章 1: Chapter 1 - Humble Beginnings
Chapter 1
~
Sitting in one of the many alleys running through the city streets was a hunched over figure covered in multiple pieces of old clothes and blankets, most prominently an old weathered brown long coat with leather caps on the elbows and deep pockets on it's sides draped over his narrow shoulders.
The figure shuffled slightly and adjusted the cloths on top of him as he let out a slight sigh of desolation while taking a glance at the streetwalk just a few meters away, feeling like they were only approachable a lifetime ago.
Hearing small footsteps slowly walking down the sidewalk gradually getting closer to the opening into the alleyway he grunted in slight surprise, it was too late for most people to be out at this time of day with all the violence ramping up in the surrounding neighbourhoods, much less what sounded like a lone child.
The figure's brows furrowed slightly under the long coat before he lifted it from his head revealing an old haggard face of asian descent framed by tufts of dirty white hair gradually cascading down from further inside the heap of clothes with the old man's movements.
His tanned face gained from countless hours of work under the burning sun was adorned with narrowed eyes which rather than giving his gaze a sense of severity gave him an amiable, almost jolly feeling, combined with his slightly bushy facial hair many would find a sense of comfort and warmth in his presense.
Though what stood out the most was his pitch black slightly muddy eyes which were currently pointed towards the opening of the alleyway. They were... tired. Tired of seeing everything around him no matter where he went, tired of the feeling of desolation haunting his days... tired of the burden he carried on his now malnourished shoulders.
The old man slightly shook his head to get rid of the memories he was reminded of as he saw a small figure gradually come into view, the flickering light of the streetlamp around the corner illuminating the darkness of the city helping him get a better look at the child that would slowly but surely return all the world's colors to his eyes.
Standing at the opening of the alley was a lone little girl covered in a dirty black hole ridden hoodie many sizes too large for her small body looking more like a dress as it dragged on the ground behind her, only staying up thanks to the hood on her head and the hood straps tied around her.
Clenched tightly in one of her small hands was a thin beige blanket made of wool joining the hoodie in trailing on the ground behind her swinging in time with her steps occasionally showing her small feet covered in dirt, dust and a few scars as she slowly walked by.
The old man's gaze followed her small figure as his muddled eyes flashed in slight anger before quickly fizzling out as he sighed while shaking his head. He didn't know her circumstances prior to this but seeing her appearance he wouldn't be surprised if she had been wandering around the streets for what would amount to a large part of her life up to this point.
"Little girl." The old man debated with himself before eventually deciding to call out to her as she was about to disappear from his view, his deep voice having gotten very raspy from extended periods of disuse, further distorted by a heavy accent.
He saw the blanket that she was dragging behind her coming to a stop before she re-emerged from around the corner a few moments later turning towards the alley and looked around, eventually meeting his gaze with hers.
Now that she was turned towards him the old man got a look at what was being hidden beneath the hoodie and found a pair of half-lidded, extremely dull matte black eyes almost looking like they absorbed light with some sort of markings below them making her look sleep deprived staring back at him.
Her young dirt covered face was set in a permanently blank expression framed by scruffy black bangs running down the sides of her head only bringing more attention to her odd looking eyes.
The two stared at each other for what felt like several minutes in complete silence before the girl tilted her head slightly, apparently content with staying quiet.
The old man looked at her sorry state while his mind drifted, he had seen alot of tragedies during his time wandering the streets the past few years and while he had helped where he could, it was only when it wouldn't effect him in the long run.
Sheltering a child on top of the whole lot of nothing the he had going for himself wasn't a wise choice, he knew that very well. He didn't even know why he had called out to her in the first place, maybe he wanted the satisfaction of knowing that he had done something when he himself had nothing?
Whatever the case he thought to himself, if he didn't have the will to continue moving forwards for himself, perhaps he would gain the strength to do so for another?
"That flimsy thing you're dragging behind you won't keep the cold out." He gestured at the blanket she was holding before raising one of his hands and removing one of the layers he had wrapped around himself, something that was much thicker and the wind wouldn't just blow through before tossing it in her direction.
