Chapter 6: Ceilings and Race cars

Wind-Chaser crept quietly through the apartment as the suns rays began to turn from a golden yellow to a blazing orange. Laughing could be heard from the open door her master's bedroom. Haruka's voice came clearly as she commented to Michiru about view of the ceiling she so often saw now. Finally Wind came to the door, wrinkling her fuzzy nose at the amounts of plastic across the floor and the strong scent. The cat could not understand how Triton merely curled up in a corner near the open balcony door and slept.

"Well Haruka, it is your own choice that you decide to talk to people while lying on your bed." Michiru quietly teased the blonde holding the ladder on which she stood. Michiru continued to carefully brush paint onto the ceiling of the large white room.

"I still can't believe you wanted to paint my bedroom ceiling, really there was nothing wrong with the white." Haruka grinned at Michiru; both were clad in white cover-alls, which had quickly become dotted with paint over the day. "Not to mention that you can paint as beautifully as you play the violin."

"Now Ten'ou-san, you sound as if you are trying to butter me up for something." Michiru commented playfully as she slowly climbed down the ladder. At the bottom she turned to find Haruka had not let go and she was now trapped between the blonde and the ladder.

"Maybe I am, but that doesn't make it less true." Haruka whispered as she leaned toward the aqua haired young woman. Just before their lips could meet however the phone rang, it's electronic sound broke into the moment causing Haruka to grown and Michiru to giggle. Haruka grabbed the cordless from a large cargo pocket and pressed the button. She spoke instantly in English while grinning to her girl friend. "No, I'm happy with my long distance plan, I do not want broad band DSL and whatever age you need for your survey I am sure I do not qualify."

Michiru giggled again as she ducked under the tall blonde's arm and walked out of the bedroom toward the bathroom. She heard Haruka's voice saying something about Thomas and realized it must have been her friend, rather than the number of telemarketers the pianist had aimed her comments toward. She was washing her hands drying her hands, having gotten all of the paint off them when the taller woman suddenly burst into the open bathroom door and hugged her. The phone was nowhere in sight but whatever they'd talked about clearly made the blonde excited.

"Oh, you probably need air." Haruka said as she finally let up a bit on the over enthusiastic hug. Michiru looked up at her from over her shoulder, inquiring silently about what had caused such a reaction in the blonde. "It was Tom, did I ever mention he is a NASCAR scout?"

"I don't believe so." Michiru commented quietly as she led Haruka out of the bathroom and back to the plastic covered bedroom. She sat on the bed as Haruka paced before her.

"Will, about six years ago he and I used to race together. One day a NASCAR sponsor scout spotted our race and offered me a job as a test driver." Haruka paused in her pacing to look Michiru in the eye. "The thing is, I turned the job down due to other concerns and they hired Tom as their second choice."

"Were these other concerns named Jill?" Michiru asked curiously as Haruka nodded. The blonde seemed to wait for more comment so Michiru asked another question. "And that is how Tom got his start?"

"Right." Haruka confirmed for her. Teal eyes locked with deep blue hopefully as Haruka took a breath. She waited a moment then spoke again. "Tom wanted to repay that favor and he mentioned my name to a few friends. One of his friends works for a team that needs a new test driver and they want me to give it a try. I'd be driving a newly out fitted car they just finished up at a plant in Okinawa."

"That's great news. I think." Michiru gave a small shrug toward Haruka and looked a bit confused. "I don't know a lot about racing but you seem excited and happy."

"You're not going to say its dangerous and I should stick to music?" Haruka questioned just to be clear before she became deliriously happy.

"No." Michiru reached out and gently took Haruka's hands, looking once again into the blonde's teal eyes. "Haruka you know the dangers better than anybody on the sideline would but you still seem very happy to do so. From everything I've seen you can drive just as easily at 100 miles an hour as most people do at 40 miles per hour. If this is something you want to do, then do it."

"Thanks beautiful." Haruka commented as she sat next to Michiru and kissed the violinist's cheek. She smiled and wrapped her arms around the other woman's waist. "Though that sounded like an after school special or a sitcom."

