A/N: I'm so sorry everyone, I've kept you waiting for far too long! Finally though, here it is, the lamented first half of the story's ending. I can feel my talent of writing yaoi starting to fall and degrade, but there will be one last fluff-fest for all you Nezumi-Shion shippers out there still reading my work. The last chapter is in progress, which makes me sad beyond words. If I get loads of protesting reviews I may be persuaded to add an epilogue.

Disclaimer: Whoever thinks I own this is out of their minds.

Chapter 10: Finale Part One

The morning sun peeped over the horizon as dawn woke the morning birds and painted the sky in gradually lighter hues. A grey haired mutt sat down in the junk-filled ruins to scratch its ear flippantly with its hind leg, only temporarily satisfying an annoying itch. The dog was jumbled to the side in a tumble of matted paws and fur as a small cluster of humans ran by, and it barked irritantly at the rude passers-by.

Rounding a corner, the two humans carried the third between them, his arms over each of their shoulders. The white haired human looked back and called out to the dog in apology. Shion didn't mean to clip the dog while he and Tom were running, and he hoped the poor thing would forgive him. He thanked Tom's good foresight that he wasn't running in the tattered bloody dress he wore before, but tennis shoes, the odd white shirt, and slacks. The bloody dress was left behind in a sack behind a garbage bin for their benefactor/cat friend to find.

Between the two, Nezumi groaned; his bangs clinging to his face with sweat. Shion turned his head to look at the battered boy and saw the blood bleeding through the back of the jacket he had wrapped around Nezumi before they left.

"He's loosing blood. We need to hurry!" Shion gasped, his eyes wide as he informed Tom.

"Where did you say his place was?"

"Not too far." Shion gritted his teeth, determination set in. It was not good to be moving Nezumi in his state, but they had no other options. He just had to get Nezumi to his safe house and work on him there.

Another three turns and a long alley later, and Shion led the others down into the underground confines of an old abandoned building; whatever it had been before, was lost to recognition in the ruined appearance it held. Shion hurriedly carried Nezumi with Tom's help over to the familiar door and without further celebration kicked the obstacle open with a sound crash that echoed across the stone walls of the hall.

Tom looked around at his surroundings in great interest, holding his side of Nezumi up as Shion went to light the oil lamps and candles. His eyes browsed over the volumes of books in the shelves to the right. "So this is where the great and illusive Eve lives..."

"Not now, Tom!" Shion exclaimed. He came back over to Nezumi and the two of them heaved the unconscious boy onto the bed in a sitting position. Shion gently pealed off the jacket from Nezumi's bloody back, the bloody whip marks crystallizing to a murky brown. Shion brushed one hand over his boyfriend's forehead, sweeping aside the slick, dark hair. Nezumi's skin was growing pale, the surface cold with sweat. "Grab the the first-aid kit, it's the flat tin box over there!"

Tom scrambled to get the supplies, his snarky attitude washed away with cold and bitter worry. Not saying anything in reply, he silently carried out Shion's orders and watched with surprise as the boy got to work with the limited tools with an air of mastery.

After Shion dug into the scarring carefully, he cleaned out the wounds of infection and covered it with a bacterial disinfectant. Stitching was the hard part, as he had to use a sowing needle and thin thread. He next ordered Tom to grab the strips of cloth in the corner of the room under the floor boards. After dumping the cloth in a bucket of water to wash away most of the dirt, Shion slowly wrapped Nezumi's injuries starting at the waist and going up. All the while, Shion chanted medical information and instruction in his mind like a mantra.

Over the back, under the right arm, across the midriff, under the left arm, over the back...

Once Shion reached just below Nezumi's arms, he changed the pattern to wrap in a cross over Nezumi's chest and around his neck, getting the top half of Nezumi's back covered. Shion eventually cut the strip of cloth with a knife and tied it in a finishing knot at the left collar bone. Finally done, the boy laid Nezumi down on the bed face-up, so that the pressure on his back would stop the bleeding from the forcefully reopened and properly stitched wounds. Now that the night was over, the drug would be wearing off soon, if it hadn't already.

The urgency dying down in his veins - now that Nezumi was safe - drowned Shion with a sense of relief. Releasing a sigh, the white haired boy slumped down in the couch, his elbows braced on his knees to help hold his head up with his hands. He let his face fall into his palms as emotion found a crack in his guard at the release of anxiety, and the beginnings of tears began to leak at the corners of his eyes. His throat swelled tighter and his chest heated up to a roaring fire as he tried to hold it in and failed. Shion had ran all day without end, relying on adrenaline to keep him moving...but now that they were finally out of danger that withheld shock needed release.

