Hello everyone. I know there are those out there who are looking forward to new chapters of Unusual you and I promise to provide them soon. I have UNI holidays soon so I promise to write more then. This story is about Haruka and Michiru and the rest of the senshi going to a very exclusive school for gifted children but it's not Mugen academy it's a very different place. I will give you a heads up some of the characters aren't how you might expect them and there are a lot of pairings that you may not be expecting. Anyway I know I have the other story going at the moment and like I said I still intend to write it too, it's just so sad writing about Ruka and Michi not being together I need to write this at the same time to balanced things out and make the universe right again so please don't be mad with me. Having said that however if there are people who prefer one of the stories over the other I would love to hear about it so send me an email. Anyway getting on with it here is the first chapter of Un Giorno Per Noi for anyone who isn't familiar with the song it is by Josh Groban and is one of the most lovely songs on the planet so if you ever get a chance have a listen. Please review it makes me want to write more.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon I just love the damn show to bits!!!
Un Giorno Per Noi
Translation: A Time for Us
A time for us, some day there'll be
When chains are torn by courage born of a love that's free
A time when dreams so long denied can flourish
As we unveil the love we now must hide
A time for us, for the living
A life worthwhile for you and me
A time for us, for the living
A life worthwhile for you and me
And with our love, through tears and thorns
We will endure as we pass surely through every storm
A time for us, some day there'll be a new world
A time in which love will win
A time in which love will win
Josh Groban
Chapter One: A New School, Two New Friends, a Blonde Stick and The Head Girl
Haruka dropped her bags at her feet and looked around with a smile. She was finally here. No more boring, old classes that she didn't care about. No more PE teachers trying to get her to keep pace with the other kids instead of running ahead.
No more people telling her that her chosen career was nothing more than a silly dream that she'd never achieve. Oh yes, she was going to like this place.
"Hi, you must be Miss Haruka." She turned at the sound of the young female voice and found herself looking into a pair of bright green eyes.
Those green eyes were attached to a lovely, tall brunette clad in the school's sport uniform with her hair tucked up in a high ponytail.
Haruka smiled down at the girl who, while being rather tall, wasn't quite as tall as Haruka herself.
"You would be correct, Miss…?" She trailed off leaving the question open.
"Kino Makoto" the brunette replied with a friendly smile. She held out her hand, which Haruka took.
"But everyone just calls me Mako chan."
Haruka chuckled. "My family's not Japanese so I'm not big on the honorifics," she replied. "Just Haruka will suit me fine."
Makoto's eyes widened slightly in surprise but she simply nodded. "Very well, it's your choice. However, I must warn you that it's going to take a while before you'll be able to convince the others to call you that. Sometimes it's just easier to go along with them. You know the saying when in Rome."
Haruka chuckled again. The look on Makoto's face told her that she'd been in the same situation herself somewhere along the line. "You're not a local either?" she asked.
Makoto shook her head "Not originally but I very quickly morphed into one. You will too, trust me it's just easier." She looked around the room. "I see you got one to yourself. So did I but that's just because I'm the head of the cooking club. What's your deal?" she asked with a grin. "Did you bribe someone?"
Haruka forced a chuckle. She never liked talking about her family's wealth and power; she hated the way people reacted to her when they found out who she was connected to. Upon her enrolment at the school, the administration was instructed not to release her last name to any member of the staff or student body; not because she was ashamed of her family or anything of the sort, but because she wanted to make her way in the world on her own merits, not on her father's coat tails.
Because of this, whenever anyone asked questions about the luxuries she was afforded - even when she didn't want them - she was forced to lie to them, and she hated lying; it went against her personal code of behaviour.
In this instance however, Makoto had given her the perfect way out, and instead of struggling to think of a reason and letting it annoy her, she decided to play along with the brunette's game.
"Lots of people," She replied. "There was a mile of corruption afoot the day I enrolled."
Makoto laughed. "Well, good for you. Crime and corruption will get you everywhere in this world."
