Agh! My head hurt from all my time listening to crap my teachers tell me. But enough about that!
Shura: You listen to their crap since you do nothing but crap… perverted woman…
Misaki: … Would you mind saying THAT again? (Holds a whip on right hand)
Shura: …
Misaki: Thought so…
To: Know Your Enemy: Yeah, you're right… I let one of my family read it and I was soo embarrassed! I'll try revealing more in this chapter! I'm soo sorry!
Chapter 07: First Decision
"Are you sure about this?"
"Don't worry about it, Kyon. I can buy everything else I need," she said with a wink. She waved her fat wallet in front of him, giving a clue to how filthy rich she was. "And besides, I am NOT going back to that place!"
"That 'place' is still your rightful home, Haruhi."
"I ain't going back there! I never want to see that jerk again! Not until he apologizes to me." She crossed her arms and looked miserable. She was already inside Kyon's residence as they conversed with each other. "What? You don't like being with me?" she teased. Kyon didn't notice that fact the he just blushed.
"No, it's not like that," he mused. "It's just that I don't think my mom would accept such a request; even if you'd have to sleep at the couch."
They stared at each other in silence after that; eyes narrowed at each other. Then, the telephone rang.
It rang for a while without Kyon giving it a thought until his little sister jumped out from out of nowhere and ran to where the telephone was; all the while yelling at him "Kyon-kun! You're so annoying!"
"Yes, you are too…"
Another moment of silence before his sister once again called-out to him.
"Kyon-kun! Mama's on the telephone!"
"Hmmph…" he grumbled and made his way to his sister; giving her an annoyed blow on the top of her head. Haruhi inadvertently giggled; quickly hiding her mouth in embarrassment.
"What is it, mom?"
Silence soon followed after. As her mother spoke on the other end of the line, Kyon's face dropped every second. The two girls could only look at his face.
Reaching the limit of how shocked a person can be, Kyon's face flexed back to normal and nodded his head in slight surrender.
"I understand mom." And with that, he hung up the phone. He sighed as he made his way back to the couch; only to sit slouching hard on to the headboard.
Kyon's little sister stood like the little kid she was in front of Kyon, looking as innocent as she can possibly be. Though, she honestly wondered about what her mother had said on the other line.
"What'd she say, Kyon?" Haruhi asked. Her eyes showed all the glory of curiosity.
"She said that she's…"
"She's…?"
"… She'll be gone… for a month… on a vacation with father…"
"… what's wrong, Haruhi?"
"What else did she say?"
Kyon let out a sigh.
"She said…
- Phone Call -
Kyon: What is it, mom?
Mother on-line: Hello there, Kyon!
Kyon: Even she's using that god-awful nickname…
Mother on-line: I'm sorry to say but, I'll be out-of-country for a little while. Maybe for a month or so? At least for a month, dear. Your father is taking me to Australia! Can you believe it? Australia! And our anniversary is also approaching… Well, anyway. I'm not gonna be there to cook for you. I've left some money inside the cupboards so your little sister wouldn't be able to get it. It isn't enough to last you for a whole month so I'd suggest you get someone to cook for you, dear. You have many friends so I know you'll make it.
Father not-online: Dear! The plane's here!
Mother: Okay!... So, do you understand…?
Kyon: … I… understand… I do and I damn myself for it…
- End of Phone Call -
"That's what she said..." he said as he gave his annoying little sister another smack on the head.
"I'll get revenge," she quipped and stuck-out her tongue before running up the flight of stairs Kyon still hasn't got used to.
"Well, you're in luck, Kyon. After weeks of practice before, I could say that I can cook pretty well!"
Kyon could still remember the bento she made for him; it tasted like the farthest reaches of heaven. Somehow, the delightful taste of her cooking still lingered on his mouth, reminding him of his first gift from her.
"So, can I stay?"
Kyon felt that it would probably… no, most likely offend her if he declined. He looked up at his roof to ask it if he should let her stay, but, he surprisingly it didn't answer him back (?)
Now, a question still remained…
Who… will sleep on the couch?
VWVWVWVWVWVWV
Elsewhere…
"What do you think?" a voice asked from nowhere.
