Summary: When Nitori bursts into the room, shrieking about a monster in the alley, Rin is certain he's just overreacting. But when he hears the creepy wails for himself, he begins to think maybe his roommate isn't so crazy after all…

Rating: K+

Warnings: Language

I have no explanation for this. Just that this story didn't turn out at all like I had planned but maybe it's possibly still okay? And damn it Nitori stop being so hard to write.

Over the course of seventeen years, Rin had been to a number of schools (Sano Elementary, Iwatobi Elementary, Ambarvale High, Samezuka Academy) and had come to realize that they were all the same. The same hard plastic chairs and desks with gum stuck to the bottom, same boring teachers droning on to stuff written on boards and same kids building paper airplanes or trading notes past watchful eyes, same budget provided lunches that tasted like sawdust and overly publically affectionate couples making you lose your appetite.

Above all, they all were permeated with the same sense of nonstop monotony.

A bang of his dorm door violently slamming into the wall made Rin jerk in his chair and look up from his math worksheet, seeing Nitori standing in the threshold with a hand over his heart, oddly out-of-breath as if he had just run full speed from across town. "M-M-Matsuoka-senpai!"

On occasion though, Samezuka had its moments.

"What's with you Nitori?" He peered at his dorm mate carefully, noting aloud, "You look pale."

"Well, you see – that is...!" The silver-haired teen seemed to twitch all about, appearing like some nervous rabbit. "There was… It was a monster!"

Rin stared back, uncomprehending. "…..Huh?"

"I was coming in to the dorms from the back entrance when I heard this terrible noise." He gave a shudder of fright. "It was a-a-a 'OooOoooh!' kind of noise! Like a real ghost! I-I think the alley might be haunted."

"Tch…" Rin rolled his eyes. "There's no such thing. You watch too much TV." He turned back to his work. "It was probably just the wind."

In two seconds flat, Nitori had bounded to where he sat, gripping onto the edge of his desk in a tight-knuckled grasp. His proximity made Rin edge back uneasily, unnerved by the other's intensity. "But senpai, what if it's some sort of vengeful spirit out to get the students of Samezuka?! What if it takes Mikoshiba-buchou? Or Yamato-san? Or Ibaraki-san?" His eyes were actually watering at the thought. "We need to do something!"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." The elder deadpanned, hoping this was a big joke.

But his roommate didn't seem to think so, prattling on, "Perhaps it hasn't been given a proper offering and is angry. We should try to appease it. I have some candles we can burn and Matsuoka-senpai you have some snacks that-"

"No!" Sharp teeth glinted fiercely under the bright fluorescent as he got right in the other's face, snarling, "Like hell. If you're so worried, you take care of it. But there is absolutely no way I am going to come along!"

Two forms slipped out the back entrance of the dorms to Samezuka Academy. The building was directly parallel to the one housing the indoor pool, which made it of frequent use for the swimming team but virtually no one else; so, unsurprisingly, there was no one else around. The alley between the two buildings was a narrow, concrete path that stretched a few meters in either direction and was hardly wide enough for three people to walk side by side down. And other then a trash can set against the wall a few feet from the door and the audible hum of a vending machine that was just around the corner, there was nothing else worth attention in the small space.

"...Why am I doing this?" Rin sighed, hands deep in his pockets to pull his jacket closer to him and ward off the winter chill still hanging on to the air.

"Because Matsuoka-senpai is a good person." Nitori answered from his right shoulder, either hand gripping tight to a candle and smiling brighter than the 100-watt bulb burning in the fixture above their heads.

More like he didn't want to listen to the younger complain all night and make it undoubtedly impossible to do his work. But he took one look at that honest expression and scoffed, looking away. "Tch, whatever. Let's just do this."

"Hai!" The other said, taking a few steps down the alley and crouching down by the wall at the edge of where the ring of lamplight extended. He quickly set up the make-shift shrine, a real sham of a butsudan if Rin ever saw one, made of nothing more than the cloth of a pillowcase and two stumpy candles set to either end, quickly lit. Then Nitori turned to him, "Senpai, the offering?"

