From the moment I laid eyes on her that morning, I knew there was something up with Haruhi. I had no way of telling what was going on, but in some inexplicable way I just knew that there was something and for a brief moment I found myself panicking at the thought of another incident similar to the last time she'd been in a mood.

"Kyon! What do you want to do today with the SOS Brigade? I was thinking we could maybe go scout out some areas to find phenomena or maybe even an alien if we're lucky! And then -"

As she rambled excitedly, I found myself relaxing a bit. She certainly didn't seem upset but then again, she was acting a bit more eccentric then normal. If that's even possible.

I'd like to think that after all this time I'd spent with Suzumiya Haruhi that I knew her decently well, and to some extent I did. There were things about her personality and her past that I had yet to learn about, but I knew her well enough to realize that she seemed to be trying to cover something up. My first assumption was she'd done something that had gotten her into trouble, but Haruhi wasn't that kind of girl. She'd just deal with whatever it was and be done with it. My next thought was a bit more realistic.

"Are you feeling ok today?" I asked, cutting into her rant about time travelers and a weak dimensional vortex near the playground located a block from the station.

Haruhi blinked her hazel eyes at me, her train of thought clearly derailed with all the disastrous results entailed with a locomotive carrying four hundred people driving right off it's tracks and into a dense forest. "What?" She sounded positively lost.

"I asked if you were feeling alright. You seem a bit different today."

"Your crazy!" She snapped and I couldn't help but wince slightly at the tone. "Now don't interrupt me!"

She promptly continued her speech, assuming that I was being the obedient peon and listening to her, and I decided that maybe she was fine after all. Maybe it was me? I had been feeling a bit under the weather lately ...

Eventually, the bell to start class rang and she was forced to fall into silence. The entire day went by uneventfully and by the time the final bell sounded I was convinced that I'd just imagined the whole thing this morning. When I got home I was going to take some medicine and go to bed early and hopefully I'd be feeling better by tomorrow.

"See you there, Kyon!"

After the Brigade activities of course.

Sighing, I stood with my bag and trailed after Haruhi's hasty retreat. I didn't really want to go, but I knew that I didn't have much of a choice. Besides, maybe if I was lucky Asahina-san would give me some medicine herself and if I was really lucky, she'd even try to make me feel better.

As I shuffled down the hall I tried not to think about how impossible that fantasy was. Fate is indeed a cruel mistress that way.

It didn't take long for everyone to assemble in the club room and Haruhi was immediately in her 'communist mode', pacing back and forth as she spoke in a loud, even voice, a fist clenched before her chest and the other hand planted firmly on her hip. I was barely listening to what she was saying, far too depressed with the thought of coming down with a cold. I knew that if I didn't get rid of it soon, the next few days would be miserable.

"Kyon!"

I jumped, nearly choking on the sip of tea I'd just taken. "Wha-what?"

"Are you listening?" Haruhi bellowed and I was momentarily reminded of those horribly cliché villains in those cartoons you watch when your little. They seem so wicked when your young and you believe it but when your older and you see it again, they just look foolish and over dramatic. I couldn't help but wonder when I'd become old enough that she wouldn't seem like such an evil overlord.

"Yes."

She slammed her hands down onto the table, making it quiver slightly. From the corner of my eye I saw Asahina-san wince and I just barely heard the tiny whimper she made. "Then what did I just say?"

Having been throughly caught in a lie, I looked to Koizumi for assistance, but he merely shrugged and continued to smile that damned smile of his. Thanks a lot.

"Ha! I knew it!" I didn't even see it coming, but her hand was suddenly smacking into my head, leaving a decent sting on my scalp. I got out an exclaimed 'ow' before she was pulling away from me and making her way behind her 'brigade leaders' desk. "See? This is what I'm talking about! Do you even want to be here Kyon?"

I thought about saying no, telling her I'd much rather be home right now – taking some medicine, enjoying a nice hot bath and then slipping under my sheets to hopefully sleep my cold away – but I chose a better approach. I lied. "Yeah ..."

I seemed to be lying quite a bit today.

"Then you have to prove yourself!" All eyes followed as Haruhi stepped up onto her wheeled chair, standing above us with her fists planted firmly on her hips. She eyed us for a moment then continued, looking for all the world like a Hitler turned God. I immediately blamed the cold for my horrible metaphor. "This Sunday we are going on a search of the city! We will not rest until we find something and Kyon, you will be our guide!"

I felt my heart stumbling over itself in surprise. What the hell? "Me? Why me?"

"Your proving yourself!"

"But -"

"Silence!"

As a heavy quiet settled, I found my stomach twisting and churning uncomfortably. I had this horrible, almost ominous feeling settling inside of me, and I wasn't entirely sure it was related to my knew position as phenomena tracking blood hound. I felt that I should say something but I knew that it would only upset her.

"Now then, as I was saying; we will find an alien, time traveler, ESPer, Big Foot, Chupacabra or other UMA!" She stomped her foot once onto the seat of the chair.

From beside me, I felt Koizumi stiffen slightly but I was too focused on Haruhi and her power filled stance to give it much thought.

"We will find an ancient civilization, UFO, haunted building, dimensional vortex or something else that's interesting!" She gave another stomp onto the chair, her eyes fixed pointedly at the lights on the ceiling.

"And Kyon will be our guide to all these wondrous things and more!" One final stomp and a slight shift of her body weight as she turned her gaze from the ceiling to me and the chair jerked backward on it's four wheels. She teetered forward, arms swinging to catch her balance and as she tried to find her footing again the chair swiveled forward and she went flying over the back.

We all watched, none of us moving, as she fell in what seemed like slow motion and for a moment I saw the God that was in her. Brown hair whipping around her face as if she were in a free fall from the Heavens, her golden hazel eyes wide in shock and her pink lips parted in a surprisingly delicate 'o'. She didn't look like an almighty creator, but rather, a beautiful angel that had been evicted from paradise, thrown from the clouds to whatever might lay below.

I found my body jerking into motion a moment too late and I knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything for her.

The back of her head smacked into the window ledge with surprising force, more then I ever would have thought possible from such a small fall, and her body jerked up from the impact only to fall limply onto the floor, the chair clattering after her. She didn't move, didn't grab her head and curse or cry or look embarrassed – instead she laid where she'd fallen, reminding me painfully of a puppet with it's strings cut.

I reached her five seconds after she hit the cool tiles and I reached for her shoulders, having every intention of shaking her to make her wake up but I found myself stopping short as something caught my eye. Red. There was something red in her hair. And on the floor. And, I realized with growing trepidation, on the window sill.

She was bleeding.

Haruhi had hit her head hard enough to bleed.

Please, no ...

(XxXxX)

To be continued ...

Yay! This idea has been in brain for quite a while, since I had a Haruhi marathon actually. I noticed at one point when she was standing on her chair how dangerous that was, especially with the window located right behind her. I let my mind wander and I came up with this plot. XD Please tell me what you think, this is pretty much unchartered territory for me. I've never attempted to write something this serious for anything.

Also, I'd like to point out that this is the only chapter thats in Kyon's POV. Sorry if that's what you were hoping for, but I wont really be able to do what I want with this if it's in his eyes the whole time. After this it will all be in third person.

Also, some of you might be wondering what UMA stands for. Well, I actually got it from another anime called Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok (a great anime and manga! If you haven't ever had contact with it I highly recommend you do!). There's this girl who reminds me of Haruhi a bit, her name is Mayura and she loves mysterious things and at one point there's this squid and she's like "Oh my gosh! A UMA – an unidentified mysterious animal! So cool!". So, yeah, I just thought I'd throw it in there. XD