A Song For Another Time - A Hikaru Hitachiin Story

Chapter Four - I'm Going to Pick up the Pieces

As much as Hikaru wanted to put the past behind him, he found it hard to let go. That girl down the hall was the first person to reside in his heart beside his brother. Do the feelings for your first love ever really fade away?

He was lying on his bed, arms folded under his head as he stared up at the ceiling. For so long it had been only him and Kaoru and then it was the brothers and the Host Club. After Haruhi, he was beginning to wonder if he was ready to let more of the world in.

Hikaru sighed and pushed himself up from the bed. He needed fresh air.

Moments later he was sitting on the stoop of the building, taking in the autumn breeze. It was almost dusk and the air was starting to chill. He looked out over the scenery in front of him and compared it to fall at home.

This is once-in-a-lifetime chance, he thought to himself. I shouldn't spend it moping around.

Really, it was a surprise that a Hitachiin could mope at all. It seemed rather outside their repertoire.

In the distance he saw figures moving to and fro as cars hummed by. He watched a city bus stop nearby, unload a slew of students and then blow out a large puff of black smoke as it took off again. Hikaru didn't bother trying to look at the faces of all the people headed toward the apartments as he began to roll a rock underneath foot. Other people had never really mattered.

He was lost in the world of his on design, oblivious to his surrounding and he barely took notice when a figure leaned down to face him. She smiled for a moment at his face, all wrinkled up in thought, then took her fingers and smoothed the crease of his furrowed brow.

"Still not working on smiling, I see," she said.

Hikaru slapped her hand away. "I told you not to touch me," he growled.

She gave out a small laugh before sitting down next to him and picking at the weeds popping out from the cracks in the sidewalk.

"She must be amazing," Rose said softly, picking apart the flower in her hand.

Hikaru looked up at her in confusion. "Huh?"

"That girl - the one that makes you frown like that all the time. She must be amazing."

Hikaru let the words hang in the air for a moment, thinking them over. He turned his head away from Rose and kicked away the rock he had been playing with.

"It doesn't matter either way," he said. "She doesn't love me."

Rose looked up from the plants in her hand and set them down beside her. She brushed some of the dirt off her jeans before placing a hand on Hikaru's knee.

"Well, who could ever love a boy who frowns as much as you do," she joked, breaking into a slight smile.

Hikaru looked at her dumbfounded before pushing her hand off his knee. He sighed before letting a small smile creep across his face and turned his head to look straight in front of him.

"You're not very good at comforting people, you know," he said.

"I'm not here to comfort you, I'm here to study," she said raising from the stoop and brushing her hands on her thighs. "Mori is probably waiting for me as we speak."

She bent down to pick up the plants she had been fiddling with and turned to Hikaru. She grabbed his arm and fiddled with his wrist for a moment before letting go. Hikaru looked down, surprised at her touch, to see a delicate flower chain around his wrist. He looked back up at her face, questioning her with his eyes.

"Flower power," Rose said. "To help you smile."

She turned and walked into the building while Hikaru gently touched the small weeds now encircling his wrist. They were cool to the touch, but scratched at him in the way only plants could. When he looked up Rose was already through the building doors. Without realizing it, he began walking after her.

Before long he had caught up to her in the stairwell and began walking with her, step by step. When they reached the floor that Honey and Mori lived on, he stopped and faced her.

"You sure spent a lot of time around Mori," he said.

"It's a hard class. Mori is smart. I'll take all the help I can get," she said plainly.

A large grin spread across Hikaru's face as he drew himself closer to Rose. "Oh is that all? You're not trying to get closer to the tall, dark and handsome foreigner in your class," he teased.

Rose took a step back and looked at the devious smile on Hikaru's face. Although she was slightly insulted by him implications, there were more pressing matters at hand. He finally smiled, she thought to herself.

"I'm glad to finally meet the real Hikaru," she said, holding out her hand as if to greet him for the first time. "It's a pleasure to finally see you smile."

Hikaru refused to let her phase him and continued on teasing.

"It's useless getting close to Mori, you know. He only has eyes for one," he said.

Rose smiled dissolved as she lowered her hand and turned to walk down the hall. When she made it to the right door she knocked twice and looked over her shoulder at Hikaru.

"That's alright. I kind of have a thing for redheads anyway," she said, walking into the apartment and closing the door behind her.

Hikaru blinked at the closed door before reaching his hand up to touch his hair. He grabbed a lock of it and slowly brought it down in front of his eyes. He twisted the strands of hair between his fingers while staring at them, as if he were confused by them being black.