A/N – Wow, I totally thought I would freeze on this chapter, but in the past hour ten pages just flowed through me and I'd like to share them, even though this chapter may suck lots it was a difficult one to write and I'm just glad I got over it eventually. I'd like to say that the conversation about the book was the cause of much joy in my A-levels. Watching my two friends argue over who was more stupid, but hey, I'll now leave that for you to decide. Thank you to all my reviewers, this story has now hit over a 100 reviews and that has totally psyched me to try and keep the same quality and get the story to a whole new level of awesomeness that it would be mind-blowing. Pah, anyway, i own nothing except the plot... Enjoy!
CHAPTER 9 – THE IDIOT AND THE GENIUS
To anyone else, it would have seemed as though a young short haired blonde was not paying attention to anything that their partner was saying to them, though they were facing away from the younger beauty but little did anyone know, the blonde couldn't stop themselves from listening to the beautiful sound of the aqua haired girl beside them.
"So, Haruka-san, we finished the essays, that's no problem, now just for the presentation. We could work on that tonight, just use all the information from our essay. I really shouldn't have listened to you, this is due in tomorrow and... And – are you even listening to me?" Seeing the blonde was still in a daze and hadn't even heard her say that, a smirk came across Michiru's face, if Haruka wasn't paying attention to her words, then she must be paying attention to something else, right? "So Haruka-san, I was thinking we could do the presentation naked and then –"
"NANI?" Haruka had to grab her desk before she fell backwards and straight on her ass to the floor. Michiru only giggled at Haruka's reaction,
"So you weren't listening to me Tenoh-san." Michiru said in a mock scolding voice. Haruka looked at her, she could tell Michiru was teasing her, but this time Michiru had a glint in her eyes that Haruka didn't quite know how to pinpoint. Haruka hung her head down in slight shame,
"Gomen, Michiru, I was a little preoccupied." Michiru simply rose an eyebrow as Haruka avoided eye contact at all costs.
"So Haruka-san... where should we study tonight? My parents aren't home, so we have a completely empty house we could have all to ourselves." The tomboy could only find that her jaw had dropped completely involuntarily. After a few seconds of letting her mind wander sinfully into fantasies of what the two could do in a completely empty house alone and unsupervised, Haruka brought her mind back to its senses by turning away from Michiru and closing her mouth, then gulping nervously.
"Haruka, are you okay?" Michiru was truly concerned, had she pushed it too far? She was trying to be subtle but she only had two more days till Haruka's final race then one week till she left their lives forever. It was now or never and her oh-so-sweet and innocent hints hadn't been working. Michiru decided tonight would have to be a more obvious move on Haruka tonight.
"No... I'm fine, Michiru. But we can't go to yours tonight. My parents are out and Setsuna is practicing with Taiki last minute, I have to look after Hime-chan." If Hotaru wasn't so adorable, Michiru was sure she would be cursing the child right now.
"Oh. Okay. I suppose we can do this tomorrow morning if we get up early and –" Michiru couldn't finish her thought as Haruka spoke, suddenly quieting her.
"No, I won't have time, what with the party and last minute practice. We can do it at mine tonight." Haruka could only think that was a close shave; She really needed the presentation done, but there's no way she could get up early, she already has difficulty getting up before noon as it is! Thank god Hotaru would be at home, inevitably rushing into the room every five seconds to ask Haruka to do one thing or another, there's no way Haruka could let herself do anything foolish around Michiru. To her surprise Michiru smiled brightly,
"That's perfectly fine with me. What time do you want me at yours?" Haruka could only frown her face in confusion,
"Aren't you coming straight to mine?" The aqua-haired teen only laughed, and Haruka nearly melted at the simple sound of it, but she had to keep her composure. Michiru smiled gently at the tomboy,
"Haruka... I can't spend hours at yours studying in my uniform, it would be too uncomfortable. I'll go home, get changed quickly at meet at yours after your practice at the racetrack?"
"Sounds great, Michi... ru-san... sounds good." Haruka instantly threw her book into her face, pretending to read but desperately trying to hide her blush, where the hell did Michi come from? Good thing she covered it up, right? No such luck.
"My, my, aren't we getting comfortable, Ruka-chan?" Haruka was about to turn to Michiru and scold her for making fun of her, but she realized that the voice that had mocked her was not the girl she was hopelessly falling for. Oh no, as the young racer looked to Michiru, standing distinctly behind her was her red-haired friend, Elza, with the world's biggest smirk, it could have contended with some of Haruka's best. The blonde's face instantly began to drain of colour but before Elza could open her mouth to say anything, Haruka stood up and jumped over to her.
"Ah, Elza, glad you're here, time to practice huh? Oh well, sorry Michiru we really should go! See you later!" Elza giggled and looked at Haruka who seemed to be redder than a tomato.
