Shikkun City

She slowly pushed the door open, getting read to kick someone's ass, but when she looked she saw Haru. She sighed mentally and walked in closing the door behind her. Avaron paid no mind to him and went to his room where she dropped his stuff on his bed and wen to her room. She placed her things in its place before walking out. Rodney meowed and curled around her leg. Scooping him up she cuddled him as she walked into the kitchen and fixed her one of her meals and got a Dr. Pepper. The cat had jumped out of her arms onto the counter before. She didn't look at him, if anything she was like her mother right now. Inwardly she cringed, but she just couldn't show sympathy.

"I didn't want to be a gutter slut, Ava," Haru lifted his head and took another swig, putting the tumbler down to run his hand along the cat's back once.

"I wanted to go to school, go to college, fall in love. I wanted to grow up a regular kid. I didn't want to be property. I didn't want to be a god damn plaything for sick fucks in suits." his eyes slowly welled up, his voice starting to crack.

"I used to have hope, Ava. I used to dream."

He picked up the glass and examined it, his hands shaking as he poured himself another glass. When raised up to his quivering lips, most of the alcohol spilled onto his face and shirt, staining the light fabric a dark caramel.

Yukimura looked down at himself, before shouting and throwing the tumbler at the nearest wall, the lead crystal glass shattering into a dozen glimmering shards and scattering throughout the nearby area.

"IT'S ALL GONE NOW! IT'S TOO LATE!"

The drunken teenager gripped the bottle by its neck and stood up from the stool, making only one or two steps before collapsing facedown to the floor. The bottle smashed open upon impact, and small trickles of blood sprung from the hand formerly clutching it.

Instead of trying to stand up, the crumpled form of Haruka laid still, accompanied by a faint sobbing.

She sighed, "Look at this mess.." She went get a broom and pale before getting the aid kit and a wet towel. Ava cleaned up the class everywhere and started to tend to his wounds. "I am going to need you to stop making a mess, thank you." She still never looked at him as she finished off the bandaged and left him on the floor. "You act like you can't do shit. Yet you worked well today...made more tips than any of us combined. And here you are, crying on our floor because of a past you can't change." Her voice was soft. She grabbed her food and drink before heading to the couch to eat.

The teenager remained largely silent and unflinching as she cleaned and tended to his cuts, just a few more additions to the myriad of varied marks spanning his arms and sides.

"You act like it would be so easy. You've just got issues with your parents that worked a lot. Sorry to break it to you, but I've got a lot of problems to work out."

He eventually peeled himself from the floor, shambling towards his room and clutching his now-bandaged arm. His voice was quiet, but still audible:

"I wish I knew who my parents even were."

Haruka trudged into his room and pulled the door shut behind him. Without even bothering to change or even touch the sheets, he flopped down onto the bed, clutching a pillow tightly to his chest as he drifted towards sleep.

She let him go. Ava didn't think it was worth the fight. She watched TV for a bit before going to her lab. There she sat at her desk and studied the formula for the cat-fish. A cat that can breathe on land and underwater. She worked on that for hours before rubbing her eyes. "There is no damn way this will work unless I change their lungs." She said to herself as she shoved away from the desk and headed upstairs. She passed by Haru's room and checked in on him. "Pain is pain, no matter how big or small." She whispered at his sleeping body before closing his door and heading to her room. “There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.' No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.” Said Dalai Lama XIV" She said it loud enough that if he was awake he would hear.

She looked around her dark room before sighing. She didn't want to go to bed just yet nor did she feel like trying to get Rodney back into the basement. Smirking evilly she got on her tummy and crawled to his door. Rodney followed her, curious like the cat he was. She slowly opened it, letting Rodney go in first before waiting a few minutes to crawl in. She was trying to be a ninja, not knowing if it was actually working. "The damn kid is drunk, he has to be passed out by now." She thought. She moved over to the side of his bed where his head was and reached up, attempting to rub his ear.

Ava jumped, letting out a yelp. The voice startled her back into the house. Her breathing heavy she took a few seconds to calm her nerves before going back out. "Who...Who are you and what are you doing in my yard?" She asked letting herself be fully seen so that she could fully see him. He was a strange looking creature of a human. "Who even dresses like that?" She thought.

