AN: Hey, I know that in this chapter there is a very very big description of the apartment and that many of you might say that I am exaggerating and that I shouldn't have described it so much from the first to the last detail but we will spend very much time in this apartment and I didn't wanted to focus on the place things but on other descriptions of feelings and such.

This will be the only chapter that will have such a big and annoying description about something like this because I didn't enjoy it very much either but please just imagine the stuff and let it like that and I promise to entertain you more in later chapters.

Thank you very much.

You told me once: "After a hurricane, a rainbow will come."

You told me those words and I've thought about it twice,

Before to tell you:

"But after the rainbow, another hurricane will come."

Chapter 2: The Grey Life

I thought that he will think of my apartment as any other normal apartment but he was intrigued by it, happy and somehow, nervous.

From the moment we entered we've done two complete different actions. And right now after half an hour, we do the same different actions.

I am standing inside, at the entrance of my apartment, at my door, while he is exploring the new territory, my apartment. He even makes comments or often asks me about this or that.

The apartment itself is not very big; I would call it a medium one. Everything that I have here it's not too expensive but nor too poor either.

The apartment consists of a big living room, that is right after you've entered through a dark brown door, it's a huge square with brown parquet, a desk that has, also, a shade of brown which is darker than the other wooden things from the apartment, of course, it has a normal chair at it, and with a window in front of it with medium white almost transparent curtains.

A big brown light bookshelf as you look in front of the room from the door, almost covering the whole wall, full with books and framed photos, and here and there, some frills.

At its left, where it has a little space where she couldn't cover it because it wasn't that big, it is a vase with fake flowers.

If you stay at the desk, on the chair, behind it, after some steps, on the other wall is a shade of black almost dark blue couch with blue and cream pillows. Under the couch it is a small rectangular carpet, that has a cream color too with no particularly design. On the wall, above the couch, it is a framed painting in which the blue ocean is painted and it is very calming at times.

At the couch's right, there is the door of my bedroom, my bedroom which consists of a normal but big bed with a white sheet and blue blanket above it, the same parquet, and before my bed it's a big closet with a long mirror on the far left on one of its doors. The closet it's also made of wood but with a medium shade of dark brown.

As you enter, if you make some steps, after the bed, there is a small table on which there are always different things like books, sheets and sometimes even food, mostly my cup of coffees, packs of cigarettes and ashtrays, and a telephone.

On the same wall with the small light brown table, above it, there is a window with the same structure as the one that is in the living room and with the same curtains; at the left of the window and of the table there is a door that is made of glass, and you can see after it but it also has white blinds which I pull them just when I sleep.

Through the door you can go on the balcony on which there is a table which I don't often use made by plastic, white and simple with two chairs at it with the exactly the same structure, and also, the floor is sandstone with the color of black and the balcony itself is made of hard cement with the color of cream, like the block itself.

As it is, there is a plant almost dying on that balcony too, and the wire on which the clean clothes are still hanged, because I've always let the clothes there too much.

The other side of the apartment, that is at the right of the entrance door, where the kitchen invites you with the simple smell of air, but its appearance is like any other kitchen, but because of its emptiness, just because I don't use it very often.

It is almost empty, the color cream, white and black.

The fridge is at the very left as you enter it from the nonexistent wall because it has no door, even if there is a little wall at the left but it has nothing, and at the right, there is just another wall where it is a window and its blinds are usually drawn.

As you enter, in front, there is the kitchens furniture that is of a light brown almost cream with a white surface on top. The sandstone is black, and the walls have half of it is tile, and the other half is a white wall like the rest of the house, the tile itself is black almost grayish.

In the middle of the principal wall, which is as you enter, in front, it's a white stove, at its close left there is an support for clean dishes of a grey metal color right after the grey sink with some glasses in it, at the far left there is a support for knives of a light brown color and with different types of knives which I use just when I don't have other clean ones.

At the right of the white stove it's almost nothing, but a grey metallic unplugged microwave. There is a painting on the left wall, above kitchens furniture with a flower on it, and on the same part of the kitchen and wall, the fridge.

The fridge it's almost empty on the inside, but full on the outside with countless glued small sheets, colored or white, that are notes, old ones or new ones.

The bathroom is as you enter in the apartment, at the right, and it is mostly green and white. The tile is white while the sandstone is a light green and there is a bath with a blue courtain, that is in front and at the left there is a white sink and a white toilet, above the sink there is an ordinary mirror but that can be opened and in its compartment there are mostly pills and the door is pretty much in the middle of the bathroom while at the left is just a towel bar on it and under it, there is the washing machine with different things on it.

The block is somehow empty for most of the time. I've always thought that these people have jobs and a busy life and all that I have is a place which I call home in which I live alone, all day and all night, trapped.

"I like this."

He said while he is staring at a framed photo from one bookshelf.

For the first time while I was in my house, I wondered why I feel so secretive. I used to feel like this place describes me but now that he looks everywhere, I think of all of the things that have their own stories and which I don't know if I could tell them. Not to mention my story.

