Author's Notes: This chapter alone is over ten thousand words. I can't believe it. I've been writing it on and off these last couple months and now it's finally complete. It didn't come out exactly as I wanted it to, but...here it is.
I tried, in Inukashi's POV, to leave out any gender pronouns. I hope that doesn't leave it awkward.
Enjoy!
Inukashi remembered meeting Nezumi for the first time. It had been a very memorable event, abount three years ago. Most homeless people had a code, almost like samurai. You did not harm others or beg. Begging was for pretenders. Real homeless people fell into two were looking for jobs, were in school, or were, in some way, trying to better themselves, or the street was their home, and they had no desire to change. Those that stood in the dark allies between buildings begging for money like dogs at the dinner table weren't really homeless. They were just lazy.
Inukashi was homeless, but Inukashi also had pride. Too much of it, perhaps. School or work didn't fit right in the world Inukashi had always known. Sure, odd jobs or barter were fine, but...putting on a suit? Filling out applications? Kowtowing to some asshole who didn't know shit? Not right. Stealing had always been preferable, especially when the dogs complained of hunger. Inukashi could suffer through not eating for a day or two, but the dogs? They were the one soft spot Inukashi's heart had. They had to be fed.
At the time they had collided, Eve had only just started to be a known name in Shinjuku. At the time, he hadn't even been known as Eve, the name itself had come along later, though Inukashi had no idea whether Nezumi had given it to himself, or if someone else had uttered it first. All Inukashi knew was that there were rumors of a beautiful Voice that stood on a particular corner in the downtown three days a week. This Voice sung all day. The Voice earned a fair amount of yen every day too.
The dogs had been starving, almost to the point of losing their rational, loving minds. They needed to be fed, and Inukashi would feed them, one way or another. The Voice had seemed like an easy target. Someone who could sing probably wouldn't be very proficient at defending what was theirs, and so they had snuck up on this Voice one day. It truly had been a lovely song, sung by the loveliest of voices and accompanied by the most beautiful of faces. Easy pickings, Inukashi had been sure. Such a face had never really known a day of pain. This Voice was probably just some brat who had run away from home after being denied the latest toy. What a joke.
They had waited until the sun had started to set and the boy, for while beautiful, the Voice had definitely been a guy, had begun to zip up his backpack. That was when Inukashi had released the dogs. With the yen that boy had made, they could live well for a week, all of them, but it was not to be that simple. Inukashi had thought that the boy would be easy, so easy that he'd probably run at the very sight of a dog lunging at him, but that had been incorrect. As though he had known that they were there all along the boy had pivoted and kicked the first dog into a wall where it had slumped to the ground in a heap. The second sunk its teeth into his thick jacket, only to be violently thrown off a second later. The third almost met a knife. Almost.
"Call them off."
That Voice which had held such beauty and warmth was now as cold as the winter night. There had been no choice. Above all else, Inukashi wanted to survive. Starving would take a while, but those haunting gray eyes held a much quicker death for those that did not obey. At his command the dogs had skulked off, all growling and looking at the Voice with contempt. The boy ignored these looks and simply finished zipping his bag. "You wanted this, didn't you?" Inukashi had made no move to nod or say yes, but something gave it away. Perhaps it had been the way Inukashi had gazed at it hungrily.
"Take it."
At first the words had not registered. "Take it?" What did the boy mean by that? But then the bag had been lightly tossed at Inukashi's feet and there was no mistaking the meaning. The Voice had simply given him his entire day's earnings, as though money meant nothing. "Why?"
The boy had smirked. "It's not for free. Nothing is free. Someday, I will want a favor in return."
This was that favor, or at least half of it was. Half of it was another gift; the gift of survival. At first, Inukashi had laughed at Nezumi for suggesting things like earthquakes, train wrecks, and demons, but the more thought that Inukashi gave to it, the more the nagging thought of 'What if' tugged at the brain. What if Nezumi wasn't just finally jumping off the deep end? What if Nezumi was right, and saying no got Inukashi killed in the long run? What if what Nezumi offered was the best chance of survival?
For saying yes, Inukashi had been given a phone, not a mod like Nezumi's, but it was workable, and it had the apparently necessary summoning app. In return, all Nezumi now wanted was for Inukashi to make sure that this weird kid, Shion, stayed alive for seven days, including yesterday. So far, so good, although the sun wasn't quiet yet up.
A huge grin slowly made its way across Inukashi's face. Nezumi had never seemed like the type of guy to sleep soundly. The emotion he showed was always false, and most of the time he showed no emotion at all, choosing to be cold and aloof. All homeless people dealt with the world in their own way, and that had always been Nezumi's, yet the older teenager was suspicious, he never trusted anyone, or anything. Someone who trusted in nothing couldn't be a heavy sleeper, yet Inukashi was watching as Nezumi lay next to Shion, sound asleep. Was it possible...?
Inukashi rose to his feet, carefully taking a couple steps toward the two boys. It was true that Nezumi had prevented them from starving three years ago, but there was plenty that Inukashi would love to pay the little rodent back for...
"Don't even think it." It was whispered, but firm, and it was definitely Nezumi's voice.
Inukashi had almost forgotten how well he could pretend to be anything he wanted.
A few minutes later Shion shifted, waking up, and then sitting up, his hair shining pink and orange in the morning light. It wasn't quite white, Inukashi decided, but almost transparent, catching the light like that. It didn't matter. Whatever it was, it was weird, and that made sense, considering Shion was somehow connected to Nezumi. Nezumi didn't do normal.
"Good morning, Inukashi."
Inukashi raised an eyebrow. Morning greetings were not a normal part of a homeless person's schedule, and while Inukashi didn't know much about disasters, morning greetings were probably not high on the list of what-to-dos during those either. "Morning."
"Did you sleep well?"
It wasn't just greeting. It was full blown pleasantries and small talk! What the hell was wrong with this kid?! "I slept fine." In truth Inukashi had been missing the dogs, their warmth, and safety, but Shion didn't need to know that.
"I'm glad." The little bastard had the nerve to smile like everything was all right. How was Nezumi going to put up with this? This boy was the epitome of everything that Nezumi seemed to hate.
Between them, Rikiga snored, and after a particularly loud snore Nezumi snapped upright. "How is anyone supposed to sleep with all this noise?" The singer asked groggily, though Inukashi was almost certain that one hundred percent of that grogginess was put on. Slowly, Nezumi slid back under his and Shion's combined blankets, mumbling what sounded oddly like, "It's enough to wake the dead."
Shion turned that blinding smile down at the other boy. "Good morning, Nezumi."
"Yeah. Whatever. Good morning." If possible, Shion's smile grew even bigger, but they sat in relative silence, waiting for Rikiga to wake up and for the park goons to pass out the morning rations.
Said rations ended up being a granola bar for each of them. Inukashi and Nezumi left theirs unopened, placing them quickly within Inukashi's backpack, the very one that Nezumi had tossed, full of yen, all those years ago. "Why aren't you eating?" Shion asked, pausing before he opened his own. Rikiga had only woken up moments before the breakfast's arrival, and yet he was already in the middle of his own.
Nezumi and Inukashi exchanged a look, and with the smallest of nods from Nezumi, Inukashi decided to answer the boy's question this time. "This is probably the last food they'll give us. We should save it."
