強い人と弱い人
The Strong and The Weak
Chapter 12: Just Something Normalー
Haruna woke up to a strange sound that came from her bedroom. Believing that it was the same damn, obese squirrel that would strangely wiggle its way through her window from time to time, she crept quietly down the hall with hopes of scaring it senseless back out the window. It was just painful to hear as she drew closer. Did it possibly become so overweight that when it jumped through her window this time it completely splat even on her soft, carpet flooring? Upon reaching the door, she swung it open violently shouting,
"YOU LITTLE DEMON."
"DON'T CALL ME LITTLE."
The owner of the voice had completely disregarded that he was called a demon, but was clearly bothered by being called little. Haruna found that very odd and amusing. Her eyes flit to the bed and spotted a Yata who angrily took a pillow in his hands. I guess she was too tired to tell that it was obviously Yata and she suddenly felt stupid.
"Oh, it's just you Yata-san."
"THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?!"
She walked over to him and gently raised the beanie that covered a portion of his forehead.
"W-What is it?" He pouted,"Why the fuck are you touching me?"
She really, really wanted to scrub that mouth of his.
"When I dragged you inside, you just passed out on me." Haruna mumbled as she placed a hand on her forehead as well; comparing the two's temperatures,"Are you sick? What happened?"
"I'll tell you what happened." She watched as Yata swallowed the lump in his throat,"You suffocated me."
Her chocolate eyes seemed to glow brighter as they widened and she started to remember. She covered his mouth, but did she check if she covered something else? The clawing at her hands and no sign of breathing.
She covered his nose too?
Not as surprisingly forceful as his voice, Yata removed the hand from his forehead and exclaimed loudly,"Hah? You remember now, wo-"
"Haruna."
"Eh?"
"My name." She pointed to herself as if she was talking to a single celled idiot. She articulated as slow as she to ensure that he understood,"HA-RU-NA."
"Listen woman-"
"HA-RU-NA."
His eyes narrowed at her and formed a very intent glare as he cleared his throat and corrected himself,"Listen HA-RU-NA,"
She cringed at how obnoxious and mockingly he said her name.
"Did you hit yourself on the head yesterday night because you seemed a lot more clueless than you look."
This damn brat.
Just like her all time favorite bartender, Haruna grabbed the collar of his white short sleeve and dragged him out of her bed with his yells behind her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Come up with something more original!" She hissed.
"What's your damn problem?!" He raised his voice again,"What else am I supposed to say?" He put up a mocking tone,"Oh, I think you're dragging me. Please stop? No fuc-"
She swung her front door open and threw him out with force she never thought she had.
"Come back when your mouth is dishwashed."
She slammed the door on him as he angrily extended an arm out to towards her from the ground. Surprisingly, he was quiet and she assumed that he decided to retire from all the ruckus. She scratched her head vigorously before making her way back to the room. A normal day was some thing that she wanted. How did she describe normal?
Something that actually went her way for once.
Her head hadn't actually grasped what happened these past days. Although she wasn't flailing her arms around in confusion and fear, her insides were doing outrageous stunts that made her heart feel as if it was beating like a hummingbird.
Suffocatingly fast.
Her slippers scratched on the floor as she shuffled along the wood flooring of the narrow hall.
"You were very loud yesterday." She turned around to the voice behind her and opened her mouth to speak. The light peaking from the green polka dotted curtained window shined towards her and only allowed her to see a dark, shadowy figure; she couldn't make out any distinguishing features with his back towards the light. What she could tell was that the man had a rather lanky figure and had no sign of any muscle.
"Who's there?" She asked harshly in the darkness of the hall.
There was a pound on the door and she heard Yata calling for her. When she blinked once and the figure was gone, but she quickly ran to the door in flight. Haruna wrapped he hand around the door knob and attempted to turn it.
Another slam on the door.
And it wasn't from Yata, but by another. Her head turned to see an arm blocking her from moving anywhere else.
"The door," She heard the man say in ear. Haruna twisted the door knob even harder, but there was no click. "I made sure no one would interfere.
Hesitantly, she removed her grip and turned around to face him. The light finally shown through and he had a prominent smirk on his face. He had hair like her's; just short and a little more sandy. His eyes gleamed like emeralds as it scanned her.
She had to admit that he was a looker.
The girl took a swing at his face; even if it was pretty cute. With a swift reflex, he caught it with no problem. It didn't stop her and she took another swing into his gut. Upon impact, he placed an arm over his lower abdomen and squatted to the floor as he looked up at her.
