Chapter 9: Some Things Never Change

Haruka stood a bit rigidly as she heard the door of the mansion's library shut behind her. Maiko Tenoh took a seat in the comfortable brown armchair nearest the door and waved her granddaughter toward the antique wooden desk which sat a few feet away from it. Without a word the blonde slowly walked over and sat in the wooden chair behind the desk.

"Where did you go after lunch, Haruka?" Maiko watched the blonde as she grimaced. The eldest Tenoh held up a single hand to stall her grandchild's words. "The next words that come out of your mouth need to be the truth. Do not lie to me."

"Of course not, Grandma." Haruka raised her teal eyes to meet a set of gray eyes gazing into her own.

"Do you know where Hiroshi is?" Maiko smiled as she watched Haruka flinch. She could easily tell that her granddaughter knew something. "Where is he?"

"I know where I found his car, but I'd rather not say." The blonde's eyes shifted toward the top of the old wooden desk. "To be honest I have no way to even know he was anywhere near his own car."

"I'll give him twenty-four hours, if he isn't back by then I expect you to answer." Maiko sighed thinking to herself how different the two siblings were. There was a time when she would have called them both her pride and joy, however that had passed years ago. It seemed that whenever a Tenoh hit high school she suddenly failed to understand any of their reasoning from then on. Gray eyes watched as Haruka relaxed a bit into the chair again and Maiko smiled. "Where were you?"

"I went looking for Hiro." The blonde started to rub her temple as if she had gotten a sudden headache. Just thinking about how badly this discussion could go made her flinch. "That was when I spoke to Doctor Mizuno."

"Was it?" Maiko eyed her grandchild and almost laughed. Her grandchildren always seemed to underestimate her, thinking that because they did not say something, she would not see it. No, Hiroshi was clearly up to something and to spite how badly he had treated his sister she was still protecting him. This was not a surprise; this was always how the two had been. Teal eyes came up again and Maiko could remember Haruka as an eight-year-old girl.

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Flashback:

Maiko Tenoh slowly took a seat in her den, enjoying her day off immensely. At seventy-one years old she was the oldest member of the Tenchi Hospital board, but she'd sooner go to a retirement home than allow a group of forty-year-old men to cart her out of her position. She slowly reached for the novel she kept beside her favorite chair and froze when she felt the cloth of a bandana instead.

Maiko turned her head and slowly lifted the bandana from the table. What she found were the remains of a porcelain doll. She sighed heavily and stood, calling out for Ichiro and a maid.

"Clean this up before Haruka cuts herself on the shards." She ordered the maid before turning to the family butler. "Bring Hiroshi and Haruka down here."

"Master Hiroshi is currently out." Ichiro informed her, and then left to retrieve Haruka as he received a small nod from his mistress. It was not long before Haruka, still in her baseball uniform minus the cleats appeared in the doorway. The maid passed her quietly and Haruka paled as she saw what was in a dustpan the woman carried.

"Where's Hiroshi Grandma?" Haruka asked seemingly out of nowhere. Maiko raised an eyebrow and held up the red bandana she had found.

"I don't know Haruka." Maiko saw little teal eyes widen and knew she was onto something. "Can you explain this to me?"

"It was an accident." Haruka fidgeted a little and looked toward the ground before she spoke. "Gomen. I was playing with my bat inside and it hit your doll."

"Are you sure that's what happened?" Maiko watched her granddaughter nod and sighed. She knew it was not the full story; however, she also knew that Haruka was not going to tell her what fell between the bat and the shattered doll. "Go to your room Haruka. I want you to pack all your baseball equipment neatly into its duffle bag. I will send Ichiro up for it later and it will stay in the garage from now on. Am I clear?"

"Yes Grandma." Haruka was dismissed and she left the room silently. Ichiro, having stood silently near the door, cleared his throat softly.

"What is it Ichiro-san?"

"Haruka did not break the doll Tenoh-sama." Ichiro stood straight as he spoke. "Master Haruka did carry the batt into the room swinging it slightly as Master Hiroshi followed. I looked in on them a few times to make sure they were alright."

End Flashback:

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Maiko shook away the memory as she heard her granddaughter's worried tone. Her gray eyes looked up to the blonde woman now kneeling near her feet and she smiled warmly as she patted the twenty-two-year-old on the head.