A muscular man stood amidst scorching flames. Blood stained his shirt as a large slash wound on his chest spat out blood like there was no tomorrow. Laughing, he wiped off a drop of blood from his chin.
"Your friend there's really good, boy!"
Two other figures around the inferno appeared in front of him. They were near indistinguishable due to the black smoke and bright golden flames around them.
"Well, we have our moments…"
"What do you want from me now?"
"Ha ha! Right to the point, I see. Well, I want you to…"
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Kyon regained consciousness due to some pain on his back. He slept on the couch instead of Haruhi due to an earlier argument. By Kyon's insistence, he made Haruhi sleep on his bed instead. He made various reasons as to why she should take his bed; reasons that were all made-up. He didn't know why, he just didn't want her to sleep on something as insignificant as a couch,
Turning around and throwing his arm in front of him, he caught hold of something. He fumbled with it for a second or two.
"So soft…" he thought.
Moving down a little more, he caught another one of its kind and fumbled with it too.
"So… warm…"
A question raced through his mind suddenly; how was he able to turn around? He certainly did and, if he WAS sleeping at the couch like he was supposed to, he should've fell. He opened his eyes a bit, still heavy from sleep.
"Brown… hair…?"
It came to him… … it was Haruhi. He notified himself loudly mentally. His eyes widened in shock and surprise. He also realized that he was also in his bed... THEY, were in his bed. He also realized that the soft… warm… mound of flesh he was holding onto was her…
"Early morning and you're all romped-up huh?"
He gulped a mouthful of saliva… delicious, he thought.
With a quick motion he pulled his hand out of her… um… cleavage, careful not to hurt… it, in the process and rushed back as far as he could, but the wall prevented further retreat.
"I-I can explain! Or… wait… YOU explain why I'm here in bed! I'm supposed to be sleeping at the couch!"
She laughed out loud and stopped as soon as she did.
"Well, I carried you up here when you were fast asleep. You're surprisingly light for a man, Kyon!" After which she continued laughing.
Thinking that it was just her making fun out of him again, he dropped his guard to straighten his position on the bed. Just as he did, Haruhi lunged forward a pinned him to the wall. With the most seductive voice she could produce she asked: "Do you know why I carried you here?" Her face was mere centimeters from his. If Kyon were to look down, which he did, he could get a nice view of her cleavage. It dawned onto him. She was only wearing a button-down shirt and underwear; not only that, only two buttons were actually in place! His face warmed-up. He had never seen so much of her skin.
Then, it got worse. His sister barged-in to his room like she always did.
"Kyon-kun! Time to wake…"
She paused just as the whole world did.
"Maybe it's time I started locking my door…"
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Kyon slouched on to the couch and watched the early morning NEWS. He could smell the aroma Haruhi's cooking produced. It smelled sweet.
It has already been a day since Haruhi started living with them; and a day since they had been eating her home-made food. It was nice. Kyon thought he could go on like this forever, not that he wouldn't like his mother coming back. Point of the matter was, he could really get used to having her around, despite her arrogance and usual eccentric outbursts.
But now, they, or at least he, had another problem at his hand.
He was sure that that smug bastard Koizumi would be aware of the situation and give him his really annoying remarks. The way he smiled and laughed was at the top of his list why he found him annoying; and his remarks are at second.
He suddenly found the urge to dance. He didn't know why, but he just did. Though, he ignored it… for the time being.
"Kyon! Get your lazy ass going! We're gonna be late!" she yelled from the doorpost. He hurried to the door and found her smiling with one hand on her waist. She handed him a cloth-wrapped bento and opened the door. He stopped her half-way.
"Hey, Haruhi…"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"I really appreciate you cooking for me and my little sister… but…"
"… But…?"
"Where's your lunch?"
Haruhi's face contorted in shock. Squealing, she ran back to the kitchen, dropping her bag beside the door.
After uttering a few brief apologies, they made their way to school.
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As they walked to school, they noticed a myriad of police cars run about to the same direction. Kyon got a bad feeling about something, but he wasn't sure what. He glanced at Haruhi. She was silent.
"Haruhi, isn't that where your house is?" Kyon asked. Though, he couldn't remember where he got that information, he knew that that wasn't the case.
"Yeah… you're right…" she answered flatly and then walked to the opposite direction.
He felt his eyebrow twitch.
