I'm really sorry for the late update! But I fainted at school, then I got ill, then it was my birthday, then I had to finish a studio piece for Art class, then I watched A:TLA twice... It's been pretty hectic. And I'm afraid next week is my mega-revision week for my exams, and then for the next couple of months it's major exam time, so until July the updates will be kinda slow. But bear with me! I will persevere and try my very best to deliver chapters to you on time!

Disclaimer!

Love All, Trust A Few, Do Wrong To None

Shion purses his lips. "Hm..." Violet eyes narrow threateningly as the corners of his mouth turn down. "No," he mumbles. "I don't believe you."

"What did that broccoli ever do to you?"

Shion starts, and the fork tumbles out of his hand, crashing back onto his plate with a splash of gravy. "Safu, what did I say about sneaking up on me like that?"

His best friend slides into the seat beside him with a smirk. "Sorry. You just looked so silly I couldn't help myself."

"Thanks," Shion grumbles, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"What did you mean?" she asks suddenly as she tucks into her lunch. "When you said 'I don't believe you', that is."

Shion's words lodge in his throat and his mouth is left hanging open as his brain tries to process the question. What did he mean? He hadn't even been aware that he was speaking out loud. "Uh, I don't..." He mentally berates himself for being so cowardly, and huffs at his childish behaviour. Nothing will ever be solved if you're too afraid to take action.

"You don't what?" Safu pushes. Her eyes are once again gleaming with that calculating look, as if she's trying to psychoanalyse him on the spot.

"I don't believe you," Shion repeats, the words stumbling awkwardly out of his mouth. The only difference is that this time the words are not aimed at his inanimate vegetables. They're aimed at Safu.

She narrows her eyes. "Are you addressing me now?"

Shion turns to her and forces himself to make eye contact. Safu is a confident and direct sort of person; she dismisses your arguments entirely if you are too timid in making them. "Yes."

"What don't you believe me about? I don't lie, you know that." She doesn't sound offended in the slightest, only curious.

"When you said that Nezumi is an... an ex-con. It doesn't seem right."

Deep brown eyes blink once. "Oh, so that's what this is about." She turns from him to face the window in front of her. "I see now."

Shion is confused by her reaction, but he doesn't let himself become sidetracked. "Is it true? Do you have proof?"

"Of course I have proof," she sighs indignantly. "I don't start rumours. I state facts."

"Then what is your proof? How can you be totally sure that he was in prison?"

Safu casts a cursory glance around the room before speaking in a low voice. "I hacked into the government records."

Shion spits out his coffee. "Safu!" he exclaims loudly. "You can't do that!"

"Keep your voice down!" she hisses at him, and Shion quickly remembers where they are.

"But why?" he whispers. "And what if you're found out? There could be serious consequences!"

Safu shrugs, as if she hadn't just broken a few major laws. "He seemed like a suspicious character, and I trust my instincts. It turns out I had - and still have - a good reason to be concerned, especially since you two seem to be becoming fast friends." She smirks. "And don't worry about the consequences; I made sure to cover my tracks. And yes, I'm well aware of the irony of getting arrested while checking to see if someone else was arrested."

The man's jaw is slack, and the calm stream of words had stopped entering his brain a while ago. He's in shock. Shion simply can't believe it; Safu hacked into the official government record to check up on someone - without their permission - just because she had a hunch?

He stands, his palms coming into contact with the table a little harder than perhaps was necessary. He picks up the remainders of his lunch silently, not trusting himself to speak civilly to his best friend at that moment. I know it's illogical, he thinks as he dumps the tray noisily on the rack, but for some reason the fact that Safu did that just really pisses me off.

"Shion?" she calls after him as he makes to leave. "Shion, what's wrong with you?"

He grits his teeth, wincing at the ugly sound as his molars grind together. His arms are trembling now from anger, and the thought of this is illogical has long since fled his mind.

Safu approaches him with an air of annoyance, blissfully unaware of her best friend's current mental state. "Seriously, Shion, I know you don't like breaking rules, but this is a bit of an overreaction, isn't it? I mean, it's not even like you two are particularly -"

"Shut up."

Safu balks, and immediately takes on a defensive stance, sensing the danger.

"What would you know?" Shion spits venemously, and Safu can see the fiery heat of his glare even through his glasses. "You don't have secrets, Safu. You don't care if people find out personal information about you; it doesn't bother you. But sometimes you're so caught up in your own little perfect Safu-world that you forget about other people!"

