One Step Too Far
When Nezumi and Shion get into another argument, things get out of hand. When Shion goes missing soon after, will Nezumi be able to make amends before it's too late?
The moment the words flew out of Nezumi's mouth, he wanted to take them back. He had said harsh, cruel things to Shion before, but the expression on the naïve boy's face immediately told him he had gone too far.
Before Nezumi had a chance to atone for his mistake, Shion had lunged. Normally, Nezumi would easily overpower the white-haired boy but this time, he let Shion shove him back into the bookcase, toppling it and covering him in an avalanche of books. Nezumi could hear his mice screeching as they scurried away for cover.
"Dammit," Nezumi muttered, fighting his way out of the suffocating mass of moldy, worn texts. He was assaulted by a cold wind and he looked up, startled.
The door was flung wide open, letting in the icy breeze. Shion was nowhere in sight.
Nezumi hesitated. Should he go after him?
'Nah, he'll probably come back in a couple of hours, sniveling and half-frozen to death.' He thought, shoving the door closed.
A dark voice echoed in the back of his mind. 'Or will he?'
Nezumi shook his head. "He'll be fine." He said aloud. Beside him, his mice squeaked plaintively.
He waited. After heating a pot of soup and reorganizing the toppled shelves and books, he settled down on the couch to read.
A white mouse bounded up onto his knee, eying him with its grape-colored eyes and squeaking for his attention.
"Are you… Cravat?" Nezumi asked the rodent. It shook its head. Apparently not.
"Hamlet, then." He tried again.
"Squeak."
"Stupid Shion, now it's even more confusing…"
Nezumi returned to his book. After another act of Macbeth, Hamlet the mouse chirruped at him again.
"What is it?"
Hamlet leapt over to the door and Nezumi shook his head. 'Even my mice miss him. Damn.'
"He'll be back. Just give him some time."
Hamlet just gave him a hard glare before disappearing into the darkness.
Nezumi resisted the urge to sigh in exasperation. 'It's been a few hours since nightfall. He should be back my now.' After staring at another page of Macbeth, he stood up, irritated.
'At least I can use my shower and bed freely. Now I don't have to answer his annoying questions and I don't have to babysit him anymore. I'll be able to return to how things were before.' Nezumi thought to himself.
'But would you want to return to the way things were?' The dark voice asked.
Nezumi turned back to the room he had learned to call 'home'. It had a certain coldness to it—a loneliness. No, he wouldn't be able to return to the emptiness.
"Dammit, Shion…" Nezumi wrenched the door open and raced out into the blizzard, pulling out his switchblade.
