Suzumiya Yuki

Demon Eyes

Nemesis

Haruhi slowly got off the floor and proceeded to wipe herself off. Her always cool checks were now a little warm from embarrassment at the way she displayed herself to Yuki. The look that was being directed her way now didn't help matters one bit. To hide her unusual reaction, Haruhi directed her gaze out the window. The sky was orange in colour and the sun was no longer visible from where they were even though it was not set yet. It was just the buildings that hid it from their view. In other words, it was late, way late to be still in school premises. It was time to head home before the teachers found them.

"Let's go home Yuki. It's really late and I'm always home by this time. My parents are probably worried sick about me by now." There was a lot Haruhi wanted to say to the alien, lots of questions to be asked but they could all wait. She walked over to her desk and switching off her PC, picked up her back pack and headed for the door. The bespectacled girl was standing there, waiting for her it seemed; with a book in one hand and her bag in the other. The book was closed in her hand and she watched Haruhi as she made her way towards the door. Yuki stepped to the side and held the door for Haruhi, closing it afterwards behind them.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" That was Haruhi. It wasn't one of her usual behaviours but around the other girl, she felt like she was becoming a completely different person, again. She was referring to the red and orange dusk sky. She and Yuki were walking side by side. Yuki looked away from her book to look to Haruhi, wanting to understand what she was referring to when she saw her looking up. Yuki had volunteered to walk Haruhi back to her house, probably worried that something might happen to her again.

"It is...unique. Though, no atmosphere is ever the same as the other but it does look...pleasant." Yuki wondered why Suzumiya Haruhi brought that up! It was out of character for her to notice such things. But if Yuki was aware of something to a degree of perfection was how unpredictable, Suzumiya Haruhi's behaviours were. Indeed she was an interesting subject...Her train of thought was interrupted as she felt a tag on her bag.

Yuki was ready to decline the offer thinking that Haruhi had wanted to hold her bag for her but the sentence never left her lips as she felt the emptiness left behind by the leave of the bag was replaced by a much warmer and softer object. This object was Suzumiya Haruhi's hand. The girl had taken her bag so she could hold hands. Indeed, Suzumiya Haruhi was a very interesting subject. Seeing that the girl had nothing to say, Yuki resumed her reading and proceed on forward. She did feel the grip of the hand holding hers tighten though and she replied by closing her fingers around those holding hers. Their hands did the talking that their mouths seemed to lack as they spent the rest of the journey in silence...Comfortable silence.

…………

There came the sound of a bell ringing. It was very faint though and if one was not particularly listening for it, they would miss it. "This is the Tsuruya residence, how can I be of help to you?" A voice came over the speaker at the gates of the great mansion and its estate. A female figure in a school uniform could be seen standing outside said gates. The figure started at the strength of the voice that answered her ring.

"Go…Good morning Komomiji-san. It is I Asahina Mikuru. Sorry to disturb you so early in the morning." No matter how many times Mikuru came to this place, she felt she would intimidated every time. Well, many things did frighten her easily but that was just the way she was. Moments later, the head security of the place in the night, Komomiji-san, came over and opened the gates for her. He was usually at the security house at the gates but Mikuru had been a little early today. She surmised he might have still been having his breakfast.

"Ah! Asahina-san, please come on in, Oujo-sama has been expecting you." He led her to the main house as he always did. Upon reaching the door, she got her shoes off, put on the indoor shoes and headed inside. Bidding her goodbye, Komomiji closed the front door. The head maid came over to escort her to the dining room. Mikuru followed the lady after the usual exchange of greetings and proceeded to meet her friend. Though she had seen it many times already, Mikuru could never get enough of the interior of her friend's house. Sometimes she really wondered if she was still in the same country whenever she went inside. The interior designs on the walls alone were already magnificent but add in the exceptional pieces of art and sculptures and viola, you've got yourselves a museum.

A few moments later found them at the entrance to the great dining room. Seiko-san stepped aside to let Mikuru go inside to her friend. "Good morning Tsuruya-san, how are you this morning?" Mikuru greeted cheery as she walked towards her host. The long haired girl stood up to return the greeting. This was how it was now. The two would eat their breakfast together at Tsuruya-san's house before they went off together to school.