With the sudden absence of Shion's raised voice, Safu notices the silence in the hall around them.

Shion is practically baring his teeth at her, and his voice has taken on an uncharacteristically rough tone. "That was an invasion of Nezumi's privacy. There was a reason he hid it from everyone, Safu - everyone, you, me, maybe even the teachers - and you just take it into your own hands and decide that his cares and personal decisions about his own personal life don't matter, as if - as if you think you're better than him or something!" he snarls, reminding Safu of an aggravated animal.

"Shion, I didn't -"

"I don't care!"

Safu winces at the feral snarl.

Shion feels a deep rumble of a growl in his throat as he pulls his arm back, and swings forward -

- and stops himself just short. He freezes for a moment, fist extended towards her face as she stands before him, unflinching but obviously scared.

Shion panics, forgets to breathe and quickly flees from the hall.

A small sigh escapes her lips for the nth time that afternoon. Safu had not been ready for lessons after her argument with Shion, and to be honest she is still a little unsettled even now, an hour later.

Safu has seen Shion express many different emotions under many different circumstances. She has seen him laugh to the point of tears and she's seen him cry his eyes out in pain until he threw up. She's seen him run, terrified, from his bullies, and she has seen him beat his bullies up.

Not once had she ever expected one of those punches to be aimed at her.

She sighs again, and curls further into herself as protection against the chilly wind. She doesn't know why she came up to the roof; she doesn't like it here. This is Shion's spot.

Dammit, she thinks irritably. What has that Nezumi guy been doing to him to make him snap like that?

She stands and brushes the dirt off her skirt resolutely. If she doesn't know the answer to a question, what does she do? Wait around for the answer to mysteriously appear before her, or seek out someone who knows?

"Oi, Nezumi."

The dark figure pauses, but doesn't turn. After a moment, he says, "It's not like you to skip class." His words are teasing, but his voice is cold.

Safu sneers at his back. This guy is really beginning to annoy her. She stands her ground in the empty corridor. "Shion."

Nezumi turns, as if she'd called his own name. "What about him?" he says dismissively, though appears a little more alert when she begins striding up to him until she has him backed up against the wall.

"What's going on with you two?" She asks, her voice reasonably calm considering she's pinning the most dangerous man in the school against a wall.

Thin lips turn up into a cutting smirk. Nezumi draws himself up a little higher, emphasising the intimidating height difference. "Why? Are you jealous?"

Safu can't help herself, suddenly overcome with an intense desire to wipe that smug smirk right off the infuriating student's face.

Surprisingly, he doesn't duck her punch, taking it right against his cheekbone and only wincing slightly when his head slams against the wall behind him, and Safu can feel the vibrations of it through the floor.

Safu's breathing is slightly laboured as she takes a step back, as if to inspect her handiwork. She remains quiet, waiting for Nezumi's next move.

He touches his left fingertips to his injured cheek, and when he brings them down they are smeared with red. He frowns, moving the hand to rub tentatively against the point of contact on the back of his head. He spares the short woman a thoughtful glance before muttering, "You're stronger than you look."

Safu is not expecting this response. She suddenly finds herself without words.

Nezumi stares intently at her for an entire minute, the tension as thick as butter. When it becomes clear Safu isn't going to say anything, he snaps, "What? Is that it? There's no meaningful message of life that you want to convey to me through the rough but effective medium of violence?" His mocking voice reeks of sarcasm, but there is no hint of anger within it.

This only serves to confuse Safu further.

He huffs at her with condescension, and begins to saunter away, as if he's already forgotten that he's just been punched almost into a concussion.

As if as an afterthought, the black-haired man calls over his shoulder, "You might want to distance yourself from that wall before someone sees you with it."

Safu isn't quite sure what he's talking about, and for a spilt second entertains the idea that perhaps everyone in the world is just going insane - but then she glances at the aforementioned wall and chestnut eyes widen in shock.

It appears she punched Nezumi a little harder than intended, because there's a cracked circular indent in the plaster at around Nezumi's head height. Safu isn't sure whether she's glad it's a partition wall or not. On the one hand, if she'd smashed Nezumi's skull into a brick wall perhaps he would've been concussed or seriously injured; but on the other hand, she wouldn't have to explain this dent to the staff.

