* Kaede turns his head to the side, staying silent, looking 
  absently at the side of the ambulance
<Kaede> There's...no way you could know.  Just forget about it.
* Haruko waits a bit longer and thinks before speaking. "No, I 
  can't know, even if you told me explicitly."
* Kaede closes his eyes. "Her name's Kaori too...did you know 
  that?"
* Haruko pauses again, "No.... I saw you were hurting... but I 
  just thought the situation was painfully familar."
<Kaede> Haruko-san...what would you do...if you knew someone 
  important to you was hurting...and the person causing it was too 
  stupid to even realize they were the cause of it...?
<Brett> ( Riko kicks Kaede. "Jerk" :P )
<Kaede> (x.x)
* Haruko briefly narrows her eyes at the honorific, and then shuts 
  as she thinks.
<Haruko> Try to help, however I could.  Be there for the person 
  whose hurting, try to explain things to the other.  But neither 
  will necessarily work.
* Kaede turns his head upward, but it seems he's just staring 
  blankly at the ceiling now. "Makes sense..."
* Kaede smiles faintly. "Even if it's utterly useless."
* Haruko opens her eyes and then grins slightly and shrugs. "I 
  never promised useful advice."
* Kaede loses the smile and and just continues to stare blankly.
* Haruko stays quiet for a minute.
<Kaede> I hope...I hope everyone else is okay.
<Haruko> It's alright, the police and paramedics were there, your 
  the only one of us that took a real beating, the other students 
  are also being attended to now.
<Kaede> No one else was hurt?
<Haruko> I'm not sure, the other students were taken to safety, 
  and as for the gang, we're alright.
<Kaede> Good.
* Kaede closes his eyes in relief and settles in.
* Haruko waits another minute before speaking again.
* Haruko sighs and speaks in a soft voice, enough to carry to 
  Kaede but not much more. "I don't know if I can help you, I 
  can't intellectually or emotionally understand whatever you've 
  been through...."
* Kaede lets out a long sigh, turning his head away from Haruko. 
  "I'm by myself. Always have been..."
<Kaede> Even among people..I'm all alone.
* Haruko takes a breath before continuing. "But I can feel for 
  your pain, and even if I won't understand, talking things out 
  can help, it let's you be a bit less alone."
* Kaede keeps his eyes turned away. "Just...it doesn't matter."
<Haruko> You matter.
* Kaede blinks and turns slowly towards Haruko. "...What did you 
  say?"
<Haruko> You matter, what you feel, matters.
* Kaede doesn't seem sure how to respond to that, so doesn't.
* Haruko moves her hand closer to Kaede's but wavers. "If I'm not 
  the one you want to talk to, that's fine. But you matter to me, 
  that's not going to change"
* Kaede 's not very responsive. It's hard to tell how he's taking 
  all this, if he's taking it in.
* Haruko sighs, she soften her voice again, although she's still 
  audible. "And whether you accept it or not, you matter, as an 
  individual, not just because of what you can do for others."
* Kaede speaks up this time, but in a very low whisper, his eyes 
  focusing distantly on the roof. "I guess..."
* Kaede turns on his side again, away from Haruko. "I..want to get 
  to the hospital soon."
* Haruko smiles ever so slightly.
* Haruko then rubs her forehead with her left hand. She tries to 
  find a place where she can lean against to rest a little. The 
  day seems to be taking its toll on her.
<Brett> [The ambulance gets to the hospital, and the paramedics 
  take Kaede from the ambulance.]
* Kaede keeps looking up at the sky as he's taken out. Pretty 
  clouds.
* Haruko tags along, and asks the nearest available mildly busy 
  looking person where she should wait.
<Brett> [Haruko is directed to a waiting room.]
* Haruko collapses into a chair, she grabs a notebook from her 
  bookbag amd puts it into her lap. However, rather than working, 
  she seems to be struggling to stay awake, she passes the time 
  fading in and out of light sleep.
<Brett> [Sometime later, Kaede is released!]
* Haruko has her eyes shut and her head against the wall when he's 
  released.
* Kaede walks out into the waiting room and rubs the back of his 
  head a bit, then lifts his jacket and shirt slightly to 
  investigate the wound.
* Haruko 's eyes flit open briefly and she shifts her position, 
  but she didn't notice Kaede.
<Kaede> (Any bruise or anything left behind?)
<Brett> ( Only a small one :P )
* Kaede blinks slightly and looks over at Haruko, surprised.
<Katie> (They do good work!)
* Haruko rubs her forehead, she opens her eyes to look down at her 
  notebook for a moment and rubs her eyes.
* Kaede starts to say one thing, but he seems to rethink it as his 
  look changes. "Are you alright, Haruko-san?"
* Haruko had closed her eyes again and leaned back, hearing her 
  name pulls her out of it, she looks around drowsily.
* Kaede ends up being about an inch from her face, peering into 
  her eyes, kneeled down.
* Haruko yawns and blinks at Kaede. "Eek! Oh, it's you...."
<Kaede> Just go ahead and sleep..you shouldn't wear yourself out 
  like that..
* Kaede stands up and dusts his knees off, adjusting his glasses.
* Haruko stretches and shakes her head. "I'll be alright, don't 
  know why I'm so tired...."
