Notes:
I still only own Michiko, Kishi, Akira, and the Yankees. :) Also, to clarify, while this story does follow the rules of Harry Potter magic, there is no interaction with any Potter-verse characters. She attended a similar school, but it isn't one that would have put her in contact with anyone from the canon. I adopted those rules because they are familiar to nearly everyone and wouldn't require further explanation on how magic works or the limits. For these reasons, I have not listed it as a crossover, but if you think that would be more appropriate then I'm happy to change it. JK Rowling owns all the spells and Potter-verse vocabulary I've mentioned, and the rest still belongs to Natsuki Takaya. If you have any questions or something makes no sense please let me know. Thank you so much for reading this! Have a wonderful day!
~Tali
Chapter 17 – Why not?
I know you haven't made your mind up yet
But I would never do you wrong
I've known it from the moment that we met
There's no doubt in my mind where you belong
~ To Make You Feel my Love," Garth Brooks
Haru felt his heart start pounding as he took a deep breath. They'd finished eating and it was time. The whole point of this picnic was to remind her of their first date and how far they'd come since. "Let's go for a walk."
She allowed him to pull her to her feet and twined her fingers with his as they walked in the late afternoon sunshine. They came to a spot where the sun slanted through the leaves in dusty rays and they could hear the creek burbling behind them. She looked up at him with a smile and his heart stumbled in his chest. "There's something I want to talk with you about."
"All right. What's up?"
"I don't think I've told you how happy I am to have found you." He watched her face soften and continued, "I've never been as happy as I have been these last several months. Thank you for finding me."
She reached for him and he wrapped his larger hands around her small ones. "I'm so happy that I did."
He shifted until he was on his knee in front of her and brought her hands to his lips for a soft kiss. His heart started galloping in his chest as he pulled in a breath. "Both sides of me love you so much. We want to love you for the rest of our lives. Will you please marry me?"
Haru's heart dropped when her expression slid into confusion, then sadness. "I can't."
"Why not? I thought you loved me."
"Haru, I-I love you more than anything, but I can't get married."
"Why not?"
"Because marriage leads to family and I'm not ready for that."
He felt the tension in his shoulders ease at that and he returned to his feet, "We don't need to have a family for many years. We're much too young."
"And you're still in school."
"And you're making sure I don't get distracted."
"We've known each other for less than a year."
"Our hearts belong to each other. We'll know each other for a long, long time."
He watched as tears welled in her eyes before she looked away and eased her hands out of his, "I can't. I'm sorry. I understand if you don't want to see me anymore."
He felt the foundation they had built together drop away with her refusal. "I don't understand. You love me and I love you."
"I know, but I can't get married."
"Why? We do all of the things married people do, why not make it official?"
"Can't we just keep going as we have been? There's no need to get married right now, is there?"
Haru considered her for a long moment as he tried to puzzle out her reluctance to marry him while still wanting to be with him. "So, you want to be together but you don't want to get married?"
"Yes." she replied as she reached for his hands but stopped short of her goal, uncertain of the reception. "I don't want you to go, but I understand if you do."
He clasped her hands, "I'm not going anywhere. I want to marry you and you want to marry me, even if you don't want to admit it. I'll keep trying until you agree." He pulled her against him for a tight hug. "We're going to be married one day."
"Do you really think so?" she asked as she picked up his clothes.
"Just as soon as I figure out why you're so against the idea. Let's go home and watch a movie." He nudged her to start walking.
"As soon as you're Haru-shaped."
"Haru-shaped?"
"Yes." She started gathering everything up as he changed back and tugged on his clothes. He ran a hand down her hair as they walked to the clearing near Shigure's in near silence. She Apparated them to the alley and they made their way upstairs.
They settled on the couch and he flipped on the TV and started whatever was in the DVD player. It was the scary movie they had watched the first time he spent the night. "See? Even the television agrees."
She chuckled a little against his neck before settling down to bury her face in his shoulder.
----------
A week later Haru stomped in the door around three in the morning to find Michiko, finally home, and looking exhausted. "Where the hell have you been for the past three days?"
She gave him a startled look, "Didn't you get my messages?"
"What messages?" He yanked his phone out of his pocket and showed her it was on. "You haven't called or come home in three days!"
"I couldn't call from where I was so I sent owls. Didn't they come by?"
He paused and tried to make sense of what she was telling him. "You sent an owl to what, exactly?"
"With letters. Well, quick notes, really. I only had a moment and then I had to get back to work." She hauled herself off the couch and went to the kitchen window. Sure enough, there was a small stack of letters sitting on the ledge outside the window. He watched as she opened each one and then handed them to him. Haru took his eyes off her long enough to glance down, then look again. "How did those get there?"
