Title: Fixing A Broken Heart

Series: School Rumble

Pairing(s): HarimaxYakumo

Timeline: During Harima's staying at Tsukamoto residence with Yakumo and Sarah

Author: NoirHeart

Rating: T

Disclaimer: School Rumble and its entire characters are not mine.

Warning: None, maybe some spoilers

"Uhm… You forgot to draw clouds at this panel…" Tsukamoto Yakumo handed the person across her a piece of paper with drawings on it.

"Oh yeah… Thanks, Imouto-san." that person didn't bother to lift his head, he kept on drawing and drawing on the paper above the table. But he did lift his left hand and took the paper from Yakumo's hand. After that he quickly and swiftly switched the paper on the table, drawing clouds, and then switched back to the previous paper before handed the paper to Yakumo again.

"You're welcome…" she mumbled silently and then resumed her work to assist the mangaka in the front of her. Tomorrow was another deadline for the famous mangaka Harima Hario, and he got less then 12 hours to submit it before the editor put an end to his career. So again, for the umpteenth time, he called his assistant to help him finishing the job that was near impossible to finish it all by himself.

But this time, Harima felt somewhat less-guilty to ask her assistance comparing to the old days before, as right now he and Yakumo were currently living under the same roof. There's no need to concern about being working until late at night because Yakumo was already safe and sound inside her own home. There are only two occupants inside this house, as Sara was going outside for a while. She said that she would help Asou at the Chinese restaurant where she was currently working on.

Time went by pretty fast, and it was already 5 hours since they started working the manga. Kenji wiped the sweats away from his face and then put off his sunglasses away, along with his white apparel that held his hair from falling. He lifted his head and then observed the clock on the wall. When he realized that it was already 11.00 PM and he neither Yakumo hadn't eaten anything yet, he dropped the fishbone pen and called out her name.

"Imouto-san…"

"Hmm…"

Yakumo was too busy to bother lifting her head up when she heard Kenji called him, so she just gave him the slightest reaction that was needed to let him know that she heard him and kept on concentrating at her work. Kenji couldn't help it but let a smile carved on his face. 'Imouto-san is really a nice person… She's so serious about this even though this has nothing to do with her…' little did he know that Yakumo had already able to read his mind from way back ago.

Too bad for her, she was too concentrate on his work that she didn't even realize that the words that were floating around her were Harima's thought. And she reflexively let the words slipped off her tongue without giving it a second thought.

"No, it's really—Umm… Err… Never mind, Harima-san…"

She stopped halfway when she realized that it was a really stupid move. People didn't like it when someone reading their mind, and she knew that Harima was no exception judging from his first reaction when he knew that she could do that. She was just blushing slightly but kept on drawing nonetheless.

As for Harima, he quirked his eyebrow a little before he let out a light sigh. 'Ah… Maybe she was just too tired from all of these… Well, it's my fault in the first place to ask her—'

"No it's really not—Uhm… Err… N-Never mind, Harima-san…" she mentally kicked herself for being too stupid to fall in the same hole for two times in a row.

Harima quirked his eyebrow a little higher. "Uhm… Imouto-san, are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine, Harima-san…" Yakumo timidly answering his question, she was still feeling embarrassed from doing the stupid mistake twice.

Harima heaved a sigh and then stood up; he offered his hand to her. "Imouto-san, I think we both need something to eat… Let's go outside." Yakumo stopped from drawing and then looked up at him. "But Harima-san, I can—"

That's when Yakumo realized that it was the very first time she saw his face without any accessories on it. Usually he was always wearing his sunglasses and his hair holder, or maybe that famous beard and moustache of him. Yakumo used to think that he was pretty cool the way he was like that. But when she saw his real face like now, she knew she was totally wrong. Without all those accessories on his face, he was truly… handsome….

Yakumo blushed on the thought and then turned her face away to avoid their gaze met. Harima once again quirked his eyebrow seeing her unusual behavior. But he decided to drop it off anyway.

"Yeah I know you can cook the dish… But please let me treat you this time, okay? I've caused you a lot of trouble for doing all of these…"

"Oh no, that doesn't bother me at all, Harima-san… I also love the manga like you do… Uhm… I think I'm going to prepare some food now, if you excuse me." Yakumo stood up and then already headed to the door without waiting for Harima's answer.

