[Haruko drives over to Katie's after the events of that long day are done.] [Day: Friday, April 8th. Time: 9:00 p.m.] [Weather: Still rainy!] [Start] * Haruko drives up and waits a few seconds before walking up to the door. * Katie can be seen from the inside, peeking out what's probably her living room window. She looks a moment, then leaves and opens the door right before Haruko reaches it. * Haruko looks wet and rather unhappy. She's taken no measures to protect herself from the rain. She speaks at normal volume at first. "Hi Katie." She then says quietly "Something came up that I didn't want to discuss over the phone. Verify it's me then we need to talk in private." * Katie blinks at Haruko once, then opens the door the rest and gets out of the way. "You're wet," she says plainly. "Hang your coat up. I'll get you a towel. Um, want anything to drink? I was making cocoa." * Haruko almost grins at that offer. "Yeah." She then pauses and changes her mind. "Cocoa would be fine." She comes in and takes off her coat, as she does most of the excess water on her drains off to the ground and then flows out of the house. * Katie smiles a little and heads on into the kitchen. "You know where my room is. Good timing, too. Dad's working late again, and Mom went out to do some shopping." * Haruko takes off her shoes. "Ah, that's lucky." She then frowns for a moment, looks herself over, and sends another litre of water off into the night. She closes the door behind her and walks to Katie's room. [Katie's room looks much like it usually does. Her computer's on, a word processor filling the screen, the page half-filled with text; seems she was writing something when Haruko came over.] * Haruko glances in the direction of the text for a moment but then finds a place to sit with her back to the screen. [It's just some essay or another. Haruko probably had to do the same one last year.] * Haruko continues to diligently not read it anyways. She closes her eyes and toys with her hair for now. * Katie comes padding in before too long, carrying a couple cups of cocoa. She sets one on her desk and minimizes the program before handing the other to Haruko. * Haruko, incidentally, is still wearing her Miko outfit. Forgot to specify that. * Katie is wearing jeans and a faded green t-shirt, herself. * Haruko takes it and holds it with both hands for now. "Kaede's being highly illogical. It has the potential to impact your survival but isn't an imminent threat." She frowns and pauses for a moment as she reviews the wording of what she'll say next. * Katie blinks, then comments, "Well, if you think he's being illogical, than he must be." She has a seat at her desk and picks up her own cocoa, still looking at Haruko. * Haruko chuckles, but it isn't her normal pleasant one. "I wish it were just me. Anyways, I think it might be best if I handle this without telling you all the details. But that only works if you trust me in these matters." * Katie looks at Haruko for a moment, then she turns her attention away, to the window and the rain. She sips her cocoa. * Katie takes a moment before answering: "No matter what I say, Haruko, you know better." * Haruko shakes her head. "No, I don't. I don't know how to handle this. I'm just really afraid of what happens when I tell you. But if you don't trust me, and me alone, no involving Kyon and the others on this, then I will tell you. Because even if I'm right, this won't work if you don't trust me." I don't know, Haruko. I don't know how bad this is, but you're making it sound like we're all going to die tomorrow, and it's best that I don't know. The last time you kept a secret from me, I ended up feeling betrayed, even if I wasn't. And that's before things got really bad. * Haruko shakes his head. "Not all dead tomorrow, not by longshot. But there is a threat. If you need questions answered, ask. But ultimately this is about how you feel. And I'm guessing that you don't." * Katie has another sip, then shrugs. "Should I be trusting anyone anymore?" she asks, distantly. "I mean, I do... trust you... I think." * Haruko shakes her head. "You think isn't good enough. You need to know." * Katie shrugs again, helplessly. She looks at Haruko. "I trust you to be my friend," she says. "That's all." * Haruko gives a rather sad smile. "I appreciate that a lot. I really do. But that isn't enough." She stares at the cocoa. "I should have asked for something stronger." She then takes a long sip I don't think you want to be drunk for this. * Haruko shakes her head. "No, I very much want to be drunk for this. I just shouldn't be." Yeah. * Haruko takes another sip. "If someone had told me betraying confidences would be a regular part of being the Queen of Cups I'd have..." She then frowns as she realizes she doesn't have a way to finish that sentence. And takes another sip. Picked a different card and ended up in the same place? Even if you're not really picking. * Haruko nods. "Alright, so Kaede said that he's afraid with the path you're on, he'll end up having to do his worst. From what he said, he isn't distinguishing between becoming quite murderous and becoming a monster." * Haruko seems to rather want to look down, but she forces herself to keep eye contact with Katie. * Katie blinks, sorting that out. "What? His worst?" I