Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka and Michiru's characters, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. All other characters and this story belong to me.

NOTE: This chapter is RATED "M" for content and coarse language.


Chapter 27

Out

3 months ago
June 2, oRb

Michiru returned to her suite, dropped the pieces of torn clothing - the only evidence of her and Haruka's passionate lovemaking - in the trash can and went into the shower. She was drying her hair when a door to her suite opened and her husband appeared in the bathroom door opening. Michiru turned the fan off and looked at him carefully. His face was void of any emotions, his eyes unreadable.

"I thought I locked the door." She put the hairdryer on the corian counter and turned to face him fully, supporting herself with both arms on the sides.

"Well, that's the benefit of owning the place - you can always get a key, no questions asked."

Michiru shivered at the thought. It just wasn't right. "What are you doing here?"

Haru walked closer to her and stood just a foot away. "I couldn't find you last night, so I came to see you. Can't I see my wife?"

"You can." Michiru sounded unsure and wanted to take a step backwards as Haru inched closer, but the counter prevented her from doing so. She felt his hand reach for her neck as he pulled her closer and covered her lips with his own. His other hand slid to her waist, pulling her body firmly against his. She let go of the counter and put her hands on his chest, pushing him away.

"Haru, I told you, I can't, I'm sorry." She gave him a pleading look, but didn't find any remorse in the now burning green eyes.

"So you can fuck my sister, but you can't even kiss me?"

She felt like he slapped her, even though his hands didn't move from where they were. She just froze, realizing that Haruka must have told him.

"Answer me!" He placed both hands on the sides of her waist and shook her roughly.

"I'm gay," she forced out barely audibly.

"Really? Then how come you married me, Michiru?" He let go of her sides, but didn't step away. "What did you expect when you did that? Did you expect me to let you live in a separate room for the rest of our lives? Pretend that we were married and let you live another life on the side? Have my feelings ever entered your consideration?"

She didn't respond, which only seemed to fuel his anger. His eyes got darker, his hand reached for the white robe that covered Michiru's freshly showered body and pulled it away. His lips covered her own in another rough kiss, this time bruising them. His hands brought her close as hers tried to push him away, but he was stronger. His blinding anger added to his strength, killed all his other senses. He moved backwards and dragged her with him to the bed, throwing her on it and covering the shivering body with his own, undoing his clothes along the way.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. She wasn't in any physical pain, and if she was, it was nothing compared to her mental anguish. Her eyes were closed, the tears escaping from underneath long lashes. No sound escaped her lips. She may have deserved this, but she still couldn't believe it was happening to her. Even more so, she didn't know where they could go from here. For the first time in her life she was in so much agony that she wanted something or someone to release her from it… take it all away… she doubted that hell, where she would undoubtedly end up, was much worse than what she was going through.

X X X

When Haru was done he pulled away, put his clothes back on and quietly exited the suite, leaving the still form of his wife in the bed.

He ran out of the hotel, as fast as he could, as far away as he could. He fell on his knees in the wet sand, his forehead touching the ground. He couldn't believe any of this. He wished for an intervention, but he never imagined that it would happen this way or that it would hurt as much as it did. Losing Michiru like this shook his entire being, but betrayal of his twin was so much worse. It brought out things he didn't know he had in him. It brought a man he didn't know out. A man that could physically hurt his wife. A man that could physically hurt his sister. He felt all that vile come up his throat, choking him, suffocating him, until he released it, along with the contents of his stomach. When the last purging convulsion ended he got up slowly and walked into the ocean, washing away his sins and baptizing himself for a new life. A new life where he would fix everything. He came back to the surface as the first large rain drops hit the ground, the storm finally breaking.

X X X

Back at the hotel room Michiru got off the bed, reentered the bathroom and sat in the bathtub, turning the hot water on and letting it wash the dirt off her skin, scold it away. She wished she could cleanse her soul the same way, but knew that it would never be that easy. She hugged her knees to her chest and started rocking, staring into space.

Her sister's voice finally reached her as Nanami knelt on her side.

