Authors Notes:
My girlfriend was here with me editing this chapter, cutting and pasting, laughing and joking lol But its funny that 95 of this was already written, I just had to make it all work with everything in the present.
It was really nice though. ) She should be here with me more often when I work on this XD;
Anyway I'm aiming for the last chapter to be 12, but we'll see.
Enjoy.
There's a lot of mysteries solved and plot twists. I'll likely do a part two for this, since ruka needs a whole chapter now, before the final chapter. Also I may, mayyyyy, if you ask nicely XD, write a bonus mini chapter at the very end in the point of view of Monsieur. Yes the cat.
Won't that be fun XD;
- - -

Disclaimer:
I do not own the piano score, "All Among the Roses" written in 1872, by W. H. Delehanty.
I'm just using a bit of it for this chapter.
Btw, its a very old song, obviously 'gay' meant 'happy' then, k? XD;

- - -

Chapter Ten - Cathleen

Before they had known it, Haruka's car idled in front of Michiru's tiny apartment building.

Michiru didn't look back as she let herself out of the car, and ran into the building, not sure if it was tears or rain drops on her pale cheeks.

Hugging her arms, Michiru had climbed the creaky dusty stairs to her small deteriorating apartment. She went inside feeling as transparent as rice paper and just as fragile. It was bad enough she would never see Haruka again. In fact, she didn't even want to think about her again; but on top of that she had lied to her face to save her own pride.

Opening the door she stood there feeling dirty and strange. She sat on her bed, too shaken and detached to cry much more then a few tears at a time.

She should've took a lesson or two from Lady Anigusta.. She wanted more then ever to talk to the older woman now. But then Lady would probably laugh at her for making the same mistakes.

"Hadn't you be listening Michiru?" She imagined Anigusta saying; Monsieur licking from a porcelain dish, and the musty scent of old costumes and herbs mixing with the sweet summer like breeze. It was so vivid, tears stung in the back of her eyes.

At least for now, she was home.

Michiru turned out the little table lamp beside her bed and laid there in the dark.

Her icy barrier cracked into a million sharp shards, when finally outside she heard Haruka's car pull away. The ceiling was the only witness of her emotional decay.

She finally wept over the entirety of it all, unable to comprehend anymore heartache.

- - -

Haruka had no excuse for the moisture on her cheeks, the windows in the car were kept up, but still her cheeks glistened with hot wetness. She was too tired to drive home tonight, and didn't feel like going back to the beach house. So she found a parking lot in the Alley, near the old town's cathedral. Somehow it seemed right, and gave her solace.

Lucky for her, Michiru held grudges and was horribly proud. Neither of them spoke a word to each other the whole way to Michiru's apartment.

Fool. Idiot. Baka. Well this was for the better. Now she could sign that contract without guilt, and race without consequence. This was how it had to be. Nothing else mattered now. The happily ever after life wasn't the Tenou way. She didn't know how she had gotten so foggy headed to begin with.

Scrubbing at her cheeks, she finally jammed the gear into park and leaned the seat back, wanting to close her eyes and forget it all. And so she slept there, or what little sleep she could receive, was riddled with questions and unease.

One thing seemed clear though, life was full of hard knocks, and unless you keep your arms up for the fight, you'll be knocked down over and over again.

- - -

It had been a gray and wet morning, in the wake of that long and terrible night; with icy gray surf and pattering steely clouds.

A watery shadow outside the cars tinted windows placed a coloured flyer under the wipers. Haruka growled and went to lower the window, angry that even in her car she couldn't escape. But when she got the window down, only plastering wet grayness met her bleary eyes. The town seemed dead and quiet, she had finally realized. Pulling at the soggy flyer, Haruka numbly squinted at the words.

"In remembrance of Cathleen James Mason, a viewing will be held by the family for the friends and loved ones in the town today at nine o'clock a.m... Funeral services will be held behind... Followed by a reading at noon on the 22nd."

The cryptic text flowed on but Haruka's brain stopped registering them. Where had she heard that name before? In whisperings and undertones from her mother over the receiver, or after a piano recital?

Perhaps it was a friend of her mother's.

That was somewhat possible; her mother had thought the Alley was charming at times, and they lived so close in the summer.

But something didn't seem right.

Below the cryptic text was a hand written paragraph, a Xeroxed continuum. It was from an Alley member, to all the other Alley members who knew this person best and loved her for it. And this was anything but cryptic and detached.

This struck home.

