Shion, do you remember the night we met?

Nezumi didn't arrive at the palace until the ball was already in full swing. Carriages and people were sweeping in and out, bright colors flowing from between the glowing lights and the darkness of the night outside.

Nezumi was standing just outside of the gate, letting the darkness shade him as his fingers gripped the cold metal and he stared at the people on the other side.

There was a storm, so fierce and wild and dark it seemed to suck the brightness out of the world.

He knew he didn't have to hide. He was welcome here. He'd even bothered to dress-up, and now a stiff blue suit held in his warmth against the cool night breeze, as his cape swirled around his legs.

I was dying, lost and bleeding out, drowning in the rain and unable to walk anymore. I had given up.

Nezumi longed for the thin french style doors of Shion's balcony, the billowing white drapes blowing outward with the breeze, and Shion standing between them, waiting for him.

Nezumi stepped away from the gate.

No one would have missed me. I would have been washed away with the rain, and there would have been nothing left to know that I had lived.

It didn't take long to slip around the side of palace and find Shion's bedroom, but when he arrived he found that the doors were shut and the room was dark.

A small amount of sadness rushed through Nezumi. He took a deep breath and gathered his strength. He couldn't give up now. He had to at least try. Shion would do the same for him.

But you screamed for me.

When Nezumi climbed up onto the balcony– with some difficulty, hindered by his suit– He tried the doors.

They clicked opened easily.

Nezumi's eyes widened and then he smiled. Of course. It was Shion. What had he expected.

A small boy, cutting through a storm, louder that the wind, louder than the world… I heard your voice.

Nezumi walked in, and when he did he found something that surprised him.

There was a bag sitting on the bed. Already packed and waiting, like Shion had been eager to leave, already prepared to be going all along. An impatient habit.

Nezumi reached out, as if to touch the bag, before quickly retrieving his hand. Now wasn't the time for that. He had to find Shion.

That day, you were the only thing, the only light that was left for me, and I didn't even know you yet.

It took some time for Nezumi to make his way from Shion's room down to where the party was, and even longer to weave his way through the crowd. He could tell by the looks on the faces of those he passed that they had no idea who he was, that they were curious. Nezumi rolled his eyes and kept walking.

Every moment he spent in the crowd made him more and more edgy. Worried that Shion could be anywhere, he would bump into him at any moment. Or worse, that he wouldn't be able to find him, not in all these people.

Sometimes I think…. it will always be that way, from now on.

Nezumi was just starting to worry he would have to climb onto the dining table just to see over the crowd, when he finally broke through a throng of people and in to a clearing in the crowd. When he did, his eyes caught on the glint of white hair, standing near the wall a few feet away.

Nezumi's heart beat wildly in his chest, hard and aching with anticipation, as he straightened and looked clearly on the shape of Shion's silhouette, standing with his back to Nezumi, alone at the edge of the party.

Nezumi took a deep breath and began moving towards him.

The only thing holding me to this world, will always be….

Nezumi stopped behind Shion, and his breath held in his throat as he felt the presence of him close around him like warm air. Nezumi closed his eyes.

One… two… three…

Nezumi let out a breath, and smiled.

Your voice.

"Well, well," Nezumi said, keeping his voice light as he opened his eyes to watch Shion's posture freeze and stiffen like someone had just poured cold water down his back. Nezumi smiled wider.

"You decided to change the kingdom's entire government, just so you can chase some hot piece of ass?" Nezumi found himself teasing, his voice wry with humor, and his eyelids lowering as he watched Shion stand still with his back to him, as if he couldn't bring himself to turn around. "You might need to look at your priorities."

It took a few moments after that, a few spaces of frantic heartbeats that broke out between them before Shion's poster started to loosen, and he found the strength to begin turning around.

When he had turned enough, his red eyes landed on Nezumi from over his shoulder, and widened.

Nezumi's expression softened.

