𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚎 • 𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚑𝚊 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

40 - Midnight Crisis (pt. 2)

February, 1993 - Japan

For all of the emotional baggage Haruka had been lugging around recently, she felt that she greatly deserved (or rather, was in desperate need of) a break. And perhaps it was that Akia had been able to open up to Haruka and now seemed considerably less anxious (or maybe that was only because she had just cried all of her energy out and was now fast asleep), but Haruka felt more relaxed than she had in quite some time as she drifted off to sleep that night.

So, naturally, the fates recognized this as a huge, cosmic no-no. A couple of stress-free, peaceful hours of sleep for Akiyama Haruka? Absolutely not. This simply would not stand.

It was 1 o'clock in the morning when a knock came at her front door once more. In the darkness of her bedroom, Haruka jolted awake. Akia, however, didn't move a muscle. Had there really been a knock on the door?

There had been, as it sounded again, this time louder and with more force. With a hopeless and defeated sigh, Haruka lugged herself out of bed again and back to her front door. With no attempt to put a pleasant expression on, in her embarrasing Pokémon pajamas, she yanked her front door open.

Standing on her doorstep, to put it frankly, was perhaps the most gorgeous man Haruka had ever seen with her own two eyes. He had long, dark black hair flowing past his shoulders. Wearing a collared shirt of all things, looking as if he'd just come from a bank, he leaned casually on the side of Haruka's doorway. Instantly, Haruka's face warmed.

"Hello," the mystery man began, when it was obvious Haruka was having trouble formulating sentences.

"Hello," Haruka blurted simply. All other words were failing her, and she was suddenly very aware of her shoddy appearance. Gone were any thoughts of loudly berating whoever was responsible for disrupting what precious little sleep she had. She stammered, "Um...um...hi."

The man seemed to take pity on her, and took it upon himself to do the talking. "I'm looking for Chikara Akia. She's a family friend, and my brother said she might be here."

Thankfully, in her sleep-deprived and evidently flustered state, she still had sense enough to ask, "I'm sorry, who exactly is asking?"

A flicker of amusement appeared on the man's face. He explained calmly, "I am Uchiha Itachi. I assume you're aware the Chikaras and Uchihas are well acquainted?"

"Oh, yes, I know. She's asleep upstairs," Haruka said, relieved that she was able to talk in a semi-usual way again. She went on to ask, "Why? Is everything okay?"

It would be helpful if this beautiful man, who unfortunately resembled Sasuke so strongly that Haruka was surprised she didn't recognize him from the beginning, would convey just the slightest bit of emotion so Haruka could gauge the situation. But clearly, that was asking the divine powers that be for far too much. He finally continued speaking, saying, "She ran away from home tonight. Her parents are in hysterics, and they've got everyone they know awake and looking for her. Why didn't you notify them?"

Haruka's stomach dropped. She rushed to explain, "I swear, the first thing I told her was to call her parents when she got here. She must have lied to me. I'm so sorry."

"Not to worry. Would you mind bringing her down? I'm going to take her back home."

"Of course," Haruka replied. "Please, come in and wait here."

When Haruka began up the stairs to retrieve Akia, she found the young girl sitting solemnly at the top of the stairway. Haruka met her gaze. The young girl's teary eyes were begging her not to make her go back home, but Haruka knew her parents needed her home safe for the night.

"You shouldn't have lied." Haruka said quietly. "I know why you did, but...don't do it again. Okay? It's not a good habit to get into. Your parents are probably worried sick."

"Yeah, right," Akia muttered to herself. Then, she let out a deep breath and with a sadness still in her face, she mumbled to Haruka, "I'll tell them it wasn't your fault."

When Haruka returned to the living room, embarrassment flooded through her all over again. Itachi was sitting patiently on one of the sofas, observing the room that was still a mess from movie night. To make matters worse, clean laundry piles that Haruka hadn't taken up to her bedroom yet were scattered about as well.

"She's getting her things together. She'll be down in two minutes." Haruka said quickly, sitting down on the sofa opposite from Itachi. She grabbed the nearest item, a jacket from a nearby laundry pile, to occupy her hands with.

While Haruka had been known for being a chatterbox for all of her life, there were rare instances in which her large bank of conversation starters and verbal abilities failed her completely. This was certainly one of those instances.

With his business casual attire and look of complete control, Itachi was very intimidating. Though his expression was pleasant now, Haruka couldn't help but cower just the slightest bit. How much did he know about her? Was he mad at her because she had hurt Sasuke?

Sensing this, Itachi stated bluntly, "You seem on edge. Is that true, Akiyama-san?"

"Oh, Haruka's fine," She laughed nervously and waved his words off. Idly, she fiddled with the nearest pile of laundry despite herself. "I've just got a lot on my mind, is all. The end of the school year is approaching fast."

"I'm sure," Itachi replied kindly. "Is that not when you're to complete your mural in the center of town too?"

"Oh, um, yes it is," Haruka was taken aback. "How did you know it's my mural?"

"Sasuke and I have talked about it. And I believe he once came home completely covered in paint because of his efforts to help out with it. Was that your doing?" Itachi asked. Was Haruka dreaming or was that the slightest bit of humor coming from an Uchiha? Weren't there laws against that?

"Well, kind of?" Haruka hurriedly explained herself. "It was my paint. But I promise it wasn't me who threw all of that paint on him. That was mostly Naruto."

Itachi chuckled, and Haruka could have melted into a blubbering pile of goo right there on her sofa. Then his eyes travelled to her lap, where she fidgeted with the leather jacket she had woken up with at the end of the back to school dance. As she wasn't able to track down its owner, she had just assumed it into her own wardrobe. With the ghost of a smile on his face as he eyed the jacket, Itachi said pensively, "Sasuke seems to be quite fond of you, Haruka."

Fwoosh! There went the flames through her entire body once more. She did her best not to stammer as she replied, "Yes, we get along. He was good for rides before I got my license." Or, we got along.

Thankfully, Akia appeared downstairs with her bag packed before Haruka could turn any redder. She apologized to Haruka for all of the trouble, and then they were both on their way. Before he closed the door behind him, Itachi said, "Don't give up on the mural, Haruka. It's coming together nicely."

Haruka could only manage a polite smile and nod at that point. What did he mean, "don't give up"? Why, so there was a pretty wall for all of the office windows to look out on? Collapsing onto her sofa, Haruka waited for her skin to cool down, feeling her especially hot face.

Sasuke had mentioned he and his older brother were only five years apart, yet Itachi seemed so remarkably adult. Or perhaps it was Sasuke who seemed childish because of his terrible manners and constant sarcasm.

Regardless, her thoughts were filled with all things Uchiha when she finally returned to bed. While Itachi was very pleasant and certainly not terrible to look at, Haruka wished Sasuke had been the one knocking on her door. She would give anything to have his friendship back.

(A/N: hiiiii...guess who has a lot of the final act written and the ending of this book 99% planned out ... barring a major depressive episode from yours truly i think updates may be coming back again. i still love haruka and this story! it feels a bit like coming home, writing it again. is anyone still out there reading? lol)