I've now gone through and added the line breaks from the original document that the transfer to this site removed.

Pairings, in case they aren't apparent in the story : Haruhi x Kyon : Tsuruya x Kunikida as well as very lightly implied others that will not be actual pairings even if i continue farther.

I have a third chapter in progress, but i'm not sure if i will finish it or publish it. It depends on whether there is enough demand. If you want a third chapter, leave a review and tell me, and any suggestions are welcome!

Third chapter will include a bit of crossover with Hellsing, but will remain posted here as Haruhi Suzumiya only.

I do not own anything. The Haruhi Suzumiya series, Hellsing, and Durarara and anything else i've borrowed belong to their original creators!

It started with a promotion. Well, I guess that is not quite right. It started with what I thought was a stupid suggestion vomited up by a combination of boredom and desperation.

Haruhi had finally gotten a summer job working at a local movie rental place. It also had books for sale and even a section to buy, sell, trade, and rent video games. All in all, not a bad place for a high school student to work.

When i found out that i was working directly across the street from her, i began visiting her after i got off every day. About three times a week i would make a small purchase, so her supervisor took no issue with me talking to her so long as i didn't keep her from doing her job.

And for all her eccentricities, she was a determined and hard working person, who would never let distraction get in the way off anything she considered her duty.

On one particular day while I was waiting on her to finish at the register, I found a large encyclopedia on supernatural phenomena and unexplained events. I flipped through the book for a moment and found it had virtually everything one could come up with on the subject of strange and unusual. I hid the book and bought it when Haruhi wasn't looking.

The next day I continued browsing the books for more things that might serve as a distraction to stop a certain vengeful goddess from destroying the world out of boredom. I found a book on the origins of many everyday myths, and a survival guide for a zombie apocalypse. Then I found the perfect book for Haruhi.

It was a handbook for hunters of the supernatural and unexplainable. I flipped through and it had everything. How to kill a vampire, how to catch a ghost, how to identify an alien, and what to watch out for when involved with time travel. By Friday, I had quite a stack of books and felt a very Haruhi-like plan forming in my mind.

My sister was busy playing one of the games I had gotten from the store last week and I knew she would be glued to the screen until she beat it. Haruhi's parents, I discovered earlier that summer, actually lived in the United States. Haruhi lived alone in their home and they payed utilities and tuition for her from the U.S.

My parents where away for the majority of the summer on a vacation that both me and my sister had politely declined joining. Without going into too many details, it involved a lot of extended family, social parties for rich people and people wanting money from rich people, and a LOT of time in the car.

No. Not how any one under the age of 30 wants to spend there summer. Being generally well behaved and responsible children, we were entrusted with the house keys and a fully stocked pantry, fridge, and freezer for a six week break. The only demand they made was that the house be in the same condition as when they left.

Koizumi, being here on an assignment from his organization, lived alone in a small apartment, presumably owned by his organization. Although his smug smile and habit of getting far too close to me for comfort still annoyed the living crap out of me, I considered him a friend and was very grateful when he got me a job beside him at the local market.

Mikuru was apparently sent back to our time plane with a pile of cash bigger than she was and told that her assignment was of unknown length and that was all she was getting, because she had the smallest apartment possible and ate nothing beyond what she needed. There were no snacks in her house, and she never went out to eat unless Haruhi demanded it.

Yuki, it turns out, DID need to eat and drink to continue functioning, even though she did not show any particular preference in what she consumed. With the ability to change the data of things around her, she could turn gravel into money for rent and food, or simply turn it into food and make the computers say she had already paid.

As I sat on the couch this particular Friday, the plan which had been rolling around my head finally reached maturity and needed to come out into the world, so I picked up my phone and called up the SOS Brigade's fearless leader.

"What do you want, Kyon? I'm busy!" I checked my watch and knew she was already out of work and probably not even home yet.

"I have something to suggest for the SOS Brigade and was wondering if you have a meeting planned for this evening." I knew she generally forced us into a meeting at least once a week, but I have to admit, three hours of Saturday just didn't alleviate the oppressive boredom of a lazy summer weekend.

"Kyon! Are you serious? You are finally showing the dedication I expect from my subordinates! I'll call the meeting in an hour when Koizumi is off work! Meet at the usual spot in an hour and fifteen minutes!" With that, she hung up. I smiled to myself.

This would hopefully serve the double purpose of keeping her destructive mind occupied, and giving me something to do when I wasn't working or playing video games. I leaned back on the sofa and contemplated exactly how I would present my idea to Haruhi and the rest of the Brigade.

An hour and five minutes later, I was greeted in the usual fashion by my self appointed superior.

"Late!" I looked around and checked my watch. I was the only one here besides her, and I was ten minutes early.

"How am I in any way late?" She looked around and then gave me an irritated look.