"Michiru, what's wrong? Honey, what happened?"

Hot water was still running, covering Michiru up to her trembling forearms. There were no tears, no emotions on her face. She was just rocking back and forth, staring straight ahead into nothingness. Back and forth.

Nanami stopped the water and pulled out a cellphone from her pocket.

"I need you to come to Michiru's suite."

Michiru saw from her peripheral vision as Nanami hang up the phone and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around Michiru, she then picked up the discarded robe from the floor and brought it closer.

"Come on, Michi, you have to get out."

Michiru didn't stop what she was doing, but allowed her sister to dry her off. When Nanami put a robe on her shoulders Michiru shook it off, got up and went to her wardrobe. The last thing she wanted to do was feel that robe touch her skin again. She got a set of lounge wear out, put it on and slid down to the floor, her back leaning against the wall.

"What happened?"

Michiru saw Sora stand in front of her.

"We need to get out of here." He extended his hand to Michiru. "Come on, we'll take you home."

Michiru accepted, rising up and allowing a glimpse of hope show in her features. She wanted to get out of here, wanted to go somewhere she could forget the past hour, pretend that it never happened, bury it so deep that she never had to revisit it again.

X X X

Present day

Haruka stared at Michiru in horror. Did she just hear her right? She couldn't have misheard her, the words were still running through her mind.

"Maybe you should have thought about the possible consequences to your actions before you forced yourself on me, taking any respect I have ever had for you along with my dignity from me!"

She felt nausea come up her throat and dashed for the bathroom. Haru forced himself on her? Haru raped Michiru? Her Michiru? The knuckles on her hands became white from the intensity with which she was holding the porcelain bowl. She straightened up and washed her face. She seemed to be doing this a lot lately and she definitely didn't like it. Were thoughts that made you sick to your stomach toxic? Would that fuchsia potassium whatever drink help her get rid of them as well? She shook her head and grabbed the towel, hiding her face in it.

Michiru followed the blonde in. She didn't allow any of her true feelings on the subject come out until now, but she had reached her breaking point.

"Don't you walk away from me! I've never walked away from you! Even after what you did! I was there for you when your parents died, understanding full well that such a loss was devastating. I gave you a chance and you were the one who blew me off." She caught the green eyes in the reflection of the mirror. "Yes I cheated on you, yes I never had any feelings beyond friendship for you, but neither gave you the right to use physical force to get what you want! What kind of a man are you?"

Her breathing became labored from screaming as angry tears spilled down her cheeks. "What kind of a husband would force himself on his wife?" Every second of the stretching silence made her feel the pain more. "ANSWER ME!"

Haruka turned around to face her, dropping the towel on the counter. "I'm not your husband."

She brushed past the confused aquanette and walked back to the living room. She was visibly shaking. How could he? How could he do that? He had no right! At that moment she wished he was alive so that she could kill him herself.

"What do you mean?" Michiru finally came out of her stupor and followed the blonde.

"I'm not your husband, I'm not Haru." She faced her judge fully.

"Haruka?" Michiru's lower lip quivered as she came closer, trying to find anything that would help her distinguish this person from her husband.

Haruka just nodded, unable to speak.

"When did you get back?" Michiru stepped closer, putting a hand on her lover's cheek.

"I never left, Michiru." Haruka covered violinist hand with her own. She felt the small hand slide away as it went back to Michiru's side.

"What do you mean you never left?" Michiru whispered.

"I never left, Michiru. I was here all this time. For the last three months -"

Was there a training school of reactions to her confessions? Or was it just that the only reaction she attracted from people was a punch in the face? Who knew that a sophisticated woman like Michiru could punch in the face, anyway. Haruka touched her aching flesh and stared at the fury in front of her. Anger emphasized her beauty.

"You have been here this whole time?" Michiru screamed, completely offended at the idea that Haruka would be near and lie to her. This whole time.

"Physically, yes." Haruka's tone was even.

"What do you mean physically? How could you? How could you lie to me this whole time? Where is your brother?" Michiru fumed.

