Chapter 10:
It had been about two weeks since Haruka's incident at the track. Her knee had healed up for the most part, but still hurt whenever she tried to do any strenuous exercise. As a result, Haruka had to change her morning run into a morning walk for the time being.
Haruka was currently out on a morning walk, when Michiru had woken up. After she woke up, she sat there contemplating the last couple of weeks.
"Her eating has gotten even more restrictive since her injury, plus I can see she's lost weight."
Michiru mused, recalling the way she had noticed Haruka's clothing was beginning to hang off of her.
"I wish she'd stop destroying herself and see herself the way I see her."
Suddenly something occurred to Michiru.
"Maybe she thinks I don't think she's beautiful. Now that I think about it, Haruka's always telling me how beautiful I look, but I don't think I've ever called her beautiful. I mean sure I've called her handsome or told her she looks nice, but I've never called her beautiful."
Michiru's eyes widened in shock.
"Oh my god, that has to be why she's trying to lose weight. She's trying to make herself beautiful for me."
"I need to do something. I need to not only tell Haruka she's beautiful, I need to show her as well."
Michiru then got an idea and quickly grabbed her phone, dialing Haruka's number. After a few rings, Haruka picked up.
"Hey, Michi, I was just on my way back home."
"That's good to hear, although that's not why I called."
"Oh, then to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"When's the last time we went on a date?"
Haruka paused for a moment to think.
"How old is Hotaru again?"
If Haruka had been in the room with her, she would've seen Michiru's jaw hit the floor.
"Has it really been that long?"
"Well I don't know for certain, but it has been a while since we've had a date night."
"How about we got out this Friday?"
Haruka paused for a moment.
"This isn't some ploy to get me to eat is it?"
"Nope, I'd just thought it'd be nice for us to go out, just the two of us."
"In that case, a date Friday night sounds nice."
Michiru could hear the happiness in Haruka's voice.
"Perfect. So I'll see you at home?"
"Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Okay, I'll see you soon. I love you."
"I love you too."
The call then ended, and Michiru headed downstairs to see how Setsuna and Hotaru were coming along with breakfast.
"Good morning, Michiru-mama."
Hotaru said, running up and giving her a hug.
"Good morning, Hime-chan. Did you sleep well?"
"Mmhm."
"Good."
Michiru gently patted Hotaru on the head, then turned her attention to Setsuna.
"Good morning, Setsuna."
"Good morning, Michiru. Is Haruka still out on her morning walk?"
"Yes, but she should be walking through the door any second now."
No sooner had Michiru spoken, Haruka walked through the front door.
"Welcome back. How was your walk?"
Michiru asked, giving Haruka a kiss.
"It was good."
Haruka said, returning the kiss.
She then felt someone tugging on her arm and looked over to see Hotaru holding a piece of toast up to her.
"What's this Hime-chan?"
Haruka asked, looking at the food being held up to her.
"It's cooked bread, otherwise known as toast. You put it in your mouth. You chew it, you swallow it, and you like it."
Hotaru said, practically shoving the toast into Haruka's face.
Haruka grabbed the toast and quickly shoved it into her mouth. This action caused Michiru and Setsuna to stare at her.
"What? She's scary."
Haruka mumbled, pointing at Hotaru. She then swallowed the toast, before retreating upstairs to take a shower.
"I'm surprised she didn't make up an excuse to not eat."
Setsuna said.
"I'm not. After all, I'm her little firefly. I knew she'd eat, I just had to get tough."
"I see. Do you plan to use that same tactic to get her to eat the rest of her breakfast?"
Michiru asked.
"It worked, didn't it?"
Michiru shook her head, an amused look on her face.
"I should go tell Haruka to be prepared for your scare tactics."
Michiru then left to give Haruka the news.
When she made it to their room, she discovered that Haruka was still in the shower. So, she decided to join her.
Michiru then stripped out of her pajamas and stepped into the shower, wrapping her arms around Haruka's waist and pressing herself against her back.
"Decided to join me?"
"Mmhm, and to let you know that Hotaru plans to use the same tactic she used to get you to eat the toast, to get you to eat the rest of your breakfast."
"Hoo boy."
Michiru couldn't help but laugh at Haruka's response.
"Just remember, she's doing it out of love."
"I never knew love could be so ominous."
"She's just scared for you. We all are."
Michiru said, her fingers absentmindedly tracing down Haruka's spine; noting how it was slightly more noticeable than she last remembered.
Haruka turned and tilted Michiru's chin up, so that she could look into the eyes of the woman she had grown to love so much.
Michiru felt her breath catch in her throat, as she stared into Haruka's eyes. She could see a variety of emotions swirling around in them, but the one that stuck out the most to her was pain.
Michiru reached her hand up and cupped Haruka's cheek.
"What's wrong, Ruka?"
Haruka knew what Michiru was really asking. She wanted to tell her that she was fine. However, Haruka knew the day would eventually come that she wouldn't be able to keep Michiru in the dark forever. She just hoped that day would be much further down the road.
Haruka then turned off the shower and stepped out. She then wrapped a towel around herself, before handing one to Michiru. Once Michiru had stepped out of the shower and wrapped the towel around herself, Haruka took her by the hand and led her to the bed.
She then took a seat on the bed and patted the spot next to her.
Michiru sat down and looked at Haruka, sensing there was something she wanted to say.
The couple sat in silence for a bit, before Haruka finally spoke. What she said though had taken Michiru aback.
"I saw my dad."
"What, when?"
"At that festival we went to a few months back, with Setsuna and Hotaru."
"Did he do or say anything to you?"
While Michiru didn't know the details as to why Haruka wanted nothing to do with her father, she knew that just the mere sight of him had the power to send the blonde into a downward spiral.
Haruka shook her head.
"I'm not sure he even knows I saw him. But ever since I did, all the memories of what he did to me came flooding back. I tried not to think about it and I was doing fine for a while. However, as more time passed it got harder and harder to suppress what he did."
"Did you ever tell anyone what he did?"
Haruka shook her head.
"Why not?"
"I didn't want to burden anyone with my problems."
"But you wouldn't have. You know that, don't you?"
Haruka shrugged.
"I guess, but telling wouldn't make a difference. It happened so long ago, so it's not like he'd get any kind of punishment for it."
"Even if that's true, don't you think getting it out in the open would help you to heal?"
"I doubt it."
"Why?"
"Seeing my dad isn't the reason I've been eating very little and exercising a lot. Well it's not the only reason."
Michiru was once again thrown for a loop.
"It's not? Then what's the other reason?"
"Umm…"
Haruka knew she should probably tell Michiru the reason, but she couldn't bring herself to do so.
"You know, breakfast is probably getting cold. We should get going."
Haruka then quickly got dressed and raced down the stairs, before Michiru had a chance to say anything.
Michiru sat there, completely dumbfounded.
End of chapter 10: