A/N - sigh bonjour all! My laptop is being sent away to hopefully be repaired in the next 4-6 weeks (joy of joys), bu I decided to at least put up this next chapter. Hope y'all enjoy, if I get enough reviews for this one, I'll throw up the other one ASAP... but life is so cruel, stealing my beloved laptop away from me like that! :( Anyhoo, on with the show...
CHAPTER 13 – DECISION IN A DOORWAY
"Seiya... what are you doing here?" Only after Michiru had said this did she realise how stupid it had sounded; Seiya was her partner for the Winter Comps and he promised to turn up. Michiru inwardly cursed herself while Seiya smiled gently.
"Well, I know I'm a little late... but I did say I would be here." He smiled again at Michiru who absentmindedly nodded, and after a moment forced a polite smile.
"Of course. You did say you would be here and here you are." Michiru forced another, albeit gentler, smile towards Seiya. Before Michiru could say another word, the doors to the gymnasium opened once again and Michiru held her breath in anticipation, hoping, no expecting, to see Haruka burst through and take her in her arms and tell her how she was staying and nothing could separate her from Michiru. So imagine Michiru's surprise when Haruka didn't burst through the doors. She was disappointed it wasn't Haruka, but surprised because she saw her parents standing in front of her, after almost 9 weeks of absence from her life. Her father was a gentleman in his mid 40's, in a dark blue business suit, with his tie loose around his neck and a slightly tired look surrounding him. His hair was the exact same shade as Michiru's and his deep, brown eyes were always a constant source of warmth and security to the only Kaioh child. Michiru's mother had jet black hair, styled in a fashionable cut just below her shoulders. Her elegant business suit matched the shade of her husband's, and the grace with which she held herself allowed the woman's body to speak volumes of her beauty, which her daughter clearly inherited, as well as her mother's deep blue eyes.
"Okaa-san, Otou-san, you made it?" Her parents began walking over to her, smiles plastered on their faces, but they didn't reach their daughter in time as one of Leon's co-judges took over on the microphone, on account of the fact Leon hadn't moved from his catatonic state in nearly 90 seconds.
"Would all the contestants please make their way to the dance-floor for the group ballroom waltz?" Michiru threw her parents an apologetic look as she made her way to the dance-floor. A simple look to Seiya made Michiru tell herself that this was it; the blonde wasn't going to be here. She was really going to be in Mie all night. Michiru laughed at herself; she actually thought she may have had her fairytale ending. All Michiru had wanted, since the night Karin had humiliated her, was to dance in the dress she had bought for the person she thought she was in love with. She thought to had been with Karin and she was sorely mistaken. It was so clear to her that it was Haruka, but she pushed the blonde away scared. That's what she was… she was scared. She wanted to love but she didn't want to be hurt again. God, was she really that frightened that when love throws itself at her in the form of a blonde, cocky racer that she would just push it away as soon as it became real? Not so much real, but when that love would be tested – was Michiru so frightened of taking another risk? She looked up to Seiya, to see him waiting patiently to take her to the dance-floor. Michiru took his hand and followed him to the main floor, both taking their stance as everyone became silent, in anticipation for the music to begin for the entire group standard ballroom waltz. Michiru's mother and father opted to stand at the back of the hall where they were, looking at their daughter dancing with a good-looking young man. Michiru's mother looked over to her husband and whispered in his ear just as the music was starting.
"Who is that young man, koi?" Before Michiru's father could even take in the question asked by his wife; a breathless, husky voice from beside him and spoke clearly and sadly.
"Seiya?" Haruka ignored everyone's questioning looks and she slowly stepped back out the way she came. Defeated she began making her way to the car park of Mugen Gakuen.
An instrumental began to play, a well known one in ballroom; The Blue Danube, and it was the cue for the waltz to begin. Seiya put both of his hands at the small of Michiru's back and let her lean back then forwards elegantly. She placed her hands delicately on his shoulders and made eye contact with him. He had this strange look in his eyes… it was sadness and some form of happiness all at the same time. Seiya stepped around Michiru, letting her slowly turn on the spot. Then their hands connected, and his free hand rested on her waist. Stealing a quick glance to her parents, she could see them staring out in the hallway and a flash of red dashed out the exit too – why was Elza leaving? She loved to watch everyone dance. Michiru was forced to concentrate as she felt Seiya take a toe lead forward, making her toe step backwards, then half-spin into a pose where both were connected at a perfect diagonal but had their left legs outstretched behind them.