"Come pay your respects to the woman who first defined the Alley. Lady Anigusta touched all of our lives. Now is the time, if you missed the vigil. May she rest in peace.

Oggi uniamo un amico, ma domani guadagneremo un angelo."

'Today we unite for a friend, but tomorrow we receive an angel.'

"What..?"

Haruka felt as though someone had hit her hard in the stomach. In a whirl of piano keys her mind flashed, as the noise crashed together with her faltering memories and her dazed unacceptance. Then she realized. Had Michiru known? Is that why she brought it up?

No; she didn't seem like she knew.

"So all this time, we had both been so unaware.."

Haruka hit her steering wheel, the palm tapping the horn sharply once.

"Damn!"

Another person she didn't get a chance to let in, or say goodbye to. Why was her life's milestones based on all the people who left her life? No, all the people who she opened the door for and escorted out.

Haruka glanced at the clock; she had a good couple of hours till the viewing. And she did not fancy sleeping any more in her car; her neck already felt the neglect and lack of a decent bed.

She knew Anigusta wouldn't need a suit and tie for Haruka to be there, but she didn't feel right without one.

She pulled out of the parking lot and zoomed toward the city, needing a change of atmosphere and time to think and collect her thoughts.

Anigusta always gave the best advice and was always one step ahead in your thinking. Haruka tried to reassure herself that Anigusta probably didn't remember her anyway, but that was a lie, clearly she did. She spoke to Michiru about her. The world was full of ironic twists.

She only hoped she had the strength to do what she needed to do.

-

Opening the door of her city flat, Haruka was greeted by the silent void of emptiness and it reminded her of being in a place between time and space.

She took a shower and with twenty minutes to spare, she pulled on a black shirt, suit, and silver tie. She could almost hear Anigusta's throat chuckle from across the room at her vanity.

Before she walked out, she tucked a newly written letter into her breast pocket.

The name it was addressed to could only be delivered by means of the above...

- - -

Sunlight filtered through the dust in glittering beams which stretched across the floor and rested somewhere in the middle. The breeze kissed the sitting area next to Michiru's bed, but it carried with it the damp thickness of humid moisture. The type of weather that reminded her of home.

Monsieur stood there on the window sill as if waiting for her to stir awake; as though he has some business with her he needed to address. His deep green eyes glowed in the early morning dimness. He meowed once and crawled into her lap as she sat up from a restless sleep.

"I'm sorry I left you too.. I hope Lady fed you while I was away."

The cat just watched her and closed his eyes as her fingers traced along his chin and neck. Finally Michiru reached over and picked up a crème coloured envelope. ASU campus was printed on the front addressed to the resident on 9th avenue, Apartment 3B. She had found the letter pushed under her door, the buildings way of mail delivery, and she had been so tired she left it for the morning.

Whatever it held she knew it would be a roller coaster of emotion; and she didn't want to handle it then. She didn't really feel like handling it now, either, but she had put it off too long.

Lifting the seal, Michiru's eyes scanned the fine impersonal ariel font.

"... However, it is regulations that only legal residents can acquire scholarships. "

Michiru wasn't old enough to file herself as resident; and since they looked at her parents information, she would never be considered a resident. And she didn't think her parents would move out to where she was, more less anywhere near the Alley.

She hadn't thought of this problem, and now that it was right in front of her, she felt very foolish and disappointed.

All this time, she had been lying to everyone. There was no school; no scholarship. So she had been accepted to a university that she didn't have enough funds to attend.

There truly was no reason to stay here anymore; she might as well go back home.

Monsieur nudged her hand purring softly. She was aware of tears slipping down her cheeks. She had most of the day to kill since she didn't go into work till afternoon, perhaps she'd try to sleep some more. Although she knew that was near impossible.

Michiru laid back with her arm over her forehead and sighed heavily. Tonight she should pack. There was probably enough money in her account to take a train. She should treat herself. Michiru always wondered what it was like on a train.

She was willing to give up this fight.

Monsieur jumped down to the floor and ran to the closet door with a yowl and batted at it with his paws. He laid down on the floor, slipping one fluffy paw as far under the door as possible, clawing at something unseen. Michiru sighed annoyed. She couldn't sleep but she didn't want to do anything else. What was that cat doing? Her eyes opened when she heard him scratching at the varnished wood.

"Hey! Don't damage the door; Monsieur what's gotten into you!"

