A/N: To all new readers: welcome, hope you are enjoying the ride. To my faithful old readers, who have been with me from the start, thanks for your patience and sticking around, we are heading steadily towards the finish line.
Before the questions come in, here a few answers:
The jump from Chapter 37 to 187 is deliberate, since, as most readers who have been reading this from the start might remember, I consolidated a fair amount of shorter Chapters before and now with the last technical crash, i had to scour whatever i had left and edit it all into the now 37 chapters. There might be minor differences to the original, but nothing that affects the various plots in any way. Luckily Chapter 187 and 188 were still on the server and so they stay as they are until i finish the story and maybe then I will consolidate them like i did the previous chapters, but for the sake of continuity of what had been before, the big numbers start again and more regular updates, albeit shorter, will come again.
-Mamoru-
It was very late when he left the strategy meeting at the family estate and returned home where Usagi was still up and watching TV.
"I am home." He called out to her as he took of his shoes and put them into their place.
"Welcome home." Usagi greeted him from the living room as he entered the hallway. "Had a long day at work? Still want your dinner?" Usagi continued to ask him as he dropped onto the couch next to her.
"Had dinner with dad." He replied tired as he closed his eyes to just enjoy some silence, but he could feel that Usagi was shifting and turning to face him. "Ok, what do you want to ask me?" Mamoru sighed, not in any condition to talk or willing to listen to more than he had all day already.
"At least look at me when we talk if you are already spending less and less time at home." He could hear Usagi saying with an uncharacteristically serious tone in her voice.
"I am sorry." He apologised as he opened his eyes and faced Usagi , who sported an unusually serious look on her face.
"What did you tell Chibiusa yesterday?" Usagi asked him calmly, but he knew that a wrong word now would land him on the couch for a while.
"Why?" He asked in return with no intention to explain himself.
"Because she came home all upset today and has gone straight to bed after dinner and brushing teeth." Usagi informed him.
"Don't you always say that you are struggling to get her to be before I get home?" Mamoru reminded her.
"That was not my question." Usagi replied annoyed and Mamoru couldn't help himself but to sigh deeply.
Both stayed silent while Mamoru was avoiding her gaze and looked out of the window into the dark windy night.
He felt so worn out that he yearned for a vacation because he couldn't remember when he last was well rested.
"I think we all are just a bit stressed right now and need some vacation. I mean, when and where was our last time we had actual family time away from all this madness?" He mumbled as he leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes.
"This summer with Haruka and the gang in Hokkaido." Usagi replied without skipping a beat.
There she was again. His best friend and now his greatest enemy and that for a good reason.
Mamoru recalled the hot summers nights they spent walking with the kids or playing games, the careless laugh she had and yet the evil in her had already plotted against him and his family. The worst part was that it wasn't even unjustified, he thought to himself as he groaned internally, reflecting on all the information he had been given.
"Speaking of which, I should invite her for dinner some time again so that the kids can play together and to repay her for taking us on vacation." Usagi thought out loud.
"No!" Mamoru stopped her with a sudden energy that he didn't know he had left in him.
"Why?" Usagi asked in return stubbornly.
"Because." Mamoru replied resolutely.
"That is not an explanation and that was very rude of you. Haruka-san deserves more than just a dinner with us for what she has done for us and yet you cannot even approve of that." Usagi was clearly upset.
"You don't know her so do not make any assumptions. You merely know her because of me and the reality is that she is not the good person that you make her out to be." Mamoru argued.
"Clearly you and I are not talking about the same person and just so you know, I have known her long before I knew you. And she might be a bit rough on the outside but she is one of the kindest people that I know and I expected more of you than to bad mouth OUR friend like that." Usagi stood up angrily and looked down on him.
"You don't understand. You don't know her like I do. She has done things that you cannot even imagine and before you know it, she can turn on you, too. You are loyal to evil itself by defending her." Mamoru stood up in turn.
"I might not be the smartest person and I might not know all she has done in her life, but I DO know that she doesn't have a single bad bone in her body and that she would never turn against her friends. IF anything, she defends every single one of us with all she has." Usagi was close to tears, but Mamoru could not let those soften his resolve.
"Not a single bad bone….She already has turned against us!" Mamoru growled.
"Oh yea, how?" Usagi asked stubbornly in return and Mamoru's throat knotted up.
He had sworn not to tell a single soul about his sister's death until her body would turn up and they would have an honourable funeral for her, which might mean never, judging by Haruka's track record. If she wanted someone to disappear into thin air, they disappeared without a trace. That is what it meant to cross a Tenoh. You never did it twice.
