Dear Lord! This was the hardest chap to write! EVER! It broke my heart... (tear rolling down). I'm exhausted!

Again, thank you all for your wonderful reviews! Enjoy!

---------

26 - Face to face

She was sitting down on the sand, eyes closed, trying to get away from her own thoughts, from her own memories.

It was pure torture.

The past two days had been the worst days of her entire life. She had never, ever, felt so lost, so alone.

Not once.

Not even after her father died.

Where are you? she wondered. I looked everywhere... I miss you so much...

It's been two days since Michiru had run away. She had spent those two days searching everywhere she could think of, upside down and inside out.

But Michiru was nowhere to be found.

And then she would spend the nights sitting on the front door, waiting. Helplessly waiting for the aquamarine haired girl to come back to her.

But Michiru didn't come back the first night. Or the next after that. She just simply... disappeared.

What was she thinking? What was going through her mind right now? Was she alright? Was she hurt? Did she miss her, at all?

She couldn't stop thinking about her. She simply couldn't.

She opened her green eyes and looked up at the darkening sky above her. Michi... where are you?

A sad, broken sigh escaped her lips, and she got up, willing herself to just go back home. She was getting nowhere near finding the girl by just sitting there. So she turned around to make her way to her parked car, and that's when she saw her.

It was like a vision from a dream.

The girl was walking down the beach, a light blue shirt hugging her upper body, a white long skirt dancing with the sea's cold breeze. Her bear feet were splashing the water from the shore here and there, her head was down, staring at her own movements.

And she looked so incredible beautiful.

And so completely lost.

Haruka ran up to her, wanting to throw herself into the girl's arms and kiss her deeply, telling her she loved her, telling her she needed her. Telling her she couldn't stand another second away from her.

But when Michiru's face came up and she noticed the blonde girl running towards her, her deep blue eyes went wide open, and she paled.

And then she turned around, running away from the blonde.

"Michiru, wait!" the blonde called after her.

But Haruka was faster. She reached up to the girl, and stopped her by grabbing her arm as gently as she could, and made her turned around again and faced her.

"What do you want?" Michiru asked, not looking at her.

"I've been looking for you everywhere" she answered, somewhat out of breath, not knowing if it was for the run, or because of the way Michiru had just spoke to her.

"Well you found me. Congratulations" the girl said, now looking up at her, her blue eyes ice cold "What do you want, Tenoh?"

Haruka gasped, taken aback.

"I want to talk to you... Michi, please..."

"There's nothing to talk about, Tenoh" the young girl interrupted her "So just, leave me alone"

When she started walking away again, Haruka took her arms again, stopping her.

"Wait! Just, please, wait. Hear me out" she pleaded.

"I don't want to!" Michiru exclaimed "I don't want to see you again! Don't you get that?"

"Michi, please!" she begged, desperate "Listen to me, there's been a mistake..."

"I know that, alright! You were the mistake, Tenoh!" she interrupted her again "You were the biggest mistake I have ever made!"

It hurt.

It truly, deeply hurt her to hear those words. Like ten thousand knifes being stuck into her already bleeding heart.

"You... you don't mean that..." she whispered, tears filling her green eyes.

"Yes, I do! I hate you, Haruka!" she yelled, and her blue eyes were now full of tears, running hopelessly down her cheeks.

And she hated herself for being vulnerable in front of her "How could you? People are not toys for you to play with!"

"I know that! I wasn't playing!" she started to cry now too. She had to tell her something, anything, to make her believe her. She wasn't lying. She wasn't playing any games. She loved her! And she needed her back, so badly. "I swear, Michi, I love you..."

"God damn it, Haruka! Stop lying!" she was practically screaming now "I don't want to hear it! I don't fucking care!"

She turned around to leave again, and Haruka simply fell down to her knees, desperately crying, heartbroken.

"Please, don't walk away...." she begged, her voice a trembling whisper.

Michiru stopped in her tracks, and turned around the face the blonde woman, looking down at her. Tears were still in her eyes, but her face was deadly cold.

"You don't have the right to tell me not to walk away. You don't have the right to even speak to me in the first place! I don't want to see you. I don't want to ever come anywhere near you again, do you hear me?" she was shaking, and her own words were killing her already broken heart.

But she didn't care. She simply didn't care anymore.

"You don't understand, it's not what you think...."

"Drop the act, it's rather pathetic" she said, in a lower tone now "Don't worry, I'll be at the stupid recital this tuesday. We'll play the freaking song you picked, and then I don't want to see you or have anything to do with you, ever again."

Haruka just looked up at her, forcing herself to breath, her hands sinking on the sand below. Her heartbeat a long forgotten and distant sound in her ears.

She searched her blue eyes, trying to find something, anything, that would give her at least the tiniest hope. But there was nothing in Michiru's eyes.

They were just cold, indifferent.

"Goodbye, Tenoh" she heard her said, and then Haruka just stood where she was, frozen in place, hopelessly watching Michiru walking away from her.

She simply couldn't do anything, but stared after her, with hot tears rolling down her face.

The one girl she had ever truly loved was walking away from her. And there was nothing she could do to stop her.