"The moment you believe you will fail, you have already lost the battle."
― Bianca Frazier
Haruhi's mouth opened, staring at Kaoru's body, her fingers inches from the pen. First denial set in. Seeing the blood, however, panic entered and she dropped to her knees. Her fingers brushing aside Kaoru's ginger strands. She felt the blood wet her fingers and pulled away, rage and grief struck next. The bullet lodged into his neck. Kaoru's eyes were searching wildly, she rolled him onto his back and ripped off her sweater, pressing it to his neck. "It'll be okay," Haruhi gasped out, tears threatening to spill. "We'll get you back to the school and everything will be okay," she promised, but they all knew that the promise was impossible. They couldn't move him that far with him bleeding from his neck profusely and expect him to survive. Kaoru weakly reached up and grasped her arm.
He garbled out something that sounded vaguely like Hikaru before his grip started to weaken. Haruhi shook her head. "No, no! Kaoru stay with us," she begged, clenching her teeth together, "Don't leave us."
When his hand slid from her arm, she let out a choked sob and her head fell forwards. No. No. No! This cannot be happening! Not after he just became apart of her life again. She needed him! She needed all her friends by her side! She felt arms around her, tugging her away and under the table. Fingers brushed her face wiping away the tears there. Haruhi's eyes flickered to Takashi's.
How could this be? How could Kaoru be dead! He couldn't be. Any moment, she knew he would get up and laugh. Saying it was a joke. A sick joke, but a joke nonetheless. She would get mad at him but end up laughing with him at the silly prospect of his death. He couldn't die. Haruhi wished she could be a child again when her mother died. Always thinking that her mother would come home from a long day of work, kick off her heels and with Haruhi's help cook supper. She prayed that she could feel the same for Kaoru, but she knew that he was long gone. Tears fell from her face at a heavier rate. Takashi pulled her against his chest, but not before, she saw the complete grief and anger on his face. He didn't hide it.
He had failed. He was supposed to stand guard to protect them; he never imagined that someone would shoot through the window. There wasn't even a gunshot. They had planned it. Had they seen them when they headed into the store? The moment he realized that Kaoru was actually shot, a planned shot. He pulled away from Haruhi and took her face in his hand, "We have to get out of here."
"But Kaoru-"
"We have to get out of here, Kaoru wouldn't want either of us to die because we mourned over his body and whoever shot him killed us too," Takashi spoke firmer, sliding out from under their shelter. Haruhi swallowed thickly and nodded, following him. She saw him slid on brass knuckles, but didn't question where he got them or why he was putting them on. They dashed to the door, throwing it open and heading downstairs. On the stairs, they met their opponents. Two men who looked like they had seen many fights in the six years since the beginning of the apocalypse.
Takashi didn't hesitate as he swung with so much anger and pain. The force of the punch resounded with a sickening crack, blood spurted out and the man fell down the stairs. Slamming into his partner on the fall. Haruhi pulled out her dagger and, before Takashi regained his composure, threw the dagger. It hit the other man in the cheek, and he let out a scream of pain. Takashi lifted the guy who was still alive and glared at him, "Where are you bastards holding up?"
The man sputtered blood as he chuckled, "Might as well kill me."
Haruhi stared coolly at him, "Or we could release him and he'd run back to his friends, like the cowered he is."
The man glared up at her, but Takashi slammed him against the wall again. Haruhi pulled the dagger from the guy's mouth and he let out another scream. Takashi growled at him to shut up. "Where?"
The man whimpered in pain before saying something incoherent to Haruhi, but Takashi picked up one word. He dropped the man and backed up. "Swift death," Takashi jerked his chin towards the man.
"Just like I gave your friend," the man chortled, blood spewing from his lips. Haruhi didn't even get to move before Takashi grabbed the man's collar and slammed his fist again and again into his face. Haruhi didn't have the heart to tell him to stop, allowing his time to vent before he stepped away. Realizing the man was long dead and punching him wasn't going to solve anything. Haruhi didn't comment just wiped the blood off the blade on her pants.
"We can get someone to come back and pick up his body," Haruhi murmured, "We'll give him a proper burial at the school."
Takashi hesitated before nodding, "We'll return back immediately," he spoke very softly, barely a whisper, "We know where they are."
Haruhi glanced up at him, normally it would be full of curiosity and question, but it was a dull look. The only thing that gave him the notion she wanted to know how, was the fact that she reacted to the news at all. He swallowed thickly, "The docks."
-X
The moment they entered the Third Music Room, a rush of emotion hit her. She blocked it out as Takashi stood stiffly, waiting for Nekozawa to approach them before he explained what happened in choppy sentences. Nekozawa turned to others and assigned a few men to go collect the bodies, but to be extremely careful and be quick about it.
