I'm sorry it took a while, ahaha. As a reward have a long chapter~

I have an update schedule now because I really want to finish this fic before my exams start in May. (Have I already said that?) So my updates should be (relatively) frequent and/or regular.

Disclaimer.

Love All, Trust A Few, Do Wrong To None

Shion sighs deeply as he gazes out of the glass, his lavender eyes staring unfocused into the middle distance. His attention span over the last two weeks has been shortening something terrible. Shion has always been able to acutely focus his mind, to pinpoint his concentration onto a sharp object of his choice, be it a lesson, a textbook or a recreational activity.

However, recently the young man has found himself far from calm and composed. He's been forgetful, scatterbrained and even irritable, traits which last month would have been totally incompatible with the cool entity that is Shion.

He reluctantly tears his gaze from the glass in an attempt to pay a mite of attentoon to the lesson. However, it's a token effort, as merely thirty seconds later, Shion is once again lost in his own foggy thoughts.

I wonder if Nezumi's as bored as I am... Shion sighs. Then again, it's unlikely. He takes subjects like Drama and English Literature. I imagine they're rarely boring, if you're interested in that kind of stuff. What else did Safu mention he studies...? Shion chews his lip. She mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, before he and Nezumi had even met. That seems like such a long time ago, a time without Nezumi... A flush crawls up Shion's neck and he lowers his head with embarrassment. Did I really just think that?

Shion blinks suddenly, his brow furrowed in confusion and surprise. Nezumi? Why him? Why am I thinking about Nezumi now?

Come to think of it... He narrows his eyes. I've been thinking about Nezumi a lot lately.

He exhales. I can't stop thinking about him recently. It's like he just keeps appearing in my mind without my consent, even when he's not at all related to the subject at hand, and he stops me thinking about what I need to be thinking about. I can't think, or work, or concentrate half as well as I used to. And why Nezumi? Why is it Nezumi who's distracting me like this, rather than Safu, or Mama, or the pot plant I bought at the weekend?

Being so confused and not knowing anything; not being able to find the answers to what should be a logical equation...

It's frustrating.

"What do you mean we 'need to build our teamwork skills'?"

The teacher rolls her eyes. "Well you lot might be the top geniuses in the city, but you're hardly what I'd call friendly. In the big, wide world, it's important to have basic people skills if you want to excel in all those high-flying jobs you guys are bound to have."

There is a round of annoyed muttering, but it doesn't take long for their teacher to quiet them down this time. It appears they do have some sense in them after all, she muses to herself. "So - as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted - none of you will follow normal timetable today, 'cause instead you'll be taking part in some skill-building exercises. Are you all okay with that? Yeah? Good, right, let's go."

Shion and his classmates traipse reluctantly down to the ground floor, where the main hall is located. The hall takes up half the floor, enough to fit a thousand people in assembly, and with only the one class and its teacher in attendance, it seems eerily empty. Shion wraps his viridian cardigan tighter around his skinny figure.

"Right," the teacher announces after herding her students into a small enough space to hear her. "The whole point of these exercises today is to increase skills of cooperation, teamwork and trust, as well as the ability to make sensible decisions and delegate tasks between yourselves. So, for that reason, I will be selecting your groups."

The class doesn't bother to restrain their collective immature groan at the prospect.

She proceeds to roughly sort her students like sheep into seven groups of four - with one remaining. "Ah, transfer student. Where shall I put you..." The teacher smirks. "There, with Miki's group." She gives him a small push on the shoulder and ignores the icy glare he shoots her as he stalks away.

"First activity: raft-building!"

"But miss," one student pipes up, "What's the point? There's no water."

She grimaces at him with frustration, running a hand across her cheek and placing the other firmly on her hip. "Well spotted, there's no water in the hall. But there is water in the lake bordering the school grounds. You'll assemble your rafts here, simply because sheep are easier to manage in an enclosed space, and then we'll carry the rafts over to the lake and test them out. The raft that can travel the furthest without sinking or capsizing will win the prize."

"What's the prize?"

She grins maliciously. "A no-homework ticket, valid for an entire week."

The students scramble into action.

"Hey, why are you here? Aren't you with Miki?"

Nezumi stares blankly at the shorter student as if he's having difficulty comprehending the stupidity of his words. After a brief moment he appears to deem them unworthy of a reply and turns away.

"Don't ignore me!"

