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Here's another chapter and I hope you enjoy. :)

Chapter 2

The Second Day

:-:

At the break of dawn, the rain has receded to a drizzle. Light droplets of water gently tap the glass window until a couple of hours to come, even after Yamazaki Sousuke finally snaps open his eyes and grunts in his sleepiness. The teal-eyed man slowly sits up—realizing that he's on his sofa in the living room rather than his bed—and turns his neck to a clock hanging on the wall that reads 6.30 A.M. He stands up and stretches until satisfying cracks from stiff muscles are heard.

Sousuke makes his way upstairs and grabs a towel from its rack near the sun-kissed glass window (which isn't really kissed by the sun right now as the drizzle is too insistent). On his way toward the bathroom, Sousuke stops at the front door of his bedroom. Releasing a soft sigh, he turns the knob to open his door. A cute sight of a gorgeous brunet on his bed welcomes his vision. Makoto is wearing Sousuke's clothes and sleeps like a baby, looking so innocent and peaceful.

Last night, Sousuke had mentally kicked himself when he considered to let Makoto sleep on the living room sofa instead. He's quite protective of his own privacy, and he's possessive over his comfy bed, but he remembered how Makoto shivered in the cold when he showed up at his front door. He simply didn't—and still doesn't have the heart to leave Makoto on the sofa while he happily rests on his own comfy bed.

That's how he finally gave in. He guided Makoto to his bedroom and draped his favorite warm blanket on him while he took a thinner one for himself. He doesn't want Makoto to catch a cold or suffer from a fever. The brunet fell asleep pretty fast. Sousuke turned off the lamp and quietly left his room to sleep in the living room. Rin has once mentioned about him having a heart made of fluffs, contradicting his intimidating size and gruff demeanor.

Putting that aside...

Sousuke can't stop ogling at the charming scenery in front of him. He just notices how Makoto's eyelashes are thicker and darker than he previously thought. He has noticed how soft his lips are, and he is tempted to brush them with his fingertips. Instead of doing what he wants, he looks away and rummages his wardrobe, taking a set of his police officer uniform. Without another look at Makoto, he leaves his bedroom.

He really needs to wash his head—preferably with cold water—so it will knock some good senses to his slightly corrupted mind. He's starting to act like a perverted old man, which he strongly detests from the bottom of his heart.

After entering his bathroom, Sousuke does a quick, cold shower, letting the water pours heavily over his dark hair. The cold water gradually washes his mind clear and he remembers the shell Makoto was bringing with him last night.

28 Days.

He wonders if there's an important meaning behind the carving.

After some brief contemplations, Sousuke decides to fry some rice with shredded chicken. After he's done with the fried rice, he begins to whisk some eggs and milk before frying them to two thin sheets. A full plate of omelet rice sounds quite neutral. He hopes Makoto will enjoy the simple dish—not like the brunet will complain, but Sousuke finds himself caring about Makoto's opinion regarding his cooking. Perhaps it's just a common feeling of wanting to impress a guest.

Although Makoto is not a guest. They're practically living together now, until Sousuke can find out more about Makoto's past and probably discover his real home. A little part of his inner heart dreads the day it will happen—when Makoto detaches himself from Sousuke's life and goes back to whatever home he has, possibly forever.

He frowns at the thought. Why is he feeling this way? Just yesterday Sousuke had thought about shooing Makoto away and going back to his own personal happy business. Now he thinks it's the worst idea ever. He feels his body shuddering. It's just the beginning of the second day and he's starting to lose his footing. He's attached to Makoto more than he intended.

Sousuke turns off the stove and prepares two empty plates and glasses on the kitchen counter. As he carefully arranges two omelet-wrapped fried rice with some fresh vegetables, he hears someone descending on the stairs. When the footsteps are getting nearer, Sousuke has filled the glasses with water and brought their breakfast to the dining table.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Sousuke pulls a chair and lazily sits onto it, flashing no smile at the sleepy brunet. Makoto rubs his fluttering eyelashes as he makes his way inside the dining room. When his droopy sea-green orbs reveal themselves and found Sousuke's teal ones, a cheerful smile adorn his already adorable face. Makoto looks so happy when he spots him. Sousuke imagines him wagging a tail as if he's a puppy.

"Mmm... morning, sleepyhead?" Makoto stops beside him, looking somewhat excited.

