Author's Note: The first two parts of this were originally written for the HaruMichi Tumblr Circle same prompt fic party, and I figured I might post it here, as well :) I had a lot of fun writing this, so I hope you'll have fun reading it, too :D

Driven

Sometimes, Michiru Kaioh found herself wondering if deep inside, everyone she knew was as unsatisfied and bored with their lives as she often was; of course though, this wasn't a question she ever could ask anyone, not with anyone she'd consider close enough in her life for such deep, meaningful topics.

Her husband, at least, didn't seem bored, with his high-paying job and what he called his circle of friends; she wondered if they really were his friends, or if they were more like acquaintances, like the women she spent her free time with – all of them women like her, from families with well-known names, families with money, and not a care in the world.

Well, not a care in the world, except for hating their lives, she thought to herself somewhat bitterly as she mechanically went through her morning routine, taming and brushing her hair, applying make-up, but I can hardly ask them that, can I. Excuse me, Hitomi, are you as unhappy as I am?

She let out a small sigh as she finished with the make-up and got up from her seat in front of the large vanity mirror; as every morning, she made her way to the dining room next, where breakfast and her husband were waiting, the latter as always reading the newspaper, barely glancing up when she entered.

"Good morning", her husband greeted her after his momentary glance at her, "did you have a nice night?"

"Yes, thank you", she replied, not even bothering anymore to fake the affection, as she had done in the beginning; and she thought that secretly, he was glad about this, having been strong-armed by his parents into the marriage as hers had done to her, the easiest solution their families had come up with to keep the rumours about them down to a minimum.

"You?" she asked, more to be polite than out of real interest, while she sat down and the housekeeper came scurrying over with her morning tea; her husband reassured her that he had slept well, then lowered his newspaper to look at her at last as he asked her what her plans for the day were.

"Nothing special", she gave back with a small shrug, briefly glancing at the housekeeper and nodding in acknowledgement when the elder woman put down the small pot of tea, a cup and her breakfast plate, "a meeting with a few lady friends, and after this, a stop at the gallery downtown which wants to display some of my paintings."

"Ah", the young man let out in response, even though he did smile a bit at the mention of the gallery, "how pleasant. Well, I wish you a nice day, then – feel free to use the limousine, I won't be needing it today."

"Yes, thank you", Michiru nodded, making him give her another brief smile before he picked up his newspaper again, his next words coming almost as an afterthought and not surprising her at all. "Oh, and I might not be home tonight. You'll have the house to yourself."

She just nodded again, even though he couldn't see it, hidden behind the newspaper as he was; this wasn't the first time that he wouldn't come home for the night, and she it wouldn't be the last, but she couldn't care less, well aware of what he was doing during those nights he left her alone, but not caring much about that, either.

They didn't speak about anything else as they both had breakfast, finishing their food and drink in silence; and after her husband had left for work, Michiru was left to her own devices, as she so often was in this loveless marriage, keeping herself busy with working on her newest painting until the time to leave for the meeting with some of the other women of her circles finally arrived.

She didn't often take the limousine, since her husband usually used it to go to work and, from there, to the various meetings he seemed to spend most of his time at; usually, when she did have to go somewhere, they had a second, smaller car, with a chauffeur of course, and even though it didn't exactly make her happy, it did give her a strange sense of satisfaction that she'd be taking the much more luxurious and much bigger car this day.

Briefly, she wondered if this was the start of getting resigned to this empty life, that this strange, almost content feeling about something so meaningless was the first step of many to becoming like her mother and the friends of her mother she had met; the mere thought made her shudder, and she pushed it aside rigorously as she descended the steps to the front hall, telling herself that surely, this wasn't happening to her, that she wasn't turning into an unhappy, empty shell of a person, who's only purpose in life seemed to be criticizing others and making sure that everything and everyone in their immediate vicinity was looking and acting just as they wanted them to.

Instead of pondering this dreadful possibility, Michiru tried to occupy her mind otherwise, by thinking of the driver her husband had hired for the limousine; an elderly gentleman, she remembered something about an agency actually employing the man instead of her husband, tax reasons, she thought he had said when they had had one of their few talks which lasted longer than two minutes, but the driver's name just wouldn't come to her, no matter how hard she tried to…

The butler opened the front door as she reached it, and her train of thought didn't just trail off, but simply stopped; later, she'd wonder if she actually had been gaping, and if the butler had noticed anything, remembering how her steps had faltered just for a second and how her eyes had gone wide while her heart had performed an almost painful skip in her chest.

