The aqua haired woman stood with her eyes closed thinking about the sea. Her head was tilted toward her shoulders and her right hand moved gracefully back and forth. The room was silent, as she took them to a world only she knew. Finally after finishing her journey, she placed her violin on the stand.
"That was great Kaioh-san." The producer said. "I could really feel it that time. I think that is all we need for today. You are perfect as usual."
"Thank you, Takahashi-san." She said bowing her head humbly.
"Yes, she always did know how to capture the attention of a room." A very familiar voice said.
Michiru's head snapped up and her eyes met with the owner of the voice. He gave her that easy smile that she once found charming. She took a deep breath to regain her equanimity. She calmly packed up her violin and picked up her case and exited the sound booth.
"Michiru-san, look who's here." Her agent said with badly feigned surprise. He patted the onyx haired gentleman on the back and brought him closer to the seething violinist. "Why don't you the three of us grab something to eat."
"Thank you for the offer Suzuki-san but I have lost my appetite." She answered her agent coldly.
"Michiru-san," Mr. Suzuki said in a warning tone. "Since Seiya-san has come all this way to join us, it would be rude of you to depart. Besides, we have reservations."
Michiru smiled politely. She hated when Suzuki san talked to her in that tone. Michiru looked around the room and could tell that all the engineers were fiddling mindlessly with the sound equipment, much more interested in seeing the latest drama between the former couple unfold. Well, she was not going to disappoint them. And she was not going to succumb to Mr. Suzuki's plans. And the entirely overconfident look on Seiya's face made her want to hit him with her violin. She took another breath.
"Since it is obvious that these arrangements were made between you and Kou-san I am sure I would only be intruding by coming along. I am terribly sorry to disappoint you Suzuki-san but I do have a pressing business to attend to. Good day gentlemen."
"Michi-chan!" Seiya said reaching out and capturing her hand as she began to depart.
"Good day, Kou-san." Michiru said smiling just a little more after seeing the shock at being refused so evident on his face. She turned and exited the studio before he had the chance to recover his senses enough to follow her.
Oh, the nerve of Seiya Kou to just appear at her recording session as though her were invited, Michiru fumed. Well, she thought to herself sourly, I suppose he was invited. Michiru exited the building furious with her agent Mr. Suzuki. The man really thought he was her father sometimes and his meddling in her personal life was getting annoying. After refusing all his suggestions to reconcile with the Three Lights star it seemed he decided to take more drastic measures. He obviously depended on her demure personality and expected her acquiescence. But there was no way she was going to make the mistake of reconciling with the unfaithful Seiya Kou, no matter how good it was for her career.
Oh, she hated men. Well, she hated popular men. She hated the dishonesty and the lies, and the arrogance and the sense of entitlement. Michiru quickly looked back to make certain that Seiya was not behind her after all. At this moment all she needed was one more tiny thing to push her over the edge.
It was official. Michiru Kaioh was in a bad mood.
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Haruka Tenoh was in a bad mood. Her day just seemed to be going from bad to worse. And to top it all off she was running late. She couldn't be late today of all days. But, considering how her morning and afternoon went, it should be no surprise. Today was turning out to be a series of unfortunate events. It started off with a flat tire. Her agent missed up the dates for a public appearance so she didn't know it was actually next week until she arrived there. Then her meeting with her sponsor ended in an argument. In between all this what was supposed to be a small tryst had called her ten times. And now she was stuck in this crowded Auto parts store signing autographs. She looked at her watch again. Quickly turning to her manager she reminded him that this session was supposed to end a half an hour ago and that she would be leaving. Now. A hushed argument obviously ensued because of course nothing was going to be easy today. She grabbed her things, and the nicely wrapped gift from under the table and immediately departed.
"Damn, what now." Haruka grumbled as her cell phone started ringing. She fished it out of the pocket of her jacket as she answered her phone. "Moshi Moshi." She winced when she heard the voice on the line and unconsciously closed her eyes. She had to remember to change that ring tone so she'd know not to answer. As she rounded the corner to get to her car her hand slammed into something.
"Ahh!" She screamed as her gift flew from her grasp. Haruka lunged forward trying to retrieve it but only succeeded in running into someone and they both nearly toppled to the ground. She cringed as she heard the crash, indicating that her present was no more.
"Damn it!" Haruka screamed. "What the hell is wrong with you." She cursed herself.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She heard someone answer.
For the first time realizing that she was not alone in this current misfortune Haruka opened her eyes as gasped at what she saw. The woman before her stood in a pastel blue dress and fluttered in the slight breeze. Haruka's eyes surveyed her perfectly curved body. Aquamarine waves fell to her creamy shoulders and brought out her sparking blue eyes. She stood dumbfounded as she stared at the beauty before her.
"G-Gomen." She stammered.
"You fool, why don't you watch where you're going?" The petite woman shouted furiously, snapping Haruka back to the present. The woman dropped to the ground to retrieve her violin case that had fallen to the ground and burst open. "Oh, do you see what you did? Now, I have to get it re-stringed." She continued angrily, as she inspected her instrument.
