HaruMichi BatB Part 12! Finished just in time to get it up before work, as always here is a Masterpost link

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Haruka did her best to be reasonable. Flowers were a single gesture. Flowers did not make Michiru any different, they did not mean she had changed.

And yet Haruka felt that they meant exactly that. She could not imagine the Michiru who had been cursed, the MIchiru Usagi had described, working in the garden for anyone. She rolled back onto her bed and rested the flowers on her chest. She’d always wanted to get flowers from a girl. She’d always wanted to be wooed. But she loved too fast and too hard most of the time, and trying to play coy got her nothing at all.

The scent of the roses wafted over her like a blanket. How strange to be pursued. How nice. It hardly mattered that Michiru was cursed. A woman of her class, thinking Haruka was something special? Haruka laughed at herself. She was an absolute sucker. One bouquet, and she was over the moon.

She traced the petals with her fingers, blushing at the supple soft feel of them. What would it feel like, to touch Michiru’s cheek like this? Would she be rough against Haruka’s hand? Would it matter?

Haruka felt a tug and and ache and she sat up quickly. She was not… it wasn’t like that. But one good gesture deserved another, surely. She should plan something. Something just as big as Michiru digging around in the dirt. She thought of their garden walk, and the things they talked about.

If Michiru could step down for Haruka, perhaps Haruka could step up for her.

She placed the flowers gently on her pillow and stood. She would need help, for something big.

“Usagi?” She called down the hall.

“You like the flowers, don’t you?”

Haruka turned to see Usagi’s shadow bouncing like an excited child. “Yeah, was that your idea?”

“No,” Usagi said, “I would not have thought it was a suggestion my lady would take well.”

The notion that it was all Michiru made Haruka smile.

“She hasn’t been like this before.”

“I want to do something for her in return. But I can’t do it alone.” Haruka took a deep breath. “I want to show her I can do something on her level. I want… I mean, it won’t be the same without people. But, when she was human, she had balls here, right?”

Usagi stopped bouncing. Somehow, that made her excitement even clearer. “You want to throw a ball?”

“It won’t be much, I’ve never even been to a dance, and you don’t have to know how to dance for those these days, but I thought it could still be…”

Color seeped in around Usagi’s edges. “Romantic?”

“Maybe, yeah.”

“Oh Haruka!” Usagi hugged her with such force that her translucent arms went halfway through Haruka’s stomach and gave her shivers. “This is more than I ever dreamed of.”

“It’s nothing. She’s just… nice, when she tries. So I want to be nice back.”

Usagi snorted. “This is more than nice, Haruka.” She pulled away. “The house should be able to make music, functions like that stayed even without people to carry them out.”

“I’ll need you to convince her to come.”

“That may be hard. But I’ll do it. When—“

“Tonight.” She didn’t want to lose her nerve. “Before dinner.”

“I have to get going, then.” She took a step, then launched into another hug. “Thank you, Haruka.” She glided off down the hall, humming.

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Haruka regretted the idea as soon as she faced the wardrobe. She’d never been good at dressing up. And she couldn’t even dance. She was going to launch Michiru right back to superiority, she would see that Haruka certainly was not worth anything. The wardrobe showed her a variety of menswear styles, some from Michiru’s era, some from the present, and Haruka felt absurd even looking at them. She could hardly even think of actually wearing anything she saw.

“The navy would look sharp.”

Haruka jumped. Mako leaned against the doorway.

“Does it help to know she’s agonizing over if she can wear anything?”

Haruka hadn’t thought of it. “I’m sorry.”

Mako stood straight, intimidating even while incorporeal. “If you’re playing a game—“

“I’m not.”

“If you’re playing a game, you have to play it a little longer. Michiru is really falling for you.”

Haruka turned and pretended to look through the clothes. She did not think she could hide that the thought made her happy. “I don’t—“

“Here.” Mako came up behind her and grabbed a navy jacket with princely silver buttons. “You’ll make her heart jump.”

Haruka looked at Mako, wishing she had more details to read her expression from. “I’m confused.”

Mako sighed. “I love Michiru, I don’t want to see her hurt.” She cocked her head. “I’m in half a mind to threaten you. But I’m also tired.” She pressed her hands together, and then through one another. “I want you to do what you will, so we might move on.”

“Usagi said if she like me, that itself might be enough.”

“She knows more than I give her credit for.” She sat on the edge of Haruka’s bed. “It was hardest on her. Even compared to Michiru. She had a baby. We should have denounced our lady and saved ourselves.” She faced Haruka, face stern in what few features she had. “I want you to go, if you get the chance. Don’t make our mistake.”

Haruka hesitated. Her mind told her Mako was right. Her heart protested. But she had to try and be reasonable. “I promise.”

“Thank you.” She looked at the wardrobe. “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”

“Not a clue.” Haruka laughed at herself. “I’m kind of hoping the idea is charming enough that it won’t matter.”

“Let Michiru lead. And don’t look at your feet.” Mako put a hand on Haruka’s shoulder. “You’re going to do good.”

