To Michiru's relief, they made it out of the building without running into any of Steele's soldiers; it seemed a bit strange to her that the army's base wasn't crawling with men looking for them, but on the other hand, the sniper figured, Steele had what she had wanted from them, and technically had no further reason to hold them captive.
The town itself was surprisingly quiet and empty, as well, but the sniper decided to not question this bit of good luck; thanks to the lack of people out to capture or even kill them, they made it out of Old Haven safely, and soon were back at the cave where they had slept earlier that day, Haruka flopping down to the floor in exhaustion the moment they were safely out of sight.
"Man", she then mumbled, raising her head to look at Michiru as the sniper sorted through the few supplies they had left at the cave, making sure no animals had gotten at them, "just a bit of electricity and I'm all tired out."
It surprised Michiru quite a bit of how easily Haruka made light of what she had gone through; shaking her head, she moved to sit beside her, reaching out with one hand to run it through her hair, making her smile at the tender touch.
"I'm sorry that this happened to you", the sniper told her, finally allowing herself to relax as she decided that they were safe now, "Steele figured out that torturing me wouldn't lead anywhere, so she did it to you instead…"
"Well, it hurt", Haruka admitted, "but you stopped them before it could get too bad. That was quite badass, by the way, I didn't know you could do that."
"Neither did I until I did it", Michiru let her know, making her smirk again; she smiled back at her, then got up again and moved back to the supplies, finding one of their canteens there, and pushing it into Haruka's hand, telling her to drink, figuring that she'd want to get the taste of vomit out of her mouth.
Proving her right, Haruka washed her mouth out first, moving to the cave's exit to spit so there was no danger of any of them ending up sitting in the water; afterwards, she drank deeply, then handed the canteen back to Michiru, half of the water gone, the sniper finishing the rest of it.
"We got out quite easily", she then stated, "but they might be searching for us, so we should stay hidden here for a while. If they do find us here, this place is easier to defend than a camp out in the open would be."
She didn't say her other reason for wanting to lay low for a while out loud, but figured that Haruka knew about it, anyway – after the hit the blonde had taken to the head, it was quite likely that she had at least a mild concussion, and on top of that, she didn't want her moving around again just an hour after she'd been tortured.
"Sounds good", Haruka agreed, making her smile slightly; then, she moved to sit behind her, telling her to hold still and that she wanted to take a look at her head, a small wince coming from the blonde when Michiru carefully ran her fingers through her hair and found the bump fairly quickly.
"Sorry", the sniper murmured, giving her best to be gentle as she parted her hair to get a better look, glad to see that the hit had merely raised a bump and that the skin hadn't split, "but I have to make sure this isn't actually a dangerous head injury. Is your vision alright?"
"Yeah", Haruka let her know, giving her best to sit still, even though it became increasingly harder when Michiru's fingers slid away from the bump and down her neck, trailing the fine hair growing there, "and I'm not nauseous anymore, either. Guy didn't hit that hard."
Her voice hitched at the last few words, something she blamed on the fact that now, Michiru was tracing her spine with her fingertips; even through her vest and shirt, she could feel the warmth of the sniper's touch, and she was quite sure that Michiru had noticed her reaction to what she was doing.
Michiru knew that her sudden urge for intimacy was easily explained, and briefly even wondered if it somehow made her weak; she had read about this, about the need to be close to someone shortly after escaping a life-threatening situation, but until this very moment, she never had experienced it, surprised by the intensity with which the need had hit her.
She wondered if it was the same for Haruka, or if living on Pandora had desensitized her to danger for life and limp; and just then, Haruka turned to look at her, and Michiru could see the lust in her eyes, her heart skipping a beat as the heat in Haruka's gaze only made her own lust grow.
"You know", she murmured, already moving closer to slide her vest down her arms, "I better check to make sure they really didn't hurt you."
She tugged at Haruka's shirt, and obediently, the blonde raised her arms; quickly, Michiru pulled it over her head, carelessly tossing it aside before she moved to straddle her, making her lie down flat on her back with tender pressure.
"Hm", she let out as she ran her hands up the taller woman's sides, smiling at how her breath caught in her throat again at the touch, "I can't see any marks. But I might have to take a closer look."
