NOTE: A one-shot that I wanted to write between Ben and Haru. This is canon to P10 if you were wondering, so yeah.
Can't exactly give you an update on when the next installment to the main story will get uploaded, but it'll happen once I have the chance!
Enjoy and Review!
Special Chapter: Crying Isn't So Bad If It Brings Us Closer
Ben massaged the sore bump on his head, reeling from the punishment Yukiko had dished out to him and Gwen for disobeying her orders from earlier. It wasn't his fault some jerk decided to terrorize a theme park, because of his own jealousy! Crossing his arms, Ben pouted at nobody in particular as he moved away from the group a bit.
Haru watched the boy walk away, confused on what she should do. She had helped out the Tennysons in the most dangerous thing she's ever done in her entire life and got an autograph from Pink Argus on top of it! All in all, her goals for the day had been completed and it would be wise to hurry back to her bodyguards before her father got too suspicious.
But she couldn't stop staring at Ben. The desire to follow after him kept nagging at her like it had been the entire day. "What should I do…?"
"What do you mean?"
"EEP!" Haru squeaked. She saw Gwen had snuck up on her, the sorceress rubbing her own comically large bump. "I-I didn't say anything!" Haru waved her arms around in a panicked manner.
Gwen raised an eyebrow, confused by her friend's behavior. "Is everything okay, Haru?"
"Y-yes! I-I just…" The girl pushed her fingers together, contemplating how to get her words out. "Um… I just wanted to know if Ben was okay."
Looking over Haru's shoulder, Gwen could see Ben sulking away. She rolled her eyes at him, then gave her attention back to Haru. "I wouldn't worry about that doofus so much. He's usually like that after receiving a punishment from Yukiko."
"Still…! I don't want him to be upset or regret what has happened…" Haru mumbled. This had been the most fun she's ever had in her life in such a long time. To see her new friend in such a bad mood made her feel terrible. "Maybe, it's my fault for getting involved."
"What? No way!" Gwen denied, placing her hands on Haru's shoulders. "We would've gotten involved in the whole cartoon show mess regardless. Trouble follows us wherever we go, so don't put any of that on you. It was us who continued dragging you along for the ride when you could've been hurt."
Haru shook her head. "I-I wanted to help you guys! Y-you're my first friends… I didn't want to risk losing my chance to make friends." She mumbled that last part, making it hard for Gwen to properly hear her.
"What do you mean?"
"N-nothing!" Haru squeaked. She pulled away from Gwen, scurrying away towards Ben. "I-I'm going to go check on Ben!"
Gwen stood there, confused by Haru's behavior, which didn't go unnoticed by Yukiko and Kenny. The teens walked over to her, wondering what was going on. "Is everything alright, Gwen?" Yukiko asked.
"Huh? Yeah…it's just that Haru was acting a bit weird."
"What do you mean?" Kenny asked.
"She kept mumbling a bunch of stuff and seemed pretty concerned for Ben. I told her there wasn't much of a need to worry about that doofus. Him having a little tantrum is nothing new." Gwen explained.
"Seems she's pretty concerned for him, seems Ben's got the attention of a cute girl, huh?" Kenny chuckled. His laughter didn't last long as both girls gave him the most repulsed looks, he's ever seen in his entire life.
"Don't ever assume Haru would have feelings for that annoying doofus ever again."
"Ben is too young to date girls, the only girl he needs in his life is his big sister."
Shrinking away from the two like a scared child, Kenny tried his luck again. "B-but…uh…what about aunt Sandra?"
"She'll have to fight me for him." Yukiko declared.
Kenny was now dreading the moment that his aunt Sandra and Yukiko would meet, and just how disastrous the situation would end up being for Ben.
"Ben?" Green orbs stared into soft brown ones, trying to figure out the mystery of the girl in front of him.
"Haru?" Ben tilted his head. "What do you want?"
"I-I…uh…just wanted to make sure you were fine." She replied.
Ben shrugged. "I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
"I'm just a bit annoyed, because of the stupid punishment." Ben grumbled. "I stopped Kane from killing his brother and Tim Dean and I got hit for it? Ugh…totally not fair."
"Well…you didn't do it alone." Haru reminded him.
Ben blinked at her, remembering the way she knocked out Kane. "Yeah… I guess. But Yukiko likes making a big deal out of stuff!"
"I think she was just worried about you guys from how she acted. Gwen explained that she didn't want you two getting into trouble and then the whole fiasco happened." Haru said. "We also kept getting involved in the situation as well."
"So, you're taking her side?"
"W-what!? No! I-I'm just saying that y-you shouldn't get upset over it!"
"Yeah, well, I didn't ask you, did I!? Don't butt into stuff that doesn't involve you!"
Haru flinched from his tone, the young girl found herself remembering the harsh tone that her father would take with her whenever she would speak up.
"Don't talk about nonsense, Haru! A child has no business getting involved in adult conversations! Sit down and behave yourself for once! You're an Okumura, not some ill-mannered child!"