"Haruka, you fool! I'm not here to drag you to practice, I'm here to bring you a message. There's no practice tomorrow, the sponsor said you can have a few days off before your Suzuka race, so I came to tell you that you got tonight and tomorrow free. And I have a while free from getting you to behave... anyway, I gotta go, I got homework to do... don't you?" Elza said the last part of her sentence with a slight smirk, "Anyway, sayonara, Haru-chan, Michiru-san and good luck!" And with that Elza left the classroom, and Haruka could only think of how every time Elza was around her life seemed to become more complex. Oh, how she could have killed her. Haruka turned around to find Michiru smiling, her left leg slowly uncrossing over her right and she stood up, elegant, graceful and beautiful as ever.
"Seeing as how you're free Haruka, wanna give me a ride to mine before we go to yours?" Once again, Haruka could only find herself gulping.
"S-s-sure."
Funnily enough, when Haruka went to collect Hotaru and Setsuna before leaving school to go to Michiru's, the two insisted on getting a ride with Elza back to Haruka's, Setsuna needed to get ready before going over to Taiki's and Hotaru wanted to get home in time to watch her favourite anime show – Haruka thought it was a little silly, but it had girls in senshi uniforms and ridiculously short skirts, so there was a plus side to it sometimes. However, this was not Haruka's problem at the moment, what was her problem was the fact that Michiru had just forced the blonde into a hell/heaven situation when asking Haruka's opinion on her outfit when they reached her home, but now they were on their way back to Haruka's however the blonde could not stop focusing on the moment of hell in Michiru's room less than fifteen minutes ago.
"Michiru-san you are taking so long! Why is it so difficult to just throw on some clothes, you're only studying, it's not a fashion show!" Haruka slumped on the chair in Michiru's room while the younger girl was changing in the bathroom; Haruka was glad, she didn't want to die from being over-aroused while seeing Michiru change in front of her – death by nosebleed was not the way she wanted to go out.
"You are such a boy, Haruka-san, I swear, I have to make sure what I'm wearing is not only comfortable, but cute and appropriate for any occasion I may face tonight." With that Michiru
opened the bathroom door, revealing herself in what Haruka could only describe as a 'drool inducing' outfit. She wore her hair long and it sat just perfectly along her delicate shoulders, a fitted turtleneck jumper in a dark blue clung to her torso revealing very pleasant curves and caused Haruka to immediately double her efforts to ensure her eyes didn't drift below Michiru's neckline with the younger girl's knowledge; Michiru also wore a short denim skirt, with a matching jacket, knee length black socks and some simple but sexy black hells. Oh God, the tomboy was sure she could not survive the next few hours, but by God she would try even if it kills her!
"Let's just go!" The blonde squeaked.
By the time Haruka pulled up in her driveway, their drive was empty but the lights were on in the living room. Haruka smiled gently, at the thought of Hotaru indoors, relaxing, and being her get-out-of-an-awkward moment card. Michiru saw her smile, but her thoughts lingered elsewhere, 'she is looking forward to this too! YES!' but Michiru managed to keep her composure. Almost silently, the two teens exited the yellow sports car and Haruka led the way to her front door. She was about to reach for her keys and open the door when it violently swung open, revealing a very happy Hotaru. The blonde rose one eyebrow suspiciously,
"And why are you so happy, hime-chan? And how the hell did you get to this door so quickly?" Hotaru kept her grin on her face,
"I heard you pull up... you're lucky Sailor V is on a commercial break, or else I'd have left you fumbling with your keys for hours." Haruka frowned.
"It wouldn't have been hours." With no more said, she walked into the house. She looked around, the TV was blaring out the latest theme tune to that senshi programme Hotaru adored.
"Hime-chan, can you turn that down a little? We have to do a presentation for tomorrow." Hotaru grabbed the remote and the volume was decreased dramatically,
"You have a presentation due tomorrow? I take it you convinced Michiru-san to leave it to last minute, huh, Haruka-papa?" Haruka flashed her little princess her winning smile.
"Yup! I hate studying." Haruka turned to find Michiru rolling her eyes playfully. The racer sat down, indicating for the beauty before her to follow suit. They sat at the table and got all their books out, and Michiru got her laptop out.
"So, remind me again why we can't just use my laptop?" Michiru giggled gently,
"Because Haruka, you will forget it... I swear you were the only person in our History class who tried the excuse of 'my dog ate my MacBook Air'." Haruka sweat-dropped while Hotaru tried to stifle a giggle behind her, but then failed and burst into laughter, Haruka ignored the laughter while her eyebrow twitched.
