We did it! 1000+ reviews! Thank you all SSSSOOOOOO much for all of your support! It's incredibly rare for any fic to gain so many reviews, especially for a show as popular as Haruhi. It's an honor having fans and readers as awesome as you guys. I don't know if I would have ever gotten this far without you.

Anyway, after having next to no screen time in the last four chapters, Oruki and Naru return again in this chapter. How will they react to the events that transpired in Kyoto? What has become of Kyon's injuries? Will Kyon and Haruhi be together happily ever after? We shall see…

Oh, and one more thing. As for the whole "LIAR" scene, that wasn't meant to be a reference… I've actually never seen Higurashi. :( Chalk it all up to coincidence…

Well, I truly hope you enjoy this chapter…

Chapter 29

Concussions are a relatively common injury. The cause can be a lot of things, from a simple fall to a car accident. However, they all have one thing in common. A concussion is a brain injury caused by a blow to the head. Shortly afterwards, the brain swells a bit. This swelling is where most of the damage comes from. The symptoms of a concussion range from mild (such as a nasty headache) to relatively severe (such as short-term memory loss).

Unfortunately for me, the concussion I received was relatively severe. Severe enough that it caused me to forget much of what happened minutes before I hit my head. In fact, the last thing I remembered was reaching the temple in my desperate hope to prevent Haruhi from recreating the world and wiping me from existence. When I first awoke, I found myself in the hospital, lying in bed while the lights in the room were off. I felt a bandage around my head and my side, as well as a brace around my wrist. When I turned my head a bit, I noticed that Haruhi was laying her head next to my bed, fast asleep. My head was killing me, and I felt a sharp pain stabbing my side every time I took a breath. In other words, I felt like a wreck. What the hell happened? And why couldn't I remember a thing?

I passed back out shortly after that to get some more rest. By the time I woke up again, the lights were back on, and I realized that I wasn't the only one awake in my room. I noticed that the whole Brigade was sitting nearby, waiting for me to recover. When they noticed me waking up, I could see the obvious relief on their faces.

Asahina-san was the first to say something. "Kyon-kun!"

"Hey," I said gently as I looked at each of their faces. Asahina-san appeared to nearly be in tears, while Nagato appeared unfazed, although I could see a small trace of relief on her face as well. Koizumi still had his ever annoying expression, and last of all, Haruhi's face showed a great deal of both joy and repose, as if all the great burdens she had felt in the last week were finally lifted. I also noticed a bandage on her face. Did she get hurt, too?

I tried to sit up, but I was soon reminded of the nasty pain in my side again and had to give up.

"Careful," said Koizumi. "You've still got some recovering to do."

"What happened?" I asked, my brain still completely muddled over what had happened.

I noticed Koizumi, Nagato and Asahina-san looking at one another, as if trying to figure out what to say. Haruhi, on the other hand, appeared confused by my statement. "You don't remember?"

I placed my good hand on my head and rubbed it lightly. "Not really. The last thing I remember was…" I thought hard about what I could remember last. "…running into that temple to talk to you."

Haruhi began to slowly frown when she heard this. "Are you sure?"

I tried my hardest to think about it. For some reason, I could feel that something big had happened. I was sure of it. Yet, I couldn't put a finger on it. "Nothing. What happened?"

Haruhi's eyes began to slowly move towards the floor as she sighed deeply in what appeared to be disappointment. "N…nothing. Don't worry about it."

"I believe it's best if I explain," said Koizumi. "Yesterday, while we were looking for Suzumiya-san, the city of Kyoto was hit with a massive storm."

Wait, I remember the storm from when I was trying to ride to the Kiyomizu-dera. Did that really happen in the real world, too?

"Shortly after that," said Koizumi, "there was a large earthquake that shook the city." He then leaned forward a bit before explaining the last part. "Apparently, you and Suzumiya-san were standing near the edge of the stage at the Kiyomizu-dera during the earthquake and were thrown off the side of it as a result."

Whoa! You mean that Haruhi and I…fell of the edge of that thing? No wonder why I was hurt so bad. And yet for some reason, the earthquake reminded me of something. Did something like an earthquake occur in that alternate space as well? Dammit, I wish I could remember.

