Wonders

When it was you

It was really him. Shion's mind spun. He didn’t know this Rat, but he knew the boy he once was. Shion peeked at him through his white hair. Rat smirked.
“Still here.” He muttered. Shion blushed turning to look back at the table. No one talked as they watched Rat with his new play toy.
“Shion!” Safu yelled. She stood before them. He looked up. Gave her a tiny smile. “You can't seriously be sitting with him?” she glared at Rat. Shion looked between them. He had finished his lunch. He put all the garbage back in the paper bag. He stood.
“Thank you.” He told Rat as he tried to walk around his chair to go to Safu. Rat stood swiftly blocking his way.
“He stays here.” He didn’t say this to Shion. Instead one hand rested lightly on the sweater vest as those grey eyes bore into Safu.
“Sit down, Shion.” Rat commanded. Shion looked at Safu.
“Joins us, please, Safu.” Rat's tone was sickly sweet as he pointed to an empty seat. Shion took his seat back. Rat settled beside him. Safu sat perched on the edge of her seat looking at them.
“Shion, are you ok?” she asked. Shion dared a look at Rat, who smirked back. He gave Safu a scoff.
“Cant you freaking talk!” the dark girl yelled. Shion flinched from the noise.
“Dogkeeper!” Rat growled at her. She hurmphed crossed her arms and legs and turned away.
“Why aren’t you talking, Shion?” Rat asked gently.
“He's shy.” Safu said. Rat flicked a look at her.
“I asked him.” He said calmly.
“Ever since my dad died, I find it hard to talk to people. I look like a freak.” Shion told the table. He couldn’t lift his eyes from the grey marbled surface. A hand shot out catching his chin. Safu cried out lunging forward as Rat forced Shion to look at him.
One hand stopped Safu, the other held Shion. “Listen here, I will only say this once, I will not allow anyone, even you, to call you a freak! Understand?”  he told him. Shion's eyes widened and he nodded. Rat released him. He sat back. His eyes went to Safu. The bell rang.
“You're not his only friend.” He told her after the others at the table had left. Rat stood walking away. Safu looked to Shion.
“What did you do to get the head psychopath interested in you?” she asked.
“I saved his life.” Shion muttered. He refused to say more. Safu lead them to science class. Shion smiled as he walked in. Safu looked for a free table. There wasn’t one. An empty seat stood beside Rat.
“Shion!” he commanded. Safu glared.
“Go.” She told him. Shion kept his head down as he walked to the table. He saw that Safu sat near the front, next to an red haired girl with her hair in a braid.
Rat leaned against the wall watching the boy closely. “You always loved this shit.” He stated. Shion glanced at him.
“Still do.” He said. There was a problem on the board. Shion studied it briefly. He then opened the book, setting it on the table. He found the answer a second later. He wrote it on his note paper. The teacher called the class to order. Took attendance, then asked if anyone knew the answer.
Rat glanced at Shion. The boy had folded in on himself. While still watching him, Rat called out the answer the pale form beside him had written down.
“Very good, uh, Rat.” The teacher said looking shocked.
“Shion knew it.” Rat said giving the boy credit. He watched Shion's face color. The boy sunk lower on the stool.
“Good job, Shion.” Mr. Whitehead said eyeing Rat. Shion didn’t look up. Rat groaned inwardly. This wasn't the kid he remembered. That Shion laughed, always had a smile on his face, and a question on his lips. This person seemed a mild shell in comparison. Rat leaned over to him.
“I will find you again.” He whispered. Shion looked at him. What did that mean? He thought.
The rest of the day was much the same as the beginning. Rat seemed to be in nearly all of Shion's classes. If Safu was also there he sat next to her, if  not the dark haired boy dragged him to the back with him. This appeared to irritate  the small group of people around the Rat. He didn’t seem to notice.
When school ended, Safu met Shion at the lockers. “Ok, I have to stay and work with Ms. Sherry, you remember how to get home?” she asked, her eyes heavy with worry. Shion nodded. Safu sighed.
“Shion, please, tell me the directions I gave you.” She begged.
“He's not a toddler.” Rat came up to them. Safu glared at him.
“No, he is just oblivious and gets lost, like a lot!” she said. Rat snorted. He draped his arm around the pale boys shoulders.
“I guess some things never change.” He smirked. Safu glanced between them.
“How do you know each other?” she asked. Rat stepped away.
“Don't worry about it. I will get him home.” He looked at Shion. “You do know your address right?” he asked.
“It's Karen's bakery.” Safu told him.
“My ole man loves that place. The owner is smoking hot.” The blonde idiot said. Shion snarled.
“She's my mother!”  Rat glared at the blond. Shion had not caught his name yet.
“Apologize.” He ordered.
“I am not…” he was slammed into the lockers on the far side of the hall. Rat stood between him and Shion. They faced each other.
“What the hell, Rat?” blonde shouted. “You've had a hard on for this kid since he came in this morning!” Rat voice came out calmly.