"Gomen, Haruka-papa!" Hotaru jumped from the sofa and hugged the older girl, the blonde instantly smiled, forgiving the child in an instant. Hotaru kissed Haruka on the cheek tenderly, "Let me get you a drink to make up for laughing at you... would you like one, Michiru?" Michiru smiled politely,
"That would be great, thank you." Hotaru smiled and skipped out of the room, leaving the two teens alone. Haruka ran her hand through her hair and loosened her tie then she stopped, stared at it, sighed and decided to just take the damned thing off. As the blonde did this she heard the sound of Hotaru giggling in the kitchen, and the very faint sound of a click, but before Haruka could think any further on the subject, Hotaru came bounding back into the living room, with two lemonades in her hand. She placed one in front of Haruka and the other in front of Michiru, who briefly looked up from her book and smiled at Hotaru, quickly catching the gaze of Haruka and smiling to the racer, with just a hint of seduction surrounding her. Haruka forced her head to look down at her book, before that treacherous blush decided to make a public appearance all over her face.
"Haruka-san, are you okay?" Michiru's sweet voice caused Haruka to grin like an idiot. After a few seconds the blonde snapped back to reality and nodded while delving her head even deeper into the book. If she had looked up, she would have seen the aqua-haired teen grinning mischievously while removing her jacket and yawning languidly.
"Ah! I hope we get this finished soon, Haruka-san, I am just dying for a bed." Haruka's neck nearly snapped in half as she instantly threw her head to look at Michiru who was toying with a few strands of curly hair in between her nimble fingers and smiling innocently at the blonde.
"P-pardon?" Michiru smiled gently.
"I was just saying how tired I am. I just want to get this finished and have the rest of the night to myself." 'And with you' she added as an afterthought for her very naughty little mind.
"Oh, well, I'll try my best to get this done quickly, I promise." While at the same time thinking she was lame as hell for only saying that, Haruka also sighed in relief. She was beginning to think her mind was working overtime on its lustful thoughts.
Before anymore could be said, the front door was suddenly opened and Leon and Yumi walked through, giggling like teenagers. Haruka stood up and frowned,
"What the hell are you two doing here?!" Leon raised his eyebrow and looked over to the table where Michiru was sitting. He grinned,
"Our meeting was cancelled, so we came home... why, too early for you?" Haruka thanked all the gods in existence that she was facing the other direction, otherwise Michiru would have seen her face contort into one of utter embarrassment while being accompanied by a lovely shade of crimson.
"N-no! It's just I thought I had to get home to look after hime-chan and here you are!" That's better, the blonde thought to herself, back to your audacious old self. Yumi smiled gently and entered the living room with her husband, after they removed their shoes and jackets.
"Haruka-san, we really did think we were going to be home late. Gomen." Haruka smiled gently, how could anyone be angry at her mother? She was the most amazing woman in the world... well, the second most amazing Haruka gushed to herself. This happy phase was soon cut short by Leon as he slumped on the couch and saw that Sailor V was over,
"Alright! Hime-chan's programmes are over... sweet, the game starts in a minute!" Michiru threw a confused glance to Yumi who shrugged and said simply,
"Men and their sports." Haruka looked at her watch and cringed, Leon was right, the game was on that Haruka wanted to watch. She wasn't really into many ball sports, but soccer was definitely one, and her dad being a Latin European meant that naturally he was too, and as anyone could see Haruka was VERY similar to her dear, old pa. Leon giggled like a child and looked over to Yumi and pouted,
"Koi... could you get me a drink, pretty please?" Yumi half-smiled and left the room to get the drink, while Haruka began biting her nails slightly and seemed torn between Michiru and the game. Michiru raised her eyebrow knowingly, but spoke agitatedly,
"Ne, Haruka, you aren't thinking of ditching me with all this work to watch a stupid game, are you?" Haruka's eyes widened, she thought she had been caught, even if she had, she had to try and get a way to see a little of the game.
"But, Michi... ru it's the game of the season! Real Madrid vs Arsenal! And – " Haruka's mind was instantly cut off from cognitive thought as she stared absentmindedly as Michiru stood up slowly, then stretched, half bending, almost causing Haruka's jaw to drop and her nose to bleed. Haruka was saved just in time by her mother, mentally dragging Haruka out of her dirty thoughts by saying a very mum like thing,
"Hey, Michiru-san," Her mother threw Haruka a very mischievous smile, "Want to see a picture of Haruka when she used to act all girly?" Haruka almost fainted at the mention of her past while Michiru instantly jumped over to Yumi and nodded her head with unbounded energy. Yumi sat Michiru down on the other sofa, and began to rummage through a drawer.