It was then that Haruhi decided to stand up. "Well, we should all be glad that you're okay." She then began to walk towards the door. "I'm going to go out and grab you something to drink." A second later, she was out the door. I got the feeling for some reason that she was looking for an excuse to leave the room.

I turned to Koizumi when she was gone. "So what really happened?"

"More or less what I told you is the truth, at least from our perspective. Unfortunately, none of us were there inside the alternate space after we were all removed. I was hoping you could fill us in on what had happened, but it appears that head injury of yours has affected your memory."

I groaned a bit as I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "You said this all happened yesterday, right? How long have I been out?"

Nagato decided to answer this question. "Approximately twenty-three hours, fourteen minutes and forty-two seconds have passed since you and Suzumiya-san were both recovered by medical personnel."

Leave it to Nagato to be so precise. I then had another question that bothered me. "Does Haruhi know anything about what happened?"

"Not from what we can tell," answered Koizumi. "She appears to still be ignorant about what really went on. To her, nothing out of the ordinary occurred."

That's good. That only leaves me with one more question. "So what exactly is wrong with me?"

"You have suffered an injury to your cranium as a result of a concussive blow followed by some level of swelling," said the human interface. "Also, one of the lower ribs on the right side of your abdomen has received a minor fracture, and the ligaments in your wrist have suffered a small tear."

"In other words," interrupted Koizumi, "you received a concussion, a fractured rib and a sprained wrist. Fortunately, none of these injuries are too serious, but you won't be moving around much for a little while."

Great. Why was it that every time something bad happened, I was the one who had to be hurt? I knew enough about concussions to know that it was likely the reason my memory was so clouded. And the fractured rib made it really painful for me to breathe. I was only too glad that the brace kept me from moving my wrist. I was sure it still hurt really badly, too.

I then had an idea. If there was anyone that could help me with my condition, it was Nagato. "Hey, Nagato. I have a favor to ask."

"What?" asked Nagato, her head tilting ever so slightly.

"Do you think it's possible that you could fix me up…including my memory?"

Nagato paused for a slight moment before answering. "Damage to neural pathways as a result of injury to the cranial area is common, and in many cases, the neural pathways themselves are able to repair themselves if given enough time. However, while it is possible to reconnect these pathways manually, this action carries some risk."

"What's that?" I asked, growing somewhat worried.

"Reconnecting incorrect pathways can create misleading or ever false memories. Unless I was to be sure of which pathways to properly connect, the probability of connecting incorrect pathways is unacceptably high."

That's not good, is it? "So does that mean you can't do it?"

"It can be done, but I would need to analyze the circuitry of your brain before doing so. Doing as such would take some time."

Well, as long as it worked. "Go ahead and give it a try."

It was then that Nagato placed a hand onto my forehead and closed her eyes. Her mouth moved rapidly as she stood there, apparently analyzing my brain. To be honest, if this had been anyone else other than Nagato, I'd probably be totally against the idea of them going through my brain like this. There was a lot of stuff in there that I'd preferred to keep private. However, I knew I could trust Nagato, so I simply relaxed while she did her work.

After about a minute, I noticed Nagato's eyes open up. They appeared to be open slightly larger than usual, which worried me. It didn't seem like a good sign. "Is everything alright?"

Nagato looked directly at me before responding. "It is fine. Neural scan is eighty-seven percent complete."

"Oh," I responded in relief. "Good. You had me worried there. You didn't see anything too disturbing, did you?"

Nagato didn't respond, which only reinforced my previous nervousness. There wasn't anything too bad in there, right? Maybe it was a bad idea to let Nagato do this.

Before I could say or think anything else, I spotted Nagato turning her head towards the door. When I went and looked at what she was looking at, I spotted Haruhi staring at the two of us strangely while holding onto a can of apple juice.

"Yuki-chan…what are you doing?"

There was a deafening silence for half a second before I responded. "Nagato was just checking my head to see if it was alright."

Having hearing that, Haruhi blinked for a bit before sighing deeply. "Yuki-chan, I know you're worried, but you should leave his care to the professionals. He's fine. He's not going to die." She then went up and handed me the can of juice after opening it.

