Chapter 7

Graverobber wasn't lucky enough to escape the ghosts two nights in a row. Someone looking at him wouldn't be able to tell the difference that he was plagued by nightmares; he didn't toss and turn or cry out in anyway. Only a single groan as he rolled over, one that might be passed off as anything. He woke up once, visions of corpses accusing him with eyes that were shriveled and lidless, wanting to know why he had defiled them; but he would always brush it off; what did it matter, they were dead, they didn't really care. He rose halfway into a sitting position before just falling back. He glanced over at Shilo, completely shrouded in darkness, and wondered what he was thrusting her into. But she was strong, she could handle it.

Shilo didn't have the same problems that Graverobber. She had been so exhausted that a deep, dreamless sleep had overcome her. She twitched as Graverobber watched her, but she kept on sleeping. Graverobber closed his eyes to the darkness just before dawn. He wouldn't let his late night nightmares keep him from waking up early. He would let Shilo sleep though; this was, after all, still new to her. But for now, a little more sleep was in order.

In another two hours the sun had finally risen behind a thin veil of clouds, making the sun seem pale and watery. And Graverobber was awake, pulling himself to his feet, and after a full body stretch to urge his system back into fully functional awareness, he glanced at Shilo pausing, noticing for the first time that her hair was not her own. Did that bother him? No, not really. But he did stand there watching her for a moment or two longer than was appropriate before stepping out of the room for a few minutes, returning with food with a sandwich and something to drink, and sitting on the couch to eat.

While he was still eating, Shilo moved, pulling the covers over her face to block out the sun with a groan where she stayed for a few more minutes before sitting up, looking disheveled, wig in hand. She saw Graverobber sitting there and didn't even try to delude herself into thinking that he might not have seen her. She put on the wig and stood.

"Morning Kid," he said in between bites.

"I was hoping to be up before you," she said.

"Why? To hide your baldness?" Graverobber asked, Shilo merely nodded and he went on, "People go bald as a fashion statement, don't worry about it. I'd guess it's a side effect of whatever your father was giving you. Maybe now that you're off of it, it'll start to grow back."

Shilo managed to give him a weak grin as he sat there, half eaten sandwich still in his hand as he looked at her, making sure that he had gotten his point across. She appreciated it, but she didn't think that she would be going for the bald fashion statement.

"There's food in the kitchen," Graverobber said.

Shilo nodded then made it three steps toward the door before finally stopping, "Where is the kitchen?"

Graverobber chuckled, "Down the hall, last door on the right."

This time, Shilo made it out of the room. She took a detour in the bathroom and when she finally got to the kitchen she saw fruit on the counter. She found an apple, tested it, and found that it was ripe. She took a bite, not washing it because she still didn't trust the water. It was good, but not particularly filling. She wanted more, and started rummaging through the cabinets. She found the bread and peanut butter and wondered if she could find jam or something, so she wandered over to the refrigerator to look inside. It was pretty bare, but there was apple juice, and she found a jar of blueberry preserves near the back. She took it out, and the apple juice, and made herself a sandwich and poured a glass of juice. After a bit more rummaging to find what she needed, like plates and a knife, she was contentedly munching on her sandwich.

She leaned against the counter while she ate, happy to be putting something in her stomach, and especially happy for the juice since it was nice and cold running down her throat. She stood there for a few minutes after she finished the sandwich and glass of juice before wandering back into the living room. She heard Graverobber in the bathroom as she passed. It felt good to know that Graverobber was still human enough to have human needs and the need to succumb to them, though it really shouldn't have been that surprising.

She sat on the couch to wait, not letting herself wonder how it could ever even cross her mind that Graverobber could conquer the call of nature. No matter how people viewed and treated him, he wasn't a god.

Graverobber walked into the room while Shilo was thinking about not thinking about Graverobber relieving his bladder. And she blushed, feeling like she had been caught.

"What's the matter, Kid?" Graverobber asked, that grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye, like he knew what she was thinking and found it amusing.

"N-no, I was just wondering what we were doing today," she stammered.

Graverobber's grin widened, "I haven't decided yet. I'll be peddling later, but I don't have much to do for a few hours."

"So… what does that mean..?" Shilo asked.

"Kick back and relax," he said, falling into the chair with closed eyes.

"Relax?" she said, not bothering to hide her surprise at the idea. Graverobber opened an eye into a slit while he chuckled and nodded.

Shilo sat there, staring at nothing. She didn't know what to do with herself now that she had time on her hands. She fidgeted for a few minutes, looking around the room as if it would throw something for her to do out of the walls. Graverobber grew tired of hearing her fidget very quickly and sat up with open eyes.