"So I've been told. I've heard the school has even added it to the curriculum." Haruka commented, carrying on the joke.
"Yes, just last month. Most people are advised to begin with the introductory course but I think, given your past experience that a more advanced course would be more to your liking. An introductory course would just limit you."
"I think you might be right again there, Mako chan," Haruka added in as serious a voice as she could manage. "Thank you very much for your expert opinion."
"You are more than welcome, Miss Haruka." Makoto added just as seriously. The pair stared at each other for a moment longer before they both dissolved into a fit of laughter.
"Oh Mako Chan, your sense of humour is just wonderful," Haruka complemented once her laughter had started to die down.
"You too." Makoto returned the compliment.
"Have you ever thought of becoming a comedian?" Haruka asked.
"Maybe if I wasn't such a great chef," Makoto replied. They shared a smile.
"Well, if all your stuff is moved up, we should go and get you a uniform," Makoto suggested.
Haruka shrugged and motioned toward the door with a sweeping gesture. "Lead the way Miss Makoto comedian Chef."
Makoto burst out laughing and headed out into the hall way with Haruka in tow.
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An hour later, the pair returned to Haruka's room with 5 uniforms for the new arrival. Three of the uniforms were formal and the other two were sport orientated. Haruka was exhausted. She hadn't realized there were so many uniform choices to choose , Makoto had been there to help her choose or she might have been there all night.
Her formal uniform consisted of three pairs of long, tailored, black pants, two short sleeved, white button up shirts and one with elbow length sleeves, two black, button up, business-like vests and one that was a red, pullover with thin sleeves and a rounded neckline made of a woollen fabric for winter.
Two long red ties and two short ones were next, followed by a black, blazer with the school's coat of arms embroidered on the front, right pocket in white cotton that reached just below her belt line and fit her perfectly.
Her sport uniforms were much simpler since there weren't as many items or choices to choose from. It consisted of black shorts and a red polo shirt with the school logo embroidered on the pocket in black cotton.
Makoto followed her in to the room moments later accompanied by a lovely young girl with short, wavy, red hair and friendly, teal coloured eyes.
"I've just taken Haruka down to choose her uniforms" she heard Makoto saying, "I think I've worn her out."
The young girl giggled quietly. "Oh the poor thing." She turned her attention to Haruka. "Are you all right?" she asked.
Haruka nodded slowly. "It kind of reminded me of when my mother used to take me and my brothers shopping with her, except at least back then I had my brothers to help carry me around at the end of the day when I thought I was going to die of exhaustion."
The two girls erupted in a fit of giggles.
"No seriously" Haruka continued. "How do women do this stuff all day and not come home dead? I'm absolutely exhausted, and we were only at it for an hour."
The two girls giggled louder. "Oh, Miss Haruka, you certainly are funny," the new arrival managed through her giggles.
"Thank you, I try," Haruka replied, causing the pair to laugh some more.
When at last they'd managed to pull themselves together again, Makoto spoke. "I'm sure you must be wanting to sit and relax for a while so I'm going to leave you in peace, but I wanted to introduce you to my very best friend." She turned and motioned to the lovely redhead. "Miss Haruka this lovely lady is Miss Naru. She has been my very best friend since we were old enough to crawl and still somehow continues to tolerate me." She turned back to face Naru. "Naru, this is Miss Haruka, someone I'm hoping to rope in to my madness now she's here."
Naru flashed Haruka a friendly smile and held out her hand. "It's delightful to meet you, Miss Haruka." They shook hands.
"And you Miss Naru" she replied. "But just plain, old Haruka suits me fine."
Naru nodded. "That I can understand, just plain Naru will suit me fine also."
Haruka returned her smile and looked over at Makoto. "Thank you for your help today; I definitely needed it."
Makoto smiled. "Not at all, glad to help. We'll leave you to it and we'll see you down at dinner."
Haruka nodded and headed toward the door to see them out. "Any idea what's on the menu tonight?" she asked as they opened the door.
"Um..." Naru thought about it. "I think there's some kind of salad for the cold selection and something fish related for the hot," she replied, taking a step out of the doorway backwards.