She was more cross then she wanted to sound. Monsieur's ears flicked in her direction and his tail flicked as he watched whatever was under the door. He yowled again, whiskers pricked forward. Michiru sighed and got up, wincing as she walked through the sun beams.

"What in the world is it, Monsieur?" She opened the closet door to prove there was nothing there but moth eaten clothes of another era; Victorian suits and silk vests, which breast pockets still held dried up carnations. She didn't want to move the clothes when she had moved in. Her clothes were still in her wicker suit case.

"See, nothing, you crazy feline..." But still, Monsieur watched something intently as it moved between two musty faded rose coloured hat boxes. He pounced, his fluffy paws skidding into the closet... and straight into a crumbling hole in the plaster.

"Argh! Look what you did! I don't want to be responsible for damages right before I leave!"

Michiru knelt pulling the wriggling cat out of the dusty, crumbling hole, whiskers flecked with spider webs and plaster. He jumped from her grip and with it the mouse that had been in his mouth. It sped across the floor and under the heater vents.

"Mice..." Michiru declared wrinkling her nose.

"I wondered what had been eating my work shoes..."

Michiru decided the best thing to do would be to push one of the small boxes over the hole for now. She would apologize to Lady Anigusta later, she decided. She wouldn't tell her she was planning to leave; it would be too hard. She was just go.

When she knelt closer to the hole, she noticed something illuminated slightly from the light beams. Papers, as yellow and brittle as dried rose petals, came gingerly out of the makeshift hiding spot, as Michiru lightly pulled them out with her finger tips.

She sneezed from the dust. But however dirty they were, this was like something out of an old mystery novel. Her heart hammered in her chest. She loved the past, and this was surely a secret older then herself and clearly older then even a decade. The date was nineteen fifty seven, and the papers were wrapped around an old flyer from that time titled: "Things of Science."

Michiru sat back on her heels holding the papers as gingerly as glass, sure they would fall apart in her finger tips. Monsieur watched from a distance, his fur puffed out indignantly as he cleaned himself, his catch lying at his paws. There was a dark green collar with garnet gemstones around his neck, and a new silver bell jingled as he moved.

Michiru didn't notice. She was more impressed with the content of the letter she had found. It was addressed but never sent, never sealed. She felt a slow rush of guilt on her cheeks as she read the names on the envelope and fought the temptation to read it.

Myia Anderson

9th Av. Apt. 3B

Miss. Cathleen James

9th Av. Apt. 5C

Her eyes widened and her skin crawled over with goose bumps.

This room... this room had been Myia's!

All this time and Lady Anigusta never mentioned it. That explained the forgotten suits hanging on the hooks. But most particular was who she had been writing to. The name sounded familiar.. Oh yes, that was the name on that flyer. Michiru had seen them plastered all over the alley, and blowing in the rainy wind. She hoped someone would pick them up later; it was an awful lot of litter.

She put the letter down and stared at the gaping hole, and it stared right back. Maybe that was why Myia broke it off with Lady, because she was having an affair! Or maybe this Cathleen person was told why she broke up with Anigusta so suddenly.

Curiosity burned within Michiru, a sweet distraction from her own heartache, as she slowly looked down to the yellowed envelope stuffed with sweet explanation. Her fingertips twitched.

Monsieur, clean once again, walked over and sniffed the letter curiously, sneezing as well.

"Well, you must be part detective Monsieur, I would have never known that was there."

He batted at the ribbon that tied the letter shut and Michiru could barely make out the colour of it before it faded to sickening yellow. But as he pulled, parts of the ribbon that had been protected from the knot came loose and it was bright spring green, like a flower stem; Green like the richest eye colour.

Michiru scooped up the cat so his paw would stop its relentless batting.

"I've never seen you so mischievous."

Nuzzling his neck, the new collar itched her cheek through the thick fur of lion like capacity. Surprised Michiru touched the collar, her eyes furrowing slightly. Lady Anigusta wouldn't have put this on him. She didn't believe in collars, for all the pets here were wanderers, and everyone was their own owner more or less.

She turned the shiny silver circle dangling from the bell to her face to read.

"Meioh..-"

Before she could make out the rest of the lettering on the tag, he wiggled out of her lap again and bolted from her arms. In his furious retreat, the letter slid from its sheath and rested a few feet away from her.

Michiru stared after him, shocked and wondered if her absence caused him to dislike her.

Frowning, she picked up the letter and the envelope, planning on putting them back together. But her legs carried her over to the bed and her fingers flipped up the brittle top folded edge.

