The runner who bolted off to grab the Marshall quickly navigated the street and store walks to the right side of town before coming to a stop outside of the jail doors. He slammed his fist against the door knocking for a few times before trying to knob of the door finding it unlocked. Quickly stepping inside, he panted a bit before spotting the acting sheriff working on paper work on the desk near a wood stove in the front right corner of the jail house.
"Marshall, the Governor is callin for ya." murmured the young man.
The Marshall gave a calm nod before rising from the desk as the young man bolted out of the jail house. The law enforcement officer had been an acting United States Marshall for close to four years and was highly skilled for her position. The people of Dodge gave the job of sheriff to the emerald haired woman after she had successfully scared off a gang of ten riders from destroying the town and killing any innocent lives. Due to the sudden acquiring of the job, it didn't take long for Dodge to start shaping up into a law abiding town. There were always going to be those the test the brass of Marshall Meioh, but the woman was prepared to handle any challenge thrown her way.
She sighed reaching out a hand to grab her ebony hat and gray short coat knowing it was going to be interesting. It wasn't very often she was called for personally by such a high official of the government to handle a matter. In a matter of a few minutes, the tall female stepped inside the saloon with her pistol on her left hip and her red eyes scanning the crowd. It didn't take long for her to piece together what had transpired seeing two men work on prying an unconscious body from a splintered table. Those crimson eyes of hers also took in the details of the stranger in town that seemed to have caused the problem from the looks of their face. Stepping passed a few more curious drinkers by the bar, Setsuna approached Haruka and raised a brow at the slightly shorter female.
Haruka remained at ease noticing the Marshall moving closer to her though was intrigued that it was in fact another woman. It caused a very faint smirk to cross her lips before she raised a hand slowly to rub the busted lower lip she had. The blood had stopped flowing so freely but she had tucked away the handkerchief Michiru had given to her to tend to the injury. Giving a sideways glance to the law woman, the blonde calmly complied without having to be asked knowing the look in those strange eyes of hers. Her hands progressed carefully to the gun belt buckle of hers only to undo it and hand it over to the official.
"Smart woman knowing what to do without me having to waste my breath. Impressive in a way but I'm afraid you'll have to pay restitution for the damages." murmured the Marshall coldly.
"I expected that however, I merely acted out for the lady's best interest. If you look to her upper right arm, you'll eventually spot a bruise from how hard that man was squeezing her to pull her away from me. I did no wrong other than act in self defense as he swung first. He merely started the dance, I on the other hand finished it quickly to avoid any other trouble." explained the blonde.
The Marshall raised a brow for a moment only to look toward the bar tenders. They were probably the only ones without much of a bias toward people like Haruka and she soon took the time to walk to the men to question them. It didn't take long for the gray haired man to give his version of the story saying that the woman was right in her explanation. Satisfied, the Marshall walked back over toward the governor and the crowd while taking the moment to clear her throat.
"Well folks, it seems the woman here did act in self defense since the man swung the first blow from what that tender was telling me. Unfortunately for you, miss, you'll need to come with me for the night as you did quite a number on owner's business." she remarked only to reach for Haruka's upper left arm.
The rider allowed the law official to do her job and didn't argue knowing that would only dig a bigger hole for her to climb out of later on. Her eyes turned toward Michiru a moment before she was lead outside toward the jail house by Setsuna. The rider soon noticed the hold loosen and before too long the hand had been removed and she simply kept walking alongside the Marshall without any sort of restrictions.
"Why do you seem to trust me like this? I'm a stranger to you ain't I?" grumbled Haruka.
"Yes, but I do believe what you said. I'm merely taking you out of the temper range of the governor so he can cool his hot head down for the evening. He doesn't take rough houser too well nor others who seem to spend time with his daughter either." explained the taller woman.
"I was only entertaining her with explaining who I was to her a bit. There was no harm done with it, except for my jaw and a table."
"Nonetheless, it's been a while since I've seen the governor that furious. He was probably more frustrated with his daughter's behavior than you to tell you the truth."
Haruka merely rolled her eyes continuing to walk through the dusty street toward the jail house. She was frustrated with herself for not being able to stay close to the few possessions she had, but she knew she could have gone about the entire dispute differently. The blonde had been born with a foul temper and often would lash out when her patience ran dry. She had been improving it over the last year while looking for work in order to survive. Although she was doing well, she did have lapses where all the hard work collapsed on itself and she'd revert into cursing up a storm and letting her fists fly. Blame the influence on Jak and the other riders would often be what she'd mentally do even though it was mainly Jak's fault. The gun woman had spent a lot of time around the blonde teaching her numerous tricks of the trade and survival things but in doing so, the temper also seemed to become warped and trained as well.
