Time to Breathe:
Haruka had to admit that she was comfortable in her current predicament. In fact it was the first time in over a month or longer that she could remember being truly comfortable. Somewhere in her mind she was still waiting to wake up from this moment to find herself back in her own dark room. Part of her mind expected to see the images from her nightmares superimpose themselves, but to her relief neither of these things happened.
Nothing much had happened, however the tall blonde was stretched out across Michiru's bed, fully clothed, with Michiru using her stomach as a pillow. Both young women stared up toward the ceiling as their conversation paused. Haruka had done her best to explain it all, answering any questions the violin player asked. Now the story was told and Michiru seemed to be thinking it all over very carefully. Haruka felt Michiru playing with her left hand, which had been draped across the shorter woman's shoulders.
"Ruka, what did happen to your brother?" She asked quietly.
"He overdosed on a form of meth." The blonde said heavily. She felt Michiru cringe so she spoke again to try to distract her. "He used to tell me I'd have to drink someday, I always thought he was wrong."
"Unless I missed something else, he was." Michiru reminded her as the violin player sat up and looked down at her. Michiru ran one hand lightly through the blonde's hair and gave her a sad smile. "I didn't mean to add to your problems."
"You didn't add anything really." Haruka tried lightly to cheer her partner up but noticed the way those blue eyes drifted toward the floor.
"No, I just too away one of your ways of dealing with stress and refused to see that anything was wrong." Michiru whispered. She was so focused on feeling guilty that she didn't see Haruka move until she found herself tackled flat to the bed. Michiru's eyes locked with the teal set which floated just above her.
"Forget the past, at least the past month or so love." Haruka spoke as the playful light came into her eyes again. The blonde grinned down at her and whispered. "If we had to go through that in order for us to come to this I'd do it again in a second."
"Sometimes I think you need your head examined." Michiru replied as she linked her arms around Haruka's shoulders. She smiled at the taller woman but spoke with warning in her voice. "From now on though, if you feel you need to talk something out you'd better go to someone, even if it isn't me."
"But I did." Haruka defended with slightly guilty look. Michiru raised one eyebrow at her and the blonde broke again into a playful smile. "I spoke to my father this morning."
"Why are you all better suddenly?" Michiru asked with a questioning look written across her face. The violin player regarded Haruka with a measuring look to those deep blue eyes. "I wouldn't think you'd get over it all so fast."
"Giddy most likely." Haruka answered and leaned close to the other woman's ear to plant a light kiss on it. "Your explanation left me feeling really good."
"So, is that all I have to do to cheer you up?" Michiru teased a bit before she pulled Haruka into another kiss. They were interrupted seconds later by a knock on the door. Haruka pulled back and glanced at the door as a flushed Michiru asked whom it was.
"Someone's at the front door for you, Michiru-mama." Hotaru's voice sounded oddly worried through the door as she spoke. "And Setsuna-mama wants to know if you've seen Haruka-papa."
"We'll be down in a second." Haruka called out as she winked at the now bright red violin player. A sort of surprised sound escaped Hotaru at Haruka's voice but she left with out comment. Haruka stood and offered her hand to Michiru with a smile. "My lady."
"Thank you." Michiru took the offered hand and once standing she poked Haruka in the ribs. The blonde made an odd sound and jumped a little backward. Michiru smiled lightly at her and went out the bedroom door before she could retaliate.
From the top of the staircase Michiru could see Setsuna trying to speak politely to someone waiting just out of sight on the porch. Hotaru sat on the bottom step and watched the oldest senshi as if it was some sort of class demonstration. Michiru felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to find Haruka behind her with a curious look. Michiru smiled and started down the stairs first. Both reached the bottom at the same moment but Haruka plopped down next to their daughter while Michiru walked over to the door. As she stepped next to Setsuna she got a look at the person standing there and almost regretted coming to the door.
"Hello Masato-san." Michiru said politely, not wanting to know if Haruka had reacted to the name or not. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Could we talk in private, Michiru-san?" He asked a bit hopefully. Michiru almost declined before Haruka's voice interrupted her.
"Okay peanut gallery." Haruka said as she stood and waved Setsuna and Hotaru toward the living room. She noticed Michiru's confused look and winked. "Let's leave Michiru to handle her own guests, shall we?"
"Let's talk on the porch." Michiru said as she smiled thankfully toward the blonde. She'd thought Haruka would be upset but it seemed she still couldn't predict everything the blonde did. She stepped outside and softly shut the door behind her. With a sigh she turned again to face the young man before her. "What was it you wanted to speak about?"
"I thought things were going well, Michiru-san." He started as he looked off toward the ceiling with a frustrated sigh. "Until last night things seemed fine, and then you called me today and just broke it off. You never even finished telling me why, just said you needed to speak to your housemate and hung up."
"I didn't mean to be rude, but we were having some issues that needed to be resolved." Michiru said lightly as she thought back to when Haruka came to tell her about the little outing with Hotaru.
"I don't really care about that, I want to know why you broke it off?" He said as he took a step toward Michiru and Michiru stepped back against the door. He leaned as close to her as he felt he could get way with. "Don't you like me?"
"Actually, I'm sorry Masato-san but I have feelings for someone else." Michiru spoke in a calm voice, ignoring the lack of distance as best she could. "It wouldn't have been fair to any of us to continue how things were going."
"So that's it?" He asked, as he started to sound disgruntled.
"I'm afraid so." Michiru was becoming eager to get back inside the house.
"Fine!" Masato started to turn but then he turned back with a very angry look. His hands slammed hard against the door on either side of Michiru causing the violin player to jump slightly. "Who is it though, who is so much better?"
"I don't think that is really your business." Michiru said lightly but the man glared at her and Michiru decided it was the only way to get him to leave. "You wont like the answer."
