I'm liking how this is looking so far. Thank you for so many reviews for the first chapter. Hopefully it'll continue through this chapter.

Acceptance

Chapter 2

The hands of power are often destructive.
The hands of love are always creative.

-Sri Chinmoy

I glanced out the window as the plane landed at Tokyo international airport. It always felt good to be home after a long trip. Hiroshi hadn't allowed me to eat anything more than a small bag of salted peanuts. Even then he grumbled about how unhealthy they were for me. He would rather me starve myself to death. I don't know how he can be alright with this morally.

I sometimes feel like I want to jump out of the back of one of these planes; without a parachute. I never want to look back. I feel nothing more than emptiness. Emptiness that will probably never be filled. Hiroshi doesn't seem to understand that I need a life of my own. All he's ever been doing is planning tour after tour, trip after trip. There would often be times where I wouldn't be home for months at a time.

"Remember what we talked about Michiru." I glared at him as he stood from his seat after the seatbelt light went off.

I recalled our previous conversation and wanted to kill him for what he said. 'She's a little bit of a faggot…but don't hold that against her, Yamamoto says she plays like a dream.' But sadly, I couldn't let him know that. I couldn't let him know that I was a 'faggot' too. I couldn't risk losing my contract. I love music too much to be left at home each and every day by myself.

"I promise I'll remember." I covered my mouth in a vain attempt to hide my yawn. I had been unable to sleep on the plane, even as much as I wanted to. Hiroshi would not keep his mouth shut…

"How could anybody be gay? I just don't understand it." He looked at me before gently shaking my shoulder. "I'm talking to you."

I groaned softly and looked at him, my eyes were bloodshot. "I don't know." I closed my eyes again and started to drift away.

"What do you think about it? Michiru…Michiru?" I felt my shoulder being nudged again.

"Hiroshi, just because you're awake doesn't mean that I am."

"Well excuse me for living; I'm just trying to make a nice conversation, no need to jump down my throat about it."

He always takes things so personally. It hurts every time he does that, because then he makes me feel horrible for the things that I had said. I've learned over the past three years, that it's better for me just to keep my mouth shut when it came to him.

I stifled yet another yawn as I followed Hiroshi out of the elevator through the open doors at the end of the hallway. I shivered when I heard amazing piano music coming from behind closed doors. "Is that her playing?"

"No, it's a CD." He frowned and opened the door. "Yes it's her. I'm surprised you're paying attention to that considering how you treated me on the plane here." I shook my head at what he had said and walked into the room.

"I thought you said it was a female pianist?" I tilted my head to the side, looking at the masculine frame that sat in front of the piano keys. My eyes landed on the wavy, sandy blonde hair that sat atop a stern face. I shivered, trying to ignore the sound of the music as I took in the rest of the pianist's form. I saw how they were clad in a rich black suit which folded and creased in rhythm to the music being played.

"I am a woman." She stopped as soon as she played the last note of her song. I blushed heavily when she turned to face me and stand. She easily stood 6 inches taller than me. I frowned at my obvious mistake; I should have known better then to judge someone just by looking at them.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean anything by that."

"It's alright…they already told me how you hate working with women." I frowned at her tone. They had already warned her of my past experiences. "They also told me that it was because they were all gay and you don't like gays…"

"I never once said that!" I turned to Yamamoto. Part of me wanted to slap him. "How dare you lie about me?"

"Well I figured that since she was a female you'd automatically reject her, so I tried to make it easy and have her leave first." He lowered his voice, just to make sure that the tall blonde did not hear him.

"May I ask your name?" I turned back to her.

"Why does it matter if you're going to reject me anyway?" I watched her frown; just the way her facial features moved made my heart sink. I could tell she was slightly older then I was, but that only meant more experience when it came to her performances. "I might be older, but I still have good hearing."

I gently tugged on her arm, leading her away from the two eyeing hawks that were my managers. "Please ignore them. They like to torment me in that way, whenever they truly don't like somebody or feel somebody is a threat then they'll try anyway possible to get them to quit." I leaned closer to her, shivering when I took in the scent of her cologne. "Trust me…leave while you can, you don't want to be near them."

She frowned. "Haruka Tenou."

"Huh…?"

A small smile played on her lips as she looked down at me. "You asked me for my name…my name's Haruka Tenou."

She was so gorgeous when she smiled. I looked down to hide my blushing cheeks; I couldn't let her see that I was flustered. "Just get out while you still can Ms. Tenou…Trust me, if you don't you'll probably regret it."

"You shouldn't threaten our new prospects Michiru. Especially with absurd lies…Ms. Tenou would you please play something for Michiru." I stared at Hiroshi, who only had a self-satisfied grin on his face. I hated when they made me look like a fool, they always did that around prospective hires.

"I'd love to. If you'll excuse me please." She walked past me and sat at the piano. I flinched when she cracked her fingers. That sound always sent a chill down my spine. I sat in the lounge chair and watched her intently. If she plays as good as she looks, then she's definitely getting the job.

I closed my eyes to listen to the melodious tune that resonated from the piano. Each time her fingers hit the keys I trembled. It was flawlessly played. Never before had I heard such wonderful music.

"I didn't like it…" Hiroshi frowned. I knew if he had his way he'd have me all to himself. It's almost like he felt threatened each time I had a piano accompaniment. He told me he felt like an outcast listening to me and my partner ramble about each song that was played, talking about how to improve on notes that were missed, and talking about how much we hated the long flights.

"Well I did…and last time I checked it's my opinion that counts. I do have one test for her." I pulled a set of sheet music out of my bag and walked over to the blonde. "Can you play from sight?"

"I'm slightly rusty when it comes to that, but I'll give it a try." Her eyes met mine, again I shivered. She had the most exquisite teal eyes I had ever seen.

I stood near the piano, this time staring at her. This was the part that most auditions crashed on. They couldn't handle the pressure of being watched, even by just one person. If they couldn't handle being watched by me; the person they'll be performing with; then how could they survive being watched by thousands at a time.

Again she was nearly flawless. Her fingers moved expertly over each of the notes, only fumbling over a few of the more complicated stanzas. I smiled and turned to Yamamoto. "If she's willing, I'd like her signed please." I placed my hand over my mouth to suppress another yawn, it didn't work though. "And if you don't mind, I'm going to go home and get some sleep."

"Michiru, there's plenty of time for sleep later; we need you here for the signing since you're our primary performer. And besides, you two will need to practice before this Saturday." Yamamoto looked from Haruka to me and frowned when he saw my expression.

"I thought I was going to have a week off, what the hell happened to that Yamamoto?" I growled at him in response.

"Well what better way to welcome you back to Japan then with a charity event. And now, since Ms. Tenou will be joining you, what better way to introduce her to the world as your new male co-star."

"Male? No…it's bad enough that I get confused with a man on a regular basis, I don't want them to 'know' that I am actually one. I'm not going to be introduced as the 'man.'" I smirked as I looked at her. I told you, you should have gotten out when you could. They've hooked you Ms. Tenou, and now they don't plan on letting go.

"You don't understand Ms. Tenou, it would hurt Michiru if we allowed everybody to know your true gender. Do you know that if everybody knew there was a dy- lesbian working with our star then she would lose a lot of fans?"

"What she lost would easily be replaced, so it would balance out." I smiled as I watched the blonde fight back. She seemed like a fiery one; someone who would stand up for herself when the time arose.

"You still have a chance to get out of all of this Ms. Tenou." I watched her face draw a blank. She probably was truly thinking about it.

"I'm too old to race anymore, and I can't just sit at home all day long and do nothing…I'll sign the papers."