A/n: This fanfic is a salutation to the wonders of my dreams. You see, I woke up one day with an entire cast and plotline already in my head.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya or any of it's characters.

--- Chapter 1

How did I manage to get wrapped up in this?

This is a question I ask myself surprisingly often, I mean, it's not like I'm special in any way. So why?

Because I found her and I awakened her, the girl that was meant to be the solution to everything.

Well at least that's what they say, I'm not sure if I ever really trusted them, but at the time I didn't have any choice in the matter. It was either trust in them, or die. The latter part being made very clear to me, after all that's how the Organization works, if someone gets in the way, they die.

It's always been like this. Well that's not completely true, I remember a long time ago, back when I was a teenager, when the Organization didn't exist. Well at least they weren't working out in the open. Who knows how long they've existed in the shadows.

I look across the table at her, she really is beautiful, her skin looks like porcelain and her eyes look like they're made out of liquefied chrome.

She looks up at me, something inquisitive in her eyes.

"Ah, sorry Nagato. I was just thinking about how I got myself wrapped up in this," she blinks and then go back to reading her book.

Since the first time I met her, she has always been like this, it's not that she lacks emotion, at least I don't think she does, she just have some trouble with expressing them.

Granted this might be because she somehow became a person without experiencing any sort of childhood, but nonetheless it takes some time to get used to, in fact I think the only one capable of reading the subtle expressions of her emotions, is me.

So exactly why am I sitting at a table together with Nagato, musing about this complicated world?

We're currently at a restaurant, one of the few places where it's possible to meet with others without raising suspicion, making it the places of choice for most people not wanting attention, well that and we no longer has any other place to go, since we were attacked by the Organization a couple of hours back, so now we wait for the only ones that I sort of trust, Nagato's original creators, the Data Thought thingy.

I've never been good with long names, making my career choice something of a mystery, in my defense it should be noted that I didn't choose it because of it's influence on the opposite sex, unlike someone I knew back during my high school days would have done.

I'm a scientist, exactly what I specialize in however, is something that I've forgotten from the stress of the many crazy events of this last month, I have a vague memory of an experiment that for some reason ripped a hole in the fabric of the world, whether or not that was on purpose or not is something that I couldn't recall for the life of me.

Has it really only been a month? It feels more like a year.

My gaze drifts back to Nagato, the reason I forgot everything after that experiment might simply have been that I realized that I couldn't let my superiors get their hands on the girl who fell through that hole, I say fell, but it was more a type of being gently lowered to the floor.

Nagato closes her book, immediately snapping me out of my thoughts as the one we've been waiting for enters the restaurant.

Emiri Kimidori.

She walks towards our table and I ask her to take a seat.

"You seem to be faring well considering the circumstances," as usual that polite expression doesn't waver no matter what the subject.

"I hate to say it, but I guess you can get used to most of the things life throws at you," it has been a really long month.

---

During the half an hour in which I talked with Kimidori, she admitted to not knowing how the Organization had found us, but did caution me not to attract too much attention to myself since, after all, there was something like a price on my head, I've said it before, anyone that gets in the Organization's way, dies.

She also gave us directions to a safe house, instructing us to lay low until the dust settled, then she left, leaving me to pay the bill.

As Nagato and I walked through the busy streets, I couldn't help but wonder if this was all that there would be in my life.

Am I going to be on the run for ever? Hiding in shabby looking apartments, barely avoiding the Organizations raids, knowing that if I didn't I would be dead?

Would I ever be able to live peacefully again?

I glanced at Nagato who were walking next to me. If she hadn't showed up, what would my life be like?

Did it matter?

No, not really.

It's only been a month and yet I can't imagine a life without this expressionless girl by my side.

The safe house that Kimidori sent us to was just as shabby looking as the last one, and just like last time the first thing I did upon entering it was checking for different escape routes, a person really can get used to almost everything.

---

I ran.

I could hear some people screaming, I didn't stop to see whether it was terror or pain that compelled them into making what had over the last month become a familiar noise.

There!

I could see her standing over an Organization member, he wasn't moving.

"Nagato!" she turned around and faced me as a loud rumble suddenly silenced one of the screamers, "We need to get out of here! The roof is caving in!" she nodded and followed me.

Knowing from experience that the Organization would be covering any of the obvious exits, we ran instead towards the basement where it would be possible to gain access to the sewers below.

As we ran we passed close to another exit. The screams of people claiming their innocence or begging for mercy as well as the sound of gunfire proved my suspicion to be correct, just like always, they were killing off everyone who attempted to escape the burning building, whether they fit the description or not didn't matter, it never did.

Through a well hidden door, down the dark stairs, now even darker than usual since my eyes had gotten used to the raging inferno above us, through another door, throwing aside the carpet hiding it and opening the manhole.

It smells really bad, but the unfazed Nagato climbs down it as if she hadn't noticed.

I wonder if she can somehow shut off her nose?

I follow her, grimacing about the smell, but without flinching. I'm already used to the sewers, they're the perfect escape route since the Organization, for some reason, don't usually consider them into their calculations.

I close the manhole as I continue to climb deeper, not long afterwards my feet realize that there we've arrived at the bottom, the sewers were too small to be able to walk upright in them, but considering the liquid that was I standing in, there was distinct reluctance to crawling on my hands and knees. This meant that I walked folded doubled, as I developed new and interesting ways to gain back pains.

With Nagato leading the way, how she's able to navigate in these pitch black tunnels without a light I'll never know, we reached the ladder that lead up to the other manhole.

I climb upwards until finally my fingers make contact with a large flat surface and I push open the manhole cover so that I can see if there is anyone around.

There's no-one around, and I finally climb out of the smelly darkness that I owe my life to.

Nagato emerges just a few moments later, and I push the cover close.

---

I open my eyes.

"A dream?"

Nagato sits in the corner still reading that book, I think it's her way of relaxing, she doesn't budge at my question since it wasn't directed towards her.

After exiting the sewers Nagato and I made our way to the nearest payphone, told her makers about exactly what had happened and was told to meet at the restaurant in another hour. Then the two of us found the nearest place that sold clothes that didn't smell like a sewer drain.

Running, hiding and running again. How could anyone expect a person to stay sane if that's all that you do.

Although Nagato was very calming and there was no way I could've survived this long without her, being together with her locked inside a small room for extended periods of time was enough to drive anyone slightly mad with boredom.

"Nagato?" she looks up, "Is it okay if I were to go outside to buy something to eat?"

"Yes."

That's all I need to know, away I go.

---

I've learned in this last month that when you're hunted you learn to walk in a way that doesn't make you stand out of the crowd. Exactly how this achieved however, is somewhat of a mystery to me.

I watch the slow milling of the crowd as I walk trying to avoid bumping in to someone, no matter how stealthily you walked, if you bumped into someone there was a high chance of your imminent demise.

Realizing that it will become impossible not to shove, if I were to continue on the street, I take refuge in a nearby alley.

There doesn't seem to be anyone else that have decided to do the same, well except a girl that looks to be old enough to go to high school, with a yellow ribbon holding her hair back, that is walking in the opposite direction.

Though her eyes seemed to have lingered at my face for a little longer then was normal, she seemed to think nothing of it as she walked pass.

Suddenly a hand grabs my collar and pushes me up against the wall, her face only a few inches from mine.

"Don't move."

Is this how it's going to end? Murdered in an alley by a high school girl?

As I curse whatever god thought up such an ironic way in which for me to die, somehow I get the feeling that there is a possibility that she isn't going to kill me, and, despite the awkwardness of my situation, the thought makes me relax.

I realize that her eyes are looking towards the end of the alley from which I came, trying to understand why I look that way as well, there is an Organization patrol passing by just outside on the street, and I can't help but tense up once more.

Once the patrol has passed the girl looks somewhat inquisitive at me.

"So what's your relationship with the Organization?"

Ah, this might be bad, think fast.

"I don't like burning buildings," she raises an eyebrow at my answer.

"I think you and I can get along," for the first time in what feels like years I was able to witness a genuine, heartfelt, smile.

---

The girl introduced herself as Haruhi, and for some reason I introduced myself with a nickname from my school days that I'd never really been able to get rid of.

"So Kyon," I admit that I never really liked the nickname, but it felt strangely calming to hear such a familiar and everyday annoyance, it gave me the feeling that, someday, this would all be over, "Why are you out wandering the streets?"

"If I stay cooped up indoors any longer I think I might go insane, besides we could use some supplies," she looks curious.

"We? So who's this other person?"

"A friend," she looks somewhat disappointed with the abrupt answer, but lets it slide.

"So how come you can't stay cooped up indoors?"

"Reliable as she is, she's not very good conversation material."

"A girl, huh?" she smiles "Well I guess I can understand, Mikuru is the complete opposite, she's pretty much useless at everything other than cooking, but she's very easy to talk to."

This conversation continued as we made our way to the store, and once there we somehow just felt that it was natural to shop together.