Nezumi snorted, "And we're both used to not eating three squares a day, unlike little princes and old men."
Rikiga sighed in exasperation. "I once thought you had manners, Eve."
In return, Nezumi laughed softly. "Having and using are two completely different things."
Inukashi ignored their bickering, such as it was. Rikiga was the type of man who liked to think he was in control and had the last word. Nezumi was the type of boy who really was in control and had the last word. Always. It was almost disgusting, the way Nezumi didn't even have to try.
"Here." Inukashi looked up to see Shion holding out his own ration. "I'll save it."
"Yeah?"
The white haired weirdo nodded as his granola bar was taken, only to be shoved into Nezumi's old backpack. "Nezumi is right. We can't be sure that we'll get more food. I can skip breakfast."
'What about lunch and dinner?' Inukashi thought as the boy moved away from him. He didn't seem overindulgent, he was thin, though obviously well fed, by how his hair and skin looked healthy. He was probably right, breakfast probably wasn't a big deal, but later? Shion was by no means homeless, and was by no means a survivor. How would he cope? How long until he broke down? Inukashi was betting it wouldn't be long.
"Nezumi."
Upon hearing Shion's voice, Nezumi turned away from his banter with Rikiga, dismissing it with a callous wave of one hand, "What is it?"
The white haired boy paused, and Inukashi knew that he was about to say something Nezumi would not like. "My mother."
"She's dead."
"Nezumi!"
"Forget about her!" The graceful teenager continued as Shion went to open his mouth. "I'm serious! You two still live up in Nerima, right?!" A nod was his response. "Nerima was hit hard. I know it was."
"She might be alive. She works in Toshima."
"Hmph." Nezumi turned his face away from Shion. Another graceful movement, Inukashi thought. "Even if she were, as her son, she'd want you to worry about your own survival, right?"
"I...guess." Shion conceded.
"Then do that. You can't get to Nerima anymore anyway."
"I can't just forget about her. I have to try."
Inukashi watched the two talking like schoolgirls watched the jumbo-trons on skyscrapers. Nezumi was not the type of person to get worked up like this. He was cool and collected, always dealing with things in short order. He wasn't exactly angry right now, Inukashi would call it more frustrated, but the brick wall that he normally was wasn't there. Even though it was in small doses, Nezumi was currently wearing his heart on his sleeve.
Inukashi smirked. First Nezumi had given Shion his phone, and now he was actually arguing with him. What would be next?
Nezumi shook his head. "You know what? Fine. If you're so desperate to find out, I'll let you."
That was most unlike him. Giving in? Never. Inukashi's smirk deepened. This could be used later on. Inukashi wouldn't forget.
"Inukashi. Rikiga."
"Ah?"
"What?"
The singer pointed at Shion, but his eyes stared at them with determination. "The little prince wants to get to Nerima. Get a car, try to take him there."
Shion reached out and grabbed the wrist closest to him. He pulled on it lightly, drawing Nezumi's eyes back to him. "You're not coming?"
"I have somewhere better to be. I do apologize for not being able to personally attend to all of His Majesty's wishes though. Don't worry; we'll meet up again for afternoon tea." With that, Nezumi snatched his wrist away from Shion, and Inukashi frowned. Shion revealed a bit of weakness in Nezumi, but if he was able to be that sarcastic, maybe it wasn't enough of a point to exploit...
Rikiga interrupted Inukashi's thoughts. "Excuse me."
"Yes?"
"You said 'get a car.'"
"Why yes, so I did."
"You make that sound like you can just sit in any car and it will work for you. Without a key."
Nezumi's eyes grew wide. For the briefest of moments, Inukashi thought that it was genuine surprise, but when Nezumi placed a hand against his chest dramatically, Inukashi knew it to be put on. "We don't have any keys to any cars? What a conundrum. However will we get past that?"
"You could hot-wire it." All eyes turned on Shion, who simply shrugged. "It's not very legal, but it can be done."
Nezumi nodded approvingly in the other boy's direction. "Got it in one, Shion. Any car used will have to be hot-wired. Legality doesn't matter. They can't very well arrest anyone with Tokyo in this state. A hot-wired car is really the least of anyone's worries. Any more questions?"
"Yes." Nezumi waved Inukashi's question on.
"How do you hot-wire a car?"
Nezumi threw his hands in the air, his eyes similarly rolling up toward the heavens in exasperation. "I expected better of you, Inukashi! Come! I will show you all how to hot-wire a car!"
Inukashi huffed. Today was going feel like much more than twenty-four hours.
Truth be told, Nezumi did not like leaving Shion alone with Inukashi and Rikiga, but that was what they were here for. He had always known that there would be times when he could not be nearby to protect Shion, and now was one of those times.
Despite the fight he had put up about it, Nezumi was glad that Shion had wanted to do something that had completely clashed with his own plans. He'd needed the excuse to slip away and not take any of the other three with him. Still. Still. He sighed, his legs slowing to a stop, his chest heaving. He did not like leaving him alone with them.
Slowly, almost lethargically, Nezumi leaned back against a brick building and took stock of the area around him. He had run all the way from Shibuya to the middle of Minato ( not an easy feat, even for a sprinter in as good of shape as he was ) and he still wasn't at his destination yet. It didn't look like Minato had been hit as hard as Shibuya, and definitely not as hard as other border ku, like Nerima. The only real sign of destruction was the sheer amount of abandoned cars littering the streets.
Perhaps, Nezumi mused, Minato had even been spared the onslaught of demons thus far. If so, it wouldn't last. In the end, all of Tokyo would fall to the demons. It was only the beginning of the second day yet. Minato would fall soon enough.
"Cheep - Cheep!"
Nezumi nodded at the gray one's message. It was true, he couldn't stand around forever. It would invite trouble his way. He had to get moving again. With one last deep breath he stood up again and began to run once more. He moved a little slowly at first, but soon began to pick up speed until he could smell the water and see the Rainbow Bridge, then he slowed to a walk.
As he walked he moved each of his three friends into the pockets of his jacket, giving each of them a cracker as he did so. That would keep the small nezumi quiet for a little while. He needed them to be quiet, and he needed full access to his superfibre.
About a block away from his destination, Nezumi crouched down and ran from building to building, making sure that nothing saw him as he went. He knew what he was looking for, but he didn't want what he was looking for to see him before he wanted them to.
In the deathly quiet around him, Nezumi heard them before he saw them. The rest of the city was panicking, hiding inside what structurally sound buildings were left, cowering behind the little rations and semblances of normal life that were left, semblances that would be gone in a couple of days, but here Nezumi heard laughter. It caused a tick of hatred to rise up in him. People were in pain, people were dying, yet here was laughter, raucous laughter no less. The kind of laughter that came from people who had nothing to fear.
Nezumi would put a stop to that.
It sounded like the nearest of them was a little far away, but if he tried...yes. He was sure he could manage the shot. Carefully, Nezumi chose the most balanced of his knives, tested it in his hand, feeling the familiar, cool sensation of tempered steel through his gloves, and then he moved.