"I don't know where you were planning to sleep, but most spots in this neighboorhood are no good." He continued as she caught the blanket with her other hand while still looking at him, after another few seconds of just staring at him she just blinked before looking down at the two blankets she now held in her small hands.
Looking like she was in thought for a few moments she seemingly came to a conclusion lifting one of her small feet and took a step, entering the alleyway.
Walking further inside she eventually sat down opposite of him and wrapped both blankets around her body after bringing her knees up to her chest leaving only her face uncovered.
The old man looked at the cloth bundle with a face sitting on the other side of the alley and felt something he didn't think he'd ever feel again, a slight feeling of amusement emerging from his chest.
Just quietly basking in the feeling of... feeling anything other than negativity for once in a long time, he eventually adjusted the blankets around him covering his face with the coat again.
"Goodnight, little one." He muttered while closing his eyes as a another thought appeared in his mind, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all?
---
The next morning the old man was woken up by the sound of a car rushing down the street accompanied by a cold wind blowing past his body making him shiver before curling up, trying to return to whatever bit of warmth he managed to scrounge together as he shut his eyes.
It wasn't long however until his sleep addled mind cleared slightly making him remember what had happened during the night making him groggily open his eyes and look towards the wall opposite him.
The small bundle of cloth still sat in it's place looking like it hadn't moved a centimeter throughout the night, she had apparently woken up before he did, her dull eyes were currently staring into space absentmindedly, the blank expression still present on her face which he could see through the small opening.
"You're up early, aren't you?" He mumbled out as he rubbed his freezing hands together and blew at them to get the feeling back before he slowly got up on his feet with a grunt of exertion, a quick look out into the street showed whatever shop, still manned by the crazy enough people left in the neighboorhood starting to open up.
Hearing some rustling from behind him he turned back around to see the little girl shrugging of the blankets around her and standing up before picking up one in each hand before just standing in place, languidly turning in his direction.
Having a feeling that she was waiting for him to do something he raised an eyebrow before he began getting ready to tackle the day starting with taking off a few pieces of cloth, putting them into a large sack-like bag he had been sitting on after which he put on the long coat properly.
Looking over his shoulder at her unmoving figure he pointed at her small hands, "Do you want me to put your blankets in my bag?" He asked as he gestured at the sack's opening.
The girl looked down at them before holding out the one he handed her the night before.
Taking it and starting to put it inside he looked at the other one, "Not that one?".
Seeing her zone out for a few seconds before shaking her head he shrugged before he hefted the bag onto his shoulder with a small grunt as he started walking in the direction opposite of the entrance of the alleyway hearing small footsteps following behind him a few seconds later.
Walking through the by now familiar alleys towards his destination he glanced down at the small figure trailing after him out of the corner of his eyes.
"Do you have a name, little one?" He asked making her shake her head again after another pause. "I see."
The two continued walking in silence for another few minutes, the previous high-rise apartments gradually getting smaller and smaller until most of the buildings around them weren't taller than two floors while the amount of people bustling on the streets increased, though the quality of the clothes noticeably decreased.
The old man's eyes wandered the various shops and establishments lining the streets looking for, for hiring, posters or anything similar in thought, he was currently moving along the outer ring of the city trying to look for a job, unfortunately he hadn't had any luck so far.
However, hearing the small footsteps behind him he was resolved to try extra hard from now on, it may have just been a whim of his tired mind at the time but whatever scrap of empathy he had left wouldn't let him just abandon her.
Mentally acknowledging the amount of mockery he would recieve throughout the day with practised ease he started walking towards one of the cafe's looking for waiter staff, he would usually avoid any jobs that entailed interacting with others since well... in his mind the person would have to be blind to want his visage connected with the store's image, however he wasn't just doing this for himself anymore.
He couldn't be picky. No matter how small the chance of getting hired may be, he would at least give it a try.
"Stay here." Gently ushering the blank faced girl around the corner of the building and out of view, he put his bag on the ground before putting the girl on top of it.
Giving her a slight pat on the head he turned around and entered the building.