That was more than one question and Haruka didn't know where to start. She walked to the couch and sat down, putting her elbows on her knees and lowering the head in thought.

"I was here physically all along, Michiru, but I wasn't myself. I needed time to cope, time to understand what happened and accept it." She raised her eyes back to the sapphires. "Haru is dead, Michiru… he was on that helicopter, he was coming to the island with my parents to discuss the situation, he was going to step aside."

Michiru was horrified. "He… is… dead?" Her voice fell down to a whisper again. She wished him to be dead after what he did to her, but she never actually meant it. She put that desire past her and tried to help after the accident, tried to be there for him despite everything that happened. Wait, that wasn't him… that was Haruka.

"It was you? This whole time it was you?" Her voice rose again.

Haruka nodded, her expression sad, but unnoticed by Michiru. "Yes, that was me."

"How could you?" Michiru stepped away from her. "How could you lie to me like that?"

"I never actually lied to you, you just thought that I was him."

"You dressed like him, you spoke like him, how is that not lying?"

"It's not my fault that you can't tell between us. I thought someone who claims to love me would at least know how to differentiate between me and my brother." Haruka has had it. Yes she was wrong in not telling Michiru, but she had reasons to do so, why couldn't she just be listened to, just understood?

"I never said I loved you."

Haruka froze. A million things ran through her mind, but none of them brought emotions anymore. The fire in her eyes died down as she made an attempt to move her lips and respond.

"No, Michiru, you didn't. I was just foolish enough to assume that you did. Foolish enough to take your actions for those of someone who was truly interested in me, who cared for me. Foolish enough to choose you over my twin." She stopped for a moment, catching her breath. "I paid dearly for that by losing my entire family. My mistake."

Michiru forgot about everything that made her mad at the sound of a voice devoid of any emotion. Haruka sounded like the robot that she saw at the dock. It made Michiru want to take it all back, she may not have told Haruka that she loved her, but she did. She was still arguing with herself on the subject when Haruka continued.

"I'm sorry, Kaioh-san, I will not require or expect anything from you in the future." She finally moved towards the drawer where all keys were kept. Pulling it open, she took all contents out, sorted through the different shapes and separated two. She looked at them for a while before putting them down on the counter.

"These are from the house and the California. You can keep both." Haruka was still looking at the counter, not wanting to see the smaller woman. "Give me an hour, I'll relieve you of my presence."

Haruka went upstairs without another word, straight to her bedroom. She grabbed the luggage and started throwing everything in her closet in the assorted suitcases, taking some of the rage out. She didn't have enough, so she just zipped whatever she got so far and took them downstairs, going straight to the garage, towards the Cayenne.

X X X

Michiru was still standing in the same spot. What has just happened? Her husband was dead. She was pregnant. Haruka just walked out of the door. The last one was apparently Michiru's fault, yet she couldn't make herself move. Couldn't stop the woman she loved from walking away. It was all too much.

X X X

Haruka entered the dark empty house, dragging one of the suitcases behind herself. She went straight upstairs and halted in front of a mirror. The image she saw there disgusted her. How could he? No matter what she put him through, no matter what Michiru put him through, he didn't have the right to touch her. For the first time in her life she hated her brother, which in turn made her feel sick at seeing him in the mirror. She punched the smooth surface, cutting her hand and not noticing it. Next, she started ripping his suit off of her body. Once she was naked she walked to her parents' bedroom and put her mother's robe on. That felt better. Her next stop was by her father's desk, where she found a pad and a pen. She looked at her watch - it wasn't even nine. She made a few calls before taking the pad and walking determinedly through the house.

X X X

Nanami kept ringing the bell unsuccessfully, just like the phone.

"Michiru, Michiru, are you there?" She finally stopped banging on the abused door and went around the house. She tried to check insides for any signs of life, but found none. She was in a panic because she had been trying to get in contact with Michiru the whole day, yet all of her attempts were unsuccessful. She wondered how difficult it would be to get up to the balcony. She looked around for something she could use to get up there, and that was when she noticed a lone figure walking in the water along the shoreline.