After I had a sip of it, Haruhi went to the front of the room to make an announcement. "I want to thank everyone for coming here to check on the two of us. As you can tell, we both were hurt a bit after the accident, but we're going to be okay. The doctors told me that they want Kyon to stay for a few more days for observation before they decide to release him. And while I know all of you will want to stay with him during that time, you all have school to think about. It would unacceptable if the rest of my Brigade members began to fail school due to the misfortune of Brigade Chief and one of our Brigade members."

"What will you do, Suzumiya-san?" asked Asahina-san.

"Since the well-being of all my Brigade members is my responsibility, I will stay behind and see to it that he's taken care of. My parents are on their way here to pick the both of us up when he's been released. Do you guys have any way of getting back?"

"I'm afraid that leaving by train is impossible thanks to the earthquake," answered Koizumi. "However, I was able to arrange transportation back home thanks to some help from a relative."

"Good," said Haruhi while nodding. "Then we'll see each other when we get back. None of you will be required to meet at the clubroom while I'm gone. Consider it a break after all that's happened while we were out here."

After that, everyone said their good-byes as Nagato, Koizumi and Asahina-san made their way out the door and left.

With them gone, the room suddenly became very quiet. Haruhi went and spent most of her time staring out the window. I could tell that she was feeling down, and when I pondered as to why that was, I was hit with the realization that I was supposed to have left to go live with my parents up north by now.

"My parents," I said, wondering if they were worried about me.

"Don't worry," said Haruhi, her eyes still looking out the window. "I already called your mother and told her what happened."

"Oh, you did? Thanks…" I then laid back into my bed some more, feeling a little relieved. However, I began to worry about whether I ever got to apologize to Haruhi about me moving away. I turned towards her once more. "Hey, I don't know if I said this to you already, but I'm really sorry about not telling you about me moving away. I'm…I'm just glad we got a few more days together before I have to go."

When she heard those words, I saw her face contort a bit, as if I'd said something really nasty. She then closed her eyes and gnashed her teeth. "You…you told me that…" The rest of what she said was too low for me to hear.

"What?"

"Forget it!" yelled Haruhi loudly before she got up and walked out of the room. I wanted to yell out and stop her, but I wasn't sure of what to say. Did I say something wrong? What did she mean when she said that I said something? Dammit, why couldn't I remember? It felt like it was so close, and yet it remained out of reach. I could only hope that Haruhi wasn't upset enough to do something drastic to the universe…again…

I was left alone in my room for what seemed like forever. In that time, I began to think about the last month, which seemed to have flown by at a speed that would make a certain hedgehog envious. Between having to deal with living with Haruhi and her equally insane parents, dealing with the mess that ensued when said parents discovered the truth about the SOS Brigade, working on that crazy mud-wrestling tournament, dealing with everything that happened before and during this trip to Kyoto and everything in between, it was without a doubt one of the most stressful months of my life.

And yet, it was also one of the best months of my life. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, I felt at home at the Suzumiya's place. In the short time that I spent there, I'd grown used to everyone's quirks and felt myself growing fonder and fonder of everyone there with every passing day. Sure, there were a few rough patches, and there were definitely times when I wasn't sure if I could handle living there, but in the end, I found that Haruhi and her parents had become almost an extension of my own family. It was really too bad that I couldn't stay there longer.

It was then that I began to hear some familiar voices near the door to my room. "Haru-chan! My baby!! What happened to you?!!"

"M-mom. I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! You're not hurt are you?!"

"Let go of her, Naru-chan! She said she was fine!"

I found myself feeling a bit relieved to hear their voices. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long before I could leave this place.

"You wouldn't believe the hassle we had to go though to get into the city," said a voice obviously belonging to Oruki. "Half the roads are closed thanks to the earthquake. I'm surprised things weren't worse here."

"It wasn't that big an earthquake, dad."

"So…where is he?" asked Naru-san.

"He's in there resting. I…decided to step out to leave him alone."

It was then that Naru-san entered the room, followed by her husband and daughter. Upon seeing me, Naru-san's eyes widened, and her skin became a few shades paler. "Oh my god…" She immediately ran up to me, grabbed my shirt, and began to shake me violently. "Kyon-kun! Please tell me you're okay! You have to be okay! Please don't die on me, Kyon-kun!"

Her reckless shaking of my body was very painful. "Ow! Naru-san, please stop. That hurts."

