Act Two

"Well?"

"Well, what?" Michiru glanced over at her friend. Minako looked at her innocently as people buzzed around them. The blue haired woman noticed a few of their colleagues passing by, waving to the long haired blonde as she sidled up beside her. The sound of suits whooshed by them as well as the even clicking of formal shoes. Michiru looked down at her own pointed-toed pumps.

"What have you been up to?"

Michiru did not catch the way her friend's voice sounded, and rubbed at her temples. She hadn't slept all that well, the feel of the bed off and alien. The blue haired woman had slept lightly, waking up every few hours. She had thought she was too tired to shower, and had gone right to bed. Even though the trip had proved far from relaxing so far, she did find some comfort in finally showering when she gave up on sleep earlier in the morning. Almost gleefully, she enjoyed the time she spent on drawing careful, charcoal colored lines over the tops of her eyes when she got out.

Michiru decided on a more blunt reply: "Trying not to fall back to sleep."

"You've had an interesting day..." Minako continued to peel, trying to prompt her into saying something. Her baby blue eyes still looked at her with the utmost pure innocence. But, as the blonde watched Michiru, she tried a bit harder with her tactics. "Tell me about it."

The taller woman finally caught on to the fact that the blonde was clearly trying to get her to divulge something, though she couldn't quite get what it was. Minako was good at her job as secretary to the higher-ups and had a knack for people. And yet sometimes her manners and humor was a bit above Michiru's head—especially when there was less than five hours of sleep under her belt.

They had been friends for about two years, since Michiru had moved. Minako was one of the sole reasons of why she was able to stay so sane. Even if she did drive Michiru crazy on occasionally.

The silence stretched on as Michiru waited for more of a clue. Stubbornly she kept her mouth closed. She still couldn't get what Minako was trying to get out of her.

"So there has been this handsome man that's been checking you out," she prompted.

Michiru couldn't help but to crack a smile. Finally. There it was. But she still didn't get it.

"What guy?"

Her friend eyed her, turning her head at an angle. Her hands planted themselves against her hip. Michiru thought that she looked quite sunny in her sunflower yellow halter dress, despite the frustration that seemed to be spreading along her lightly tanned face.

"Are you kidding me? You are really that oblivious, aren't you?" Minako paused, then sighed exaggeratedly.

"There has been this... gentleman," she explained, "who has been checking you out during the whole morning's seminar." Then she flailed her arms out wildly, making Michiru scan about to see if the action caught anyone's attention. Fortunately, no one even glanced up.

"He's checking you out even now!"

Minako lowered her voice at the last part of the sentence, glancing somewhere over in the bustling crowd. It was lunch hour, and currently many people were packed in groups, trying to figure out where they wanted to go. Several, Michiru guessed, were making a run for the parking deck before everyone else. The marine haired woman followed the shorter woman's gaze, and frowned. When she saw who it was, she chuckled and shook her head.

"Oh him? I ran into him for about five seconds yesterday. That's all. There's no passionate love affair, and I'm not interested."

"And what about that charismatic Neptunian that you were telling me about?" accused Minako, "Have you tried the number on the calling card?"

For some reason Michiru felt like there was a spotlight on her. She got the feeling that Minako truly thought that there was something to worry about. The blue haired woman shrugged and shook her head.

"No, and I don't intend to." She hoped that the stubbornness in her voice was obvious enough.

The blonde rubbed her forehead with her hand at the sound of the finality in Michiru's voice. Then she looked up at her, and put a hand on the upper part of her arm. For a moment, the look in Minako's wide blue eyes made the other woman take her seriously. The blonde looked melodramatically worried.

"I've never seen you fall for anyone. Ever. I've never seen you have any sort of interest in someone... I mean, sure, I've heard you talk about interests that you've had in the past before I met you. But that's it."

She looked over Michiru's shoulder—apparently the blonde man had moved from his original position. Michiru followed her gaze: currently he was with three other people talking pleasantly with them. She felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. She turned to look back at Minako. Since when was her friend ever serious?

"He doesn't appear crazy..." Minako pondered out loud.

"But—"

"Wink at him!" the long haired blonde ordered outrageously. "You don't have to go to every seminar, class, and meeting this week! Relax. This is a famous vacationing spot!"

Michiru felt her unwilling body being spun around. She twirled on her toes to prevent herself from falling over at the blonde's strength. She stared at the man in question, wincing inwardly to herself. Minako was at her side short body touching her because she was so close, and for a moment, Michiru wanted to do it. No—she was determined to do it now that the thought had been placed in her head. Minako had that way with every one around her. "Corrupting people," as the blonde herself had jokingly put it when Michiru had first gotten a taste of her schemes.

The blue haired woman gave him one more glance over, and she found that there was something about him that she couldn't quite place.

"He's very effeminate," she said slowly.

"Yeah, and if he's gay, then at least you can say that you tried. You don't have to go that far if you don't want to either." Minako looked over at her friend, her small hands keeping Michiru in place by her shoulders. "Come on with the excuses, I can keep going all day."

"And by then he'll be gone, and I'll be safe," replied Michiru ruefully.

"And then I'll ask him if you don't."

Michiru felt the color rise to her cheeks at that. She felt a pressure in her head. Everything around her became quiet now that the situation felt final. She was hyper aware of the fact that Minako was watching her from the side of her face. Michiru refused to acknowledge her presence by looking at her. But in the periphery as she observed the blonde man, as well as Minako who looked as if she was ready to pounce on her if she didn't do anything. She was surprised to find that she did want to do something anyway.

