Chapter four

Most people would have wondered if they were seeing things upon seeing Ten'oh Haruka enter the building of Japan's most succesful record company, for what connection did the sports star have with Japan's music industry? The answer would not have been one that many would have expected, as Haruka actually had almost been forced into music when she was younger by realtives of her's even though she had no interest in it, but that wasn't really very important to her now, nor was it why she was there.

Haruka walked through the lobby, sending a glare at the snooty receptionist who had refused point blank to tell her where Aino Minako's dressing room was. So now she had to search the entire goddamned building to try and find the girl in order to get anything done whatsoever.

As she continued searching, Haruka decided that she was going to have to kill whoever had refused to give her directions to the blonde's rooms. This place was like a bloody maze, it really was. She was certain she'd been searching for about ten minutes by that time but she was getting nowhere: she could have sworn she'd seen that plastic pot-plant over in the corner about a hundred times already.

Haruka sighed and continued down the corridor. Why was she going looking for Minako anyway? There was prpbably going to be a load of crap all over the tabloids in the next few days anyway knowing Minako, but to be honest she would rather have heard the truth straight from the horse's mouth, if indeed that was possible. She just hoped the ditzy idol still had an idea as to what the truth was.

Haruka soon caught a glimpse of familiar blonde hair and shining blue eyes, but it didn't take long for her to realise that the girl in question wasn't Minako but some clone of hers, as was common in the music industry then. She would have quickly passed on and continued lookiing for the real Minako had it not been for one thing, or rather person: in the room with the girl was none other than Chiba Mamoru. It wasn't really surprisiing to see him there; she had known Mamoru for years and he had always worked in the music industry. However she had known Mamoru for far too long not to realise that he was always up to something, and whatever it was it was bound to have neagtive implications in one way or another. She leant against the wall, hiding herself away from their sight, and preceded to listen in on the conversation Mamoru was having with this girl.

"I still don't see why you have to get rid of her so people will notice me." The girl had an irritatingly naïve sound to her voice, and the way she was twirling her hair round and round and staring vacantly into space gave Haruka the impression that she was dumb enough to make even Minako seem like a genius.

"Usagi-chan, Minako has reached the end of her career as far as I'm concerned; people may like her and it may be benificial to the company, but people will soon start losing interest. And to be honest, she's not conforming to the image we want. You're much better for that purpose, Usagi; you're fresh meat, and besides, you're cute."

The small girl blushed and Haruka faught the urge to vomit. The next time she saw this guy and she wasn't spying on hiss conversations, she was going to do exactly the same to him as she had to Seiya; a nice shiner would look brilliant on dear old Mamoru after all, wouldn't it? Mamoru continued.

"Also note that you two look alike, even though you don't dress or sound alike. Most people would wrongly assume that you're just a clone of Minako, but you're not. You're not at all, and we just need to get her out of the picutre. Her time's up, yours is just about to start."

Usagi once again blushed and Haruka once again faught the urge to throw up.

"But what exactly are you doing to her anyway?" Usagi asked. "I hope you don't hurt her; I like Minako."

Mamoru smirked and Haruka felt the urge to wipe the look off his face in the most paiinful way possible.

"All I can tell you is that it involves Ten'oh Haruka; the rest is strictly private information, I'm afraid."

To say that Haruka was completely infuriated would have been an understatement. She would just have stormed straight in there and decked the bastard, but instead she decided to listen in further in order to see if there was anything else Mamoru was up to.

"Please Mamo-kun, tell me what you're going to do!" Usagi whined, reminding Haruka of a nice yet somewhat stubborn five-year-old. "You can trust me, you know you can. I love you and you love me so you must trust me enough to tell me this teeny little secret, right?"

The look on Mamoru's face turned into one Haruka knew well. The bastard; he didn't love her, he was just using her, just like he used everyone else he ever came near. Haruka just wanted to tell that girl to stop being so naïve, that Mamoru was a bastard, a cheat, a liar and a player, and that it was almost certain he was just using her for some reason or another. However she couldn't, could she, so she just settled for continuing to listen.