While the blonde remained silent in thought, Setsuna opened the jail house door and escorted her inside. The Marshall had dealt with many people in her short few years as a law official but none seemed to really have a sense of morals like the blonde she put up in a cell for the night. While others would have openly fought with her, Haruka had merely surrendered without allowing drama to unfold where it was not needed. It impressed Setsuna greatly but there was another reason she wasn't voicing as to why she brought the woman in without showing a fuss with her power. The guns the stranger had been wearing were extremely familiar to the red eyes of the Marshall and she had a feeling she knew who had trained her in using them.
"You best just relax for the night in here, rider. Though I am curious as to how you came across these guns here, as the original owner of them didn't take kindly to just handing them over to just anyone." remarked Setsuna smoothly.
"They were given to me by a good friend in order to keep myself alive on the trails I run, and for the record my name is Haruka." replied the blonde smoothly.
"I see. Haruka, you best just make yourself comfortable and rest that jaw of yours. I'll let you out first thing in the morning and you can ride out of here without a problem but I will be expecting to see you when you earn that money to pay the owner back what he lost with that table you shattered."
The rider gave a calm nod of her head before watching as the law officer leave the cells to the main office room. once she was out of sight, Haruka moved to sit upon a small cot only to remove the handkerchief with the initials of MK on them. A slight smirk crossed her lips as she simply held that piece of fabric in her hand. It wasn't often that she met someone she couldn't get out of her thoughts, but Michiru Kaioh was someone Haruka wanted to see and speak with again. She was willing to risk angering the governor to do so. For the time being however, she just kicked up her feet onto the cot and laid down moving her hat to rest over her face to get some shut eye.
Meanwhile back in the saloon, the governor had quickly returned his guests back to the subject of campaigning around the other Kansas towns and cities in order to be top dog in being re-elected. The guests had been quick to grab a few drinks after the altercation had occurred and were busy striking up conversations with the other people to distract themselves. The sound of the uninteresting chatter caused an already seething Michiru to just grumble and leave to stand upon the porch outside. She needed the air after all and also had to find a place to collect herself and keep her tongue. After all, she truly wanted to fly off the handle at her father but it was simply not the place and time for such antics.
"Why didn't I just slap Mark myself? It would have saved a bit of time for that rider to get out of the mess." she sighed shaking her head. Being a relative to such a recognizable face only caused trouble for her and Michiru was tired of it all. All she wanted was a simple life where she could talk of things that interested her and could afford to get rid of the act of being such a lady.
The woman soon shook her head of such thoughts enjoying the feel of the cool breeze that was rolling on through the streets. It helped to calm her nerves but it was also bringing in a rain storm from the east in that would make traveling difficult for the next , the more the wind blew in, the colder it grew and after a few minutes she had to go back inside to grab her coat to get warm again. Some men noticed her enter again and moved to try and catch her attention just to see her smile but she just kept on walking to the back of the saloon to grab her violin case and her coat in no mood to be talking to anyone after the events earlier. No one was going to get into her good graces for the evening and that included her father. The man was extremely lucky that she didn't slap him when Marshall came and took the rider away.
"I'm taking a walk." she remarked glancing toward her father for a moment. Before he could respond, she was gone out the back door of the saloon.
She had to get her mind settled as well as to just escape the eagle eyes of her father. Ever since her mother had died when she was sixteen, he changed to being even more protective over her. It was aggravating beyond words to the sea green haired woman but she had learned to just grin and bear it the last six years. However, her own patience was just about to run out and it would grow to cost her father. Grumbling under her breath, she continued to walk only to stop across from the jail glancing toward it a moment debating on something but quickly decided against bothering Haruka. Talking with her that night would only cause more trouble than it was worth, so Michiru just moved off to the upscale Inn where she had a room.
After reaching her room, she placed her violin to the side in a safe place and tossed her coat to a chair in the far right corner. "We are both prisoners of circumstance." she sighed gently.
She took the time to glance out to window toward the jail before shaking her head drawing the shades down in order to change for the evening. Rising from the edge of the bed, she walked to the small little dresser removing a small and short white silk colored night gown. While being careful slipping out of her emerald evening dress, Michiru quickly winced from the pain in her arm where Mark hard been too rough. The white smooth skin was turning dark and discolored as the bruise took its shape on her arm. Her eyes glanced to it and she gently ran her fingertips over the flesh being gentle with it noticing it was extremely sore.
"Damn him." she hissed before slipping the night gown over her head and tugging it down trying to avoid striking that arm. "I'll make sure to shoot him myself if he does this again."
Turning, she took the time to slide into the large bed only to look toward the window. Her thoughts returned to the blonde and she managed a faint smirk. if there were more people like that woman in the world, it would be a better place at least to her mind. It was a shame people didn't hold the same kind of moral code the rider had but then again, not everyone believe someone of the lower class could fit in with the upper class. Michiru didn't care, all she cared about was finding a way out of the hellish nightmare her life had become. Little did she realize just what sort of trouble awaited her as a result.