Chapter 14: I Won't Forget You My Aster Flower*

Louder than the thunder itself, his cries carried over the storm, a wild mating call, howling to a far off lover. I climbed up the lattice, my left arm lying limp and useless to my side. Soaked through, tired, injured and afraid, I made my way to the top. There he was, a boy with honey colored eyes and brown hair, yelling into the storm. In one swift motion, I reached out and grabbed him by his neck. "Don't move!"

There was a look of shock behind those honey colored eyes, yet for one who had been attacked by a stranger, they gleamed with a fearless glow. "Grey colored eyes… I've never seen that color before." Was all he gave as a reply. He looked at my bleeding shoulder and continued, "I'll bandage you."

"Bandage? What do you know?" I snapped, only to be cut off by a woman's voice coming from a small speaker next to his bedroom door.

"Shion, did you open the window? Close it now or you'll catch a cold. Honestly, for one who just turned 12, you sure do act like a child." Still holding him by the collar, I glared at him with the most fierce face I could muster. The boy named Shion answered the woman calmly, as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

"I'll close the window, sorry mom." Shion pushed a few buttons on the speaker box and the windows in his room closed tightly, blocking the sound of the thunderous storm that still raged on outside. All the while, he never averted his gaze, staring into my silver-grey eyes. His fearlessness intrigued me. Where others would have immediately called the authorities or told their mother, this boy remained calm.

He shifted his eyes slightly and saw the wound on my left shoulder. "Is that a bullet wound!?"

"Yeah, I was grazed by it." I answered as I released my grip.

"No way! You mean there are people who use guns in No. 6!?" He responded with surprise and widened eyes.

"There are hunters and there are the hunted." I said in a half laugh, smirking slightly.

"I don't understand you…" He replied with a quizzical look. He was rummaging through a small white box he had gotten from under his bed. All of a sudden, he pulled out a large syringe.

"What the hell is that!?"

"I'm going to give you some local anesthesia and stitch up your wound. I know the basics, although I've only ever practiced on meat… You'll be the first human subject"

"Hey! I don't want to be your test subject!" I protested, but ultimately lost. Shion gave me the shot, which only stung for a few moments before my shoulder felt numb. Then he started to stitch me up. "You're a strange one, you haven't even asked for my name."

"Well, I'm Shion. What about you?"

"Nezumi."

"Nezumi? You mean your name is 'Rat'. It feels weird somehow…" He looked at me dreamily, as if he'd forgotten what he was doing for a second. I stared at him until he snapped back to it, blushing slightly. He exclaimed, "Stitching complete!" And put the needle and thread back into the white box and replaced it under his bed. Bed. I hadn't slept in a real bed in many years. Even in the forest, I had a cot that was far more comfortable than the concrete of my prison cell.

"This bed feels good," I said.

"I'll loan it to you." Then the boy exited the room. As soon as he left, I climbed up onto his bed and lay down on its soft, plush surface. I rolled onto my stomach and breathed in his scent from within the fibers of the blankets. I could feel his warmth lingering on the sheets. It was no wonder he was named after the Aster flower, for that was what his scent reminded me of: sweet and fragrant.

"VC103221", came Shion's voice as he approached me with a tray of food. "You're famous. It's plastered all over the tv."

"I'm way cooler than what they're showing." I said with a smirk, eating the stew. Real food. The richness of the flavors within overwhelmed my taste buds. It was the first time I had eaten anything other than gruel in years.

"But if you're a VC, you'll never be able to escape…" he trailed off, a genuine look of concern in his eyes.

"Ha! That's because you've been brainwashed. Everyone here thinks this city is perfect!"

"I don't think that. I don't think this city is perfect." He said as he stared straight into my eyes with a piercing look that took me off guard.

"You really are an idiot, aren't you!? You hide a VC like it's nothing. If they ever found out, the consequences would be dire!"

"Yeah… It would be…" Again, his words trailed off as he spoke, but he kept staring into my eyes, as if he forgot what was going on.

"AREN'T YOU LISTENING!?" I shouted, causing him to jump a bit. I let out a huge sigh. He wasn't getting anything I was saying. What a sheltered, brainless brat! After a moment's pause, he spoke again.

"Nezumi, how did you get into KRONOS?"

I stuck my head under the covers to hide my face. I couldn't tell him what I'd done. My past was too horrible, the guilt I felt was too great. I could never reveal such things to him… Never. Not this boy.

"It's a secret. Can you keep a secret? Keep it locked up and never tell a soul? Would you be able to forget everything and move on? Forget and never speak of it again?" His face scrunched into a confused frown. "That's what I thought. And anyway, I doubt you could keep my secret, but I'll make sure to keep yours. Nobody will ever know about you yelling like that."

His face blushed a bright red, making me want to tease him some more to see his reaction. "Yeah. You scared the hell out of me! Screaming like that. Like a beast howling at the moon!" Chuckling to myself.

"Shut up!" He attempted, blushing a deep red.

That face, that face full of innocence. It made me want to do things I'd never thought about before. The way he turned so red with embarrassment… I could hardly control myself. A sudden rush of adrenaline ran through me as I lunged at him from beneath the covers, pinning him on his back on the bed and holding the spoon from the stew to his neck.

"If this were a dagger, you'd be dead."

Once again, instead a face full of fear, I was looking down at one of surprise and intrigue.

"WOW! How'd you do that!? I'm completely immobilized! Which nerves did you suppress?"

At this point, I gave up on my scare tactics and flopped on top of him. This idiot boy, with his beautiful honey eyes and his fearlessness… He's a hopeless cause. There was no reasoning with him… He was just too strange for me to handle.

"You're so weird…" I said, feeling my fatigue starting to catch up to me.

"You have a slight fever, you should take some antibiotics…"

"No, I'm fine. No more needles and drug for me, I just need some sleep." I clung to his chest, nuzzling my face into it. "Humans are so warm…" I mumbled as I fell asleep.

*In Japanese, the Aster flower, aka Shion, means "I won't forget you".