"No, wait." Sousuke shakes his head, "Let's try again. Good morning, Makoto."

"Let's try—"

Sousuke's palm lifts up to cover Makoto's mouth. "Good morning, Makoto." He repeats, releasing his palm from Makoto.

"Good morning, Sousuke." Makoto blushes a little. With a frown, the teal-eyed man stands up and presses his palm over Makoto's forehead, feeling his temperature. The brunet seems healthy enough. It will cause another problem if he's sick. He nods approvingly at Makoto.

"What is 'good morning'?" Makoto asks in curiosity, seemingly eager to learn more of the language. Sousuke faces difficulty to explain. He's not a good teacher—at least, he's good at coaching, but he communicates better with someone older who can understand his more complicated words. With Makoto, it feels like he's teaching a little kid how to talk, and that's somewhat frustrating.

He has no other idea except trying to teach Makoto with pictures and objects, and he has no time to do that. Sousuke shakes his head, "Later."

"Later?"

"Tch." Sousuke forgets to hide his annoyance. Makoto's smile vanishes and he looks down, looking uncomfortable. He opens his mouth as if to tell him something, but closes it again.

"No. It's okay. I'm the jerk here. Just eat, okay?" Sousuke points to a full plate of omelet rice at the other end of the dining table. Makoto blankly stares at the omelet rice, but Sousuke catches him gulping at the sight. A small smile cracks on Sousuke's lips. "Makoto, sit down." He gestures to the chair in front of the plate. Makoto immediately understands and does what Sousuke told him.

He seems really smart. I just need to be a little patient, Sousuke thought to himself. He hands Makoto a spoon, which is taken with more confused expression. Sousuke's eyes squint in suspicion as he watches the brunet. Don't tell me he doesn't even know how to use a spoon. Where does he come from, really? A native tribe hidden behind many mountains?

"Makoto, look at me." Sousuke says, preparing himself with his own spoon. The brunet obediently looks at him. "This is eat. I'm eating." He demonstrates how to use the spoon and eats his own portion of omelet rice. Makoto mirrors what Sousuke is doing almost perfectly. When Sousuke is finished with his meal, Makoto takes another spoonful of rice and munches the last piece of vegetable, leaving his plate clean except for the remaining oil.

Sousuke takes his glass and leaves it empty with big gulps. While trying to mimic the tiny details of Sousuke's action, Makoto chokes on the water and coughs. "You okay?" Sousuke asks in concern, but Makoto just smiles at him, coughing a little until he's relieved.

"Makoto, I need to go to work." Sousuke quickly stands up, realizing that he has spent a little too much time in the dining room. After paying another glance at Makoto, Sousuke releases a deep sigh before walking out of the dining room and up the stairs. He snatches a fresh set of his casual clothes and Makoto's towel, taking a large volume of dictionary and dashes off downstairs. Makoto is waiting at the small corridor just beside the stairs, watching Sousuke with interest.

"Okay. Here. Take a shower. Use the bathroom." Sousuke hands him a towel and another set of clothes. "If you want to study, you can use my laptop—" he points to the laptop on top of the table in the living room, which is luckily visible from their positions, "—and this is dictionary. For learning. You understand?"

Makoto vaguely nods, taking the large volume of dictionary and holding it on top of Sousuke's clothes in his arms.

"Now I have to go. See you. Bye." Sousuke lifts his hand and waves in front of Makoto.

The green-eyed man gathers the stuffs Sousuke has given him in one arm, then he raises his free hand and waves, giving a charming smile. "I understand. See you. Bye."

"Smart guy. Keep being that way." Sousuke grins and rushes off to the front door of his house. When he makes it outside, the drizzle is still gently pouring over the town. Sousuke grabs his umbrella along with him. Arriving at the station with damp uniform isn't a nice sight to his seniors. When Sousuke's hand reaches the house key in his pocket, he hesitates.

Is he going to lock Makoto inside without giving him a key?

Sounds like an abusive, psychotic boyfriend who keeps his partner prisoner. Well, perhaps not that extreme. At least he doesn't lock Makoto in one room or even tie him up. Not like what some crazy abusive husbands (and even wives) admit in his times assisting his seniors in interrogation room.

