-Yaten-
When he entered the room in the clinic, the sound of strong rain was hitting the windows while Haruka was laying and recovering in the special cooling chamber from the strains of the training. The rain was so strong that it acted like a water curtain, shielding them from the rest of the world and letting them hide in the tower, he thought to himself as he took the chair near the cooling chamber and waited for Haruka to wake up.
He had barely sat down when she started to shift.
"Enjoyed your nap?" He asked her as he got comfortable in his chair.
"Can't complain. Was it very long?" Haruka replied, seemingly surprised by the grogginess that still persisted in her voice.
"17 minutes and 48 seconds. Not your longest nap, but already a lot closer to your usual cycle." Yaten noted, after getting up again, looking at the chart of the cooling tank and synching the data with his tablet.
"What's eating you?" Haruka asked him as he made his way back to his chair.
"Seiya…." He quietly admitted but was almost immediately shut down.
"He made his choice." Haruka just said resolutely and turned to look out of the window. "He needs to focus on his battles and we need to focus on ours."
"I am not doing anything though besides staying here while Taiki is out almost every other day and Kakyuu has been more and more disappearing with Watanabe-sensei." Yaten tried hard not to sound as if he was complaining.
Haruka turned around and looked at him pensively. "You are holding the fortress in which we live and to which we return to. You know that I am not keeping you here for no reason." Haruka said reassuring and slowly sat up as the beeping noise from the chamber indicated that her session was over. "We don't have much time. We know that that the Chibas are being used to get rid of me to cause chaos, something we know, but no one else does, so we can't just focus on them because they're are a mere symptom of our problem and we have to stay vigilant to not get caught out." Her voice was steady, stern and yet induced a calm him helped him to strengthen his resolve for the mission that she had given him, him alone.
-Michiru-
She slowly let her strained and bruised body submerge into the wooden tub that was filled to the brim with hot water and could feel her tense muscles slowly easing up. The training had been hard, harder than anything she had ever done before and she was surprised at herself that she managed to get into the tub by herself. The bathing room in the Kaioh Tower was not in the least as luxurious as in the Tenoh Tower, but it had its old Japanese charms.
Suddenly she was pressed under the water from behind but she could evade her attacker by going deeper into the water and then slipping out of the grip that they had on her before resurfacing, ready to fight.
"You can't let your guard down like that when you are on your own." Kumiko scolded her while Riko gave a dry towel to wipe her face.
"I thought we are safe here." Michiru countered.
"We are, but you can never be so overconfident in your skills or negligent of the unbeknownst capacities of the ever-changing enemies as not to do a rudimentary security sweep before you relax." Kumiko continued the scolding while she proceeded to let the other tubs nearby be filled with hot water before sitting down at one of the cleaning stations.
"We only survived this far because we have always been vigilant." Riko continued in a more soothing tone while she turned the tap to Michiru's tub back on to make up for the loss of hot water from the small squirmish. "Now you can relax before we continue tomorrow." Riko gave Michiru a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder before she proceeded to go to wash herself as well.
Michiru went back to soaking herself and had to think back how often Haruka had instructed for perimeter checks in such a routine manner that she never noticed how much vigilance it actually took to ensure everyone's safety. She felt upset with herself that she did not learn her lesson then, but even more so, she felt guilty for having been so carefree in the blonde's presence and embarrassed to have been so light-hearted.
-Hiroko-
She was getting fitted for yet another Kimono on the behest of her mother. Since she had returned, she had been paraded around like some lap dog and she hated it. She had only been back for a few weeks now but she was already getting sick of this. According to her mother she had gotten 'too used to the western lifestyle' every time she voiced that she didn't want to go with her mother to greet yet another one of her feckless friends, not that she would be that blunt about it, but she also knew she had no real choice in that matter either. She envied her brother that he on the other hand was called into and even waited for with every war meeting while her attendance had become a mere courtesy of the whim of her father due to her mother's continued objection to it. One of her guilty pleasures left to her that she had at the moment though was her chin length hair that her mother could do nothing about. That, and ordering those idiotic cousins of hers around. Hisui in particular seemed to be even more agitated than her with his old hand injury aching in the cold more than the usual dull ache and with intensified training, that ache only got worse. With Shinji now in charge of on ground security they thought they were free to do as they pleased or even get promoted but Shinji, in contrast to Mamoru, actually took his role very seriously and whipped them into shape as if there was no tomorrow. Being back under her control felt like a vacation in comparison that even Nishii came to ask if he'd be 'allowed to serve the lady's needs', which Hiroko occasionally allowed, but generally refused.
She let her gaze wander outside the room and spotted through the window how Mamoru left his house and headed towards his car. Usagi was still standing in the door as he drove away and for a split second their eyes met and Hiroko could see the pain that the blonde was in that everyone seemed to ignore. Usagi gave her a slight bow that Hiroko answered with an ever so light nod, before the blonde went back inside and closed the door behind her.
