Their shoulders crashed against one another... dark green eyes met icy blue ones...
"Oh, I didn't see you there, Tenoh. You should be more careful..."
"The same for you, Yazawa..."
Again the boy had that same damn grin on his face... he didn't say anything more, however, and went on his way, leaving Michiru to deal with an angry Haruka.
"You should ignore him... he's just an arrogant boy..."
"No, he's a lot more than that, trust me..."
The young violinist looked at her friend, thoughtful... it wasn't the first time that Haruka had argued with that boy.. "Are you mad at him... because of what he said on our first day of school?"
Haruka looked back at Michiru with surprise... she knew, obviously...
And again, Michiru was reading her mind: "I heard his remark and I saw your reaction... I'm happy to know that you care so much for me... but as I said, he is nothing more than a stupid, harmless child."
The tall blonde didn't say anything... she wanted to believe that her partner was right, but how could she just ignore -him-?
Especially after that last meeting...
She was walking with Michiru, when Yazawa Sei came from the opposite direction... his piercing eyes never leaving the aqua-haired beauty, checking out every part of her perfect body, undressing her with his cold gaze, dreaming to do unspeakable things with her... of course, Haruka couldn't stand it and when he passed by, she just made sure that Sei noted her displeasure...
"I don't like him." she said watching the boy that was now punching and kicking a machine that seemed to have stolen his money... "You should stay away from him."
"But I do... don't I?" Michiru asked sweetly, taking her partner by the arm, trying to dispel the girl's anger with her best smile: "Come on, let's go get something to eat. I'm starving!"
Of course, she succeded in distracting the blonde...
"Class, today I have a special assignment for you."
A choir of unenthusiastic voices replied to the teacher's excited one.
The man, however, didn't notice - or rather he just ignored it - and continued with his speech: "You will be divided into pairs to prepare a report about what we have studied so far..."
The students looked at the classmates sitting next to them, whispering something about the exercise and how extremely strict their history teacher, Takashi-sensei, was...
"Home-work, extra hours, 'special projects'... that man is always afraid that we don't know what to do with our free time..." muttered Haruka.
"That would make him a very caring person..." Michiru joked, sensing her partner's frustration.
"Too caring, in fact... well, at least we can do it together..."
But then... do you really believe that such a caring teacher didn't think about that too?
"I guess you misunderstood..." Takashi spoke again to the whole class: "You won't work with your classmate... you should be more open-minded at your age, that's why I will be the one choosing the pairings."
Another choir of distressed voices raised among the students... this man was terrible, just terrible...
"Well, let's start: Ayame-san will work with Kogi-san..."
But he could do even better than that...
"...Kaioh-san will work with Yazawa-san..."
"What!" Haruka almost jolted out of her chair... now she was sure of it: fate was a real cheater... there were no other way to explain something like this!
"...Kisagi-san will work with Tenoh-san..."
"You're luckier than me..." whispered back Michiru.
"You have three days to finish these reports." Takashi-sensei announced.
"Why don't you ask to change partners? Takashi-sensei will let you do it, I'm sure of it."
"Haruka..." Michiru rolled her eyes and sighed.. "You're starting to get paranoid... Yazawa-san and I have already agreed to work only for today, at the library... I won't be alone with him and besides.. I can take care of myself."
"I know, but..."
"No buts... you should think about your own report with Kisagi-san." Michiru reminded her, nodding towards the girl that was sitting at her desk, waiting for the two to end their little talk.
"All right... but if you need me..."
"I know where I can find you..." Michiru said softly with a smile that made the blonde car racer melt in her shoes... the annoying boy, of course, chose just that moment to cut in: "Are you ready, Michiru...-chan?"
The tall blonde glared at Sei with an angry face: "You'd better behave yourself with her, or I'll take good care of you..."
"You really think to impress me with that? Cool down, Tenoh."
At that Haruka wanted to reply with her actions, but again, Michiru restrained her, grabbing her hand: "I'll see you later, ok?"
The young car racer slowly nodded and watched as the couple left the room... Michiru turned a last time, smiling a reassuring smile to the blonde... she would be fine...
"Those books look heavy... want me to carry them, Michiru-chan?"
"No, thanks."
"Ehi, why are you so cold with me, Michirin?"