"Don't question your chief's decisions!" That was as close to, "Sorry Kyon, I was wrong." as I was ever going to get from her. At least she didn't say...

"Penalty!" What? No! Not fair! Then I saw she was pointing behind me at Koizumi.

The esper just smiled as always and waved at me happily. "Good evening to you both. I certainly must pay a penalty if I am later than Kyon."

Haruhi grinned that someone was following her train of thought. The others arrived in short order and we headed to our usual seats.

"Alright Brigade, Kyon has a proposition for us! Go ahead Kyon." She sat down and everyone looked expectantly. I stood and pulled the stack of books form my bag, putting the handbook in front of Haruhi. She looked around the table, reading the titles of each book in turn as I began speaking.

"I was thinking, that rather than going on patrols in search of anything out of the ordinary, or waiting for the strange and unusual to come to us, we would have more success and more fun if we systematically went through known mysteries and reports of the supernatural and determined if we could in any way find them out."

Haruhi was absolutely radiant. She leaped form her seat and clutched the handbook to her chest as if it were her most beloved possession.

"Kyon that is amazing! Why didn't you think of this before? This is perfect!"

I pulled from my bag a small book, of the same size and shape as the handbook only thicker. It was black with a hard rough surface, and inside it was blank, with the left page lined, and the right page white. Perfect for writing and sketching in one.

"I thought we could use this to record any findings we come up with as well as to plan strategies for mysteries we aren't ready to tackle just yet." I handed the book to a beaming Haruhi and pulled out my last item. A small black flash drive. "I also took it upon myself to download the local newspaper from the past ten years and find any report of the supernatural. There are about fifty cases ranging from haunted houses, to unexplained land formations, to sightings of unknown monsters all within a days walk or a subway ride from here."

I sat back down and slid the flash drive to Haruhi, who immediately clutched it along with the handbook and notebook.

"Koizumi, I'm afraid that with your tardiness today and Kyon's unmatched contributions today, I must revoke your promotion and entrust the job of deputy leader to Kyon."

The esper just continued smiling and nodded as if he'd been told that the sky was blue by a four year old. I, on the other hand, felt quite proud of myself for once and relished the fact that I had finally shown up that smug idiot.

Since that day, the SOS Brigade has gone forth with renewed purpose and determination. As the deputy, I now personally accompany Haruhi on nearly every mission that involves splitting into groups. Then, she began asking me to accompany her on some missions without the rest of the brigade.

I can't say I didn't enjoy these particular missions. She always had an excuse for why it was just us. Generally it was the fact that a large group would alert whatever it was that we were supposed to be hunting down. Occasionally the others were busy, and I knew it was true because those days I could tell she was disappointed and I realized she really did enjoy our group being together.

The first few missions with just the two of us passed with nothing particularly eventful happening. It was our first over night stakeout when things began to change. She decided the best place to find a ghost would be a graveyard, and it was unreasonable to expect a ghost to show up at any particular time.

Since we both had to work the day before and the day after, we couldn't just sleep all day to prepare, and we needed to sleep some, so she decided we'd work in shifts. We got to the graveyard at just after 10:30 when the sun was going down. We found a dark spot with soft grass under a tree near the center of the cemetery. Thanks to the hills surrounding us and the thick forest on all sides, we could see nothing but grave markers and trees in all directions.

We sat down, back to back, with our sides to the back of a tombstone. She dug through her bag and pulled out two flashlights, her two books, and to my surprise, two sandwiches. She handed one to me and I smiled and thanked her. After we had eaten and she had written her report on the current operation, she yawned. I offered to take the first watch and she nodded reluctantly.

"It was a long day at work and I stayed up way to late the night before." She said and rested her head on my shoulder. I pulled a thin blanket from my bag and handed it to her.

She smiled and took it without a word, stretching it over herself. The night was cool but not unpleasant. The blanket would make it perfectly comfortable. Within minutes she was sound asleep. I kept watch dutifully for four hours and shook her gently awake at three. She passed the blanket to me and this time I closed my eyes.

It was strange at first, drifting off to sleep with her heartbeat strong against my back and her hair on my neck, but I found myself opening my eyes to the first rays of sunlight at a little past seven the next morning feeling well rested and very comfortable.

All in all, I suppose it wasn't a very important event in the grand scheme of things, but after that, her orders began to sound more and more like requests, and she rarely made me pay for the groups meals anymore unless I actually WAS late.

After that event we spent many long nights back to back, taking turns sleeping, and on a few occasions falling asleep together shortly before dawn. It was the morning I woke with her fingers intertwined with mine that I began thinking maybe there were other reasons behind why we spent so much time alone together recently.

And I wasn't complaining. I enjoyed her company a lot now that she'd stopped treating me like a mindless slave and more like a friend. We kept each other awake on some stakeouts by telling ghost stories until we were both huddled in a corner wishing we were not out looking for exactly what we were now terrified of.

