Disclaimer: Haruka & Michiru belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Everything else belongs to me.
CH 14: Surprise || Surprised
Michiru had her forehead pressed tightly against Spar's barrel, her stare was deadly, shimmering with determination, her brows furrowed; she stared Spar dead on in the eyes, unwavering, unafraid. Everything that she touched, cared for, were crumbling before her eyes. Since Haruka's accident, Michiru had contemplated committing suicide God knows how many times; but she was a coward, she couldn't bring herself to do it, not when she promised Haruka that she would continue to live on; to not have Haruka waste her sacrifice only to have her take her own damn lowly life. But now…now Spar presented the perfect opportunity. Michiru would be able to die in the hands of her loved one, her brother, and finally be able to reunite with Haruka without breaking her word.
'I'm sorry…' Michiru thought to herself. She didn't know who this apologize was for; for Spar, using him to get what she wanted, or Haruka, for giving up so damn easily.
Spar towered over Michiru, his posture frozen in time, her eyes piercing the depths of his soul. Spar had messed with Michiru before, but only in a fun and laughing manner, nothing ever serious enough to warrant this kind of retaliation.
"Is this what you want?" Spar whispered lowly.
No answer. Michiru didn't answer the man; she was afraid that if she spoke, she might beg for her life, that she might beg Spar to spare her lowly life. Michiru tilted her head higher than it previously was, further driving the barrel of the gun deeper into her forehead, provoking Spar, provoking the man to just fire and stop with the questioning.
"As you wish." Spar stated coolly.
Without another word, Spar pulled down on the hammer of his revolver, his right index finger hoveringly gently on the trigger.
In the flash of a second, the entire room had gone silent; Spar and Michiru had ceased to breath, holding their breaths. The sound of a single gunshot fired ringing throughout the abandoned orphanage; the spacious building amplifying the sound of the shot, ricocheting off the walls and down the corridors. The fresh blood spewed from its wound, splashing everywhere, covering every inch of the tiny room; the walls, the floor, the urine soaked bedspreads, everything. Michiru stood there in the center of the room, her breathing was shallow, her eyes still wide and ajar, her mouths slightly parted, her entire face was submerged in fresh copper scented blood.
Spar's eyes were wide awake, his lips pursed tightly; when he opened his mouth to speak, no words came out; insead, blood began gushing from his lips as he spoke inaudibly, choking on his outpour of blood. His body felt like jell-o, no longer able to support himself, Spar fell onto his knees, eventually landing face down on the cold tiled floor.
Michiru's mind was completed blanked out, her eyes never once leaving her brother's face. As Spar's body slowly made its descend onto the cold tiled floor, emerging from behind Spar, in the shadows of the hallway, there standing behind Spar was Haruka; her Glock still drawn, its barrel still in the air, pointing at the spot where Spar once stood.
----- o -----
During the night raves, the entire club would be filled with young teenagers looking to score and get lucky, but by the break of dawn, the Guvernment was nice and quiet, peaceful and serene, closed to patrons until night struck again; a perfect little quaint atmosphere for such a gathering as this.
The windowed backroom was currently occupied by 10 burly muscled men, forming a circle around their captured prey. In the center of the room sat Dyon Chisu, tied and bounded to a chair, his mouth gagged, his hands and feet tied tightly down; escape was impossible, even for Houdini himself. Dyon's face showed only minor signs of scratches and bruising, nothing compared to what was to come; the look of raw fear in his eyes was what caught one's attention the most.
Emerging from behind one of his men was Yauri Nizo, in his entire glorious moods: furious and agitated. Nizo slowly approached the bounded Dyon Chisu, his eyes not leaving the frighten man once.
"Apologizes Dyon…where are my manners? I did tell my men to take it easy on you; we wouldn't want anything to happen to you now, would we?" Nizo asked rhetorically, in a mocking tone of voice.
Dyon tittered back and forth in his chair, attempting to foolishly sway himself free from his bondages. His childishly attempts were all futile, only aggravating Nizo even more, earning himself a slap in the face; the entire atmosphere had changed, Nizo was now beyond pissed.
