log; complete

[hescafe.livejournal.com]

When; Oct 8th sometime in the evening
Rating; G
Characters; Hisoka [empathed] and Haruhi [hescafe]
Summary; After the darker than black curse day, Haruhi had left the CD player playing a thunder soundtrack (which had been her renumeration). Paralyzed by fear, she had been unable to turn it off, but Hisoka comes to save the day. Being stuck in a closet isn't fun.
Log;

It was a risk to do this, but Haruhi had sounded like she was in such distress, and he couldn't understand why. If she was in her room, then why were there sounds of thunder? Was it magic? Someone attacking her?

It would have taken too long to run there, so he ran as far as he could without arousing suspicion, then found a remote location before concentrating. He had been there once before. Haruhi had been gravely ill, and once she felt better he had made sure to escort her to her room. So long as the location was one he was familiar with, this was a piece of cake.

Hoping she had listened to him and wasn't looking, Hisoka appeared in the girl's room, only to jump and feel his skin crawl at a loud crashing sound. Thunder?

...Shit. The computer?! Darting over to it, Hisoka switched the volume off, then stepped back to look around. It was easy to pick up her distress... She was in the closet, and she was terrified.

With an eyebrow raises, the teenager was careful not to let her emotions mingle with his as he stepped over, but didn't touch the closet door. His voice was quiet. "...Haruhi-san?"

A muffled whimpering could be heard from the closet. Haruhi sat in the darkness of the closet, curled up in a ball. She hated thunder. She hated the flash of lightning. She hated it all. The feeling of lonely nights and her father off at work. Haruhi did not like it one bit. It frightened her.

The thunder faded slightly and she could pick up a familiar voice. Familiar, but she couldn't recognize who. She was too distressed to think calmly. Her breathing was harsh, had she been crying? She remained curled up and all she could do was nod for a bit. Yes, she was Haruhi. Her lip quivered, unable to get a proper grasp on words. If she tried to speak now, the girl might have ended up crying.

She was so distressed that he honestly didn't want to get any closer, but it was clear he couldn't just leave her alone after this. With a sigh, Hisoka reached out to pull the closet open, blinking down at the form curled up. So strange... She had always seemed to strong to him. It was hard to even think of her as a girl.

Yet there she was looking to be on the verge of tears.

Crouching down in front of her, Hisoka kept his expression placid. "Haruhi-san, it's me Hisoka. Are you all right? Are you injured?"

She looked up suddenly, meeting his gaze. Hisoka. It was Hisoka. She wasn't alone anymore.

Haruhi whimpered slightly, trying to pull herself together. "H-Hi...soka...s-s-san...?" She couldn't do it. The girl couldn't let him see her like this, but she couldn't hold the tears back anymore. It was a mix of everything, relief that someone was here for her now, recovery from her fear, and desperation that she could not keep this side of herself hidden. Haruhi had been self-depended, she hadn't needed anybody. She could take care of herself, couldn't she? Yet she could't handle thunderstorms.

She covered her face, curling back up into a ball. "I-I'm...I'm fine..."

He was close to panicking when she started to cry. He wanted to just back up and leave right then... This wasn't his problem. But...

...She was trying so hard. You didn't have to be an Empath to tell.

Trying to seem as nonchalant as possible, Hisoka pulled the doors open the rest of the way before sighing and flopping down right next to her. Sitting there, he draped his arms over his knees and stared straight ahead. He wasn't going to watch her cry...it hurt enough just being near her. She was trying hard to be strong, so...

"Obviously. The closet's just a nice place to sit, right? Nice view. Not a bad place to sit and read." Hisoka wasn't very good with jokes.

The crying eased; it was easier to breath now. Hisoka was talking, and he wasn't looking down on her for this break down.

She nodded slightly to his small talk, "U-un...yes..." Haruhi's crying had lessened considerably and her vision started blurring at the edges a bit. "T-Thank you...Hisoka...sa...n..." she murmured.

Her relief was comforting, but she was still depressed enough to make him tense. Haruhi obviously depended a lot on people thinking her strong. Maybe they weren't so different.

"...It's nothing," he muttered, though there was a flush to his cheeks due to embarrassment. He kept his gaze averted, focusing on a shirt hanging off to the side.

The girl unfortunately started nodding off. Haruhi couldn't help it; she had not gotten any sleep since the curse had started. Throughout the course of the curse, she had been stuck in the closet, scared out of her mind.

In short, she hadn't slept a wink and she was tired now.

Brown eyes glazed over with drowsiness, she began drifting off to sleep. Haruhi just felt so tired...

"Sorry...for the...trouble..." she whispered, and dozed off.

"Haruhi-san?" He quickly looked over at her just as her eyes began to close, and then she was asleep so fast he didn't even have time to move. Her form suddenly slumped to the side, resting against him, and his face turned red, his body going rigid.

...But he had nothing to fear. Her dream was nothing like Tsubaki's. It was...warm. Comforting. Something about cooking food and being with the people she trusted. ...He had to wonder what he was doing in the dream.

It was...hard to pull himself out, but with a quick shake of his head, Hisoka shifted and moved to pull Haruhi's small form into his arms. He just had to keep a strong will. It was her dream. Not his. He was awake.

Still, the shinigami moved as quickly as he could to carry her over to her bed and lay her down. Once her blanket was pulled up to her chin, he sighed and rested a hand against his chest. ...That hadn't been so bad.