Soon school was back in session and everyone but Koizumi had left there jobs until next summer. One day Haruhi came in with an almost ridiculously normal announcement.

"From now on, Brigade meetings will end at 4:30 every day, unless a special meeting is called, or a mission is in progress. Brigade members are not required to leave the room after meetings and are welcome to stay and hang out at there leisure. As chief, I will stay until 6:30 and the last to leave will lock the door." Haruhi then took out her book and opened it to a bookmarked page.

It looked as if she had been planning this one for a while and had several sheets cut out and stuck in. There were hand written notes and cut out newspaper articles printed from the flash drive and part of the page was highlighted in four different colors with scribbles in the margins.

"This Halloween, we are going to capture a vampire." She beamed at us all. I looked at some of her notes.

There was an equipment list including wooden stakes, holy water, garlic, mirrors, and a portable DVD player among other things, along with a funny illustration of a man with a giant cross bow and a large hat firing a steady stream of arrows at a flying monstrous bat, with a green circle around it and a small check mark in the corner. Beside that was a picture of a large group of slightly familiar looking people filled with more stakes than a circus tent. Beneath it was the caption vampires do NOT sparkle.

I chuckled at the comparrison of Van Helsing to Twilight. Clearly, our chief had good taste in movies.

Koizumi raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Where will we go to catch it, and why Halloween?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Haruhi grinned. "We will carry out this operation on Halloween because among all of the people dressed as monsters, a vampire would feel more confident venturing out into public. Just imagine if you were in it's position. Socializing would be pretty difficult under normal circumstances. As for where..."

"Hang on. Who's to say that a vampire WANTS to socialize with non vampires?" I interjected.

Haruhi glared me into silence. "As I was saying, we will be preforming our search around the cemetery. As vampires don't age, their non vampirized relatives will most likely have died. The vampires may take the opportunity to visit their graves."

"Um... Vampirized?" I asked. Another death glare. Better shut up. Don't want to lose my promotion.

"Um... W-Won't the v-vampire be m-m-mad if we try to c-catch it?" Mikuru asked timidly.

You may wonder why I haven't commented on Miss Asehina's beauty lately. The thing is, I discovered her older self is already married. Or rather, will be married. Time travel is confusing. Knowing you don't get the girl sort of makes it difficult to even fantasize about it properly. Or at least it does for me.

There may be another factor in my diminishing wonder and awe at her beauty. That other factor might also be yelling at me for not paying attention to her yelling at me.

"Kyon! No day dreaming! This is very important! We're discussing self defense and I can't have my deputy getting turned into a vampire or a shriveled corpse. If you have to choose, go for vampire, cause we can go buy sunscreen for you and keep you in the closet here." Haruhi's train of thought derailed as she considered keeping me locked in a closet.

"So what do we do for self defense?" I ask.

"I was getting to that!" Haruhi pulled a perfume bottle from her bag. "This is something special I cooked up." She sprayed a dot on a napkin and handed it to me. To be honest, it made me drool. It smelled like a scrap of table cloth from the finest five star restaurant in the world.

"Do you get it?" She asked.

"Yeah. We spray them with this and hope they eat each other." I knew is was the wrong answer but Mikuru's and Koizumi's laughs and Yuki's smile made it worth the glare.

"No. I cooked meals with garlic in them the last few nights and soaked a few cloths in the left overs each night, then washed them out then put them in distilled water to soak. Then I boiled down the water till it was more concentrated and would fit in a bottle. I figured this would be better than a straight garlic spray because we have to deal with the smell too."

I was impressed. "Wow, Haruhi, that is actually a really great idea. And you've got to be an awesome cook cause that smells delicious." She grinned and all irritation she may still have been harboring toward me evaporated.

"Why thank you Kyon." She handed a wooden stake to each of us, and two to Koizumi. "Alright. We'll hunt in pairs, and Mikuru will play bait. If she gets bitten, Koizumi is to make sure she is either on our side or staked through the heart. As for the rest, only use them on your search partner if you are sure they turn against us."

Mikuru looked terrified. Koizumi just smiled and nodded as if he'd been ordered to keep breathing. Yuki even raised an eyebrow then looked at Koizumi and nodded before going back to reading. That made his smile falter.

"And why is she bait?" I may not be crushing on her anymore, but I am still concerned for my friend's safety, especially considering she is by far the least capable of defending herself.

Haruhi grabbed the girl in question and proceeded to grope her thoroughly. "Moe! Any vampire would go for her! And they would more than likely take advantage of her before biting her while she is still warm. She'll have the best chance of attracting a vampire and of making it out alive."

She made it sound halfway reasonable. And to be honest, the likelihood of a vampire existing, let alone trying to kill any of us, is low at best.

