Fic: A Thousand Years

[beccafiend]

Title: A Thousand Years
Fandom: No. 6
Pairings and Characters: NezuShi, mentions of Karan and Safu
Rating: PG
Note: Inspired by this song. Very spoilery. And yeah, I just needed to write fluff. xD Hope you enjoy. :D

 

His name was Shion. He was an ecologist, researching in the city’s university. The city, the last of the old city-states, Number 6, was now more a historical site than anything else. Remnants of the old ways of the city - when the government was more dictatorship than anything else - were common in this city.

 

Though there were stories that one of the people to bring down the city was, in fact, and ecologist, the city was by no means the center of ecological research. Barely a day went by when someone did not question why Shion stayed in such a place - he was one of the most brilliant in the nation, and surely he could research in the top laboratories in the world.

 

Truth be told, Shion had received numerous invitations from such institutions, but had never even considered accepting them. When people asked, he would say that he liked it here, and people here were already used to his strange appearance. People tended to accept it without much question - his white hair, and snake-like scars that had resulted from a lab experiment gone awry, were indeed pretty unusual. It was partially true, of course, but the real reason was something he had a feeling others wouldn’t understand.

 

He stayed in this city because he had felt that he was supposed to be waiting for something. He didn’t know what, or who, it was, but he did know it was incredibly important to him. He knew that moving would just mean that he would lose the opportunity to find out what, exactly, he was waiting for. Even without knowing why, he knew that was not an option for him.

 

Frequently, he would wake suddenly at night, shaken from a dream with a name he can’t remember on his lips. The dreams are incredibly vivid - there are parasites killing the innocent residents of a shining utopia, and moments of joy in a decaying landscape. Shion knows these dreams must have some meaning, but he can never quite put his finger on it.

 

During the day, he goes about his business routinely. He stops by his mother’s bakery, and regularly calls his only friend, Safu, with whom he grew up. She works in a different city, and had once confessed to loving Shion. He had turned her down gently, and though she insisted she would never stop loving him, she accepted it quite graciously.

 

Lately, though, Shion had been feeling slightly uneasy - like something big was coming. Both Safu and his mother had mentioned how distant he had seemed in the past couple weeks. He had assured them he was alright, and that he was just busy. They didn’t seem very convinced, but they hadn’t said more about the subject yet.

 

He found himself heading into old bookshops at the market more frequently. He had always loved printed books, despite the fact that e-books were far more common. There was something inexplicably nostalgic about the musty smell of paper, and the crowded nature of the old stores.

 

It was one of these times when it finally happened. Shion was just leaving the bookstore, stepping onto the street when he saw a flash of dark hair and gray eyes not too far away.

 

“Nezumi!”

 

The name tumbled forward unbidden, but the stranger turned towards him at the outburst. The world seemed to fade away as they locked gazes, and Shion could see the other man’s lips moving.

 

“Shion.”

 

He couldn’t hear the man’s words, but he knew it was his own name. For a few moments, they didn’t move. They had never met before. The other man had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He was clearly the wandering type.

 

Without even knowing when they had gotten closer to each other, Shion asked the taller man if he wanted to go back to his home to grab a bite to eat.

 

“Is it your custom to invite complete strangers into your home at random?” the other countered with a wry smile.

 

Shion blushed and didn’t reply, but noticed how they had both easily fallen into step, heading towards his apartment complex. There was something achingly familiar about the whole encounter.

 

The walk to Shion’s small apartment was short, and the way traveler dropped his duffel by the door, as though he was returning home, didn’t seem odd at all. Shion made an immediate beeline to the kitchen. The other man settled himself down at Shion’s small table while he bustled about, making hot chocolate.

 

“You really are rather weird,” the taller finally said after a few minutes of silence.

 

“Hm? How?”

 

“You invited me into your home, and you haven’t even asked my name.”

 

“Well I guess I already know it. You did turn around when I called ‘Nezumi.’ Besides, I haven’t even told you my name yet.”

 

“It’s Shion, isn’t it?”

 

“Yup! Nice to meet you.”

 

Nezumi slipped into silence as Shion placed a mug and a plate in front of him.

 

“I hope you’re okay with cherry cake,” he said. Nezumi shrugged, his gaze a bit distant.

 

“This isn’t the first time we’ve met,” he finally spoke.

 

“It isn’t,” Shion agreed. “I don’t know why, but... I know you. I think... I’ve been waiting for you this whole time.”

 

“Sheesh. You’re as air-headed as I remember you being. But I guess you have a point. This doesn’t feel like a coincidence.”

 

“No, it probably wasn’t.”

 

They lapsed into another short silence.

 

“I have memories of us, you know. But those events never happened in this lifetime. The places I see... they don’t exist anymore.”

 

“It’s true. They don’t. And yet here we both sit.”

 

“You did promise you would come back. A thousand years ago, wasn’t it? Of course I was going to wait for you. However long it took, I still feel as I did back then - I want to live by your side.”

 

“Tche. Of course you would do something like that.”

 

Nezumi smiles at him softly, and Shion feels that familiar blinding light surround him again. He thinks he might have started to cry. A thousand years never stood a chance against this. Forever wouldn’t even be enough to change these feelings between them.

 

“I’m back, Shion.”

 

“Welcome back, Nezumi.”