Chapter 5 Despite her nerves and the rollercoaster day she'd had, Takao couldn't deny that she was enjoying the time away from her usual routine, especially after the night before. Both sisters were very easy to talk to, and even though Haruna was usually somewhat more distant and kept to herself, the blonde was pleasant and easy to get along with. Kirishima was more of a character. Takao swore that if she changed her outfit she could pull off the punk or goth look very easily. As she was now, Kirishima too was laid back and relaxed, almost seeming aloof at times.

"So, Takao, about this whole Hiei thing," Kirishima set her menu aside and eyed Takao. Haruna caught Takao's eye over the top of her menu. Takao straightened, shaking her head to clear her mind and focus on the present.

Quickly deciding on something she could save for later, Takao leaned forward. "Y-yeah. What about Hiei? You need my help with her right?" Fighting to keep her voice level, Takao twisted her hands together.

Kirishima sensed her discomfort and was quick to try to remedy it. "Hey relax. We're not interrogating you. We both saw how Gunzou took to you, and how well you two interact. So I have a feeling you can do relationships better than we can." Kirishima let out a slightly embarrassed laugh. "You saw how we are. Or, how I am. Obviously we're not the best to try to get someone to want to listen to us. But somehow you got not only Gunzou but also both of us to notice and pay attention to you."

Haruna nodded, smiling slightly. The smile faded, however, as did Kirishima's. "Oh that's not good," Takao said, eyeing both sisters. "What's with Hiei anyway? You've made it sound like something terrible, but you're not telling me anything."

"Have you had any relationships before Gunzou?" Kirishima's voice, usually aloof, had dropped so a low whisper, and Takao was grateful that no one else was within earshot. Strange for a Thursday afternoon, but she wasn't complaining.

She shook her head. "Nope. Not even in Germany. Gunzou's the first." A brief look of disappointment flickered across Kirishima and Haruna's face, but they both hid it well. "Why? Hiei have relationship problems?"

Before Kirishima could respond, Haruna caught sight of the waiter in her vision. She caught Kirishima before she could go on.

"Sorry for interrupting ladies. My name is Robert and I'll be taking care of you today. Can I start you off with drinks or are you ready to order?" Robert glanced around the three, waiting.

"I think we'll need a few minutes to decide on food," Kirishima ran a hand through her short spiky hard to smooth it. "But we should be alright on drinks." The others nodded.

Robert turned to Takao. "Alright what can I get for you miss?"

Takao sighed. "I'll take a Dr. Pepper." Robert nodded, making a note of it.

"Root beer for me," Kirishima said, trying to calm her usually blunt, haughty tone.
"Same here, and a Shirley Temple." Haruna's softspokeness meant Robert had to lean closer to hear her, but he nodded.

Now smiling slightly, he put away the pen and pad. "Appetizers?"

"Yeah why not? Bread and mozzarella sticks." Takao and Haruna nodded at Kirishima's suggestion. Robert made a note of the girls' orders before heading back towards the kitchen.

Haruna heaved a sign and Kirishima rested her head in her hands for a moment. Slightly worried, Takao eyed the two sisters. "You two alright? You were both fine a moment ago. Need some water?"

"Stress," Kirishima mumbled. "Tired. Once we're done here I'm going home and going to sleep."

Haruna nodded. "Yeah same here." Shaking her head, the blonde nudged her sister and faced Takao. "What were we talking about?"

"Hiei," Kirishima mumbled. "And her relationships."
"Ah yes. Hiei," Takao did her best to make herself comfortable. "You wanted my help with her or something? I take it you don't like her much, and neither do I. But what's actually going on?" Even as she said it again, Takao glanced around and was grateful there weren't a lot of people here at this hour. Something seemed off, and Takao turned her head towards the window. "Oh snap," Takao, catching the sisters' gazes, indicated the sky outside. She pushed aside the blinds to give the others a better view.

"That doesn't look friendly. Let's hope that stays away," Kirishima, voice lowered, kept her eye on the dark clouds that had rolled in without anyone noticing. Even as the short-haired girl voiced her concerns, a low rumble of thunder reached their ears. Kirishima growled. "I had to say something, didn't I?"

"Relax Kiri. It's not your fault now." Haruna nudged her sister before turning once again to Takao. "So anyway, Hiei."

"You said something about her having relationship problems?" Takao tried to clarify while leafing through her menu.

"Yeah," Kirishima interjected, herself also looking over her food options. As the three looked over their food options, Kirishima began to explain. "I'll do my best to keep it short. Hiei, as the youngest sister, has always been one to want all the attention she can get. So she ran for council president. With those friends of hers." The disdain in Kirishima's voice was clear. "Somehow she won, and it's been just what she's always wanted, power, position, and a group of people close to her."