"No! Okaa-san, are you crazy? Stop embarrassing me! No! Don't you dare, put that picture down, put it down! Oh crap!" Haruka lost as her mother found the photo album and opened it and placed it on Michiru's lap, Yumi sat next to her and Hotaru leapt into the seat next to Michiru. Michiru's eyes widened as she saw a photograph of Haruka in a shimmering golden gown, with her hair as long as Yumi's and Seiya hanging on her arm. It was dated 5 years ago. Yumi sighed and spoke gently,
"That was Haruka at the regional finals, when she was thirteen. Oh they danced so well that night. That was when we knew Haru-chan really loved dancing and didn't just do it to shut us up." Haruka scoffed loudly as she walked slowly over to the three and stood a few feet away from them, remaining dead opposite them.
"I don't love dancing, I just got addicted is all." Yumi laughed gently and Michiru looked down at the photograph, she looked at Haruka, who was smiling with Seiya quite happily.
"Haruka-san... what exactly happened to you and Seiya? Apart from Keiko-chan? You said that he let you down once before." The room fell deadly silent as even Leon sat up and looked over to Yumi who remained calm and looked at her daughter's face, all emotions drained from her and her jaw firmly clenched.
"Stay the fuck away from me Tenoh. Don't make me tell you again." The girls' dressing room at the District Finals was usually bitchy as hell but for Haruka this was a whole new level of bitchiness to the tomboy.
"What the hell is your problem, Megumi?" The dark haired girl that Haruka addressed turned around to slowly face Haruka. Both were dressed, seemingly ready for their Latin dance. Megumi smiled evilly,
"We know all about you, Tenoh. We don't care what great dancers your parents are, our parents are going to make sure your ass is kicked out of this club and every other dance school in Tokyo." Haruka hoped to hell her face was expressing the same shock as she was feeling inside.
"Once again, let me repeat, what the hell is your problem? Stop being a bitch for no reason." Megumi laughed out loud.
"Oh right, Tenoh. That's rich. Like you don't know. We all heard about your dykey little tendencies... and how you kissed Onae in your dance class last week. You're sick. Real fucking sick, Tenoh." Oh. My. God. No. How did anyone know about Onae. Fuck, I had to go and find her to sort this out.
"You're full of shit, Megumi." With that, the blonde ran from the dressing room in search of her best friend and dance partner, Seiya Kou. After a few minutes searching, she found him standing by the curtain backstage, a few girls around him. She was about to call out to him when she heard him say something that caught her attention fully,
"And I was about to leave, but remembered I left my CD in the player, so I walk back, and I saw Haruka and Onae practicing their jive step, and I thought nothing wrong here right? Wrong! One second they were giggling and before I knew it, Tenoh leaned forward and kissed her... on the lips! Fully! I saw tongue and everything! It was kind of gross!" As he finished his story, the girls all let out a collective, 'Ew!'
"What the fuck gives, Seiya?!" Instantly the black haired boy turned around and his faced paled of any colour.
"Haru-chan... H-h-how long have you been standing there?" Haruka shook her head, in disbelief,
"Long enough. You asshole!" Haruka didn't say anymore, not because she was embarrassed, but because it seemed that her fist wanted to do all the talking and before she knew what had happened Seiya was laying on the floor, nose bleeding, cradling his precious face.
"I still say you should have let me punch him too, Ruka!" Leon chimed in just as Haruka finished. Michiru's mouth dropped open.
"I thought for sure that, well the way everyone was speaking, he let you down in a dance or something. I never thought that he outed you." Haruka laughed gently,
"I wouldn't have punched the ass if he had let me down in a dance... it's just a dance... but he let me down as a friend. I got kicked out of my dance school, everyone's parents were convinced I was out to seduce their daughters and none of the boys wanted to dance with me, so the dance school decided to just kick me out. I tried going to other dance schools, but the world of ballroom is bitchy, once one person knows, give it a day, every other asshole will know." Michiru was still in slight shock,
"But... you were friends with Seiya, when you were with Keiko-chan, right? How could you be friends with him again after something like that?" Michiru searched the face of the tomboy, who now seemed slightly amused.
"Heh. We were thirteen at the time, he was just being a dumb kid... his dad is a huge homophobe and Seiya probably told him and his dad gave him some speech on his masculinity being challenged and how to out me was the only way to deal with it. It took a year but we became good friends again, and once we went to Mugen, and I found out the school had a ballroom class with no problem with me being a big gay, then I knew I could forgive him. He was just an idiot. We became friends again, but if his dad asked we were enemies... now, I guess we don't have to lie about that. I forgave him for that, but for Keiko-chan, there was no excuse. I guess I get angry when I think of everything he did collectively. The asshole." The blonde finally sat down at the desk and she sighed heavily. Hotaru pouted a little and looked sad, whereas Yumi decided to be the wise one again.