Standing next to the sleek black limousine, in the just as black uniform all chauffeurs wore, was the most handsome woman she had ever seen.

Many, she realized as she took a closer look, somehow managing to walk down the stairs without stumbling as she just couldn't glance away and mind where she was going, would have mistaken her for a man; she wasn't one of those though, she knew immediately that this was no guy, her heart deciding to skip yet another beat when the woman gave her a smile, then spoke up the moment Michiru was close enough to hear her, her voice surprisingly deep for a woman, the somewhat husky sound sending shivers up and down her spine.

"Ms Kaioh, I presume", she more stated than asked, already moving to the limousine's rear door to open it, "I'll be your driver for today. Haruka Tenoh."

For a second, she wondered what had happened to the other one, the older guy who usually drove the limousine; then, she shrugged it off, telling herself it wasn't important, and just nodded, noting further details about this new driver at the closer look she got at her now, and filing them all away for later.

How tall she was, that was the first thing Michiru noticed as she stood next to her, almost a full head taller than her, the driver's cap which sat on slightly tousled blonde hair angled so that it was just the tiniest bit jaunty, but not so much that it would have gone against the dress code; and another, closer look revealed that the black suit didn't set as well as she had fought at first glance, the sleeves just an inch too short, the buttons just a hint too tight around her upper body.

Realizing that she was staring, Michiru quickly forced her gaze away, focusing on getting into the car instead, not wanting to embarrass herself by bumping her head against the frame; and even though the suit didn't sit just perfectly, the way it was supposed to, Haruka apparently knew what she was doing, closing the door neither too early, nor too late, but exactly the moment Michiru had gotten comfortable in the spacy back of the limousine.

"Where to, Ma'am?" she then asked, as soon as she had gotten into the driver's seat; for a moment, Michiru was drawing a blank, so thrown out of balance by this unexpected new person that she had no idea why she had wanted the limo in the first place.

"…Koniwara Café", she finally remembered, feeling incredibly dumb, but figuring that the pause hadn't been long enough to make Haruka notice anything; if she had, the blonde didn't let it show, merely nodding before she started the engine, demonstrating that, even though her suit didn't fit perfectly, she knew perfectly well how to drive this kind of car, the large vehicle getting moving without a hitch.

For a while, there was silence, Michiru looking out of the window as she took slow, controlled breaths, eager to get herself back under control; she tried to remember when it had been the last time that she had reacted so strongly to a woman and couldn't, almost grimacing as she thought back to how her heart had skipped a beat when she had seen the tall blonde for the first time.

"What happened to the other driver", she finally was the one to break the silence, not out of real interest for the elder man who had driven the limousine before, but mostly because she wanted to hear Haruka's voice again; to her dismay, the blonde kept her answer short, a shrug preceding the few words she uttered in response. "I don't know, Ma'am."

"Oh", she let out, not all too smart, noticing how just for a second, Haruka's eyes flickered up to the rear view mirror, then focused on the road again; not sure what else to say or ask, Michiru stared out the window again, somewhat bitterly asking herself why she all of a sudden had such a problem with making pleasant conversation – after all, the ability to do just that had been instilled into her from the moment on she had uttered her first word, and here she sat now, drawing a completely blank as she tried to figure out what else to say.

Well, the topics of conversation are hardly useful for situations like this one, are they, she thought to herself, holding back yet another grimace, after all, you can hardly ask her the trite things you ask your acquaintances. You could inquire why her suit doesn't fit just right… no, wait, what are you thinking, that would be rude.

Instead of asking about the slightly ill-fitting suit, Michiru started fiddling with the music player built into the limousine's roof; to her relief, it was set to a station playing classical music – one of the few things her husband and she had in common – and shortly afterwards, soft violins broke the silence, making her feel much less awkward about the situation, a relief which didn't last long though as now, she found herself wondering if Haruka felt the same or if she hadn't noticed Michiru's reaction to her at all.

Probably not, she unhappily admitted to herself, she doesn't know you at all, and you weren't that obvious. You were taught not to be.

Her gaze moved to what she could see of the back of Haruka's head again – which arguably wasn't much, thanks to the headrest of the driver's seat – and she allowed herself to entertain a much more pleasing thought, pondering what it would feel like to run her fingers through that tousled blonde hair, preferably while deeply kissing said hair's owner.

Feeling her cheeks heat up, she was relieved that Haruka could see even less of her; the last thing she needed was the blonde noticing her blush, figuring that, even if Haruka didn't know her at all, she would notice that this surely wasn't a regular occurrence for her, and might ask her if she was alright.