"What d'you want to do, Kid?" he asked.

"I dunno. Something. Anything." She said as she wrung her hands.

"C'mon Kid," he said grabbing one of her wrists, "We'll find something to do."

He tugged her deeper into the house, and she followed without complaint. Looking around, Shilo knew what she could do.

"Cleaning," she said, stopping, "We could clean. The place kinda needs it."

Graverobber paused as well, "We could go buy cleaning supplies…"

Shilo nodded and then they headed out to do more shopping. This time it didn't take nearly as long, picking up sponges, buckets, soaps, bottles of water, and heading back to the small house to start their bit of spring cleaning.

It was so strange so see Graverobber cleaning. Pouring bottles of water and cleaning solution into a bucket, mixing it, and then submerging the sponge wrist deep into the solution, wringing it out and scrubbing down the floors and walls.

Shilo stood there watching Graverobber as he used one of his grimy, chipped nails to scrape away off a piece of grime that they didn't want to come off with just the sponge before meticulously sponging the rest clean. Shilo realized, as she should have realized before, and had, but she was realizing it again, that she knew nothing, honestly nothing, about Graverobber. He harvested and peddled Zydrate illegally for a living. What else did she know? He lived in this little house; no one else seemed to know that. And as she watched him clean, she wondered, again, what she wasn't seeing. She also thought that this was probably the cleanest his hands had been in months.

"Get your head out of the clouds Kid, cleaning was your idea," Graverobber said, not really taking his eyes off of his cleaning, and when he said it, there was no real reprimand in his voice, more like a reminder to her. He seemed to know that things like this would happen; he probably assumed that it was from her loss, the one that was still so new to her mind that she couldn't sit idly by without it starting to eat at her. Good to know he didn't really know everything.

Shilo jumped anyway, trying to pull her mind back into what she was supposed to be doing. She soaked the sponge up to her elbow and started scrubbing the floor with fervor, for a few minutes seeming as if she were trying to scrub herself clean with every inch of dirt she removed. But it didn't last, she remember that it was just a floor and that no matter how hard she scrubbed, the memories scarring her mind wouldn't wipe clean. So the fervor died down and she found herself glancing occasionally wondering what was beneath the oh-so-self-assured surface that was Graverobber.

It took well over an hour just to clean a single part of the living room before they got tired or bored and decided to take a break, both sat down on the couch, which still needed to be cleaned.

Shilo leaned back against something that wasn't part of the couch. She jumped when she realized that it was Graverobber's arm and, turning a lovely shade of pink, stammered an apology. Graverobber shrugged, grinning, seeming to really enjoy her discomfort. He watched her ramrod straight back, his eyes twinkling deviously, silent laughter painting his lips.

"Relax Kid," he said, still grinning, but he moved his arm anyway.

Shilo leaned back again, but their break didn't last long. They changed the now dirty cleaning water and got back to work.

"Let's clean a different room for now," he said, "We need a break from this one."

He led the way down the hall to the bathroom and started cleaning the sink without waiting to see if Shilo was following. With Graverobber at the sink, she went to the tub. The room was far too small for two people to be cleaning at the same time. Shilo tried to stay as small and out of the way out of the way as possible, but that was more or less impossible when she got to the end of the tub closest to the sink and toilet, and, of course, Graverobber wasn't bothering to make himself small. The two bumped into each other more than one, Shilo apologized awkwardly each time and Graverobber having a grand ol' time in her discomfort.

But the thing about small rooms was that there isn't nearly as much to clean and they were done pretty quickly. The entire room, floor and walls included, only took about an hour. They worked side by side on the house until it was time for Graverobber to be peddling. The house still wasn't that clean, but it was far better than it had been. -----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Author's Notes: Sorry guys that this chapter took forever and.... [/checks calendar] three and a half days... but there are some things that are going on that I'm still trying to get through. Bear with me while I get my writing back? Please and thank you. I really hope that you guys review lots, it'll help me through stuff and help me get my writing back.

I don't really think that this chapter is any sort of good, and I'm sorry for that. I promise that I'll get my rear back in gear and start writing things that are not flaming piles of dung and worth being proud of. And I'll try and update sooner. .;;

Sorry guys, no reader responses this time. I'll be sure to give you guys extra love next time.

Oh, and expect a timeskip of a few months in the next chapter. Just a little spoiler for you guys to ruminate over.... or not, because it doesn't tell you much.]