Chapter 5: Dangerous Addiction
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Haruka calmed down again and found herself able to drive on. The two women continued their way, with Michiru still chained to the door, much to her discomfort. "Hey, Haruka." She finally spoke after almost ten minutes of driving in silence, "can't you take that thing here", she shook her chained wrist for emphasis, "off again?" Haruka seemed to consider that for a while, then nodded. She stopped the car once more and dug out the small key that unlocked the handcuffs, freeing Michiru from the door. "Thanks." The aqua haired girl spoke, smiling. "No tricks." Haruka warned her while she searched for something at her feet. Michiru frowned at the blondes actions, and her frown deepened when Haruka finally found the object of the desire: one of the whisky bottles she had stolen from the gas station. "You really shouldn't drink and drive." The aqua haired girl scolded, earning an angered glare from Haruka. "Why should you care?" the blonde then asked while she held the bottle between her legs and opened it with one hand. "Maybe because I'm here in the same car with you?" Michiru reminded her, though that didn't really impress the blonde. "You're not chained anymore. You're free to leave." Haruka replied before lifting the bottle to her lips and taking a big gulp from it. She burped, then offered the whisky to her companion. "Want some, too?" Michiru shook her head before she spoke: "You really should stop drinking, Haruka." The blonde let out a snort. "Easier said than done." She then mumbled, raising the bottle to her lips, with the intention to take another gulp. All of a sudden, Michiru snatched it from her hands, and before Haruka knew what happened, the aqua haired girl had thrown the whisky out of the window. "Are you crazy?" Haruka cried out as soon as she realized what her companion had done. Without bothering to answer the blondes question, Michiru grabbed the second bottle Haruka had stolen, and caused it to join it's relative on the street. "You are crazy." Haruka mumbled, dumbfounded. "Well", Michiru replied, "if you think that helping you is crazy, I guess I am." The blonde just shook her head, her eyes glued to the rear view mirror where the sad remains of her alcohol could be seen, and stepped down on the gas pedal harder, speeding away.
Two hours later, Michiru regretted that she had thrown the whisky bottles out of the window. She had forgotten one pretty important thing about alcoholics on withdrawal, but now she remembered. Mostly her memory came back because Haruka was sitting on the bed of the hotel room the two had rented, and her hands shook so badly that she could barely hold the glass of water Michiru had given her. "At first they get shaky, and then they get aggressive. Always remember that , my dear." Michiru heard her mother's voice in her mind. The aqua haired girl had been living with an alcoholic for almost twenty years, and now she wondered how she could have forgotten that rule. And she feared the moment when Harukas shakiness would vanish and would turn into aggression. "Get me something to drink." Haruka now grumbled, looking at the aqua haired girl with fire in her eyes. "At this instant!" Michiru, who knew that if she would obey Haruka now, the blonde would never stop drinking, shook her head. The very next second, she found herself with her back against the wall and Harukas hand at her throat. "I said, get…me…something…to…drink." The blonde repeated, her grip around the aqua haired girls throat tightening, making her unable to breath. "Haruka…" Michiru wheezed, desperately trying to get some air into her lungs, "you're hurting me…" For one more terrible moment, the steel-like grip around her throat continued, then Haruka suddenly let go of her and took one step back. "I'll hurt you even worse if you don't get me something to drink." The blonde threatened, not knowing what disaster she caused with her words. All of a sudden, and much to Harukas shock, Michiru stepped forward and pushed her so hard that she fell, landing on her butt. "You think you can scare me?" the aqua haired girl now yelled at the still stunned Haruka, with fire in her eyes – and tears, which shocked the blonde even more. "You really think that? You can't, Haruka, not after what I went through thanks to my father! I'll show you something scary!" And with that, Michiru pulled her sleeve back, exposing a long scar that ran from her elbow down her forearm, ending at her wrist. Haruka had to swallow a few times before she found herself able to speak. "What…how did you get that?" "My father pushed me, just like I pushed you. But you didn't fall into a desk with glass surface like I did." Michiru made a short pause to look at Haruka, with the anger vanished from her eyes. The tears, though, remained. "He did that to me when I refused to get him something to drink." A single tear fell from her eye and ran down her cheek while Haruka stared at her, feeling like a piece of shit. "I'm sorry." The blonde now softly spoke while coming to her feet again. "I'm so sorry…" She slowly stepped closer to the aqua haired girl, looking down on her before placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Michiru looked up at her, her bottom lip quivering. "Hey, don't cry." Haruka whispered, pulling the aqua haired girl into a comforting embrace. Michiru let out a strangled sob and buried her face in the taller woman's chest, her tears soon staining Harukas shirt. "That's why you wanted to come with me so badly, right?" Haruka now asked while she gently stroke the crying woman's back. "To get away from your father." Michiru nodded, still sobbing, and Haruka closed her eyes for a second. "Now that's what I call irony." She then mumbled. "You run away from an alcoholic…and end up getting kidnapped by another one, who isn't much better." Suddenly, Michiru pulled back and looked at the blonde, shaking her head. "No, Haruka. You're not like him." "What makes you so sure about that?" Haruka replied, her voice shaking all of a sudden. "What makes you stay with me anyway? I'm nothing more than an alcoholic without a job, and without any abilities besides racing…I'm just a big looser." The last five words were spoken so softly that they were almost inaudible, but since Michiru stood pretty close to Haruka, she heard them. "You're not." The aqua haired girl now spoke, taking the taller woman's hand into hers. "It's not your fault that your career ended. I believe you when you say that somebody smuggled the cocaine into your locker, and that you never took that stuff. You're not a looser, Haruka, you're a victim of some big asshole who couldn't cope with the fact that a woman races better than him." Haruka just sighed and shrugged. "It doesn't matter anymore anyway…the only thing that matters now is, can you forgive me what I did before?" "I already did." Michiru replied, her thumb gently stroking the back of Harukas hand. "Thanks." Haruka softly spoke, looking downward, her eyes meeting those of the smaller woman. For one second, the air between them seemed to be full of sparks, then Haruka coughed, looked away and broke the eye contact. "I suggest we get to bed." She mumbled, making a vague gesture towards the double bed that stood in the middle of the room. Michiru nodded, feeling quite odd after the short eye contact with Haruka, and without talking anymore, the two women undressed and both climbed into bed. Soon, they were fast asleep, not knowing that the police was only four kilometres away.