Author: sittingoverheredreaming

Part three of HaruMichi BatB! See the masterpost for previous installments. And as always, comments are the best! 

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The sun was Haruka’s only hint at the time. The room she’d been given had two small windows, facing south, just large enough to stick her head out of. They bore heavy red velvet curtains that cast her into eternal night when closed. Open, though… she managed to pin one side to the wall with an understuffed armchair that had been in the corner.

It was morning, now. The sunlight glittered on the dew-wet tree tops. Haruka tried to see her truck through the leaves, but she could not even find the road. It wouldn’t matter if she could find her way to it, though. There was nothing but trees as far as she could see, and without gas she did not trust she’d make it back to civilization.

“It’s a bit too small if you’re trying to escape.”

Haruka jumped, banging her head on the top of the window. She bit her lip to keep from swearing. Behind her was… at first she saw nothing, but then it moved. A little ripple in the light, the faintest shadow of a human form… two human forms. The ghosts the mon- the ghosts Michiru had mentioned.

“Oh dear!” the shorter one said, scurrying to Haruka’s side, arms posed like she held up voluminous unseen skirts. “We didn’t mean to startle you! Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just a little bump.”

The little ghost stretched to reach Haruka’s head. Her fingers ruffled through her hair like a winter breeze. Haruka shivered, but the pain receded.

“I’m Usagi.” The ghost dipped into something like a curtsy. “And this is Makoto. Do you by chance know my daughter?”

The ghost did not have any discernible facial features, but Haruka could feel the eagerness radiate from her. She felt a tug of deep sadness. If the mansion was as old as it seemed, the ghost’s daughter was probably long gone.

“I’m not from around here, sorry.”

“That’s a pity, my daughter has probably grown into a wonderful lady you’d be lucky to know. Or…” the ghost spun excitedly. “It’s a good thing, because if my daughter is your age, you’d surely fall in love with her instead of–”

“Usagi.”

The small ghost made herself smaller. “Sorry.”

Makoto came forward, gliding rather than walking. “Our Lady Michiru believed you may need company.”

“Oh, no, I’m alright, you guys don’t need to—“

“But we want to!” Usagi butted in again. “We haven’t had a visitor in… in…” She froze, fading in and out of full color and clarity. She was round and blonde, with blue eyes wide in horror. “It’s been…” She rose a transparent hand to her opaque face. “We are…”

Makoto flashed into clarity and put a solid hand on Usagi’s shoulder. They both calmed back to shadows.

“Well,” Usagi said, as though nothing had happened, “it’s been several years, at least. So we could use the company as much as you could!”

Haruka forced a smile. “Alright then.” If she stayed here, would she face the same fate? Had the creature trapped these two women years ago, and now that they had died or done whatever had put them in this limbo, she’d decided she needed another?

“Do not be afraid,” Makoto said gently, as though sensing Haruka’s thoughts. “We are Michiru’s handmaidens, while she is trapped here so are we.” She turned to the door. “Would you allow us to give you a tour?”

“Um, sure.”

They took her through various sitting rooms, the kitchen, a library and even a wine cellar. Usagi advised her on the many nooks and crannies where you might— not that she had, that would be irresponsible as a lady’s maid, but still, you might— sneak a suitor in to have a moment alone. Makoto was more practical, she told Haruka where the entrance to the walled gardens was, if she would like to go outside, and all the staircases that led to the floor her bedroom was on.

They came upon a staircase that neither of them said a word about. Haruka stopped. “Is that where she told me not to go?”

Both ghosts froze. “Yes,” Makoto said. “And you’d best keep to that.”

“Why?”

“Haruka! Michiru is a lady.” Haruka had the keen sense that Usagi had her hands on her hips. “She can’t have someone like you in her chambers. It would be improper.”

Makoto hurried them both along. Haruka wondered if that was the whole story, or if it was true at all.

“What else can you tell me about her?”

“Generally,” Makoto said sternly, “if you want to know about someone, you should ask them directly.”

“Well, yeah, but…”

She softened. “You’re afraid.”

“No!” Haruka’s stubbornness got the better of her. “I would never, I just—“

“She was made to be frightening,” Usagi said quietly. “I was scared for a while, too.” Her shadow shrunk down smaller than ever. “It hurts our Lady. She could always be scary, but she got to choose when.”

“She was not nice, but nor was she cruel. Her family took care of the town, and employed many of its people, and she had no need to extend more kindness than that.”

“What happened, then?”

“Oh Haruka,” Usagi said. “You can’t expect us to spill all her secrets for her.”