"Tsk, get out! You're scaring away customers!"
"Dude, come on. Have you looked in a mirror? Don't make this hard for me, just go away."
"Sorry we're not looking to hire right now, the posters up front are old."
"That's not possible-"
"No, sorry-"
...
...
...
"Pahahahaha! You're a fucking riot! Hey Tommy, Tommy! This fucking guy wants the job... Pfft-hahahahaha!" A lanky man with slicked back blone hair looking simultaneously 15 and 45 years old pointed at the old man while holding his stomach with his other hand laughing until he couldn't breath.
"Ay, don't harass the man asshole. Old timer although I want to help I really gotta think about my business here, I'm sorry." Another man looking to be in his late thirties with brown hair walked out from further inside the small restaurant as he spoke with an apologetic expression.
The old man just ignored the lanky blonde as he gave the other man a slight nod before he turned around making his way towards the exit.
"Hey!" Just as he was halfway out of the door the brown haired man shouted making him look back at him over his shoulder.
"Try the boxin' gym a couple blocks down the street I heard they're lookin' for a janitor to clean up after it closes, it ain't much but it's worth a try." He spoke with a slight sigh as he scratched at his temple.
The old man nodded gratefully and walked out while the door slowly closed behind him.
Letting out a tired sigh as he watched the sun setting in the distance dying the sky a beautiful orange hue he walked down the street and turned around the corner of the building, seeing his bag and his 'guard' on top of it.
Putting his back against the wall and slowly sliding down to the ground next to it he decided to rest for just a few minutes before looking for that gym, most establishments were already just about shutting down for the day either way.
Closing his eyes and just focusing on his breathing he felt himself starting to calm down as he propped his hands up on his knees. Opening an eye a few seconds later he glanced at the girl and saw her staring at him unblinkingly.
Now that he thought about it, it would be a bit inconvenient if he actually got a job and had to introduce her since she didn't have a name yet.
"Little one, I think it's long overdue that you got yourself a name, do you have one in mind?" He asked making her shake her head after once again pausing for a few seconds. In the back of his mind the old man noticed that she had done that everytime he asked something.
"Nothing at all?" Another shake.
The old man hummed to himself as he scratched at his bushy white beard, "Hmm?" He let out a noise of surprise when she suddenly pointed a small finger in his direction.
"My name is Yama, it means mountain in my native language." He said, assuming she was asking for his name.
She made a slight grunt before shaking her head and pointed at herself instead, "Name." Her young voice rasped out slowly, though when he heard her Yama had a weird feeling that she didn't really know the actual word properly, it was like she was just mimicking the sound of it.
But that wasn't possible, right? Although not alot, she did respond when he was speaking to her so she clearly understood what he was saying... shaking his head and discarding the thought he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Do you want me to give you a name?" He asked as he looked at her making her nod as he sighed slightly, he never thought that he would have to name a child, much less in these circumstances.
"This old man isn't very good with names little one." He said trying to dissuade her, but the only response he got was her everpresent blank stare.
Sighing to himself he looked up in thought and came up with a whole lot of nothing, his mind blanking completely. Scratching his head, he could feel her still staring at him in silence giving him a weird sense of pressure, making it even more difficult to think of anything.
Eventually deciding to look her over and see what came to mind he turned his head towards her. Half-lidded sleepy looking black eyes, black scruffy hair and a body covered in a layer of dust and dirt.
...He really couldn't just name her something like Tired and be done with it, it wasn't even a name for Kami's sake. Discarding the silly idle thought with a shake of his head he sighed.
Palming his face he spotted something through the gaps through his fingers and got an idea as he pointed at the shoulder of her hoodie where he saw an emblem depicting what he thought was a video game boss resembling a monstrous turtle with water like effects splashing around it, three large sevens in gold sitting above it's head like a title.
"Do you like that picture?"
The girl blinked before she craned her neck to look at her shoulder staring at it for a few seconds before nodding and pointed at the three sevens.
"Like." He again felt that strange discordance when she spoke but ignored it.