"You'll never change, will you Haruka?" Maiko laughed when all she received in answer was a clearly confused look from the younger Tenoh. After a moment she leaned forward to give her granddaughter a slightly awkward hug before waving her hand dismissively. "Go to bed, or whatever it is you do at night. I'll never understand why people your age don't sleep when they should."

"Good night Grandma." Haruka stood and left the room. When she shut the door behind her she let out a heavy sigh. Maiko Tenoh was not a young woman, though she had always seemed to be to her granddaughter. She had learned to catch from the old woman, been taken to play basketball and spent several of her youngest years talking the woman's ear off. It scared the blonde to see how much the woman had changed since her father's death. Somehow, that eternal seeming fire was dimmed.

Haruka was distracted from her thoughts when she heard another door shut further up the corridor. The blonde looked over only to find Michiru standing outside the door of the den looking as if she had just stepped out of a war zone. Haruka noticed the young woman's eyes were closed and she could not help the mischievous grin on her face. Everyone in this mansion could use a day off before they finally just snapped from all the different forms of stress. With that in mind, Haruka walked over to the other young woman as quietly as she could and slowly reached around to cover her closed eyes. Michiru flinched at first and Haruka bit her lip to avoid laughing.

"Guess who." The blonde whispered playfully and felt the other young woman relax considerably.

"Ichiro-san?" Michiru guessed, though Haruka could hear the barely contained amusement in her voice.

"Strike one."

"Hiroshi-sempei?" Michiru tried again and Haruka laughed a little. She leaned a bit closer and whispered near the violin player's ear.

"I think you just insulted me Kaiou-san."

"Oh, then it must be Mizuno-san." Michiru said, barely holding in her laugh as Haruka laughed at the mental image of Ami standing with Michiru like this. The poor girl would not have the self-confidence around someone she'd barely met. Michiru spun to face the blonde, placing a hand over Haruka's mouth to muffle her laughter. Teal eyes met blue and Michiru tilted her head to the side. She grabbed the tall blonde woman by the arm and started to lead her off down the hall. "Do you want my parents to come out here?"

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"Suguru, what are you looking at?" Saki arched a brow toward her husband who was now peering through a crack in the door with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Do you want my parents to come out here?" He heard Michiru whisper as she led the youngest Tenoh heir down the hall. He heard Saki stand so he closed the door again and turned toward his wife with as innocent of a look as he could manage.

"Nothing, but I have been thinking." Suguru fiddled with something in his pocket as he spoke, a nervous habit that did not escape his wife's serious brown eyes. She waited for him to speak again and frowned when she heard his next words. "We really should get to know Haruka-kun a bit more if we want to make a fair choice, don't you think?"

"Suguru, he races cars for a living." Saki sat back down and shook her head as if that alone should remove the man from the list of possibilities. "Instead of using the opportunities being born into such a well-connected family afforded him he chose to get into a career field that's dangerous and mostly dependent on luck."

"Actually, there's a lot more skill involved in professional racing than most people think." Michiru's father took his own seat again and thought back on the races he had seen on TV. "It seems to take a lot of practice and concentration to negotiate any track at speeds that high. Just imagine how much skill it would take to pass other cars at well over a hundred miles an hour."

"I'd rather not." Saki replied dryly and shook her head. "He's a thrill seeker and his job will keep him on the road and away from home for most of the year I'd imagine."

"But so does Michiru's." Suguru pointed out and saw a frown creasing his wife's brow. Suguru took another shot at that point. "In fact, maybe her manager can work it out so that her concerts fall during the season, they could have time off together."

"Or perhaps if she becomes fond of Hiroshi she'd be more likely to settle down herself." Saki replied without missing a beat as she looked at her husband suspiciously. "A doctor or a race car driver? Why on Earth should we even consider binding our daughter to someone who may leave her a widow from a normal day at work?"

"Because he's been making her smile." Suguru said simply and saw how his wife just paused. It was clear she was replaying their stay in the Tenoh home now and his smile was just a bit smug for taking notice of the fact before she did. "Hiroshi gets along well with us, he seems to be a competent doctor and he is set to inherit the family hospital. The question isn't if he's a respectable young man, but is he going to make our daughter happy?"

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Ami felt oddly as if she had landed in the middle of a strange game of chess. Though she had enjoyed the conversation over dinner she had a feeling that Haruka had left out something especially important about her house guests. She was not surprised when Michiru and her parents disappeared into the den after dinner. She was less surprised when Ichiro stopped Haruka in the hall at Maiko's request. The young blue haired honor student however had the luck to practically have been adopted by the Tenohs, so she knew the mansion almost as well as they did.

