Night Angel

Fading

Shion POV
“I need to know your story, Shion. All of it. If I’m going to be able to protect you.” I sat across from him. My hands tucked between my legs.
“You mean to do the job you were hired for?” I said. Nezumi stood against the counter. His arms folded across himself. He sighed. Moving to me he knelt at my feet.
“Look, I take a lot of jobs. Some acting, singing, hell even dancing. Then there are the jobs where I take to kill or to protect people.” He reached for my hand. “When the man came to hire me…” he sighed pulling away from me before he even touched me.
“When he came to hire The Rat, he told me who the target was.” He paused leaning against a wall. He glanced at me through his lashes. His hair was pulled up in a bun on his head.
“As Eve, I knew your name, Shion. I knew how the world found you after your mothers death in the fire. Your story, no…” he shook his head letting the hair cover his eyes a bit. Kneeling back before me he reached out to push my hair out of my eyes.
“You intrigued me. It was why I took the job. I knew they either wanted to hurt you or protect you. The guy never said which.”  His hand fell away. I caught it.
“I took it because I knew if I didn’t someone else would and you would be hurt. I didn’t want that. I wanted to get to know you, as myself.” He snorted looking down at our hands.
“Its not very often I tell someone my real name.”
“Do you even know which one is the real you?” I asked, my eyes watching his face. In response he lifted out hands, placing them against his chest. My hand was under his. He pressed it tight against him. The pounding of his heart beat against my palm. I looked into his smoky eyes.
“This, right here, is who I am. I am Nezumi, a rodent of this world. I take care of the trash.” He said. “Once in awhile I find a gem. A jewel so special I will do anything to preserve it. That's what you are to me, Shion.” His eyes locked me there, I couldn’t move.
“You've proven you don’t need my protection, not constantly anyway. I would like it if you wanted my friendship.” He added. There was no way to hide my surprise. I jerked away from him, eyes wide. No one wanted to be my friend.
“You want to be my friend?” it was such an alien concept to me. The smile that quirked his thin lips was beautiful to see.
“Yes, Shion. I would like to be your friend.” He said. Flipping my hand over I caught his. Pushing back, I repositioned myself on the loveseat. Pulling him up to sit beside me I drew in a deep breath.
Nestling my hands into my lap, I clasped them together. “I was born looking like this.” I began. “Mom never said anything about me looking different. It never bothered me until she started taking me to the park or library or any place that other people were. Kids are cruel.” I said. Nezumi laid his hand on my shoulder. He turned Bending one leg between us so he was facing me.
“I was called names, not just by the children either. Grown up said I was a freak of nature, hideous, a monster…” His thumb wiped away the tears.
“What about your father?” he asked.  I shrugged.
“Never knew him. Mom said he was killed in a car accident before I was born.” I murmured.
“Because the children were mean, you never went to school?” he asked. I nodded.
“Yes. Mom home schooled me. She ran a bakery. A few of the regulars were nice to me.” The smile spread over my face as I recalled several of them. “We had a small apartment above the bakery. Underneath was the caller where she kept her baking supplies.” My voice trailed off.
“That day, you were down there…” Nezumi pressed.
“I was in the kitchen, just finished boxing up some pastries. I heard the door chimes jingle. Mom poked her head in to ask me to go down and get more of the special flour. She used it for certain diets. I went. It took me awhile to find the two small bags we had left.” My fingers found the rip in the thin blanket that was draped over the back of the couch. Fiddling with it I tried a few times to continue. I hadn’t told anyone all the details I recalled from that day. How I heard the man's voice call my mother by name. How I saw the thin man standing near the door. He looked frail like he was about to fall over. Two rather big guys stood to either side of him.
I told Nezumi this now. He gently brushed his thumb up along my cheek but didn’t interrupt me. “I heard him ask about me. Well, not by name. He said something like “Karen, you know you can’t hide my son forever.” His voice was cold, rough.” I shivered at the recollection of it. “You see in the cellar you can hear anything from the shop.” I grinned “Mom called him Lon, said that I wasn’t his  That she didn’t have me to save him. That I was a person too.”
Nezumi's fingers gripped my arm.  It hurt. Blinking back tears I looked up at him.
