Dedication: I've done this before, but oh well. This chapter is for my dad, because I wanted to write something for him on his birthday but I couldn't. Thank you for all the stuff you taught me, I still use those lessons now.
Chapter 9: Travelin' Soldier
The practice room was quiet, the rest of the quartet having left as soon as they were released for the week end but Haruka had stayed behind for just a few moments. She'd received a letter in the weeks that had passed since the night she'd gone to Subspace, that single letter had left her troubled. She'd been in the military for roughly a year and half, actually just a little more, but she hadn't thought too much about what was happening in Iraq. She'd never feared being sent, not that she thought they needed a piano player there, but neither had she expected that cheerful letter from DeMarco. The young woman wrote about how she was going to the small desert country as a mechanic, and how it seemed a fair share of those they'd been with in BASIC were already there. DeMarco seemed excited.
Haruka closed her eyes, placing her hands lightly on the ivory keys and starting up a slow piece with out thought. Notes floated into the air as the blonde thought over the people she'd trained with and remembered how excited DeMarco had always been. More worrying was what DeMarco told her about another young mechanic being sent as some sort of admin person because of her stress fractures. It almost looked like they needed everyone they could get; it was boggling the cost of this small country on the US military.The piece was drawing to a close but teal eyes remained shut, Haruka not really caring to open her eyes.
As the last note faded applause could be heard from somewhere in the once empty room. Haruka slowly opened her eyes, turning only to find a sergeant with dark brown hair caught in a ponytail and halved again. Brown eyes met Haruka's as the sergeant grinned.
"How are you, Ten'ou?" Haruka stood and went to parade rest, causing Day to shake her head at the younger woman. "Relax; I'm not here to inspect you or anything."
"What are you doing here, Sergeant Day?" Haruka finally asked as Day leaned against a wall.
"I'm here on a sort of weird lay over. I finished recruiting while you were in BASIC and I was assigned to a unit at Fort Carson, Colorado. Now I'm going with some of the others to swap out with a unit in Iraq." Day explained, noticing a somewhat troubled look cross the blonde's face. Day walked over and took a seat on the piano bench, motioning for Haruka to do the same. "I never could get the hang of an instrument that wasn't used for marching; I guess I just liked to play things too loud."
"Did you find me for a reason, sergeant?" Haruka asked as she stared at the black and white keys laid before her. Day wiped any trace of humor from her face and started pressing each key in secession, looking for something. Finally she found what seemed to be a C and went through a very uncertain scale, catching Haruka a bit off guard.
"Marching and concert band leave a mark on your mind." Day said simply and Haruka remembered again a young woman with short spiky hair in a red and black uniform. Even then Day had looked militaristic. A sigh escaped Day before she spoke again, still playing with the white keys of the piano. "Am I correct to say some of your friends are finding their way to the desert, Ten'ou?"
"A lot of the people I trained with, sergeant." Haruka answered, and then began to mirror Day's random notes. It sounded like two kids playing experimentally with a new instrument.
"I wager that you're worried." Day stopped and fished in her pocket for something, when she pulled it out it was a Polaroid showing herself and two other young women as privates. The bottom had a date and a few names written on it. "These were my closest friends back when I was in BASIC. The one on the right came from an Army family, dad and mom both. The other one was first generation so to speak. When we left we all were so excited about graduating, we didn't really pay any attention to Iraq at the time. Wasn't invaded till later really. I haven't heard from either for months, both were sent to Iraq while I was recruiting and one day they just stopped writing."
"I don't understand." Haruka looked up at Day in confusion even as Day stood and pulled something else from her pocket. She handed Haruka a CD and started toward the door, pausing only to say one last thing on her way out.
"What they taught you in BASIC, Ten'ou, it wasn't just for show. We're all soldiers and this comes with the territory. Our jobs aren't always safe, aren't always easy and we don't always get off at five o'clock and drive home. Just remember we all swore to defend our home and to obey the orders of our president and those higher ranking then us. No one forced us, we all chose for ourselves." Day paused again, and then pointed at the CD. "And listen to the track Traveling Soldier."
Haruka popped the CD into the CD player as she started up her mustang later that evening. She sat quietly in the car as music started and a woman's voice sang in a country lilt. Teal eyes again closed as images floated in her mind to go along with the song.
