Beyond the Horizon

4. Understanding

This was a bad idea.

          Nezumi shoved his hands deep into his jacket pockets. Despite his constant warnings, Shion still dragged his feet behind him, gawping at everything, as if the shoddy little town was a place of rare wonders. Nezumi understood in part; Shion was growing nostalgic, perhaps even regretful. He was leaving his entire life behind and heading into a gapping, dangerous unknown. Of course that was stressful, and of course Nezumi understood this required some restraint on his part. He didn't want to scare his new attack dog away before he even got him out of his backyard.

          So Nezumi was trying to keep his snapping and urging down to one in every three instances—but neither patience nor sentimentality were his forte. And so, when at last Nezumi saw the edge of the town and excitedly picked up his pace, only to turn and find Shion staring longingly into a shop window, he finally lost it.

          "Can you please," Nezumi growled, striding back, "for the love of all that is holy," he grabbed a hold of Shion's arm, "hurry the fuck up?"

          Shion blinked at him in confusion. It seemed Nezumi had yanked him out of another reverie. Shion's face twisted as he registered the question.

          "There's no need to be rude," Shion said, and peeled Nezumi's fingers from his arm with a slight wince. "I just wanted to pay my respects to Lost Town before I leave it. Since I don't know when I'll be back." His look was pointed, as if he were accusing Nezumi of being the cause of his misfortune.

          Oh, no you don't.

          "And who's fault is that?" Nezumi's mouth curved into a feral smile. "I'm not the one who blew up his mom's livelihood. In fact, I'm the one who cleaned up the mess."

          Shion flinched away from the venomous truth. Nezumi could see the fear and shame fighting in his expression, and mixed in with the turmoil in Shion's dark eyes: the impulse to run from him.

          Nezumi bit down on his sharp tongue. Even he had to admit that was a low blow. Not to mention it was counterintuitive to his interest to anger or alienate the telekinetic.

          But it was a knee-jerk reaction. The moment Nezumi felt threatened, the claws slipped out automatically; he had been fighting for his life so long, he forgot how to do anything but attack.

          "Look," Nezumi said calmly. "Like it or not, we're stuck together now. When the Lab returns, we'll want to be as far away as possible. But at this pace, we'll still be in Lost Town a week from now."

          Shion still stared at him like he wanted to cut his losses and make a break for it. Nezumi had to resist the urge to grab ahold of him again, or to look deeply into the other boy's eyes and rearrange his thoughts until Shion believed it was in his best interest to do whatever Nezumi said.

          Behave, Nezumi warned himself. Don't spook the telekinetic just waiting to explode. The aftermath of the last time Shion felt threatened still stuck freshly in his mind. Nezumi stood very still and kept his eyes trained on Shion's, a little like Shion was a wild animal and Nezumi could convince him he was nonthreatening by not making any sudden movements.

          Shion swallowed. "Alright. I'm—" He paused and dropped his gaze to the ground. "Sorry, you're right. Let's go." Shion walked by him towards the edge of the town. Nezumi released the breath he'd been holding and followed.

          In the last row of shops and homes, the warm salty scent of meat wafted through the air. Nezumi's stomach gave an agitated grumble and he remembered that he still had not eaten. The coffee and muffins he'd ordered at Karan's bakery had languished on the floor after the explosion, barely tasted. It made him mad to think of it, and that's how he knew he really needed to eat before he bit Shion's head off again in a fit of hungry irritability.