"Thanks, Imouto-san… I'm in your debt…." Harima scratched the back of his hair and then yawned loudly. He himself was pretty tired from all of these works. Today all he saw was only tons of papers, inks, fishbone pen, and Yakumo… He used this brief break time to stretched his hands above his head and then slumped himself to the tatami below. "Having a sleep a little won't hurt, beside Imouto-san will wake me up when she finishes preparing the dish…" after that he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

*****

"Harima-san, the food… Ah…" when Yakumo entered the room once again bringing two plates of non-spicy curry rice, she saw Harima was sleeping on the floor below. She heaved a light sigh and then put the tray beside the table. She sat down and then took her pen again to get back to her unfinished work. She decided to save the food later when Harima was awake and ate it together with him. Just when she was about to resume her work, Harima was abruptly awake and then scanned the room with panic.

"For how long… For how long have I been out???"

"Uhm… Not too long, maybe about 15-20 minutes…" Yakumo then resumed her work.

"Oh… Ah thank God…" He rubbed his temple, relaxing a bit knowing that he hadn't been overslept. Harima lifted his face when he smelled something delicious near the table. Then he spotted the still-hot-and-untouched non-spicy curries beside it above the tray. Her stomach was reflexively growling after his senses registered the delicious thing before him.

"Imouto-san, can I have that? You see that these little worms on my stomach was eager to have little taste of your delicious curry…" he scratched the back of his hair timidly.

Yakumo then nodded and handed him one of the curried on the tray, she saved the other one for herself. Harima received it with a sheepish grin on his face and then not long after starting to shove the delicious curry inside his mouth. Yakumo decided to eat it later as her work was almost done.

'Oh this is really great... She can cook very well…'

Yakumo only smiled slightly hearing his praise that was addressed to her.

'Hmm… When I think about it, Imouto-san is a really rare girl to find nowadays…'

She almost fell to the same hole thrice if only she couldn't get a hold of herself from being flattered by his words. She only blushed slightly and tried to keep focusing on her works.

'She's smart, beautiful, good at sports, but manages to stay on a low profile… I think she's every boy's girl on their dream…'

Her blush was deepened after 'seeing' his statement. She knew she couldn't keep on focusing on her works anymore if Harima kept on praising her like this. But she could do nothing, as she was still hiding the fact that she could also read his mind.

'And amazingly, she's very good at cooking and doing the household's errands… I think she can be a very good and perfect wife…'

Yakumo was struggling hard to keep her embarrassment visible to him. Her fingers were fidgeting and it could no longer be focused on drawing the manga panel on the paper. She occasionally made some mistakes on stroking and applying the tone, and she had to curse herself for repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Deciding that reading further thoughts from him wouldn't help her sped up her work, Yakumo decided to move the topic on his mind somewhere else but praising her motherly works. Her mind was rolling for a moment to think of a topic.

"Uhm… Harima-san… How is it?" oh yeah great work, Yakumo! She sarcastically said to herself when those words slipped off from her tongue without giving it a second thought.

Harima stopped from munching for a moment and then lifted up his face. He managed to gulp down the food somehow before opening his mouth.

"You mean this curry? Oh it's perfect!" Harima grinned sheepishly and then resumed his activity to shove and gulp down the non-spicy but amazingly delicious curry into his mouth. Yakumo blushed again after hearing his praise that was addressed to her. She had 'read' it before, but this time it's a whole lot different when she was hearing it directly from his mouth than only reading it on his mind.

After a moment of a silent, Harima actually finished up his meal and about at the same time, Yakumo finished her part. Full and recharged again, Harima got back to his work and started to draw again. Yakumo shifted from her seat and managed to stretch her arms a bit to the air before took her meal from the stray and began to eat. She was feeling extremely exhausted and sleepy, but she couldn't just sleep and let Harima did the entire job by himself now, could she?

As for Harima himself, he wasn't that oblivious and actually aware about her condition right now. He could notice that Yakumo sometimes closed her eyes for a moment, but then she shook her head violently before going back to her, no, his work. Harima sighed and somewhat feeling guilty…

After that a silence fell down again once more on that room as Harima was busy with his work and Yakumo was eating her curry slowly. She looked at the clock on the wall; it's already 01:00 A.M. She felt the sleepiness slowly but sure crept up to her eyes and it affected her consciousness. She felt her head was heavy and somewhat dizzy but she didn't want to sleep yet. Harima-san's still working, right? Lucky for her that tomorrow was Sunday, so she could careless about waking late the next morning.

