Chapter 9
Duel
When Haruka awoke, it was late in the afternoon. She still had Michiru's thin and sweet body embraced to hers. An asleep Michiru, a slight dreamy smile on her face, was facing her. Haruka looked at her in awe. She wished this moment not to end… But another thought crossed her mind… Michiru wasn't in love. She was a lady, a heterosexual lady who had married her thinking she was a man… They had made love because Michiru had wanted to test something. Haruka felt sad… Deeply sad. She leaned a kiss on Michiru's lips and got off of the bed, dressed and left the room. Why was she so sad? It had no sense at all… It had just been… Sexual, wasn't it? She had made love to Melinda so many times; it was the same… wasn't it?
Haruka's thought were interrupted by Setsuna, she was walking in the corridor, holding Hotaru. She was totally crazy about the baby girl though she didn't want to tell it. She had no intention to refuse what Michiru had asked. She would make Hotaru their daughter.
« Here's the cutest baby on earth, » said Haruka, suddenly having a stupid smile on her face. Setsuna handed her the baby.
« You already like her… I knew you were making fun of my mistress this morning… But back then you two said you would come back in a minute… »
Haruka blushed hard. She certainly won't say anyone about the very pleasant time they had spent. She was not supposed to like Michiru this way… « Hey! You don't like her… SEXUAL, just sexual, remember! »
« I… We… Michiru wasn't feeling alright so she's in her room… I went for a walk… Our last fight was exhausting. »
« Last fight… I don't understand why you two need to fight all the time… You like her, don't you? Or at least, you appreciate her… »
« Maybe… And I'm not always the one who begins… She reproached me with making her go to the court… I wasn't responsible. »
Haruka suddenly remembered a detail she'd rather have forgot. Michiru had slept with the king last night.
« She thinks you wanted her to go… You're always, excuse me for this but it is true, mean to her… »
« I promise I didn't want her to go… I'm a jerk but I have limits… I had found an excuse for her, and I was on my way to talk to her, I wanted to ask her whether she wanted to go before, but we argued and I left the house, forgetting about the letter still on the table. My father must have found it and logically thought I wanted her to go, because no one can refuse a personal invitation from the king. »
« But what was the excuse? »
« Illness… But now I have a better plan, and baby Hotaru will be part of it… Because I'm pretty sure the king will want her back… Who wouldn't? She's so hot… Oh god did I say that aloud? »
« Let's say I didn't hear it… You should tell her about all this… I mean, about your plan. She'll have a better opinion of you. »
« I don't want her to. I don't want her to make false ideas… I don't love her. And I'm pretty sure she doesn't love me either.
« Are you sure? Remember that she chose you. »
« That's the problem, I don't like to be chosen, I prefer to be the one who choose. I won't forgive her for having me trapped… »
« It could have been worse, now you've got a nice and pretty wife. You two form the most beautiful couple I've ever seen. »
Haruka was flattered… But she was feeling that this conversation endangered her. Setsuna was a very smart person, and she didn't want her to find out… But to find out what? There was nothing to find out! Why was she so worried…? Definitely she had to look colder…
« A nice and pretty wife, you said? Don't make me laugh, she had a sharp tongue and her only skills are with her damned violin. Besides I regret to have to say this to you… But the truth is that she's a whore. We're only married for a few weeks but she has already ended in the king's bed, I guess she didn't protest that much when she left yesterday, and I guess that even if she say the contrary she wants to go back there… I know the court, her night must have been long, the king is not the only man around… »
« Lord Tenoh! She's your wife before god! You shouldn't say this… And didn't she tell you that… »
« Shut up Setsuna! »
Haruka returned suddenly to see from whom those words were coming. But she knew the answer before doing it. Michiru was standing in the door frame of her room, in a night outfit.
« Lady Tenoh… »
« Michiru… For how long have you been here? »
« Long enough… from the 'I don't want her to make false ideas'… I hate you Haruka! »
Michiru's eyes were full of tears… She had been sure there was love in Haruka's eyes… And the way she had been with her… So tender and loving… She didn't know that making love could be so great… She had always been worried about this, but her fears had vanished today in Haruka's embrace. And now she learned it meant nothing to the blonde… How could it be?
Haruka wasn't at ease, though she let nothing appear on her face. She was lost… Michiru's reaction made her feel sad, more than sad… Desperate. She had searched for it, she knew it… But she didn't meant what she said, and above all she didn't mean Michiru to hear it. The cries of the turquoise-haired girl in front of her hurt her deeply in her heart; she couldn't bear to know she was in pain. Her desire was to embrace her gently and say her that everything was okay, that she lo… No it couldn't be it… This feeling didn't really exist; it was an invention of some silly persons…
« How can you say that rubbish after what we… I must be stupid… For a moment I thought you loved me… I also thought you had changed… It seems you're the same jerk I married! »
« Think what you want… At least I'm not the last court's bitch! »
Haruka hadn't intend to enter the fight Michiru seemed willing to begin, but it had been stronger than her, when she insulted she always fought back. But the baby still in her arms began to cry. Hearing her, Michiru went mad.
« You make her cry! You shouldn't say things like this in front of a poor baby! Your perversion has no limits! You're not pure and you're a freak! »
« I thought you… Say what you want! But if I'm a freak, so are you… Remember, you said it yourself. And I assume freakiness pleased you very much, even more than I expected! »
Michiru took Hotaru from Haruka's arms.
« Setsuna… Bring the baby's bed in my room, please, then I'll need you to help me putting my dress on. »
«I see you don't say how you lost it. » said Haruka.
Michiru frowned but didn't add any word; she entered her room with Hotaru in her arms and shut the door.
