Well, I think I'm getting the hang of it by now. But, I think I have to cut it out with those 18+ rated games I've been playing lately… they're starting to influence my writing… Let's get on with this!

I'm actually gonna explain less things about my story than I actually intend to! However, some questions are best left unanswered… some mysteries make a story even more exciting, don't you agree?

And also, this story is nearing completion. If I'm not mistaking, it should be over in about five more chapters or so…

A/N: I haven't read anything in my story alert list in a while…

Chapter 10: First Incident

"I guess this isn't like some kind of TV series where we're given breaks every now and then…"

"Hmm? Did you say something, Kyon-kun?"

Kyon and the others have taken refuge in a run-down building they had just coincidentally come across. From the looks of it, the building was once a hotel. At least a couple of rooms still had lightings that worked where they laid Haruhi to rest at one of the still usable bed. The sky was still grey; to ask if they were still in Closed Space would be very stupid indeed.

"It's nothing…"

Only Emiri was left to guard Haruhi while the others rested their weary bodies and minds in another room.

There was nothing to talk about… scratch that… There was nothing WORTH talking about at their situation. At least, that was what everybody else thought, but, Kyon has something worth to say.

"What do we do now?"

Everybody looked at him; everybody except Nagato's, who was reading a pocketbook at a corner. They exchanged puzzled glances at each other.

"I mean, how were they able to track us like this? We've hid in three buildings far from each other and have been found each time," Kyon explained. Of course, what he said was true. They've already tried a store where they were found in just a couple of minutes. Same goes for the two other run-down buildings they took their chances on.

"Espers are also called psychics. There should be no wonder in that platform, right?" was Koizumi's answer. For his part, it was the whole truth. He couldn't explain his other abilities such as reading minds other than with psychic powers. However, he didn't actually use those other powers himself. "They could have read our minds or detected our thought to find us."

"Then women could be in trouble from perverted espers, right?"

A question led to something totally unrelated as Ryoko Asakura had to open her mouth. She was casually ignored; set aside for another time as much to her dismay.

"Asakura-san, I suggest you hold-back your new programming and keep quiet," was Shura's suggestion. He was sitting by the window as a sentry.

"What new programming?"

"Hmm… Why are you asking me? Ask Asakura-san, will you?"

The turned their attention to Ryoko who immediately heated-up the moment they did.

"W-what are you looking at me for!?"

Both curious men gave her the 'What does the other guy mean?' look. Ryoko gave them the 'what the hell' look of her own. After a moment of exchanging these glances that seemed to deteriorate to annoyance, Ryoko finally gave in.

Ryoko sighed in defeat. Kyon thought that this was a whole new side to Ryoko Asakura's personality, aside from being the caring student or the sadistic killer.

"Ah well, it's simple anyways." She raised both of her shoulders and tilted her head to one side in an 'as a matter of fact' gesture. "My emotion driver was upgraded, that's all there is to it. That is why I act more 'human' now."

She finished her sentence with closed eyes. She didn't notice Kyon and Koizumi turn their gazes at Nagato, who was at the corner reading a pocketbook. They returned their stares to Ryoko Asakura just as they had left her; the averting of gazes lasting only a few seconds.

"You're guys thinking about Yuki Nagato, aren't you?"

They nodded their heads in mutual agreement. For all they know the only time Nagato was able to show an atom of emotion was… come to think of it, she never did.

"Yuki Nagato refused to have an emotion driver placed on her system, telling her Master that it would only become a hindrance in her duties. When Yuki Nagato would be efficient in being your guardian with her unwavering enigma, I was to be efficient in gathering information with my almost-perfect interaction with the human society." She paused before continuing on. "I was only a back-up, after all…" Her tone lowered as she said that final statement.

They heard a book close. They turned their heads to Nagato who was the only one who had a book at that time. She looked at the with eyes as cold as snow… maybe that was why she was named as such… she was as cold as snow.

"You've let your installed emotions affect your clear judgment. Your emotion driver modified your processing unit to generate a will of your own. You succumbed to earthly desires and wished for change. As your superior, I couldn't have such complacency in the field; therefore, I eliminated you."

Ryoko stood-up and flung her shining blue hair to her back. She had a half-smile on her face as she engaged in a staring contest with another human-purpose interface like her.

"So, you're just content on just being a lifeless puppet for our masters to play with? You feel no emotion towards anyone whom you're trying to protect. You're like a hesitant slave that performs manual labor without any heart or enthusiasm."

Kyon and Koizumi were speechless in awe as Ryoko Asakura assaulted Nagato with her harsh words. From their point of view from Ryoko's back, it looked like a one-on-one scene from many Hollywood movies they had watched.

Shura held-out his hand in slight attempt to stop their growing argument. Much to his rejection, he was ignored.

"Tell me, Nagato-san; what keeps you from protecting this wimp that our subject, Suzumiya-san, has fallen for?"

