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Chapter 12: Keeping Up Appearances

Actually, she didn't know what to do.

For the first time in her life, she didn't know what to do and at the back of her mind, she was cursing her new neighbor for bringing her here. She saw him take a glance at her the moment everyone heard the voice of the senshi of the deep sea, but she was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing what she really was feeling at the moment.

Or anyone for that matter.

She smiled briefly, staying in her seat for a while, appearing like she was either neutral or almost pleased to see the Neptunian senshi. Well, of course she was pleased, now that she had understood her bond with the woman from talking to the future Michiru. But then that doesn't keep her from being completely clueless on mending their current relationship. Of course, this would be awkward. There were greetings, hugs and kisses as the refined one came and greeted everyone. In her knee-length white springtime dress with a pink cardigan covering her delicate shoulders, the teal-haired woman naturally knocked all the girls out in terms of class and style, even the now very stylish and updated rising star that is Minako. But then again, she was biased.

She took a very brief glance at the only alien in the café before swiftly charging at him, punching him in the gut as soon as she had nearly closed the gap. As he fell over, she continued to punch him over and over again until Mamoru and the rest tried to stop her.

That was of course, just what was in her mind. She wouldn't want to make a scene at a time like this now, would she?

Michiru stopped talking to Ami for a while, noticing the ash-blonde sitting in one of the café chairs, looking on with a small smile on her face. A smile that the senshi of embrace knew the meaning of, even after three years of separation from the other woman.

"H-Haruka." It was a small, delicately surprised voice. It also revealed to the senshi of the wind that the other girl was caught off guard, unsure of what to do. Haruka took a deep breath before standing up. This was the ash-blonde's doing, not Seiya's. She decided to come here, she even freaking drove here. Perhaps, this was finally the time wherein she could close things off. But she didn't know how to do it. Well, whatever. 'Let's see how this goes," the tall one said to herself.

"Ohisashiburi, Michiru," Haruka gave out a full smile. The worried features on the face of the Neptunian senshi smoothened and she too, eventually smiled back.

"Ohisashiburi, Haruka-chan. How have you been doing?"

"Just moved back to Tokyo," her airy low voice said. It was a casual tone, everyone in the café noted as they allowed the two to carry on the conversation, silent as they listened in, anxious of what might transpire. "What about you Michiru? You're here for another tour, I suppose?"

"Iie. I'm here to take a very short break before we tour around Europe and North America," was the amiable response.

"Ja…let's all sit down and I can serve us some more tea before for the afternoon. Then we can have some dinner, so save room for that," Makoto motioned everyone to sit down once again.

Well that came out quite naturally, Seiya thought to himself. It seemed like Haruka had no feelings for Michiru and that they are on good speaking terms. She must have been speaking to the teal-haired woman after coming back from the future.

Everything seemed normal then with Rei teasing Usagi about what the OB had told buns head about gaining too much weight in a month's time, Seiya talking about his future plans of coming back as a solo artist and finding out to Minako's delight that they will be from the same agency, and Hotaru being chided by Haruka for wearing such a short skirt only to lose to the Rei, Michiru and even Ami for being too conservative. It seemed like it was going to be a comfortable day. Everyone avoided the topic and got along, until Haruka excused herself to get some air outside before dinnertime.

He was going to relax already, happy that things seemed to go well. But then he saw Michiru look to her side as the wind senshi stood up. And as the tall woman briefly stopped to glance back at the happy group, he saw it—her eyes were starting to well up with tears.

Of course. The outers were used to keeping up appearances.

And almost instantly, Hotaru excused herself to use the toilet while Michiru pretended to be busy with pouring tea, trying to continue the conversation. Seiya tried to fiddle with his tea and laugh along, only to have himself standing up after a less than a minute. He couldn't keep to his seat, knowing what she might be going through right now.

Okay, so he was worried about her again. And he didn't quite care about the reason why for now.

"Seiya?" Minako asked with a puzzled look. Apparently, he had his eyebrows furrowed together, his fists formed. Looking around and realizing what he was doing, he started laughing. "Eh…I need to go out. I forgot it was Ami's birthday!" he blurted out. "I need to get a gift."

"That's not until September Seiya," Ami pointed out, a confused look to her face.

"Eheheh! I meant Makoto's!" he nervously laughed again. The others sweatdropped at that.

"It's December," Makoto said flatly, an eyebrow raised and arms crossed.

