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Shion didn't know what he had been planning to do when he walked back into No. 6 with a baby in his arms, a rat on his shoulder, and a dog trotting along beside him. He knew everything would be different with the wall broken down. Still, he wasn't ready for the stunned looks on the people as they left No. 6.
He also hadn't been expecting his mother to leave the city for good. When he tried to convince her to stay in her bakery, she shook her head. "Too much has changed, honey. I don't want to go back to that place.
It seemed that while Shion had found freedom in the Western District, his mother had found that there was a rotten core at the center of the city. She wasn't ready to go back yet. It was Shion that went into the city and packed a bag of her clothes to bring back to Western District, leaving mother to take care of the baby. Together the three of them made a new home for themselves in a small storefront building next to Inukashi's new inn.
It seemed Mother's bread was just as popular in Western district as they were in the city. With the increased trade between the two sections of the city, they even started to see some of her old customers. They couldn't come often, since there still weren't roads between the two sections. The remnants of the wall were slowly being moved out of the way, but it was tiring, difficult work. Shion went to help when he could.
It felt like the perfect way to memorialize Safu and help with Elyurias' vision for the new world. Slowly contact is being remade with cities No. 1-5. Things are still difficult. Shion and his mother listen to nightly reports of new atrocities discovered about the people that ran No. 6.
It was a distant pain, like excising an old wound. After Safu revived him, his old rage had turned to a deeply low-burning coal inside his chest. It no longer felt like everything was going to shake apart and leave him wanting to burn the world down.
Besides he had Safi to worry about now. The little tyke had thankfully grown out of needing to suckle off of Inukashi's dog for long. Zi had given them a discounted rate on the dog for a reason zi wouldn't explain. Watching the baby suckle on the dog's tit had still been awkward for everyone except the baby and dog themselves. He was particularly glad for the distraction when Hamlet and Mr. Rat disappeared for days on whatever personal business that rats had.
Even with Safi and his mother to keep him occupied, Shion still spent some nights curled on his bed, muffling his tears with a pillow. Nezumi wouldn't be impressed by his tears, but sometimes he still got lonely. It had been the same way after he'd lost Nezumi the first time. In some ways it had been easier then, because he had been distracted by school and his new living conditions in the lower levels of No. 6. He also hadn't been as close to Nezumi then. The memory of the kiss they had shared at the top of the bluff still lingered in his mind. Thinking about the press of Nezumi's lips against his, still brought a blush to Shion's cheeks.
Two months after they started the new store, Rikiga decided it was a good time to start courting Shion's mother. He came into the shop most afternoons, after the lunch time rush. Sometimes he would just spend a few hours playing with Safi, and mooning hopelessly over Shion's Mother But occasionally he'd get up the courage to invite her out to dinner or a show. She always turned him down, but the constant offers and refusals turned into a kind of flirting anyway. When they started flirting seriously, Shion took Safi and ducked out to visit Inukashi.
They were barely in the door, before Safi's dog ran out to greet them. He jumped up to dig his claws into Shion's stomach, and lick Safi on every bit of skin he could reach. Safi started giggling, and screamed 'Puppy' at the top of his lungs.
It was loud enough that Inukashi came out to give them a dirty look. Not that it stopped zi from grabbing Safi from Shion, and bouncing him on zir hip. Inukashi waved Shion away, "Go on, I've got him and you look like you could use a break from the old man's attempts at flirting."
Sion shared an amused smirk with her. He pressed a kiss to Safi's cheek, before heading for the door. He wanted to find some nice cheese to tempt Hamlet and Mr. Rat back to his room. It had been a week since he'd seen either of them, and their business usually only took them away from three or four days. He was tempted to start believing that Nezumi was back in town, but it would hurt too much if he was wrong.
Once he was finished his grocery shopping, he went back to pick Safi up. Safi was fast asleep in a basket set up next to Inukashi. Zi was kind enough to let Shion to take the whole thing back home, so he didn't have to wake Safi up and deal with his crankiness the rest of the afternoon.
When he got back to the shop, Rikiga was gone, but Mother was looking suspiciously happy. Shion tried to sneak upstairs just in case Rikiga was still lurking around somewhere. Mother caught him before he was even three feet inside the door. "Sion dear, Rakiga left something for you. He said he was sure you'd understand."
Sion hoped it wasn't a request for his mother's hand in marriage, or something. Then he saw what she held out to him. It was a ticket to a show. Confused, he took it from her. It only took a second to figure out why Rakiga had left it for him. 'Eve in concert tonight' the ticket declared in bright blue ink.
His hand shook, and he thought he might be dreaming, but the paper stayed solid between his fingers. He pulled Mother into a tight hug. "Can you take Safi tonight?"
"Of course, dear. You just go and have fun."
He felt like he was a bubble floating on a warm breeze of happiness, as he ran to get ready. Last time he'd gone to one of Eve's shows, he had been dressed in his roughest clothes and scared half to death. This time he was going to do things right.
He dressed in his nicest clothes, and did his best to calm his white mane of hair, before he left the shop. On the way to the show he stopped to purchase a bouquet of light blue Irises, the color of Eve's shawl.
His ticket was for one of the seats at the back of the theater, but it didn't matter to him. With the lights focused on Eve, and her beautiful voice filling the theater it was like they were the only two people in the room. As Eve finished the last song, he pushed forward through the crowd, so that he could be waiting when Eve left the stage. She took the bouquet of flowers from him, and pressed a kiss against Shion's lips. The other people in attendance groaned but nobody tried to stop them when Eve pulled him to her dressing room.
Once they were in the private room, Eve ducked behind her dressing curtain. When she came back out she was Nezumi again. Only the faint hint of make-up, and the fact that Nezumi had left his hair flowing down over his back, gave away the hint of Eve that remained.
Sion didn't care. He'd been planning this moment since Nezumi left him at the top of the bluff outside of No. 6. He buried his fingers in Nezumi's hair and pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss. He was tired of waiting for Nezumi to give him a few chaste kisses. He wanted Nezumi to know just how important he was to every fiber of Shion's being.
They spent the night curled together on the couch in Eve's dressing room. Then, in the morning they clasped their hands together and went home to Shion's mother's store, free to be together at last.