Author note: The following chapter does contain girl/girl action for a short time. If it bothers you don't read the first half of the chapter.
The note Jak had passed to Wade had found it's place in Haruka's hand a few days later at the post. The blonde took the letter and walked to the bunk house where Michiru was busy enjoying a warm bath to wash away quite a bit of the dirt she had collected on her body while staying with Haruka. She didn't expect the door to open to reveal her tall and handsome rider though she quickly frowned seeing the troubled expression her her face.
"What's wrong, Ruka?" she asked wanting to put her mind at ease.
"It's a warning from Jak. It seems your father put a five thousand dollar bounty on my head in order to have you returned to Dodge." responded the blonde slowly.
Michiru sighed leaning back in the hot water in the tub. The news bothered her greatly now having to worry even more over the well being of her newly acquired lover. The blonde folded up the letter placing it into the front right pocket of her shirt only to feel the eyes of her woman on her. She couldn't hide her emotions away from the violinist and she knew it. Silently, she walked over to the window to look out standing closer to Michiru who moved a wet hand to grab hers intertwining their fingers together. It amazed the blonde how easily the worry could fade with such a simple gesture from the bathing woman.
"We'll be okay. Somehow we'll be able to move on from this." whispered Michiru looking up to Haruka softly.
The woman sighed and looked down to her soon leaning down to press her lips softly against hers feeling the urge to let the woman know just how much she cared about her. She was surprised to feel a tug on her upper body bringing her closer to the tub to let Michiru coil her arms around her neck keeping her near her. Their kiss deepened and the fear and worries melted away for the time being to them both. Although the feeling of her hair becoming wet caught the blonde off guard and she sputtered coughing a bit. Michiru had drawn away from their kiss to playfully dump a bit of water over her worried lover's head to bring her out of her mood.
"Michi! You nearly drowned the letter." she grumbled unbuttoning her drenched shirt smoothly though sounded quite annoyed.
"I'm sorry, love. I couldn't resist and besides you need a bath worse than I do. Join me, please?" she whispered.
The blonde groaned a bit before walking to the door of the small bathroom to latch it tight knowing how some of the idiots would try to walk in on them otherwise. Approaching Michiru, Haruka leaned down and softly kissed her again rather enjoying the connection. Over the past few weeks they had known one another, they had quickly bonded and became extremely close. Michiru was all the blonde cared for and she had given up her riding for the post having been fired by Dobson earlier in the day for her actions. A lot was going through her mind but she found a blank forming upon feeling those skilled finger working on removing the dark emerald western shirt she wore. Those fingers were smooth and tender no matter how Michiru touched her, the woman was always taken back by how soft she truly felt. She didn't notice her shirt fall to the floor as her eyes closed just allowing her lover to bring her away from the world and into their own little domain.
After a few moments, the rider's clothes rested in a pile near her lover's dress as she adjusted herself into the tub holding her lover to her tenderly. The water was hot against their skin causing them both to flush up a little enjoying the time together. The blonde remained close holding onto Michiru as if she'd lose her and the smaller woman turned to kiss her lover tenderly. With each tender kiss given to her lips and cheek, she relaxed looking down into Michiru's eyes.
"You know I love you, Michi. I never want to lose you." she whispered leaning down allowing her rougher lips to connect to the woman's mouth.
The violinist lost herself against the taller woman's mouth. Her heart skipped a few beats before thumping even harder in her ribcage. Nervous adrenaline found itself used toward the blonde from the small woman as she twisted to straddle her hips, cupping her face into her smooth hands and kissed her with far more passion than Haruka imagined existed. The blonde blinked stunned at first before coiling a muscle arm around the thin waist of her lover encouraging her to continue with her loving affections. Michiru gladly complied allowing her lips to cross down over her neck, and collarbone sweetly trying to relax Haruka even more. Her work was doing its job putting the blonde into a completely relaxed state of being losing herself in the moment only waking out of it letting out a moan as Michiru's mouth encircled one of her nipples giving a playful nip. The moan only gave her short companion more cause to softly tease her chest with her mouth while a hand drifted tenderly beneath the water stroking below the fit torso she enjoyed seeing many times before.
However as they continued their love making, the sound of guns going off caused the blonde to move out of the tub only to glance through the window avoiding having her body against it. The gun fire continued and she cursed angrily grabbing for her clothes getting dressed in a frenzy to keep her skin alive.
"Michiru, get out and stay clear of the windows. Get dressed and hurry!" growled the blonde who didn't waste time tucking in her shirt. She was far too concerned in protecting her lover and shooting whoever it was that started firing on the out post.
The blonde unlocked the door and toss Michiru one of her pistols knowing she could shoot a gun. It was a talent the blonde found out when the woman stole her gun to show her how to shot. Nonetheless, Haruka still felt edgy with Michiru in potential danger. Kicking the door open, she moved quickly and ducked down avoiding the windows as the glass shattered from a load gun shot blast. The blonde had no doubts that it belonged a shotgun of sorts and cursed. They were stuck like sitting ducks in the small bunk house as bounty hunters continued to attack the post. it wasn't long until some of the attackers fell to the ground as the workers responded firing back. Even Dobson moved to defend his land firing off mulitple shots with his Winchester rifle which in turn bought the duo the time they needed to run to the barn to get out of the out post. However as they ran, Haruka turned and fired off multiple shots killing two men getting nicked by a bullet. She didn't have time to register that she had been grazed on her right side. She was too focused on getting the saddle on her horse and getting Michiru secured to ride out.
