Chapter 4: Past

Haruka left Michiru to her meeting, giving the young woman her cell phone number and excusing herself. She would have sworn she saw a hint of regret in those blue eyes, but right now the blonde needed to clear some thoughts while she had a chance. This brought her, twenty minutes later, to her apartment. She slid her key into the lock, realizing that aside from a few hours she had actually not entered the place in months.

"Hi Dad." Haruka spoke quietly to the brass urn which sat on a large bookshelf loaded with dusty volumes. To anyone else it may have seemed a strange spot for her father's remains, but considering the books were all that her family had allowed her to keep of her father's personal book collection Haruka thought it appropriate. After all, Yoshi Tenoh had spent his life reading and collecting beaten science fiction or mystery volumes. He also seemed to have a strange obsession with US history.

The blonde shook away the thoughts as she took a moment to clear any dust from the urn itself. She missed her father but thinking about that right now would not help. If he were here it was highly likely he would be trying to discourage the Kaious from pairing Michiru with Hiroshi. After all, no matter what Hiro thought, their father had been well aware of the young man's habits. Haruka almost regretted her decision to move out, but honestly, she felt she'd had no real choice in the matter.

The blonde hated thinking back on that night, the night that had finalized her decision.

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Flashback:

Haruka Tenoh was eighteen years old, and like most had her rebellious side. Most of the time when things felt too stressful the young blonde just took to the road or the track, speed always serving as her release. Most nights, things went almost along a script for the blonde racer. She would leave school, waste time around her friends wherever she could, reluctantly she would get on her motorcycle and make her way home.

When she arrived, after taking the long way home, she would find her grandmother complaining about her brother or how Haruka had not cleaned her room the right way. Sometimes she would find the med student and her grandmother screaming at each other, yelling at the top of their lungs. Haruka was familiar with it and that was why the blonde routinely blew off her classmates' assumptions that money fixes everything.

At eighteen she had been given a large trust fund to add to money she had already won in junior racing. She had spoken to her father and come to a decision she was not sure the other Tenohs would be happy with. In fact, that was why, months after turning eighteen, she had yet to tell them what she had chosen to do.

"You seem lost Haruka." The soft voice behind her seemed to surprise the blonde, bringing her back from her thoughts.

"What makes you say that Sakura?" Haruka felt two arms squeeze her lightly before her friend climbed off the back of her motorcycle.

"We've been sitting outside my house for so long that my father is pretending not to watch us." Sakura smiled at the surprised look Haruka gave her, poking the tall blonde once. "Hey, you know I assured my mother that you were a safe person to ride with, but you didn't even know you parked."

"Sorry, its second nature to me I guess."

"Can I give the most untouchable guy in school some advice?" Sakura waited until Haruka nodded and accepted her helmet back. The slightly younger woman leaned forward and kissed the senior on the cheek before whispering to her. "Just tell them that you're moving out, it'll take a load off your mind."

"You think so?"

"Well, that and I think you should go get a girlfriend." Sakura held her hands up to ward off the glare that was thrown her way. "Alright mister I'm never going to date; I just think you should take a chance to notice all those girls that trip over each other to get your attention."

Haruka watched her friend walk into the house, then nodded toward a set of eyes watching her from a kitchen window. She secured her helmet with practiced ease and was off. She sped through the streets as the sun was setting, taking the corners far faster than she should have but she was still a bit stressed. She blew past a cop who ignored her; probably the same one who had chased her a few times and never caught the teen.

It was not until she reached her home; the Tenoh mansion that she actually thought maybe tonight would be quiet. Maybe for once things would work out like the quiet life people claimed to have so often. She shut off her bike, hung her helmet from the handlebars, and walked up the steps. The door swung open and Hiroshi was waiting.

"Where the hell were you?!" He growled toward his sister as she walked past him. Haruka unbuttoned her red school jacket and shrugged out of it. She took her time to toss it across a living room chair before answering.

