly felt like screaming in pain...her arm. It was still badly bruised and it was now probably worse. The young senshi felt it throbbing and winced a little while embracing her father figure.

 
Haruka noticed how badly Hotaru flinched as she reached over to hug hug her. She immediately let go, and began to examine Hotaru's condition.

"What's going on? Do you need me to call the nurse?" Haruka frowned, contemplating her next move.

While she could tell her about how her hands were glowing, would it worsen her condition-or worse-would her powers activate in a more vicious manner, like they did back at the house? While the hospital was the right place to be at in terms of injuries, it was the worst place to be if something powerful was going to burst. Too many innocent people would get hurt, and there would be countless witnesses. Haruka had no idea how the Senshi would cover it up, or even if they could.

Hotaru merely hugged tighter and shook her head, all she wanted was to be with Haruka right now.

"I thought...you weren't coming...that you didn't care." Hotaru choked up, she had started crying but didn't know when but didn't care.

At least now she knew, Haruka did care enough to rush over there to see her.

Haruka returned the hug. How long had Hotaru been awake? How long had she layed here in the bed, alone and scared? Haruka cursed her judgment from when she was on the road. What if she had gotten arrested? What would have happened to Hotaru then?

As she was hugging her, she decided it was best to keep the encounter on the road a secret-at least for now. She would tell her once she was back home. Hotaru had too many things going on right now.

"I'm sorry." Was all Haruka could think to say to comfort her.

Hotaru nodded but refused to let go until she had slipped back into a sleep once more. Her arms falling limply on the bed with her face hidden in Harukas shirt. the bandage on hotarus black arm had slipped down and the arm had gotten worse with all the movement, it was now all black and a little swollen.

 
Haruka swore under her breath. When the bandages first slipped, her first instinct was to call on the doctors and call them out for their lackluster skills, in hospital, of all places! But that was thrown out the window once she saw how Hotaru's injury seemed worse.

How did it get so much worse? Even though it had seemed like an eternity, not that much time had passed since their talk upstairs and the drive to the hospital. It was at minimum fourty-five minutes. Haruka had caught her before she fell, and she had been carried gently or on a mattress since then.

There was no reason for the bruise to worsen. Sighing, Haruka got herself comfortable in the only chair in the room and requested for the doctor to see her and tell her how Hotaru's condition was doing.

This was going to be a long night.

While Hotaru slept she whimpered once or twice in her sleep having a nightmare once more, but nothing major happened with her powers which was lucky since the doctor had soon came in.

He had checked her arm but once or twice pressed too hard making hotaru wince loudly in her deep sleep. The doctor had also tried putting a needle in her wrist but that didn't even happen since the young senshi of silence would wince every time the needle was put in.

Soon the doctor gave up on trying to put the needle in and gave them the okay that hotaru could leave after an hour.

 
"Leave in an hour? Just like that?"

Haruka had grabbed the doctor by the arm right before he left the door.

"You've seen that bruise, haven't you?" She could feel a flush of anger rush to her face. "You're just going to release her with no treatment for it?"

"I tried to numb it to take care of it but...she doesn't seem to handle needles. It would have to be done by time and her taking it easy for a while and not using that arm." The doctor answered taking his leave. Leaving Hotaru and Haruka alone.

 
Haruka's arm flopped to her side. The doctor's words made no sense. What did he mean? She passed out multiple times back at the house! What kind of hospital wouldn't use needles on a patient that had been brought in from an ambulance?

Haruka was about to storm right after him to raise hell, when a revelation hit her like a fright train.

What if it wasn't that the wouldn't do it...but they couldn't?

She looked back over to Hotaru, who, again, seemed to be having a restless sleep. Haruka began to read over the papers, the initial diagnosis as to the reason for the trip, as well as the after care plan. And yet she couldn't seem to keep her focus on the instructions.

Hotaru's powers had been acting up, that much was fact. But out of all the Senshi, it was Hotaru's powers that were the most active overall. Haruka looked at her own hands.

If Hotaru had unconsciously attacked Haruka-someone whom she'd never consciously harm, who's to say her powers weren't activating to protect her from harm-in this case, the needles? They did activate when it seemed that Haruka was threatening Hotaru, as well as activate against the bullies; according to the story.

