Chapter One

Prey.

The female perked her ears at the sound, feet making no noise as she swiftly ran through the trees toward the noise. She licked her lips; finally, after weeks of living off of small squirrels, large prey. The footsteps sounded heavy, an indication this prey was about the size of a human being. By the sounds, it was limping, too; she could catch up to it in an instant.

She was, after all, the wind.

Reaching the sounds, she waited, scaling a nearby tree and glancing down at her prey. Giving a small squeak of surprise, she watched as the prey turned around, startled at the sudden noise.

It was a small human woman, with aquamarine hair and clear, piercing blue eyes. She looked out-of-place in this uncivilized area, looking like she would be the kind to go to fancy balls and such.

The female thought she had never seen a more beautiful creature.

As she ogled the woman, a large squirrel landed on her head, causing her to lose her balance and topple out of the tree. She landed right in front of the woman, who jumped back.

"W-who are you…?" she asked.

"I am Ten'ou," Ten'ou said, preferring not to disclose her full name in case the woman turned her over to the police. She had run away from her home six years ago to leave her abusive parents, and had gone to the wild because she thought no one would look there. She had learned to survive quickly, which was needed; the animals were vicious.

"Ten'ou? Is that it?" the woman asked.

Ten'ou snorted.

The woman seemed flustered. "I'm Kaiou Michiru. A pleasure to meet you, Ten'ou." Shakily, she bowed to Ten'ou.

Eyes going to Michiru's injury on her leg, Ten'ou asked, "Do you want any help with your leg? I know lots of herbs around here."

"This?" Michiru indicated the bandage-wrapped bloody leg. "Yes, please. It's been killing me all day…" she mumbled.

Ten'ou nodded. Grabbing her knife from its sheath, she casually strolled over to a nearby plant and cut off three leaves, sticking them in her mouth and chewing them. Once she had gotten them to a mushy pulp, she spit it out on her hand, noting the fact that Michiru's eyes had widened in surprise.

"This will draw out both pus and infection. It is rather useful," she explained as Michiru unwrapped the bandages on her leg. A large cut, likely animal-made, ran down Michiru's thigh, swollen and crusted with blood. Ten'ou spread the mush onto the cut, pressing down to make sure the leaf pulp hit every part of the cut. After a few seconds, pus ran down the side of her leg, draining into the ground.

After a few minutes of watching the pus, Michiru asked, "Why are you here?"

"I don't like society."

"Why?"

"It is none of your business," Ten'ou snapped. Michiru appeared hurt for the tiniest second, and went back to her indifferent expression, taking bandages out of her pack and giving them to Ten'ou. "Why is a person like you here?"

"I'm looking for things to photograph so I can paint them." Ten'ou wrapped the leg back up.

"Lovely. A painter walking in the middle of the woods, alone, with no one to protect her. Look. If you want, I can lead you out of these woods."

"That would be nice, Ten'ou. Thank you for offering."

"Ten'ou?" Michiru asked once the sun had gone down.

"Yes, Michiru?"

"I'm cold."

Ten'ou sighed. "I do not have anything warm, besides my body heat."

"Can I snuggle up next to you then?"

"I guess."

Michiru nodded happily, crawling close to wrap her arms around Ten'ou. After a few seconds, she murmured, "You're a woman?"

Ten'ou could already feel her eyes growing heavy.

"Yes, Michiru. I'm a woman."

Michiru made a noise of agreement, curling closer to Ten'ou. They fell asleep that way, wrapped in embrace.

"Ten'ou? Wake up, Ten'ou."

"No, Mama… I don't wanna wear a dress to that stupid ball…"

Michiru's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she decided to listen on.

"But Mama, you always say that. 'Haruka, do this. Haruka, do that. Haruka, I want you to do that because you're a young lady. Think of what the boys will say!' Mom, I don't want to think of what the boys will say. Can't I wear a tux…?"

Her name is Haruka…

It was at this point that Haruka groaned, lazily opening one eye. "Wha…? You're not my mama…"

The events of the past six years came back to her, jolting her awake. "Oh. Michiru. You did not hear anything, did you?" Haruka snapped.

"No, why?" Michiru lied smoothly. Haruka grunted.

"Just curious."

Getting up, she drank a gulp of water from Michiru's canteen. Motioning for Michiru to grab her pack, she stood up, clambering up a tree to the top and looking for the edge of the forest.