She kept a safe distance from him, but stayed close enough to see his features. "Is he even human?" She mumbled to herself, not realizing she had even said it out loud.

Yuuma expected her to be light-blind since eyes didn't adapt quite that quickly. Dilated red eyes watched her leap away with a short giggle. It's a good thing he was here if that was her plan when she found something. He gesticulated wide when she found him with a laugh, "Ha ha, Boo! I'm Yuuma, a harmless vagabond, and I'm in your yard eating the plants city-folk haven't killed yet."

Her quip about his humanity definitely didn't go unnoticed, "Oh come on now, I'm not an old enough mountain man to start turning into a demon."

"...yet?", He winked, "But I suppose I'll see when I get there, eh?"

Her body kind of went limp, her arms just swaying softly to her sides. "Eating...plants..." She said. Her eyes took him in again. "Surely he is nuts." She thought, " A homeless man gone nuts." Her body inched to one of the chairs and sat in it, hugging her knees to her chest. The man's humor were not as funny as he thought, but she did crack a smirk.

"So what kind of...human eats plants? Especially those.." She asked pointing to his little stash. Her hand dropped after a second and dragged back to her body. "And what brings you to the city, kind of a bad idea, especially since you are a...well a plant eating vagabond? Unless you have money, I see no point." Her voice was matter-of-fact.

Yuuma shrugged, "Winter. Mother raised my siblings and I as vegetarians on whatever wouldn't kill us nearby. Runs in the family. It raised the bar on poison after a few generations of it I imagine. Still, I'm not going home or settling down and building a cabin."

Tapping his head he continues, "Homeless that don't work are the usually wrong kind of mad. I'm just crazy enough to be good at living outside. There's always hard labor and board somewhere in the city for winter so here I am!"

Yuuma eats another leaf, "Watching the stars for a moment while pruning your yard."

Ava stared in disbelief a little longer before rubbing the bridge of her nose. Today was a long day and it seemed to be getting longer. She eyed the man, "I am Avaron, but you can call me Ava. I have a pet cat name Rodney and a human with cat ears and a tail attached to him. They work like a cat too..." She said not knowing why she was saying it in the first place. Maybe it was because she needed to get it off her chest and this stranger was...well a stranger and the night sky was calming.

"I have camping gear in the house if you would like a sleeping bag and a tent..." She said after a few minutes of silence.

"I have my own blanket and tarp if you wouldn't mind me using a spot of earth to sleep on, Ava. It's not cold enough to worry me quite yet.", He says with a thumb to his thatched randoseru

Yuuma stretched his foot out from the chair setting the other atop it and grins, "But a fellow with cat ears you say? How strange! I wonder if little Rodney thinks you have two pet cats. Did you buy the fellow at a pet shop or do they have cat eared boys at the shelter now?"

"Oh, well of course...yeah feel free. Do you need anything else...we have bottle of water." She said softly and nearly laughed out loud at the fact that he thought Haru was from a shelter or pet store.

"Oh gosh, no no no. Haru was...well...." Her smiled drifted away as memories of what he told her replayed in her head. "Someone surgically put cat ears and a tail on him. Without....without his consent. The boy has personal issues though." She spoke softly, but she lifted her head and smiled the best smile she could muster up. "Rodney was a screw up. I took semi rescued him from the streets...I did....experiments on him so he could breath under water..." She rubbed one of her eyes. "He ended up not breathing under water and becoming purple and red." By this time she was looking everywhere but him.

Yuuma bowed courteously then smiled, "Thank you for a spot to rest! Hrm. I think they both will have the same issues now. One has everyone wanting to pet him now and the other is purple and red. It can't be that bad of a time here if both of them still want to stay!"

"I think it's time we both get to sleep though, " he said while unshouldering the Randoseru, "I'll be here in the morning if you want to talk."

She nodded and headed inside, but before going in she turned around, "Good night, Yuuma." She closed the door and headed up stairs. Stopping by Haru's room she peeking in and checked up on him. He was fast asleep with Rodney. "Cute." She mumbled in a yawn and closing the door. Ava headed to her bedroom and flopped on her bed. She didn't care about the door being opened. It didn't take long for her to drift to sleep.

