Chapter Two- A Sour Note:

Chapter Two- A Sour Note:

            It was a warm, and breezy morning in March.  March 30th to be precise.  Haruka, however was not outside enjoying it.  She had been up since dawn playing the piano.  Then, the phone started to ring.  'Damn it!  Who could be calling me at this hour?' she wondered as she looked at her watch.  It wasn't even 7 o'clock yet and it was a weekend!  She picked up the receiver.

            "Hello?"

            "Haruka!" came a voice from the other end "What are you doing?  You were supposed to meet me here for practice at six.  This really isn't like you at all.  You know that the big race is tomorrow."

            "Oh my gosh!  I completely forgot!  Give me twenty minutes, and I'll be right down."

            "Alright Haruka.  I'll be waiting for you."  They hung up the phone and Haruka got ready hurriedly.  She was out of the shower in five minutes, and ready to leave in ten.  She grabbed her keys and dashed down four flights of stairs, got in her car and speeded off. 

            When she reached the she was relieved to see the old man still waiting for her.  She got out of the car and he came over to her.  He was aged about sixty and dressed in jeans and a racing jacket. 

"Hello grandfather," she greeted him warmly.  He wasn't really her grandfather.  This had been a long-standing joke between the two of them.  He was her driving manager and it was under his name that she was able to rent an apartment at only sixteen. 

            "Hello son," he returned warmly, shaking her hand.  This was a bit of a joke too.  He obviously knew that Haruka was a female, but the rest of the racing circuit did not and it would be greatly frowned upon if anyone were to discover their secret.  That is why she had cut her hair short.  "What do you say we get to work?  After all, tomorrow is a very big day."

            Haruka needed no persuasion.  She loved racing more than anything, but she still couldn't get this morning's thoughts out of her head.  Best not to think about it until she got home.  She suited up, and got into her car.  She zoomed around the track at fantastic speed, but still wasn't enjoying it like usual.  Speed was supposed to set her free, but even racing wasn't going to keep her mind off her worries today.  Once she had circled the track about five times, she pulled to a stop.  She got out of the car, and took off her helmet.  Approaching the edge, where her manager and crew were standing, she said "I think that'll be all for today.  I'm not feeling too well and I need to be in good condition for tomorrow."

            "Alright then, son.  You did great, as usual.  Rest up and I'll see you bright and early in the morning.  Don't forget this one," he chuckled.

            "I won't," she smiled back at him.  And she waved as she got into her car and drove back home. 

            When she had arrived again at her flat, she hung up her jacket and sat down on the window seat.  Staring at the city she became lost in thought.  Haruka hadn't been sleeping well at all.  She kept getting up before dawn to play the piano.  She had gotten rather good at it since she was 12 and had decided to start taking music lessons.  But the one song that she wanted to play, she just couldn't.  She stood up and took a seat at the piano.  'I'll try this just one more time' the thought, as she began to play a beautiful classical piece.  After she had gotten through only a few measures flawlessly, there it was again.  The wrong note.  It sounded almost sour.  She remembered the tune perfectly, but she could never recreate the enchanting melody. 

            "Oh well," she sighed, as she pushed herself away from the piano.  'I wonder whatever happened to her?'  She fondly remembered the summer when she had been twelve.  She was sixteen now, since January 27.  That had been the summer she met Michiru.  So much had happened since then.  She had known the girl not an hour when she left, and never returned.  But somehow, Michiru was the one she always thought of when she got depressed or lonely.  It was the memory of their meeting that made her feel as though she wasn't all alone.  Even after her parents had died in a car crash and her little brother was taken away from her and adopted by strangers two years ago.  She hadn't seen him since then.  He had only been two and probably wouldn't even remember her. 

            'Destiny' was the name of the song.  Michiru had written it the night they first met, for… Come to think of it, Michiru had never gotten to tell her.  But Haruka could see in her eyes what she meant.  They would meet again someday, but all Haruka had left in the meantime were a memory and a sour note.