Chapter 7: Taka
Haruka sighed tiredly as she slid into her seat on the team's bus. Luckily, they had chanced out and the second race was being held only a few hours' drive away, but the blonde still would have rather driven alone. Unfortunately, she knew it was not a good idea, as she had not slept well on the plane and had not had a chance to since.
"Hey! Great race Tenoh!" Green smiled widely as he dropped into the seat next to her. Haruka ignored his enthusiasm and shut her eyes. Somehow this only caused the American to become more persistent. "I didn't think you were going to make it for the charity race too. Why didn't you bring your fiancé with?"
"First, she isn't my fiancée." Haruka growled quietly. For a moment there was a pause, then Green was all pep again.
"Yeah, okay she's a friend I got it." Green spoke, not sounding utterly convinced as he settled into his own seat and looked up to the overhead monitors set in the roof. He smiled as some newly released DVD started to play. Again, it was quiet for a brief moment, but then the man smirked and spoke again. "So, do you miss her?"
Haruka groaned and resisted the urge to glare at the man next to her. This was going to be a long ride it seemed, and it only seemed longer as Green started to hum along with the movies opening music.
Dinner seemed to pass incredibly slowly for Michiru. As she slipped her cell phone carefully from a pocket without looking down, she feigned interest in the conversation the other four were having though in all honesty she had lost track of it long ago. The violin player was only still at the table because she had promised her mother, she would wait for everyone to finish tonight. Still, as her blue eyes glanced down to start a text message, she thanked the fact she had landed on her own side of the table.
"Tenoh." Green was shaking Haruka's shoulder and she blinked in confusion. He smirked at her and gestured toward her jacket. "Your jacket keeps vibrating."
It took a moment for her drowsy mind to put two and two together. As soon as she remembered what was in her pocket, she pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open.
"What is it?" Green asked like an excited little kid, his eyes even had a little sparkle in them. "Is it a text message? Can I read it?"
"Yes, it is and no you can't." Haruka responded as she turned in her seat a bit so the man could no longer see the screen over her shoulder.
"But this movie is boring." Green whined in his best imitation of a four-year-old.
"Deal with it." Haruka then ignored him in favor of the message on her screen.
'Congratulations on winning the race. Where are you at the moment?' The short message came from Michiru's cell phone.
"Hey, Tenoh?"
"What, Green?"
"Why are you smiling suddenly?"
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Michiru felt a slight buzzing in her hand and squeezed a button on the side of her phone. She waited until she was sure no one was looking than glanced down at the screen.
'Thank you. I'm on my way to the next race by bus. Green is sitting next to me acting like an overgrown kid.' Michiru smiled and looked up at the others again. No one was paying any attention to her, all too busy with discussion over Tenchi Hospital.
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"Damn." Haruka glared at the latest message and Green turned his attention toward her. He raised an eyebrow as she sighed.
"What happened?"
"Michiru asked me to say hi to you." Haruka grumbled, knowing full well what was coming next.
"I knew it, you're talking to her!" Green nearly bounced out of his seat with a huge grin on his face. "Are you two setting up your next date?"
"It isn't like that." The blonde grumbled and glared at him.
"Oh, so what is it like?" Green watched her closely and smiled a bit too much for her taste.
"She's supposed to marry my brother!" Haruka growled at him in frustration. She took a deep breath as some of the few people still awake looked their way. Thankfully Green waited until the attention was back off them to speak again.
"Wow. Tenoh I never pegged you as the type to break up a happy home." The American looked so completely scandalized that Haruka was sure he was faking it.
"It was an arranged marriage and I'm not breaking up anything." Haruka grumbled again as she typed a new message.
"Really?" Green sighed a bit and settled back into his seat, apparently calm at the moment. "That's too bad."
"Oh. Why is that?" She asked, not honestly caring much why.
"Well at the party I saw the two of you dancing." Green closed his eyes, relaxing into his seat. In the man's mind he could clearly recall the image. "You should have seen what you both looked like. You just seemed to fit together, like you were the perfect couple."