Yet, he can't risk Makoto going outside because of curiosity or whatever it is and getting lost. Sousuke won't be pleased if Makoto shows up in his station, trying to ask for direction, but clueless at how to do so. Worse, Makoto doesn't know the function of a police station and just wanders off to who knows where. Then again, what if someone takes advantage of his innocence? What if he has no idea about the purpose of zebra cross or traffic lights and a speeding car hits him?

Sousuke reluctantly locks his door, hoping that Makoto won't attempt to go outside and realize that he's been locked inside. He makes a mental note to go home as soon as possible after his shift and begins to open his umbrella, making his way to the police station.

At noon, the drizzle has finally stopped. The sky gradually paints itself with bright shades of blue. The sun shows up its cheery presence and spreads its warm light, gently drying the damp town. Makoto has showered and learnt to brush his teeth with Sousuke's toothbrush, simply by following any picture on the back of toothpaste box that indicate how to use it. At first, he swallowed the paste and regretted it for the horrible taste. He ended up spitting it out with the help of water and washing the remaining of it on his mouth.

He spent hours to read the dictionary and browse, imitating what Sousuke has done the day before. He searches any word he can remember Sousuke has mentioned on the dictionary, finding how it is spelled, and types it on the internet search engine to find some images. Some pictures help him to understand a word, some don't.

Now he understands what are the meanings of 'good' and 'morning'. 'Good' means pointing his thumb up. 'Morning' means the time when the sun rises. Then, when someone says 'good morning', it means...

Makoto points his thumb up, walking toward the window and directing it to the scorching hot sun on the sky. He frowns as he contemplates the meaning behind the strange gesture of pointing the thumb toward the sun. Then again, Sousuke didn't even point his thumb when he said 'good morning, Makoto'.

He has typed the words 'good morning' on the search engine and is confused by the various different images of foods, roses, sunrise, and cups of coffee. Everything has something to do with 'morning', but then what differentiates it with the additional 'good'?

When Makoto accidentally taps on a website, he spots another search engine. Driven with curiosity, the brunet types the words 'good morning' and finds a video with a large 'good morning' picture on it. As he opens it up, cheerful music starts to play. It's a children's song, and Makoto starts singing along. He likes singing, and singing in Sousuke's language is unexpectedly fun.

As Makoto diligently learns a lot of phrases and new words he has found in the dictionary, sometimes singing them, he wonders what should be appropriate for him to do when Sousuke comes back. When he woke up in the morning, Sousuke has prepared him food.

That's it. Food.

He carefully places the laptop onto the table and leaves the sofa, walking toward the kitchen. It's weird, though. He doesn't remember who he is, but he does remember how to do things. He remembers seeing people slapping a body of poor dying fish onto something black that grilled it with terrifying fire. He remembers how people would wave and say 'see you' or 'good bye' before they parted ways, or before one left the other. He remembers people talking about technology and how it was some kind of 'fancy stuff'. He remembers people doing lots of different activities without him among them.

Yet he doesn't remember where did he see them. They are like things that have been copied in his memories. It's like they are attached to his memories since forever, that he doesn't remember the first time he learned about them.

A stove is in front of him. Kitchen counters. Cooking utensils. A fridge. Problem is, Makoto doesn't know what he should do. He wanders around, finally spotting a book on one of the counter. Makoto opens the book and is delighted by various colorful pictures of foods printed on the pages. He smiles when he reads some big words beside each picture. With great enthusiasm, Makoto scurries over to Sousuke's laptop and takes it with him.

Settling the laptop on the kitchen counter, Makoto types in the name of a food he has found in the book for some videos of it. His smile stretches even wider when he finds a clear instruction with moving pictures about how to cook it.

Makoto awkwardly follows the steps. When he succeeds in turning on the stove and prepares to fry some ingredients, the video abruptly stops and Sousuke's laptop dies out of battery. The brunet tilts his head in confusion.

"Sousuke, I'll drop by your house today."

"No."

Rin's eyes twitch in suspicion. "What the—you never rejected me so quickly before."

"Is that so?" The dark-haired man massages his temple. "It's nothing. I just need to be alone today."

"This is intriguing." Rin sits in front of Sousuke's table, resting his chin on his palm. "You've been daydreaming a lot today. It seems like your mind isn't really with you. You know you can tell me anything, Sousuke. Am I not your best friend?" He grins, fingers fidgeting with his police cap. Matsuoka Rin has been friends with Sousuke since childhood. Despite all the fights they had with each other and endless (sometimes pointless) arguments about pretty much anything, most of their friends know that Matsuoka Rin and Yamazaki Sousuke are two inseparable beings.