Fish….figures, Haruka thought. Of course, she was in Japan again now. She barely had time to ponder it however, as Naru took another step back without looking and nearly ran straight in to the loveliest woman Haruka had ever seen.
Naru jumped nearly out of her skin and Makoto was quick to catch her. Haruka made a move to assist the other lady but her help was unnecessary as the lovely woman regained her footing on her own with a grace that didn't seem possible in a human.
"Oh, my goodness," Naru gasped and bowed as low as she could, "Miss Kaioh, I am so sorry," she apologised.
From Naru's reaction Haruka thought this Miss Kaioh must have been a horrible, nasty girl and was at the ready to defend her new friend. But then Haruka looked down into the loveliest pair of blue eyes she'd ever seen and quickly realized she'd been wrong…about a number of things.
There was no anger or annoyance written anywhere on the lady's angelic face, and 'girl' had definitely been the wrong classification. The 'Lady' that currently had her mesmerized, looked down at the young redhead with what could best be described as an adoring, big-sisterly smile.
"It's all right Naru-Chan" she reassured the young girl pulling her gently back into a standing position. "Are you hurt at all?" she asked, genuine concern showing in her voice.
Naru shook her head. "No, Miss Kaioh" she replied. "Are you?"
The lady shook her head. "Not at all," she replied patting the smaller girl's arm reassuringly.
"Thank goodness." Makoto breathed a sigh of relief.
"You best be careful and keep an eye on where you're going from now on though, I wouldn't like to see you get hurt," the lady cautioned and Naru nodded.
"Of course, Miss Kaioh."
Miss Kaioh nodded in return. "Right then, I'd best be on my way." She turned toward Makoto and for the first time her gaze locked with Haruka's. Angelic, blue burned into forest green and for a moment the rest of the world seemed to disappear.
Had Haruka not been focused solely on the mesmerizing blue eyes she would have heard a soft "Oh my" escape the lady's lips
"Oh, I'm sorry." Makoto's voice broke into their moment, and Haruka came crashing back to reality, although thankfully not literally. "Miss Kaioh, this is Miss Haruka. She's just arrived today."
The lady looked slightly stunned for a moment but she quickly managed to pull herself together and smiled warmly at Haruka. "It's lovely to meet you," she greeted politely.
Haruka was still having trouble forming coherent thoughts let alone words, so she simply returned the lady's smile instead of attempting an answer.
"Haruka, this is Miss Kaioh Michiru, the head girl of our school."
As Makoto finished the introductions, Haruka finally understood Naru's actions from earlier. Feeling slightly more in control of herself now, Haruka held out her hand. "It's an absolute pleasure to meet you, Miss Kaioh," she greeted in return and felt a rush of pleasure as Michiru took her hand and shook it.
For another moment their gazes locked, and Haruka felt an inexplicable force drawing her to the aqua haired goddess, She didn't know what it meant, but it felt damn good and she wasn't going to fight it.
"That's it for the introductions." Makoto's voice once again interrupted their moment and they both turned their attention to the young brunette. "We're sorry to have kept you from your business, Miss Kaioh" she apologised sincerely.
"Oh no, not at all" the lady replied. "It's always lovely to stop for a minute and talk. I'm afraid I don't have much time to do so these days." She turned her attention back to Haruka and it was only then that Haruka realized she still held the other woman's hand in hers.
She quietly apologised and pulled her hand away feeling rather sheepish. Michiru made no comment, but instead, surprised Haruka with a breathtaking smile. Her mind instantly quickly became a fuzzy mess.
"I'm very glad to have met you, Miss Haruka," Michiru said, "I hope I will have the opportunity to get to know you better over the next two years."
Haruka's brain had gone from a fuzzy mess to a completely blank slate in a matter of seconds, but somehow she managed an almost coherent reply.
Michiru flashed her another dazzling smile and turned back to address Makoto and Naru. "I will see you around, ladies. Try to be careful, all right."