Taping her menu, Haruna set it aside and nodded. "It also brought her a fanclub, and the guys who are more interested in having her for status that for who she is."

Waving a hand to get the waiter's attention, Takao nodded. "So Hiei's with some guy who doesn't really care about her and is dating her for her position rather than personally."

"In a way" Haruna said quietly. "I wish it were that simple."

Takao looked confused, and Kirishima did her best to try and explain. "She did have someone like that. Dated this guy Evan for about 2 months. But she saw sense, although I think Kongou may have had some influence there."

"Where is Kongou most of the time anyway?" Takao wondered, finally asking a question she'd had for a while.

"Internship." Kirishima's blunt answer hinted at some possible tension between sisters. "She's a bit older than Haruna and I, so she's able to spend a lot of her time working. She's wanting to be a graphic artist, so she spends a lot of her time at her work. We see her maybe once or twice a month, she drives down to check on us, takes us to lunch, but it's more of a formality than an actual act of care."

Takao frowned. "I see. But Kongou has some contact with Hiei?"

"I would assume so." Kirishima replied. Her calm was clearly forced at this point. Haruna set a hand on her shoulder.

Kirishima paused as Robert came over to take their orders. After the food was taken care of, Kirishima went on. "That's all a discussion for another time. Either way, Hiei broke up with him, and was single for a while. She seemed fine and all for a time, but became somewhat of a recluse after a time. Kongou, who's the only one of the three of us to have any sort of regular contact with her, brought her along on an evening trip to a bar, and like all the stories, she met this guy there, they started talking, and the rest is history."

"Ah one of those, eh?" Takao was starting to piece the story and issue together in her mind, but didn't want to rush the sisters' story.

"Yes. Can you make a guess as to what's happened since then?" Haruna, despite being soft-spoken, had a voice that caught Takao's attention with ease.

"Either he's taken advantage of her, ditched her, or is using her in some bad way." Takao whispered.

A slight, somewhat forced smile made its way onto Haruna's face. "We don't know for certain. Hiei hasn't spoken to any of us for months. All we know is what we can deduce based on her actions, having known and lived with her for years, until she became the council president. Once she took that position, she moved in with the rest of her council. But other than what we could figure out then was from what Kongou would tell us, and she's her own project to be worked on another time."

As Takao listened, she started to piece together some idea as to what was going on between these sisters. Before she could clarify anything more with Kirishima or Haruna, a loud bang shook the restaurant, and the lights flashed. Takao jumped, her eyes snapping to the window.

"Damn that came up on us quick," Kirishima growled. "I'm kinda worried about this weather. I just got my Chevelle repainted and waxed, and that was expensive."

Haruna nodded. "I'll get this to-go, and we'll get out of here."

"Wait, what"? Takao's face went pale, but before she could go on, another crash removed all light from the restaurant. "Oh damn…" While she was better now, thunderstorms had always been a phobia for Takao.

Haruna's eyes grew worried, and Haruna stood, pulling on her coat. Robert hurried over with their food already in to-go boxes, before hurrying away with a rushed, 'be careful.' Voice shaking, Takao told Haruna that she didn't do well with storms.

"I-I've had b-bad experiences with thunderstorms many times. I-I really don't want to drive in them. I don't wanna-" Takao's voice became shaky, and she gripped Haruna's arm frantically. "G-gotta get out, gotta get out." The small girl was shaking badly.

Acting on impulse, Haruna gripped Takao tightly, and beckoning to her sister to hurry, made her way towards the door. Kirishima, groaning slightly, grabbed both their leftover food, and her keys and hurried after her sister

Outside, Haruna appeared to have Takao under control, although the situation was still dire. Haruna's long coattails were blowing parallel to the ground, and the sky, which earlier wore a coat of dark blue, had now changed into a black coat, and the temperature had fallen significantly, even in the short time the three had gone in to eat. Takao was still visibly shaking, despite Haruna's best efforts to keep her calm. Kirishima, having to lean forward to battle the winds, hurried up to her sister, yelling to be heard. "Get in the car! We'll talk on the way back to school."

A wordless nod, and Haruna guided a panicking Takao towards the Chevelle. The poor girl's once curly blue hair had been squashed flat by the downpour, which had the additional benefit of reducing visibility to almost nothing. As Kirishima sprinted towards the car, Haruna did her best to keep Takao under control. No sooner had the three of them piled into the car and strapped themselves in, Kirishima was pulling out of the parking lot and tearing her way back towards the school.

"What's the plan?" Haruna, herself shaking with both adrenaline and cold, voiced Takao's unspoken worries. The younger girl was still shivering, and Haruna wrestled her coat off, and trapped it over Takao's shoulders.

