The Misfortune of Nagato Yuki

A Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi fanfic

Chapter 1: Assumptions

By: yeahreally

Note: This story takes place after my other short story, "The Revision of Nagato Yuki". Please read that first.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi.

It had been a week since Haruhi had gotten back from the trip she took with her parents. The days had rolled by like many other lazy high school days, with all of us busy during the day with classes and tests, and meeting in the Literature Club room in the afternoons. Today was much like any of those other days, with me and Koizumi playing a game of chess while Asahina-san brewed tea and Nagato read silently. I wonder how many games I'll beat Koizumi Itsuki at before I graduate from high school? If I were to count the individual number of games I wonder if it'd be as numerous as the times I felt the urge to punch the smiling ESPer for being so smug.

"Now, now, Kyon. You're already beating me in both chess and love. Why would you want to abuse me physically as well?"

Stop joking around and make a move, Koizumi.

He moved his queen to threaten my rook. While I thought of a response I glanced next to me. Sitting beside me at the table in the Literature Club room was the only actual member of the Literature Club and our resident alien, the stoic Nagato Yuki. She looked up from reading her book to return my gaze levelly, a small hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. It was an expression I probably wouldn't even have noticed a year ago. Her golden-brown eyes moved over to the chess board and blinked.

"Checkmate in twelve."

Oh? Did you want to play, Yuki?

Nagato nodded and we switched seats. Koizumi shook his head and grinned at us.

"If it's Nagato-san I'm playing, I'm sure to lose."

While Nagato obliterated Koizumi's forces in chess, I enjoyed the heavenly tea that was brewed by the lovely Asahina Mikuru, the SOS Brigade's one and only mascot, time-traveler, and part-time maid. She smiled at me as she poured me another cup of tea while wearing the maid outfit that Haruhi had bought for her so long ago.

"Here you are, Kyon."

Thank you very much, Asahina-san

I savored the quiet afternoon while I could, because I knew it would end. Peace, like beauty, is only precious because you know it's fleeting. Choosing that moment to disrupt my peaceful thoughts, Suzumiya Haruhi, our self-proclaimed brigade chief, burst through the door carrying a shopping bag under her arm. I twisted in my chair to turn around and look at that bag with suspicion. Asahina-san, meanwhile, froze in place and looked at it like a poisonous snake crawling through a vegetable garden.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone. I had to run by my house to pick up a package that was just delivered."

Oh, so that's why you skipped the last two classes today. Is this something else you ordered from the Internet?

"Sometimes a chief must make sacrifices for her brigade. Besides, they weren't teaching anything I didn't know already. Now, let me show everyone what I got."

With a flourish like a magician performing an illusion, Haruhi pulled a black maid outfit out of her bag. She held up the outfit and a matching set of black cat ears. The maid outfit was mostly black, with white sleeves. Lace ruffles flared at the neck and sleeves, and a black bow sat just below the neck. The cat ears... well... they looked fuzzy and black.

Uh... doesn't Asahina-san have a maid outfit already? And why cat ears?

"Well, cat-girls are just as adorable as maids, so cat-girl maids should be twice as adorable!"

"That's a wonderful idea, Suzumiya-san," Koizumi gushed, while clapping his hands.

Hey! Don't just blindly approve of everything she suggests!

"And besides, this isn't for Mikuru-chan."

"Eh?" Mikuru peeked out from between the fingers that she was using to cover her face.

"I was just thinking it's about time Yuki did her part of dressing up for the SOS brigade!"

I looked over at Nagato who had been staring at the chess board during most of this time. She looked at the frilly, black maid outfit and then turned to me and arched her left eyebrow slightly.

Well... If I had to be totally honest, I can't say that I'm not curious.

"I see."

With that, Nagato got up from her chair and turned around to face Haruhi. She took the dress and cat ears and put them on the table. She then turned to me and looked straight into my eyes and paused for several seconds. Her face turned ever the barest shade of pink, as she took off her cardigan and reached to pulled shirt up over her head as if Koizumi and I weren't even looking. I don't know how long I stared at her, mesmerized, before Haruhi violently shoved me and Koizumi out the door.