"Nice party, little prince," Nezumi said, his lips forming a teasing smile as he placed a hand on his chest and lowered himself into a bow. As he did, his hair, which he had neglected to pull back tonight, fell forward around his face. "I was flattered to be invited."

Nezumi heard Shion suck in a breath.

Nezumi moved to straighten himself out of his bow, but he was instantly arrested by a hand grabbing him by the jaw and holding his face still.

Nezumi's eyes widened.

He found himself staring into Shion's eyes. Looking at him with a sense of shock and wonder. Then slowly, his grip loosened.

The hand that Shion was using to hold Nezumi slid from his face and moved into the dark boy's hair, letting the dark silk-like locks slid against his fingers as he drew them through the length of it. Shion's eyes melted and warmed.

He smiled.

"You're real," Shion breathed, and the blatant crushing relief in his voice made Nezumi breath halt in surprise.

Shion's smile widened.

He released Nezumi, letting the boy straighten as Shion smiled at him, looking him over up and down. Suddenly he laughed lightly.

"I'm not royalty anymore, you know." Shion said suddenly, tilting his head like a curious bird. "You don't have to be so formal."

Nezumi blinked, slowly coming back to himself.

"Oh?" He asked, his lips finding a smile as he folded his arms across his chest. "How would you like me to behave then, your highness?"

Shion shot him a wry look at that, and Nezumi chuckled as he leaned back against the near by wall, lounging casually like a cat.

He was just about to say something when suddenly Shion's weight fell against him, a soft, warm pair of lips pressing insistently, and urgently against his mouth.

Nezumi's eyes flew open in surprise, his arms jumping away from his chest as if to be ready to catch Shion as he fell.

It took him a moment to realize that Shion hadn't fallen. He had thrown himself against him–one hand braced against Nezumi's shoulder– and he was kissing him.

Nezumi blinked, stunned and uncertain, but as the feel of Shion's lips sunk into him Nezumi let out his breath and closed his eyes, letting his hands come to rest on Shion's waist.

Twisting his head at an angle, the kiss deepen, the two boys melting into each other against the wall, letting the cool stone hold them up.

There were gasps and murmurs that swept through the crowd as they noticed the two of them. But Nezumi and Shion didn't notice.

To them, they were the only two people in the world.

When they finally parted, they were laughing, Shion's hard and giggly, using Nezumi to hold him up as his cheeks turned pink with exertion.

Nezumi watched him, a lazy, warm affection in his eyes as the small boy leaned into him, happiness sparkling in his eyes.

"Come on," Nezumi said, taking Shion by the hand and pulling him toward the dance floor, "Dance with me."

Shion's eyes widened in surprise, but he smiled and let himself be lead into the crowd.

The two of them earned looks of shock and disapproval as Nezumi clasped their hands together and placed his hand on Shion's waist. Shion looked up at him in alarm.

"I'm the girl?" He whined, in the moment looking so much like a child that Nezumi burst out laughing, like water bubbling over in a brook.

"Of course," Nezumi replied, guiding Shion's hand to his shoulder. "I don't know why you look so surprised. I thought you would expect it, considering the other submissive roles you've taken on in our relationship."

Shion flushed so red his scar disappeared against his cheek.

"I don't really know how to do this," Shion complained as Nezumi tried to guide him into the steps of the dance, asking Shion to follow him. Shion stumbled and narrowly avoided stepping on Nezumi's foot.

Nezumi laughed.

"Just watch me," Nezumi said lightly, reaching out to tip Shion's head up by the chin. "Move with me."

Shion's eyes met Nezumi's, wide and gleaming in the light as Nezumi smiled a him, retaking his hand and beginning again to lead him around the room. This time Shion followed, without trying to look down. He felt the shifts of Nezumi's weight and gave into the motion of him, and before long they were dancing.

"Where did you get that suit?" Shion asked at one point, when he found himself admiring the away the dark cape draped over Nezumi's shoulders, but missing the way the loose shirts, that Nezumi usually wore, had always revealed the curve of his collarbone.