Once Ava left Yuuma took out his blanket to wrap a familiar leather backed fur blanket around himself even if it was a little worn. The night wasn't that cold but the blanket was still comfortable. Under an entry overhang just in case it rained Yuuma sat down and went to sleep. The morning would come soon enough.

As the night progressed and eventually ended, activity throughout Shikkun City wound down, the great engine of cosmopolitan life resting at a grumbling idle for a few hours. The honest folk were almost entirely asleep in their homes, the minimal activity left in the city reduced to its party-goers returning home from their clubs and the less-than-legal enterprises who operate at all hours of the day, particularly those as underpopulated as the early morning.

---

Pristine and suburban Everlone Drive remained hushed as the sun's finger-like rays stretched along the cozy street. Though, as the sky lifted from a deep navy to a brilliant clash of gold, red and eventually cyan, the birds nesting in almost every manicured tree in the neighborhood soon awoke and began to sing. Instead of a peaceful and coherent tune, the vast quantity and variety of birds all sang different melodies, the opposing species and keys overlapping in a mindlessly chaotic symphony of warbles, tweets and squawks.

The first to awake in the Nanako home was Rodney, crawling out of Haruka's bed -and stepping on him in the process- to hop to the windowsill to view the feverish avian performance. While the mildly hungover teenager accompanying the cat first failed to awake, the paws pressing against his face and chest with the faint cacophony outside roused him to a state of groggy wakefulness.

Yukimura shambled to the bathroom in relative silence and promptly raided its medicine cabinet for a bottle of over-the-counter pain pills and poured himself a glass of water, taking both back to his room. He shook five pills into his hand, slightly more than the standard adult dose, and downed them with a chase of water. A quick glance to the alarm clock by his bed, however, quickly chopped down any semblance of relaxation he had.

"I have work today. Shit."

As he hissed the statement to himself, his head throbbed in response. He couldn't go in like this, he needed to be cheery and bubbly for work, or at least presentable.

A sideways glance at the telephone on the nightstand gave him an idea. He picked up the receiver and punched in a number he wrote down from the previous day.

"Hello? Ms. Kerbs? It's Haruka."

"I had a bit of a rough night last night, and I don't think I can come in to work today. I need some time to sorta pull myself together, I guess."

"Yes, I understand it's my second day. I just don't want to waste your time and half-ass my work, pardon my language."

"Really? You will?"

"Thank you so much, I'll be in tomorrow for sure."

He gingerly placed the receiver back on its stand and let out a sigh of relief. A few moments passed with him sitting in silence, but he eventually pulled himself over towards his suitcase of clothing and plucked out a simple outfit from his newly bought wardrobe. One quick shower later, he toweled off and donned the fresh clothes.

On the way out the door, he could hear what must have been an ambulance and several police vehicles. He paid little mind to it, and continued towards downtown Shikkun. His destination was a mall he visited occasionally in his homeless days, the Westcross. The products were much cheaper than the newer malls, without proving too trashy for his tastes.

---

Much farther into the city, activity largely resumed as normal even at late hours, from the 24-hour convenience stores to check forwarding and cash loan buildings to the occasional intoxicated person, likely kicked out of their home by a spouse or family member. In one of several run down apartments lay a sleeping Yuudai Ito, who seemingly was the only person in the entire complex that grasped the concept of being silent at night. While the other tenants appeared hellbent on causing noise at all hours of the day, a lifetime of dealing with such crowds left him a heavier sleeper.

That is, aside from the ring of his cellphone, at which his hand shot out from under the covers to grab and retrieve to his ear.

"Y'ello?"

"What?"

"So the firm had to cut our contract with Albertsons? Why?"

"That's some bullshit and you know it. Did they give the job to Crawford? I bet those fucks greased some palms."

"Goddammit. We gotta be careful man, if we keep letting this happen none of us will be able to pay rent."

"Catch you later, man."

