#harukaxrin

 1. 

The water still accepted him even when it was stained red with liquid pain that did not belong to him.

Almost as if transfixed by the ripples of water that were being fuelled by an odd movement of a limb and how the colour of crimson that had poured out from broken veins combined with the clearness of pure liquid that had flowed out of a tap, he watched in silence; as if calculating, thinking. Or maybe, just simply, there were no gears moving in his head. 

One thing was absolutely certain: the boy was not shaken. He was surrounded by the water almost as if he was a part of it himself, like he was one of the many ripples running along the surface - or perhaps all of them. No, the boy simply sat and watched with unblinking eyes. His limbs were not trembling or shaking in the slightest. He was cool and collected. As if this was just a normal bath time; something that he had for at least an hour every day, even if he wasn't unclean. 

 Another thing that was certain was that they boy was unmistakably not clean. It seemed that blood had become another layer of flesh and choked his pores in his skin. However, after an hour of sitting and half-hearted cleansing, the dried red had started to peel off and eventually only a few remnants remained. Yet he sat until he was pristine. 

After usage his towel remained clean. Red stained the rims of his bathtub but he cleaned it with a dish rag whilst doing the daily household chores that he should have done earlier. It was late, he noted, as he looked out of the window in the living room. The sky was dark, stars nestled their way into the blackness and the sun was nowhere to be seen.  

It was the night sky that had veiled his presence. 

 It was a blessing wrapped in a curse that he was in her form room as he had to listen to her mundane prattle day by day. Of course, it only became a serious problem when the girl had gotten entangled in his life. All because she had opened her mouth at the wrong time. He remembers the scene of her crime vividly - after all, it was the momentum that fuelled his actions when he plunged through her chest, tearing through veins, sinews and flesh, right until it stabbed a hole in her heart. The blood had burst out of the rip in her skin like a crimson fountain. 

 Her crime took place in registration in the afternoon. It was sunny and the sun rays spread over the outside of the school and lit up the blue sky. He remembers a conversation with Makoto, which, for once, he did not really listen too like he usually did. This time he was too busy focusing on the low depth of the plunge in the stomach as his ears were consumed with the words the girl was spewing. 

 "... And my cousin goes to that same academy, Samezuka! The same one that he goes too!" Her puppet-like friends all simpered whilst he noticed that there was a stinging throughout his body, like his blood had been laced with her poisonous words. 

"That's how I know about Matsouka! My cousin talks about him all the time! And one day I was walking with Yuu in town and we bumped into him!" He noticed how his hand had begun to shake in a consuming rage and he dragged his fingers up to form a fist to try and contain it. 

"Love at first sight, ladies. And you know he has a sister here? But it'd be too embarrassing to ask her anything! So here's my plan," he felt the goosebumps ride up on his skin, prickling him with only a slight discomfort. It wasn't nearly enough to distract him from the pain wedged inside. 

"I've only seen him once without Yuu with a friend so I'm going to 'bump' into him in town again. No Yuu and no uniform. I'll do this again and again. If it works it means that fate's at hand!" A laugh from her gaping mouth churned the bitter of his stomach and he felt a shaky breath being forced from his body.

"Soon Matsouka will be mine!" He felt his heart hammer out of his ribcage and tear through his flesh. No. No. Since when did Rin belong to anyone? Anyone but him? Never. It was stupid to even think that after the years of pain and hollowness that they had both experienced and had finally come together and found hope in each other that someone else would steal that away. 

Looking up from his desk, he felt his heart that had ripped itself out from his body dry out from the surrounding air. He looked at the girl with long dark hair tied up into a bun. 

I want to do that to her, he remembered thinking as he felt his heart shrivel up.

She had nothing on him, Haruka knew this, yet if she was ready to talk about Rin like he was nothing, like he was just a possession, then she didn't deserve what kept her alive. 

He remembered her talking about her jogs across the beach late at night. He remembered intercepting her and tearing out her heart with a carving knife. He remembered the feeling of nothingness stifle his senses towards the outside world. He remembered the emptiness of the streets as he dragged her the short distance into the ocean before taking off her jacket that he had touched with both hands. 

The only thing he felt was hollow when he discarded the body and how the waves so eagerly accepted it and took her from the shore. He had a fleeting thought of Makoto but shoved it aside. 

He remember clutching the heart in his hand before placing it down onto the shore before it was dragged away. He cleaned his hands off in the water but still felt the wetness clogging the pores in his skin. He fancied it was just the sea water. And then he wrapped the knife in her jacket and walked along the shore line of the beach, knowing that he could rely on the body of water to wash away any remaining footprints of his and hers and any blood smears or splatters. 

Her jacket smelt disgusting when he burnt it. It gave off a slight warmth which he appreciated just being dressed in his swim suit whilst washing his clothes in cold water. He wasn't sure if he could smell an overwhelming stench of sickening sweet perfume or if it was just all in his head. Maybe her scent had attached onto him and refused to go away to be the last remaining proof of her existence. All the more reason to have a bath. 

Cleaning the carving knife was a task among the rest of the chores. He had cleaned the blade and hilt before he had used it and wore a new pair of washing up gloves. He had burnt them too as they were covered with clumps of blood from when he had reached into her chest and tore out her formerly beating organ. 

 e lay awake briefly before allowing sleep to take him. He was reassured. Rin was his. Nobody could take him away, not after everything they had been through. They had found hope in each other and a purpose to swim. And to live. Rin was the beating organ within Haruka, all long as Rin was his, Haruka was alive. And the point in living was to be with Rin. And Rin was his reason to swim. 

He had experienced living without Rin for too long. He would never put up with the agony that festered under his skin and the thoughts that pierced his skull. He thought he would never experience those things again. However, they had all come rushing back when the girl had opened her mouth.