"I'd like to know too," Safu murmurs through the thick mist of suspicion she's emanating. Hazel eyes narrow at the tall man as she approaches him. "Why are you here? You're not in this group."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nezumi replies airily, raising a slender eyebrow at her. "The teacher told me to join Shion's group." He smirks, but the twist of his lips is entirely cold. "Perhaps you misheard? 'Shion' and 'Miki' do share a common vowel sound, after all..."

Safu grits her teeth. However infuriating this transfer student might be, it's best not to start an argument, which would most definitely land her in detention as the teachers would clearly sympathise with Nezumi since he's new. And really, the last thing Safu needs in the middle of her revision for finals in a few months is a detention to mar her shining record.

Her nose wrinkles in distaste, and she turns on her heel as Shion calls for her. She strides away without another word.

"Here, Safu," Shion says as she approaches him. "Help me with the logs."

Their team flies into action, spurred on by the promise of a homework-free week, and even Nezumi lends a hand or two.

"Uh, Shion?" Safu nudges him in the side with the roll of masking tape she's currently fixing the sail with.

Shion starts. "What?" he says, slightly disorientated after being startled out of his daze.

"Concentrate on the task at hand, not on..." Safu follows Shion's line of vision and raises an eyebrow. "Not on Nezumi's hands."

Shion flinches at the harsh sound of metal pole hitting floor. He glances down and realises it was he who had dropped it. Safu's expression tells him everything he needs to know about what he'd been staring absent-mindedly at. "I wasn't - I mean, I was just..." he trails off, somewhat flustered. "I was thinking, that's all."

He blinks at the masking tape in her hand. "Masking tape?" He looks confused. "Why are you using masking tape?"

When she speaks, Safu's voice is slow and quiet, and her eyes flit between Shion and the offending tape she's holding. "... I thought I was supposed to use masking tape."

Shion groans.

Safu hefts a corner of the heavy raft onto her shoulder. "Keiichi, you get the front," she gets out between gasps. "Shion and Nezumi get the other side and Ruka get the back. Hurry, my shoulder's about to be dislocated!"

The team hurriedly grab the sides of the makeshift raft and Ruka proceeds to bark out directional orders so that they could fit through the back door of the hall.

Shion feels a little uncomfortable walking directly in front of Nezumi, and feels eyes on the back of his neck. He resists the urge to run and hide.

It doesn't take long for the group to reach the near edge of the field where the small lake is located - what takes the most time, in fact, is trying to place the raft upright on the lake without it capsizing.

"Damn," Shion mutters. "Shouldn't have made the sail so tall. Raises the centre of mass."

"Nothing we can do about it now," Nezumi says from beside him. "I suppose we'll be having to deal with homework for the next week."

Shion turns to him. "You're quite the pessimist. We haven't lost yet."

"You're right." There's a short pause, and then Nezumi raises his hand to point past Shion to the lake. "Now we have."

Shion whips around. "No way," he sighs with disappointment. "I spent so long adjusting that sail."

"What did I tell you? Life's unfair, Shion."

Lavender eyes watch the winning team as they celebrate from the centre of the lake. "Yeah, yeah."

"Quick! Shion - Shion where's the box? Where's the square box, I need -" He's cut off as a large cardboard cube hits him in the chest.

"Here," Shion warns his teammate belatedly.

Safu sighs irritably. "This is a stupid exercise. What skills, exactly, are 'building a tower very fast' honing?"

"Shut up and help," Ruka snaps. "I'm not losing this round too."

Shion heaves a wobbly stack of six boxes into the tall brown cylinder. "I've got the rest."

"Is this it then?" his teammate asks, also carrying a n armful of large boxes. "We can fill in the gap?"

Ruka nods, golden hair swishing with his movement as he smoothly hoists the last ten boxes into his grasp and piles them up behind Shion, effectively blocking the five high-schoolers in.

Safu glances around, idly readjusting boxes to calm her nerves. "That was unnecessarily stressful."

"Yeah," Shion agrees with a sigh. "And now we're all boxed in."

Nezumi pulls a face of shocked disgust at the shorter man. "... That was a horrible joke."

"Even worse because you said it with this blank look on your face. What are you, a robot?"

Shion blinks at Ruka. "Sorry." He grins sheepishly.

"His sense of humour is worse than mine," Safu mutters. She turns to face the rest of her group and is about to expand on her comment when their tea cher's voice cuts her off.