"DID I SAY YOU CAN MOVE?!" Nizo roared loudly.
Immediately, Dyon violently shook his head; agreeing with Nizo in a heartbeat, not wanting to provoke the man any further.
"Benji Bento. Ring a bell?"
The moment the two words hit his ear canals, a shimmer of realization lit up in Dyon Chisu's eyes; again, the man violently shook his eye, almost instinctually denying Nizo's accusation immediately.
"FUCKING LIES!"
Yauri Nizo delivered a powerful jab to Dyon's nose, punching the man time and time again, until a river of blood poured from the man's nose, his silenced pleas unheard off, never being given the chance to vocalize them. The remainder of Nizo's men only stood on the sideline, enjoying the drama unfolding before them from a distance, enjoying the free show; a look of sinister smirks on many of their faces.
Nizo had lost count of how many times his fist had connected with the rat bastard's face; too many to count, too angry to even care about his throbbing bloodied hand. Reaching into his back pocket, Nizo took out a dozen of the photos he had developed, fanning them out in one hand, grabbing a lock of Dyon's hair in the other, forcing him to look at the photos, to look at the undeniable evidences that laid before his very eyes.
"You see that?! YOU SEE THAT?! You dumb fucking cunt! That's you there with Benji Bento! A detective from Tokyo Metro! Do I look like a fucking chump you can play?! IS THAT YOU?! Nobody fucking uses me! NOBODY!"
His eyes were too bloody to see properly, but Dyon knew that he had been caught with his pants down; there was no point in playing stupid anymore. Denying the man's accusations when Nizo had already called his bluff would only anger the deranged man even more; something Dyon didn't intend on doing, knowing that it'll only land him in a body bag faster. Without even clearly seeing the so called 'evidence' of himself, Dyon simply tilted his head forward, nodding his head, admitting his guilt.
"FUCKING PRICK!" Nizo released the lock of Dyon's hair, dropping the photos onto the floor below. The enraged man began circling the gagged man, his mind racing a mile a minute, his thought process becoming blurred, and his anger began to boil over; his hatred for the rat bastard growing with every passing second. The sound of Nizo hissing between his teeth was enough to alert the rest of the clan that their oyabun was in a shitty mood; each of the men that stood idly on the sideline immediately began breathing lightly, scared to even make a sudden gesture, fearing for their pathetic lives.
"My shipment of cocaine from last year, was that also you?!"
Dyon had heard the man's question clearly, though he didn't dare tell the man the truth; Dyon did the smart thing, he remained silent.
"I should hand you over to the Italians, get me a fucking refund!"
Nizo spat on Dyon's face; he was done with the traitor, he didn't even want to look at the fucker's face anymore. Nizo reached into his waistband and produced an uzi pistol; a small but lethal semi-automatic. No words were needed, Nizo didn't care to speak anymore, actions spoke louder than words. Cocking his uzi pistol, Nizo pointed the gun into the back of Dyon Chisu's head.
Feeling the cold barrel pressed up against the base of his skull, he knew what was coming; he knew this day would eventually come when he idiotically became an informant; for what, a lousy buck here and there. Just as Nizo's finger was about to press down on the trigger, a sudden loud crashing noise momentarily distracted him from carrying on with the execution. Turning his head to the source of the sound, Nizo noticed that someone had chucked something through their backroom window.
Already in horrendous mood, this only made matters worse. Uncocking his loaded pistol, Nizo tossed his gun to one of his nearest henchman. Walking over to the broken window, Nizo picked up the foreign object; bring it close to his face, upon closely examining the object, it was something he had never seen in his life before.
"What the fuck is this?" Nizo asked out loud, to no one in particular.
In his hands was a lightweight canister, the size of a milk carton; the canister was similar to that of canned spray paint, but something about the silver canister seemed off. Before being able to hand the foreign canister off to one of his men, the cap of the canister automatically popped off. Nizo instinctually dropped the canister onto the floor, kicking it away, clearing himself of harm's way, and into the dead center of the room.