<Kaede> Stressful day maybe...I'm surprised they're not keeping me 
  in.
* Kaede sits down, about two seats away from Haruko and rubs his 
  side, looking down at it still in slight disbelief.
* Haruko closes her eyes again for a moment, and then opens them 
  and stands up, her notebook falling to the floor. "Maybe, that's 
  good, are you still hurting?"
<Kaede> It's still a little sore, but it's a lot better than it 
  was...
* Kaede lets out a long sigh and leans back. "I wonder if we 
  should call or just wait till they come here. I'm sure they'll 
  be stopping by soon."
* Haruko walks over and sits down next to Kaede. She whispers over 
  to him. "I largely healed you on the ambulence, give me a minute 
  and I'll finish the job."
* Kaede shakes his head slightly, rubbing his side gently. "Don't 
  need to.."
<Kaede> Everyone needs to live with a little pain...as a reminder. 
   Otherwise how do we learn?
* Haruko rolls her eyes, although she seems to accept his words. 
  "Your choice, I can respect that."
* Kaede looks distantly out at the floor. "Look..about what I said 
  in the ambulance...."
* Kaede puts his hands on his knees, his head hanging slightly.
* Haruko looks uncertain about how to reply, she hesitates for a 
  moment.
* Kaede keeps the moment in an awkward kind of silence.
* Haruko adopts a sympathetic tone, "Yes, what is it Kaede?"
<Brett> [Time: 5:00 p.m.  Katie, Chikako and Taro arrive at the 
  hospital.]
<Kaede> I...
* Kaede looks up at the approach of the group.
* Chikako waves. "Hi Kaede! Are you okay? That's cool."
* Haruko looks up. "Tell me later Kaede, hey guys."
* Kaede smiles faintly. "I'm fine. Just a little bruised."
* Katie would look almost amused, if she weren't soaking wet and 
  wound like a taught spring. "Bad timing?"
* Kaede laughs. "Not at all, Katie." He stands up and adjusts his 
  glasses as he retucks his shirt.
<Katie> So you're feeling better?
* Haruko shrugs. She then stands up to gather her stuff, she still 
  looks a bit tired, but less so after her nap.
<Kaede> Mostly...everything alright at the school?
<Kaede> What WAS that all about, anyhow?
* Katie looks mildly relieved. "That's good." She opens her 
  satchel and pulls out a wet notebook, handing it to Kaede. "No."
* Kaede looks down at the notebook and sighs a little, taking it 
  carefully, flipping through it. "Well, at least it's not a total 
  loss..."
* Katie shakes her head. "I don't know." She sighs. "One of the 
  bikers is dead."
* Kaede closes the notebook. "What did you mean, no--.."
* Kaede blinks slightly. "Dead?"
<Katie> That's what I mean.
* Haruko stands up to put her notebook in her bag, she drops it as 
  she hears Katie speak.
<Katie> Dead.  They were putting him in a body bag.
<Kaede> But...how?
* Katie 's expression hardens at that. "We're getting together at 
  Kyon's place, if you want to come."
<Kaede> ..did he fall off or something..?
<Taro> That guy, Satoshi? He killed him.
* Katie clenches a fist and resists the urge to deck Taro. It's a 
  strong urge.
* Kaede looks at Taro, as if noticing for the first time, eyes 
  widening. "Satoshi??"
* Haruko leans on a chair for support.
<Kaede> But he wouldn't...
<Taro> Uh huh.
<Katie> It was an accident.
* Kaede glances at Katie for a moment as she talks. "Dear god.."
<Kaede> He was..they were attacking students..it's not his fault...
* Haruko slips down to the floor. "Satoshi..."
* Chikako looks down at the floor.
<Katie> He didn't know.  He didn't mean to.
* Kaede rubs the bridge of his nose, looking at Katie for a 
  moment, then letting out a long breath. "Let's go then...I..."
* Kaede looks at Taro, wondering how calm he appears through all 
  this.
* Haruko mutters something quietly. "No... He didn't... I didn't 
  tell him..."
* Katie catches Haruko's statement and whirls on her. "It's *not* 
  your fault. Understand?"
* Kaede turns towards Haruko, his expression hardening a bit. 
  "It's no one's fault. They attacked US!"
* Haruko nods. "I understand how self-defense works." She then 
  gets up, gathering her stuff, slowly and without much energy. 
  "Let's go."
<Kaede> Besides, if they'd left me for dead, I doubt they'd be 
  concerned one bit...
* Kaede frowns and turns towards the entrance, walking out.
* Chikako nods. "It'll be cool."
* Katie waits for Haruko, then heads after them.
* Haruko walks out, her bag hanging from her hand. As she goes she 
  turns to Taro and speaks in a tired and slightly cold voice. 
  "Oh, hello Taro-san, what are you doing here?"
* Chikako follows Katie.
* Taro follows too! "Oh, I was worried about Kaede. And Katie 
  seemed really shaken up, so I wanted to be there for her."
* Kaede sideglances at Taro and just turns back around, shaking 
  his head slightly.
* Haruko nods dully her tone doesn't warm much. "Good of you." She 
  glances questioningly to to Katie but mostly walks with her head 
  down.
<Brett> [When they get outside, they notice it's raining again. 
  And so they head to Kyon's place!]