Author's Note: I just read through some of the previous chapters and noticed something. The markings I was using on the computer to show when they were speaking Japanese weren't showing on the actual posts, I'm sorry I didn't notice that before. For now I am going to put them in normal form but italic, please let me know if anything goes wrong with that. Okay, here we go.
Chapter 11: Hypnotic Melody
"Aino, are you almost ready?" Haruka called toward the door of the latrine (bathroom) as Amy straightened the bow tie of the taller blonde's tux.
"Just finished." Minako said as they heard the door open to their left and right respectively. Two sets of eyes looked up as the young private emerged and held out her arms, striking a small pose for the two. "How do I look?"
Minako wore a spaghetti strap, orange dress that appeared to be made of something like silk. Around her shoulders was some sort of nearly see through orange wrap and her hair was allowed to flow freely across her shoulders. In a way she looked a lot like she was going to a prom and Haruka normally would have avoided the orange but it seemed somehow fitting for the young soldier.
"You look great." Haruka said with a nod and her roommate smiled brightly as Amy nodded her agreement. The blonde specialist couldn't fight an evil smile as she shook her finger at the young private and spoke in a mock stern voice. "Now just remember Cinderella, if you aren't back by midnight your horses turn back into mice."
"Does that mean your Mustang is a mouse?" Minako asked which caused Amy to laugh as Haruka merely blinked.
"You should both get going before it gets too late." Amy said as she started shoeing them from the barracks room they lived in. Teal eyes looked down at the other specialist as they all passed through the door and she ran a hand through her short, though somewhat tousled, blonde hair.
"I wish I had a third ticket, I really owe you for the help Anderson." Haruka spoke but Amy shook her head and just waved off the thanks as politely as possible.
"It was no trouble." Amy saw the protest in Haruka's eyes so she spoke again. "If you really want to make it up to me see if you can get a CD signed by Kaioh-san."
"I'll see what I can do." Haruka confirmed before following her roommate down the stairs and out of the building. Amy smiled to herself as she turned and started back toward the room they'd all just left. If Amy knew Minako, the latrine was likely a mess, so she thought she might as well straighten it a little for the two.
Once they reached the concert hall Minako felt completely overwhelmed. Haruka, she noticed, was easily in her element among the nicely dressed and seemingly upper class citizens but she had no idea what was being said. They managed to find their seats, nearly in the center of the front row, and sat quietly as the audience settled in.
"Good evening, Aino-san." The two blondes looked to their right and found Setsuna settling in to a previously empty seat. She smiled and nodded toward Haruka. "And Ten'ou-san, it's nice to see you both again. How is your head?"
"It's fine, thank you for the concern Meiou-san." Haruka said as Minako just seemed relieved to be between two people who spoke English. Further conversation was prevented as the lights slowly came down and a spotlight lit upon the red curtain before them. A male voice spoke somewhat warmly over the built in speakers, and Haruka quietly let Minako know it was just announcing Michiru as the night's performer. Slowly the curtains drifted open to show the young woman standing center stage.
Michiru wore white from head to toe. Her dress was complemented by long white gloves and a white rose set lightly into the bun which held her hair back, though a few locks still tucked loosely behind her ears. She bowed once before slowly lifting her violin to rest on her shoulder.
There was a moment of complete silence as Michiru prepared to draw her bow across the strings for the first note, and once the silence was broken by the sound of the violin no one made a single sound.
To Haruka the sound was enchanting, almost hypnotic in its melodic beauty. The blonde closed her eyes, allowing the music to drift through her mind and ease away the stress which had been building up recently. In her mind it brought up images of the wide open ocean, of beaches under moonlight and at least once the image of space in its entire silent expanse. Haruka couldn't explain why it felt so calming, and in fact she didn't give it a second thought as she allowed her mind to drift along with the melody.
"That was great, even if it doesn't really have lyrics and you can't dance to it." Minako said as she followed Haruka and Setsuna toward a door after the concert drew to a close. Setsuna smiled at the two women, her amusement clear as she glanced back toward the younger blonde.
