"Please be conservative," Nezumi instructed as Shion fretted over what to pack. "If you can't handle carrying it on you're back for 24 hours a day, don't bring it."

Shion shot him a somewhat panicked look at that description and Nezumi dug the heel of his hand into his forehead.

"Ok… don't bring it unless you think I could handle carrying it. Not because I'm going to, but because I think you need to challenge your self."

Shion glared at him.

"Can't you just tell me what's important?"

"No." Nezumi stuck his hands in the pockets of his coat. "If there's something I deem vital that you leave behind I'll grab it myself. But no one but you knows what you can't live without."

Shion blinked curiously, "Wait, isn't that stuff like water–,"

Nezumi threw a pillow at him to cut him off.

"For such a sentimental creature you are terminally literal." Nezumi griped.

It took until nearly sundown, but Shion finally settled on taking some of his healing equipment, the most livable clothing from his closet, a box that jangled with what was inside that he didn't explain to Nezumi, and a few other odds and ends from around his room.

Then he turned to his book shelf.

An deep sadness spread over Shion's face as he looked at them all, and Nezumi echoed the sentiment. He had enjoyed having access to so many books. It wasn't common, especially for the poor and those who travel as perpetually as he did.

"You can choose one," Nezumi told him cautiously. "Sorry, but any more will just weigh you down. But one should be a mild enough weight."

Shion glanced at him, then back at the bookshelf. Nezumi prepared a sigh, expecting another batch of hours to pass waiting for Shion to decide, but Shion strode straight for the shelf and grabbed a single book from among the others and slipped it into his bag.

"All right,"Shion said, looking around the room with weary eyes. "I'm ready."

Nezumi watched him, adjusting his own bag that was slung around his back. A sympathy bloomed inside of him that he didn't totally appreciate.

"I'm sorry, Shion." Nezumi offered, a little gruffly. "For all of this."

As Nezumi said the words, guilt pieced him. It was his fault, wasn't it? What was happening to Shion? He had dragged him into all of this.

Shion shook his head.

"Do you remember when we were children," Shion began, looking towards the balcony, and the view, and sighing, "When you asked me if I was the prince?"

Nezumi thought back, keeping his eyes on Shion the entire time.

"You said, you weren't raised for being the prince." Nezumi said, recalling the almost desperate pleading that had been in Shion's voice back then. A pleading for him to understand.

"I've been poor before." Shion said, "Nothing like the west district, and not on my own, but…" He took a deep breath. "I'm not more accustomed to this life than that one. Not yet."

Nezumi looked away. "That's good then, I suppose," he said, not entirely with confidence. "Hopefully that will help over the next few days."

Nezumi shifted the weight of his bag and adjusted himself to make sure he had everything. "All right, we should get going–,"

"Wait."

Nezumi looked and Shion was staring at him, a surprising steadiness in his eyes.

"What now?" Nezumi demanded.

Shion's expression tightened, "I want to know why you are coming with me."

Nezumi felt his chest harden like stone.

Shion's eyes were firm and piercing in the way they watched him, like he was trying to look into Nezumi's mind.

Nezumi coughed uncomfortably. "That's a little naive to ask isn't? Whatever background you have, the West District–,"

"No." Nezumi watched the boy's eyes narrow. "I don't want to hear why you think I need you, that's obvious." Shion said firmly. "I want to hear why this is what you want. And if you can't give me an answer, then I'm making you stay here."

"Making me?" Nezumi demanded in fury, and Shion sighed.

"You should know why I'm doing this Nezumi," Shion said, with an aged sadness that didn't fit with the youth of his face. "I've seen it in your eyes ever since my step father gave the order."

"You feel guilty," Shion said, his expression softening. "Somehow, you think this is your fault."

Nezumi glared but said nothing.

Shion nodded his head as if he'd gotten his answer.

"Is that's the only reason you're coming?" Shion asked, his voice full of something sad that Nezumi couldn't totally place. "Because, if so, you're being selfish."

Nezumi was affronted. "Selfish?"

Shion nodded his head.