Naru-san let go of me and seemed on the verge of tears. "Oh, this is all my fault! How could I let this happen to you?!"

"Calm down, mom," said Haruhi. "You're overreacting."

After hearing her daughter's words, Naru-san took a deep breath and sighed deeply. "Okay…"

After about a minute, Haruhi and her mother excused themselves for a bit and left the room, leaving me alone with Oruki. "So…what happened yesterday?"

I took as deep of a breath as I could muster (given the condition of my ribs) and told him every that I knew. "Not much. Haruhi basically flipped out when she heard the truth and nearly destroyed the universe."

"Is that all?" asked Oruki, his face showing obvious signs of disturbed feelings. "What the hell did you do to stop it?"

"I have no idea," I said. "The only thing I remember was how myself and the other Brigade members had to enter this alternate universe that Haruhi had created and transported herself into and then…"

"Stop," interrupted Oruki has he began to rub his forehead. "Just stop. Forget I asked. All I want to know is how the two of you ended up falling off the stage at that temple."

I shrugged, wincing a bit when my ribs complained. "Don't remember."

Oruki sighed deeply in what appeared to be defeat. He then straightened up and crossed his arms. "Well I'm just glad that you were the one that took all the damage rather than my daughter."

Oh gee, thanks. Nice to know that you care so much about my condition. I'm fine by the way, just in case you were wondering.

"Quit your complaining," said Oruki sharply. "Think about it. You fell from the goddamned stage at the Kiyomizu-dera, and your injuries aren't even life threatening. Do you have any idea how much of a miracle that is?"

What? Are you jealous? If it bothers you so much, why don't you jump off yourself? Heck, if you give me a few days to recover, I might be able to give you a push.

"Just forget it," said the middle-aged man. "All that matters is that we get you out of here as soon as possible."

Despite Oruki's wishes, the doctor confirmed that it would be a couple days before they were comfortable with releasing me. During that time, the three of them made it a point to hang out at the hospital while I rested. The nurse was kind enough to put me on morphine, which put me to sleep a lot. Whenever I was coherent enough to know what was going on, I'd noticed that Oruki and Naru-san would watch me in shifts, switching back and forth. Oruki would usually just sit there and watch baseball on TV while Naru-san would read a book or converse with me about some silly ideas she had in her head.

Haruhi, on the other hand, stayed by my side the whole time. She tried her best to appear upbeat during our time there, but I could tell that she was merely putting up a front. No doubt that she desperately wished that I didn't have to leave. Thinking about it made me feel terrible every time I did. I found that sleeping helped get my mind off of it, so I usually didn't hesitate to close my eyes every time I felt the need to. Before I knew it, two days had passed, and the four of us were finally able to leave.

The ride home was quiet and uneventful. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't think to talk about anything during the entire trip back. Several times I looked at Haruhi during the ride back. The whole time, she stared out the window, watching the trees pass by. It was an incredibly depressing sight.

When we finally got back, I was tasked with rescheduling my train ride. To my surprise, I found that I was able to reschedule my train ride for Saturday. That meant that I would be able to rest in my room for two more days while I recovered. The time I spent Thursday and Friday was quiet, possibly too quiet. Only occasionally would either Haruhi or Naru-san come and check on me. Most of the time was spent just resting or reading one of my manga, hoping it would divert my attention from my pain and sadness.

On Friday evening, Tsuruya and the rest of the Brigade came over to check on me. We decided to throw a mini-party, much like the one we had the last time everyone thought I was leaving. It was different this time, though. It lacked the energy of the last time, partly because it was rather spur of the moment and didn't have any thing special to go with it. We just some cake and had some drinks. It made the fact that I was leaving all the more painful.

So then the fateful day of my departure had finally arrived, I was reluctant to get out of bed. However, when I noticed that I only had an hour before I had to leave, I forced myself out of what had been my bed for the last five weeks, got dressed and ready, and slowly made my way downstairs.

I found Oruki sitting at the kitchen table reading and Naru-san cooking when I arrived.

"I thought I'd make you one last really nice breakfast before you finally left," said Naru-san sweetly.

"Thank you," I said weakly. Man I was going to miss her cooking.

"Are you packed?" asked Oruki without taking his eyes off the paper.