"You wouldn't understand. And you keep away from her. We do not keep in company with Tenohs." Mamoru insisted making Usagi flinch at his hard words.
"I don't know what she has done to you, but have you at least talked to her about it before you made such a decision? It is not just you who gets affected by that." It seemed to have dawned on Usagi what he may have said to Chibiusa.
"I don't have to talk to her about it when I can see the evidence for myself. Deeds speak louder than words." Mamoru stayed persistent and Usagi just shook her head with disappointment before she stood up to leave the room.
"Well if you won't talk to her then I will. You cannot just make decisions on my behalf like that." Usagi announced and Mamoru started to panic. He knew that there was no way to keep her safe on his own.
"No, no you won't. WE will be moving to my parents tomorrow!" Mamoru blurted out.
"What? Why?" Usagi asked surprised.
"My mother wants to be closer to us and she promised to behave." Mamoru lied, because he knew that his mother would never agree to such a thing and Usagi looked at him with scepsis. "She is going through a rough time and just needs more company and since I am obviously busy with work, she asked if she could be around Chibiusa more." He continued to dig his hole, but suddenly Usagi's demeanour softened.
"Why did't you say so that your mother needs help. You know I would help her anytime. What is wrong with her?" Usagi asked him concerned, the worry about Haruka was like blown out of her mind with the worry about his mother. A pang of deep guilt ran through him but he knew that it was better for her not to know the truth than for her to say the wrong things to the wrong people.
"I don't know, she doesn't want to talk about it, but she has been crying for days now." That was true at least, he told himself as the words left his mouth and he could feel the bitter aftertaste.
"Well then of course we move in with her, for now, but we will have to come to our own home again afterwards. Chibiusa will go to school near here after all and not there." Usagi reminded him and he just nodded silent. "I go and pack the essentials for tomorrow. Just so you know, I will still talk to Haruka eventually, because what you are doing still makes no sense. Maybe you two had a fight but she is still my friend." Usagi told him before she left him behind alone in the empty living room and retreated to the bedroom.
Mamoru watched her leaving before resting his face in both of his hands. He knew that if the truth he had learned today in the meeting came out to Usagi, it could break apart his family and he needed to protect the one thing he loved more than his own life, his family.
-Yumi-
It was Wednesday as the rain was pounding on the small tea house as if there was no tomorrow as the wind whipped around it.
Yumi sat alone in the tearoom in which she usually hosted her blonde guest and looked outside into the storm. She never allowed anyone to take up this day and she knew deep in her heart that that would probably never change. It had been weeks since she had seen Haruka and Katashi had been spending all his time here. He had not left the house unless it was unavoidable and they spent time together at breakfast and dinner, yet she felt utterly lonely. Though bookings had been piling up and she had been busy every day, it merely distracted her from her isolation but did not eliminate it. Yesterday, Hotaru had been with her for her tea lesson and the little girl seemed rather subdued rather than upset despite Shinobu's report that Hotaru had been visibly distraught on Monday after leaving school.
She recalled how stoic the little girl had sat opposite to her and listened to Yumi explaining her the process of simple tea making and had not shown any indication of her inner struggles or turmoils. Hotaru had not gotten distracted or asked unrelated questions but had just sat there and intently listened to every of Yumi's word. Even when Yumi relaxed and finished the lesson with some non-traditional fruit infused tea, Hotaru didn't seem to lighten up as she usually did. When she asked if the little girl was alright, Hotaru had just answered: "Sometimes all we can do is to respect what is necessary not to be done if we truly want the people we care for to be happy."
This was clearly not something for a pre-schooler to be saying, but it echoed that she had seen and spoken to Haruka, however brief that was, and that was already a good sign that the blonde was up to seeing the little girl and had not relapsed. This thought comforted Yumi as she raised her tea cup to her lips and drank Haruka's favourite tea.
She had to remain neutral no matter what happened to ensure that her space would always be a safe haven for non-violent negotiations among the forces that were getting ready to clash.
There was a quiet knock at the door before the door slid open silently and Shinobu entered with a small box of chocolates that had no sender. Shinobu presented it next to her without a word before leaving again and Yumi looked at the bittersweet treat for a moment before tasting what she felt inside.