Not long after someone knocked the door and Yakumo stood up to open it. Standing on the door was Sara, looking tired and exhausted but somehow amused. She just got home from her job on the Chinese restaurant where she did her part-time job there, along with Asou. She hugged Yakumo casually when she had opened the door. She told her cheerfully how busy they were that day, how customers kept on coming, and how many mistakes that she had made. She felt stupid somehow, but that couldn't be helped when the tiredness had the best out of her. She occasionally grinned and snickered when she told her about it, looks like she really enjoyed working there. Or is it because she's with Asou-senpai, Yakumo wondered to herself.

Then Sarah came in and immediately took a bath. She told Yakumo to go back to work with Harima not to wait for her, as she would instantly go to sleep after taking a bath. Sarah gave her a sly wink before saying good night to her and wishing her to have a quality time with Harima. Yakumo only blushed a bit after hearing her words. And as usual, when she tried to argue with it Sarah had already nowhere to be seen. She heaved a sigh before went back to Harima's room again.

"Sarah-san, isn't it?" Harima asked her when she entered the room without giving it a bother to lift his head up. Yakumo only gave him a nod, though he couldn't see it. That question needless to answer anyway as he already had known the answer.

Yakumo sat again and then continued her meal. A silence fell again between them; the only sound that could be heard was the sound of stroking that Harima made with his legendary pen. Yakumo decided to break this silence, she didn't like it and it felt awkward for her. Her brain was rolling to think a topic that worth a conversation. Come to think of it, she never really had a real conversation beside manga with him, so she decided to start it with small questions.

"Uhm, Harima-san?"

"Hmm…?"

"Do you listen to music?"

Harima kept quiet for a moment but he didn't even stop from his work. After a few seconds had passed by, he finally opened his mouth. "No, not really… Not that I do not like music, it's just I don't listen to the radio that often."

"Oh… Why is that?"

Sighing, Harima put down his pen and then stared at the ceiling above blankly.

"You know… I was a real delinquent back then… All I ever did day and night was making more and more trouble. Fighting, it's my usual activity to fill some leisure times. I never had a chance to listen to the music, or watching some good movies… Maybe you can give me some advices about that, Imouto-san?"

He smiled warmly toward her, remembering how useless and trash he used to be back then and how he had changed now. He had to thank Tenma for making his world changed to a better one since he had fallen for her. Yakumo gave him a smile after hearing his words.

"Well… I don't know music that well either, truth to be told…" Yakumo sighed a little.

"But you must have a better knowledge about that than me, right? So tell me, what's your favorite music?" Harima smiled and his expression showed a genuine curiosity.

"Uhm… Ah… I like the Masashi-san's Amayadori… But I don't think many people nowadays know that song… It's a pretty old song." Yakumo blushed slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed about her taste of music. People on her age would prefer a pop or rock, rather than some old music that maybe even older than her age. But what could she say? She really loved that music and found nothing in similar stage of quality from pop songs nowadays.

"Wow… Really? Maybe I should listen to it; it must've been great since it's your favorite." Harima grinned toward her and hinted the praise between her words. Yakumo blushed again and inwardly smiling after hearing his genuine praise toward her.

"And what about movie? Do you have a favorite one?" Harima asked her again.

"Well… I don't watch movie that much as well… What about you Harima-san?" she asked him back.

"Hmm… I only watched the Mangoku series and maybe some anime series…"

"Really? What anime?" Yakumo was slightly excited as she was also like to watch some of it.

"I often watched that high school complicated love story, School Rumble. It was kind of weird, really. Seeing a delinquent had fallen in love with a plain girl that he would do anything to get her love. But what he had gotten in the end? She was already falling in love with the boy from her class. Damn… Feels like I was watching my own whole life story, don't you think?" (ed: yeah, no kidding!)

"Oh that series… I was following it too." Yakumo put her finger on her chin trying to remember the ending of that anime.

"Wow, really? You know what, I was practically skeptical of the prospect of this anime when I first saw it on TV. I thought from the start that this anime would be ended exactly like the other romantic movie; the girl would finally fall in love with him and then live together happily ever after." Harima snickered slightly, remembering how he used to hope that his love to Tenma would be ended like that.

"Yeah… I also thought that way… But in the end, the delinquent never really had her love. She herself got together with the man that she loved from the very start…" Yakumo somewhat could feel the ironic as well.

