What is wrong with me? I have a story on hiatus with reviewers screaming for an update, and yet here I am starting another fanfic. Someone, please, tell me what's wrong with my head. I can get therapy for it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon nor its characters. Although I think that I should.
The rapid clicka-clicka-clicka of a keyboard echoed in the almost empty room.
Haruka Tenoh, 16 year old and local track star, yawned as she leaned backwards on the hind legs of her chair. The pencil she had been balancing on the tip of her nose began to rock dangerously. It teetered for a moment and then rolled off, bouncing off the sleeve of her blue varsity jacket (narrowly missing a "T" written in gold thread) and clattering to the floor. Haruka eyed it longingly for a moment, before flicking her gaze upwards at her black-haired friend sitting cross-legged on the teacher's desk. She was, apparently, cleaning her nails with the letter opener.
"Rei..."
The other girl just gave a disinterested, yet questioning grunt as she peered closer at the tips of her fingers. The great care she was treating her nails with irked Haruka to no end. Why did girls sometimes have to be so...girly? Dissatisfied with Rei's response, Haruka repeated the sentence. This time, she took measure to make her tone singsong, wheedling, and incredibly nerve-grating.
"Rei..."
"What the hell do you want, Haru-chan?"
The blonde's left eye twitched in annoyance at the unwanted nickname, but she didn't move an inch from her relaxed position. Still stretched out, feet on the desk and leaning against the wall, Haruka shot a knowing smirk at her close friend. It was fun to annoy Rei, as she had always been known to have a short temper and fiery disposition. To her right, another friend of hers (known as Ami) worked furiously at her laptop.
One hand was flying across the keyboard, the sound that had contributed to the disturbed silence, and the other holding a riceball that the blue-haired girl was too busy to eat but also too busy to set down. (The trio had always known when one of them would skip lunch and come here to hang out instead, although only Ami ever had the foresight to bring something to eat.) When asked what she was doing, the answer was a hurried explaination about 'getting a head start on exams'. Said exams were approximately three months away. That was Ami for you.
"Aren't you going to get me my pencil?"
"Get it yourself, lazy flirt."
"Ami, she's disrupting my education by refusing to aid in the learning process!"
"What education are you talking about? You don't learn."
Rei twirled the letter opener with one hand, the other brushing away a strand of black hair that had fallen into her eyes. Haruka smirked and cracked her knuckles, then yawned again as she stretched out. The pencil forgotten, the blonde was content to daydream. The sunlight that filtered in through the windows bathed her in warmth, and she soon felt herself nodding off. And she would have done so, if Rei hadn't decided to keep talking.
"So, I hear that Mugen Gakuen High School will be getting a new student."
Haruka blinked as she was jolted from her almost-nap, and sent a brief death glare to her friend. Rei appeared to not notice the pair of annoyed teal eyes burning into her skull. However, she was grinning as she began to go through a folder on the teacher's desk. It was fat, stuffed to the brim with things that dated back three years ago. The black-haired girl briefly wondered why anyone would keep such a monstrous tome of paper on their desk of all places, where it resembled a mutated paperweight. Finding what she was looking for, Rei flung something at Haruka like it was a Frisbee.
Although not employed fast enough to save her pencil, the blonde's hand managed to snatch the paper out of the air as it whizzed by. It was a photograph, about the size of a playing card. Haruka cocked an eyebrow at Rei.
"So? Our school gets loads of transferred students every year. This is just one more newbie we have to avoid tripping over in the halls."
"There is a rumor that this new student is none other than Michiru Kaioh." Ami put in, finally bothering to put down her untouched riceball and return to typing with both hands. Haruka rolled her eyes at her friends' expectations that she should know things like this. The blonde sighed and looked closer at the picture she held in her hands. A pair of smiling aquamarine eyes gazed back out at her.
Long, flowing sea-green locks (were they natural?) framed a pale and rather pretty face. The girl was holding a violin, the slender hand grasping a bow still poised over the strings. She seemed to be wearing a green vest over a black shirt with long sleeves, although that was only noticed in an offhand way. Haruka suddenly got the image of an sea goddess, safe and happy in her element.
"Well, she is kinda cute." Yeah, and the Mona Lisa is only sorta beautiful.
"I think you should do something for her."
Suddenly becoming robbed of her balance, Haruka tilted backwards and fell off her seat with a crash. Rei laughed unabashed at her friend, becoming near breathless. Ami peeked out to back sure that the blonde wasn't seriously hurt and went back to studying. Making an ungainly scramble to her feet, Haruka felt her ears flush red. She was secretly thankful that no one else had noticed her klutz moment. People might think she was turning into Usagi. After pushing Rei off the desk in revenge, Haruka looked at the photo again.
"What, you mean you want me to go flirt with her now? Or shall I just wait for her to hit on me?"
Rei pulled herself off the floor and brushed off imaginary dust from her clothes. "You're an idiot, Haruka." Matching the blonde glare for glare, the tempermental teenager stalked over to her. "This is Michiru Kaioh we're talking about here. You don't just start chatting up Michiru Kaioh!"
At Haruka's deadpan expression, one that clearly asked why the hell someone like her should give a damn about Michiru Kaioh, Rei sighed. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, acting like it was a great burden to tell her friend this. "Michiru Kaioh; genius violinist, master painter. Has had more sold out concerts than you've had birthdays. She's practically world-famous, Haruka."
Now it was Haruka's turn to roll her eyes. "I don't date people just because of that, Rei."
"I'm not saying you have to ask her out. It's just, well, wouldn't it be nice if the most charming person in the school paid attention to you? Besides, she doesn't have any friends."
