Disclaimer: I do not own Haruhi Suzumiya and/or Inception or anything related.
A/N: So I kinda had this other plot bunny for another Haruhi/Inception fic.. Shameless promotion alert: When Dreams Collapse, under the Haruhi Suzumiya series category.
Oh, and I edited the preview in the last chapter. I changed stewardess to flight attendant, seeing as it's the better term.
Also, sorry for not updating in an incredibly long time. Reality bites, and I had to get my head checked because I've been having frequent migraines. Nothing serious, thank goodness.
WARNING: If you have not seen Inception yet, then go see it before you read this. It goes without saying that there will be MAJOR SPOILERS for the movie.
Also, for this fic, I assume that Cobb got back to reality. Screw whether the top falls in the end, I've got fanfiction.
Title: The Inception of Haruhi Suzumiya
Synopsis:
Dom Cobb thought that his life as an extractor was over. He didn't realize that while he was no longer an extractor, he would be asked to become an inceptor. And his first target after the Fischer job? A girl named Haruhi Suzumiya.
Chapter 7: The Trip (Part 1)
Saturday has finally arrived. The meeting place, as usual, was in front of the station, 9AM. Kyon was dragging his luggage and running around like crazy, his wristwatch said 7:50 AM. He was determined to get there at least an hour before Haruhi's ultimatum, or else he'd be treating the entire brigade for a week, and his wallet sure cannot handle such torture.
"C'mon…" Kyon said, gritting his teeth.
To his delight, only three out of the five SOS Brigade members were in the usual meeting place: Mikuru Asahina, who stood up from the bench she was sitting on upon acknowledging his presence; Itsuki Koizumi, waving merrily at him; and Yuki Nagato, who only looked up once from the book she was reading, and then proceeded to return to it immediately.
"It's a good thing you made it before Suzumiya-san." Koizumi said, as he slowly approached the newcomer. "We would like to talk to you for a second about this trip."
"If you're planning another murder mystery-"
"I assure you that there is nothing under my sleeve." The young esper smiled. "However, the nature of this trip is in question. It has not been approved by the Agency, but when I brought it to the higher ops that Suzumiya-san will not take the cancellation of this event lightly, I was warned to proceed with caution."
Koizumi shrugged his shoulders and said,
"In any case, I should advise you not to let Suzumiya-san out of your sight. America is a new place for her, and no doubt, she'll be running around everywhere. The last thing we want is someone to kidnap her."
Kyon frowned, "Why are you telling me all this?"
"It's just a precaution." Koizumi replied. "My superiors have suggested that this is the perfect situation for any opposing faction to strike. We would not want that to happen, now would we?"
With a flick of his hair, the esper walked away, politely asking the silent Nagato if he could sit beside her.
A few minutes later, Haruhi Suzumiya arrived, slightly disgruntled that she had arrived later than her brigade members; Kyon in particular. She told them that Mr. Cobb has already contacted her, and said that his acquaintance's company car would be picking them up near the station. To Haruhi's delight, said company car was a limousine.
"Wow! Mr. Cobb's acquaintance must be filthy rich and really generous!" Haruhi yelped. "We're going to the airport in style! Look at this! A beautiful black limousine with some fancy-schmancy television thingy inside… And wow! There's even a champagne compartment!"
Haruhi flipped a switch inside the car, repeatedly opening and closing the champagne compartment. Kyon grabbed her hand away and told her to stop playing with the limo.
"Hmm…"Haruhi said loudly. "I wonder if Mr. Cobb's acquaintance is not an ordinary businessman… Maybe he's the CEO of some top-notch electronics company, or… Probably a head of a Yakuza clan! But then… how would an ordinary teacher like Mr. Cobb be friends with someone like him… hmm…"
Haruhi scratched her chin in concentration, then continued yammering.
"I know! Mr. Cobb is not an ordinary teacher!" Haruhi yelled, pointing her index finger. "Maybe Mr. Cobb is a secret agent! Yeah! And he saved the life of this rich businessman friend of his! Yeah! That would be it!"
"Haruhi. It's not our business to know." Kyon sighed as Haruhi continued her talk.
"Or maybe, Mr. Cobb is actually a skilled thief who was hired by this rich CEO guy to pull-off the most incredible heist ever!"
Kyon put his palm to his face and shook his head.
"Haruhi, Mr. Cobb would never be a thief. He's just your average, everyday, English teacher who everyone gets along with."
