Title: Distant's Past
Author: Akurah
Email: akurah@hotmail.com
Rating: PG, PG-13. (I don't know.)

Disclaimers: Most of these characters belong to Takeuchi Naoko, Kondansya
	     Comics, and Toei Animation.

EVERYTHING in this story sucks. I'm the author and even I think so. So save
me a little embarassment and don't read it. (Why'd I write this?)
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"Ten'ou..kun, dinner is served."
The one in question closed her book 'The Lives of the Space' and looked up.
The butler stood there looking at her down his nose.
"Thanks Charlie," She said and walked past him.
"My name isn't Charlie." He sighed and closed the door.
     Haruka paused at the foot of the stairs to ask the maid if her parents
were home.
"I'm sorry, they're out this evening and won't be back until late." 
"I see." 'They're always out. When was the last time I saw them?' Haruka
couldn't remember. When she was finishing her meal, the phone rang and the 
butler picked it up.
"Hello? Ten'ou residance." He listened for a while but his face gave no clue
to who it was. Finally he hung up and approached the eight year old. She 
looked up. "Ten'ou-kun, that was the police. There has been an accident." 
     				   ***
     Dawn found Haruka wide awake and doubt she had even sleep. Haruka was
trying to stay awake and was packing some items into a backpack at the same
time. 'Why should I cry over my parents' death, I mean, they never showed up
at any of my events because they were too busy working. I don't even remeber 
how they look like. Was my mom tall or short? Did my dad look like me?' 
She didn't care anymore. Haruka learned a long time ago that life was easier 
if she didn't let anyone know her emotions. The sun was almost up when she 
finished packing. Haruka looked around the room she grew up in for the last 
time and climbed out the window. She knew she won't be seeing it for a long
while, if ever again. 'Good-bye.' 
     Later that morning, there was a knock at the door and the butler 
answered it as usual. It was a man dressed in a black suit. He showed his 
ID. "I'm from the orphanage to pick up a...Ten'ou Haruka." 
He said, checking his paper to see if he got the correct name. 
"Just a moment," 
the butler slowly walked up to the girl's room and opened the door. It was 
empty.
			           ***
     "Stupid hair,"
The blond took the knife she brought with her and cut off her long braid.
After disposing of it and putting on her jacket, she slipped out of the 
bathroom stall. About three women stared at her until an old fat lady found 
something to say. "Ahem, little boys go to the men's bathroom." 
They continued to stared at her until she slowly backed out of the bathroom. 
'At least the disguise work, now no one can track me down. They won't be 
looking for a boy.'
				   ***
     Two days later, a scruffy eight year old maded his way to the ticket
booth at the train station.
"One ticket to Tokyo." The man behind the counter squinted at his customer.
"Aren't you a little too young to be traveling by yourself?" Haruka had 
thought about this. "My parents trust me." The man smiled and handed her the 
ticket. "Well, be careful son,"
     On the train, she found an empty compartment and set her backpack down.
The train started and she fell asleep. Later,she was jarred out her sleep
when the train suddenly braked. She saw the girl across from her lose her
balace and crashed into Haruka. The blond didn't know what to do until the
other girl's mom help her daughter up. "Are you okay Michiru?" The green
haired one said yes. After checking her daughter for any injuries, she 
turned to Haruka. "Thanks for catching her," To which Haruka just nodded 
and smiled politely. 'Dammit, I didn't want company!' She stared out the 
window for a while and then looked back at the two. The older woman was 
sleeping and 'Michiru' was staring at her.
"What's your name?" Haruka noticed the newspaper, the headlines read,
'Millionaries leave entire heritance in their daughter's hands.' She 
couldn't tell what her real name was.
"Batman." Michiru giggled softly. "Kaiou Michiru, please to make your 
acquaintance, Batman." She offered her hand and Haruka shook it. 
"Can I borrow this?" Haruka pointed to the newspaper. "It's not mine."
So she took it. The paper had a picture of her with her hair long. 
Strangely, it didn't look like her. 'Probably because I was moving and had
too much make-up on. Why'd I ever wear dresses? I must've been really 
stupid.' She tossed the paper in the trashcan and looked over at Michiru, 
her eyes flashed. 
"I know who you are, Haruka." They both rose. Green eyes met blue and the 
tension was unbearable. They didn't know what was going on but both were 
unwilling to back down. The stand off was interrupted by the train whistle.
Haruka picked up her bag and left before the mom awoke.
     				   ***
     "First day, what do I do? All my parents' money is unaccessable. I 
don't know anyone here. Why Tokyo?" She stopped when she heard loud 
cheering. The blond had been walking next to a stadium so she started 
running around the perimeter to find a break. Haruka leaned closer to the
fence to get a better look. She watched the cars go around the circuit. They 
were going so fast they just seemed like blurs.
'When I grow up, I wanna be in one of those.' She had other dreams before,
but this one seemed permanent. A man stood next to her. 
"They're pretty fast aren't they." She looked at him. 
"Yeah,"
"Do you want to see them upclose?"
"Sure."
"Come on then." He walked back to the entrance. Haruka followed him 
suspiciously. The man looked back and laughed, "Come on, I'm not gonna hurt
you, boy. The name's Kuruma. What's yours?"
"Haruka." Kuruma looked at her. "Are you...nevermind."
They approached the gate. The guard saw at him and nodded. He didn't even 
see Haruka. They continued.
"Why don't you need a ticket?" Kuruma made his way to the locker rooms. 
"Oh, you're a driver?" 
"Yep." 
"Are you going to race?"
"Uh huh." The blond waited for Kuruma to finish and they walked out. The pit
crew saw him and waved.
"Hey, who's that?" One of them pointed to Haruka. He glanced at her. She was
inspecting the car.
"Oh, that's my friend." They all stared at her until she stared back.
"What's his name?" Haruka came over.
"I'm Haruka."
"Is that the millionaire's kid?" Someone asked. Everybody else slapped him.
"Are you crazy?! He's a boy! You need your eyes checked." They talked for a
while. Then the race began. Haruka was told to stay out of the way because 
they were going to be busy. She watched them as they did the routine check.
'Everything's so fast around here. It's amazing.' The cars past her and she 
felt the wind from them. 
'I want to BE that.' The race finished, Kuruma won. She ran up to him 
afterwards.
"Congradulations, you won."
Kuruma looked at her sadly, but smiled anyway.
"Did you enjoy that?" She nodded happily.
"Yeah! I want to be just like you when I grow up." He sighed,
"This race was my last."
"You're retiring?" He nodded. She couldn't understand.
"What do you mean? You have all this and you're giving it up?! I'd give
anything to be in your place!" He raised an eyebrow.
"Do you really want to?"
"Of course!" He smiled and put a hand on her shoulders. 
"If you want it, you can have it."
"What?"
"Welcome to the circuit."
     				   ***
     Kuruma found out he couldn't leave it all behind so he now worked as a 
mechanic at the track and trained Haruka. A few months later, they were both 
working on a car when Kuruma thought of something.
"Hey Haruka, how come I never see your parents? Every night you refuse to 
let me take you home, and they never come to the track to pick you up. You
never call home either." 
Haruka froze, but continued working. Kuruma was still waiting. 
"Well?" She sighed and stood up. 
"Fine, I'll tell you, but only because I trust you. You promise not to
tell anyone?"
"I promise." She started working again. "They're dead." Kuruma dropped his 
wrench and gawked at her. "You got to be kidding."
"No."
"You're not?"
"No. I am Ten'ou Haruka. My parents were the millionaires who died a couple
months ago in the car crash." She put down her tool.
"I'm leaving, you probably don't want a GIRL in the circuit, do you." 
With that, she turned around and walked past her shocked friend. He finally 
comprehended her words and grabbed her wrist. 
"Please don't leave, you're my friend. We don't have to tell anyone about
this. It'll be our secret."
     				   ***
     			    Seven years later...

