Night Angel

Tunnel vision

Shion POV
“Hand me that print out.” I yelled as I peered into the microscope. There what was that? Adjusting the dials I felt the piece of paper placed in my outstretched hand. Yes, that was the piece I was looking for. I need to isolate it. Stepping back I told the woman who had found it.
“Isolate that, send it through the test.” I ordered her. As I backed away to look at the print out. My eyes scanned the results of one of the other tests. It was a complete failure. One step forward two back. I swore tossing the paper into the recycle box.
“Shion?” a smooth gentle voice said. It had been days or longer since I heard that voice. Where had he been? Or had I just lost track of time.
A hand pushed against my chest as I was about to walk past him. “No, when was the last time you slept, ate, did anything but work?” he demanded. I slapped his hand away catching the shoulder of a passing scientist. Deftly I plucked the paper from his pocket to look over what he was doing. He shook his head as I allowed him to continue on his way. It was another failure but I could tell with what he had in his hands he had seen what I saw now. Nodding I tossed the paper away onto a desk.
“Shion!” Rat yelled. All noise halted except the working machines as everyone looked up at him. I glared. His grey eyes met mine. Taking a firm hold of my elbow he dragged me out of the lab.
“Stop.” I yelled trying to get my arm back. He didn’t let go. Pulling me up the stairs. “Nezumi stop, where are you taking me!” I cried. Tears of frustration wetting my eyes. He spun on me his entire body tensed, angry.
“To bed, Shion. I am taking you to bed.” The challenge was there deep in those cloudy sky orbs. I heard snickering of some of the people around us.
“No I need…” I had turned to head back to the lab. Nezumi was quick. He caught me spun me about as he thrust me against the wall.
“Safu says you haven’t left that lab in nearly a week. Which means you haven’t eaten properly nor slept long. You're burning yourself out. In this condition I doubt you could find the answer to 2+2.” He growled in my face. “You have exactly two choices. 1…” he held a black gloved finger in front of my face. “…we get breakfast then go to bed or two…” another finger popped up. “we go right to bed.”
“Yeah you two need to get a room.” Someone muttered as they bumped into Nezumi trying to get around him to the stairs. He shifted but not enough for me to get away. He was holding me with his entire body. Before I could answer him, my stomach growled. When had I eaten last?
“Food it is.” He yanked me away from the wall, a death grip on my arm. A tiny smile touched my lips.
“I like the assertive side. Let’s see do you like to dominate?” I teased. I saw the back of his neck redden. When he looked at me his face was clear of any such coloring. I smirked another little piece of the Nezumi puzzle.
“I can see you are a jerk when you don’t get sleep.” He grumbled. I laughed. He pushed me down into a chair. Someone brought over a tray of food. Blinking it took me a moment to recognize Safu. I snorted.
“Is this like an intervention, or have we reached the threesome stage?” I asked. Safu looked away her face flaming. Nezumi actually laughed.
“Like I would sleep with a girl.” He muttered sipping his coffee. I blinked at him. Did he just… Those grey eyes flicked up to meet mine. “I'm gay.” He mouthed. I smirked reaching out I touched his gloved hand.
“Same.” I whispered back. He smirked.
“Eat.” He demanded.
“You or the food?” I asked. He shook his dark head.
“Honestly I sort of like this side of you, but I want my Shion back.” He said. This threw me. When did he start seeing me as his? I pondered. Silently I began to eat the rice and pork bowl in front of me. There were fresh mixed vegetables and some fruit as well. I saw Nezumi's smirk as I ate. I swear the food was drugged. The longer I sat and ate the more tired I became. My last action I remembered was to sit the glass of milk, now empty, down on the table. I watched my hand fall away.
“Sleep tight, love.” Nezumi whispered just before the blackness enveloped me. When I managed to pry my eyes open again I was in a dark room. There was something warm pressed against my back. Reaching out I touched a wall right in front of my face. Smiling I realized he had trapped me here. Rolling over the moonlight caressed his face. It was like a lovers touch as it made his strong stark features softer. In sleep he was more than beautiful.
My hand reached out to touch his silken hair. I pushed it back behind his hair after letting it run through my fingers. He must have showered and left it down. I didn’t realize how long it was. Of course he did act as Eve.
“Stop starring and kiss me." He ordered. I smiled. Leaning forward I pressed our lips together. His hands found my waist pulling our bodies closer. His lips were soft, warm, and very demanding as he molded them to mine.
Mine. The thought rang through my head as his tongue tortured mine in my own mouth. He twisted it around mine licking and teasing all along it. Mine. All I had to do was tell him, I wanted him, then he would be mine. But so much hung over my head. Now wasn’t the time for this.
Gently I pushed him back. “If I live through this…” I began.
“I will make sure you will.” He told me. I touched his chest.
“Make sure you live as well.” I told him. He smiled as our eyes clung to each other.
“I won’t promise, but I am pretty good at staying alive. I've done it for this long.” He stated. I sighed pushing my legs through his to wrap up in him. I pressed my face into his chest. A million things rang through my head. There was so much I wanted to say.
Before I could get my thoughts organized, a loud screeching alarm sounded throughout the building. It was accompanied by a voice stating “We have been invaded, take all precautions.” It repeated over and over as the sirens wailed. Nezumi reacted faster than me. He was on his feet already putting his hair up. I scurried out of bed to find my shoes and jacket.
“Safu!” I gasped turning toward the door. His hand caught mine. The door opened. Marty, Safu a scientist and two large body guards burst in. Rat was in front of me before the door was fully opened. Good thing the first body guard was ready for him or it could have ended horribly. I caught his jacket.