"Wow!"

I was lost in my thoughts when he suddenly exclaimed from my bedroom in which I didn't observed that he entered.

'Quick boy.' I thought while I've realized that he must have opened the door slowly so I wouldn't hear him while smoking my cigarette and maybe I even seemed to think about something else.

'I took my eyes off of him just for a second.'

I ignored almost all that he said because he mostly made useless comments, more to himself, but I quickly ran to my own bedroom when he yelled.

He is now on the bed with Felix in his arms.

I just walked to my table and I thrown the now finished cigarette, and I immediately lit another one and just then I spoke to him:

"Why did you screamed if you're not scared of cats?"

I asked him in a monotone voice while I successfully lit another cigarette and I immediately begun to devour it.

"I was just surprised by it."

He said while he still rubs the cat and the cat answered with its purring.

"Hn." I said while I put the packet of cigarettes on the table when he had suddenly talked to me.

"What breed?"

"Chartreux." I've quickly answered after I inhaled again and sat on the other side of the bed while I still stare in front of me, at the transparent closed door or mostly after it, on the balcony, in the night.

"What?"

He asked somehow amused while I could hear the smile when he said the simple word.

I've smirked myself, because I didn't expect him to know it, anyway.

"Chartreux is the name of the breed, it's French."

The entirely black cat has mewed in response, and Naruto seemed to be even more entertained by the smart cat.

"What's her name?"

"Felix." I said while I got up from the bed and almost got out of the room while he walked after me with the cat in his hands.

"But you know that it's a female not a male."

He said a little ironically, as a fact, but almost putting a question.

"Yeah, I know." I answered and I sigh while I sat on the couch while I still look at him.

"Then why did you called her Felix?"

He asked me, and I quickly closed and opened my eyes at the memory.

"I …didn't know it was a female so I called her Felix and I got used to it and then she got used to it so it remained to be Felix."

"Hm…"

He said while moving through the room with the cat still in his hands.

The memory is vague but it quickly came back to me like a movie with sad ending, a movie that cannot be forgotten just because you made that movie, you have been part of it, but it didn't meant that you enjoyed it, even if I did, back then…

"So…"

He began to say while he still walks through the apartment, left and right until he sat down beside me.

"I can pretty much figure out that this couch is my bed, but you will at least give one blanket, no?"

I almost forgot that it's still night and that we must sleep. When I answered him with an affirmative answer some hours ago, I didn't think where he will sleep or things like that. All I knew was that I wanted something new in my life and it seemed that I just did it; I just received the opportunity of a change.

'Even if I am not the spontaneous type, not at all…'

"A blanket comes."

I said as I got up and walked to my bedroom, to the closet and I took out a blanket and one white sheet and then to my bed and I took one pillow from the two that are, then walked back to the living room, but he was gone.

'Why you…"

I've put the things on the couch and right then, I heard something that came from the kitchen.

When I walked in, he was with his head in the fridge. I sat myself against the wall behind him and with my hands at my chest, and I made a small coughing sound to get his attention.

He hit his head to one of the shelf that was above his head of the fridge and then he immediately begun to massage the hurt spot while he turned around and looked at me with a small smile. Felix has ran away from his arms after he hit his head.

"I was… I just…"

I don't think he steals food or even if he was, he has nothing to steal from me. In the fridge there is just a bottle of milk and one with water, and some eggs in a small compartment.

"Hn." I quickly said and I walked to the living room, as I thought, he followed me and he stared at me while I arranged the white sheet on the couch and then I've put the pillow against the arm of the couch while I took the other pillows that would've been uncomfortable to sleep with, and I put them on my bed, then I took one pair pajamas from my closet and I gave it to him.

"Um..." He said and I've quickly spoke while I suppressed all of the words that he was about to say.

"The bathroom is there and yes, you can make a shower."

I said while I pointed to the white door with my finger, and he just smiled and quickly walked to it, and closed the door behind him.

I spread the blanket on the couch and I sat down on it while I stared at the cat that sits in front of me on its butt, and looks at me and just then, I heard the sound of the shower, but the cat seems uninterested by it.

"Do you seriously like him?"

Felix liked just three persons from all of the people that I've brought home.

'Not that I know many people, nor did I brought that certain person again after she scratched that person until she or he had left.'

The first one is me, and if she would be a human, I could tell that she disagrees with the way I live, but she managed to get used to the way I live and she even begun to love me for what I am, at least that is what I see.

The second one is my only friend that is a woman with which I go to the theater every Friday. She comes to my house before that, and Felix has always taken her side, when she constantly tells me about the messy kitchen, and when I lost weight and all the things she can find.

She often brings food with her and tells me to eat it or that she will kill me.

'Such a funny odd woman.' I thought while I smirked, but then my smile disappeared while I thought at the third person.

'She liked him the most; after all, he bought her for me and he is …'

I erased my thought while I closed my eyes and in the same time, the sound of the running water in the bathroom has stopped, and I just looked at my right, at the bathroom door, waiting and pretending to wait, while I ignored my thoughts, and the scar that has just opened in my chest while the door didn't opened, I felt something at my feet and just then I saw Felix with one paw on my right leg, staring at me.