     A handsome young man stepped out of his Formula 1 and waved to his
screaming fans. He took off his helmet and scanned the crowds for someone
who wasn't there. No one seemed to notice the sadness in his dark blue eyes.
He seem alot older than his fifteen years.
'If Kuruma could see me now.' Haruka's friend had died two years ago from a
heart attack right after one of those monsters tried to kill him. He was the
first victim. Unknown to her, an aqua-haired girl read her emotions through
eyes. 'You won't be alone for long' she smiled and left.
     After the race, Haruka stumbled home to her apartment and collapsed 
onto the bed. 'I need sleep, these damn dreams...'
     				   ***
     The alarm jolted Haruka out of her restless sleep. She leaned over
and swatted the clock off the table. It kept ringing so she rolled over and
fell off the bed, destroying the clock in the process. Just then, the phone 
rang. A hand fumbled around the table and finally grabbed it.
"Hello, what do you want?"
"Haruka, it's me."
"Oh, 'morning coach."
"I just wanted to remind you that we have a track meet today."
"I knew that. Good-bye."
"Wait-"
Haruka fell back onto the floor and drifted off again.
     				   ***
     Darkness, ruins, red, blood, woman, BIG stick, voice. -Fufill the 
mission, Haruka, Haruka, HARUKA!"
"WHAT!"
Haruka jumped in her seat. SHe than noticed her surroundings. Her classmates
were laughing and her teacher was standing in front of her. 
"What happened?" She asked while slaring at the people around her.
"You apparently fell asleep on you desk. Now pay attention. Stop staring 
class and turn to page 93. Okay, the principles of..." Haruka tuned her out
and stared out the window. Therre was a person coming at her.
'Wait, I'm on the fourth floor, that's impossible!' She leaned closer to get
a better look. The person kept coming. 'Wow, what a big scythe, wonder 
what's it for.' The person stopped short of the window and raised it. Then
brought it down hard. Straight. At. Haruka!
"Whap!"
Haruka yelled and jumped in her seat, again. Her teacher sighed. She had 
smashed the pointer on her desk to get Haruka's attention.
"Just go stand in the hall."
     				   ***
     				 "BANG!"
     The gun went off and Haurka shot from the starting block. She ran for a 
while until someone gained up on her. It was Elza Gray, supposedly the 
fastest runner in Japan. 'Well not anymore.' Haruka grinned and won the 
race.
     After the ceremonies, Haruka got changed and was packing up when Elza
came over. "I heard you were fast, but I didn't think you were THAT fast!"
"Anything else?" Haruka asked after putting on her jacket. She really had to
go, there was a race in half an hour.
"Yeah, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, she's really interested in
you. Come out Michiru." Suddenly, this girl appeared next to Elza, she had
aqua tresses and a uniform from the Juuban Private School For Girls, an
expensive school for rich girls. 'Where'd she come from? She just...
appeared. She's weird.' Haruka focused her attention back to what Michiru
was saying.
"-pose for me?" Haruka picked up her stuff and turned her back on the pair.
"Not interested." And walked away. Michiru swore under her breath once
Haruka was out of range. Elza never heard her friend curse and turned to 
her. 
"What's the matter?" 
"Sorry about that. Nothing's wrong. Excuse me, I have to go now."
     				   ***
     "Class, I'd like to introduce you to our new student. Kaiou Michiru.
Kaiou-san, would you like to tell us a little about yourelf?" Haruka looked
at her classmates. All the males were staring intently at Michiru while 
their girlfriends were about to kill them. She grinned and listened to 
Michiru. 
"...transfered from Juuban Private School For Girls and will attend school 
here every other day."
"Thank you, you may have a seat." Everybody looked around, trying to see 
where she would sit. Haruka slouched down. 'Please don't let her see me...' 
Michiru stopped at an empty desk in front of Haruka's. She looked at her and 
smiled. "Is this seat occupied?" Haruka was about to answer yes but about 
three boys next to the desk beat her to it. 
"Oh no, not at all, it's been empty all year." Haruka gave them a murderous 
look and they kinda shrank. Michiru turned around to face Haruka. She didn't 
see the other three.
"Can you show me around? I don't know where anything is."
The blond couldn't seem to refuse so she said yes. "Haruka, can you please
do this problem?" She got up and walked to the front of the room. When she
was talking to the class, Michiru's eyes flashed and Haruka nearly dropped
the chalk. 
'I remember her, she's the one form the train! What am I going to do?' 
"Haruka, please continue." 
"Right."
     				   ***
    When Haruka got home and opened her schoolbag, and envelope fell out.
"What's this?" She bent over and picked it up. It was a ticket for a cruise.
"How'd I get this?" she mused when the phone rang.
"Hello? Oh, hi...A cruise next Saturday? Um, hold on." 
She checked her calender. 
"Yeah, I'm free...right...uh huh...sure, bye." The blond looked back at the
mysterious ticket. "This is for the cruise?"
     				   ***
		                  Friday