"I sent them by owl. If the window isn't open they leave them on the ledge."
"You send letters by owl instead of call?"
"Phones don't mix with magic, remember? It took me a long time to make your phone work the way it does. There's no way I can get mine to work in the office. There's too much magic."
"Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? Couldn't you have popped in or something?"
She shook her head, "I was in quarantine. Couldn't leave the building until I tested clean."
"What about Kishi?"
"She was working with me when it happened."
"No wonder Hatori was so aggravating today. Still, you can't go disappearing for days at a time." he brought himself back on topic. "What if you died? I wouldn't even know."
"Someone would tell you. You're my emergency contact and Hatori is listed as my doctor."
"That isn't making me feel any better."
"Well, what do you want from me? I was sick as a dog and had to keep my mind enough on the problem to solve it. You think the last three days have been a picnic for me? Why do you think I didn't come home? To piss you off?"
He closed the distance between them and took hold of her shoulders, "I have no idea why you would disappear for days at a time. The guys and I have been combing the city for you. It hasn't been a picnic here, either. In fact, I should call and let them know we can call it off."
"Is that why you're just walking in the door in the middle of a school night?"
"Yes." he yanked out his phone and started typing text messages. He had to send them to nearly everyone since they'd been looking in pairs and as individuals. Even Shigure and Ayame had agreed to help when they found out what was going on. His phone started ringing before he finished. When he didn't answer, since he was still typing, Michiko's started ringing instead. She flicked it open only to get an earful from Kai with someone yelling in the background.
"W-what? . . . No, I'm fine. I'm sorry I worried you. . . . I tried to send messages and I guess they didn't get through. . . . Really, I'm fine. I'm sorry I worried all of you. Please thank everyone for me and we'll get together maybe next week? . . . Okay, that sounds good. . . . . No, Haru is still sending text messages. How many groups of you are there? . . . Everyone? . . . In pairs? Can you help him pass along the message so everyone can get some rest? . . . Thanks. See you later."
She had no sooner hung up the phone when someone burst through the door. Before they could blink Kyou was glaring down at her and Tohru was edging into the room. "Just where the hell have you been?"
"At work. I'm sorry if you were worried."
"Why didn't you call?"
She huffed, "As I just explained to Haru, I tried to send a message, and I was unable to make any calls."
"Then you should have just come home."
She shook her head. "One day I'll tell you exactly what a bad day at work involves. Rest assured I would not disappear if I had a choice."
Tohru slid around Kyou and wrapped her in a hug. "I'm glad you're okay. We're going to go home now, right Kyou-kun?"
He looked Michiko over once more to make sure she was okay before nodding, "See you later."
"Thanks for stopping by." When the door closed behind them Haru returned his attention to Michiko and opened his arms. She smiled tiredly and accepted the short hug then held his clothes out when he turned back.
"Ready to get some sleep?"
"Oh, yes."
"You're still in trouble."
"For what? I tried to contact you in the only way I could."
"Just because I was worried about you so much."
She looked up at him, "I really am sorry."
"Sorry enough to marry me?"
"No."
"Then you must not be that sorry." he countered.
"Are we really going to get into this in the middle of the night?"
"Why not?"
"What part of no don't you understand?"
"The part where you say you want to be with me but don't want to marry me. That's not no, that's I'm too scared to commit."
She crossed her arms, "I am not scared of commitment."
"Then say yes."
"NO."
"You'll change your mind eventually."
"I won't."
"Now you're just being argumentative."
"I am not."
He lifted a brow and she fell silent, fuming. "We've worked through being too young, not knowing each other long enough, you thinking it's just a bad idea in general, not having anything against the institution of marriage itself, housing, schooling. What's next?"
"Nothing. I'm going to bed."
He followed her and caught her shirt when she threw it at him. "Laundry? Chores? You're worried I'll be one of those husbands that sits around watching sports and drinking beer while you raise the kids and clean the house?"
"Please. I don't think I've heard you mention a single sport aside from sparring and you'd rather do it than watch it on TV."
"Just making sure. I told you we're going to work through all the reasons. I've got nothing but time, kitten."
"What about your parents? I've never met them."
"That is not a loss. Besides, Hatori is more of a father to me so you have met who's most important."
"I thought as much. Can we go to bed now?"
"Yes. You should come over here and kiss your husband-to-be hello. You haven't kissed me in days."
That tugged a wisp of a smile out of her as she crossed the room and gave him what he asked for before tugging him into bed.
----------
"Are you Black again?" Michiko asked softly as he stomped through the door, again.
"And if I am?"
"Just wondering why."
