Days Without You (No.6 Nezumi X Shion Fanfic)

Long Way There

"Wanna have some fun?" the man slurs as he speaks. He takes out a hand and tries to grab my arms, but I step away from him. "Oh, come on, don be shy~~" He attempts to grab my arm again, but this time, I don't just let it slide.

I'm in a horrible mood, and I don't think I can control my emotions right now, especially because of everything that's going on.

I had been thinking that I'd be nice and ignore him until he left, but he keeps urging me on to "have some fun" with him. My patience wanes out and I simply attack the back of his neck to knock him out. I can't deal with this crap right now, I have better things to do.

I walk away from the man lying on the pavement and find a place for me to sleep for the night. I need to get as much sleep as possible before the sun rises tomorrow morning, and off I go once again, into the woods.

After wandering around for quite some time, I find a lake and decide to refill my water pouch. I take my pouch out and take the cap off and dip the mouth of the pouch into the water. The water slowly flows into the pouch until it's full, and I take it out and put the cap back.

The moonlight shines down on the water, creating a glistening glow as it reflects against the water. There are occasional noises created by the animals nearby, otherwise, the night is silent. The lake is considerably far from the town so the noise from town doesn't seem to travel all the way here.

My body doesn't feel very tired so I decide to look for a better place to sleep that doesn't involve me sleeping in the open under a tree. I walk along the lake and soon enough, I find a house. Well, you wouldn't really call this a house. It was one of those houses that were dug underground. There was a wooden door that was supposedly the entrance. I walk to it and knock, curiously to see if anyone was home.

Soon after, I hear wood clash against metal and the door opens to reveal a tall man probably around his twenties holding a candle. The candle light illuminates enough brightness for me to take him in and vice versa. He wears baggy clothing and they're wrinkly. There doesn't seem to be any smell coming off of him, so I'm grateful that he isn't one of those drunkards. His hair is a light shade of brown and he possesses green eyes. Emerald green eyes. They're beautiful. His eyes possess the qualities the colour of a forest has and it nearly takes my breath away. Nearly.

The man offers a small smile and asks, "What brings you here?"

I think about whether to trust this man or not. Considering the fact that he hasn't attacked me yet, or seem to be hostile of my presence, I decide that he's probably a decent man.

"I'm travelling and was wondering if I could stay in a home somewhere. The hotel rooms were all booked and the bar didn't seem very inviting," I explain, not giving him the reason why I've stumbled upon this town or why I was travelling. Many people don't travel these days. They never do, especially because the world is so contaminated, nothing good comes out of leaving a safe place.

"I see..." the man starts, "why don't you come in for now?" I notice that he had said, for now, so he probably doesn't trust me or just doesn't like the fact that I had probably woken him up from his sleep or something, it was pretty late.

"Thanks," I say as I step inside the door and find a staircase leading down. It seems pretty dark there and the only light that navigated us was the candle light the stranger was holding. As I made my way down behind the man, the staircase creaked under my feet. The boards were wooden and it made me feel as if it could break any second, but the man didn't seem bothered by it so I guess I shouldn't think too deeply about it either. We arrived at the bottom safe and sound-thankfully.

As my eyes wandered around the room of the underground cave-like room (I have no idea what it's called, so I guess I can only describe so much), I found it actually quite relaxing in here. There are a couple of candles placed all around the room, so the room was actually lit brightly-well, as brightly as candlelight can provide, that is. Oh, and even though the room was quite small-just enough space for a comforting room-there's a welcoming feeling coming from the room. It feels like someone actually lives here, and the furniture isn't placed to make the place look super pretty. It kind of feels like the room with the memories Shion and I share. That room... that very, very special room.

"How's your travelling going?" the man asks as he brings a cup of water to his lips. When'd he get that?

I debate on whether to answer his question or not, and I decide to because there doesn't seem like any harm in doing so. "It's going fine, but I'm just a bit behind schedule than I had thought."

The man gives me a strange look as if I was asking him if he was blue. "That's interesting..." Doesn't sound like he meant it, though, because he looks away and puts down his cup and walks toward a corner.

"How does it feel living down here? Seems very comfortable in a small room by yourself, outside in the middle of the woods," I say. I have no idea I had asked that, but I'm so exhausted, I don't think I can control what I want to say and what I don't want to say.

"Is that an insult or...?" the man looks back at me while he takes out some blankets and sheets placed neatly in a hidden closet.

"I'm just curious. That was no supposed to offend you. Sorry if it was offensive," I say, bringing a hand to my eyes and rubbing it. The sleepiness is getting to me. Why am I sleeping so much these days? I used to can go on for days without sleeping, but recently, I've been needing more than a couple hours of sleep. That's unusual. And I also apologized... something is definitely wrong with me.

I sigh and close my eyes to focus on my breathing because I don't need any useless things to worry about when the world is in a crisis.

"Oh, if that's all then, it's actually pretty fine down here. It's really quiet down here, and although there isn't any sunlight that comes through here, there's this murky warmness that's actually pretty comforting-even though it's still murky, but that's fine by me," the stranger says as he lays out the bed sheets for me.

"Is that so?" I ask, my voice monotonous. I'm so tired...

"Oh, right, I haven't asked this yet. I can't believe I haven't asked, oh my... Anyways, what's your name? I'm Tetsu," the man-I mean Tetsu, says, holding out a hand for me to shake.

Should I tell him Nezumi, or another name so he doesn't ask questions? I go with Nezumi, as it's the name I'm most familiar with. "Nezumi," I say, taking his hand and shaking it twice before letting go.

"Nezumi?" Tetsu asks me, clearly interested in my unusual name, "Doesn't that mean rat or something?"

"Yeah," I say, "Many have said it was odd, so I'm used to the insults. Fly away with your insults, I don't mind," I give him a small smile.

"No, it's actually quite unique, even though it's a bit weird. But it's still unique!"

I give him another smile, "Thanks, but can I go to sleep for now? I'm quite exhausted from travelling."

"Sure, take the bed," Tetsu gestures to the bed at the end of the room.

"I'm fine, I'll take the floor. Don't want to bother you even more."

"Well, if you say so..."

I tuck myself in the blanket sheets and close my eyes. I hear shuffling of a pair of feet-probably Tetsu's- moving around the room until the sound stops and is replaced by the creaking sound from the bed.

I open my eyes to find the room completely dark. I guess he blew out the candles. "Night," Tetsu's voice comes from somewhere to the right of me. It's so dark in here.

"Night," I say as well.

Author's note

So, yeah. Nezumi is soooooo out of character, but it's not like I have super god like writing skills so please bare with it >.<

Sorry if it's like super awkward though....

and yesssssss, Tetsu is a super important character so PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO HIMMM

Anyways, hope you enjoyed~~