"You know me, Mamo-kun. You know I can keep a secret," Usagi pleaded with the man, widening her eyes in a way that would make even a puppy's cuteness pale in comparison.

"Well I suppose you can, but you can't say anything about this to anyone," Mamoru replied. He lowered his voice, though Haruka could still just about hear him, and when she did her anger only grew. "We're getting Minako to seduce Ten'oh Haruka. It will ruin her; ruin them both."

"But what's Ten'oh Haruka ever done to you?" Usagi asked.

"Now that I really can't tell you," Mamaoru laughed.

Haruka felt sick. This was low even for Mamoru, and to believe that Minako would even indadvertenly help with something like that. She had to find the other girl quickly and at least try to get somewhere closer to the truth behind the whole affair.

It had become apparent to her that she wasn't going to find Minako there, even though she knew for a fact that the girl was in work. She decided to take a different approach and sped out of the building – and away from Mamoru as fast as she possibley could.

As soon as she was outside, Haruka was wondering what she should do. It was then that she saw a familiar figure sitting on one of the stone benches in front of the building. At first she wasn't sure, but then Haruka saw the red bow in the girl's hair. That confirmed it; she had finally found Aino Minako.

Aino Minako was once again lamenting the fact that she despised meetings. She should have been in one then and she knew that her manager was probably running around looking for her, but to be honest she didn't care. She had too much on her mind to have been able to concentrate on a meeting anyway. Since the whole deal with Haruka a few days before she hadn't been able to concentrate on anything. She just hoped the other girl didn't find out part of the reeason she was doing it; if she did then Minako was in deep trouble and things would just get even worse than they already were, and she really didn't want that, if it was possible at all.

She sat down on a bench outside the building where she worked and put her head in her hands. No one would bother her here, and she was certain her manager wouldn't look for her there; it was just too obvious. The best way to spite someone is to hide whatever it is that they're looking for right in front of their nose… or something like that. She could never remember proverbs, not that it mattered much. If anything it just added to the illusion of completely stupidity that people seemed to love.

She heard footsteps behind her and looked up, and when she saw who was behind her she was certain whatever fates there were had both blessed and cursed her in that moment, for Haruka was standing behind her, but the look on her face was one of nothing less than sheer fury.

Under normal circumstances Minako would have once again resumed her ditzy act and pretended to be completely oblivious to how angry Haruka was, but these weren't normal circumstances, and for some reason it was just almost impossible for her to be fake around Haruka.

"What the Hell do you think you've been doing?!" Haruka's outburst caught Minako off-guard. Well she'd expected the other girl to be a bit angry, but not this much. Did that mean she'd found out exactly what Minako had been hoping she wouldn't realise?

"If you'd honestly follow through with anything Chiba Mamoru suggested than you're even more of a ditz than I thought."

Minako felt a stinging in her chest; she felt physically sick; how did Haruka know? Gods why had she followed Mamoru's plan; why hadn't she had the guts to tell Haruka how she felt anyway? The situation had gone from bad to much, much worse: about as bad as it could get. Well she only had one choice, she supposed; she had to deny it.

"I don't know what you're talking about, 'Ruka-kun," Minako forced herself to put on her usual act, though she had the feeling that Haruka could see right through it.

"Don't try this act with me; I can see right through it," Haruka hissed, the venom in her words making Minako have to supress tears. So Haruka did know… and she hated her for it. At least that's what it seemed like to Minako. "I know about the plan you and Mamoru came up with, I know what you're trying to do. Look, if you haven't realised this already, Chiba's a complete bastard: he'll never do what he promised to do, so just stop this stupidity now!"

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about," Minako lied. "Where did you get this idea from anyway?"

"I'm not lying!" Minako shrieked, raising her voice a little louder then she had intended. "I'm not lying…"

The girl was crying again, Haruka noticed, but were those actual tears or just another part of the sick act she was pulling?

Haruka was shocked when Minako kissed her gentley.

"If I was lying, would I have done that?" Minako whispered, then she ran off before Haruka had a chance to register what had happened.
Little did Haruka know that Minako really was lying, and not only to Haruka but also to herself.