They were quick to bolt out of the barn doors running toward the woods off of the property line causing the bounty hunters to curse and regroup to trail after them. The blonde kept hold of her lover's waist urging her horse onward toward the mountains needing to get to some ground where even the must feared bounty hunters dared to travel into. The Indian lands were dangerous territories to wander into especially when the ground were porminently filled with Crow and Lakota natives. Haruka had explored the lands once before with Jak present and remembered the old trails which would keep them alive and perhaps give them the time they needed to make their hunters withdraw from the hunt.
The bounty hunters stopped in their tracks and made the decision to not even venture into the deadly territory. Many who entered the hollowed grounds never returned alive and in one piece. The Indian tribes never took a liking to the whites attempting to enter their sacred locations and it often caused great tension and war between the peoples of both sides. However, that animosity bought the duo valuable time to rest their horse as well as to nurse their blonde hadn't expected such a force to come hunting after her and was thankful to still be alive. Those hard lessons did actually sink into her memory and she thanked god that they did. She was exhausted and paler than usual to which Michiru quickly remedied. The smaller woman took care of the gash in her lover's side letting her rest afterwords while keeping a look out for a few hours.
Never before had Michiru felt freightened in her life, that was until now. She dreaded what awaited them around every rock and dark corner in fear that they would be shot. The last thing she ever wanted to witness was the love of her life being gunned down in her defense. The thoughts plagued her but she assured herself nothing like that would happen if Jak had given them the warning. Of course, her eyes didn't read over the letter but she had to believe something in the mentor of her blonde meant good intentions with writing to them. As quickly as the fear had come, it left leaving behind a slow boiling anger in the pit of the petite woman's stomach. She knew had put up that bounty and wanted nothing more than to smack him across the face as hard as she could muster.
"Damn him." she growled. She was never going to forgive her father for taking the greedy route out of his problems. She could only hope Jak could get to them before some faster shot did.
While the woman was lost in her thoughts, the blonde stirred slowly in her light slumber. The injury was shallow but would heal in time. She had been lucky she had moved when she had or else it probably would have gone through her liver causing a mortal wound. While her body remained in a calm position, her dreams began to twist and turn bringing images through her mind she truly wished not to see again. After a few minutes of trying to wake herself up, the blonde shot up only to yell out a string of curses. The injury stung like hell to her and had started to bleed again from the sudden jerk of motion. Haruka grabbed at the wound and held it gently while her mind tried to settle itself down. Those images in her dream were far to real to her to be nothing but fictional.
"Haruka, settled down. You're okay." murmured Michiru as she moved back over to her lover laying the pistol aside for the moment.
Feeling the tender kiss to her lips, Haruka settled down. "I'm sorry, Michi. I dragged you into this whole mess."
"Ruka...it's not all your fault that we are in this mess. Either way we are in it together and I don't blame you for it. We'll figure out how to get things cleared up and how to keep alive. I'm not afraid of what's ahead as long as you keep yourself from doing anything stupid."
"Hey now, I haven't done that yet. Besides, I do recall some tips on how to stay alive when being followed. Though I think we will be safe for a few days if we camp here in Lakota territory. As long as we don't bother the tribe, I don't think they will bother with us."
"How can you be so sure of that?"
"Jak brought me hunting out here a few times. I know the tribe is here watching over their lands well since I saw them everytime we came out to hunt the deer. However, we always gave proper respect to the natives and never crossed any boundary of theirs. They seemed to give us the respect as well since they never paid us much mind when we crossed into their territory time and time again to retrieve food for ourselves and the others at the post."
"Oh, I see. I'm surprised they seem so trusting of you two given the stories I've heard."
"The stories you probably heard were derived from petrified settlers who had no business trying to cross their lands. The natives don't usually attack unless they feel provoked. Unfortunately, not a lot of people seem to see them as their equals. If anything, I believe they are better than us because of how they have endured so much with us taking away their food source and constantly fighting with them over land that rightfully belongs to them." Haruka sighed rubbing the back of her head a little.
Michiru listened intently to her lover speak. It seemed the natives were the people she looked up to and Michiru could understand why after listening to her speak. She had come to understand throug their first week on the trail together. The blonde was much more at ease sleeping under a starry sky than she ever was under a building's roof. It was like she herself was a wild and untamed force to her reckoned with and yet, Michiru could tell she had reigned in that wild spirit for herself. For that, she was thankful.
"That puts me at ease though knowing they won't try to hurt us as long as we don't cross them. Kind of odd for a security feeling isn't it?" smirked the violinist.
The blonde sighed. "It works and that's what we need right now. Jak won't be able to get to us for at least a month. Her horse got injured in Dodge so we have to rely on one another."
"How fantastic. We're stuck running from god knows who in these lands in order to stay alive." sighed her companion.
"It's not you they are after, Michiru. It's me. I'm the one with the five thousand dollars on my head."
"Now don't go blaming yourself. I left willingly without explaining things to my father. I'm just as much in the wrong as you are."
"Why are we arguing over whose fault it is?" cracked the blonde with a soft chuckle.
Michiru smiled shifting to sit alongside her only to check her side seeing the wound was doing better than it had been. She had been worried when she first spotted the blood but she soon came to realize it was just a flesh wound and wasn't anything serious to note. Nonetheless, it would be rough for the next month or two if they were being hunted down like wild dogs. Her father seemed to have turned into a monster after she had left ordering such a ridiculous reward for capturing a woman who didn't even steal her away. Michiru only hoped Haruka would figure out how to do the right thing without destroying what they had started as a couple.