"Actually you can dance to it, Aino-san." Setsuna paused and waved Haruka toward her a bit. The older blonde came forward warily and found her self being pulled into position for the start of a waltz or other formal dance. She grinned herself and waltzed a bit with the club owner, who wore a nearly black floor length dress that shimmered and glinted a little green in the dim lighting of the hall. Setsuna spoke again, not missing a step. "It's just not the dance music you normally hear in Subspace."
"Ah, well I never really had to dance like that." Minako said as she blushed, realizing the over-sight of her own comment. "Even at our prom I just waited for the DJ to put on Shaggy."
"Shaggy at a prom?" Haruka seemed to think that one over for a moment or two as she slowed to a stop and bowed to Setsuna. "Now I'm not so sorry I missed prom. Thank you for the dance, Meiou-san."
"You're quite welcome Ten'ou-san." Setsuna replied, inclining her head even as they heard a giggle from a nearby door. The three looked up to find Michiru standing at the stage door watching them as other audience members ambled back up the isles.
"Should I get my violin so you have music to dance to?" She offered with a smile and amusement twinkling in her eyes blue eyes. Setsuna shook her head and Minako laughed a bit even as Haruka bowed again.
"The concert was wonderful Michiru-san, thank you for the tickets." Haruka said as she straightened up again. Teal eyes met Michiru's blue eyes and they both smiled even as Setsuna cleared her throat.
"I, for one, am rather hungry." She said, looking toward Michiru with some sort of message in her eyes. The violin player nodded and turned her eyes toward the floor for a moment as Setsuna sighed almost unnoticeably. "Why don't we all go out for dinner?"
By the time Haruka parked her Mustang back in front of the barracks it was easily past 0100. Minako went straight to their room but Haruka detoured onto a different floor. The tall blonde walked as quietly as possible down the hall, even if it was a Saturday night, and finally reached the door she was looking for. Light spilled under it so Haruka knocked very quietly and waited as soft footfalls approached.
"Hi Anderson." She smiled somewhat cockily as the blue haired specialist opened the door and eyed her from behind a pair of glasses. Amy didn't look even slightly tired as she held a book in her free hand and returned Haruka's smile.
"Hello Ten'ou, how was the concert?" She asked as she waved Haruka in, but the tall blonde shook her head to the offer.
"It was great and I'll be happy to tell you all about it tomorrow." Haruka said as she pulled a CD case from behind her back and held it out to the young woman. Amy took it and her eyes widened a bit as she noted the cover and the message scrawled across it. Japanese characters stood out in bold black marker across the image of a beautifully drawn seashore. Haruka tweaked the younger woman's nose and grinned. "I told you I'd see what I could do."
"Thank you Ten'ou." Amy said happily even as Haruka stifled a yawn and nodded. The blonde waved her good night and slowly made her way back down the hall and to the staircase.
"I see why you don't wear make-up now." Minako commented as she stood before the sink of their room. She'd spotted Haruka in the mirror as the other soldier entered. Minako was already out of her dress but was still working at getting the makeup off as she fought a yawn every few seconds.
"Maybe you should just try a shower." Haruka suggested, pulling her tux off and hanging it back in a suit bag as she changed into sweats. Before BASIC she might have cared that Minako was in the room, but since having to share one room with so many other women or a shower with roughly seven at a time she no longer cared. The one thing the older blonde thanked fate for was the fact that after BASIC the barracks had smaller latrines connected to the room. Instead of a huge shower room with eight shower heads and no dividers they only had to decide who took a shower first.
"Maybe." Minako muttered back, derailing Haruka's sleepy thoughts of shower rooms. Minako had to grin as Haruka seemed to blink, realizing that her roommate had totally lost the line of conversation. "Good night Ten'ou."
"Night." Haruka muttered, locking up her wall locker and walking over to her bunk. The blonde specialist let herself fall face first onto the narrow bunk, not even bothering to crawl under the green wool blanket before teal eyes drifted shut. Minako glanced once toward the taller blonde, than gave in and walked off to take a shower in hopes of getting to sleep a bit faster.