"Haruna-san! What the hell is happening in there?!" She heard Yata from behind the door as she continued to shake the doorknob in vain. "Open up!"
"Yata!" She cried in desperation,"It's not budging!"
Suddenly, a pain shot through her head and unrelentingly she let go once again. Involuntarily, she let out a scream of pain and attempted to claw the hand that pulled the bushel of hairs on her head.
She kicked him this time in the perfect spot and sent him to the ground again. The eighteen year old grabbed the hairs on her head and straightened them out; lightly tugging them in an attempt to soothe the roots of each of them.
"See what happens when you mess with someone's precious treasure?" She snarled and glowered at the man below,"You're lucky I didn't rip them out of your pants with-"
She clasped a hand over her mouth and exclaimed in disbelief,"Oh gross, did I just say that?! You know, I'd actually never do such a thing!" She leaned down and poked his cheek,"But you have some nerve to do something like that- barging into someone's home like that." My god, that was best counter she ever had.
Well, that was the only thing that was awesome. Everything else for Haruna was downright uncalled for, unsettling and abrupt.
Remembering Yata, she made another attempt to unlock the door, but she failed once more. What in the world did this man do to her door?
"Yata-san." Haruna called out to him. She heard a shuffle behind the door and she confirmed his prescence,"It really won't budge. Could you try something?"
"Haruna. Move away from the door. Now." Yata responded.
Realizing he was serious, she stepped to side and waited. Haruna didn't care anymore if he blew her door down with the heat of his fire. If the guy on her floor woke up, she wasn't sure if she would succeed in kicking him down again or try once more to open it only to find out that it was futile.
Yata didn't burn her door down to her surprise, but she felt and heard him slam into the wood threshold multiple times before she caught one of her door hinges glint and fly off; hitting the wood paneling. In front of her now was Yata staring down at her slightly with dilated pupils; staring at her as if she had gotten shot or something. He gripped his beanie in his hands and she had the strangest feeling. He actually looked older than her for once. No, that wasn't the right term to describe it.
He looked more like a man.
"What the hell are you-" He looked down at the body on the floor before looking back up at her and pointing at it,"What the hell is this?!"
"What?"
"The hell is this guy doing here?"
Dazed, Haruna looked down at the man's body again and stated monotonously,"Oh."
"Don't 'oh' me! Did you do this? Girls aren't supposed to be so violent! I knew you weren't a-"
She took his beanie from his hands and grabbed the top of his hair; earning a loud yelp.
"What? I'm a woman, damn it! Get it through your stupid head!"
"Masculine!" Yata said as he squirmed under her grip,"Brutal! Washboard!"
"Brat!"
"I'm sorry for intruding."
The door was wide open and right outside stood no other than the captain of Scepter 4.
"Hah? You're-"
"Munakata!" Haruna dropped Yata with a huge thump and ran over to her newest visitor. "What brings you here?"
She eyed him carefully and noticed that he wasn't wearing his usual uniform. It was a grey turtleneck accompanied with a black jacket and matching jeans.
"Aigasa-kun. Do you mind?" He asked with his baritone voice.
She nodded as he began to remove his leather shoes.
Geez, so fancy.
She felt a light punch on her shoulder and turned her head to meet Yata's burning gaze. He looked a bit irritated and leaned in to her ear,"Oi! Why are you letting a blue in here?"
"HOMRA's vanguard," Munakata smiled at the young man who emerged behind Haruna,"Yata Misaki?"
"Scepter 4's captain," Yata scoffed,"Munakata's Reisi. You gonna arrest me too?"
The man lowered his head and chuckled; moving his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a finger. Haruna wondered if that was a habit of his.
"No, no- Not today. Besides..." He trailed off as he entered the apartment and looked around. He brought a hand to one of the deep cuts on the whitewashed walls of her living room,"You're King is already more than enough trouble."
Haruna felt the boy in front of her burning with rage. She still couldn't believe how easily one who could intimidate him. It didn't take much to light the short fuse. He seemed about ready to attack. A vanguard and a King? Who's going to win?
Of course, its the King.
She attempted to divert the attention from Munakata to the man's unconscious body on the floor,"Captain, care to explain to this me?"
The two men looked down at her intruder before them. Munakata bent down and observed the body for a bit before lifting one of the pant leg to reveal a red ankle. The other parts of the skin maintained its light complexion and it seemed that the red spot was caused by some irritation of some sort. She noticed a metal circlet that rested at the very bottom of his leg. It seemed like it a contraption that one could simply remove a slight tug, but she knew that this guy had tried one too many times.
