Quiet Desperation
Chapter 1-Helpless
Haruhi walked down the dark streets with her arms full of groceries. It had taken longer than she expected, but the super market was having a lot of great sales that she just couldn't pass up. She might have just spent the rest of her and her father's food budget for the week, but with the prices she caught she knew the pantry would be full for practically a whole month. Plus, they had been giving tons of freebies away during the promotion. She considered that her own special treat.
She had gone into the store at about 7 for something last minute for dinner the next day, but didn't end up coming out till about two hours later.
For a brief moment, the thought of Tamaki crossed her mind. She could just picture him panicking and scolding her for walking the streets during after hours by herself. She shook her head and sighed personally at the image of her sempai.
She knew he would be irrational like always if he could see her. He still treated her like his precious daughter. His quaint, fragile little doll. She didn't wish to be treated as such. She wanted to be respected. She knew she could handle herself much better now than she did during her first year at Ouran. Beginning from the ending of her first year and weekly ever since, she had been dragged into taking martial arts lessons from Honey and Mori. That was, of course, when they didn't have to be at the University.
She was doing well so far, and if nothing else, could at least fend off an attacker. It made her almost proud to see herself becoming stronger. She was growing in her 2A year. She was trying to grow all she could to make her father proud. And her mother.
So feeling secure in her own well being, Haruhi walked the dark streets, loaded with bags in her hands, to the short walk around the block between her apartment and the grocery store. She was right by the apartment; it was just another turn past some closely spaced buildings and an alleyway before she got to her complex.
Just as Haruhi passed the alleyway, she thought she could hear something.
It was a small echoing sound, but enough to catch her attention on the dark and slightly un-crowded streets. She dropped her arms and stood still, trying to distinguish the sound that had interested her. Going un-sought after, the noise would perhaps have seemed like nothing but the chirping of some animal, but when listened to, it morphed into something else.
To Haruhi's keen ears it became a small, soft, whimpering. Even more listening confirmed that it wasn't animalistic at all, but more human.
The alley wasn't that long, and Haruhi's curious brown eyes peered into it as she rounded the corner to see what it was for herself. If it was an injured or abandoned animal, of course she would help it. It seemed as if Tamaki's over active altruistic streak was wearing off on her.
And if the noise was human…Haruhi could only imagine what they were doing in the back of this alley at such an hour.
Haruhi stared intently at the faint light from the street that lingered back here, and then she saw a figure. The noise was indeed human, for there was a figure of a person huddled up in the corner of the alley as if they were crying. Their knees were brought up all the way to their chest in a fetal position, their head buried in the cradle of their arms. In this position their whimpers grew into muffled cries that were masked from the face covered by thick and frizzy tight, dark red curls.
Haruhi dropped all her bags onto the ground immediately and came running up to the side of the figure.
"Are you alright?" she asked in a concerned and heated tone.
The figure didn't seem to notice her, too lost in their own inner demons at the present. Haruhi then knelt beside the figure and placed her small hand gently on her shoulder.
It was now that the figure knew they had company, and reacted. At the slightest touch of Haruhi's hand, the person jumped one hundred feet in the air as if they had just been electrocuted. Her skittish behavior was almost a heart breaking sight. It was like she trembled at the sight of mere human touch. What had happened to this girl?
In the girl's flinch, Haruhi had been able to glimpse the girl's face for a moment. There was something recognizable in the features. Like she might have seen her before.
Looking closely, Haruhi now realized it was a girl she knew. One who had grown up around her in the apartment complex since they were 13. She was only a little older than her, but they had been in the same grade before she went to Ouran.
"Airisa-san?" Haruhi questioned gently, trying to see through the girl's dark red hair to view her face. She reached out lightly to touch her shoulder again, but she heard a low whimper again from the girl as she flinched away, shaking from the soft touch.
"Please don't touch me…" she begged in a whisper, the shaking tone in her voice incredibly heart breaking.
Haruhi knelt down entirely now, but knowing better than to touch her.
"Airisa-san, it's me. Fujioka Haruhi?" Haruhi tried to coax.
"Haruhi?" the girl murmured and lifted her head, her hair momentarily parting like a curtain, revealing her face and eyes.
Her face was pale, the dark and shadowed circles under her eyes seeming more noticeable. Her heart shaped face looked horribly white and her eyes were blood shot from crying. Despite the red eyes though, her irises were still surprising with color. Yet, the almost transparent lavender-green portals of her vision were dull of life. The only emotion remaining in them seemed to be stress. The rest of her happiness appeared to be drained out of her.
Haruhi nodded in reassurance to Airisa, and then looked troubled and inquisitive to the frightened girl. "Airisa, what happened to you?"
The girl's eyes seemed to glaze over at the mention of the memory of what had happened to her. They frosted with new disturbed tears, and she buried her head in her arms again. The curtain of her hair came around her head once more, and she began feverishly shaking. Just shaking her head. Shaking in objection to something. As if she was just trying to shake the images away.
"It would be ridiculous to ask if you were alright now." Haruhi stated aloud. "Airisa-san you look horrible. Please let me help you." She begged trying to comfort the girl to look at her. She took a minute to run and gather her many bags of groceries that had been dropped. She drug the bags back with her to the scene of the poor girl and reached down into one of them to produce a newly bought package of tissues. She handed a few sheets to Airisa who silently took them graciously, yet she just clutched them to her face protectively, like a security blanket of some kind.