December 18th, 1957

"Dearest Cathleen,"

Michiru's heart hammered in her chest as she clung onto the brittle parchment. She felt like she was being let in on the biggest secret in history. She wondered just how close Myia was to this 'Cathleen' woman and if Lady Anigusta knew of her. Michiru didn't know Anigusta's last name, and wondered if perhaps this was her sister.

"I know in my heart the choices I am faced with now, will make us both regretful and sad. I find myself pinned against the wall and I am unable to move, unable to breathe... It seems like an obvious choice, but like a drunkard I am staggering with my decision. I must do what my heart is screaming at me to deny..."

There were some words scratched out, and some of the paper had begun deteriorating beyond recognition. Michiru picked up at the next most legible spot; admiring the tiny, ornate script in cramped cursive. The undeceive words which were written with such certainty in script, spoke volumes in expression of utter confusion and heart ache.

"... mockery of my family. All I ever wanted was their approval, I see now this is the only way. I cannot be as strong as you are, like a beacon in the night to us all. You were the real reason of all this, the real leader. I am fake. A weak woman masquerading..."

Michiru's brows rose to this confession. A leader? A beacon? What did she mean?

There were more scratches and then some faded words, leading in the middle of a sentence.

"...to give up now, and let you live and go on because I cannot hurt you anymore. I cannot be the woman you seek; the man you need.

I only hope that your life is happy and that you will live your life proudly like I could not.

I never stopped loving you...

Society did this, but the truth is, I never will stop.

Forever yours,

Micheal...Miya"

Clearly.. Clearly.. Miya had been speaking to Lady Anigusta all along! It had to be.. If only she had sent this letter. It would have saved her so much pain and it was here all along, hidden like the secrets of the heart tend to be. And now it was probably too late.

Why would she keep this from her?

Michiru's naïve mind couldn't comprehend the complicated tangle that adult love must endure. All of this pain, for something that did not work. Lady Anigusta knew in her heart that Miya didn't mean it when she up and left. If only she had shown her this letter, it proved that Miya was in a fix, that she had the best intentions; that she had done it with hopes of protecting her.

Miya had admitted her weakness and declared herself unworthy but forever in love.

Much worse then this shocking example of star crossed romance, was the underlying feeling that something wasn't quite right. That flyer came to her mind, the cold dark print shining through the rain against the street; making her heart fly.

Something much more chilling was going through Michiru's mind now, as she connected the strange name to a familiar face. Surely, it was a coincidence.

Michiru stood shivering a little with excitement, and some wild fear that her subconscious would not let out.

It had to be a coincidence! She needed to see Anigusta!

"I need to show her... can't believe it!" Michiru held the letter to her hammering heart and flew to the door.

Climbing the steps two at a time, that small voice of subconscious, her intuition, was beginning to make the hair stand on end along her arms.

When she had looked back on this moment, she didn't know for sure what made her run up the stairs that way. If it had been from excitement to finally release Lady Anigusta from her lifelong questions and unrequited love, or if it had been something else...

Michiru madly tried to force her skeptical mind away and think about the pleasure on Lady's face, her happy tears. She would make tea and cake, and Michiru would then read the letter to her. The script being much to small for an old woman's eyes; But oh wasn't it beautiful handwriting? 'Miya had wonderful writing, better then my own,' she would laugh and say.

Monsieur tripped her feet constantly, meowing after her as if trying to stop her. She reached the door, and in frustration, scooped up the cat. She didn't know why but she was crying.

"Stop it, Monsieur! What's...What's gotten into you.."

But she had known.

She knew it before she even opened the door.

Lady Anigusta, was indeed Cathleen, and she was gone forever from this world.

Michiru sobbed sliding to her knees in silent anguish, clinging to the open door frame.

The letter fell to the floor, soundless, as age denied it from noise. A light stirring of dust floated up from its wake against the worn wooden panels.

Monsieur stood by the doorway watching, before walking along side Michiru's knees and nudging them.

He had told her so... If only she had listened.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I couldn't have been here...I'm sorry you were all alone."

The breeze sighed from the open window, a reassurance, and through Michiru's tears, the light seemed to have collected before her in a moving blurry haze. Goose bumps creped along her arms, though she wasn't afraid. She felt Anigusta's presence with her and sighed holding back her tears.

"You were the only person I could have turned to.. I'm sorry you didn't have me."

