Chapter 10, ladies and gentlemen! Many thanks for the amazing support!
"Well?" Haru demanded. He felt alive with emotion, all his feelings in the past two weeks rolled into one. "Do you know something? Tell me now, Hiro."
Hiro clutched the sides of his swivel chair and was looking everywhere except at Haru's eyes.
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because."
"Damn it, Hiro! This is more important than your stupid, selfish pride!"
Hiro's eyes watered up. He stared furiously at the wall to his right.
"I don't know about you," Haru spat, "but when someone I care about is so depressed that she tries to take her own life, I'm pretty pissed! And I want to know the name of the twisted vermin who pushed them to it! I heard what happened in the alley, and I want to know what's been going on for the last few months. What do you have to say?"
"I'M SORRY!" Hiro screamed. A red burst of color flooded his cheeks. "It's all my fault, if it weren't for me, Kisa would still be here." He was crying now. "How could I have been blind? I didn't see anything! I could have saved a life! But no, I was blind."
If the whole mess had any sense to Haru before, it was completely unclear then.
"How is this your fault?" Haru asked softly.
So Hiro explained. He told Haru about Takashi and how Kisa had been treated.
When Hiro had finished, Hatsuharu sighed and shook his head.
"Hiro, you fool. Only you would ever believe this is your fault. Who can be excepted to see what's behind closed doors? No, Hiro. This is Takashi's fault. Don't ever think that you're responsible because you are not."
Hiro nodded slowly.
And then he mourned. But now, he wasn't mourning Kisa. He was mourning time. The time he wasted. The years ahead that would now pass by at an achingly slow pace. The times he spent with his friend, times which he might never have again. Haru mourned too. They sat on the bed in crying their eyes out, but at least it was better than crying alone.
"It's too late." Hiro whispered, curled up in the fetal position at the foot of his bed.
Hatsuharu, his face buried in his hands, slowly looked up. A light blub flickered on in his head. "No. No, this is not over."
Hiro groaned hopelessly. "What do you mean? You can't turn back time, Haru. No one can."
"I'm not going to let that little rat get away with this!" The ox of the zodiac snapped. With that, he bolted down the hallway.
Yuki pushed a tray with a blackened chunk of what was probably lasagna towards Kyo before sitting down in front of his own plate.
"Lunch." He barked gruffly.
"What is this crap?" Kyo grumbled, prodding the smoking food with his fork. "I thought Tohru left you something in the fridge."
"She did." Yuki said quietly.
There was a gap in the conversation as Yuki's statement sunk in.
"Nice going, rat boy." Kyo chuckled.
"Shut up; just let me eat my lunch."
"What lunch? You can't just throw some random baloney on a plate and call it lunch. Sheesh, it looks like something died on it."
"I said, shut up!"
"Why so defensive, rat boy, you wanna start something?"
"Actually, I want to finish my lunch."
"Oh! Backing away from a fight now, are yah? I can't say I'm surpri-"
Kyo's sentence was interrupted by Yuki, who through a quick punch at his unsuspecting jaw. Kyo cursed under his breath.
"Finally, yah damn rat! I was wondering when you'd come around. Now we can start the real fight!"
"I just did."
"SHUT IT! I'll pin you in five seconds flat!"
"Let's see it, then."
Yuki and Kyo would probably have seen each other into early graves had Haru not burst into the kitchen at that moment.
"Where are Hatori's keys?" He asked nonchalantly.
Kyo's hands froze in midair, fingers outstretched in a strangling position.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about Hatori's keys. Where are they?"
Hatsuharu started to rummage through drawers, until he triumphantly held up a pair of cold, metal keys as if they were a gold bar.
"Whoa," Kyo got up from the kitchen table. "Did Hatori give you the okay?"
Hatsuharu didn't answer.
"Hatori's not going to like this, Haru." Yuki said, just as concerned as Kyo.
"So?" The word cam out louder and icier that Haru had intended.
"So maybe you should just stay off the roads altogether," Yuki reasoned.
"Well that's a shame," Haru said briskly, pulling on his fur-trimmed coat. "Because I really don't care."
"What's this even about?" Kyo groaned.
"Kisa."
Suddenly, Yuki stopped slouching. Kyo sucked in a deep breath. There was so much intensity in the room, it was like a balloon so full of air that it would pop at any moment.
"Kisa?" Kyo said, finally.
"It's Takashi." Haru said, pulling on his boots. "It was him all along. He pushed her to suicide. I'm going. To find him. Right now. My motorcycle is in the shop, so Hatori's car is just going to have to work."
Yuki and Kyo watched in silence as Haru laced up his boots and pulled on a scarf.
