Chapter 1

The city was bustling, although truthfully it never actually seemed to sleep, only fall into a lull between late settlers and early risers, everybody going about their daily lives the best they knew how. People shuffled past each other on the streets or tried to weave their way between lines of unmoving traffic. All the while towering buildings — offices, hotels, apartments, and restaurants — kept careful watch over the streets below.

For most people it was the lunch hour, and those walking the streets did so unhurriedly, casually discussing where to eat or quietly keeping to themselves. However, for one Natsumi Kiyomizu it wasn't a lunch hour, but rather the end of her shift, and she very much was in a hurry.

"Come on, come on," she muttered to herself, for once grateful to her petite stature as she squeezed her way through throngs of people walking in the opposite direction.

She normally took her time to get home, using the walk back to destress and occasionally stopping to get a coffee for herself and her roommate. Today was different though. Today she needed to get home as quickly as possible and of course, the one time she was in a hurry was when the streets seemed way busier than usual. She'd waited impatiently for the bus to arrive, checking the time on her phone and trying to calculate if it would just be faster to walk all the way home. In the end she'd settled for shuffling from foot-to-foot impatiently and then standing as close as she could get to the front of the bus — ignoring when the driver called at her to move back and make room for other people to get on.

The nearest bus stop to her apartment was five minutes away — on a good day — and she'd practically fallen down the stairs in her haste to get off of the bus once it finally arrived. Now she was pushing past people, ignoring when somebody called out an indignant "Hey!". As she raced down the street, she caught sight of a poster proudly proclaiming that this was the week for the auto show. That had to be the reason why her normally peaceful commute home had now been the most stressful twenty-three minutes of her day. She groaned and rolled her eyes, instead trying to focus on not missing her shortcut.

There!

Natsumi bolted to the left, taking in a deep breath when the action let her into a deserted backstreet — the sort she had promised her parents she'd stay away from when she moved out and away from them and into the city. Desperate times, however, called for desperate measures. She clutched her phone in her pocket, thumb hovering over the emergency call button. It may have been the middle of the day, but she wasn't naive enough to think that meant she was entirely safe. Still, this back alley was the quickest way back to her apartment.

Stepping carefully past broken glass and other debris, she made her way through the alley, hopping over a puddle before finding herself safely on the other side. From here, she could finally see her apartment building — a tall red-brick building with ivy creeping up the walls and wrought iron railings leading up the front steps. She rushed up them, nearly twisting her ankle when she accidentally stepped in a hole in the step, catching herself on the railing and using it to pull herself up the rest of the way.

It took only a few seconds for her to fumble her keys out of her pocket and unlock the door, but it was a few seconds too long for her liking. She pushed through the door and raced up the stairs, cursing the fact that their apartment was on the fifth floor. It hadn't seemed like a problem when they moved in, even with the long hours they both worked, but now it was just another hindrance. She raced down the hallway to the door to her apartment, unlocking and opening it with just as much force as she had the one downstairs.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" her roommate asked, looking up with wide eyes from her seat on their couch.

Natsumi stopped in the doorway, breathing heavily. She had one hand braced on the doorframe and the other still wrapped around the handle. For some reason, even though she knew Kairi's schedule, she hadn't been expecting the girl to be home. She glanced past Kairi and back towards their bedrooms. Kairi's bedroom door was open, showing off her space of organized chaos and pink bedspread. Natsumi's door was firmly shut, just as she had left it last night.

"Natsu? You okay?"

She immediately looked back towards Kairi, stepping fully into their apartment and shutting the door behind her.

"Yeah, fine."

She let her backpack fall from her shoulder before placing it up on the hooks they'd put up near the door. The redhead raised an eyebrow.

"Really? 'Cause your face is redder than my hair, hun."

If it was possible for her face to become any redder, it would have at those words.

"Okay, seriously," Kairi continued, quickly pausing the show she was watching. "What's up? I didn't even hear you come in last night and then you were gone again. We agreed to check in with each other, remember?"

Yeah, she remembered. The girls had partially agreed to check in with each other just to appease their parents, but also because they both understood it wasn't the safest city that they lived in. Something that Natsumi had been reminded of the night before when she—

Her eyes darted to her closed bedroom door and when she looked back at Kairi, she was staring at Natsumi expectantly.

"Yeah, I know. I was just so exhausted from class, I wanted to get a nap in before work."

The redhead made a face at her.

"It doesn't take that much energy to pop your head in and say "hey, I'm home"."

Natsumi sighed, rubbing a hand over her face and finally realizing just how warm her mad dash back to the apartment had made her.