"I think we should leave them to concentrate on their schoolwork now." Haruka smiled gratefully and Yumi took the photo album from Michiru. Haruka tried to concentrate but suddenly everything was annoying her, the lights were too bright, the air was too humid but most annoying of all, the TV was blaring once again, but with soccer chants that were really grating on the now pissed off Haruka's nerve.
"How the hell can I concentrate when the TV is blaring so loud?!" Haruka may have been pissed off but she wasn't stupid, as soon as her dad stood and gave 'the glare',
"Well, why don't you go and do your homework in your room, where there is no loud TV then, Haruka Tenoh?" The second her full name was used Haruka knew better than to mess with her dad in this mood but she didn't apologize, instead she scowled,
"Fine. I will." Without another word, the blonde stood and grabbed her stuff and abruptly left the room, leaving Michiru behind looking very confused. Instantly, Leon's face changed into a grin.
"Hey, Michiru-san, Haruka's room is the second on the left, at the top of the stairs. Better get up there and join her if you wanna finish this project huh?" Michiru slowly nodded and found her feet unconsciously leading her to the stairs. Leon saw her laptop on the desk and nosily snuck a peek at the screen. He grinned even wider than before.
"Hey Michiru-san, aren't you forgetting your laptop? And to think I thought tonight would be all about hard work?" Michiru froze in her steps, before abruptly turning around and grabbing her laptop from the table, all done with a delicious tinge of pink covering her face. As Michiru ran up the stairs, Leon started to giggle, while raising one eyebrow and maniacally chuckled. As soon as the aqua-haired teen was out of sight, Yumi looked over to her husband,
"Leon, what was that all about?" Leon giggled a little louder then carefully looked up the stairs, to ensure that the coast was clear, and as soon as he was sure it was safe, he spoke in a hushed tone to his wife;
"Koi, Michiru has something else on her mind tonight... the presentation is already done." He grinned like a fool, and Yumi sighed,
"And you know all that from one look at her laptop?" Leon nodded and looked very proud,
"Yep, using my great ninja skills, I could see a distinct Microsoft Powerpoint icon and the words 'Wuthering Heights Xmas Done' on the front page. She has no plans of working tonight." Yumi shook her head.
"Leon, darling, if you really value your life and Haruka's trust, do not do anything now you know this. Okay?" Leon looked almost insulted,
"Babe, would I ever do that? I am so insulted!" Yumi sighed,
"I'm making dinner, and don't do anything Leon!" And with that Yumi left the room. Leon pouted and crossed his arms, he looked over to Hotaru who seemed enthralled with all the drama and a smile graced his handsome face.
"Oh, hime-chan... Yumi-mama said nothing about you doing anything." Hotaru raised one eyebrow and had a very brief internal fight with her conscience. She slowly smiled too.
"What would you like me to do, Leon-papa?" Leon grinned and wiggled one eyebrow almost maniacally.
"You know the main controls for the heating are in the basement right?" Hotaru nodded and Leon spoke to her in hushed whispers. Hotaru giggled after a few seconds, nodded and ran off to the direction of the basement.
"I'm sorry about that Michiru. I'm not usually that rude to my parents, but they knew I didn't want to work on my room and otou-san was being difficult." Michiru stayed by the door but smiled politely over to Haruka, who was sitting on the edge of her bed, her books sprawled out beside her, and the blonde was looking at the floor.
"It's okay, Haruka. I understand, my parents can be like that too." Michiru looked around the room, and decided to take a seat at the blonde's desk, 'time to play it safe' she thought to herself.
"It's not really them, I guess, just thinking about Seiya annoys me. And I really hate when I think about him. He's such an –"
"An ass?" Michiru interrupted then laughed when she saw Haruka's completely shocked face.
"Well, Michiru-san, I didn't think you would think that way about him. You both seem to be getting on well." Haruka wiped her brow, was it her, or was it getting really hot in here? Michiru seemed to be amused.
"I only get on well with him because he's my dance partner. Not the partner I wanted, but better than nothing right?" Haruka was so tempted to blurt out there and then that nothing is exactly what she'd get in two nights time when the fucker decided not to turn up to Winter Comps. But the blonde opted for a weak smile instead. Michiru frowned in confusion,
"If you hate Seiya so much, why not just avoid him?" Haruka sighed deeply,
"I'd love to Michiru but I made commitments to everyone. I have to go to school, so I can't avoid him there, at the club, I don't see why I should leave because of him. Although it does make me feel better knowing I'm better than him at everything... especially dancing... remember his face last week, when I corrected his Argentine tango stance?" Haruka began laughing hard and Michiru soon found herself joining in too.
"Seriously, Kou-san, if you insist on doing the Argentine tango then do it properly. It's not that difficult." Haruka stood behind Seiya and dragged her foot righly behind his, forcing it into a more firm position.