Nezumi didn't aim, he trusted his instincts, after all, his instincts had kept him alive this long. He drew the blade back and released it. It flew through the air and found its home deep in a soldier's chest. Nezumi didn't wait for the soldier to fall, but instead swept the superfibre off his shoulders and crouched down again, covering himself with it. He heard bullets bounce off its taut surface and he smirked to himself. His ratty old cloth was much more effective than their shiny new Kevlar. His cloth could take bullets, no problem, and their equipment couldn't even take one of his secondhand knives. That was good to know.
Soon the bullets stopped, the soldiers apparently becoming wise to the fact that they were wasting ammunition, and Nezumi sprung into action again. He dashed forward in the proper zig zagging motion that prevented him from being hit by a stray shot and once he was within arm's reach he grabbed one of the men, pulled him close, close enough so that the man could feel the second of Nezumi's knives pressing dangerously close to his ribs. "You will get them to stop," Nezumi whispered into the man's ear. "Or I will stop your heart."
The man nodded his nervous understanding of his situation and shouted some garbled mess of orders in English. Nezumi snorted. If English was the best code they had, the world really was going to Hell in a hand basket. It wasn't even good English. If they were going to use it, they could at least have the grace to use it well.
Nezumi waited mere moments before his captive turned back to him and nodded. "They will back down. Let me go."
"Let you go? Why would I ever do that?" As though he didn't know that the moment he let go they'd start shooting again. How stupid did they think he was? He had to establish the pecking order before he could release the man. "I want my questions answered first."
"Q-questions?"
"Yes. First: Is the parameter complete?"
"Parameter?"
"Yes. The parameter. Stop repeating what I say. It's annoying."
"How do you know about the parameter?"
Nezumi was really starting to lose his patience now. He pressed the blade of his knife a little tighter against the padding and felt it give way a little bit. "I don't answer your questions. Start answering mine."
There was a pause during which Nezumi could swear that he could hear the soldier mentally breaking down inside. A civilian knowing about the parameter? Unthinkable! Civilians are just ignorant little pricks! The military was the one with real power! He wondered how long it would take his brainwashed little mind to figure out that with each second that passed Nezumi's knife got closer and closer to his skin. If he waited much longer, he'd need stitches.
"It's complete!"
Nezumi relaxed his hold a little. One question down. "Good. Now. How much do you know about the plan?"
"The plan?"
Nezumi grit his teeth. There he went again repeating what Nezumi said. He really hated little goons like this. They were all muscle, no brain. "Don't play dumb with me. You're here. You at least know the basics."
"I don't-"
"It's all right." Nezumi shifted his eyes very slightly to his left. Another soldier was approaching, his arms showed that he was of a higher rank than the man he had a hold of, and his voice spoke of a higher intelligence too. "You must be the Voice."
Nezumi smirked, "You might very well be correct."
The high ranking soldier nodded. "We were told you might contact us." The man waved his hand a little bit. "Didn't tell us you'd kill one of us first though."
Nezumi shrugged and released the soldier he'd been holding captive. If even one of them could grasp at the basics of who he was; then they all now knew what a bad idea it would bad idea to try to kill him. "Your behavior irked me. I decided to fix it."
"And killing one of us fixed it?"
Nezumi smiled a deceptively gentle smile as he nodded, "None of you are laughing anymore." The smile faded away even more quickly than it had appeared. "You're here to keep the parameter. This isn't a holiday. You will kill, and," Nezumi gestured to the man who lay with his knife still sticking out of his chest, "You will be killed. Is that understood?" Nezumi glanced over all the men that had been laughing so jovially a couple minutes before. A knife and a cloth had outwitted them all. He doubted any of them would quickly forget that. What was more was that they seemed to only be equipped with guns and a weak sandbag/barbed wire wall. That wouldn't keep the demons in, but then, Nezumi was pretty sure they were only tasked with keeping humans in.
"What do you want?"
Nezumi took in a deep breath. "I want to know one thing and one thing only: Has anything changed?"
The leader frowned. "Changed? Changed how?"
"In any way. I've not been contacted in a while. Sometimes the rules change when you're out of the loop."
The leader shrugged. "It's the same as far as I know. One week. No one escapes."
"Nothing was said about after Day Seven?"
"No. Why? What happens after Day Seven?"
Nezumi laughed once. "You weren't told?" He received a negative. "I won't tell you then." It was probably better that they didn't know. Where knowing made Nezumi excited, anyone else knowing would only serve to make them worry. A soldier wracked with worry was worse than useless. "I'll only say that I may come back on Day Seven."
"What will happen if you return?" The leader raised an eyebrow.
With another shrug, Nezumi turned and, with a somewhat unnecessary flourish he pried the knife from the dead soldier's chest. It needed to be cleaned, but that could be done on his way back to Shion and the other two. They ought to be done with their search for Nerima by now, and it was quite a run all the back to Shibuya. He really did need to get going. It had been a short exchange, but it had given him all he needed.
"Well?"
Ah yes, he hadn't answered the man's question, had he? He didn't have to, it would even perhaps be cruel or counterproductive to do so, but as he stared at the sharpened edges of his knife Nezumi thought about humanity - about how much he hated it, and he smiled again. "If I come back, I will kill you all."
Nezumi had been right. Getting to Nerima had been impossible. Shion supposed it might have been possible to climb over the mountains of vehicles and rubble that blocked them at every turn once they got north of the normally busier parts of Shibuya, but there were telltale claw marks on various parts of these piles. Shion was no expert, but he thought those marks said that these barricades had not just fallen there during the earthquake, but had been very specifically placed by demons.
The demons didn't want them going into Nerima.
Shion had hung his head a little bit as they had made their way back to their starting point. They had hot-wired a car and abandoned Nezumi on his solitary mission for nothing. It made him feel guilty, and it also made him worry. What if Nezumi was right about his mother too? What if she were already dead? In his mind, Shion knew that if she were already dead there was nothing he could do, but the problem still poked at his mind. And what about Nezumi himself? Shion was clutching his phone, his protection. Nezumi said that he could protect himself, but what if that had just been bravado? What if he had died trying to get to his destination alone?
So many worried wandered through his mind, and there was nothing he could do about any of them.
"Don't worry about Karan, Shion. I'm sure she's fine."
"Hm?" Shion looked up from his lap, from Nezumi's phone to Rikiga as he drove. "How do you know my mother's name?"
"Ah. Well." Rikiga coughed into his hand nervously, his beady eyes shifting from the road to Shion and back again. "You see..."
"Do you know her?" It was possible. His mother met many people in her occupation. Shion had been told many stories, but he knew that he probably hadn't even really heard half of them. The culinary world was one that just kept on growing at an alarming speed.
"No...not really, but I'm a fan."
"Really?" Rikiga nodded, and Shion smiled. This was the age of celebrity chefs. His mother had never really reached that stage, it wasn't like she had her own show, but he had always known that she was well known and respected. "I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that."
"You really think so?"
Shion nodded. He knew his mother and she would be thrilled to know that someone liked her food so much. She would probably want to know their favorite dish so that she could perfect it in her own way. The thought made him smile. She was strong like that. Being liked would only make her want to improve. Maybe Rikiga was right. Maybe his mother really was okay.
