Title: True Cliches
Author/Artist: YamiPaladinofChaos (ypaladinofchaos)
Pairing: Harima Kenji/Sawachika Eri (Flag Faction)
Fandom: School Rumble
Theme: #1 look over here
Disclaimer: School Rumble is the property of Kobayashi Jin.
Notes: For the 30_kisses community. Mild spoilers for the first season.
It was the kind of day that, if you were so inclined, you could jive down the street whistling, like you owned the world, like nothing could go wrong. It was bright without being oppressively warm, a patchwork sky of stunning cobalt mixed with shining ivory.
It was the kind of day for making a positive change in your life, talking to that cute girl you've been interested in, buying something nice to spoil yourself with, or finding a twenty dollar bill on the ground.
It was, in short, a good day, for good things to happen.
And for some people, good things did happen.
It was not supposed the kind of day that would have your heart torn out from your chest and stomped to pieces in front of you.
Sadly, Harima Kenji's luck just isn't that good.
---
The day started out well enough, with only mild teasing from Itoko, a good breakfast, and the deadline for his manga still far enough that he could afford to take his time.
Maybe that should have been a clue that things would go horribly wrong.
However, Harima Kenji is only a part-time cynic. The other half of the time he's a hopeless optimist.
Hopeless being the key word.
From the day's start, things started making ever so slight changes in a decidedly southward direction. Things such as, the small package on Tsukamoto Tenma's desk, the not quite as blank look on Karasuma Ooji's face, or the grinning faces of Tsukamoto Tenma's friends.
Of course, Harima Kenji wasn't thinking of those things, only of Tsukamoto Tenma.
The only warning he managed to catch was, predictably, the most obvious, in the form of Karasuma Ooji stepping outside of the classroom at lunch, and Tsukamoto Tenma hurriedly following after him a moment later, package in hand.
Harima, as per usual, followed his jealousy instinct and followed them out.
And, unluckily, this time he probably shouldn't have.
From another part of the classroom, cognac eyes followed his back with curiosity, and something a little softer as well.
---
There is a famous saying about the five steps to accepting a terminal illness; these being, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.
If heartbreak was a terminal illness, that Harima Kenji hit the first stage, then the second stage, skipped over to the fourth stage, then cycled back and hit the first and second stages simultaneously and then instantly reverting to the fourth.
If the five steps were a linear sort of pattern, this was a pattern more akin to a Mobius Strip, but only if said Mobius Strip had been designed by M.C. Escher on crack.
By now, you're probably wanting an explanation on exactly why Harima Kenji is currently cycling through more emotional stages than one person should sanely be doing.
It was a smile that did him in. Oh, there was much more to the situation, lots more, but in the end that smile was like the hammer slamming down nails on his coffin.
Because the smile told him something, as if God Himself had come down from Heaven in that smile to deliver a cruel message.
You can't win her heart.
Tenma smiled at Karasuma, the gentlest, most loving smile that Harima Kenji had ever borne witness to in his entire life- it was something he dreamed about every night and day, prayed and hoped and wished to be directed at himself. Only, this was reality, and the smile was not even remotely considering going his way.
They sat together outside, not in the way they had done previously, but facing each other, smiling- Karasuma, of all people, smiling- and chatting away, eating food that was undoubtedly cooked by Tenma herself.
After a while, Karasuma said something- "Thank you," "Its delicious", or maybe "I love you"; whatever it was, Harima couldn't hear and probably didn't really want to hear it- and suddenly Tenma pressed a daring kiss to his cheek.
The hammer slammed down the final nail.
And Harima Kenji's heart was, if you would forgive the terrible but true cliche, broken.
---
If you asked her, Sawachika Eri would fluster and babble and deny adamantly that she was not, in any way, in love with Harima Kenji.
Which would, in effect, tell you three very important things about Sawachika Eri.
Firstly, she's a terrible liar about her feelings.
Second, she's very clearly in love with Harima Kenji.
And lastly, she's still unsure that she is in love with him.
People often go through what are called 'Leaps of Faith', in which basically one must let go of doubts and plunge into the unknown.
Today, Sawachika Eri is will be offered one of the chance to do just that, and leap into the deepest unknown in the world.
Love.
And again, forgive the terrible- but true- cliche.
---
She followed him outside. If you asked her later, and people would, why she did so, she couldn't honestly say what truly compelled her to follow him.
However, because she was hesitant, trailing him at a good distance, she was only about to exit the building when Harima brushed right past her, as if he hadn't seen her- or indeed, as if nothing else in the world existed but him.