"OUT!!! Now!"

I and the only other male member of the SOS Brigade stumbled into the hallway. We shrugged our shoulders and leaned against the wall opposite the clubroom door.

"Well... that's odd. She never chases us out when she forces Asahina-san to change."

"Ahh... but things are different, now, Kyon."

Stop grinning and start talking sense, Koizumi.

"Nagato-san's been eating lunch with you everyday for a week now, hasn't she? Her actions over the past few days have really gotten to Suzumiya-san, I think. I'm honestly surprised it took this long."

So Yuki and I eat lunch together... she's probably just trying to spend more time observing Haruhi to see if there are any changes in her behavior.

"'Provoke changes in her behavior' is what I think you should say."

And anyway why would that make Haruhi wanted to dress up Yuki?

"Well, I would say that by treating her like Asahina-san, she wants to put Nagato-san into a role she knows how to deal with. She does this to Asahina-san all the time, and she doesn't see Asahina-san as much of a threat anymore."

Besides, its been a week, why now?

"Well, at first she probably thought it was a passing thing. And that's after Suzumiya-san got over the initial shock of seeing Nagato-san take such direct action. Now that it's begun, I would suggest that you be careful. Suzumiya-san's reaction could get quite messy."

I'm surprised your Organization hasn't tried to interfere...

Koizumi gave me an unreadable look for a second before smiling again, "Oh, but there's little that we can do against someone like Nagato-san."

At that moment, the door opened again and Asahina-san waved us in. It looked like she had taken this opportunity to change back into her school uniform. I walked through the door and was greeted with the sight of Nagato wearing the black, frilled maid outfit. Nestled in her lavender hair were the fuzzy, black cat ears that Haruhi had bought. I could only stand there, speechless, as I tried to etch the picture into my memory for permanent storage. The way the dress hugged her...

"Stop looking at her like a pervert, Kyon! Do I have to make you run laps around the track until you start behaving normally?"

I tore my eyes away from Nagato and looked at Haruhi's furious face. I shrugged and sat back down in my seat, trying to steal quick glances at Nagato without anyone noticing. Well, anyone other than Nagato. Her eyes had been locked onto me since I walked back into the room.

"Now, make us some tea, Yuki!"

Haruhi spent the rest of the afternoon ordering Nagato around. Making tea, tidying up the clubroom, even fixing up the computer. The list of tasks that Haruhi made Nagato perform was as long as it was pointless. During that whole time, Koizumi, Asahina-san, and I played a silly board game called The Game of Life. Every time I looked over at Nagato, our eyes would meet and I would quickly look away. After an hour of bossing Nagato around, Haruhi ended the meeting with a single word to the rest of us.

"Dismissed!"

Koizumi, Asahina-san, and Haruhi packed up their belongings and left for the day, while I waited outside the clubroom for Nagato to change. Once she emerged, we walked together towards the entrance of the school.

"Thanks again for agreeing to come over tonight, Yuki."

"..."

She nodded wordlessly and went to change to her outdoor shoes. Once we left the school, we walked slowly down the hill towards my house. Why my house? Well you see, after seeing my abysmal test scores in the last round of exams, my mother had tried to forcibly enroll me into a cram school for extra tutoring. I had had to talk fast and convince her that I had already arranged for a tutor before she would relent. Being unreasonably parental, she even demanded to meet my tutor in person! Which is why I had to beg Nagato to come over and cover for me. Fortunately, she had agreed to come over with a silent nod after I had asked her during our lunch break today. Bless you Nagato... If I ever become rich, I'll have a building named in your honor.

"That would be unnecessary."

I looked over at Nagato, walking next to me, and smiled. Well, I could think of a lot of people that it'd be much worse people to walk home with. The trek down the hill and to my house seemed to take no time at all. I guided Nagato into the entrance way and we both took off our shoes. I fervently prayed to anyone listening that this wouldn't be too painful for either of us.

Escorting Nagato towards the living room, I yelled, "I'm home."

"Welcome home! And did you bring this mythical tutor of yours with you?"

