Here's chapter four guys! I'm glad I'm getting lots of great reviews! Keep'em coming! And thanks again for reading! We're nearing the epic climax!
The two of us soon left the alley way, Haruhi seemed to completely forget about the whole Koizumi incident. She stopped asking me about him after she mentioned Nagato, which led me to the question… Why?
The two of us were walking along the sidewalk when she turned her head towards me.
"So, how far until we get out of the city?"
She sounds pretty eager. Just yesterday she hated the idea of leaving the city behind and now she's all for it… I'll never understand her.
"If we don't run into any problems then we should be out of the city by tomorrow."
"Oh." She muttered and turned her head back.
After that she was silent for a few minutes, which left me alone with my thoughts for the moment. I still had no idea what we were going to do once we were out of the city. This isn't really the kind of situation a person usually plans for. I didn't expect to move out while I was still in high school, nor did I expect to be moving out with Haruhi of all people. Now, Ms. Asahina… that's someone I could see moving out wi—
"So what are we supposed to do once we leave the city?" She quickly interrupted my thoughts, as if she knew what I was thinking.
I sighed; I had just told myself I didn't have a plan, but I guess I should give her some kind of answer. "Not sure. I guess we should look for a new city to live in. We'd probably have to get jobs and find an apartment to live in."
She was quiet for a moment but soon spoke up, "…We'd probably have to live together, right?"
My eyebrow rose as I looked at her, the answer to that question was obvious, so why did she bother asking? "I guess so; I doubt we'd be able to live by ourselves very well. I hope you don't have a problem living with someone as useless as me." I gave her a small smile
She looked back at me with a naughty looking smile. "You'd just better pull your own weight. If we're going to live together then you can't be as lazy as you usually are. That's an order!"
With as little enthusiasm as I could muster I raised my hand and saluted to her. "Yes ma'am."
She looked back one more time before finally looking back in front of her.
I was once again left to myself, thinking about this whole situation we're in. Ever since we left Nagato's Haruhi's been acting pretty strange. Not to mention the odd cold weather we've been having, I mean it's spring… why is it so cold? The only explanation would be Haruhi. Altering things like the weather is her specialty.
Besides the constant fear of being attacked by Koizumi's organization, or worse Nagato's, walking down this sidewalk has been pretty boring. I was hoping no obstacles would get in our way while we were walking but if we're trying to be killed, it certainly didn't seem like they were trying very hard. Besides the Humanoid from Nagato's organization and Koizumi possibly trying to kill us we haven't really had any big problems, which frightens me and at the same time relaxes me.
I was beginning to get bored, just walking down this sidewalk. It almost made me wish something would try and attack us but I know that would be a bone head wish. Guess the only thing to do would be to talk to Haruhi. "So, Haruhi, what made you end the club meeting so quickly the other day?"
"I dunno. I was just bored I guess. I haven't had any time to think of something to do."
It sounds to me like she was referring more to herself, then the actual club.
"I just decided it was pointless to continue it and let you all go home."
Her mood is starting to get worse. She seems really depressed about something, if only she'd TELL me what's bothering her! "Oh." Was all I could really say, I mean, what else could I say?
"Why do wanna know anyway?" She looked at me with an annoyed face.
Why did I want to know? Maybe because the fate of the universe depended on how you felt about it and the fact that you ended the meeting right out of the blue is certainly not a good sign. "Just wanted to know is all. It doesn't seem like something you'd usually do." I looked back at her with a bored expression.
"I didn't know you cared so much." She mocked me with an evil smile.
"We are friends aren't we? Why wouldn't I care?"
She stopped smiling at this point and stared at me with a serious look on her face. She turned her head away from me, "Yeah, friends..." Was that… disappointment in her voice? I must be hearing things.
After that we both kind of stopped talking, Haruhi hasn't looked at me since and we've been walking for a pretty long time. I was worried enough with the odd weather, her not talking was just another thing to worry about. "Hey, Haruhi, are you getting hungry?"
"No, I'm fine."
As soon as she said that I heard a loud grumble come from her stomach. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. She turned herself to me and her cheeks had gone red, "It's not funny!"
"Looks pretty funny to me…" I had my hand over my mouth to muffle my laughs. "C'mon, you probably haven't eaten since you ate dinner. I'm getting pretty hungry myself."
She looked away, "Fine… but you better not take me to some cheesy fast food place…" She crossed her arms and pouted.