Ami came to the door she was looking for and paused, knocking just in case though she knew Hiroshi was not home. Even if he were, she very much doubted he would have entered this room. As she opened the door and switched on the lights, she took comfort in the familiar feel of the old office itself. Though its owner had passed away at least a year before she could still detect a distinct sent of pipe tobacco and after shave.

Bookshelves lined the east and west walls; a window took up the south wall opposite the door though the heavy brown curtains were drawn shut. A heavy wooden desk sat before the window with a heavy wool coat hanging over the back of the chair and an empty pipe resting lightly on top of the desk. Aside from some missing books, ones the teen knew now resided in Haruka's Tokyo apartment, his office was unchanged from the way Yoshi Tenoh had left it. Ami had spent several visits to the mansion either reading over the extensive collection of history books and mystery novels or studying history with the man himself at that desk. She had always been grateful to know that she had not only her mother to ask about science, but the ever-friendly Yoshi to ask for help in history class. The man had taken it on himself to put his bachelor's degree to work teaching the doctor's daughter world history and correcting what he called "political history rewrites" taught in Japanese schools.

Now the office was the closest she could come to speaking with the man again. He had been like an uncle or surrogate father to her and knowing he was gone just increased her urge to seek out this room. To feel just a little closer to days past.

"How did I guess I'd find you here?" The voice startled Ami for a moment and the teen spun to face the door. Her heartbeat slowly returned to normal when she found Haruka standing there smiling at her instead of the disembodied spirit of Yoshi Tenoh himself. She took a few calming breaths and pulled her computer bag a little higher onto her shoulder.

"Haruka-san I think you scared her half to death." The female voice behind the blonde reminded Ami that she was not the only guest to the Tenoh household. It was a first for her, as the Tenoh's rarely had guests over for purely social reasons.

"Sorry Ami-chan, I didn't realize you hadn't heard us walk up." Haruka stepped inside and Ami was able to see again the young woman behind her. The teen seemed to tense up a bit as she looked to the woman still standing in the doorway and she bowed a bit quickly.

"Good evening Kaiou-sama." Ami greeted, half afraid her voice would crack. Haruka had a smirk on her face showing she was clearly amused by the whole scene.

"Just call me Michiru, Mizuno-san." Michiru smiled and the young girl before her nodded mutely for a moment. Ami jumped again as Haruka slung an arm across her shoulders and looked at Michiru.

"Just call her Ami-chan; she's just a bit nervous." The blonde provided for the shy teen. Ami nodded slowly in agreement with the blonde next to her.

"Why so nervous, Ami-chan?" Michiru stepped into the room, smiling warmly toward the teen. Instead of an answer the now somewhat red teen unzipped a pocket of her computer bag and withdrew a CD case. A moment later Michiru was able to make out that it was one of her own albums.

"She has a lot more of them at home." Haruka provided before releasing Ami's shoulders and sighing. The blonde sobered a bit as she looked around the office, its lighting casting a yellowish atmosphere that seemed perfectly suited to a writer. It was not very surprising once one noticed that a few shelves were filled with what looked to be hand typed manuscripts. "I haven't been in here for a long time."

"Whose office is this?" Michiru slowly strolled over to a bookcase and started to read over the various titles held by it.

"Yoshi-sempie's." Ami provided. Michiru paused and looked toward Haruka for clarification but the blonde seemed to have spaced out near the desk. She had picked up a pipe and seemed to be examining it for something no one else could see. Ami noticed Michiru's slightly confused look and walked over to stand beside her. Quietly the teen clarified her statement. "Yoshi Tenoh was Haruka-san's father."

"He spent loads of time in here or out front." Haruka suddenly spoke again and they both turned their attention back toward the blonde. "His favorite things to do were read, study and tutor Ami-chan. He loved to encourage us all to read, but Ami-chan took to it more than Hiroshi and I."

"It still smells like his tobacco in here." Ami remarked with a small smile as she closed her eyes and imagined the man sitting behind the desk with his bright teal eyes running over the pages of an old textbook. "It wasn't a healthy habit."

