Drip Drop: The Definition of Love—by LarryTheStapler
A/N: Ouran fanfic based off of Scrubs Quote (season 1) and Ouran episode 16 of the anime. Some minor changes, but pretty much an explanation of that evening in episode 16. SPOILERS, BEWARE. I hope you enjoy it! Please read and review!!! Haha while writing this I was trying to drop bad hints to my friends about what I was doing. Amazingly, it only took two hours [to write this]! Sorry, if there are any mistakes. My grammar and spelling check is off! PLEASE ENJOY!
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School. I do not own Scrubs either. Funimation and ABC do.
:::
"I have not become a cynic, I haven't."
Drip. Drop.
A boy walked towards a dull, old cypress tree as the rain fell, thunder roaring with it. The ambiance felt gray, nonchalant. Dead.
The ghost of the cypress tree haunted Hikaru's choices and conscience.
Hikaru sat in the pouring rain, wondering if what he did to Haruhi was right. He loved her. He loved her not. His green irises became hollow, slit-like, and indifferent as the difficult predicament spewed at him. The thought to him felt dull, yet nerving. He could not make up his mind. But the docility that replaced her spunk pissed him off. How she could just submit to that jerk…
Hikaru loved the rain. It calmed him as of now. It was one of the things that differed him from Kaoru. Kaoru glorified sunshine, and took an optimistic view on things. Rain meant renewal, catharsis. Rain symbolized the release anguish and lack of identity Hikaru felt and kept to himself for sixteen years. He loved Kaoru. They were best friends, brothers. After all, they were with each other almost every moment of their lives, inseperable, unfazed. But there were times when even mischevious Hikaru wanted individuality and more sympathy.
Hikaru remained in his current predicament without much care or concern.
But to Hikaru, what was life but merely a never ending nightmare, filled with threats, boredom, expectations…
Life was the candle that would go out. Life equaled incessant suffering, be it physical or mental. A broken psyche could not be healed in the matter of minutes.
But ultimately, Hikaru's conjecture led to truth, not cynicsm or pessimism. The truth, after all, was something to be regard with great caution.
Hikaru didn't want to do so.
His childish spite evanesced, and Hikaru maxed out the volume on his iPod. The nostalgic, upbeat qualities of the song left him hanging on. Hikaru didn't fancy classical, refined music. The raw beats from an amplified guitar never ceased to alert him.
The beat of the song on Hikaru's iPod chose a faster tempo. As did the frightening, malicious lightning. Time was running short. And Hikaru only sat wallowing in self-pity.
Love was a riddle. He hated it, but found himself, stuck in its path.
It is odd, that people refuse to admit how they feel because of pride, status, and character. It is also odd to remark that love's doomed victims are nonspecified. It showed mercy to no one. Not even the great Hikaru Hitachiin.
Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.
:::
"Yes, I do happen to believe that love is mainly about pushing chocolate-covered candies and, you know, in some cultures, a chicken."
Haruhi was their toy. She uplifted their boredom and intrigued them. Only because she could tell them apart. No one else could do that. And at times she remained stoic, indifferent to their childish pranks. And he knew, Kaoru knew. They knew their world was opening just a little broader. And it was the first time someone had entered their world, so unknowingly, kindly. But the concept of this gravely troubled the both of them, for they knew that if one of them fell too far into Haruhi's honest, blunt enticement…their destiny would skew, and their brotherly love…no more.
Their being together was very important to them, but…He wanted a sense of individuality.
Tamaki also became sort of an entertainment for the twins. His stupid, altruistic plans touched them, amused them. He showered the club with ideas, gifts, and idiocy. And people loved him for that.
The twins lived in their very own ice world, unwilling to move out.
But will Haruhi Fujioka be the key to that world?
They wanted not gifts or tangible useless objects. The twins were rich, probably having an overabundance of a few products. But as for love, they thought love could only be bought, not felt, sensed, or created. In their little materialistic world, love was commercialized. It was rich delicate candies, beautiful elegant diamonds, and exotic elephant rides in India. It did not exceed the feeling of warmth and passion.
:::
"You can call me a sucker, I don't care, 'cause I do... believe in it."
Drip. Drop.
Maybe the sweetest, purest thing about being in love was the way how it came to be. It started off with dull thoughts, and eventually a deep feeling of intimacy, or trust. Love wasn't only sensuality and sweet caresses. True lovers define love as a feeling that could not be stolen away, no matter what. Love stayed no matter what, and it wasn't half that bad to be head over heels in love.
But Hikaru wasn't head over heels in love.
He was simply, naturally, reluctantly in love. And unaware of his own feelings towards other, specifically Haruhi.