"Yeah," I answered, unable to look at him. "Everything I could bring with me is ready to go."

"Don't worry. We'll be sure to ship the rest to you when you get there."

"I appreciate it," I said as I rested my head on my hand. Although I was feeling a bit better physically, I was still in some pain. During the whole time these last few days, I was unable to gain any aid from Nagato without it drawing suspicion form Haruhi. I guess I'll have to heal the old fashioned way.

"Are you sure you're fit to travel?" asked Naru-san with some concern. "It seems too soon for you to leave."

"I'll be okay," I said assuredly. "The doctor said that as long as I took it easy, traveling shouldn't be dangerous."

"Are you sure?"

"He said he's fine," said Oruki gruffly. "He's not a baby. Sheesh."

I then noticed that Haruhi wasn't downstairs with the rest of us. "Where's Haruhi?"

The two of them were reluctant to answer, their expressions saying more than enough. No doubt that Haruhi was still in her room, perhaps too upset to even look at me. I could only imagine how she felt at this moment. The guy that she loved so much was now about to leave her life. How could she not feel terrible? I could only hope that her emotional turmoil didn't affect the universe in any dire way.

I ate my breakfast as quickly as possible and made my way by upstairs to grab my bags. When I exited my room, I was startled when I found Haruhi standing there in the hallway waiting for me. Her eyes were somewhat reddened, a clear indicator of her mood earlier.

"Hey," I said, unsure of what to say.

"Hey," she responded, looking equally unsure. "So…I guess this is it."

"Yeah…" was all I could think to say.

There was an awkward silence between us for about a minute before she suddenly lunged at me, wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face into my shoulder. I was taken aback by this at first, but after a moment, I responded by hugging her back. Before long, I felt some warmth on my shoulder where her head was, and I realized that she had begun to shed some tears.

"I…I'm really going to miss you," she said, doing her best to not completely break out crying.

"Me too," I said, feeling a bit choked up myself. "I wish this didn't have to happen."

After another minute, Haruhi let go and pulled back. "No…it's fine. You should be back with your family." She then wiped her eyes and cleared her throat before straightening herself out. She then tried her best to look strong and to keep her voice from cracking as she spoke. "As Brigade Chief, I order you to visit during summer break."

"Sounds good," I said with the warmest smile I could muster. We stared at each other for a bit longer before a heard someone clearing his voice behind us.

"It's time to go," said Oruki calmly as he took my bags for me.

With that, we headed downstairs and towards the door. Before I went out the door, I gave Naru-san a quick hug and bid her farewell. A minute later, my bags were in the car and the two of us were about to go. Just before I entered the car, I heard one last word from Haruhi.

"Bye…"

That word…it was said exactly the same way it was spoken more than a month ago the last time she thought I was going to leave. Again, it sounded as if she expected to never see me again. As I turned to look at her one last time, all I saw was her running back into the house. Damn you, Haruhi. Did you really have to say it like that? Could this moment really be any sadder?

I took one last semi-deep breath before I entered the car with Oruki. Before long, the car was started up and began to move out of the driveway. I took one last look at the house before the car took off, expecting not to see it again for quite some time.

"Don't be so depressed," said Oruki as we got off the street that he lived on. "Look, I'm sure my wife has already told you that you're free to visit whenever you're able to stop by. Summer vacation's only about a couple months away. You'll be back in no time."

Despite his words of encouragement, my mood didn't improve. For some reason, I really didn't want to leave Haruhi's side. Why? What's this feeling inside that tearing at me right now? I feel like I'm forgetting something incredibly important. Why can't I remember?

There was nothing said between us for the rest of the ride, and before long, we'd arrived at the train station.

"We're here," he said as he parked the car. "You ready?"

"I guess," I said as I slowly got out of the vehicle.

I guess this would be my last day here. Farewell, Haruhi. May it not be forever…

Well, this was a really sad chapter to write. To think that it would finally end this way. We're almost there, though. Is Kyon really going to leave? Will Kyon regain his memories? Will he ever see Haruhi again? We shall find out in the concluding chapter.

And I want to thank all of the people who volunteered their time to draw some Oruki and Naru fan art! I truly appreciate your efforts, and I'm proud to have you as fans. I truly hope you guys enjoy the end of this fic!

See you all next chapter!