She jumped in my lap, and I immediately petted her, while after some seconds the door finally opened.

It revealed an ordinary person if you could name him that just once. In my blue pajamas with a little wet hair, blond , that still stays in every direction.

With his clothes in his hands, and in bare feet, he walked to me and I can read him easily, and just when I thought that he has something to say, he spoke.

"Um… I know that maybe I am a drag but I just wanted to thank you for letting me stay here, and for all this, I understand if you will kick me out tomorrow or something but I just…"

I stood up, and I've put one hand on the pockets of my jeans at my back and I've realized that I let the packet of cigarette on the table and I just sigh.

'How I need one right now…' I thought and then looked at the confused boy before me. I know nothing about him and I doubt that he will tell me if I ask him, at least not before he will trust me, not that I will tell him something about me even if I will trust him, but still…

'What was in my head? '

I know that maybe I am crazy that I just picked someone up from a park and to let him stay with me, is more than crazy, but with my empty life, there is nothing to lose so I just begun to talk even if I find this extremely annoying.

The words of encouragement, not him.

"Who said that I will kick you out tomorrow?"

I asked and I immediately begun to miss my cigarettes, but thought that if I walk out right now he will think I run away or something.

"Well, no one, but …"

He said and he stared at the ground, after, he seemed to have finished his sentence with nothing left to say.

"Let's be clear 'cause I will say this just once…"

I said but then, I immediately walked away.

'Damn.' I thought while I stared at his innocent face. I walked to my bedroom, I took the packet of cigarettes, I took one, I lit it and I felt good again, while I looked at the room and I've realized he does not know what I am doing, and just stays there, confused.

I got back and I could tell he just now realizes and he just stares at me with no particularly expression on his face.

Not even sad, nothing, just content, that whatever will come, will just come and that's it.

"I didn't took you from there just so that I will kick you out after two days, if you think that then you think wrong. But I won't force you to stay here either, and if you don't like my way of living then you know where the door is."

I said in a rush and then I tasted my cigarette again, while Felix just sat herself in front of Naruto, with her chest up like protecting him.

'Don't tell me that you now take his side too, that woman and now him.' I thought but I said nothing, and instead, I took my eyes off Felix and I looked at a now, confused boy.

"I...I have no expectations... and I…don't…" He said but almost stopped after every word. He has put the free hand on his head in frustration and then he begun to talk again.

"I am not pretentious or anything, I am really grateful, it's just that you don't find someone that takes you in their home very often."

'So, I am not the first one who has took you from the street? And they kicked you out after…?'

"I imagine." I said while I made a step to my door and then looked at him.

I know that this conversation is complicated and now, overdone, we both want to ask questions, but we don't trust each other for a honest answer.

He is a runaway and I am a mad person that takes people of the streets, we can't do this right now.

"Goodnight."

I said and he quickly responded right after he heard me, and he looked up from the wooden floor, and said quickly:

"Goodnight."

I opened my door and after some seconds, Felix was in the room before me and before I could even close the door, and right after I closed it, she was already on the bed, looking at me.

I turned off the light and sat on the bed, under the blanket. The only light was coming from outside, from the still full moon, it is almost four in the morning and the night isn't so dense now, but it is still night.

I raised my head from the pillow when I realized that I am still in my outside clothes, but didn't rose up from the comfortable bed.

Instead, I took the package from the pockets of my jeans and lit one while I stared at Felix that stared back at me.

"Do you think I was too harsh?"

I asked Felix, that has not moved at all and I wondered if I asked in a low enough voice, so that he wouldn't have heard me.

'Someone else is in this house.' I thought while a smirk appeared on my face while the cigarette burned the blanket fabric a little because of the ash that has fallen on it.

There are ashtrays everywhere in the house so no matter where I am, I always have one, but there are everywhere but not in the bed.

'On the table…' I thought while looking at my right to the table and I decided that I am too tired to move until there. Instead, I kept staring at Felix that has moved her position, and I can only see her side, while she looks in front of her, at the closed door.

'What's your family name? Do you even have a family? What age are you? Where have you been before? How did you live until now? Why were you on that bank? Why do you now try not to call me old man, like you owe me something? And why, why do you look at me with those eyes?'

I asked these questions in my head while I too, stare at the door, along with Felix. I stretched a little and I put the cigarette in the ashtray and the packet on the table, and then I've put myself to sleep.

The events of today becoming just a blur in my mind while the darkness of the sleep embraced me with its warmth, promising that the morning, this warmth, will be more painful and uncomfortable, as always.
To be continued…

Yeah, sorry it is out with a few hours later. I had…problems with my computer. And this is the cat ' .org/wiki/Chartreux ' it really exists and it has its own personality in this story and yes everybody has a past, even the cat.

Oh, and skyglazingMaro, thank you for your comment, I am glad you liked it and thank you for telling me.

See you guys next Friday, Saturday or Sunday.