A difficult decision, to be sure.

Safu wanders slowly to her next class. Punching Nezumi had helped calm her quite a bit, despite the small bud of guilt blooming in her chest.

She isn't sure what to do as she waits restlessly outside the closed classroom door. Nezumi and she had parted ways at least half an hour ago, which would've given him plenty of time to inform their class teacher - or perhaps even the headmistress - about the rather one-sided fistfight between them.

Safu isn't looking forward to having to explain herself to either of the intimidating women.

A soft sound echoes down the corridor as she inhales deeply in mental preparation. She opens the door.

Making her way to her seat behind Shion, she realises more distinctly with every step that her teacher has no idea about what happened. She doesn't even earn a bored glance.

Safu chews her lip as she bores holes in the back of Shion's snowy head with her intense gaze. She ponders his reaction if she attempted to talk to him so soon after their argument.

Her need to speak about what happened wins out quickly, and she leans forward to whisper onto his shoulder, "Shion. I need to talk to you."

Shion stiffens momentarily and Safu almost thinks he'll continue to ignore her - but then he turns.

His expression is heavy with shame.

"Look, Shion... I'm sorry about what I did. I know I had no right, but I was worried about you. I just..." She pauses. Admitting she's wrong is something Safu finds immensely difficult. "I just handled the situation incorrectly."

Shion shakes his head at her, twisting further around in his seat. "No, it's not your fault. I completely overreacted, and I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. I was just irritated with myself, and I took it out on you. And I definitely shouldn't have tried to punch you. I'm really sorry."

Safu smiles slightly. "It's okay, Shion. Really. And besides," she adds in a quieter tone, "I'm not exactly innocent of violence today either."

A white eyebrow is raised. "What do you mean?"

She purses her lips, breaking eye contact momentarily. "I punched Nezumi."

Shion's jaw drops. "You what?"

"I went to talk to him after we... after our argument earlier."

Shion nods slowly in realisation. "That's why you weren't in class third period."

Safu hums an affirmative. "And I was still sort of angry, and I just... hit him. But that's not the strange part." She casts a glance to the seat in front of Shion, where Nezumi normally sits - but it's empty.

Shion is watching with a mixture of interest and secondhand pain (probably from imagining scenes of Safu beating up his new classmate), his violet eyes urging her to continue.

"The thing is, Nezumi didn't even tell anyone. I would've thought he would rat me out to a teacher. It would provide him with a lot of entertainment watching someone like me get pummelled by the headmistress."

Shion makes a sound. It has a sense of surprise and confusion which almost - but not quite - covers the tinge of amusement, which Safu decides to ignore. "Yeah, that's strange," he murmurs.

Safu sighs, closing her eyes briefly as she places her chin in her palm. "Shion. You and Nezumi... Are you... Is there something going on?"

"What do you mean?"

As far as Safu can tell, his confusion is genuine. She mentally curses him for being so dense. "I mean, Shion..." She sighs. How is she supposed to say this tactfully? "Do you... like him?"

Shion's expression morphs into one of caution. "'Like'... As in...?"

"As in like like."

Shion has the grace to blush, but shakes his head. "No, he's just... a friend. An interesting friend."

"Oh. Okay," Safu responds. She considers Shion. He said he doesn't have anything more than platonic interest in the dark-haired man, but his response was hesitant and his voice unusually quiet.

Chestnut eyes narrow. Maybe...

"Today, class, we're going to start learning about the Cold War. Unfortunately, this class is a little behind on the topics so we're going to have to rush a bit. I expect you all to concentrate to make sure you know as much as you can for finals - yes, this topic will appear in your exam." The teacher leans further back into his chair and takes a few papers into his hands from on top of his desk. "I assume everyone has finished their projects now? I will be expecting you to hand them in to me in pairs as you leave the classroom at the end of the lesson." The older man casts a sharp glance around the room as he picks out the most nervous facial expressions. "If you haven't finished it... Well, depending on how much work you've done, I'll decide an appropriate punishment for you."

Shion puffs out a hopeless sigh as his mind provides him with unwanted images of the horribly tedious tasks he could be assigned with.

Needless to say, he and Nezumi haven't finished the project.