"What will we do if we succeed in capturing a vampire?" Koizumi asked.

"We'll... Um... Figure something out." Haruhi didn't seem overly concerned.

Halloween arrived, right on schedule, and we were gathered at the usual spot. Haruhi distributed small pamphlets that turned out to be photocopies of her handbook along with her notes. She then passed around her spray bottle. I wondered if we might get bitten by any non vampires because of how delicious we smelled.

It was about 8 and it was good and dark. Most of the smallest children had finished, leaving only young teens and party goers on the streets in costume. We took flashlights from the bag and made our way to the cemetery. Haruhi sent Koizumi and Yuki around one side, and we went along the other. Mikuru was instructed to stay put, and based on the inability she had to do anything but shake and whimper, I feel she will have no trouble with that.

Haruhi had dressed her up as a vampire. She looked amazingly undead. Her fair skin was only lightly dusted so she nearly glowed in the moonlight, and she had in two small delicate fangs that showed cutely when she opened her mouth or bit her lip.

If I were a vampire, I would definitely look into the cute new corpse on the block.

A girl who saw our group leaving school offered us some glitter for Mikuru, but Haruhi snarled that she wanted to catch vampires, not fairies, on this trip and that if that really is what vampires turned out to be, she didn't want anything to do with them.

A mental image of Haruhi dressed as Van Helsing, shooting the Twilight cast with an automatic crossbow came to mind and I chuckled.

At the moment, our little vampire decoy was doing her best to calm down. She had her wooden stake duct taped to the bottom of the table she was seated at. Haruhi had offered to tape a steak knife beside it, just in case, but the time traveler looked even more terrified of sitting near the instrument of death than the graveyard.

Our two pairs set off. The plan was to circle around each side and then cut through the center back to the front gate. They each had a small mirror and were to check any suspicious person for a reflection.

We were about a quarter mile along our route when Haruhi stopped and grabbed my sleeve.

She pointed at a young man dressed as a soldier standing by the veteran graves. Then she stepped up against me and held up the mirror she was carrying. I felt her heart beating out a violent rhythm against my back and when I saw the soldiers uniform standing in the mirror unaccompanied, my pulse rapidly matched hers.

This was really it. I had doubted, but when you spend every day in the company of an alien, a time traveler, and an esper, you can't hardly discount anything as impossible. I slowly turned Haruhi toward me, making sure to give her a good long view of the soldier as I turned her, then I pulled her close. I held us so that from the soldiers angle it would look like we were kissing.

I whispered, from only two inches away. "So what's the plan?"

"I... I don't know. I mean... I guess I never really thought we'd actually find one." She was shaking and I could see fear in her eyes. That made it all the more terrifying. I had never seen such fear in the young girl before me.

"I think i'll try... Talking to him." Haruhi's eyes went even wider and her grip on my shirt tightened.

"Kyon... Please don't... It's dangerous..." I smiled at her as confidently as I could.

"It is my job as deputy to be sure dangerous situations do not pose a threat to my leader." I rubbed her back gently. "And it is my duty as your friend to keep you safe while doing my best to satisfy your curiosity of the unknown."

I pulled away from her and began making my way toward the man. I took a wandering path through the graves, even stopping at a few to see if I could find my grandfather's in the dark. When I was within a few yards, I addressed him.

"Hey. Lose a friend?" I had noticed when I got closer, the uniform was not a costume.

"Yes. Quite some time ago. I'm about the only one who visits him now. You?"

"Same. My grandfather is buried here, but my parents are away a lot and I think I spent more time with him his last years than they did."

"I do not get to visit as often as I would like. Circumstances make it difficult. But I come at least twice a year no matter what. Halloween is convenient, and his birthday for sentimental reasons."

"That is understandable."

"You know, don't you?"

"Know what?"

"I can smell the garlic under the buffet, and I can see the bulge of the stake under your sleeve. I'm no fool. I have no intention of hurting you or your girlfriend though. I wouldn't defend myself if you wanted to kill me either. I've lived too long."

"What do you feed on?" I was genuinely curious. If he wouldn't hurt us, what did he eat? Or drink.

"Oh I generally steal blood from hospitals when they are locked up for the nights. Never very much from the same place, because I don't want anyone to need it and not have it, and I always take the most common types. It all tastes the same really."

"Generally?"

"You know those criminals who are never caught?"

"I see."

"Don't worry, they all die. No vampire i've met will turn someone who isn't honorable."

"How do you kill them without turning them?"

"As distasteful as it is, we generally snap their neck and wait about five minutes before feeding. You can only turn someone who is alive when you bite them."

"How many vampires are there?"

"In the world? Around fifty. That i've met? Three. The one who turned me, another man who was turned with me, and a man who was very old before he was turned nearly five hundred years ago."