Thinking about it that way, her body being "not able to handle needles" didn't seem that far fetched after all. Heck, it was any wonder why they didn't call for an investigation right then and there. Someone's skin that couldn't be punctured even with the tiniest of needles during an initial emergency procedure? The media would be all over that.

Haruka sighed and folded up the discharge papers, sticking them in her breast pocket. She then scooted her chair over to Hotaru's bedside and watched her sleep-ready to wake her if her powers activated again.

Hotaru woke slowly and sat up carefully due to her arm being bruised and swollen.

"Haruka-San, can we...go home?" She asked not even looking at the blonde senshi.

Of course she wanted to go home. Hotaru had no idea what was fully going on and why she felt so weak after all.

Haruka took one last look at the papers. Her blood pressure and heart rate were normal, even with the passing out spells. That and apparently the leads and cuffs were staying on her, seeing as they were only a rubber cloth and stickers. Totally harmless.

The fact that those were staying put and the doctors had no difficulty hooking her up to those machines only strengthened Haruka's belief.

It really was all her powers that were doing this.

With a small smile, Haruka walked over and gently rustled Hotaru's hair.

"They're going to discharge you soon, Hotaru. Don't worry."

Hotaru nodded slowly and after a bit a nurse came in and unhooked some the stuff and had told them Hotaru was free to go.

Hotaru of course smiled at that, she hated hospitals a lot, because of the one incident in her previous life.

As the nurse took her leave Hotaru straightened up and slowly got off the bed, nearly falling into Haruka since she still felt a bit weak.

 
Haruka caught Hotaru as she stumbled. "Take it easy, Hotaru. You're still not back to 100% yet." Haruka couldn't help but glare daggers into the nurse as she walked away. Even if it was something the hospital couldn't treat, discharging a patient when they clearly weren't back to normal wasn't something she could overlook.

"Are you okay to walk? Do you want me to grab a wheelchair from the front?"

"I'll be fine, Haruka-san..." Hotaru answered, in all honesty though, she did not want a wheelchair.

Hotaru was a bit confused when Haruka glared at the nurse when she left. Did the nurse do something? Or was it that Haruka just didn't like her? Either way, she was glad to be discharged, she hated the hospital more than anything and was actually ready to go home.

"Alright then."

Haruka wasn't about to have Hotaru walk on her own just yet. If the wheelchair wasn't an option, her back sure was. Haruka picked Hotaru up carefully, and adjusted her so that she'd be as comfortable as possible in this impromptu piggy back ride. Hotaru was probably sick and tired of being carried, so hopefully this change would bring at least a small fraction of fun to an otherwise horrible day.

"Don't cling too tightly now. Especially around my neck. Though, if I were to KO, we're certainly in the right place!" Haruka joked, hoping to get a smile of chuckle out of her.

Hotaru at first was shocked and confused by Haruka picking her up but immediately relaxed when she was placed onto the older senshis back. Getting comfy with her head on Harukas shoulder and her arms loosely around her neck.

Upon hearing Harukas statement, Hotaru giggled a bit, the one thing she actually needed after the day she had. On the way home, Hotaru of course fell asleep, still exhausted of being in the hospital and her powers.

Haruka drove into the night, checking the clock on the stereo. It blinked 12:45. She gritted her teeth and continued to drive, giving Hotaru a side glance every once in a while-almost obsessively. She was asleep, and there were no signs of distress or any signs of powers. The only difference was that she was still pale.

Haruka had her communicator in one hand, and was flipping it open and shut undecidedly. Whenever she felt as though she was ready to call upon a fellow senshi to tell them of today's happenings, she would lose her nerve and flip it shut-only to flip it back open in a futile cycle of frustration and anger.

It would be wise to contact them, wouldn't it? After all, it's normal to want to know when a fellow Senshi is in danger; but that would mean putting the princess in a vulnerable position. It wouldn't matter who she contacted, Usagi would find out. She would immediately be at their house at a moments notice, not listening to what anyone else would have to say. This was something Haruka had learned over and over again during their battles against the death busters. It was one of Usagi's many strengths, but that loyalty certainly made things difficult.What were to happen of Hotaru's powers would lash out and harm her like it did Haruka?

