TWO SIDE
Haruki awoke to the sound of her alarm clock. She turned over and smashed the thing down to turn it off. She faced up and looked at the ceiling before getting out of bed and grabbing her housecoat and towel. She creeps downstairs and into the washroom to get the bucket of water and then hooks it above the fireplace. She sets the fire burning and sits on the loveseat, waiting for the water to boil so she cold have a bath. She wearily glanced at the clock to see it was 6:13.
A whimper was heard and she turned to the sleeping Yoite on the couch adjacent to her. "Miharu…" She smiles.
"You'll always have Miharu-kun in your heart and dreams, Yoite-kun."
ONE SIDE
Yoite opens his eyes to a warm room and a fire burning. At first he is surprised of his surroundings, but remembered the events of yesterday and frowns. He takes off the blanket and heads upstairs to Haruki's room. He sees she's not there, so he heads back downstairs. As he opens the door to the living room the door to the washroom opens, out comes Haruki in a housecoat and wet hair tied back in a ponytail. Yoite freezes.
"Oh, hello, Yoite-kun. Good morning! Would you like some breakfast?" she chimes happily. He looks away from her. "What's wrong?"
"Can you put some clothes on?"
"I'm not bothered, if that's what you're thinking. I'm not really shy, either… So I can just cook--" That wasn't it.
"Put your clothes on." Yoite's voice was more firm, like an order. Haruki was surprised.
"Okay, Yoite-kun," she said and left for upstairs. He plopped himself on the couch and closed his eyes. He didn't want to see that. No, not so soon after Miharu had died. He held his face in his gloved hands and thought long and hard about what to do next. What could he do? He didn't know how long he had to live, so what's the pointing planning? Haruki came through the doors and Yoite looked up at her. Again, she was wearing stylish clothing.
"Better."
"Yoite-kun, what would you like for breakfast?"
"What do you have? What can you make?"
"How about some natto and chawanmushi?"
"Sure."
"Okay! I'll get right on it!" She rushed into the kitchen and was out within ten minutes. Right away, she began cooking.
"Haruki-san, how much life did you give me?"
"Do you really want to know, Yoite-kun?"
"Yes."
She sighed. "Half." Yoite stood up immediately and was about to speak when Haruki raised her hand and gestured for Yoite to sit down. He did so. "Calm down. It's not as bad as you may think it is. The average Japanese female lives to be around eighty-five or eighty-six. And I've already lived around eighteen years of it, so I only gave you… um--"
"Thirty-four years."
"Oh, okay. I was actually just thinking of thirty years. Thanks for extending it by four years." Her voice was still cheery. How could she keep up such a face when talking about her own death?
"Why did you give me half of your life, Haruki-san? I don't want to live that long!"
"Oh, shush. You're not going to live that much longer than me. By the time I die you're going to be… um… How old are you, Yoite-kun?"
"I'm almost seventeen. Our ages stay the same. I'll be fifty-one and you'll be fifty-two. We'll die in the same year."
"Oh! So you're a year younger than me and you're better at math! Never knew I'd see the day that'd happen. But then, I just suck at mental math. I always have to write everything down." Haruki took out the two cups of chawanmushi and began to work on the natto. She took two polystyrene boxes and opened them and dumped the contents into a pot. She took the two polystyrene bowls of rice and dumped the rice into ceramic bowls, which she placed near the fire to heat them.
Yoite stared at her. "Instant natto?"
"What do you mean by 'instant'? This takes about ten minutes to do!" She handed Yoite a cup of chawanmushi. "Here, you can eat this for now. I'll give you your natto when it's ready." He took it and began eating. Haruki didn't eat.
"Why don't you eat?"
"I have to keep watch over this so nothing bad happens. Anything being cooked over a live fire must have an eye kept over them at all times. Did you know that?" Yoite nodded.
FOUR SIDE -OMNIPRESENT-
Over the course of one day, Yoite and Haruki managed to get some things done. They buried Miharu and said a few prayers, filled more buckets of water from the nearby stream, did laundry, and went berry picking. Haruki stole some gas from a nearby parked car and put it in the electricity generator at her home. By the end of the day the two had managed to become decent friends, and at least act friendly around each other. This reminded Yoite of how his relationship with Miharu had started.
"Haruki-san, what do you plan on doing?" Yoite laid down on the longer couch and gazed into the fire. Haruki sat up from her lazy position on the lovecouch to look at him.
"What do you mean?" Yoite looked at her.
"From this point on, what do you plan on doing with your life, Haruki-san? Isn't your front world self dead?" She thought about it and crossed her legs and arms.
"I'll just be with you until my time ends, I guess. There's not really anything else to do…"
"Why don't you try to make a new life?"
"Because most things need a birth certificate and mine now has a certificate of death to go along with it, revoking any of it's meaning." Haruki's words were a bit rough. Silence ensued.