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Michiru looked down to her latest text message and it took a good amount of will power not to laugh. It was short and there was no explanation for it, but she was sure whatever inspired it was comical.
'Green is insane. I should inform the team medics so they can get him some professional help.'
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The days with her team came and went quickly, adding two wins to Haruka's standings. She had been back in Japan for only a day when Michiru found her in the garage, or more precisely found the blonde's legs sticking out from under her currently trashed convertible. For a moment she paused in the door, listening to the sounds of tools and metal, and watching as the blonde's leg seemed to twitch now and then. She was wondering if she should interrupt or not when the racer's somewhat deep voice made her jump.
"Hello Michiru-san." Haruka laughed when Michiru jumped, causing the musician to glare at her.
"What's so funny?" She asked, stepping a bit closer to the car.
"Just you jumped so high I lost sight of your feet for a moment." Haruka responded her smile audible at this point. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"What are you doing down there?" Michiru crouched near a wheel, bending a little oddly until she could see a set of teal eyes gazing back from the shadows under the car. "And how can you see anything?"
"I'm fixing some of the damage to my baby here. The people who did this decided to disconnect, break and remove a few parts while they were at it." Haruka tapped an object hooked to something next to her and spoke again. "I did have a source of light, but it seems someone may have unplugged it when they entered."
Michiru looked up, deep blue eyes following a heavy orange cord from under the car up to the wall where it had clearly been plugged in before she entered. She blushed a bit as she realized she accidentally kicked that cord while looking for the blonde.
"Gomen, Haruka." She stood and walked over to the cord. She paused, about to plug it in when she heard wheels rolling across the concrete floor. As Michiru looked back over her shoulder she found the blonde sitting up on a rolling board. Haruka eased back so that she was leaning on the convertible's battered bumper.
"I was thinking about taking a break." Haruka commented standing and slowly stretching. She walked over and smirked as she bowed to the woman before her. "Would you like to go with me for lunch, Michiru?"
"Where to?"
"Anywhere you want so long as we get out of the house for a while." Haruka took in the smile that appeared on Michiru's face and wondered what she had just gotten herself into.
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Hiroshi sat quietly in the den, trying his best to keep up the charming appearance around Suki and Suguru. He had worked a morning shift and come home an hour or two after lunch to find only the two Kaiou's. For the moment, they seemed to be lost in their own conversation and the young doctor could merely sit back and close his eyes tiredly. He could feel it, his temper and stress being restrained by a thin wall of will power. He needed to do his best not to show his bad side around these guests, he needed to impress them.
Hiroshi opened his eyes as he felt his pager vibrating on his belt and suppressed a growl. He fished the small device from his belt and looked at the display, now he fought a smile at the number he saw displayed. He stood and bowed apologetically toward his guests.
"I'm sorry, but it looks like I need to go back to the hospital."
"So soon?" Saki's voice held a note of worry as she watched him. "Is something wrong?"
"I won't really know until I get there, but I'm sure it's just something routine like a patient that is insisting they speak to me." Hiroshi smiled good naturedly and bowed again. It only took a moment for the young man to stride into the hall and out the door, practically jogging to his black car.
Once behind the wheel he took a moment to check his reflection in the rearview mirror and winced. He looked almost as tired as he felt. If it hadn't been for Haruka's interference he'd have already handled this, but since his dear sister had returned home, he found it hard to keep up appearances without sacrificing here and there. So, as he drove into one of the less reputable districts of Tokyo, he felt a small amount of joy just knowing that no eyes were on him. No one keeping tabs on where he was, who he was with or when someone wanted to speak to him. This area had not changed much from the first time he had laid eyes on it.
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Flashback:
Fifteen-year-old Hiroshi Tenoh glanced over his shoulder, half expecting to find old Ichiro or their family driver chasing him. It was a useless thought, as it was doubtful any of them knew that he had left school early. His brown eyes scanned the dirty streets, the graffiti covered walls and the random passersby in this part of Tokyo. He took a nervous look at his own clothing, a clean and well pressed school uniform with the collar hook undone and an expensive watch on his wrist. He was almost certain he would be mugged before he reached his destination.