He fought the urge to roll his eyes, just pulled out his right hand and tossing over the pack of beef jerky he had purchased from a convenience store in Australia a few weeks back, nose wrinkling in distaste as he watched his roommate tear open the package and pour it all in a little mound between the candles. Well that was a waste of three dollars.

Nitori pressed his hands together, shutting his eyes and sat there quietly for several moments in prayer, then clapped, bowed his head and stood up. "Would you like to pray as well?"

"What? No!" Rin vehemently refused the absolutely mortifying idea of praying to the ridiculous fake shrine of lumpy candles and his damn beef jerky for some fake ghost.

"But se-"

"No." He repeated firmly before the other could state the case or, god forbid, actually convince him to do it! There was only so much absurdity he could tolerate. "I have work to do and it's getting colder." The red-head turned around, reaching for the door handle. "Can't believe I even came out here for this shit when I know-"

The words, 'It's all in your head', never quite made it past his lips. Because at that moment the noise, the one Nitori had imitated minutes ago, suddenly echoed all around them in a hollow wail:

"OooooOooooOoooo!"

To his right, Nitori let out a squeak of fright and fell back to his knees by the shrine, bending over double in prayer. But the eerie noise rose up again, as if his efforts weren't good enough. "M-M-Matuoka-senpai it's angry you won't pray!"

For a moment, Rin was frozen, fingers clasping the door in an iron-grip and an uncomfortable shiver working up his spine, nearly convinced himself that maybe his roommate wasn't entirely bonkers and maybe, perhaps, he should very slowly make his way over to that shrine that was looking less stupid and more like his personal savior to a terrible fate.

And then after a third, repetitive cry, he suddenly realized he knew that noise. He moved away from the door and looked around, before heading down the opposite side of the alley, where the noises seemed to be increasing in volume. He found its source – a drain pipe that was channel for the rooftop gutters – and got down on his hands and knees to peer into the opening before he started to laugh.

Nitori peeked over at him from where he was still trying to make himself into an omelet, features pinched up like he thought Rin was the one going mad! "S-Senpai?"

"Oi, Nitori. I found your ghost." He said, reached into the pipe, fingers clenching around a tuft of fur, and with a tug pulled it free. He stood up, holding out the vicious and terrible 'ghost' by its very tangible scruff.

The gray tom kitten blinked yellow-green eyes towards the first year. "Meow?"

"A-Ah!" Nitori sat up quickly, face going a brilliant pink. "A cat?!"

"Careful," Rin intoned, lowering his voice ominously on the last few words, "Its tiny claws are out to get us."

Ah… this felt familiar somehow. Almost like… Nagisa?

An image of the blonde-haired swimmer popped in his head – not the sixteen year old he had seen just a few nights ago during his and Haru's race but rather the scrawny ten year old who practically hung off his arm when not attached to Haru's, begging him to teach him butterfly and or jogging at his heels every afternoon to and from the swim club, teasingly calling him 'Rinrin' just to get a rise out of him.

His mirth fell away almost instantly, pushing those memories away quickly. The tom started to squirm in his hands so he unconsciously brought the scraggly thing close, hearing him start to purr against his collar.

Nitori, a little less taken aback though still embarrassed, crossed over to where he stood, looking at the creature he held then towards the drainage pipe he had pulled it from. "Oh, I see. So when this cat meowed, the pipe distorted the sound!"

"No shit, Sherlock." He said, the words slipping out in English without him really realizing it. He brushed past the first year to the little shrine where the candles were still burning strong. He waved his hand across them, snuffing them instantly, before setting the cat before the pile of jerky. He sniffed inquiringly at the strips of meat, as if uncertain it was actually edible, but it didn't take long for him to bite down on a small piece, nibbling happily on the first bit of food he had probably seen in days.

"Ooooh!" Nitori uttered from where he had crept up beside him, sounding awestruck. "He's really eating it!"

Rin snorted. "Of course he is. He's probably starving." He reached out, running a hand along the kitten's back, able to feel the ridges of its spine. The tom hardly seemed fazed by the touch, even arching upwards happily as he continued to snack. It was definitely tamed but no one was taking care of it anymore; maybe it had wandered from home and got lost? He frowned at the thought.