"Hey! Can you two stop gushing and keep your eyes on the road?!" Inukashi's voice grated in Shion's ears as the child screeched out the irritated order, and Shion smiled as Inukashi flopped back into the backseat, grumbling about crashing and idiots. Shion didn't think Inukashi was a mean person, but instead thought that underneath that crass exterior was a focused, but kind person, hidden by the events occurring around them.
"Sorry."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Shion almost chuckled as he began to hear more of Inukashi's muttering emanating from the backseat. He couldn't blame Inukashi, he didn't want to crash either, but it was almost refreshing, the way that Inukashi seemed to have no filter at all, and held nothing back.
For Inukashi's sake Shion remained quiet for the rest of the trip back to their meeting spot, only trying to figure out the phone that Nezumi had given him. His lifeline. If you left out the Demon Summoning App, it looked like a normal phone, it could make calls and text, and Shion assumed it could play music and upload other apps as well, but Shion didn't go digging into those files, they were solely Nezumi's, and though he wanted to know everything about Nezumi, he didn't want to make him angry by looking in his diary, so to speak.
The more he studied the Demon Summoning App, the more simple it seemed. The cool female voice would guide you through all the basics, choosing, buying, fusing, trading demons. Nezumi already had quite a reserve of demons to choose from. Almost all of them were humanoid in shape, and none of them looked very menacing or evil. Shion had briefly wondered if this was coincidence, or if this was on purpose, but had then decided it was probably done on purpose. Nezumi seemed methodical, if not entirely organized, so there was probably a very logical reason as to why all his demons seemed nonthreatening.
Shion looked up as the car began to slow down. They were almost back to their starting point, and Shion began to look around for Nezumi, his heart leaping into his throat. What if Nezumi was hurt? What if he'd been killed without his phone? He'd been thinking these thoughts not long ago, yet they screamed just as loudly as they had originally, only dying down when Shion saw the other boy uninjured. He breathed. Good. Then whatever Nezumi had needed to do hadn't been dangerous. He could relax.
"My dog."
Shion turned a little to look at Inukashi. The child had his face glued to the window, and when Shion looked toward Nezumi again he did notice the dog sitting at his feet, and Nezumi knew it was there too, because his gloved fingers were absently scratching it behind the ears. Shion smiled. Nezumi acted cold and cruel, but the way he treated animals said otherwise. Only a person who was filled with kindness was good to animals. That was what Shion believed. Inukashi apparently did not feel the same way. "That asshole has my dog!"
The instant the car came to a halt Inukashi burst out of it, bounding headlong toward Nezumi. "Bastard! You better not have done anything to my dog!"
Shion watched as Nezumi smirked and then shrugged. The dog beside him had already left his side and was making its way over to Inukashi, tail wagging incessantly. "I don't know what your problem is, Inukashi. I was only answering its humble request for pets. There was nothing to get worked up about."
"Like hell," Shion heard Inukashi mumble, and the child hugged the dog to him. Though Shion could not see Inukashi's face, he was sure it was turned into a distrustful glare. Nezumi's response was to shrug again.
"I don't care if you believe me or not. The others are nearby as well. It looks like they all survived the night. Good job, Inukashi, you trained them well." There was a condescending tone to his compliment that was not lost on Inukashi, but that wasn't at all what Shion latched onto. Dogs. Inukashi really had dogs, like Nezumi had his "friends." Inukashi wasn't just a random title, he really did keep dogs. It was...cute.
"Anyway," Nezumi continued after allowing Inukashi a modicum of time to insult him as he pleased, "We're going to be splitting up again."
"So soon?" Shion really wasn't sure he liked that idea. The old saying said that there was safety in numbers, and four was a small enough group.
"Yeah," that beautiful gaze turned on him. "You'll be with me, and Inukashi will stick with the old man."
"Where are we going?"
"That's the wrong question, Little Prince. The proper question is: 'What will we be doing?' The answer is that we will be scavenging."
From his spot on the ground with his dog, Inukashi grinned. "Now you're talking."
"I thought you might like that idea." Nezumi smirked. "I figure it's been long enough that we won't get caught by too many displeased shopkeepers, but there will still be some good things left to take."
"Isn't that wrong?" Shion had to frown. The car had been one thing. No one was using them right now, and they had practically returned it to the spot it had been taken. He assumed that Nezumi intended for them to steal things like food, things that could not be returned.
"You don't get it." Shion saw Inukashi shake his head. "I didn't think you would."
"It's a dog eat dog world," Nezumi said, his smirk widening a little at the little dig the comment implied toward the child. "Now more than ever before. You do what it takes to survive. If that means steal, you steal. If that means fight, you fight." The smirk disappeared and the young man's gray eyes looked at Shion with the utmost seriousness. "If that means kill, you kill."
Shion couldn't quite wrap his mind around that. It went against what he'd been taught all his life. He'd always been taught that you could do whatever you pleased, so long as you harmed no one. Stealing harmed those that had honestly paid for the goods. Fighting and killing...those were concepts that were completely foreign to him, yet, when he closed his eyes he remembered the creatures from yesterday. He remembered how close they had come to killing him, and how they would have killed him if Nezumi had not come for him. Nezumi was right again, it was dog eat dog, and, "I want to survive."
Nezumi smiled gently. "Good. Then you understand." The graceful young man held out a hand in beckoning, and Shion walked toward him as though entranced. In truth, Shion did feel entranced. He wanted to be near Nezumi, he wanted to know more about him. Where had he come from? What had he been doing these last four years? There were so many questions, yet it felt like they had so little time. With a little bit of hesitation, Shion placed his hand in the other boy's outstretched one. Nezumi's smile grew a little wider and his fingers curled around Shion's plam, trapping it in his grasp.
"We'll head out toward Shinjuku." Shion looked toward Rikiga, who nodded firmly at his own statement. "There's probably still a lot of good stuff in that direction." The man's nose twitched, and for a moment Shion wondered if he thought he could smell the goods waiting for them there.
"That's a good idea," Nezumi agreed. "Take the car. You should be able to get all the dogs in it now."
"What?" The older man blanched at the thought. "All of Inukashi's mutts?!"
"Yeah," Nezumi gave a short laugh. "You're insane if you think he's leaving them behind again. We'll meet up here again in a couple of hours. All right?" The slightly taller boy looked toward both Inukashi and Rikiga, both of whom nodded at him, and, with their compliance assured, he tugged on Shion's hand, and they began to walk away from the other two.
Before very long, Nezumi released Shion's hand, and he brought it up to his chest, gently massaging it with his fingers. Nezumi's grip was like a vice. The other boy was thin, but very strong, stronger than Shion could ever hope to be.
For a little while, Shion trotted along after Nezumi, watching him walk ahead of him. Thin, Shion thought again. His cheekbones betrayed the fact that Nezumi did not eat well, they were high and the lack of fat in his face only accentuated them, but it didn't detract from his beauty, far from it, it only made him more beautiful to behold. He was beautiful and androgynous, to look at him only from his face you could not tell what gender he was. His voice defined him, but as Shion watched him from behind he saw that the width of his shoulders gave it away too, if you looked for it. His gait was male too, with his hands stuffed in his pockets, shoulders back. He practically oozed confidence.
Shion smiled, no matter which angle you looked at him from, Nezumi was beautiful. Dirt, malnutrition, and lackluster clothing could not hide it.