Michiru was glad the delicate letter was on the wood before her, she was sure her hands would have crushed it before in her pain.

"I'll make it up to you..."

Monsieur watched the dust setting in the air before them, very intensely, as if he saw something she didn't. Then with a flick of his tail, the cat retreated down the stairs and out the door into the misty undeceive morning.

- - -

Michiru had spent all morning in Lady Anigusta's apartment. She curled up in a ball in one of the sunnier parts of the floor and told out loud everything in a gush about the past few days.

She told her that she would leave, she told her there was nothing left for her here now, and she was sorry that she could not live out Anigusta's dream of everlasting romance. Somehow she could see the would be concerned look on Anigusta's face through her closed eyes.

Every once in awhile she stopped to catch her breath through her sobs or to watch the dust glittering through the sun beams.

"I wish we could have tea together one last time.. I feel so empty now.." Michiru sighed and stood wiping her hand across her cheek, smudging her skin with dust.

She glanced around, the room was nearly empty, everything had been removed unless nailed down, besides the piano. Although, she could guess why, the stairs probably couldn't support it any longer anyway.

Walking over to it, Michiru touched the yellowed ivory keys and noticed the warped book in the music holder. It's edges were yellowed and brittle and curled slightly from years and years of turning them.

"All among the Roses.." Michiru read and touched the very antiqued booklet, dating eighteen-seventy-two. Who knows where Anigusta had received it, perhaps a long time ago she bought it in an antique shop on Miya's arm.

Michiru smiled a little and sat down on the stiff worn bench, which was covered by a thin long pillow added for comfort over the years.

"How did you come to get this?" Michiru wondered, somehow saddened that she never bothered to really know about the woman, and took her interests for granted.

She reached out picking it up and holding it. Yes; while they were courting. It had been purchased in an old shop in the beginnings of the alley.

Flipping through the pages she knew instantly why it had been kept all this time. It showed the sweet purity of new love and longing:

"In an ivy covered cottage, Hidden back of oaken trees, Lives a lovely little maiden, Blythe and
happy as you please. Where up on a low veranda, Ev'ry violets and roses blooming in her face so fair;
There's a pretty white Calmillia, ever glowing in her hair. Lovely violets and roses blooming in her face so fair;
Little stars, and merry sunshine In her In her eyes sp bright and gay. And a choir of angels
singing In the voice of Millie May. All Among the roses. Making sweet proposes.
Lovely, laughing, soul bewitching, Sweet Calmillia May, Captivating aggravating never tired of play, Flitting like a little birdie, Happy light and gay.
Kill me or I'll die with love, for sweet Calmillia May.
Now, forget not to remember when in love you chance to be, Try and keep in all your feelings. Not act foolishly like me. For I live on, hoping, dreaming of a coming joyous day; when I'll make of one Calmillia, such a lovely sweet Bouquet."

Michiru smiled, putting the book back and looked out the window over the mourning alley. She must have been such a sentimental person to hold onto such a token as that.

She hoped where ever Anigusta was she was finally at peace, and happy.

Standing Michiru realized what time it must have gotten, only she did not leave in her usual late rush manner.

Walking over to the forgotten letter, Michiru replaced it in its envelope, pushed the flap inside so it would be sealed in some way and placed the letter on the music holder in front of the music book.

She knew she should have gone to the viewing but she didn't want to go alone, and it would be too sad, too impersonal; She didn't need a church, she felt her right here.

"I'm sorry I have to go like this.. I'll see you..". She didn't want to say good bye, and she didn't know what else to say.

Michiru walked a few steps when something glittering in the sunlight on the floor caught her eye. She knelt to pick it up, tiny charms tingled together with the movement.

She stood holding the bracelet knowing she would be late now, but didn't think the floor would be the best spot for the bracelet.

Walking to the window sill she went to place it down, but something deep in her gut told her she shouldn't leave it there. Turning it in her hands Michiru frowned a little until something told her it was a gift.

She smiled and pocketed the bracelet, it didn't feel right to wear it yet, though.

"Thank you.. So long." Michiru crept out and took one last look before closing the door. She raced down stairs to dig up her work clothes, her mind too full of thoughts to let her feel sad.

- - -

Authors Notes:

This chapter was longer then I had wanted, but I had forgotten to tie end some ends with Michiru. Chapter eleven will focus mainly on Haruka. And then the long awaited chapter 12. You will see a change beginning in Haruka, not on her own, with some help from an old friend. :smiles: that's all you're getting from me!