I took out the map and quickly figured out where we were and it looked like there was a restaurant nearby. "So how about this place, Haruhi? They've got western styled food here. I heard it wasn't half bad."
"I guess it'll have to do…"
We soon found our way to the restaurant and were quickly seated. Our menus were waiting there for us at the table. "So what do you want to try?"
I watched her eyes scan the plastic covered menu, searching for something to eat. "Hmm… I think I'll have a cheese burger with some fries!" She had a happy smile on her face which kind of made me smile a bit. She looked cute like that to be honest.
"Guess I'll have what you're having then." The waiter came up to us and wrote down our orders. I asked for water and Haruhi simply asked for any kind of soda, she didn't care what it was. Seemed like she was having fun, which was always good.
"You know, Kyon, at first I didn't really want to come here… but now that I did, I'm glad!" She gave me a smile before placing her chin into her hands.
I smiled back and lied back into the seat, "Any particular reason? I'm sure you've had western food before."
"I don't know why." She looked out the window, "I'm just having a lot of fun for some reason." I could hear her lightly giggle as our drinks arrived. The waiter bowed lightly and left to get our food.
She was having fun? That's kind of weird… Wonder what's so fun about all this? Our food soon arrived and we started eating. While we were eating I began to notice that Haruhi was glancing at me from time to time. Why was she looking at me so often?
We were half way done our food when I noticed a figure standing next to us. I looked over to Haruhi who was already staring at the person; I put my burger down and looked towards the familiar figure of none other than Ms. Asahina herself. "M-Ms. Asahina?!" I jumped back to the wall as I saw her standing there with the usual nervous looking face. She had on normal clothes, instead of the maid outfit Haruhi forced her to wear, along with a purple purse.
"Mikuru!" Haruhi put her burger onto the tray and looked at our brigade mascot, "What are you doing here?!"
She gave a nervous smile as she slid in next to me, setting the purse down on the table. I was still up against the wall, afraid of what might happen. Haruhi may be blind as to what our brigade members are trying to do, but I'm not. I still wasn't sure if I could trust her or not, but she hasn't tried anything yet, so hopefully my hunch is wrong and nothing will happen.
"good afternoon Kyon-kun, Suzumiya-san." Haruhi watched Mikuru slide in next to me and I watched as her face lost some of its happy expressions. "I was just having my lunch here when I saw you two!" She gave me a warm smile. Usually, that kind of smile would allow me to relax but right now I don't know what to trust. "So what are you guys doing out this far?"
Haruhi stopped for a moment and looked to me, expecting me to come up with an answer. It's not like I didn't already know why Ms. Asahina knew why we were out here… "We're just talking a walk around the city is all…" I lied, and Ms. Asahina already knew that. She hasn't tried anything yet, so I started to relax a bit.
"Yeah, I was getting hungry so I told Kyon to stop off here so we could get something to eat!" What? You liar, I got you to come here after you denied it. "Anyway, we should be going. More sights to see, right Kyon?" She looked at me with a serious look in her eyes that made me gulp.
"U-Um… yeah, we should get going." I squeezed my way out of the table which caused Ms. Asahina to yelp. Haruhi quickly grabbed my wrist as she began to pull me away. I managed to slap some money on the table as we left.
We left the restaurant and just after Ms. Asahina ran out after us, "W-Wait!" She held her hand out towards us. Haruhi turned her head towards her. "Would you… um… would you mind if I joined you?" She fidgeted where she stood, obviously feeling embarrassed of asking us the question.
Haruhi looked at me, expecting me to say something. To be honest I didn't know whether or not to trust her. I'd really like to trust Ms. Asahina; it'd be great to have someone else to talk to but at the same time she could very well be trying to kill Haruhi and I. She wouldn't do that… would she? I gave Haruhi an "I don't really know" shrug. Haruhi looked at me with a face filled with anger and disappointment and looked back to Ms. Asahina. "Fine, you can come along Mikuru."
Haruhi effortlessly let go of my wrist and began walking away. I rubbed where her hand had been, jeez, she has a tight grip. I looked back to Ms. Asahina who soon found her way next to me. I looked back to Haruhi who was already a couple feet away from me. She seemed worse than what she was when we went into the restaurant. I suddenly felt bad for not saying anything about Ms. Asahina.
"We should probably start following her right?" Ms. Asahina spoke up.