They both waited for what seemed like an eternity. The tall blonde man that they had been staring at glanced over as he spoke to his friends. But the aqua haired woman was patient, unlike her blonde friend. She didn't exactly do something as courageous as winking seductively at him like Minako would have done—but she did wave, giving him a shy smile.

The man in question nodded to the surrounding people and they all parted ways. And he was moving right towards her.

"See that wasn't so hard, now was it?" Minako punched her playfully in the arm. The she suddenly looked down at her naked wrist. "And now I should go organize... Something."

Michiru felt the pit of her stomach drop for the second time that day, her heart hammering as she panicked. "You're leaving me? That's cruel!"

The blonde smiled wickedly, patting her on the shoulder. "You know how it is being the third wheel! But don't worry—you'll have company soon!"

And with that, her friend left, leaving Michiru to feel suddenly very nervous. Already she was regretting calling the stranger's attention. She was implying thousands of things to a person she had only met once before. But a part of her tried to reason: She needed to get out sometime and take a risk. Things didn't in fact go wrong every time she tried something daring.

But as he got closer, all thoughts were forgotten. The gentleman wore a different suit, and a yellow tie, giving a striking appearance to his eyes. He stood over her, just a few inches, and for a

moment she had forgotten how tall he was. And then she noticed that his ears were pierced with tiny rings, barely noticeable save for when the light hit them. The piercings added a sort of bad-guy feel, the kind of man that her mother warned her about growing up. Michiru couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive.

"Did you finish that drawing that you were working on?"

Michiru looked as if she didn't remember what he was talking about. A crooked smile spread on his lips as recognition lit her face. So he had been watching her.

"I saw you working on something during that seminar. I was kind of jealous because I was so bored."

"Not paying attention?" she asked, struggling for words that would keep the conversation fluid.

The taller person waved a hand nonchalantly. "I've been to those so often, I could quote them word-for-word. It's the same thing every year." He cocked an eyebrow, leaning closer to her. "Now why weren't you paying attention?"

Time around Michiru seemed to have no meaning. She was sure that she had somewhere to be in a few minutes, but for the the life of her, she couldn't remember where. Even worse, as they spoke, her mind began to wonder. A part of her missed the feeling of being that close to someone. What would his breath feel like? What would it be like to hold his hand? To kiss him? The thoughts made her feel unsteady.

"I was paying attention."

"The drawing," he pointed out. He gestured towards her bag. Innocently, she opened the thing, and brought out the incriminating evidence: her yellow-papered notebook. It looked pitiful in her hand. Many of the pages had been ripped out, the paper shavings crowding the spiral, the notebook pathetically thin. She began to flip through the pages, and immediately found the near-complete drawing.

The brunette eyed it and Michiru found the color rising to her cheeks once more. It was a tropical scene with palm trees, the ocean, complete with marine life. It was so detailed that it was in two point perspective, and was detailed down to the lace of someone's bikini as they traveled along the shore line.

"I take it that woman is you," he pointed out, glancing from her to the drawing and back again. He was acting serious, but his deep blue eyes seemed to be laughing playfully at her.

"Guilty," she finally admitted with a sigh, suddenly feeling at ease. She held the single page between two fingers and the notebook balanced in the other hand. "You can have it if you're so fascinated by my doodles."

She felt a coy smile reaching her lips. If she had been standing and watching herself, she would have been shocked.

The marine haired woman had clearly meant to tear the drawing out and give it to him—but that wasn't what happened. As she moved her fingers to tear the edge out from the spiral, her index finger slipped. The page ripped from the closest corner, down to the third of the page. Michiru stared, shocked, at the pathetic scrap of paper in her hand. She barely noticed the laughing coming from the tall blonde man next to her. And she felt herself turning bright red. So embarrassed, Michiru refused

to look at him, still looking down, dumbfounded, at the torn drawing.

When she finally did look up, he was still laughing. She would have gotten furious had it not been for how the laugh sounded. He wasn't being unkind about it; it was more like it was because he couldn't help it. He looked much younger, less shielded. She realized that she was again looking down at the torn drawing seconds' later.

Michiru barely noticed that the man had stopped laughing. She looked up at the momentary silence to see him still grinning. He held out his hand towards her, his blond head cocked to the side.

"Haruka," he said, "Haruka Tenoh."

Michiru hesitated for a moment. She was private, and she wondered if this was braking any of her mental rules.

"Michiru Kaioh," she said softly, a part of her hoping that he would miss the name. The woman took his hand for a quick handshake, her fingers grasping his smooth, warm palm. For a second, she felt like she didn't want to let go. Their hands dropped. She met his blue eyed gaze.

"Dinner?" he asked.

The blue haired woman instinctively looked over her shoulder, wondering if Minako had been spying on them the whole time. The hall was clear and appeared to be normal—no crazy blonde woman spying on them. She saw a few people rushing off with briefcases probably off to another session.

She turned to look back at Haruka, her throat suddenly dry. Michiru was stunned, wondering if she had been hearing things.

"Sure," she said before she could think about it.

She knew that a part of her was still stinging from Mina's earlier observations. She wanted to prove her wrong. But she felt the muscles in her face lift upward, and she wondered if there were any other reasons to her answer.

"Can I take the pleasure of meeting you at the lounge around twelve tomorrow?"

"Midday sounds wonderful."


AN: Hey guys, here's a little bit of a tease. I had intended to make this chapter longer, but I haven't finished up the next bit- I had to post because I feel really bad for taking so long. Right now I'm doing a bit of research for the setting and background. I seem to write better and faster that way... This'll also be the story that I'll be working on for Nanowrimo, so I hope that you guys will stick around. There maybe one or two more updates before then, and it'll either be heating up next chapter or the chapter after.

Thanks for all of your reviews! I didn't expect to get so many and I love them dearly!