AUTHOR NOTES//
Disclaimer: Don't own OHSHC. But if I did, wow, lemme tell you.
Characters: MorixHunny
Setting//PostOHSHC
WARNINGS//Character death.
Notes: came up with this during class Friday. It's pretty weird. It goes from present to memories. The memories are italicized. Pretty easy to follow though. And yes, the bunny is really important. I didn't think it was until the end though.
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'Takashi-san' he thinks he hears being called out in the child-like voice. The voice that used to fill his life. The voice that now fills his nightmares.
It causes him to sit up on his bed, breaking out in a sweat, because it's not the familiar voice he grew up around. No laughter or bubbling happiness. No, this voice is pain. This voice sends shivers down his spine. And this is the voice that haunts him every night. This is the voice that causes him to wake up, searching frantically around the bed for the small child-like boy. This is the voice that reminds him of what he's lost.
And as he searches the depths of the thick comforter, he finds a stuffed pink rabbit with small black eyes and an expression that seemed to say 'hug me.' Of course, he probably looks foolish with this pink bunny on his bed. Yet, he doesn't mind it. It's all he has left to remind him of his loss. Memories and this pink rabbit. That's all that's left of Hunny, the small child-like boy, who graced Mori's presence most everyday.
The boy that Mori was supposed to protect. The boy Mori failed.
He grabs the rabbit and pulls it close to his body. It still smells of cake and hospitals. Mostly of hospitals.
It brings back the memories. Those painful, unbearable memories of a fragile boy, who had finally lost the will to fight.
"Keep it, Takashi-san," Hunny said, weakly pushing the rabbit towards Mori.
Mori found it incredibly hard to take the bunny from the boy. He couldn't do it. Not yet. Because he knew if he took the rabbit, that meant Hunny was giving up. And he couldn't let Hunny give up.
Hunny's grip on the rabbit became weaker, and he slid his hand into Mori's. Hunny's hand was tiny, being completely covered by Mori's much larger hand.
"Keep it. That way every time you hug it, you can remember me," his voice had become faint, almost under a whisper.
Mori stared at the rabbit with its 'take it for the poor boy' eyes. He wasn't sure what to do with it.
The rest of the club was outside the room. They wanted Mori to have some time to himself before Hunny passed away.
The doctors had already said he wouldn't make it through the night. There was too much blood, too much loss of blood, too much everything. Hope seemed grim. It seemed like everybody had given up, even Hunny. Everybody except Mori.
"I'll always remember you, Hunny," Mori whispers looking down at the rabbit. It stares back with hollow eyes, and a now seemingly expressionless face.
He places it back on the bed, where Hunny used to sleep. The rabbit lays close near Mori's body, as if it were afraid of the dark itself.
Hunny was afraid of the dark. He always laid as close to Mori as he could. And Mori would hold the small boy until he fell asleep.
Those were the times when Mori never failed. He never failed to hold Hunny when he was scared of the dark. Never failed to make sure the small boy was always happy.
But the time he failed was fatal.
It was one of the only times Mori wasn't at Hunny's side. Hunny was a martial arts master, he did have some ability to take care of himself. But not this time.
Because how much martial arts does it take to stop a drunk driver? More than any normal human can possess.
The two were walking down the sidewalk. For once, Hunny wasn't perched upon Mori's shoulders. He skipped happily a few steps ahead of Mori. They had just returned from buying a new type of cake Hunny wanted to try. It was some foreign French type. Mori held the cake in his arms and Hunny continued to skip a few feet ahead.
Nobody saw it coming. A drunk driver, speeding down the road, the wrong side of the road. And he was heading straight towards the two. The tires went up on the sidewalk. And in a split second, it was over.
All went silent, except for the screams of a broken boy. The driver must have noticed what he had done because he drove off in a blaze of smoke, leaving the wreckage behind him.
"I should have carried you," Mori says, staring down at the pink rabbit.
Its expression seems to be sympathizing with him, staring back as if to say 'I'm sorry for what you've been through.'