"There. Now grab Michiru's hand, higher, firmer, stop. Good. Michiru, your job is to play the seductress... You have to make everyone believe that you want Seiya. Don't worry I know it's difficult but I'm sure you can manage. Now, storytelling is paramount. You're trying to show that you're walking along, a night time walk, and then suddenly desire and lust take over. Go." Haruka walks over to the CD player and presses play. The music begins, a piano orientated piece and Seiya and Michiru walk side by side, stopping momentarily to place their step as they go along. Michiru stops and spins around Seiya, he smiles and takes the stance Haruka just showed him. Haruka shakes her head,
"No, no! My God, I could teach a monkey to do it. Michiru, give me your hand, let me show this idiot." Without wasting a moment, Michiru let go of Seiya's hand and took Haruka's, who took the stance, then put her leg in between Michiru's who then did the step flick with ease, and not to mention a great big smile on her face. Haruka looked over to Seiya,
"See, how simple it is. Do it or don't bother."
"You were a bit mean to him, Haruka, he was trying." Haruka rose her eyebrow, her little smirk returning,
"Maybe I was, but he should have done as I told him to." Michiru laughed again, just remembering Seiya's face as Haruka decided the name Baboon Boy suited him better than Kou-san, but hey, on the plus side he eventually got the steps right.
"Hey, why are you laughing at him? I thought you liked dearest Kou-san?" Michiru could sense the bitterness with which the blonde said his name and Michiru was sure that it was jealousy more than anything.
"Well, I can laugh if I like Haruka-san, it was funny." Haruka scoffed,
"Won't your boyfriend be mad if he finds out that you're laughing at him with me?" Michiru did a double take at the racer's words.
"Nani? Boyfriend?! Where did you get that idea?" Haruka turned her head away, not even able to face Michiru now.
Michiru just had to cut the dance class early, as she had to go home but as she turned from the door to wave to the two dancers left in the room, Seiya grinned and spoke while waving,
"I'll see you later, Michi. Nine right?" Michi simply nodded,
"Yeah, see you later, Seiya! Bye, Haruka!" As Michiru left, Haruka simply scowled at Seiya,
"What's going on at nine?" Seiya rose his left eyerbrow and snickered,
"Nothing, just a little dinner date."
"NANI?"
"You thought Seiya was my boyfriend? Oh Gods!" Michiru couldn't contain her laughter, she let her sides ache and her eyes water from laughing so much. Haruka pouted but then stopped to wipe her brow. Michiru saw this and looked over at her,
"Gomen, Haruka-san! Are you okay? You seem uncomfortable?" Haruka said nothing but walked over to her room's thermostat.
"Kami-sama! Look at this, almost 38 degrees celsius! Excuse me, Michi, I'm going to go and get this fixed, it's way too hot up here!" With that Haruka walked out and Michiru was left dumbfounded for a moment. She paused and sighed, then spoke quietly to herself,
"Yeah, it is kinda hot."
As soon as Haruka came downstairs, she looked instantly to her father,
"What have you done with the thermostat, it's boiling in my room!" Leon didn't answer, as he had to hide a grin that would have given away his deed, instead Hotaru spoke up,
"Haruka-san, the thermostat broke, and Leon-papa called the repair man but he can't make it here till tomorrow... so it's stuck like this." Hotaru seemed upset, Haruka noticed that Hotaru and Leon had changed into shorts and a t-shirt already, 'they must have gone downstairs to check it, heard the news and then taken some fresh laundry', Haruka could only think innocently of her little hime-chan.
"Okay, well make sure the guy comes by to fix it tomorrow, it's too freaking hot in my room." Haruka turned to leave the living room and head back to her stairs, and as he reached the top, she heard her mum shout out to her,
"Dinner will be ready in about five minutes, that okay, Haru-chan?" Haruka opened the door to her room, but stopped to turn and reply to her mother,
"Hai, okaa-san," Haruka took a step into her room, "Oh God." Haruka was faced with quite a sight. Michiru was in the middle of removing her turtle neck, showing a black spaghetti strap top underneath, and Michiru's creamy skin. Instantly Haruka's eyes scanned the other girl's body, subconsciously she was taking advantage of this moment. Haruka was so dumbfounded that in fact, she only gently closed the door behind her, leaving it slightly ajar.
"Haruka, are you okay?" The blonde turned away, she had been caught in the act. 'Yes, score Kaioh' thought Michiru while she tried her best to keep her innocent smile on her face. Haruka mumbled a little and Michiru took that as an embarrassed version of "Yeah, I'm fine, let's just get on with it." Michiru shrugged and looked over to the bed, where Haruka was not sitting on, the blonde had opted for the floor. Michiru smiled to herself as a little idea came to her,
"Hey, Haruka, do you mind if I lay on the bed? The chair is really uncomfortable in this heat." Despite the heat of the room, Haruka froze.