The entire backroom was suddenly filled with a blanket of thick white fog-like gas. The odor emitting from the canister was extremely pungent, merely inhaling the substance made your nostrils burn, like they were on fire, stinging your eyes, causing tears flowing uncontrollably. The thick blanket of gas made it impossible to see; unable to reach for the doors, they were trapped, like fish in a barrel, waiting to be shot at.
"TEAR GAS!" Someone from within the room yelled.
Everybody in the room immediately began panicking; running and bumping into each other, fearing that they were being ambushed by a rival clan. Covering his nose with his hands, Nizo overheard from the ruckus the familiar sound his uzi pistol being cocked, most likely by the idiot he had tossed it to earlier.
"DON'T FUCKING…SHO…OT YOU IDIOT! ….FUCKING KILL US ALL!" Nizo yelled at the top of his lungs, coughing and choking as struggled to finish his sentence; gasping desperately for a clean breathe of air, he was suffocating alive.
Not long after the mere words had left his mouth, their door came crashing down with a loud thud; in swarming an army of men, all equipped with heavy duty protective armor, bulletproof vest, gas mask, and shot guns in hand.
With the swarm of men rushing in, in stepped Suri alongside Benji in gas masks, their shot guns loaded, pointing directly at Yauri Nizo's head.
"Freeze! Move and I blow your fucking brains out!" Benji yelled from behind his gas mask.
----- o -----
A week's time has elapsed since that fateful night at St. Marie's orphanage when she thought that her fate, her destiny would be forever sealed; before the sudden turn of events changed her life forever. The short time frame had allowed Michiru the luxury of being able to offer her brother a proper burial, a proper farewell bidding; and most importantly, it allowed Michiru the time needed to seek closure from everything.
Walking up to the marked grave, Michiru placed a bundle of lilies by the headstone. Kneeling on her knees, Michiru drew her delicate fingers over the headstone engraved with the name of its eternal owner: Spar Kaioh. Even though Spar was Michiru's older brother, they never truly developed a deep sibling bond, though on rare occasions, would show mutual affections to one another; but besides that, they were as good as strangers. Strangely though, sitting by his headstone, her fingers on his name, this was the closest Michiru's ever felt to being connected to her brother. Spar was not a perfect man, far from it, Michiru was all too aware of his shortcomings, but even so, he was the only person Michiru could call family. The mere thought of never being able to see Spar's face ever again brought trickles of tears down Michiru's cheeks. He was her family, that would forever remain unchanged.
A light tap on her shoulder brought Michiru out of her trance-like state and back into reality. Looking up, she laid eyes upon a familiar face that she never thought she would see again; the one true person that cared for her, and now, the only person she could call family.
"I'm sorry Michiru." Said Haruka in a husky voice.
Michiru shook her head, standing on her two feet again.
"It's not your fault…you did what you had to, you didn't know…"
Caringly, Haruka walked over to where Michiru stood, wrapping her arms around the smaller women, pulling her into her arms, giving her a warm embrace; lending her shoulders for Michiru to lean upon, to cry upon.
Kissing the top of Michiru's head, Haruka pulled Michiru closer to her body, hugging her even harder.
"Don't blame yourself Haruka…it's not your fault. To tell you the truth; I was hoping that Spar would pull the trigger, put an end to my misery. I could have never imagined in a million years that his gun was empty…he never wanted to hurt me, no matter how conniving and sinister he was. I should have had faith in him; I should have known he would never bring himself to take my life, especially for Shinto. I'm just sad that it had to end like this."
Michiru broke away from the arms of Haruka's warm embrace, walking back over to the headstone for the last time. Leaning down, Michiru planted a gentle kiss on the top of the headstone, leaving drops of tears behind as remembrance.
"I love you. Goodbye Spar."
