The taxi smelled like an old couple's apartment, despite the fact that the driver couldn't have been more than 35 years old. Kiba looked out of the window at the trees surrounding the highway. Were it not for Naruto, Kiba wouldn't even be at KSU. He had test scores good enough to get him into any school in the country. He had applied to MIT and Brown when Naruto proposed they go to the local university. He couldn't disagree with the blonde. Naruto had similar scores, but he said that he didn't want to leave his home. Kiba was always one to put education over everything; until he met Naruto that was. He just couldn't say no to those cerulean eyes. He could be getting a quality education at one of the most prestigious schools in the country, but he ended up at KSU. At the time, he didn't mind making the trade, but now that Naruto had left him, there was no reason for Kiba to stay at the University.
The cab pulled up to Neil's pub. Kiba paid the man and got out of the car. He went to the parking lot and looked for his own car. It wasn't hard to find, as few people went to a bar at 10 in the morning. Feeling the urge for a cigarette, Kiba took one out of his carton and tried to find a lighter. Remembering that he had dropped his matches in the bathroom, he silently cursed. He walked over to the bar, hoping that someone would be there to sell him a lighter and another pack.
He pulled on the glass door. Surprisingly, it opened. He walked in to find that all the chairs were turned upside down and placed on the tables. There was a man going around sweeping.
"Excuse-," Kiba realized that he still had the cigarette in his mouth.
'I need to stop doing that.'
He removed the obstruction from between his lips and tried again. "Excuse me," he said to the man sweeping.
The man turned around and looked at Kiba. He recognized him as the bartender from the night before.
"Ah, welcome back," the older man said, resting the broom against the wall. "Did my brother give you your keys back?"
Kiba presented the keys that were confiscated from him the night before.
"Good," the bartender replied. "So, can I help you with something?"
"Yeah, I, uh, lost my matches. I was hoping you'd have a lighter I could have."
"Sure," the man muttered, walking behind the bar and grabbed a lighter from a cabinet. Before handing it to Kiba he said, "those are bad for your health, you know," gesturing to the pack of cigarettes in Kiba's hand.
Kiba half snatched the lighter from the man's hand. He lit a cigarette and puffed on it a few times before responding. "So is jumping off of an eight story dorm building."
The man looked at him questioningly. "What does that have to do with anything," he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's one or the other," Kiba replied as he took a seat on a stool.
"How are they related?"
"Well, I can either drown my problems in whiskey and nicotine, or I can jump off a building." He took another drag before finishing his thought with a small smile, "but they have patches for nicotine."
The man let out a sigh, then grabbed a bottle of the same whiskey that Kiba had been drinking the night before. He poured two glasses and placed one in front of the brunette. He grabbed a carton of cigarettes from the display box and lit one for himself. Kiba snickered at the hypocrisy. "I didn't get into this business because I couldn't get into college or anything, y'know."
"Oh," Kiba replied, obviously uninterested.
"No, I did it because I don't like psychiatrists."
"Way to stick it to the shrinks," Kiba replied sarcastically throwing back his shot and pouring himself another.
"That's what I wanted to do, you know. I wanted to be a shrink. When I was your age, people always came to me when they had problems. I figured that I could help them more if I got a degree." He took a drag of his own cigarette before continuing. "But the thing about shrinks is that they charge a lot and they don't give you anything in return. They don't actually care. They don't see you as a real person. They see you as a problem to be solved. I couldn't stand that. And I didn't want to become that. So I asked myself, 'who else talks to people about their problems' and here you go." He restured to the empty room.
"A bartender?"
"Yeah, I get to come here every night, have a drink or two, listen to some jokes, y'know." Kiba nodded. "But I vowed to myself that not a day would go by that I didn't help someone deal with their problems. So, lay it on me."
"Lay what on you," Kiba asked around the cigarette in his mouth.
"What sent you over the edge? What caused you to come in here and start drinking and smoking?"
"You wouldn't understand."
The man laughed heartily, "how many times do you think I heard that one? Come one, try me."
Kiba exhaled deeply and put the rest of the cigarette out. "Maybe you would understand, but it's a long story."
The man sighed again. He walked over to the door and turned the neon 'OPEN' sign off. He walked back over to his position behind the bar and stared at Kiba.
"Alright..."
-Three Hours Later-
"You know, Kiba, you could have just said 'my boyfriend dumped me.'"
"But if I did that," Kiba took another shot of whiskey, "then I wouldn't get the free drinks." He got up and went to the door.
"Kiba," the bartender yelled out.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm not going to drive. I'll call the cab again."
"No, not that." He walked around the bar to face Kiba. He grabbed him by the shoulders and looked down at him. "If you were happy before, and now you're not, then it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you just have to go back to the way things were before." With that, the man smiled at the brunette and went back to his sweeping.