Just then, Taniguchi appeared to bring them shocking news.
"Suzumiya! Your house just burned-down!"
Kyon gasped and shot a look at Haruhi. She wasn't the least bit affected at all! He deftly walked to her and placed both his hands on her shoulders. They felt cold to his touch. Well, it's not practically called 'giving the cold shoulder' but, it works.
"Haruhi…?"
"What?"
"Your house just burned-down… don't you care?"
She refrained from answering for a brief second 'til she answered while still not facing him. Her answer was fairly simple yet, persuading.
"I don't care…"
Kyon lectured himself that he should've already been used to those kinds of responses from her. And he was; he was just a bit shocked by what she just said.
"You… don't care…?" he asked, enunciating every word sharper than he did.
She faced him; her eyes looked like Nagato's own: cold like liquid helium. She repeated her words; this time, with more accent.
Kyon understood how she felt. He did though, he never had experienced it. So he guessed that his understanding must've only been connected with compassion. However, he was still too curious as to what it now looked like; maybe he'll get an idea of what her house looked like from the ashes that remained.
"Okay, Haruhi. You can go ahead. I'll check-out your house."
He turned his back on her and started walking on the opposite direction. The sly bastard Taniguchi had no or slightly a little idea as to what was going on between them. Driven by curiosity, Taniguchi went with Kyon.
Haruhi reluctantly followed behind them, paying no heed to Taniguchi's occasional glimpses. Though she'd much rather push him out of her way.
Arriving where the police cars gathered, they saw her house… or at least what remained of it. The once should-be nicely painted walls were reduced to be covered in soot. What was left of the wooden furniture were already removed and piled beside the disaster of a house. Glass pieces were scattered on the ground around the windows from where they came. Pretty much everything that can be burned inside the house disappeared, leaving only the concrete to be covered in a thick layer of soot and ashes.
The police surprisingly let them enter the ruin without any further ado. Though, they did have to question Haruhi due to the fact that she was one of the house's residents. It left only Kyon and Taniguchi to look around inside of the burned-out house.
"Well, Kyon, I have to go. Ciao!"
Make that only Kyon to look around the burned-out house.
Everything inside the house being burnt to a crisp, there wasn't much to see except black soot and gray ash everywhere. To the kitchen, though, he may have found the source of the fire; a gas tank that looked like it burst open and a candle beside it. Kyon could only imagine that, somehow, the gas tank was leaking and the fumes made contact with the candle, causing a very nice explosion that set the house on fire. However, there was one thing that stopped the situation to become the likely scenario. The candle looked brand-new as it was inside a brass container. Only one of its sides melted due to the heat. Disregarding that, it looked like the candle hasn't been used too. He stared at it like it was a complicated puzzle he was dared to solve.
Something caught his eye; a room was sealed with yellow ribbons. Must be something they didn't want the people to see, was the thought that came to his mind. He honestly scared himself when he thought that there were bodies inside, burned to a crisp. He didn't want to believe that, so, he made his way inside.
He reached the door, only to find it lead downstairs – a basement. Fear struck him, afraid of what he was going to see. However, it only made him more curious as to what could make him feel so scared. One step at a time, he slowly made his way to the room below.
He was thankful that the police had already placed a lighting system inside the room when he saw light ahead… below.
At first, he tried to cover his eyes as the bright light from the headlights was too much. He had to get his eyes to adjust to them. He found it a difficulty doing so. But, being the pursuer he was, forced the adjustment and opened his eyes.
What he saw he swore almost made him drop his jaw to the ground.
Have you ever seen a slash-mark; like when a sword goes through cloth or when you use your nails to scratch your skin and it leaves a mark? Well, that was what he saw, only, the marks, he swore, were bigger and longer than a giraffe's neck. It covered every inch of the wall, even the small amount of furniture to the floor he was standing-on. None was spared by whoever's wrath.
That wasn't the only thing that scared him. Among the slash marks on the walls came blood; lots of it; splattered around him, covering most of the wall across him.
"Kyon?"
A hand found its way onto his shoulder. He almost screamed like a little girl.
He immediately recognized the voice – it was Haruhi – and quickly turned-around and covered her eyes to prevent her from seeing the things he did.
"Ah! Kyon!? What are you doing!?" she whined while thrashing her arms around her.