Setsuna sat before a desk in her study, robe draped about her nightdress clad shoulders as she looked over some financial papers. Silence engulfed the room as she did math in her mind, than checked it with a calculator and took notes on a legal pad. It continued this way until the cell phone beside her note pad began to ring.
"Hello Michiru-chan." Setsuna said in a warm voice, eyes never leaving the papers as she pushed a button to set the cell on speaker phone.
"You always seem to know when it's me, even if I block my ID." Michiru said lightly and Setsuna only smirked a little as her eyes read a new line. For a moment the silence fell again, than Michiru broke it. "I wasn't going to flirt you know?"
"Of course not." Setsuna agreed, still only giving the conversation half her concentration.
"I mean, it's not as if I don't have plenty of handsome young men in tuxes at my concerts." Michiru added and this time Setsuna raised an eyebrow but still didn't look at the phone. She heard a sigh from the other end of the line and her hand finally paused. "I just like the color."
"Color of what?" Setsuna looked toward the phone, noticing Michiru really had blocked the caller ID.
"Her eyes." Michiru explained in a voice that made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world. "That's what I was looking at when you cleared you throat. I can't remember meeting anyone with teal eyes before; actually she'd be a wonderful model for a painting."
"Michiru-san, are you sure this is all purely plutonic?" Setsuna asked, setting her pen down as she stood and picked up the phone. She turned off the speaker mode and placed it against her ear as she turned the light in the room off and walked out.
"Of course it's plutonic, she's just intriguing."
"So that's why you're thinking about her at two in the morning?" Setsuna asked, her voice inching toward a teasing tone as she reached her bedroom.
"I was only awake for a cup of tea." Michiru said and Setsuna smiled at her friend's somewhat defensive tone. "In fact I just finished so I'll just go to bed now."
"Good night Michiru-san." Setsuna said, receiving a similar good night before she closed her cell phone. The red eyed woman took a deep breath, letting out a nearly silent sigh before she turned out this light as well and doused her home in darkness.
Reviewer responses: I feel rusty as I haven't had a chance to write these in a while.
Neptune's Mask: O.O I'm reasonably sure you actually know my work better than I do; I swear I had honestly forgotten those clouds in TMD. I just get that mild warm fuzzy feeling knowing anybody enjoys my stories that much; maybe it will give me the confidence to get my original works published someday.
Amnesia Nymph: There was a point where I was wondering if I'd get back to this story, I know it's nearly been left twice before. At least this time it wasn't as horribly long of a wait, last time was so long I actually did reread the story.
MIHARU83: Interesting name there, don't happen to be born in 1983 do you? Random guess, but I felt like asking. Well, here's the eleventh chapter I hope the wait wasn't too long.
Tonker: Makoto and Ami are my favorites of the inner scouts, the rest I can take or leave but those two are interesting. I'm glad that the shortness was too much of a let down, I feel a bit out of form to be writing longer chapters after such a long break. Still, I continue to try as I know the short chapters can be a tease after such long gaps. Keep your eyes open, I may just bring some more Ami and Makoto interaction in. Actually, it was a bit fun to write that part.
poOt: Thanks for the support; I hope this wait wasn't as bad. B-)
petiyaka: I refuse to drop this story, though a chapter or two has killed me to write. You have a really good point there about the characters feelings and motivations; I guess you could say I'm still puzzling through this one. A lot of the stories I write I have at least some idea where the end will land the characters (with the major exception being "Can't Leave You Alone"), but to be honest I am still deciding some major things about this one. Plus I keep playing this balance between trying to stay mostly true to the military, or more so to the characters. Guess we'll see what the next chapter brings.
Thank you to the following for their reviews of chapter nine:
Hagancameron, Tonker, Wicked Desire, Neptune's Mask, Petiyaka, Leena9, poOt, Amnesia Nymph, and Nellie.
The continued reviews keep me going and remind that someone out there really is reading and enjoying this. Plus it brings a huge smile to my face when those I wait to see the story updates of, those I instant message, respond to on Xanga or see reappear on these reviews leave me a new bit of encouragement.
Take care,
Haruka's Knight