As though he could hear his thoughts, Nezumi chose that precise moment to look behind him. His thin lips turned downward in a frown, and his gray eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What are you grinning at?"
Shion only shook his head. His train of thought was superfluous, and he knew it. Nezumi was serious and down to Earth. Things like physical appearance probably meant very little to him. He didn't need to be told how silly his thoughts were, especially at a time like this. "It's nothing."
Nezumi huffed, and as he turned away, Shion was sure he heard him mutter the word "weird." Shion's grin grew wider. That word, it was so nostalgic. "Nezumi-" He began to ask a question, but both his voice and his line of thought was lost as the sound of crying reached his ears. All other thought left him, and all he could think of was helping this person.
As it turned out, the person, a woman, wasn't far away. Her small, hunched figure sat by the partially destroyed wall of what had been a storefront, her back facing them, shoulders heaving as she cried. His heart bled for her, how much she must be suffering to be crying with what seemed like such hopelessness. "Miss?" He reached out to gently shake her shoulder, to bring her back to reality.
"Shion! No!" With a shake of his head, Shion took a quick step back as the two sides of him conflicted. He felt a need to help her, and that seemed like the right thing to do, but he also trusted Nezumi, and Nezumi said no.
In the same instant that he stepped back, the woman lashed out at him, claws extending out of nowhere. They caught at his shirt, shedding upward, ruining his sweater and exposing the flesh underneath. The sobs became a snarl, and the petite woman he had been reaching out toward before was nowhere to be seen. In her place was a creature that might have been female, once, a long time ago. Flyaway hair and a hooked nose, along with bloodshot eyes that looked furiously between Shion and Nezumi.
"Did she get you?!" Nezumi's hand grasped at Shion's arm above the elbow, pulling him back to look at his ruined shirt, and the scar that lay beneath it. The woman-like creature advanced a pace, but Nezumi's head snapped up and he spoke in the same authoritative voice he had the day before. "Stay back! I warn you!"
Curiously, like the shadowy creatures from yesterday, the woman stepped back, the wickedness of her form receding a bit, and Shion found her more pleasant to look at, but the cackle that came from her lips served as a reminder of her real appearance. "Look at that scar! Like a snake winding the body! And you!" Her laughter became even more raucous as she nodded toward Nezumi. "Your beauty!" Shion's eyes grew wide as the woman voiced the very thing that he had found himself analyzing only moments before, but she wasn't finished. "Is it? I think it must be!" The demon ( for it could only be a demon, Shion realized ) brought a gnarled hand up to her lips as she continued to laugh in a knowing way.
"What?" His curiosity spoke for him before his brain could filter it. What was she talking about? He wanted to know.
"Eve, and her Temptation."
The grip on Shion's arm became tighter, almost painful, but Nezumi snorted. "Is that so?"
"What?" Shion didn't understand. What was meant by that statement?
"In the bible," Nezumi briefly explained. "Eve is the first woman, created from one of Adam's ribs. They lived happily in what was called Eden, until a serpent came along and tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit. Our friend here suggests that I am the reincarnation of Eve, and you are the serpent." A quick bark of laughter. "Such a preposterous thought!"
It did seem like a silly thing, but then the entirety of religion had never made much sense to Shion, and, until yesterday, he would have never thought that things like demons existed, yet there they were, looking one in the face as it seemed to be held at bay by nothing more than the command of Nezumi's voice. Not only that, but Nezumi was called Eve. Rikiga called refused to call him anything but, and Shion did have that scar running all along his body. What if it were true? What if they were Eve and the Serpent? If demons could exist, why couldn't something like reincarnation?
"How does it feel?" she taunted Nezumi, "To be stuck in a man's body?"
The grip on Shion's arm slackened a bit, and for a second, Shion thought the demon had struck home with her words, but as the fingers slipped away Shion realized he was sliding one of his knives from its holding spot. "I'll leave you with this thought; if I were the reincarnation of Eve, why would I bemoan being a man? She was created from a man's rib bone. By that thought, Eve was always a man, just in a different shape." Shion saw Nezumi's hand flick over his shoulder and the demon gagged, the knife protruding from its throat. Obviously, Nezumi had grown tired of their conversation.
As Nezumi stepped forward and pried the knife from the creature's throat Shion expected blood, but instead the woman simply drifted away into dust and ash. Shion remembered that the demon yesterday had done that too. It meant something, Shion was sure of it, but what?
"Shion."
"Yes?"
"Your phone."
"Ah, yes." Shion lowered his eyes, a little abashed. "I know, I should have used it-"
"No. Now."
"Huh?"
"Use it now." Shion looked up at Nezumi, and then followed his gaze. The woman-like demon had not been the only one. There were others creeping closer now. Had it been an elaborate trap all along? Instinctively, his hand fumbled around in his pocket for Nezumi's modified phone, and his fingers almost dropped it as he hastened to use it, but as the demons ( more animal like in appearance this time ) slinked closer, he managed to turn it on without breaking it.
"What is your request?" The phone's cool female voice asked, and Shion took in a deep breath. This wasn't like yesterday. Today, he knew exactly what he was asking for.
"Summon Oberon."
"That's an interesting choice," Nezumi murmured beside him, but the phone didn't argue, and out of the screen came a small orb of light that materialized as...a fairy. Shion supposed that made sense, that was what the application said Oberon was, but he hadn't expected what looked like a winged, fully grown man that was only the size of a fashion doll. Still. That was what he'd gotten, and that was what he'd deal with.
Oberon's eyes flitted from Shion, the one who held the phone, to Nezumi, whom Shion assumed was the one Oberon was expecting to see. After a precious second or two of this confusion, Shion saw Nezumi jerk his head toward him, and the fairy bowed gracefully in midair. "A pleasure to meet you. How may I serve?" Oberon's voice was high, yet distinctly masculine, and that somehow made Shion more confident that he had made the right choice.
"We're about to be attacked. I'd like to not get killed."
"Ah," the fairy glanced over his shoulder as though this were a light matter and nodded. "Consider it done, young master." With that, the small man flew off and, without any hesitation, attacked the oncoming creatures with a sword that was no bigger than a toothpick. Shion watched with amazement for a few moments before he turned to Nezumi.
"What should I do now?"
"Wait for him to either succeed or fail." The graceful young man shrugged nonchalantly, though his eyes gave away some feeling of tension. "I'm not too worried about Oberon though. He's small, but very capable."
"I can see that." It was true, he was nothing more than a fairy, but he had already brought down one of the three other creatures that had made their approach, not even waiting for it to turn into it's dust form before turning his blade onto the next. He watched as he darted up, down, and around, avoiding paws, claws, and teeth, only to make a lunge that struck home. Still, Shion worried, no matter how skilled the fairy was with his blade, he was small, and the creatures were big. Soon enough, his fears were confirmed, as one of the creatures, a lion-like being, raised itself up to snap at Oberon as he attacked the the other beast, and Shion knew the little fairy wouldn't be able to avoid it.