The sharp blade of its knife had cut him open, and left him a veteran of unwilling love. The concept was cruel, painful, but…he wanted more. Selfish reasons covered up the simple nature. Love soon transformed into a monster of denial and anger. Hikaru complexed the situation, and did not consider its consequences.
Hikaru remembered a rainy Valentine's Day when that girl sent him a love letter.
He also remembered how cruelly he tore her heart by tearing the tangible, significant letter.
But he was also hurt.
She tossed his individuality away mercilessly. He was not his brother. At that time, he felt that only fools fell in love, fools who needd status, money, to fill that desperation where respect and pride should lay.
Like faith or religion, love did find a way to entice people and give them hope.
Sometimes, it's just a bitch.
He was cruel, and now his cruelty curveballed at him.
Unfortunately, karma really does keep the universe in balance.
"Aww dammit." Hikaru said.
:::
"Bottom line... is the couples that are truly right for each other wade through the same crap as everybody else but the big difference is they don't let it take 'em down."
"They seem to be having fun Hikaru. Shall we join them?"Kaoru said dully.
"No, it's freaking obnoxious." He waved Kaoru's request away sarcastically and crudely. The weather was not only the hot thing in the room. It was also Hikaru's head.
"Now the lord's getting all friendly with him. Isn't that so stupid?"
Haruhi felt bottled up, annoyed by Hikaru's snarky little comments.
"HEY YOU GUYS! COME JOIN US!" Arai shouted amicably.
Maybe one of the reasons that Hikaru became so immature was that he always got what he want, although it was not always best for him. He didn't do what others told him. And inevitably, it created a jerk. An unfeeling, indifferent, and insensitive jerk. A jerk who desperately needed discipline. Hikaru continued to watch their discussion, annoyed, but with a sense of envy.
"Oi! You guys come here too! It's rare to hear stories from Haruhi's middle school experiences." Tamaki's eyes glistened with tears as he heard Haruhi's stories.
Tamaki did not help.
"I'm not interested in hearing them." He scowled. "Heck, isn't it just stupid? How is listening to past events any fun? Does that guy know that Haruhi doesn't seem him that way anymore?"
Arai perked up, alert with shock coming from the stranger's mouth.
"There's no space in Haruhi's heart for you to—"
Haruhi stood up defiantely, angry and annoyed with Hikaru's childish, immature tone. She marched to him and—
Slap.
The ice of the empty glass clinked. All went silent.
So in shock, he could not remember what she had said. But she sounded mad and indignant.
"What..who cares about anyone else—AREN'T WE YOUR FRIENDS?" He stomped off angrily, looking for the covet of the small mansion room.
Haruhi's mouth opened midway.
And it seemed as if everyone else paused to take in that moment. Kaoru chased after him, and he could swear the lord could have said:
"Their world is still so narrow."
Their world. Hikaru and Kaoru have not used that term in a while.
:::
"Hey man, you got pretty heated right there."
Kaoru quietly crept in the small room as Hikaru hunched on the bed.
"You were pissed too." Hikaru uttered incoherently.
"I'd like to think that I was calmer than you," Kaoru chuckled.
Silence.
"Forcing your selfish feelings onto others—" Kaoru paused. Hikaru remained quiet and scorned. "—is pretty immature." Kaoru walked towards the bed and took a seat next to Hikaru.
"Let's go apologize to Arai-kun."
:::
"Listen Haruhi…I need you to do me a favor."
"Huh?"
"Can you go out with me on a date tommorow?"
:::
"Sorry . For. Making you wait." Hikaru apologized stoically.
"Huh? I though Kaoru was going to come." Haruhi asked.
"He—"
Hikaru remembered that morning.
—cough—cough—
"Are you okay?" Hikaru asked an apprently sick Kaoru.
"Oh…I'm sick…Listen, I told Haruhi that I would go on a date with her because of what we said to her friend yesterday… So…"
"You were wondering if I would go."
"Yes," Kaoru whispered. "You need to escort her properly, okay?"
"Umm.."
:::
They were tense, and noncasual. Hikaru remained stoic, and Haruhi as blunt and curious as ever.
"SO CUTE!!!!" Tamaki cried in despair. Haruhi wore a one piece outfit, and her hair in perky pigtails.
"Kyouya, go pretend to be a punkass pimp while harasing Haruhi and let Hikaru save her!" Tamaki sobbed.
"Yeah, not happening." Kyouya levitated his glasses in the same cold, professional manner that he took things.
"Man, I hope it isn't going to rain soon." Haruhi said. She blushed, and chuckled nervously.
"Who cares…"
Haruhi and Hikaru continued the dull walk around the boardwalk, and they lacked chemistry, connection. Haruhi occasionally would comment on something, and Hikaru mumbled in reply, clearly uncomfortable.