"I was out with Sakura." Teal eyes scanned the older Tenoh, taking note that his face was wet but the rest of him seemed as if he had not showered in a day or two. His clothes were rumbled and dark and he was pale. Hiroshi in fact did not even seem able to stay still, he was pacing back and forth across the living room as he mumbled to himself.

"Why the hell do you spend so much time with her?" Hiroshi growled out again, glaring straight at his sister as he came to a stop. "It doesn't look good; people are going to assume things. People are going to say things."

"Why should I care what people think? I know the truth." Haruka shrugged off the comment and started to turn away when Hiroshi grabbed her arm to stop her.

"So, you don't care what I think?" Hiroshi was getting angrier and Haruka was more than a little frustrated already.

"Hiro, you're my brother I'd think you'd at least trust me." Haruka paused and shook her head. "What the hell do you think I've been doing?"

"I don't know, maybe you're sleeping with that damn girl or something." Hiroshi let go of her arm but Haruka paused and seemed to freeze. It was not that he was right, he was not. Instead it was the fact that he had just accused her of that. Hiroshi spoke again, not taking any warning from Haruka's silence. "Hell, you have a lot of male friends too. How the hell do we know that you haven't been doing something with them when you say you're with Sakura after school? In fact, I've heard people moving around in your room at night."

"First of all, my male friends think I'm male, and second I can't believe you'd say that crap to me!" Haruka turned and glared right at her brother. She had no idea where anyone else was, but right now it did not matter. She was too angry to wonder about who else was or was not present. "As for movement in my room, you know I'm an insomniac. I walk around, I watch movies, I listen to music and I type."

"That doesn't prove anything!" Hiroshi bellowed. "Damn I can't stand the way you act! Why should I believe you wouldn't be just as quick to fall all over a guy as any other teenage girl?"

"Because I don't like guys!" Haruka yelled this without thinking than paused. She saw a look cross his face that she was not expecting, total and complete shock. Once this man had been her best friend, the person she had trusted most in the world, but things had changed. The blonde turned on her heel and strode back toward the door.

"Where the hell are you going?" Hiroshi yelled as he jogged after her, grabbing her arm as she neared the door.

"Anywhere but here." Haruka shot back and pulled her arm back out of his grasp.

"Damn it, do you think you're a damn guy? I'm still your older brother and you'll do what I say!" Hiroshi grabbed Haruka's arm again. "Are you trying to ruin the family name? Why couldn't you just put on a damn dress and act normal?"

"Get out of my face!" Haruka glared at him as his next words left his mouth.

"Why so you can go back to pretending to be a guy? Damn dyke!"

"I guess a drug dealing Speed addict is so much better." Haruka shot back. Hiroshi turned red and the next thing she knew a fist connected with her jaw. The blonde paused for a moment where her head had snapped to the side, she swallowed a small amount of blood rather than give Hiroshi the satisfaction of seeing her spit it onto the hard wood floor, and then her teal eyes met his brown eyes again. "Get away from me now."

"Haru, I'm just trying to save you from all the shit people are going to say and do." Hiroshi tried suddenly to reason it out with her. Haruka glared and turned toward the door again. Her brother growled and cursed as he punched a wall next to him. "If you walk out don't come back!"

"This isn't your house Hiroshi." Haruka slammed the door behind her and spat blood onto the lawn. She did not know where exactly to go, but she was not going to stay here tonight. Without looking back toward the mansion, the blonde climbed onto her motorcycle and sped off into the darkening night. She never noticed Ichiro watching her from a first-floor window.

End Flashback:

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Haruka came back to the present as her cell phone played a little alert tune, it sounded happier than the blonde currently felt. She looked at the screen, it was a short text message letting her know that Michiru was done with her meeting and ready to go. Teal eyes looked back to the brass urn and she respectfully bowed.

"Please let me know somehow if you have any ideas Dad." Haruka said this, not expecting any sort of reply from the ashes inside their urn. She was out the door again not long after.

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Published 2007

Edited November 2020