Chapter IV: Kyon, thanks for everything

"How's the Crispy chicken tonight?" I asked Kyon on the outside of the Shinshanhai restaurant, Haruhi and family still inside; clearly visible through the window.

"Spicy," he replied. "Why? Do you even eat?"

"Only the souls of warmongers and people who talk in the theatre," I replied. "How's the evening going?"

"Awkward."

"I can't imagine," I really couldn't. I'm Death, it doesn't affect me. I have no idea what anniversaries of deaths go. I imagine cats have no idea either.

"They haven't said anything about him yet, Haruhi's mother won't stop asking me about my family whilst her Uncle won't stop talking about his job,"

"That's good," I said.

"How?"

"What, oh no: I was listening in on their conversation ," I said.

"What are they talking about?"

"You mostly, your mother in law..."

"Mrs Suzumiya..."

"Mrs Suzumiya asked if you were a smoker: Haruhi vouched for you, Nagaru Suzumiya backed Haruhi up,"

"Why would they think I'm a smoker?"

"You've been standing outside for a minute without moving," I said. "And before you ask they can't see me, so if they look in this direction it looks like you're talking to yourself,"

"Great," Kyon said and rubbed his face. "Well at least that's all over now."

"It's not 'all over' Kyon,"

"What?" He chuckled to himself. "Surely...you mean that I've got two years left of high school."

"No," I replied. "You've planted the idea now you have to water it."

"Plant the idea? What is this, Inception?"Kyon said, perhaps a little too loudly: in the restaurant Mrs Suzumiya's ears perked.

"Your condescension, as always, is much appreciated, Kyon." I don't think he enjoyed my little joke. "I'm not going to lie, Kyon you've done an exemplary job tonight-"

"-But"

"-But tonight is not the anniversary, tomorrow is. If we continue on this course we'll be in the exact same place as we were tomorrow night. We must avert this if I wish to avoid doing work and you wish to avoid a new universe,"

"I see," he replied. "What do I need to do?"

Eventually the awkward dinner came to an end and the Suzumiya's (and Kyon) left the restaurant feeling full and in Kyon's case a little bloated. Haruhi and her family made their way to the car, unaware of the horrors that would be repeated if they did such an action. Kyon knew though, Kyon was clever. Kyon had listened to me. I wish more of you would listen to me I'd have much less work to do and you'd all be much happier.

"Actually," he said. "I think I'll walk home. It's a beautiful night for it." Nagaru turned around and gave the boy a look that seemed to ask 'Are you insane?'

"Are you insane?" Nagaru Suzumiya asked. "We're in the middle of the city and its 9pm at night. You're going to get yourself mugged...or killed, or mugged and killed."

"I'll be fine," Kyon persisted.

"Don't be stupid-"

"-I can't allow a brigade member to risk himself needless. Kyon, I'll accompany you home,"

"No Haruhi," Mrs Suzumiya interrupter her daughter. "It's way too dangerous for either of you. Kyon if you want we'll wait with you for a taxi-"

"-We'll be fine Mrs Suzumiya," Kyon said jovially.

"Yeah mom, we'll be fine."

"But, no-"

"-Okay," Nagaru Suzumiya interrupted. He turned his attention to his sister in law."It's dark but there are only safe neighbourhoods between here and home and after everything that she's told us about Kyon do you think that he'd allow Haru-Haru to come to any harm?" I don't know why he used that nickname, she hated it. He knew it and so did Kyon. Maybe he used it to reference some unknown event?

"But," Mrs Suzumiya tried to argue. She looked Kyon up and down before finally relenting. "Just be safe," she said with a weak smile. "Have her back before twelve."

"I will."

"Okay," Nagaru Suzumiya said. He hugged his niece and said something in her ear. She went red and they broke off the hug. "Well, it's been fun. See you again," He then turned his attention to Kyon. He smiled and gave the now uncomfortable young man a bear hug.

"I've already lost my brother. If you lose my niece I'll kick your ass so hard you'll feel it on your nose." He really could by the way. I've seen this man take down four Kidon Operational Case Officers with nothing but a tea cup.

"Fair enough," Kyon replied as they broke the hug.

They waved as Haruhi's uncle and mother left in Nagaru's car. It was dark, if not for the street lights and the occasional neon advertisement it would've been complete pitch black.

"It sure is dark tonight," she said.

"Yeah," he replied. He looked at her uncomfortably for a moment, unsure of what to say. "Haruhi, why didn't you ever tell me? You always say that we...I mean the brigade shouldn't keep secrets from one another so why did you?"

"I...I-"

"It's alright, You don't have to tell me if you don't have t-"

"-Kyon, because I liked it. I lied so that I could pretend that he was still alive."

"What happened?"

"Tanabata, Kyon. I erm...that night that I met John Smith, I snuck out and dad came to look for me. There was a car crash, someone...on the other lane had a seizure and he...died Kyon. Kyon, he died and it was my fault. It's...all...my-"

"-No it's not," Kyon interrupted her. He turned and put his hands on her shoulders. "It's no one's fault. You had no idea that it would happen. Neither did your dad, neither did the other driver."

"But, if I hadn't gone out that night-"

"-and if you saw blue whilst going really fast it would be green. Haruhi. You couldn't have done anything different."

"I guess," She said. Her eyes scanned the tall buildings and gave a slight chuckle. "Kyon, I think we better start walking again. The old woman in the window is looking at us."

