Disclaimer: Whether or not you think so, no, I still do not own TMHS. If you think so, then you're screwed.
Shura: Who wouldn't be screwed after drinking four bottles of beer in one sitting?
Misaki: Shura, my dear… there are some things better kept a secret… Whipcrack
Shura: Agh!
Chapter 08: First Unveiling
Kyon ate his lunch Haruhi made herself together with… well… her. They enjoyed a very animated conversation with each other inside the classroom. Kyon could feel everybody's stares locked on to them. The most annoying of them all was Taniguchi's, who was doing this hand gesture of 'bravo'; clamping his hands together and shaking them beside his head.
Every bite of Kyon's lunch now tasted like heaven's end. He loved it; though, it would have been rude if he were to just pick-up the pace and started devouring them all like some kind of peasant. And, from past experiences, Kyon has learned that Haruhi absolutely HATED peasants; especially if they come at you palms-open begging for food or money. The last time one of them had the guts to approach her; he ended up with a sore bulge on his cheek. Kyon chuckled lightly at what he remembered.
"Hey, Kyon?"
Struggling to break-out of heaven's food palace, he averted his eyes from Haruhi's piece-of-art to her gleaming eyes.
"What is it, Haruhi?"
She smiled from ear-to-ear. It was familiar; that smile. Whenever she had one of those smiles, she would usually have a plan; usually involving Asahina in a rather sultry costume.
"Want to go to another date?"
So much for an Asahina costume parody…
A normal guy would choke on whatever content is on his throat after hearing such a thing from out of the blue. But, as for Kyon, he couldn't really consider himself as normal for keeping his sanity through all of what he has gone through. Poor Asahina; she almost lost it when they came across the giant cave cricket.
-End flashback-
"That's pretty much how I ended-up here…"
Haruhi practically bought everything via window-shopping as she blazed through every display there was. But at least it was good for Kyon's wallet.
Looking around, he saw Koizumi at a distance, talking to someone with a left arm handicap, just like his, making strange hand gestures and point. He felt like the stalker incident on his last date with Haruhi; but at least it's not as peculiar as a hooded guy following the basic principles of stalking. At least that gave him peace of mind.
"Hey, Kyon! Over here, look!" came a shouting Haruhi Suzumiya. She was pointing vigorously at something on a display window.
Taking a few steps forward before stopping, Kyon scanned his surroundings again, searching for something. Finding that something not anywhere he can see, he walked as normal as possible to look at what Haruhi was pointing at.
It was a large alien stuffed-toy…
"You're still into that, Haruhi?"
She averted her gaze to Kyon with her big, puppy-dog eyes. To be honest, Kyon thought it suited her. She looked even cuter that way.
"Of course I'm still interested in that! I'd give anything to have a paranormal experience at least one in my life…"
Her voice faded to a blush on her cheeks. Kyon didn't know what the blush was for so he ignored it for the time being.
Voice trailing, he asked if she wanted the toy. That did the trick; it lit-up her expression to be grateful. He inadvertently smiled at her, which he caught up on and turned-around to slap the blush away from coming to his face. Indeed, she looked cute with an angelic smile.
"Kyon, what's wrong? Feeling dizzy?" she asked him.
She had changed a lot ever since she came to live with Kyon… They even shared his bed for God's sake! But besides that, she became a bit more… considerate to others if that's close enough.
Before he knew it, Haruhi was already inside the store. Above his head, it read 'Paranormal Merchandise'. No wonder it had such a peculiar item on its display. On his entrance to the store, he spotted more weird and unusual items on stock. It was like it was there especially for her. There were even Martian sodas on the shelves…
"Welcome to the Paranormal Merchandise store!"
There was a spunky-looking girl by the entrance wearing a very… revealing neko fukusou (cat costume; tell me if I'm wrong). She ran up to Kyon's right side and dragged him to the stocks.
"Here we have a stock of limited edition Spooky Kro keychains and peripherals… …"
It didn't even spark an atom of interest from Kyon. All he thought that only Haruhi would be interested in such things. Looking to his right, towards her, he realized that she wasn't at all interested at the objects at the shelf. She simply stood there, arms crossed, feet tapping and eyes gazing at Kyon. She looked angry…
Finally, after a few seconds of endurance, she broke her fuse. Stomping towards the indecently clothed salesgirl, she grabbed her hand and pulled it away.