"Hmm? O-Oh…! yeah, we should." We jogged for a second or two to catch up to Haruhi but we stayed behind her. I sighed as Haruhi continued to keep her distance between us… what is wrong with her?
We walked down the sidewalk, not a word spoken between us. Tim seemed to just flow by us as we walked down the sidewalk, getting closer and closer to getting out of the city. It was amazing how fast today was going; it was already around 8 PM and it was starting to get dark. I looked over to Ms. Asahina who looked back at me.
"Kyon-kun…?"
"Yeah?"
She shyly looked to the ground, fidgeting with her hands. "I hate to ask but… What does Suzumiya-san mean to you?"
Damn it, there's that question again… why does everyone keep asking me that? Haruhi is my friend, nothing more. Is that so hard to understand? "She's just a friend Ms. Asahina, don't worry about it." I looked towards Haruhi was still away from the two of us.
"Are you sure that's all she is? Nothing more than a friend?"
She was asking me in a way that made it seem like she was hoping we were something more… why does it matter so much? What does it matter what she means to me? I'd seriously like to know. After that Ms. Asahina looked away from me, she looked ashamed… I looked up towards Haruhi once more and she was even farther away from us. I sighed, "I'm gonna go check up on her alright?" I looked back at Ms. Asahina.
"Alright…" She looked away from me and began to dig inside her purse; I ignored that though and began to catch up with Haruhi.
I walked up next to Haruhi and looked down to her, "Hey Haruhi."
"Hi." She said coldly.
I raised my eyebrow, "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing's wrong Kyon, don't worry about it."
Ok, I may not know much about women, but whenever one says 'Don't worry about it' it's usually the time to worry about it. "C'mon Haruhi… You know you can tell me whatever's bothering you right?" I placed my arm onto her shoulder and surprisingly enough she didn't pull away. I turned my head to look at her and she looked back.
Suddenly, my eye caught something; I turned my head to look at Ms. Asahina who pulled out something black… it… it looks like… a gun?!
"It's just that—"
"Haruhi, Look out!" I pushed Haruhi to the side as fast as I could before I heard the gun fire. I felt a sharp sting in my left arm as I fell to the ground; I heard the gun hit the ground and clatter. I gripped my arm tightly as I winced, "AGH!" it felt like I was being stung by thousands of hornets at once! It hurts…! It hurts…!
"K-Kyon!" Haruhi quickly got to her feet and rushed over to my side, "Are you alright?!"
I couldn't say anything as I gripped my arm, god this hurts! I looked over to Ms. Asahina; she had her hands over her mouth as if she couldn't believe she had just fired a gun. Strangely enough there wasn't anyone around us either, looks like she got lucky.
"Mikuru?! What the hell is wrong with you! Why do you have a gun?!" She ran up to the shaking red head.
"I-I'm sorry! I-I was just looking at it and it just… it just went off! I keep it around to protect myself b-but—"
"Just get outta here!" Haruhi shouted at Mikuru, to be honest, I've never seen it before. Mikuru is never shouted at by Haruhi... oh god, why am I blabbering on by this stupid dribble when my arm is in EXCRUCTIATING pain!
"I-I'm so sorry Kyon!" Ms. Asahina ran off into the opposite direction until she was out of sight.
"Kyon! Are you alright?!" She grabbed my good shoulder and began to pull me up against a wall. "C'mon, say something!"
"I-I'm…" I started to get out, "F-Fine…"
"C'mon Kyon, we've got to get you to a hospital!"
"No!" I quickly shouted. Going to a hospital now would only make things worse. I would be kept there for days which would give Koizumi's organization plenty of time to find me and finish us both off.
Haruhi gave me this look as if I had gone crazy, "What do you mean no?! We've got to get that thing out of your arm!"
"Don't worry…about it!" I tried to sound as 'Ok' as possible. "Please… once we leave the city we'll be…f-fine…" I used the wall for support as I tried standing up; I was still clutching my arm as if my life depended on it.
"Kyon this is crazy! We have to get you help!" She had this worried look on her face that made me feel kind of happy. To know that she actually cares this much about me is kind of nice.
"Don't worry Haruhi…" I quickly ripped off some fabric from my shirt, the side of my shot arm, and gave it a tight wrap around the wound, stopping the blood from leaking out. I can't go to the hospital… as much as this hurts it's nothing compared to what they'll do to us.
"Are you sure you're alright?" She was beginning to calm down, which was good. Keeping her calm is the main priority here.
