Chasing Cars

AN: The story is titled 'Chasing Cars' because my influence for this story was the song 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol. Somehow, it seemed to fit the couple. If you haven't heard it, listen to it. You'll see what I mean. ^^ also, in this story, Ouran is more of a boarding school. I don't know for sure if every day they go home or if they spend the night in their own rooms at the academy and go home on the weekends, so I just made it like a regular boarding school where they go home on the weekends. please don't criticize me for this.

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It was late, but it was Friday, so it was okay that Haruhi was up.

She knew she shouldn’t be up, but she couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe it was the thought of staying in the empty academy for two weeks alone while all her friends went on expensive vacations with their families. Mori and Honey-sempai were going to Russia, and Kyouya was going to China with his parents to go to a medical seminar and then stay there the rest of the vacation. Tamaki and his family were going on a two-week cruise in Alaska, and Hikaru and Kaoru were going to Ireland.

She opened a book lying beside her bed, but she found she was too distracted to concentrate on the words, so she closed it again with a sigh. She wanted to ask at least one of the host club members to stay with her, but since no one would be in the academy, she was pretty sure she and whoever else stayed with her would get into trouble if they were caught.

“Kyouya-sempai,” She had asked earlier in the music room, “is anyone here when the school’s closed for vacation?”

Kyouya pushed up his glasses and looked up at her from his notebook. “Well, as far as I know…” His eyes strayed back to the notebook. “No one, not even cleaners come in here during a vacation or break. The school is locked and only Tamaki’s dad has the access code and key to get back in. Since he’s going on vacation, no one will be here until school resumes.”

“Okay, thanks.” Haruhi had turned and headed back to her room when the twins seemingly appeared from no where and confronted her.

“Haruhi,” Kaoru said, “you’re hiding something.”

“E-eh? H-hiding something? No.”

Hikaru rolled his eyes and smiled. “You’re a bad liar, Haruhi.”

She glared at them and felt her cheeks flush. He was right – she was a bad liar, and there was no way she’d be able to slip past them.

“Okay,” she sighed, “my dad is going on vacation with his otaku friends, and he didn’t want me to stay at the house for two weeks alone.”

Kaoru and Hikaru exchanged glances. “So, you’re going to stay here the whole two weeks alone?” They asked together. Haruhi nodded guiltily.

After that, they had shrugged and promised not to say anything to anyone else and left her alone.

But that had been around noon, and it was now nearing 1:30 in the morning. She closed her eyes and immediately felt uneasy.

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up. What was that noise just now?

She jumped off of her bed and pulled back the curtain on her window. A flash of lightning and a deep rumble of thunder caused her to cry out, and she covered her mouth. Based on how quickly the thunder had sounded after the lightning, the storm was probably right above the academy. Her eyes widened in terror and her mouth hung open. She wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

She fell to her knees and hardly even noticed the feel of her cool tears running down her cheeks. She reached up to her bedside table and grabbed her cell-phone.
She flicked it open with shaky hands and selected one of the two names she had finally gotten around to adding to her address book.

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“Hey, Hikaru.”

“Mmm…what?”

“Your cell’s ringing.”

Kaoru grabbed Hikaru’s phone. “It’s…it’s Haruhi.”

Hikaru immediately sat up and snatched the phone from his brother’s hands. “Hello?!” He practically yelled into the receiver, “Haruhi, are you okay?”

Kaoru looked out the window, and a flash of lightning almost blinded him. He blinked in surprise and turned towards Hikaru as the thunder rumbled. “Hikaru, is she okay?”

Hikaru’s face was white, and he handed the phone to Kaoru, who put it up to his ear and listened:

“Hika…the…th-the lightn-ni…”

Kaoru’s eyes widened at the sound of Haruhi’s small voice, and he handed the phone back to Hikaru. “Haruhi, listen!” Hikaru said impatiently, “We’re coming to get you!”

They jumped off the bed and thrust their door open, sprinting through the hallway towards Haruhi’s room.

Kaoru opened the door and they walked inside. Books were strewn across the floor, the curtains were in a tangled heap on the ground, and her sheets were tossed aside on her bed. “Haruhi” Hikaru called, “where are you?”

Kaoru put a finger to his lips and pointed under the bed. Hikaru kneeled down and lifted the sheets. “Haruhi,” He said, “Haruhi, come out from there. We’re here, it’s okay.”

Haruhi opened one eye cautiously and started to move towards him when the lightning and thunder came again and she cried out and froze.

“Hikaru, you get Haruhi. I’m going to go back to our room and set up the bed.” Kaoru told Hikaru, and he was already out the door.

Kaoru ran to their room and immediately grabbed Hikaru’s suitcase, dumping its contents into the dresser. He closed the suitcase and put it back where it had been, than he grabbed a blanket from their closet and a pillow and laid them on the carpet.

Back in Haruhi’s room, Hikaru was still struggling to get her out from under the bed. “Haruhi!” He whispered, “Come out, it’s okay!”

But she just shook her head, so finally, being so fed up, he reached with both arms under the bed and grabbed her.

“Hik…Hikaru!”

Hikaru ignored her and carried her, standing up with her still in his arms. He walked out of her room, shutting it with his foot. “Close your eyes real tight,” He told her quietly as they made their way back to his room, “and then maybe you won’t see the lightning.”

