Okay this will be my last update for the next two weeks and i've been working hard to get this chapter done in time before i go away to sunny Ireland.
Anyway i will use the long journey and the days i'm stuck inside because it's pouring with rain to write more of this story down and then i'll type it up when i get home.
Disclaimer- Er, i can't think of a witty comment, needless to say i do not own Sailor Moon... er yeah that's it really
Read and Enjoy.
Seiya tried to keep his eyes on the road as he drove Mamoru's car towards Haruka's house. This was easier said than done with all that was happening behind him. Haruka was still out and on either side of her, making sure she was okay was Mamoru and Usagi, the latter appeared to be crying, and this would have been enough to distract him at the best of times, but seeing through his mirror, Mamoru leaning around Haruka to comfort Usagi, well quite frankly he could do without the stabs of jealousy when he was trying to drive.
Finally they arrived at her home and he was able to get out of the stuffy car and take a deep breath of fresh air. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then turned to assist Mamoru in getting Haruka out of the car. It appeared she was just waking up and so he thought it best if Mamoru carried her, she was probably a formidable opponent even waking up from unconsciousness.
"What the…" She croaked out and Usagi dashed forward to look at her while Seiya hung back.
"Haruka, thank goodness, I was so worried!" she cried,
"Huh?"
"We'll explain when we get inside, have you got your house keys?" Mamoru looked down at her and she looked back blinking a whole lot. It was a while before she found her voice again.
"Uh… I don't think so… why exactly are you carrying me Chiba?" her voice was getting lower and more like her usual one.
"You passed out Haruka," Said Usagi with tears welling up in her eyes again.
"Well I'm fine now, put me down," she demanded, Mamoru looked at her for a moment, she didn't exactly look fine, but he probably realised if he didn't put her down she'd knock him out and fall to the floor, which would only result in two further injuries, whatever Seiya might think of him, the man wasn't stupid, and so he lowered her into a standing position and she tried to hobble forwards, it was strange to her, her legs just didn't seem to want to work, it was like trying to get up at five am on a Sunday morning, only with pain as well. However all that went out the window as she got a good look at Usagi's tear stained face, her own drained of any remaining colour.
While Usagi still looked sad, now that Haruka was standing in front of her, she could see that there was a hint of anger stirring behind those crystal blue eyes.
"Usa…"
"Don't ever do that again Haruka!" her tone was quiet and sad and ten times worse than if she had shouted, even Seiya winced and Haruka looked down to the side, unable to maintain eye contact with her Princess.
"I'm…"
"I mean it… you could have hurt yourself… after everything we've been through," She was crying again, but her tone, though still quiet, sad and now little shaky was firm and demanding, Seiya could see more and more why they all respected her so much as a Princess and future Queen, "I don't ever want to see you hurt yourself! Do you hear me?"
"I'm sorry, Princess," Haruka was looking down at her feet, it was quite amazing really how the small blonde could put Haruka in her place, when nobody else could, not since Michiru anyway.
Usagi's expression softened and she walked over to hug her friend, who simply stood there, barely acknowledging the hug at all. When Usagi pulled away she was smiling kindly up at Haruka.
"I'm just worried about you Haruka, we all are, you're our friend and we care about you… we don't want to see you in pain…" Haruka looked to Mamoru who nodded and smiled at her, Usagi continued, "You scared me out there, if Seiya hadn't caught you, you'd have just kept on running and running, you could have ended up in…"
"Seiya!"
Seiya took a step back as Haruka span around; she winced slightly as her muscles protested against the sudden movement. Usagi, sensing danger, stepped up next to her and put a hand on her arm.
"I asked him too stop you, he's probably the only person who could have caught up with you," Seiya didn't say anything, just tried to avoid looking at the two blondes. Maybe if he appeared uninterested they'd forget he was there and he could slip away.
"Oh," Said Haruka, she looked as if she might say something else but stopped and turned away again to look up at her house.
"Did you bring my bag?"
