AN: Just something I wrote at three in the morning after rewatching No. 6.

Sorry if it's not any good. I was pretty tired when I wrote it, but I wanted to get it out while I remembered the idea.

I may come back and edit...if I remember to that is.

In one way or another, neither had really lived before they met that fateful night four years ago. One lived a sheltered life, a life of privilege and opportunity. The other lived a life of hatred, of constant running and seeking the truth.

Two completely different people leading completely different lifestyles; neither one ever expecting for a second how drastically their lives would change and merge in the future, neither knowing that the other would be their savior.

Nezumi often found himself asking the question 'why?' Never out loud of course; he found questions such as that annoying and bothersome. Still, no matter he felt about that so often asked question, he couldn't help but to wonder.

Why?

Why did fate bring him to Shion's window four years ago, and then back again so recently?

Why?

Why did he feel the constant need to protect this boy, to be by his side no matter what, even when they were apart?

Why?

Why was it that even though there was so much else going on around him, he couldn't stop his mind from coming back to him?

So many questions with no answers to them; like a seemingly unsolvable mystery in one of the many books he had read. One of the many book in that place that held so many bittersweet memories.

Sighing in frustration, Nezumi leaned back against the trunk of the tree he was sitting under. It was a beautiful day, but he couldn't care less. No day was beautiful to him anymore now that he'd left the one who made life worth living.

It had been a few weeks since he and Shion parted ways, and already, Nezumi was starting to feel the effects of the distance between them. He knew it was better this way, at least for the time being. He knew they both needed to get their lives back together, to get some normalcy back before they could see each other again.

He also knew that their departure was mainly for his own benefit. His whole life had been turned upside down after meeting Shion, even more so than it already was. He needed time to get himself back together, to come to terms with the fact that nothing would ever be the same again; not Shion, not the world that he had come to despise so much, not even himself.

Two years.

Two years and he'd return again. That should be enough time for him to get past all that had happened. Never again did he want to go back to that place. That place of death, of fear, of loss. He shuddered thinking about it now, mentally scolding himself for going back there.

Of course he realized that although he could push the thoughts aside, he'd never forget them. Who could forget such an event in their lives like this?

No, he didn't plan on forgetting, for forgetting would be even worse than leaving. He needed to hold onto these memories for Shion. For if he forgot, there would be no use in going back. And if he never went back, how could he go forward?

Closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath, he swore he could feel Shion's presence in the soft wind that blew around him. He almost got lost in the feeling as he sat in solitude. Only the nagging feeling inside of him reminding him of his task brought him back to reality. Letting out the breath, he collected himself and stood up to continue on his way.

Taking one final look back at the place he once hated with all of his being, Nezumi smiled and turned around to leave.

Two years was going to seem like a long time now that he had someone to live for and they were so far away from him. But two years surely wasn't forever; his forever would come the day when he would be reunited with his purpose. His Shion.

And although he knew the dreaded question of 'why?' would more than likely revisit him often during his time away, he honestly didn't mind. For even if the answers to his questions seemed as if they were unattainable, he knew that he wouldn't stop until he figured them out anyways. It was what Shion would want him to do. And more than anything, he wanted to make Shion happy.

So he'd figure out why he let himself "weak" during that time of change, and he'd find the answer to the questionable racing of his heart whenever he so much as thought of Shion.

And once he figured out those answers, as well as the answers to other puzzles he had yet to solve, he'd come back.

He'd come home.