A Rose’s Tear – Chapter Two

By Crimson Eclipse

All was silent. All was still. Until a shrill, excited sound pierced the air and deafened all in a five kilometer radius.

“HARUKO!!” Miyako cried. “I can take you to the park! No one goes there since they’re all too busy!”

Haruko looked up. 'The park?' "Thank you!" She almost screamed, standing up. Her maroon pants un-wrinkled falling down over her clawed feet. Haruko's black shirt also straightened itself out, loosely hanging on her small frame.

Miyako winced slightly at the volume of the girl's cry (it was louder than hers!), but still managed smiled at Haruko.

She rummaged through her bag and dug out some clothes. Miyako handed them to Haruko and said, "You can't go out looking like that. I looked through the lost and found we have here and found some clothes you can wear. Change quickly. I won't look."

Haruko went back to the back corner and changed into the uncomfortable clothes. She was a little nervous but nothing much.

Miyako worried a bit about what might be taking the girl so long. Maybe she didn't know how to put the dress on...? Well it wasn't her fault that the dress was so complicated. Miyako had gone to change into her own clothing since she couldn't walk around in her doctor's coat. It would be conspicuous, and Miyako did not do conspicuous.

So after changing into her spare clothing, Miyako discovered she couldn't find any other clothing to lend to Haruko. And she couldn't go through the other doctor's stuff... then she came up with idea of going to the lost and found.

And all she could find that would be able to fit Haruko would be the dress. She had tried to find pants, really she did. Unfortunately, in this day and age, people could not afford to lose any clothes, due to the scarcity of material.

...Miyako wondered how anyone managed to lose a dress.

Haruko stared at the green...thing...for a while. She finally figured out how to put it on, with a bit of fumbling she got the zipper in the back latched. It was tight, almost like a corset was built in, and Haruko's stomach felt like it was being compressed.

Haruko steadily walked to the door and opened it, taking shallow breathes. The sleeves were skin tight and reached down to her wrists; it wasn't very fancy of a dress.

Miyako watched as Haruko tried to breathe and frowned. She walked up behind the girl and put her hands on her shoulders to keep Haruko from moving. Miyako scanned the back of the dress to see if there was any way to loosen it.

Aha!

Miyako discovered a series of laces that bound the dress tightly around the middle. Working quickly, she untied them and retied them so they would be looser.

Haruko exhaled loudly and smiled. "So...which way?" She asked. She had a feeling she was going to have to pretend that Miyako was her mother.

Miyako smiled. "It's this way." She led Haruko through a labyrinth of hallways and stairs before coming to a room that housed the brightly flashing transporter.

"Come on," Miyako said, "just hang on to me."

Haruko looked around, squishing herself next to Miyako sub-consciously. She was wide eyed in amazement and had nothing to say...

Miyako made sure she was holding onto Haruko's smaller hand tightly before turning to the machine and pressing a few buttons.

In a few seconds, a scan ran over Miyako and Haruko before a familiar sense of floating overwhelmed her and suddenly, they weren't in the hospital anymore. They were in a peaceful park with beautiful flowers and fountains.

"Wow..." Haruko was overwhelmed. She looked out of the dome and saw the blackness of space with white dots of light all around. "What year is it?" Haruko asked. She actually was from the past, and because of the genetic 'engineer' she was frozen until they found ways to control her.

Miyako blinked at the younger girl in confusion. "Huh? You mean you don't know? It's the 26th century. Or more specifically, its year 2543."

"Really?" Haruko squished her face against the window. She felt a shiver make her shoulders spasm. "It's beautiful..." She whispered a loss of what else to say.

Miyako watched Haruko head cocked slightly, a gentle smile on her face. It was strange to her that something like this would bring such joy to the other girl. Of course, Miyako hadn't had time yet to read over the report Dr. Shiwatori had left her, so she wasn't fully aware of Haruko's circumstances.

Haruko realized there were animals living there, as if on the earth. She avoided the bunnies but chased the butterflies, catching them and touching their wings lightly. Even though the dress was not her choice, she ignored it.

Miyako giggled as she watched Haruko played with the butterflies. She settled down on a nearby bench to watch her charge.

The doctor wondered if she should tell the younger female that she was still on Earth. A long time ago, the Earth had become so over-crowded with buildings; the streets could not be used. One man discovered a solution for it by creating the transporters that were still used today, only with slight modifications and several updates.