"You're finally home."
"For a few hours."
"How much longer before you finish this case?"
She spread her hands, "I don't know. Kishi's put even more people on it so hopefully we'll finish soon."
"Good." He flicked something at her and she nearly fumbled it before she got a good hold on it. It was a ring. She looked at it for a moment before returning her gaze to him.
"What's this?"
"Your engagement ring."
"It's beautiful. Where did you find it?"
"I designed it. Will you put it on?"
"We discussed this already."
"We're discussing it again."
"My answer is the same."
"Then tell the truth about it so we can move on." he retorted as he invaded her space.
Her eyes narrowed, "You can't intimidate me into giving you the answer you want."
"Can't I?"
She pressed the ring into his hand, "No, you can't. If that's the girl you're looking for, you missed."
"Kitten, I just don't understand you. You love me and we both know it. Why won't you marry me?"
"How do we know this is going to stick? This is the only real relationship I've ever been in. I don't know what I'm doing."
"No one does. That's part of the fun."
"Do you know what marriage means to me?"
"To have someone love you for the rest of your life?"
"No. Not even close."
"Kitten, what are you talking about? Marriage is having that someone that knows and understands you better than anyone by your side forever. What else could it possibly mean?"
"Two people that despise each other but can't get away . . . A broken family with no hope for the future . . . People that hurt not only their child, but each other . . . Screaming fights that last all night . . . Cold shoulders that last for weeks . . . Pain. Suffering. Humiliation. I've never seen anything good come from marriage."
He took a deep breath and let it go. "Kitten, you know none of those things apply to us."
"How can I? Surely, they weren't like that when they were our age. When they first got married I bet they were happy like every other couple."
"Kitten, those things do not apply to us. We love each other. People that honestly love each other don't do those things to their partner. We might argue now and then, but it will never be like that because we love and respect each other."
"But, Haru, I don't know that. And neither do you."
"I do. I'm just waiting for you to catch up."
"What about your family?"
"What about them?"
"I'm sure they aren't in favor of this."
"I don't care."
"What about Akito?"
"I'll keep him away from you."
"Are you going to let me keep him away from you?"
"You stay away from him. It's worth it to me no matter what he does."
"I don't want you hurt because of me."
He gripped her hands. "If I get hurt it'll be because of him, not you. Can you make it so he doesn't find out?"
"Maybe. Probably."
"Then that's not a problem, is it?"
"My answer is still no. It's too soon."
"I've known we belong together for a long time."
"Just because we belong together doesn't mean we have to get married."
"Yes, it does. We can compromise on a lot of things, but that's not one of them. You will belong to me in every possible way, as I will you. I'm going to keep asking until you say yes. Each time, something new will come out and we can talk about it and eventually you'll run out of things to say except yes." He pulled a fine silver chain out of his pocket and strung the ring on it before clasping it around her neck and dropping it down her shirt. "Here, this should help you get used to wearing it." She tried to protest but he gave her a dark look, "It's a gift. Enjoy it."
----------
Haru walk through the door, eyes fixed ahead with determination. He was going to convince her to marry him today. He was not taking no for an answer this time. He had worked up the nerve to propose and she had put him off. So he had kept asking nearly every day for the last month, trying to wear her down and work through all the reasons she was so determined to say no. He swung the door shut behind him and headed directly to the living room without taking his shoes off. "Mi-" was as far as he got before stumbling over a stack of books and landing on his face. "What the hell?"
"I'm sorry! I'm looking for something and didn't realize how late it was." she apologized as she pulled him to his feet. She flicked her wand and all the books were put away. "Here, let me take care of that."
"So you're working eighty-plus hours a week and still felt the need to bring your work home with you?"
"Sort of pathetic, isn't it?" She cupped his face for a moment then grabbed a tissue to wipe away the blood that had been flowing from his nose. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to booby-trap you."
He pulled her hands away from his face and held them, "It's fine. Mi, will you marry me now?"
"Because I broke your nose?"
"No, because you love me."
"Haru, you know I can't. I thought you'd understand by now."
"I don't understand, Mi. Why not?" Haru asked in frustration, eyes flickering between gray and black. "Kitten, you love me, I love you, and I've more or less been living here for the last couple months."
"I know that Haru, but we're so young. You're almost seventeen and I'm nineteen. We have our whole lives ahead of us to get married. I don't think we should until you're at least out of high school. I don't want to risk you thinking you should drop out."
"I'm in love, not stupid. I wouldn't drop out. I know that would make it ten times more difficult for us and I don't want to live off of family money my whole life."
"I know, but I can't help but worry. It just seems so sudden. I had no idea you were thinking about getting married."