And what would you tell her then, she thought to herself, still staring at the back of the taller woman's head, that you are perfectly fine, but fantasize about kissing her? Yes, that would surely go over well.

Forcing herself to look away before the driver might notice something after all, she glanced out the window again – just in time, she noted, to see the café where she'd meet the other women appear, a sudden crazy urge to tell Haruka that she should keep driving overcoming her, an impulse she fought down with all of her willpower.

"We're here", Haruka needlessly told her, making her nod in acknowledgement, before she realized that the blonde couldn't see the gesture unless she'd happen to look in the rear view mirror; she let out a vaguely agreeing noise instead, and in response, the taller woman got out of the limousine and moved to open the rear door for her, forcing her to hold back a sigh of regret as she got out of the car.

"Try to find a parking space somewhere nearby", she then instructed the driver, making sure that none of her emotions were showing through her voice, to her slight relief managing to sound detached and distanced, "and be back here in ninety minutes."

"Certainly", Haruka gave back at once, making her wonder if, despite the not perfectly fitting suite, she had done this before, and for whom she had been driving; as she walked away from the limousine and to the café's entrance, she figured that it couldn't have been any of the women she knew – after all, they all were notorious about commenting on the looks and physique of their staff, and surely, one of them would have mentioned having a driver as handsome as Haruka, or would have been incredulous about having a driver who looked like a handsome male and then turned out to be female.

"Michiru!" she heard a chorus of voices cry out upon her entrance, and forced a bright smile which felt way too fake to curl her lips; the other women all smiled back at her just as brightly, and once again, she wondered if deep inside, she was the only one of her peers who felt so empty and unfulfilled – or if they all felt this way, and, just like her, had no one close enough to admit it to.
[line]

Somehow, Michiru made it through the ninety minutes of socializing – or networking, as her husband called it – without letting it show how much it annoyed her to be there and listen to the mindless gossip of the other women; as always, she didn't participate much, only smiled politely at the right places and nodded every now and then, but by now, the others were used to this from her, and she figured that no one would see it as odd anymore.

She instantly felt better though the moment she stepped out of the café and saw not only the limousine right in front of, ready and waiting for her, but Haruka standing next to it; without even noticing it fully, she started to smile, only for her smile to fade again when one of the other girls spoke up right behind her.

"My, Michiru", she commented, shamelessly giving Haruka the once-over, the blonde not letting it show if she noticed, "how handsome. You didn't mention that you have a new driver. If my driver was as handsome as this, I'd never get out of the car."

Briefly, Michiru entertained the thought of telling her that Haruka was female, then decided against it and merely shrugged and smiled; the other girl threw another longing look at the blonde, then apparently remembered that she was married, since she cleared her throat and ran a nervous hand through her hair, giggling in an annoyingly high-pitched way which grated on Michiru's nerves and made her smile waver slightly around the edges.

"Well", she said, before her dismay could break through to the surface, "this was very… nice. I'll see you girls next week."

They all let out various sounds of agreement, and she made herself smile at them again before she turned and walked over to the limousine, the smile dropping from her face the moment her back was to the girls; clearly, this was something Haruka had noticed, since she briefly raised an eyebrow, just long enough for Michiru to see.

Being a tactful driver though, she made no comment, but merely held the rear door open for her; after a brief glance at her, another chance to take in how handsome the taller woman was, Michiru got into the car, getting comfortable in the back, realizing that it wasn't time to go the gallery yet as she sunk into the soft leather seat, but not having an idea where else she could go, either.

"Where to now, Ma'am?" Haruka, without realizing it, forced her to make a decision even faster; she opened her mouth to tell her that she should take her back to the mansion for now, surprised at the words which came from her instead. "To the pier."

The blonde nodded in response, then stepped down on the gas pedal; the car smoothly got moving, the low purr of the engine barely audible, and soon drowned out completely when Michiru switched on some music again, looking out the window once more, asking herself why she had told the blonde to take her to the pier instead of back home.

Because there's no use in going back home, to an empty house, she then thought to herself, somewhat bitterly, while your husband is out doing God knows what – or whom.

Once again, she asked herself why she had let her parents bully her into this marriage, just so their name wouldn't be tarnished – their precious name, big and well known enough that she hadn't even changed it after getting married; she always had seen herself as stronger than this, but when both her mother and father had started to put pressure on her, she had given in at last, just to make the daily talks about the subject stop.