Setsuna looked at Haruka with disapproval in her eyes.
« What? »
« Why are you so scared? »
« I'm not scared. »
« You are scared of being in love. But being mean and disappointing won't make your feelings disappear, you just hurt yourself… and her by at the same time. When you love someone, you don't hurt them, you protect them. »
« I'm not in love… But don't think I'm indifferent… I protect her… I protect her from me. I only harm people around me. Michiru is…she's fragile and precious to me. For the first time… »
« You wanted to play your jerk act… »
« Yes, but only because this is what I do to everyone… But meeting her made me change… my vision of women… since my mother's death, I thought no women on earth was worth knowing, they weren't smart, sexy but not really pretty… Then I met her… I acted like I always do but I felt guilty and doubtful for the first time. I deserve all the insults she sends me, but at least now; there's someone who knows how I feel about her. »
« She'd like to know all this. »
« She won't…. Never. »
Haruka left the corridor. She needed to be alone, besides, she had a duel the same night…But she didn't feel very good about it, the afternoon events had shaken her. She estimated she'd better go away, have dinner in town… She didn't want to see Michiru.
« I can't believe it… She… He was so kind… »
« Never trust a man in this kind of things. » answered Setsuna,
They were in Michiru's bedroom, looking at the asleep Hotaru.
« How do you know we…? »
« It was obvious; you two disappeared together then reappeared at a few minutes of difference… And I remember having dressed you this morning, and I know you can't undress alone. »
« Can I make a confession to you? »
« Yes, of course. »
« Haruka and I… It was the first time. We didn't do it on the wedding night. »
« Because he's a woman. »
« How do you know? »
« I know it for a short time… In fact I didn't know who she was when you married… But it seemed it was meant to be. »
« What do you mean? »
« Nothing important… So it was the first time and she acted in her usual jerky way right after… But sincerely… Do you believe all the things she said? Listen to your instinct. »
« Well I… Maybe you are right… »
« I'm sure she loves you… I mean real love, not friendship, and you too. »
« You… You don't think I'm not pure, you don't think I'm a sort of freak? »
« No… Of course not. I know you two truly love each other. Now let's clarify some points… First, if you have arrived a second earlier you would have heard Haruka saying that she didn't want you to go at the court and sleep with the king; she had a plan to make you stay. And thinking of it… Don't you think her behaviour isn't a little too much…? This way she has of always teasing and argue with you? »
« You really think she… if she does all this… It could be a way to hide her feelings for me? »
« Exactly, besides if you had listened at the door, you would have heard her saying she found you pretty, fragile… and precious to her. »
« She said this? Oh Setsuna… You don't imagine how glad I am… I must find her! We must talk, we must… »
« No… Let her come back to you by herself… She needs to understand… She doesn't know yet… She knows you're a friend, she knows she likes you very much… But she doesn't know yet she loves you. »
« But… how do you know the other's feeling so well? »
« I have… Memories. »
« Memories? »
« Don't try to understand now. »
Haruka had ended in a bar, as always when she was troubled or upset. As she was emptying her fifteenth glass of whisky, a man sat next to her.
« Tenoh… You here? You drink to your future defeat? If you drink to much you won't be able to fight. »
« I'm always able to duel, and this is not this old rubbish of Longley who's going to beat me! »
« He was pretty good in his time… And he swore he would avenge for the way you ashamed him… And also his wife's honour. It seems that you abused her. »
«Abused? I guess she abused me too. »
« She said you raped her. So Longley won't let you go like this. »
« Raped her? Is he stupid? He knows perfectly well that it was an affair… »
« That is not the point… Tonight he'll prove you're not a real man. »
« Not a real man? If he knew… I'll kill him this time; maybe you guys will understand I'm not afraid of blood… »
« Poor you… A weak man that devotes his life to his wife, staying at home with her, obeying her like a dog… »
« What do you know about my wife? I don't obey her, she obeys me! And I don't stay home for her… »
« You can't prove… And that's just what everybody's saying. By the way, after the night she spent at the court, I know enough of her, as well as the king and some others… »
Haruka's fist ended in the man's face. She punched him again and again until some men threw her outside. She didn't mind, it was time to go now…
She joined two of her friends in a deserted street, that was the place where duels at night were mainly held. Longley and his men hadn't arrived yet.
« Tenoh… What's going on…? You don't look very good… Are you drunk? »
« It's none of your business. »
« You won't be able to fight… »
« It's okay… I'll win! They shouldn't have touched Michiru! They'll pay… »
« You mean your wife? What did they do? »
« Don't take me for an idiot; I know what is going on at the court at night! »
« Tenoh… the truth is… »
« Don't tell me you don't know it? »
« Knowing what? »
« She didn't sleep at the court, the king was very angry when he saw she had left without a word… She said to the footmen that helped her that she was feeling sick. »
« She… She didn't sleep with anyone? »
« Surely not… you'll have problems with the king let me tell you… »
Haruka's mind relieved… Now her energy was going out of her, she was in peace… but she was a little too relived… the alcohol made her have hallucinations, she was seeing Michiru.
At the same time Lord Longley arrived, and they began the duel… Haruka was kind of absent, she defended but didn't attack, her moves were weak and untidy… and Lord Longley was aggressive… Haruka suddenly took a sword in her left shoulder, then she felt the sword making a deep cut on her cheek.
« Too easy… I'll let you live, to let you feeling the shame as you did with me… Look at yourself… A drunk man imploring his wife's name while fighting…. And they all say that you are the best swordsman in Paris…»
Haruka didn't hear what Longley had said, she was unconscious. Her two friends took her and brought her back home.