"A friend of mine is a clothing maker. They had always wanted to make luxury suits like this, but never had the cliental that asked for it, so I called in a favor." Nezumi raised an eyebrow. "Why? Like what you see?"

Shion flushed, at first, but then he just laughed lightly, "You're beautiful, Nezumi. In anything, in nothing, I always like what I see."

Nezumi flushed, just faintly at the height of his cheekbones. He cleared his throat.

"I think I need a drink," He announced, turning his eyes back to Shion. "What about you?"

Shion pressed his lips together. "I don't know… I don't make a very good drunk."

Nezumi laughed, "On the contrary," He said, curling his fingers underneath Shion's chin and tipping his face up to look at him. "I like you when you're drunk. You're so…. straight forward."

It was Shion's turn to flush now. "Maybe just one drink. But I'm serious this time! If you get me drunk I'm going to smack you."

Nezumi laughed, "What am I, the bad influence?"

Shion raised an incredulous eyebrow at him and Nezumi made a face.

"Fine, I promise."

The two of them grabbed glasses of champagne and found themselves wandering through the crowd out on to the terrace, just above the stairs that lead down into the gardens and out of the light.

They stopped, leaning together on the wide stone railing, Shion leaning on his elbows and Nezumi with his lower back against the marble, sipping at his drink.

"It's a nice night." Shion said, looking out into the shade of the greenery.

Nezumi turned to follow his gaze.

"Smells like rain," Nezumi said, it will probably storm soon.

Shion nodded. "So what have you been up to the last few months?"

Nezumi shrugged, "Oh a little of everything. I managed to gather a small following while I sang at a tavern in one of the southern towns."

Shion smiled.

"I wish I could have seen it." he said. "I can imagine that they loved you. There's no one else in the world who can sing the way you can. Like a bird or the wind. Like it's just so natural to you."

Nezumi blushed slightly. "You really think that?"

"Of course I do," Shion said, "I've worried. Just occasionally while you were gone, that if I stayed here, and I ruled for the rest of my life, that I would die without ever hearing you sing again. And it made me…."

Shion didn't finish his sentence. He didn't have to, and if he did they would have had to acknowledge it, and it was just too soon for that.

"That wouldn't have happened." Nezumi said. "If you had been dying, no matter what else was going on, even if I was already dead, I would have sang for you."

Shion stalled in his breath.

They didn't talk again for a few moments after that. The sounds of the night filled the silence, and the two of them stood in comfortable, uncomplicated quiet as the wind danced through the trees.

Finally Shion raised himself up and smiled, turning to look at Nezumi with a grin.

"Look," He said, and reached out to grab Nezumi's hand and spread, palm up, next to his own, over the railing. And just as he did, two gentle drops fell from the sky and landed on Nezumi's skin.

Nezumi smiled. "Ah, it's early."

"Yeah," Shion smiled and a roll of thunder rang through the sky. "I think it's going to be a big one, too."

Nezumi looked up at the sky, and the rain started to pick up, splattering against his cheeks and cooling his skin. "Do you want to go inside?"

All round them, crowds of party-goers were running and retreating indoors, holding their hands above their heads as they ran. Shion smiled.

He raise his eyes to Nezumi's, "Actually… I… " His eyes said it all, bright and searching, "You can if you want but I…"

Nezumi grinned.

"Don't worry, you little squaller," Nezumi teased, "I'm with you."

Shion grinned.

They waited until the storm really picked up. Until the wind was swirling, and the rain poured down in sheets, and lighting was flashing in the sky.

The two of them exchanged a look. They tipped their heads back.

They screamed.

It was full of everything. Screams that released emotions they had both bottled up for months of pain and silence, now flooding out of them with the force of their voices.

When they had screamed until they couldn't scream anymore, their cheeks red and their grip on the railing the only thing holding them up, the screams turned in to laughing.

