by Haruka
"Palla Palla HATES silver polish!"
"Not as much as I hate this vacuum!" Cere Cere told her sister,
giving the vacuum a little kick. "It keeps giving out on me!"
Nuriko glanced down at it as he passed through the living room.
"We need to take that for repairs soon. Just jiggle the hose a little where it connects."
Cere Cere followed his instructions and the vacuum roared to
life again. She wasn't sure whether to be glad or disappointed. If the machine broke down
completely, she wouldn't have to vacuum anymore, but then she'd certainly be assigned some
other desperately boring and dirty chore to do instead.
She, her siblings and cousins had all been assigned work to do
around the house for their part in what happened the previous night. By the time they were done,
she pouted, Nuriko wouldn't have to lift a finger to clean the house for a month.
Since Hawk Eye could fly, he was outside washing the outer
upstairs windows. Tiger Eye was at the pet shop, and Fish Eye was also at his job. Jun Jun was
finishing the mowing that Tiger Eye abandoned the day before, and Ves Ves was cleaning out the
gutters, a job that might have been dangerous if she wasn't a practiced acrobat, as they all were.
The doorbell rang and Nuriko went to answer it. He found
Haruka on the front step, looking a little sheepish.
"Hello, Nuriko," she said.
"Haruka," he replied calmly.
"Um," the usually-confident racer scuffed a toe against the
porch, "I wanted to apologize. For lying to you about the cookbook. I'm sorry."
"You certainly weren't the only one to do any lying, Haruka,"
Nuriko told her. "I forgive you."
The sexy blonde raised her eyes and smiled at him gratefully.
"Thanks!"
"I imagine you want to see Hawk Eye since you're here,"
Nuriko said. "I think he's working on the back windows right now. Don't stay long, he's being
punished and is supposed to be concentrating on his work."
"Okay, thanks." Haruka jogged around the side of the house
and shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked up for Hawk Eye. She saw him in mid-way
form, hovering outside one of the bedroom windows with cleaner and a roll of paper towels. He
looked incredibly bored.
"Hey, Hawk Eye, that's some view!" she yelled mischievously.
The Changechild gave a startled squawk and closed the
muscular legs that were clothed in lavender tights. The sudden motion threw off his rhythm and
he began plummeting toward the ground.
"Oh no!" Haruka cried and ran to get underneath him, ignoring
the probability that breaking his fall would likely break _her_. Just before his body could drop
onto her, his descent stopped, and he hovered just above her outstretched arms.
"Hi!" He grinned.
She gave him a Look and smacked him upside the head.
"Birdbrain! I thought you were going to get hurt!"
"Ouch, I just _did_!" He laughed, rubbing the spot where she'd
hit him. He lightly landed on his feet, and Haruka took a good look at the outfit he always wore
in his mid-way form, shaking her head.
"You're a brave man, Hawk Eye," she admitted. "Wearing a
skirt, high heels and tights and then flying around thirty feet in the air. Nothing like drawing
attention to yourself, huh?"
"You ought to know!" he told her. "You're the expert on
gaining attention." He brushed off his skirt. "Anyway, this is a circus costume, and it appears
naturally when I assume mid-way form. Flying is easier in mid-way, soooo ...."
"Ah, don't get me wrong, I think it's cool." Haruka grinned,
then looked up at the windows. "So is that your punishment? Window washing?"
"Among other things," Hawk Eye replied. "We're all doing
housework and stuff, even the girls. How about you? Your dad was pretty upset when I last saw
him yesterday."
"He took my keys," Haruka said, making a face. "No car, no
cycle, no fun."
"At least neither of us are grounded, right? If I can get through
playing Cinderella for a while, maybe we can hang out later."
Haruka laughed. "You mean your parents would trust you with
_their_ car after last night?"
"Well, maybe not," Hawk Eye said thoughtfully. "Ours wasn't
the car that got wrecked, but they're still not happy we ran off with it. Maybe we could hang out
here or at your place."
"Sure," Haruka said easily. "Michiru is grounded,
unfortunately, so I'm going to be alone and lonely."
"Poor baby, we'll see what we can do." He grinned. "In the
meantime, I'd better get back to work before Mama catches me standing around for too long.
He'll think I don't have enough work to keep me busy."
"Okay," Haruka said. "Maybe I'll wander over to Captain
Chicken and bug Fish Eye and whoever is working with him."
"Hey, Yui!"
The blue-eyed blonde stopped and turned, then waved. "Hi
Kurama! Are you going to the library, too?"
He ran to catch up to her, bright red hair glinting in the sun.
"Yes, I need to return these." He held up a couple of books.
"Hey, that's the one I'm on the waiting list for!" Yui laughed,
taking one of the books from him. "They said I was next in line, so I guess I've been waiting for
you!"
"All your life," Kurama said in mock seriousness. Yui bopped
him over the head with the book.
"So," she said, "were you an eyewitness to all the fun last
night?"
"Front row centre," he answered. "Although you know my
parents. Even when my father is upset, he doesn't seem upset. My mother is a little more
obvious about it, but neither of them are much for yelling and screaming."
"No, all that took place in my house, I think," Yui said ruefully.
"But then, you know _my_ parents. They're champion yeller and screamers, and Haruka's not
bad herself when she gets started. She lost in the end, though. No driving anything for her for a
while."
"Ouch, that has to hurt," Kurama commented. "Michiru's
grounded. No mall, no museum, no phone."
"That means Haruka's going to be moping around the house,
too."
"Not if she hangs out with Hawk Eye - I guess they've gotten to
be good friends."
"True enough, she mentions him almost as much as she does
Michiru lately."
They turned up the entryway to the library and Yui glanced at
Kurama. "Do you think everything went okay at the Sagaras'? I know Haruka was worried
about how Hawk Eye made out."
"Michiru was concerned for Fish Eye, too, but as she's not
allowed to use the phone, she couldn't call him this morning."
"I guess Fish Eye's date with Seiya went okay, according to
Haruka. She's even feeling more kindly toward Seiya because of it."
Kurama held the door open for Yui. "Are the parents still going
to have the barbecue they were talking about?" he asked.
"Probably, just so that Nuriko and Sanosuke can meet Seiya's
parents," she replied. "It should be an interesting time when they do, huh?"
"That's for sure," Kurama said wryly. "Let's hope Seiya made a
_really_ good impression on the Sagaras for Fish Eye's sake, because once they meet his father
and Yaten, they may have second thoughts about the relationship."
"Palla Palla HATES silver polish!"
