A/N: Thanks a lot for your reviews :) Hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well!
There was a regular clanging sound.
Only moments later she realized that what she heard were her own footsteps. She was walking down a long hallway, not hurriedly, but fast, determinedly – and she couldn't stop. She had no control over her body at all. What was happening?
She raised her hand – she wore long white gloves, how very strange – and after knocking shortly on a door she opened it and entered without waiting for a reply.
A woman was sitting in a chair by a large window, looking outside. The scenery showed a stormy sea, the sky dark and gray. She stepped closer and the woman turned, smiling at her.
"How was the journey, Uranus?" she asked.
The window glass in the candle-lit room faintly showed their reflections and startled she found herself with bare legs, a short dark blue skirt, short sleeves and a collar as she had seen sailors wear it. And a yellow bow in front. Ridiculous.
If her face had obeyed her, she would have frowned. Instead she returned the woman's smile. She was beautiful with long aquamarine curls and blue eyes and she seemed familiar, even though she couldn't quite say why.
In a swirl of colors her clothing changed all of a sudden and that was when she realized that she had to be dreaming. Now she wore light trousers and a shirt and she stepped closer to the woman, coming to stand behind her. She leaned down to kiss her as though it was the most natural thing in the world and then laid her hands on her shoulders, glancing at the mirror she was holding.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, Neptune", she replied, startling herself with the belated answer.
There was a young girl to be seen in the mirror, with golden hair arranged in a foreign way and a moon shining on her forehead.
"How is our fair princess today?" she asked, chuckling softly, as the girl in the mirror tripped over the hem of her white dress and was caught by another young girl with curly brown hair held up in a high ponytail.
"She is growing up so quickly…", the woman – Neptune? – replied. She laid the mirror on the armrest and rose.
The light blue dress swayed softly, as she pulled the smaller woman into a gentle embrace. "I missed you", she whispered and leaned down to kiss her again.
~o~o~
"Hey Tenoh-kun, are you paying attention?" Haruka looked up startled and nodded hastily.
Usually she never dreamed vividly and hardly ever remembered her dreams, but this time it was different and the dream she had had a few nights ago haunted her ever since, making it hard to concentrate. The professor shook his head, but let it pass and walked over to another group of students deeply immersed in discussion.
She looked at the slowly developing construction in front of her. After lengthy discussions her group had finally settled for a glider rather than a balloon – very much so, because Haruka had strongly argued in favor of it, believing that it held greater potential for speed. However, it was also definitely the riskier option, for while balloons were a quite established and relatively safe method of flying, the same could hardly be said for the accident-prone and potentially lethal gliding flights.
But somehow, this was exactly what appealed to her, she thought, smiling to herself, as she continued to work.
"It's awesome, isn't it?" Yosuke, one of her fellow students joined her and ran a hand over the one of the half-finished wings. "I'm excited to see you try it out… if you really have the guts to do so", he grinned, but good-naturedly so. "Otherwise I might have the first go…"
"You wish", she answered, grinning and ignored the silent stab of nagging guilt as she thought of her promise to her uncle.
~o~o~
Impatiently Haruka glanced towards the door. The meeting had just finished and was now continued in a smaller circle – only Mr Uchida, one of his fellow politicians, her uncle and herself were present. Michiru and Chiyoha had been booked for the evening, as so often, but they had not arrived yet.
Today's meeting had went well, they had achieved what they wanted and were now discussing possible further steps – whom to approach, which connections to use. Takashi Uchida, who was Chiyoha's most important patron, was a very different person from her uncle and Haruka didn't like him too much. While her uncle was an idealist and cared about nothing but ideas and theory, Mr. Uchida was a strategist and while she couldn't help but admire the hands-on way he used to achieve what he wanted, she felt that he valued the power connected to politics much more than the ideals pursued.
It wasn't long until a small rustling sound alerted her and she looked up again to see Michiru slide open the door. The maiko stood from her kneeling position, entered gracefully, and after Chiyoha had stepped in after her, knelt down again and slid the door shut quietly in one smooth movement.
Today she was wearing a dark blue kimono with water lilies sprinkled generously across it, complimenting her faintly greenish shining hair. Chiyohas kimono matched hers in a similar blue, but was adorned with butterflies. The geisha was a little taller than Michiru and a classic beauty that might just have descended from a woodblock print, while Michiru posed a lovely contrast to her sister with her unusual, but no less beautiful features.
The girls greeted their customers and after a short while business talk was put to rest for the day. The meeting quickly got quite merry with Chiyoha skillfully leading the group in a drinking game and soon the three men were very much drunk.
Haruka refrained from drinking too much, always worried to give herself away if she ever lost contro. Instead she busied herself with glaring at Yoshio Tanaka, the younger assistant of Mr. Uchida, who was getting very attentive towards Michiru, who was sitting beside him, making it quite hard for the young girl to politely fend his attentions off. Of course, this was not the first time something like this happened and Haruka found herself inexplicably furious every single time and often unable to hold herself back, so that to her embarrassment it was quite well-known by now that Professor Tenoh's young nephew had a soft spot for pretty Chiyoko.