Kyon felt his eyebrow twitch upon hearing her call him a wimp. Well, at least it was better than being called 'Kyon' again… or not.

Nagato stood there without a word, finding within herself, inability to answer her question. It was a foreign feeling to her so she couldn't quite handle it very well. Thankfully, she was honest to herself and she knew what her answer was; none. She had absolutely no reason to protect Kyon and Haruhi aside that it was an order from her Master.

"I… have no reasons… I was simply ordered to… I was programmed to protect them…" For the first time in her brief three-and-a-half years of living, she had staggered to verbally transmit data from one point to another. Without meaning to, her gaze drifted to the floor and her left hand found its way to her right shoulder. If anything, she looked like a timid high school girl who was just asked a very personal question.

A small, feminine grunt escaped Ryoko's mouth and she showed a kind smile to Nagato. She raised her right arm over her head, held her right shoulder with her left hand and arched her body as far as it could go.

"Well, I guess you're not so much a doll as I thought you are…" She returned to her normal, proud standing position and smiled even wider, if that was possible. "You can feel; that makes you more human than a doll."

Sensing an opening, Kyon cleared his throat to attract their attention. He still had a lot of questions to ask and he thought that he better hurry before something happened.

"What is it, Kyon-kun?"

"Well, I was thinking… What is the espers' plan? None of you guys really told me what it is and I really want to know."

Awkward silence followed as they stared at each other with puzzling gazes.

"Come to think of it, I don't know that myself," Ryoko replied. They looked at Nagato who shook her head for a 'no'.

"The slider shared the other data directly to the Data Integration Thought Entities, whilst I only have data that I was allowed to download from my Master's bank. That data did not contain details on Asuka Shura's data transfer.

The three heaved a heavy sigh. Ryoko, Kyon and Koizumi were deeply disappointed. If they knew what Shura's theory was, then they would be able to act more efficiently in stopping this new threat. Of course, they could've asked the slider himself to answer that question. Feeling a bit of dejection, Shura frowned and closed the window overlooking the city.

"I know! Why don't we ask Shura-kun instead?" Ryoko proposed. Kyon and Koizumi lit-up at the idea; so did Shura, who snapped-out of his dejection in a mere second. Although he still didn't like it too much being called 'Shura-kun', it felt a whole lot better when it was a girl who called him that.

"You should've asked me in the first place!" Shura declared proudly. His ego skyrocketed to the sky being the result of dejection disappearing as quickly as a popping bubble. He began laughing-out-loud; Kyon could somehow feel his happiness; were they ignoring him that much?

"If you el-oh-el (LOL) that much then the espers might find us…"

Kyon was surprised. "Did she just use internet slang?"

The higher they rise, the harder they fall. As Shura heard those words, the mental shock froze his body and his laugh. His face slowly contorted into a sad expression as he realized that what she said was true. And also, like Kyon, he was also surprised that Ryoko just used internet slang…

"Excuse me, Asakura-san. Did you just say LOL?" Koizumi asked her… even though it was obvious that she did.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I was wondering where you got that…"

Ryoko thought for a while, looking up at the ceiling and pressing her index finger on her cheek. About a second or two, she finally answered.

"I learned it from this planet's global data highway domain… I believe humans call it the 'Internet," she answered with a haughty smile.

"The internet… right…"

Koizumi, followed by Kyon, diverted their attention to Shura, who was waiting for them to stop, to try and get what they just heard from Ryoko out of their minds.

"My theory is easy, but complicated; they want to kill you for Suzumiya-san and use her for something, just like what my agency once planned before Sarah slaughtered them. I don't know what that something is but I could tell that they're really into it, even resorting to killing you, Kyon-kun. By that bias, I deduced that they were up to something pretty terrible. But, I had to find proof or I couldn't get help from any other species that Suzumiya-san created; namely, the Data Integration Thought Entities' aid. I was getting nowhere if everyone acted normally around me so, I joined Suzumiya-san's brigade, hoping to catch the attention of Nagato-san and Koizumi-kun."

Koizumi's eyebrow twitched as he heard that honorific. As much as he liked to call them both 'Kyon-kun' and 'Shura-kun', he didn't like the sound of 'Koizumi-kun' at all…

"I meant to approach Suzumiya-san directly but, when I got to your classroom, I found-out that she was not there; only you."

"So, you approached me instead?" Kyon asked, remembering that moment where he just unconditionally appeared right on his face.

"Yes. Though, it should have been a normal greeting. Sarah just doesn't like it when I go talk to other people…"

As soon as she heard her name, Sarah cuddled closer to Shura's arm. They looked good together if you didn't mind that the girl was a murderer and the guy was a mild-mannered unselfish bastard that kept appearing on every date Kyon and Haruhi goes to.