"Hey, Shion?" Tom came over quietly to the boy's side. He pressed a hand over the crying boy's shoulder and willed him to look up. "It's over. Everything's going to be fine now."

"Fine?" Shion choked on a sob as he breathed a laugh without humor. "Tom, my boyfriend was just kidnapped and raped! They tortured him, drugged him, and played with him like he was a sex object and now he's in more pain than I've ever seen. But that isn't the best part, no. Because in the end ... it was my fault."

"No, don't you say tha-"

"But it is!" Shion shouted, the tears trailing down his enflamed cheeks from red eyes. "...If I had just waited for Nezumi like I always do... he never would have gone down that hallway. He would have met up with me and... if they were gonna take him that night anyway...at least I would have been there to stop it!"

Shion let out another sob as the events from the past two and a half days finally registered and he lowered his face into his hands again, unable to meet his friend's eyes.

Tom left his hand on his friend's shoulders, and a long time passed before the boy spoke again.

"I..." Shion continued, inhaling a shaky breath, "...I was jealous. That was why I didn't meet with him..." That was the truth. Shion couldn't keep it in any longer and it poured out like a broken dam releasing a raging river. "I was too busy being jealous, and too stupid to realize that I had nothing to worry about because I LOVE HIM! I love him, and I should have been there!"

Tom place his other hand on the remaining shoulder and kneeled down in front of Shion so that they were face to face. Reluctantly, Shion looked up. "Shion. There is nothing that you could have done. Even if you had been there, they would have killed you, or left you unconscious with a blow that would have you bleeding to death. Don't blame yourself for something you had no power over. Look, it's fine to be jealous. It's perfectly natural - healthy, even! Though I find it funny it was over me and during a play-"

"The play!" Shion jumped up, almost knocking Tom over. "Tom, what are we going to do? Nezumi can't perform in his state."

"I know." Tom stood up, dusting off his jeans. "We'll have to cancel it."

"But you can't! Nezumi worked on the rehearsal for weeks!" Shion protested, his grief swapped for passion for Nezumi's long awaited play to be performed.

"There's nothing to be done. Without Nezumi, we have no one to be Miranda." Tom raised his arms and let them fall in a defeated gesture, which was then frozen halfway down as Tom remembered Shion in the female disguise and was struck with an idea. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" Shion asked, his eyes wide with a glimmer of hope.

"How well do you know the story 'Tempest'?" Tom asked, his hand now going up to brush his finger along his chin.

Shion calmed down as he was led back into thinking logically. "I know almost all of it by heart now. Nezumi had me read every line in the book until I got them right. I read every book he gives to me twelve times over and practice theoretical debates with him often enough it seems like habit now."

Tom watched Shion in amazement as the boy further explained the assignments he was given by Nezumi as though they were 'simple enough'. Repeating every line in front of Nezumi until the strict Eve declared it to be well done...that was a nightmare for everyone else back at the theatre. If Shion could do all that... and was a direct pupil of the great Eve, then Shion was more than enough to save the day.

"How do you feel about being Eve's understudy?"

"Understudy?" Shion asked, not quite catching on.

Tom laughed. "He taught you all this, and never told you about the terms we use? Man, you are an ace up his sleeve. Where has he been hiding you?"

"Not up his sleeve." Shion deadpanned. "What are you talking about?"

It took a while until Tom calmed down from his euphoric laugher, but once he did he gave Shion a meaningful stare.

"I'm talking about you playing as Miranda."

They heard a gruff breathy voice throw in its input, "You're gonna have to kiss Shion over my dead body."

"Nezumi!" Shion rushed to his boyfriend's side as the raven-haired teen tried to sit up. "No! Stay down. You have to lay down and heal, that's your job."

"No, my job is keeping you away from other boys." Nezumi glared at Tom.

"Weren't we just talking about the whole jealousy thing?" Tom asked, hands reaching to the sky in a short show of indignation.

Shion dabbed a wet towel at Nezumi's forehead, ignoring Tom's comment. "How are you doing?"

"I've had better days," Nezumi muttered. "How is it I always find you patching me up again?"

Shion choked down another sob before it could start, and gave Nezumi a gratified kiss on the lips before letting out a breathy reply, "Well, you can't seem to stay out of trouble."