No longer able to admire her face, the woman's words and the sight of the crumpled present on the ground were enough to remind Haruka of her fury. "You were the one who bumped into me."
"Well, if you hadn't been walking with your eyes closed maybe you would've been able to see where you were going?"
"Well, if you could see that I had my eyes closed, you should've been able to see enough to get out of my way." Haruka argued picking up the now ruined gift. Now, what was she going to give her?
"Why should I have to get out of your way? This is a public street. Maybe you shouldn't have been speeding through like you were on a racetrack."
The woman's interesting choice of words made Haruka start. Then it made Haruka suspicious.
"Is that what this is all about? Are you some crazed fan just trying to get me to take you out or something? Are you trying to get money?"
"What?" The woman said rising to her feet.
"Then what do you want an autograph or something? Look, I've already finished my session, so if you want an autograph or a date you're just going to have to come back tomorrow." Haruka answered. It wasn't the first time a fan tried to think of an interesting way to meet her. Normally it was amusing, sometimes it was annoying, and a few times down right scary. But, with the day she'd been having and the sound of broken pieces from her gift left her no room for any of those reactions. "So what is it?" She asked impatiently.
Haruka saw the look of fury on the aquamarine haired woman's face, and she saw her clenched fist but she didn't realize that the woman meant to use it until it was too late.
"Aww," Haruka groaned holding her eye, where's she'd just been punched.
"You arrogant jerk!" The woman screamed.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Why did you hit me?" Haruka screamed.
"I don't know who you think you are, but I've had just about enough I can take for one day."
With that the strange woman stormed off in the opposite direction, leaving Haruka, and several bystanders on the street looking after her with a confused expression.
"You're crazy do you know that?!!" Haruka yelled after her. She grumbled and made her way to her car, setting off and taking her aggressions on the road until she reached her location.
Haruka pulled up to the front of Juban Elementary School in time to see the students pouring out.
"Stupid crazy woman," She grumbled as she walked into the school. She opened the door of the classroom to see the teacher and one lone black haired girl sitting at her desk. "Sorry, I'm late."
"Haruka-papa!" The little girl squealed, her violet eyes lighting up as she ran toward Haruka.
"Hey, hime-chan." She said picking up the little girl and tossing her in the air before settling her on her hip. "How was your first day of school?"
"It was great!" Hotaru beamed.
"Hello, Haruka-san." Hotaru's teacher said sauntering over to her with Hotaru's backpack. She seemed almost as happy to see the racer as her pupil.
"Hello, Kaori-san. I hope Hotaru wasn't any trouble."
"Oh, no. She was a perfect angel." She sighed.
Haruka just grinned. Of course she knew her firefly was an angel but somehow she could tell even if Hotaru had been the devil incarnate that the teacher would've given her the same response.
"Ok, firefly, are you ready to go?"
"Hai! Goodbye Ms. Kaori."
"Goodbye, Hotaru-chan. Goodbye Haruka-san."
"Cya." Haruka turned and exited the building.
"Haruka-papa, what happened to your face?" Hotaru asked.
"Oh, nothing hime-chan."
"You got into another fight, didn't you?" Hotaru asked giggling.
"One day of school and you know everything, huh?" Haruka replied causing the small child to giggle even more.
"Did you get me my present?" Hotaru asked.
"Present? What present is that?" Haruka replied with feigned ignorance.
"Haruka-papa! You promised. You said if I was a big girl today when you came to get me you would bring me a present." Hotaru reminded her indignantly.
Haruka just laughed at her daughter's pouting face and serious expression. She knew she spoiled Hotaru but if any child deserved it she did. Besides, even with all that she was still an angel, though Haruka had to admit that she was biased. They had spent so much time together with no one but each other these past two years that Hotaru was terrified of spending more than half of her day with strangers and without her Haruka-papa to depend on. Haruka had to practically pry the girl off of her although she was having just as much trouble letting go as her little firefly was. The only thing that saved her from giving in was the appearance of Usagi and Chibi-Usa and her promise to Hotaru. Of course she couldn't fulfill that promise because of a run in with a crazed aqua haired lunatic earlier. She hated breaking a promise to Hotaru and was determined to make it up somehow.
"Well, I did get you a present hime-chan but I had a bit of an accident. But, to make it up to you I'll get you anything you want. So what do you want to celebrate your first day of school?"
"Hmm." Hotaru's face was serious again and Haruka stifled a smile. She could see her five-year-old mind was giving this a lot of thought. Suddenly her face brightened up and she got a mysterious glint to her eyes. "I know!"
"What?"
"Ice cream."
"Ice cream it is."
"Before dinner?" Hotaru tried.
Haruka looked at the little girl's expectant face and raised eyebrow. "You'll get a nice sugar high firefly, but what am I going to get out of it?"
Hotaru wrapped her arms around her 'papa's' neck and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"You drive a hard bargain hime-chan." Haruka said smiling.