To the readers:
This one is 10/17/2006. I think this one got okay reviews back then, but times change. Also, I'm not sure how I didn't notice how my name read R269 instead of 249 for essentially all of my stories back then. Enjoy.
Title: Telltale Hearts
Written by: WraithR249
Pairing: KyouyaxHaruhi
Rating: T
Telltale Hearts
By WraithR249
(and co-written by Yue Guang Kuroneko)
--
The thunder clapped loudly again, and Haruhi froze in the middle of the hallway, looking terrified and hugging herself helplessly.
"You're going to die here," she whispered to herself hysterically. "It's going to come for you and strike you and electrocute you until you're just a pile of ash."
She knelt on the ground, and the hallway became quiet again. Haruhi balled her fists, and looked down the empty black hallway. Terror filled her eyes as she realized that it could light up at any moment, a lightning bolt racing through the window to zap her to death. Convincing her that her only hope for life was to move, she closed her eyes, summoned her remaining courage, and ran down the hall.
"You just… need… to find someone," she panted, tears streaming down her face. She silently cursed the resort that she was staying in for being much too large. She wondered briefly if it was actually the Ootori lair. "That would explain the evil thunder and lighting that hovers around it," she muttered to herself.
Quickly spotting another door to her right, she darted to it, hoping it wasn't empty like all of the others. She took a deep breath, then opened the door and dashed through it. She closed the door silently behind her.
Looking around the bare room, she quickly realized from the lump on the bed that the room was indeed occupied. Gathering her wits about her, she realized what a pest she was being. The low and far away rumble of thunder urged her to stay anyway.
Padding towards the occupant of the bed, she first noted the short, tousled hair of the tall, sleeping figure. "Mori-senpai?" she whispered, moving closer. She knelt on the side of the bed, reaching out to the center of the bed to prod the sleeping kendo champion.
Her hand froze as her eyes wandered over a pair of spectacles left neatly folded on the nightstand. This was not Mori-senpai's room.
"What are you doing?"
Surprised, Haruhi fell backwards onto her bottom. Kyouya rolled over to face her and opened one sleepy eye to examine the terrified looking Natural type. Some of the sheets lay rumpled around where she sat. He looked irritated. "What time is it?" His voice was smooth and quiet, just above a whisper.
"Ah…" Haruhi looked around for clues. The mahogany clock that sat by his glasses read 3:27.
"About half past three," she whispered in reply.
"It's late. What are you doing here?" he asked, and Haruhi couldn't help but pause at the elegance of his voice when it was toned down to this level. It retained the cold steel tension that his concise, articulate vocal chords exercised, but when lowered to this volume and drugged by sleep, his words sounded like velvet.
Another crack of thunder forced her to tremble terribly, clutching at the silk that lay around her feet.
The scrutinizing glare that came from the single eye of the Shadow King softened, and he let out a long sigh. He opened up the covers of the left side of his bed with his arm, wordlessly offering her half of the mattress. Haruhi stared. Shrugging, she decided that it was better than getting electrocuted. She sighed, closing her eyes as the soft silk sheets wrapped around her body.
"What are you so afraid of?"
She opened her eyes, turning her head abruptly to face him. His eyes were still closed. "Well, I'd rather not get electrocuted to death, for starters." She thought she saw the corner of his mouth twitch slightly, but it must have been her imagination.
"You won't die," he replied in a sleepy drawl. "The odds of that actually happening are low. Within this resort, it's virtually impossible."
She sighed, not feeling any better.
"Don't worry about things that are out of your control."
She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the persistent rumbles of thunder. She realized that she could no longer see the flashes of lightning. It seemed as though Kyouya's heavy curtains that prevented him from waking up too early had blocked out all light that would come in through the outside world. For once, the Ootori's use technology had worked to her advantage.
"What are you afraid of, senpai?"
She felt the bed immediately shift as he visibly stiffened, turning to lie on his back. "Hmph," he replied, remaining silent thereafter.
Haruhi studied the form of the sleeping Ootori, wondering what means he exercised to buy his own father's company from him. She remembered her surprise when she learned of it.
"Life," he whispered back, breaking her out of her reverie.
"Huh?" was her intelligent reply, now staring wide-awake at her temporary roommate.
"Life is just an interesting game," he said, opening his eyes halfway, staring at the ceiling. "But if I am only to live, succeed, and continue this prestigious family name, then it seems that life has no meaning," he mused, his eyes following the minimalist pattern that lightly decorated the ceiling.