"Haruki-san--" She stood up.
"It's getting late. I'm going upstairs. I probably won't go to sleep for a while, so you can come up and talk to me if you need something. Good night, Yoite-kun." Haruki turned and left.
ONE SIDE
Now was Yoite's time to think quietly to himself. He had another thirty-four years to go, how would he spend it? Haruki seemed to want to spend it with him, would he allow it? There wasn't anything generally unpleasant about the woman, but she did seem to care too much about things --like him, for example. And she clings to things too easily. But, she does cook good food and she seems to like cleaning. Her housekeeping techniques were far greater than Yukimi's, who let it be a complete mess before even thinking about cleaning. She had good hospitality; she was kind and understanding of Yoite when he was depressed about Miharu.
But, despite the cons in his thinking, did Yoite approve of her? Did he think her travel-worthy? Her kindness crossed her better judgment, leaving her too naïve in Nabari, meaning she would be a hassle to take care of. She was too comfy in her environment, which led Yoite to think that if she were out of her element she'd crumble. This added more onto the task of caring for her in the first place. Because she's dead in the Front world, doesn't that mean all the money she had saved up was no invalid? So she was poor. It was early Fall and Winter was fast approaching, they wouldn't be able to plant and harvest anything recent.
Yoite stopped his thinking for a moment. He looked at the clock and saw it was 23:48. He had been thinking for forty-eight minutes. Haruki had been absent for forty-eight minutes. And now, he heard her crying upstairs. A bit startled by the crying, Yoite didn't do anything. He just sat there, listening to her cry. But then he could hear faint, inaudible mumbles and he became curious. He decided to pay her a visit. Slowly, he opened the door and climbed the stairs, careful as to not make any sounds. He saw her lying on her bed, holding what looked like a giant panda pillow and crying.
TWO SIDE
Haruki stood and stretched. She had been reading for half an hour and now it was beginning to really get late. She put the book on her desk for her to read the next morning and changed her clothes. She tied her hair in two braids on either side of her head and laid down. She didn't pull the covers up, nor did she set her clock. She just laid there and began thinking of what to do next.
She knew she was useless in Nabari and that she would only hold Yoite back if he wished to go traveling. There wasn't really anything she could do except cook and clean. The most prominent lessons her Sofu had taught her were the ones of Kendo, but that meant nothing now. She doesn't have any special skills besides housework, so there would be nothing super amazing that only she could do.
Haruki stopped thinking. There was something that she was special at. There were a few things she was special at. She grabbed onto a large panda pillow above her head and squeezed it tightly as the memories began to fill her mind. She remembered the men's hands slip slowly up her leg, starting with below her knee up to the hem of her skirt. She remembered the feeling of dark despair as they would wrap their arms around her shoulders and hold her to them. But this was no loving or caring hold, it was a grasp that told her not to run. Of course, she wouldn't run anyway since she wanted the money, so the warm wraps were meaningless. There was one in particular that was very vivid and disturbing that she didn't want to get into but forced its way onto her mind's stage.
THREE SIDE -DREAM STATE: Haruki-
Haruki was sitting by herself in a corner of the bar. She had been here many times with may different men that had promised her money for her touch. It wasn't exactly something she was proud of, nor something she really wanted to do, but she wanted to feel important. Even though she, otherwise, knew that they were just using her while on rebound or to cover her face with another loved one in their minds.
A man walked into the bar wearing a black suit and his black loose hair tied back in a tiny ponytail. He looked around the bar before his eyes met Haruki's. Immediately, she started to freeze up. New people is this business always made her a little bit shy because she never knew what they wanted. Knowing what a person wanted meant she could please them better and earn herself more money. The man walked towards her and sat next to Haruki. "Hello," he said.
"Good evening, sir."
"Are you Linesworth Annie?" This was her stage name.
"Yes, I am. What would you like?" The man gave a light chuckle and wrapped his arm around her.
"Ahaha. My name is Kuroga Daisuke. I'd like nothing in particular… just relax and do what comes naturally." This surprised Haruki. She never had a customer to tell her to 'do what comes naturally.' They all had ideas of how they wanted her to please them. But, of course, her one rule was…
"Kuroga-sama, you are new. I assume you don't know my rule." He tilted his head in her direction, signaling that he was indeed listening. She continued. "The one rule I have, is no sex." He laughed.
"Oh, I know. I had heard of you from some friends of mine. Karada Sasuke and Ichigawa Mamoru." Haruki nodded her head. Suddenly, Daisuke tensed up and his grip on her firmed. "Come with me," he ordered and began to pull her away before she could protest. The barkeeper, Namawe Ichijo, sent a steely glance in Daisuke and Haruki's direction, watching them leave. He had seen Haruki with many different men, but none of them had ever taken her away, making Ichijo tense and worry for the girl.
