Summary: When Michael was in Japan, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on with Mia in New York. When Michael returned, he still couldn't stop thinking about her. Michael's POV in Princess Diaries Volumes 8-10.

Pairing: Michael/Mia

Author's Note: Hey! It's me again! Haha, I'll bet you all forgot that I was alive by now. Anyways, this chapter is alot longer, because I decided that I'm going to change the format of it so that it's a bunch of little, less detailed drabble that would describe Michael's stay in Japan, because I truthfully didn't like the last chapter very much. This chapter is basically set during book 9, Princess Mia, and guess what? You're gonna find out why it was so important that I wasted that whole last chapter describing the encounter between Michael and Midori. I've decided to add my own twists, because Michael needs a little excitement too, no? Just keep in mind that I'm no Meg Cabot (especially since I'm only 13), and so I'm naturally not as creative as she is.

Chapter Two

Slowly Moving Along

Moscovitz-san?"

"…Yoshida-san?"

He supposed that the surprise on their faces was evident when Yamamoto Hiroshi, who would be his superior, looked at the both of them with upraised eyebrows. "I presume you two know each other?"

"Hai." Midori nodded in affirmative. "We met at a coffee shop yesterday after an…accident." She finished after noticing Michael's hand signs behind Hiroshi's back, meaning not to tell him the details because he didn't want to relive that little incident.

Hiroshi nodded, a pleased smile gracing his lips. "Well, then, this should make everything easier, then, if you two are already acquainted with each other." He turned to Midori. "Yoshida-san, do you mind giving Michael a quick tour of our work area before he starts working?"

"It would be no problem, sir."

"Thank you; you are dismissed."

She bowed deeply, motioning to Michael to do the same when he looked on confusedly. He complied embarrassedly, bowing just as deeply before they exited the room.

As soon as they closed the door, Midori burst into small fits of giggles. "Moscovitz-san, you are very amusing." She said with a grin.

"Michael." He said.

"Huh?" Her smile faded into a look of confusion.

"Please call me Michael." He repeated. "We're going to be coworkers, so I figured that maybe we should be a little less formal with each other." He paused, studying her carefully when he remembered that she was Japanese and their culture was a little different than his before hesitantly continuing. "Is that alright?"

"Of course!" She smiled once again. "And in return, please just call me Midori."

Michael nodded.

"Alright!" She clapped her hands together. "Now that we've covered that, why don't I show you around?" She began walking, Michael trailing after her as he tried to take in all of his surroundings.

"Midori! Hey, Midori!"

They turned to see two people – a man in woman about their age wearing lab coats – heading towards them. It was obvious the voice had come from the man, as it had been deep and masculine.

Midori waved them over with a smile. "Tomoko, Katsuo," she addressed them. "This is Michael. He came all the way from America to help us work on the robotic surgery arm."

Tomoko, a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties with dark brown hair and light brown eyes, smiled timidly at him and adjusted her glasses. "I-it's nice to meet you."

Katsuo, a man who seemed to be only a couple years older than Michael with jet black hair and equally dark eyes, smiled lopsidedly. "Cool; another American."

"Another?" Michael asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep." He confirmed, looping his arm around Michael's shoulder's in a half-hug. "That's right; where do you think I get my looks from?" Michael realized that Katsuo didn't, in fact, have almond shaped eyes. "And Midori, over there – " He nudged his head in said woman's direction. "She's part American, too."

Michael did a double-take as Katsuo said this. Maybe that would explain her eye color. Hazel isn't a very common color for Asians, after all.

Michael knew that one could only wallow in sorrow and self pity for so long, which had been exactly why he had tried his hardest not to. He was determined not to think of the could have beens or would have beens in his past relationship with Mia because he doesn't want to hang on to something from the past that will never be.

But when Boris emailed him again, telling him that Mia still hasn't gotten out of bed, and maybe he could convince her, urging him to send her an email or call her, Michael didn't know what to do.

On one hand, he had suggested that they just be friends. But on the other, that didn't mean that he had necessarily meant it.

He pushed Boris's email to the back of his mind and continued on with his work and daily routines. He could just deal with it later, after all.

"Michael. Hey, Michael."

"Huh?" He snapped out of his thoughts, finally noticing the hand that had been waving in front of his face as Katsuo tried to get his attention.

"Finally." Katsuo said as he withdrew his hand. "What's wrong, dude? You spaced out."

Michael shook his head, as if to clear his head. "Nothing." He lied.

He shot him a disbelieving glance, but decided not to comment and changed the subject. "Anyways...as I was saying, I think that girl over there was checking you out." He nudged his head in the direction of a pretty Asian woman with shoulder length ebony colored hair and chocolate brown eyes sitting a few tables away and chatting with another woman sitting across from her.