Takashi then separated Haruhi and himself from the room. Taking her into an empty class room far enough away from the others that they could release their anguish without fear of anyone openly pitying them or questioning their strength. They all had faced losses; many had probably seen loved ones be killed. Though many of them had also accepted that there was death more frequently in their lives, and it was better they die sooner than later.
He opened the door and led her within before closing the doors. Her knees gave out and she slammed to the tiles below. Her knees cracked hard against the flooring but she didn't even register it. Tears exploded out of her eyes and she wrapped her arms around her stomach and let out a loud choked sob. Takashi stalked across the room and slammed his fist into the wall. He took his anger and self-hate out on the wall. Punching it until his knuckles were raw and started to bleed.
They failed to protect their friend. That's why he had gone with them, for their protection! Why couldn't they have foreseen that, why couldn't they have stopped to think that someone would be so cowardly to shoot someone through a window without any warning! They took all the blame, and that just hurt them all the more. The fact that he was dead because they failed. The fact that he was dead at all was enough to tear a hole in their hearts. Haruhi had recently gotten him back into her life and now...he was gone. Little under a year and he was gone. He was gone...
Haruhi cried until her throat was raw, and eyes were screaming in agony at the strain of producing tears enough for her to cry. After what seemed like hours, her tears dried up, and she fell to the side, curling in a tight ball. Takashi slid to his knees, resting his forehead against the wall. Hiding his face as he allowed himself to cry.
It was a whisper in the back of their minds. Hikaru.
Hikaru would be angry. He would...they couldn't even think of how much pain Hikaru would be when he returned and figured out that Kaoru was dead. Dead by a single shot.
As night fell, the room had gone completely silent. Neither had moved for hours. Both of their muscles aching and cramping, demanding to be moved. It wasn't long until they heard an anguished howl far off. Hikaru. Haruhi winced at the noise and curled tighter in on herself. The sound echoing as loud as a gunshot in the room. Throughout the night, the two stayed in the room.
The sun rose but they didn't move. It took a few hours but then the classroom door opened. Hikaru was breathing heavily, dried tears and fresh one mingling on his cheeks. Eyes bloodshot and hair mused. He didn't sleep a wink, but the two in the room barely acknowledge he entered the room. Until he snarled.
"You," he stormed over to Takashi, "You are the reason he's dead." Takashi stayed still, eyes staring at the wall blankly. "If you had gone with Haruhi's plan, he wouldn't have been shot in the throat like some animal! You promised that you wouldn't let anything happen to him, but I guess the moment there was danger you protected Haruhi instead of him!"
Takashi got up so fast, Hikaru stumbled back. A dark look full of so much pain and anger filled Takashi face. "You don't even know what happened," Takashi snarled at him, "So do not accuse me of not protecting him."
"Then why is he dead?" Hikaru snarled back, so much hate in his voice.
"A silencer and a bullet through the window makes it hard for anyone to protect anyone," Takashi retorted back, "If you think for a moment that had I seen the shooter that I would've only saved one of them, you're dead wrong."
Hikaru growled at Takashi, "Just because you didn't jump in front of the bullet doesn't mean you had no fault in his death-"
"Do you think I don't know that," Takashi growled, grasping Hikaru's shirt. Suddenly a gasp cut them off, Haruhi curled tighter, fingers digging into her hands. Her skin rippled. Takashi let go of Hikaru's shirt and hurried over to her, her face was contorted with pain. Suddenly she started coughing and blood splattered the ground.
Hikaru dropped down beside Haruhi, grasping her arm and pushing her hair from her face. Their thoughts momentarily broken from Kaoru. Neither was willing to risk two dead bodies. Haruhi pushed herself up onto all fours and heaved the contents of her stomach onto the floor. That was enough for Hikaru to take off to get Kyouya.
Haruhi clenched her fingers into fists as pain ripped through her. It was indescribable pain. It felt like she was being torn open from the inside out and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Kyouya and the others burst into the room a few minutes later, seeing Haruhi dry heaving, and the sound was raw.
Blood followed a few moments later. Her body shaking in pain and stress. Takashi was rubbing her back, unable to help her in anyway. Kyouya dropped beside her, and had Takashi shift her so he could check her face. She clamped her hands onto Takashi's; nails biting into his flesh and blood welled up. Kyouya checked her eye and peeled off her bandage. They watched as the wound healed over. Producing a slightly indented, but relatively flat patch of skin where her eye had been once. The bruises on her neck transitioned from purple to blue, to green, to yellow, and then vanished. The cuts healing over as well. Kyouya checked that fact by removing her bandages and revealing the smooth skin. Not a blemish in sight.