"I would say a day from here if we take as few breaks as possible," she called down. Climbing down, Haruka noticed Michiru staring at her.

"What?"

"Oh, I'm just wondering what direction it's in," Michiru muttered to attempt to cover up the fact that she had been transfixed by Haruka.

"It is that way."

"A-alright. Shall we go?"

Haruka nodded.

She's so beautiful, Michiru thought.

Unbeknownst to her, Haruka was thinking the same thing.

"So Michiru, what is your life like?"

"I'm a famous painter and violinist. I have quite a lot of money, but I'd prefer to be out exploring instead of living a cushy, lazy life."

Haruka had to agree with this.

"Why are you living in the wild, Ten'ou?" Michiru asked.

"I got fed up with my life in society and left. I am twenty-three now, so I am allowed to live where I want. And I chose here."

"What made you leave?"

"I—I do not want to speak of it."

"Please?" Michiru could feel Haruka's resolve weakening.

"…Okay. I guess.

"My name is Ten'ou Haruka, and I am the heiress to a large company called Wind Cars, Inc. It's the company that makes nearly all of the cars in Japan, including the ones used in the Formula One races. If I had not run away, I would be a multimillionaire. But… I…"

"What is it, Haruka?"

"My parents abused me for not acting as they wanted me to. Every time I disobeyed them, even for not taking the dog out or something, they would hit me until I passed out. They were drunk most of the time, of course. But it still made me run away on my seventeenth birthday. I hated them."

"Haruka, that's horrible!"

"I know. The last time I heard my mother say she loved me was when I was six."

"Well, since you're twenty-three and all, they won't be able to touch you if you come back."

"I… I guess."

"You could come back with me."

Haruka looked up, suddenly interested. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Haruka began to mull it over until she noticed they had arrived at the edge a few hours later.

"Guess we walked faster than I thought we would. I guess this is goodbye."

"You're not coming?" Michiru asked sharply, distressed.

"I do not really know if I want to face my parents."

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"I guess I will come with you, just to see how it will be. But if I do not like it, I will just go and live in the woods."

"Okay… if you say so, Haruka. Come on, I see an airport nearby."

"Are you Miss Kaiou Michiru?" an employee asked as soon as Michiru and Haruka had gone to the reception desk. Haruka had stayed silent since they had gone into the airport, looking around warily.

"Yes. And this here is my friend, Haruka."

The employee looked closely at Haruka, eyes searching hungrily. "Have we met before? You look rather familiar."

Haruka blinked. "No, I do not think we have met before. I would recognize your unique features had I met you before."

She was lying about his 'unique features.' The man, she thought, wouldn't stand out in a crowd.

"A-alright," he stuttered, looking at her glare. "You're on Flight 739 at 21:00, over at Gate 3. Have a nice day, sir."

They both walked away from the receptionist, Haruka silent from surprise. Finally, she willed herself to speak. "He thought I was a man," she stated. Michiru nodded.

"Yes, I'm not surprised. Why is your hair so short, anyway? Do you need it like that for something?" she asked.

"Yeah. It would have gotten in my way if I had it long. Short is so much more convenient."

"Ah," Michiru acknowledged, turning away to walk to a nearby fast food restaurant. When she came back a few minutes later, she held a paper bag with two wrapped packages inside it. She handed one to Haruka, who tentatively unwrapped hers.

"What is this?" she asked, pointing to the hamburger.

"It's a burger, Haruka. It's made of beef. You know, cows?"

"You mean this tiny thing is edible?"

"Yeah," Michiru answered, biting into hers. Haruka glared scornfully down at the burger and decided to tempt fate, biting down into the bread and meat.

After chewing for a few moments, she announced, "I can not taste a thing."

Michiru handed a small red bottle to her. "Put that stuff on the burger and try it again."

Haruka did so, once again biting down into the burger. "Hey, this is alright. What is the red stuff?"

"It's called ketchup, Haruka."

The rest of Haruka's meal consisted entirely of ketchup. The burger was left with two small bites in it.

Author's Notes: It's been a while since I last published a story... I think I've improved at least a bit since then. But this is my first story about Haruka and Michiru that I actually intend to keep writing.

In case you're wondering, I purposely had Haruka say as little conjunction words as possible. In my mind, she probably forgot some of the nuances of language while living wild for six years. But you can fill that in yourself, if you would like.

Oh, and... Happy Birthday, Haruka-sama!