"Survivors aren't always the strongest; sometimes they're the smartest, but more often simply the luckiest."

-Carrie Ryan

I stood there in absolute shock, I had been saved? What? I'm not in some twisted shoujo manga am I? I shook my head from such thoughts, and ripped my machete from the reaper's skull. I looked at the man in both curiosity and caution. He had saved me yes, but for what reason? What did he want with me? I wasn't sure. I only had such an encounter once before, and it didn't end well.

I remembered a lesson from Haruka as I stared at the albino in front of me.

"Trust no stranger, even if they saved you. In the end everyone wants something from someone else, so run the first chance you get when you see other people. And if you can't, make sure that you get them before they get you. Oh, and if they start to get handsy, bite em- it'll give you enough time to run." Haruka turned to me as she told me this, in which I innocently tilted my head in confusion.

"...'Handsy'? What do you mean?" I asked her, in which she waved her hand and dismissed my question.

"You'll know what I mean when you get there…"

To this day I swear that Haruka was blushing. So even she got embarrassed or flustered sometimes..

The scuffle with the last man I met was when he saved me to use me as… "relief". Thankfully I figured it out in time (since I ignored Haruka's instructions thinking he was nice at first), and in the end it attracted the attention of a lot of reapers. For once the reapers came to my rescue.

I returned to the present, I became more wary with each moment that passed. Despite my wariness, I still opened my mouth to speak.

"Thanks for the save…" I paused, I was trying to see what he was thinking. But alas, mind-reading is not in my arsenal of skills.

"but… what do you want from me?" I asked him with a skeptical glare. He seemed slightly surprised with the hostility I dropped in my voice, but regained his composure rather quickly.

"Was just passing through, heard some stuff and thought to check it out." He explained nonchalantly. Did he really think I would fall for that? "Heard some stuff and thought to check it out"? Any sane person would go the opposite direction! Did he want to die?!

I gave him a look of utter disbelief, was he really that bad at lying or just stupid?

"Not to be a bit ungrateful or anything, but I don't believe a smidge of what you said." I stated blatantly, he looked unaffected by it. He looked slightly annoyed, but there was also a bit of understanding I saw in his eyes. Our eye contact was cut off when he suddenly turned around, clicking his tongue in the process.

He didn't seem like a bad person, but he seemed really suspicious. I debated in my head what the best course of option was. "He just shot a gun, and it attracted a lot of sound, I'm hurt and need to get out of here fast. But that is really difficult since I'm lightheaded and exhausted from my earlier operation. I won't last long until I pass out… what to do.."

I heaved a sigh of defeat and quickly followed the man who saved me.

"Why are you following me?" He asked me as we walked through the apartment, in which he opened the window to the fire escape.

"Though you're really suspicious, and all I want to do is get away from you… I don't really have a choice right now." I responded as we both climbed out of the window and started to head to the top.

"Then can you at least tell me if you were bit? I don't like taking care of hurt mice." I felt offended by his comment, but he had a point.

"I wasn't, and I'm perfectly fine." I knew he would abandon me as soon as he knew I was dead weight. The best thing to do was lie, deal with it later, and help him out the best I could in the meantime so he'll be more willing to help me. It was a flimsy plan, but it was all I had.

Thankfully my jacket hid my wound, and so he never noticed I was hurt in the first place. I used that to my advantage, and I hoped that he wasn't like the others. "This feels just like last time… but he really does seem nice…" I tried to reason with my mind's protests.

"Do you have something I can call you? I don't want to get attached or anything but it would be nice to know your name…" I wavered and my question got quieter at the end. I blurted it out without thinking… stupid Yui.

Names don't mean anything in all this, so that's why it is such a stupid question to most people. I felt my cheeks burn in slight embarrassment at the mistake.

He scoffed at my question, rubbing salt into the wound. I didn't expect an actual answer, but to my surprise he responded.

"Subaru, and I won't bother remembering yours, so don't bother remembering mine." We finally reached the top as our conversation ended. Subaru easily grabbed onto the roof and boosted himself up from the railings. I followed suit, just was more scared since the fire escape looked like it was about to fall any minute.

He easily pulled himself up, while I had just barely boosted myself to grab the roof. My arm screamed in pain at the usage. I bit my lip and did my best to hide the pain as I pulled myself up. "I really hope that didn't open the wound back up.." I began to worry about it as my arm progressively became more and more in pain.

Subaru didn't bother to wait for me and seemingly thought he could lose me by walking faster. I huffed my cheeks and matched his pace, he was sorely mistaken if he thought he could lose me that easily!

We reached the end of the roof and there was a small gap to the next building, the problem was that the drop to the next roof looked to be about ten to twelve feet. There wasn't anything to use for the drop, so we had to jump. Subaru didn't seem that fazed by it, and jumped down with ease. Meanwhile, there was good ol' Yui there, who stood there like a dunce.