"It's strange to think that there are four vampires so close by."

"Not so close actually. The one who turned me and the older man both live in Asia, and my friend lives in Australia."

"Oh... So do you see them often?"

"No. Not for about ten years."

"It must be lonely."

"Do you think i'd so readily face a wooden stake if it were not?" He looked at me and gave me a half smile, showing one fang. Then he sighed. "I'd probably run away before you could finish the job. That's why i'm here and not, well, here." He pointed down.

"I don't follow."

"I deserted. I was terrified and me and a friend ran in battle. The vampire who turned us knew we both feared death but were good men and that we'd more than likely be executed for running. We willingly let him turn us."

"Oh..." I thought about his words for a while. "Where do you live? You see, my friends and I wouldn't mind hanging out with a vampire so much, if you'd like the company from time to time."

He stared at me as if i'd just suggested a luxury cruise around the world and a life time supply of fresh criminal blood. "Do... Do you really mean that?"

"Yeah. Well, i'd have to clear it with her, but I think once she knows that you're friendly, she'll be asking you more questions than I could ever think of." I gestured over to Haruhi.

"I see." He pulled a piece of paper and a pencil from his pockets and in a few moments he handed me a map with a location circled. "Here. Just knock before you enter and then come in. I can't open the door or even enter the room during the day cause of the windows."

"Alright. Even if the others won't come, i'll stop by sometimes."

"Thank you."

Haruhi jumped on me when I got outside the fence.

"What happened?"

"I think we may be looking at a possible Brigade recruit." Her face was priceless. I couldn't help but laugh and take her hand, leading her toward the table where we had left Mikuru.

As we walked I explained the whole encounter to her. By the time I was finished, she was grinning.

"We'll go see him this friday at sundown, so he'll be as comfortable as possible! Oh this is incredible! Our first success! A real vampire! Of all the supernatural beings I wanted to meet, they weren't that high up there, but you take what you can get!"

The other three had had a rather uneventful night but all stared open mouthed when we told them of our evening. Apparently even time travelers and espers weren't aware of the existence of vampires. Then again, Haruhi may have just wished them into existence last week.

By winter, we had visited the vampire three times, and he was officially a consultant to the SOS Brigade. With completely open minds, we all began to consider our next mission. Haruhi now wanted a chat with Santa.

It may be weird for a child to never believe in Santa and then grow up to consider the idea more plausible, but then again, weird was normal for our little group. But normal, now THAT would have been weird.

It was around this time that word went out that there would be a casual dance before winter break.

I wasn't to concerned. I had no intention of going. I don't dance. "Can't" would probably be more on the mark, but the cause isn't as important as the effect. But when Haruhi pulled me aside after on of our meetings and asked me quietly if I would go with her, I couldn't say no.

"You know I don't dance..." I said.

"I know. Neither do I. I really just want to go to one because i've never been. It kinda sounds fun. Even if we just sit and talk." Haruhi was looking everywhere but at me.

"Alright. It does sound like fun. Want me to come past and walk here with you, or just meet you here?"

She looked at me and blushed. "Isn't my house a little bit out of the way for you?"

I shook my head. "Not so much. It will add about three minutes to the trip, and I'd have to get here extra early if I wanted to meet you anyway."

"Thanks Kyon." She walked back into the room without another word, but she smiled for the rest of the evening.

The next day, Koizumi looked depressed for what I must assume was the first time in his life. Serves him right, the smug little creep.

He had pulled Battleship from the game shelf and set it up, but he was giving it a look that would have made the game apologize if it were a person.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked, sitting across from him.

"It's nothing." He sighed and looked out the window.

"Liar."

"Fine... I asked Haruhi to the winter dance, and I found out she had asked you first. Then I asked Mikuru and found out she is going with Taniguchi. Then I asked Tsuruya, and she is going with Kunikida! Then I asked Yuki and she said no. She's not going. It doesn't interest her and it is not part of her mission." The esper looked like he'd been rejected by every girl he knew. Oh wait... He had.

"Wow... I'm sorry." I felt genuinely bad for him. As much as I liked seeing that smile wiped off his face from time to time, I still didn't want him to be miserable.

"It's fine. I still have a few friends from my class I can ask, but if they all say no, I will have to go alone."

I stood and patted the esper's shoulder sympathetically just as Haruhi ran in. She was almost foaming at the mouth.

"Twenty six!" She snarled. "Twenty six guys I didn't even know asked me out today, five more sent me letters, and two called me, and God help whoever they got my number from! Kyon's two old friends and Koizumi are the only ones who had any right to pester me like this!"

She stormed across the room and slumped into her chair and proceeded to tear five letters into tiny pieces and throw them away. I looked at her in concern and then smiled. Assuming I counted correctly, 26 + 5 + 2 + Koizumi, and my two friends, I had bested thirty six guys. Not bad.