His thumb clicked the end button, and he laid the cellphone back down. With his work schedule now unexpectedly wiped, that left plenty of time to, well, do nothing. He yawned and flopped out of bed, stuffing himself into the first clean clothes he finds. Finally he slipped his wallet and cellphone into their respective pockets in his jeans, when the sharp crack of gunfire echoed through the streets. He dove to the floor, but no followup shots were fired. After waiting a few minutes, Ito peeked out one of his apartment windows which faced the street, and saw the scene.

Across the street, a heavily tattooed man in a tank top and athletic shorts lay clutching his abdomen in a small puddle of blood. Just from the circumstances alone, he could guess what happened: the man was likely either a gangbanger or dealer, and he must have been causing trouble on someone else's turf, and paid a terrible price for it. Off in the distance, several police cars had activated their sirens, and the sound of an ambulance followed.

Yuu shuddered and exited his apartment, making sure to lock it behind him as he left and walked away from his neighborhood. Sticking around was likely a dangerous prospect, at least for a few hours. He briefly stopped in a gas station to pick up a cup of cheap coffee and a pack of cigarettes, and quickly continued with cup in hand and the pack in a coat pocket. His destination, he decided, was a slightly blighted mall nearby, the Westcross. He hadn't visited the place in a while and could stand to waste time there.

Ava woke up late. "FOR GOODNESS SAKE!" She screamed at the clock as she put her hair in a ponytail and got dressed quickly. She ran down stairs grabbing some protein bars and ran out the back door. She didn't wanna bother Yuuma and gently placed the bar and a bottle of water for him near his tent and ran off.

Ava sighed at the news that Haru wasn't coming in to work. She glared at her boss, "You know he got wasted last night, right? And then made a big ole fuss about his past. Like...like he is the only one who has problems." Her voice was a little harder and sharper than usual. "HE JUST STARTED!"

Her boss gave her a look, as to say you done, and smiled, "You can tell someone has had a trouble past by the look in their eyes...and I could see that, child. So he needed a day to collect himself. We can do just fine today. You and the rest of the staff are wonderful people. It shouldn't be too much trouble." With that she gave a gentle dismissive hand at Ava.

Ava left and sat at the Host's desk. "The nerve of people." She mumbled.

Yuuma woke up with the sunrise shortly after Ava left for work. The water bottle got his notice first. It was nice of Ava to leave him some water. While packing up his meager things he wondered about her other guest. The poor fellow seemed to be having a run of bad luck Yuuma decided to keep an eye on him. It wasn't hard to wait around the side of the building and wait for him to leave. Though he didn't get too close Yuuma shadowed him just the same.

The everyday hustle and bustle of Westcross mall was not missed today. Thousands of people wandered, shopped and loitered throughout the complex's many stores, attracting customers young and old, rich and poor. Though as the years progressed nobody could delude themselves into thinking the mall was not dying. While many patrons still swore by the several-decades-old building, sales slowly declined every holiday season. A new shopping center was constructed in the wealthier part of town a few years ago which had all of the newest and trendiest places to be, but its prices were still steep enough to push away many customers to the older and more affordable locales.

That affordability and tradition, as a matter of fact, is exactly why Haruka Yukimura chose this place. The much less snobby and judgmental atmosphere of the plaza let the teenager feel at home. While he still insisted on wearing the beanie whilst outdoors, at the very least Yukimura felt that he fit in here, among the normal folk.

---

A less than modern maroon sedan, easily a decade old, grumbled and growled into the Westcross parking lot, having to take a few tentative laps around the lot before the driver spotted a place to park. After pulling in with practiced precision, he killed the engine with a turn of the key and stepped out of his vehicle.

Sight of the mall brought years of memories back to Yuudai Ito. Excursions with friends, birthday parties as a child, even thoughts of his first love...

Yuudai Ito remembered why he didn't visit this place anymore, reminded him too much of her. He gave a long sigh. The thought that she still had so much power over his life, even so many years later with no contact, pierced Ito with shame. With shame, came the craving for a cigarette, something to make him feel a little better.