"Okay everyone," she booms. "I've had a look at everyone's and I've decided that..."she pauses, before adding impatiently, "drum roll please, everyone."

A deep hollow rumble promptly echoes around the large hall as the students drum their hands against the boxes surrounding them.

"... Mina's group wins!"

Ruka and Safu - along with most of the other occupants of the room - erupt into a barrage of complaints mostly aimed at the teacher's decision methods, but the thick-skinned woman doggedly ignores them and swiftly gathers up her students.

She claps sharply. "Alright everyone - you're ten minutes early, but you may as well go to lunch. There are a few things we still have to do after - what? No, just leave the boxes as they are. Someone else will clear them up. Just piss off to lunchbreak already, you're all annoying me."

"What good did that do?" Safu complains as she works her way through a large serving of school dinner. "I learned nothing from those tasks. My time would've been much better spent in normal lessons."

Shion smiles slightly at her antics. "I quite enjoyed it, actually."

"You're so strange, Shion." Safu sighs. "How can you find manual labour fun? Mental labour is far more rewarding."

Shion lifts his fork to his mouth, though the massively overpriced and underwhelming spaghetti is difficult to force down. "If you say so, Safu."

"I do say so." She sighs in contentment, placing her cutlery neatly down on her clean plate. "Right, lunch break is nearly over. Should we head down there now? It's good to be early."

"Wait, wait!" Shion calls in panic as she stands up and moves to leave. He shovels three more forkfuls into his mouth and stumbles after her as he swallows it down.

She eyes his half-empty plate. "You should finish that. There's no meat on your bones as it is," she scolds him.

Shion frowns and huffs indignantly. "I don't have a big appetite. And besides, school lunch is hardly appealing."

"You got that right." Safu pulls a face, and Shion laughs.

They dump their trays on the rack and head across the building to the main hall. They wander slowly, taking a detour to pick up a textbook Shion left in his Chemistry lab yesterday, and consequently, by the time they arrive at their destination, lunch break is over.

"So much for bein early," Safu sighs. "Did you really have to pick up that textbook now? We're practically the last ones here."

Shion opens his mouth to protest, but before he can get the defensive words off his tongue, the teacher cuts him off.

"Hey, Safu!" she calls, and waves her over.

"What?"

"Ryo and Ayano aren't here. They're probably in the middle of a lunchtime date and god forbid I disturb them, so could you find them and drag their asses over here? I know you have a reputation for being strict and intimidating."

Safu blinks, and it's obvious she hadn't realised. "Okay." She nods curtly before heading out of the door with determination.

"Miss, you're just lazy," one student calls out.

"Shut your trap," she barks at him. "And get rid of that pastry. You're not allowed to eat in here."

Shion watches her go, and suddenly finds himself feeling rather out of place. He sighs, mildly irritated with himself for replying so much on his best friend. It feels just like when I first came here. It's as if I haven't learned anything at all since I was fifteen.

The white-haired man is standing only a few feet away from his teacher, and so he hears her clearly when she mutters irritably, "For fuck's sake, I don't have time for this."

Shion isn't sure what she's referring to, but the genuine pain in the lines on her face and her hunched position ignites surprise within him. Now that he thinks about it, she's never showed anything more than annoyance in front of her students before. Shion finds himself curious about her background and what she could be so impatient about, but decides it's best not to ask in case it's personal - which, by the looks of things, it probably is.

"Right, everyone," she suddenly announces, her previous vigour restored. "We may as well start the last couple of tasks now. Safu and friends are more than intelligent enough to skip the explanation.

"The exercises you did before lunch were completed in large groups, but these ones you'll complete now will be in pairs, as I imagine there will be plenty of times you'll have to work with a partner in your lives."

"You 'imagine'?" one student mutters, though it apparently goes ignored.

"There's an odd number of students so one of you will have to work with me." She smirks. "So I advise you to choose your partners quickly."

Everone in the class hurries into action - well, everyone except Shion.

Dammit, Safu isn't - He glances at the teacher. Working with her might be a chance to ask her about what she was previously muttering about, but Shion gets the feeling she wouldn't respond well to that sort of question from someone like him. He chews his lip. The rest of the class are quickly finding a parntner, but Shion's only friend is Safu, who still hasn't returned, and he doubts any of his classmates would willingly pair up with him over their own friends.