He picks the bunny up and hugs it once more, wishing instead it was Hunny he was hugging. The memories replay themselves inside his head yet again. It's becoming a habit. Being woken up every night, reliving what happened. It's gone on since Hunny died a month ago. His friends, the former Club mates and new ones too, try to cheer him up. But their attempts are in vain.
Mori never talked much to begin with, but now he is even more silent. People tend to stay away from him. Maybe it was because he had lost, in Tamaki's words, his 'lovely item.'
His mind snaps back into the memories once again.
Hunny was struggling to stay awake. To stay alive. The small boy was strong. That was obvious. He was a martial arts master. But those skills don't fight death.
Mori watched in silence, tears rolling down his cheeks, as the boy fell in and out of consciousness. Hunny seemed to be fighting so hard, and still losing. And all Mori could do was watch. He squeezed the smaller boy's hand, letting him know that he was still here.
The rest of the club peered in through the cracked door. The twins were crying. Tamaki was on the verge of doing so, along with Haruhi. And Kyoya didn't even look into the door, instead leaning against a wall watching it all.
"I'll be fine, Takashi-san," Hunny said, in between gasps, "And I'll watch out for you, okay? So, don't cry."
Mori reached his hand out and ran it through the boy's soft blond hair. And he reached down and kissed the boy on the cheek, finding it hard to do with the tubes and various other machineries attached to the boy.
He knew it wouldn't be much longer. It had became obvious to him. And obvious to everybody else, as the entire group outside had been moved to tears.
There wasn't much more to do besides wait. Hunny was too weak to talk. To weak to do much of anything. He laid there, mostly unconscious.
It was hard to stare at the boy, and even harder to look away.
And when the green line went flat and the boy was gone, Mori felt a piece of him die inside.
Mori gets off his bed and puts on a shirt. He picks up the pink rabbit, with its 'I miss him too' eyes, and walks outside.
Nobody is awake. Who would be at three am? Mori finds himself walking down an empty road. The soft autumn breeze blows against him and the rabbit, and he continues to walk. Walking, as if in a trance, until he arrives to his destination.
The cemetery.
And he walks to the grave of the small boy. And he sits there with his eyes fixed on the stone, running his fingers over the lettering.
He talks to the ground, "I don't know if you can hear me, but it's Takashi. And Usa-chan. I'm sorry. Sorry I failed you. Sorry I let you die. Sorry for everything."
The tears begin to roll down his cheeks.
"I miss you. I hope you can hear me. I love you."
Finding words is hard for Mori because he never uses words much at all. He doesn't know exactly why he's out here at three am talking to a grave. He doesn't know what he should be saying to the grave anyway. He opts for not talking anymore. Because if Hunny is listening, then he already knows what Mori wants to say.
Mori leans himself against the rock, hugging the rabbit once more. Now the rabbits eyes seem to say 'I'm sorry, but this is nuts.' And Mori wants to agree with the rabbit.
Until the wind blows. He can almost hear his voice in the autumn breeze, being called out in that voice from his dreams. Only it's not in pain anymore. It seems relieved. And Mori begins to agree even more with the rabbit.
"I love you too," a voice says.
And this time Mori knows he hears it. He turns around to see a child-like ghost, standing behind the rock.
"I told you I'll watch out for you," Hunny continues, "And stop crying. You're making me sad. I'm always with you, Takashi-san, don't forget that."
And when Mori reaches out to hug the ghost, it fades away. And Mori isn't sure if he was dreaming or if it were real. Yet he doesn't care. A sense of comfort falls over him, knowing Hunny is still with him.
He gets up with the rabbit and leaves the cemetery.
The wind blows once more against his face. And in the wind he swears he can hear Hunny's voice, but maybe he's just tired. His eyes fall upon the rabbit again, and its eyes seem to say 'I'm always with you.'
With that, Mori heads home with the rabbit in hand, to finally get some sleep.
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Author Notes:: THANKS FOR READING D R&R. And sorry, if you're really upset/crying right now. At least the ending is somewhat happy.