All SM characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi, but the OC's and the story belongs to me. Do not steal!
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24
"So let me get this straight," the blonde said, massaging the brick of her nose and closing her eyes, supporting herself against the wall of the hallway, right next to the door that led to the upper level of the house. "A Blood told you about Rubeus' plans, and you not only believed her, but you also brought her in here and rescued her sister?"
She let out a sigh, letting her hands hang loosely around her frame.
The blonde didn't look happy. And a pissed, frustrated Haruka was never good. It made her more stubborn than normal, and more often than not, reckless and harsh with her words. And now that she thought about it, it was actually a good thing she refused to see the human girl...
"It was Mamoru's call, ok?" she said. "Kunzite and Zoicite brought her in, and Mamoru made the call. And it was the right one!"
"It was reckless!"
She blinked at the angry outburst, before a frown came to her features. "Why are you so pissed off?" Makoto asked. "You were a mess when we got there!" she exclaimed, raising her hands up in the air, starting to get angry and frustrated herself. "We almost lost you to that asshole, and he was more than ready to replace that Yaten girl with Michiru!"
"I know!" the blonde yelled. "I know, and it was my fault!" she said, stepping off the wall and running her hands through short blonde hair. "I... I failed..."
That wiped her anger off, making a softer look come upon her face instead, as she took a step forward, trying to reach her distraught looking friend. "Haruka..."
"I couldn't keep her safe," the blonde said, taking a step backwards, getting away from the brunette. "I let my guard down and got distracted and... it was all my fault."
"Come on, don't be so hard on yourself," she said, in a soft, coping tone, as she placed a comforting hand over her friend's shoulder. "You went way beyond your duty to keep her safe for two whole months, and Rubeus set you up and..."
"I should have seen it coming," the blonde argued, shaking her head and stepping away from her. "Mamoru made a mistake sending me to look after her," she then added in a mournful tone, before turning around and walking out of the door, in her way to the ground level.
She stood there for a moment, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "I'm not so sure about that..."
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She was standing in front of the wooden bureau, staring down at the single, black and white framed picture laying there.
A tall, handsome, light haired man dressed in an impeccable dark suit stood next to a large window. By his arm, a light brown haired woman stood next to him, clad in a light colored, long evening gown that hung loosely from the subtle V neckline and then down her frame to her hips, where a belt of the same material of the dress marked her curves, letting the fabric cascade down to the floor in the typical 1930's fashion. Her hair was kept short, with soft, wavy curls framing her beautiful face, and though the photograph didn't offer any information regarding colors, she knew those small yet luscious dark lips were deep red.
She didn't need to look closely to recognize the couple.
They were Haruka's parents. She remembered them clearly from her dreams.
A white gold necklace chain had been carefully laid down next to the framed picture, with a small, circular reliquary attached to it. And she remembered that from her dreams as well. It belonged to the dead naked woman in the woods.
Haruka's mother.
Letting out a sigh, she turned around, now facing the queen sized bed in the middle of the room, biting down on her lower lip.
Rei had taken her there to rest, saying the blonde would be in recovery for a while and wouldn't be using her bedroom for the day. And remembering exactly why Haruka wouldn't be using her room at all, vividly remembering the wounds, the bleeding, the painful looking burns, she let out a frustrated sigh as she started walking around the room in circles.
It was too much.
So much information, so many details and facts, it was mind blowing and confusing. Finally, after so many years of wondering and living in the dark, she now had the answers she had been looking for ever since she could remember. Finally, she now knew she was not going insane; her dreams were not just a product of her twisted, damaged imagination.
It was all real. And it was all Haruka.
All of it. The little blonde girl, lost and alone, crying in the woods. The black cat that one night came to her window and then stayed with her. The black, large panther from last night. The tall blonde woman that walked into her life one day... it was all Haruka.
Always Haruka.
Her first real friend. The first person she had seriously considered telling all her secrets to. And now she felt so incredibly frustrated and stupid, thinking what a fool of herself she must have made in front of the blonde, who already knew all her secrets.
The memory of soft lips kissing hers assaulted her mind once more, and a soft, broken gasp escaped her. A shiver running up her spine at the memory and sadness filling her heart, as once again she remembered everything she has been told. She could now fully understand the blonde's words back at her flat, and why she had pulled away from her like that, yet she couldn't help but still feel hurt by it all the same. Or maybe even more so, now that she knew the truth.
Haruka was meant to be with someone. Someone else, someone like her, and not a human. Never a human...
But she wasn't human. Not really...
She was not really human, yet not a Shapeshifter either. She was something in between, not really fitting in anywhere, and she wondered if she would ever find a place where she belonged.
Another sigh escaped her, and she ran her hands through her long curls, frustrated.
She was just so confused now. And tired, and frustrated, and, still, so terribly worried. Seeing all those slashes across the blonde's back, all that blood pouring out... she had never been so scared before in her entire life. Seeing the blonde suffering like that, unable to do anything to help her, it had all been so scaring and hurtful.
The sudden sound of the door forced her out of her runaway, somber thoughts, making her turn around. Blue eyes going wide opened when she saw the tall blonde that was currently invading her every thought walking into the room, wearing a long, black silk robe exactly like the one she had seen in the others, leaving her chest exposed. And it was the sight of that pearly white skin, perfectly clean of any blood or wounds at all that made her gasp.
The sound made the tall woman look up, as green met blue.
"Oh," the blonde said, frowning. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here," she apologized, turning to leave.
"No, wait!" she exclaimed, calling out to her and making the tall woman turn back around to look at her. "Don't leave..."