-Four Hours Later-
After finally having sobered up, Kiba decided to go out and think about what, who he assumed to be Neil, had said to him. He hailed a cab and had it drop him off at the outskirts of town. The driver looked confused when Kiba asked him to pull over in the middle of a dirt road with nothing for three miles in either direction, but he wasn't paid to ask questions.
After the cough of the cab had faded into the distance, Kiba continued on foot down the road in the same direction. Sure, he could have just taken the cab for a little while more, he had the money and the time, but he wanted to be alone. What better place to do that than in the middle of nowhere of a town in the middle of nowhere in a state in the middle of nowhere in a country that was the focus of the world. Well, three out of four wasn't bad, he thought to himself.
He walked for several miles, not even thinking about anything. Just enjoying his time alone, with no one around to distract him. Whenever he was in classes, he had to focus on his lesson and Naruto did get on his nerves, despite the fact that he loved him more than he ever actually thought possible.
'What do you think you're doing?'
'What?! What could I have possibly done this time?!'
'Nothing!'
'You're just going to let him think about that bastard at a time like this?'
'What do you mean "that bastard"?'
'He just walked out on us and you're going to let him think nice things about him?'
'Well he had good reason to.'
'Good reason my foot.'
'You don't have feet, John, we've been through this.'
'Hey, it's Frank from upstairs. What's up Frank!'
'Hey, guys, uh, the boss told me to tell you to shut up.'
'What?'
'Yeah, he said that you're ruining his "moment"'
'What does he plan to do about it?'
'Well, we are inhabiting his consciousness, so I guess he could kill us.'
'Oh, right...'
Kiba returned to reality after finally getting some relief from those two bickering halves of his brain, only to discover that he had no idea where he was, or what time it was. He didn't have a watch, nor did he have a map. Luckily, the road looked like it was leading him out of the forest and towards what looked like a beach.
It definitely wasn't a place for tourists. The sand was scratchy and grey, and it smelled like high tide. But, he reasoned that that meant that he wouldn't have to share it with anyone else.
However, after several minutes, it became clear that that was not the case. In front of a pier was what looked like some college guy who had passed out from drinking too much beer. Though, if you were going to do that kind of thing, this would be the place to do it.
There wasn't anyone around except for the sand and the ocean. He felt that the college guy may
prove to be good company. He recalled how he had gotten much relief from talking to an unconscious Naruto when he was in the hospital. He made his way over to the man and sat next to him, making sure that he wasn't sitting in dried vomit.
"You probably have it easy, don't you," he said to the passed out man next to him.
"I'm sure you have a girlfriend that you have un-emotional sex with all the time. I can't decide who's worse. Men or women. I mean, take my boyfriend for instance, he's a crazed moron, but he still genuinely cares about me."
"I wish I were so lucky," said the unconscious boy.
"I thought that you had passed out."
"No, just fell asleep."
"You want a smoke," Kiba asked, lighting up his own cigarette.
"No thanks, I'm not in a rush to go to my deathbed."
"So you're one of the lucky few to still have their sanity," he asked the horizon. He boy was staring at the setting sun as well, which was, all things considered, better in the long run. The more impersonal the conversation remained, the easier it would be to talk to the stranger.
"You might say that."
"What's wrong, girlfriend dump you?"
"Not exactly."
"Well, whatever your problem is, it can't be worse than mine."
"Oh yeah," the boy challenged.
"Probably," Kiba replied non-chalantly.
"The person that I've been dating for several years and was hoping to live with for the rest of my life doesn't love me."
"Ouch, that's gotta suck," Kiba replied.
"So, what's your story."
Kiba hesitated, mostly to build up dramatic tension, but also to take another drag of his cigarette. "My dad got shot and killed last night."
The sun began to set as the boy replied. "Well, I guess you can't take it back."
"Doubt it."
"That's something that I learned a long time ago. You can't take shit back, and you shouldn't, because it defines who you are as a person."
"That's real deep for some homeless guy living on a beach."
"I'm not a homeless guy."
"Where do you live, then?"
"Nowhere in particular."
Kiba chuckled, "I see."
"This is my favorite part," the stranger replied. The sun was almost entirely gone, and all that was left in the sky was a purple hue that died out as the last rays of the sun fell below the horizon.
"So why are you out here, if you have a home," the man asked, never taking his eyes off of the horizon.
After several minutes, Kiba replied. "I'm looking for someone."
"Who?"
A single tear fell down the brunettes face before he replied, "my other half."
"How long have you known it was me?"
Kiba chuckled to himself, "The second my heart skipped a beat when I sat down."
The stranger turned around and looked Kiba straight in the eyes, even though the brunette was still staring at the horizon...