“Let's go.” Dragging him backwards I headed to the closet. He frowned. Safu helped me move the boxes out of the way. We opened the trap door. The Rat watched with steel cold eyes. I shivered at the look in them. Fierce, protective and very, very deadly. He stopped me from dropping down into the underground tunnel.
Without a word, he leapt through the hole. A second later his hand flashed in the darkness for us to follow him. I dropped down splashing slightly in the ankle deep water. Reaching up I helped Safu then Marty down. The male scientist clutched his bag. I realized he had been the main one who had helped me.. the body guards came next.
Rat looked over at them. It was like the communicated telepathically, with a nod he turned. He touched my wrist then began to move as silent as the wind through the water. I followed as quietly as I could. Behind me was Safu, Marty, the scientist whose name I recalled being Eric, and then the bodyguards.
As we moved through the tunnel we could hear others moving around above us. Rat steered us away from these parts, instead of finding a way out, he led us deeper into the tunnels. The sounds above us faded. At a junctions we ran into another group of Marty's people. These were mostly scientists. Two guards lead them.
“How did you make it this far?” Rat asked in a hushed tone.
“They’re called blue prints. We memorized them.” One of the white coated women stated. This made Rat’s body freeze. He stood, a statue in the dim light. A string of foul language left his lips, all as quietly spoken as if he were in the library. It took me another minute to realize why he was so pissed.
“He knows.” I whispered. Rat eyes gleamed. Reaching up he held his hand to a pipe. A chocolate colored rat scurried up his arm to his shoulder. They chattered at each other a moment, then the rat hurried back to the pipe. Keeping his eyes on the rodent, the assassin before me motioned for us to follow him once more.
In the past few months that I had known this mysterious man, I had only see the lighter side of him. I had seen Nezumi, a somewhat stand offish flirt with a good heart. I had seen a peek of Eve. A whimsicle girl who loved to sing, preform, be seen and adored by fans. The person before me I had thought I had seen. In the way he carried his body while in public. The way he watched without watching everything around him. How he could slip in and out of places with hardly a sound.
I had been fooled. The man I knew wasn’t who he truly was. At least not all of him. Nezumi, Eve they were acts a role to be played. This was the real devil under the mask. This was the Rat. The very name that struck fear into so many faces. A silent boy sleek and nimble, the only skill he needed to know was survival. All else he had learned only lead to him being better at surviving. It was as I followed him that I understood why people feared the Rat.
It had nothing to do with the way he looked, nothing about how silent, stealthily he could slip in or out of some places. No, they feared the teen before me because he was a chameleon. He had the ability to pull back the curtain, to see what was hidden in the mind of the soul that he persuade. Or in our case, at this moment, the man that stalked us. Rat was highly intelligent in his line of work. It froze the heart in my chest to see the damaged lonely boy before me. For this was the real person behind the masks.
“Rat?” I whispered the name. He turned halfway to look at me. There was no warmth, no love in those cold eyes. He was in mission mode, and it terrified me. I wasn’t sure why, not yet anyway. As I watched the ice melted in those eyes, just for one brief moment I saw my Nezumi. Yet he couldn’t come out. Right now the only person that could save us was the Rat. He returned swiftly, turning away from me.
We walked in silence for hours. At times we heard other people in the tunnels. Sometimes we even found dry land to walk on. Never did the Rat speak. Instead he followed the rodent leading us away.
In time we came across a den of sorts. Many street kids were hiding down here. Rat walked out of the tunnel confidently. A tall boy stood from a broken sofa to meet him halfway across open space. They stood facing each other for a moment.
“Well I never thought you would show that ugly mug down here again.” The bigger teen said. Involuntarily his hand touched a long thin scar that ran from his right eye down to tug at the corner of his mouth.
“My friends are being hunted. I’m sure even your dim witted brain have heard them in the tunnels.” Rat's voice was as cold as his eyes. No emotion leaked from him. The boy's shoulder lifted then fell.
“They are no concern of mine. I called all of my people back.” He said. Rat inched forward. The teen leapt away. An icy smile split the Rat's face.
“Don’t make me hurt that ugly mug of yours again.” A flash of steel, Rat now held a glistening dagger in his hand. The larger boy backed away.
“Talo, it’s Rat. We want to help him.”  A teen not much bigger than me spoke up. Rat didn’t react to the offer of help. When Talo said nothing the boy moved forward. He stood just to the left of Rat.
“He maybe an idiot, but we want to help.” Several others stood to move behind the boy. He pushed his hood down, only to reveal the soft round features of a very pretty girl. I gasped.
“My sister is waiting up above. But you need to make them not know where you go out?” she said. The icy smile didn’t grow any warmer but Rat nodded. The plan was simple. Have as many people dress like us as possible. Let them run around and be seen by the hunters, while we sneak away.
We changed clothes. Rat came over to me as I pulled the hoodie over my head. When I could see him again, I realized Nezumi made a brief return. “Please, Shion, stay close to me, alright?” he asked. I fixed the shirt before stepping to his side.
“Not even the Rat will scare me away from you.” I whispered lacing our fingers together. I could feel his pulse racing. He bent placing his forehead on mine.
“That guy knows how to survive. I need him right now. You need him.” He told me. I cupped his face.
“I know. I will see you again, do you know why?” I asked. He pulled away to look at me. A small head movement told me he didn’t. I kissed him quickly.
“Because I have never felt this way about anyone else. I think I might be falling in love with all three of you.” I smiled. He groaned but smirked back.
“Rat?” a voice called. Instantly his eyes froze over. Pulling away from me he turned to look at the guy who had called him. I sighed. I would get my Nezumi back, if it is the last thing I do in this world. I will tell him my true feelings for him.
The plan was swiftly enacted.