Chapter 2: Café Dancing
The small park was fairly quiet and calm; few people were here with it being a weekday. Sakura trees and other plant life were numerous and well cared for as the two figures strolled down the path, ice creams in hand. The taller of the two was holding a small plastic spoon full of ice cream in front of the bluish gray cat perched on her shoulder. Her companion watched the activity with amused blue eyes, quietly eating her own ice cream cone and holding onto a lash with the other. In front of the two a large friendly German Shepard kept watch of where they were going.
"I didn't know IKEA had Japanese stores." Haruka commented quietly as Wind finished her spoonful of ice cream and purred in her master's ear.
"Are you complaining, Haruka?" Michiru smiled brightly at the taller woman.
"Not at all, that place is huge but I still think it was faster then any other place would have been." Haruka scooped a bit more ice cream from her nearly empty cup and held it up for Wind-Chaser. She gave the little cat a firm look as she spoke. "This is the last spoonful, Wind-chan. No more treats for you tonight."
Michiru laughed even as the cat seemed to throw her master a look that said 'Sure.' even Haruka grinned at that look on the fuzzy face before her. Though she had only been back in Japan for about a week Haruka had to admit that she missed having Wind running around under her bed. Things felt odd with out the little ball of fluff to pounce on her when the alarm went off each morning. Haruka stopped by a bench and set both Wind and the reminder of the ice cream on the ground before taking a seat.
"Last spoonful, Haruka?" Michiru teased, as the small cat seemed to dunk her head into the bowl. They both grinned when the cat pulled her head back out, ice cream framing her fuzzy face, and stepped back letting Triton have a shot at the cup. "Looks like you got to spoil them both today."
"It wont hurt them once in a blue moon." Haruka commented with a grin as Michiru unhooked the leash and sat next to her. Both knew the leash was for appearance, Triton never tried to walk more than a few feet from his mistress. "You said something earlier about needing to discuss business."
"Yes." Michiru gave a firm nod, even as her eyes seemed to sparkle with amusement. "Ten'ou-san, you're fired."
"What?" Haruka's face was full of shock and confusion. She gave the aqua haired violinist an odd look before she asked the first thing that popped to mind. "Is that a joke, or are you serious?"
"I am dead serious, Haruka." Michiru shifted to face her more fully, a mysterious smile playing across her pretty face as she spoke. "I don't want to be your boss anymore."
"Oh?" Haruka started to grin, but she still wasn't sure where this discussion was going. She raised an eyebrow at her friend. "And what would you like to be, Kaioh-san?"
"Your partner." Michiru almost laughed at the noticeable surprise on the blonde's face. She put her hand to gently to one side of Haruka's face and looked into the teal eyes. "I would like to play as a duet, rather than Michiru Kaioh and a nameless pianist."
"But they come in for your name, Michiru, these are your fans." Haruka spoke quietly, she had never considered going into music as a career. "No one knows my name, not in the vast world of music."
"But they will, and I do not want to change my pianist." Michiru let her hand fall back to her lap, expression mockingly firm as she shook a finger at the taller woman. "Don't make me go into playing only solo."
"We couldn't have that, could we?" Haruka laughed a bit even as she held her hand out to Michiru. "Deal."
"Thank you, Haruka."
It was getting late in the evening so the two decided to stop at a café for food before heading back to Haruka's apartment. The place they stopped at was a quiet, family run business. It was nearly empty at the moment, with a wide-open expanse between the booths and the order counter. Michiru looked at the window, watching as Triton slept quietly in the back of Haruka's convertible, a ball of gray fur curled up on top of him. She had to smile at the cute appearance.
"Would you like to dance?" Michiru turned her head at the unexpected question. Haruka stood beside the booth, a playful look on her face and mischief in her eyes as she held out her hand. Michiru only then took notice of the slow song, which quietly played through the café's speakers, gentle notes floating on the quiet air.