don't think he truly believes it. But he said if you get to a point where you're no longer recognizable as Katie Andrews, he'd be ready to kill you. ::Haruko grips her cup rather tightly as she says this:: * Katie 's eyes widen, and she nearly spills her own cocoa. "What? Kill me? But- wait, recognizable as *me*?" You're- joking, right Haruko? * Katie 's hand starts to shake, and she sets her own cocoa down before she actually spills. * Haruko puts her cocoa to the side. "I don't believe he meant it, I hope I'm misunderstanding, and it's something he was sure he could keep from happening. He didn't even really have a clear standard." She keeps eye contact. But kill me? That doesn't even make any sense. No, it doesn't. He said it'd be a reaction. Not because you were friends, but because you'd be like her. But I'll never *be* like her. I don't want to be. We're not the same. We're not even close! * Haruko nods. "No, you wouldn't." She sighs. "Even if you go way over the line, even if the only thing that stopped you from killing was practical concerns, you wouldn't become like her." She sighs. "I don't think Kaede believes it. I think his feelings are jumbled and he doesn't know how to handle that." * Katie gets to her feet and brings her hands up to her hair, tugging at it. "But what if he feels that way? It doesn't matter what he *thinks*. All he needs to- but I haven't been the same since... I can't just go back. I can't not do what I have to." Why would he even think about that? * Haruko closes her eyes for a moment. "I don't know. I think right now the only difference he's acknowledging is between intent to kill and letting the other person start the fight. But even so that wouldn't justify killing you. You wouldn't go after us or the people Kaede's protecting." * Katie paces, panicked, and checks the window, then whirls and looks at Haruko. "No, I wouldn't. There's no reason. I don't like it. How could I like it? How could- but- it's not the same. He'll never stop. None of them will. It's not the *same*." * Haruko opens her eyes and looks up. "It must be about you. Kaede shows no signs of making this a general policy. Hell he's never cared about violence unless it directly involves him or his people." Kaede doesn't even care about that. * Haruko sighs and nods. "He even said that he wasn't sure what happened to him. Why his feelings are coming into play. Maybe he feels betrayed but can't admit it to himself so he comes up with this bizarre response." * Katie hugs her arms. "Kaede doesn't care." And then one fist is out, slamming against the window. "He *doesn't* care. He doesn't care. He doesn't care except that I won't be perfect anymore. I won't be who he sees as Katie. That's all he cares about. He doesn't care about who did this to me. Everything'll be fine if we just let it happen again, and again, he doesn't know." * Haruko shakes her head and stands up and tries to hug Katie. "No, he cares enough to think he can go to source. Kill her." She gets a highly disturbed expression "rather than killing the 'insects' and everything gets better." * Katie glares at Haruko. "Her. He means me." * Haruko shakes her head. "Not right now he doesn't. I think he thinks it can be that simple. He's so certain that with dedication and a good raid we're guaranteed to save you and all will be well." * Katie pushes Haruko away and walks around her to her desk again. She picks up a carving, this one of a sparrow sitting on a twig, then sets it down heavily. "No, he means me." He'd never go after *her*. He told me that after the closet. He'd never go after her. * Haruko shakes her head. "Then he's changed his mind. Look even when I didn't like him I paid attention. The way he talked about her meant that he will act. He never showed that sort of certainty with Yushiro." * Katie turns to face Haruko again. "And how will killing her magically make me better? Make me Katie again, whoever he thinks she is?" * Haruko doesn't physically react to being pushed away, aside from turning so she's still facing Katie. * Haruko winces at that. "The thing her purpose is torturing you. So long as she's out there we can't make a start on getting you to feel safe." She frowns. "Tenjirou's might fall in the same category, but Kaede doesn't see that." Kaede doesn't see anything. He only sees the here and the now and the gun at his face, but he can't see the one behind his head. * Haruko nods. "A lot of what he's been saying today has been full of it. But the rest of it has an internal logic of a sort. This doesn't, that's why I think I might be able to fix it." It doesn't even make sense in itself, Haruko! It doesn't make any sense. * Katie stumbles back to her chair, leaning against it before sitting heavily down. "It doesn't make sense. I thought he was my friend." * Haruko shoulders droop. "Look, there's something that really doesn't add up. Even if you go with his axioms, killing is completely different than murder but murders are automatically monsters, that wouldn't explain why he'd kill you. I think he can't handle that he cares about you and that you're becoming something that scares him on an emotional level." So he is my friend, and he'll kill me for it. Something is seriously wrong in his head right now. But we both know he'd die for you