Michael rolled his eyes at his friend. Figures that he of all people would notice something like that, being the total flirt that he was. "You can have her."

"Are you kidding me?" He asked disbelievingly. "This one is hot!"

"Not interested."

"Dude, no offense, or anything, but…are you gay?"

"No!" Michael exclaimed, appalled. "What makes you think I could be gay?"

"Well…" Katsuo began thoughtfully. "There's the fact that you haven't shown any interest in girls for as long as I've known you."

"You've known me for a total of two days." Michael deadpanned.

He shrugged. "But still – there are all these cute girls around us and you don't even give them a second glance!"

Michael leaned back in his chair. "It's…complicated."

"Complicated how…?"

He sighed. "I just broke up with my girlfriend a few days ago."

Katsuo winced. "Sorry, man." He reached over the table to clap him over the shoulder. "But you know what they say; there are plenty of other fish in the sea.

He shook his head. "It just wouldn't be the same."

"Yeah. I know what you mean." He stared at his half-eaten dinner, his eyes thoughtful as if he were remembering something.

The rest of the meal passed by in silence.

He was sitting in front of his computer and staring at the screen that still held no words. How should he start? Hey, Mia, how are you doing? I hear that you aren't in school; it's not because of our break up, is it?

No. Just…no. That would be too blunt and tactless. But Michael was never one to really beat around the bush, either…

Hey, Mia. It's me. Well, obviously. Just checking in the see how you're doing.

(That was an okay start, right?)

Boris tells me you haven't been in school all week…

(Wait; Mia wasn't supposed to know that he and Boris were emailing each other).

Lilly tells me you haven't been in school all week…

(That's better. Now, what to say next?)

…hope everything is all right.

(That's good; something platonic, that friends say to each other.)

I'm settling here in Tsukuba. This place is a little nutty – they really do eat noodles for breakfast! But fortunately you can still find egg sandwiches most places. (Well, some places, anyways.) The work is what I expected it to be – hard – but I really think I have a solid chance of actually getting this thing off the ground. Although who knows if I'll still feel that optimistic after a few more weeks of this.

(His fingers stopped typing for a moment as he pondered on what to say – or type – next.)

Did you see they're supposedly in talks for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel reunion movie? I thought you'd be excited about that.

(Was there even anything to say anymore? He supposed that it was probably best if he just stopped here; he didn't want to end up treading on thin ice.)

Well, I have to go…I really hope you're out of school because you've jetted off toe somewhere great for princess duty, not because you've come down with something.

(Well, maybe that wasn't necessarily true, because Boris had told him the reason why Mia was in bed, and it had been neither of those.)

Michael

He quickly hit send before he could stop himself and leaned back into the computer chair, feeling exhausted. At least that hadn't been as hard as he had initially thought; it had been hard, of course – especially in the beginning – but at least it had gotten a little easier as he continued writing. It was almost like it had been back before he had dated her, back he had only known her as his little sister's best friend.

Except that it wasn't like that anymore; their relationship could never be like that ever again.

"Michael, are you sure you're all right?"

"For the hundredth time, I'm fine!" He snapped irately as he abruptly stood from the computer chair. He instantly regretted it as soon as he looked up and saw her slightly hurt expression.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, his shoulders slumping. "I'm sorry, Midori."

"No, it's fine." She said, shaking her head. "It's just that…I'm worried about you. And I think that Katsuo and Tomoko are, too."

"Well, don't worry. It's just one of my bad days, is all."

She glanced at him unsurely, biting her tongue to keep herself from asking about it anymore. And for that, Michael was grateful.

Truthfully, he was irritated because Mia still hadn't responded. A part of him thinks that she hates him and never wants to speak to him again. But then another part – the more rational one – reminds him that she wouldn't have agreed to be friends if she did hate him.

Maybe she's just busy? He wondered hopefully. Yeah…that's gotta be it.

And Michael hated not knowing. He had always been a planner; he was the type that liked to be prepared and have a schedule set for the day. He liked organization and things that were certain, not being so confused and clueless about it all like he was now.

"Well, since work's over, how about some karaoke, then? I bet that'll cheer you up."

Michael shook his head. "No, I've got to get home."

But Midori wouldn't take no for an answer. She was going to cheer him up if it was the last thing she did. And so she grabbed his wrist, along with a clueless Katsuo's (who had just arrived and had no idea what was going on) and dragged them with her out of the building, Tomoko trailing after them with a small smile on her lips.