"Get away from him!" she yelped as she fervently pulled on the girl's hand. But the girl was persistent as she was arrogant like Haruhi was, so she kept her grip on Kyon's arm.
"I said get away from my Kyon!"
Something snapped in his head. "Did she just say 'my Kyon'?"
Kyon just found himself between two girls pulling for his attention. It continued like that for about a minute before the door opened for another customer. Fortunately for Kyon, the salesgirl quickly shifted her attention to the new set of customers before she, together with Haruhi, could pull his arms off their sockets.
"Welcome to the Paranormal Merchandise store!" he heard her say.
Haruhi pulled on his shoulder, forcing him to sink a bit to level his ear to her mouth.
"Kyon, we're outta here…" and with that, she dragged him out of the door.
VWVWVWVWVWV
"Why? For what reason?"
Koizumi ran his hand through his hair. He winced a bit in pain when he accidentally made contact with a wound on his forehead.
"I don't really know why. Actually, it was the higher-ups who have decided this. They never gave us their reason."
"So you'd follow anything they'd you to?"
"Basically, yes. But in my case, I won't follow any orders that would mean hurting either of you. I've grown to be quite fond of this club, Kyon-kun; and I won't let anyone harm either of you, Nagato-san or Asahina-san."
"I feel safer already…"
VWVWVWVWVWV
"I can't believe that girl; putting her hands on you like that!..."
"Umm… Haruhi… everyone's looking at us…"
Every living being practically had all their eyes on them as Haruhi continued to rage on herself as they walked through a business district. No matter how anyone would look at it, it seemed a bad way to start a date.
"I don't care even if the whole world would see me! How dare that woman seduce you! She even pulled you arm to her b…b…breast…! And what's with her outfit!!"
Realizing that it was impossible to snap her out of her rampage through mere swaying, Kyon decided another, more daring move. He just hoped that it wouldn't come back to haunt him.
"Are you jealous by any chance?"
Upon hearing this, Haruhi stopped dead as her face quickly turned red; her mouth shut tight.
After stumbling over her own words, she barely managed to answer him back.
"Y… yeah… I am… I think…"
Now that was a surprise. Kyon thought she'd answer with a no. He struggled to keep his jaw from falling to the sidewalk.
"Eh, Haruhi? What was that again?"
"Yeah, I am jealous of her… now that I think about it…"
She turned her head a little to her left so she can at least see his foot. That was enough for her but; Kyon couldn't even see her narrowed eyes. At times like that, normal Haruhi would simply shrug it off as nothing and continue whatever harassment she was already doing. This moment actually proved that she HAS changed over the course of her stay.
"Okay… this is the part where he…"
… A second later…
"So, we meet again, Suzumiya-san, Kyon-kun…"
"… would appear…"
The couple looked-back to where the familiar voice came from. What they found was something rather disturbing. It was Shura and Sarah alright but, it looked like their fashion sense reversed. Shura now looked like a typical traveler with a green vest and cargo pants with matching boots. And Sarah looked like she was going for the military look with a tight black tank top that barely held her C-cup breasts… not that Kyon knew what her measurement was anyway, and military pants (camouflage?) with matching boots and large belt and a large sliver buckle to go with it.
Kyon scanned the background again to find Koizumi at a distance fairly far away from them, talking with the same guy minutes ago.
"Your clothes seem… different…"
Shura smiled at him indifferently. He squirmed at Sarah's grip on his left arm and extended his right hand, possibly for a handshake.
"What a coincidence to meet you two again out here…"
Kyon took his hand with a competitive look on his face. He gripped it tightly, ignoring the oozing evil coming out of Sarah's stare. In return, Shura replied with gripping his hand as tight as Kyon did. They looked like two rivals from another person's point of view.
"I don't believe in coincidences," was Kyon's abrupt reply.
"Yes, you're right. There are no coincidences in this world; only inevitability."
Now where did Kyon hear that before?
"Now, I'd presume you two are on a date again?"
That was the start of a lengthy conversation between them. Kyon knowingly became the pathfinder of the group, leading them to a small restaurant. At least that way he could feel a bit more secure than in a larger, more crowded one.
Haruhi wasn't particularly angry at the scale of the restaurant they went into; she was just a bit disappointed as that restaurant was as normal as they came. Sarah didn't give a damn at all while Shura was admiring the simplicity of the place. To Kyon, well, it was small and peaceful; that was all there was to it.
