By: Riyuji
Disclaimer: All ownership goes to Takaya-san. You know… she might become good friends with Culture Crash if they lived in the same country. Okay, I'm not making sense am I?
Author's Notes: This all began because of the super typhoon, which was supposed to hit and ended up causing a blackout in the process. Well, that and recalling that a friend of mine was scared of the dark.
Takes place sometime before Shigure leaves the Souma compound.
Dedicated to my dear friend, Wielder of Paperclips.
"Haa-san, are you sure you're okay?"
My companion nodded his head as if telling me not to mind it.
I sighed, clutching onto the lamp I had with me, on our way to Akito-san's quarters.
No one's going to believe me if ever I told them about it. Haa-san's just not the type of person to be scared. He's usually the one who makes the most sense among the three of us after all. Aya regards almost everything as a joke, while I never drop a chance to make fun of someone. It's just in our nature to do so. That's how Haa-san became Aya's babysitter.
I still remember when I first found out about Haa-san's fear. We were much younger then and I laughed at him at the time.
It wasn't often that Souma Central had black outs. Being in such a large family has its perks after all. One of the adults had told me that the electric company had to shut down all the power in the area due to some adjustments they planned on doing on some new wiring system, or something like that.
It wasn't my fault that I wanted to do something mischievous. Who wouldn't get bored during a black out after all?
Truthfully, I found it kinda cool that it was near seven o'clock when the electricity went out. Though it could become boring blackouts were always much more fun during nighttime.
I was looking for someone to stay with and Aya wasn't anywhere in the compound at the time, so I had to cross him off the list.
That was when I decided to look for Haa-san. I was sure that I could think of something better to do that playing with my flashlight if Haa-san was around.
I made my way to Haa-san's house near the East Wing of the compound, still playing with my flashlight on the way.
Off. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. On.
What? Didn't I say I had nothing better to do?
His mom greeted my as I reached the porch of their house and I asked where he was. She sounded unsure at first but told me to try checking in his room.
I continued playing with my flashlight as I walked down the hall. "Haa-san! Where are you?" I called as I reached his door. The flickering of my flashlight became quicker. "Haa-san, open up!"
I began to lose my temper and just decided to slide the door open.
His room was neat, as usual—typical Haa-san. Nothing was out of place, that is, except for a couple of things that was scattered beside his closet.
Wait a minute. Scattered beside his closet?
"Haa-san are you in there?" I asked as a rapped on the closet door.
I began flipping the flashlight's switch again. At first it came out real quick to more prolonged blinks, pretending I was saying something in Morse code. I'm sure it didn't form any real words though.
I slid the door open to find Haa-san curled up in a corner of the closet, fast asleep. Why he decided to take a nap there was beyond me.
I couldn't help but chuckle a little… and almost fall onto the tatami mat as a plan began formulating itself in my head. Oh, this is going to be so much fun.
Closing the flashlight I stepped toward the defenseless dragon. That was when I decided to attack.
I switched the flashlight on, shining it toward Haa-san's face, and shouted in full blast. "WAKEY-WAKEY, HATORI!"
You should have seen the look on his face at the time! His eyes grew wide, and he let out what seemed like a yelp of surprise, almost hitting his head onto the wall he was leaning on before. I expected him to jump but that was much more than I had expected. It was hilarious! A Kodak moment, I'm telling you!
He nearly swatted me but ended up hitting the only source of light in the room, which happened to be the flashlight, out of my hands. I picked it up as it rolled to my feet and shone it onto his face again.
He blinked a couple of times trying to adjust his vision to the sudden brightness. Only then did I decide to move the trail of light away.
"Shigure?" He called out, finally able to tell who was bothering him at a time like this.
"What were you thinking?" he asked me.
I couldn't help but grin sheepishly back at him. "Don't tell me you didn't expect something like that?"
He shook his head in exasperation. "How could I?"
Then I remembered to ask him something. "Haa-san, what were you doing sleeping inside your closet?"
I wasn't sure if he didn't hear me or if he simply refused to answer at first.
We both remained in our positions for a while and it looked like Haa-san didn't want to forge eye contact.
Finally, he spoke up. It was a little inaudible but I was able to make out the words, "I didn't mean to."
"Didn't mean to what, Haa-san?
"Didn't mean to fall asleep there."
At that point something definitely tweaked my curiosity. "Then why were you in there in the first place?"
This was the first time I saw Haa-san in such a state: scared, defenseless, and lost.
"You'll just laugh at me if I told you the reason."
"Haa-san," I started. I bent down to his current height and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I swear I won't laugh at you."
A smug look grew on his face. "Knowing you, you would," he said, an eyebrow raised at me.
Yes, knowing me, I really would, but I really, really, really, really, really wanted to know how he ended up there in the first place.
I shook my head and asked again, "Why were you in the closet in the first place?"
Again, he didn't answer me.
I tried to make a joke out of it so that he wouldn't be so reluctant in telling me. "How bad could it be Haa-san? It's not like you're afraid of the dark or anything like that, right?"
I felt an involuntary shudder beneath my grip.
Haa-san jerked a bit from his position and looked at me, squarely in the eye.
I didn't understand what he was trying to say at first, but after a while…
"Haa-san, does this mean you really are afraid of the dark?"
He still didn't want to give me a definite answer, but I was determined to find out so I switched the flashlight off.
"Shigure. Put that back on," he asked me, monotonously.
"Turn what on, Haa-san?" That was when the teasing began.
"Your flashlight. Turn it on!" That time he said it much more forcefully. I didn't question him anymore and switched the subject of the conversation on.
"Thank you," he said with a sigh.
I really didn't expect something like that from Haa-san. I didn't expect him to be scared of anything, especially a little darkness.
I began chuckling. Long and hard.
"What's so funny?" the dragon asked me, still a little peeved with my earlier stunt.
I was still laughing. "It's nothing. I just find it funny that you're scared of the dark."
"It's not my fault. I'm only human, Shigure. All humans are afraid of something at one point or another."
"No, no, I understand that. It's just… the dark?" I began laughing harder than before.
"Be quiet. Only you and my mother know about that. Not evenmy fatherknows about this. You have to promise me that you will never, ever tell anyone." His voice was still forceful but I obliged.
"Not even Aya?"
"Especially Ayame."
"But what if I did?"
"Then your face will connect with a really thick and heavy book."
My brows furrow at the last comment. The scary thing about Haa-san is when he says something he means it. And when he does something 'evil' he will do it. With a straight face, if I might add.
"All right, all right," I said with a wave of my hand. "I promise not to tell Aya."
And that was how I found out about Haa-san's odd fear of the dark. There are still times when I couldn't believe him. But right now I just had to believe it. If I didn't, would I be here with him in Akito-san's quarters carrying the lamp because of another blackout? He did mention later on that even Akito-san doesn't know.
It was a good thing Akito-san was asleep because I really wanted to ask Haa-san something.
"Hey, Haa-san, are you sure I still can't tell Aya?"
Hatori returned his stethoscope, into the pocket of his coat. "No. Knowing him, he'll just make a big fuss about it."
"Well, that's true."
Silence.
"Haa-san?"
"What is it?"
"Are you still scared of the dark?"
He shook his head in exasperation. "Do you really want me to tell the publishing company about all your embarrassing stories since you were four?"
"Forget I asked," I said with a smile.
It's not that I wanted to satisfy my curiosity…
It's just fun teasing him about it. Ha, ha.
A/N2: Well, I hoped you liked it! By the way, Hatori wasn't OOC was he? I did my best Wielder! XD