----- o -----
The raid had been successful; their joint task force mission between Tokyo Metro Division 42 and Interpol led by agent Shero had gone off without a hitch. Now that they had successfully apprehended Yauri Nizo, with enough evidence to charge the man, the remainder of the clan were small fishes, easy to deal with. A clan without their oyabun was nothing but small potatoes; Benji gave them 2 months tops, give or take a few, before the entire Nizo/ex-Honet clan would be completely disbanded. But there was still something eating away at Benji that just didn't sit right; and he intended to get to the bottom of things.
Suri was still in the midst of taking off his SWAT gears by his squad car when he spotted Benji heading his way from afar. Everything was had been his idea, and he had kept everything and everybody in the dark, with the help of his blonde friend that was; it was time, he owed Benji a long overdue explanation.
"Hey Suri, you got a minute?" Benji asked causally.
"Yeah. Go ahead, I still gotta wait for people from O.P.P to come pick up the gears. What's on your mind?"
"Well…what happened in there, at the Guvernment. How'd you know that Dyon Chisu was my confidential informant? Better yet, how'd you know that Yauri Nizo was going to make his move?"
Pausing a moment to gather his thought, Suri was prepared to indulge the man with all his secrets.
"Actually I didn't actually know per se. Last week, we got hold of a suspicious audio tape. From the conversation in the audio tape, we were able to identify the speakers as Spar Kaioh and Yauri Nizo. Long story short, Spar had ratted Dyon Chisu out to Yauri Nizo, that's how we knew Dyon Chisu was your informant, and that's how we knew Yauri Nizo was going to go for the kill, all we had to do was stake him out, wait for him to pounce. Plus I had an undercover keep a close eye on Spar Kaioh, in case he wanted to pull a fast one; she's been feeding us info for the past week now, it's safe to say we had all our bases covered.
"And what happened in there…how'd you…"
"With the tape, we were able to easily to obtain an arrest warrant, and a search warrant for the premise. Agent Shero and Interpol wanted a hand in this, apparently Interpol wants to offer Yauri Nizo immunity in exchange for his testimony against the Russians and the Italians; I didn't see why not, plus it never hurts to have such strong reinforcements. It's actually a win-win situation for us. Takes Yauri Nizo off our hands, leaving us to deal with Dyon Chisu only."
"Wow! You really had this all planned…wait, what? Rewind. Haruka's been missing for a week now…you've called off the search and rescue within 48 hours…and this is what you've spent your time on?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" Benji spat loudly.
Suri immediately held his hands up, signaling Benji to calm down first. "You still don't get it do you?"
"Get what?!"
"It's Haruka that been feeding us information; she's the one that has been tailing Spar, she's the one that handed us the audio tape she confiscated from Spar." Suri revealed coolly.
Confused as ever, Benji could only stand there with a million questions running through his mind.
"Wait what? Huh?! How?! I mean…"
"I'll let her explain. She actually just gave me a call, wants me to tell you to meet her at The Script café in an hour; bring Tara too, I'm sure she misses her favorite blonde too, even though she won't admit it."
Nodding his head, Benji was formulating his next move.
"Suri? You've knew about this from the get-go? For what…say a week's time right? Give or take."
This time it was Suri's turn to nod his head in agreement, "Sounds about right. Why?"
Placing both his hands onto Suri's shoulders, Benji yanked the man forward before planting a knee into Suri's stomach, hitting him dead on.
Caught completely off guard, Suri had the wind knocked out of him; his immediate reaction was to grab his torso, falling down onto his knees, breathing heavily, with tears of pain forming at the corners of his eyes.
"Be glad it was your guts and not your groin. Drinks on me tomorrow, I'll see you then."
With that, Benji ran to his squad car with a happy grin plastered on his face. Pulling his cellphone out, Benji gave Tara a call; he wasn't going to tell her yet, he was going to give her a surprise; a big blonde surprise.