"Kyon… this restaurant is… puny…"
"Exactly, Haruhi-sama. It's little! If someone you know enters this place, it'll only take a fraction of a second for us to notice that person!"
"It's not puny at all, Suzumiya-san. It's just perfect! The simplicity… The security… ah…"
Shura was in his own world, caressing the crudely made table gently and admiring the dim lamp that was suspended above them. And as for Haruhi, well… she's faring with it for the time being. At least that was what it looked like when she was sitting cross-legged and arms crossed under her… chest; lips pouting.
VWVWVWVWVWV
"I don't like your plan one bit… it's too much of a risk for Haruhi."
"I don't like my plan either; with our target, its chance of success is only two to a thousand and three. But we are willing to take any chances present out of desperation."
"So, you espers are really into this objective, huh?"
"Do you think I'd be into something like this, Kyon-kun?"
VWVWVWVWVWV
Out of nowhere, just as Haruhi had taken her first bite on her cheap riceball, the world around them shot grey. Everyone else disappeared, leaving only Haruhi, Kyon, Shura and Sarah themselves. Of course, being the Goddess of the Universe, Haruhi picked-up what just happened them moment it did.
"Kyon, this is the same as before… What's happening?"
She retreated to Kyon's side across her, trembling in fear. Kyon expected her to be more excited about what just happened but, it seems he thought wrong. Across him, Shura didn't look as if he had noticed anything happening. He was still at his PDA, playing chess. And from the looks of it, he was winning.
Kyon didn't notice someone entering the room until Haruhi mentioned the person… by name.
"Koizumi…kun…?"
Koizumi stood in front of the door with two other men; both of those men had blonde hair. The man in the middle had a persuader pointed at Shura's head; but his index finger wasn't at the trigger just yet. The weird thing was that, all three of them had a handicap on their left arm.
"Asuka Shura, your actions have greatly alerted us. You have disabled the left arm of every esper there is on this planet. We do not know what your intentions are but, this has gone too far."
Kyon peeked at Shura; he was still playing with his PDA, seemingly oblivious of everything around him. The same goes for Sarah, eyes closed looking content as she held on to his arm.
"Shura-kun, please, I want to get this over with as cleanly as possible," Koizumi said, trying to shift his attention away from his PDA. Kyon somewhat understood what Shura was thinking… chess can really be an addicting game.
There was still no response from him except his tongue sticking-out of his mouth, increasing his concentration on the game.
Kyon, on the other hand, was wondering if one of those Celestials would appear. This IS a closed space, after all. Pressure welled-up from inside his body as he thought about it.
"If you will keep silent, then I will take that as a sign to shoot you," the gruff man declared again. Tense silence enveloped the surroundings before Shura finally spoke. All the while, Haruhi was feeling rather… sleepy.
"Shooting me doesn't that I'm gonna die. Be my guest, shoot me; just not on my face."
Apparently, he cared more for his annoyingly handsome face than his extravagant life, was what Kyon thought. Not known to him, that was also what was on the mind of everyone else. The only thing that made him not presume that everybody was thinking the same was that he thought he was the only one cynical around there.
Kyon felt Haruhi go limp on his arms. He looked at her eyes and noticed that she was already struggling to lift her apparently heavy eyelids. Why? Why indeed?
Another punishing silence took over as both sides found the urge to remain dormant until Shura exclaimed another well-known term in the game.
"Checkmate!"
The stiff man holding the gun suddenly collapsed with a sore lump on the back of his head. Everyone was stunned, except for Haruhi, who was now peacefully snoring in Kyon's arms.
As quickly as you could say 'Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniosis', which is, by the way, the longest word there is, Koizumi and the other esper had ran-off the door. Still stunned, Kyon looked at Shura, who stood-up proudly and gave the thumbs-up sign to him.
"Don't worry, Kyon-kun. I won't let anything harm Suzumiya-san or you…"
Intro to the pretty uneventful battle that's about to come. If I may say so myself, I don't like this chapter that much since I originally planned this chapter to be exclusively HaruhixKyon focused. Well, anywhoo, I don't care. I just write-down whatever comes to my mind anyway. I DON'T think things over.
Shura: What else is new?
Misaki: You're cruising for a bruising, my boy…