"No, but I doubt either of us will ever be able to smell cherry tobacco without remembering something about him." Haruka set the pipe down and turned to face them as she leaned against the desk. With a sigh the blonde swept her bangs from her face in a gesture that was meant to cover any emotions the room they were in had brought on. "I was hoping to give you two a more informative introduction than one you received at dinner."

"Ami-chan, you already know who Michiru-san is but not why she's here." Haruka paused here as if trying to decide how to word what she was about to say. After a few moments she just gave in and went with the simplest way she could think of. "Her parents are here to decide who she should marry."

Ami blinked before she walked over to the door and slowly looked down the hall to either side. Once she was satisfied that no one was near by she gently closed it and turned back to look at Haruka herself. Again, there was a strange pause as the older two just watched the teen, waiting for whatever reaction she would give. Ami composed herself and seemed to review what facts she had in her mind.

"They're here to choose between yourself and Hiroshi-sempie?" Ami questioned for the sake of clarification. Haruka nodded in confirmation and the teen paused only a moment before she could word her next question. There was an uncertain look on her face even as she spoke though. "Are they aware of your condition?"

"You mean my gender?" Haruka laughed lightly as Ami's eyes widened and shot over to watch Michiru's reaction. Instead of whatever she had been expecting she noticed that the graceful violin player was giggling though she tried to hide it. Ami's blue eyes came back to land on Haruka as the blonde calmed down. Teal eyes turned toward Michiru and the blonde smirked playfully. "Michiru-san, are you aware that I am not a man?"

"Of course not, Haruka-kun." Michiru replied playfully. She giggled again but took some pity on the teen that now seemed to be confused. With a warm smile the young violin player spoke to the teen. "I knew Haruka was female when I first met her, but no my parents do not. As far as I know they haven't noticed any hint of Haruka's real gender."

"Then why haven't you told them?" Ami looked back and forth between the two, clearly still confused at the current situation. She was clearly trying to make sense of the situation that was presented to her but seemed to be coming up dry. "Haruka-san, what are you going to do if they choose you?"

"I'm not really sure, maybe I'll take a vacation as a reward for playing my part well." The blonde smirked as Ami's blue eyebrows seemed to both raise another centimeter at this comment.

"You want them to choose you?" Ami looked to Michiru and didn't see a single trace of surprise, so she was caught off guard a second time. "You both want them to?"

"That's pretty much the plan." Haruka confirmed. She watched the teen, trying to not take too perverse of a joy in watching how the young genius was exercising quite a few brain cells to make sense of the input. After a few moments of complete silence Ami walked over to Haruka and held out her hand in a profoundly serious manner.

"Congratulations Haruka-san. To be honest, I never thought you would settle down." Ami smiled even as Haruka suddenly began shaking her head.

"No, no, no." Haruka waved Ami's hand away and shook her head, looking to an amused Michiru for help and receiving only a smile. The blonde lightly shook both of Ami's shoulders as she spoke. "You've got it all wrong; we're just putting on a show. You know how Hiroshi is; I can't let someone like Michiru get tied down to him!"

"Don't listen to her; she's just getting cold feet." Michiru strode over with a mischievous look in her blue eyes as she approached. When she was beside them, she gently turned Haruka's face to look at her, meeting confused teal eyes with warm blue as the blonde's arms fell limp. Ami started to smile and took a few steps back as Michiru loosely wrapped her arms about the blonde's neck and leaned close to her ear. "Why so shy koi?"

"What?" Haruka felt Michiru's breath washing over her ear and failed to suppress a shiver that ran down her spine. She was confused, thoroughly and completely. A few minutes ago, as she had explained who Ami was to the violin player, she'd felt completely in control but now the tables turned. The blonde felt like the world had suddenly inverted and she no longer knew which way was up. They were just pretending, right? It was an act, wasn't it? Was this part of it? Haruka looked into blue eyes so close to her own and she was not so sure anymore. She was not so sure why she was doing this. Was it really just to help a friend? Was Michiru her friend? Was there another reason? "I. . ."

"Is something wrong Haruka?" Michiru asked, gazing in apparent concern toward the blonde as she took a step back. Now the violin player's hands rested lightly on the race car driver's shoulders and the blonde looked utterly and completely speechless. She tried to say something but Michiru leaned ever closer and her mind went blank. She could not remember what she had been thinking a few seconds before. Michiru was dangerously close now.