"I'm taking us back to the school so Takao can pick up her car." Kirishima's voice had lost all its usual haughty air, replaced by quiet calm. Her focus remained on keeping from crashing. Even as she spoke, another gust of wind buffeted the car, and Kirishima growled under her breath. "I knew I should have switched back to standard tires instead of these street legal slicks. This could get bad…"

Haruna frowned, concern on her face. "Takao, are you able to drive? You don't look well." The blonde's concern was well founded, as one glance at Takao showed her face significantly paler than normal, and beads of sweat dripping down her face. Kirishima glanced in the mirror, and pursed her lips.

"What do you think?"

"How far are you from the school?" Haruna did her best to keep her voice calm, although the storm was worsening by the minute. Rain was now coming sideways, and it wasn't warm outside.

"Half-half an hour, o-or s-so," Takao's voice was shaky, and Haruna caught her sister's eyes in the mirror. The two nodded.

"Alright, our place is only 10 minutes from the school, near Ship's Haven, right on the coast." Haruna said, thinking quickly. "When we get back to the school, Kirishima is going to drop you and me off, and I'll drive you back to our place so we can wait out the storm. Normally I wouldn't be doing this, but it's not safe for you to be out on the roads any longer than necessary, and especially not in your condition."

Takao opened her mouth to protest, but Kirishima was already ahead of her. "No arguments darling. Wouldn't be safe, and the last thing we want to do is tell Gunzou that we let you do something stupid and now you're in a bad way. That's final."

"I-I'll let him k-know." Takao murmured, pulling out her phone. Haruna glanced over, exchanging worried looks with her sister. As the trio finally pulled into the now-empty school lot after what seemed like an eternity, Takao hadn't moved since Haruna had gotten her buckled in. Now she was frozen, and Haruna had to coax her out of the backseat.

"Meet you home!" Haruna yelled over the storm as she got Takao into her own car.

Wordlessly, Takao fumbled around and passed the blonde the keys. Kirishima nodded, and pulled away. Haruna couldn't help but notice the trees, bent over almost 45 degrees, and the sudden calm that must have set in as they were in the car. It was still pouring, but at least neither her nor Kirishima were panicking. Takao was definitely not well, although at least she hadn't had a panic attack. Something told Haruna that Takao had had panic attacks before, but Haruna pushed the concern from her mind, there were more important things to think about at the moment.

Hands shaking, Takao passed Haruna her phone, address already punched in. "H-here," she managed.

Taking her phone, Haruna eyed the map. "Oh you're down off of 549 then? Near that old mineshaft?" Hruna asked, starting the car. She knew she needed to keep the other girl talking so she remained calm. Takao nodded wordlessly. "I've always wanted to go exploring down there, but never tell Kirishima I said that. She'll kill me."

That perked Takao up a bit. "I went down once, right when I first moved here. I was by myself, just needed to get out of the house. Not something I want to repeat, that shit was creepy. You sure you'd wanna go down there?" Takao's voice was still shaky, although Haruan attributed that more to some memory of the mine rather than the storm. She hoped. "Oh, here, take your phone back."

Before Takao could elaborate, another clap of thunder shook the small car, and Takao shivered. "H-hurry Haru."

The rain, although it hadn't hadn't gotten worse, hadn't abated. Haruna was definitely struggling to keep the road in sight. She'd slowed down to a crawl, and could barely keep Kirishima in view. Despite her momentary recovery at mention of the mine, Takao was still panicked and Haruna was getting worried both about this storm, and about Takao.

"We should be home in a few minutes, even in this weather. I'm following Kirishima, and she knows this area well," Haruna caught Takao's eye next to her, and managed a smile. Takao's worried eyes met hers, and she tried to smile, although it came out more as a grimace. As both cars paused at a light, Haruna set a hand on Takao's arm. She jumped at the surprise contact, but didn't flinch away.

Although Takao would never admit it, she had been hoping Haruna would do something like that for a while. Gunzou wasn't around to comfort her, and she needed someone to. Takao shivered, but looked at Haruna again and forced a small smile. Even though Haruna said nothing, Takao took comfort in the small gesture of care.

The rest of the short trip passed in a fog of focusing on the small things, such as the rain on the windshield, Haruna's long hair, or the not-so-quiet hum of the car's engine. Takao's breathing was still rapid, her senses still on high alert. She was still irrationally worried. If she had been driving, she knew she would have been forced to pull over and would probably be having an anxiety attack. Thankfully none of that had happened. A small victory, but one she'd gladly take. The change in the weather did, however, have the negative of causing the still-fresh wounds on Takao's arm to throb and hurt again. She did her best to hide the discomfort from Haruna, and hope the blonde wouldn't notice.