"If you do something kind for me out of guilt then you're doing it to make yourself feel better," Shion said, his expression tired and his voice light, "and I don't want you with me if that's all this is. Because…" Shion smiled wistfully, "Because I love you, and in the end, I'm selfish too. I don't want to live, day in and day out, with the person I love if all I'm doing is making you hate me."

Nezumi stared at Shion as he spoke, felling like he might be getting dizzy. Damn this chid. Why did he have to constantly put Nezumi into positions like this.

"You want me to tell you I'm doing this for you?" Nezumi asked, his expression set in stone. "As some show of love for you?"

Shion's eyes darkened.

"I want you to tell me you're doing it for you." Shion replied, "Because you'll be happier in the West District with me then you will be if you stay here."

Nezumi made a harsh snorting noise. "Well then I have something you should hear, Shion."

Nezumi walked straight up to Shion, and grabbed him roughly by the chin so they were looking in each other's eyes. Shion set his jaw stubbornly, but Nezumi only gripped him tighter as he whispered. "No one is happy in The West District."

Shion's eyes widened.

Nezumi laughed coldly, "Oh, the boy playing the man. You want to know what Shion? I'll tell you one reason why I'm doing this," He brought his lips to Shion's ear. "Because you can't stop me."

Then he left go of Shion and strode off towards the door.

"Nezumi," Shion called, without moving or turning around. He heard Nezumi stop walking, but that was the only response he got.

"I wasn't really trying to stop you." Shion said.

A moment later, Nezumi was walking again, and Shion heard him open the door.

"Oh!" A startled female voice spoke out in surprise. And Shion whirled around.

"I was just about to knock," Shion's mother was saying, looking past Nezumi to Shion and then back at Nezumi again. "I came to see my son."

"I didn't think he'd let you say goodbye," Shion said from where he stood, looking wide-eyed at his mother.

"It took some convincing," Karen said, offering him a thin miserable smile. That's when Shion noticed the indents of teeth barely visible above his mother's collar bone. Shion's stomach gave a nauseous lurch.

Nezumi stepped aside to let Karen walk passed him and into the room, then he looked at Shion. His expression had softened some.

"I'll wait outside the door." Nezumi said, "Be ready to leave when you come out."

Nezumi shut the door behind him as he stepped outside.

Karen watched the door shut and then turned to look at her son. There were already tears in her eyes.

"That boy…" she began, indicating Nezumi vaguely with a wave of her hand. "He's… more than just one of the actors… isn't he?"

Shion looked at the ground.

"I saw something in the way the two of you were looking at each other on your birthday." Karen said, folding her hands together against her skirts. "I didn't know what to think, or how you could possibly have met him before, but somehow I could tell that you had."

Shion listened to the rhythm of his own breathing, willing it to slow down. "Do you remember what I asked you about that night, before the party?"

Karen looked at Shion in surprise.

"So then," she asked, glancing at the door, "that boy is the one you meant?"

Shion nodded.

"So you love him." Karen smiled softy. "I understand. He's very beautiful, and he seems very strong." she looked at Shion. "He's decided to go with you?"

Shion nodded his head.

"That's good." Karen said. "If you trust him, and you love him, then maybe all of this is…" Karen's lips trembled as she started to cry. "Maybe all this is meant to be."

Shion's eyebrows pulled together in worry, "Mom."

He crossed the room and wrapped his mother in his arms, holding her against him as she started to sob.

"I-I-I tried to convince him to change his mind," she said, trembling against him. "but h-he is so sure of himself, so stubborn."

"It's all right." Shion told her, rubbing his hand up and down her back to try and calm her. "I'll be all right. I think, maybe, this is just how it had to be."

Karen gave into a fresh round of sobs.

"You know how much I love you don't you?" She asked, pulling back to look in Shion's eyes. "I'll be thinking of you every second, and if there is ever a way–"

"I know," Shion smiled, "I'll be doing the exact same."

"What's his name?" she asked suddenly, a fierceness in her eyes, "That boy you love."

Shion almost smiled as he said it. "His name is Nezumi."

"Promise me that he will keep you safe." Karen said, holding Shion by the arms like she was going to shake him. "Promise me I can trust him with my precious son."

Shion's eyes widened and he looked towards the door.