The limousine pulled to a halt, and when the driver opened the door, they were standing in what seemed to be a private airport. The sight of a large, black Boeing 747 greeted them.
"Oh, this must be a private jet. Looks like a business class plane to me." Koizumi said, squinting slightly at the sun's glare. "Mr. Cobb's acquaintance must really be rich."
"This is freaking awesome!" Haruhi yelled. "We're on a private jet to the United States of America! I can't believe this! This is a dream come true!"
"Haruhi, will you keep quiet. It's embarrassing." Kyon said.
"Ah... There is no need to worry about that."
The SOS Brigade looked around. A Japanese man was standing beside Mr. Cobb.
"Good morning, young ones." He said. "I am Mr. Saito, and I welcome you to my humble plane."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Saito. I'm Haruhi Suzumiya, and these are my Brigade Members!" Haruhi said, excitedly, pointing
"My, you are quite the enthusiastic girl, are you not?" Saito chuckled. "Mr. Cobb here has informed me that you will be flying to California with us. I daresay this will be your first time here, hmm?"
"Indeed, good sir." Replied Koizumi "None of us have been to America before."
Saito turned around to meet the esper with the eternally smiling face. He raised his eyebrows slightly at the boy, as if to scrutinize him.
"My apologies, good sir. My name is Itsuki Koizumi." Said Koizumi with a full bow. "I am the SOS Brigade's Vice Commander."
Saito bowed his head slightly to acknowledge the boy.
"Koizumi, is it? Are you in any way related to the former Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi?"
Koizumi chuckled.
"It's a common misconception, sir. I write Koizumi as 'old spring'. I am in no way related to him." Koizumi smiled a bit more, "I'm just a transfer student."
"Ah, I see. Well, then, let's get on the plane, shall we?" Saito smiled and gestured towards the plane.
Inside the plane were comfortable-looking seats. On these seats were three men in tailored suits, talking to one another while drinking some champagne.
"For god's sake, old chap, you need to lay off the champagne." Said the British man to a plump man who seemed to be of Indian descent.
"I hate to say this, Yusef, but Eames is right." Said the youngest of the three "We wouldn't want a repeat of the last time."
"Aha bloody ha, Arthur." Said the man addressed as Yusef. "I won't be responsible for another rainy-"
At this, Saito cleared his throat, cutting the conversation off.
"Greetings gentlemen." He said in English with his thick Japanese accent. "I assume you are all ready for the meeting?"
"Ah, Mr. Saito!" The British man, Mr. Eames looked up. "Of course we are! Our group is very much interested in what Proclus Global has to offer."
"Indeed, Mr. Eames. I do hope that by the time we reach California, we'll have an understanding on the terms." Saito smiled. "Oh, and I would like to introduce you to a few friends of mine who will be tagging along our flight."
Saito cleared his throat and pointed to the group behind him.
"Everyone, this is an acquaintance of mine. Mr. Dom Cobb, and his students."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, good sirs." Cobb took out his hand, as the other gentlemen shook it. "I apologize for tagging along on your trip,
"My, such lovely young girls and dashing young men." Eames chuckled, turning towards the direction of a certain time-traveler. "Especially you darling… What did you say your name was, again?"
Flustered at the question, Mikuru Asahina stammered.
"Uh… I-I…"
"Her name's Mikuru Asahina! She's our SOS Brigade's official mascot!" Haruhi put her arm around Mikuru's shoulder and grinned proudly. "I'm Haruhi Suzumiya, by the way! That quiet girl is Yuki Nagato, that tall guy is Itsuki Koizumi, and that one over there, yeah, that's Kyon."
"You didn't even bother telling them my full name." Kyon snarled.
"Well, I doubt that it'll be of any importance to them." Haruhi snapped back.
At this, Saito chuckled. "Isn't she such an enthusiastic girl? Anyway, let us all take our seats now. The plane will be leaving any moment."
Cobb and the SOS Brigade went to the middle compartment, as Saito and his associates will be discussing business matters in the first compartment.
"This is so awesome!" Haruhi yelled. "Hey, Mr. Cobb, can I ask you something?"
"Sure. What is it, Ms. Suzumiya?" said Cobb, looking up from the magazine he was reading.
"How did you meet Mr. Saito? You two seemed like pretty close friends." Haruhi's eyes rounded in curiosity.
"Oi, Haruhi!" Kyon remarked. "Don't just pry into someone's life like that!"
Cobb scratched his chin and smiled. "Well, let's just say I used to work under him."
"How? You're a teacher, right?"