Shion sneaks a subtle glance at the younger man to his right. Nezumi appears as nonchalant as always, slumped back down into his chair in order to have the easiest view of the book he's reading under the desk. Shion notes absently that this book is one he's never seen Nezumi read before. The pages are stark white and stiff when he turns them - a contrast to Nezumi's usual yellowed, dog-eared and well-loved tomes.

"Is it new?"

Nezumi blinks once at the murmured question, then glances up to meet the lavender gaze. "What?"

"The book." Shion gestures to it. "It's new, right? You haven't read it before?"

There's a brief pause as Nezumi raises a bemused eyebrow. "... Yeah, it's new."

A small burst of warmth blooms in Shion's chest, and he can't resist the small smile. "Is it good?"

Nezumi shrugs. "Some of the characters are a bit flat, and the sex scenes are pretty unrealistic, but the plot is interesting enough, I guess." His brow furrows as he notices Shion's cheeks are stained deep crimson. "What?"

"You..." Shion clears his throat out of embarrassment. I can't believe this guy sometimes. "You read... that kind of stuff... in public?"

The dark-haired man appears to catch on, and is instantly smirking. "Yeah, what of it?" As the blush is joined by wide violet eyes and a look of confused shock, Nezumi chuckles quietly. "Hey, don't go all blushing virgin on me."

However, his words have the opposite effect, and if Shion wasn't beet red before, he certainly is now. "Hey, I'm not-" he starts defiantly, but quickly realises what he was about to say, and cuts himself off with an indignant huff. "I just wouldn't be able to... do that. Reading that sort of stuff when there are people around would just be extremely uncomfortable."

Nezumi frowns, as if considering it. "I suppose it can be a bit off-putting while I'm trying to hold a conversation, but..."

Shion balks, and it takes a lot of effort not to ask if this is one of those conversations. He isn't quite sure that he wants to know.

Nezumi makes no attempt to continue talking, and Shion is feeling far too awkward from the recent revelation to try for small talk, so the pair fall into amiable silence for most of the lesson. The younger man smoothly flips the pages of his new book; Shion notices that his reading speed is impressively quick, judging by the frequency that the pristine pages are turned.

Shion sighs and slumps further forward into his seat as he scrawls untidy notes into his notepad. He feels oddly detached, as if his brain is absorbing the lecture and taking notes by itself, while Shion is left stranded in his vividly absorbing daydreams.

Nezumi, on the other hand, makes no move to take any notes at all.

Oh my-

A bolt of electricity shoots down Shion's spine. He shivers. Violet eyes struggle to resist glacing down at his leg, but somehow he manages. The shocking feeling doesn't come again for a good minute, and Shion assumes he must have imagined the sensation - but then there is another, firmer touch, and Shion is certain that that is the feeling of Nezumi's knee against his thigh.

Shion shoots a sharp glance at his neighbour. Nezumi is hunched comfortably low in his seat, hands on his book under the edge of the desk and legs disappearing under it - the exact same position he was in twenty minutes ago.

What the hell?

Nezumi suddenly clears his throat, and Shion jumps, immediately cursing his own sensitivity and inwardly cringing. Come on, Shion! So what if you bumped knees? That happens all the time! It's nothing to get all... frazzled about!

Because Shion definitely does feel rather frazzled. He isn't sure what's going on at the moment, or whether his desk partner has even realised what he's doing, but he knows that if Nezumi doesn't move that damn leg away soon Shion is going to scream.

Thin lips pull down as he glowers at the wall. Well, Nezumi, two can play at that game.

He readjusts his right leg just slightly; a small enough move to seem natural but jostling enough that Nezumi visibly loses his focus on the book.

Shion is very close to letting out an unmanly squeak when suddenly a warm calf is pressed flush against his own from knee to ankle. If Nezumi's actions weren't deliberate before, they most surely are now; Shion chances a glance at the dark-haired man only to find him positively smirking.

I knew it! Shion thinks, nerves highly strung with a feeling that he can't quite explain and that makes his heart race as it flounders around in his chest in a panic. What is he trying to do? Embarrass me in public?

He shifts his leg again, this time far less subtly as the jig is obviously up, and moves to intertwine their ankles, pulling Nezumi slightly towards him. Each move is tentative and uncertain, and Shion prays Nezumi can't feel him trembling. What am I doing?

Nezumi appears a little surprised at the bold movement, blinking and coughing to conceal what was probably a noise of shock.