"Tenoh-san! We've got to do something about your sense of style man!" The voice sent the fifteen-year-old spinning to face the alley he had just passed. A young man grinned at him. The other man had spiked black hair, brown eyes hidden behind shades, his dark pants were baggy with chains hanging from various pockets and belt loops and a leather jacket rested across his shoulders. "Well, nothing we can do about it right now class president."
"Taka-san? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Hiroshi glared as Taka just laughed and walked over to slap him on the back.
"You were so nervous you nearly walked past the house; I was just catching you. If you want feel free to take a walk around the block man." Taka was already guiding him toward the door of an old, very worn-down house with a few broken windows and loads of graffiti. "Come on, the party is inside."
"In there?" Hiroshi's surprise was evident, but Taka ignored it and just pulled him to the door. He gave two quick, loud knocks and it opened to blaring music from inside and a smoky atmosphere. Hiroshi could see several of their classmates, mostly the lower scoring, milling about or moving through the artificial fog. "Whose house is this?"
"My uncle's. Look, don't worry so much we're all here to unwind." Taka pulled him further inside and toward a couch. There was a table pulled up before the couch and a number of people sat around it on the floor or couch itself. On the table were beer cans, bottles, packets of white powder, something Hiroshi was sure was not tobacco, and a number of other things related to smoking. "You wanna try something?"
"What?" Hiroshi turned his eyes toward Taka, they were burning a little from the smoke inside. He was also starting to feel a bit more relaxed though he didn't see why.
"You're eyeing the table like a curious kid." Taka grabbed a little pipe and a lighter and grinned even wider as he held them up. "So, what do you say rich kid?"
Hiroshi's mind was made up then, nothing else Taka could say could have worked so well. The teen was tired of being singled out, being treated differently from the others. He was tired of having all his choices taken away from him. Taka's party wasn't a place his family would have allowed him to go; it was somewhere his teachers wouldn't expect him to be.
End Flashback:
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"Tenoh!" Taka, now taller and older jumped up off the couch of the old house and came over to give the other man a back-slapping hug. A few guys milled about the living room of the run-down house, all wearing black leather jackets and chains. Little had changed other than what was worn under those jackets in the past twelve years. "How have you been man? You called what, like two weeks ago, and said something about family business? And who was that blonde dude that beat up Yoriko?"
"That was my brother." Hiroshi clenched a fist until Taka grabbed his shoulder and shook it lightly.
"Hey, relax man. None of that family crap here, right?" He shrugged out of his heavy leather jacket, a bit of the red dragon on the back was visible as he tossed it over the back of the couch carelessly. He took a seat and waved Hiroshi over. "Have a seat. Hell, man have a fix!"
Hiroshi took a seat next to his old classmate and cracked his neck before turning his eyes toward the table. Dime bags of speed were lined up neatly on one side with a mirror and razor blade in the center of the table. Hiroshi had not used this form in a long time, but he felt his muscles relax as he pulled a pen from his pocket and disassembled it with ease. After he had done two lines, inhaling them quickly through his nose he sighed. Not surprisingly he went through his usual coughing fit soon after, but it did not bother him two much. All his energy was back, in fact he felt twitchy sitting on this couch with nothing to do.
"So, feel better?" Taka watched his friend nod through another coughing fit and laughed. He looked at one of his companions and nodded toward the old kitchen. "Go get him some water! Had a feeling you'd be needing to relax before we talked. Being a doctor must be pretty hard on the nerves, huh? I think I'm just happy running my uncle's old business."
"You mean you'd rather make your money fast and easy." Hiroshi commented as he calmed down. He was handed a bottle of water and sipped at it as he slouched a bit.
"Damn straight! Kami knows I'd hate to have to spend as long as you did in school, and then have to make a name for myself to earn the big money." Taka laughed and crossed his legs, throwing his arms across the back of the couch. "Not that you had to do much on that last part, your family already has a pretty well-known one."