"Michiru!" She ran towards the figure dressed in a plain black tunic.

Michiru raised her head at the sound of splashes Nanami was making. She didn't know how long she'd been walking for, just listening to the waves, feeling the water kiss her ankles.

"Where have you been? I've been calling you all day, I've been worried sick!" Nanami threw herself at her sister.

"I'm sorry," Michiru forced out, feeling guilty that she made yet another human being suffer.

"What happened? How did he react?"

Michiru stared at her sister for a long moment before finally forcing her mouth to move. "He didn't react. He's dead."

Nanami's blood froze in her veins. "Michi, what have you done?" she whispered.

Michiru stared at her sister in stunned silence. "I didn't do anything," she said finally. "Who do you take me for?"

"A woman with raging hormones?" Nanami answered honestly.

"Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean that I'm senseless." She started walking again. "He was on the chopper Nana-chan. He's been dead for three months."

"What?" Nanami caught up with the aquanette and looked in her face. "What do you mean he's been dead for three months? Then who -" It dawned on her. "Haruka-san."

Michiru nodded. Nanami was speechless. They got out of the water and walked towards the house, their feet bathing in the hot sand, their minds spinning around the same subject.

"What now?"

"I don't know." Michiru really hoped she knew.

"What happened last night?" Nanami tried again.

Michiru sat down on the concrete slab and gestured for Nanami to do so as well. "I blamed who I thought was my husband for what happened, in reality revealing the truth to his sister. She announced that he's been dead. I blamed her for lying, she blamed me for not being able to see that it was her. I said that I didn't love her, she said that she would get out of my way."

Concerned sapphires looked in their mirror image. "It wasn't fair for her to say that you couldn't tell between them - no one can."

"That's not true."

They both turned around sharply at the soft low voice behind them.

"Sora-chan? What are you doing here?"

He walked around the slab and stood in front of them. "I wanted to make sure that everything was well. Unfortunately, my instinct was right. What's going on?"

Nanami gave him a nutshell version of what was happening, including Michiru's pregnancy to the knowledge of which he was not privy. Both sisters grew suspicious when Sora was not surprised by the news of Haru's death.

"Did you know that Haru is dead?" Nanami asked, eyeing him warily.

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Few weeks." Sora knew he was walking on a thin ground by the steeliness of his girlfriend's tone.

"And you didn't think that it was something you should share?" Nanami finally blew up.

"I promised that I wouldn't. I don't break my promises."

"How could you?"

"It wasn't my secret, Nanami, it was Haruka's. It wasn't up to me to come clean for her, I had to force a confession out of her as it was."

"How did you know?" The angry couple turned towards the direction where the quiet question came from.

"Little things that are uncharacteristic of Haru." He looked at the forlorn aquanette. "Things that only someone who knows both of them well would know, don't beat yourself for that." He had an internal battle about confessing the next part before he decided to to it. "Also, Haru has never played the piano well. That's Haruka's way of sharing her feelings. She isn't good with words, so she has always used the instrument to pour out her emotions."

Michiru was inspecting the particles of sand under her dirty feet. It made sense; when she heard the pianist, she felt the pain, felt like the instrument was talking to her. That was why it fascinated her, she just didn't know that Haruka was the one playing.

"I should have known that it was her," Michiru finally whispered.

"She didn't make it easy for you to do so and I think she needed space to go through her grief on her own. She lost her entire family, Michiru-san." Sora put a hand around her shoulders, trying to comfort her.

"It just hurts that she didn't include me in it, didn't tell me that my husband was dead. How could she? It's not like she forgot to mention a small, meaningless thing. It affects me. Affects all of us. How could she?"

"I don't know. All I know is that Haru was her world, her other half. Now he's gone, her world is empty and she is not one to let someone else in easily. That world will not populate fast. She needs time; you both need time to sort things through, to think with your hearts and not your hot heads."