Hard green eyes gazed into her blue ones then, as the blonde stepped fully into the room, closing the door behind her. "What? Not scared anymore?" she asked, in a cold, hard tone.
Michiru frowned, hurt, not understanding why the tall woman was being so cold to her now. Weren't they friends? What happened to the nice, caring blonde woman she had come to know? Has it all been an act?
"W-what do you mean?" she asked, in a low whisper. "I don't..."
"It's ok," the blonde interrupted her, shaking a shoulder in a nonchalant, arrogant way. "Humans tend to be terrified of us, so I won't take it personally as long as you don't have anything silver on you, and you don't try to put a bullet in my head."
"Why are you being like this?" she asked, trying to blink away the sudden tears that came to her eyes upon Haruka's harsh words, her mean tone, and her ice cold glare.
The blonde didn't answer her. Instead, she walked right past her, making her way to the walk-in closet, completely ignoring her.
And that hurt even more. "I thought we were friends..."
The blonde turned sharply around at her barely whispered words. "Friends?" she asked, arching a questioning eyebrow at her. "Friends are not scared or repulsed of each other."
She blinked at that, actually surprised. "I'm not scared of you," she stated, taking a step towards her. "I'm..."
But before she could finish her sentence or take another step, Haruka did.
Her eyes shone up and the robe fell down to the floor as she did so, as the black, small cat she had come to know so well emerged from the silky pile. Jumping up to the bed right behind her, making Michiru turn around, green eyes looked straight into her blue ones as the cat meowed softly, slightly arching her back and waving her long tail around before jumping off and behind the bed.
*You should,* she heard the blonde's voice in her head, loud and clear, deep and husky, just like before.
And she gasped in surprise as she saw, fascinated, a large, beautiful black panther emerging from behind the bed. Those same cold, shining green eyes looking straight into her wide opened blue ones.
The large feline hissed, approaching her slowly, stalking and stalling, and Michiru fell down to her knees. Her mouth hanging opened in awe as she reached out a hand; her fingers aching to stroke the soft looking, fine black fur. But as she did so, Haruka took a retreating step, shutting her eyes closed and slightly laying herself down.
It was a fast move, though not fast enough for Michiru to miss the flash of fear crossing green eyes. And she blinked, surprised and taken aback as a flashing image of a smaller feline jumped into her mind.
There was a man, tall and sturdy, reaching out his hand to capture the small feline, and those same green eyes that were looking at her now were filled with fear and tears. Terrified of the large, callous hand trying to grab it, the small feline jumped back and away, both from the scaring man and from the dead form laying on the grass.
It only lasted a second, and Michiru blinked again, surprised.
"The hunters," she murmured, now remembering the little black cat had have the exact same reaction back that first night, when she had taken her into her arms and inside her flat. And now she knew what it meant.
It was a reflex.
A fear, kept deep inside, printed on Haruka's memory. And the aquamarine haired girl vaguely wondered why was she seeing that now, why was this vision of the past coming to her while she was wide awake. But as curious green eyes blinked up at her at her whispered words, she tossed the thought away, contemplating the large feline in front of her now.
Haruka was standing low in all fours, in what Michiru guessed was a stalking state, set and aware, ready to jump and attack any moment. But something in those green eyes told her differently, and she reached out her hand again, gentler this time.
*Didn't anyone ever tell you not to approach large felines?* Haruka's voice reached her mind again, as the feline didn't step back this time, looking straight into her blue eyes. *I could easily bite your arm off.*
"I know," Michiru agreed, slightly and dumbly nodding her head as she let her hand stroke through soft fur, tracing the strong jaw with her fingertips. "But I also know you won't. I know you'd never hurt me..." she trailed off, softly, as she gazed into green eyes. But then something else came to her mind, and she frowned curiously, tilting her head to a side. "How can you do that?"
*Do what?*
"Talk."
*I'm not talking,* came the easy, smug reply, making the aquamarine haired girl roll her eyes.
"You know what I mean," she pointed out. "You never answered me before."
*Oh, I did,* she heard that husky, deep voice again. *I just didn't allow you to actually hear me. Though I was tempted to, more than once,* came the amused reply. *But I figured you would have freaked out on me, so...*
"Yeah..." she agreed, as her fingers were now slowly stroking under the strong jawline. "So how can you do it?"
*It's a telepathic link. Basically, you think something, and then direct that thought to someone,* Haruka explained. *If you want the more technical, perfectly detailed, scientific explanation you're gonna have to talk to Ami,* she then added, rolling her green eyes. *Though it only works if the person's nearby, or if there's a deeper connection.*
"A deeper connection?"
*Parents to their cubs, mates... that kind of connection,* she explained, sitting on her hinds and lazily waving her long tail around, as she tilted her head slightly to a side. *I wasn't sure you'd hear me, though. I don't think anyone has ever tried it with a human before.*
Michiru just nodded her head at the explanation, fascinated over the entire ordeal. Shapeshifters, telepathic links, immortality, amazingly fast healing abilities...
"Amazing," she whispered, as her fingers stroked through the black coat at the shoulders; blue eyes taking in the strong, robust limbs, the long, slender tail slowly swinging around, the strong paws.
*Thanks, but the name is Haruka,* she joked, raising her snout up in the air for a moment, before tilting her head to a side.
One aquamarine eyebrow went up then. "You're cocky," she accused, playfully.
*And you're weird.*
"I thought you said I was strange."
*Yeah, that too.*
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A.N.:about the 1930's dress and hairstyle (in case you have no idea what 30's fashion looks like), think Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson on "A good woman"