They're more inseparable now after they applied for the same job.

Sousuke knows he can trust Rin with anything, but that means a little sharing about his secret piece of heaven at the back of his house. A little piece of heaven that has manifested to a gorgeous green-eyed brunet with angelic smile and honey-glazed voice, that is. He shakes his head and rubs the back of his neck before he finally gives in.

"Then come to my house. You'll understand what's bothering me."

"Great. Thanks for your trust, Sousuke." Rin raises his fist, and Sousuke bumps his fist against Rin's. When Sousuke's lips crack a smile, Rin exhales a breath of relief. "Thank goodness. You finally smile."

Makoto fails to register what's actually happening, but a blast of fire is now consuming the stove. He must have made a mistake, but he doesn't know what. He has tried to push the power button of Sousuke's laptop several times with no avail. Without further guidance, he really doesn't have a clue about what to do.

Dense black smoke starts to fill in the entire kitchen. Makoto's eyes sting with tears and his chest feels constricted. The more he breathes, the more his lungs tightens and he coughs.

It hurts.

He keeps coughing as the black smoke intensifies, gradually clouding his vision. Makoto darts outside the kitchen and reaches the front door, trying to find Sousuke. His heart jumps in horror when he realizes that the door has been locked from the outside. Makoto stubbornly turns the knob of the door, hoping it will miraculously open. When it doesn't, Makoto starts to knock.

"Sousuke?" He calls in between his heavy breathing and incessant coughing. "Sou—" he coughs, "Sousuke!"

Makoto shrieks in fright when a heart-stopping sound of explosion blasts to his ears. He presses his hand over his chest, feeling his heartbeats speed up. Fighting his own fear, Makoto dashes back to the kitchen, which has been licked by a greater fire. His head is spinning at the lack of oxygen, but Makoto forces it to remember where the window is.

With weakening legs, Makoto tries to hold his breath and penetrates through the dense smoke and toward the obscured window. His fingers fumble in panic to find a hook or whatever it is that's keeping the window from opening. When Makoto succeeds in opening up the window, the black smoke starts to dissipate as it makes its way outside.

"Sousuke!" He shouts outside the window and receives no answer.

"Goodness me."

Sousuke is frozen on his place, teal eyes widen in shock. His heart must have stop beating and his pulse dies cold when he realizes the dense black smoke is actually coming out from his own house. Some pedestrians are already crowding over the fire scene. A blast of fire burst out from the window, blazing around the area.

"Shit." Rin curses, punching an emergency number on his cellphone. "How is this possible—did you forget to turn off your stove or what?" Rin bares his shark-like teeth to his best friend, his own body trembling.

"Makoto." Sousuke breathes after he regains his senses.

"What?"

"Makoto!" Sousuke runs toward the front door of his house in panic. "Mako—"

"Sousuke."

Both Rin and Sousuke froze on their position. When Sousuke turns his head to the direction of the voice, Makoto is standing among the crowds. He's still coughing and covered in soot, but he manages a gentle, sad smile.

"Welcome home, Sousuke."

He doesn't know when and where did Makoto learn about the words, but that doesn't matter right now. His fear bubbles up to a surge of relief as Sousuke promptly rushes toward Makoto and pulls the brunet in his embrace. "Y-you okay...?" He whispers, finding his own voice shaking—no—his entire body is shaking as he wraps his arms around Makoto.

"I'm sorry." Makoto answers, nodding slightly. "I understand."

Sousuke wants to laugh at the false use of the words, but he can't. Instead, he tightens his embrace even more. Behind him, he can hear Rin reporting about a house fire on his phone and requesting immediate help. Before Rin ends the call, the blaring sounds of firetruck sirens are heard. Looks like someone has already made the call.

Not that Sousuke cares. What matters most is his angel, safe in his arms.

"I'm home, Makoto."

Notes:

For kanamexzero fan: I'm definitely continuing this. Hope you enjoy this one. Thank you, and you're welcome. :)

I'm sorry. I usually have the tendency to make Makoto a little troublesome. I hope you won't mind. It's just unintentional.

Reviews are very much appreciated. I hope I will see you again in the next chapter!