This time of the day, Tsuruya wasn't wearing her uniform yet. She always dressed for each meal and this was no exception. She had on one of those traditional clothes and she did look very pretty in it, concluded Mikuru. Not that her friend ever looked bad in anything. Her body was in super fine condition and that hair...Mikuru simply loved that hair. Many times she wanted to touch it but always got scared. Her friend was really beautiful. She got lost in her thoughts and some time later, she found a small hand waving in front of her face. She blushed prettily having been caught staring. Tsuruya just laughed it off though - That pretty and unique laugh that Mikuru quite loved a lot. Tsuruya sat down and motioned for Mikuru to do the same. They started on their breakfast and made small talk. Mikuru talked about the weird dream she had had the previous night and so much more.

Sometime later, the two girls were now walking to school together. Tsuruya was now in the same attire as Mikuru. Another strange thing – Tsuruya-san used to be dropped off to school. When they became friends, Mikuru started to get lifts but she was too embarrassed to continue to take them. When Tsuruya-san learned that Mikuru was not fond of the attention, she too stopped coming to school in their limos but walk to school with Mikuru. Walking to school did nothing though to get the attention of the student body from Mikuru. It was actually worse now when she was walking in hordes of them.

"Good morning Tsuruya-sempai. Good morning Asahina-sempai." This was all could be heard when these two girls stepped into the school gates. Well, there wee squeals and screams too but oh! well. Tsuruya was used to such attention but poor Mikuru was so red, Tsuruya thought she would collapse right there. The same thing happened every morning but the girl showed no signs of getting used to it. "You get embarrassed and scared easily Mikuru. When will you ever accept the fact that as long as you walk this earth, you will always attract attention?" Tsuruya finished with an exaggerated sigh. Mikuru-chan said something about not being able to help the way she felt – About how she felt like they could see through her like transparent objects.

"Oh Mikuru, would it help if I became your personal bodyguard? Would you be less scared if I was there to protect you from anything that intimidated you? Just say the word and I swear I will do just that Mikuru – I will make you feel safe even in a train full of sweaty middle aged men." Mikuru-chan stooped suddenly to stare at her friend that had said such a thing. Tsuruya stared right back. There was no mirth in her beautiful intense green eyes. Did she really mean all that she had said?! Mikuru-chan could stare in those eyes no longer so she averted her suddenly hot face. She had never seen the other girl look at her like that and it made her feel strange. She tried to understand the emotions but her brain couldn't handle them. Her mind started to spin but before she fell, a familiar laugh brought her back to her senses.

"...Ha ha ha! I was just kidding with you Mikuru. Really, you are so much fun to teasenyoron." A pause, then laughter broke out again. Mikuru opened her mouth then closed it. She felt slightly annoyed with her friend and a little…disappointed!! Why was she feeling this way? She walked on forward trying to look like she was storming off but it looked nothing like it. This made the long haired girl laugh even harder as she quickened her pace to catch up with the red head. When Tsuruya calmed down, she teased,"Are you ready for your date with Kyon-kun tomorrow? Really, that boy deserves a prize for being so brave as to ask you out. He had better be careful though, if any of the others students caught whiff of this, I'd be afraid for his future." She breaks out in laughter again, probably from the vision of Kyon being beat up.

Mikuru-chan didn't understand clearly what her friend was talking about but she too felt uneasy about that date. The reasons not limited to one Suzumiya Haruhi but mostly because of her. It wasn't said, it didn't need to be said but everyone could see, well except him, that Suzumiya-san had an attachment to Kyon. She remembered well that incident, where she was trying to get Kyon to let her see the pictures of her that were on the PC. It was clear that were flirting and the look on Suzumiya-san when she had walked in and seen them...She shuddered. She didn't want to think about what would happen were Suzumiya-san to find out they had gone on a date. She knew why she had agreed despite knowing what would happen. Kyon had helped her a lot and she must admit that she liked him quite a bit. If he only asked one thing in return, she just couldn't deny him. Besides, it was just a date. She had read and heard what people did on dates and didn't find any harm in it. At least she wished there wouldn't be any harm in it. The two proceeded to their classroom and the day commenced.

……………………………………………………………..