At this, the track runner's eyebrows shot up, in danger of disappearing into her sandy-blonde bangs. "No friends? I thought she was both good-looking and extremely talented. That kind of person doesn't usually sit alone at lunch."
"All she has is fans, Haruka." Ami said, pausing in her mad typing for a moment. Haruka wondered what it would be like to be surrounded by people that didn't like you for you, just for your looks or money. It was not an encouraging thought and she quickly shook it. Depression never stuck to the blonde for long; in a minute she was cheerful again. Rei was nodding as if the blue-haired girl had revealed a great truth. She began to twirl a strand of black hair around her finger, scrutinizing it like a policeman would a prisoner.
"Maybe you could just buy her something."
"Baka. What makes you think I'd know what to get her?"
"You're the baka here; all the knowledge we given you about her tastes and you still don't know?"
"We're two completely different people!"
"Well then, what do you like to do?" Ami asked from behind her computer screen, her voice breaking through the argument with hard-won expertise.
"Running track, car racing...um...more track..."
Rei gave a sigh and threw up her hands in exasperation. Ami adjusted her glasses and continued to type away, one ear still cocked to the conversation but otherwise totally out of it. Haruka ran a hand through short, sandy-blonde locks thoughtfully, looking at the back of Ami's laptop as if it would provide an answer.
She sighed and tried to think of things that she would like to get as a welcoming present. Somehow, the blonde didn't think that a pair of new track shorts would make a very good impression. The same thing would also probably apply to engine parts and motor oil. Staring at the ceiling, Haruka narrowed her eyes in frustration. Wasn't there any similiarites between them that could make possible friendship easier?
Rei and Ami were right; it was good to have friends. If the rumors were true that this new girl didn't have any, then Haruka wouldn't mind being nice. At least, for a little while. Decided, the blonde stood up and punched the air with her fist.
"All right, after school we shop for the new girl!"
"We?"
"Fine, I shall shop for the new girl!"
Rei just rolled her eyes and went back to cleaning her nails.
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The rest of the day seemed to fly by in a blur. Haruka felt herself overcome by feelings of excitement, anxiety, worry, and more anxiety. She wanted a chance to impress the mysterious newcomer, true enough, but there was dread prickling in the pit of her stomach as well. What if she picked the wrong gift? What if this Kaioh girl didn't turn up at school tomorrow? There were a million things that could go wrong, and the blonde was spared from worrying over them any longer when the last bell finally rang.
Whispering a delighted thank-you to whatever gods that were listening, Haruka shot from her desk like a runaway bullet. Bumping the male students out of her way with her elbow and muttering hurried apologies to the equally affronted girls, the blonde broke free of the crowd and bolted down the hall. Taking the stairs four at once, Haruka reached her locker in record time. Her fingers were a blur as they turned the dial once, twice, three times. As soon as the lock had popped open it was shut again after a few seconds. Haruka ran off, her books jammed into her backpack.
Skidding out into the fresh air of the courtyard, she made a beeline for a silver car parked on the curb.
After fumbling to unlock it with her keys, Haruka dumped her backpack on the passenger's seat. Shutting the door, she rammed her keys into the ignition slot and turned them. The engine roared to life under the hood, and Haruka had to smile. She loved her Ferrari. It was fast, but also safe. Badass, but also dignified and elegant.
The envious glares and admiring looks she got from the loitering students as she cruised by wasn't half-bad either. Feeling especially daring, Haruka hit the gas just a gaggle of cheerleaders had finished crossing the street. As the car zoomed by, the sudden wind caused the identical red miniskirts to flip up, exposing skin better left unexposed.
Haruka laughed so hard she nearly drove off the road. She almost did anyway, and had to work the steering wheel furiously to avoid a lampost. The neighbor's trashcans were not so lucky. A last look in the rearview mirror kept her snickering the entire way to the mall. She kept giggling even as she locked the Ferrari behind her and stepped past the glass sliding doors.
Calming down, Haruka's blue-grey eyes scanned the shopping center. It suddenly occured to her that she had no idea what would make a good present. Rubbing her arms, the blonde wished that she hadn't been so absentminded to have left her varsity jacket in the car. The short sleeved black shirt underneath did nothing to protect her from the mall's sub-arctic temperature.
Haruka attempted to ignore the goosebumps popping up all over her body and headed straight for the escalators. Perhaps with some luck, she could just walk around until she found a store that had what she wanted. Even though Haruka had no real idea of what she wanted in the first place, surely the mall would have it in stock. (Such was the naive belief all novice shoppers had, and such was their eventual downfall.) The shopping center wasn't that big, so of course it wouldn't take more than twenty minutes to traverse. Twelve thousand quick and painless seconds, tops.
Haruka eventually learned that this was a very stupid idea to have, and that she should rid herself of it immediately if she wanted to ever survive shopping again.
Two hours. Two hours of nothing but wandering around aimlessly and freezing her ass off. The mall was actually a lot larger than she had thought to be possible. Her legs ached horribly from the endless walking, which was something considering her endurance as a track runner. Every window display she saw looked like the one she had seen five minutes ago, so identical the blonde couldn't tell them apart even if her life depended on it.
Also, it seemed that no matter how hard she tried Haruka couldn't remember the name of any store she passed. Lost, cold, and tired, the track star felt herself getting really ticked off to boot. If any salesperson had tried to talk to her about if she was happy with her local service provider right then, he or she just might have found themselves minus a couple of important body parts. Like their arms.
Throwing caution to the wind, Haruka closed her eyes and spun around twice. She promised herself that, whatever the store she had randomly picked out contained, she would go inside and buy something. Desperate, maybe, but Haruka was running dangerously short on both stamina and patience. When she had stopped, the blonde pointed in a random direction. She opened her eyes and sighed at what she chosen.
A toy store. Joyful.