     "Okay, class dismissed,"
Haruka walked out of the building and bumped into Michiru. 
"Oh, hi." Michiru looked around nervously at the students running out of the
building. "Can you walk me home? There's this guy who always bother me. I'm
sure he won't if you accompany me." Haruka said no, but Michiru pleaded with
her until she gave in. She told her whe she lived and they started walking.
'Heh, that was easy.' She grinned to herself when Haruka wasn't looking. 
Haruka stopped and looked back at Michiru. 
"I'll take you home on my motorcycle, I don't want to leave it here." 
Michiru pretended to be worried. "Is it safe?" The other girl handed her a 
helmet. "Do you want me to take you or not?"
"Okay." Michiru sighed. 
"Get on behind me and hold on." A pair of arms slid around her waist. A 
group of girls passing them saw and giggled. One of them yelled at her.
"Hey Haruka-kun, can I have a ride?" 
They all burst out laughing and ran away. "Haha. Bitch." 
She muttered and sped off. At a stoplight, Michiru said to Haruka, "But 
you're not a boy, even if you look like one." Haruka pulled the bike onto 
the shoulder and stopped. She took off her helmet and looked at her 
passenger. "How'd you know? Did someone tell you?" 
Michiru took the helmet for the other girl and put it back on her. She 
turned Haruka around, smiled, and rested her head on the other's back.
"I'll tell you when we get there." 
The driver gunned the engine and took off. 
     When they arrived, Haruka turned off the motorcycle and they both got 
off. "Okay, we're here. Now tell me." Michiru got her schoolbag and walked 
to her house. Haruka followed. 'I have to know, if anyone finds out about
this, my career as an autopilot will be, nonexisting. What would I do then?'
Michiru unlocked the door to the mansion. Haruka looked around. 
"Nice place you got here. Your parents?" 
"Yes, but they're rarely home so it's pretty much mine." The tomboy stopped.
"So when are you going to tell me?" Michiru laughed.
"Patience, young one." So Haruka followed the 'annoying girl' around the 
house, waiting for her to tell how she knew. 
     "Come on, just tell me already!" They were in Michiru's room and she 
was brushing her hair. She stopped and put down the brush. 
"Only if you stay for dinner."
     All through dinner, she kept asking Michiru and Michiru kept saying no. 
Finally, Haruka lost her patience and put down threw down her spoon.
She stomped around the table and grabbed Michiru around the shoulders.
"Tell me now. It's getting late and I have to go. I have a lot to do and I 
was nice enough to take you home. Tell me." Michiru grabbed Haruka's wrist
and dragged her to her room. She locked the door and showed her.
     				   ***
			         Saturday