The road was usually what calmed her, but instead it filled her with more unease-the open and empty streets left Haruka vulnerable to her own thoughts. Haruka finally set the communicator down, and focused on the drive home.

Hotaru groaned in her sleep and slowly woke up, she was not used to sleeping in a car. Hotaru sat back up having a red mark on her neck from the seat belt.

Hotarus eyes wondered around until they met the communicator on the seat.

"Did you....call the others?" Hotaru asked partly hurt by the fact Haruka would do something again without her knowing.

 
"I thought about it." Haruka admitted, looking at her from the rear view mirror. She looked tired, but that was to be expected.

"I decided against it. I'm hoping the two of us can figure it out."

She lied only a little bit. She didn't want Hotaru to know that she was worried about her accidentally harming the others. Though something in Haruka told her sure Hotaru was aware of the dangers she presented.

All the more reason not to say it outright. Hotaru was going through enough.

Hotaru slumped in her seat hearing it. She had a feeling on why though, just like Haruka, Hotaru could tell when she was lying too.

"I know you're lying, I can tell when you are too, you know." Hotaru stated after a few minutes when they got home and she had got out of the car and noticed the dent.

"What happened to the car?"

She then immediately asked.

Haruka groaned loudly at the sight of it. It really stood out, and it would cost quite a bit to replace the door to get her race car back into it's sleek and peak appearance.

"Let's just say some people are just asking for trouble." She grumbled as she helped Hotaru to the entrance of the house.

"Let's get you to bed. It's already after 1:00. I'll call the school in the morning to tell them that you're not coming."

"You still haven't answered me. Why did you lie? What aren't you telling me?" Hotaru questioned as they went inside, she was clearly exhausted. 

Hotaru smiled a little hearing she was skipping school the next day "Okay, Haruka-San." Hotaru yawned out.

 
Haruka couldn't help but smile, seeing how Hotaru's face lit up at the mention of no school. She'd been through so much, it was nice to see something other then fear and tears. Haruka flipped a few lights on and walked to the fridge, taking out a bottle of milk and began to pour herself and Hotaru a glass. They didn't have dinner, after all.

"Tell you what, If you get a good nights sleep tonight, I'll tell you all about how that dent got there. Sound like a deal?"

"I didn't mean the dent I meant on why you didn't call the others." Hotaru corrected, her stomach growling from no dinner nor lunch for that matter, she had been bullied all day, her lunch had been ruined.

"I don't like milk." Hotaru reminded the older blonde, when she had turned her head she had saw Haruka getting the milk and merely smirked, she had always had to remind her she hated dairy products.

In all honesty, Hotarus smiling was only a cover, she had saw Aiko in the hospital as they left and it made Hotaru feel even worse. Did she hurt Aiko that badly? Or was she only imagining it? A part of her wanted to go to school to see if Aiko was okay, but she knew Haruka wouldn't let her unless she sneaked away. Hotaru didn't give it much thought before deciding to go to school but maybe just talking to the older senshi instead.

"Oh!"

Haruka stopped short, and looked blankly at the two glasses. She totally forgot that Hotaru wasn't a milk fan. Exhausted, she simply shrugged and grabbed her glass and chugged from it-then proceeded to pour the milk from Hotaru's glass into her own.

"More for me than." She said with a tired smirk.

Hotaru only laughed a little before growing serious "Um Haruka-san..." Hotaru began, unsure how to even start the subject.

She didn't want to sneak but asking was going to hard for the young senshi of silence.

Haruka, after guzzling two glasses of milk, had turned back to the fridge to pour something different for Hotaru. After a moment of looking, she decided upon a glass of juice, ignoring the sugar content. Hotaru had spent almost the past few hours asleep, and was probably going to be up all night by extension-if she was feeling better, anyways. A small glass of juice wasn't going to impact much. Haruka had just began to pour her a glass, when Hotaru spoke up, then stopped mid thought.

"What is it, Hotaru?" Haruka asked, looking up from the glass. "Do you want something to eat with this? Is that it?"

"No...actually...I was wondering if maybe... I can go to school." hotaru stated nervously of the answer.

She wanted to go check on Aiko to actually see if the girl she had hurt was okay or perhaps ask someone. Hotaru felt awful for losing control and needed to see if it wasn't as bad as she had said when the still-injured child had gotten home.