"Other than teaching English, I used to be an Architect. Mr. Saito hired me to design some buildings for him."
"Oh." Said Haruhi, looking slightly disappointed.
"Anything wrong, Ms. Suzumiya?"
"Nothing, Mr. Cobb… Hey, what else do you do for a living? Are you a secret government spy…." Haruhi yammered on and on.
Cobb looked at his watch. It was probably about time. He smiled, and continued to engross himself in a conversation with Haruhi and Kyon.
Koizumi moved around in his seat, eying Cobb suspiciously, and then tried to engage Yuki Nagato in a conversation. However, the purple-haired alien would have none of it. Mikuru Asahina, on the other hand, was looking out the window, admiring the view. Wondering as to what might be so "amazing" about the outside view of a plane, Koizumi decided to look out the window.
As he turned to look out the window, he heard a soft, feminine voice to his right.
"Would you like anything to drink, sir?"
Koizumi turned around. Here was a flight attendant, smiling at him. She had her auburn brown hair in a bun, and her lips were cherry red with lipstick. She was definitely older than him (he guessed from the fact that she worked that she was at her late twenties), but she still looked as if she was around his age.
"I believe you're no ordinary flight attendant." Koizumi winked at the young brunette. "Have we met before?"
"I'm sorry sir. I don't remember seeing you before today." She replied, slightly backing away from him.
"Oh… I must have been mistaken… Pardon my insolence. Well, I'll have coffee for my drink please," Koizumi said, as she nervously turned away from him. "Miss Ariadne."
At those words, the flight attendant turned to look at him, her eyes widening a bit.
"Pardon, sir?"
"Oh, I meant.. Miss Arianne. It says 'Arianne' on your nametag." Koizumi said matter-of-factly. "I must have misread it."
Ariadne nodded. She shifted her eyes slowly to the left, and saw Yuki Nagato transfixed at her.
"Well then, sir, I'll get your coffee." She said as she left.
Cobb saw this little exchange between the Esper and the Architect. Worried, he excused himself from Haruhi and decided to follow Ariadne towards the back of the plane.
When he got there, he saw Ariadne frantically making a cup of coffee.
"Ariadne?"
"Cobb?" she turned around. "What are you doing here?"
"I just came to check if you were okay."
"I-I'm fine… Everything's fine."
"Don't lie, Ariadne. I heard your conversation with Koizumi over there."
Ariadne sighed, looked around the small compartment frantically, and proceeded to suddenly lock herself with Cobb in the small restroom cabin.
"Ariadne! What the hell are you doing!"
"Cobb, I think they're onto us." Ariadne whispered, pinning Cobb against the wall of the small restroom cabin.
"Relax, Ariadne." Cobb said "And…. Could you let go of me? If anyone sees us in this position, they'd be more suspicious."
Realizing how awkward and inappropriate the situation was, Ariadne let go of Cobb, leaning against the wall.
"I-I'm sorry, Cobb…"
"It's okay. I know you were just worried about the mission."
"Do you think this will work? I have a feeling that they've got us background checked."
"It's a good idea we're on a plane to the States. The Agency won't have that much people after us."
"Yeah."
"Good. Now, I think Mr. Koizumi is waiting for his coffee now. You go prepare their drinks."
Cobb looked at Ariadne. She knows exactly what he means.
This was gonna be a long flight.
A/N: Whew! Finally! Updated! YES! I know, I've been out for a really long while. And I'm sorry if I had to leave the actual scenes in California out in this chapter. I originally planned this to be included in this chapter, but I had a little bit of fun with writing Saito, Koizumi, Eames and the Cobb/Ariadne confrontation scene.
I promise, the next chapter will be including the other scenes I posted on the preview last time.
Thanks to all the people who read this, added it to their Favorites list and their Story Alerts, and those who reviewed! This really means so much to me!
In the next chapter:
"Wow! San Francisco's really awesome!" Haruhi yelled, opening her arms around and twirling in the street.
"Haruhi, stop that. Everyone's looking at you, it's embarrassing." Kyon said.
"I did not expect this. What kind of projections are these?" Arthur yelled, ducking under a sturdy office table. The projections behind him just literally smashed the wall with their strength.
"Well, Arthur darling, what do you expect?" Eames yelled back, aiming his gun at the attacking projections "She's the Prime Dreamer!"
"Nagato, can't you do something about this?"
"Connection with the Integrated Data Entity has been severed. My data manipulating abilities have been reduced to one third of what it was."