"Yeah." Hiroshi sighed deeply and rubbed his temple as he remembered why he was so stressed out in the first place. "So, did someone get shot or something?"
"Nobody has to get shot for me to call on my favorite doctor." Taka tried to sound offended, but it just didn't work. He gave up and just went back to his normal laid-back mode. "Actually, I wanted to thank you for what you did for my guy last month. You know the one I sent to the emergency room off the record."
"It's fine, call it even for what you had done to my brother's convertible."
"It belonged to that prick?" Taka sat up a bit and laughed as he shook his head. "Now I really owe you man, he deserved it for what he did to Yoriko. I don't think the boy's nose will ever look the same. What's wrong with your brother anyway?"
"He said Yoriko attacked him." Hiroshi commented, trying not to sound accusing. "I told you to warn them not to do that kind of thing around my home."
"Won't happen again. Your brother broke his nose, I broke his arm, I think the kid learned not to attack people in your home." Taka sighed and tilted his head to one side. "Has the old lady put you on lock down and why is your brother there anyway? I thought he moved out years ago?"
"I'm not on lock down we just have some company." Hiroshi looked over at Taka and grimaced. "I have to get some friends of the family to have their daughter marry me or I lose the hospital."
"Ouch." Taka stood up and stretched before grinning at him again. Hiroshi realized that unlike him, Taka always seemed to be grinning. The doctor in him wondered if the gang leader had fried his mood receptors or something. Taka pulled out a fat package from a nearby backpack and tossed it to the young doctor. Hiroshi blinked and Taka laughed again. "It's a thank you for all your help. Don't smoke it all at once."
"Probably best if I don't smoke it at all until my guests leave." Hiroshi looked like he was lamenting his own statement.
"Ah, that'll be hell on your nerves man. Try to resist it if you want but take some of those bags with you to help take the edge off."
"Thank you, Taka."
"Anytime." Taka messed Hiroshi's hair as he walked past and toward the front door. He paused and looked back at the other man. "I gotta go take care of some stuff, but if you want to hide out from the family for a while feel free."
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The sports bike seemed to prowl to a stop in a slightly sandy parking space before Haruka shut the engine off. Her passenger slid gracefully from where she'd sat sidesaddle behind the racer, a feat that impressed Haruka quite a bit, and started to remove her helmet. The blonde's teal eyes watched for a moment before Haruka followed suit with her own helmet.
"So, you said you know a restaurant here?" Haruka commented as she hung her helmet from her motorcycle. She took Michiru's helmet as the shorter woman unzipped her borrowed leather jacket and smiled. The blonde had to admit, that smile could easily make men drop to their knees if that had been what the young artist before her wanted.
"It's just across the street." Michiru confirmed as she took the blonde's hand and led her toward a row of small businesses. Haruka blinked but did not complain even as they seemed to draw the attention of people near them. Haruka knew some of the men were probably envying her at the moment. "I come here when I want to have some peace to think."
"And what are you thinking about today?" Haruka inquired as they entered the little indoor restaurant. All she received as an answer was another smile, though this one looked slightly more mischievous than any of the others.
"Kaiou-san." A young man greeted them with a bow. "Would you like your regular table?"
"Yes, thank you." Michiru responded and let go of Haruka's hand. They were led to a corner table next to a large window that looked out over the shoreline. The young man quickly handed over a set of menus and strode back toward the door. Nothing else was said until after they had given their orders to a waitress.
"So Michiru-san." Haruka took a drink of water and watched the young artist across the table. "Have you thought of a way out of our parents' arrangement yet?"
"Actually, I think I might have come up with something." Michiru smiled as the blonde raised an eyebrow. The artist set down her fork lightly and leaned across the table a bit. Her face became serious as she beckoned Haruka forward. "But I think I need to ask you something first."
"What's that?" Haruka responded, leaning over the table herself. Michiru leaned a bit closer and Haruka was caught off guard as she felt the other woman's breath on her ear.