Two weeks later, found Kyon surrounded by nothing but pure white snow. It was time to embark on their next adventure and this was it. The plan was to hold another detective game and Tsuruya-sempai had provided the venue. They were to hold their mystery play in one of the Tsuruya lodges that was situated on the mountains. This mountain was very popular for its skiing and snow boarding. On their first day over to the lodge, Haruhi had of course stated that they enjoyed the area's pleasures it had to offer first before they started their game. 'Besides, these mystery games are better at night so we might as well spend the day out.' She had said. Well, he couldn't argue with that and currently, he was also surrounded by hundreds other people there to Ski. There were families, friends, lovers...He grumbled. He should be out there along with his angel Mikuru-chan. After their successful date...Ah great memories...His relationship with the angelic girl had really improved greatly.

Why wasn't he now with his angel, well, it was simple really. He couldn't Ski. He knew not how to ski – that was why. His frustrations grew even more. "You know, I noticed that even though you should be the most happy of all of us here, you are not." It was the ever smiling Koizumi. Oh how he wanted to wipe that smile off his face. To make matters worse, he was talking as he did circles around him making skiing seem like a simple task. Simple it was not, he can tell you. He has fallen almost twenty times trying to go ten meters. "I could teach you how if you want. Why, it wouldn't take an hour for you to learn and then you can go and be near your 'girl friend'." Koizumi teased as he laughed lightly. He stopped and looked towards the direction in which said girl friend was in. Currently she and Tsuruya-san were teaching Kyon's little sister to snow board. By the look of things, she was making great progress too.

He would be damned if his sister learned something that he hadn't yet. Yes, his little sister was also present. She had yet again showed up without being invited, bringing Shaminsen along to boot. They were all there as they were at that Island. Mori-san and the other guy were back at the lodge making preparations and God knows what else. The rest were out here having fun, well, minus him. As for that hurricane Haruhi and Nagato, well, you would find them just by following the cheering and find them he did. They were coming down the slope at top speeds that made the pros he saw on TV seem like they were going in slow motion. Haruhi was in the lead and did some weird pose in the air as she went over a cliff. The crowd went wild. Other people had even stopped their skiing to stare at the pair as they went passed. The two were so amazing that once they went out of view, other people started to chase after them in hopes of seeing more great skill. It wasn't fair. It simply wasn't for someone to be as talented at those two. Okay, Nagato was a special case but Haruhi?!! That girl was like one hundred percent flawless...well...not 100 counting her head but damn it. God wasn't fair...Okay, forget he said that.

Kyon got pissed and so he decided to learn how to ski even if it killed him. He got to his feet and determinedly pushed on the sticks forward. Two seconds later, he found his balance gone. This time though, he wasn't greeted by the softness getting into his collar or the thud he was expecting. He was stopped by something and opening his eyes in confusion, found that smile beaming in his view. The something that had stopped his fall was none other than Koizumi holding him by his waist and using his knee to support their centre of gravity. "Really, you are so stubborn. Skiing is like riding a bike. It's all about using motion to keep your balance. Just as you use a three wheeled bike to learn or some one holding the bike for you, you need help to learn balancing on these." Itsuki gestured at the pair of Skis each was wearing. "I am sorry to say too that Asahina-san is currently occupied and so, I'm the only one available to teach you. Of course if you want your sister to learn to ski before you, well, I can't stop you." Damn it, the guy was right but...

"Could you please let go of me now." Kyon quickly let out, a little flustered. By the way he was being held, he knew they looked like that famous dance move where the guy dipped the lady and were almost kissin...Erg...He quickly looked around to make sure that no one had seen them. Thankfully there were no gazes directed their way. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay then, you've got 'till we get down to the starting line to make me an expert. God knows what that girl will say when she learns that I can't Ski. Kyon bent down to make sure his laces were securely tightened and stood up without the help of Koizumi's hand that had appeared in his view to help him to his feet. "Okay, what do I need to do now Koizumi...?"

"...-sensei...Koizumi-sensei you should call me, after all, I am going to be your teacher for the next few minutes." He flashed his million watt smile. 'I refuse.' Kyon answered, but Itsuki had expected the answer so he only smiled. He liked teasing Kyon like that and even though the reactions were harsh sometimes, he knew they weren't meant to scorn. Though he never showed it easily, Kyon was a kind boy. That was the only reason that Itsuki still teased him. "Okay, I get it. No sensei business but I will still need you to give me your hand. I will be your support and help keep you to your feet. I will also be the one moving and I will simply pull you along." Kyon hesitated but only for a fraction of a second. When Kyon gave his hand, Itsuki held it securely and pleased that he had a good grip on it, began to push with the other hand down the hill slowly and carefully. As they went on, Kyon's hold got a little lighter and whenever it did, Itsuki increased their speed a little.

