One year later...
Seiya was jogging along the sidewalk when he heard a basketball dribbling, then a violent slam into the rim. Looking up, he realized that he was in front of Haruka's house. He had been told earlier that day what today was (as if any one of them could forget), and that Haruka had insisted that everyone stay away from her today. Of course, Seiya was never on to listen to anything Haruka said, so he headed around the back to see her angrily dribbling the ball into the concrete.
"Hey, B-ball girl... What did that poor ball ever do to you?"
Spinning around at the sound of his voice, Haruka hurled the ball toward his head. He caught it easily with reflexes developed form years of fighting and his new hobby, American football. As he lowered it from in front of his face, he noticed Haruka's eyes shooting daggers in his direction.
Casually dribbling the ball and ignoring the look being thrown at him, he made a shot and watched in go through the net cleanly. He went after it, retrieving it and started dribbling it again before speaking once more. "So, how's Nina?"
Haruka's expression softened visibly at the mention of that name. "She's over at Usagi's... she agreed to throw her a little birthday party today... I just... couldn't find it in me to celebrate it..."
Seiya nodded his head in sympathetic understanding. "In time, Haruka... you'll begin to see Michiru in Nina, and you won't be able to tear yourself away from her for more than two seconds."
The blonde nodded at the words she knew to be the truth before easily stealing the ball from Seiya's hands, jumping up and just as easily dunked the ball through the hoop. Taking this as the challenge it was meant to be, Seiya dashed forward to grab the ball.
This went on for over an hour before both decided it was time to take a break. Of course, this didn't stop Haruka from teasing Seiya about how badly she had beaten him. He took it all in good nature. Chuckling, the blonde invited him inside, old rivalry seemingly forgotten for the time being, exchanged for a surprisingly comfortable camaraderie.
Haruka got them both a bottle of water as Seiya issued his own challenge. "You just beat me today because basketball is your game... you should come try playing football with me and a bunch of other guys at the park tomorrow."
The challenge was accepted, and Seiya spent the next half-hour or so explaining the general rules of football and the different ways to gain points. After this was done, the managed to find a football game on the television.
They only realized how late it was when Usagi dropped off a very sleepy Nina. Needless to say, she was surprised to see Seiya some to the door to help carry some of the things Nina had gotten up to the one-year-old's room.
Holding Nina, Haruka told Seiya how to get to Nina's room.
Usagi waited until he was gone before lifting an eyebrow at Haruka. "Well, this is uhm... certainly a surprise, to say the least!"
Haruka shrugged her shoulders as much as she could without disturbing Nina, who had fallen asleep in her arms. "We're still rivaling... just in a more organized fashion. And don't go telling anyone anything otherwise, Usagi. I know how your mind works."
Usagi giggled and gave a wink toward Haruka. "Oh, Haruka! The thought never entered my mind!" Then, waving goodbye, she went back to hop in the car with Mamoru, and the car left.
Shaking her head, Haruka turned and ascended the stairs up to Nina's room, only to find Seiya already turning down the sheets for the small girl. She set the girl down in the bed, only pulling off her sneakers before covering her up. Then she found and tucked a dark brown, plush teddy bear holding a big, red push heard beside her.
"She'll be upset if she wakes up and it isn't there..." Haruka paused her whispering as she rose from where she had been sitting on the edge of the bed. "Michiru was the same way..." Stopping there, she kissed the sleeping child on the forehead and left quietly, Seiya following close behind.
Out of safe hearing distance back downstairs, he settled a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "Want to talk about it?"
She looked at him warily for a few moments before slowly nodding her head. She didn't really know why... perhaps it was because Seiya was more likely to remain neutral on the subject than any of her other friends. It would be easier to talk to someone who wouldn't get so emotional.
"I gave that teddy bear to Michiru on Valentine's Day last year... and, well... I had planned on asking her to marry me for some time, I just hadn't planned on doing it then. But, it just came out over dinner..."
Seiya nodded a little as they both settled down to sit in the living room on the couch. He made a point not to interrupt Haruka as she rambled on, letting everything out.