"Hmm, then how what about Nana? It means seven." He proposed making her rock back and forth in thought, nodding a few seconds later as he felt a light smile making it's way onto his face.
Having rested enough he slowly stood up with a grunt while Nana jumped down from the bag which he hefted up on his shoulder and began walking in the direction the brown haired man pointed to, Nana following a step behind him.
"Do you like the number seven, Nana?" He absentmindedly asked about halfway to their destination as he looked down at her, Nana was a bit odd in his eyes and he wanted to get to know her a bit better. Even if she is a child, putting this much trust in him was strange and although it could be because of naivete, he had a nagging feeling that wasn't the reason.
He raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised when he saw her shrug her shoulders uncaringly.
"No? What is your favorite number then?"
She raised her hand and held up three small fingers in response making a weird expression appear on his face... did she like it because the amount of sevens was three rather than the sevens themselves?
...Yama let out a deep sigh as he rubbed his forehead.
"Sorry little one I thought you meant the numbers when you pointed at the picture, do you want to change your name?" He asked a few seconds later, surprisingly receiving a head shake in refusal.
"You want to keep it?"
She nodded. He didn't know if she wanted to keep it because she really did like it or if there was any other reason, but it made a warm feeling spread through his chest.
"I see, let's hope we get lucky with this next one little Nana." He gave her a pat on the head as they continued their walk.
Not long after, Yama spotted a rectangular black wooden board hung on the brick wall of a building to the left of them with white letters spelling out 'Dieseldunk Gym', a pair of torn up boxing gloves drawn just below it. Stapled to the bottom right of the sign was a paper with 'Looking for cleaners' lazily scribbled onto it with an arrow pointing to the door just next to it.
Going through the by now familiar motion of leaving his bag with his 'guard' he opened the door and stepped inside. Entering the building he saw a large room that although not dirty, on the contrary looking pretty well taken care of, had probably seen better days.
The floor was covered with some sort of black tiles he didn't know the material of, various sizes of punching bags hung spaced out from the ceiling in neat rows on the right side, dumbbells of varying weights and a few different machines were placed along the wall on the left while a black 6x6 meters boxing ring with red ropes stood towards the back of the room.
Although the sun was on the verge of going down, it's light slowly receding from the windows, there were still a few people left working away at the punching bags producing thudding noises combined with quick exhales of breath in time with their punches.
"You here for a membership?" While Yama was looking around the room he heard a bored voice call out from his right. Turning his head he saw a listless looking purple haired teen with a few piercings on her face, heavy makeup and a scrawny build leaning on an L-shaped desk tapping away at her phone.
"Oh... no. I'm here to apply for the job." Hearing a deep raspy voice replying, the teen turned her head and saw a haggard old man looking like he hadn't had a shower or eaten since last month standing in front of her and raised an eyebrow as she gave him a once-over.
Yama was just readying himself for another rejection when the teen shrugged.
"Hired. You gotta take a shower first though, the door to the bathrooms are behind you, blue is male, red is female."
Looking at the old man not moving from his spot with a surprised expression on his face she rolled her eyes, "Listen, guy. I'm only here because I get payed and my dad owns the place, so I can chill around, the last cleaner tried setting up cameras in the female bathrooms while you probably can't even afford 'em."
Yama snapped out of it and nodded gratefully before speaking up hesitantly as he wrung his hands together. "I know that I am asking for alot seeing as I was just hired, but could my um..." His mind blanked, he didn't really know what he and Nana were. They hadn't known each other for long and it wasn't like he could say that she was his child.
"Your what?" The teen asked boredly having already gone back to staring at her phone.
"...Well, she's not exactly my child but I suppose I could call myself her guardian for now. Could she use the showers as well? Please." Yama rambled slightly before he finished his request with a bow.
"...Yeah, yeah. Go ahead." The teen was silent for a few moments before she waved him away with her hand.
"I thank you. Truly." Yama's body relaxed as he exited the gym returning with his bag slung over his shoulder and Nana in tow making his way towards the male showers.
