Disclaimer: The author of the fanfiction (babbler) does not, in any way, profit from the story and that all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator.

I think I might have been channelling a bit of Ryuji and Taiga rather than Kyon and Haruhi in parts, but I don't think it gets too out of hand. I hope it isn't too angsty. Anyway, tell me what you think I appreciate the feedback.

Chums?

Chapter 4: The Love Potion of Haruhi Suzumiya

It was nearly dark as I biked my away across town to Haruhi's apartment building. Luckily, it was much cooler than it was a few hours earlier or this would truly be a trip into hell. I wonder if Haruhi and her parents are alike? Now there was an awful though; it nearly caused me to crash into a parked car. Haruhi had to get her personality traits from somewhere, which could mean one hell of an evening.

What's more, Haruhi is probably hurt. There is no way she would ever admit it but the way she walked out of the classroom holding her ribs said otherwise. How exactly is it that a god, in her own realm, got hurt? Itsuki had answered my question earlier.

*---*

All the other club members had left, even Nagato. I had lingered pretending I was reading a book while trying to figure out how to handle Haruhi.

"Haruhi trusts you so why are you so worried?" Itsuki said, having remained behind.

"I was stunned when she lost that fight. What the hell was she even fighting for?"

Itsuki's eyes opened slightly and his stupid smile turned into a bemused one. "Haruhi is a realistic girl even if she doesn't always appear to be. She's perplexed, you might say, as to why girls are suddenly noticing you. She wants to think that the love potion is causing it, but it's being ultimately trumped by her realistic side telling her that the girls are interested in YOU and it's nothing to do with the potion."

Itsuki was making me mad. He understood what was going on and yet still left me in the dark to figure it out on my own.

"So if I convinced Haruhi the love potion was fake, it might have gotten worse, and you didn't tell me."

"It was a no win situation, but, with you being who you are, I figured you would come up with a perfectly fine solution. Things just conspired against you."

"So, how...why did Haruhi lose the fight?"

"Have you ever had a dream where you didn't get what you wanted?"

Where did that question come from? He stared at me, patiently waiting for a reply. When I lost the soccer match to Itsuki`s class I had a dream where I was kicking a football but could never reach the opposing net. No matter how far or hard I ran I could not get there. We had lost that match, it was no wonder my dreams reflected it when I had wanted to beat Itsuki so badly.

"Dreams take place in our own minds, yet, only on rare occasion can we control them. When something is bothering us our dreams often reflect these feelings. Dream interpretation is a psuedo science, but how can anyone deny that our everyday experiences affect our dreams? For Haruhi, her moods and attitudes affect reality itself and she can't consciously control that power. You wanted to win and yet lost a football game in your own mind. Haruhi, likewise, wanted to win and loss a fight in a reality she subconsciously controls."

"So her subconscious and conscious were working against each other?"

"It's more likely she consciously felt she couldn't win."

Wait a minute...did I say my dream out loud?

*---*

Haruhi's apartment complex loomed in the distance. It was brilliantly lit up against the dark buildings around it. On the sixth floor, one apartment's windows were completely dark. Maybe she wasn't home, or sitting in the darkness all by herself.

I parked my bike and walked over to the brightly illuminated front entrance. I pushed the intercom button for 609 and it started to ring. This apartment was quite far from my own home and much further than Nagato's, which is probably why we never come here. I wonder where Mikuru lives? Just out of curiosity of course and not for any perverted reasons.

Nobody was answering the intercom so I tried Haruhi's number and again there was no answer. I came all the way over here and she's too busy brooding in the dark to answer her damn phone!

It would take almost a half hour to ride all the way home again. I suppose I should have tried calling before I left.

An elderly gentleman opened the door and nodded to myself. The door was closing slowing and I dove to catch it before it completely shut. He gave me an odd look but just kept on walking.

I raced up the six flights of stairs and stopped in front of her door and listened intently but there were no sounds emanating from inside. I knocked as loudly as I could.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want?" She opened the door a small crack and peered out.

"You weren't answering your phone so I brought your homework over."

"You came all the way over here for that?"

"Of course not. Are you okay? You left without saying anything." I shouldn't have said anything about her homework.

"I guess you can come in." She unhooked the chain holding it shut.

I hesitantly walked into the pitch-black apartment feeling like a mouse. Haruhi was slithering around somewhere and I couldn't see her. Thankfully, before I could get more paranoid, she flicked on a few lights.

"I'll be back in a second." She walked down the hall and into what must be her room.

Her hair was a mess, her uniform was wrinkled, and her eyes looked red. There were a bunch of pillows and sheets piled on the floor next to her kotatsu. Haruhi had made some sort of nest. There was something fundamentally unsettling about energetic Haruhi curled up in that nest in the dark and crying her eyes out.

I sat down to the kotatsu and took out Haruhi homework. One would think I had lied before, but I had indeed brought it so that I'd at least have a plausible excuse to talk to her.

Haruhi appeared again wearing a short black skirt and t-shirt. She glared at me with her hands on her hips for a few seconds and finally sat down to the kotatsu.

"You better not be thinking of trying anything funny."

You say that after you let me in the apartment?

"Where are your parents?"

"Dad's always gone on business and my mother doesn't come home until late..." She glared at me again.

"Are you okay?"

"No! Are you stupid? My ribs hurt like crazy and it hurts to breath."

"You should have gone to the hospital if you're in that much pain."