For you see, little genius here didn't think to tell her savior about her fear of heights.

"Just don't look down…" I repeated as I breathed in a breath, and got on the edge of the building. Subaru already began to walk away, so I puffed out a breath of air and held my breath as I jumped. It was the only way to not scream as I nearly missed the building entirely. I just barely landed on the edge, and had to quickly move or I would've fallen backwards off the roof.

I also immediately regretted holding my breath, since I suddenly felt extremely light headed- mixing in with my already dizzy self. I shook my head and got up to quickly follow Subaru. My steps were a little awkward from how blurry everything looked, but nonetheless I tried to hide it to the best of my capabilities.

This process continued all the way to sunset. In which we finally stopped in an abandoned gas station on the outskirts of the city. Yes, we traveled that freaking far in one day.

I had trouble breathing from how fast Subaru was, how was that man even human?

I was finally given the chance to sit down as we settled down in the restroom. The tile was cold, but frankly I didn't care at the moment.

"Are you sure you're supposed to be a human?" I asked Subaru with tired eyes. No human had that much endurance, like, how?

"I should ask you that, you're so slow I thought you were some sort of rat." He retorted, I puffed out my cheeks and curled my legs up to me. Haru was right, strangers were no good. Especially that jerk, calling me a rodent, how rude!

I felt my eyelids getting heavy, so I abruptly stood up and started to look around. I refused to fall asleep in front of that guy. No way, no how.

It seemed like my body didn't care what I thought though, because I suddenly found my head spinning. It was so bad that I slammed into the wall, and fell down. Subaru was shocked from the sudden sound and looked past the stalls, (there was a small area behind them that we sat down at). I wasn't fast enough in regaining my composure and he saw me struggling to get up.

"Oi! I thought you said you weren't bit!" Subaru looked angry, it seemed like he didn't like that I lied, but it wasn't all a lie…

"I wasn't, and I said I was fine." I knew he wouldn't believe me, and that there was no way to weasel my way out of this, but Haruka said to never let them know you're hurt. They'll exploit you that way, or see you as useless and leave you to die.

"Then why are you bleeding?" He still sounded angry, but I honestly couldn't care less at that point. Apparently red jackets do little to absorb blood. I noticed it opened a few hours prior to arriving at the gas station, but it wasn't like I could do anything about it. The wound had also become bruised, and blood was slowly dripping onto the tile.

I heaved a sigh and finally gave in, "...Fine. I wasn't bit, but I was injured this morning. I had a scuffle with one of 'em and fell onto a broken pipe. All it did is reopen, so it isn't anything to fuss about." I knew he didn't care one smidge about me, but I told him the truth since I believed he would leave me then and there.

"I'll be fine in the morning, so just don't leave me here please? At least for the night. I just need some help so I can get back on my feet." I looked away as I held my bleeding arm, I felt ashamed asking that. I also felt guilty for lying. Even through all of what happened, I still had a slight belief for God. So lying, made me feel awful.

I heard him sigh and walk away. "Of course, what did I expect?" I felt ashamed and helpless, and I had a feeling I was going to die since he left me.

But then, something unexpected happened…

Subaru came back.

He came back and he forced me to take my jacket off, and he had medical supplies next to him. I looked at him in shock, this guy was way too nice for a stranger!

"You shouldn't waste that stuff on me, save it for someone else." I told him, in which he muttered a small "Shut it."

"You stitched this by yourself? No wonder the wound reopened... " He mumbled, and I was taken aback from how he was trying so hard to help me.

"Why are you helping me so much? Did you know me before or something?" I was genuinely curious, I couldn't tell with that guy anymore, but then again I could never tell in the first place.

He stiffened at my question. I started to think he wouldn't tell me after a few minutes of silence passed since I might have pressed a button I shouldn't have, but he eventually spoke up.

"Something like that, I just feel like I owe it to him to help you out." Subaru didn't say anything about that after he said that, so I didn't press the topic further.

"Do you have a group or something? I'm mostly curious because I want to help you and them out for saving my tail." I wanted to repay them, it was rude to take things from others and not give back any.

"Those bastards don't need anything from you, and you don't have anything I want either." Subaru glared, not at me, but I think it was more directed at "them" than me. Whoever they were.

I was going to respond, but felt myself falling out of consciousness. It wasn't long until I blacked out completely, and was left with the comforting warmth of another person after a long time of staying cold.

(A/N) Hey! I hope y'all like this so far! Please leave reviews so I can make this a better reading experience for you guys, if you guys don't like something then feel free to tell me! I'll change it in order to better the story for everyone, so please stay tuned- kay?

I'll update again tomorrow, please wait patiently for it until then!~

-Sincerely, JJ