He pictured Nezumi's face, often so cold and so sharp. He remembered the feel of his long, thin fingers playing softly with his hair as he woke up, and the sharp light in those grey eyes when Shion had walked out of the throne room and was barely holding himself together from fear over what he had just fated himself to.

"I'm coming with you."

Shion felt a smile spread warm over his face.

"I promise you," Shion said, a calm certainty saturating his voice. "You can trust him."

Karen studied his face for a moment before slowly nodding her head. "Good." she whispered, pulling her hand back to cover her trembling mouth as tears welled in her eyes. "Good. Then my faith goes with you both."

The castle's doors were not very thick, Nezumi thought, as he sat with his back against the wall beside Shion's bedroom.

"What's his name? That boy you love."

He could hear the smile in Shion's voice.

"His name is Nezumi."

Nezumi shut his eyes, pulling his scarf up around his mouth.

This time the words didn't make him feel like a trapped bird anymore. Instead…. something warm started churning around in his chest.

And that was more frightening than anything.

The bedroom down clicked as it opened.

Nezumi opened his eyes and pushed himself onto his feet as Shion and his mother stepped into the hall.

Nezumi turned to look at them, and was instantly surprised as a short, thin woman threw her arms around his neck.

"Take care of him." Shion's mother whispered in Nezumi's ear, her voice steady and firm as her arms tightened to nearly a choke hold around Nezumi's neck. "And thank you."

When Karen released him, Nezumi blinked at her and the woman smiled, melting the chocolate color of her eyes.

"Good luck to you both," She said, looking between the two of them. "Be safe, and may you always have each other."

With that she leaned in quickly to give her son one last kiss on the cheek. Then she turned away, her hand already going to her mouth as she walked down the hall.

Nezumi felt slightly bewildered, and more than a little threatened as he watched he go.

"I get the feeling she'd kill me if you were to die." Nezumi confessed as he turned to Shion, the white-haired boy smiled.

"Is that the weight of your decision finally sinking in?" Shion asked, "Last chance to back out. After this, I'm never going to let you go."

Nezumi jerked his head away before he could blush.

"I've knew what I was doing from the start, you dim-wit. And stop being so embarrassing!"

Nezumi started to stride quickly down the hallway and Shion laughed as he jogged to catch up.

"Well I'm glad to hear it."

Nezumi tried to elbow him and narrowly missed. Shion laughed again.

"It's them!"

Nezumi looked up.

Two of the actors from his troop were standing in an adjacent hall as Nezumi and Shion passed, looking at them with wide eyes like they were zoo animals.

Nezumi looked away from them and kept walking.

One of them sniggered and leaned toward the other.

"Guess Eve really is the prince's whore."

Shion suddenly went still.

"Keep up–," Nezumi started to say. Then he noticed Shion was striding away toward the two actors.

Nezumi's eyes widened. "Shion don't!"

There was a terrible noise as Shion grabbed the one who had spoken by the shirt and threw him against a wall.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

"Shion!" Nezumi ran up to him and tore the white-haired boy off the actor's shirt as blood started running from the back of his head.

Shion turned wild eyes on Nezumi. "Why aren't you angry? Didn't you hear what he said?"

Nezumi's inhaled sharply. There were tears in Shion's eyes.

Nezumi gripped him more tightly by the arm.

"We have to go, Shion." he said firmly, half dragging the prince away. "Just let it go."

Shion quivered in Nezumi's grip.

When they were further down the hall Nezumi released Shion's arm and the boy walked more freely beside him, his eyes on the ground.

"Why did you protect them?" He asked after a while, when there were nearing the castle's front doors. "They were cruel and they were wrong about you. How could you let them insult you like that?"

"Because it doesn't matter to me," Nezumi answered easily. "I don't care about them anymore. Never really did, to be honest. So what does it matter what they said?"

"It was insulting!"

"It was words," Nezumi scolded. "So what if people around here want to think I'm a whore?"

Shion frowned, "But you didn't do anything to deserve it."

Nezumi snorted, "And when would I have deserved it? Look at what I got you into. If I had been screwing you, they really wouldn't be that far off about me."

Shion colored with an angry flush, "That's not how it is!"

"To you." Nezumi pointed out. "and that's all that matters. So ignore what others think."