without a second thought. Maybe he's just that far gone, maybe he's not really your friend, but we can't know what this really means until we know what's driving him. * Katie hugs her arms, looking down. "He'll kill me because he cares about me. He'll destroy me because I'm not perfect." This isn't like Kaede. I don't believe that the boy who let himself be beaten within an inch of his life by Senshirou to spare you, to spare the rest of us, can truly feel this. I think he's feeling lost, exposed, and is trying to make it better by clinging to some breathtakingly stupid ideas rather than face the truth. Maybe. * Katie digs her fingers into her arms. "But maybe he doesn't think I'm me anymore. Maybe he thinks he knows, and- I can't- change, because I won't be me, no matter what. I can't ignore things. I'm not him." He put himself in front of Senshirou for who I was- who he thought I was. He's so certain he can save you. That's how he protects himself from the implications of what he's saying. I don't believe he thinks you can go back, he just thinks you can be reactive. I don't care. I can't be this- this- if he wants to kill me... * Katie swallows. "I should stop walking with him to school." This? Whatever it is he wants. I can't go back. It's not possible. * Haruko nods. "He thinks he can put on limits and protect you from going to far. He thinks even with these limits it'll all be alright. He's sure that you can't work through these issues before hand and just need to make gut calls. He thinks he can have it all and he's full of it. It'll all shatter once he has to face reality." What if... he tries to kill me before he faces reality? I mean, what if he never does? I've already told him he'll have to get through me first. And I don't think he's that close to doing it. ::she sighs:: And if I'm wrong we both know that you're twice as clever and as competant as he is about this sort of thing. I wasn't counting on one of my friends trying to kill me. * Katie looks up at Haruko. "I wasn't." * Haruko hugs herself and looks down for a moment before forcing herself to make eyecontact. "Why do you think it was so hard for me to tell you? You think I don't know how this distances you from us, how this cuts away one of your friendships, how this calls into doubt your ability to trust anyone, ever?" Her voice weakens as she says the later bits. Not- Not as much as it would if you didn't tell me. Haruko. * Haruko nods but doesn't look comforted. "So do what you must, be on your guard, don't be alone with him, even don't consider him a friend anymore. But will you let me try to reach him? Even when I hated him I thought he was a good person. I can't believe he's truly sunk this low." I can't stop you. * Katie looks away. "And you should. He can't be in a good place. I- I'm gonna talk to my Dad about driving me to school. Do you think he'll get suspicious if I stop going with him starting tomorrow?" * Haruko nods. "He will be, but there's no real way to avoid that. You can always say your dad insisted because he was worried about you. You could probably even make that true if you had to." She sighs. "But you need to look after yourself. I'll do my best with Kaede, once I know more I can coordinate with Akemi or Nanami." Sure. And, um, you really don't need to ask my permission to save my life, Haruko. I mean, that's dumb. * Haruko looks down. "It's not that, it's." She looks up. "That's not important. What matters is that he's wrong, you are becoming a murderer, but you aren't becoming a monster." * Katie curls one leg up and hugs it. "I don't know, Haruko. Maybe I am. But-" She pauses, then continues, "But I never want to hurt you guys. I promise." You don't have to promise, I know. ::she closes her eyes for a moment and then reopens them:: We've both now seen the depths to which humanity can sink, I have faith that you will never go there." She gives a fairly weak grin. "You can be a total bitch, but you always have your reasons." * Katie shrugs. "I've always been a bitch." She grins weakly back. "It's part of being Katie Andrews." * Haruko nods. "And it's a part I accepted what seems like a long time ago." She then frowns. "That doesn't mean I think you're right about all this, not by a longshot. Particularly regarding choices that will come after Tenjirou. But I think I know who you'd be even if I, if you, if all of us, fail completely. And that's someone I'm willing to defend." Thanks. * Haruko nods and sits down again, picking up her cold cocoa. "Still wish I was drunk." No drinking and crashing Kyon's cycle. * Haruko looks aghast at the suggestion. "I'd walk it home if it came to that." * Katie stretches her legs. "My paper's not due until Monday. You want to watch a movie? I'll microwave popcorn." * Haruko nods and gives a weak smile, taking another sip of cocoa. "Sure, that would be great." She then gives Katie kind of a shallow but hopeful look but doesn't ask the question she's pondering. * Katie gets to her feet. She eyes Haruko's look, then snickers. "And I can't get you a beer, 'cause Mom'll be home any time. But I'll make it up to you later." * Haruko looks disappointed but then smiles at the follow up. "Thanks." She stands up too. [The girls go off for great movie watchage. Katie and Haruko? Who'da thunk.] [Mini End!]