"Stop smiling!" I did my best to look unhappy, which wasn't too hard when the room absolutely radiated irritation and depression at the moment.

When Yuki entered the room she reported that every member of the computer club had asked her to the dance. She had refused each of them. This made Koizumi look a little less down. Mikuru came in carrying a back pack overflowing with love letters.

"I said yes to the first person who asked because I didn't think there would be anyone else... I'm sorry Koizumi..." He smiled at her and waved it off.

"It's fine, really."

"What about you Kyon?" Haruhi looked at me.

"Well apparently once word got around that I had said yes to you, I was considered officially off limits. No one gave me a second glance. Well, except Tsuruya, and she's was joking cause she already had a date." I looked back at her. Wondering why it mattered. She smiled. Then she grinned. She spent almost fifteen minutes in her chair grinning at the ceiling and I was afraid of what might be coming my way soon.

The day of the dance came quickly.

Mikuru may have been the most awkward and miserable person there. Although he went alone, Koizumi ended up being asked to dance by Mikuru, as a way of escape from Taniguchi, and then again by Tsuruya, because she'd already worn out Kunikida. Mikuru, however, could not escape my stupid, annoying, and pervy old friend for the whole night and ended up having to dance with him until she slipped away and spent the last three hours hiding among the taller people.

Haruhi and I spent most of the night sitting at a table watching our classmates dance like idiots until one particular song came on. Haruhi perked up and I knew I was doomed. She grabbed my hand and dragged me closer to the speakers and grinned at me, then made puppy dog eyes when I didn't respond.

I rolled my eyes and took her hands. She grinned and then stepped very close to me. I was surprised. It wasn't a slow song. Then she whispered in my ear.

"I don't know how to dance really... Is this alright?"

"I guess so. I can't really dance either. But why this song?"

"Don't you recognize it?" She sounded hurt. I listened, then a line caught my memory and I smiled at her. "It's one you sang last year. "'God knows', right?" Her face lit up as we turned slowly.

To my surprise, no one even gave us a second look, and even more surprising, four other pairs were in the same position. The girls from the rock club. The ENOZ and their partners. I smiled and Haruhi and I finished dancing through the song. She smiled the rest of the evening. Eventually, Koizumi and Mikuru joined us at our table.

Of course, the conversation wasn't ordinary, but it was strangely normal, sitting at a school dance, talking to my friends as if we were just like everyone else.

"You know, the SOS Brigade should host a dance. It could be a costume thing! Supernatural themed! We could all go as something that the SOS Brigade hopes to catch someday!" Haruhi said.

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well, Yuki could be a vampire. Or a witch. Or an alien. Or a robot. Or a zombie. And Mikuru could be... A fairy! Hmmm... No. Not a fairy. A time traveling fairy! And Koizumi... I dunno." Haruhi looked lost in thought for a moment. In an act of bravery and boldness well beyond what I had come to expect from him, Koizumi put forth his own suggestion.

"I could go as an esper. I'm no good with costumes, so it'd be something simple, and I think I could pull it off. I do have the experience from the movie." Mikuru stared at him in horror.

"Great idea Koizumi! An alien, a time traveler, and an esper. Just like the movie! We could play the movie at the dance!"

"What would I be then?" I asked before she got carried away and wrote the event in stone.

"Kyon you are totally a werewolf!" She grinned at me and I couldn't help but smile. I mean, if there were time travelers, aliens, espers, and vampires, I wouldn't be remotely surprised to find out werewolves were real too.

"And what about you, Miss Suzumiya?" Koizumi asked.

"I'll obviously have to go as a werewolf too, to show him how it's done. You all have previous experience from the movie. You're professionals!" Haruhi laughed. "Kyon! We'll work on our costumes together! You buy the materials and i'll make sure you don't mess it all up!" I couldn't help but laugh as well. She never changed.

"Hey! How're you guys? Kunikida is resting again! Jeez, I drank five cups of coffee before I got here and I just can't stop moving! Can I sit with you guys? Or stand? You know, whatever works. I probably can't sit very long anyway. I'll need to get back to dancing before I explode. Or use the bathroom. Five cups of coffee is a lot, did you know that?"

Holy. Frieking. Crap. Tsuruya, no. Never again will the universe allow YOU to consume caffeine. "Sure. We've got plenty of space."

"Thanks Kyon! Watcha guys talking about? They crank the AC down for these dances but it is still sweltering in here! Gah! I'm still wearing my jacket! That explains it! But if I lay it down, I might forget it! Hey Mikuru! Can you hold onto my jacket for me? You're shivering anyway, and Taniguchi won't be able to recognize you in that! He's afraid to come near me now!" The girl was grinning and even though we were as far from the speaker as possible, she was still shouting.

