.:For the Sake of Living… Don't:.
Chapter 2
Haru looked up at Ameko and then stood up, looking down at her.
"Hi." He said, smiling. She just stared up at him. She then went over to Tohru and sat down, burying her head in her arm.
"Tohru-san! You said you wouldn't call him!" She said.
"I'm sorry, Ame-chan!" Tohru said.
"Morioka-san, I'm sorry too for calling him. But you wouldn't tell us why you were saying his name. We had to call him over to figure it out." Yuki told her calmly.
Ameko nodded slowly and looked up. "The boys in class were teasing me again today." She told Tohru.
"Teasing, Ameko-san?" Haru asked. "That was not teasing." He said, sitting back down, this time on the opposite side of Tohru, since Ameko had taken the space between Tohru and Yuki.
"Keep going, Ame-chan." Tohru said.
"Well, when I was about to give up, Sohma-sama came and saved me." She said.
"So is that why you were saying his name when you came in here, Morioka-san?" Yuki asked.
"Hai." She said.
"And the reason you were crying was because they were teasing you?" Tohru asked.
"Hai." She said again.
"Well, that settles it. Thanks for coming over, Haru." Yuki said to Haru.
"Yeah. No problem." He said, taking another oniguri from the bowl and taking a bite.
Ameko watched as Haru took a bite of the oniguri and then she stood. Looking back down at Tohru, Ameko smiled. "I'm going to go back to do homework, okay onee-chan?" Ameko said. Tohru nodded and Ameko made her way to the stairs.
"Why does she call you onee-chan?" Yuki asked Tohru.
"Well, when my mother died, and I stayed at my grandpa's house, she would always come over and be crying, so I took care of her. I guess she sees me as an older sister in some ways."
During their conversation, Haru had stood and followed after Ameko. He had watched her walk into Tohru's room and he walked towards it slowly and quietly. He stopped when he reached it and knocked softly on the door.
"Onee-chan?" Ameko asked, apparently thinking it was Tohru. Instead of saying anything different, Haru opened the door.
"Hey." He said.
Ameko looked down at Tohru's bed. "Hi." She said.
"Hey, are you all right?" Haru asked her, walking over to the bed and sitting down.
"Hai." She said, still looking down.
"No, you aren't. Are you?" Haru asked, looking at her for a while. "What's wrong?" He asked, seeing the tears slowly erupt from her eyes like a volcano.
"You're the first person to stand up for me, Sohma-sama." Ameko said.
Haru wanted to smile at Ameko, but he didn't. Instead, he lifted his hand to Ameko's chin and raised it, making her look at him. "That's nothing to cry about though." He said.
"It is. I used to deal with that every day until you stopped them." She told him.
"What? Every day!" Haru asked, getting pissed.
"Yes. But they'd always stop after kicking me and hitting me a few times. It went farther this time than ever." She said. Seeing the anger in Haru's eyes, she spoke quickly. "Don't get mad, Sohma-sama. Please."
Haru managed to take in a few calming breaths and he closed his eyes, nodding. "Okay. I won't."
After a small smile formed on Ameko's lips, it turned to a frown once again as she leaned forward and put her head on Haru's lap.
"Wha? Hey!" Haru said, startled. But he shut up. Seeing the emotional pain that she was going through right now Haru knew better. He instead smiled and put his hand on the back of her head, stroking it softly, soothingly.
Ameko let the tears fall, though after a while she lifted her head up, wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand and muttering an apology to Haru.
"An apology? What for? You didn't do anything wrong." Haru said to Ameko.
"I did… I wet your pants with my tears." She told him, pointing to a spot on his thigh where a small portion of the pants was wet.
Haru smiled at Ameko. "It's fine." He told her. Noticing that she was still crying, Haru put his arm around her neck and pulled her towards himself, into a hug that wasn't a hug. Ameko's head rested on his chest and the rest of her body was leaning towards him. In all of her confusion, all Ameko did was sit there for a moment. Then, slowly, she wrapped her arms around Haru's arm, hugging it.
After a couple minutes, the grip on his arm slowly left. Looking down, Haru smiled. Ameko had fallen asleep, her head in his lap. He gently lifted her head and put a pillow under it in his place and he put a blanket over her. Bending down, Haru had the strong urge to kiss her, but he closed his eyes and withheld it. He stood back up, walked to the door, and was about to walk out when that urge came back.
Haru looked at Ameko, watching as her chest slowly rose and receded. He walked quietly over to her, bending down and pressing his lips softly to her cheek, then to her forehead.
"I'll see you in the morning… Ameko Morioka." Haru said, smiling and standing up straight. He walked back to the door and went out, closing the door quietly behind him.
"Haha! The dumb cow wet his pants!" Kyo said, laughing as Haru walked into the hallway, the small wet spot on his pants still visible.
"Shut up, baka neko." Haru said, walking past him and hitting him in the head as he went downstairs.