Chapter Three: A low-fat Blueberry Muffin and a Proposal

Eight years later

The tall blonde dressed in her signature racing jacket and loose fitting dark jeans opened the door with the sound of the bell tinkling softly and entered the diner.

"Well look at who we have here," A voice called from the opposite side of the counter. Haruka grinned and took a seat on one of the cherry-colored stools near the register.

"Hey Ryo, long time no see," She greeted with a half smile as ran her long fingers through her sandy blonde hair.

"No kidding, stranger. How've you been?" The pudgy gentleman in his mid 30s asked, drying a slightly word white ceramic coffee cup with what look liked an old rag.

"Oh you know, traveling and racing. Same old, same old." Haruka answered nonchalently taking a look at the menu before setting it back down. She already knew she just wanted a black coffee with two sugars and a low-fat blue berry muffin. Just like old times, she pondered. Has anything changed since then?

Ryo noticed the distant look in the girl's eyes and smiled knowingly. He set the cup in front of her as the racer reached for a muffin from the basket with a napkin.

"She's in the paper you know..." He said as casually as possible, pouring her coffee. Haruka's head snapped up in attention.

A blonde eyebrow raised and she couldn't help it as a small grin crept on her cheeks. "Oh really?" He gave her a nod and pointed to the stack of newspapers sitting not two feet away from her.

"Look for yourself," Ryo said and winked before turning and walking into the kitchen.

Haruka gave him a confused look before shrugging and reaching over to grab the paper. She skimmed through the sports section as it was at the top of the pile then mentally slapped herself. Yeah, Michi in the news for sacking the QB, she mused with a soft smile. Instead she searched through the pile and pulled out the front page. Deep emerald eyes widened at the picture that took up most of the front page.

If possible, Michiru had gotten even more beautiful than she remembered. The photographer had taken a picture of the aquanette walking out of what looked like a busy night club with her back away from the camera but she had turned to face the camera with a big carefree and incredibly beautiful smile. Haruka felt her heart melt. Her aquamarine hair had grown much longer than she had remembered. Waves of the softest looking aqua tresses waterfalled past her shoulders and reached midback. Only to curl into little C's at the bottom, she noticed. How cute. No doubt Michiru was definately the real life version of a mermaid. Haruka took time to look at every detail of the other girl's face since they had last seen each other.

She still had the same creamy alabaster skin that seemed to excentuate the dark aqua that flowed around her heart-shaped face. Pink lips led to dazzling white teeth, slightly opened in a happy expression. But what really struck the windchaser were her eyes. They were still the same pools of deep sea blue and they even had the special sparkle and shine Michiru was known for. Holding the picture in her hands, Haruka gulped. Those eyes looked as if they were staring right at her. Smiling right at her.

"Oh Michi..." Haruka whispered, wiping a tear away. She chuckled at how emotional she was getting before reading the caption that went with the photo.

'World-renowned violinist, Kaioh Michiru, leaves local party scene with newly engaged fiancé Hitachiin Kenji'

Wait, what?

Her heart stopped. She reread the caption again. And again. Michiru was...engaged? Haruka frowned, her eyebrows making a deep V at the base of her forehead. Against her better judgement, she numbly continued reading onto the article.

The town's 'Golden Couple' have finally engaged. It had been reported that the romance that began when the couple were merely children had morphed into true love. Sources stated that after six years of being together officially, the couple have finally decided to tie the knot.

'I love her more than anyone in the entire world. Since the day I met Michi I knew I just had to have her. No one else deserves her love like I do.' Kenji tweeted on the day of the engagement.

"Big news, eh?" She looked up from the paper to see Ryo sitting next to her. Haruka swallowed the lump and her throat and gave a nonchalent roll of eyes.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm just surprised it took this long." She shrugged her shoulders for good measure.

"She is quite a catch," Ryo said, "But you allowed her to slip through your fingers, didn't you? Can I ask..." The burly man paused hesitantly, "Can I ask why?"

"Simple. When you love something, you let it go."

Before he could even respond, Haruka was already out the door.

—X—

"So what are your plans for today, Michiru?" The violinist sat down across the table from her fiancé.

"I'm planning on going on a hike actually. I feel like I haven't really been one with nature lately."

"A hike? In the actual...forest? Are you sure? Perhaps you can just go to the park down the street." Michiru stifled a sigh before standing up and kissing Kenji on the forehead.

"Don't worry. I'll be careful. And it's mountain, Kenji." She said with a little giggle.

"Yeah, yeah... It's still dangerous," He murmured under his breath, but Michiru was already gone.

It was the perfect day for a hike. It wasn't too cold nor too uncomfortably hot. The sun was high and there's wasn't a single white puff visible in the vast blue sky. It was weird, although she always felt most comfortable in the sea, for some reason whenever she looked up at the heavens and felt the tickle of the wind, she was perfectly content too. It's probably just due to the fact that they were both blue, she figured.

Michiru trecked up the mountain for a few hours until she felt utterly exhausted. She checked her watch and saw that it was only 1:00. Seeing that it was around lunch time, she took a seat on one of the larger rocks that was set near the edge of the mountain and pulled out a sandwich from her backpack.

The violinist took the sound of silence and savored it. There was no annoying soccer moms screaming into their tiny little blackberries, no hum of televisions or computers, and especially no Kenji.

Kenji. Michiru felt bad. She was engaged to Kenji yet she knew she could never love with all her heart. She didn't know why exactly, but she knew there was something missing between them. But Michiru just shrugged it off. Everyone kept telling her how he was the best. Even her parents kept telling her how 'he's's the best man for her'

So if her own parents, the ones who raised her and knew her better than anyone else in this world, insisted that Kenji was the best man then Kenji was the best man. He was there since her accident eight years ago and never once left her side. After a couple years the violinist figured that if she were to be with someone, might as well be with the 'best man'. Or so she had been told.

A husky voice pulled her out of her thoughts suddenly. "Oh, I didn't realize anyone else could make it this far,"

Michiru turned around and nearly let out an audible gasp. Who ever this person was, she was beautiful. Dressed in short cargo shorts and a perfectly worn white tank top, the woman with golden wind-blown hair was most definately a model of pure perfection. Michiru nearly choked on her sandwich.

Haruka was thankful for the little distraction the other woman delt. She could get a good look at her former lover. If a picture is worth a thousand words then the real thing is worth millions. Seeing Michiru here, in the one place she least expected to run into anybody, was either the best or worst thing to happen to her. Haruka wasn't sure if she should run into the arms of the violinist or run away.

"Who are you?"

Again, those same exact words shattered Haruka's heart into pieces. But instead of bursting into tears, she laughed and took a step towards Michiru.

A/N: Ayeeeee. Mmkay, REALLY sorry about the long update. I had most of it written up and I just had to finish but since I didn't get many reviews (winkwinknudgenudge) I suppose I just ended up forgetting about it... So anyways, chappie número TRES. Hope you like it, kind of a filler I guess. Sorry its shorter than the others. Next chappie will be pretty fluffy (I loveee fluffy) and you'll get a re-cap of what's been going on in H&M's life for the past eight years. Like always, if you'd like a speedy update REVIEW =]

On a side note, I wanted to ask you guys something. Would you rather lengthy chappies with slower update speeds, or shorter chappies with faster updates?