"Nezumi, can you read the passage on page thirty-seven to the class, please."

Both students start at the wiry sound of their World History teacher's voice, and their legs shoot apart like bullets.

Shion manages to catch the leg of the desk with his foot and he cringes at the loud sound, which ricochets around the expectant silence of the classroom.

"U-Um-" Nezumi stutters into motion like an old car. He clears his throat as grey eyes scour Shion's textbook. "I-I'm sorry, sir, can you, uh, repeat that? Please?" he adds quickly and pulls himself up straighter from his slouch.

Shion can't help staring at the taller man. This awkward stammer that tumbled out of his mouth - it's just so unlike Nezumi. Nezumi, the man of smooth words and sharp, witty comments. Nezumi, the man with a snake's tongue. Nezumi, fumbling over his words in class?

No, Shion thinks, it just doesn't fit.

"Nezumi!" Shion calls as a sea of students rushes to leave the stuffy classroom.

Nezumi pauses a little way down the corridor and turns to wait rather impatiently as Shion struggles to push through the chaotic crowd.

It's okay, Shion reassures himself. Just act like the leg-touching thing was totally normal. Or, even better, that it didn't happen at all. Yeah. Nothing happened, you're just going to ask a friend if they're okay, because you're worried. That's it.

"Nezumi," he repeats on arrival at Nezumi's side, and the pair fall into step beside each other.

"What? Is that all you can say now? 'Nezumi'?" he mocks, but there is a certain warmth to his eyes.

Shion scowls, but quickly remembers what he wanted to ask about. "Uh... You know," he starts, drawing up the dredges of his confidence, "you seem like the cool, calm and collected type. Even when you're angry, you're calm about it. I can't really imagine you shouting or screaming or crying or laughing hysterically."

He glances up to judge Nezumi's reaction, and is greeted by a raised eyebrow and a silence that encourages him to get to the point. Shion quickly lowers his gaze to his hands, which he's wringing nervously.

"Well, because of that, I... It just seemed sort of... out of character, I guess, when, earlier, you... got all flustered. In class, when Mr. Hendrick called on you."

For a moment, Nezumi doesn't react, and Shion thinks that perhaps he isn't listening - but then he sighs deeply and roughly, and his expression when Shion looks his way is cold. "I was thinking. He startled me."

Shion raises an eyebrow, though is slightly unsettled by the sudden change in temperature. "Really? Are you sure?" He intends to stop there, before he pushes this mysterious and frankly intimidating enigma too far, but his stupid mouth won't shut and he finds himself blabbering, "Are you sure you're okay? Because it didn't look like you were just 'thinking' to me."

Shion immediately regrets saying it and mentally slaps himself. You moron!

"Why is it any of your business?" Nezumi's voice is sharp and Shion feels like he's just been sliced open with an icicle. It stings.

Can't give up now, I suppose. "I was just concerned about you."

Nezumi glares blankly at him. "I never asked for your concern. I don't need it. I'm not a sensitive, sheltered kid like you." With that, he increases his pace and strides away.

Shion doesn't bother following. The white-haired man slows to a stop and stares after the retreating figure, absently clutching at the unpleasant feeling in his stomach. He is - quite stupidly, he realises - surprised at the sudden icy behaviour. Shion can't even find it in himself to protest being called a 'kid'.

You jerk... I'll be as concerned about you as I want.

"Shion?"

He starts at the hushed whisper from beside him. "Safu? What is it?"

She shakes her head. "Your movements are sluggish and you're sighing every few minutes, not to mention you keep rubbing at your left knee, which I know tends to flare up when you're not feeling well." She pauses, and bites her lip. "You just seem..."

Shion cracks a smile, despite the heaviness in his chest. "I appreciate that you're worried, but it's really nothing. I'm fine."

"But-"

"Really," he cuts her off firmly. "I'm just... nervous for tomorrow's test."

Safu nods slowly. "Okay. If it helps, you can borrow my notes?"

"Thank you. I'd like that."

Shion tries his best to reign in his sighs for the rest of the lesson; Safu is suspicious of Nezumi enough as it is. Shion doesn't want to add to her worry for him and her growing dislike of Nezumi by burdening her with his mundane troubles.

Still, for the rest of the day - through Ecology, after class, in the library, at home and even in bed that night - he can't help thinking about what caused such a one-eighty in his new friend's attitude towards him.