Then a giggle escaped the violin player and she winked at the blonde. Haruka did not know her well, but something told her what just transpired was extremely rare for the other young woman. Michiru playfully pecked the blonde on the cheek and turned quickly toward the teen who had watched the whole incident with a blush across her cheeks. Haruka was still confused; she had no idea what had just taken place.

"What do you think of our acting, Ami-chan?" Michiru asked in a warm tone full of mischief. The teen smiled as her blush died down and nodded in approval as she eyed the older women.

"You were very convincing, Michiru-sama." Ami shook her head as the blonde finally started to recover.

Haruka cleared her throat and coughed a few times, doing her best to cover her embarrassment. Of course, Michiru was acting; they both knew what the plan was. They had discussed it earlier today. There was not any reason for either of them to think anything more or less of it, was there? Haruka looked up again finally when Ami asked a question.

"But what are you going to do when they find out Haruka-san is female?"

"It won't get that far." Haruka responded, getting the attention of the other two women. The blonde smirked confidently to mask just how uncertain her own thoughts had been seconds ago. "But can we trust you not to tell anyone?"

"Of course, Haruka-san." Ami paused with a slightly troubled look though before the matter could be fully settled. She seemed to think things over but after a few moments she shook her head. "I just hope you're both right about the outcome of this plan."

"Do I ever get into trouble?" Haruka asked confidently but in a split second's time she had her answer from both women in near unison.

"Yes." Haruka blinked and gazed at them for a moment. After a second she smiled sheepishly and laughed at her own expense.

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After everyone else had settled into their respective guest rooms Haruka walked Michiru back to her room. They stopped at the door and the blonde racer leaned against the wall casually.

"Are you afraid I'll get lost or do you just enjoy my company, Haruka-san?" Michiru smiled in a teasing manner and Haruka smirked back toward the shorter woman.

"Maybe it's a little of both." The blonde replied and was rewarded by a soft laugh from the woman standing before her. After a few moments Haruka stood straight just so she could lean close to the shorter woman and speak to her in a soft whisper. Haruka was close enough to catch a light blush even in the dark hallway. "Actually, I think there may be one problem with our little plan."

"Really?" Michiru raised an eyebrow as Haruka nodded and whispered again.

"I noticed it in the office." The blonde informed her and Michiru seemed to look even more quizzical at this. "Do you want me to show you?"

"Of course." Michiru replied without a second thought. The moment she said it she saw Haruka's teal eyes shift away for a moment, as if the blonde were rethinking her own words. She touched the blonde's cheek gently and waited until those teal eyes came back to her own blue eyes. "What is it Haruka?"

Instead of any verbal answer Haruka leaned forward and their lips met for the first time. The blonde closed her eyes waiting to be slapped or for someone to come scream at her. Instead she felt Michiru pause for a heartbeat, then two hands slid over her shoulders and two light arms draped across them. The blonde started to pull back, to ask a question, but the violin player tugged her closer instead. Haruka felt a sudden tingle shooting through her whole body, and even though something in the back of her mind reminded her they were still in the hall she could not make herself care about that. She let herself relax and wrapped her own arms around the younger woman's waist enjoying the still innocent kiss.

Finally, Michiru broke the kiss and smiled up at the blonde whose eyes were still shut. The violin player could feel nervous butterflies dancing in her stomach as she waited for those teal eyes to open. It felt like forever before Haruka did open her eyes and they met each other's gaze.

"I don't see a problem Haruka." Michiru stated calmly as she let one hand experimentally play with the short hairs at the back of the blonde's neck.

"You're okay with this?" Haruka almost winced at how surprised she sounded; all her confidence seemed to have gone out the nearest window. Even though she had acted on the emotions first the blonde was not expecting a good outcome, she never did. She swallowed down the voice of Hiroshi in the back of her mind, determined to not live by the past right now. She was not so naive to think that everyone in the world was straight and she was an anomaly, she had learned that was not true a long time ago. Still, the blonde's mind was spinning at the possibility that there was someone who might just accept her as herself.

"Are you okay?" Michiru asked worriedly as she noticed that Haruka was not just thoughtful she was pale. The tall woman looked as if she had suddenly come down with something even as she looked up into Michiru's blue eyes again. Haruka's lips moved as if she were about to speak but nothing came out. After a moment Michiru slipped one of her hands down to the woman's arm, the other opened the door in front of which they stood. Haruka followed soundlessly into the dark room beyond without noticing a pair of eyes watching the two.

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Published 2007

Edited November 2020