The two girls uttered a very quick "Yes, Miss Kaioh," before watching her continue down the corridor. As she reached the next door on the right, she let herself in, closing it behind her.
Haruka stared at the door behind which Michiru had disappeared still in a complete mental daze. The sound of a throat clearing drew her attention back to the tall brunette who, along with her young friend, was eyeing her with a knowing look.
"What?" she asked innocently. The two girls continued to look at her in the same fashion.
"So, when are you going to tell her?" Makoto enquired
"Tell her what?" Haruka asked still in a daze.
"That you have the world's biggest crush on her," Naru replied.
Haruka's attention snapped back to reality like an overstretched rubber band. "What?" she demanded, knowing the defensiveness was showing clearly in her voice. She already knew what it was like to be an outcast because of her sexuality, and the last thing she wanted was for these girls to go blabbing her secret around the school on her first day.
She hadn't really cared at any of her previous schools but she wanted to finish the rest of her schooling at this institution. It was the only way she'd ever achieve her career goals without having to use her father's influence. The apologetic looks on her new friend's faces however, told her that they hadn't meant to be mean, they were only teasing. What surprised her though was the realisation that their expressions also held understanding.
For the first time she really looked at the way the pair was interacting with each other and saw what she hadn't noticed before. They weren't just friends, they were in love.
"Oh," was all she could think to say at first. It wasn't often that something surprised her.
"We're sorry, Haruka, we were only teasing," Naru apologised.
Haruka shook her head. "No, it's okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you, I just-"
"We understand," Makoto cut in "It's okay."
"I see that now," Haruka stated. "How long have you been together?" she asked quietly.
Naru blushed. "Oh, we're not," she replied, and Haruka immediately realized her mistake. As much as they might be in love with each other, neither of them had ever taken that last step and made it official. Did they both think their love was unrequited or did they see it in each other and just not know how to approach it? Well, either way she could help with that.
"If I may ask, why not?" Both girls looked down and blushed some more, and Haruka had her answer. They were in the first category. She reached forward and placed a hand on each of the girl's shoulders.
"Look, I don't know you guys well yet but there are some things that strangers can pick up better than people who have known you for years so let me just say this. You're not alone in your feelings, either of you. You both feel the same I can see it in your eyes. Don't waste it. This kind of love doesn't come along every day."
Both girls looked up slowly, their faces still burning like webber coals. They turned to face each other in tandem neither sure of what to say.
Finally Naru broke the silence. "Is she right?" she asked.
Makoto looked up at Haruka for a moment before turning her attention back to Naru and nodding.
"Oh," was all Naru said and the pair continued to stare at each other. Haruka was about to say something to break the silence when Makoto finally spoke.
"We should talk," she suggested. Naru nodded wordlessly and they headed back down the corridor and around the corner.
Haruka watched them go with a small smile on her face. It was only her first day and she was already making a difference in the lives of the students. Normally that didn't happen until later, when the entire school found out that she was gay and split into factions over what should be done about her. She'd seen many an enemy join forces with another in order to make her life difficult.
At least she knew those two would keep her secret and as for the rest of the school… She had every intention of keeping her sexuality a total secret from them all. Well, that had been her initial plan anyway. Unfortunately, as she'd just discovered that might prove to be more difficult that she'd originally imagined.
She turned to look down the corridor to the right, at the door the lovely Miss Kaioh had entered only minutes ago, and she felt an odd giddiness as she realized something she hadn't really been thinking about before. If that was Michiru's room, it meant they were neighbours. How was that for ironic?
She shook her head and mentally stamped out the giddiness. This little crush she was harbouring was pointless. Michiru was probably straight and surely pursued by every man she crossed paths with. Haruka didn't stand a chance. Besides she had 2 years at this school and she wasn't going to allow herself to blow it all by revealing her secret to the school's head girl over a silly crush.