"I think we can take a break now Imouto-chan. You have learned how to balance now all you need is control, don't you think so too Mikuru?" It was Tsuruya that spoke. "You can also go have some fun of your own. You haven't gotten down yet even once after all. I will stay here with Imouto-chan and either continue training or we can do something fun like building a Snowman and stuff." Mikuru didn't mind at all. She had wanted to go down too. She agreed and not waiting anymore, went down on her board. Tsuruya and Imouto-chan waved to her and proceeded to head to a secure location and start their Snowman building, as favoured by Imouto-chan.

As Mikuru-chan went down the hill in zigzag motions, she soon reached the starting point. Not far off, she spotted the usual familiar group of people near by. It was Suzumiya-san, Nagato-san, Koizumi-kun and Kyon-kun. Nagato-san was reading a book even here! Suzumiya-san seemed to be laughing and pointing a finger to the two boys. Koizumi-kun was standing there with a smile on his face and looking amused while Kyon-kun, by the looks of things was the source of the laughter. She didn't know what was going on but it looked like she was just in time to save Kyon-kun. It seems like her intuition was right as after she had called to them and gotten their attention, Kyon-kun looked really relieved that she had showed up when she had.

"Ah! It is excellent of you to join us Mikuru-chan. I was thinking of holding a race between the SOS-dan members. Come now, let's go get tickets and go back up to the top." She turned to head for the cars and asked, "Where is Tsuruya-san and Imouto-chan? Weren't they with you Mikuru-chan?" Asahina-san told them of what the two had decided to do and Haruhi simply nodded her head and continued on forward. They got the tickets and after standing in the queue for a while, got inside it and headed on to the top of the mountain. On the way up, Yuki continued reading her book. Itsuki and Kyon talked about nothing in particular and poor Mikuru-chan was being treated to Haruhi's usual lecherous hands and fingers. While her fingers touched anywhere on the well developed body of Mikuru, Haruhi looked to Yuki and wondered where the girl was keeping that book all this time. It was then that her eyes caught sight of the small waist bag that sat tightly around the small waist of the alien. It was big enough to hold more than one book and true, there was another book inside she spotted in the hole left by the open top.

…

"Shit, I can't see a thing more than five meters ahead." That would be Haruhi. Just a couple of minutes ago, probably hours, she couldn't tell, they had taken off from the top of the slope beginning their race. Sometime some where, things took a very weird turn. There came a strong wind seemingly from out of no where. The weather had been perfect all day and then the wind, being where they were, had quickly turned things into a blizzard. The sun was now no where to be seen. The sky was dark, scary so and so why Haruhi was starting to complain. Haruhi had come to a sudden halt and the others behind her did the same. They decided to remove their skis and walk on for it was unreasonable to ski in the current weather. Fortunately, Koizumi-kun had a compass on his watch which he gave to Haruhi to lead them but it was almost two hours now and they hadn't reached their destination yet. Haruhi decided to leave their lead to the most capable of them all, Nagato Yuki. But even with that decision, one more hour later and a few minutes, they had yet to reach the lodge. "It is quite suspicious. We have been walking for a while now and we should have run into someone buy now too. For this hill being called a mountain, it is just that – A hill. We should have already reached the bottom three times over by the time we've been walking." Koizumi spoke to farther confirm Haruhi's suspicions. Even when she switched with Yuki to lead them, the girl had headed in the same direction that Haruhi had been taking so their course hadn't changed at all yet they were no where near civilisation. Yes, no street lamps could be seen. Even the trees were scarce where they were which was peculiar since even where they were skiing from there were quite a number of trees surrounding the skiing path.

"Uuh...It's so cold." Mikuru-chan complained. Even with all the gear they had on, the weather change was so drastic and cold that they were chilled through. They hadn't after all been dressed for Antarctica. The weather was for the Eskimos though and Eskimos they were not. Since she was walking right besides Kyon, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, meaning to give some of his heat to her. There was no need for both of them to feel the wrath of the elements. He looked on ahead towards Yuki and he didn't like what he saw. The girl seemed to be dragging her feet which only meant one thing and one thing only. They were completely lost, even with Nagato leading their way. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. "Think of something Koizumi, won't you?" He turned to Itsuki who was walking by his other side and whispered desperately.