-Yuuko-
In the morning when they were sitting for breakfast, Haruka received a message that made her go pale and then extremely agitated, she could barely sit still. Instead of heading to her usual morning routine with Jade that would power her out enough to have a constructive session with Yuuko, she insisted that she needed to go for a ride and so Yuuko ended up where she was right now. She couldn't let the blonde go AWOL again and so she ended up sitting with Haruka in the car as they were driving out of Tokyo. The blonde didn't tell her where they were driving or how long it all would take, but considering that she had not slept much last night because she didn't get much rest with the amount of work she had to tackle, a long ride was more than welcome. They drove in silence and Yuuko used the chance to take a long and refreshing nap. By the time the car stopped she noticed that the storm in which they had started to drive seemed to have passed and they had arrived at a small workshop in one of the adjacent towns of Tokyo. It was small and old, but not run down. The noises of hammers rhythmically hitting metal could be heard coming from the inside and smell of fire filled the air. Haruka knocked gently on the door and a young woman opened the door.
"Yoshindo-san, I am Tenoh, Haruka. Could you please inform your grandfather that I would like to see him?" Haruka skipped all pleasantries and came straight to the point to which the other woman responded with a respectful bow and let them inside. They passed several men working at various stages of metalwork, through a dark room in which one could barely recognise three men working on forging a piece of red glowing metal before reaching a well lit room in which an old man was sitting in front of a whetstone drinking tea.
"Grandfather…." The young woman addressed the old man who didn't look up but only waved for her to leave.
"Thank you, go help your dad." He sent her out, leaving them standing alone with him as he motioned for them to sit down on small stools next to him as he poured them tea.
"I am sorry to come so abruptly." Haruka started but he just shook his head.
"I have worked for your family long enough to know better than to expect that I would be able to take my time with any project that a Tenoh gives me." The old man just smiled as he handed them cups of hot tea.
"I take it you are done then?" Haruka chuckled.
"I finished this morning." The old man pulled a long sturdy looking walking stick that was wider than the average and Haruka took it into her hands. She inspected it meticulously before she snapped the angle of the grip to pull out a pristine sword out of its sheath.
At the sight of the intimidating blade Yuuko's throat knotted up but the cold and calculating look in Haruka's usually warm eyes made her stomach drop.
This was moving faster than anticipated and she had to inform Riko.
-Michiru-
They were sitting together in Maeda's in a nice, cosy and, most importantly, private booth. Riko had arrived very late at her apartment and refused to discuss anything until her blood sugar had reached normal levels again and Michiru knew no other place to take her aunt to than this place where they could be ensured privacy while eating a filling meal.
They arrived during peak business hours while the store was full, but she was not even in the least surprised when aunt just walked into store confidently and solved that problem for them by signalling to Kaito with a casual "Make it the usual for me" and was immediately led to the back of the store by Ryou.
As they sat there, waiting to be served, Riko made no move to explain herself.
"So, I hear you are practicing well for your Christmas concert." Riko started the usual small talk.
"I suppose." Michiru replied to indicate to her aunt that she was done with small talk and wanted to get to the real story, but she knew she would not get anything outside of Riko's terms.
Her aunt was a senior agent, and she didn't get there by name alone.
Riko focused on laying out her chopstick in wait for the hot goodness that was on its way to them while Michiru just leaned back with patience. Two could play this game.
Ryou came around the corner not a second to early to cut the silence.
"One special of the house and one miso special of the house with one medium soft and one extra soft egg, extra bamboo, extra pork, extra garlic, extra chilli and the extra ramen will come medium soft will come in exactly 30 minutes." Ryou announced as he put down their orders.
"Itadakimasu." Both said in unison before they started to eat.
"Oh, this is the good stuff. Just like the very first time I had this." Riko sighed with happiness after the first sip of the broth.
"When was that?" Michiru asked casually between bites of hot noodles and pork.
"I think I was 10. Back then it was Kaito's uncle who made this. He was a genius in making these ramen. Your grandfather would take me to his store when we came to Tokyo for business." Riko mused with nostalgia.
"This store has been here that long?" Michiru tried to keep the ball rolling.
"Even longer. I was pretty upset with your father that he did not keep that family tradition alive when you turned 10, but …where were you again at that time?" Riko asked in return and caught Michiru off guard.
"Germany. In a boarding school near lake Constance." Michiru replied.
"Oh yes. I never really had the chance to ask you how it was like for you there. Tell me, did you enjoy it?" Riko continued to ask.
Michiru put down the noodles on her chopsticks that were already half way to her mouth back into the broth for a moment and pretended to let them soak up some more of the savoury goodness, but the reality was, she was trying to find the right words. It was one of the loneliest times of her life. Alone in a different country, learning a different language, manoeuvring a different culture and not knowing a single soul there to confide in, well, almost.
