Chapter 1
Tozokuo Necrophades was restless.
His sister would call him quite crazy if she had known that the notion of wakefulness had seen him up two floors and out a window. But she did not have to know. Amane was cozy in her warm bed, sheets pulled up to her nose, while her brother lay sprawled out on the roof, transfixed by the snowflakes that had begun to pile over his clothes.
Despite being almost the holiday season and regardless of the snow, Tozokuo could not find himself cold.
He was filled with a sort of deep-set anger that had his blood rushing hot through his veins. An anger even he could not explain, except for how he felt. That he knew something would happen.
But he did not particularly want anything to do with that, he was already far too busy himself, so he resolved to make an attempt to freeze until he was calm. There was something relaxing in the way that snowflakes landed in his hair and clumped to his eyelashes; covered his arms and clothes as his skin was no longer heated enough to melt them.
If he was completely honest with himself, he would sometimes wish that he would give in, falling asleep, never to wake up.
But he would remember Amane and he would force the feelings away, not truly fading, but he did not want his sister to suffer more than she already had. It was for her that Tozokuo needed to stay strong.
Schsssh.
"Excuse me, do you mind? I am internally monologuing, and your noise is bothersome," Tozokuo's rough, vaguely accented voice cut the calm silence that had settled upon the night, and in doing so, caused whatever had made the skidding sound to jump slightly. (But of course it did, the man on the roof was buried beyond view now.)
"Sorry," replied a melodic voice, more than a bit shocked that a pile of snow had just reprimanded her.
There was then a slight moment where the natural quiet of the night returned, save the slight breath of he buried in snow, and she attempting to calm her rapidly beating heart. Then, the man shot up to see that he, indeed, had not imagined the response, and that there was a girl standing not two paces from where he previous lay, and now sat. "Who are you, and how did you get up here," he questioned, very affected by the girl's sudden appearance as well.
"My name is Ryou… It is a long story about how I ended up here, though, I suppose."
Tozokuo took a long moment to examine the girl; from her pale pink lips still forming the words, to her long feathery hair, to her startlingly cerulean eyes, and to her cheeks, which were flushed from the biting wind and the large clumps of snow that had started to pelt down, hitting the man point-blank in the eye on more occasions than he was pleased with. Finally he responded, "No last name, Ryou?" She shook her head with a slight absent smile. "You running away from home?"
"Of sorts."
He nodded thoughtfully, before standing and brushing snowflakes off his light shirt. "Welcome aboard," he said, far too cheerily for the hour (and that was most certainly the reason for his cheerfulness. Sleep deprivation was not good for his mysterious 'bad-boy' look). "I must warn you, though, my sister is still asleep, so no funny business, Ryou."
Ryou blinked, partly out of shock, while due to the fact that a collection of snowflakes had nailed her in the eye as well, just barely managing to snap her mouth closed before it became uncomfortable. "You are inviting me to your house?"
"Uh, duh. You want in or not, I'm closing the window." Very slowly the window inched closed.
Ryou's eyes flickered far beyond the rooftop she had jumped from. She knew that her pursuers had given up hour previously, but she knew that they would soon return and the best course of action was to continue for as long as she could. Given a place to hide such as a house, she was desperate to take the offer, especially while he thought her to be fleeing a family, and less likely to report her. She looked up, just in time to catch a large clump of snow to the eye once more, and blinked frantically in shock. Judging by the size of them, those flakes would soon hide her trail, she was certain. But for now, she carefully spread snow over the place where the man's body lay and her spot of landing. "Wait, please," she called quietly as she noticed the window was almost shut, and that they behind the glass pane stared at her, an eyebrow raised expectantly.
She carefully stepped over to the window, hiding her prints as she went, only to nearly scream and punch he who held her captive as the window shot open and Ryou was pulled in. She did, however give him a pretty good kick in the ankle for it, but of course, the action was accidental. Of course.
They stalked quietly through the house, and Ryou cringed slightly at each time she stepped on a creaky board. But Tozokuo just kept moving, and two floors later, he stopped in front of a door that he gently eased open. "This is my room, and I suppose your temporary one. I will be in the other room, so if you need anything, to talk or something, then just call. My name is Tozokuo, by the way."
"What if I don't want to just talk." She smiled at him teasingly.
Tozokuo seemed to cut himself off mid-boisterous laugh, remembering the hour and said, "You want a goodnight kiss and a bedtime story?" She gave him that knowing smile again and shook her head, looking away. "Alright, sassy. Get to sleep." She lay down and he pulled the sheets up to her nose as if she were a child, then returning to his upright position and sauntering out the door, actually rather pleased with himself.
Although completely abrupt, and something out of a terribly written fairy tale (or a Disney movie), Ryou decided she was too exhausted to care about the sudden generosity of the snow bank and, with all the strength left in her limbs, she turned over and pulled the covers more tightly around her, eyes already fallen shut, and not moments later dropped into a deep, dreamless sleep.
CZR: That last nasty version was going absolutely nowhere. No place at all. None. So I changed it. And I like this version much better eehee. Apologies about the 'update' but it was imperative that followers realize that the story was updated, I feel.
Everyone have a wonderful day, and a delicious Pi day tomorrow :P Please read and review! I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, but I own by versions of their characters and this plot.