"Setsuna!"

"She's not even here and that's on October!"

"Sorry, I meant Rei! You must be the one. April 14, right, am I right?"

"17th Seiya, and that's very sweet. But why so sudden"—

"Bye! I was right. I'll be back soon!" he dashed out leaving the others quite confused.

He rushed around the block, trying to find his new neighbor. She must've ran off to somewhere really far. After a few minutes, she was nowhere to be found and of course, knowing her speed, she might have travelled miles away from the café and get back without a sweat. Giving up, he went to a store, bought something for Rei like he promised, and dragged his feet back to Makoto's café. As he was close, he heard a very deep sigh from the alley that led to the back door of Makoto's café. Of course! How stupid of him to tire himself…

But his focus turned to the woman whose back was turned against him. He could see her shoulders trembling from where he was. Instantly, he rushed to her, putting Rei's gift down to the ground for a while.

"You okay?" he asked, gently tapping her shoulder. Haruka looked back at him for a while and hastily wiping her tears away, she gave him a sad smile.

"It's still so hard…I love her too much…but I don't want to withhold her happiness in the future…I don't want to interfere now that I've seen a glimpse of her future…"

"Haruka…" it was the only word that he was able to say. Putting his arms around her, he placed her head against his chest, knowing that she can suddenly turn stubborn and kick his butt away from her. But she didn't and although she stiffened for a while, she relaxed, not returning the hug.

"I don't want her to not see her daughter, to not live in that house…I want her to be happy," her voice breaking as she said those words quite bitterly. Seiya only continued to try hushing her.

"Why is it so hard," she whispered, as she gritted her teeth, trying to keep her tears from falling. But she wasn't successful and as she gasped out for air, she found herself sobbing softly, uncontrollably, wetting his baseball jacket with her salty tears.

"Shhh…no one's rushing you Haruka…it's okay to feel that way…of course, it's because you love her…it's only natural," he replied. Never had he seen her this broken, this vulnerable. In this kind of pain. Yes, he had seen glimpses of her pain, but she had always kept her composure, her proud stature. In stating her sadness, she had never let him see her cry. And for some reason, there was nothing else he'd want to do at that moment than to throw the pain as far as he could, away from her.

But she had chosen it. A sacrifice for the future, for the princess and the kingdom. A sacrifice for love. For Michiru.

For a few moments he let her be, until her sobbing died down. She pulled away gently again wiping the tears from her eyes. Sighing again, she sniffled and laughed very softly.

"Uh…well. This is weird. I'm really sorry you had to see me like this," she said, uncomfortably looking to the side. Putting her hands to her pockets, she tried to think of something witty to say.

"Well, maybe we should go back," he suggested.

"With what, a face like this? No," she said coolly. He however looked around and saw a thin hose attached to an outdoor faucet.

"I know what you're thinking and my answer is no."

"Well, that will decrease the puffiness on your eyes," matter of factly.

"And ruin my clothes? No," incredulously. They were both silent for a while, staring at the green hose and the outdoor faucet.

"I didn't take you for a pretty vain woman," he suddenly said out of nowhere.

"Surprise, surprise," from the corner of his eye, he knew he saw that familiar smirk appear on her face again, despite the sniffling. He chuckled softly and started to make his way back to the café with slow steps.

"Maybe you should talk it out," he said, again breaking the silence between them. He had started to become used to these quiet moments. She only nodded, continuing to walk back toward the café. And suddenly, she stopped. Seiya looked up at her and then toward the direction where the wind senshi was looking.

"We'll be back by dinner," she said simply before approaching the teal-haired woman in front of them. Seiya watched the two go. They really seemed perfect for each other, yet he can't understand how someone else could even be more perfect for Michiru. For Haruka to actually want to let Michiru go fully, despite all this pain...that must be something else.

He admired her selflessness, yet he felt like she was being such a martyr. But like he always heard, the outer senshi had their own way of doing things.

Author's notes:

To do the talk or not…. Hm. Thoughts? Do you want to read of their conversation or just keep it as is and move on? I can do either actually….I just don't know if it might be redundant or something. But then, I can make it not redundant, can I? LOL, sorry, talking to myself. Please let me know what you think of this chapter, and if you want to read of Haruka and present Michiru's conversation.

No Japanese words to translate at this point, since I used Ohisashiburi in the previous chapter xD