"I was going to but I don't think they do anything for broken ribs anyway so what's the point." She had one arm tightly wrapped around her chest at all times. Now up close I could see that sweat was running down the side of her face and she was pale looking. I leaned over to touch her forehead with the back of my hand.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Seeing if you have a fever. Now stop moving around and stay still." Her forehead was damp but not overly hot. I would have made her go to the hospital if it were.

"Have you had anything to eat?"

"No. My stomach finally stopped churning a little bit ago."

"Do you want me to make you something?"

"No." She gave me a quizzical look, but her stomach growled at the mention of food belying her rejection.

"If you put anything in it I will kill you."

"Not if I put the right things in it you won't."

She looked at me with wide eyes and for the first time in her life was at a loss for what to say. "I don't thi...ha ha." She grasped her ribs tightly with both arms and tried to suppress her laughter. Tears were streaming down her face.

Haruhi's kitchen, in stark contrast to my own, seemed ill stocked. It was quite obvious that the Suzumiya's did not eat here often. After poking around I found some chicken legs, curry, carrots, onions, and chicken stock. The chicken legs seemed to have been bought recently but the carrots worried me.

After more poking around I managed to find some rice and other minor ingredients. I guess it will have to be chicken curry.

I was chopping the chicken into little chunks when I noticed Haruhi a bottle of rum in her hand. She downed a drink in one gulp and then poured herself another. After noticing me eyeing her, she poured me a glass and put it beside the cutting board.

"Haruhi..."

"Shut up and cook."

I was frying the onion and vegetables when it dawned on me. Haruhi didn't seem to be affected by the potion. She wasn't blushing and she wasn't awkward. However, she wasn't feeling very well so maybe that was overriding things. Sometimes my luck works out...being stabbed in a hospital type of luck, but luck none the less.

After an hour of chopping, frying, and boiling the curry was finally finished. It would have taken longer because of the rotten vegetables but Haruhi had found some fresh onions and carrots where I hadn't looked.

I brought in the curry and placed it in front of Haruhi on the kotatsu. She was laying face down in a pillow with a glass of rum clenched tightly in one hand.

"Does it hurt?"

She looked up and nearly killed me with the death like glare. She finished her drink and threw the pillow to one side and started digging into the food.

"This is great. I usually order takeout or get something already cooked from the supermarket down the road." A smile had finally returned to her face and she finally looked like Haruhi again.

I hesitantly took a taste of the rum and nearly died. I had to force myself to swallow it as tears rolled down my cheeks.

"Ha ha ow ha ow." Tears were running down her face has she tried her hardest not to laugh.

"You drank this stuff when we went to that island Itsuki's friend owns."

"Yeah, but it was mixed."

"You big baby. How do you expect to become a man if you can't drink rum straight?"

Why was she drinking it straight? The paleness had completely left her prett...fair face and she was blushing either from the alcohol or the potion; probably a bit of both.

Haruhi was playing with something. I hadn't noticed it before but she'd occasionally look down and fiddle with something in her lap. Noticing me watching her, she turned on the television, and stomped off into the hall.

"Kyon...come here."

I wandered into the hall. On one side was her parent's room and on the other were the bathroom, and presumably, her room. Light was coming out from her nearly closed door so hesitantly opened it.

Her room was strewn with manga and light novels to the point where barely any floor could be seen. Otherwise, her room was immaculately clean. Her bed was perfectly made and her clothes were all neatly folded.

She was standing with her back to me watching with an eagle like eye. "Pin this for me."

She was holding an ice pack to her ribs and trying to pin an elastic bandage with her other hand. I pulled up the back of her shirt and I could see her cheeks burning red in mirror in front of us. She had her eyes closed and the slightest touch would maker her back arch. I...accidentally dropped one side of the bandage and gently touched the small of her back. From that little touch, there was a sharp intake of air and she moved to her Tipp toes. She was slightly shaking has she walked out of the room.

She had been self consciously making sure to cover her bra the whole time. It was hard to believe this was the same girl who would change in front of a group of boys like it was nothing only a short while ago. How much of this was caused by the potion?

My phone started to ring and I raced back to the kotatsu and grabbed it.

"Kyon-chan?" Ami's sweet voiced filled the receiver like honey.

"Yes?"

"I texted you earlier. You must not have gotten it. I was hoping you'd come out with us...but I guess it's too late now. Some other time then?"

"Okay."

I put down the phone and surprisingly Haruhi wasn't glaring at me but watching some comedy show. She was distracted so I hurriedly checked my mail.

"We're (Ami, Aiko, and Ume) are going out tonight. It would be much more fun if you came with us! Call me ; )"

How did my phone end up out here on the kotatsu when it was in my pocket?

My watch beeped signalling 11:00. 11:00! My mother was going to kill me (not so much for being late but for homework reasons). Why did I wait so long before riding over here?

"I have to go."

Haruhi followed me to the door and as I put on my shoes she came a little closer. I swear I felt her hand on my back but when I turned she was just leaning against the wall. She took a couple more steps forward, with her face lowered, but just stood there not moving. I opened the door and walked out.

"Bye." I turned and waved as I walked out into the dimly lit hallway.

She smiled and waved back. She was only partially illuminated, straddling the line between light and dark. When had she turned off the lights in her apartment again?

I didn't hear Haruhi close the door as I walked down the stairs. As I rode home I had the weirdest sensation that she was still there leaning against the doorway staring blankly off into space.

She had smiled so that bodes well...doesn't it?

*If you couldn't tell this isn't the end and another chapter will be up around this time next week.