"Hey, Tsuruya, we can hear you." I said pointedly. She gave me a questioning glance and then grinned again.

"Oh! I've been right next to the speakers all night and I swear I can't even hear myself think unless I shout! Hey, gotta go! Bye!" She sprinted off towards the bathrooms, tossing her jacket over Mikuru like a hunter's net.

"And she can go as the energizer Easter bunny!" Haruhi shouted. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. Maybe I was just tired, or maybe I could envision it all too well.

Haruhi laughed with me from the beginning. Soon Koizumi and Mikuru joined in. It felt so natural, talking and laughing with these people. Mikuru was becoming less timid by the day, although she still had a long way to go before she was close to the woman I knew she would be one day.

When the dance was over and we were all asked to leave, Koizumi walked Mikuru home, since they lived near each other, leaving me alone in the freezing air with Haruhi.

"That was a lot of fun Kyon. Thanks for going with me." She looked up at the sky and I followed her lead.

"It was my pleasure. I enjoyed it too. We'll have to do it again some time." I glanced over to see her grin.

"Definitely." Just then, the first snow flake of the winter touched down on the tip of her nose. "Perfect."

"You like the snow?"

"Who doesn't like the snow?"

"I dunno. Horribly boring people who hate fun, I guess." She laughed.

"Kyon, what's gotten into you lately? You've been different since you fell down the stairs last winter." I looked at her questioningly. She looked back and blushed. "I sorta like it."

I stared at her for a moment then I took her hand slowly. "Can I walk you home? I told my parents I'd be home late, and I'd like to spend some time out in this snow before all the people and cars come out tomorrow."

She stared at our hands for a few seconds, then intertwined her fingers with mine. "I agree. There is a little park by my house. We could hang out there until we get too cold. Then you can come in and warm up before heading home." I smiled.

"Great plan. That's why you're the leader." She sighed.

"I dunno. I feel like I'm just making a mess of everyone's lives sometimes. I try so many things, but I am really just making it up as I go along a lot of the time. I know I made you really mad during the whole movie incident..." She looked down at the ground as we walked.

"Hey, don't worry about that. We both apologized for that day. It's in the past. And to be honest, you may make a total massacre of what anyone would call a 'normal life', but I really don't want a normal life anymore. It's more fun your way. I'm glad I met you."

You would have thought I had just given her not only the first Christmas present of her life, but that present happened to be a UFO, a time machine, and her choice of superpowers. She hugged me and I felt her shiver.

"Oh Kyon... You're the first person who's ever been happy to know me... Yuki doesn't care, I dragged Mikuru, and Koizumi just does whatever he's told, but you actually choose to stay around me... Even after all I do to you and put you through... Why?" She looked up at me and I had no answer.

"I... I don't know. My life is just better with you in it. You make life interesting. Sometimes I feel like I wouldn't even get up if it weren't for the hope of our meetings after class. I don't know what I'd do without you... Probably just spend all my time trying to get you back." She sniffed and I could see tears in her eyes, but she was smiling.

"You'd be the only one. My parents probably wouldn't even notice for a month. They want me to call every two weeks to check in, but I've forgotten before and I think they did to, because they never mentioned it." She leaned against him and sighed. He wrapped his arms around her.

"I know you generally don't want to bother with such ordinary distractions as dating, but would you go out with me?" She looked up at him with a very surprised expression on her face.

"First, any relationship we have will be far from ordinary, and I don't consider things that important to me 'distractions'. Second, we'd have to keep our personal relationship separate from our professional relationship in the brigade. Third... I'm not really sure how dating works. If you lined up every idiot who asked me out before, I've dated for a grand total of three weeks, and I never actually went out with any of them." She looked at me to see if she had scared me off yet. I was still smiling.

"I'll do my best to keep things interesting, and I'm honored that you consider me so important. I would never let my personal feelings stop me from doing my duty for the brigade, mostly because it'll be you ordering me around anyway. And to be honest, I haven't ever really been on a date either. I dated a few girls before high school, but it never lasted long."

She smiled at me and we began walking again.

"Yes." She said simply. I smiled too now, and continued to walk through the snow with my girlfriend. A girl who I had traveled through time for. A girl who I had watched myself get stabbed for. A girl who I always complained about, but when I finally had the opportunity to be rid of her, I had done everything in my power to keep.

We stood in front of her house and she turned to me happily. "Want some hot chocolate before you go? I'm too cold to go to the park tonight." I followed her in.

"Yes thank you. And I agree. Maybe some other time. We're in no hurry." A few minutes later she handed me a steaming mug with tiny marshmallows floating in it. I sipped it and sighed. Wow. It was the most amazing thing I had ever tasted. No disrespect to Mikuru's tea. "Haruhi that's delicious!"