"Should I leave the premises?" Tom enquired, earning a nudge in the arm from Shion's elbow.

"No." Nezumi ordered, licking his lips before getting back to business. "You were right about me needing a substitute for the performance. Shion, I'm going to be honest: I didn't - and still don't - want you to become an actor. For this very reason."

Shion was about to protest but was silenced by Nezumi as the injured teen held up a hand to stop him. The teen continued.

"But, if you are hell-bent on playing the part in this performance, then I'll allow it." Nezumi said. "Just this once."

Shion put on a determined face as he nodded, "I'll make you proud, Nezumi!"

"Then you-" Nezumi pointed at Tom, "-you are allowed to kiss Shion once and only once as Ferdinand... however, I don't care that you are my best friend, touch him and you die a horrific death."

Tom just laughed. The spooked Shion jumped when Nezumi joined in, confused at the sudden lightness of the room. Nezumi's laughter cut off briefly with a cringe of pain.

"God damn, laughing hurts..."

"Don't you worry." Tom smiled. "I won't lay a hand on him."

With that, Tom 'laid his hand' on Shion's shoulder and guided the boy out the door, smiling snidely at the glaring eyes he felt at his back.

"Vain bastard." Nezumi called out.

"Jealous wench!" Tom reciprocated.

As Tom closed the door behind himself and Shion, -a door which Nezumi noticed somehow had a broken frame by the lock-Nezumi grinned at his old friend's antics. He knew Tom, and he trusted him with his life. Now, it seems he would have to trust him with Shion's.

"Good luck out there."

The wig was tight and itchy. The length of the white tendrils tickled his open back thanks to the supposedly revealing white dress, and no matter how he looked at himself in the mirror, he thought the dress made him look fat.

He wanted to scratch the makeup off his cheek, but it covered his red markings so it was kind of important to leave it on. Once again, the high-heels were killing him so he had asked for a pair of flats that he could switch out with the heeled dress shoes.

"How's it going in there?" A voice from the door questioned. A voice Shion knew to be Tom's.

"Terribly..." Shion muttered in front of the vanity mirror, trying to mess with his long haired wig and make it obey him.

The door opened and a smirking Tom came in. After one look, Tom had to restrain himself from laughing at the sight. "What is terrible?"

"Where to start?" Shion squeaked. "My hair is knotted, the make-up feels weird, the make-up artists have not come back yet with the flat dress-shoes I requested, and these heels are killing me." Shion saw Tom struggling in the mirror to hold his breath. "What's wrong? Are you asthmatic?"

Tom couldn't hold it in any more. He guffawed and had to hold his stomach as he bent over with laughter. Shion glared pointedly at the laughing idiot through the mirror.

"I'm sorry...you're just so..." Tom muffled his laughter as much as he could, "...you're more of a drama queen that Eve ever was."

At that Shion calmed down before turning around and smiling sheepishly. "I guess I need a little help."

Tom nodded and got to work. Before they knew it, they had Shion turned into a lovely princess-like figure.

Shion assessed himself some more in front of the mirror, and Tom rolled his eyes.

"Come on, beautiful. We're on the clock here and the show's about to begin."

The moment the spotlight hit him, the audience grew silent. Not a sound was made as everyone took in the sight of the cute person before them. If Eve was beautiful, then this person in comparison could only be called adorable.

Shion was stuck as to what he should do until Nezumi's voice echoed in his head.

"Let's see you play Ferdinand. I expect you've read Shakespeare's Tempest?"

Shion blinked, the memory fresh as day. The next voice was his own, questioning and curious.

"So is this what you're performing next? You're playing Miranda, aren't you?"

"As if anybody else could."

Shion smiled. He was going to prove him wrong. The boy faced the actor playing Prospero, the one which barely got his lines memorized in time. Shion went down on his knees and pleaded with the man, pointing at the imaginary storm out above the audience.

"If by your hand, my dearest father, you have put the wild waters in this roar, stop them!"

In the darkness of the audience, a raven-haired teen watched the spectacle on stage. He watched quietly, as he walked slowly down the steps from the entrance doors to the overhead banister where the manager sat.

"Oh, Nezumi! There you are. Where did you find this girl?" The man said with a flourish, already personifying the boy into a feminine stage avatar, like Nezumi did when he came up with Eve. "She's absolutely spectacular!"

"His name is Shion." Nezumi said evenly; a grin stretching across his lips as he sat down. "And you can't have him. He's mine."