Nezumi moved. The lion roared and fell to one side, injured. Idly, Nezumi moved again, back into a more leisurely position. Shion squinted his eyes to see. One of Nezumi's knives stuck out of the creature's side. He suspected it was the same one he had used to catch the woman in the throat. "Aren't you ever worried that you're not going to get it back?" The question was out of his mouth before he could stop it. Throwing knives was a dangerous game. It wasn't like an arrow, or a bullet, where the projectile was meant to be left behind, yet a knife could be so easily lost...
"It's not the only one I have."
"Even so. That's a part of your lifeline." Shion remembered how Nezumi had applied the term to his phone yesterday. Lifeline. Without it he would die.
"Yes," Nezumi nodded. "You're right, and if it meant keeping myself alive, I would throw each and every one of them away and never look back, but," the other boy nodded in the direction of Oberon's fight. "That's not necessary."
It was true. The demons Oberon had been facing had all disintegrated to dust now, and the little fairy was returning to them, Nezumi's throwing knife held between his two tiny hands. "I believe this is yours," the small creature said, holding the weapon out to Nezumi, who grinned slyly, and took it with a thank you that Shion was sure he only half meant. He couldn't be sure, but Shion thought that the fairy sounded disgruntled, as though he were offended by having to be helped out in his fight. Pride. Shion shook his head a little bit. He couldn't understand that.
Oberon turned back to Shion once Nezumi had sheathed his knife, his eyes narrowed and serious. "Have I completed all the tasks you wish of me?"
At once, Shion opened his mouth to agree, but then paused and glanced at Nezumi. Maybe there were more demons in the area, but Nezumi nodded his head solemnly, and Shion took that to mean that they were safe, at least from demons. "Yes. You can return now."
"I am happy to be of service." The fairy bowed once more before he became an orb of light and disappeared back into the phone.
Once he was gone, Shion let out a breath that he felt like he'd been holding since the woman had shown her true colors. "Thank goodness you knew that she was a demon." Now that he thought back on it, if Nezumi hadn't called out to him, hadn't told him to back away, he would have been dead the moment she'd turned around. Her claws would have ripped into his skin and he would have bled out right there. It was more than a little frightening, now that he thought about it.
"I would have told you to stay away from her even if she had been human."
"What?" Shion's eyes grew wide as shock filled him. "Why?" He turned his head toward the taller boy, his heart unable to process that statement. They were all human, they had to stick together, didn't they?
"Because I know something you haven't learned yet."
"Yeah?" Shion's shock simmered down into anger. He felt like Nezumi was belittling him, and he didn't like that. "And what's that?"
"That humans are more abhorrent than any demon."
His anger melted away into shock and confusion, but only for a moment before that too melted away into something else; sadness. That was the difference in the lives they'd lived, Shion supposed. He knew that he had always lived well, never wanting for anything. How many nights had Nezumi gone to bed hungry, cold, and scared? How many days had he spent loathing the people who had everything he didn't and never stopped to lift a finger to help him? "So you hate humanity?"
"More than anything. They are a blight upon this earth."
Shion shuddered. They. He even spoke like he didn't belong to the human race, as though he were some sort of outsider looking in through the window of a family on a cold winter's day. If he even imagined for a moment the kind of life Nezumi led, Shion couldn't blame him for some form of hate, yet, Shion could not bring himself to agree with it. He wanted to say that, to confront Nezumi with their differences, yet at the same time he didn't want to widen the gap between them. He wanted to be closer to the other young man, not farther away. It was time to veer the conversation in another direction. "So how did you know she was a demon? I assume you knew." At the time, Nezumi's tone had been urgent, not the tone of hate that he would have had at simply being disgusted by another human's presence.
"I did know, because of this." Shion brought his eyes up to look at what Nezumi was trying to show him. It was a smartphone. Thin, rectangular, and a vibrant shade of pink, Shion knew that it was one of the latest models from America. Its screen was cracked almost beyond the point of anything behind it being visible, yet Shion could make out a few defining details that made the open app obvious. It was the Demon Summoning Application.
"Where's the phone's owner?"
"Dead." Nezumi took the already monstrously damaged phone and snapped it clean in half. Shoin wasn't surprised he could do it. Nezumi was strong, and those phones had been notoriously flimsy. "When you first open the Demon Summoning App, you have to fight the demon that comes out. You fight, you win, you live. You fight, you lose, you get eaten. The latter is obviously what happened here. After her death, the phone remained open, and more demons escaped, probably the very demons you just had Oberon defeat." The broken pieces of the phone fell to the ground with a clatter. "There's going to be a lot of this soon, and not just weaklings like the ones we've been seeing so far. We're going to have to do our best to survive."
Shion shuddered. He was glad that he hadn't had to fight a demon to get access to the app. He assumed that that was because the phone had been Nezumi's first. Nezumi had already defeated the demon that had appeared before him, so Shion hadn't had to fight at all. He was lucky, but there were going to be more demons, stronger ones. Shion tried to imagine demons that could be stronger than the ones they'd already been facing. All Shion could imagine was that he would die.
"I think I'm going to play a round of twenty questions now, if that sits all right with the Prince."
"Hm?" Nezumi had a question for him? Shion couldn't imagine what it could possibly be, but, "Ask away."
"This." In the blink of an eye, Nezumi's fingers reached out, and they pressed gently against Shion's chest, right along where he knew the long, snake-like scar ran. "When did you get this?"
"I..." Shion looked up into Nezumi's gray eyes, hard, void of any real curiosity. It was as though he already knew the answer, and he was only looking for it to be confirmed. "I woke up with it, the morning after we met. My hair too. It...just went white overnight. I don't know why." He keep his eyes locked on Nezumi's, and he watched as they softened just a little, and the other boy nodded.
"Why are you hiding it?"
"What do you mean?" Slowly, Shion broke the eye contact. Nezumi was difficult to look in the eye for very long, and the false confusion made it even harder. He knew exactly what Nezumi meant, he just didn't want to face it, like admitting that he hid the scar was saying that he was hiding his connection with Nezumi too, no matter how crazy that notion was.
"It makes you unique. You're weird, Shion, your hair and this scar prove it. You shouldn't be hiding it under sweaters and coats!" Nezumi's finger's lifted away from his scar, and then his hands fisted in his coat.
Shion braced himself, sure that Nezumi was going to shake him in anger or push him away, but instead the other boy brought him closer, and for the briefest of seconds, their lips touched. It was so quick that Shion found himself unsure if that had really been what had happened, yet it was Nezumi's face pulling away from him, his normally cold eyes full of pain. Pain. All the pain that Shion knew Nezumi kept under his steely exterior, for that one second, he saw it, and it made him want to pull their faces back together. Maybe if their lips kept touching he could take some of that pain away. Maybe he could make Nezumi smile or laugh. In that moment, it was all he wanted. To kiss, to laugh, but it was impossible. His hands wouldn't move.
"Don't hide it anymore. You should be proud of your oddity." Nezumi pressed the palm of one of his hands against Shion's chest, and this time, he did push Shion away, just lightly, a scolding shove. In the same motion Nezumi turned away, climbing up and over some of the rumble that barred their path. Shion watched him walk away for a moment, realizing for the first time that when Nezumi called him weird, it wasn't a muttered insult; it was a reluctant compliment.
Shion smiled to himself, feeling like he'd finally gotten to understand Nezumi a little better, and he took off after him.