"Thanks! I made the mix myself with cocoa powder, sugar, and powdered coffee cream." I mentally recorded how to create this miracle of winter happiness. We sat together on the sofa in her living room and drank our hot chocolate in silence for a while.

When I left at around midnight, I had the feeling my life was going to get even more interesting.

We were all gathered at my house. My parents had gone on a winter cruise and I was supposed to put their presents for my little sister under the tree after she went to bed Christmas eve. I had preformed my duty and now I was helping deliver Haruhi's hot chocolate to the rest of the Brigade.

"Oh! This is really good!" Mikuru sipped at her cup with wide eyes.

"I agree Miss Suzumiya. It's quite delicious." Koizumi said, still smiling.

"Yum." Everyone stared at Yuki, who didn't seem to notice or care.

I just smiled and kept sipping mine. None of the others knew I had drank this concoction five times already in the past two weeks. Haruhi had asked me to wait to tell them until she came up with a good occasion, or they guessed themselves.

We were in my house because my sister was officially Santa bait. As she was bait for someone who would at worst, give her coal, I wasn't too worried. It also helped that mine was one of the only houses that had an actual chimney. According to Haruhi, it was impossible to tell what improvisations the old man would take if he didn't have his historical preference available.

Mikuru was sent to keep watch in my little sister's room. Koizumi was assigned to watch the window out to the roof on the top floor. Yuki was instructed to watch my room, just in case I had earned a present or something. Which left Haruhi and I alone together on the ground floor in front of the fireplace.

Once it was just the two of us, she leaned against me and sighed. I wrapped an arm around her and we leaned back into the corner of the sofa together. She breathed deeply then looked up at me. "Hey Kyon?"

"Yeah?" I looked at her.

"Do you think this is a waste of time?"

"No. I was there when we met a real live vampire."

"Yeah, but Santa? Maybe it is really just a children's story. Vampire's have a lot more legend behind them." She seemed a bit sad.

"I think I'm never counting something off as impossible again. Not after all the time I've spent with you. I don't expect you to start doubting yourself now, when you finally convinced me." She smiled and snuggled close.

"It's kinda chilly..." She shivered.

"Wait here a second." I slid off the sofa and went to the hall closet. Just as planned. I pulled out a fleece blanket and a small box. I went back to the sofa only to find a small box setting next to Haruhi. She smiled and I rolled my eyes, handing her my present. I took the gift and unwrapped it.

It was a watch. It was simple, with a sturdy Velcro strap and a dull black exterior. The thing that made it unique was the numbers. According to the device, it was almost exactly pi o clock. An irrational watch. Cute. I put it on and sat back beside her, pulling the blanket over us both.

She opened hers next. She gasped and then looked at me with awe and wonder in her eyes. "Kyon..."

She put the necklace on and stared at the pendant. It was a small rounded rectangle, engraved with strange symbols. Symbols I had helped her paint almost four years ago. Only she didn't know that was me.

The look she gave me was full of questions she was ready to ask, but then she seemed to think better of it. She smiled at me. Then she crawled up onto my lap and kissed me. "Merry Christmas, Haruhi."

"Merry Christmas, Kyon." She kissed me over and over, pressing a little harder against me until we were laying flat on the sofa, then she just relaxed and draped her arms around my neck. I held her gently and kissed the top of her head. The next morning, my little sister was the first to find us, sound asleep.

"Well good morning you two. Sleep well?" Koizumi was smiling over us. Uhg. Can I please go back to sleep now?

Haruhi blinked, took in the situation, and scowled. "Did Santa come?" Of course. Business first. I sat up and looked under the tree. There were only the presents I had put out for my little sister. The girl in question was happily tearing into them, now that she had done her job of fetching the whole brigade to wake us up.

"It doesn't look like it." I said. She sighed and leaned back against me.

"Oh well, I guess since he didn't come, we wouldn't have seen him even if we were awake, so nothing lost." She toyed distractedly with her new necklace for a moment, then jumped up. "Merry Christmas Brigade!" She grinned at everyone.

"And Merry Christmas to you, Miss Suzumiya." Koizumi and his stupid smile.

"M-Merry Christmas!" Mikuru, slightly shaken, seeing the two of us sleeping together.

"Merry Christmas." Monotone as always, Yuki.

"Now, everyone who was up all night, go home and take a nap, then meet back at my house at 5 PM for presents!" Haruhi ordered. I waved as everyone left, until only me, my sister, and Haruhi were left.

"So, Kyon. Want to go out for breakfast or something? My treat, just this once." I smiled at her and nodded.

"Sounds great. Hey Haruhi?"

"Yeah Kyon?" She looked at me.

"Lets go shopping for what we'll need for our werewolf costumes while we're out." The grin she gave me then officially made this the best Christmas of my life so far.

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