"I apologize, Aigasa-kun."
"Eh?"
"It appears that I've troubled you again." He started,"You know this residential area contains a majority of the strains on probation."
"Why the fuck do you let criminal strains on probation?" Yata grumbled as he retrieved his skateboard,"It makes no god damn sense."
"Don't get me wrong, our more lethal strains are kept within our facilities." Munakata explained,"It just so happens that we tagged the wrong person."
"Even good ol' Scepter 4 makes shitty mistakes."
The captain just kept silent to that and tilted his head again with a small smile.
Haruna looked down and squatted beside this "strain". It was strange. She's lived here for half a year already and she didn't even realize people like this guy passed out on her floor were her neighbors all around her or even existed at all. She took the circlet in her fingers and started to mess around with it. The blue stood up again and walked around the room once more; taking in his broken surroundings.
"There's judgement written all over your face, Munakata."
"Nonsense. I was merely recalculating the sum of all the damages."
"That's not the only thing that'll need repairing once I'm through with y-"
"Yata-san." Haruna cut him short and shot him her best death glare,"No."
His cheeks kinda puffed out slightly like a pufferfish.
That face he was making... Was he pouting again at her?
It was kind of adorable.
Her attention shifted back to Munakata who started to speak to someone over his PDA. She felt the distaste on her tongue and the now ill-tempered girl had the reoccurring feeling of bashing a person's head on her murdered walls; specifically a certain apathetic, blue haired man that she absolutely detested.
"Fushimi-kun. Please dispatch a group to retrieve a strain. No. Those aren't needed." She watched as the captain nodded his head and give hums of approval,"Room 18." He ended the call and Yata already looked irritated as he began to fidget on the snow white couch.
Noticing this, Munakata suggested to him,"Perhaps you should leave before you give us more reason to arrest you." Haruna realized that the Scepter 4 captain also knew what would potentially come about once that retrieval team arrived.
It meant the stupid fish.
It meant another murderous brawl.
And then more debt she had to owe to Scepter 4.
Haruna was silent; simply staring at the Blue King and Red Vanguard. She continued for another moment before taking action and dragging Yata out from the couch the old fashioned way by his collar.
"Let go of me, Haruna or I swear-"
"Swearing is bad kid, and I think you should go over your honorifics."
"Woma-" She threw him out the door for the second time today (hopefully for good) and slammed it shut; leaning on the door and eying another amethyst pair intently.
"Don't aggravate that man in my house." Haruna felt the long strands of her hair stand up on her head as she hissed.
"My presence seemed to be already aggravating." Munakata lifted a brow,"You said a man, but earlier you-"
"He is not the only person you're beginning aggravate."
"I do hope you're not forgetting that you still have another problem that could potentially regain consciousness."
"Damn it. Why even worry anymore?" Haruna looked down at the body on the floor and groaned,"You're the Blue King, you can beat the shit out of some... strain thing."
A/N: The strain seemed too sudden? A bit too random? It will all be explained next chapter- From who he is, his behavior and..?
On a side note: *CRIES*
I must've screwed up my characterization- figures after two weeks+ of no writing or updates. This was rushed. Completely and utterly rushed. Auto-correct on iPhones make it all the more worse. Time to grab a computer soon for better edits. :U
grahak: Thank you so much! The wait is over for now and I plan on adding Saru into the next chapter... most likely with his point of view. 3
oXo Akino oXo: Thank you! Bwahaha, I did my best and I'm hoping all that studying was worth it- I'll find out mid July on how I did on the exam. Saru x Haruna moments? Hehehe... Me too, me too.
Guest #1: Thank you! That means a lot! 3
You will find out soon~
Eryn Goddess of Chaos: Dadadadaaaaaaaa- Indeed, she has suffocated him on accident. I'm sorry for the confusion; I did mean for it to be a little mystery on how he passed out, but you got it on the dot, haha. xD
Guest #2: MAYBE TEEHEE~
Guest #3: Whew, thanks I needed that. I really hope I did well enough to pass! = u =
SOOOOON. I PROMISE. I'll definitely make her choose before chapter 16. c:
Rasielis: Thank you, thank you! I'm glad you like her! Her partner shall be... Ahaha, we'll see who she picks~ C;
I will attempt to write Fushimi's POV upon his arrival next chapter. Haruna shall also receive a crash course on strains.
HUGS AND KISSES FOR EVERYBODY, AND:
See you next time. c: