A/N Possible missing scene from episode 1x21 'Until the day it becomes a pumpkin'. One sided Hikaru x Haruhi.

Falling

Unusually, for once, she hadn't thought this all the way through.

As the last strands of the rope net strained to break apart she saw her error.

"Erm...Hikaru...?"

The young host looked up from his awkward position below her. Strangely his face was nearly the same shade as his hair. He made an odd strangled noise of acknowledgement.

"The net..." she began but was unable to finish as the last strands snapped and she pitched forward into open air.

"Haruhi!" the twin yelled as she fell in almost slow motion towards the floor.

The brunette flinched in anticipation of the pain, squeezing her eyes shut. She felt arms wrap around her securely in the air, and when the impact came it was soft.

There was a small groan that vibrated through her ear and she opened her eyes in amazement to realise that her head was cushioned on Hikaru's chest. His arms clasped around her protectively. His own eyes were squeezed shut, face wrinkled in a grimace of pain.

"Hikaru?" She tried to lift herself but his hold on her was like iron. "Hikaru, you can let me go now." The grip loosened enough for her to lift onto hr arms and shift her weight off his chest.

"Are you okay?" He didn't look okay. Worry settled over her like a fog. "Hikaru?"

One eye opened in the face of pain.

"Still in one piece I think," he quipped, opening the second eye. "I ache all over." Then they widened, flooding in turn with worry. "Are you hurt?"

Haruhi gave him a thoughtful look. "No, I don't think so." She moved slightly and flinched. "I may have hit my leg on the floor on the way down. You took the force of the fall I think...what's wrong?" Hikaru was looking at her strangely, his eyes wide open, breath shallow. Now that she met them he averted them quickly, his face becoming pink again.

"Nothing," he responded rapidly, voice breaking slightly over the word. "You're fine. I'm probably just a bit shocked after the fall..." He spoke in a run of words, voice breathless.

Haruhi suddenly realised that she was still half lying on top of him.

"I'm sorry Hikaru!" she gasped, "you probably can't recover with me here."

"No, no, no," Hikaru protested but she had already levered herself off of him onto the ground nearby.

"You should have said something sooner," she admonished lightly, settling her leg so she could rub it. Hikaru continued to lie where he'd landed, staring up at the ceiling, his feelings in a strange tumult that he couldn't untangle. He could still feel the warmth where her body had rested on his, just about audible over the clamour of pain as bruises began to spring up.

"Yeah, maybe," he whispered in response but his voice was far away.

"Not that I'm not grateful," Haruhi stretched her leg out and flinched, "you probably saved me from a lot of pain just then, but why did you do it?"

He sighed. Why had he done that? "Karou told me to look after you." His eyes widened with a revelation of fear... "...Karou?"

Haruhi's head jerked up at the shout, only to see Hikaru leaping to his feet, as though he hadn't just collided with a marble floor, and tear off down the corridor.

"Karou!" echoed back at her.

"What the - ?" Haruhi struggled to her feet, staring at the back of the retreating twin.

"Hikaru!" she yelled after him but he was too far gone. Remaining calm she gently tested her leg and, when it didn't protest, set off at a light jog down the corridor after him. The shadows and darkness pressed around her and she shuddered. Sure was creepy...

An evil cackle somewhere behind made all her hairs stand on end. She tried to maintain her steady pace although her heart thudded unpleasantly, wanting her to go faster. An ear-splitting shriek rent the silence and was the last straw. With an answering yell Haruhi tore off down the corridor after Hikaru, breath burning in her lungs, until she was hunched over gasping for air back with her team mates, the incident in the net already forgotten.