She bent down, the sensation of her warm breath on Haruka's stomach making the blonde shudder; she took a moment to smile, then began to make her way up to the taller woman's face in form of a trail of tender kisses, leading up her flat stomach and over her chest until she could capture Haruka's mouth with hers.
Eager to touch her, Haruka reached up with one hand, only to have Michiru take tender, but still firm hold of her wrist and push her hand back down; she pulled back from the kiss and smirked at her, a hint of mischief in her voice when she spoke up.
"No, no", she scolded playfully, "no moving. Just lie there. Doctor's orders."
"Didn't know you're a doctor", Haruka gave back, earning another smile from the sniper before she leaned down again and kissed her deeply once, bracing herself against the floor with one hand while the other ran up and down the blonde's side, then found one of her breasts, Haruka's gasp muffled by Michiru's mouth on hers.
It wasn't the first time that the sniper touched her like this, but by now, she was quite sure that it'd never stop sending jolts all through her body; spurred on by her reaction, Michiru pulled back from the kiss, never stopping the caressing of her breasts as her tongue trailed over Haruka's throat, the blonde's hands twitching as she fought the urge to touch Michiru again.
If Michiru had noticed her predicament, it didn't give her reason to stop; she smiled against the taller woman's throat, then moved further down, earning an unarticulated exclamation from Haruka when her lips closed around her nipple.
Still bracing herself against the ground with one hand, she let the other slide down, until her fingers found the button of her lover's pants; skilfully, she opened it, then pulled down the zipper, met with warm wetness when she slid her hand inside.
Teasingly, she moved her fingers just the tiniest bit, just enough to get a reaction; and she got it quickly, Haruka letting out a groan which she silenced with another kiss, the blonde now forgetting what the sniper had told her earlier, entangling one hand in her hair while the other moved around her waist, her hand coming to a tender rest on her back.
Deciding that she wouldn't reprimand her, Michiru kissed her for a bit longer, then pulled back yet again; she took a moment to smile at her, then moved down again, a brief tuck at Haruka's pants sufficient to make her raise her hips, and quickly, Michiru pulled them down along with her boxers, far enough to expose all the areas she wanted access to.
Not wasting any time, Michiru moved down further, then lowered her head; the smallest flicker of her tongue was enough to make Haruka gasp again, and when she intensified her efforts, the blonde soon was groaning and moaning, her fingers tightening in the sniper's hair until she was sure it would hurt any moment.
Clearly, Haruka still was aware of this as well, since her hold loosened again, then her fingers found Michiru's shirt instead, bunching it up in her fist as the smaller woman kept up her efforts; and not long after she had gotten started, Haruka twitched beneath her, the way she groaned out her name as she reached the top of her lust making her feel decidedly hot, as well.
Letting her come down slowly, Michiru didn't stop at once, but gradually lessened the intensity until she finally pulled back; panting, Haruka just laid there for a while, her face quite flushed still when she raised her head at last to look at the sniper.
"That", she then brought out, voice even hoarser than usual, "was amazing."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it", Michiru replied, smiling; not willing to stop touching her yet, she let one hand trail over her upper body, circling the puckered circle of a scar left by a bullet wound here and the uneven, jagged one caused by a knife there, the sniper involuntarily asking herself how often Haruka already had gotten hurt in her life, knowing that the scars her fingers had encountered weren't the only ones on her body.
"Enjoyed it is an understatement", Haruka told her, propping herself up on her elbows so she could look at her properly, "as I said, it was amazing. You are amazing."
"Thank you", Michiru smirked, moving back up for another kiss; and this time, Haruka not only touched her, but slid her hand beneath her shirt, caressing her heated skin, making it her turn to smile when the sniper shuddered visibly at her touch.
"I think", she then rumbled, the sound of her voice sending shivers up and down Michiru's spine, "it is time for some payback."
"Is that so", Michiru inquired, raising an eyebrow; Haruka gave her a smirk in response, then moved to kiss her yet again, simultaneously getting her to lie on her back, somehow managing to do so without breaking the kiss, the fears and the setbacks of the day soon forgotten as all Michiru could focus on anymore was Haruka's kiss and touch.