"Ehm… uh…" he mumbled, trying to think of an answer that could sway her.
"We're gonna be late, Haruhi. We don't want that, do you?"
She calmed down instantly, still having her eyes covered.
"Oh, yeah…. Well, let's get moving!" she quipped, placing her hands on her waist.
VWVWVWVWVWV
They continued their little trip to school as some of the male students that passed Kyon gave him complimentary slaps to his back. He was sure that it was because Haruhi was with him…
He thought he'd have a trip to the clinic before class even started with a sore bulge on his back like the guy on an anime series he'd just watched. Though, he wasn't thinking of the next part where three girls gang-up on his back with towels.
"Well, hello there!" a very familiar voice called-up to him.
Looking-back, they immediately recognized the boy and girl trailing behind them.
"It's you guys again… yippee…"
"What's the matter, Kyon-kun? I hope you're not angry when I left you when we got to the carnival."
Kyon still thought he was normal. But he was finding him to be annoyingly like Koizumi, especially his smile and smug-ass remarks.
"You ditched me, that's what you did."
"Ditched' is too strong of a word, don't you think?" he said as he placed an arm around his neck. He also found his actions to be very annoying, especially what he just did. No, not because of the awkwardness of it all… it was because the things he did made Sarah… a bit moody…
He turned his head slightly, just enough to catch a glimpse of her. She had one of those 'looks that can kill'.
"Okay… maybe a bit TOO moody…"
They reached the hill Kyon still hasn't gotten used to. He wondered why. He was so sure that, after months or so after studying at this school, he'd have gotten used to it. One time, he thought he did but, found-out that he was wrong. It was only so because he longed to be inside the clubroom for once in the middle of the rain.
Then, they heard the bell ring.
"Crap! Kyon, we have to run, NOW!"
She grabbed his collar and made a rag-doll out of him, pulling at him without care. She had a wide smile on her face as she did so.
"Kyon…"
"What is it, Haruhi?"
"No one has to know that I'm staying at your place, got me!?"
Haruhi suddenly released his uniform. Kyon hit hard on the concrete sidewalk. He expected his head to splatter but, fortunately, it didn't. But, still, it hurt.
"Kyon…"
"What is it now?"
She paused…
"We're late…"
Kyon looked back to see what she was seeing… and saw Mr. Okabe menacingly looking at them while blankly slapping a ruler on his left hand.
"We're dead…"
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Surprisingly, Mr. Okabe's only punishment for them is… a ten-page report on their lesson about cultures. Doesn't seem much to us (the readers) but to Kyon, who was a square student all-around, it was a hell of a lot of work.
He went on his merry way to the clubroom, hoping that Nagato would help him if he asked. Sure enough, Mr. Okabe also specified that the internet was off-limits. For their report, they had to interview someone who was good at traveling and ask them etc. etc. He had heard that Haruhi had gone-off and was already interviewing a girl who had supposedly traveled the world with her talking motorrad. He tried to remember the traveler's name. "Was it… 'Kino'?" he thought.
Anyway, arriving at the clubroom, he saw a bandaged Koizumi sitting at his usual place; Nagato was nowhere in sight. Sitting across him, he finally saw the full extent of his injuries.
"Koizumi… what happened to you?"
He looked-up at him and laughed, which he finished with a sigh.
"A really big Closed Space appeared this Saturday…"
Kyon remembered their battle with Haruhi's father. It was most likely that it was the reason. Though, he'd much rather avoid the topic, afraid that he'd hear more of his enlightening lectures.
Now, his lectures whenever he'd do something wrong was no. 3 on his 'Why I Find Koizumi Really Annoying' list. Still, he found them very… deep… not that he cared.
"Is that so?" he just made-up a comeback of his own.
He answered after placing his hand over Kyon's.
"I want to tell you something, Kyon-kun."
He flinched just as their hands made contact. He was thankful to the fact that Haruhi wasn't here or she'll become quite a handful.
"Don't touch me and go ahead, tell me."
He giggled… very annoying indeed.
"We've… no… the Agency has decided to… kill Asuka Shura…"
Noo!! My character's gonna be killed! And WTF does Haruhi's father have to do with all THIS!! Chapter 08, coming-up!