"Haruka!" The red haired girl was shocked she had enough air to shout that loud to the blonde who was running back to her car at full speed.
"HARUKA!" The blonde finally stopped much to Elza's relief, but as soon as Elza saw that she had stopped by a sports car, she realised the only reason the blonde had stopped was because she had to in order to get the car keys out and let herself in. With what little energy she had left, Elza rushed over to the Honda Concept and managed to ungraciously slam herself into Haruka, just as the blonde managed to open the door.
"What the fuck?! Elza, get off of me!" Haruka was pissed off at the moment. In fact, this was even angrier than the Haruka Elza saw at last years' Winter Comps. Haruka tried to open the car door again, but this time Elza managed to slam the car door shut before the tomboy could get in.
"What the hell is your problem, Grey?" Once again those dangerous green eyes made their appearance, and if it wasn't for the fact that Elza knew Haruka so well, she would probably be cowering right now. Instead, Elza let her confusion get the better of her.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Tenoh? Aren't you meant to be in Mie?" Nothing but silence followed. Haruka put both her hands against the car and leaned against it. She took a few deep breaths, and she laughed bitterly.
"Yeah, Elza, I am meant to be in Mie." Elza scrunched her face up confused. She had seen Haruka win her race not 4 hours ago, and it was nearly a four hour drive here. So, what the hell was going on?
"Haruka, why are you here? I'm confused, didn't you have the dinner to go to with-" Elza was completely silenced as Haruka threw her fist as hard as she could into the car in front of her. Holy shit, that had to hurt, but Elza said nothing…she only looked confused at her friend. Haruka took some deep breaths and her shoulders began to gently tremble. Her head was hanging down and at first Elza thought she was laughing again, but it was only when the unmistakeable sound of sniffling was heard did Haruka raise her head, her eyes showing the signs of tears. She looked over behind Elza's shoulder and she laughed bitterly again. Elza looked behind her and saw a Black Escalade with the unmistakeable sign of King Records emblazoned on its side. Haruka waited until Elza brought her attention back to her before speaking.
"He made it. He said he would. And here he is, on time... and here I am. Looking like an idiot." Elza smiled gently.
"You left Mie to come all the way down here? Because you didn't think Seiya would make it on time?" Elza kept her distance from her friend. Haruka was clearly not in the mood to joke even a little, and teasing was out of the question for sure.
"Yeah, I came all the way down here for her. Not because of Seiya really, though I hoped he wouldn't be here. Elza, I'm leaving on the 26th."
"What?!" Haruka broke their eye contact and looked up at the sky. She took in the darkened December sky. Haruka had always loved the way the stars came out early and danced across the night sky.
"They forgot to give me the notice in Fuji... can you believe it?" There was a brief silence as Haruka looked back over to the Escalade, "How did he make it here on time? He was still there when I left Mie!"
There was a comfortable silence between Michiru and Seiya as they held their footings for poses while in their waltz. Michiru found it increasingly difficult to keep her head up and smile when she was feeling so disappointed. Seiya looked down at Michiru and he smiled gently again.
"Michiru-chan, are you okay?" Michiru continued on her back heel lead as Seiya took a toe lead.
"Hai, I'm fine Seiya." She wasn't usually a good liar and today was no exception, "I thought you weren't going to make it." Seiya had to suppress a laugh as he and Michiru spun elegantly twice.
"I nearly didn't make it. I need to thank Furaya-san when this is over." Michiru's clearly perplexed expression nearly caused Seiya to burst out into laughter.
"Let's discuss the specifics of your contract, Kou-san!" As Furuya-san said this, Seiya found himself looking at his watch. 3:40pm. He was really not going to make it at this rate.
"Yeah, my contract... Should we arrange a meeting for next week sometime? Or in the New Year? Because I really have to go and-" The music man held his hand up, instantly silencing the young singer.
"You have somewhere to be that's more important than here, Kou-san?" Seiya coughed to buy more time. How could he answer that? 'Oh yeah, I've got to go and dance with my ex-best friend's possible girlfriend even though they're not together'. Yeah, that wouldn't go down too well, but still the singer needed to go, not just for Haruka and Michiru but for himself. He had had enough of everyone assuming he was a total letdown. He made some major mistakes sure, but he was going to show everyone that he wasn't what they all thought. He was Seiya Kou and he kept his promises… he was a man of his word.