Haruhi looked disapproving at the instant ramen and other similar things which I were buying, and I looked at her in disbelief as she bought an insane variety of things.

"Your friend really must be an amazing cook," she looked back at me and grinned from ear to ear.

"Of course!" she again looked at what I had bought, and then back at me, "You know… I think you might need some proper food, how about you and that friend of yours join us?"

I stared at her, shocked at the proposal.

"Sorry, I think that might be a bad idea, so I'll have to decline," she looked somewhat disappointed, but apparently she wasn't going to let this one slide.

"Fine, but at least you should come have a meal with us."

"Do I really look that terrible?" she nods.

"Yeah, you do," she grabs me by the collar and pulls me in close, "Say yes and I'll let you leave with your teeth intact," frightening as it might be, I think she's serious.

"Okay, I'll eat with you," she's a little odd this girl, but she has a truly stunning smile.

---

The apartment that Haruhi brought me to was, although definitely rundown, surprisingly clean.

"Mikuru! I brought a guest!" in response to her call, another girl seemingly the same age as Haruhi appeared from a door that, judging by the way she was dressed and the smells emanating from behind her, was the kitchen.

"Ah, I'm Mikuru Asahina, pleased to meet you."

She seemed to be a bit on the timid side, that's understandable since they seem to be in a situation that's similar to mine and Nagato's, in other words, they could have been completely paranoid and I still wouldn't be able to blame them for it.

Just before I was able to answer Haruhi cut in.

"This is Kyon, I invited him over because he looks like he could use a decent meal," at Haruhi's statement about the meal Asahina nodded understanding.

"Do I really look that bad?"

"Stop repeating yourself, it's annoying,"

As Asahina cooked and Haruhi blabbered on and on about random things, I learnt that the two girls were not quite as young as they looked, although their exact age remained a mystery to me, they seemed to be closer to my own age than that of a high school student.

I explained to them how difficult it was to read Nagato's emotions, and after a few facial demonstration Haruhi started laughing.

All in all, it was a very pleasant meal.

---

There was no noise to alert me of the next set of events, in fact, other then Haruhi suddenly flinching, there was nothing to alert me at all.

I threw myself to the floor to avoid the bullets that were now whistling by in the same spot where my head had been only moments before, I looked around and was relieved to see that the two girls, whose apartment I was currently in, were both laying next to me uninjured.

Haruhi took the lead, crawling, at a surprisingly fast pace, across the floor.

Knowing that she was probably going towards some sort of safety, I did my best to keep up, but as Haruhi started removing a familiar looking metal plate, it soon became apparent to me that I was going to have to visit that smelly darkness, twice in one day.

The last thing I see before sliding the manhole cover closed above the three of us are the flames that were starting to eat their way through the burnable material in the room, apparently the Organization's way of doing things hadn't changed during the day.

I was somewhat surprised by how it seemed like Haruhi's sense of direction was just as adept as that of Nagato.

Once we finally resurfaced in a back alley, I start to consider my own position in this dramatic set of events.

First of all, whilst these two had just lost their home to a common enemy, I still had a place to return to.

Secondly, these two had offered me a meal and because of it, I did owe them some gratitude.

Finally, I could talk to these people, more than anything this was enough to convince me about exactly what I had to do now.

"Let's go to my place," I look towards Haruhi, rather than Asahina, for confirmation.

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea," a thought seems to occur to her, "Do you have any spare clothes?" I nod.

"A few," Haruhi smiles brightly.

"Then lets get going already."

And so I set of leading the way towards the apartment where Nagato is waiting, with Haruhi and Asahina in tow.

---

"Wow, this place is shabby looking," I look towards the source of this accurate, albeit somewhat rude, comment.

"True, I guess, but it's a roof over our heads," Haruhi nodded understandingly at my answer.

I knocked on the door, unlocked it and then opened it, my eyes already focused at the corner where Nagato was sitting last time I saw her, a couple of hours ago.

Nagato looked up at me, then she looked at the two girls following behind me, and for a moment I could almost swear that her eyes widened slightly in something resembling surprise.

"They're friends," Nagato blinked, "Nagato, this is Haruhi and Asahina. Haruhi and Asahina, this is Nagato," I gestured towards the ones whose names were spoken whilst talking, "They are here because their apartment was attacked by the Organization, and they've got nowhere else to go"

There was a slight pause.

"I see," Nagato got up to her feet, "I will locate something for you to wear," then she turned around and started digging through our closet that was, like usually, filled with clothes, Kimidori had never really had any problems when it came to money.