Slowly, Haruhi let go of Takashi's arm, breathing heavily. Twitches of pain flashing through her body. She lowered her head, pretending to collect her breath, but in reality, she was hiding her terror and fear. Mitsukuni slid his arms around her and hugged her tightly. She could feel the faint shaking of his tiny frame, and lightly squeezed his arm, reassuring him that she was okay.
After a good few minutes, Haruhi's eyes rose to Kyouya's. A fire within them that scared them all. "When do we kill these bastards?"
"We may know where they are but we need-"
"Screw a plan," Haruhi snarled, jumping to her feet, "Those bastards die today."
Her anger startled no one, they all silently agreed. Looking at Kyouya until he shook his head. "It'll be suicide."
"Then consider me suicidal," Haruhi retorted, then gave him a look. He took a breath.
"Wait a day-"
"I'm done waiting," Haruhi looked at the others, "We'll go to where they are hiding, come up from all sides. Pick them off one by one if we have to. Not a single person will leave that area alive after what they have done."
Kyouya couldn't argue anymore. If he did, then he knew everyone would get angry at him. Accuse him of not feeling any remorse about Kaoru's death, not wanting vengeance or revenge on the people who did this. Even if the henchman pulled the trigger, he knew that the root of the threat had to be destroyed or the resulting weeds would become a threat to them. Pretending otherwise was more suicidal than going into the area guns blazing without a plan.
Or at least that's what he told himself when he agreed to it. The group marched back to the Third Music Room, ready to fight and die if necessary. However, the sight of a white sheet draped over a body stopped their vigour. Nipping it in the bud before it had the chance to grow. Anguish, hatred, and sorrow filled them as they stared at the body of their murdered friend.
No matter how much they wanted to deny it happened, no matter how much they wanted to ignore the problem and somehow Kaoru would come back to life, they couldn't.
They ignored their plans to react to killing Kaoru; instead, they did what they brought his body back for. They found shovels and went into the garden of the school grounds. They spent a good deal of time digging a hole to lay Kaoru to rest before they lowered him onto the ground. A cloth completely covering his body. It wouldn't protect him like a casket would; it wouldn't have the comfort a casket would. Haruhi thought bitterly, as Hikaru and Ritsu began filling the grave with dirt, that a casket only offered comfort to the living. Saying they were doing the corpse, a comfort by putting it in satin swathed wood. When, in reality, the body couldn't feel the softness of the satin. Nor would it ever see the patted down Earth and the makeshift gravestone that was created by the combined efforts of Takashi and Mitsukuni. Two pieces of wood crossed and stuck into the ground. Kaoru names engraved into the wood.
It wasn't the first time any of them had to bury a corpse after the apocalypse. However, Takashi refused to think of his father, or mother, as he stared at the grave. They all refused to think of their own parents who they buried in the woods outside of the pension. Regretting the decisions that ultimately ended up with a good friend in the ground, covered by nothing but a thin sheet.
-X
The mourning period would be later, it was silently decided. Anger was bubbling to the surface for the ex-Hosts, the effects were contagious. Flooding through the entire room as it was explained what would happen. They would attack the building exactly as Haruhi said before. From all sides. Seven people would move in from each direction. With one direction having an extra person with them.
It was decided that Haruhi, Nekozawa, Takashi, Hikaru, Kyouya, Satoshi, and Ritsu would take the back entrance. Yasuchika, Mitsukuni and five others would go directly at the front. Drawing the attention to the front before being ambushed from all angles. Haruhi's group was in charge of clearing out the building. From bottom to top, not a single person was allowed to live. The other three groups were not allowed to enter the building, because the seven of them were instructed to shoot on sight. Fatal shots if possible, and if it wasn't, wound the person and then track them down to deliver the final blow.
It was set. They were going to bring down the group and then they would allow themselves to grief for the loss of their friend, brother, and comrade. No one mentioned that the body count would go up by the end of the night, but it was given. Haruhi pressed that it was important that by nightfall they get inside the compound and close the gates. Shutting off the outside completely. When they won, they could slip out the back and sneak away from the Creatures and dogs that were sure to come at the sound of commotion.
It was still day when they headed out. Bringing the battered corpses with them. As they got closer, the split up. Mitsukuni and his brother's group took the bodies; they were going to use it to draw as much attention as they possibly could to the front so that the others could get in without too much trouble. Haruhi just hoped the plan would work. If they couldn't get into the compound, there was no way the front end could survive a full force attack.
It took quite some time before they reached the building by the docks. They were hiding behind some crates stacked near another building. Waiting for the signal. No one knew what the signal was, but they knew that they would understand the signal whenever it was given. Haruhi spent her time checking her guns. A dull throbbing started at the back of her head, but she passed it off as nerves, and it was completely dismissed when there was a loud shout and then a louder curse. They waited a bit longer until there was a gunshot.
That was the signal.