The transporters were placed in every building before the roads were completely covered and some buildings were reconstructed so it connected to another building, that way it was easier to pass out all the transporters.

The problem with having no room on the Earth to walk was that there was no need for windows to see outside, since all you would see was another building, and the light needed from the sun had long since been replaced by an artificial light. So, with no need of an outside, buildings completely covered the face of the Earth. Even the seas were covered.

Once in a while, someone found the time, and money, to turn a building into the kind of park they were in now. The glass dome around them wasn't really a dome. It was simply wall that had been manipulated to create the illusion that you were floating in a beautiful garden in space.

...That was kind of cool now that Miyako thought about it...

Haruko sat down by a tree, petting a random rabbit. The howling in her head had long since dispersed so she had a feeling it would be ok. Her bare feet were being licked on the sides by soft blades of grass, it felt so good. She saw an image, probably a memory, it was blurry but she knew it was a happy one.

-beep- -beep- -beep-

This was both the alarm on Miyako's watch going off and the censoring of the language she used when she heard it.

Darn!

It was time to go back.

Haruko's stomach growled and she didn't actually hear the phone or pager or whatever ring. She picked the bunny up and stared at its pinkish eyes for a moment, thinking deeply about something.

"Haruko! We have to go now!" Miyako cried.

Her brow furrowed at the lack of a response and her voice turned both concerned and confused. "Haruko?" She walked a bit before finding Haruko sitting on the grass and cuddling a small albino rabbit.

"Can I keep him? He reminds me of a friend..." Haruko held the bunny close, nuzzling its nape. Her stomach growled again but she had no thought of eating the rabbit, the very confused rabbit.

Miyako shrugged. "Sure, no problem. I mean why not? James gets to have a stick up his butt, why can't you have a rabbit? Come on, I really need you to come back with me. Besides, I can get you some food when we get back."

Haruko obeyed, wondering why Miyako was so rushed, but decided not to ask. She walked along as fast as the woman, their stride was the same.

In a few moments, Miyako had gotten Haruko and her new pet rabbit in Haruko's cell and now she was merrily skipping down to the staff room, where there was bound to be piles of food on the buffet table for lunch.

Ah... The perks of working in one of the most rich and famous hospitals in all of time...

"Ha!" She crowed to herself. "I'm not going to be fired! And no one can stop me from taking Haruko to the park!"

Once Miyako had gotten there, she stacked lots of food on two plates. She was about to go back to Haruko's cell when -

"Satou."

Miyako froze. Quickly she pasted a strained smile on her face. "Ms. Fukugawa. Nice to see you." LIAR! A little voice in her mind screamed. She squished it.

Tomiko Fukugawa was another doctor working in the same hospital. Beautiful and vindictive, this woman knew what she wanted, and what she wanted was a very oblivious Kensuke Shiwatori. She also seemed to be intent on the idea that Miyako wanted the poor doctor all for herself.

Ugh.

Really, woman. It is possible for a female and a male to only be close friends!

Tomiko looked down at her. "I was just thinking that the heads might want to know that you were late bringing back your patient."

Oh. Wow. Who knew that her smile could get even more strained? "A mere couple minutes late. Nothing so major as to bother the bosses about." Miyako congratulated herself on her restraint - err... patience. She was absolutely not thinking of pulling off all of the woman's shiny blonde hair...

"Hm." Was the response. "Fine. But I'm watching you, Miyako Satou. Remember that." She turned and Miyako made a face at her back.

After that confrontation, she headed towards Haruko's cell. And during the way, she sighed. Crazy rabid fan girls of her close friend Kensuke were so troublesome. Why exactly was she still friends with him after all these years?

Oh yeah. The idiot had always been there for her, and at one point in her life, she had decided that it was only right to do the same for him.

Stupid conscience.

And stupid childhood friends that grow up to be awesome best friends that are sometimes not worth the trouble of having.

Ack!

Backtrack!

Missed Haruko's cell.

...Stupid ranting.

A/N

Haha. I remember this part. I’m normally a very light-hearted person, so when I felt that the story was beginning to take a darker turn, I quickly took action by putting little bits of humor in places that probably shouldn’t be very funny. Oh well. Let’s hope you still enjoy this. If you actually read it.

And now that you’ve read this, please review! I beg of you!