They walked through the city in complete silence for a little while. It was unusually quiet for that particular part of the city in that time of the year but neither of them recognised it or cared at that time. I wonder what Kyon would say if he knew that I was protecting them and whispering to any that would interrupt them to leave the area well enough alone. Nothing harsh, you see but if you heard me whispering in your ear you'd do what I say too.

"Is that your old middle school?" Kyon asked as they crossed the street, near the edge of the inner city limits.

"Yeah, yeah it is," she replied. "Why?"

"Come on," he said as he took her hand and lead her closer to her old school. Soon enough they found a fence that separated the playing fields from the rest of the school. "Come on, I'll give you a boost."

"Kyon, no. I am not breaking into my own ex-middle school."

"As to the perfectly legal act of breaking into it when you were a student?"

"I had a valid excuse, and this is illegal...and immoral and-"

"You have a problem with this?"

"No, not really I just thought that someone should be the voice of the moral high ground," she said as she put her foot on his hands. "Give me a boost!"

With his help she managed to pull herself over the steel and plastic fence. She landed on the floor feet first.

"I honestly did not think that that would actually be possible in that dress," he said.

"You'd be surprised what people can do in dresses, have you ever heard of William Wallace?"

"He wore a kilt," Kyon protested. In actual fact the assumption that William Wallace wore a kilt is a historical inaccuracy. Back then the Scottish wore something akin to shorts. ]

"Don't rip my uncle's suit!" She said as he pulled himself over the fence. I've got to be honest and say that I was impressed that he could do it singlehandedly, and I think Haruhi was as well.

"If you can jump like that how come you play baseball like a drunken leprechaun after a two night spill of 'looking for lucky charms' in all the worst bars?"

"I'm like batman," he shrugged it off. "I'm much better at life at night."

"Yeah...right," she said. "What do we do now?"

"Let's have a walk through the grounds. That way if we get caught we can just laugh it off and say that we're looking for a dog. "

"Kyon, that's stupid." She said. "Let's say that we're hunting for aliens!"

"How about we thought we saw an alien that looked like a dog," he offered.

"I don't like compromising, "she said. "But it will have to do."

They walked through the grounds was gentle and quiet, a gentle breeze blew through the field.

"So, what was he like?" Haruhi smiled.

"He was a pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers," she said, her eyes gazed over as memories of endless hours spent outside throwing baseballs at her father rushed back. "We were...we'd spend hours outside when I was a kid, just playing catch. He was a good person."

"That makes sense," he said and pointed to her head with his free hand "The yellow ribbon."

"Ah," she replied. "Yeah."

"What's that?" Kyon said as he went off running towards the edge of the playing field.

"What the-" Haruhi said as she followed him across the field. "What the hell? Wow, Kyon let's play."

"But you're wearing a dress...it's the middle of the night, we'll lose the balls. You're uncle will be very annoyed if you get home after twelve-"

"I don't care, batter up!" she exclaimed with glee as she strapped the helmet on. She handed him the bat before grabbing the small bucket of balls.

"But-"

"Kyon, it's providence!"

"Alright," he relented and took the bat in hand."Hey! That's my helmet! What do I use if you throw the ball at my head?"

"If my balls go anywhere near your head you should feel lucky that they decided to grace your skull with their presence!" I wonder if Haruhi realised that she just made such a large double entendre. I doubt Kyon noticed, probably too worried about his own head. Anyway, don't worry Kyon, I have no intention of taking your soul. At the worst we'll end up back in that bar whilst your body gets looked at by the people in maintenance.

"Yare yare," he said. "Okay, take fifteen steps that way" He pointed to the field.

"No" she said and pointed in the opposite direction, in front of the building. "You go that way."

"But, but if I hit it in that direction the window...alright," he gave up and took his place facing the school. She did the same.

"Hey...batter batter batter batter!"

Humans, you're a strange species. You've got powers of communication beyond all other species on your tiny little world and yet, most of the time you don't use them. In most cases you skirt around a topic when simply talking about it will bring inevitable catharsis. Some of you are perfectly able to deal with grief alone, and I as Death respect you for that. But, I'm sorry to say that Haruhi Suzumiya was not such a person and her belief that she was only did harm to the universe and ultimately, herself.

But she didn't have to be alone during her grief, didn't have to let it fester and spill out for the entire world to see; she had Kyon and her mother and her family. I'm happy that my own laziness brought me into contact with Kyon and Haruhi Suzumiya because I was able to help someone who really needed it. I wish more of you would talk to people, because inevitably that would mean that I wouldn't have to meet most of you as early as I do. I can't help everyone but I hope that now that Haruhi has talked to someone she'll influence the rest of you.

What happened next to Haruhi and Kyon? Did they break a window, end up getting arrested and have to wait for Haruhi's uncle to bail them out, or did they tell each other the truth? Did Kyon get her back home before the carriage turns back to a pumpkin? Did that suit (which was very nice by the way) end up getting ripped?

I'm not going to tell you, I still provide a service to people and as such have my own personal morals like a Doctor or a Lawyer does. People die and I'm the one that has to care for you. I won't break the trust that we've built up.

I will tell you one secret about that night however. Once the baseball game had ended, and the fence had been climbed once again and everything was over Haruhi whispered something into her friend's ear, something that he had always wanted to hear and something that I think we all need now and again;

"Kyon, thanks for everything."

If you wish to continue there is a 500 word Omake and a 500 word Author's notes on the next page. This has been a very fun project, thank you very much for reading. I would be very grateful if you would please review.