----- o -----
It had always been her ambition since she was little to seek justice in life; if there was one thing that Tara Abei believed in, it was justice: that everybody would eventually get what they rightfully deserved. But as a petite woman, Tara was never the sporty type; always preferring to read a good book rather than climb trees with the other kids. So Tara resorted to the next best thing, becoming a licensed medical pathologist; giving the victims a voice when their own voices have been forever silenced. People lie; this was Tara's motto in life, a code she lived by. Regardless of how saint-like they all claim to be, people lie; but corpses don't, they're the only truth in the web of madness that ensues. Many people didn't understand her but she thoroughly enjoyed her line of work; being able to bring justice for the victims, and closures to their families; it was truly satisfying and fulfilling, something that she held close to heart. This was what made her decision so difficult; this was why she was having such a difficult time dealing with the fact that she had just handed in her letter of resignation to the Dean of Medicine, just hours prior to receiving Benji's urgent call. With such turn of events, she wouldn't be able to dedicate herself to her work any longer, working harsh hours and under immense amounts of stress. With her strong work ethics; if she couldn't dedicate herself selflessly into her job, she would much rather give it up completely rather than half-ass it. She was sacrificing her job and her work for a greater bundle of joy, and this in itself made everything worthwhile in the long run.
"Earth to Tara! You there?!"
Startled at the sudden booming voice, Tara hopped in her seat at the sight of Benji before her. "DAMN IT BENJI! I told you not to scare me like that again! It's not good for my health; it's not good for…"
"RELAX!" Benji stated loudly, cutting Tara off in the midst of her sentence. "You need to learn to relax yourself; when you're tense like that, you'll be startled by the smallest of things, it's not just me."
"You're unbelievable, you know that?"
Benji ran his fingers through his slick hair, "Unbelievably sexy you mean…"
"Full of yourself, as always I see. How'd you know I wanted to see you? There's actually something we need to talk about…"
"Hey Kusomi! 2 lattes and 2 coffees please!" Benji yelled across the room; completely ignoring Tara's earlier statement.
"Who else is coming? I thought it was just you and me?"
"I have a surprise for you! You'll love it! Don't worry, I'm not going to ruin it for you; I'll let you see for yourself." Benji stated confidently.
"I have a surprise for you too; but I can't say the same for you…"
"THERE SHE IS! OVER HERE HARUKA! MICHIRU!" Benji raised his arms into the air, waving it back and forth, trying to flag down the couple.
"Haruka?!" Tara twirled her head 180 °, only to meet eye to eye with the familiar blonde that she has missed oh so dearly. She couldn't suppress her excitement, her happiness; forgetting everything she had rehearsed earlier, Tara leaped off her seat and ran over to where the blonde stood.
Tara flung her arms around the blonde's neck, giving her a tight embrace, pressing on Haruka's body with all her might; afraid that if she let go, her friend might disappear again.
"Calm down Tara! It's really me. See, the same old sexy blonde that you knew and loved. Can't say the same for you though…weren't you mourning my death?! Look at you, you've gotten what? Maybe 5, 10 pounds heavier. The news of my death really got your appetite going huh?"
That comment alone earned Haruka a slap on the arm; she didn't want to admit it, but she really had come to miss Haruka's quirky remark.
"Come sit. Michiru, you're looking better since that last time I saw you."
"Thanks Tara. I guess what I needed most was my daily dose of Haruka. That and I've decided to go to therapy; I can't keep hiding from my traumatic past. Now that I want to start a new life with Haruka, it's best to start anew, with a clean slate, and what better way to do that then to get professional help. Plus it really helps to know that Shinto isn't hanging over my head anymore, and never will be, ever again."
"You have me now; you never have to worry about anyone or anything, anymore."
Taking the pendant whistle that once belonged to her, but now belonged to Michiru, in her hands, Haruka pulled Michiru forward by the chain around her neck, bringing her in for a reassuring kiss. Haruka had missed Michiru as much as Michiru has missed Haruka; soon the comforting kiss was starting to heat up between the two.
"You know we're still here right?" Tara asked, blushing at the sight of the lovebirds' public display of affection.
"Yeah! Get a room later; come have a seat first."
Michiru and Tara sat on one side of the booth, while Haruka and Benji sat on the adjacent side; their joyous reunion had been long overdue. Their drinks arrived quickly after they were seated. Everybody except Haruka and Michiru sat there in an awkward silence while Benji and Tara were closely examining every inch of Haruka's photogenic face. Both Benji and Tara had a single question floating in their mind, but neither of them dared to make the first move.