"Oy." Hearing the teen call out Yama looked over his shoulder not knowing if she meant him or not but checking just in case and saw her standing up from her seat and walking around the desk coming towards them.
"Yes?"
"I dunno if you got any other clothes but there's a jumpsuit hanging with the cleaning supplies in there. There's three other doors, one to the showers, one to the toilet and another for the supply closet, just check. However, you even got anything for the squirt to wear?" She cocked an eyebrow as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.
"Um..." He really didn't, why would he be carrying around child-sized clothes?
"That's what I thought, I'll help her clean up and look for something for her to wear." She said in a tone of finality as she waved her hand at him.
"Shoo, shoo."
Deciding not to make things difficult for his new employer he nodded and entered the male bathroom. "I'll see you in a bit, little Nana." He waved before closing the door.
The teen looked at it for a moment before her eyes narrowed somwhat as she started gently nudging the blank faced girl into the female bathroom.
"So, your name's Nana, huh?" She saw the girl nod her head slightly. "I see what a pretty name, my name's Samantha but most people just call me Sam."
Seeing the dirt marks the girl was leaving on the floor Sam decided to just lift her by the armpits and carry her to the showers while the girl seemed to not react much to her suddenly being airborne.
Placing her down Sam started removing her clothes starting with pulling the hoodie over her head which was a bit difficult since the girl was holding an old prickly wool blanket in a death grip.
Once she finally managed to do so it got stuck on the blanket and when she tried to gently tug at them, another small hand swiftly joined the first one.
"Don't worry Nana I'm just gonna wash these, I'll give them back to you later, okay?" Sam promised softly as she gave them another light tug being allowed to take them this time and chucked them at the bench of the changing room, doing the same with her panties.
Removing the showerhead from it's perch she turned it on and sprayed a bit of water on Nana's feet instantly changing it's color from clear to dirty.
"Is the temperature okay?" Seeing Nana nod again Sam started washing her hair while she asked some questions.
"So, do you know that guy?" A nod.
"Do you think he's nice?" Another nod.
...
...
...
"You don't talk much do you Nana?" Sam mused as she dried off a now clean Nana a couple hours later, the many layers of dirt having been very persistent, especially in her hair. Sam had also determined that her biggest concern about their new employee was thankfully wrong.
Well, mostly. She'd still keep an eye on him just in case.
She had also learnt some things about Nana, one of them being that she didn't talk much like... at all, mostly answering with head shakes or nods though that was both surprising and not considering from what she'd seen so far, Nana probably didn't grow up in an environment promoting socialization.
Another thing being her odd eyes making her look sleepy even with a blank face. She had tried rubbing the markings away but it didn't work, they didn't seem to hurt either since Nana didn't react when she touched them.
The other thing that stood out the most she found out by accident, when Nana breathed through her mouth as she was rinsing her off, she thought she saw something odd.
"Nana, can you open your mouth for a bit?" Sam asked as she raised an eyebrow wondering if she just saw it from a weird angle though quickly blinked in befuddlement as she looked at the row of pointy razor sharp teeth lining Nana's open mouth.
"The hel-!... heal, are you a shark?" Sam stared with a gaping jaw before her curiosity got the better of her and poked at one of them with her finger, quickly regretting her decision when Nana's mouth promptly clamped shut.
"..."
"Ah... Ffffffuuuuuu-!"
Purposefully ignoring the new band aid wrapped around her index finger Sam eventually finished drying her off and took another look at her, her black hair had poofed up now that it wasn't clumped together reaching down about the middle of her back, two tufts still hanging down the sides of her face while she looked much more lively now that all the dirt was gone.
"Hmmm." Sam hummed tapping her chin with a finger while her lips raised ponderingly. "Oh." Taking one of the hair ties she had around her wrist she put Nana's hair in a large spiked up high ponytail, leaving the two bangs framing her face.
"There we go, doesn't that feel better. You're surprisingly cute, you know? Like a little doll... well, a really tired doll." Sam had a smile on her face as she gave her a thumbs up crouched down next to her, she didn't really have any clothes that fit her so she uh... nicely persuaded one of the members still left in the gym to go buy some.
