Forgive Us Our Sins
Of Motorcycles and Dinner Dates
AN: Two chapters in less than two hours..guess my muse is back.. 3,602 words for both chapters not counting Author's Notes. Enjoy
Michiru wandered .A lost soul through the streets of Tokyo drifting through the crowds of people on their way home from work or school if they were lucky enough to get out early. Watching parents walk by with little kids getting out of elementary school made her heart hurt. She knew it was pointless to think like that, to let it get to her after so long but it hurt losing them. The weekend had passed quickly, she did her homework like the good girl she was and swam a few extra hours to make up for fainting in her swim class. Now as she wandered aimlessly she tried to figure out what to do with her life. Was school worth continuing? Did she really need violin lessons as well as swimming lessons and painting sessions?
A resounding 'yes' echoed through her head in her mother's voice, causing the girl to look around in bewilderment at the people that pushed past her on the sidewalk, bumping into her at her sudden stop.
Mutters of 'baka' echoed in her ears, forcing her legs to move again still wandering through the streets at will, coming back to herself as she stopped outside an old gothic style church that stood on the corner from her school. Her family hadn't been church goers or Christian for that matter. They hadn't been anything as far as she knew, they never talked about it. Something about the church called to her as she slipped inside the chapel, finding a pew mid center, sitting down before allowing her gaze to wander around the church first to the pulpit then the stained glass picture of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. It was such a serene scene, a part of his life that was peaceful and not spent moving or being persecuted by none believers of his preaching. She felt a sense of peace in this place, this church. The stillness and the quietness of it gave her silence in her mind, something she hadn't been able to achieve in a long time.
"Child?"
The voice startled her from her thoughts as she jumped to her feet.
"Yes?" she answered tentatively, her stance tight.
"Can I help you with something?" he asked, extending his hand towards her in a comforting gesture.
"No sir, I'm fine. Thank you though." She said in a rush, grabbing her school bag before bowing and brushing past the preacher, muscles taunt.
"But miss…"
The rest of his sentence was cut off as the church doors closed behind her, slamming harder than she had intended. She didn't need help; she knew she would be fine on her own. Her mother had told her this and she wanted, no needed for it to be true. Blindly she continued her brisk walk, not noticing that she walked straight into the line of moving traffic.
Tires squealed as the driver tried to brake harder than the motorcycle could handle, knocking its driver off the bike and onto the pavement, the bike stopping a mere few inches from Michiru and throwing the driver a good few feet away.
Shaking herself from her daze Michiru ran over to the fallen driver, lifting the person's head into her lap before slowly pulling off the helmet that they wore. A cough echoed from her lungs as she spoke.
"I'm beginning to think you have a death wish, that's twice in one day." The young light blonde haired woman said, coughing again.
"You're the guy that pulled me from the pool!" Michiru exclaimed, remembering the man when she came to, making sure she was ok before swiftly walking away.
"Girl." Haruka corrected, laughing at Michiru's puzzled look.
"I'm not male, I'm female." She explained as she tried to sit up, meeting the resistance of Michiru pushing her back down.
"I'm fine Miss" Haruka said, trying again to sit up.
"You're not moving until a medic checks you out." Michiru said, her voice leaving no room for argument.
"Haruka." She said suddenly, relaxing in Michiru's arms a little.
"What?" Michiru asked, a puzzled gaze on her face.
"My name's Haruka Tenoh." Haruka said, hearing the siren of the ambulance in the distance.
"Oh! You're the race car driver!" Michiru said, knowing where the familiar name had come from now.
"Yeah, your Michiru Kaiou right? The violinist and painter correct?" Haruka asked, her gaze focusing on the techs that where piling out of the ambulance.
"Yes, I am but it's just Michiru." The violinist said, moving back so the medical team could examine Haruka as a police officer pulled her aside for her statement. When the police officer was satisfied with her statement and informed her that they would call if they had other questions Michiru turned her attention to Haruka who had stood up and was picking her motorcycle up from the road, inspecting it for damages.
"If anything's damaged I'm more than happy to pay for it." Michiru said, starling Haruka from her examination.
"No it's all good. I make more than enough to fix it through my sponsorships with racing." Haruka said, putting the motorcycle on its kickstand before turning to face Michiru causing her heart to race.
