Clean. That was all he ever did, he had to make a living somehow. In this house he was known as Eve, but that was nowhere near his real name.
When he ws younger, his village was burned down by No.6. He escaped all alone, his family reduced to ashes in the devastating fire. The little boy, Nezumi, survived for days by himself, living off the forest hunting for prey at night, and in the morning looking for a safe place to stay. He was a boy of the forest.
One morning, Nezumi had been walking around the edge of a great wall, a wall he would later find out to be No.6. He picked up a cloth from an area close to the wall. Marveling at the texture and the feeling of the cloth beneath his hands, he never saw the man coming.
He was a big man, but not overly so. He had brown hair atop of his head and a scraggly brown beard. He would be the one to take Nezumi in. He would be the one that Nezumi would eventually call father. Rikiga was his name.
Rikiga showed Nezumi love in the way that only he could. By dressing him up as a girl.
It was how Nezumi repaid Rikiga for taking him in. He would wear dresses and perform plays for the community of West Block, where he know lived. He would sing some nights, a beautiful song which many would come to here. On a good night he would make five silver coins, giving three to Rikiga and keeping two for himself.
He liked it. He liked being upon the stage and performing for all the lost souls of West Block. He loved losing himself in the plays and escaping the real world and entering th makeshift world of Shakespeare. While all was good on stage, things at his home weren't as well.
Rikiga often rented him out to a friend of his, Inukashi, the Dog Keeper. She was always mean to Nezumi, but whenever he would complain to Rikiga, he would simply laugh it off and say that it was all in his head.
"Nezumi! I need you to wash these dogs! If you don't get them all done correctly within the hour, I will make you sleep outside again!"
Nezumi sighed and put down his book, Hamlet. He wrapped it up in the cloth he had found so long ago, a super fiber cloth, and hid it behind the bushes where he hid his few possessions.
He led the dogs to a nearby spring, the only source of water in the West Block. He started to fill a tub full of water, preparing the dog's bath. Starting With the biggest dog, Nezumi started washing. The dog relaxed beneath his hands, his long, thin, calloused fingers, his hands moving confidently throughout the long hair of the dog. His mouth opened of its own accord as he started singing.
Kaze wa tamashii o Sara, hito wa kokoro o ubau
daichi yo, amekaze yo, ten yo, hikari yo,
koko ni subete o todomete
koko ni subete o Todome
koko de ikite...
He called another dog over, and another one, as he continued to sing his haunting requirem.
Tamashii yo, kokoro yo, air yo omoi yo
koko ni kaeri koko ni todomatte...
"Nezumi! Where are you?"
Nezumi snapped out of his daze, his eyes instantly glancing towards the old abandoned hotel.
"Those dogs better be clean!"
Nezumi got up and dust himself off quickly. He looked around and sighed in relief when he realized that he had indeed washed all of Inukashi's mutts.
"Well, it seems as though you're actually good for something. Come on in, its getting dark, and i need someone to feed the dogs and clean up their messes before bed. Come."
Nezumi followed without a word.
" Nezumi! I need you to go to the market for me before it closes. We just need the basics, don't go spending all my money. Now hurry up!"
nezumi ran outside and fetched his super fiber cloth from his hiding spot. He carefully put his belongings back into hiding and started his trek to the market.
It was times like these, where Nezumi was alone, that he loved the most. Times when he could just think to himself and to wallow in his self pity.
I hate No.6. I hate Inukashi, i hah everything! If No.6 hadn't burned down my village, i could still be alive with my mother and father and sister.
The burns on his back started to ache as he thought, longingly, about the life he could have had.
"Oh Eve!" A voice called to him from an alley way.
Nezumi smirked to himself. He didn't have time to deal with this harlot, not today.
"So sorry, but I'm on a run. I can't indulge today."
He continued to walk in the opposite direction, his mind a mental map of where
He needed to go.
By the time he got food and a few pieces of clothing for Inukashi, the sky was a purple color, the color of old bruises starting to heal. On the stall of one merchant was a poster.
The paper had obviously come from No.6, the ink on it clear from where he was standing.
Wanted: an entertainer
Will pay well.
Nezumi went up to the merchant of the stall and nodded as he took the ad off and shoved it in his pocket.
Nezumi was late.
"Dammit Nezumi, it doesn't take that long! What were you doing?"
"I'm sorry Inuk-"
"Sorry? Sorry does not explain why it took you so long. Rikiga should've just kept you. I have no need for someone who doesn't work."
Nezumi reached into his pocket and handed the sheet of paper to Inukashi.
"This is why I'm late. I was wondering if maybe i could go into No.6 tomorrow."
Inukashi looked at him suspiciously. She threw the paper down back at Nezumi.
"I'm tired of seeing your face around here anyway. Fine, you can go if you finish all the things i need for you to do by noon tomorrow. If not, you have to stay here with the dogs! Tonight you'll sleep outside with the older dogs. I'm out of room for tonight."
Nezumi sucked into the back of the hotel and out the back door. He walked around dogs and stepped over them until he reached a somewhat warm corner in the back of the courtyard. He sat down and brought his knees up to his chin, and stared out not moving.
Dogs came up to him and laid their heads in his lap, on his feet, a small one even crawled on his back. Nezumi smiled at the attempt the dogs tried to warm him. He pulled out some meat he stole from the market and handed some to each dog.
"One day", he said,
"I'll be free of this place."