Hey! It's been forty-one days since I last updated this. Yeah, I counted. Anyway, here it is. If you have anything to say, type it in the little review box there at the bottom of the page. I don't own anything except for the plot I guess.

Chapter 9

I ended up going to school the next day. And I was swarmed by girls the second I stepped into the building. I could hardly walk to class, and at lunch, they were fighting over who could sit next to me. It was quite annoying and loud. During the Host Club, I couldn't even think. They kept talking and talking. They wouldn't be quiet.

Everything was all about how brave I was for giving up my freedom for Azami's and how it must have been so terrifying to be trapped in Lobelia. Oh and how I had been able to survive. I finally stood up.

"All I did was sit in a chair the whole time. I didn't do anything to get out." They looked at me incredulously. Did they really not understand any of that? "Azami got me out. I didn't do anything. I just sat in a chair in an empty room."

And they became fascinated with something else.

"It must have been terrible to be trapped in a room," was the comment that everyone heard. It was from some girl who had probably requested to sit with me before, but I couldn't remember her name. "How did Azami get you out?"

Then they all started to ask the same question, "How?"

"She thought of a plan. A better one than I could have come up with." They talked amongst themselves like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Where is Azami?" Renge asked. I instinctively looked for her platform, but couldn't see it. I realized that she wasn't on the platform. She was standing right in front of me.

"Uh… I don't know."

Then they all started talking about that simultaneously. How Azami must've been captured again or worse killed. She probably wasn't, but that's all they would talk about. And that's how it was for the entire week. I couldn't go to a single class without hearing Azami being mentioned.

And then it was too quiet at home.

So Monday came around. And they stopped gathering around me. Azami was back, and they wanted to hear everything that she had to say. Except she didn't say anything. But they didn't leave her alone, and it didn't surprise me at all. That's how that week went.

Azami avoided me the whole time. Which is kind of hard since we have the same classes and are both in the Host Club, but she managed it pretty well. She didn't talk to me, or anyone. She didn't acknowledge that any of us existed. And I have a feeling that she might not have come back if her mother might be released by the Ootori Police.

And when I almost said something to her, she walked away quickly. It was uncomfortable. For me. I'm not sure if she was uncomfortable over it. And it's all because she kissed me. It's not the first time a girl's kissed me.

After the Host Club ended, I decided that things needed to be cleared up. So I followed Azami to an alleyway that was actually quite nice. It surprised me because I thought she was lying about it being a nice alleyway, hence the reason nice alleyway was always in quotations.

She sat down next to a dumpster and picked up a stick. Then she began tap the ground with it. And she hadn't noticed me standing there. If she had, she hadn't acknowledged my presence.

"Azami-"

"Please go away Fujioka. Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Yeah, you look very busy. Tapping the ground with that stick."

"Leave me alone."

"I just don't want our friendship to be destroyed because you don't feel like talking to me."

"Damn it Fujioka! I hardly know you! How the fuck can you say we have a friendship?! I've hardly ever talked to you! Why do you insist on being nice?! Can't you just leave me alone?!"

"If you want me to leave you alone, why'd you get me out of Lobelia? Why'd you stop me before I opened the door and kiss me? You don't make any sense."

"No, you don't make any sense! How the hell can you always put others ahead of you?! You never think of yourself at all! I wouldn't have gotten you out if you hadn't gotten me out!"

I stared at her. I don't make any sense? She's completely avoiding the point that I'm trying to get at. She won't listen to the fact that I don't care that she kissed me. And she isn't making any sense.

"Azami. Just listen to me. I-"

"I wish you would leave."

"What the hell is your problem? You're no better than the rest of the Lobelia students! You shun those you don't agree with, and when you think someone's wrong, you treat them terribly! And you never think of anything but yourself! You think you're perfect and that you know best! Did you ever think that listening to someone else could help?!"

"Wha-"

"And when you're mad you don't even think before you say anything. You just go on some tangent that half the time doesn't make sense. You're cruel to people for no reason! Like Kaoru, you just scream at him when all he's trying to do is get you to like him!"

"He fucking tried to kidnap me!"

"He and Hikaru have dragged me around all the time and I don't yell at them… all the time!"

"You don't understand Fujioka! You don't know what it's like to be me! My dad's dead!"

"My mom died." I said quietly.

"My mom shunned my sister and then arranged for her to be killed." I didn't have anything to say for that. "My mom is a psychopathic slut who has no boundaries in her life! She'd rather see me dead more than anything else! She's the reason my sister's dead! And then, a week later she says, 'There's better people you can look up to, like Benio Amakusa'! My sister kept her tongue about my mother. I didn't. And I have a feeling my mother would've chosen me to die instead of Kazuko if she could change her mind! Do you know how that feels?! To have someone hate you more than anything else?! How would you feel if your dad wanted you dead Fujioka?!"

"I'm sorry." She looked at me for the first time. "I don't know what that's like. I don't think I can imagine it." I walked over and sat down next to her, which seemed to surprise her greatly. I stared at my feet. "I know you've been through a lot Azami. I know you have trouble with people because of not being able to trust your mother. But not everyone is like her. And if you really want me to go away, I'll leave you to your tapping."

I got and turned to leave.

"Fujio- Haruhi." I looked back at her. "I- I um…" I took a step forward. "Don't leave me!" Her voice was suddenly different. Like it belonged to a five year old that was afraid of the dark who just happened to be in a dark room by themselves. "Please."

I sat back down next to her and gave her a hug. At first I didn't realize that she was crying, but I did notice it after a while. I don't know what bothered me more, the fact that she was crying or that her mood changed so quickly.

"Okay."