✔Summer Rain |Fruits Basket| HatsuHaru Sohma

3- Conflict

  "Haru-"

  "I don't want to hear it.  I know."  Haru said, shoving past Hatori into the house angrily.

  "You didn't go dark, did you?"  Hatori asked curiously, following after the annoyed teenager.

  "I didn't.  It was- it was different."  Haru said, turning on his heel and jabbing his finger into Hatori's chest.  "But it doesn't matter.  She's not a Sohma, and she's not one of us.  I'm not going to see her again."

  Hatori sighed, shoving Haru's pointer away so he could continue speaking.  "It's for the best, today was a close call.  If Akito had been any quicker it wouldn't have ended well for anyone."

  "I know!"  Haru spat, now completely under in his dark state.  "I got it old man!  Now piss off before I-"

  "Watch your tone."  Hatori said, pushing open the front door.  "You best be getting on your way home now.  It's late and you need to sleep."  He crossed his arms pointedly and stared at the rage filled teen.

  Haru pushed past him and out the door, letting it slam behind him.  He couldn't even begin to comprehend what he was feeling inside.  The last time he felt this way was when he first truly met Yuki all those years ago, and even now he couldn't really give that feeling a name.

  All he knew was that it wasn't a feeling he had ever wanted to feel again, especially not when Akito had their evil grasp on him.  He wasn't allowed to feel anything other than despair.  He knew he wasn't going to let some random girl with a sharp tongue who didn't care enough about her own stupid life come into his perfectly dark and sad one and fuck it up, no matter how good it felt to just talk to someone as kind as she had been to him.
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  "How dare you!"  My mother shrieked, her voice breaking.

  I ducked out of the way of an unknown flying object that was hurtling right towards my face.  "I didn't do anything wrong!"  I shouted, putting my hands in front of my face.  "I just went for a walk!"

  "A walk!?"  She exclaimed, her hands groping around for another hurlable object.  "You call some boy bringing you home a walk!?  You know what I call it?  My daughter is whoring around!"

  "I am not!"  I shouted louder.  My mom didn't care if the neighbors heard her, and the neighbors sure as hell didn't care if she yelled until her face was blue.  "I got caught in the rain and he took me to a doctor!"

  This conflict was a regular part of my evening, and sometimes, if I was lucky; I'd come out of it without a scratch.  That was only some days though. 

  "You were supposed to stay home!  Those were my only orders!  I go to work to care for your ass, and this is how you repay me!?"  She cried loudly, tears streaming down her red face.  "I give you all that you need to succeed in life, I take time out of my busy schedule to teach you!  And you- you mess around with boys behind my back!"

  I bit my cheek, pushing down a rising insult that was fighting to come out. 

  "I can't look at you right now.  Go to your room, and don't come down until you've learned your lesson."  She said, turning around in the kitchen to prepare herself some dinner.

  I sighed, sticking my tongue out at her back as I headed for the stairs.  Messing around with boys my ass.  Who was the one who was out with different men each night?  Sure as hell isn't me, seeing as I'm banished to my room by the time dinners done.

  I grumbled the entire way up the stairs, opting not to let her hear me in order to avoid even more conflict.

  There were times I thought about just running away, but then I remembered that I had no where to go.  I knew Haru now, but he seemed to have his own internal conflicts going on that I really didn't have the energy or time to get into with all my own shit going on. 

  School was starting soon, thankfully, so I would be out of the house for a good half of the day and away from the crazy bitch that was my mother.  I wouldn't have much escape from her though, her reign on me was crazy and she knew everything I did at every minute. 

  I paced around my room angrily until I finally ended up stepping out onto the balcony to look at the stars.  If there was one thing that could calm me down after a fight like that, it was looking at all the little stars that lit up like diamonds in the sky.  When I was younger, my dad used to tell me stories of how everyone all over the planet all saw the same stars each night. 

That was before he realized how crazy my mom was and tried to get me to ditch her with him.  And of course she cried, and I was too young to realize how manipulative it was of her that she used me against my father and I stayed with her over him.

  But the stars became my coping mechanism, and I grew up watching them until they slowly disappeared with the rising sun following their leave.  I learned practically everything there was to know about the stars and the moon, if only to have an interest of my own that couldn't be taken away from me.

  I sighed, leaning against the concrete balcony railing as I looked up at the sky.  Something felt off in the universe today, but I didn't know where to start.  I would never have run away from home, but somehow, I did.  Then I met Haru, who was kind of rude when we first talked and had his strange attitude changes, but none the less I enjoyed his company.  I didn't believe in fate, it wasn't something I'd been raised to believe in, but oddly enough, I thought maybe we were meant to meet and be friends. 

  Who knows.

  But I was almost anxious to see him again and understand just what was going on in my head.  I wouldn't mind having a friend or even someone who tolerated me- it sounded kinda fun.
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Word Count: 1074 Words