Shion slouched grumpily as they continued to walk.

"It's not really fair you take so much responsibility in this." Shion said, finally. "I did as much as you to bring us here. I took things away from you too."

"Maybe you're right." Nezumi said as they walked, smiling wickedly. "But you're the air-headed prince. Who's going to hold you responsible for anything?"

Shion tried to smack him, but failed as Nezumi started running, laughing and dodging Shion's swipes at him until the two of them reached the road, and began their journey toward the border through the night.

The west district was a decrepit, and desolate slum that existed just passed the border where Seis met a tundra. There was only a one small stream that passed as the town's water source and fed it's wells, and the air was bitter day and night

Old buildings, that were slip-shod from the start and had been rotting ever since, stood like blackened, broken teeth that lined the narrow dirt paths that wound between them. Paths worn only by the passing of feet.

Still, there was some semblance of a town here. Determined hunters and farmers managed trade mostly buffalo meat and root plants to rest of the district in return for money or other goods. Pubs and inns had been formed by thieves who stole goods from the kingdom and whores who offered their warmth to the frozen.

There were few coins to go around here, but they went around. Otherwise, you mostly traded anything you had, any service you could provide, to those who could offer what you needed in return. That or you were one of the people stealing from the border towns and getting what you needed from the source.

It was only because of these thieves that people survived out here. Those who stole, even if they stole only cast-offs from the kingdom, could ask any price they liked. Not to mention there was always a risk, living among the desperate and the criminal.

That's what worried Nezumi the most.

"You're not to trust anyone but me, understand?" Nezumi instructed when they arrived, his eyes scanning the area with cutting vigilance.

"I understand." Shion agreed quickly, and Nezumi decided to look back at his face.

He expected Shion to look frightened, or horrified, maybe even disgusted. Yet, somehow, he didn't. Instead, his eyes were full of something solid and resolute, like he'd already steeled himself from the inside.

"Keep close to me." Nezumi continued instructing, "And listen to anything I tell you, when I tell you. There isn't room for mistakes out here."

Shion nodded easily, "Okay."

After they wound passed the center of the sparse, broken town, they found their way into one of the deeper cropping of smaller, more abandoned looking buildings.

Finally Shion asked. "Nezumi, where are we headed right now?"

Nezumi didn't look back. "You'll see."

About five minutes later they arrived at what appeared to be a caved-in shack, half hidden by other buildings that had been scorched black by some long passed fire.

Nezumi approached what looked to be the side, and began digging through a wealth of dirt that was trying to consume the ruins from below.

Shion watched him with interest as his fingers searched through the earth until something dingy and wooden-looking stuck out from beneath.

"Ah, here we go." Nezumi braced his fingers under the square of wood and began to lift.

Dirt poured off of it, revealing underneath a set of almost untouched cellar doors.

Shion blinked.

"This house was destroyed but the basement is still intact," Nezumi explained at Shion's questioning look. "I found this place last time I lived here."

He opened the doors and motioned for Shion to follow. "Watch your step."

The two boys ducked through the doors, and down a short flight of stairs. But when Nezumi closed the doors behind them, the room below became pitch black.

Shion stood still in the blind darkness, but he could hear Nezumi moving around as if unhindered by it. There was the creaking of something opening, followed by rustling. Shion heard a sound like two things grinding against each other, and sparks appeared in the air.

Next thing he knew a candle was glowing on the other side of the room.

It was literally a single room. Square, with wide walls and a surprisingly high ceiling for a cellar. There was a wardrobe type cupboard near where Nezumi was standing, and a table on the opposite wall. Then, in the center, there were two wide mattresses stacked on top of each other taking up most of the floor space, topped with a pile of thin blankets and a two nearly flat pillows.

"You lived here once?" Shion asked, oddly delighted by the information. Nezumi looked at him.

"For a little while." He admitted, and set the candle on the table.

"We should get some sleep." He continued, taking off his bag and setting it down near the wall. "It will be morning soon."

"Sure," Shion agreed, turning to do the same with his own. "I'll, umm–," He began shuffling around the floor.

"Just lay down on the bed Shion," Nezumi ordered, leading by example as he flopped down and folded his arm beneath his head. "There's nothing else to do now."

