Chapter 11: Crocodile Tears

Hikaru left about a minute after that, but he took a full inventory of his things first, the result of which was his realization that he had conditioner but no shampoo, a bottle of his shaving cream but no razor, along with the missing toothbrush (toothpaste he somehow had though) and the lack of the bottle of champagne. Once he had finally made it out the door, Haruhi smiled to herself and allowed herself a chuckle at his antics before she headed to the bathroom to "powder her nose" as Hikaru's mom would fashionably put it. Since she was the only one in there, Haruhi left the door open as she twisted, turned, and shimmied the dress around her thin form until she was able to unzip the constricting garment.

Dropping the beautiful gown around her ankles, Haruhi reached for her sweatpants and pulled those on with a sigh of relief. Following the athletic wear came one of the t-shirts she'd purchased as a souvenir for her Dad all those years ago. Attempting to read the faded print's reflection in the mirror, Haruhi finally determined that the shirt was from Karuiazuwa. Memories from their last trip there filled her mind as she recalled the sobbing Misuzu when he saw the condition of his old friend Ranka.

The girl with the pixie cut pushed her ailing father's chair forwards as her red-haired boyfriend got each and every door while all the while complaining that if they just got him a nurse, then Ranka would have better equipment than a squeaky wheelchair and the two of them as his bedside caretakers. "They have extensive medical training that neither of us have!" He argued as he straightened his tie and designer button down with the fancy logo he'd paid the big bucks for.

"Kyoya will help us if we need medical staff, he's fine with the two of us for the mean time." Haruhi argued hearing a scoff from Hikaru who believed that Kyoya wouldn't help unless there was money involved. Both were in a way right, Kyoya had originally only offered to help because he felt as though he owed Haruhi for the extra volunteer work she'd put into the Host club all those years ago and Kyoya did not like this feeling of owing anyone anything.

"I'm right here you know." Ranka pointed out sullenly as he looked up at the arguing twenty year olds through his brown eyes sunken deep into their sockets. Rubbing a frail hand across his bald head, he sighed and picked up the wig that lay on his lap before placing it atop his head, "At least I can still look pretty." The sun illuminated the blue veins and red arteries that stood out noticeably against the pale skin that stretched thin across his frail bones when he placed his hands on either arm of the chair in order to brace himself as they crossed the final threshold and reached the room where his old friend and fellow drag queen was working.

Misuzu glanced up at the sound of the still bickering couple and caught sight of a dying man dolled up in a wig and sitting in a wheelchair being pushed in by the young woman who appeared to have already experienced too much loss in her mere twenty or so years. The living skeleton looked familiar but it wasn't until those dark brown eyes connected with his that Misuzu recognized the man for who he was, "Ranka!" Rushing towards his friend, Misuzu paused for a moment with tears brimming in his eyes as he wondered if it would break Ranka if he tried to hug him.

Ranka tried to chuckle but ended up coughing as his breath caught in his throat and irritated his weakened lungs. Other than effectively ending Hikaru and Haruhi's argument, Ranka's coughing fit made Misuzu's face fall even more as he realized how broken his friend had become a matter of months since the initial diagnoses. "I'm not contagious, you can still give me a hug." As the two began to interact, Haruhi could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and threatening to make her cry. They all knew that Ranka's days were nearing their end but little did they all know that that was Ranka's last good day on this earth because he was stuck in bed for the next week or so before he slipped into the coma he never woke from.

"Stupid tears." She scolded herself as she felt her eyes begin to tear up again and rubbed her hand under them insintictively which only served to smudge more of the dark make-up already aglomerated there. "At least I'm not a crocodile," the law student reconciled as she grabbed a handful of garishly colored and overly perfumed tissues their hotel supplied, "because then I'd cry all the time for no reason." Grabbing a make-up removing towelette from what Hikaru deemed "the commoners drugstore", Haruhi pulled herself up into a seated position on the counter and proceeded to rub away the smudges under her eyes, the gloss over her lips, and the remaining make-up on her eyes that had survived the tears.

Balling the towelette up, the twenty-two year old turned to hop off the counter but paused when she saw a movement in the corner of the room behind the grandiose dresser's shadow. "Is someone there?" She asked trying hard to keep her voice steady and not give herself away by the tremors. Not that she was scared or anything like that she was merely taken by surprise, Haruhi justified as she sat there steady as a statue and awaited a reply or subsequent movement. When none came after the span of what felt like an hour of terror but was probably a mere five minutes of normal time, Haruhi shrugged and slipped slowly off the counter until her toes met the deep rug and she allowed herself to slide all the way down so that her feet sunk up until her ankles when she stood. "I could get used to this." Haruhi said aloud with a grin as she recalled the hard cold tile floors of her old home or even the battered over-worn laminent of her college dorm.

With her fear now forgotten, Haruhi proceeded to brush her hair before walking back into the main part of their hotel room where she picked up her latest law textbook and began to thumb through the table of contents in order to reach the introduction. Normally she wouldn't even consider reading with Hikaru simply gone out of the room for a minute, mostly because he would steal her book away, but since he was downstairs being enthralled by commoner things, she figured that she had more time to kill than usual. She was only a few words into the first paragraph however when a cloth held by a large black gloved hand covered her mouth catching the scream in her throat. The hand on her mouth was familiar, familiar enough that Haruhi knew who it was within seconds but couldn't get enough air in to wrap her mind around it and react fast enough. So though she was struggling mightily, Haruhi was still out in seconds from the large dose of chloroform she couldn't help but breathe in.

"Sleep tight." A disembodied voice whispered as the book in her hands crashed to the floor and her chocolate brown eyes fluttered shut. Her last thought was of Hikaru, what if that person got him too? Before she could act on that though, her world turned upside down and everything went black as she was flung unwillingly into unconciousness.

When she awoke, Haruhi found herself with her legs and arms tied to her chair and the figure with their back turned, they looked like they were preparing a gag and couldn't tie the cloth right. As a result, she caught the sound of them cursing under their breath. Using this to her advantage, Haruhi began to scream as loud as she possibly could. "HIKARU!" Her voice carried, and she thanked God for that because if it hadn't, who knew if he would have heard and gotten himself caught in that person's clutches too. Ignoring the glare of the eyes as they turned around, Haruhi screamed his name once more before that person flung her and the chair onto the ground. Her whole side to burst into a firey pain as her shirt tore, her skin was scratched up and bruised, her rips cracked ominously as they connected with the arm rests on the chair, and she felt herself begin to slip into unconciousness again, "Stay safe you idiot and get this bastard." Haruhi managed to wheeze out as she heard Hikaru's responding yells and allowed the darkness to numb away the pain.

And back to the cliffhanger endings! The next chapter should be up by tomorrow so no fear good reader, you won't have to wait as long this time. In the mean time please read and review, especially with any commentary on the portion in italics because it's kind of eh and I'd like to write better flashbacks if you ken. Thanks to those who have put in there imput, I am forever grateful. Again please read, enjoy, and review.