After minutes of awkward silence, Michiru decided to break the ice, doing Benji and Tara the favor of asking the single burning question on their minds.
"Alright stop it, please. Haruka, just tell them what they want to know so we can have a peaceful quiet afternoon together; or else they'll gawk at you till their eye falls out." Michiru stated, taking a slip from her cup of coffee.
"What happened on the yacht Haruka? How'd you manage to survive that? I mean…you don't know how to swim." Benji asked curiously, his line of vision never once leaving his now apparently resurrected partner.
Haruka placed her coffee cup back down onto to the accompanying china plate, and proceeded to indulge her friends in the truth.
"Truth be told, I thought I was a goner too. With the detonator counting down to mere seconds, I had to make sure Michiru was off the yacht before I could run for cover. Once I heard the sound of Michiru hitting the water, I immediately ran for cover. I wasn't thinking much, I let my instinct take over; the moment my fingers left the detonator wire, I ran into the basement of the yacht. It was there that I found an old stainless utilities locker. Without thinking, I immediately crawled inside and waited for the explosion to come. The explosion happened in a blink of an eye, like a flash bomb; I still have a nasty scar on the back of my head from getting cut by a pair of sharp pliers. I should've really taken your advice Benji, get myself some swimming lessons at YMCA; after this, you never know when it'll come in handy."
"What happened next?" Tara asked intently.
"I remember hearing a single loud bang, then everything sort of when silent; everything around me began fading into the background; all except for the loud ringing noise in my ears. The force of the explosion must have knocked me out cold, cause the next thing I knew, the utility locker I was in was quickly filling up with water, fast. Luckily the frigid sea water woke me, whatever little air that was left was quickly filling with water. I remember trying to open bang open the locker door with my bare hands, but the force of the explosion must have damaged the door; I was basically trapped within, waiting to be drowned alive. There was nothing I could do." Haruka calmly recounted; again picking up her coffee for another long sip.
Benji sat there intently beside his partner, waiting for her to finish her story. When nothing came about, Benji couldn't suppress his curiosity any longer. "That's it?! That's the story? You died! THE END! What the Hell Haruka? How'd you get out then?"
"Well as I was starting to panic, desperately gasping for the last few breaths of precious air, I started looking around the damn locker that was going to be my watery grave; that's when I stubbed my toes on something hard, cut right through my shoe. There lying on the bottom of the locker was a pair of spare bolt cutter. I made a mad dash for it; using its sharp edges, I was able to make a tiny little opening. From that, I used the cutters as leverage, prying an opening wide just wide enough for me to crawl out of. I tried paddling my legs to get to the surface, but every time I got to the surface for air, I somehow always ended up going back down; I repeated this cycle of surfacing and drowning for a good solid hour before I was able to grab on to a piece of furniture."
"The utility locker! The sofa?! Suri mentioned everything that he recovered that day to me; he mentioned finding the utility locker and the sofa, but he never mentioned finding you…" Benji stated accusingly.
"The story goes, I grabbed on to that sofa for dear life. It took the search and rescue team hours before they were able to locate me; in the nick of time too, the currents were starting to pull me farther and farther away from shore. I tried paddling back to shore but pushing against the strong tides at that hour was useless, not to mention stupid; after everything I had gone through that day, I didn't have any energy left to spare."
"Whose idea was it to keep your death a secret? Was it Suri's?" Tara asked, intrigued at drama-like turn of events. If this wasn't happening before her eyes, happening to Haruka, she would never have believed it possible for someone to survive an action-packed event like this. The series of events that Haruka had to endure seemed like they came straight out of a movie.