“He is under my protection. Now apologize, or face the consequences.” The blonde glared at him. Rat stood before him waiting.
“Why are we bowing to some lame ass…” Dogkeeper started she stopped when Rat's fist nearly collided with her face. Rat looked over his shoulder. Shion was hanging on to his arm.
“You cant just beat people into obeying you.” Those red eyes bore into the grey.
“It's worked for him this far.” Dogkeeper muttered. “Thanks kid.” She added side stepping out of the way of Rat's fist.
“Sorry, dude.” Blonde said. The pair headed down the hall with a few others.
Rat pulled himself away from Shion. “Walk.” He demanded pointing toward the front doors. Shion said good bye to Safu and walked outside. Rat on his heels.
They didn’t talk for a long time as the excited the school grounds. It was Shion who broke the silence.
“Mom told me you died from your injuries.” He said glancing at the boy out of the corner of his eye.
“I did, a couple times. I keep coming back though.” He walked beside the white-haired boy watching him. “Guess I had unfinished business.” He said. “Your hair…” he trailed off.
“Trauma. No one knows why my eyes changed.” Shion said. “The scar, they think, is from the car seat.” He said. They were silent for a while once more. Rat shoved his fists into his pockets. He didn’t want to feel like this. This longing need to protect someone. For so long now it had only been him.
“Why Rat?” Shion asked.
“It's what I have become. A disease, a plague, whatever.” The dark boy said. Shion looked over at him. Rat stopped, looking back.
“We were kids…” Shion began. Rat’s shoulders curved in.
“Yeah, so I should just let you go?” he asked. Shion’s mouth fell open.
“What?” he looked startled. “No, I mean, I uh well…” he faltered. “Just if you were doing all of this, because of the accident.” He finally got out. Rat watched him.
“You,…” he paused. “You were the reason I kept fighting.” He admitted. “Maybe you're right. We were just kids. You live down that street. Have a nice life, Shion.” Shion had turned his head when Rat pointed down the street. When he looked back, Rat was gone. He wasn’t just walking away; he wasn’t there any longer.
Shion turned in circles a few times looking for him. He just wasn’t there. He gave up. Walking to the corner he stopped. Looking around once more for Rat. The dark boy watched him from a tree branch. The street Shion stood on had four others connecting.
He could turn left, go straight, turn a little more left or trunk right. The last was going back the way he was pretty sure he had just come from. Slowly he turned in a circle. He had lost sight of the road Rat had told him to turn on. This was typical.
He pulled a phone out of his pocket. Punching in something he looked up again. Still he had no idea which road to take. He gave up and called the bakery. His mom answered on the fourth ring.
“Shion, are you ok?” she asked worriedly. Shion hurried to explain he was fine. He then told her where he was and that he didn’t know which way to turn. She directed him. He walked toward home. His mom stayed on the phone with him until he walked in the door of the bakery.
Rat hopped out of the tree. He looked down after Shion. His chest tight from holding in the emotions of the day. Hearing that name after so long. Seeing that smile once more. it was a pleasant nightmare for him. How was he going to protect the kid and keep himself alive? He had no clue.
Well at least Shion had made it clear he didn’t want Rat hanging around. Just kids huh, then how the hell did you pull me from a burning car. The memories filled his head.
He saw the car in the windshield of his dad’s car. They were following them home. He saw it swerve to miss the truck. His dad swore, spinning the wheel he veered off of the road. Rat, who wasn’t Rat then, saw the cars hit. He felt the impact of the seat belts on him. He saw the flames.
Their car collided with the ground. Rat was jarred in his seat. He could feel heat at his back. He started to scream. He couldn’t get out. When his dad didn’t answer his cries, he yelled for Shion, over and over. Then as if he were an angel, Shion was there.
The brown unruly haired head poke into the window beside Rat. The flames were on the other side, for now. Shion had been small even then. He wiggled through the window, got Rat out of the car seat. He pulled them both out of the car.
Shion had sat in the small grass patch holding Rat. Rat's back burned, it hurt to move. Shion told him to stay still. Rat had curled up with the boy. He laid face down in Shion's arms. Shion talked to him. He didn’t remember what the other boy said. He only knew that voice was there above him. That Shion was his safety.
Rat had been in and out of the hospital for years afterwards. The medical bills got too high that his mother just couldn’t deal with it all. After yet another expensive surgery, Rat's mother made sure he was alive, then went home and took a bottle of pills. A police officer found her dead on the couch.
That was when Rat had been born. He was a disease, killing anyone and anything that loved him or that he loved. He had shoved people away from then on. No one could touch him. No one would get hurt because he cared for them. Now he would just hurt anyone who hurt him. He was in his fifth foster care. They were an elderly couple. He decided he would stay with them for a bit. They could only have one child at any time. Rat had lived with them for three years now.
He remembered his first night here. They had given him pastries from Karen's. Shion had been less than a mile away for three years now. Rat wouldn’t let him disappear again.