Noticing Michiru's predicament, Chiyoha smiled knowingly at Haruka and spoke up. "Chiyoko-chan, why don't you show young Tenoh-sama the beautiful garden? I'm afraid that he might be a little bored, as he doesn't enjoy drinking so much…"
Gratefully, Michiru nodded and upon Haruka's agreement stood, making her way towards an open door which lead out into a beautifully arranged garden. Yoshio's protests were quickly quieted, as Chiyoha poured him more sake and proposed another game.
It was a wonderful warm summer night and the garden was faintly lit by a few lanterns and the light coming from the house with its paper windows. Cicadas were making an almost overwhelming noise, as though they celebrated the warm, dry evening.
They slowly walked over the stone path towards a small bridge crossing the tiny pond in which probably koi were to be found, but it was too dark to discern what caused the movement in the water.
"A firely!" Michiru exclaimed happily, as a small glowing light buzzed past them and Haruka smiled at the excitement the usually so calm and collected maiko displayed.
"I am afraid, I have nothing to catch one for you, Michiru-san", she replied in a low voice and Michiru turned her head and smiled at hearing her call her by that name.
"I don't mind, I prefer them to be free", she replied, looking after the small beetle.
Loud singing sounded from the house and startled both of them turned back. Michiru giggled softly. "I don't think we need to worry about them missing us. At that rate, everyone will be asleep before long."
She took Haruka's hand, taking her by surprise and pulled her towards the little bridge.
"Tell me, how you have been, Tenoh-sama. We see each other so often and yet never really speak…", she said as they walked slowly through the garden, Haruka matching her long strides to the small steps which the kimono with its long hem required her companion to make.
"Will you not call me Haruka, Michiru-san?" she replied, tentatively entwining their fingers and glancing nervously back at the house. There was still singing and laughter to be heard. "If it's just the two of us?"
Michiru smiled up at her, gently tightening her fingers around Haruka's. "Well then, Haruka-san, how have you been?"
She chuckled softly at her persistence and started to tell her about the flying machine they were building. Michiru did not seem surprised by her unusual interests at all, she merely laughed gently at her excitement and frowned worriedly every now and then. And then, upon Michiru's careful inquiry, she told her about her parent's letter, realizing all of a sudden that the young maiko was the only person in the world to whom she could speak of such things.
"And you, Michiru-san? You must know all about me there is to know by now and all I know about you is your real name," she finally said.
"Oh, there is nothing really to know about me…", Michiru replied softly and averted her eyes.
"Will you not tell me about your daily life?" Haruka persisted and Michiru looked up in surprise. But then she nodded and complied, her account getting more and more animated, as Haruka listened intently, startled by the insight into the maiko's world, which seemed so remote and different from her own.
Before long, they were sitting on a stone bench, glad that no sudden rain showers forced them to go back inside and the full moon which had been hiding behind a few clouds appeared, bathing the garden in its gentle light.
"It's like last time, isn't it?" Haruka said and Michiru smiled.
"A little", she replied softly, looking down at their still entwined hands, which rested between them.
Haruka could still hearing singing and laughing from the house and she chuckled softly. "We're lucky that they don't miss us yet."
"Chiyoha is a very skillful entertainer", Michiru replied.
Haruka raised an eyebrow. "Did you…did you ask Chiyoha-san to keep the others occupied?"
Michiru's carefully neutral expression crumbled, as her face broke into a mischievous smile. "Maybe...would you mind if I had?"
Haruka chuckled and shook her head. She disengaged her right hand to reach up and cup Michiru's face, shining paper-white in the moonlight.
Michiru smiled up her and following a sudden impulse, she leaned down to kiss her.
The kiss lingered a short moment until Michiru broke it. She looked at her confused, worried. Had she misread her so?
But then Michiru reached up to smooth over the frown on her face, smiling tenderly and kissing her back shortly.
"We would ruin my make-up and I still need to go back in there, Haruka-san…", she whispered softly and gave her a teasing smile, but her eyes were sad.
"Ohh…", she laughed, feeling both relieved and frustrated. She pulled Michiru into a gentle embrace, her hands making their way down the thick fabric of her obi to come to rest on the silken kimono. She smelled the familiar scent of cedar, but there was something else, a scent that reminded her of the sea, she noted startled.
"Is there no chance of ever seeing you without your maiko attire, Michiru-san?" she asked softly and pulled back to look into her blue eyes. The color was just as strange as the color of her own eyes. But it seemed right to her – and then she realized why the woman in her dream had looked so familiar. She had the same eyes.
"Tenoh!" Yoshio's gruff, drunken sounding voice came from the house suddenly, startling both of them.
"Come back inside and share Chiyoko-san with us! It's unfair if you keep her all evening to yourself!"
They exchanged an exasperated look and rose to make their way back.
"I will think of something…", Michiru said before they entered the house and Haruka smiled at her, giving her hand a final squeeze, before releasing it.
To be continued.