At the back of her mind, where she'd thrown all of her thoughts and feelings about that first meeting with Miss Kaioh, she could hear her heart screaming at her that it wasn't just a crush. There was something about Miss Kaioh that she couldn't place. It was almost as if she knew her, or had known her somewhere along the line. When or where she had no idea because she was sure she would have remembered meeting this particular lady even if it had been years ago.
There weren't many people out there with such lovely, hair that colour or with such perfect skin or eyes that looked straight into the soul and….. Growling angrily at herself she threw those feelings back into her mental cupboard and locked the door behind them.
She stomped her way back into her room and closed the door, turning her attention back on to something constructive; unpacking. She threw on her headphones and turned her MP3 player on as loud as it could go without hurting her ears. She unpacked every single box, put away every piece of clothing, every book, every towel; everything she'd brought with her had a place. Then she rearranged it because she didn't like the way she'd set out the cupboards.
She had the music up so loud and she was so absorbed in not thinking about Michiru that she didn't hear Makoto and Naru knocking on the door. It wasn't until Makoto tapped her on the shoulder that she realized she had company. Puzzled, she paused her music and looked up at Makoto curiously.
"Hi, it's dinner time. We came to get you."
Surprised, Haruka looked outside for the first time since she'd started unpacking and realized it was dark. "Huh!" she exclaimed in surprise. "I didn't expect that." She turned her attention back to the other girls once more and shrugged. "Guess we should go then" she decided and led the way out of the room.
Makoto and Naru exchanged a curious look and turned to follow after her.
Haruka was shutting the door behind her when she saw someone knocking on Michiru's door. Curiosity warred with jealousy as she saw Michiru open her door and greet the other woman with a friendly smile. The pair then headed toward the stairs across from Michiru's door, walking much too close together for Haruka's liking.
Haruka clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on the door knob, which was still in her hand. The new girl was almost as tall as Haruka, with platinum blonde hair that was cut into a graduated bob with the ends of the front sitting just below her collarbones and the back cut to pixie length.
She had long slender legs, creamy coloured skin, and eyes that seemed to be a grey colour from what Haruka could see of them. She was dressed in extremely figure hugging jeans and a button up top that could have been considered classy if just one extra button had been done up.
She was model thin - something Haruka had never considered attractive - and wearing the highest of high shoes that made her look like she was walking on stilts rather than her own legs.
As the pair turned to walk down the stairs, the blonde reached out to gently touch Michiru's arm, and Haruka wanted nothing more than to snap that silly little hand off that scrawny little arm. She clenched the doorknob even harder, causing the metal to groan under her hand.
"Who is that?" She growled the question to Makoto.
"That's Adrienne" Makoto replied. "I'll give you one guess what her career preference is."
"I'm guessing either catwalk model or professional tree branch," Haruka replied causing the other two girls to giggle quietly. "Is she a friend of Michiru's?"
"More like obsessed fan," Naru replied. "She's one of the reasons that Michiru's the head girl"
"What do you mean?" Haruka asked
"Michiru had no intention of running for the position," Naru replied. "Normally, only the senior students get to. Adrienne and her friend Courtney made up an entire campaign for her. I can't imagine the number of hours they must have logged but it beat everyone else's by a mile. In the end, the staff was so stuck on what to do they let the student's decide."
"The vote was next to unanimous," Makoto continued. "And even though she wasn't a senior, everyone knew she was the most qualified for the job. So in the end she got it."
"Did she want it though?" Haruka asked.
Naru shrugged. "Nobody really knows," she replied. "She's doing an excellent job but it's a lot of work. I really hope she wanted it."
"Come on, dinner's waiting," Makoto reminded them.
Slightly more in control of her feelings now, Haruka parted company with the door knob and headed downstairs with the two girls. As they reached the entrance to the staircase, she turned to Makoto and asked. "So, what did you two decide?"
The pair stopped walking and looked at each other in consideration. Finally, Naru turned to look at Haruka. "That we're glad you're here," she said simply and continued on downstairs.
Haruka grinned widely and followed after her. At least someone at the school was happy, and she was glad to be one of the reasons why.
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The end of chapter one. What do we think??? Please review PLEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!