It was a well known fact that there were very few things that frightened Haru Koshiba. She had been close friends with Kazuma Kuwabara since grade school, and so was undaunted by the idea of fighting. In fact, she herself was the captain of the Sarayashiki High boxing club (an unusual position for a girl).

She stood her ground unfazed when Hiei made biting remarks, and responded in kind with jabs of her own.

She had no fear of failing tests, as she was a straight "A" student, and so was also unfazed by her teacher's.

A fear of bugs was completely out of the question, since Haru had no qualms with stomping them into the ground or keeping them as pets (with which she tortured Keiko and Botan).

In fact only one person in the entire group was aware of the one thing that frightened Haru, and he was sworn to secrecy.

At least until today he had been.

It had all started when Yusuke and Haru had decided to shop for a gift for Keiko's upcoming birthday…

"I'm telling you we should go for the lacey lingerie!"

"And I'm telling you that it will only get you slapped."

"And possibly laid."

"Not a chance."

Haru moved to another part of the store, dragging Yusuke along with her, "You should get her something special like… jewelry or something… girls like Keiko love that kind of thing."

"Yeah and guys like me love seeing girls like her in lingerie."

"You're impossible!"

"She's MY girlfriend."

"Well if you didn't want help then why drag me out here?!"

"If you didn't WANT to help then you shouldn't have come!"

Haru scowled, "Fine do what you want! I'm leaving."

"Fine! See if I care! Bitch."

"Jerk!"

Arguments between Yusuke and Haru were not uncommon. In many ways the two of them were very much like siblings. They usually made up before the end of the day and everything was hunky dory.

That is why it didn't strike Yusuke as odd, that his shopping companion had presumably vanished by the time he'd returned to the spot where they had been standing.

He figured she had gone somewhere to cool down.

"I hope she gets rained on," he muttered as thunder rolled in the distance.

XxX

The rain fell in torrents, catching unsuspecting passerby by surprised as a sudden bolt of lightning struck across the street from the mall.

The sky had grown unusually dark unusually fast and the storm had hit with no warning. While most people ran to the nearest building they could find, Haru found herself huddled underneath a park bench in the mud trying to block out the sound of thunder and the bright flashes of violent lightning.

XxX

"Hey Urameshi didn't you leave with Haru?"

"Yeah, she went home though why?"

Kuwabara's face fell, "Her mom just called looking for her."

Yusuke shrugged, "She probably just stopped somewhere to get out of the rain, no big deal."

He wasn't expecting the sudden punch to the face, "Urameshi you idiot! You didn't let her walk home in the rain did you?!"

Yusuke rubbed his swollen cheek, "Son of a bitch Kuwabara what's got you so worked up? It's just a little rain, it's not like it's gonna-"

"She's afraid of lightning you jerk!"

This seemed to surprise Yusuke.

"Ever since we were kids it scared her so bad she couldn't even move! She even has panic attacks!"

Yusuke put down his bags, "How the hell was I supposed to know that?!"

Kuwabara was already out the door, "When we find her you better apologize!"

XxX

Haru crossed her fingers, her eyes clamped tightly shut, "Kuwabara Kuwabara Kuwabara Kuwabara" [1]

The chant had never really stopped lightning from striking, but it at least made her feel a little better. As long as she focused on the spell she wouldn't slip into a panic attack.

"HARU!"

Her ears picked up the familiar sound of friendly voices.

It wasn't long before Yusuke found her, "Dammit! Why didn't you tell me you were afraid of lightning?!"

He pulled her gently out from her hiding spot, much to her terrified protest.

"Hey! Take it easy will ya?! You're gonna catch a cold if you stay under there!"

Lightning struck the concrete a ways away, sending Haru scrambling back to her place under the bench, only to be pulled into a large pair of arms and pressed against a strong warm chest.

"Hey take it easy okay Haru?" Kuwabara whispered, "I ward off lightning remember?"

XxX

[1] "Kuwabara kuwabara" (桑原桑原?) is a phrase used in the Japanese language to ward off lightning.