"Well at least let me take you to dinner," seeing that Haruka was about to protest Michiru cut her off. "Like you said, I make more than enough through my paintings and concerts and it's the least I can do. It was my fault; I was distracted and walked in front of you."
"Are you sure? You know there's speculation about me going around." Haruka said, referring to the rumors of weather she was a male or a female, straight or gay, circulating in most of the newspapers.
"Well I don't really care much for what other people think." Michiru said laughing, her laugh sounding like music to Haruka's ears. She had never heard something so beautiful before.
"Alright then, I'll pick you up at seven and we can go from there?" Haruka asked, raising an eyebrow into her sandy blonde hair.
"Seven's fine. I live in the tri apartment area. Building A apartment 36C." Michiru said, moving a stray piece of hair from her face.
"Building A apartment 36 C. Gottcha." Haruka said, placing her helmet back onto her head. "See you at seven." Was her parting remark as she climbed onto her motorcycle and revved the engine before darting across the street as soon as the light turned green.
Glancing at her watch Michiru realized it was already five o clock, sucking in a sharp breathe, before heading home to get ready for her dinner with Haruka.
Digging through her closet Michiru settled on a light blue sun dress; it was causal but spoke sharp dressed and classy at the same time. Stepping into the shower Michiru washed her body with a lavender scented soap, enjoying the spray of water on her body for a moment as the suds disappeared down the drain before cutting off the water and stepping out of the shower, drying herself off completely before slipping into the dress and glossing a light pink lip gloss over her lips Michiru smiled as the doorbell to her apartment rang, causing her to glance at her watch. It was six forty five, not only punctual but early, that certainly was a plus.
Opening the door to her apartment Michiru smiled as she studied the profile of the oh so famous Haruka Tenoh. Her form was lean and slender, her fingers and hands long and elegant as the rested at her side against her slacks. Her shirt was a white dress shirt with khaki slacks and a loose silver necklace around her thin neck.
"Well aren't you a beauty." Haruka said, turning her gaze to the girl that stood before her locking up her apartment, causing her to blush.
"You're not so bad yourself." Michiru said, returning the complement, watching Haruka brush it off with a wave of her hand, not rudely, just matter of factly. Michiru followed the older girl in silence until they reached the yellow sports car, Haruka opening the door for Michiru.
"I think I should be the one getting the door for you, I was the one that walked out in front of you today." Michiru said, sliding into the convertible with ease, watching how gracefully Haruka moved over to the other side of the car.
"Yes, but I'm the gentleman here tonight." Haruka said, smiling at the joke she made with the girl that now shared her car.
"Oh are you now? Am I still allowed to pay for dinner?" Michiru asked, her eyes teasing the young race car driver.
"We'll see how the night goes." Was all Haruka would say as she effortlessly slipped into the traffic of a Mugean District night.
"How long have you been at Mugean?" Haruka asked, shifting her eyes to Michiru with the question for a second.
"Since I started junior high, so three years ago, speaking of, how is it you have your driver's license if you're my age?" Michiru asked, turning the question over in her mind.
"Special permission through the government because of my racing skills, and trust me it wasn't easy to get, but I'm also a year older than you to."
"So you're fifteen?" Michiru asked, surprise in her voice.
"Sixteen actually, I just had my birthday, I moved to Japan from England and because of the school change I'm a forum behind but I'm not worried about it as long as I pass my Entrance Exams, no sweat. " Haruka said, trying to gauge the reaction of the expressionless girl beside her, other than her voice she showed no outward surprise at her age. "You're fifteen correct?"
Michiru shook her head in the negative.
"I'm fourteen. I still have a few weeks till my birthday. So if you moved here from England how'd you wind up with the last name of Tenoh?" the girl asked, her voice cheerful again.
Haruka slowed down and turned her turn signal on as she answered.
"My mother was English my father was Japanese. When my mother died we moved back to Japan so my father could take over the family business." Her voice held a bit of sadness at the mention of her mother.
"I'm sorry. That must have been hard, losing your mother and moving to a new country shortly afterwards." Michiru said her voice sincere as she spotted the sign of the restaurant they were pulling into. It read 'De Sand's Italian'
"Not as hard as losing both parents suddenly. I knew my mother was going to die; she had cancer so it wasn't a shock to the system. If you don't mind me asking how are you holding up? Their car crash made public news for a few days."