"It was my idea. When the search and rescue team had pulled me back to shore, I had asked Suri to keep it a secret; gives me a chance to tie off remaining loose ends, like Spar for one. I actually never intended to keep it a secret from you guys though; I was actually planning to tell you guys. After ER at Tokyo Medical released me, I walked over to Michiru's room on the 3rd floor; I remember being outside Michiru's room, about to knock, when I heard Benji started yelling like a madman. I couldn't understand a single word that came out of your mouth; you were yelling something about my will, about Burt Johnson, and changing someone's ringtone. Since my will has already been read, I just decided to play along at the last minute; believe me, I would have trusted you guys with my secret. I never meant to put you guys through such rough turmoil; especially Michiru."
Haruka extended her hand across the table to grab hold of one of Michiru's delicate hand, their hands coming together, fingers intertwined.
"So how come you're coming clean now, telling us everything, revealing yourself? What's changed?" Tara asked.
"I'm done my job, literally and figuratively. I'm done tailing Spar and Yauri Nizo, I've taken care of Spar, and Suri's got Nizo covered; I don't see why I had to continue keeping my survival a secret."
This time it was Benji that spoke up, reopening an unhealed wound. "What do you mean you've taken care of Spar? I didn't see did you drop by the station, and he's definitely not in lockup…"
"Haruka killed Spar to protect me." Michiru simply stated, her eyes closed; her hand still within the warmth of Haruka's.
"I've actually been living at Ojun's for the past week; when I had finally run out of clothes to wear, I decided to go for a quick change of clothes at my apartment, that's when I saw Michiru leaving the building. I had a bad feeling, call it a sixth sense or detective's intuition, but Michiru wandering the night streets of Tokyo alone didn't sit well with me, so I decided to follow her, see where she was heading. Michiru ended up going to St. Marie's, the orphanage I had left for her. Aside from me, I also notice that she was being trailed secretively by Spar; unbeknownst to him though, he still thought I was dead, I thought he was there to finish Michiru off too. I patiently waited around the corner, eavesdropping on their conversation; when the arguing finally stopped, I peeked around to see Spar holding his revolver against Michiru's head. I panicked; I wasn't thinking properly, I shot him with a single head shot. I thoroughly searched his body for any other weapons, that's when I found the audio tape of the conversation between Yauri Nizo and himself. My best guess is that he was going to use that tape to blackmail Nizo after he had killed Dyon Chisu."
"I still can't believe you're here, sitting before me, after everything that's happened. I thought I had lost another partner; you know how hard it'll be finding a replacement for you. COME GIVE ME A HUG!"
Benji reached up to grab Haruka's neck, pulling her down for a tight embrace; Benji's hands smothering Haruka's face tightly against his neck, the sound of Haruka mumbling inaudibly could be hear.
"Benji! Let her go, she's turning green!" Michiru yelled; Tara playfully slapping the childish man on the arm.
"Oh right. What'd you say Haruka? Want another hug?"
Haruka immediately held her hands in front of her chest in a defensive position.
"No, no! One is enough. I said you'll have to find a replacement for me after all."
"What do you mean? You're perfectly fine! Nothing's wrong with you. Is there?" Benji asked conceringly.
"It's not that. I guess what I want to say is that I've had enough with the action, the adventure, and the explosions; everything that's happened lately is enough to last me a lifetime. Michiru and I have decided to reopen St. Marie's, run the orphanage together, give back to the community; and most importantly, live a nice and quiet life together. There's nothing sweeter than waking up each morning to the face of the person you love, right Michiru?"
Michiru leaned across the table, pulling the blonde's face in for a tender kiss. Their sweet lips alive and complimenting each other; it was a shame that they had to be parted. The tender kiss was enough to elicit a satisfying sigh from the blonde.
"I love you Haruka."
"I love you too Michiru. I'll never leave you again; the Gods themselves can never separate you from me again, I'm not moving, you're stuck with me forever."
"Gladly."
Haruka sealed her promise to Michiru with another tender kiss; their second kiss was enough to elicit a sensual moan from Michiru, it might have progressed into something more physical if they didn't have Benji and Tara in their company. Only when they heard Benji awkwardly clearing his throat did the pair of lovebirds' part their tender luscious lips.