"Furuya-san, I would love to sign a contract with you and be an idol, but I can't be a hypocrite can I? And what would people say if you signed me onto your label without letting me finish my school or gaining as many credits as possible?" Furuya-san's face drained of colour. He really wanted Seiya to join his label. He could only imagine the possibilities he could reach with Seiya's talent and good looks in his company, but he couldn't let Kou know this. So soon Furuya flashed a smooth smile.
"Credits? School? What are you playing at Kou?" Seiya saw through his insecure smile instantly.
"Look, Furuya-san. Get me to Tokyo tonight. Anyway you can, get me to Mugen Gakuen for 6:30pm and you can sign me. I'll give you royalties and enough material for a dozen albums. Just get me there on time." Seiya wasn't really that arrogant, but there was a reason that Furuya had approached him. Seiya would have to have been an idiot to have ignored Furuya's greedy gleam when he was performing earlier.
"All the royalties?" Seiya was about to roll his eyes at the man in front of him. Seiya nodded.
"You get the royalties from my first two standard albums. Do we have a deal?" Furuya looked down at Seiya. It wasn't a bad deal. A boy like Seiya could shift an awful lot of albums in a very short space of time, over and over again.
"All I have to do is get you to Tokyo before 6:30pm? It's 3:45pm, Kou-san. The roads will take far too long." Seiya's jaw clenched. No, they won't be right about me. Not tonight. But Furuya spoke again, " You know King Records is based in Tokyo... we have a helicopter... we can take one from our Mie base to there... then get you a ride to your school. But after your school, you sign a contract. Deal?" Without a second thought, Seiya shook the man's hand in front of him. Sure, it seemed brash, but he wasn't just proving himself to Michiru and Haruka, but to everyone. As Seiya followed Furuya out the building he could hear their agent yelling down into a phone,
"HARUKA! Are you freaking MAD? Leaving the middle of this banquet? You had better have a damned good reason! TELL ME!" Seiya did a double-take. Haruka left? He didn't have time to think further, as he could feel Furuya dragging him to the valet outside and just as they approached the young boy, Seiya could see a silver sports car being driven off, in a way that reminded him of how Haruka drove. But that wasn't her car, or her... was it?
"You took a helicopter here?!" Michiru uncharacteristically squealed but covered it up as the couple entered their last steps, including a parallel backward step pose. Seiya kept his composure,
"Yeah, I know, I couldn't believe it. It almost sounds like a bad story, but that's what happened. People were desperate to please me today, I guess." Before they had realised it, the music had stopped, and they were naturally in their final pose. Seiya was holding Michiru's hand and bowed to kiss it gently.
All the dancers stopped and applauded one another and Michiru instantly turned around to see her parents who were smiling proudly at her. This would be the first time she would get to show them this dance and she was going to make it good. Not just for them, but for Haruka who made her a better dancer. Michiru smiled to Seiya as they assumed the floor, but the judge who had taken over the microphone stood up and sighed heavily.
"There will be a few minutes delay until the first dance. It seems as though Mr Tenoh has disappeared... We are very sorry for the inconvenience, Kou-san and Kaioh-san." Yumi had to giggle behind her hand. She had seen Haruka appear and disappear too but Leon, unlike her, decided to be his usual uncouth self and escape from the room and chase down his daughter. Yumi looked over to the Mugen students and winked before standing up and walking out of the room with utter grace and elegance. Setsuna rose an eyebrow suspiciously and Hotaru frowned in confusion. Why was Yumi so happy? She usually hated when Leon did this and she had to go searching for him.
"Haruka, you got a sponsor with Super Aguri? What the hell?" Elza seemed confused. How could Haruka have gotten a sponsor and be here? Usually you spent hours kissing ass just to get them to consider... but this was Haruka Tenoh, F2 prodigy, soon-to-be F1.
"Yeah, I got it. And Seiya's here, so I wasted my time coming down here. I should have stayed in Mie and kept my damn self out of this mess." Elza didn't know what to say, but luckily enough another voice spoke out.
"Yeah, but if you did that then you'd have stayed there worrying all night and ended up looking older than me." Haruka turned her head to the entrance, and saw Leon standing there. He was smiling broadly at her and he walked over to the two girls. He wrapped a fatherly arm around Haruka and kissed her forehead.