"Call me that again and I'll make sure you regret it."
"Oh, please.. don't be so harsh with me, Michiri-" luckily Sei was clever enough to understand that it was better not to provoke Michiru and managed to stop in time... at least, this time.
"I'm happy we can work together... with Tenoh-san around it's almost impossible to approach you, but now we have plenty of time to-"
"Remember... we agreed to finish the report today."
"That's not true... you said that, but I never..."
Michiru gave him a harsh glare and Sei rapidly corrected himself: "Ok, ok, you win... we'll just work on it today..."
After a short time (an eternity from Michiru's point of view), they arrived at the library. Fortunately, the place was crowded enough to prevent Yazawa from doing any more stupid things...
Michiru sighed before taking a seat at a free study table... it was going to be a long afternoon...
"I'm so happy we ended up together!"
"Yeah..."
"It will be so much fun!"
"Uhm..."
"So, how do we organize ourselves to get started?"
"Don't know..."
Nami's bright smile slowly faded... her partner's mind was clearly elsewhere and she had a few guesses about the cause of it...
"You're worried about her... right?"
Haruka blinked, guilty: "Uh... I'm sorry, Nami-chan..."
"Don't... you're right to be.. Yazawa-san seems dangerous..." the red-haired girl's sentence alerted Haruka, but then she continued: "At the same time, I think you should trust Michiru-san more, she's not stupid."
The tall blonde looked surprised, then she shook her head and smiled: "I guess you're right... arigatou, Nami-chan."
"We should take a break now.. don't you think?"
Michiru narrowed her eyes, feeling how Sei had passed an arm around her shoulders getting closer and closer to her...
She took the arm and passed it back to its owner before coldly reply: "Keep your hands away from me and your eyes on the book. I want to end this session as soon as possible."
Yazawa leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head.. "Come on, girl.. you should relax yourself!"
"Man, this is what I call a hard work!"
"Hai... I can't believe we really finished this thing in one day..."
"Why don't we go get something to eat then?" Nami's cheerfulness suddenly disappeared as she trailed off: "But perhaps.. you'd prefer going to see Michiru-san..."
The sandy blonde girl shook her head: "It's all right. I'm hungry. Let's go eat!"
She could feel his piercing eyes on her... she tried hard to ignore it, but she had been pushed far over her limit and abruptly turned towards Sei to meet his glacial eyes and that irritating grin: "What?"
"Oh, nothing... I was just thinking about how gorgeous you look, Michirin..."
"I warned you..."
"I know, I know... what are you going to do then? You can bite me if you want, but please.. be gentle..."
She couldn't stand him anymore. With a determined gesture she closed her book and stood up.. "I've got enough to finish my part."
She moved away from their table, when he rudely grabbed her by an arm, forcing her to stop... "Leaving so soon, Michiru?"
"Why are you smiling so much?" Haruka asked amused, looking at Nami, who sat in front of her at the café.
"Because we're together... I bet if the other girls of our class could see us, they would be terribly jealous of me... I'm so lucky!"
"And I'm lucky to be here with such a beautiful girl as yourself."
"Thanks for saying so, but I know there's one girl you'd be happier with..." the red-haired girl paused, observing Haruka's reaction with a mischievous grin: "You're in love with her, aren't you?"
"Nonsense!" she harshly replied, sipping her tea.
"It's more obvious than you may think... you can't fool me!"
"..."
"I see... she doesn't know yet... ne?"
Haruka almost choked on her tea: "There's nothing she has to know!"
"Ok, ok.. I won't say anything, don't worry..."
The sandy blonde girl slowly regained her self-control.
"However, I think you should tell her... you two have become so close, lately... I'm confident she feels the same for you."
At that, Haruka sadly shook her head: "We're close, that's true, but... there are other reasons..."
Nami looked confused by her words, but the young car racer just sighed: "Never mind..."
"Let me go."
"Try being more gentle with me and then... we'll see..."
Michiru looked around, suddenly realizing with horror that there were no more students in the library - they were alone...
"See? There's no one here that can help you now..."
"Let me go!" she said again, struggling to free herself.
But Sei was stronger than her and caught both her arms behind her back with a firm grip.. "I told you to be gentle, Michirin..." he whispered at her ear.
"You don't know what you're doing..!"