"Haruka, this is not a dance floor." She pointed out even as she stood and took the blonde's hand. She admitted to herself that the idea of dancing with the charming blonde was more than appealing. "And this isn't the most proper behavior either."
"There's no one here to complain and its such a nice song." Haruka returned with a bright grin. She placed her arms around Michiru's waist as the shorter woman's went up to her shoulders. "What are you afraid of, Kaioh-san?"
"Nothing, nothing at all." Michiru had to laugh as she danced quietly with the blonde. If there was one thing she had learned about Haruka these past eight months, it was that the blonde woman could be very spontaneous when a fun idea came to mind. Now she could also say, with honesty, that Haruka was quite a good dancer. They swayed to the beat of the music, being mostly ignored by anyone else in the café.
The two danced quietly, waiting for their take out order to be called. Neither spoke, and Michiru finally rested her head against Haruka. To anyone passing the two would be mistaken for a carefree young couple, and indeed that was what the owner thought they were. He mistook Haruka for a young man dancing with his love and so said nothing to the two. After all, the place was nearly empty and they didn't seem to be bothering anyone.
When their order was called Haruka felt odd about releasing Michiru, but she withdrew her arms and bowed to the aqua haired beauty before her, electing a small giggle from her. With a slightly cocky grin she walked over to the counter and got their take out from the man behind the register.
"You two are a very cute couple." The man spoke quietly to her, before bowing his head. "Forgive the intrusion."
Haruka only grinned and tipped the man. Cute couple? Haruka walked quietly back to the car, Michiru was already seated and just waited for the blonde. She got in, handing over the food before starting the car and driving away. As they drove the two women talked lightly, Haruka having to ask directions from Michiru here and there.
"You're quite a good dancer, Ten'ou-san." Michiru teased later that night as Haruka dropped her off. Haruka stood in the doorway, still holding onto Wind-Chaser as her shorter friend went to let Triton out the back door. The smiling violinist returned to the doorway and looked up at the blonde. "I will have to remember that the next time I have to attend some sort of formal party."
"Thank you." Haruka grinned as she gently set Wind on the floor, the cat quietly wandered back in the house as the two humans talked. Haruka shoved both hands in her jacket pockets as she started to turn back to the door. "Good night, Michiru."
"Good night, Haruka." The aqua haired woman echoed as she watched the blonde walk back to the yellow convertible. After the car drove away she shut the door and walked back to her large living room. She sat down on the couch and had to smile once more as she turned on the news.
Haruka drove off toward her apartment again, breaking several traffic laws as she sped around the nearly empty streets. She circled around a bit more than she needed, taking the time to try to clear her mind of what the man in the café had said. She hadn't thought much about dating again, she hadn't truly thought about 'moving on' as all those TV shows said. She did have to admit that Michiru was interesting. She was calm, friendly, intelligent, beautiful, and talented just to start.
'Whoa there Haruka, now you do sound like you're in love.' She thought to herself, finally pulling into the parking structure of her building. She wasn't sure she was ready for too many of those thoughts yet. She brought her convertible in next to a dark blue compact car, Michiru's car. Each apartment was given two spaces and Haruka had insisted on driving the shorter woman home, so they had just parked her car in the spare space. Haruka turned off the convertible and looked toward the car quietly, thoughts racing through her mind.
A few long moments later the blonde finally shook her head and stood. After locking up her car, and checking Michiru's once, she walked over to the elevator and decided to go turn in for the night. She could think about this all later, after the jet lag had worn off.
Author's Note:
Wow, thank you for all those quick reviews guys, and for those also reading and reviewing "A World Apart". It really keeps me going to know that somebody is reading, and it makes me smile to see that there are people who enjoy my writing. I did go back and fix the errors I found in the first chapter, sorry about some of those.
Thanks Riva Van Dyk for pointing out the spelling error in the title. It may have been small but I was glad someone said some thing so I could fix it.
Okay, this is Chapter two, now I need to get some more work done on "A World Apart". Wish me luck guys and girls, I am going through some weird stuff out in the real world while I write this.