They crept from their hiding places. Takashi, Satoshi and Ritsu were the first over, Takashi taking guard as the other two pulled the other four up onto the wall. They quickly jumped down and hurried to a door that was clearly an emergency exit used by smokers. The door was propped open and cigarette butts lay everywhere. A half-smoked cigarette lay with an ember edge, indicating that whoever was back here had fled to the front to see what the commotion was.
Gunshots, shouts and instructions filled the air from the front. The seven were ushered into the building and then Ritsu kicked the stopper out. Allowing the door to close and swallow the noise from outside. It was reduced to background noise, easily pushed aside.
The lower floor was basically empty, as everyone had run outside. Only two people stood guard at the front door, Haruhi and Nekozawa raised their guns and in succession pulled the trigger. The men fell down unable to process the fact they were even shot before they were dead. Haruhi mentally thought about how pointless their job had been as no one would enter the building, unless it was cowards sneaking away from the fight.
The seven split up into groups of two, with one group of three. Sweeping up the stairs and taking the second floor. More people were on this floor, and some fought back when they heard the gunshots. Hikaru's arm got clipped by a bullet, resulting in him firing two shots into the man's head. Not caring that one was enough to kill the guy. After that, Hikaru's anger about his brother began to consume his thoughts. He moved without thought, killing anything in his path.
Floor, after floor, they killed. Ignoring the battle outside. Only once did they run into any trouble. A man grabbed Kyouya and threatened to blow his brains out if they didn't leave. However, he didn't realize just how many people he was threatening, and Satoshi snuck up behind him. Pulled a dagger out and...well the man gave a look of surprise before the results of Satoshi's cloak and dagger approach showed. Dark blood spurted out and he collapsed, releasing Kyouya.
It was simple after that. When they reached the top floor, they looked outside. Night had fallen and the gates had closed. Outside, dozens of Creatures were battering themselves bloody against the wall and dogs were pacing around the wall, trying to find a way in. They made an agreement to leave in the morning if they all survived and the other group succumbed.
A sense of accomplishment washed through them before Haruhi collapsed, a sound of pain issuing from her lips. Kyouya checked her over for any terrible injuries. A few bumps and scrapes, but she was fine. They still hadn't figured out why she had miraculously healed earlier. They wondered if they should leave Haruhi with a guard before they headed down and fought with the rest of them.
It was agreed upon. Satoshi agreed to stay, saying that the others would be needed and if anyone came upstairs, he could easily take them out. Plus, he may have been one of the better fighters, but he despised fighting. He hated actually inflicting deathblows. He hated the feeling of seeing the fear in the other person's eyes before they collapsed to the ground, blood spilling out. So, he was able to convince the others that he wouldn't be needed. It looked like they were winning anyways.
Satoshi sat beside Haruhi, rubbing her back as she whimpered in pain from an unseen hurt. Blood splattered the ground as she heaved her stomach long since emptied from its contents. If there wasn't so much pain, she would've realized that she hadn't eaten for the longest time. Since the previous night and it had barely been half the can, she didn't feel hungry. How the hell she managed to fight and move about as if she had all of her nutrients was beyond her rational thoughts, and since she wasn't in a rational state, she didn't bother to think about it at all.
Sudden pain so sharp surrounded her head. Her vision went completely white as if a light had been shined directly into her eyes after a year in the dark. It blinded her and she grasped around until she felt Satoshi grasp her hand after he realized what she was looking for. She squeezed it back before her body went completely limp and her grip slackened. Her eyes, once wide, slowly began to close. Satoshi rolled her from her side and onto her back, calling for her to stay with him. Leaving wasn't an option for her. She couldn't die, not this way.
Satoshi smacked her face a few times before he took her pulse.
Nothing.
He searched frantically, but found the same results. He pressed his ear against her chest and heard nothing.
It took him three seconds before he stared to perform chest compression, telling her that she couldn't die. She had to be stubborn. She had always been stubborn, so why was she dying? She should be fighting for her life.
He jumped up, throwing open the window and looking down. The others were fighting, but the opposition was thinning. He took a deep breath before bellowing his brother's name and ducking back into the window. Satoshi instantly resumed chest compressions, starting normally before increasing tempo in his panic to save her life.
A/N: I know this may seem rushed...but it's the end soon. Everything's wrapping up. Honestly, I could write a hundred chapters for this story, but honestly, this is the story I wanted to tell. Haruhi's tale from meeting with the guys again to this point. I could also write a few chapters on them killing people, but I'm trying to keep this part fast paced. Just like it would be in real life. Not detailing each kill, each kill a blur because they each kill a handful of people in this chapter. Also, I'm trying to keep it centered on Haruhi at this point, which is why I didn't skip down to Mitsukuni and describe their situation, because then the chapter would've dragged out and I wouldn't have gotten to the point I wanted to.