In the history of her encounters and dealings with Harima Kenji, there is a recurring pattern of misunderstanding bringing, not pain, but ever increasing feelings for the delinquent instead.
However, the raw pain that one could palpably feel coming off of him was impossible to misunderstand. Something had happened, something that wounded him deeply.
As if he had loved someone, and now they had broken his heart.
And as his footsteps began to fade from hearing, Eri found herself stilled at a crossroads. If she really did love him, then shouldn't she be the one to comfort him after such a thing? And if she didn't, then she'd be able to let him go without much thought.
A more serious, more distressing thought came to mind.
If she went after him, what would happen between them? Would she be brushed off? Would she discover her feelings not strong enough? What would he do in reaction? Reject her? Love her? Either one was frightening in its own right.
Remember that Leap of Faith I talked about earlier?
Here it is folks, and yes, it is scary as Hell.
---
Harima Kenji was running. Where, to what purpose, he did not know.
There was simply the all-consuming need to not be here.
"Wait."
His step stilled, and for a brief moment, his hope maddened ears prayed it was the dulcet tones of his beloved Tenma-chan. But reality kicked that hope in the face and knocked it aside, revealing itself as the much softer, reserved tone of a certain Ojou.
His step regained itself and he began moving again.
"I said wait."
He ignored it. Whatever Ojou wanted, he didn't want to hear it, not now of all times.
"Please."
Suddenly, his step faltered, a wash of cold reality flushing over his mind for a moment, unable to comprehend what he'd just heard.
A hand, small and fragile-seeming, gripped the back of his shirt, strong but shaking, as if afraid.
What is she afraid of?
"What do you want, Ojou?" he managed a quiet rasp, something to keep the hurt out of his voice. "I'm not in the mood."
"Where are you going?"
The question itself wasn't much, but the tone, that brittle and withdrawn, nothing like the fiery princess that he had come to know.
"Why are you so curious?" Harima shot back, managing as much defensiveness as he could. The urge, the need to be away, pounded in his ears, coursing through his veins.
"Are you going to leave again? Like you did after the Sports Festival?" she took a step forward, unsure except that she needed to say these things. "Because the girl you love broke your heart?"
"What would you know?" he snapped, suddenly furious with her for intruding, for interfering, for asking all these questions. Why did she care? "Have you ever been in love?"
Sawachika Eri stood on the edge of the map, teetering at the brink of the unknown, of the uncertain.
She took a breath.
And made the leap.
"Yes."
Harima jerked as if literally shocked, finally turning to look at her, but Eri kept her head down, blonde bangs brushing faintly against the fabric of his shirt.
"And he's in love with someone else." If it was any other girl, that would have come out as a choked sob, but Eri managed to keep her composure and the tightness in her voice was all that betrayed her.
Now it was Harima on the edge of the map, at the unknown. Not even he could avoid the undeniable truth, the way she avoided looking into his eyes, the loosening of her grip on his shirt, the tremble in her voice.
All that remained was to see whether or not he would take the leap.
Ojou, in love with him. This constant annoyance, the person who could get under his skin quicker than most, who always seemed to be around for bad things to happen to him.
The person who danced with him at the Sports Festival when no one else would, with whom walking down the street underneath an umbrella seemed as natural as breathing, who wasn't really all that bad if you got right down to it...
"That could change," Harima said quietly, almost unaware of what he was saying, of what everything he said meant, what it would change in his life.
Now it was Eri's turn to jerk as if shocked, looking up at him with wide eyes, pale, angular face filled with uncertainty and not a little hope. With a frail whisper, she spoke.
"Really?"
If Harima had been unsure that she was in love with him, all doubt was dispelled now.
He turned around, facing her fully at last. Slowly, hesitantly, he reached over, and grasped her hand softly, squeezing once for assurance both for her and himself.
"Yes."
---
It was the kind of day that, if you were so inclined, you could jive down the street whistling, like you owned the world, like nothing could go wrong. It was bright without being oppressively warm, a patchwork sky of stunning cobalt mixed with shining ivory.
It was the kind of day for making a positive change in your life, talking to that cute girl you've been interested in, buying something nice to spoil yourself with, or finding a twenty dollar bill on the ground.
It was the kind of day that, even if you got your heart torn out from your chest and stomped to pieces in front of you, someone else would come along and start to piece it lovingly back together.
It was the kind of day that you might notice something wonderful that had been next to you the whole time.
And for Harima Kenji, that was the kind of day he had.