"We went a few days later to pick out a ring... The guy at the shop was really helpful... that is, until he found out I was a woman..."
The disgust on Seiya's face revealed that he hadn't heard this part of the story before. None of the Kou brothers had attended the trial, feeling that their star status would just draw unwanted attention to the proceedings.
"He started hitting on Michiru, and we left soon afterwards. A couple weeks later, I came home to find Michiru crying; she told me about it, and told me she was pregnant... The jury at the trial was just... unbelievably ignorant." Haruka fairly growled the last two words, angry at the memory. "There was DNA evidence right before them, and they didn't care one bit what it would do to Michiru..."
Wisely, Seiya continued to remain silent as Haruka continued to vent off her anger, amongst the many other emotions that she was so used to keeping bottled up inside herself.
"A few days later, I couldn't stand it anymore... I killed him. With my bare hands. And I still don't regret it... I was arrested, of course, just because I had the most prominent reason for wanting to kill him. They didn't keep me for too long just based on probable cause, though... the guy had apparently ruffled more than just a few feathers in his life... I hadn't been as careful as I should have been about leaving evidence... the police chief called me into his office, and I watched him destroy every bit of what they had been able to find. Nothing was ever said about it again." Realizing she had been clenching her hands into fists so tightly that a few nails had dug in and began to make her bleed, Haruka slowly relaxed her hands. She had no reaction as she watched drops of blood slowly form, then as they rolled down the palm of her hand once they had become heavy. She only reacted when Seiya came over and began to take care of her hands.
"So, what happened after that?"
Watching him for a moment, she thought back to where she had left off, and then continued.
"The whole trial process had taken a few months... Michiru refused to go through with it again. So, we went on with our lives... or at least, we tried to. The more Michi showed, the more depressed she seemed to get. She stopped taking care of herself around the end of her seventh month, no matter how much I tried to cheer her up and get her to eat right..."
Seiya nodded his understanding of this fact as he finished bandaging her hands. "That explains why her body gave out while giving birth..."
A slow, sad, and weakened smile crossed Haruka's lips. She rose and went to a bookshelf, pulled down a silver scrapbook, and then walked back to Seiya. It was a thick book, with Kai'ou Michiru lettered neatly in aqua-colored calligraphy on the front. Opening the front cover, there was a picture of baby Michiru, bearing a striking resemblance to Nina. Opening further to about the middle, it was Michiru when she was round ten, next to a ticket to the circus. About three-fourths of the way through, Michiru was now about fifteen, movie tickets, concert tickets, and race tickets scattered among the photos. A few pages later, pictures featuring Haruka alongside the aqua-tressed beauty began appearing. Smiling wistfully, Haruka skipped ahead to the last few pages. These held pictures of a very pregnant Michiru, a then rare smile upon her lips. The last three to four pages held her obituaries and stories about her untimely death, taken from several newspapers, magazines, and other publications worldwide. Folded in the back was a piece of stationary. It was the note Haruka had found. She handed this to Seiya, and let him read.
As he did so, realization and inevitable horror showed upon his face. Looking up after finishing, words would not come for several minutes. When they finally did come, his shock was evident. "She... killed herself?!"
Nodding sadly, Haruka replaced the note and put the scrapbook aside. "No one else knows... except a few paramedics and a doctor. I couldn't let everyone that adored her know that her life had ended in that way... It was an end unsuiting to someone like her..."
Silence reigned in the room, save for a steady pounding of rain outside. After about five minutes, Haruka rose and went to the window. She stood staring out for a few minutes more before smirking faintly and looking back to the raven-headed male. "Looks like you're staying the night..."
Confused, Seiya went to look at the window as well. He saw that there was no way he could possibly walk home... Even without considering the late hour, it would be almost impossible for even Haruka to safely drive in this weather. Large hailstones were falling amidst the rain, some hitting the ground so hard that they shattered into tiny shards of ice.
"Come on, you can use one of the guestrooms."
Voicing no complaints, Seiya turned and followed Haruka up the stairs.