"Your mother and I are so proud of you Haru-chan, no matter what you do." Haruka looked up at Leon and couldn't bring herself to smile… if she did, she might cry. Instead she nodded meekly and hid her face. Then Haruka distinctly heard her mother's voice.
"That's right. We are proud of you regardless, Ruka."
"What is this? Tenoh family reunion?" Elza quipped jovially as Haruka snapped her head up and saw her mother gliding towards her, a smile on her features and her arms out. Haruka instantly went to Yumi and let herself be embraced. To most other people Yumi was a very formal woman, who showed barely any emotion to the public and was relatively cold to most. But Haruka knew her mother. Yumi was so passionate about a lot of things; dancing, music and her family. If Haruka was in need of anyone right now it was her mother. Her mother cried an ocean when her father passed away – they were all so close and Yumi herself lost her mother in her youth and it was rather sudden as he was a very active and healthy man. So, if Haruka needed anyone right now, it was her mother who reminded her of the vulnerability even the strong could have. So Haruka let herself be held like a child. She let her mother coo her in her arms for what seemed like hours but in reality was only twenty seconds. Yumi pulled back and put Haruka at arms' length away from her.
"Haru-chan... you came back for Michiru-chan right?" Haruka nodded at her mother's question, the young blonde wanted to avoid speaking at the moment.
"Why, Ruka?" Haruka looked deep into her mothers eyes and could see her mother had put up her cold facade and now the loving mother was gone. Haruka cleared her throat.
"What?" Okay, it wasn't the most eloquent of responses but that single word pretty much said everything she needed to convey at that moment. Why was her mum being like this?
"Why are you here, Ruka? Because you wanted to dance with Michiru? Is that it?" Yumi sounded as though she was almost scoffing at the idea. Well, Haruka would have been more offended, but that's not why she was here.
"No! I'm here because..." Why was she here? She wanted to be with Michiru as much as possible before she left that was for sure. A dance at the Comps would be amazing too. But she was here because she knew that Michiru... "because I know Michiru wants me to be here... For her. So here I am. I'm here for her, and because of her, and I don't regret it. Even if I do feel like an idiot." Haruka felt her mother smother her in another hug and felt that warmth returned.
"I am so proud of you Ruka. I know how hard it is. When distance comes between two people, most would just give up, but here you are, closing that distance, and you have determination. I know you won't give up on her. So, don't start now by walking away. Come inside and at least let her see that you came here for her." Yumi put one arm around Haruka's shoulder and gave it a maternal tightening that once again gave Haruka some resolve. Haruka slumped her shoulder a little,
"So you don't think I look a complete idiot right now, mum?" Yumi laughed gently and guided Haruka towards the building.
"Oh Haru-chan, after being married to your father for so long, you could never look like a complete idiot. He takes that title." Yumi winked to Haruka at the end of her sentence but Leon, who was following behind with Elza, frowned.
"Hey! I'm not a complete idiot!" Yumi looked back at him and smiled, but then brought her attention back to her daughter. They reached the doors to the building and Haruka stopped in her tracks.
"I'm not sure I can do this, okaa-san." Yumi brought her eyes to level with her daughter's, which reminded her so much of her husband, and she smiled gently once again.
"Haruka, what's the use in living half a life? Don't let fear take over the side of you that should be hopeful. Don't let fear be one half of Haruka Tenoh." Yumi didn't wait for Haruka to respond, she walked into the building, followed slowly by Leon, who glanced over his shoulder and smiled at his daughter and Elza who seemed reluctant to enter the building without making sure the blonde was entering. Haruka stood in the entrance to Mugen and looked around at her surroundings. About a two minute walk away from her was the room where the Comps were being held. Where everyone who knew her would see her…everyone who would know the one reason she was there in the room where Michiru was. And just a hundred yards in the parking lot was the car that got her here in under three hours. The one car right now that could take her away from it all. With a deep intake of breath, Haruka raised her head to the sky once more; she smiled gently to herself. 'It's not a very hard decision to make.'
A/N 2 - So yeah, you're here now... so ... review and stuff, cos it makes me happy... oh and did I forget to mention immense smexxi love should be given to the awesome Reusch17 for proof reading practically this entire story? She rocks. Fact!