"Who is it?" Masato asked again, his voice still filled with anger and sounding ready to snap. The door opened a creak behind Michiru and Hotaru glanced outside with a worried look. The man looked coldly at the teen. "Go away, now."
"Hotaru, tell the others they didn't have to send you." Michiru said quietly over her shoulder. "Masato-san is a bit upset."
The door shut again and the man glared down at the violin player, not understanding what was just said. Michiru took a deep breath and paused to buy as much time as possible. Just as Masato looked ready to yell again Michiru heard footsteps and the door swung full open. This time Haruka stood in the doorway with a very stern look on her face. She glanced to Michiru first, making sure she hadn't misunderstood the vague message and received a nod.
"Is anything wrong? You seem to have become very loud. Masato-san." The blonde commented, as her eyes seemed to size him up. It was a look Michiru normally only saw the blonde use when she was expecting someone to take a swing at her, a calculation of what the best response would be.
"I was only asking Michiru-san a question." Masato growled out but took a breath when he got the very annoyed look he caused the blonde at his tone. It wasn't as if he didn't know who he was speaking with, both women were famous in their own rights and even if they weren't anyone with interest in Michiru knew of Haruka's temper. He tried to smile at the blonde and spoke again. "I was just asking Michiru-san who exactly she dumped me for, Ten'ou-san."
"Oh?" Haruka's eyebrow went up and she got a wicked grin as she watched the man before her with those teal eyes. "Did she answer you?"
"She said I wouldn't like the answer and that it wasn't my business." Masato answered in a frustrated but truthful manner. He was irritated further still when he noticed that the tall blonde only seemed more amused by this. "What is wrong with wanting to know who I lost to?"
"If you don't want to tell him, I'm sure he wont push the issue." Haruka spoke to Michiru before looking warningly toward Masato again. "Will you, sir?"
"No, actually it's alright Haruka." Michiru said with a sigh as Haruka leaned against the doorframe. Michiru was glad to see the over protective nature there for once, but she was even more grateful that Haruka wasn't going to pressure either choice of response. The blonde gave an air of not caring how the violin player handled this situation but Michiru was sure that she had an opinion.
"Okay, so who is it?" Masato asked impatiently.
"Masato-san, you've already met Ten'ou Haruka." Michiru indicated the tall blonde behind her as he answer but the man didn't seem to get it. With a sigh Michiru questioned the poor man's IQ. "Masato-san its Haruka that I had feelings for."
"You, and the temperamental blonde?" The man asked. Haruka seemed oddly amused by the description of herself. Masato looked back and fourth between the two with a shocked look. He shook his head as if trying to clear it. "Why did you bother with all those guys that are scared of Ten'ou-san now? What was the point?"
"Its personal Masato-san, but I will say I needed time." Michiru spoke again, watching the man for a reaction. The only reaction she got was a disbelieving look and another shake of the head. Masato seemed to have lost all his anger to shock and surprise.
"Oh you two deserve each other." He muttered as he wandered off toward his car.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Haruka asked as she and Michiru turned back toward the inside of the house only to find Setsuna and Hotaru sitting on the stairs.
"It means that you are both frustrating and confusing with a talent for driving people up a wall." Setsuna replied in a friendly tone, Hotaru trying to hold in her laughter at Setsuna comment. "Oh, and congratulations I suppose."
"We knew you two would end up together eventually." Hotaru put in between giggles as she watched the stunned look on both women. Haruka recovered first and Hotaru jumped up as the blonde came toward her. Laughter was heard as Haruka chased the girl up the stairs and out of sight.
"So does this mean everything has been worked out?" Setsuna asked as she regarded the remaining half of the couple.
"No, not exactly." Michiru spoke softly as she gazed up toward the unseen senshi of wind. She looked back to Setsuna and smiled thoughtfully. "But I think the first steps have been taken."
"Let's hope so." Setsuna stood and walked back toward the living room. She paused and looked at Michiru. "I don't think I've seen Haruka this happy in a long time, if ever."
Michiru nodded in silent agreement and started up the stairs. Someone should probably save the senshi of silence from her Haruka-papa's tickle torture. Michiru smiled widely once she found the two, Hotaru sprawled across the hallway floor laughing and Haruka tickling the girl with out mercy. Michiru walked quietly up behind the blonde and poked her in both sides. Haruka jumped out of reaction and soon found the tables turned with two sets of hands tickling her.
In the living room Setsuna smiled mysteriously. Yes, Michiru was right that this wasn't the end of the issues Haruka had been fighting. It was, however, the best of a number of outcomes time could have granted. Setsuna realized the two women would probably never realized how there choices tonight had helped to guide the time line, never realize that things could have as easily gone down the opposing path, but she was still happy that things had worked out. She'd seen the outcome of two major paths the incident could have resulted in, forbidden to interfere after she visited the time gates, and she shuddered at the thought of what could have happened and what could have been lost.
Setsuna smiled again as she picked up her book and opened it again to the page she had stopped on. Hearing the other three senshi upstairs Setsuna thanked fate for allowing her this time away from the gates. For allowing them all this time to breathe between major events.
Author's Note:
Thank you to those who gave me detailed information about where and what mistakes I made: Knight of the Wolf and King of Warlords. Also thank you to all those who reviewed and whom took the time to point out there were errors politely. I love all these reviews.
"To Thine Own Self Be True" is actually a quote found on AA, Alcoholics Anonymous coins. They give you one for each year you are sober. I was pretty much raised in an AA hall so that phrase means a lot to me.
Quickly I'd like to thank Knight of the Wolf for her detailed and helpful review. I think I have those errors fixed now. I was happily surprised that you actually counted the paragraph it was in so I found it in seconds. Thanks again.