Kyon also remembered the time when she appeared in front of him, looking at him with one of those 'looks that can kill'. He shivered at the very thought.

"After that meeting, I was able to join the Brigade and catch Koizumi-kun and Nagato-san's attention. They kept themselves at a static state so I had to do something that might get them to act. So, I followed you and Suzumiya-san to your first date." Shura paused for a moment before continuing. "Actually, I was there for another reason too. The other reason was that I wanted to help you out on your first date. I knew you weren't prepared for your first and I didn't want you displeasing Suzumiya-san." He started chuckling when he finished that sentence. Kyon looked annoyed and irritated at his revelation.

"So that was his motive, huh?"

"At least that plan worked – Koizumi-kun and Nagato-san showed themselves as stalkers and followed us around until the restaurant where we had a bicker with Suzumiya-san's father…"

"So THEY were the stalkers!?" the thought of Nagato wearing a hooded sweater while reading a book, at the same time, stalking someone was pretty humorous to Kyon. Actually, Kyon had already suspected Nagato as being one of them but common sense told him that she wouldn't have resorted to something as simple as that.

"I was planning to let them follow us a bit more but, Kyon-kun told me that they annoyed him. So, I had Sarah knock them down for a bit."

Kyon remembered Shura asking him if they bothered him; he also remembered agreeing to that question. He would've said 'no' if he knew they were Nagato and Koizumi.

"To be honest, I was shocked when I met Suzumiya-san's father. I never thought he was that brawny and handsome!"

The three; namely, Ryoko, Koizumi and Kyon grumbled in disgust at what he just said. They all questioned themselves if Shura was gay or not.

"And what does Haruhi's father have to do with anything?"

Shura huffed and held his breath for about two seconds. "Well, he HAS something to do with all this. But, I don't have enough proof to accuse him of anything other than disturbing my plan on making your first date a blast…" He sighed and grabbed a fistful of his hair, smiling almost sadistically. "But, that didn't stop me from burning his house down to find out more!"

Kyon held his head, too embarrassed to add a comment, and sighed while murmuring 'Oh, boy…'

"So, did you find something out?" Koizumi asked half-heartedly; already fearing the worst. Much to his relief, Shura closed his arms and shook his with for a 'no'. He exhaled a large amount of Carbon Dioxide and the tense state of his body finally loosened-up.

"But, I was able to—"

A sentence that about to surprise them all was interrupted by a loud explosion and the appearance of smoke. They all jolted-out of their sitting positions and scanned their surroundings. They tried to find-out where the explosion happened.

"The explosion was not within ten meters of this room…" Nagato coldly informed them as she calmly placed her pocketbook back in the pocket of her cardigan.

"That would mean…"

"OMG…!" Everybody's eyelids itched…

"Haruhi!" Kyon yelled-out and ran to the door, finding that it was blocked from the other side by something; probably debris. He started slamming on to the door in desperate attempt to break it down and run to his loved one but to no avail.

"Sarah, break that door down!" Shura commanded.

Koizumi glanced at his former attacker and saw that she had already let-go of Shura's arm and positioned herself in front of the door; her fingers twitching wildly. He somehow knew what was already unfolding and tried desperately to get Kyon out of her way.

"Get out of there, Kyon-kun!" Koizumi yelled as loud as he could.

Kyon was only human and couldn't react that fast. Fortunately for him, Ryoko jumped-in and got him out of Sarah's way before she ripped the door apart along with the pile of concrete behind in to smoking shreds. Beyond the destroyed door were raging flames.

Without thinking twice, Kyon flailed-out of Ryoko's restraining grip and ran to where Haruhi was supposed to be resting, guarded by another human-purpose interface named Emiri Kimidori. He didn't even notice Sarah's killer stare as he accidentally bumped onto her shoulder.

He was too much in a panic to see Haruhi to even notice that the flames were already burning through his flesh as he ran. His face lightened-up as he saw the door that would lead him to her come into view. His mind began to recover rational thought and external consciousness; he finally felt the pain of walking through fire and, behind him, he could hear Koizumi and Shura yell-out his name. But he had to push-through. With a quick, almost trembling motion, he opened the door.

"Haruhi!"

Kyon was able to yell-out her name one last time before he felt his body weaken. His knees buckled and he felt his arms go limp. His mind slowly blanked-out and his vision started to blur. He heard Koizumi and Ryoko yell-out his own name and saw their figures before his consciousness finally broke and sent him to a deep sleep.

"Haruhi…"

VWVWVWVWVWVWV

Well, this is it; I'd like to ask you – the readers – this pretty important question: Carnage or no carnage? Depending on your answers and, since I like to describe gruesome things so explicitly, this FanFic could raise it's rating to M on the chapter after the next one (namely: chapter 12)

And also, if you guys would like, I could keep some questions unanswered for more suspense or, reveal them in the next chapter for less thrill…