"It was ok." Michiru eventually replied.
"What did you enjoy the most?" Riko continued the conversation without missing a beat.
"Music lessons. They were expensive enough to not dare to not enjoy." Michiru chuckled at the many hours she spent in private tutoring sessions to avoid needing so socialise with the other students and teachers there. Her violin tutor was a particular nice woman, a Ms Jensen, who had a bit heavier Danish accent, with long flowing pale blonde hair and piercing blue eyes behind finely gold rimmed glasses. She remembered that it was the only person who was able to speak a little Japanese and often helped her with her German homework when the language barrier was just a bit harder to bridge.
"Ah, yes, to your mum's delight you chose the violin over the piano and escaped my tutelage…." Riko smirked before she continued to enjoy her meal.
"Well, you would have been too busy to tutor me anyway." Michiru remembered that Riko's absence was unavoidable and that her time there was probably very warranted considering that Haruka had just lost her parents around that time and needed all the protection that she could get. While she was feeling sorry for herself about her temporary abandonment in an elite and entitled environment, in which she had a lot of opportunities that Haruka never got, Haruka already had to face the harsh reality that their bloodline held ready for them.
"You do know that we did all we could to keep you safe and have a normal as possible childhood, right?" Riko asked her, as she leaned forward to be closer to Michiru, but before she could reply, Ryou had returned with the ramen refill he had announced earlier for Riko. This broke the already strained flow of their conversation and they finished their meal in silence which didn't make Michiru feel better about the guilt she felt for being incapable to reply to this simple question just a natural sounding 'of course'. She had no right to feel this way when others had it worse. She had a comparatively easy childhood when all that was expected from her was to be the perfect daughter to her parents. Michiru couldn't help but sigh as she pushed away the empty bowl which didn't go unnoticed, but definitely uncommented by her aunt.
"I know you did your best and I didn't suffer in my childhood by any stretch of the imagination. And I know this is whining of the premium kind, but it would have just been nice to have had a constant mentor watch my musical progression who truly understands the struggle to master the violin like you watched Haruka and Haruto become better at the piano." Michiru finally admitted.
"Don't you have your mother doing that?" Riko asked surprised.
"It is not the same. She doesn't play the violin; she just enjoys all that I play. She doesn't understand the difference in difficulties of the pieces, she just knows when they are played well and when they aren't. But that is not her fault. She is already as supportive as she could be." Michiru replied.
"You know, only because you don't see, doesn't mean you're not seen" Riko just smiled melancholically and deep in thought as Ryou came to clear the bowls.
"The take away should be ready soon, here are two matcha tofu puddings for while you wait, on the house." He passed them the small bowls with the green dessert inside before he took away the bowls.
"You had so much and ordered extra?" Michiru asked surprised.
"You wanted answers, and this is what it takes to get them." Riko just chuckled as she started to enjoy the dessert.
Michiru took the dessert and started to eat as well, but kept glancing her aunt up and down while she wondered where the other woman wanted to pack another serving of ramen.
Moments later Ryou came with a big Styrofoam box but did not hand it over.
"Kaito-sensei said to inform you that your ride is ready, please follow me." Ryou instructed them and both women got up and followed the other man past the bathrooms to the back of the kitchen and into the freezer. There, he pressed a button that opened a secret door behind one of the meat shelves, through which Riko motioned for Michiru to go through before she took the box off Ryou.
"Have a save ride." Ryou send them off before he closed the door behind them.
"Where are we going?" Michiru asked her aunt again.
"You wanted answers, so there we are going….you didn't think that the Tenohs' were the only ones with a tower, did you?" Riko just smirked when she went ahead of Michiru to a familiar looking small train.
"Hop on and hold this, I need to make sure that we are going in the right direction." Riko instructed her to sit in the back and to hold the take away as she got comfortable in the front before she took the train into operation.
"Why did I never hear of us having a tower?" Michiru asked as they drove swiftly on the narrow and low tracks.
"Because you were never supposed to know." Riko replied.
The ride was fast but still took some time until they reached a small platform that lit up the moment they arrived. They disembarked and walked over to a lone elevator that took them up to the 45th floor. Michiru could feel her heartbeat in her throat and wondered if she would get the answers she was looking for.
The doors opened to a big wide open space where a lone tall figure was standing at the window looking through binoculars.
"Honey, your dinner is here." Riko called out and the figure turned to face them.
"Good evening Michiru, I am sure you have very many questions." The person who looked like the blonde version of Arthur, but had the low voice of Miss Jensen addressed her.