And even though Michael hadn't said it aloud, all of them knew that he had had fun that night. Even if they had teased him about his singing.

Michael doesn't know what he had been thinking when he had decided to sit down at his computer and email Mia again. She still hadn't replied to his email, and he was starting to wonder if he'd ever sent one at all. Michael emails Mia:

Dear Mia,

Hey, heard you had bronchitis. Are you alright?

(Wait. Did that make him sound a little too concerned?)

Hey, heard you had bronchitis. That sucks. Hope you're feeling better now.

(Okay; better.)

Things here are still good. We're already working hard on the first stage of the robotic arm – or Charlie, as we're calling it. (He thought back to earlier that day when they had joked around about naming it.) I'm even starting to get used to the food, though baby squid isn't really my idea of a snack.

(Michael suddenly remembered what Boris had told him about Lilly giving them the cold shoulder.)

I understand my sister's been giving you a hard time. You know how Lilly is, Mia. She'll get over it eventually. You just have to give her space.

(Now…should he ask her to respond? Well, what else did he have to lose?)

I know you're feeling under the weather and probably swamped with homework and princess stuff, but if you get a chance, I'd love to hear from you.

Michael

There. That was okay, right? He really did want to hear from her again.

Michael was staring at the computer screen with disbelieving eyes, rereading the message over and over again until he was positive that it wasn't just his imagination playing tricks on him.

Michael wasn't usually one to curse, but –

What. The. Hell.

Did Boris really just tell him that Lana Weinberger, of all people, just sat at their table today? That apparently, she and Mia were friends now?

Michael looked out the window of his hotel room, half expecting to see a pig flying around outside. There wasn't one, though, and he turned his gaze back to the computer screen, deciding to type his reply.

"Michael, I…I think I might like you." Midori blurted out.

Michael froze, and the clicking sounds of his typing stopped. For a moment, he wondered if he had merely imagined what he thought he had heard. "W-what?" He managed to stutter out as he turned to face her, now giving her his full attention.

"I…" she struggled to speak as she squirmed under his gaze. "I said that I like you." Her voice was much quieter this time; inaudible and coming out as a squeak, but he was positive that he couldn't have heard wrong a second time.

An awkward silence stretched out between them. Michael didn't know how to respond. Did he think of Midori in a more than platonic way? Or was she just a friend to him?

"I…" Michael didn't know what to say. He was absolutely speechless.

"So, what's going on with you and Midori?" Katsuo asked as he plopped down on the couch and handed Michael a cup of tea.

"What? What do you mean? Nothing's up. Absolutely nothing." Michael said, although a little too fast to be believable.

"Riiiight." Katsuo replied sarcastically, clearly not convinced, as he reached for the remote to the tv. "Because that's obviously why you two have been avoiding each other like the plague."

Michael couldn't respond; he couldn't deny what Katsuo had said. And so he merely just took a sip of the hot tea, hoping to calm his nerves.

Katsuo turned the tv on. There was a female news reporter standing in front of a familiar building. Where had he seen that place before?

" – has nearly blown up Albert Einstein High School."

And then Michael couldn't help but spit his tea out in surprise, because, he just realized, this was his old school.

Where Mia was still currently attending. And his sister. And MIA.

"Dude, what was that for!" Katsuo, whose shirt was now soaked with hot tea, asked angrily.

But Michael wasn't even listening anymore. Instead, he was watching the tv intently, hanging on every word.

"Other than "Beaker", only two others had been sent to the ER: John Paul Reynolds Abernathy III and Princess Amelia Thermopolis of Genovia."

Michael could swear that his heart stopped when he heard this news. Mia wasn't injured, was she?

"Luckily for Princess Mia, though, her rumored royal consort threw himself on top of her to shield her when the explosion occurred, and she escaped with minimal injuries."

There was a close up of the ambulances, and Michael felt a wave of relief wash over him when he noticed that Mia was alright; even protesting against being sent to the hospital.

"'Beaker, however, isn't –" And the tv turned off with a click of a remote.

Michael turned to Katsuo. "What was that for?"

He responded with a shrug. "You couldn't hear anything I said."

Michael was angry. No – he was positively livid. He doesn't remember ever having felt this furious in his life.

How dare she? How could Lilly ever say things like that to Mia – things that were entirely untrue – that he was sick of her and that had been the reason for their breakup? Because that was as far from the truth as it could get; he had come to Japan for them.

And she had created a website called ihatemiathermopolisdotcom? A whole website dedicated to hating her former best friend? Michael had known that Mia and Lilly weren't on the best of terms, but this was far worse than he had expected.