Two days past eighteen he was waiting for the bus in his Army greens,
Sat down in a booth café there, gave his order to a girl with a bow in her hair,
He's a little shy so she give him a smile,
And he said would you mind sitting down for a while and talking to me, I'm feeling a little low,
She said I'm off in an hour and I know where we can go,
So they went down and they sat on the pier,
He said I bet you got a boyfriend but I don't care,
I got no one to send a letter to,
Would you mind if I sent one back here to you?
I cried,
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy,
Too young and they told her,
Waiting for the love of a traveling soldier,
Our love will never end,
Waiting for the soldier to come back again,
Never gonna be alone when the letter's sent,
A soldier's coming home,
So the letters came from an Army camp,
In California then Vietnam,
And he told of his heart,
Might be love,
And all of the things he was so scared of,
He said when it's getting kind of rough over here,
I think of that day sitting down at the pier,
And I close my eyes and see your pretty smile,
Don't worry but I wont be able to write for a while,
I cried,
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy,
Too young and they told her,
Waiting for the love of a traveling soldier,
Our love will never end,
Waiting for the soldier to come back again,
Never gonna be alone when the letter's sent,
A soldier's coming home,
One Friday night at a football game,
The Lord's Prayer said and the anthem sang,
A man said folks would you bow your heads for a list of local Vietnam dead,
Crying alone under the stands,
Was a piccolo player in the marching band,
At one name read and nobody really cared,
But a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair,
I cried,
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy,
Too young and they told her,
Waiting for the love of a traveling soldier,
Our love will never end,
Waiting for the soldier to come back again,
Never gonna be alone when the letter's sent,
A soldier's coming home,
I cried,
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy,
Too young and they told her,
Waiting for the love of a traveling soldier,
Our love will never end,
Waiting for the soldier to come back again,
Never gonna be alone when the letter's sent,
A soldier's coming home,
As the song ended and a new one started to play Haruka opened her eyes and looked out the window toward the night sky above. It was a short drive to the area of post she'd been told Day's unit was staying and a quick conversation with a sergeant at the desk. Haruka was handed an envelope and told the unit had flown out two hours before, bound for Iraq. The blonde thanked the man, then walked back out to her car and sat for a moment. It was Friday, Minako was already out at some bar with some guy and Haruka had nothing left to do until Monday. With out even changing Haruka drove off post, not paying attention to where she was until she'd parked outside of Subspace and was looking up toward the building, which almost looked like a large warehouse from outside. The blonde looked down at her uniform top, then glanced in back and saw her bomber jacket. With a shrug she discarded the camouflage top onto the passenger seat, pulled her brown shirt so that it wasn't tucked in and pulled her pant legs so the now draped over her boots instead of tucking in neatly.
Once she stepped in the car she pulled on a black bomber jacket with a large American flag across the back and two tags reading Ten'ou and US Army on the front. She pulled some sunglasses out and slipped them over her eyes, messing her own hair quickly and hoping it'd pass. The door man welcomed her, placing another glowing wrist band on the blonde as she entered.
"Hey Ten'ou-san." Mamoru greeted in English as she took a seat at the bar, he smiled. "I thought you weren't coming back after last time."
"I'd sworn not to at first, but I had nothing else to do." Haruka admitted as she turned her stool to watch the dance floor.
"Well I was told if you showed up tonight to ask you to head over to table six."
"They have numbers?" Haruka asked, a bit surprised.
"Sure, that's how we know where to take drinks when things are slower… Though that doesn't happen much." Mamoru nodded off toward the far wall. "It will be the sixth one from the corner."
"Thank you, Chiba-san." Haruka said and stood, not really sure if she should go meet whoever it was. She somehow doubted it was the men who'd attacked Minako; Mamoru didn't seem the type to set her up that way. Still, who else would want to see her when she knew for a fact that Minako wasn't here tonight?
Haruka's question was answered, but her head were filled with more as she spotted the table. There sat Michiru Kaioh, the young woman with the aqua hair she'd met after the fight. The woman hadn't noticed her yet, so Haruka cleared her throat and bowed once the young woman looked up into her eyes.
Kaioh-san, it's nice to see you again. Haruka said politely in Japanese and Michiru smiled up at her.
"Call me Michiru, and I speak English." Michiru waved a hand toward the chair across from hers. "I've been hoping you'd show up again."
"May I ask why, Michiru-san?" Haruka asked as she took a seat at the table. Michiru held out an envelope and Haruka took it slowly, and then raised a brow at the contents. "Concert tickets?"