I looked towards the direction that Ms. Asahina ran off to. I looked down at the gun she dropped onto the ground and let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah… I'm fine…" I felt really betrayed right now, I looked away and back towards Haruhi. She looked in the same direction I did and then back to me.
I heard her sigh, "Alright then…"
From then on we both walked down the sidewalk, side by side. Haruhi was literally pressed up right next to me. If it wasn't for the fact that my arm was in mind numbing pain I might've enjoyed this more than I was. The night began to drag on and before I knew it, it was already 11 PM or so. I looked down to Haruhi who seemed to be groggily walking along. I knew she must have been getting tired. "Haruhi… we need to find a place to spend the night…" I looked around us. I doubt there were any more abandoned buildings for us to sleep in so we were going to have to find a place to camp out.
"What about over there?" She pointed over towards what seemed like a park. I could see a bunch of sticks and leaves lying around; perfect to start a small fire.
"Seems like as good a place as any." We walked over to the park and made our way to a small pit used to make fires. There was a small kit there with kindling, along with some matches. Looks like we lucked out.
I watched Haruhi get the kindling, along with some sticks and leaves. She threw them all in the fire pit and lit the kindling. The fire soon started to glow and she sat down next to it. She sat next to the fire and I sat in front of it. It was quiet between the two of us. I began to think about Ms. Asahina… I couldn't help but feel totally betrayed. Out of everyone in the club, besides Nagato, I thought I could trust her. I never thought she'd ever find the heart to use a weapon. She seemed too delicate, but I guess I was wrong… The weird thing is that right after using the gun she seemed right back to her normal self, afraid, scared, and nervous. She looked at the gun as if it were a weapon capable of destroying mankind.
"K-Kyon?" Haruhi stared at the fire as I raised my head to look towards her. "I'm… Sorry about Mikuru…" Haruhi had her head resting on her knees. "I know that you… liked her."
It looked like it was hurting her to say these things "Don't worry Haruhi." I sighed heavily and looked back at the fire, "Ms. Asahina and I were nothing more than friends… Nothing more…" the last part was muttered, but I'm sure Haruhi picked it up anyway.
"Kyon, I'm sorry you were… that I got you…" She was beginning to mix up her words; I couldn't help but softly chuckle.
"I know what you mean Haruhi, it's OK. It's not your fault."
I looked over to Haruhi again who was still staring at the fire, "So the whole brigade, besides you and Nagato, are trying to kill me. Aren't they?"
My eyes shot open, "U-Um…"
"Don't bother trying to lie… that's why we couldn't trust Koizumi and why Mikuru was trying to shoot me…" She looked over to me, "Isn't it?"
She's got me. "Y-Yeah… I'm sorry Haruhi…"
She had a frown on, "Do you know why?"
I do know why Haruhi, but I can't, nor do I have the right, to tell you why exactly they're trying to kill you. Then again, I'm not so sure myself anymore, so I could confidently say, "No. I don't know why." I looked back at the fire. The flames seemed to dance as ashes floated up into the air. I was staring at the fire for so long that I didn't even notice Haruhi sitting herself beside me.
"Thanks again for saving my life Kyon…" I was startled by her voice being so close to me, but I didn't move away from her. I looked down to Haruhi who by then looked up to me. "If that bullet had been any higher… it could have killed you, you know."
For the life of me, I hadn't even thought of that. Why did I jump in front of Haruhi? I mean, it's not like I want her to get hurt or anything, but I don't know if there's anyone else, besides my family, that I'd do that for. Even on an impulse. "Yeah, I know…"
I noticed Haruhi had begun to slowly lean towards me, "So… why did you do it?"
I wanted to move away, I wanted to jump up and run to the other side of the fire, but my body wouldn't listen. Instead, it started to move in itself. "I… don't really know." Our faces were inches apart from each other. I could feel Haruhi's breath and could smell her as well. Oddly enough she didn't smell bad, considering we haven't showered in a day she still smelt nice…
Suddenly, we were interrupted as we heard rustling of bushes near us. Oh god, I hope it isn't Ms. Asahina come to finish the job! I don't think I could take another bullet! I heard Haruhi growl as she got up and stood in front of me, obviously, she was angry. I was just glad that whatever it was stopped me from possibly making a huge mistake.
Luckily, out of the bushes came none other than Nagato.
