[FANFIC] [NnO] 100 Days (031 - 035)
Fandom: Nabari no Ou
Title: 100 Days
Author: nyanja14 (aka: Miss Fish, the_myrah)
Summary: TIDES, WONDERING, CURIOSITY, NOTES, HEAT
Word Count: 1411
Rating: Teen, to be safe.
Warnings: character death, abuse, general angst, and boys having crushes on other boys
031: TIDES
One day without really knowing why, Yoite got on a train and rode to the town by the sea.
When he got off at the station, his feet started pulling him to the church, but he turned around. He doubted anyone there would remember him and he doubted even more that any of them could recognize him now, but he knew that if he sat down for even just a moment to look towards the windows he wouldn't be able to get up again.
So he went the opposite direction, avoiding the busier main streets and walking down the outskirts of the residential district. The town had changed; the paint on the houses looked a little duller, the roads were a little bumpier, and there were almost no children outside. He'd changed too, he realized. A trip that would have taken him two hours two years ago was cut in half by his longer stride.
He passed a few people whose face he thought he seemed familiar, but nobody paid him any mind; that much was still the same.
It was starting to get dark by the time he reached the old neighborhood. He knew he'd have to head back soon if he didn't want Yukimi asking questions. Yukimi didn't care if he went out so long as he got back by the end of the day and didn't "hurt anybody that wasn't askin' for it."
His feet slowed as he went through the neighborhood, but finally he was there.
The house had changed a lot too. There was a car sitting outside. Someone had started a box garden hanging from the kitchen window. It surprised him, though it shouldn't have. He knew that someone else had moved in, knew that some other family was living here now. Still, it surprised him.
He crept around to the side of the house where the barred basement window had been. But it wasn't there anymore. Someone had filed it in with brick, so neatly that it was like the little hole had never existed.
He stood there staring at the spot for a long time, trying to figure out what this feeling was pressing inside his chest.
032: WONDERING
"Yukimi Kazuhiko is the leader of the Kairoshu field performance team. You'll be living with him as well as working for him, so listen to what he says."
Tucked away in the corner of the backseat, Yoite didn't respond. He didn't really care where he was going so long as it was somewhere without Hattori. The chief seemed to have picked up on Yoite's quiet resentment because he had yet to comment on the fact that Yoite had not spoken in his presence for over a month. Not that Yoite had been much of a talker before, but Hattori was too shrewd to not have noticed the difference. He was a little surprised that Hattori was choosing to ignore his rebellion, small as it was. He never would have gotten away with rudeness like that at the old house.
"Yukimi-kun's situation is similar to yours. He is not originally from the Nabari world; he came to Iga when he was about your age and entered the Kairoshu when he was twenty-three." Hattori paused and Yoite thought he might be peering at him in the rear view mirror, so he hid his face under the brim of his hat. "In addition," Hattori continued, "his sister will be your attending physician. Hopefully, however, you will not need her services for some time. For these reasons, I am entrusting you to Yukimi-kun."
Yoite would not think much on this information until he'd lived at Yukimi's apartment for a few weeks and observed the man carefully. He was a very good ninja, but on a fundamental level he wasn't cut out for the work. It wasn't just his poor skills at elemental ninjitsu that told Yoite this; it was the grim set of his jaw after he was forced to shoot a young ninja that looked about fifteen on one of their early jobs together. The girl didn't die, but the troubled expression stayed spread across Yukim's face for the rest of the week.
That expression made Yoite wonder what had dragged the man into the Nabari world. He wanted to ask, but Yukimi didn't talk about himself much and Yoite didn't have any right to be asking questions in the first place.
But the longer in lived in the man's apartment, the more he wondered.
033: CURIOSITY
"What are you doing?"
Yoite looked down at the voice. A little girl with her hair parted into two short pigtails was staring back at him.
"Waiting," he answered. The girl beamed at him.
"Me too! I want to leave, but my brother wants to stay at the park, so Mom says we're going to stay longer." She pointed towards the playground where a younger boy was digging in the sandbox. "He's the baby, so Mom always listens to him and not me. I don't like it, but Mom says I have to learn to com-pro-mise." She sounded the word out carefully, looking up at Yoite for confirmation. He nodded and she smiled again, bouncing on her toes. "Why are you waiting?"
"I'm waiting for someone."
"Your friend?"
Yoite opened his mouth to say no, but stopped. What was he supposed to say? "Business partner" wasn't quite right and even Yoite knew he shouldn't tell a little girl that he was waiting for the boy he kidnapped and then coerced into helping him.
Before he could try to answer, a woman called out across the park. "Hitomi!" The girl clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Oh, I can't talk to strangers!" She turned and ran towards her mom, looking back at Yoite to wave. "Bye bye!"
Yoite lifted a hand to wave back at her and tried to forget about the question. He couldn't deal with any more confusion or emotions, not when he was so close to the end.
034: NOTES
He found the notepad in one of Yukimi's stuffed, unorganized drawers after spending an hour searching. It would've been a lot easier to just ask Yukimi where he kept paper and things, but he didn't want to have to explain what he needed it for.
Writing it all down, all the things he and Miharu would have to accomplish for Miharu to call upon the Shinrabanshou, made it all seem impossible. He tried to estimate how long each task would take, but the numbers only made him feel more agitated. He didn't have much longer left. There was no set timetable for kira user longevity, but he could feel his ki diminishing more day after day.
There was no time for procrastination or worrying. There was no time at all.
035: HEAT
The first time Yoite killed a man with the kira, he got sick to the stomach. He managed to hold himself together during the debriefing and the ride back to the apartment, but once he was there Yoite locked himself in the bathroom and retched into the toilet for half an hour. He laid on the cool tile for some time afterwards, shivering and swallowing to try to get the sour taste out of his mouth.
Yoite had felt the man's ki in that instant before he cut through it with his own. It had been hot, so much hotter than the life force of any of the animals he'd practiced on. In that moment before the man's ki scattered, Yoite thought he'd been burned.
"Oi." Yukimi was knocking on the door. "You alive in there?"
Yoite pulled himself off the floor and unlocked the door. He couldn't bring himself to look Yukimi in the face, but he could tell the man was evaluating him.
"Drink this." Yukimi shoved a tall glass of water at him. "All of it, unless you want a nasty headache later. And then go to bed. There's another mission tomorrow, so you better be ready."
Yoite nodded and drank obediently. He managed to finish half of it before he had to clear his throat. "Yukimi?" he rasped.
"What?" He was sitting down at his desk, booting up the computer, but he turned his head to look at Yoite.
"Does it..." Yoite stopped and started over, finger clenching around the glass. "Is it always like that?"
"No." Yukimi turned back around to type on the keyboard and log in. "It doesn't get any easier, but you get a little better at it each time."
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