His only source of consolation was that Boris had at least talked to Mia and explained that Michael really did care. And, he had to admit, he was also relieved to know that the reason that she hadn't been emailing him back was because she wasn't ready, and not because she hated him.

He picked up the phone from his desk and dialed; he was making a phone call home to reprimand a certain younger sister of his.

PRINCESS DROPS BOMB

OF DIFFERENT KIND

For immediate release

Princess Mia of Genovia – most recently in the news after a brush with nirtostarch in her Albert Einstein High School chemistry lab sent her and two others (including the princess's rumored royal-consort-of-the-moment, John Paul Reynolds-Abernathy IV) to the Lenox Hill Hospital emergency room with minor injuries – has dropped and explosive of her own: that a newly disvocered four-hundred-year-old document reveals that the principality of Genovia is a constitutional, not absolute, monarchy.

The difference is a significant one. In an absolute monarchy, the viceroy – in Genovia's case, Princess Mia's father, Prince Artur Christoff Phillipe Gerard Grimaldi Renaldo – possesses the divine right to rule over his people and land. In a constitutional monarchy, the ceremonial role of a royal heir (such as the Queen of England) is acknowledged, but all actual government decisions are made by elected head of state, usually in conjunction with a parliamentary body.

Princess Mia made this startling revelation at a gala to benefit African orphans given by Domina Rei, the exclusive women's organization known for its charitable good works and high-profile membership (including Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Rodham Clinton).

Princess Mia, in an address to the New York chapter, read a roughly translated selection from the diary of a princess of whom she is a royal descendant, describing the young woman's battle with the plague and an autocratic uncle, and her drawing up and signing of a Bill of Rights guaranteeing the people of Genovia the freedom to elect their next leader.

Unfortunately the document was lost to the ages in the chaos following the Black Death's deadly journey up and down the Mediterranean coast – lost until now, that is.

Princess Mia's descritption of her delight in being able to bring democracy to the people of Genovia is said to have brought tears to the eyes of many members of the audience. And her reference to a famous quote by Eleanor Roosevelt – herself a member of Domina Rei – brought the princess's audience to their feet in a standing ovation.

"Do one thing every day that frightens you," Princess Mia advised her audience. "And never think that you can't make a difference. Even if you're only sixteen, and everyone is telling you that you're just a silly teenage girl = don't let them push you away. Remember one other thing Eleanor Roosevelt said: 'No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.' You are capable of great things – never let anyone try to tell you that just because you've only been a princess for twelve days, you don't know what you're doing."

"It was completely inspiring," commented Beverly Bellerieve, star of the news journal television show TwentyFour/Seven, who has announced plans to devote an entire segment of her show to the small country's transition from monarchy to democracy. "And the way the Dowager Princess Clarisse, Mia's grandmother, reacted – with open, nearly hysterical weeping – left now a dry eye in the house. It was truly a night to remember…and definitely the best speech we've ever had at a gala that I can remember."

Neither the dowager princess nor her granddaughter was available for comment, after being whisked away immediately following the event in a limo to destinations unknown.

Calls to the Genovian Palace press offive and Prince Phillipe were still unanswered at press time.

Michael was proud of her, to say the least; he was even more proud of this speech than the one she had had at school during election time. It had obviously taken a lot of courage for her to have been able to have done that, and not only because she had been speaking in front of thousands and thousands of influential business women. She had just given democracy to a country that had once been a monarchy (which he was sure that her father would not be happy about). And Michael doubted that Clarisse was actually crying for the reasons that the press thought.

Maybe he should send her an email? At least let her know in some way that someone appreciated her decision?

Dear Mia,

Did you just ditch your throne and bring democracy to a country that's never known it?

Way to go, Thermopolis!

Michael

He looked out the window of his hotel; the afternoon sun shining brightly outside. It was only noon, and there was still plenty of time in the day left.

His gaze travelled past several buildings and to the apartment complex that Midori was currently residing in.

Do something that scares you every day, huh?

He looked back to the computer screen and sent the message before exiting the room. He was going to do something that scared him, alright; he was going to work things out.

Author's Note: Yeeaaahh...so truthfully, I don't know if I liked how this came out. I didn't get to check it for any mistakes yet, because I rushed to get this up since I am such a lousy updater and I also wanted to finish this up quickly so that I could get to the good stuff (the last book, of course!). I might reread it later and fix my mistakes, though. Hope you liked it, and PLEASE REVIEW. Seriously. It's just a little button there, and I would seriously appreciate it if you guys just took a second to at least tell me if you liked it (or not). I'm not demanding a long review, or anything (although I would love you if you did!) but just something to let me know that you read my story and (dis)liked my story, alright? Faster update and cookies if you do review!