Scavenging brought them to a department store that Shion knew by the building, rather than the name. They made their way through automatic doors that had already been pried open. Other people had already had Nezumi's idea. That worried Shion. It made it look as though society was falling apart faster than he'd thought.
"I want you," Nezumi said once they were inside, "to go looking by the cash registers. Take what food you can get your hands on, especially water, and even gum."
"Even gum?" Shion could understand water, clean water would soon be in short supply if this kept up, but gum?
"Yeah. Trust me, it has its uses, even if only minimally."
Shion nodded his understanding, "What about you?"
"I'm going deeper into the store. There's something else you three will be needing that we don't have. I should be back soon."
"Okay." Shion trusted him when he said that whatever it was that he was getting, it was something they needed. Nezumi obviously wasn't someone that was able to indulge very much, so really, it only made sense that he primarily thought of the essentials.
Scavenging the registers didn't take long. There wasn't any water left, but there was some soda, and a few of the fun little juices that came in the little packets. He took them all, thinking that Nezumi probably didn't care that it wasn't actually water, as long as it was liquid. There were also some candy bars left, the less popular ones, some mints, and indeed, gum. Shion stuffed it all into a plastic bag and tested its weight in his hand. It wasn't very sturdy, and it put him off balance.
"Maybe I can get a backpack..." he muttered to himself. It was probably possible. This was a department store, they seemed to have practically everything, if you could find it, and sure enough, a couple sections down was a display of various backpacks. Shion picked one that was less colorful, and as such less likely to draw the eye. While he was at it, he thought while plucking at his ruined shirt, he should probably grab a new sweater. It was a little disturbing that stealing was coming so easily to him, but the more he thought about it, the more he found that Nezumi was right ( it was starting to seem like Nezumi was always right, ) they needed to do whatever it took to survive what was happening right now. If society magically came back online, which seemed unlikely at this point, he could come back and pay for all that he'd taken, but he couldn't do anything if he died.
Lightly, feeling almost bored inside this huge building, Shion browsed the clothes section, and eventually settled on a sweater that exposed his neck, doing precisely what Nezumi told him, and not hiding his scar any longer. He pulled the old sweater off, pulled the new one on, and rolled his shoulders, testing the fit. It was a little loose, but that was probably a good thing. If it were too tight, he wouldn't be able to move very quickly, and Nezumi would probably leave him even more behind than he did now. It was probably impossible for Shion to actually keep up with Nezumi, but he wanted to try to keep as close behind him as possible.
Satisfied, he shrugged his coat back on over his shoulders and made his way back to the registers, fully expecting to be scolded by Nezumi for wandering off. Nezumi wasn't there. Shion frowned, where was he? His slight surprise quickly gave way to worry. What if he'd been attacked by demons in the store? It wasn't very likely, Nezumi was strong, and Shion was sure he would have heard it if something like that happened, yet the thought nagged at him relentlessly, and his feet took him away from the registers once more.
He wove his way through sections and aisles, checking every possible hidey hole for his missing companion. Minutes passed and Shion's worry began to grow greater and greater, until, finally, he found the other boy in the books and magazines. For all Shion's worry he was casually leaning against one of the magazine racks, an open book in one hand, and a small box in the other. "If you keep standing there with your mouth agape, you're going to get a stomach full of flies."
Shion frowned and took a closer to Nezumi. "Have you just been over here reading this entire time?"
"No, that would be rude." Nezumi finally looked up from his book, if only momentarily. "I found what I was looking for. Here," he offered him the small box, and Shion took it. "You can use it while I finish this act."
Inside the box was a item that looked a lot like a schoolroom pencil sharpener, but it had a USB cord attached to it. Frowning with curiosity, Shion held the item up above his head, as though a different angle would help him decipher what it was. It didn't help. "What is it?" He ventured at last, asking, even though he didn't want to be criticized by Nezumi for being dense or something like that.
"It's a handheld cellphone charger," he paused for the briefest of moments before adding, "It also functions as a flashlight, but I don't care about that."
"Really?" Nezumi nodded. "Wow." Truth be told, Shion hadn't even been aware such a thing existed, but Nezumi was once again right, this was certainly something they needed. He hadn't even thought about it, really, but it wouldn't be very long now before the phone Nezumi had given him would run out of juice. In fact, it would have already run out of battery power if he hadn't been keeping it on sleep most of the time. Nezumi certainly looked ahead, and Shion certainly couldn't complain about that.
He took out his phone, plugged the charger into it, and began to turn the crank. It was a little slow at first, but the charging signal came up and the phone began to take in power. Shion watched it in fascination for a couple of minutes, but the novelty of it began to wear off quickly, and, inevitably, his eyes were drawn back to Nezumi's lazily graceful form. The other boy had gone back to reading, though this time, Shion noticed that all three of his pet nezumi had poked their heads out of his scarf and glanced down at the book in the same way, as though they too could read the words on the page. "What are you reading?" It was a question that had nagged at the back of his mind since he'd come across Nezumi, though the cellphone charger had taken presidence until now.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream," Nezumi answered without so much as looking up. "I don't suppose you've heard of it."
Shion shook his head no. Shion read plenty, but most of what he read was about science, biology, medical knowledge, and foremost ecology. That was not a title that would have ever caught his eye before today. "What's it about?"
"Oh, a lot of things," Nezumi said in an almost bored way, tilting his head as he continued to read. "Love, arranged marriage, throw in some politics, and an absurd fight over a stolen baby."
"A stolen baby?"
"Oh yes. Stealing babies is quite a common practice among fairies." Nezumi turned a page, and Shion noticed that even that simple motion was full of grace and purpose. "Queen Titania was fighting with her husband, King Oberon, over what was going to happen to the child."
"Oberon?" That was the name of the fairy he'd summoned. "I...hadn't realized I'd summoned a king."
Nezumi smiled mischievously, and Shion knew he was going to pay for those words. "It's just as well that you didn't. You might have started bowing." There it was. He felt his cheeks heat up a little, though, a small part of him said that Nezumi was right. He might have. After all, didn't kings deserve deference?
Shion wrinkled his nose in thought. He hadn't known what Oberon was, but it was obvious that Nezumi had. After all, he'd come into the store and picked out the book straightaway. That wasn't the only thing that Nezumi knew about either. The more time they spent together, the more and more Shion found himself impressed by all the things that Nezumi knew about, particularly when it came to what was going on. He was impressed...but also puzzled. Why did Nezumi know?
"Can I ask you something?"
"You just did." Shion's faced flushed an even deeper shade, and he opened his mouth to give a retort, but Nezumi shook his head, cutting him off before the thought could even form. "Nevermind. Go ahead."
"How do you know so much? About the disaster, I mean..." As it seemed was often the case recently, the next few words popped out of his mouth without any thought at all. "Are you a demon?" The question tumbled out of his mouth before he'd even really given it proper thought, but it would make sense if it were true. He knew so much about demons, things that it didn't seem like anyone ought to know. Not only that, but he seemed to have powers sometimes, with his voice, keeping the other demons at bay, and this strength even, to be able to fight them on his own...to not need the phone like Shion, Inukashi, and Rikiga. Even more than that, he hated humans, and the way he spoke...like he wasn't one of them...