"Surely you can't think that I could be of any help in this situation if even Nagato-san can't help!" It was true. For the first time Kyon didn't see a smile on that handsome face. Time was going by and they were not even near the lodge yet. Kyon had a feeling that it wasn't as simple as being hit by a sudden change in the weather but that it might have been done intentionally. Why, he could name a few people who had that kind of power as to manipulate the weather at will. He really wished he was in that house now, sitting near a fire and lazing about doing nothing but enjoying the heat. Even the proximity that he was in with his angel...Hey, this was the first time he was this close to her he realised...but seeing as his digits and soon his whole arm were growing numb by the moment, he was in no mood to bask in his heaven on earth.

Haruhi too did feel the unease of the situation but didn't let it show on her face. She was the leader of the SOS-dan and she was responsible for her members. Coming to this realisation, she went back up front to lead and let Yuki walk beside her. Yuki too seemed strange to her. She looked as if she was confused, lost! An emotional show like that was not something to be taken lightly by those who knew her and Haruhi like to think that she knew at least a little about the alien thank you very much. "Yuki, what's going on? Where are we?" Haruhi asked the alien softly not wanting the others to hear her. She knew full well that they were not at that skiing place anymore. Yuki didn't say a thing at first and Haruhi laid her hand on her small shoulder. "Yuki..." The girl then turned towards Haruhi with a look resembling an apology. "Isn't there anything you can do?"

"I am unable to alter the present event. My link to the Integrated Data Sentient Entity was severed four hours and thirty point three three minutes ago. Without it, I don't the power to do anything." Yuki answered Haruhi's question in a soft even voice. Now Haruhi was really worried. If her superiors severed the connection with Yuki, there was something unnatural at work. But if that was the case, it would the best option to have her powers with her so what was the big deal? And from what she had heard from Koizumi-kun and Kyon's conversation, the esper too had no ideas. "My calculations state that we should be already passed the point of origin." The alien said helplessly. Haruhi had come to that conclusion already but coming from Yuki, well, there was no more proof needed. They should be in the middle of the city then by what Yuki said. Indeed, they were no longer in the same place they had been in.

Where were they though? Were they in another dimension? Were they teleported to Iceland or Antarctica perhaps? Either way, this was well passed the natural and Haruhi could only think of one other person that had that kind of power other than Yuki and there was no way that Yuki had done this. Did she do this? No, Haruhi trusted the other girl. But even if it was the person who Haruhi was thinking about, it was well proven that she wasn't any better than Yuki and they were from the same place so she was out of the question but if not her then who? As she was pondering about this, a light, very dim, evaded her field of vision. Her head snapped up towards the light and her heart gave a start and she couldn't help the scream that escaped her throat. She heard those behind her start and Mikuru-chan give a scream as a reaction to her actions. Kyon said something but she didn't listen to him. "Look over there. There is a light coming from over there." She pointed to where she saw the dim light coming from.

She focused and could make out that it was actually coming from a window when she studied the way it was being beamed. "It's a light from a window. There has to be a house there. Come on, let's go check it out." She reached for her skis from her back and started to plough the thick snow for herself and the others. A couple of minutes later, the others could now also see that the light was indeed coming out of a window but by now, Haruhi could make out the shadow of the house. It was really big and that light she had seen was coming out of a high window though now the lower windows could also be made out from the light that was escaping from them. Not much longer, they were standing within three meters of the house. No, it wasn't a house. It was on borderline of a mansion for it looked to have four floors!

So very queer and out of place it looked. Any other person in their right minds would fear for their lives but at the moment Haruhi was in dire need of heat and heat came before her fear, at the moment at least. And so, she wasted no time in walking up to the entrance and knocking on the door after searching for a door bell or knocker and finding none. "Hello, is anyone there?" She shouted in hopes of being heard over the sound the blizzard made. Getting no reply, her knocks tuned into bangs and even removed her gloves to let her bones help in producing louder sounds. "Please let us take some shelter here for a while. Hello, can you hear me, Hello." She pounded harder until her knuckles hurt.