"It's in the car," Said Mamoru,
"My keys are in there," Mamoru nodded and walked back to the car, pulled out her bag and brought it back. Everyone was silent as she pulled out her keys and handed them to Usagi, she allowed herself to be helped to the door and as they disappeared inside, Seiya took the chance to begin his quiet getaway. He turned around and started walking down the long driveway.
"Seiya," He jumped and looked around to find Haruka stood alone leaning on the doorframe. She had a strange expression, partly annoyed, partly embarrassed.
"Yeah?" He called back,
She seemed to fight with herself for a few moments before she took a deep breath.
"Thanks…" as she said it her face showed that she was being sincere.
He stood there just staring, but as the sincere expression started to change to one of annoyance again, he grinned back at her.
"Welcome," and he turned back around again, still smiling. There were a few moments of silence, and then as he was almost at the gate there came another yell.
"This doesn't change anything Kou!" he laughed,
"Right," he yelled back and pulled open the gate, disappearing behind the wall. As he did so Usagi appeared at Haruka's shoulder, watching first her then Seiya as he vanished from sight.
"Come on Haruka, you should lie down for a bit," She said taking the taller girls arm and leading her into the living room.
"Good run?" Said Taiki sitting down in front of Seiya, who once again had papers spread out all around him as he tried to write.
"Huh?" he looked up, "What is it, I've lost my train of thought now…"
"I was asking if you had a good session at the track,"
"Wha… oh right, yeah…" he turned back to the lines he had just written, he frowned at them and then put a large black line through them.
Taiki sighed, between them Yaten and Seiya had barely put together three sentences all week, the only time they ever said anything more than 'huh' and 'yeah' was to be sarcastic about one or other aspects of the others life, main focus points being Minako and Haruka. Things might be better if they were still in education, they'd be too busy studying to worry about… no that wouldn't work, they never studied even when they were in school; still something had to be done or they were going to drive him crazy as well as each other.
"Right well, I'll leave you to it then,"
"Uh Huh," Seiya continued to stare at the page until Taiki had closed the door behind him; he then collapsed with his head in arms on the table. He hadn't had a moment alone since he got back, and earlier he had been so busy concentrating on first running after Haruka and then carrying her back to car, and then driving her back, that he hadn't even acknowledged how tired he was, he hadn't noticed until half way home that his own muscles ached, she was fast, and not exactly light as a feather. He sighed and pulled himself up collecting together the papers; he carried them into his room and put them on the top of the ever-growing pile that had been building over the last month. Sighing a few more times he collapsed onto his bed without bothering to undress and fell straight to sleep.
At the same time Haruka was still awake, staring up at the living room ceiling as Usagi bustled around her, occasionally Mamoru would come in to check on her. She knew it was for her own good but that didn't make relying on their help any less annoying, she was always capable of doing things herself, no matter how much pain she was in, but they weren't letting her, and it was both infuriating and wonderful to have her friends make such a fuss over her.
Finally convinced that there was nothing more that Haruka needed, Usagi came and sat still.
"Feel any better?"
Haruka looked up and nodded once, Usagi smiled and looked away out of the window.
"Haruka…"
"Hmm?"
"I'm glad, that you thanked Seiya," Haruka gave her a confused look, Usagi didn't notice however as she was still staring outside. "I hate to see you two arguing over everything, we should all just get along," She looked back at Haruka who was still looking confused. "After all, we're all part of the same world now, and we defended it together,"
Haruka looked at her a little longer and then nodded slowly.
"Besides, Seiya isn't a bad person, he knows that…" she paused and listened for a second, all Haruka could hear was Mamoru working away in the kitchen, "he knows that me and Mamoru are together, he wouldn't be so selfish,"
Haruka was quite shocked to find out that Usagi was even aware of the fact that Seiya had been and still was in love with her, as her words began to sink in she knew she was right, in fact if she thought about it, apart from mild flirting, Seiya had never tried to steal Usagi from Mamoru once he had returned. She frowned to herself as she realised just how hard it must have been for him over the last three years, now that she was going through the same thing she realised she certainly hadn't helped, but then again he was still annoying and she should be forgiven for losing her temper with him. Usagi was watching her expression changing; as she continued to argue with herself, with that signature serene smile on her face. After a few minutes she stood.