"Well, isn't that sort of the point of a surprise proposal?" he asked rhetorically. "Besides, asking every day for a month takes the surprise out of it."
"I suppose that's true, but I still think we're too young to get married."
"I don't think we are. We're doing all the things married people do anyway, so why not make it official? What difference does it make?"
"The difference is that if you wake up one day and decide this isn't working for you, you can walk away." she replied gently.
"I'm not going to." he insisted stubbornly.
"You can't know that, Haru."
"Of course I can. You are the only person I have ever met that accepts all of me as I am. You know my black side and care about him too. No one else ever has. They avoid me entirely and only Yuki will talk to me voluntarily, if hesitantly, when I'm like that. You have accepted and embraced that side of me since you first met. You care about my black side as much as my white and I can feel he has responded to that by calming down a bit."
She reached out to touch his cheek, "Is that really the way it's been for you? I didn't realize that."
He nodded slowly, willing her to truly understand where he was coming from. She must have seen some of it in his eyes because she smiled gently and pulled him in for a kiss.
When she pulled away she looked him in the eyes, "Are you certain this is what you want?"
"Yes. Would I have asked you umpteen million times if I wasn't sure?"
Michiko smiled a little at him as she dryly observed, "I suppose not."
"Are you finally saying yes?"
"I am."
"It's about damn time. If I had known that was all it was going to take I would have brought that up weeks ago." he grumbled before tugging the necklace out from under her shirt and removing the ring from it. He slipped it on her finger before she could change her mind. He had finally won and he wasn't going to take any chances. "We're getting married tomorrow."
"What?"
"I'm not giving you a chance to change your mind after you made me work so hard to get the right answer." He tugged her into his lap and kissed her senseless before tossing her over his shoulder and carrying her off to bed. He wanted to see how she looked wearing just the ring he had given her where it should properly be.
----------
"So, they really won't look too closely at the forms?" he asked. They were going to the local courthouse to get married. They hadn't told anyone because they didn't want it getting back to Akito and causing trouble.
"No, the charm will keep them from studying it closely and when they look at it, they'll see what they need."
"Good. So I just need to sign here and here and we're set?" he asked, pointing to a couple highlighted lines.
"Yes, right there next to mine." Michiko agreed as she handed him a pen.
Haru scrawled his name on the lines with a flourish and handed the form and pen to Michiko. "Anything else before we go to the courthouse?"
"Actually, yes. Disguises so no one remembers us. Any preferences in yours?"
Haru considered that carefully for several long moments before speaking, "Do we have to change our appearances? I want to see you when I marry you."
Michiko considered him for a moment, "I can disguise us on the way in and change us back for the actual ceremony, then cloud the mind of the person who does the ceremony to make us difficult to recall."
"You're really serious about no one knowing, aren't you?"
"You're the one that said Akito is going to be very angry about you getting married without his consent. I'm just doing what I can to make it difficult for him to find out. I don't like the way he treats all of you like his playthings. Hatori, Yuki, Kyou, Isuzu, and Kisa have all suffered at his hands. I would prefer to avoid a confrontation with him because I'm not sure I would be able to control myself if he tried to harm you."
"What do you mean?" Haru asked curiously.
"He hurt my family, and deserves serious punishment for that." she replied quietly.
"It's not your place to punish him, and if you tried, he would only hurt you too."
"He'd have to catch me first." she said playfully before tugging on his arm. "Enough of this serious stuff, we're getting married. How do you want to be disguised?"
He smiled back, "All black hair and blue eyes like yours."
She flicked her wand and he glanced in the mirror to see his hair and eyes had changed. He looked over at her and frowned, "Why am I looking straight at you instead of down?"
"Height is another easy way to identify someone. If they see a couple of the same height walking around they're not going to think of us when they're told the male is taller than the female, are they?"
"I suppose not." He glanced around before returning is attention to her, "Things really are different down here."
Michiko smacked his arm, "Quiet you." She concentrated for a moment and her hair changed to an all black bob, her eyes changed to a deep brown, and her figure became much curvier.
"What's with the curves?" Haru asked as he ran a curious finger down the center of her chest, stopping between her newly enlarged breasts. They certainly felt real.
"Not going to think of us when they say the girl has a slight build."
"Not especially thinking of that just now." he said before removing both finger and gaze. "Why are you so good at disguising yourself?"
"Years of practice."
"Why?"
"I was on the run. I had to make sure no one recognized me or could follow me to where I was hiding."
"We should talk about this more later." he said firmly. "Now let's go get married."
She smiled brilliantly. "Lead on."