"You want to lay on my bed? Um, sure." Good Lord, Haruka thought Christmas had come early for sure, but she had to stay in control, she couldn't afford to do anything too stupid. Michiru skipped over to the bed and laid down on it, her stomach making contact with the ever-so-soft mattress, she propped herself up on her elbows, and opened her laptop and placed it to the side of her. She looked down at Haruka, she couldn't help but notice the blonde had her head facing downwards, not at all daring to look up.
"Haruka? This presentation would go a lot easier if you spoke, you know?" Michiru giggled and the blonde could feel her heart skip a beat. She slowly raised her head, and instantly regretted it. She was given a perfect view straight down Michiru's top, and what a view, Haruka could not draw her eyes away, but then as Michiru cleared her throat, Haruka found the willpower to look into the girl's eyes. Eyes which were at the moment very amused. Haruka gulped,
"S-s-sorry, I erm, spaced out." Great excuse, you idiot, she thought to herself, why don't you just say, while you're on my bed mind if I jump your bones and perform unspeakable acts of pleasure on you?
Honesty was the best policy she had been told but just the thought of even implying something like that to the goddess in front of her caused the blonde to decide it was robably better to just think rather than to speak. Michiru grinned,
"No problem, I space out too." Michiru took that moment to take a look over Haruka's physique. Taking in every muscle that was now slowly becoming apparent in the blonde's slightly wet shirt thanks to all the humidity. Michiru had to bit her lip to keep from saying something out loud.
"We should get on, Michiru-san, I don't want to waste any time."
"Me neither." Michiru thought it was a shame that Haruka was speaking about the presentation and not her. There was actually no need to do the presentation, Michiru had already done it, the day after their essays, in order to have all the time she needed to nudge Haruka in the right direction.
"You know, Haruka... I would be interested to know what you thought of the book. It's concepts and all that, it would make the presentation seem more equal then." For the first time in weeks, Michiru saw the blonde close her book, and lean back, her palms outstretched behind her and Haruka thinking deeply. So cute, thought Michiru.
"I thought the book was pointless." Before Michiru could respond, Haruka continued, "It was pointless of the character's to try and alter their fate, their destiny, it's the way things were then, no matter what they wanted, they had to just accept it as that being the way things were. Heathcliff may have been in love with Catherine, but she was above him in every way. He was an outcast, and regardless of whether or not she loved him, she had a place in society, and family that disapproved, so you always knew he would never be with her. Pointless." Michiru looked in shock and awe at Haruka's explanation. She decided to go on the counter,
"Yes, but they didn't get together because they never told each other. Outcast or not, lady or not, love is love, if Heathcliff had the guts to come out and say it in the first place, they could have experienced true love together! It's clear they loved each other!" Michiru could feel her voice rise an octave and she had to contain herself. 'Calm down, Kaioh'
On the other side of the door, two sets of eyes; one green and one a startling purple, were peering into the room unnoticed. The owner of the green eyes turned to the younger person beside them,
"Michiru's not being subtle is she? Because if she is, she's worse than me at it." Hotaru sighed,
"No, Leon-papa, she's trying to get Haruka to confess her feelings!" Hotaru turned to Leon, both were in crouching positions, their faces away from the stairs, both ignoring the sound of footsteps slowly travelling up them.
"Oh! So you think it's Heathcliff's responsibility to come and let out all his emotions? Leave himself as vulnerable as hell and that's okay?"
"Of course it's Heathcliff's responsibility, he's the man, he should be fearless!" Haruka scoffed in disbelief and stood up from her space on the floor. Michiru knelt on the bed, her arms crossed.
"Oh, so because someone acts fearless it should be up to them to let out all their emotions? I thought women were supposed to handle emotions, why doesn't Catherine come out and say it first?" Michiru threw her arms up in disbelief,
"Oh. My. God! Catherine is a lady, it's not approved of in her society or by her friends and family!" It was now Haruka's turn to throw her arms up in the air,
"Oh my God! Screw her society, if she really gave a fuck about her friends and family and her damned image, she should never have even befriended him in the first place!" Michiru laughed out loud,
"Do all men think like this?" Haruka shot her a venomous glare,
"I am not a man." Michiru raised her eyebrow.
"Not physically. Honestly, a man wouldn't know a hint if it hit him in the face!"
"Oh yeah, what are some of these signs then?" Michiru smirked,
"If you're not a man, why would I need to explain these things to you?" Haruka went red,
"Shut up! I'm just saying, how is someone supposed to know when someone has feelings for them?!"
"When the other person does everything they can to spend every moment with the other person, regardless of how difficult it may be! Damn it, Haruka, are you really this dumb?!" Instantly the blonde froze and Michiru whipped a delicate porcelain hand to her mouth, her eyes widened in shock.