They laughed so hard, their stomachs hurt and they had their arms braced around each other, their throats aching with strain as the rain soaked through their clothes, and their shimmering glasses of champagne were left forgotten on the marble rail.

When it finally occurred to them the force of the thunder and lighting that was crashing over head, and the extent of the water that had soaked through their clothes, they wrapped their arms around each other and ran toward the doors, rain streaming off of them as it continued to fall.

They ran like that all the way inside, and though the halls and up the stairs until the two of them burst, laughing, through Shion's bedroom door and shut it behind them. Effectively closing themselves in, together, in the darkness of room.

Nezumi, who was still standing by the door, turned to look at Shion, his eyes bright in the dark. Shion looked back at him, wet and dripping, water glistening off his skin and glittering in his eyelashes as he blinked.

But it wasn't until Shion reached out and took Nezumi's hand that the mood began to shift.

They didn't waste anytime. Stripping off their wet clothes, and dragging each other toward Shion's beds as they fell together onto the sheets.

Shion pulled Nezumi down onto him, reaching up to weave his hand into the wet ink that was Nezumi's hair. Pulling him down to crash there lips together in a heated fury.

Nezumi groaned, his hand reaching up to slide onto the smooth skin of Shion's neck, his thumb gently grazing the slight ridge of the scar wrapped around Shion's throat, making him shiver.

Their mouths competed, pressing and tugging, tongues slipping in and out between the other's lips, air disappearing and flooding in between heated gasps and pants as they struggled not to have to breath.

Shion's fingers tangled in the dark locks of Nezumi's hair, twisting and pulling it in a way that made the dark boy groan in pleasure, and Shion smiled.

He was instantly repaid, however, as Nezumi leaned in, letting his tongue graze the sensitive scars of Shion's neck. Making the boy jerk and moan. Nezumi chuckled and kissed him, laving his tongue against Shion's heated skin.

This went on for a while, but before too long, Shion's impatience got to him and he reached for Nezumi, his hands desperate and clumsy as he tried to pull him closer, into a more compromising position.

Nezumi's movements froze.

"Wait, Shion." Nezumi said, panting as he slowly pulled back, raising himself up on his hands to look at the boy beneath him. Shion blinked up through the dark, his face flushed and hazy. He let out a breath.

"What's wrong?" Shion asked, still breathless.

Nezumi sighed.

"This isn't…" Nezumi struggled, "I mean, isn't this a little fast? We've barely talked and I, I'm still not sure I even understand what's happened. I came here… because now you no longer have to be the king. But you haven't explained why… I mean… did you give up the throne for me?"

Shion stared. Nezumi's face was troubled, his eyes dark and searching as he looked down at Shion, his breathing still coming unsteady.

"No." Shion breathed, resting his head back against the bed with a sigh, "I didn't give up the throne for you. I did it for the kingdom, because I thought that they could rule themselves better than I could. And I did it for me. Because…"

Shion raised his eyes to look at Nezumi's. The red of his eyes darkened.

"Because I was never meant to be a king."

"How can you say that?" Nezumi asked, moving back so he was sitting up at Shion's side. "You helped people."

Shion sat up too, running a hand through his wet hair, making it drip down his neck.

"I helped some people. But the truth is, I won't always know how. There will be a time when I won't know what to do, and there will also be a time when it's not my responsibility. If I can't help these people then… I'm not sure anything I do now would be any good. This way… They can ask for the things they need on their own. And as a people, they can learn that they deserve to be respected. If I can teach them that… it will be a permanent lesson. And that, truly, is the best thing that I can do for them."

Shion turned to look at Nezumi, who was looking at him with a steady expression, something that spoke of a deep approval.

Shion smiled, and reached up to place a hand on Nezumi's cheek.

"Besides," He continued, tilting his head. "I was never going to be my best self as king. I've never been my best anything, without you."

Nezumi's eyes widened a fraction, and then he smiled, looking down at the bed but reaching up to cover Shion's hand with his own. He laughed lightly.