"Where are we headed, Kuroga-sama?" He didn't answer. He merely pulled her down a block or two and then pushed her into an alleyway. "Kuroga-sama?" He pushed her up against a wall and placed both hands on either side of her body. She couldn't see his eyes. "Kuroga-sama?" she stuttered innocently. "What are you doing?"
"Like I said, do what comes naturally…" His hand slid down the wall and then rested itself on the back of her thigh. Haruki flinched. Daisuke's hand began to slide up her leg, moved to the front, and then continued it's trail up her dress. She wanted to scream, she wanted to shout, but she, also, wanted her money.
"You're going to pay me for this, right?" she mumbled as his hand crept slowly up.
"Of course, Annie-chan. I'm going to pay you handsomely." His hand suddenly pulled away and wrapped around her waist. He pulled her firmly to his body. "Tonight, you're going to be my Hanako-chan, okay?" His other hand groped her. She winced. "You see, Hanako-chan and I are in a fight and she's thinking about a divorce. I haven't seen her in six months. I haven't smelt her, I haven't touched her… There's been no contact between us and I get really horny just thinking about her… Annie-chan."
"Tonight, I'm your Hanako-chan?"
"That's right. I can do anything I want with you, right?"
"Except sex, Kuroga-sama." He chuckled darkly.
"Oh, yeah. That factor. But besides that, you're going to do anything I say, right?" Hesitantly, she nodded, and was very afraid of what he'd make her do tonight. She wasn't even sure if he was going to stay true to her rule. He felt her all around. "You're a bit smaller than Hanako-chan, but I think you'll do quite nicely…" He suddenly took her face and slammed his lips into hers. This was when she could taste the alcohol in his mouth. She knew he was drunk and fear began to make it's way through her body from her stomach outwards. This man was dangerous with people like her, especially when people like Haruki had rules that drunk men usually don't follow. Daisuke raised his face from Haruki's. "What's the matter, Hanako-chan? Don't you love me? Why aren't you kissing back?" Haruki detested herself.
"Sorry, Daiski. I'm just feeling sleepy." He chuckled and whispered into her ear:
"You even have the nickname down," and began to kiss her again. Haruki forced herself to kiss back. At that moment, she hated what she had become. But, like she had written in her to-burn journal, she liked to feel important. She liked the attention, even if she had to do dirty crimes like what she was doing with Daisuke. At a moment's notice, he began to push her into the wall, squishing her between the wall and him. It wasn't comfortable.
"Annie-chan!" Daisuke was ripped off of Haruki and she was pulled behind someone. She opened her eyesand saw it was Ichijo.
"Namawe-san? What are you doing here?" She stared at him, but he didn't answer. He had his arm out protectively between Haruki and Daisuke.
"What? Who are you?" Daisuke had asked roughly. "We were just going to get to the fun part…"
"Back off from Annie-chan! She doesn't work with drunk customers!" Ichijo shouted.
"Namawe-san, it's alright. He said he was going to pay me a lot of money… It might be worth the extra effort…"
"Shut up, Annie. You don't know what you're saying. Wait, you knew this man was drunk?" She nodded.
"I did. Ever since he kissed me and I tasted the alcohol."
"Then, why?"
"Like she said, she thought what I was going to pay her to be worth the effort!" Daisuke spat on the ground. "No way am I paying her now. Our little fun was interrupted. Bye, brats." He turned and walked away. Ichijo loosened his stance and turned to Haruki.
"Annie, are you alright?"
"I didn't get paid… I didn't satisfy a customer…" Haruki began to cry. "I wasn't kind to him… I wasn't kind enough…"
"Annie! Is that what all this is about? What did your Ojii-san do to you? You're obsessed with making other's happy!" His raised voice only made Haruki cry. He sighed. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to tell Travis again…"
"No, Ichijo! Please! Don't tell Travis! Last time I got lucky! Surely he'll be more stern on me!"
"I don't have a choice, do I?" Haruki sobbed.
FOUR SIDE -OMNIPRESENT-
"Haruki-san?" She shot up and looked at a hesitant Yoite at the stairs.
"Yoite-kun!" She quickly wiped away her tears. "What are you still doing up? It's late. You should be resting."
"Why were you crying?" Haruki stared at him wide eyed. There was silence and tension in the room as they looked at each other. "Haruki-san?" Haruki broke out in light laughter. He stared at her like an alien. "Haruki-san? What's so funny?"
"Hahaha. It's nothing. You might lean about it someday, but not anytime soon. Get some sleep, Yoite-kun. I plan to clean up the guest room so you can sleep here tomorrow night." She shoed him away and locked the door. "Never knew I would use this lock…" Haruki walked back up to her room and laid down on her bed. She set her alarm clock and turned off the night lights shaped like stars, suns, and moons. She pulled up her covers and went to sleep.