"What did you say?" Michiru couldn't quite think of anything to say, other than to repeat her previous sentence, albeit at a much, much lower tone.
"Are you really this dumb?" The blonde instantly smirked, a fire lit her eyes and she stepped forward slowly towards the aqua-haired teen, and gently placed her hands on her waist, and leaned her head forward, seeing no hesitation from Michiru, Haruka continued, a smile still on her face, and her heart racing faster than ever before. She could smell Michiru's perfume again and that sent waves of excitement down her spine, Michiru smelled sweet and Haruka could only guess her lips tasted sweeter. Haruka and Michiru closed their eyes as their lips were only an inch apart...
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU TWO ARE DOING?! GET AWAY FROM THERE!" Instantly the two teens jumped back from each other, fifteen feet easily dividing them, and a guilty look on each others' face. Haruka turned to the door, expecting to see the owner of the voice; her mother screaming at her, but instead she heard her continue to berate two completely different people.
"Leon, what are you doing lurking around Haruka's door?! Have you no respect for her privacy?! And Hotaru, I am deeply disappointed in you!" Haruka ran to her door and opened the already slightly ajar door open. She could see her father cowering from her mother, a deeply irritated look on the usually graceful features and Hotaru seeming very guilty and ashamed herself.
"I'm sorry, Yumi-mama, but we just thought – "
"No! There is no excuse for it, what if – " Yumi stopped speaking as soon as she saw her irate daughter standing in her doorway, glaring at the three of them. Leon turned around and instantly saw Haruka; a mixture of anger and sadness overwhelming her eyes.
"Haruka, I'm sorry, we just thought that – " Leon was cut off by Haruka, her voice low and menacing.
"What the hell were you doing?" She looked down at Hotaru, for the first time ever angry at the girl. She said nothing but Leon spoke in a whisper.
"I'm sorry, Haruka." Haruka looked at him,
"The heating isn't broken is it?" Leon shook his head at Haruka's question,
"So what was all this? Some ploy to embarrass me, dad?" Leon said nothing but Haruka could hear behind her the sound of movement. She turned and saw Michiru putting her jumper back on, and closing her laptop.
"I had better go." Haruka tried to grab her arm before she walked out but she was unsuccesful, as Michiru rushed down the stairs, and the clear vision of a tear forming in her eyes, caused the blonde to be almost paralysed from the waist down.
"Michiru! Stay!" The door slammed shut a few seconds later. And Haruka turned once again to her family. Yumi looked at Leon,
"It seems that Haruka's not the only one embarrassed. Go and fix this." Leon was truly sorry for his actions.
"I was only trying to help them along! It's true, Ruka!" Another silence engulfed them. Haruka turned into her room and slammed the door into the faces of three people, Yumi sighed, she understood Haruka's anger. Yumi lead Leon and Hotaru downstairs, and spoke quietly,
"What possessed you two, you know what Haru-chan is like with girls she likes... you embarrassed her and Michiru-san to death." Hotaru looked to Leon who sat down, and seemed close to tears,
"I thought if they had to go upstairs and talk about the lovey-dovey book, they might confess their feelings. And they were about to kiss when you screamed... you know, when you think about it – "
"Leon, you dare try and blame me for you snooping around your daughter's room, so help me the couch will become your new bed." Leon gulped. He knew he was in the wrong.
"I have to fix this, Yumi." She sighed and sat next to her husband, Hotaru silently watched them.
"How Leon? They have one night left together and I think both of them are too embarrassed to even look each other in the eye." Leon hung his head, he didn't know what to do, but he couldn't bare to see Haruka so unhappy, and after he saw how perfect the two were for each other, he had to help them get back together, if only for one night.
"I don't know how, Yumi." Leon threw his head back over the couch. Hotaru sighed.
"I hope Michiru still turns up tomorrow. Hachi's won't be as much fun otherwise." Leon's head suddenly bolted and he grinned, Yumi and Hotaru looked at him questioningly. He had an idea to get the together. No-one could resist that one dance. The only thing left was to get them to dance that way. Leon jumped up, he had to make a few calls. He grabbed the phone, and Yumi looked at him, confusion etched over her features,
"Leon, what are you doing?" He grinned widely, regaining some of his old arrogant self,
"Making a few phone calls, babe." He decided in that moment, that before Haruka left, her feelings and resolve for Michiru would be decided tomorrow night. All he had to do was get everyone to help him. First one to be called? Minako Aino, for sure after Leon spoke to her, it would be a matter of time before all of Haruka's other friends helped him with his plan. He grinned. 'I'm a genius!'
A/N 2 – Mwahaha, I know I'm totally evil, right? R&R cos I love it and you know you want to!
Ciao!