Chapter 7: Sympathy

He slit her throat right in front of me. Harukas voice echoed through Michirus head over and over, sending the aqua haired girl in confusion. "Did she tell the truth? Or did she lie to gain my trust? But the tears in her eyes were real…" At the memory of that sight, Michiru could feel how a wave of sympathy flooded up inside her. She never would have thought that the blonde Yakuza boss was actually able to cry at all; but just ten minutes before, she had seen a side of Haruka that was kept hidden and buried away most of the time. Frowning, the aqua haired girl let herself sink down on her back, ending up lying on her back and staring up at the ceiling. "I never knew David could do such a thing…he always seemed so nice and kind around me…" Slowly, Michiru turned on her stomach, resting her head on the pillow and continued her pondering about what Haruka told her.

While the aqua haired girl laid on her bed, her thoughts circling, Haruka hurried down the hallway, desperately trying to hold her tears back. She didn't succeed though; as soon as she was in her office and the had closed behind her, she broke down on the couch crying. Talking about what David had done to her girlfriend years ago had caused a wave of memories to come out from where they had been locked away, turning her into a helpless sobbing wreck. Finally, after a seemingly endless time, Haruka managed to regain control over herself, her tears slowly stopping to flow. Leaning back into the couch, the blonde closed her eyes, the memories overrunning her with the force of a sledgehammer.

"So, finally you are here, Tenoh." David's cold voice echoed through the empty storage hall Haruka just had entered, her gun drawn and ready. At the sight of David, the blonde stiffened visibly; her eyes widened though when she saw who was kneeling in front of the tall man. "Shinri!" the blonde cried out, nearly dropping her gun at the sight of her tied up girlfriend. David grinned at her, a cruel glint in his blue eyes. "I told you I have a nice surprise for you. Didn't you believe me?" he then asked, before his voice grew cold. "And now drop your gun, before I kill her." Haruka quickly obeyed him, slowly putting her gun to the floor and kicking it, making it slide over to him. Grinning even broader, David picked up the weapon and put it in the back of his belt. "Now let her go." Haruka spoke, hating herself for begging like this. "You have me, leave her out of this." David seriously seemed to consider this for a while, then he suddenly smirked again. "No." was the only word he spoke before the knife appeared in his hand. And before Haruka had time to react, he had pulled the sharp blade over Shinri's throat. "NO!" Haruka cried out while her girlfriend fell, hitting the floor with a soft thud. David just prepared to attack Haruka too, when the door of the old storage hall burst open and her men stormed in, interrupting…

"Boss?" The knock at the door and the worried voice of Heihachi tore Haruka out of her memories, and she sat upright. "Yeah." The blonde hoarsely spoke. Seconds later, the door opened, and Heihachi came walking in. "Boss, the girl wants to…you okay?" The last two words came out shocked, the tall scarred man taking one step back when he saw Harukas bloodshot eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine." The blonde replied, desperate to not let Heihachi see her misery. "What does she want?" the Yakuza boss then asked, causing Heihachi to stutter around a bit before he finally brought his words out. "She wants to see you. She didn't tell me why, so…" "That's ok." Haruka interrupted him, standing up and walking over to him. "You get back to whatever you were doing before she called for you. I'll go talk to her." Heihachi nodded and hurried off while Haruka walked over to the room Michiru was in. Slowly, the blonde pushed the door open and entered, finding Michiru sitting on her bed – crying. At the sound of hearing the door opening, the aqua haired girl looked up, her eyes meeting Harukas. "Did you tell the truth?" Michiru now whispered, afraid of what the answer might be. "Tell me, Haruka…did you tell the truth when you spoke about your girlfriend?" Haruka slowly nodded, stepping closer to the crying girl. "Yes." She replied, sitting down next to her. Michiru let out another strangled sob and, before Haruka knew what was happening, buried her face in the taller woman's chest. "He lied to me." Her words came muffled, but still fully understandable, and Haruka immediately knew whom she was talking about it. "All the years, he lied to me…he walked off and killed the one you love, and then he probably came back to home to me and touched me with the same hands he used to murder...how could he do this to me?" At the mentioning of her dead girlfriend, Haruka felt hot tears welling up in her own eyes once more; still, she put her arms around the crying Michiru, trying to comfort her as much as possible. "I don't know." The blonde whispered, the tears finally running down her cheeks. "But it wasn't right…" Michiru shook her head, holding on to Haruka as if her life depended on it. "I wish I could help you somehow." The yakuza boss now spoke, her voice shaking. "But I don't know how…" "Stay." Michiru whispered back, her face remaining buried in the blondes shirt all the time. "Just stay…don't leave now." Haruka slowly nodded, tightening her embrace around the aqua haired girl. "I won't leave." She then softly spoke into Michirus ear. The aqua haired girl didn't reply, but to Haruka, it wasn't necessary that she did. The squeeze she received instead of a verbal answer was everything she needed to make her stay.