Haruka could not help but smile a little. “I’m beginning to think you’re plotting something.”

“It would do Michiru good to have company aside from us.” Makoto sighed. “She does not like to admit to loneliness, but it’s clear she’s suffering.”

Part of Haruka wanted to shout that she, too, would suffer when kept as a prisoner, especially with something that, while they spoke highly of her, was still clearly a monster, but she thought better of it. “She did seem… sad, last night.”

Usagi nodded her shadowy head. “She wanted so badly to impress you!”

That, perhaps more than anything else, rang true to Haruka. The creature had tried so had to grasp the silverware, and Haruka had pretended not to see but all she could wonder was why she did not simply eat with her claws, if it was what she was accustomed to. She felt bad, now, for how she’d reacted. Michiru had been, it seemed, a person. Still was, probably, despite how she looked. Haruka’s cheeks flushed with shame. She knew what it was like, to be treated as less than you were.

She thought for a long moment. “Could the two of you convince her to come to dinner again?”

“We can try.”

“And the kitchens will make anything I want? Even if it’s not a food that you guys would know?”

“It should, yes.”

“Haruka, are you plotting too?”

She laughed. “I think I just might be.”

****

Haruka made her way to the dining room that evening and was pleased to find exactly what she’d wanted. The table bore a large plate of hamburgers and a practical troph of fries. She deeply wished she could send a pic of it to Mina, it was a party dream come true.

She took a seat towards the middle, so that wherever Michiru sat there would not be so much distance between them.

The shadows from the windows grew longer. The food stayed magically warm, but Haruka still worried. Her misgivings about trying to befriend a monster, her captor, began to rise in her stomach again.

There was a rustle outside the door. Haruka caught a glimpse of a scaly tail in the crack it was open. Michiru was pacing outside. Haruka surprised herself by thinking there was something almost endearing in it.

“Please come in,” she said as steadily as she could.

Michiru came to the door, half hiding behind it. “What is this?”

“They’re hamburgers.” Haruka took one. “They’re good. You eat them like this.” She rose it to her mouth and took a bite.

“If all you seek is to poke fun—“

“No, no! I like them.” She took some fries, hoping to drive the point home. “I thought you might too.”

Michiru hesitated, but then slowly approached the table. She took a seat again at the end of the table and took a burger as gingerly as she might handle porcelain. Her claws strained the bun but did not pierce it.

She looked at it with suspicion, then glanced to Haruka. “What is the year?”

Haruka swallowed her bite quickly. “2018.”

“Ah.” She turned back to the food. “And people… eat with their hands now?”

“Sometimes, yeah. For burgers and pizza, and stuff. We don’t eat steak or whatever by picking it up like this.”

“Oh.” She looked at the meat. “Is this not a steak?”

“It’s beef, yeah, but if there’s bread like this, we use our hands.”

“Like with hors de’ouvers.”

“Sure.”

Haruka watched, hopefully not in ant way that was weird, as Michiru chanced a bite. Her gaunt face twisted the moment it was in her mouth. “Oh dear, it’s quite… well, I should hope I’m not being rude, but it’s absolutely disgusting.”

Haruka laughed. “Yeah, we probably have way worse taste than people did in your day.”

“I would say so.”

They made eye contact, smiling at each other for the first time.

“We’ll try something else tomorrow, I’ll try and figure out—“

“Tomorrow?”

“Well, yeah, you said it was proper to have dinner together every day. Or do you mean you want something else now?”

“Oh no, you don’t need to worry on my behalf.” She looked down at her plate, limp hair falling over her shoulder. For a moment, Haruka could see how the motion would look on a person, on a woman who might be called beautiful. “You have been very kind to me, and I have not repaid you as such.”

“You don’t gotta…”

“Do you wish to leave?”

Haruka shut her mouth, suspicious of a trick.

“I can’t keep you here, I know. I acted selfishly, and I want you to go freely.”

“Well, I can’t get far without gas for my truck, and I know you can’t give me any.”

“I apologize.”

“Don’t worry about it. Can we make a deal?” Michiru nodded. “My roommate will come looking for me. Can I stay here until she finds me? She’s tenacious, she’ll make it eventually.”

“That sounds fair.”

“And until then, we can always have dinner together. And maybe…” Haruka wracked her brains for a good gesture of faith. “Makoto told me about the gardens, but didn’t take me. Maybe tomorrow you could show me around?”

Michiru pushed her burger around her plate, a small smile breaking across her face. “I would like that, Haruka.”

Haruka stopped just short of saying “It’s a date.” Life had gotten very strange very fast.