As Haruna finally pulled into a driveway and tucked her car next to Kirishima's Chevelle in a small garage, Takao's phone buzzed. Glad you're safe. Call me when you can okay?

I will. Might be a while though, service is bad here and my phone's about to die. I'll be okay though. Love you. Takao did her best to answer best she could without saying everything that was going on. She needed to talk with him face to face, rather than a text if she was going to get through everything going on.

I love you too, came the quick response. A brief smile made its way to Takao's face, and she slid her phone back into her jacket pocket. A clap of thunder brought Takao back to the present, and along with Haruna and Kirishima, made a dash for the house. "If only this place came with an attached garage" Kirishima grunted, shoving the door open.

Tucked into a far corner was a small wood stove, the faint glow of its dying fire peering through from the fogged-over glass door. The rusty, old stove-pipe leading into the wall was emitting smoke from a few small cracks, although it wasn't enough to cause any alarm. Next to the stove sat an old fridge and next to that, a table, covered with magazines and several empty shot glasses. Opposite the stove, on a well-worn bedside table sat a large flat screen TV hooked up to a game system. Battered floorboards creaked beneath Takao's boots, as she eyed the threadbare sofa in the corner of the room, unsure if she trusted it enough to sit down. Haruna shivered, as the fire in the stove had long since gone out, and hung her soaked coat on a small hook beside the door.

She flicked the switch next to her, and Takao blinked. The first room she assumed was a den or living room, and to the left down the hallway she could make out a kitchen and possibly a bedroom. Before she could take in more, another thunderclap brought her again back to the present. She shivered, and shrugged her wet coat off. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Help me here, please." Haruna was going about getting the fire built back up, and it was cold enough both outside and in that Takao had no problem busying herself with the task. Haruna seemed to know what she was doing, which was a good thing since Takao didn't know the first thing about building a fire. As the two got to work and Haruna broke out the newspapers and matches, Kirishima dug around near the coat rack for some hangers for their jackets and bags.

After a moment, she came over to Haruna. "While you two get acquainted and get some heat going in here, I'm gonna get a shower and change into something dry. Gotta be quick with this weather. If ya don't mind, hang all our stuff up so it can dry out over the fire." Kirishima shivered slightly, and Takao had a slight desire to drape a blanket or something over her shoulders. Haruna nodded as she packed paper and small pieces of wood into the wood stove, and grabbed a match. "Don't burn this place down while I'm in the shower ya hear?"

Haruna laughed, and Kirishima disappeared down the hallway. Takao watched her go, before turning back to Haruna. She struck her match, and set it against the newspapers. As the paper flared up, Haruna softly blew on the fire to keep it going. Takao kept her focus on the small fire as it grew, trying to keep her mind on track. As she sat watching this quiet yet surprisingly capable girl poke at the fire for a minute, before standing and setting up the clothes line above the wood stove, Takao couldn't help but wonder why the either of these two were suddenly acting like her friends. It didn't make sense, but they seemed genuine, and she couldn't help but think that Kirishima especially wouldn't be that good of an actor. She shook her head. Maybe this was all a dream and she'd wake up back in her apartment or Gunzou's place and everything would still be normal. She, however, was now standing in the living room of two sisters she barely knew, helping build a fire and hang up clothing. Haruna brushed up against her momentarily, and gave her a small smile. Takao found herself smiling back, her fear and panic from earlier for the moment forgotten. She passed Haruna Kirishima's still-dripping drawstring bag and tried to allow her mind to relax, letting the constant thrum of rain on the windows calm her. She could hear the water running from the shower, and as she helped Haruna sweep up the floor, Takao almost felt happy.

She glanced up just in time to be hit in the face with a towel. "Ack- really?" Takao asked, shaking herself indignantly and letting the purple bit of cloth fall to her hands. The blue-hair girl shot a glare at Haruna, who was trying and failing to hide a small smirk.

"Your hair is still dripping, at least dry yourself off some before we go kick my sister out of the shower. It's been more than ten minutes already." Haruna was holding a small towel that matched the color of her hair, while a similar, dark green one rested on a shelf behind her. "Kirishima, unsurprisingly, forgot hers. You can use that one for now, it used to be Kongou's but she hasn't showered here in almost two years. She won't miss it." Haruna set a hand on Takao's still-damp shoulder and guided her forward. "We'll get you some clothes for the night, but first, a shower to get you warmed up. You're shaking."

Many thoughts ran though Takao's mind, but Haruna was right, she was cold, and also getting quite tired. Y-yeah, a shower s-sounds nice," Takao managed. "Guess I'm colder than I thought." She allowed Haruna to lead her into her house, yet she wasn't panicking. Rather, she felt calm. Maybe that was simply her exhaustion, but Takao certainly wasn't going to complain.