Hello Loves!
Just a One-Shot with a few side characters from the lovely Yu Yu Hakusho anime/manga. Please enjoy and happy readings~
Underneath the city, deep down below the hard concrete pavement, there are miles of long winded tunnels that I call home.
"…Another day, another dim night." My eyes traced the faint stream of light from above.
The light from the city always managed to shine through the cracks and streams, dimly lighting up the cold sewer waters that I stood in. The palm of my hand traced the stony black walls, never failing to feel comforted by its rugged touch. After years of living down here, I could never understand why I couldn't memorize the passages of my home. Using the wall as a guide to lead the way, a sudden shiver ran down my spine making me sneezy into my tattered sleeve. The sound of my icky release echoed down the quiet tunnel disturbing its constant peace.
"Ayyyyeeeee, shut yer mouthhh…."
I froze as the familiar voice spoke from further down the tunnel, "Sneezing and all yer stepping is keeping me from sleeping boyyy… shut it boyyyy".
Chu, the drunkest man in the sewers had awakened.
"All that ruckus… all that noise… yer the type of person makes me wanna' drown myself"
I couldn't help but bite my tongue as I knew Chu would probably throw a fit if I didn't acknowledge him.
'I'm not gonna get stuck with him…'
Through gritted teeth, my words came out as genuine as I could make them, "I'm sorry buddy, it won't happen again. I'll be out of this tunnel in a few minutes. You can go back to sleep now."
"Yer damn right. No more noise..." The sound of a paper bag being rustled followed by a distinct pop of a bottle cap being opened made me shake my head. How does this man manage to get the money to buy alcohol? When does he even go up into the city to buy it?
"Hahhhhh, that's the gooood stufffff… I gotta get me some more…" It never failed to amaze me how that man managed to obtain alcohol.
With a palm back against the wall, I quietly walked towards the turning point of the tunnel attempting to go unnoticed by Chu. Despite the man being a drunk, his sense of awareness was amazing, given that he had never missed a single thing that has happened in our sewers.
As the sound of his drinking became more audible, I slowed down my steps, attempting to walk as quietly as I could. My heart began to race as I knew that if he began talking to me now, I'd be stuck there for a few hours listening to his meaningless chit chat till he fell asleep.
There had been a few occasions where I'd wander down the wrong tunnel and stumble into him. Usually those occasions start in the same situation like the one I'm in now. I'd find myself wanting to rest for the night but end up taking the wrong path to get to my cubical board home.
Despite the fact that I could go simply take a different tunnel, it had nearly taken me a few hours to finally make it to the cleaner side of the sewers. While the sewers in general are a dirty place, there are places here and there that we sewer folk consider cleaner. If I left this tunnel now, I'd might find myself spending another couple of hours trying to find the right path to the other side.
"Yer jabbering, and ruckus… assholes, yepper, all assholes…"
There was absolutely no way in hell I was going to be stuck here listening to him.
The part of the tunnel he stayed in lacked light, making me a bit tense. If there was one thing I knew about Chu, where ever he decided to stay in the sewers, his surrounding would always consist of empty liquor bottles and I did not want to bump any of them. There was also a distinct smell he had, raw musty booze. In general the sewers stink, but it's a smell that grows on you, but for the smell from Mr. Astin was a different level of stink.
We have different levels of stink and cleanliness here in the sewers. Ranking from a level of 1 to 3, 1 being the most subtle stink where you go without showering, body care, for a week or few, 2 going a few months of no bodily clean up, then the worst possible stink, level 3, were you haven't showered for as long as you've been homeless.
In Chu's case his rank, if possible, is a rank 4, making this another reason I don't wish to get stuck in a one sided conversation with him. Listening to mindless chatter was one thing, but his smell was just brutal. The smell of the sewers didn't have nothing on the smell of Chu.
"It's a bit lonely down here boy, where you at? Yer still here?"
My legs began to tremble as I attempt to pass him. The smell of booze, musty urine, and even bit of dried poop radiated off of him like a bottle of open perfume. I crinkled my nose as the smell had gotten stronger from the last time I tried passing him.
A familiar tingle twitched in my nose.
'Oh god no.'
His repulsive smell had triggered an oncoming sneeze.
I couldn't help but bite the inside of my cheek as I tried to fight off the feeling of an oncoming sneeze. 'No no no!' Now standing right beside him, I crinkled my nose trying to wiggle off the oncoming sneeze.
"I gotta get me some more drinks… I ain't gots anything left to drink".
With a second of listening to his babbler, I inhaled loudly and released the loudest I could have possibly ever sneezed. 'Dear god, what have I done?!' My heart dropped as the tunnel became intensively silent. My stomach churned knowing that tonight would be a long night.
A soft groan from Chu broke the silence before he spoke out blatantly with a simple, "Bless you".
'…wait, what?'
I choked back a laugh truly amused at his simple response, "Thank… you..."
'Had I been too paranoid about him?' I was probably being a bit over dramatic, but I didn't hesitate to keep moving past him.
"Go on and get yer rest… get out err' here and rest."
Grinning from ear to ear, I couldn't help but smile knowing that tonight I'd be able to rest easy. '…well, I'll be damned, he's actually letting me go!'
"I need something more to drink… ehhh, this old man ain't got nothing but the bottle… just me and the bottle"
Taking a glance back at the drunken fellow, my smile began to fade feeling slightly guilty for not wanting to listen to him talk. 'Just him and the bottle, huh?...' We had all had our own reasons for living in the sewers, and it never hurt to talk about it with another fellow bum.
'Maybe... he just needs someone to talk to…. Someone who really wants to listen' I almost stopped walking till I heard a distinctive click and pop of a bottle cap being opened.
"Errrrr, this shit taste nastyyyy. Ayyye asshole! Asshole you there? Let's chattt a bit"
Once again I bit down onto my tongue, but this time to keep myself from laughing. "You're a riot Mr. Astin, a real riot. I'm going to find my stuff and call it a night. I promise to talk to you next time"
A few moments later I had finally made it towards the end of the tunnel never looking back at Mr. Astin who sat quietly keeping to himself. Despite wanting to laugh at the unexpected events I just faced, the promise I told him was a real promise whether he knew it or not. From all my years of living in the sewers with the man, I had never really wanted to talk to him or tried hold a conversation with him. The guilt I had felt from earlier became replaced with enthusiasm, 'Ehhh, what's a better way to kill time anyway? Not like I got a job, or nothing… Hell, he might teach me how he gets his booze!'
Now at the end of the tunnel, I made my way to the next tunnel that I call home.