Haruhi looked to the others. Saw a shivering Mikuru, the snow that was gathering on Yuki's head and her exasperation grew. She reached for the knobs on the great double doors and turned them. She was not expecting the doors to open up as easily as they did. So convenient it was but she had come to a conclusion that heat came before anything else. Ignoring the protests coming from the 'protestor', Haruhi made her way inside. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the intruding light and she made haste in studying the interior of it. It felt inviting, warm and looked very cared for. If anyone looked at the inside, they would conclude that there was indeed some one in there, perhaps in one of the back or upper rooms. But if there was indeed someone there, didn't they have the courtesy of opening the door for some poor people caught in the deadly weather! Well, they could be taking a shower or in the bathroom but how careless they were to leave the front door open. She wasn't complaining though, for it was because of their carelessness that they had been able to get inside. "Hello, is anyone there? We are sorry to intrude but could we please take some shelter here?"

There was no reply and soon after, she turned at the sound of Koizumi-kun closing the door. A crackling sound hit her ears and she immediately made it out for what it was. Listening for the source indicated it to be coming from the room on the left that had no door to it. Walking towards it, everything inside it labelled it as the living/sitting room. It was very modern. There was a Home cinema system, an aquarium and everything. There simply had to be someone in the house but where the hell were they? Well, she was the leader and as the leader, she didn't want to put her members in trouble of trespassing so she should maybe go search for the owners and explain their situation. If they are lucky, they might be allowed to stay. With that she turned to the others." You guys stay here. I will go and see if I can find the people that live here. There just has to be with the condition this place is in." Haruhi shed her snow covered coats and boots and turned to go start the search. Maybe she could ask Yuki to go with her but her decision was made for her when Kyon volunteered to accompany her. "Alright then Kyon come with me. Koizumi-kun, I will leave Mikuru-chan and Yuki in your care." After Itsuki's agreement, they left to go search for the owners.

They went up the stairs first and while they climbed, Kyon asked why they shouldn't search the ground floor first. Haruhi scoffed at him and replied that had there been anyone on the ground floor, they most definitely would've heard them either knocking or when they let themselves in. The best explanation of their getting in unnoticed was that the owner was either in the bathroom or in the rooms on the upper levels. And if Haruhi knew any better, in houses like this, the bathrooms were rarely on the ground floor. And thus, Haruhi would start searching from the top floor and make her way downwards to the ground floor. They went up to the last floor which happened to be the fourth and searched each room and the room within them. The place was like a hotel. Each room was a bedroom and had a bathroom within it. No one was found on that floor. They met up at the stairs and continued to do the same thing on the third floor. There was no one on that floor too. The second floor they decided to search together instead of each taking a side like they had done on the other floors.

The silence and lack of results was getting to Haruhi so she decided to address something that has been bugging her lately. It was the perfect moment too. "So, what's up with you and Mikuru-chan?" She let the question out so easily and felt how it affected the one to whom it was directed. She heard the shower head hit the tiles for Kyon had been checking to see if the water was on. He stammered as if he didn't quite hear what she had said so she repeated the question. "I said, what is up with you and Mikuru-chan?"

"What...What are the hell are you talking about? There is nothing going between me and Asahina-sempai." Kyon was so startled he thought his heart would stop. This girl was to be the death of him one of these days. First, she had screamed not a while ago when she discovered the house and he almost squeezed poor Mikuru-chan to death.

'What is he being all defensive for?' Haruhi thought to herself. Of course she knew what was going on. She knows of their secret date but she doesn't want him to know that she knows. What gets to her is why they didn't tell her? She is their leader so she should know things like this, right? "Don't even try to deny it. I have seen your stares increasing in boldness and Mikuru-chan is now aware of them unlike before. I've also heard rumours." She is referring to the date but she doubts that Kyon caught on.

"Well, what is it to you what my relationship is to Asahina-sempai? What does it matter to you if we go on a date together? You don't see me going on about you and Nagato now do you?" He slapped a hand over his mouth. He had let more than everything slip in those few sentences. Haruhi was facing away from him so he didn't see her expression but he saw the twitch that her body made. Damn him and his mouth. He just hopes he hasn't just unlocked a whole world of hurt to his parson.

Memories of those strange actions she made towards Yuki came to the front of Haruhi's mind. All those strange emotions that came with them hit her harder than expected and so she remained quite. They continued the search in silence and soon the first floor was also done. When they got back to the others however, the atmosphere was stranger than their own. Mikuru-chan was crying her eyes out in Itsuki's arms who was trying his best to comfort her and he looked really relieved to see them back. Even Yuki looked pleased to see them and her book was already placed to the side. Haruhi quickly made her way to the crying girl to help out poor Koizumi-kun. "Come on now Mikuru-chan. I did say we would be back in no time now didn't I? So calm down already will you?"