Shion watched for the other boy's reaction, and for a second, just a second, he thought he saw genuine surprise on his face. If it had been there at all, the surprise was gone before he could blink, and he was left staring at an expression he could not read. He waited for what seemed like an impossible amount of time, until, at last, Nezumi reached out and grabbed Shion's hand. Shion opened his mouth to protest, to say that he wasn't finished charging his phone, but it was a useless defense, he'd stopped turning the crank some time ago, though he wasn't sure exactly when.
"Here," Nezumi said, guiding Shion's hand and placing it firmly against his chest. "What do you feel?"
"You chest?" Was it a trick question? What was he supposed to feel?
The taller boy sighed, his eyes briefly closing in exasperation. "Thank you, Ser Obvious. What else?"
Shion furrowed his brow and tried to think. What else? There was the cloth of Nezumi's shirt beneath his fingertips, as well as the leather of his jacket, and he could feel Nezumi's fingers around his wrist, along with the leather that adorned them as well. Shion didn't think Nezumi meant for him to feel his clothing, or his hand. It was something else...and then what should have been obvious occurred to him. "Your heart." There it was, thumping against his own fingers. It was strong, and steady, a good sign.
"Yes." Nezumi released his grip, and Shion rubbed his wrist. Again, Nezumi was so skinny, but so strong. He was probably even stronger than he realized. "My heart."
"What does that have to do with my question?"
"Demons don't have hearts." Shion's eyes widened a bit. How could that be? They were all animal-like in composition. Surely they needed some sort of heart, or core, to keep them going. "Demons are like..." Nezumi sighed. "Illusions, almost. They come from the phone, they don't have hearts, they don't have souls. They aren't alive. In a sense, they aren't real."
"Real enough to kill. Real enough for some of them to have personalities."
Nezumi nodded. "Yes, all like a program on a computer, acting as they are told how to. Still, they do not to have hearts. I have a heart beating in my chest. This body is human." He didn't have any reason to believe him, no reason at all, but Shion did. He was still alive because of Nezumi. Nezumi would not lie to him like that. If Nezumi said his body was human, then that was the truth.
"I believe you."
"Good." Nezumi backed away from him. As he did, one of his little pets, the same brown one he'd seen in the restaurant the day before, scampered down his arm and hopped delicately onto Shion's.
"Cheep-Cheep!" It lifted its nose into the air as it squeaked, and Shion couldn't help but smile down at it. It was so adorable.
The little nezumi let Shion stroke its head with his finger, and even closed its eyes in contentment after a moment or two. "I think he likes me."
"They all like you. Don't ask me why."
"Why?"
Nezumi, who had just been about to lift his book back up, sighed in exasperation, the book slapping against his leg as he let his arms fall to his sides. "I just said-"
"No, why shouldn't I ask why?"
Nezumi lifted a suspicious eyebrow, but lifted the book back up, as though he were mollified. "Because I don't know."
"Ah." Shion supposed that was an acceptable answer, though it was something of a surprising one. Over the last day or so, he had come to think that Nezumi knew everything. It was logical that he didn't really know everything, but it was still somehow...humbling. There were things even Nezumi did not know.
As the taller of them went back to reading, a silence fell between them. It was neither comfortable or uncomfortable, but it allowed the space the silence left to be filled with question after question that popped into Shion's head. There were so many things he wanted to ask Nezumi. So many things he wanted to know, but in the end, one, almost inane, question stuck out more than the rest, and he could not hold it back. "So you like to read?"
"Yes."
Shion nodded. The answer to the question had been fairly obvious, but it did raise more questions. As a homeless person, Shion doubted that Nezumi went to school. Indeed, the other boy wasn't clean enough for it. Oh, he was certainly twice, or thrice as clean as Inukashi, who's oily hair seemed to hang limply wherever it was thrown, but his clothes, although of high quality, were worn and obviously old, and his haircut had obviously been done by his own hand, probably with one of his throwing knives. He was obviously not from a reputable home, not like Shion himself, or Safu, or anyone else Shion had ever gone to school with. So where had he learned to read? When? Had there been a time when Nezumi had gone to school? When he had been loved by parents? When he'd had a dog instead of little nezumi? A time when his name hadn't been a word?
He wanted to know, but he held himself back. Nezumi would scold him for asking, he knew it was true, and yet...Shion wanted to know more, no, he wanted to know everything, about Nezumi.
"What do you like to read?"
"Anything." The answer was lazy, and in turn, Nezumi lazily turned a page. It was a one word answer, but Shion found his eyes widening as though it had been a long, complex one. Anything? He had never met anyone who was interested in everything. It implied an intelligence that made Nezumi's situation even more saddening. People who liked to learn should be able to do it, without limit. That was what Shion believed.
For a second or two, Shion sat still, but slowly, he began to turn the crank on the phone charger again, "Will you read to me?" Nezumi did not answer him, and Shion looked up at his face again, to find the surprise that was showing in his expression. "Please?" Was it such a horrible request? Should he not have asked? He didn't like the silence, and he wanted to know what sorts of things Nezumi liked to read. It would also be a lie to say he wasn't a little curious about Oberon too. How did the stories portray him?
"All right..." Nezumi's tone held a touch of skepticism in it, but the other boy turned back a couple of pages, to what was apparently the start of that chapter...or act, Nezumi had called it an act. Nezumi drew in a breath, and then began to read. It wasn't easy. It was in play format, but Shion found himself smiling at the taller boy's timbre, the silkiness with which he read, and the surprising variations his voice took on for each character. He didn't really need to listen to the words. Nezumi's voice said it all. It could have been in a different language, and Shion felt like he would have understood.
After what seemed like only a couple of minutes, Nezumi snapped the book shut. "We should get back." Was it that late already? Shion blinked and realized that the light did seem dimmer. Maybe the sun was even setting. Then they really did have to get back.
Nezumi moved, and began to set the book on one of the shelves around them, "Don't," Nezumi paused at Shion's word. "Let's take it with us. More too. Books." Nezumi loved books. He should have something he loved with him. Maybe he'd smile more. Shion would like to see him smile. "You can read more to me tomorrow, maybe."
The other boy tilted his head, looking at him in that way that Shion now knew meant he was being judged as weird, even weirder, but then Nezumi nodded. "All right, your highness. We'll take some books with us. That'll put a bug up Inukashi's ass." Shion had to smile at that, it was true, Inukashi probably wouldn't be thrilled to be lugging around something like books, but...the distraction would be nice.
In the end, Nezumi picked out five books, all of them paperback, none of them alike. They were shoved into Shion's stolen bag, and then they began to head down toward the department store doors, where they'd head back to Rikiga and Inukashi.
Near the door, Shion stopped. A thought taking him. A moment later, Nezumi stopped too. "What is it?"
"Next time."
"Hm?" The questioning hum came from between his lips smoothly. "Next time?"
"Yes. Next time, I'll kiss you first, Nezumi."
"Ah," Nezumi laughed, once, a single ha, his head thrown back. "Is that how it's going to be?" He smirked, and Shion felt his face redden.
"You don't believe me, do you?"
Nezumi shook his head, but his words betrayed the motion. "No. Quite the opposite, little prince. I look forward to it."