-- Title: Safe Zone
-- Fandom: Ouran
-- Pairing: KyouHaru
-- Rating: PG
-- prompt: fanfic50's #17: think
i.
Haruhi, as a rule, never asks meaningless questions, nor has she ever shown that she doubted other people's actions. There are some things that she would rather not pry into, some things that would make her rely on the trust she has for the people around her, or on blind faith itself. It is not in her nature to speculate, because she handles whatever things come her way with an efficient, practical manner.
She was born to be that way, after all. Or rather, life molded her into someone who just went with the flow.
It doesn't matter if she thinks about what could have been, because it would come to nothing.
In her spare time, though, that is what she does.
Think.
ii.
Thinking makes her recall many memories she would rather leave buried in her mind. It is never a good thing for her to sort through her past. It makes her think of her mother, when she was still alive, and of her father, when he was still really happy.
And when she thinks of those two things, it makes her feel pity for her father, and she knows that he would never accept her pity. Her love, he would welcome with open arms, but her pity, he would not touch.
So she keeps quiet, reminiscing, and it is not long before she manages to tune the thoughts out and focus on the present situation, however dull it may be.
It lurks in the corners, waiting, like a ghost.
iii.
Lately, though, she has a lot of time in her hands. She cannot help but think of inconsequential matters, and, when it comes down to it, she wonders if she really wants to know the answers.
It seems so dangerous to know, so she does not move from her safe zone, where nothing ever changes unless she leaves it.
iv.
With Kyouya, she feels that she has to get out.
She feels that he would be a better safe zone than this.
So she does the one selfish thing that she lets herself do.
She reaches out to him.
v.
She touches his lips with her fingers inquiringly, and hesitates before asking him, "Would you?"
vi.
Her hands are smooth and slim, and his fingers are sharply defined, so she wonders if it would not hurt to touch him. Her fingers waver above the back of his hand, and he lets his nails graze her skin, like a kiss.
He smiles, and his smiles are always so dark and so rare.
viii.
"I would marry you even if you were born a boy."
Her heart aches. It aches because it feels too much love, and too much is exactly what she needs most right now.
ix.
She still thinks, from time to time, but whatever wounds she prefers to stay untouched do not reopen. She thinks of him --- only of him.
---
END