A/N: AUs, yay; aren't they fun? In which Nezumi is a poor, well, rat, and Shion is the pretty rich boy. The Lady and the Tramp anyone? X3;; Yes, it did inspire this!

Empire State of Mind

Chapter One

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A pencil was fiddled with in between two slender fingers. The monotone drone of a voice echoed. Shion jumped when he felt a ruler tap on his slouching back and he immediately straightened, pale red eyes widening in surprise.

"Shion! Pay attention!"

Shion mumbled a quiet apology and adjusted his pencil correctly in his grasp. His private tutor gave a reprimanding look, tapping the ruler on her arm. Shion wanted to tell her child abuse was quite the crime but realize that the humor would be lost on someone of her strictly business demeanor; instead, he sighed and went back to his trigonometry problems. Numbers, numbers, numbers. . .

Ten minutes later when he was done and was excused, he strolled upstairs to his room. The voices coming from his father's office down the hall called his attention and he stood by the wall of the half-closed door. He knew better than to eavesdrop but once he heard his private tutor's voice say his name, he hesitated in curiosity.

"Shion is a bright child, Ambassador-san but his impassiveness in his studies concerns me…"

At this point, Shion had walked away just as quietly as he had approached and headed into his room. He could no longer hear the chattering but their voices seemed to ring in his ears regardless. His tutor's words bothered him a lot more than he expected. He felt trapped and tired, and jaded.

A break. . . he needed a break from it all.

Unable to take it any longer, he pulled up his address book in his digital watch device and called Safu's number. Images flickered out of the device and Safu's face popped up seconds later. She raised a quizzical brow.

"Safu, would you like to meet up for some dinner?"

Her expression didn't change but she agreed nonetheless. Shion exchanged directions with her and decided to walk the distance. Normally, his chauffeur drove him around but he felt like taking a walk.

It was sunny outside but the gentle cool breeze made it overall a lovely day. Shion walked on the pavements, hearing the noise of passing cars on the road and voices of other pedestrians. It was just another day in No. 6.

When Shion made it to the restaurant, he found Safu sitting inside on a table near the far window. She spotted him then and waved with a smile. He walked up to her, greeting her with a brief hug. After he pulled away, she eyed him up and down and he blinked at the attention.

"What?"

"Look at you, Mr. Fancy Pants," she teased, her brown eyes flickering with mirth.

Shion glanced down at his tan slacks and white button up dress shirt. Personally, he thought he just looked semi-casual, but when he looked over at Safu, he saw her point. Unlike his semi-formal clothing, she was wearing the total opposite. She wore a light sweater that was a lilac color and showed off her creamy shoulders and a denim skirt with white high socks and matching flats. She looked every bit like a civilian and nothing like the high official's daughter that she was.

"I didn't think to change before," he said, giving a sheepish shrug of his shoulders.

Safu rolled her eyes but a smile was on her lips. "How were the lessons with Ms. Pumpkin?"

'Ms. Pumpkin' was a nickname Safu designated to Shion's home tutor. When Shion had questioned her about it, she had said it was because the woman had a plump face and her hair that was always tied up on top of her head looked like the wooden stump of a pumpkin.

Even if Safu's observations were fairly accurate, Shion had chided her for her cruel comments. He knew forehand what it was like to get comments on one's physical appearance. He had white hair and pale red eyes after all.

"I wish you wouldn't call her that."

Safu looked over at him from her seat, her observant eyes watching him. Sometimes, he felt like he couldn't keep anything from her with those sharp-eyed brown eyes of hers. "You're a good looking guy, you know," she said bluntly then, taking Shion off guard.

"Safu.."

The brunette grinned, tilting her head the slightest to the side. At that moment, their waiter appeared and started them off with drinks. Shion ordered a soda, and Safu ordered pink lemonade. When the waiter left, Shion turned his attention back to his friend. "How are things with your father?"

Safu shrugged, fiddling with the silver chained necklace around her neck. "Busy as usual. We'll probably be inviting your family over for dinner sometime soon. Political purposes." She raised a brow.