"Hehehe… Yeah, that was really an unexpected one. And what came as a big surprise was her little sister that was actually fell in love with him… Strange, huh? That sweet and innocent little girl would eventually fall in love with a delinquent like him…" Somewhat, bullseye. Yakumo lowered her face slightly and then sighed, the words 'just like me and you, Harima-san…' left unspoken. But then suddenly, a curiosity emerged from nowhere to her mind. She felt that it wasn't a really good question to be asked. But hell, she wanted to know it badly as whatever his answer would be, it would affect her feelings toward him.

"Harima-san, if you were him, would you accept her love?"

Harima put his finger on his chin and then kept quiet for a moment, there was a puzzled look on his face. She could have sworn that his eyes were observing her carefully, and she began to feel uneasy. Uh-oh… Not good… At this rate he would found out that—

"Maybe not… for now. She is quite a perfect girl; beautiful, kind, and she knows how to cook very well… I bet she can be a very good and perfect match for me. But…" he paused for a moment, his face stayed low.

"B-But?" she stuttered and had to mentally kick herself for being so hasty and unusually pushy.

"But, I still can't forget Ten—I mean Tsukamoto-san yet… The wound is still gaping here…" he grasped his own chest to emphasize his words before going for a short pause. Yakumo couldn't help but feeling a bit jealous toward her lovely sister. She knew she shouldn't feel that way, but the fact that Harima still couldn't forget Tenma yet even though he knew he'd never be together with her was causing a fair amount of disappointment in her heart. However, she didn't react to his words; she just nodded faintly and her expression remained unchanged.

"Maybe someday… Someday this wound will recover and I'll be ready to open my heart for someone else." Yakumo could see his determined expression and a mild smile on his face when he lifted it up. Unbeknownst to herself, her lips curved up to form a genuine smile. She felt somewhat happy and relieved that Harima didn't decide to close his heart forever. Harima couldn't help but stunned and caught himself stare at her smile. He was barely able to see her smile like that before. As far as he could remember, the last time he could see her smile like that when he praised her cook.

"You know, Imouto-san… It was really hard to imagine that it's you who would be fallen in love with an ex-delinquent like me." Somehow, bullseye.

"Eh…?" Yakumo was taken aback after hearing his words. Her mild expression drastically turned into a shocked one. Her face had turned into a tomato in no time. Has he figured me out?! Oh no… This is not good, not even for the slightest… What should I—

"You know…" Harima scratched the back of his head and a faint tint blush appeared on his cheeks. "When I was putting myself into that delinquent position, then I have to imagine that it's you, as Tenma's little sister, who had fallen in love with me. It's kind of hard, you know… Someone as perfect as you, would take a liking at a good-for-nothing ex-delinquent like me." He smiled nervously to her.

"T-That's not true! I mean… Uh…" Yakumo couldn't count anymore how much she had kicked herself mentally today.

"Huh?" Harima was a bit startled after hearing her words. What did she mean by saying that it's not true? His left eyebrow arched highly and his face showed a quite large amount of confusedness.

"I mean… Uh… Y-You're not as bad as you might think of yourself, Harima-san." Good think for her this time her brain had rolled faster and came up with a non-stupid answer. Harima's face softened after hearing her words and then he let out a heavy sigh.

"Heh… Yeah no kidding… I'm the great Hario Harima afterall." He grinned proudly, and Yakumo couldn't help but smiled again after hearing his antic. "No, really, Imouto-san… All I can do is just writing this manga… and watching her fading back…" his expression turned slowly from a cheerful one into a grief one; Yakumo stopped smiling the instant she noticed his transition.

Then another awkward silent fell upon them as Harima quietly picked his pen and got back to his work. Yakumo really didn't have anything left to say, so she just stayed quiet there and resuming eating her meal again. After a few munch and gulp finally she had finished her meal. She picked her plate and Harima's up quietly to not disturb Harima's concentration and then walking slowly to the kitchen.

A few minutes passed and Yakumo had finished her work to wash the two plates clean and put them back into the rack. She turned the gin off and then dried her hands with the small towel near the sink.

"Harima-san… He really loves nee-san afterall…" she sighed lightly and then went back to Harima's room again. Even though her job was done and she could go to sleep right now, she felt obligated to stay up with Harima until he had done his work. It was also her work, afterall.