Having this reminded to her felt like ice water had been dumped on her fragile form.
"As good as can be expected," her tone had lost all warmth and was clipped. Something even she noticed. "I'm sorry. It's just still a sore topic for me." She said apologizing with a slight bow of her head to the older girl.
"I shouldn't have asked." Haruka said, bashing herself and apologizing at the same time, pulling the car into a free parking spot before cutting off the engine and crossing to open the door for Michiru.
Entering the restaurant, their request for a seat towards the back was quickly granted as the two girls were seated swiftly and without commotion by a discrete hostess who would also be their server for the night.
"Can I start you ladies out with a bottle of wine tonight?" she asked, glancing between the two of them, noticing the look they shot each other.
"We're both underage, we won't risk getting you in trouble. Two waters will be fine." Haruka said, using tact in dismissing the gracious offer. Their waitress bowed low before leaving to fix their waters as they glanced over the menus.
"Have you eaten here before?" Haruka asked, as she browsed the menu before her, raising her eyes to meet Michiru's gaze.
"No, although I do love Italian food." Michiru said, glancing back down at her menu.
"I'd recommend either the shrimp or the mushroom ravioli. They are to die for." Haruka said, with such a strong conviction that Michiru laughed her musical laugh again.
"I'll take your word for it. I'll get the mushroom ravioli." Michiru said closing her menu as Haruka waved their waitress down who was returning with their waters.
"Yes ma'am? Are you ready to order this evening." She asked, setting the glasses of water down before the two young girls.
"The lady will take the mushroom ravioli and I'd like the shrimp ravioli." Haruka said, handing back both menus to the waitress as she wrote down the order.
"Ok mushroom ravioli for the lady and shrimp ravioli for you sir. Very well I'll have the order put in right away." She said, giving them another bow as she backed away from their table.
"What got you started playing the violin?" Haruka asked, watching as the girl across from her took a sip from her water, wetting her lips before answering.
"My mother enrolled me in classes when I was very young; the arts where very important to her and to me."
Haruka nodded her head in understanding.
"Yeah, my mother forced me into piano lessons it wasn't until after she passed that I started playing concerts and for dinners." She said, reveling something of herself to the beauty of a girl that sat across from her, someone who had been a stranger until this very day.
"Oh you play the piano? I'd love to hear it sometime." Michiru said, admiration showing in her eyes at the thought of Haruka being a musician, but it explained the beauty of her hands and slenderness of her fingers.
"I have a practice at the school tomorrow afternoon if you'd like to sit in." Haruka said, surprising herself at her bold offer.
"That'd be nice if your instructor wouldn't mind." Michiru replied, sitting up straighter in her chair.
"Oh I haven't played with an instructor for a while. Not since England and I'd love for you to hear a new piece I'm working on, I need another musician's opinion on it."
"Ok then I'll meet you in front of the school at five then?" Michiru asked as their waitress set down two plates of ravioli in front of them.
"Five's good; bring your violin if you like the practice rooms are usually empty at five if you would like to practice in peace." Haruka said as she began to work on the food in front of her as Michiru did the same.
"This is delicious!" Michiru said, taking another bite of her mushroom ravioli, delight showing on her face.
"I told you so." Haruka said, smiling at the younger girl's happiness.
Dinner passed with more small talk until they had finished their meals and declined a dessert.
Haruka's fingers brushed Michiru's as they both reached for the bill at the same time. Haruka allowed her hand to linger before pulling the bill lightly from Michiru's nimble fingers who opened her mouth to protest.
"I've got this one Michiru. If you like you can get the next one." Haruka said, not realizing the impact of her words.
"Next time?" Michiru asked, raising an elegant eyebrow a little higher.
"That is if you'd do me the honor of joining me for dinner again?" Haruka said, her voice turning it into a question rather than the statement she had intended it to be.
She earned herself another musical laugh and a confirmation that they would do dinner again before paying the bill and escorting Michiru to her car for the second time that night, opening the door for her once again before climbing into the driver's seat and steering the car towards Michiru's apartment complex, a light piano CD filling the comfortable silence in the car.
Walking her to the apartment door seemed correct to Haruka but was denied the honor as Michiru insisted that she was more than capable of going up three flights of stairs to reach her apartment by herself, leaving Haruka with the memory of a lovely dinner with a beautiful young maiden of a complex quality.