"Chiba-sama, we will be back on Thursday with the alterations you asked for." The main seamstress light voice addressing her mother cut the silence in the room, drawing her attention back into the room she was in.
"We will be looking forward to your excellent work." Her mother's voice sounded shallow and distant to her but Hiroko had no desire to explore what was upsetting her this time.
Hiroko only stood still and let the seamstress assistant take off yet another Kimono that she could not care less about, bowed with gratitude and retreated to get dressed into more practical clothes.
After the seamstress and her entourage left Hiroko excused herself to see Chibiusa, something her mother frowned upon, but as she herself was not keen on seeing Usagi, she had no argument against Hiroko's visits to keep the only grandchild that they had so far close to the family doctrine via Hiroko.
Hiroko made her way leisurely across the property, well aware of how many pairs of eyes were following her around and unphased by the scrutiny. She knew how to play the good child and none of them would see her trip up. She walked up to the door and politely knocked before letting herself in with all the entitlement that her father was better known for.
"Excuse my intrusion. Usagi, Chibiusa, anyone home?" She asked rhetorically before Usagi came from the living room.
"Ah, Hiroko, you're probably here to play with Chibiusa…we have just put her to nap, but if you come back in an hour, she should be up to play?" Usagi explained, looking apologetic.
"So, we have an hour?" Hiroko couldn't help but smirk. "How about we go and choose a Christmas cake?"
"Isn't it a bit soon to ask the cook what cake he'll make for Christmas?" Usagi replied unsure.
"Why would he be making the Christmas cake, we have always bought it from one of our most trusted bakers. Grab your jacket and let's go." Hiroko encouraged her.
"But who will look after Chibiusa?" Usagi sounded nervous.
"My fiancé, of course." Hiroko replied matter of factly as she texted for Seiya to come over.
Only moments later Seiya stood in the door, with Shinji in tow.
"Chibiusa is having a nap. Be a dear and look after Chibiusa while we go out." Hiroko instructed Seiya who just nodded silently in agreement before stoically disappearing in the living room.
"Ojou-sama…" Shinji spoke up.
"Yes, Shinji?" Hiroko dared him to stop her from leaving the Chiba estate. She had been cooped up long enough to have the energy and arguments to put anyone into the ground at this time, including the head of security.
"Where are you going?" Shinji asked her unphased.
"What is it to you?" Hiroko countered.
"I need to know where I will be driving you to." Shinji replied nonchalant.
"What about the estate's security?" Hiroko asked.
"My father has taken personal interest in it today." Shinji replied.
"Well then there is nothing to worry about. Maison Landemaine it is. Let's go Usagi. There are cakes that need to be tasted and we have daylight to burn." Hiroko said cheerfully while fuming deep inside, though the small twitch in Shinji's eyebrow that indicated his displeasure with her choice of venue gave her some satisfaction in return.
"Oh yes, I love cake." Usagi finally joined in cheerfully and they left the small house and headed towards the many estate cars.
-Yumi-
Tokyo was growing colder by the day and the warm days of summer in Kyoto seemed disproportionally distant to her as she looked out of the window. The surface of the pond was calm but she knew that the Koi in it were getting restless as one after the other broke the surface every time they perceived a shadow passing by.
It was almost feeding time and Shinobu should be coming with the bucket with their food soon.
Her last appointment just left and Yumi allowed herself to sit still and to rest. Winter kimonos were so much heavier than their summer counterparts, and infinitely heavier than yukatas that she felt exhausted from the tea ceremony today, but before she could dwell on that thought longer, Shinobu appeared in her sight and started to scoop the food out of the bucket before throwing it with a wide swing into the pond so each carp had a chance to get some. The ponds surface exploded with splashes, large and small, as long as the feeding frenzy lasted and as soon as Shinobu stopped throwing food, stepped back and the food had disappeared from the surface, calm returned.
Customarily Shinobu turned towards Yumi after feeding the Koi but where the usual smile was, was suddenly sombre and respectful bow and Yumi understood.
"Katashi, how long do you intend to stay silent before you voice your request?" Yumi heard herself saying calmly without turning around to Katashi while she internally boiled with irritation that she had not noticed him joining her.
"You were watching the feeding so intently that I didn't want to disturb your respite any sooner than necessary." Katashi replied in his usual calm manner.
"How may I be of assistance?" Yumi finally decided to turn around and to face him. Katashi was sitting calmly near the door with two concert tickets laying in front of him.
"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to join me this year for Christmas and if you know if Tenoh-dono will be going to Kaioh-san's annual Christmas concert, as well." Katashi asked her.
He knew perfectly well that she coquldn't know if the blonde would go or not since Haruka had not come to the tea house since the incident with Seiya.