Beside him, his roommate peered at him thoughtfully. "Matsuoka-senpai… I never would have guessed you had a soft spot for cats."

"What?!" He cried. "I don't! I mean… tch. I just… there used to be a lot of strays around my old swim club that I looked after."

"Really? That's amazing senpai!"

But that wasn't entirely true. It was someone else who really looked after them, someone else who had the soft spot. He only helped sometimes.

Again, unbidden, another image and another friend burned in mind's eye. This time it was a sixth grade Makoto, arm linked with his to tug him around to where the dumpsters were, eagerly pointing underneath one to show him the hiding place of a mother and her six kittens. Everything from his mouth to eyebrows a smile as he kindly asked him to bring any scraps from lunch for the strays if he could. There were a lot of lunches that went partially uneaten those days.

This memory was much harder to shake and left him further infuriated. At their persistence. What next? Was Haru going to start plaguing his thought process too? Though, Rin wasn't swimming or eating mackerel and that was about all that ever strongly connected with the near expressionless boy. So maybe he was safe in that regard.

Still, it was becoming increasingly infuriating that since their run-in in the broken down building that had once been their swim club, he couldn't stop thinking about them.

He stood up abruptly, turning away from the kitten, hurrying back to the door – no, running to the door trying to escape the alley and the thoughts relentlessly chasing him. It was as if they were all suddenly pouring out from the drain pipe the lost cat had been in, its frail form holding them in. "Come on. Let's go." He clipped icily.

"But the kitten?" Nitori asked, giving the stray a sidelong glance.

"What about it? We can't bring it inside." Rin said testily, earning him a look from his roommate that was probably the face of every kicked puppy in the damn universe combined. "But we'll find something to put water in for it and tomorrow… I'll look into getting it some real cat food. I guess."

It wasn't ideal by any means, but it seemed to perk up the other swimmer considerably as he got to his feet and followed him inside where the heaters were burning warm air down the halls in sharp contrast to the chilly weather outside. They headed back to their room and, good on his word, Rin managed to find an acceptable water dish out of a metal lid that was the cap to a jar of candy.

"I'll be back." He said as he headed for the door, carefully balancing the full lid in his hand. As an afterthought, thinking of the stripped pillow and the forgotten candles, he added, "I'll get your stuff too."

"Oh, t-thank you senpai!" Nitori replied, and then seemed to hesitate, as it about to say more but mouth hanging half-open and silent like a bird who had just forgotten how to sing.

He raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Perhaps…" The other began haltingly, "This is too presumptuous when we've only known each other a little while, but… I just wanted to say that I feel very fortunate to be your roommate."

Rin stared back at the other, unable to formulate a response at first. Since the unavoidable occurrence of him suddenly having to share a living space with someone he hardly knew, fortunate was not any feeling he had yet associated with the arrangement. Troublesome, yes. Annoying, definitely. Lucky to know him…?

Twenty minutes ago he would have said no.

But now, it was strange but those simple words had actually managed to chip through wall his negative mood had built over the course of the week and actually gave him the first flicker of joy. For the first time, he looked at the other teen as more than a swimmer with promise in long distance or an exuberant and chatty student or a bothersome, overly emotional roommate. There was a compassion and trustworthiness that, regardless if it was deserved or not, Nitori graced everyone with. Some people would call it foolish but… it was also admirable and so good-natured, it was hard not to like.

And there was something else. With Haru, Nagisa or Makoto, every happy recollection made his heart twist with a terrible pain he hadn't yet made sense of or was even ready to face. But with Nitori… he was free of those things. There could be new memories he could make, ones not attached to all that seemed messed up in his life. Ones that maybe he could hold onto as something good for a while. Maybe… he could even call him a friend.

"Ah," He agreed softly. "Me too."

He left the room without looking back, because he wasn't sure he was ready for the emotive response those words would bring.

But he couldn't lie to himself that the sudden pull at his lips was anything else except a smile.