Chapter 8: Sleepless Night
„You can have the bed. I'll take the couch." Haruka spoke after a few moments of silence. "Are you nuts?" Michiru protested. "Hello, this is a double bed. I think we'll both…" "I said, I'll take the couch." Haruka interrupted her, glaring. "And now shut up and obey, before I tie you to the bed with my web." Michiru quickly obeyed and started to undress. To her amusement, Harukas eyes first went wide before she covered them with one hand. "What on earth are you doing?" the blonde cried out. "I'm undressing myself." Michiru replied, trying to keep her smile out of her voice. "You know, normally I don't sleep with my clothes on." Haruka just grumbled and turned her back on Michiru. One second later, the clinking sound of her belt buckle opening could be heart, then Haruka pulled down her trousers and carelessly threw them into the next corner. She unbuttoned and took off her shirt, but refused to get out of the muscle shirt, too. The blonde walked over to the bed and got the pillow and the blankets that laid on the side Michiru was not using before she readied the couch for herself. "Good night." Michiru softly spoke when Haruka turned the lights off. "Night." Haruka replied. Michiru soon fell asleep, but Haruka just laid on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. She was so tired that her eyes felt as if they were full of sand and burned like hell, but she couldn't sleep. Like always. Haruka sighed and rolled to her side, closing her eyes. She was about to doze off when a flash of an image came up, the picture of some big, square gray thing appearing in front of her inner eye. The "Fridge". Harukas eyes flew open, and her breath became heavy. Michiru, who was sleeping by now, stirred in the bed, but didn't wake up. "No." Haruka whispered, closing her eyes again. "Please, just let me sleep one hour…" Her prayers didn't help. Instead of sleep, another memory came up, two voices talking about her.
"You made a fucking mistake. You gave her way too much! Now the effects will be permanent." "And? That makes her the perfect soldier. Think about the possibilities! A soldier who needs no sleep…" "You idiot! She does need sleep! She just won't be able to get it anymore, now that you gave her such a high dose!" "Stop yelling at me! She'll survive it!" "Yes, she surely will. But you do know that she could snap if she's not getting any sleep?! That woman is a ticking time bomb now, ready to explode any minute! Eveyr human being needs…" "She is not a human being. She's a living weapon, but not a human being!"
"…not a human being." Haruka whispered, staring up. Although it was dark in the room, she could see every crack in the ceiling, thanks to her increased eyesight; she knew that, if she just concentrated hard enough, she probably also would be able to see the movement of Michirus eyes under her closed lids. "You're so lucky." Haruka mumbled, looking over to the bed where Michiru slept soundly. "You can sleep…I just wish I could, too." Letting out another sigh, Haruka finally stood up and sat down on the only chair in the room. She watched Michiru for the whole night, until the sun started to rise on the horizon.
Michiru awoke when sunlight shone into her face. She yawned and opened her eyes. "Awake?" Harukas voice came from the right, causing her to jump. The aqua haired girl turned her head and looked at the blonde, who was sitting on top of a simple wooden chair. Harukas face was pale, causing the dark rings underneath her eyes to stand out in a sharp contrast; her eyes herself were bloodshot. "Haruka!" Michiru called out, sitting up. "You look terrible." "You have a way of breaking news." Haruka mumbled, glaring at the aqua haired girl. "I couldn't sleep." She then simply said. "What do you mean, you couldn't sleep? You weren't able to sleep the whole night through?" "No. I wasn't able to sleep at all." Michirus eyes widened until Haruka feared that they might fall out any second. "What?!" the aqua haired girl cried out. "But why? That's impossible! You looked tired when we came here, and then you couldn't sleep?" Haruka sighed and looked down to the floor. "I'm never able to sleep." She finally spoke, her voice soft and sad. Her eyes came up again, meeting Michirus. "I'm the perfect soldier, Michiru. And perfect soldier's don't sleep." "You mean…the army did something to you, and now you can't sleep anymore?" Michiru asked, shocked. The things she heard about those experiments Haruka had to go through became worse and worse, and she wondered how one human being could to things like that to another. Haruka nodded, her gaze still locked with Michirus. "Yeah. It wasn't planned like that, but one of the doctors made a mistake. They needed me awake for all the tests and operations, so they inserted some steroid thing into me…but they used to much. And when they inserted the spider DNA the next day, the steroids where still there and somehow went into my whole body instead of staying in my blood…keeping me awake now. No matter how tired I am, I just…I just can't sleep." The last sentence was spoken in such a desperate tone that Michiru could feel her heart ache. "Oh God, Haruka…I feel so sorry for you…" Haruka looked away, back on the floor. "The only way for me to get some rest is to fall unconscious." She let out a short bitter laugh. "You have no clue how refreshed I felt when I awoke at your house for the first time, Michiru." Michiru stayed silent, and finally, Haruka rose from her chair. "Well, we should get moving. Get dressed, so we can leave soon." Michiru nodded and started to put her clothes on, Haruka doing the same.