“He was sick then?” He asked. I nodded.
“Do you recall anything else?” he asked.
“He made sure his people searched the whole place. They even came down into the cellar but I had a hidden crawl space I went into. The only problem was I couldn’t hear anything from in there. It was carved out of the rock and pretty far down.”
“After a while I figured it had to be clear. Mom hadn’t came down to get me but maybe the shop got busy. Then when I tried to open the door,  back into the shop, it wouldn’t budge. It was one you had to push up on. I pounded against it. But no one came. Then I smelled the smoke. I tried screaming for mom.” Nezumi moved closer folding me into his arms.
“I went back to my hole. I didn’t know what else to do. I cried myself to sleep. When I came out again, the celling to the cellar was gone. I could see people walking around. I went to go back, but someone saw me.” I clung to his shoulder crying like a child.
“They wouldn’t let me go hide. They dragged me out. Had doctors look at me. Made me tell them what happened. I only told them I had gotten locked in the cellar. You're the only one I told everything too.” He patted my back.
“Thank you for sharing everything with me, Shion. I think I know what’s going on. And we have a decision to make.”
I blinked. What did he mean by that? As I watched he turned his head to look up at the roof. Even though it has been such a short time that I have known him, I realized that when he needed to think, he liked to see the sky or stars. Grabbing his hand I pulled him out through the green house. Once outside I lead the way up to the roof.
Taking him over to where the chairs sat I let him sit in Safu's seat as I took mine. Up here it felt like the world was a magical place opened to every possibility. It looked clean and fresh with each day dawning, or the sleepiness of each sunset.
“Shion?” Nezumi's voice floated out over the mid morning air.
“Mmm?” I asked.
“If I asked you to run away with me, would you?” his voice seemed whimsical. I smiled.
“You already know the answer to that.” I said.
“No, because you don’t value your own life as much as you do your friends.” There was bitterness there. He sighed shifting in the seat.
“I do value yours. I think…” I had to swallow the lump in my throat because I’d didn’t really want to say the words I knew I should. “I think…” I tried again.
“Forget it. I’m not going anywhere. You can kick me out, but I will just sleep up here.” He stated. Now I turned to look at him. He wasn’t looking out over the little town I had come to call home. The people, well some, have accepted me. Even depend on me. Now Nezumi's eyes watched me.
“I don’t know what that man wants from me. Not even sure if he is my father. What could he do to me if I just went with him?” I asked.
“Oh, I don’t know… kill you for your organs, bone marrow, other body parts to keep him alive!” he slapped the back of my head.
“You have people here that need you, so if you won’t protect yourself for your own well being, do it for them.” He demanded.
“Do you think I need to go into hiding?” I asked.
“It wouldn’t hurt.” He grew quiet for a bit. “But he knows where you live! He placed me here. If he wanted to just snag you why put me in his own path?” Nezumi leapt to his feet pacing the roof.
“Someone wants him dead. They may know my connection to him, possibly how I could save his life. Therefore someone wants me dead.” I deduced.
“Yeah, I thought of that.” He muttered.
“I can’t ask just anyone to take me in.” I pointed out.
“Marty?” he was facing away from me. Hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket. “She could protect you.” He stated.
“Yeah, but she might lock you up.” I snorted at how funny that sounded.
“I won’t harm either of you. Safu is welcome to come along as well.” We turned, I stood at seeing Marty herself on my roof top.
“We have it on good authority there is a powerful force moving against you Shion. We cannot have our best physician harmed.” She held out her hand to me. Turning I looked at Nezumi.
“I think its for the best.” Safu's voice shook slightly as she stepped around the men blocking her from me.
“For once I agree with her.” The rat said. I sighed.
“But my people that I take care of…”
“We can help you with that.” Marty said. “My family is already very carefully taking apart your green house. We will move it to my base. Rebuild and you can tend to it. You can show them around. Get your friends used to seeing them. I promise no harm will come to any of them.” She informed me.
Taking one last look around at everyone, I slowly nodded my head. “I guess Eve won’t be preforming for us.” I whispered. An arm dropped to my shoulders.
“The curtain hasn’t fallen yet, my friend.” She whispered in my ear. I giggled as I put my arm around Nezumi's waist. Today my life changed once more.