She gave them the money of course, she wasn't that evil.
Nana was now wearing a black hoodie, still slightly too big but what can you expect it was a rush job, new panties and a pair of jean shorts.
She gave Nana a pat on the head and felt the urge to keep messing with her hair, "You have unfairly soft hair, you know that Nana?" Sam pouted a bit as she took Nana's hand and lead her out of the changing room.
Just when they had stepped out of the door Sam saw the last person left in the gym just about finishing up, doing some stretches to wind down.
Looking at the currently pitch black sky outside she just shook her head, the training maniac was at it once again. Walking over she lightly kicked at his shoe making him topple over and faceplant into the floor with a startled yelp.
"You're gonna collapse someday soon if you keep this up, you do know that right?"
"...That wasn't nice, you know?" He grumbled in a slightly muffled voice before standing up with a sigh, rubbing at his nose. "You're gonna scare away potential costumers, Sam."
"Pfft yeah, like there's gonna be more of idiots like you, most people would be lazing around at home by now." Sam scoffed jokingly as she gave him a look of mock disdain.
"Yeah yeah, I'm an ignorant peasant and all that." The black haired teen sighed again already used to Sam's personality as he finished his stretches when he saw something behind her and leaned slightly to get a better look. Seeing a little girl with odd eyes staring back at him he looked at Sam with a raised eyebrow.
"This is Nana she... well." Sam sighed slightly as she gestured to the streets outside, making his eyes widen a bit in realization and look back down at Nana. "Our new janitor is sort of her guardian so I guess they were a package deal, I think I'm gonna offer them to crash in the gym for now."
The black haired teen nodded before he took a step closer and crouched down looking Nana in the eyes as a smile appeared on his face.
"Yo, nice to meet you Nana, my name's Chad. Since you're probably gonna be at the gym alot from now on, feel free to come to me if you need help with anything or just want to talk with someone, I'm here pretty much every day."
He said as he gently stretched his fist in her direction. She looked down at it for a few seconds before extending her own smaller fist and giving his a gentle bump.
"Hmm?" Sam looked at their interaction with a weird expression, Nana knew that he wanted a fistbump? How did she even know what a fistbump was? ...Well, maybe she just saw someone else doing it and guessed. Sam shrugged her shoulders and discarded the thought.
"Well, I guess it's time I get going, I'm sweating like a pig and I don't want to get a cold. Again." Chad said flippantly as he stood up, grabbed his things and stuffed them into a backpack which he slung over his shoulders while walking to the exit, his house wasn't far so he usually just showered at home.
"You gonna be back tomorrow?"
"Yup."
"Aight, see ya then."
"Cya." He waved over his shoulder as the door closed behind him.
"Welp, guess that's it for today." Sam hummed as she walked back to the front desk, lifing Nana and putting her down on top of it before she sat down in her chair and leaned back, swiveling around so that Nana could look over her shoulder as she took picked up her phone.
A few minutes later the door to the male showers opened up and a much cleaner Yama stepped out wearing a dark blue janitor's jumpsuit, his upper back length white hair tucked into a cap the same color as the jumpsuit holding a bucket of water and a mop, a spray bottle of soap and a dish rag hanging on the belt wrapped around his waist.
Sam paused her video, looking up when she heard the door and gave him a look. "You look like a hidden kung fu master disguised as a janitor." She decided eventually.
"Ahaha..." Yama laughed awkwardly, that was one of the first thoughts that popped up when he saw himself in the mirror, he looked extremely similar to the stereotype they used in the movies.
"Well, get to cleaning. You can crash in the gym when you're done, no point in leaving since it'll probably be just a few hours before sunrise when you're done." Sam said as she stood up, putting the phone in her pocket and walking around the desk towards the exit, giving Nana a pat on the head on the way.
"I'm heading home, see ya in the morning." She waved over her shoulder as she walked out of the door, locking it behind her before she disappeared into the night.
Yama was a bit stunned, she sure was a character, she didn't even ask for his name before leaving. Shaking his head he turned to look around the room.
"I better get started, I suppose."
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