"Can you tell me anything about what made you like this?" Haruhi tried questioning again; hoping Airisa would bring forth more answers.
Airisa said nothing, only responding by burying her tears and face farther into the tissues soft texture.
Haruhi sighed. This was going to be hard. Airisa looked completely un-responsive. It may be impossible to get her to say anything, at least while the two of them were still in this alley.
"Well Airisa, I was just heading home."Haruhi began again. "I can walk with you and make sure your all right, and we can get you home so that you can-"
"NO!!!" the girl shrieked instantly out of nowhere. "No! Don't take me back there! I won't go back! Please, you can't take me back!!!"
Airisa's sobs picked up heavier now and she grew incredibly panicked in her breathing. This response had almost made Haruhi jump. It was almost as if the word "home" had sent her into frenzied state of alarm. Now Haruhi knew something was definitely wrong.
"Why can't you go back home?" Haruhi asked quickly, hoping she may get an answer.
Instead Airisa continued her frightened pleas.
"Oh, you can't take me back! Haruhi Please! I'm begging you! Don't take me back! I'll go anywhere, anywhere else at all, but just not there! Oh please don't make me go! Please oh please oh please!!!"
Airisa was in hysteria now, just sobbing. Each cry came more desperate and pleading than the next. Her words and the mere tone of her voice would have melted even the iciest and coldest heart.
This was horrible. Haruhi could honestly say this girl was scarred for life right now. She had no idea what the hell had happened, the only thing she knew was that she agreed completely with Airisa now. She could not go back to that apartment. Something horrible had happened there and Haruhi would get to the bottom of it.
She handed the sobbing girl more tissues, but dared not touch her as she shook even more.
"I'm not going to make you go anywhere Airisa. Don't worry. It's going to be alright." Haruhi consoled the girl. Airisa managed to dwindle down to a whimper again, afraid some one was going to find her. An idea came to Haruhi's head then, but she was going to need Airisa some where safe first to carry it out.
"If you can't go home, do you want to at least come back to my home? It's much safer than where we are right now, and you can stay as long as you want so you can calm down. It's going to be alright, just let me help you out okay?"
Haruhi stood up and held out a hand to Airisa, hoping she would take it. The red head's tear streaked face gazed past the tissues and into Haruhi's concerned brown eyes. She could sense no hostility or hazard in them whatsoever. Airisa felt a trust in Haruhi, a trust that she would be safe behind Haruhi's offer. But her original fear kicked in, and she mumbled through her shakiness,
"Haruhi, I can't tell you anything. I can't tell you. I can't. I can't. Its too-If I do then-"Her words were being broken up by hiccups.
"No one is going to make you say anything you don't want to." Haruhi said firmly. "Just come with me so you can put yourself together."
Airisa sighed and tried wiping more of her face off with the tissues. She then shakily reached up her arm, and connected it with Haruhi's. Haruhi was as gentle as possible with the girl as she could be with the support upward, yet she could still feel Airisa wince. Airisa knew she still couldn't stand to be touched, not yet. But she knew she'd have to suck it up and take this willingly just once. She'd do anything to get away from her current situation right now. Yet it seemed ironically awkward that "getting away" involved her going closer to the scene of her actual torment.
Haruhi smiled warmly and extremely kindly at her.
"Its going to be alright." She said once again, hoping the shaky girl was affected by her words. "Just follow me and we'll be home in no time." She gathered the rest of bags for the trip back, and noticed that Airisa was silently picking a bag or two on her own, as if to help Haruhi for some kind of payment with all the trouble she was causing.
Haruhi went to stop her, but Airisa didn't look up from her shoes, her position solidified at Haruhi's heels. The two bags were clutched to her chest tightly, as if they were supposedly now protecting her from the outside world. Like the tissues had. Like her position with her body curled up in hopeless defense. She seemed completely vulnerable. Desperately needing to hold something, to be shielded, to be protected.
Haruhi breathed out sadly as she saw the poor girl as they slowly started to make their way to her apartment. It looked like she had her hands full now with this issue. This girl needed help. Big time. And Haruhi couldn't do it alone.
It looked like an emergency call to the Host Club was going to be required. Immediately.
A/N-
Hi everyone! Haha, if you clicked on this, then…thankyou! This is a new Ouran story or mine, being my second one. For those of you who are familiar with me and my updating schedule, another story to procrastinate on probably seemed like the last thing I needed XP But I just couldn't get this idea out of my head. I hope you all like it. This will be one of my more outwardly angsty stories, as you will read in the first chapter. There will be romance too, but the catch is, I want to let you guys decide with this one. I'm already planning too many stories where I have OC's coming in through the windows and wood works haha. I decided I was going to at least have one story, with one OC, where you guys would decide her romantic fate. It starts out with a simple quiz on my profile. You'll vote with who Airisa will end up with. The story will change along with the number of votes and what not, along with any and all suggestions you guys leave in your reviews. Reviews are a SUPER part of this story. I will more than likely ask you guys questions that will help influence the plot in your responses to them. This story is for you guys! So enjoy it^^ Also be sure to check out and review my other two stories-
Ouran Diaries-Secret Perspectives (a multi HostxOC romance I've been working on forever XP)
Shimmering Darkness ( A Kingdom Hearts romance story involving two awesome twins and plenty of love triangles^^)
Well thankyou for reading chapter one…I would like at least five reviews as incentive to keep posting. I have ,like, three other stories to work on haha, so keep me motivated guys! Please tell me what you thank.
Please and Thankyous always!
Tasia^^