Haruka smiled, but she had a foreboding sense that they had different ideas of what good meant.

Chapter 11 of BatB! This is a slightly shorter chapter, and a hard one to write, but I hope you enjoy it! Masterpost link

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Michiru had never courted a woman. She had been courted, she had extended invitations to meet in dark corners, she had taken pleasure without giving any of herself away. Haruka was not someone you took into a dark corner and had your way with. Or at least, you did not only do that. If Michiru was going to open herself to Haruka, she had to do it properly.

She went out to the garden with paper and string. For once, her claws could be useful. Mako and Usagi, she knew, looked on from high windows. She could feel their gaze and was grateful they could not leave the house, even for the walled garden. Part of her— a very large part— felt deeply embarrassed by her actions. The great Lady Kaioh, harvesting flowers like some common gardener! The great Lady Kaioh, not only deigning to give a gift, but making a gift with her own hands.

She was above this.

She was above the dirt and bugs and the sun beating upon her back. She was above every marred petal and wilting bud she sifted through. She was above working for anyone’s affections.

And yet, when she found the first perfect rose and plucked it from the bush, a wave of happiness crashed through her chest. She was not above Haruka’s smile. Perhaps she was not above anything that might bring it around.

The longer she took and the more flowers she found, the better she felt. She tried to remember what Haruka had been drawn to when they walked together. Roses, of course, and, peonies. She’d even liked the little cornflowers, common as they were. Michiru used them for a spray of color, dark blue punctuating the soft pinks. She arranged them best she could, wrapping the paper gently so as to not rip it, and tying the string into the prettiest bow she could manage.

She held it out to examine her work, and every good feeling forsook her. It looked like a child’s work, something a young boy of common taste might pick for his mother. It was not worthy of Michiru and it certainly was not worthy of Haruka.

Her grip tightened, she tensed to throw it away. But that impulse made her sadder still. Haruka deserved beautiful things, and perhaps this was not a beautiful thing but it was the closest Michiru had to offer. It felt wrong to put her shame before Haruka’s joy, however small it might be at such a garish offering.

She reentered the house as quietly as she could, checking around every corner before she emerged. She could compromise— she would leave the flowers at Haruka’s bedside, and she could think it was merely the magic of the house that brought them rather than Michiru’s own hand. Perhaps they would make her smile anyway.

Luck brought Michiru to Haruka’s room unspotted. The bed was half-made, covers thrown over the mattress but untucked and unsmoothed. Michiru remembered the state of her own chamber, as Haruka had seen it, and felt shame. She propped her bouquet up on the pillows and turned to go.

“Oh, you can come in my room but I can’t go in yours?”

Michiru froze. Haruka leaned against the doorway. “I apologize, I—“

Haruka smiled. She was teasing. Michiru could not think of anyway to respond.

“I will go.”

“Wait.” Haruka stepped up to the bed. “Are those… for me?”

“Yes,” Michiru said, feeling warm. “They’re not…. I would have liked to have done better, for you.”

Haruka lifted them to look, her cheeks very red. Michiru worried she might be angry, but she turned the bouquet in her hands in a way that Michiru could only call reverent. “Did you pick them? For me?”

Michiru wished she had been turned into something very small, that she might have the ability to turn an hide beneath a chair or a blanket. “I did, I tried to remember what you liked and I did not do well, forgive me.”

“They’re beautiful.” Haruka buried in nose within the paper and stayed there. “This might sound silly,” she said, her voice muffled and thick, “but no one’s ever given me flowers.”

“Well, you need not count this, if you’d like your first time to be better.”

“Michi.” Haruka laughed, but then she stiffened. “I mean, Michiru. I love them, thank you.”

“I wanted to leave them so you wouldn’t know it was me.” Michiru ran her claws along the back of her knuckles.

Haruka shook her head and smiled. “You are incomprehensible sometimes.”

“I only wanted to do something nice.”

“Thank you.”

The bedroom was very small, Michiru noticed now, though it had seemed spacious before. The walls were so close, and so was Haruka. There was nowhere for either of them to look but each other. And Haruka was looking, and Michiru could not read her. She was no longer teasing. Her smile was soft and her eyes were too.  Michiru could not fathom the softness. It felt to her like falling through clouds, there was nothing to grasp onto and nothing to break momentum.

“Your hands are still dirty,” Haruka said. She reached out but stopped short of touching her.

“I should have washed before coming in, I—“

“No, it’s just… It’s nice that someone like you would get dirty, especially just to bring me flowers.”

Michiru leaned towards Haruka, thinking of letting her take her dirty hand, thinking of how this moment would go if she were not a monster. Their eyes met, and for a moment Michiru felt the moment would go that way despite everything she was.

But it could not. She straightened her posture. “I should wash now, though. It is hardly becoming of a lady to go about with soiled hands.”

“Okay.”

Michiru hurried from the room, but in a glance back she saw Haruka sit on her bed, still admiring the flowers. Still smiling. For an instant Michiru forgot the curse, forgot every selfish reason she had for courting Haruka, and all she could think of was finding more ways to get that smile.

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!

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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.