The question has a tangible weight to it, bearing down on Haruka -- a challenge to admit her own weakness. Her shoulders tighten underneath it, as though her very muscles are struggling to resist.

She stands there stiff and still as she wracks her mind for the right answer: one that will neither undermine their duty as soldiers, nor Michiru's worth. (As a soldier, as her partner, as Michiru.)

Haruka's teeth dig into her lower lip, a moment, before she catches herself and lets go.

"The two of us could die any day," she begins, coming out easy through repetition. "I know that. If you were to meet your end in battle, I would carry our mission to term, just as you'd do in my place -- that's the destiny I accepted when I picked up the wand. And I would bear it, because there is no other choice."

"But--" Her hands reach to find hold against Michiru's shoulders again, a steady, calm pressure-- "if you died for my sake, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I couldn't possibly accept a life I've been given in exchange for your own."

Another step closer; her eyes never leave Michiru's. "Can you understand that?"