"WAIT! This is nice and all but that doesn't mean you can't be on the force still; you could part-time at the orphanage, or you could…"
"Look, everything I wrote in my will, I meant it; please seriously consider my offer. I know Tara always wanted a private practice, and let's be honest Benji, you can't afford to take much more bullets anywhere, you've practically used up your 9 lives quota. Besides, it's too late Benji! I already handed in my resignation letter, my badge, and my gun to O.P.P before heading over here to meet you guys. But hey, you and Tara are always welcome to visit us at St. Marie's. You'll love it there, plus, Tara loves kids, right Tara?" Haruka asked.
When everybody's attention was on Tara, the only reaction she could give was to stare intently at the latte before her; her cheeks flushed tomato red.
"You're not following Haruka's lead right? You didn't quit your job at Tokyo Medical did you?" Benji asked nonchalantly; picking up his cup of hot latte for another sip.
Still flushed with embarrassment, Tara didn't dare meet Benji's eyes when she spoke.
"Actually, I handed in my resignation letter this morning."
With Michiru sitting beside her, Michiru placed a comforting hand on Tara's shoulder, a look of concern plastered on her face.
"Something wrong Tara? I thought you said you loved your job at Tokyo Medical."
"Remember weeks' time ago, when we were suppose to meet for breakfast; I was picking you up from the station? Well everything sort of got side tracked when we found the blood, and with Haruka's sudden disappearance. I was planning on telling you then Benji…."
"Tell me what?"
"It's…well, you know…I'm…sort of…" Tara mumbled.
"You're what?" Benji asked; the hot cup of latte still lingering in his hands, inches away from his lips.
"I'm pregnant."
"YOU'RE PREGNANT?!" Benji and Haruka yelled in unison, their voicing boomingly loud; even the table on the furthest side of The Script had heard their exclamation. Only difference was that Haruka didn't have anything in her hands when Tara had broken the news; the same can't be said for Benji though. The moment the word 'pregnant' hit his ears, his hands went limb, pouring the entire hot beverage content onto his groin, burning himself from the outside in.
"SHIT!" Benji jumped out from his booth seat, wiping off whatever remind of his latte that didn't seep into his pants already.
"Benji…you alright?" Michiru asked with a contorted straight face, trying her best to suppress a giggle fit.
"Benji, is it me or does this feel like déjà vu?"
"Forget that! Tara, you're pregnant?! Are you sure? Does that mean…?"
Tara nodded her head; answering Benji's unfinished question.
"Does that mean what?" Haruka asked, scratching her head; looking back and forth from Tara to Benji, to Michiru sitting across from her.
"I'M GOING TO BE A DAD!" Benji screamed at the top of his lungs. Benji quickly ran to Tara's side, giving the delicate woman the biggest hug he could muster.
"WHAT?!" This time it was Michiru and Haruka's turn to yell in unison.
The crazy madness just never ended; and though one epic chapter of their crazy lives had ended, a brand new chapter is about to unfold.
--- The End ? ---
A/N: THERE YOU HAVE IT GUYS! DONE! BOO-YEAH BABY!!! SURPRISE! SURPRISED?!
I hope I was able to tie off all the loose ends nicely. How'd you guys like the Haruka revelation? Haruka would never break her promise to Michiru. How'd you guys like the ending? SAY WHAT?! Tara's pregnant?! Benji?! Huh?! I guess I wanted to leave the story with a happy ending mixed with a bit of madness.
Alright guys! MOMENT OF TRUTH! As I already mentioned on my profile, I am an amateur writer, I've never claimed to be anything otherwise, and this is my first story EVER. Please leave me a review about how you felt about the story, the flow, the character development, the plot, anything and everything; as along as its constructive criticism, I'm willing to accept, and it'll be much appreciated.
I already have another concept for a story in mind but who knows when that'll come to fruition. Anyway, I'm proud of myself for sticking with this story, seeing it through; I'm the kind of person that can't sit still for a minute much less write 14 chapters: 79,117 words, that more than all my research paper combined! Anyway, I would like to thank everyone who read and followed this story.
THANK YOU.
PS: w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e……………