A rainy night would drape the light of Shion's study lamp, a page coloured flouroscent in it's halo.
Shion looked up from the reports the rehabilitation comittee of the eastern block had sent him, the conclusions weren't all that good. They'd been trying for about a year now.
It was 4 in the morning, he was wide awake, stressed as ever, half moons under his jaded eyes and white hair disshelved, he was scowling at his laptop with all of concentration on screen.
His head clicked at his mother's worried voice on the door knock. He found her features contorted into one of those of her sad frowns, the sad sad ones, the ones that reminded him of everything that had changed and metamorphosed in the past years. No. 6 had never been a utopia - his ignorance was what had lead him to believe buy the cloud cuckoo land dream and hehad opened his eyes. Nezumi had stormed into his life - knocking his ground off, ripping apart the cocoon he'd never known he'd been holed up in.
Shion had begun to see a more things than he saw previously. He could see the way at times mom would hide her worry and fright behind the doodle of her sweet smile on her face, the way she would fuss and fret over him a tad more on days he worked longer hours, the way some of her frowns were sadder than others. His mind trailed off to his face as Karan's voice jammed into his train of thoughts, " What is wrong, Shion?"
"Uh? Nothing mom", Shion nodded his gead vigorously, "just work."
It elicited a laugh out of Karan cause he was just so baby and still so small even if he was nearly 25 now, " you are overworking yourself. You stay up late at night. You wake up before the crack of dawn - I wonder if you even sleep? What is wrong Shion?"
Karan was worried about Shion. The image of her son so burned out, so restless and anxious hurt her chest as she recalled Shion hadn't slep late into night. At around midnight she'd come to ask him if he needed something and he had nodded a no without looking up, eye glued to his laptop screen just the way they were now. Somewhere around one at night the light were still on. Only to wake up to Shion's tormented face still awake as he was before he told he would sleep "some time later."
"Nothing really mom, just work stuff."
"'Disturbances in east block' flash on screen and he is distracted again before he decides to shut his laptop down and look at his mom.
"Don't be sad mom."
"Huh?"
"Sad - sad over me. I am doing good. I have the support of you, Inukashi, little Shion, master Rikiga", he trailed off, " the comitte is cooperative too, and hardworking..."
Karan's eyes melted a little on the light bouncing off the night lamp, "he changed you. That experience, of course it would. "
"Huh?"
"You still miss him, no? Still waiting for him?"
Shion stood on the same window he'd stood on more than a decade ago, looking outside as if he'd just walk in drenched in rain like that night.
I'll always wait for you, Nezumi.
Sun was high in the sky and the downpoars didn't seem to stop. He and his team were looking around for shelter in the forest. He was delirious and hungry, halfway swinging from exhaustion. He had strayed away from the rest of his team and his microphone had stopped working.
Shion had come to the assess the disturbances in eastern block which had lead to obstacles in the construction plans of the some of the capital enterprises of the rehabilitated land of what once used to be No. 6. He'd been stranded alone for a few hours now, and his mind went back to a melodious but familiar voice rang at the back of his head, before he realised their was an actual, physical source of this voice - he wasn't making it all up in his head, he wasn't that lovesick over a guy he hadn't seen in five years - he nearly tripped over a rock and -
"Dammit."
"So you started these words", disapproval or an all too familiar voice echoed across the woods, "still as clumsy as ever", dark eyes sparkled as they look at his own, smirking at him, peeling off his exhaution away faster than any possible energizer could have.
Shion managed," N..N..Nezu- "
A sack of weight came barraging into Nezumi's body, knocking him off his feet as Shion wrapped his arms around his neck and buried his head in the crook of his neck. Shion's hair smelt of cocoa and strawberries, his skin was just as soft as it used to be back in the days - their days, his body still smaller even if shoulders had grown out broader, his tears taste the same, he thinks to himself. They stayed in this position for till some time until Shion gets up, lifting himself up partially by his hands on the forest floor he fills Nezumi's eyes with tears of his own.
"Nezumi, you...", bloodshot eyes grabbed Nezumi's heart and clenched at it, making him gasp; the sheer sight of Shion crying his eyeballs out as he stuttered, "Yeah. Me."
"Nezumi you - "
Nezumi cut him off with a kiss, smiling into Shion's closed eyes, his lips taste the same as well.
"Missed me huh?"
"I - I never thought - I, Nezumi you - what are you doing here?"