"I'm not sure if I should feel insulted or not." Michiru said with amusement.

Not a week later Haruka stood in a locker room in Okinawa. She finished pulling on the yellow fire suit they had provided her and shut her temporary locker. A grin came to her lips as she picked up the matching yellow helmet, which someone had comically painted "test dummy" on. Even the blonde had to admit it was funny. She walked toward the door, which led into a large garage and entered the larger room. Metallic thuds were heard through out the room as other test cars were adjusted or reworked for small problems. The smell of fuel was strong, even with the large ventilation fan at the back of the garage.

"Ten'ou-san!" Haruka turned and spotted an American man in a business suit approaching her at a quick pace. Once he reached her he darted his eyes around a bit at the other people in the garage. "Do you speak English?" He asked sheepishly.

"Yes." Haruka grinned good-naturedly and held a hand out to the man. "I lived in the US for a few years. May I ask who you are?"

"Oh!" He smacked his forehead then shook the blonde's hand with a smile. "My name is Timothy Branson. Thomas called me about you but he never told me how you two knew each other. I want to thank you for coming out here on such short notice."

"No problem, you're giving me a chance to drive a NASCAR vehicle even if only as a test, I wasn't going to pass that up." Haruka followed the man as he led her out toward the track. It was a full size track, possibly used for races once before the carmakers bought it. A red painted test car sat waiting on the track as they approached, mechanics going over every detail in a final check.

"In that case, have fun." Timothy grinned at her and waved a hand at the car. "They told me they want you to ten laps the first time around and to say 'floor it'."

Haruka laughed a bit as she pulled the helmet on and climbed into the car through the window. A mechanic passed her the removable steering wheel through the same window and she snapped it into place. Next she plugged in the radio wire like they had shown her earlier, instantly hearing the voices of the mechanics and the timer in the control booth. Engine started and someone spoke into her ear through the helmets radio.

"Once around to get a feel for the track, then open her up as much as you can Ten'ou-san." Came the head mechanic's voice. She was given a thumbs up through the windshield and waved onto the track. "Good luck."

The first lap was enough to make Timothy wonder what this person thought of as a "safe" driving speed, but once Haruka was free to race the track at her own pace he was amazed. Mechanics murmured to each other, covering their radios and pointing at the fast moving red car. Comments were exchanged not just on the new car's acceleration, but also on the skill of the driver behind the wheel. Timothy pulled out his cell phone and hit a speed dial number.

"Thomas? This is Tim in Japan. Where did you find Ten'ou again? Why? I'm watching Ten'ou shoot around this track at what looks like light speed. What do you mean 'I told you so'?"

Haruka opened the door to her apartment that night with a wide grin. It was just past sunset and she was tired and hungry but very happy. The blonde noticed the kitchen lights were already on and stepped into the room. Wind-Chaser was on the floor, happily eating her dinner of cat food and Haruka blinked. Then she noticed the figure standing next to the stove and had to fight a grin.

"You cook?" She questioned the aqua haired violin player. The other woman grinned at her before turning back to the food on the stove.

"Did you think I live off pizza deliveries?" Michiru joked as she glanced again at the taller blonde. Haruka had dropped her duffle on the kitchen floor and now leaned against the doorway, watching her. "I thought you might be tired, you said you were leaving for Okinawa last night and coming back by the bullet train tonight so I thought I'd make you dinner."

"Thank you, Michi." Haruka walked over and hugged the shorter woman from behind. She held on until Michiru giggled and pointed out that she needed to move unless the blonde wanted to eat burned food. Haruka relented and stepped away, picking up her duffle as she stepped back out the kitchen door. "I am going to grab a shower."

She stopped to place her bag in her bedroom and noticed all the plastic was gone. Looking upward the blonde found the ceiling finished; an incredible space view was painted above her bed, the center of this picture being the planet Uranus and its moons. Haruka had to shake her head as she realized why Michiru asked what her favorite planet was. It was such an odd question that the blonde had assumed it was a personal quirk. The ceiling would look like it belonged in a child's room if not for the incredible realism of it.

