It’s Friday yet again, and that means it’s time for Chapter 10 of HaruMichi BatB! See the Masterpost for previous chapters, and thank you all for reading and commenting!

___________

Haruka found a perch in the dining room hours before she expected Michiru to come. She did not want any surprise encounters. Situated on an oversized windowsill, she played with the tassels on the end of the big velvet curtain and tried to sort herself out.

She kept coming up against the same things– she was stupid for wanting to try, but she had to. Not just for Usagi and Mako, but because there was something in her that had to know what and who Michiru could be. She took out her phone. She pressed power just in case, by magic or luck, it might suddenly turn on and let her make a call. The screen stayed black. Haruka cradled it against her stomach and leaned into the window. She needed Mina as much as she ever had, maybe more. Mina was sometimes her only gage of how stupid she was being. Mina let her know the difference between the stupid she had to be to find things out on her own– “You? Wanna try having a one night stand? Oh, man. Oh Haruka.”– and the sort of stupid that was dangerous– “You can’t keep doing this, I refuse to get a call that you wrapped your car around a telephone poll because some douche revved his engine at you.”

Haruka was not always great at seeing the difference alone.

Haruka also suspected Mina would not say what she wanted to hear.

Sometimes, being afraid made her more stupid. She ran towards a scary thing instead of away, until someone pulled her back. Just this time, someone was pulling her in.

She heard Michiru outside the door before she saw her, pacing yet again. She was early too, judging by the light in the window.

A thought struck Haruka. She pulled the curtain back in place and watched the room through the small gap between it and the wall.

Michiru came in slowly, peeking through the door side to side to see if anyone was there. Her whole body loosened when she saw no one. She slid over to the table to survey Haruka’s food choice of the day– pizza, though Haruka had picked the weird, apparently authentic kind a girlfriend had showed her once, where instead of full cheesy goodness there were just little circles. Haruka had been appalled, but it seemed like it might be more to Michiru’s taste.

Haruka watched that tiny smile cross her face, and wondered– was it how she looked or what she could do that made her frightening? Haruka did not feel scared watching from afar. She made herself look at Michiru, not averting her eyes from any part. Her hair was still done up in a limp but tight bun, braided and wrapped around itself. From the shoulders up, she might have been an ordinary, sickly person. And her arms were no different, until you got to her fingers and they morphed to claws at the last knuckle. Her body bore no curves, only straight lines beneath scales until it tapered into the end of her tail.

The more Haruka looked, the more at ease she felt. If Michiru did not lash out again, Haruka might be able to get comfortable. Michiru only looked monstrous if you didn’t look at her, if you let details surprise and shock you. Looking at her now, Haruka saw a person. Maybe still a frightening person, given what she could do and had done, but a person.

Michiru began pacing again. She gestured with her claws, reached up to her hair before thinking better of it and shaking her head. Haruka wondered what she was thinking.

And without thinking it through, she asked.

Michiru gave a start and knocked over a chair. She looked to Haruka’s window with furry and, Haruka recognized for the first time, fear. “What are you doing?”

“I came here to think a bit, and then you came in.” Haruka’s muscles tensed, prepared to run.

For a moment Michiru looked ready to attack, but then she shrunk into herself. “Am I such a spectacle to you?”

“No.” Haruka took a chance and slid down. “It’s just that, if I look at you, you don’t seem so scary. So that seems like my part of things, you know. I gotta try and meet you halfway.”

“You don’t.” Michiru turned away. “It’s not your job to try and do whatever you think will help.”

“Well, I’m going to anyway. I want to be your friend.”

A nearly inaudible laugh came from Michiru. “That’s very admirable. I will try and do my part as well.”

“You did good, just now.”

She barked a real laugh now. “Oh, I have set the bar low, haven’t I?”

“We’ll raise it as we go.” Haruka braved a step closer. She did not look away from the scales and claws. “I’ve done a lot of bad stuff too. I had to learn a lot.”

“I’ve had a lot more time than you to learn.”

“Hey, remember what I said?” Another step. “We gotta believe we can do better, and make the choice to follow through.”

Michiru looked back at her over her shoulder. “Believing is easier said than done.”

“You’ve got someone already believing in you, though.” Without thinking, Haruka reached out and touched Michiru’s elbow.

If MIchiru had looked afraid before, she now appeared filled with terror. Haruka may as well have been holding her beating heart in her hand, rather than resting her fingertips on her bony arm. Her own heart rammed hard against her ribs. For a long moment, the whole world was frozen in their locked eyes.

And then Michiru pulled away, gliding halfway across the room. “I don’t…” She cradled her elbow with her other hand.  “I…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t be.” Michiru straightened and stiffened her posture. “Your choice for dinner tonight intrigues me. Perhaps taste has not been entirely abandoned this century.”

Haruka smiled and followed her tone shift. “I felt bad, making you try so much junk. This seemed to have a chance of you at least not hating it.”

“We will have to see.” She took a seat, and when Haruka sat just one chair away, she did not move.

It was progress, Haruka was sure. As they began to eat, she felt a warmth spread inside her from something more than the food.