He resigns himself to his fate. I suppose I'll just volunteer and save everyone else the panic... He takes a step towards her, but a strong hand grips his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Shion inhales quickly in surprise at the voice, and the sudden rush of oxygen makes him lightheaded. He stumbles, but another hand holds his arm and he manages not to fall and embarrass himself. "You -" He looks up, slightly stunned, and readjusts his glasses. "Oh."

"'Oh'?" Nezumi mocks irritably. "Am I not good enough for you or something?"

"What? No! That's n-not -" Shion stutters. "I mean, I'm just surprised."

A dark eyebrow rises, and Nezumi tucks his pale hands back into his pockets. "Why? Have you been 'surprised' all week? Is that why you've been acting weirdly?"

Shion blinks, and his jaw goes slack. "No, I -" Shit. I can't tell him it's because he hurt my feelings, for god's sake. Shion, you idiot. "You... It's nothing," he finishes, somewhat pathetically.

Nezumi's glare is harsh. "If you're not going to tell me and hide behind 'it's nothing', then at least act like it's nothing."

The heat is creeping up Shion's neck and across his cheeks. He's sure Nezumi can see it. "Okay."

Nezumi hmphs, and appears to calm down - at least, outwardly. Shion remains completely in the dark about Nezumi's innermost thoughts and feelings.

Shion almost turns to apologise, but then remembers why he's angry at Nezumi in the first place. He keeps his mouth shut.

"Why were you surprised?" Nezumi mutters.

Violet eyes glance up, but Nezumi is staring directly ahead and avoiding eye contact.

"Just," Shion starts cautiously, "you've been at this school for a couple of weeks now, and I thought you... I don't know, you just seem like someone who can make a lot of friends easily, and I don't know why you... partnered with me. Especially after..." Especially after my behaviour recently.

Nezumi pulls a mocking face at him, but his quiet snort of a laugh feels genuine. "You obviously have the wrong impression of me." His voice loses the sneering tone. "And you really ought to work on those self-esteem issues of yours."

"I don't -" Shion attempts to argue the contrary - on both topics - but at that moment, the hall door bursts open, revealing a rather angry Safu and two embarrassed students, who Shion assumes are Ryo and Ayano.

"Ah, you're back," the teacher greets. "Safu, you can work with Ryo; Ayano, you'll be with me. No, before you say it, I'm not letting you two group together. I'm sure your teamwork skills are perfectly honed."

The class sniggers slightly

"Right, is everyone in pairs? The first task then. How easy it is really depends on your personality, so I won't put you in detention if you fail this one."

Shion glances nervously at his partner, who in contrast seems entirely relaxed.

"It's the classic trust exercise; you know, the one where you fall backwards and the other person catches you. Trust is an important part of working in a group. You have to learn to spilt up tasks among yourselves and the trust the other members of the group to complete their tasks on time and to an appropriate standard. You can't get anywhere if you can't simply trust each other."

That's not too bad, Shion thinks, though he's still more than a little uncertain. Even just being around Nezumi is stressful, let alone working with him. Plus after just finding out about his criminal record - which, not to mention he didn't tell me about... Do I really trust him?

"You want to fall first?" Nezumi really does appear remarkably relaxed, and there's even a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Shion can't help but wonder if Nezumi's somehow enjoying this, despite seeing how clearly uncomfortable Shion is.

Perhaps that's exactly the reason why he's enjoying it. Sadistic. Shion shakes off the angry thought.

"Okay," the shorter man agrees hesitantly, though he's not too sure he'll be able to fall without catching himself. The amount Shion knows about Nezumi is infinitely tiny (and it turns out, even smaller than he'd originally thought) and despite Shion's current opinion that Nezumi is a good person, he's so elusive and mysterious that Shion can't help but doubt whether he's a good judge of character.

Again, just like when they carried the raft, standing with his back to Nezumi makes him intensely anxious. Actually, Shion belatedly realises, many things make me anxious when they involve Nezumi.

"Three, two, one..."

Shion shuts his eyes tightly, draws in a breath, and falls.

He can't help squeaking in shock when his back is met not by cold floor but by warm chest, and his arms are held easily in that unexpectedly strong grip.

He opens his eyes and pants out a quick breath.

"Had you worried for a second there, did I?" Nezumi's voice is close to Shion's ear, and has more than a tinge of hidden laughter laced among its tones.

