"Take an umbrella. It's raining."

(Consider this DISCLAIMED :) )

Dark clouds loomed on the horizon, inching closer and closer with each passing day. Whenever Sion went out, he noticed the wary glances everyone in the West Block gave the mass of turbid darkness, and it confused him. Oh, he knew it was an oncoming monsoon, but he didn't know why everyone was so scared. Even Nezumi was slightly jumpier than usual! Hugging the bag of groceries to his chest, Sion resolved to ask him what was going on when he got back to their small home.

"I'm back," Nezumi called out his usual greeting, and was pretty surprised when there wasn't a reply. Usually, Sion would have been all been all over him, pestering him with questions like, 'How was your day' or 'Guess what I saw!' the second he announced himself. It was kind of endeari-annoying. But there wasn't even a reply.

"Sion!" Still no answer. But Nezumi wasn't worried, no way. There was no way he'd be concerned that the white-haired idiot had wandered off and was probably dead or in the correction facility or-

"Nezumi?" In his current state of mind, he hadn't noticed Sion walk into the room. He scowled internally; he really was losing his touch. "Nezumi, are you okay? You look kind of angry..." Sion put a hesitant hand on his shoulder.

He brushed the boy off, not very willing to admit he'd been even the slightest bit worried. "You should answer when someone calls your name," Nezumi hid his embarrassment with irritation.

Sion blinked, then realized what he meant. "Oh! Sorry, I fell asleep and I didn't hear you call me," He laughed sheepishly, smiling innocently. Nezumi looked closer and noticed that Sion did look like he'd been sleeping. He reached out and combed his hand through the soft, alabaster hair, smoothing down the strands that stuck up oddly. Sion's smile softened, but Nezumi withdrew his hand almost as soon as he'd placed it on his head.

"...I take it that you didn't make dinner," It was a statement rather than a question, as everyone (at least, Inukashi and Nezumi) knew that a tired Sion was a useless Sion. The guilty grin confirmed what he already knew. Growling insults under his breath, Nezumi stalked over to their makeshift kitchen area. Sion stumbled along behind him, yawning.

Looking over their meager ingredients (including the groceries Sion had bought earlier), Nezumi realized he didn't have much to choose from. Shrugging, he decided to make a simple tomato soup. Those slightly-less-rotten-than-usual tomatoes would go bad soon anyway. "Hey, Sion. Hand me that knife." Sion passed it over, looking a little spaced out.

"...Nezumi?" Without turning from his chopping, the said young man grunted; his equivelent of 'what'. "Um, well, I was...uh," Sion stumbled over his words, "Why is everyone so afraid of the storm that's coming?" Nezumi's hand froze, and he turned to look at Sion with disbelief.

"What?" The completely oblivious boy blushed, "I'm serious! Don't give me that look!"

Nezumi blinked and started the dinner preparations again. "You really are stupid. The rain is dangerous here. There's flooding, and some of the more unstable buildings can get knocked over."

As if some switch in his logic had been turned on, Sion made an 'oh' sound and turned his gaze to the pot Nezumi had filled with water and some not-yet rotten milk he'd nicked. The rest of the evening was spent in a gloomy silence that was only broken when a half-asleep Sion announced that he was going to bed.

The storm broke the next day, leaving Nezumi and Sion stuck inside. Water had started leaking down into the tunnels, but thankfully it hadn't gotten into their dry refuge. Sitting around all day wasn't a very attractive though to either of the young men, but they made due. They read, slept a little, and Nezumi even showed off his acting skills, somehow managing to drag Sion into his mock-play.

But alas, the burgundy-eyed sixteen year old couldn't be entertained all day, especially if there was a rather lovely storm outside. All throughout the morning and into the afternoon, he threw longing glances towards the door. It was starting to piss Nezumi off. Finally, around four p.m., he gave in.

"FINE. You can go outside if you want to! Just stop making that face!" He probably shouldn't have yelled, but Sion kept sighing, and it was getting on his nerves. Although he probably didn't care, given the huge smile on his face.

Grabbing his shoes and a coat (Nezumi's coat, to be exact), the ecstatic boy raced to the door. "I'll be back soon!" He yelled as he hopped around, trying to get his shoes on as quick as possible.

"WAIT!" It was a spur of the moment outburst. Sion paused and glanced back at Nezumi curiously. "...Take an umbrella or something...there's one by the door," He trailed off awkardly, but smiled when the beaming albino thanked him and took the rather beat up umbrella that sat near the entrance for emergencies. He was glad he'd kept it.

Later, when Sion came back in soaking wet, Nezumi gave him a change of clothes and leftover soup that he'd warmed up after berating him for getting water everywhere. But really, it was hard to feel bad about dripping all over the floor when you were curled up on a couch, listening to an excellently read book.

...Not my best work. Half of it was written in school, and the ending was awkward. But whatever; I actually wrote something! Oh, and happy Friday the thirteenth!