He watched as Michiru nodded slowly. He was happy that it was this much easier to reason with the aquanette. He didn't even want to think what a conversation with the blonde would look like. Speaking of the blonde…

"Where is Haruka?" He looked at Nanami who shrugged and returned his gaze to Michiru.

"She's gone." Her voice was very soft and quiet.

"Where?"

"I don't know." She turned her wistful gaze to the garage. "People came to the house today and took her belongings and her cars. She left me the house keys and the California last night and just walked away. I have no idea where she is."

A single tear escaping sapphires did not go unnoticed by Sora. He looked at the ocean and wondered where his friend would be.

X X X

It was past five when Sora decided to try the Tenoh Estate as the last resort. He went to the penthouse first, but didn't find her or the cars there. He checked other properties the Tenoh Group used to own before he realized that the family house stood empty. He pulled in through the open gates and felt like he entered a movie set. Bingo.

There were cars, trucks and people all around. Things were being loaded and unloaded at the same time, almost everyone in action and no one standing still. He found a space to park his car along the driveway and walked up the rest of the way. He was sure that Haruka created this mess, but had no idea where to start looking, so he decided to save some time and ask. He looked at the men scurrying around and had to step out of the way of some, lest he would get run over by people carrying furniture. His eyes fell on a figure of a woman looking at something on the facade. She was wearing a simple black short-sleeve dress, the skirt reaching just above her knees. Her hair was short and brown, milliards of highlights creating an interesting contrast. He approached her from behind and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, I was wond -"

Sora's eyes grew wide as the woman turned, revealing a familiar face. What he mistakenly took for highlights was her natural hair color, while the brown lowlights completely transformed her look. The dress fit her perfectly without revealing too much, but definitely accentuating her female form. Green eyes sparkled at him with mischief. She gave him a dazzling smile and winked.

"I thought some change was appropriate for the beginning of a new life."

"Some change?" He finally forced out. "You call a makeover and…" He gestured at the scene. "… completely changing your surroundings some change?"

"Yeah."

"How did you even manage all this since yesterday?" He doubted that even he could refurnish a house that size and change his look that fast.

"Money will do wonders." She gestured for him to follow her. "Besides, it took me the whole night to figure out what kind of things I want and where I want them, so the rest was just a matter of finding them and getting them delivered that instant."

"Seriously." Sora smiled wryly as they entered the house.

"Careful, the paint is still wet." She grabbed his sleeve to move him away from a corner around the living room.

Sora looked around. The walls were white, the furniture modern and simple, and decorations sparse - just like the beach house and the penthouse. At least her taste didn't change, although he did notice a splash of color from the rug. The grand piano that he remembered being in the music room upstairs made its way down, sitting by a bay window on the side of the living room as though it belonged there. That was a good sign, at least he knew for sure that she would be using it.

"Love what you did with the place."

She gave him a quick glance trying to figure out if he was being sarcastic or honest. It seemed to be the latter. "I only redid the main rooms; my primary focus was on getting rid of everything that was here. I think they are doing the last load now, they've been here since six." She sat down on a gray couch. "I still need to get a lot of stuff, but at least we don't have to sit on the floor."

"Yes, that is highly appreciated." He took a seat opposite to her. "What is your next step?"

Haruka, who decided to abandon her strategy of baby steps and instead replace them with giant ones, leaned back into the couch and looked at the ceiling. "Well, tomorrow will be a fun day at the office, since no one can mistake me now."

That was an understatement. "Yes, that doesn't really seem like you. Is there any particular reason for this, other than the 'change' banner?"

"Me and Haruko had a disagreement, so I needed to get away from him."

Despite the fact that neither Nanami nor Michiru have shared the circumstances of Michiru getting pregnant, Sora connected the dots. "That's a rather extreme way to do so, don't you think?"

"No. For right now it's the only way."

"You go from one extreme to the next."

"You have a problem with that?" She challengingly raised an eyebrow.

"No, you seem to be the one who gets problems from that."

"Don't worry, there will be no other problems after tomorrow. There will be nothing left to lose."