Yuu reached into his coat pocket and produced both a lighter and the previously bought pack of cigarettes. Quickly peeling off the plastic wrapping, he reached into the pack and pulled one out, pinching it between his lips while putting the pack away. A few strikes with the lighter's wheel and it catches, lighting his cigarette while his other hand shields it from the wind. Once a healthy orange ember clung to the end, he put the lighter away and took the first drag.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ito spotted someone approaching him, a brunette boy, shorter than him, sporting a beanie and light jacket. He didn't pay much mind to him, at least not until he came close enough that he clearly wanted Yuu's attention.

"Hey, think I could bum one off you?" Haruka pointed to Yuudai's cigarette.

"Yeah, sure," Yuu retrieved the pack from his coat pocket and took out a second cigarette, handing it to the boy and lighting it once it was in his mouth. Haru took a long first drag, sighing contentedly as the smoke billowed from his lips.

"Haven't had one in a while, sometimes you really miss that buzz," the brunette looked up towards Ito.

"Yeah. Boss called and told me we can't work today, decided to come out here and try to brighten myself up, you know?"

"Shit, really? That sucks man. I just had to call in today, wasn't feeling well enough to work," Haru looked down to the floor, almost ashamed from finishing his sentence. "So, what do you do for work?"

"Construction. Doing a lot of physical labor for now, but I'm just putting bread on the table until I can go to school and find something I'm passionate in. It's just a lot of money to save up, so I'm just taking it one step at a time. What about you?" His lips curled into a smile.

"Me? Oh, nothing nearly as noble. I'm just a server at a cafe, they were pretty much the only place that wanted to hire me."

"That's not a bad thing at all. Hell, as long as you're either working or trying to find work, it doesn't matter what you're doing." Yuu removed the cigarette from his mouth and tapped out his ash into the public ashtray, and Haru soon followed suit.

"I guess. What's your name, by the way?" he turned to look up at his companion again.

"Yuudai Ito. You?"

Haru hesitated a few seconds, but finally gave a response, "Haruka Yukimura."

"Well Haruka, want to hang out since we're both off work out here?"

"Yeah sure, that'd be fine. Let's go inside and get some food though, I'm kinda hungry."

"Me too, let's go," the pair finished their smokes and put them out in the ashtray, then tossing the butts into the nearby trashcan.

The turned out to be one of the busiest days. Ava smiled and served the people like she was never mad, or could ever get mad. If someone spilled she cleaned it up with a smile on her face. If someone yelled, she smiled. The workers stared at her in disbelief. If she would have gotten yelled at, normally she would have a death glare on her face to shoo off the attitude or the customer. They staff tip toed around her as they served the costumers.

In reality Ava had to do so in order not to murder people on behalf if Haru. "What a damn idiot. Only ever cares about himself. Might as well stay on the streets." She thought all while smiling.

Several minutes later,

Haruka and Yuudai occupied one of the many vinyl-and-steel sets of tables and chairs in the food court, between them two paper bags of fast food meals and waxy paper cups from the soft drink fountain. The older of the two was first to reach into his bag and remove a french fry, tossing it into his mouth before taking out a burger and unwrapping it.

"So you said you worked at a cafe, right?" Yuu looked up at Haru, "What's it like? Is the food any good?"

"It's, well, as much as you'd think. Take orders, bring out food and drinks and stuff, and smile a lot. The food's quite good, but it can be a little pricey at times. Not as bad as that french place in the new mall though, that place is pretty much extortion. I heard they charge you just to sit down before you even get a chance to eat," Ito chuckled and Haruka provided a grin in response.

"Might have to check it out some time, the restaurants around my place kinda suck, but they're nice and cheap so I end up paying them a visit more than I'd like," the ravenette took a bite of his burger.

Might have to check it out some time.

The phrase ran through Haruka's head multiple times. Was this going to be some kind of date? Is he going there to see him, or just for the food? He could feel the heat flowing into his face, but he quickly bit into his own sandwich in an attempt to mask it.

"Well, uh, I work there most days, so I guess you could ask for me when you get there," he finally spoke after swallowing his food. The slightly awkward conversation continued to amble between bites of food, though a sense of familiarity and comfort at least began to manifest over time.

...