Michiko held Haru's hand as they followed the Priest to the shrine. Her eyes widened as she saw it had pretty lavender blossoms around it and several white wooden chairs lined up in front of it. She leaned close to Haru to whisper, "This is much prettier than I expected."
"Not as pretty as you." he responded with a smile. She had found a simple white summer dress with red embroidery on the collar and hems. Haru thought she looked quite lovely with the flush now warming her cheeks.
They stepped up to the shrine and turned to face the Priest. He smiled at them before beginning a simple ceremony. Haru couldn't keep his eyes off of Michiko once they began and before he knew it they had exchanged cups of sake and rings and then he was kissing his wife.
When he pulled back, he smiled at her, "Aishiteru, Michiko. You don't know how much."
She tugged him over for another kiss before responding, "I love you more than you know."
He returned his attention to the Priest and thanked him before signing the certificate and handing the pen to Michiko. He listened as he told him they needed to take it into the main building to have it filed and then they would be finished. Once he finished they bowed and as he headed out of the room Michiko flicked the spell at him then at Haru to disguise him again.
"All set?"
"Yes." she tapped the certificate with her wand to make it difficult to find before accepting Haru's hand and allowing him to lead her downstairs.
Once the certificate was filed with the correct department, she and Haru walked out of the building and into the sunshine.
----------
"Do you want to pick up the rest of your stuff today?" Michiko asked.
"Yeah, I just haven't figured out how to get it out of there without anyone noticing."
"I can Apparate us directly into your room if you like." she offered.
"Okay, let's go."
She looked into his eyes, "Concentrate on your room. See it very clearly and in as much detail as you can . . . . Do you have it?"
He nodded and felt something a little odd at the edge of his mind before she took his wrist and they disappeared. Haru looked around as he saw they were standing in his room. He poked his head out the door and saw that no one was home. "Perfect. I don't have any boxes-" he began before turning back around and seeing Michiko folding clothes from his closet into box and a small stack of them on the floor next to her. "Where did those come from?"
"Magic. Get packing." she said with a smile.
He grabbed a box and started loading his books and music into it. A couple hours later, they packed the last of his things and he surveyed the stacks of boxes now in the center of his room. "How did I get so much stuff? How are we going to get it all back home?"
"Easy. Hold out your hands." Michiko instructed before flicking her wand at the stack and shrinking it down so that they all fit in the palm of his hand.
Haru raised a brow, "Now that is a neat trick."
"Thank you. Shall we go home now?"
"Let me put this back up so they'll see it whenever they get home." Haru replied as he walked over to the dresser and re-taped the note with his new cell number onto the mirror. "All set."
She wrapped her arm around his waist and took them home. Once there she made a few discreet changes to the closet space and hung up all of his clothes while he shelved his books and music and put away everything else they had brought with them. When she had finished she walked out to see Haru empty the last box into the bookshelf and smiled.
"Hello, Anata. How does it feel to be officially moved in?"
His eyes crinkled in a smile, "Good, Omea. Now why don't you come over here and welcome your husband home properly."
Her smiled turned flirtatious as she made her way over to him, "All right." She tugged him down for a lingering kiss before pulling him over to the couch.
Sometime later Haru smiled down at her, "Hey, what did you do with that little outfit Ayame made for you? I'd like to see you in that again."
She laughed at him, "You have me here naked and you want me to go get dressed?"
"Yeah, so I can undress you again. Go put it on. Please?"
Michiko huffed a mock sigh, "Fine. I'll be back in a minute." She got up and was back a couple minutes later wearing the little gray dress. She watched as Haru's eyes darkened to black. "I thought you only went Black when you were annoyed?"
"Or when I see a very sexy kitten walk into the room." he purred before pulling her flush against him and kissing her deeply.
"So, are you going to tell me about that other tattoo?" she asked playfully as they paused to breathe. She had tried to get White Haru to tell her about it, but he had refused.
Haru looked at her with eyes dancing with mischief, "Which one?"
She reached down and traced the black cat-girl in a slinky purple negligee that rode low on his hipbone. "That one."
He smiled, "I got that one night when I was thinkin' about you."
"Really? And what were you thinking that your other side won't tell me?"
"About how much I wanted to see my kitten in something like that so I could take it off."
"Well, that's not so bad. Why wouldn't you want me to know that?"
He shrugged, "Our Yankee friends talked me into it. I told them I had a sexy kitten to get back to and they said I should get a tattoo so she'd always be with me. It seemed like a good idea at the time."
That explains what the guys were talking about then. She lifted a brow, "And how many had you had to drink before this discussion took place?"
He shrugged carelessly, "Enough." He pulled her up for a kiss and soon she was entirely distracted from the conversation.