'Maybe she is as talented as all those long dead artists.' Haruka thought to herself. She marveled at the fact that it seemed she could fall into the ceiling, if not for it being above her head. 'She did this by herself.'

Author's Note:

Not the most exciting chapter I've written, but I wanted to put in something about Michiru's painting. Once again, I couldn't help putting a reference to Uranus even though this is an alternate universe and they are not senshi. I seem to like writing AU. Funny thing is, about five years ago I used to say I hated to write AU stories. I don't know, now I just enjoy exploring what the characters may have been like in different circumstances.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I am sorry if it is a bit off. Stress has been attacking me from all angels this week and I even ticked off the "research department". If that isn't enough, my friend chose to hand me his laptop and ask me to save it from the nice little virus he got. At this point I would like to just wipe his entire drive because it doesn't look like it can be saved otherwise. I'm an ex-mechanic and for some reason he thinks I know a lot about computers. (Helpless shrug)

Thanks for reading.

Review responses for June 30 through July 8:

To animeprincess056: Thank you for your praise, I am glad you have enjoyed the story so far. I think I still have a few more chapters in me, and to be honest a weird idea occurred to me today and I think I will go with it. I'll do my best to keep it up. Thanks for the encouragement. B-)

To apl65: Thank you for the compliment. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks also for the review, these reviews really do keep me motivated to write.

To Moon-Daisuke: Sorry to hear about your loss as well. The number of people cancer effects on a daily basis amazes me. It seemed very odd to me because one day my dad was incredibly healthy, and the next they were giving him a 48 percent chance of survival. It one of those things that they need to focus more medical funding on and I truly hope they find a way to treat that works more consistently.

I am glad you liked the concert, and after reading your review I decided to write that story with Tom. It will be posted as a separate story so keep your eyes open. Right now I am still working on the first draft of it, and it will most likely be a one shot fic.

Thanks for the review; I will do my best to keep it up.

To Riva van Dyk: Hey, you're one of my favorite reviewers. (Grins) Thank you for the compliment, I am critical of my writing and don't generally think it is as good as others try to tell me it is. I swear I am shocked I can write romance; in real life I have had horrible luck with relationships. My male friends swear I give the best advice in the world though, and they used to ask me to write poem for them. (Laughs a bit) At least until my best friend realized her boy friend was asking me for advice, she forbid me to help him in that department again.

Well, take care and thank you again for the reviews each chapter. B-)

To Moonjava: I honestly surprised myself with the update time; I didn't think I would feel up to writing or posting a chapter at the time. B-) Didn't mean to make anyone jealous of Michiru, but hey they are just a really great couple.

There was a time where I would not have given a second thought to the meanings of roses; I am the extreme tomboy to the end. The reason I started to have an interest in it is my baby brother (who is 18). He talked me into doing some flower selling one holiday, you know those people who stand on a street corner all Valentines Day with roses and carnations, and I had a hard time telling the flowers apart. I did enjoy it though (still have a hard time telling the carnations from the mixed bouquets) and last time I saw these roses. Normally I don't give a second thought to the roses we sell, always red or white, but this past time the flower guy brought us these incredible orange roses and these eye catching pink roses. It made me wonder a bit about how many colors roses can be grown in.

I only dedicated time to the means with the writing of this story but the people, who helped me out with that research, including Knight-of-the-wolf, gave me some really cool information. I guess you can say my interest is now perked.

To Jeannie: B-) Thanks for the enthusiastic review, hope I posted fast enough.

Okay that's it for tonight. I would like to thank all those who have reviewed "Coward's Way Out" and who are still reviewing "Can't Leave You Alone". It makes me feel really good that people have taken the time to read those stories as well. Also, thank you to anyone who has reviewed "A World Apart", I know I haven't gotten to any romance parts of that story yet but I am trying to build up the whole chain of events, rather than "Haruka joined the service, now she in Japan". I thought I'd do my best to show how she got there.

Thank you again, and take care.

Haruka's Knight