"I was hoping you and perhaps Aino-san would come hear me play." Michiru shifted her attention toward the crowd of dancers on the floor again, waiting the shadowy forms moving in multicolored light. "I would like to get to know you a bit better."
"I can't say Aino has ever seemed to be one for classical music, but I'll ask her." Haruka paused and hung her head in her hand as thoughts of her roommate being sent away assailed her this time. She almost felt Day's letter burning her pocket until a light hand touched her shoulder.
"Are you alright, Ten'ou-san?" Michiru asked and Haruka could only shake her head and stand. She paused, unsure why she was doing it, she held he hand out to the other young woman. They walked outside and Haruka led Michiru to her car which she leaned against, closing her eyes as the breeze grazed her skin and hair.
Michiru had silently followed and watched Haruka for a moment, tonight if you really looked you see a great deal about the tall blonde. First was the once well hidden fact she was female, but somehow that didn't surprise Michiru in the slightest. What did catch her were the patches on the front of Haruka's jacket, causing her to glance toward the car and spot the top half of Haruka's uniform.
"You're a US Soldier?" Michiru asked in a neutral voice, the blonde nodded silently. Michiru took a seat on the hood of the car, watching Haruka again and taking in the details about the young woman before she asked her next question. "Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"
"No, thank you Michiru-san." Haruka took a deep breath and looked toward the woman sitting on her car. On impulse she spoke again. "Would you like a ride home, or to wherever you were going next?"
Michiru smiled and it wasn't long before the two were in the mustang driving toward a somewhat near by coastline. They pulled up before a large expensive apartment building and Haruka acted on habit as she acted in the US. She hopped out and opened the door for Michiru who shivered a little in the cooler air outside the car. Michiru looked up at her, then grabbed her hand and pulled the blonde across the street toward a small beach. Michiru led her down to where the sand and water met and stood just out of reach of the waves. Haruka shook her head, thinking once of going back to her car before shaking off the thought. A press of a button on her keychain and a sound let them know the alarm had set across the street.
Michiru rubbed her arms as she gazed out at the waves, until a jacket settled over her shoulders and the upper part of her dress. She glanced up to find Haruka examining what the sand was doing to the shine on her black combat boots, now wearing only the brown t-shirt that she wore under her uniform. Michiru slipped her arms through the sleeves of the large jacket and heard something crinkle. She looked over and found a letter and the concert tickets in the pocket.
"The letter is from a sergeant that helped recruit me." Haruka said, reaching over and pulling both from the pocket of the jacket. She placed the tickets in a pocket of her pants before looking at the envelope she still held.
"What does it say?" Michiru asked curiously.
"I don't know, I haven't read it." Haruka sighed and put it in the same pocket before sitting unceremoniously on the sand. "She was here for a few hours and she came by to see me. She told me she was going to Iraq, talked to me for a while about my friends that are over there."
"That must be hard Ten'ou-san." Michiru said in a quiet voice as she gazed down at the blonde. Then she thought about it and asked something again. "Are they going to send you?"
"I doubt it, I play piano in a small group and that's what I do for the Army." Haruka gave her best playful glare at the woman above her. "You can call me Haruka; it's only fair if I'm calling you Michiru."
"Thank you, Haruka-san."
Not much else was said that night, as the two just watched the sea for a while. Still, as Haruka walked back to her car and wished Michiru good night she felt just a slight bit better. She had no way to know if Day, DeMarco or any of the others would be alright but she couldn't worry about it either. It was part of their job, just like it was part of hers.
A sleepy Minako looked up as Haruka walked in and blinked at the state of the taller blonde. Sand and a bit of fine dust covered her boots and pants, her top shirt was missing, hair messed and shirt untucked. If the shorter blonde didn't know her roommate she'd almost swear the woman had a date. Haruka's next question really caught her.
"Have you ever gone to a violin concert, Aino?" Minako shook her head and Haruka gave her an evil grin before walking away and calling back from the small bathroom. "Don't make any plans for next weekend."
Author's Note:
The song "Travelin' Soldier" belongs to the Dixie Chicks. It has held a weird meaning for me since the summer of 2003.
I hope this chapter is okay, let me know what you think. Not sure if I'm doing so well because this story isn't anywhere near keeping up with "Can't Leave You Alone" or "Truly Madly Deeply", but I'll keep going for those who have reviewed.
Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think.