Alright my first attempt at writing for No. 6. I also don't understand Nezumi at all. - _-' I hope that you all enjoy. There will hopefully be at least one more chapter if someone wants it.
"Snow," whispered Shion, completely mesmerized. It got mostly cleaned up in No. 6 because officials claimed that it was a hazard to public transportation. Due to that never before had he seen snow blanketing over everything freely as it did now. Nezumi was once again working in the theatre, and had left before he was awake. Somehow his gray eyed companion always managed to get up first and fall asleep last. Closing the front door behind him he looked out before him to where Nezumi had plowed through the snow creating a clear trail.
The white stuff was about knee height, prompting him to wonder how long it had taken Nezumi to get through it. It probably took him less time, he reflected. 'After all, Nezumi is taller than I am now...' Shrugging it off Shion set off to complete his own task, walking to Dogkeeper's and taking care of the dogs. His job wasn't merely to wash the dogs, it was general care too. Refusing to shirk from his responsibility he started walking, thinking that Dogkeeper was going to be expecting him in about an hour. He trudged along Nezumi's tracks, following them until he had to head off in a different direction to minimize his work level.
After a while he turned and took his first step into the unbeaten snow. It was almost unbearably cold even with only one step. Shivering he noticed that something was sliding around inside his coat so he unzipped it. Much to his surprise it was Hamlet.
"Hamlet what are you doing in there? Nezumi didn't tell you to watch me did he?" Shrugging it off he continued to walk through the snow banks, trying not to think about how cold he was. It was so much taller when there was no path to walk on, and after a time his fingers and toes were completely numb. 'I'm going to get frostbite or hypothermia or just plain freeze…'
Ignoring the reasonable part of him that said to turn back and go back home he trudged on, not caring about how it had once again started to snow heavily. The wet flakes landed all over him, some going down the neck of his coat collar causing him to shiver even more violently. But still he walked on. His mind seemed to have given up on rational thought, and didn't try to get him to turn around though somewhere inside he realized that he had no idea where he was. Wherever he was walking it definitely wasn't toward Dogkeeper's hotel.
-xXVXx-
Almost no one braved the cold to see him preform today. Since he was losing money to keep all the actors there to perform with so few spectators the manager started sending them home. Nezumi rolled his eyes at a woman who was trying to catch his attention by shouting his stage name. Eve. He had chosen that name for himself, though he was called many besides that. He almost had different identities when someone called him by one of his other names.
On stage he was Eve. Out on the street he was Nezumi. Some also called him Rat or Mouse, but that was pretty much the equivalent of Nezumi. He didn't care who called him what except for Shion. That bubble-headed fool could only call him by what he knew to be true. And since he didn't want Shion to call him "Eve" he stopped him from watching his performances. If he never saw him as Eve he couldn't call him Eve. It was some internal conflict. Why did he care if Shion called him Eve? He didn't know, and he tried his best not to care.
That was what went through his head every time he walked home alone from the theatre, or got up in the morning before his room-mate was awake to avoid the questions and walk to the theatre alone.
Shrugging it off he pulled on his jacket and began to walk in the general direction of his home. He wondered what Shion was eating for lunch. Maybe if he got back soon enough he could have some of it. Then he thought about how there never seemed to be any food missing from the kitchen, and there were never any dirty dishes. Maybe he used the food from Dogkeeper to buy his own food and create a secret stash? But that didn't seem right, Shion was such a trusting person down to his very nature, and he always seemed to be buying soup ingredients as soon as he collected his paycheck. And it wasn't like he never saw them again; they generally ate whatever he had bought within the next few nights.
Deciding that it wasn't his business how Shion ate during the day he shivered as a particularly strong gust of wind blew snow and icy temperatures at his coat. His first priority was to get out of the cold, then it was to eat lunch. Grumbling to himself about how he had wasted all that time going to work when he wasn't really getting paid he tried to trace his old footprints back home. While he had gone it had continued to snow, making it harder to see the trail he had created.
About halfway he noticed some newer looking prints going off in another direction, but clearly branching from his own. Curious he decided to investigate. Maybe Shion felt the need to play in the snow? That would be like him. He didn't seem to grasp how cruel and merciless snow, and just winter in general, was in the West Block. It killed more people than fights or lack of supplies every year, the cold temperatures and inability to acquire food in the deep slush combined were treacherous. It was also harder to find a job, meaning that people without a steady line of work were often in trouble almost immediately.
Shaking his head and hoping that if it was Shion he had gone back already he decided to follow the track a little while in case his bumbling companion had unwittingly been robbed. It wouldn't be the first time.
-xXVXx-
He was freezing. Already he was losing hope of ever seeing anyone again, and that was a feat in itself. Then he realized that the only reason he usually felt so optimistic and positive about everything was Nezumi. His faithful friend always stuck with him, though he was sure that he was nothing more than baggage that spoke and ate. He caused Nezumi extra trouble yet the other boy never even hinted at leaving him alone or using him for any gain.
Thankful as he was he wanted to ask Nezumi how he could be so kind, on the outside he certainly didn't seem like the sort to do that. Shion wanted to see his new friend as much as he wanted to see his mother. He knew it was wrong, that he was from inside the walls of No. 6 and Nezumi was from the West Block. No matter how hard he tried he doubted that he would ever be able to fully understand the world that his companion had lived in his entire life. But he swore that if he made it back to the house alive he would put in more of an effort.
Gasping from the effort he shuffled his stiff body back the way he had come, brain awakened from its frozen state. He had wasted a lot of time, and the trail was really hard to see now. Straining his eyes he continued on.
-xXVXx-
After a few minutes of rigorous walking he saw something stumbling towards him. Looking closer he realized that it was his friend and rushed to help him from falling over, which was an immediate option if he had not.
"Shion what are you doing out here?" He asked angrily, worried when the albino didn't answer right away. His skin looked so pale, almost the same color of the snow. It really made that red scar of his stick out, almost foretelling death with its sinister coloring. With Shion's usual skin tone it appeared to be a pinkish stipe, but now it was almost the color of a ruby, looking much like blood had been smeared across his face.
"I-I wanted to go help Dogkeeper…" His voice trailed off, not wanting to go into detail.
"Stupid! How could you have possibly made it there by yourself? Sometimes you can't even find the hotel when the sun is shining and you almost have a carpet leading the way!" Frustrated at Shion's sense of justice and how it tended to put him in danger Nezumi pulled him along at a quick pace, trying to reach their house as soon as he could.
-xXVXx-
"I know. I'm sorry Nezumi, I promise I won't do it again, and…" He cut himself off, not sure if he wanted to reveal how hard he was going to work to understand life in the West Block. Maybe he could improve discreetly and surprise Nezumi with his progress later!
"And what? Forget what you were going to say? Your brain really is full of air."
"Nothing, it was nothing." The tone of his voice suggested strongly that he was lying between his teeth, even to himself.
"Alright you majesty, if you say so," said Nezumi as he pushed the door open and pulled him inside. "Go take a hot bath right now, no excuses!" He sounded pretty serious. Well, he was probably in a bad mood from having to rescue him yet again. Then he realized that Nezumi was supposed to be at work, and almost opened his mouth to question him before he remembered the promise he had made to himself out in the snow. 'If he wants to tell me he will. No one around here seems to like questions, so I'll stop asking them.' Already it was difficult though, he was bursting to ask… But he shoved himself into the bathroom before it came out. It was going to be difficult, but there was no reason it couldn't be done. He was going to learn how to act like a native citizen of the West Block.