Not wanting to ponder these unpleasant memories any further, she rigorously cut them off, relieved when the pier appeared up ahead; the sight of the ocean always soothed her, always had and probably always would, for reasons she wasn't quite sure of.

Her relief only grew when Haruka found a parking spot for the oversized car fairly quickly; she killed the engine, then got out of the vehicle, holding the door open for the smaller woman, Michiru surprising herself yet again when she, after she had gotten out of the car and stood upright next to it, asked the taller woman to walk with her.

Clearly, Haruka was just as surprised about this request, her eyebrows rising; she didn't decline it though, making Michiru wonder if she just didn't dare to because it was her first day at this new job, or if perhaps, she thought of her as interesting as well, a thought she cut off rigorously though, telling herself that surely, this wasn't the case.

"You might want to take off that cap", she added, earning another raised eyebrow, "the weather is quite warm, I wouldn't want you to suffer from heatstroke."

"Um, sure", the blonde gave back after a moment, removing the cap and, to Michiru's delight, giving her a better view of her hair; once again, she found herself wondering what it would be like to run her hands through the tousled strands, and once again she was forced to harshly stop that train of thought, before it might make her blush yet again.

Without another word, not sure if she could trust her voice, she started walking, scolding herself for reacting to strongly to this woman; until this day, she had been sure that she had herself and her urges under control – she did enjoy looking at handsome women, and permitted herself her fantasies, but, unlike her husband, she hadn't acted on her desires since she had gotten married.

Well, you should, she then told herself, while Haruka fell in step next to her, her long legs making it easy for her to keep up with the smaller woman, your husband does, and as long as you're discreet, why should you be faithful when he isn't?

"Have you been doing this job for long?" she asked, suddenly eager to break the silence, "driving other people around?"

"Not for this agency, no", the blonde let her know, briefly glancing at her before her gaze focused on the sidewalk up ahead again, mostly to avoid bumping into anyone, "for another one. Not quite as… high-class. They mostly rented their limos out for people who wanted to celebrate something, so you can imagine how they behaved."

"Indeed", Michiru replied with a small grimace – she never had been among those who used limousines that way, but her parents' driver had had the displeasure of driving such a group before he'd started working for them, and had had a fair share of tales to tell, none of them humorous or even pleasant.

"I imagine you are better off now, then", she added, "my husband and I are… quite easy clients. You'll mostly drive him around, to work and back, and to his appointments during the day."

"I was told so, yes", the taller woman let her know, not really surprising her as she figured that surely, an agency catering to people as well off as her husband and she were would inform their drivers what to expect, "so I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised when my first drive was with you."

At hearing this certain wording, Michiru's heart skipped a beat yet again; she smiled at the blonde, experiencing yet another frightening pause of her heart rate when Haruka smiled back at her, the way the smile lit up her face only making her look even more handsome.

"Lucky you, then", she said out loud, once more cursing herself for the fact that she only knew how to do the mindless chit-chat she shared with her acquaintances, and had no idea how to bring the talk to deeper topics than those, convinced that what she talked about to her friends wouldn't interest Haruka much, "but I can reassure you, my husband is just as easily to handle as I am. We're not very demanding, unlike some other people I know."

"I've heard the stories", Haruka let her know in response, now sounding slightly amused, the smile which had been curling her lips turning into a somewhat sardonic smirk, "so I was quite relieved when I was told that you are not like these people."

Not sure what to reply to this, Michiru just smiled at her, then stopped and turned to look at the ocean; as always, the sight of the clear water, glittering in the sunlight, and the gentle waves soothed her, for a few minutes even allowed her to forget how unhappy she was with basically everything in her life.

"It's beautiful, isn't it", she said out loud, once more pushing those thoughts aside, even ignoring the nagging voice in the back of her mind which told her that she wouldn't be able to do this forever, "I've always enjoyed being at the ocean, ever since I was little."

"It is very pretty", Haruka agreed, and even though Michiru could tell at once that the effect the sight had on the blonde wasn't quite as the strong as what it did to her, she smiled again, not minding; she looked at the ocean for another moment, letting it soothe her inner turmoil, then finally turned away again, her voice surprisingly steady when she told the driver that she was ready to go to the gallery now.

The only response was a brief nod from the taller woman, and after another, short and slightly longing look at the ocean, Michiru got moving, trying to remember the last time she hadn't just looked at the water, but actually had taken a swim – and when she realized that she couldn't remember, all her despair came crashing back down on her, clenching up her heart as she asked herself how much longer she had to go on like this and if this was all she could expect from her life.