In those ten seconds, Yuki's brain went through a roller-coaster of thoughts. He knew what it was like to be engulfed by a crowd, and yet stand alone; deserted and lonely. He could only imagine the life Kisa had known for the past few months - always on the outside, looking in.
"Wait!" he protested as Haru reached for the door. "I'm coming with you!" In a flash, he picked up his boots and snow jacket.
"Screw it," Kyo grouched. "If that rat is going, then I guess I have to come."
"Hurry," Haru pleaded. "We're running out of time."
They were indeed.
Haru was driving at least 20 miles over the speed limit. He stopped at nothing, driving through red lights and over crosswalks where people were crossing. (Almost plowing over a little old lady.) Yuki sat in shot gun, looking the other way as his friend broke several driving laws.
Using the address Kisa had given him months before, Haru navigated through Takashi's neighborhood. But when he saw Takashi's house- the sludge-yellow one on the left,- somehow he knew it was the right place without even checking the address.
"Wait," Kyo, sitting in the backseat, spoke for the first time. "Is there a plan? What are we really doing?"
"We're going to punch his punk little face in!" Haru cackled.
Kyo gulped and exchanged a nervous glance with Yuki. Somewhere between Sohma house and Takashi's, black Haru had without a doubt surfaced. Haru slammed the car door and started sprinting up the concrete walkway, Yuki and Kyo following in pursuit. As if fueled by anger, Haru burst into the house and madly searched the rooms for Takashi. The kitchen was deserted. Haru surveyed the room: a bowl of fruit loops lying on the counter, some drapes with a nice floral print on them, the running dishwasher humming loudly. Moving on into the living room, the T.V. was left on, a tired, black and white Christmas special playing. Haru ran down the hall, hands balled into fists, knuckles turning white.
"Come out, you little runt!" Black Haru seethed. He threw open a random door to find Takashi, playing a video game. The boy was so absorbed; he didn't even notice Haru standing behind him. About a minute later, Takashi groaned as he lost the game, throwing his in game boy down on the floor in disgust.
"I can't believe it," he said, angered by defeat. "I was gonna beat that level. Doesn't matter. I'll get to the next level. I'll beat it."
"Oh, someone's gonna get beaten alright, but it's not gonna be the video game." Haru growled.
Takashi whirled around.
"Who the heck are you? What are doing in my house? Get out, creeper!"
"Oh, but we've met before."
"Huh? Where the-"
"I'm Kisa's cousin, you punk. And don't try to give me some poor-ass excuse as to why she's almost dead. I know the truth."
Takashi said nothing. Black Haru pounced on the opportunity.
"That's it? Nothing to say? Huh? Huh?"
And that was the first time that Takashi felt the terror of the receiving end for the first time. Haru's first punch his him square on the nose, blood spurting from it like water from a sprinkler. The second punch landed in the gut and knocked him off his feet. Takashi would have been punched straight into the emergency room had Kyo and Yuki had not burst in that very moment.
"Haru! Stop!" Kyo yelled. "Don't kill the guy!"
"And why not?" Haru cackled.
"Because you don't want to go to jail, moron!"
"Who cares?" Haru laughed deliriously.
"Who cares?" Yuki yelled. "Haru, you are doing exactly what Takashi did to Kisa! You're better then that!"
Hatsuharu stopped, fist in mid swing. His mind was torn, torn between ripping out Takashi's guts and what Kisa would have wanted. Kisa's wishes won.
"Yeah." Haru sighed, arm dropping to his side. "I guess you're right." He gave Takashi, who was huddled on the floor, a poisonous glare. "Call the cops. Let's get this bastard in jail."
Kyo, wanting to escape the tense situation, ran for the phone. He searched the kitchen for a phone, then punched in the emergency number.
"911 operator speaking," an oddly cheery voice answered.
"Hi. I need your help. I'm at 435, Clarence Street," Kyo said, checking the sign post outside. "Come as soon as possible."
An hour after Hatsuharu had run off, Hiro ran around the house, searching for help. Much to his displeasure, the first person he found was Tohru. Nonetheless, Hiro knew what was at stake, and though he wasn't crazy about the clumsy girl, he had come to realize that Kisa adored Tohru, and he should at least tolerate her.
"Tohru, I need your help."
Tohru, who had been reading in one of Sohma house's many libraries, had looked up from her book with a huge smile on her face.
"Yes! Um, how can I help?"
"Take me to the hospital."
"Right now?"
"Yes. When else?"
"Um, sure! But, err, if you don't mind my asking, why?"
"Because I've been trying to pretend that Kisa never happened to me. But she did. And I'm not going to pretend that I never loved her. So now, I'm going to go to her side, because that's where I should have been all along, right?"
Tohru smiled and grabbed her car keys.