Shion felt like had played a funny game on him. He spent all those years waiting for Nezumi, hoping he'd come back someday to relive the promise kiss. And here out of all places, a tall figure stood in front of him, with the same smile, the same long hair tied into a bun, the gorgeous bangs and still an inch taller than me. He thought. He took in all the changes too - how his shoulders had grown broader overtime, just like his own, he was a lot healthier now, he almost looked happy, older and yet so young, and so Nezumi...
"I told you I was a wanderer, didn't I? I am messing around. Cedar trees, hornet nests, and I soft cadence in the winds of nature which would carry my voice well. What more could I want? By the way, do you plan on standing here forever or get some food maybe? How long have you been stranded in this jungle, city prince?"
"You won't ask me what I am doing here?"
"Alleged 'disturbances' in the eastern block - the construction workers have recently been getting attacked by jungle waps while allegedly a never seen before indigenous tribe has resurfaced from their hidden shelters - rumours of humans living on this land which was presumed to be uninhabited?"
Shion blinked, "yeah, you've been keeping tabs on me, rat?"
Nezumi gawked at him in mock anger and haughtiness, "Come, let's get you some food. If your stomach will growl any more hideously the elusyrium might get angry and send her minions to attack us."
"Don't tell me you have a house in the middle of this desolate forest...oh, Nezumi, only you", Shion smiled, mostly to himself, as Nezumi was lead him the way by his hand.
To call it a cottage would be an exaggeration, it was a small wooden hut with a floor of forest mud and roof of straws and stones; albeit with surprisingly decent interiors. The walls didn't exactly smell of soil or clay, for starters.
"Like it? Try to survive a few hours?", Nezumi asked teasingly.
"Hamlet!"
The rat came running into Shion's arms as and Nezumi rolled his eyes, half fond, half exasperated. He didn't realise just how creepy his shameless ogling had gotten until Cavil told him in the ears. Shion looked up at him, oddly calm, without a single trace of any emotion.
"What?"
"You aren't angry at me."
"Wha-?"
"Why are you not mad at me, Shion?"
"You want me to be mad at you? Why would I be mad at you Nezumi?"
"I left you. Did you not miss me, Shion?", he took two graceful steps forward, getting right into Shion's face but looking away. Memories Nezumi's elegant gait flashed in front of Shion's eyes, as he felt a faint blush spread across his cheeks. He had no idea what Nezumi had been doing all these years, but the grace and beauty of his dancing feet had not changed a bit.
Nezumi reached out to grab his hand and Shion pulled away just in time, moving out of his reach, laughing, "Ah that. You've grown old Nezumi. Not quite as nimble as before."
The laughter of his voice rang into Nezumi's ears, blood rushing to his head. For a few moments, Nezumi can't really process anything. Or feel anything. Or think -
He felt his voice bubble up at his throat and and it choked him then and there. A fuzzy crevice buried and bandaged somewhere in his heart had resurfaced, cracking a millimetre more each time the laughter echoed in his chest.
"I don't know who you are Shion, all these years and..", he stared at his sun with stars in his eyes, dazed in all the nights he'd dreamt of their reunion, all the things he could've never said in his letters, he would say it with his hands...
Shion's eyebrows frowned in concern, "I never changed, Nezumi. Remember, you asked me to stay the same?" He brought his hand on his chest, right where Nezumi had imprinted himself forever on a rainy night, " you've grown slack perhaps, it seems", he let out a watery laugh.
Nezumi stared into his eyes, his own watering from the rain outside - or perhaps in his futile attempts to stop Shion from crying over him again he ended up crying too. He brushed his lips every so softly against the other boy's, licking his tears, willing to swallow all of what these tears of separation had brought between them. He felt Shion's fingers on his cheeks, wiping the salty streams away, and in that heartbeat perhaps the finality of the moment dawned on him. For the second time of his life, he was crying in front of someone, and that someone was also the one who he'd shed tears for the first time too. His mind went back to the dingy quarter of the correctional facility. Oddly enough, he wasn't disconcerted in the least. Shion's presence and warmth, his arms wrapped around him, fingers stroking his cheekbones gives him a sense of comfort he couldn't quite put a finger on. It made him cry even more.
Shion inched closer and cupped his jaw, kissing him again, rubbing his nose against his and Nezumi's hands dug into his silver locks. They kept kissing for some time, till their lips began to acje and they were physically too tired and Shion lolled alseep all over him and shit he was hungry and there was food on the stove and he fell asleep like that and he cursed himself for some more time until weariness and dreams take over him.