     Haruka woke up and got dressed. She realized her clothes were on the 
floor along with another's. She suddenly realized she was not in her own 
home. She glanced behind her at the bed and then realized she was not alone.
			 "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" 
     				   ***
			          Sunday

     "What was you're name again?" The secretary asked. "Ten'ou, Haruka." 
The girl checked the paper. "Ah, Ten'ou. Miss. Mizuno, your patient's here."
A girl with short blue hair came out and greeted Haruka. 
"Hi! My name is Mizuno, Ami, but you can just call me Ami-chan. Everyone 
else does." Haruka shrugged. "Sure, Ami-chan. Are you my doctor? You seem
awfully young to be one." Ami smiled and said, "No, I'm just helping my 
mom, she's your doctor." While they were walking, Haruka looked at Ami. The 
thing that stood out most was her eyes. Haruka remembered the saying, 'The 
eyes were the window to the soul.' Even though Ami seemed younger than the 
other girl, her eyes were of a warrior who've seen more battles than anyone 
should in a lifetime. Ami caught Haruka staring at her and looked back. 
"You have the eyes of an old man." 
Haruka didn't understand her. "Excuse me?" Ami blushed and averted her eyes. 
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." They reached the eye chart. The
blue haired girl handed Haruka a piece of cardboard.
"Okay, let's begin with-" Just then, a scream was heard. Both looked behind
them and ran toward the front of the building. Haruka and Ami had heard it 
before. Haruka, when Kuruma was attacked. And as for Ami...
     				   ***
     'Why am I here again? Oh yeah, those stupid sponsors.' She slid down in
her seat. Haruka was on the cruise ship and of course Michiru was there with 
her violin. She got bored and left the room.
'She's been stalking me all week. I see her everywhere, the mall, arcade, on
the streets, waiting for me after classes, and even in my dreams! At least
racing's still mine, I have one tomorrow.' Haruka was going down a flight of
stairs. She felt something next to her and looked. It was a painting.

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      Flames go to akurah@hotmail.com. Sorry if I copied anyone's ideas.