Game of Survival - Nine x Reader

Chapter 16 - Broken Past

Panting atop a secluded roof top, you and Nine stared at each other. Sweat dripped down both your faces, cheeks flush from running. You leaned heavily on your knees with your hands, him with his hands pressed against his lower back as he stretched his spine. Smiles plastered both your faces resulting in the two of you laughing your heads off.

Collapsing onto your back, you took in a deep breath as you stared up at the clouds. Nine joined you shortly, laying besides you with his hands by his side, yours resting on your stomach.

"Feeling better?" he asked, his breathe slowing as his lungs caught up. matching his breathe pace, you smiled up at the sky and nodded.

"Yeah. They are not that scary when you not alone," you stated, eyes struggling to stay awake as you lay comfortably on your back.

"You knew that messing with the streets would cause chaos, so why did you do it if your scarred of them?"

You shrugged, "Honestly, I wasn't expecting that many to get on our cases. I can handle one or two alone but more than that, I freak out." Nine nodded, understanding your fear.

After a few moments of silence, you having your eyes closed, you both sighed simultaneously. Chuckling together, you silently exhaled. Relaxed.

Happily you rested in the silence, feeling comforted by Nine's presence. Your subconscious almost fell into a deep slumber, but you were just unable to. You couldn't say why, you had a nagging feeling in the back of your skull. A nagging feeling that wouldn't let you rest, even in the most temping of moment. Opening your bagging eyes, you rubbed them with the palm of your hands with a grumbled.

"Hey (Y/N)," Nine whispered.

"Yeah," you mumbled, stifling a yawn.

"Could you- would you- I-" Nine stumbled, his sentence changing as he thought over his question. Grumbling to himself, he sat up, facing you. Glancing up at him, you watch as he pushed his bangs up and out of his face. "If... I ever did something bad... would you hate me?" His blue eyes bored into your (E/C) eyes, this question meaning a lot to him, his eyes shining with worry.

But you already knew the answer within seconds.

"No, I could never hate you Nine. For goodness sake you saved me from dying a few minutes ago," you smiled with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. Nine gave a half smile before his gaze fell to the floor. Your grin fell, ears going with them. Sitting up, you face Nine. "Nine, I couldn't never hate you. No matter what, you stuck with me. Forever. I pinky promise." At your last sentence, you freely stuck out your pinky, revealing the seriousness of your answer.

A smile grew on his muzzle as he took your pinky promise but it only took moments for it to fall again. But it wasn't by your answer, something else shone in his eyes...

Guilt?

Crossing his legs, Nine leaned on his knees, hands nervously fiddling with one another.

"Why do you ask?" you quizzed, tilting your head to the side by his strange demeanour.

"Well," he gulped, his eyes finding interest in his hands, "when I was younger I did something... bad." Your ears perked, interest shocking you to life.

"Is this an origin story," you whispered, excitement flowing off you. Your smile on your face was irresistible to Nine, a small smile of his own falling on his muzzle once again by your excitement.

"Yes it is," he nodded. Softly squealing, you shuffled forward, legs crossing, and hands resting in your lap with your back straight in attention.

"I'm all ears!"

Nine chuckled, shaking his head. Sighing, he rolled his eyes.

"When I was younger. I mean years younger, I had no idea about anything and-" You placed your hand on his, comforting him as he rambled. Flashing a smile, you prompted him to continue with the security that you weren't judging him. "When I was younger, I got bullied a lot for having two tails. And at a certain point I grew sick of their constant jokes, growing mad at the pulling and yanking on my tails. So, I created my other tails, as a way to show them that I am not afraid to fight back... and that's what I did... I fought back. And... I have done some things I'm not proud of... I hurt them... badly." His words grew softer and softer as he spoke afraid he was going to scare you off.

But he didn't.

Your eyes were soft, empathetic. You understood what it was like to be looked at differently.

"Nine..." you whispered soothingly, you hand resting atop of his in comfort. You silently asked if he was alright, a single look enough o tell him so. Nodding his head, with a forced smile, he stand up, dropping your hand as he dove into his thoughts. Ears falling, you watched as he tore into himself.

Nine glanced down at you, feeling guilty for saddening you. Diving back into his thoughts, his fingers rested on his chin as his tails swayed in thought. Eyes flashing with an idea like a light bulb, he smiled as he glanced down at you, offering a hand to help you up.

"Ya know, you always showing me amazing things," Nine states, his fingers wrapping around your hand as you took his helping offer, "Now its my turn." Tilting your head to the side, you let him pull you to your feet. His face moved closer to yours, your own flushing. "Do you trust me?" A smile fell on your lips at your words from your first adventure with him, his answer ringing through your head.

"No," you chuckled, exited to see when this will go.

"Good," he replied back smoothly. His grip tightened around your hands, securing himself with you. With a wink, he yanked you behind him in a random direction towards the edge of the building. Adrenaline rushed through you, excitement flowing through your veins. Heart racing, you let out a chuckle as the fox pulled you both over the edge of the building.