Shion blinked and slowly nodded. "All right."

He laid down beside Nezumi.

Even with both of them still wearing jackets, it was freezing.

Nezumi pulled the blankets over the two of them, then he rolled so that he was lying against Shion's back, one arm draped around the smaller boy's waist.

"It will be warmest this way, and safest." Nezumi explained, yawning. "This way neither of us could go missing without the other noticing."

"Go missing?" Shion repeated. Nezumi didn't respond.

Shion closed his eyes with a breath. It was hard to focus on anything but the mild panic that was slowly building inside his chest, but even with everything else going on, Shion had to admit, he blushed at the feeling of Nezumi's chest pressed against his back.

"Nezumi?" Shion asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

Shion bit his lip. "Do you remember what you said before, about us becoming enemies someday?"

Silence.

"Well," Shion cleared his throat. "Is that still what you think?"

There was more silence.

Maybe he's fallen asleep. Shion thought.

Then Nezumi moved.

Shion shuddered at the feeling of Nezumi's lips moving against the back of his neck. His skin was cold, but Nezumi's breath was still warm.

"I said that you would have to choose someday, Shion, and that would make us enemies." Nezumi corrected him. "I never imagined you'd be stupid enough to choose me."

Shion laughed in spite of himself. "I think you underestimated yourself."

"I think I underestimated you." Nezumi countered. "But I think I've always done that."

Shion blushed. "You don't normally say things like that."

Nezumi chuckled, "Don't I? And what exactly do you mean?"

"You aren't usually so nice." Shion confessed, wincing a little at his own choice of words. Nezumi laughed.

"I'm not usually nice? Hmm…" Nezumi's fingers toyed with Shion's jacket. "Perhaps I should make up for that a little."

Shion's breath very came out uneven as Nezumi moved, guiding Shion onto his back and shifting so that he was leaning over him. His hair falling against Shion's cheeks.

"What are you doing?" Shion asked in a tumbling voice, his eyes wide and frozen on the hungry light of Nezumi's.

"I'm cold, Shion." Nezumi whispered, his breath moving against Shion's skin like a warm touch. "Warm me up."

That's when Nezumi's leg moved to slide in between Shion's, and the dark haired boy leaned down to press his lips against Shion's neck, following a trail from the base toward his jaw.

Shion let out a soft noise, "Nezumi–,"

"Don't worry," the older boy spoke against Shion's skin, his tongue swiping quickly against the raised skin of his scar, making Shion whine softly. "I haven't forgotten what kissing means to you."

Nezumi's eyes danced as he leaned back to take off his jacket, unwinding his scarf as his silver eyes sparked in the dimness. "This is a promise."

Nezumi leaned back in, his lips finding Shion's and hands going to the button's of Shion's coat.

Shion eyes were wide for only a moment before they slipped closed and his hands reached for Nezumi, finding purchase in his hair and the curve of his neck. Shion moaned as he strained forward to deepen the kiss.

His hands found the tie of Nezumi's hair and he pulled it out so it rained down around him like a curtain and a silent chuckle vibrated through Nezumi's chest as he finally finished with the buttons of Shion's coat.

He pushed it off the boy's shoulders, panting as he pulled away to breath.

Nezumi ran a thumb over the scar on his cheek. "Open your mouth."

Shion did, and Nezumi surged forward to enter it, his tongue capturing Shion's and twining them together as if they were fighting.

Shion whimpered, threading his fingers through Nezumi hair and gripping at it desperately. Nezumi groaned.

"God dammit Shion." He panted, and Shion blinked up at him in concern.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No." Nezumi grinned at the innocent question. "Hair pulling is just kind of an aggressive behavior. Sort of a turn on of mine. Are you sure you're as innocent as you pretend to be?"

Shion flushed crimson. Turn on?

"You should be more careful." Nezumi warned, leaning in to lick the shell of Shion's ear. "If you keep this up, I might not be able to stop." he caught Shion's earlobe between his teeth.

Shion moaned, and then bit his lip in embarrassment.

Stop? Shion repeated to himself, chewing on his lower lip.

Then one thought filled his head.

Do I want him to?