"Ice cream, get your ice cream!" A short man came towards them pulling a cart of ice cream.
"Hey that awfully looks like Hunny-senpai…"
But Haruhi was not behind him or next to him.
"Two cones please." Haruhi walked towards the short man, and place a slip of money on the cool counter.
"Here, you can have the first one!" Haruhi giggled.
"I bet it's not even that great…" Hikaru mumbled. "Hey this isn't that bad. Hmp."
And soon things began to melt off and the tenseness fell apart.
Until Arai came of course.
Boom.
"Hey, Hikaru, maybe we should headback soon. It looks like it's gonna rain."
"It's okay, we can call a cab."
"Oi! Haruhi!" Arai came out of a small store, carrying a cart of watermelon with him. "It looks like it's gonna rain. My uncle has a car you know!"
"It's okay, I can afford a cab." Hikaru gritted through his teeth.
"Oh, no! The sooner the better! We don't want all of our stuff to be soaked!" Haruhi chuckled anxiously. "It looks like a bad storm's gonna come. Let's go, Hikaru!"
"FINE. JUST GO WITH HIM. I HOPE YOU'RE BOTH HAPPY HAVVE FUNT ALKING ABOUT YOUR OLD SCHOOL CRAP."
"Hikaru—wait—" Haruhi notioned to go after him
He ran to an old bus stop, waiting for nothing. The rain started falling.
Drip Drop.
:::
"One of those two people will stand up and fight for that relationship every time, if it's right, and they're real lucky."
Rain continued falling, and soon thunder accompanied it.
Hikaru stayed under an old cypress tree, annoyed with the expressionlessness of the weather. Ignoring the rain, he turned on his iPod.
But contemplating…maybe he really did do something wrong. He was such a child for running away, unable to detain his feelings. He always did what he wanted, though at times, turning out to be a sour prick.
The rhythm of the song grew steadier.
Something was wrong.
The sky collapsed all of its brightness and cheerfulness, and left a void plethora of clouds. Rain washed away the scars of the innocents.
Scars. Something was wrong.
Hikaru jumped from his depressing, withered sanctuary. He knew Haruhi needed him. A familiar flow of adrenaline rushed through him. Sweat fell from his face, and he knew the time came to do something. Haruhi was in danger.
Perhaps love was really a feeling…and beyond.
And perhaps not only sweat and raindrops fell down his face.
"Arai, have you seen Haruhi?"
"Oh. No she left and said she was going to walk home."
"Oh." Crap.
:::
"One of them will say something."
Hikaru could not find her.
Was it time to lose all hope? Hikaru, dejected, slumped at the gates of a small, quiet church. Thunder roared at him, as if telling him what he did was insolent and wrong. His face lost all expression, and only tears rolled down Hikaru's flawless skin. They stained Hikaru's cheek. At last, Hikaru revealed an ounce of humility, humbleness. He swallowed those tears down, those tears that were the product of bitterness, revenge, and disrespect. He, after all, was only human, only someone destined to face the reaction of his own actions. Despair spread like disease through his system. Hikaru wanted to see Haruhi, and pain, guilt, but most importantly awareness of his own feelings struck him all at once. The tears would not go down. They lingered with the overbearing consequences of his own mistakes. Love exposed its darker side; its pain that carnaged the ordinary and extraordinary. Its faith worked strongly, and it stayed stubbornly, disregarding its victim.
Hikaru swung the church entrance open.
It was silent. Only thunder boomed.
Silence stayed until not more than a timid sound interrupted it.
The sound of a girl.
And not just any random girl. The sweet scream of Haruhi Fujiok's voice rang quietly.
"Haruhi?! Haruhi? Are you here?" Hikaru's voice lost its sarcasm and spite. The void filled with despair and anxiety, instead. He ran down the alter, bemused, angry, and desperate.
And he found her.
He found her under a dusty table, shivering, curled up in a ball. She trembled, covering her ears to block the threatening voice of thunder.
Hikaru stood there, once again, expressionless.
"I'm sorry, Haruhi." He pulled a table cloth over her, and they sat in silence. Haruhi shivered and covered her ears. The thunder provoked her. And at last, Hikaru knew what the tough-headed heroine's fatal flaw was.
She feared thunder.
He pulled out his headphones and she perked up, as the sound of the raw rock msuic woke her up from her state of terror.
"Thank you…Hika—"
He pulled her towards his bosom. It was Haruhi's turn to morph into expressionless gazes. He cried, and the silence became peace.
All was silent then.
Except for the beat of their friendship.
And the drip drop of the rain.
Drip. Drop.
Fin.
:::
A/N: SO WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK? This took me only two days, so it was kind of rushed. Please read and review though! Go ahead and flame! And I'm sorry if my tenses were a bit off, heheh.