Shion somehow pushes himself up so he's supporting his own weight. His brow furrows with annoyance. "I just didn't want to fall, that's all."

"Whatever you say," Nezumi responds, though he sounds nothing close to convinced.

"It's your turn," Shion half-snaps, and folds his arms.

"Hm," Nezumi hums thoughtfully, "Maybe I shouldn't have wound you up just before I put my dignity in your hands."

Shion attempts to suppress a grin, but he fails miserably, and his facade of anger is shattered. He unfolds his arms and gestures for Nezumi to stand in front of him.

Nezumi follows Shion's lead, and begins the countdown, which Shion had forgotten in his moment of panic. "Three, two -"

"Wait!" Shion suddenly cuts Nezumi off in a panic. "What if I can't catch you? I'm not that strong -"

"Shut up," Nezumi sighs, glancing behind him. "I'm not that heavy, Jesus."

"But -"

But before Shion can finish his protest, Nezumi is falling towards him. Shion opens his mouth in a soundless shriek of shock and reaches out.

His arms loop perfectly under Nezumi's, and his balance is hardly disrupted at all.

"There!"

Shion glances wildly to his side, his nerves still frayed from Nezumi's unexpected fall. "What -"

Their teacher is pointing at them. "You two, Shion and Transfer! That was perfect! Transfer, fall again so the class can see what's supposed to happen. It seems hardly anyone can complete even a simple task like this."

Nezumi is standing upright now, and Shion is frozen with arms still extended. The class is quiet. Shion catches Safu's eye. Her expression is... calculating.

The taller man sighs and turns back around, and Shion snaps out of his daydream. He can feel the pressure of his classmates' eyes on him, but he pinpoints his concentration on the dark haired man in front of him, who is so at ease he hasn't even bothered to take his hands out of his pockets.

But if I miss, he won't be able to catch himself in time... Shion stops.

He trusts me.

"Oof," Shion grunts as Nezumi's weight hits him. He blinks; Nezumi must've fallen, because he's currently relaxing against him, held up by Shion's support.

"Perfect!" The teacher laughs. "It's like you two are on the same psychic wavelength or something. You didn't even do a countdown."

Shion almost falls forward when the warm weight on his chest is suddenly removed. He didn't realise he subconsciously adjusted to Nezumi's weight.

Nezumi was right, Shion muses. He's not very heavy.

The class have returned to the exercise and there's now a bubble of raucous noise filling the large hall.

"You should eat more," Nezumi comments, out of the blue, from beside him.

Shion looks at him, unsure what to feel. Is he concerned about my health or insulting me?

"You were too easy to catch. You barely weigh more than my sister, and she's tiny."

The older man initially opens his mouth with the intention of arguing that he eats fine, thank you very much, but somewhere between his brain and his mouth the words get jumbled up and it comes out as, "You have a sister?"

Nezumi looks down at him with an unreadable expression. "Yeah. What of it?"

"Oh, nothing," Shion replies. "I just... didn't know."

"Does it matter?"

Shion stares at the taller man for a moment, but he gets the distinct feeling that even if he stared into those stormy grey eyes for eternity, he would never be able to decipher his thoughts. "... No, not really." A small smile graces his lips as a thought occurs to him. "You know, Nezumi, I'm not surprised you're a Drama major."

Said man raises his eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"

"Mm, you must be a good performer. The way you fell earlier was very elegant."

"The way I fell?" Nezumi shoots him a look of incredulity. "It wasn't. You're insane."

Shion frowns. "It was, you don't ha -"

"And we have another winner! Congratulations, Safu, Ryo. That was almost as exceptional as Shion and Transfer."

Safu, having now gotten the tedious task out of the way, gets right down to business. She strides over to Nezumi and fixes him with a fiery glare.

Shion blinks at her. Why is she being so hostile? "Safu -"

"What is it about you?"

Shion blinks, and looks between Safu and Nezumi, who seem to be taking part in some silent glaring battle.

"You're suspicious," Safu continues. "You don't seem the trusting type at all. So why did you trust Shion like that? I don't believe it. I know you're hiding something."

"Oh really?" Nezumi challenges, his calm demeanor not fooling anyone.

"Yes," Safu states. "And I'm going to find out what it is. You can trust me on that one."

Shion wants - needs - to interfere, but his sensibility advises him not to as for some reason he feels like the combined scariness of Safu and Nezumi is worse than the face of hell itself.