"Nagato!" I nearly shouted.
Haruhi sighed with relief and walked over to her. "How did you find us all the way out here?" She grabbed Nagato by the arm and pulled her over to the fire.
"I followed you." She said blankly.
"Oh." Haruhi looked at her with slight surprise but looked back at the fire. "Well, I'm glad we've got another brigade member we can trust. We just had a bad run in with Mikuru!"
I smiled as I watched Haruhi explain everything that's happened since we left her apartment to Nagato. Nagato looked at her face and seemed to be listening intensely.
"Hey Kyon, I'm gonna go to sleep. I'll see you later in the morning." Haruhi yawned and lied her head down onto the grass. Her eyes closed and I could soon hear her breathing.
"Night Haruhi." I said.
I watched Nagato walk over to me and sit down.
"You alright Nagato? Your clothes look a little torn up."
"I am fine. The Humanoid was troublesome, but I managed to delete it."
I sighed, straight to the point as always Nagato. "I really want to thank you for all that you've done for us Nagato." I smiled and looked towards the purple haired girl.
Nagato looked at me with an emotionless face. "Hold out your hand." She stated.
"W-What?"
"Hold out your hand."
An odd request… but I did it nonetheless.
Nagato brought her hand to mine and placed something inside of it. When she removed her hand she left a large wad of Yen in my hand. I nearly jumped at the site of it. "W-Wha… what's this for?!"
"Living outside of the city. Suzumiya told me how you asked me for money. The statement was false and was an attempt to lie to Suzumiya to keep the real truth hidden. I have made the statement true."
I looked at the money and back to Nagato, "I… I can't accept this Nagato. It wouldn't feel right."
"Take it."
I watched Nagato again and looked back at the money, "Alright then…" I was suddenly reminded of the pain in my arm when I accidently moved it. "Kh… Hey Nagato… I hate to ask, but can you do something about my arm?"
She looked at my shot arm closely, "Yes." She grabbed my shot arm and soon bit down on it, after a couple seconds, she let go and I watched as the holes she had made disappeared.
"So… what did you do?"
"Nanites. They are dissolving the bullet and healing the wound."
Sighing, I relaxed once more. "Thanks Nagato."
"Don't mention it." Nagato looked up to me with an emotionless face. "You must leave the city by tomorrow."
I looked down to her, "Why?"
"The longer you stay in the city, the higher the rate of you being captured and killed rises. It is now at 87%."
My eyes grew wide, 87%?! That's insane!
"By tomorrow morning, it will be at 89%. Leaving tomorrow is of upmost importance if you wish to continue living."
I couldn't believe it, I thought we were making pretty good time, but I guess I was wrong… We've seriously got to get moving if we're going to make it out tomorrow. "Alright then Nagato. Tomorrow it is." I sighed, "I guess I'll just get to sleep and we'll start in the morn—"
"Wait. There is one last thing."
I groaned, "What?"
She looked at me. "What does Haruhi Suzumiya mean to you?"
My eye twitched. I could feel my anger building; this question was SERIOUSLY starting to piss me off. I stood up and clenched my fist. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?!" I nearly shouted, I hope I didn't wake Haruhi. "Why does everyone want to know what I think of her? What does it matter?!"
Nagato simply looked up to me, staring at me with emotionless eyes.
"You wanna know what I think of her?! I think she's become nothing but a pain in my ass! I nearly get myself killed getting her out of her house; we nearly fall to our deaths climbing down an elevator shaft and now I've gotten shot in the arm because of her! She's become nothing but a pain in my ass since this whole thing started! THAT'S what I think of Haruhi Suzumiya! THAT'S what she means to me! Got it?!" I breathed heavily, that seems to have been building up for a while now. I watched Haruhi shift a little bit, I was scared that I might have woken her up, but she looks like she's still fast asleep. She must've been pretty tired.
Nagato looked towards Haruhi and then to me. I panted as I sat down on the grass and rubbed my hands through my hair, "I'm going to sleep Nagato… wake us up in the morning when we've gotten enough sleep…" I yawned.
"Understood." She stated.
I slowly closed my eyes and soon felt sleep take me into unconsciousness. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to get out of this damn city…
And so ends Chapter 4! Chapter 5 is up next and then it's the epilogue! Thanks a lot for your encouraging reviews and support! It's been a blast writing this and I think I have another idea for a new fic! Keep your eyes open! Until next time guys, see you later!