When she got back into his room, Harima was lying beside the table. Eyes closed and his right hand crossed her head to protect his eyes from the bright lamp above. His left hand was lying limply beside his figure. Yakumo wondered if Harima was asleep or not, so she slowly walked into the room and then approaching his lying figure down there. She sat down beside him and then listening to his breathing. It was weak, but she could hear the snore came out from his mouth. Yakumo used this moment to observe his face carefully from this close distance. He was unbelievably handsome, Yakumo had to admit; his thick and long eyebrows added another strong point on his face. Yakumo shifted her gaze to his lips; it was partly open as the snore was probably coming out from there. Tempting… She blushed slightly and then turned her face away from him when a flash of thought struck his mind to kiss that thin lips of him.

'Oh c'mon Yakumo… You won't get a chance like this twice!'

'Don't, Yakumo! You'll screw everything up if he caught you in the act!'

Her inner was starting to clash violently. In one hand, she desperately wanted to show her affection toward him; she wanted him to know how much she had fallen for him. But in the other hand, she was so afraid that if finally Harima actually knew her feelings toward him, he would immediately refuse her and told her to give up because his heart was still belonged to Tenma. It was going to be ached for a long time, she knew that too well and she didn't want Harima walked away from her life like that.

She shook her head violently. No! I can't run away forever!

With that said, she had made up her mind and slowly turned her gaze toward his lips once again. Her heart was thumping loud and she could feel the hot blush was starting to form on her cheeks. She started to bend her head low, closing the distance between their face. Her knuckles had turned into white; she clenched her fist too tight and her body was starting to shake violently. She was in between excitement and scared to death.

Slowly but sure, she closed the distance between their lips. She closed her eyes to somehow reduce the acute nervousness that she was currently feeling.

Closing in… and closing in… and closing in…

"Ngh…?"

A loud thump could be heard inside her chest. He woke up! In an instant she lifted her face from him without bothering to open her eyes first. Yakumo was feeling a mix of embarrassment, disappointment, and a slight relief. She opened her eyes and found Harima was staring at her with an awkward look on his face. She frowned a little, wondering if Harima had caught her trying to claim his lips. If that's the case then screw her.

"Uhm, Imouto-san? What are you doing?"

She looked down and just realized how awkwardly close their position was. She felt the hot flush on her cheeks again and then stood up hastily. Harima sat up and observed her figure carefully. His eyebrow arched a little and then a frown appeared on his face.

"Imouto-san, your face is red and you're sweating a lot… You wouldn't happen to have a fever, would you?"

"N-N-No, no… I-I'm alright, Harima-san. I'm just a bit tired… Uhm… Since I haven't got anything else to do, would you mind to let me sleep?" Yakumo was stuttering acutely, she was still feeling embarrassed and afraid of being caught. So she tried to get out from this room and also this awkward situation as fast as she could.

"Oh, sure, no problem… Beside the manga has already done, thank to your help." He smiled warmly and then stared at her still flustered face. "Maybe I can repay you someday." Yakumo felt her heart skipped a beat when she saw his smile and his expression. That was weird… She tried to read what on his mind, but for some reasons she couldn't read what's written on his mind this time. She sighed inwardly and decided to give it up; maybe it was just her feelings.

"You don't need to—"

"Ah it's fine, Imouto-san… Well then, I'll just do the picking and you can go to your own room now." Harima stood up and started to collect the paper into one bundle and put it on his desk.

Yakumo stared at his back for a couple of minutes, still trying to figure out the meaning of his warm smile and his unreadable expression when he thanked her. But then she really gave up now and turned her back, started to make a step outside from his room.

"Good night, Harima-san…" she said it while kept on walking outside his room

"Yeah, good night too, Imouto-san."

But when she was just 3 steps away from Harima's room she heard his voice calling her again.

"Imouto-san?"

"Hmm?" Yakumo gave him a side glance. Harima stood firmly and she could see that warm smile and that unreadable expression on his face. Her heart was pounding louder again and she gave Harima her most genuine and sweetest smile when she heard his next words.

"I don't think that I have to wait that long for my heart to recover. I just found the cure 5 minutes ago."

FIN

Done... I wrote in 3 days... This story was intended to be a short one-shot, but it looks like I have been having fun writing it too much... But it's okay, I guess... I really like Harima and Yakumo to be together. It was kind of hard to decide my fave between HarimaxYakumo or HarimaxEri. But well, the kiss scene between Harima and Yakumo made up my mind. :P I hope you readers didn't get bored halfway... LOL... Anyway, thanks for visiting and hopefully reading. A lotta thanks if you were kind enough to leave a review!