She glanced up at him with her big, deer-like brown eyes and did as he said. He looked down at her, noting the few tears that dropped down from her lashes when she closed her eyes. “Really, Haruhi…” He sighed, “You need to trust me more.”

She nodded slightly and squeezed his shirt.

“Ah, Hikaru,” Kaoru said when they came in, “I’ve got a bed made down here for you. Haruhi can have the bed.”

Hikaru laid Haruhi down on the bed gently. “What about you?” Kaoru smiled. “I’ll be staying with Kyouya. He has an extra bed in his room. I’ll take my suitcase, okay?”

Hikaru laid a hand on Haruhi’s shaking back and rubbed it, then frowned at his twin. “Well, okay, I guess…” Kaoru came over and grabbed his hand. “Hikaru, don’t worry.”

And then Kaoru left before he could say another word.

Hikaru scratched his head. Jeez, he thought, no Kaoru, which means I’ll be here alone, with her. He walked over to the bed and pulled the blanket up over her shoulders. It was a cold night, and the last thing he wanted was for her to catch a cold.

“Haruhi,” he said softly, “I’ll be right down here, okay?” He thought he saw her nod, but it might have been a trick of the light.

He grabbed a second blanket out of the closet and draped it across Haruhi. She was still shivering. He smiled warmly and placed a hand on her head. Then, he laid down on the blanket Kaoru had spread out for him. It was cold, and he didn’t have another blanket, but he valued her health more than his, self-centered as he was.

“Goodnight, Haruhi. I’ll be right here if you need me.” He whispered to her.

And with that said, he closed his eyes, worry clouding his thoughts like the gathering storm clouds he and Haruhi had failed to notice at around noon earlier that day.

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Kyouya did not like to be woken up, and perhaps this was one of the reasons Kaoru hesitated to go through with this plan of his. He didn’t like to lie to Hikaru, but worst of all he hated being apart from him. He silently let his feet take him up two stairways, and then he was at the door of Kyouya’s room.

It had been a good thing he had called him earlier telling him he was coming to sleep over. Given the situation, Kyouya had agreed to let him spend the night. He knocked twice, and Kyouya opened the door. “The bed’s all made,” He yawned. Kaoru smiled. “Thank you, Kyouya-sempai.”

Kyouya rubbed his eyes and flopped down back onto his bed. “No problem.”

He switched off the light on his bedside table and closed his eyes.

“Hey, Kyouya?”

“Yea?”

“Do you…do you think I made the right choice? For…for both of them, I mean.”

Kyouya did not answer for a long time. Kaoru waited, in the dark for his answer. “Yes,” He said finally, “but I think the chances are Haruhi returning Hikaru’s as-of-yet-to-be discovered feelings is slim, unless he behaves right.”

Kaoru frowned. “Meaning?”

Kyouya sat up; Kaoru could hear his blankets rustling. “Well, Hikaru doesn’t know yet that he likes Haruhi. Haruhi, also somewhat dense in this area, won’t realize her true feelings for him, if she harbors any, unless he realizes his first and acts accordingly.”

Kaoru smiled. “I…I hope he does,” he said, “I want him to be happy.”

“I know you do. Now go to sleep, Kaoru.”

“Yes, thank you, Kyouya-sempai. Goodnight.”

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Hikaru’s eyes opened heavily. What had woken him up? It had been two hours since he had fallen asleep. Lightning and thunder greeted him when he sat up, and he heard a cry from the bed.

“Haruhi?”

“Hik…Hikaru…”

He looked down at his hand. What else was he supposed to do? He could hear her crying. Had she not even fallen asleep? “Haruhi,” He called to her, “come down here, okay?”

He hadn’t been expecting her to comply, so he was quite surprised when she practically fell out of the bed and crawled towards him. She had brought the blankets along with her.

Hikaru inched over and patted the space next to him. Haruhi snuggled in, letting Hikaru reach across her to spread the blankets over the both of them. “Will you be all right now?” He asked. She nodded slowly, barely lifting her head.

He took his sleeve and wiped it across her face. “You don’t want to go to bed with a tear-stained face,” He whispered, “because when you wake up, your face’ll be sticky.”

The lightning flashed again and she cried out. Hikaru gingerly placed a hand across her small form, not knowing how she’d react to being touched. Usually, he’d get a well-deserved smack for this, but she let him unhesitatingly. When she let him do this, he took a bolder move and pulled her to his chest. Instead of protesting, she clutched his shirt. Hikaru felt his face flush and he closed his eyes.

“Hik…Hikaru…”

“Yeah?”

“I’m scared.”

Hikaru felt his cheeks go hot again, his heart thumping inside his chest wildly. “Don’t be.” He whispered to her.

Every time the lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled, Haruhi clutched his shirt tighter and Hikaru squeezed her body comfortingly. He was still surprised that she was so willing to let him touch her, and even more surprised that she, in turn, was touching him.

But somehow, none of that seemed to matter anymore. A warmth in his torso made him forget about everything but him and her, laying there. He barely even remembered why she was there in his arms in the first place. It was an odd feeling, that growing warmth now seeping throughout his body, but he hoped that Haruhi, pressed so closely to his body, felt it too.

Aah, sorry it was so short!! I promise I’ll make the next chapter longer. ^^ thank you for reading so far, I’ll update as soon as I can!!