As Haruhi comforted a distraught Mikuru, she overheard the boys whispering to themselves thinking that she couldn't hear. Apparently they hadn't gone for the less than twenty minutes that Haruhi thought they had. According to Koizumi-kun and even Yuki's counting, they had been gone for a little over three hours. As it happens, Mikuru-chan was crying because they had taken so long to get back. If that was the case, what was with this place? Anyway, it now confirmed her suspicions that this was not a normal house. Could time move differently in every part of the house? If that was the case, they had better stop wondering off in parts. Who knows if one of them separated from them only to rejoin them as an old hag! It was also now more possible that they were brought here by some one and that that someone had the same if not stronger powers as Yuki. What did they want though? Oh who was she kidding! She knew full well of what they were after or better yet, who.

When Mikuru-chan calmed down, she released her and proceeded to report what they had found. "Strangely, there is no one in the house. The water and everything else works just fine so the only best explanation would be that they went out but got trapped in the storm so they couldn't get back. But if that was the case, why would they got out that far and leave their house unlocked? Also, aren't places like this usually swamped with servants?" Wait a minute; was this one of Koizumi-kun's detective games? No, there a lot of missing links and Haruhi was not ready to give him that much credit. "Did you try the TV?" She asked as she stood up to go fetch the remote and switched it on. It was working alright but there was no signal. The phones were working alright too but no numbers went through. Not even the emergency ones.

"Oh yes, we did try them even the phone over there but we got the same results you did." Koizumi answered as Haruhi went to check that the wiring was alright. It all seemed in place. Well, they couldn't do anything about it. She was hungry anyway. Haruhi told everyone to follow her in the kitchen. She asked Mikuru-chan to prepare some tea while she made a quick menu of beef and vegetable stew. They were all hungry so they ate their fill while they decided to rest for the night and see if anything changes by morning. After the meals, they took turns to go wash and so the boys washed in one room and the girls in the others, at the same time to reduce the fluctuations. They took up the five rooms on the first floor with Haruhi occupying the one facing the stairs and Yuki taking up the one on her right. Mikuru-chan took up the one opposite Yuki's. Kyon was in the one after Yuki's while Itsuki took up the one opposite his.

As they were going up the stairs, Haruhi had taken up the rear with Yuki in front of her. She was lying on her bed now reading a book she had gotten her hands on then. Two hours had passed since they bid goodnight to each other. Haruhi had wanted to speak with Yuki alone some more and it was that reason that she was still awake. She wanted to wait for the others to go to sleep and sneak into the alien's room. Others should be asleep by now or in a position where a small sound wouldn't alert them. She closed the book and stood up to head to Yuki's room. She gently shut the door to her own room and noiselessly went over to the next door which was Yuki's room. Before her hand makes contact with the handle, the door swings open and a greyish blue haired head pops into view. It turns out she was expected. She steps inside and Yuki closes the door.

Haruhi walks over to the twin bed and sits on it. Seeing that the other girl just stands there looking at her, Haruhi pats the space beside her on the bed inviting Yuki to join her. Yuki doesn't move for a while but she eventually sits in the offered place. "I have noticed that you haven't yet given your thoughts on our current predicament. I know what you said earlier and I understand but isn't there anything at all that you can do? Do you have at least any idea who is behind this?" Haruhi asked the alien softly. Yuki said nothing for a while and when it seemed like she wasn't going to say anything she finally talked.

"I was mistaken before. My link to the Integrated Sentient Data Entity was not severed by my superiors. Upon farther search, I have gathered that it was interfered with this fluctuation in space that we are trapped in." Yuki looked helplessly to the floor. "I can not take independent action on my own without the consent of the I.D.S.E. I am sorry but I am of no use as I am now at this moment. The amount of emergency access left to me now is not enough to alter the course of the present events." In other words, Yuki was not strong enough to break the spell that was cast upon them. "This space is putting a lot of stress on me. My defence mechanism might activate soon." What, what did that mean? "I will shut down until my connection to the I.D.S.E is restored." Yuki seemed to sense what Haruhi had been thinking.