"Right dinner,"
"You don't have to I can…" Haruka said this a little too quickly to just be simply polite and the worried look on her face also gave her away.
"Don't worry," Said Usagi with a sigh, "I'm not going to cook it," Haruka sank back down into her pillows mumbling something about not meaning that as Usagi left the room.
It was a very loud knocking from the front door that woke Seiya the next day. He rolled over and glanced at his clock, wondering why Yaten or Taiki weren't answering the door as the knock sounded again. He leapt sharply to his feet as he read the time one thirty pm, well, that answered his question, Taiki would surely be in college at the moment and Yaten… probably out with Mina somewhere. Trying to straighten his now very creased clothes, and tidying up his ponytail he made his way to the front door, from where a fourth knock had sounded. Pulling it open he blinked a couple of times.
"Tenoh?" She rolled her eyes, "What are you doing here?"
She stopped rolling her eyes and gave him a fixed stare. "I want to say something, and you better listen because I will never say this again!"
He nodded feeling very confused.
"I…" She paused and gave an annoyed flick of her head and breathed in, the next bit was said very fast, "…I wanted to apologise for how I have acted towards you over the last three years!" She then turned on her heel and started to walk away.
"Wait… what?"
She span around, wincing slightly and silently cursing her legs for still being painful, and glared at him, he looked like he'd just got up, she wasn't surprised, she knew how fast she had been running he must have been worn out. She had to refrain from laughing at his dishevelled appearance, far from the poster boy image he usually portrayed.
"I believe I said I wouldn't ever say it again," She replied, he blinked at her and she rolled her eyes again and made to turn around again, before she did however she pretended to look him up and down and frowned,
"Weren't you wearing those clothes yesterday?"
He just blinked again then looked down at his clothes. Haruka just shook her head and walked away, Seiya Kou, not a morning person, even if it was one thirty in the afternoon.
Once she had gone Seiya slipped back into the apartment and stared at the door for a few seconds, still trying to take in what he had heard. Eventually however he simply shook his head and came to the conclusion that he was not awake, there was no way he had just heard Haruka Tenoh apologise to him, either he was dreaming, or he had been still half asleep and had misheard her. He therefore made his way back to his room and fell back down onto his bed.
Okay well that's Chapter 11 and i'm having serious trouble in how to over come the barrier, oh well i have a whole two weeks to think it through. As someone who i will check in a second said, we want action... just bare with me it's hard when you try to stick with the characters personality's as much as possible.
Anywho i want to come back home to lots of reviews :D i'll look forward to checking them. Got loads for the last chapter YAY.
RICEA42991: Hmm i've only seen a few episodes of PGSM, it's quite... odd, but i think it's meant to be lol.
SailorUranus28: Yeah poor Michi, i do like her, which is why i tried not to make her into a villain, and i always thought Seiya seemed a very caring person so i wanted to bring that out in this :)
Seiharu85: Wow... i didn't even think about that when i wrote it, oh well, i just figure that of all of them the one Haruka was most likely to listen to would be Usagi. It is sad about Haruka, but it's a necessary sadness really, i think the only way she was ever going to understand Seiya was if she was going through the same thing, sorry Haruka :(.
bibi3758: I wasn't going for that angle... but i can see your point.
sailor-ahiru: Heehee when i finished that i suddenly had loads of ideas and i was in a writing mood so yay. I'm really glad you like both my stories ;)
greenaselphaba: Sei/Har 'action' as you put it :P hopefully beginning pretty soon, and she's sort of started sofening towards the end of this one, but like i said this is going to be a long story, i really want to get there but it's difficult with these two, stubborn is what they are.
owwiegh: Another dose of medicine pour vous. :)
SuicidalBeyblader: I'm really glad you love my story :D, and yeah i like both Michi and Ruka loads and loads.