"Uhm, I have some ideas... I've tried to be kind to you, Michiru, but you're always so haughty... I should teach you a thing or two..."
"It's getting late, I have to go now..."
Haruka looked at her watch and frowned a bit... she hadn't realized how much time had passed...
"Go check on her now..." smiled Nami, standing up "I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"See you tomorrow and thanks for everything." Haruka stood, then she took the girl's hand and lightly kissed it... she then winked to the blushing Nami and hurried away...
Sei made Michiru spin around to face him... he was still holding her wrists behind her back with one hand, while the other one was caressing her cheek...
"Don't touch me!" Michiru snarled with eyes full of hate and rage, fighting against his strength.
The boy just grinned at her with amusement... his hand traveling down her delicate jaw.. her neck.. her collar-bone... "So soft", he whispered.
Michiru closed her eyes... she didn't want to see what he was doing... didn't want to feel his hands on her... why was this happening?
She concentrated on working a wrist free of his grip.
Haruka...
The tall blonde had been right... she should have listened closer to her warnings... but now...
Suddenly Michiru heard a loud crash and not a second later, she found herself free again...
She opened her eyes and was relieved to see a furious Haruka standing over a confused Sei, who lay on the ground after having an unpleasant encounter with Haruka's fist... the boy was holding his bleeding (and broken) nose...
"You will regret this." hissed the blonde, grabbing the boy's collar and forcing him to stand up... she wanted to give her rage free reign and teach the boy a lesson.
But Sei took advantage of the situation and moved out of her reach.. "Fuck you, Tenoh!" he shouted and landed a quick punch to the girl's stomach.
Haruka bent but managed to avoid the second thrown fist, countering with a front kick between his legs... and at that moment...
"What the hell..!" the library employee, a short but vigorous man, came rushing between them.. "What's going on here? Stop fighting, now!"
Haruka moved back and Michiru was promptly by her side... she grabbed her partner's arm still shocked by what had happened. Haruka's eyes, however, were still full of anger and never left Yazawa...not for one second.
The employee turned towards Sei and took him by an arm to help him up,
murmuring something like: "Tsk.. teenagers and hormones... that's an explosive mix..."
The boy, however, didn't appreciate it and threw a punch right into the man's face... the employee didn't move, it was as if he didn't even feel the blow... but immediately he grabbed Sei by the shoulder with a grip so firm that almost made the boy cry out in pain: "Where is your honor! Assaulting an elder is grounds for expulsion. You are just a child and I won't answer your stupidity in kind, but try that again and your mother will have a hard time recognizing your face when I'm done with you."
The employee turned again to Haruka and Michiru: "Now we'll go to visit the principal... all of us."
It was raining outside as they just sat near the window, looking at the dark sky in silence.
It had been a very long day for the both of them...
"Haruka?"
"Hmm?" the tall blonde turned towards her partner, who was still looking outside with a serious expression. Michiru continued: "I guess I should apologize to you. You were right... I think I underestimated the situation..."
The aqua-haired beauty finally met Haruka's gaze... the girl was slowly shaking her head: "There was no way you could have imagined what could have happened... you're not the one to blame." the girl paused briefly, then another thought surfaced in her mind.. "It's just lucky for him you didn't get loose before I got there... Kami-sama knows what you could have done to him." to emphasize, the young car racer touched the spot under her ribs where the smaller girl had that famous 'lucky blow'.
Finally Haruka was delighted by the sight of Michiru's first smile after what had happened...
"In the end, it worked out well." The tall girl continued with a smile.
"Yazawa-kun was expelled and sent to a reformatory, where he will stay for a very long time... I'm more than happy about that."
"We're lucky they didn't expel you as well..."
"How could they? I was rightly angry with him... he deserved every blow and then some!" the memory of what she had seen, made her fury rise to the surface again, but she managed to put it aside... it was all over now: "Well, this is what I call a happy ending."
"Really?" Michiru looked surprised, then she moved closer to the sandy blonde girl and kissed her on the cheek.
"This is what I call a happy ending..." she whispered in Haruka's ear, before turning on her heels and leaving her bewildered friend staring after her...
Author's Note: Well, what do you think, guys?Was it agood chapter or a bad one? Was it funny or boring?
Do I have to say it again? Please, read & review!