She's right here. Her name is Nagato Yuki, and she's the number one student in our year.

I lead Nagato over to meet my disbelieving mother. Nagato bowed politely to her and said softly, "Pleased to meet you."

"Eh!? You never said your tutor was such a pretty, young girl. And you say she's number one in your year? My... how did you manage to convince her to tutor you of all people?"

Uh... Yuki and I hang out in the Literature club room together after school.

"Oh, you're part of the Literature club?"

Well... Yuki's the president of the Literature club. I just hang out there.

"If you hang out there so much, maybe you should join. Well, it's nice of you help out our poor son, Nagato-san. Would you mind if I called you Yuki, too? You two must be getting along well for him to be on a first-name basis with you already!"

Nagato nodded silently. It was probably best to just silently humor my mother.

"Thank you again, Yuki. Dinner will be ready in about an hour. Why don't you start studying, and I'll bring you something to drink."

I escorted Nagato to my room, while trying to chase away my little sister and my cat, Shamisen. Nagato looked around my room curiously while I set my bags down. Sorry, about the mess, but I didn't have much time to clean. Once we were settled, we pulled out our books and began studying. Well, it'd be more accurate to say that I studied and Nagato corrected me.

"Do you even need to study on your own?"

"No."

"I see."

Let me say I was just a touch jealous.

"I will continue to assist you, as long as you need."

Thanks, Yuki.

She nodded in reply, and pointed out another mistake I had made in my math homework. I swear math is one of those subjects that was created just to plague me. We continued like this until my little sister came to fetch us for dinner, singing a little made up song.

"Yuki-channnnn! Kyonnnnn! Dinnnnnneeeerrr!"

Dinner was mostly uneventful, with me fielding curious questions from my family about my relationship with Nagato. Nagato herself only answered a few questions that were posed directly to her. I thought everything was going smoothly, until my mother asked me, far too innocently, "So I noticed you haven't been making lunch for yourself anymore. Have you been buying it at school?"

Ah... no.... well... you see...

"I have been making lunches and bringing it to school for us to eat together," Nagato bluntly cut in.

"Oh I see..."

With that my mother smiled knowingly and stopped asking her questions. We continued through dinner talking of trivial things, and once dinner was well finished, my mother looked at us and smiled, saying, "Thank you again, Yuki-chan. Please take good care of our only son."

Nagato nodded and replied, "I will."

I stared at them speechlessly, until my mother said to me, "Be a good boy, and walk Yuki-chan home. It wouldn't do for such a pretty girl to walk home this late by herself."

I put on my jacket and shoes and escorted Nagato out of my house. We walked towards her apartment building in silence, with only the sounds insects and the occasional car passing by. Eventually I couldn't stand it any longer, and broke our silence.

"Sorry about that, Yuki. Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"This was enjoyable."

What? You actually enjoyed meeting my family?

Nagato nodded and continued walking, "Yes."

Well... I guess if it's fine with you we can continue studying at my place. Unless you'd rather study at yours...

"Either way."

I lost myself in thought after awhile, walking quietly with Nagato at my side. I was so caught up in my own thoughts, that I barely noticed when we reached her apartment building. I walked Nagato up to the door of her suite and started to say goodbye to her.

"Thanks again, Yuki. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do for you in return."

"There is."

"Oh?"

She quickly closed the space between us and looked up at into my eyes for a moment. Just as I was about to ask her what she needed, she reached up and planted a quick kiss on my cheek before going back into her apartment. Closing the door, she said softly, "Good night."

"Good night, Yuki."

I stood there for several minutes before heading to the elevator and leaving the building. As I made my way back towards home, I tried to imagine what wonders tomorrow might bring.

----------------------

A/N: Whew... that's it for chapter one. I think I know where I'm going with this, but that's subject to change. If I stay on track, this one may have more overtly romantic elements, but it'll still have a plot in here somewhere. I'm going to try to take a little more time to develop this one, but don't be surprised if it ends up being not much longer than my last story. I really prefer to do shorter stories so that I can be sure to finish them. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!