Haruhi sat and listened to the soft chatter of her rich classmates. The class room had a calm, relaxed atmosphere. It was a good, slow day, which was extremely rare. It felt as if every day was rushing by at the speed of light, one day to the next.
Then, there were the spirits. She'd always seen them, never remembered a time when she couldn't. Ever since she started going to Ouran, it had been getting scarier, though. Suddenly, the strange spirits were out to get her, chasing her, dragging her down. As she walked home, a strange creature followed her. It was a giant cloud with one massive eye. The eye was single-mindedly trained on her. Haruhi started walking faster, and the cloud with the eye started to float faster as well. They both progressively moved faster and faster, before Haruhi started for a dead sprint. She twisted around corners, weaving a complicated trail through the city. Finally, Haruhi lost the strange creature.
"Oh god am I tired" Haruhi wheezed, leaning up against a tall black fence. Suddenly, the back of her left knee made a little jerk forward, down the side walk. Haruhi felt strange, a shiver going down her spine in anticipation. Haruhi could feel it, almost like vertigo. Her life was starting to speed up, into a totally new direction. Her right leg dragged her forward as she jerked her torso back in fear. Left foot followed, and her legs started gaining momentum as the started to jog up to a gate. The gate was beautiful, and iron, and forbidding and strange. Her left leg, that little beast, kicked the gate open. Even as she gripped the side of the fence to keep from entering, her hands filling with splinters, her feet soldiered on. Eventually, she lost her grip, and her legs sprinted up the porch of a stately, sprawling monster of a house.
She walked into a dimly lit hallway, pristine shoji screens on either side. Then, in a whirl of red and white silk, two little girls popped out from either side, about two feet in front of her. They were twins, but their hairstyles and the color of their hair differed. One girl had long, bluish grey pigtails that curled up cutely, and the other had shorter pink hair, let down except for two small buns on either side of her head. "I'm sorry for intruding, but my legs-" Haruhi tried to explain, but the strange twins interrupted
"A guest, a guest, a gueeeeeeeeest~" they sang in unison, dancing a little jig, happy to have company, "won't Master be pleased? Won't he, won't he?" they repeated the song many times, and Haruhi was just about to leave when the twins grabbed either of her hands, dragging her towards a strange, smoke filled room. The light seemed better there, even through all the smoke. Haruhi tried to pull her hands away, but the twins had a vice-like grip on her fingers.
Haruhi could see an elegant man lying there across an antique couch, reminiscent of a faint Victorian lady. He held a feathered fan to his face, one leg bent, propped up by a pillow, and another leg stretched over the arm of the couch. He lazily took the fan from his face, turned his body sideways to face the three girls, and took a long drag from a pipe that had been set on a side table to his left. His lovely, half lidded eyes tore into Haruhi's own, one blue, the other a soft golden brown. The eyes were framed by long, feminine eyelashes set in a corpse pale, heart shaped face. His lips were pulled into a lazy smirk, and quietly regarded Haruhi predatorily.
"Welcome to my humble shop, miss." He drawled, swinging his legs over to sit properly and folding his hand in his lap. "Hello, sir. I'm extremely sorry for coming in here, you see, my legs somehow walked into this place on their own." Haruhi babbled, making fearful noodely arm gestures. Suddenly, the man stood up, ramrod straight, and started laughing hysterically. His lovely red kimono flowing softy as the man shook with booming laughter. "Dear god, such noodely arm gestures. She looks so frightened and surprised!" He suddenly irrupted into another round of hysterical laughter. "Frightened and surprised, frightened and surprised~" The twins chanted, dancing in a circle. "This is a wish granting shop, you know" The man mused, giving Haruhi a glance as he pulled the twins onto either side of the couch. "You have a wish, do you not?" he asked, arching an eyebrow imperiously. "No, sir. I just came here by mistake. It's got to be some sort of coincidence!" Haruhi nervously exclaimed. Haruhi figured this place had to be the real deal. If there was such a thing as spirits, then there were also handsome wish-granting shop owners.
" There is not such thing as coincidence in this world. The only thing is hitsuzen." He said his eyes serious.
" What is hitsuzen?" Haruhi asked curiously. "A naturally foreordained event. A state in which other outcomes are impossible. A result which can only be obtained by a single causality and all other causalities would necessarily create different results. So reads the Kodansha Japanese desk dictionary, second edition." He told her, eyes lazily scanning her face as if to find something lost.
He continued in that way of his, "Although hitsuzen can be easily translated as "fate," fate is a destiny brought unto others no matter what they do. In contrast to this, hitsuzen is a destiny that is different for each person that encounters it." The man felt rather strange, with a pulling in his chest. He was reminded of a certain shamisen playing witch.
"Oh" Haruhi spoke softly. They shared a look, and Haruhi made a decision. "I do….have a wish…." Haruhi muttered "I wish I could be… maybe less lonely." "Seems like you know yourself well. At your age I couldn't tell what I really wanted" Watanuki said, smile wistful "My name is Watanuki Kimihiro, and I will grant you your wish. From now on, you will be working for me"
They sat on the porch awhile, Watanuki smoking his pipe, Haruhi staring off into the clouds. It was like euphoria. However, if this was heaven, then the next day was hell.