"Why does everyone at the mansion pretend you're male?" Michiru whispered to the blonde. She kept her voice low not because she cared if anyone heard them, but rather because she did not know if Haruka would care.
"I guess I should have expected an artist like you to catch that." Haruka whispered back, though she looked a little pale.
"I do paint as well, and I have studied the human body as part of my education." Michiru leaned back enough to offer the other woman a warm smile. "I knew the first day I met you, I've just been trying to figure out why your family was determined to make everyone believe otherwise."
"That's a very long story Michiru." Haruka sighed and hung her head a bit. Though her color had gone back to normal she didn't seem interested in her food anymore. "Maybe we can talk about it another time."
"As long as you promise to explain." Michiru responded with a playful tone in her voice. Finally, teal eyes came back up to meet Michiru's blue eyes and Haruka smiled weakly at her.
"I'll promise if you'll share your plans." Haruka shot back in her own playful voice.
"Well, our parents agreed that I would marry a Tenoh heir, but they never agreed it would be the first born." Michiru saw Haruka's eyebrows both go up in unison at this and she could not help giggling a bit at the surprised expression.
"Wait. What are you suggesting exactly?" Haruka was turning the statement over and over in her mind looking for some logical conclusion. Anything other than what she took out of it at first glance. The blonde started to trip over her own words as she shook her head. "I can't. . . I mean we can't. . . I. . ."
"Haruka, relax."
"Hiroshi and my Grandmother would never go along with it."
"I don't need them to, it's actually best if they don't." Michiru reached out and patted the blonde's hand reassuringly. "The choice is in my parents' hands."
"Okay, what are you getting at?" Haruka's teal eyes had narrowed a bit as she settled on listening to what the other woman had to say. Whenever she tried to puzzle out what Michiru meant in her mind she could not seem to get past the word marriage.
"All we have to do is make it look like we are falling for each other." Michiru sat back and smiled as confidently as she could. "I doubt my parents would make me marry Hiroshi-san thinking that I was in love with his brother. They'd be convinced it would be inviting trouble."
"That still places you in an arranged marriage from what I'm seeing." Haruka commented off-handedly. She was waiting to see how this would improve things, aside from freeing the other woman from Hiroshi.
"Not really, as you said your Grandmother won't go along with it. She'll be afraid of my parents finding out the truth."
"So, she won't be able to explain to them why she refuses to let us be married." Haruka started to smile a bit as she realized exactly what the other woman's plan was. The race car driver could just imagine her grandmother's reaction if the Kaiou's were to decide their daughter was best with the young blonde. The ensuing argument probably would not be pretty once it got going. "So, our families end up in a deadlock on which brother the groom should be."
"Hopefully both sides will decide the whole thing is too much trouble and it will all be over in a few months." Michiru finished with a satisfied smile, confident that if the blonde saw it too then the plan had a chance. "And all you have to do for this to work is to be yourself."
"Oh, and what do you mean by that?" Haruka leaned her chin on one hand, elbow propped on the table as the artist leaned forward again. If possible Michiru's smile was more mischievous than the one she had graced the blonde with when they arrived.
"Just keep playing the charming host while your brother does his best to impress my parents. So far you've been the only Tenoh to take the time to get to know me." Michiru winked at her, something that Haruka would previously have assumed to be out of character for the young woman. "If anyone asks, you're just keeping me company, so I won't be bored."
"Which gives me a defense when my family starts to think I'm up to something." Haruka commented with respect for the woman's foresight. She frowned slightly as she sat back in her chair and aired the one worry that still nagged her. "You're banking a lot on your parents not just deciding I would make the caring brother you never had before."
"And on my own skills as an actress." Michiru leaned back and held up her glass with a smile. "So, just be you and leave the rest to me. Do we have a deal?"
"And if they choose Hiroshi regardless?" Haruka questioned with another raised eyebrow.
"Then I may need a lift to the airport at three in the morning one night, you'll be more than welcome to come along on the flight."
"Then I think we have a deal." Haruka finally agreed and lifted her water glass to click against Michiru's. "But let's hope this works."
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Published 2007
Edited November 2020