Legs shaking slightly, Haru could feel the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She had done it now…thanks to her big mouth she just lost one of her first friends. Her father was right about her, she just messes things up in the end! "R-right… I'm sorry for getting involved. I'll leave you alone."
Ben looked back at that moment to see the tears falling down her cheeks. The sight of Haru crying reminded him a lot of Yukiko's crying face back in New York. A huge wave of guilt slammed into his stomach like an anchor. He watched as she turned to leave him, but before he even realized it, his hand grabbed her's.
Haru froze in her tracks, turning her tear-stained face back to Ben. The two didn't say a word to one another for a moment, simply lost in the other's eyes as they tried to figure out what was going on. The girl felt a blush spread across her face as she held a boy's hand for the first time, having read about all of these scenarios in romance novels. "W-why is he grabbing my hand!? I-is he going to confess to me or something!?"
Ben could feel the soft skin of Haru's hand. It wasn't like touching a girl's hand was something new to him, because he's been in contact with the female members of his family multiple times. But there was something about Haru's that just felt…weird to him. He just didn't know what it was, but there was something that Ben did know. "I-I'm sorry."
"W-what!?" Haru squeaked, not expecting him to apologize.
"Yukiko and Gwen always tell me that I have a habit of saying a bunch of stuff without thinking. Which isn't always true! But, I guess this time they were right." He sighed, before looking her in the eyes again. "I shouldn't have blown up at you like that just because I was a little peeved. You were right in saying that it was no big deal, and making a friend cry isn't exactly on my to-do list." He was about to let go of her hand, but Haru suddenly strengthened her grip.
"D-don't apologize, Ben!" She exclaimed suddenly, catching him off guard. "Y-you were right that I shouldn't try getting involved in your problems. I'm just some girl you met randomly, not anyone important." Her eyes traveled downwards, her grip on his hand loosening as she spoke. "I don't deserve to be friends with people like you… I'm just-
"You're wrong." Haru's eyes stared at Ben with disbelief, especially when he tightened the grip between their hands. "We're friends, so you're pretty important to us."
"Important to us…?" Haru felt as if her world of darkness was slowly being filled with light. And that light was staring her right in the face in the form of Ben Tennyson. Suddenly, the water works returned in full force, causing her to cry loudly, alerting the others.
"Crud! What are you crying for this time!?" Ben yelled, fearing that he screwed up again.
"BENJAMIN TENNYSON!" He flinched in fear, seeing both his cousins racing over to kick his ass for making Haru cry.
"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"
"And that's how your Father made me cry!" Adult Haru finished the tale to her children, smiling brightly. Both Kenny and Gwen blinked at her before turning to their father with angry glares.
"How dare you make Mama cry, stupid Papa!" Gwen yelled.
"Idiot Dad!" Kenny added.
"Who are you calling an idiot, you brats!" Ben roared at his kids. "And that was a long time ago!" Ben added.
Gwen didn't care, slamming her little fists against his legs. "Making Mama cry is an offense punishable by death!"
"Death!?" Ben cried.
"It's been nice knowing you, Father." Ken gave his father one last salute.
"Hey!"
Kenny turned away, pretending to weep. "Our Father was a great man, but he was dumb enough to bring tears to our Mother's eyes. Such a shame we had to get rid of him like a piece of hair stuck in the shower drain."
"Don't just act like I'm dead already! And who are you comparing to a piece of hair stuck in a shower drain!?"
"Silly, Papa!" Gwen shook her head. "Everyone knows that the piece of hair stuck in the shower drain is nothing more than a nuisance that needs to be removed like a weed."
"You said that a little too happily!"
"Pfft! Snrk!" The three stopped their arguing to see Haru trying not to laugh. Tears were building up in her eyes as the laughter broke through. "Hahahahahahahaha!"
"Waahh! Mama! Why are you crying!?" Gwen panicked, fearing the worst. "Did we do something wrong!?"
Haru calmed herself down, grabbing her daughter, and pulling Gwen into her lap. "No, my little star. There aren't sad tears, they're happy ones."
"Happy ones?" Kenny tilted his head.
"Yup! Just like the ones from the story." Haru explained to her kids. "Your Father's words made me so happy that I couldn't help but cry. Tears aren't always a sad thing; they can also represent the feelings of joy within someone." She grabbed Kenny, bringing him close as well. "The tears that I spilled all those years ago brought me closer to your Father and the others. And I couldn't be any happier because of those tears."
Ben wrapped his arms around them, bringing his loving family into a big embrace. "Your Mother is right, kids. Don't be afraid to cry whether you're happy or sad. And we'll always be there to dry those tears up for you."
"Pinky promise?" Gwen held up her pinky. Haru, Ben, and Kenny all joined their pinkies with her's, making a family promise.
"Promise."
SpecialEnd
NOTE: I hope you all enjoyed this little one-shot. I really wanted to write something between Ben and Haru, but don't want to give away all of the development they'll be going through in the future. So, I settled for something like this.
The end here does take place sometime before the Ken 10 episode if you're wondering.
Have a great day!