"I am sorry Shion", Nezumi brushed a silver lock away from Shion's face, "I missed you a lot too."
They fall asleep like that, inside a house but on the forest floor, tangled in each other's embrace.
So, what do you plan to do now, go back to No.6? You aren't finding your team in the wildernesses."
"We had all planned to meet at the outer road in case any mishap happened."
"Like you reuiniting with your longlost lover."
A newfound warmth bloomed in Shion's chest, as Nezumi's pretty lips rounded to form the word lover, Shion leaned in to claim them with a smile, "lover who left me."
Nezumi leaned his forehead against his, " lover who found you", he breathed against his nose.
They both were sitting on the edge of a small cliff above a lake from where Nezumi was skilfully throwing rocks that would bounce off the surface of water a couple of times before drowning into oblivion forever.
When the pulled away after some time, Shion took up a rock of his own and attempted to mirror Nezumi's theatrics, only to fail miserably. The rock couldn't even complete one loop, drowning with its impact on the water surface.
Nezumi burst into a deep, bellowed laughter. Shion awaited some snarky remark of some sarcastic jibe but nothing came. Nezumi kept on laughing and laughing and laughing - begore he opened his eyes and looked at Shion with the amount of adoration noone but his mom could ever have mustered.
A few minutes passed. Shion smiled, mostly to himself, and went back to his rock throwing - no drowning business, and Nezumi lay on his back sprawled on the ground, hands cushioning the back of his head. They stayed this way with the voice of birds and winds gushing through the leaves filling up their silence.
"You planned to talk to the tribals, didn't you?", Nezumi spoke up after some time.
Shion halted halfway through his sixteenth failed rock, blinking back at Nezumi.
"How did you plan to talk to them, their language isn't decipherable to outsiders?"
"Yet."
"You planned to research them? Letting the likes of your scientists to come here and study these specimen? Was it Ryou's idea?"
"I won't let them create a new No.6 Nezumi. I came here to get the city contractors our of this place. I know some business lobbies are trying to confiscate their land by 'peaceful measures'. I promised you I was not like them. You taught me how easy it was to be like them. "
Nezumi smiled at him quietly, "I didn't teach you anything Shion, you were always so...", he paused, crouching down on his knees to whisper in Shion's ear, "I know you are drowning the rocks on purpose."
"Can you tilt your head aside?"
Nezumi cocked an eyebrow up.
"I want to go deeper inside", Shion continued," I mean my tongue."
They were both sitting on Shion's bed on his room, Nezumi devouring his mom's cupcakes and stealing kisses with Shion in between, although it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to actually swallow the cakes down his throat when Shion would kiss him like that.
Nezumi pursed his lips, biting back a laugh that showed his dimpes nonetheless. He watched the way Shion's cheeks coloured and his heart fluttered underneath his shir, "Let me eat first, your mom made them, especially for me", pointing Karan's cupcakes.
Shion stood up and took his hands, "you have the rest of your life for that, you stay jere amd she'll make them for your everyday. She loves you. She's missed you a lot. And I am not letting you slip away this time."
Before Nezumi could protest, Shion grabbed his hand and took him outside, into the same balcony he'd stood years ago, fighting for life. The night Shion had saved him. The night that had saved him.
Shion put one hand on his shoulder and interlocked their fingers on the other, involuntarily Nezumi brought their entwined fist to his mouth to kiss Shion's hand.
"C'mon let's dance."
"Shion it's raining outsi-"
The raindrops soaked through his shirt and all Nezumi had to see was the sheer happiness in Shion's eyes and his feet began moving on their own. His hand slipped to Shion's waist and he began singing. The world narrowed down to the two of them, dancing like mad children as lightning thundered to Nezumi's voice and the downpoar soaked them two into one.
"Shion...what are we?"
"We?"
"Us. We too", Nezumi cupped his hands around Shion's, foreheads touching, caressing his nape and his jaw.
"I can only feel love towards you, Nezumi. Not friendship, nor admiration, nor is it romance or respect. It's just love. I don't know what to call it, or to name it - I do know, what I feel about you though."
"Lovers then", Nezumi sing-sang gruffly, caressing Shion's jaw and pulling him into a kiss. When they finally pulled away the rain had thinned out.
"So..", Shion asked, "this kiss..?"
"Reunion kiss", Nezumi breathed, shutting him with his lips.
A/n
I am very new to fiction writing so this has been hard for me. I hope it's not too cringe. Constructive criticism is welcome.
I like the way Shion takes Nezumi aback every once in a while in cannon.