"I think maybe you have that backwards," he said, rubbing a smooth circle with his thumb into Shion's skin. "I think… it's me that's always needed you."

Shion smiled.

"Isn't that what it means?" Shion asked, "To have found that special, irreplaceable person? That you will never be complete without the other?"

"Hmmm," Nezumi smiled. "Yeah. I guess you're right." He raised his eyes.

"You are that person to me, Shion. You are the only thing… that has ever held me in place."

Shion expression melted.

"That's funny," He said, "Because Nezumi… you have always set me free."

Nezumi reached up and slid his hand over Shion's cheek, leaning in and pulling Shion's lips back to his own.

A deep slow kiss.

It's funny Shion… That one of us could be the earth, loosened by the rain, and one of us the storm, trying to find it's home in the earth.

Their lips moved together, until they were leaning into each other, and falling together onto the bed. Lighting flashing outside the window.

Together… would could destroy each other… but instead, we seem to shape each other… Into something better than either of us could ever be alone.

Hands started moving, bare skin against skin. Two bodies sliding together, trying to become one.

Is that what love is…Shion? Or is this something even greater?

Soft sounds came from their mouths, but they didn't move too quickly. This moment… it was just for them, and they would take their time. Because, for once, they had all the time in the world.

This… is a force of nature.

The next morning, Shion and Nezumi woke up wrapped in each other's arms.

It was still dark outside, but there was a smell in the air, like dew and blooming flowers.

Dawn was on it's way.

Shion turned his head, raising his eyes to look up at Nezumi. His eyes searching the dark haired boy's face.

"Is it time?" He asked, his voice light and husky with the first words of morning. Nezumi lowered his gaze to look at him.

"Yeah. Are you sure about this?"

Shion smiled.

"I'm sure," He said, and smiled. "My mom and Safu already know. They won't expect to find me in morning. But I left them a letter anyway… for them to hold on to after I'm gone."

"I see," Nezumi let out a breath. "Then we should get ready to go."

The boys dressed in the quiet peace of early morning. Gathering their things. Once they had, Shion shrugged his bag onto his shoulder and looked around his bedroom one last time.

So many things had happened here. Things that had changed his life.

He would always remember…

Shion placed his letter to his mother and Safu on the night stand, brushing his fingers over the sturdy paper before turning around to find Nezumi standing behind him, looking at him, his eyes bright in the light falling through the window.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

Shion smiled.

"So this is it?" Shion wondered, his lips melting warmly into a grin. "I finally get to see how it is you always disappear?"

Nezumi smiled.

He held out his hand. "Come on. I'll show you."

That morning… light had just begun to break as two boys landed among the trees, and the soft dewy grass. White mist swirling around them and swallowing them up like ghosts.

It still smelled like rain.

Shion looked back, just once. Staring up at his childhood home in a way he had never seen it before, from the grass below his balcony. For a moment he had a wave emotion wash over him, as he realized the significance of the spot he stood on.

"I nearly died here, you know." Nezumi said, looking up through the morning mist at the slowly lightening sky. "If it hadn't been for you, opening your balcony into the storm, I would have been nothing but an anonymous body found by the guards and tossed away. I never would have mattered."

Shion shook his head. "That isn't true. Somehow… I think I always would have found you. Somethings… somethings are just fated to happened. And you and me… I don't think there could ever be a world where my heart wouldn't be looking for yours. Always."

The dark haired boy smiled, laughing lightly under his breath. "Maybe… all I know is, I'm glad you found me in this world."

Shion turned his head, smiling brightly.

He held out his hand.

"Let's go." He said. "Before somebody wakes up."

Nezumi smiled, and took his hand.

This was the last time the either Shion or Nezumi would see that balcony.

The last time Nezumi would ever have to sneak out a window before dawn.

The last time time the bright eyes of the castle's torches would watch his retreating figure disappearing into the forest.

Twice before Nezumi had left Shion's bedroom behind him, walking away into the early dawn. But this time…

This was the first time that he didn't look back.