"Life isn't just a plan that you can carry out," she said, causing him to turn over and face her. She gulped as his gaze turned on her, his handsome face unobstructed by his signature eyewear.
"Oh?" he responded, looking amused.
"In between Tamaki, the rest of the Host Club, your family, and your business, is it really all in your grasp? Can you be one hundred-percent sure that you know what will happen, and that everything you come across will be in your capability?"
Kyouya arched a single brow, giving her a look that said, 'Of course not.'
"For you, there may be fewer, but life is also about finding things that we know nothing about, and learning from them. There are so many things that we as humans don't understand, and so many things that we refuse to understand. So much in life is out of our hold, that living life brings us new and challenging obstacles every day."
Kyouya closed his eyes and exhaled loudly, leaning back to face the ceiling once again. "Even if new things strike me everyday, I still cannot shake the fear that my life has already been lived out for me."
"Don't worry about things that are out of your control."
The thunder clapped somewhere nearby. Haruhi yelped and instinctively moved close to him, who looked otherwise unaffected by nature's fireworks.
She curled up into a ball, hurt and almost offended by the lack of comfort that he offered her.
"Relax."
Haruhi peeked at him out of one eye when she heard him speak, his voice a shadow of a whisper. She blushed as his warm breath tickled her neck, causing her toes to curl.
Her eyes widened when she felt his hand run lightly down her shoulder, seeking out her own. When he found it, she intertwined her fingers with his, and gripped it tightly.
"There are many places I can hide from thunder and lightning, but I can't completely eliminate the possibility of getting struck," she shivered, clutching his hand tightly.
"Still, if I take the necessary precautions to greatly reduce the odds, then there should be no reason for me to worry about it so much."
She sighed. "Senpai… if the probability is high that you will succeed, then there is no need for you to be concerned about failure. Likewise, the probability is low that you will be able to control everything that you are dealt…
"So therefore, since your fear is impractical… wouldn't it be best to simply distract yourself from it and forget about it as much as possible?"
For a minute, neither of them moved nor spoke. Haruhi stared at his near-sleeping form, wondering if he heard her advice at all. He looked relaxed in his sleep, in contrast to his usual formal way of carrying himself.
"How did you know that that is what I need?" he asked, not opening his eyes.
"The heart reveals things that the voice cannot hope to communicate," she responded softly.
Suddenly, he rolled over to face her, draping his arm around her shoulders. She looked at him as he forced her closer, holding her eyes with his intense gaze. They stayed that way, staring into each other's eyes, reading each other's souls, their faces only an inch apart.
Haruhi felt like she was growing hotter, being set on fire by his fixating gaze. "Just do it already," she whispered, closing her eyes. She wasn't disappointed as he brought his lips down on hers, kissing her with a gentleness that she didn't expect from him.
Wrapping her arms around him and pressing herself closer, she didn't hear the thunder through the fireworks that were going off in her head. She felt his lips part slightly and she was about to invade when he pulled away. She shot him an unpleasant look.
"Are you sufficiently distracted?" he asked her with an underhanded smile. "Yes," she managed.
"Then forget about your fears as much as possible," he whispered, smiling as she leaned in to kiss him again.
--
Haruhi lay in bed that following night, staring at the ceiling. She was tired, annoyed, and very, very frustrated.
Nevermind that Tamaki and the twins had ruined the day as usual; she was infuriated by that Ootori Kyouya.
All day, she had tried sending him signals that she was sure he had purposefully ignored, and when she had confronted him in private, he even denied knowing what she was talking about.
While she figured that shouting choice expletives at him would make her feel better, she knew that deep inside she was just lonely after his abandonment that day. After that night, she was forced to go the entire day without even holding his hand. Her emotions were slightly shocked, to say the least.
She rolled over and faced the window. There was no thunder and lightning tonight, but she figured that she would have a hard time falling asleep anyway.
She closed her eyes, and half an hour passed. No sleep came, but she was lightly dozing.
Unexpectedly, she felt a weight on her bed and an arm drape around her stomach, pulling her close to that familiar scent that made her smile. She heard him put his glasses on the nightstand.
"How did you know?" she murmured, turning to face him.
He smirked. "The heart reveals things that the voice cannot hope to communicate."
She rolled her eyes. "Nevermind, come here," she muttered, smiling as he kissed her.
Authors' Notes:
-WraithR269: Great, more kissing.
-Yue Guang Kuroneko: I will stop procrastinating. I will stop procrastinating. I will stop procrastinating. ENJOY THIS CHAPTER, EVERYONE! –runs off to BETA chapter 15-