Was Yuki getting sick? Now that she mentions it, Haruhi saw some shine on her forehead. Upon touching it she almost let out a squeal. "Yuki, you're running a fever. Go take a cold shower and I will go and see if they have any pain killers somewhere in this place...Now!" Haruhi ordered when Yuki started to protest. She didn't leave until the alien went into the bathroom and Haruhi heard the shower start running. Haruhi didn't even mind if the others woke up at the moment as she ran for the stairs and down them. The sound of the steps was muffled by the thick carpet though so she wouldn't be surprise if they didn't hear her. Upon reaching the kitchen entrance though, she was forced to s complete halt. There was someone in the kitchen.

Haruhi stopped breathing. The person in front of her was that striking. It was the person's hair that got to her first. It was so long and thick that it put that ghost girl; Sayako was it, from that horror movie Ju-On to shame. This girl's hair seemed to blend into the air itself and that was saying much, what with her hair colour being jet black and the room having a 100watt bulb, three of them in fact. She would give anyone else a heart attack or panic attack but Haruhi wasn't any other person. The other thing was the facial features that reminded Haruhi of Nagato Yuki. They were neutral, so neutral that they made Yuki out to be human. Her curiosity, be it either that of fear, or excitement she couldn't tell, piqued. "Who are you?" She couldn't help but ask.

The haunting girl, so small she was that she almost resembles a kid, didn't answer at first. She only continued to stare at Haruhi. Fear started to creep its way into Haruhi's heart. Thankfully the girl finally spoke. "Tomorrow you will be back in normal space going by the flow of time in this dimension. This was merely a test to determine the range of the Humanoid Interface of the Integrated Data Sentient Entity's abilities. We shall meet again soon 'fake'." A blinding light forced Haruhi to close her eyes and when she opened them, the girl was gone.

Damn it, what the hell was that? Haruhi asked herself as she went back up the stairs after failing to find any drugs. What she gathered from what the girl had said is that they know of Yuki and her real identity. Also, she concluded that they were not the same as Yuki, at least not from the same group for if they were then why wouldn't they know of Yuki's potential? Could she be created by that other Entity that Yuki mentioned to her when she introduced her real self? What was it called again? The Macrospatial Quantum Cosmic Existence...or something? By the way Yuki had explained it, it sounded like they were Nemesis of each other. Anyway, it was clear that they were enemies of Yuki and what did she mean by 'fake'? Ooh...She had lots more questions now and very little brain power to come up with the solutions.

"Yuki, I am sorry but I didn't find any medicine. And I ran into some one that might be of interest to you...Yuki?" Haruhi blinked. The bedroom was empty. The shower was still running. A glance at the clock on the wall says that she had been gone for a little over an hour. Why was Yuki still in the shower? She made her way to the bathroom door and knocked slightly. "Yuki, aren't you finished yet?" No answer came and the shower water continued running. Yuki had been running a fever before. Could she have collapsed in the shower? Worry grasping her chest, Haruhi opened the bathroom door and headed for the shower. The curtain was still drawn up. "...Yuki?" She called again but again no answer. She seized the boundary then and drew it to the side...then froze.

Yuki was standing there under the running water and she turned to stare at Haruhi. She was confused by what had just happened. Her memory had recorded a thirty minute black out and when she came to Suzumiya Haruhi was standing there staring at her. Her uneasiness had gone now. She tried her link to the Integrated Data Sentient Entity thinking that it had been restored but it hadn't been. What was going on? She looked at the other person there and was puzzled by her attention. There was now red liquid coming out of one of her nostrils. Apart from that, Suzumiya Haruhi had not made another motion, not even move an eye lid. "..."

Time started again for Haruhi when she saw Yuki moving towards her, her hand reaching for her face. She started back, flushed. Her heart was hammering in her chest. She asked what was up. "You are bleeding from your nose." Haruhi quickly reached up to see what the girl was talking about and indeed her fingers came away with blood on them. Oh how embarrassing. She ran to the sink and quickly washed off. She motioned for Yuki to go back out to the bedroom and put on some clothes then she locked herself in the bathroom there after. She looked into the mirror at herself. "What is happening to you?" She asked the face that stared back at her. Her mind couldn't take any more shocks like she has had recently. She needed sleep. Yes, she should go and get some nice long needed sleep. Thinking could come later. And so, after stuffing some paper rolls into her nose, Haruhi bid the alien good night after Yuki had assured her that she was alright now and went to her room to have some nice long rest.

To Be Continued...