"I know, Kai, I know. It won't happen again."

"You're lucky I didn't tell Mom and Dad."

The blonde's eyes widened in horror. If their parents heard that she failed to check in with her stepsister she'd never hear the end of it. She didn't even want to test if they would be paranoid enough to try to force her and Kairi to come home. The only reason they'd even agreed to let the two girls move to the city in the first place was because Kairi's boyfriend and their childhood friend would be living just a few blocks away.

"You wouldn't!"

Natsumi rushed over to the couch, plopping down heavily next to Kairi, green eyes accusing.

"I didn't!"

"God, don't scare me like that." She slumped over with her head in her hands, running them over her head and to the end of her long ponytail.

"Relax. I wasn't nearly freaked out enough to rat you out to Mom and Dad. I saw your shoes by the door and knew you must be here. So you can chill."

Natsumi breathed a deep sigh of relief, looking back up at her stepsister.

"Thanks, Kai."

Kairi grinned at her.

"Don't mention it! Anyways," she said, glancing back towards the television and then quickly grabbing her phone off the coffee table to check the time. "Sora and Riku are going to be here soon for movie night. You're joining us, right?"

Natsumi's eyes once again darted to her closed bedroom door. She had a queasy sort of anticipation in her throat and she swallowed thickly.

"It's a little early for movie night, don'tcha think?"

"Night, day, same difference. They're bringing pizza and stuff. Are you in or not?"

"Depends," Natsumi said slowly. "I'll have to see if I can get my homework done."

"Aw, c'mon, Natsu! It's the weekend!"

"Yeah, and you know I have another shift tomorrow. I'm not gonna have a lot of time this weekend."

"Just one movie? It's been too long since we've all hung out together."

Natsumi felt a small stab of guilt. It had been a long time since the four of them had all been together. Long enough that she couldn't even remember the last time they had. Things had been kind of weird between all of them since Sora and Kairi started dating — leaving Natsumi and Riku to both wonder if maybe they should try dating each other instead of feeling like two awkward third wheels every time the four of them were together. Needless to say, it had only taken a few awkward dates and one very awkward kiss where they both burst out laughing at how ridiculous they felt before they realized they were just fine with being just friends.

"Alright, just one," Natsumi relented.

"Sweet! I'll let them know!"

Kairi's fingers were immediately tapping at her phone, presumably to let the boys know to bring enough food for the four of them — although knowing Sora and Riku they had already been planning to bring enough food to feed a small army — and Natsumi stood up to head back to her bedroom. She had her hand on the doorknob when she suddenly stopped and turned back towards Kairi.

"Hey, Kai?"

"Hm?" The redhead replied without looking up.

"You've been home all day, right?"

"Yup. Why?"

"Did you…" Natsumi trailed off and her slight hesitance caused Kairi to look up, locking those deep blue eyes on her. "Did you hear anything weird today?"

Kairi blinked at her.

"Weird how?"

Natsumi shrugged.

"Just like… Never mind. It's nothing."

"Okaaaaay…?"

"I'll be back out for movie night," she said, offering Kairi a smile and then rushing into her room and shutting the door quickly behind her.

She leaned against her door — well, she leaned against it the best she could with her coat hangers over the top of the door holding all of her hoodies and jackets — closing her eyes and taking another deep breath.

Her room felt quiet, still.

She opened her eyes again and took in her room, immediately feeling an inexplicable disappointment welling up inside of her. Her bed was unmade, deep green comforter thrown back and off the end of the bed because it'd been too hot for it recently but she hadn't put it away yet. Her curtains were shut, fighting against the midday sun and her clothes from the day before had been neatly tossed into her hamper. Everything was as it should be, except for the bandages and other medical supplies she'd left on her vanity. Supplies she'd have to put back soon before Kairi noticed they were gone and asked her why she'd needed them in the first place. She wasn't ready to…

Pushing herself away from the door, she crossed the room to her bed, sitting down on the edge and running her hands over the sheets. Try as she might to find it, there was no visible trace of what had transpired the night before.

Natsumi flopped onto her side, pulling her knees up to her chest and closing her eyes. They'd only been closed for a brief moment before they flew back open and she was grabbing at her pillow and holding it to her face.

This is so weird…

And yet, she couldn't stop herself.

Her pillow still…

...still smells like him.

The mysterious man she'd met the night before, bloody and bruised, and insufferable as all hell.

A/N: Hi all, thanks for checking out the first chapter of City Lights! This idea just kind of popped into my head and demanded to be written. If you have time, I'd love it if you left a review!