"What time is the concert?" Yumi tried to buy herself some time to think.
"At 9pm on Christmas eve. Most of the IIA upper ranks will turn up, as well as many Tomoes, but since I noticed that one ticket is registered specifically on the name Tenoh. I wanted to be sure that it is Tenoh the elder who will be attending, since the entire Chiba clan seems to want to make an informal outing of that event and I would like to make sure that we have adequate safety measures for us in place in case something happens." Katashi explained his request.
A dozen possible scenarios where things could go sideways flashed in front of Yumi's inner eye and she understood that the only way to have any influence on matters is to be in the thick of it when it would happen.
"I highly doubt that Tenoh, Haruka would be keen on attending anything where her grandfather would be close by, but stranger things have happened. I am sure you will take all necessary measures for us to have a lovely evening together. Is there anything else?" Yumi replied evenly.
"Yes, please wear the bulletproof Kimono for that event. Like you said, stranger things have happened." Katashi replied calm.
-Usagi-
Shinji dropped Hiroko and her begrudgingly off in front of Maison Landemaine after they promised to wait inside for him while he parked the car and Hiroko walked behind her into the small bakery.
"What has been on your mind lately?" Hiroko asked her after they ordered a wide variety of French pastries and got settled in a cosy corner of the store.
"My mum,…" Usagi hesitantly admitted. "Usually we talk every day, but lately she has only been writing me messages and those have gotten shorter and shorter…."
Hiroko suddenly got very quiet and looked at her thoughtfully.
"You miss her a lot, don't you?" Hiroko finally said what Usagi wasn't ready to admit to herself and Usagi couldn't help but let a tear escape that she quickly wiped with a napkin.
"I know I am too old to cry and I know she must be really busy making beautiful jewellery that will be gifted for Christmas…, it just feels like it has been so long since I heard her voice and got hugged by her, it is as if something of me has gone missing." Usagi tried to explain with a knot tightening in her throat and more tears escaping her eyes.
Hiroko got up and joined her on her side of the table on the bench she was sitting on and hugged Usagi tightly. In that moment it was like a dam that she had been fearing broke open and she started to cry unstoppably into Hiroko's shoulder.
Minutes that felt like hours passed and Hiroko didn't move from her side but just caressed Usagi's back and comforted her with the occasional "there, there".
Eventually Usagi managed to catch herself, after the knot in her throat seemed to have dissolved and disengaged from the hug clumsily.
"Sorry about that." Usagi said quietly and Hiroko just wiped off the last tears from her face with another napkin before returning to her seat.
"It's alright. The past weeks have been stressful. Do you mind showing me your mum's messages? They might be short, but they must be full of love." Hiroko encouraged her and Usagi pulled out her phone and gave it to Hiroko who immediately started to scroll through the messages that her mum and her had been exchanging. "Oh, you have such cute pictures of Chibiusa, may I send them to myself?" Hiroko asked as they went through the daily pictures that Usagi tried to send her mother.
"Of course." Usagi replied and even managed a smile.
Suddenly Hiroko got very silent and the smile on her face seemed to have frozen, but before Usagi could ask if anything was wrong, Shinji joined them.
"Why are you sitting at this two-seater?" He asked Hiroko with slight annoyance in his voice.
"You said to sit in the safest corner inside, that is what we did." Hiroko countered and before the situation could escalate, the waitress came over with two trays of small cakes and tarts as well as two teas.
It was clear that there was no space for Shinji here and he just walked away annoyed to a table closer to the entrance.
"You don't like Shinji very much, do you?" Usagi asked Hiroko carefully as the other woman was cutting each treat into halves.
"Do you?" Hiroko asked in return as she put half a red berry cheese cake with almond brittle base in front of her.
"I don't think he's a bad person." Usagi replied as she thought back to the time she got lost on the property and that Shinji didn't tell on her even though he could have done so.
"You don't think bad of anyone Usagi." Hiroko replied before she put a spoonful of cake into her mouth and closed her eyes in bliss.
Usagi did the same and the smooth and rich yet refreshing cream mixed well with the crunchy bits of caramelised almond wiping every sad thought off her mind.
"I like this one! " Usagi exclaimed cheerfully.
"You like all cakes." Hiroko replied amused.
"What's not to like about cake?" Usagi askec with a wide grin.
-Haruka-
Haruka had just finished reading the data and closed the file. Kakyuu and Yuuko looked at her exhausted and yet excited.
"You are the expert in this field, if you say that it is good, then it is good. We will need a lot of it. When can you start with the production of it?" Haruka asked Yuuko.
"Already did." Yuuko smirked.
"Of course, you did." Haruka chuckled. "I leave the lab in your care then." Haruka bowed towards Yuuko.
"Do you feel ready to face the music?" Kakyuu asked.
"Now I do." Haruka replied with a wide smirk.