It wasn't a secret that both Shion's and Safu's father were hoping their kids would tie the knot. In their high political positions, it was almost natural that they would want their kids to be married to families of the same. While Shion and Safu were good friends, he wasn't sure he wanted their relationship to turn into something of that magnitude. Safu was very dear to him but he had to admit to himself that he had never really looked at her in that sort of light. She was just Safu, his childhood friend – the tomboyish girl he saw getting into fights with other boys when they picked on her in elementary.

"Ah," Shion mumbled, finding himself wondering what she thought about their situation. Safu was anything but modest but even she hadn't said anything on the matter.

"My father has been talking about you a lot recently. How you're a good boy, you know, the works," she said offhandedly.

Shion bristled a bit then. It was almost as if she had read his mind. "Oh. . ." He replied lamely.

Safu smiled at his reaction. Her shoulders straightened then as she leaned forward a bit in her seat. Eyelids lowering a bit, she gave him a pensive look.

"We're only seventeen and they're already hinting at marriage for us. Can you believe that?"

Shion could believe that. He knew first hand. His father had given him 'the talk' about it a couple weeks back; it had consisted of talk on good future marriageable brides, and sexual advice that Shion could have done without. It had just about been the most uncomfortable twenty minutes in Shion's life.

Their waiter appeared and placed down their drinks before asking for their orders. Shion stuck with something simple such as beef teriyaki while Safu ordered a dish off their specials menu. When the waiter left, Shion took a sip of his soda, noticing then that Safu was still staring at him almost with an expectant look.

Right.

"It wouldn't bother me." When Shion looked at her clueless, she continued, "If our parents pressured us to get a union."

At this point, Shion just about choked on his drink. Safu looked worriedly on as the white haired male coughed and beat a hand on his chest awkwardly to swallow down the beverage stuck in his throat.

Smooth, Shion. He chided himself mentally.

Safu looked mildly annoyed. He didn't blame her for it.

"Sorry," he said apologetically. "I honestly haven't given the idea much thought."

It was the truth, too. Then again, most seventeen year olds didn't think about marriage seriously.

Safu stared at him a bit longer before giving a small sigh. Her lips twitched upwards into a small smile, and Shion knew he was forgiven. Safu was his closest and only friend so he'd hate to have her upset with him. It wasn't easy to develop friendships with someone in his position. Every now and then he'd come across someone who just wanted to use him for his father's power. At times, he hated his status.

His hand drew up to his neck, tracing and remembering. Sometimes, he still remembered the pain that had spread throughout his body like an inferno. . .

"Shion."

Shion snapped out of his daze and looked over to where Safu was sitting. One of her brows was furrowed and her pink lips were pursed. She worried about him, he knew, almost as much as his mother did. She was true and a dear friend, he knew this much, too.

"But, I would pick Safu over the other girls," he admitted then.

That much was true.

Safu's brown eyes widened the slightest in surprise before she smiled, her cheeks glowing faintly. She was beautiful, and Shion should have felt lucky.

But he just felt apathetic about it all.

~xx;~

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" Shion asked, concerned.

"Nah, I can handle my own. I'd worry about yourself," she teased, snickering when an embarrassed look came across Shion's face. It wasn't a secret that he hardly knew how to fight, let alone defend himself.

He waved to Safu as she strolled away and sighed to himself afterwards. The night was a bit chilly and he wished he had worn a sweater instead of his short-sleeved shirt. Slipping his hands in the pockets of his slacks, he walked down the pavements, glancing up at the sky briefly. It was quiet and the full moon lit up the sky beautifully. For some reason, he had the strongest urge to yell out loud, with no one outside to hear him.

I could just imagine what the news lines would say if I got caught making a spectacle of myself. Father would have a fit. Shaking his head, Shion headed down an alley that was an easy shortcut to the way home. His shoes made a soft clattering sound underneath his soles as he walked and his thoughts trailed.

"Well, look what we've got here. It's some big class boy in our dumpy parts."

Shion froze, turning around sharply to find two older men standing behind him. One had their arms crossed while the other tapped what appeared a gun in his palm, both looking quite menacing.

Shion was a smart boy and like most smart people he knew when you were held at gunpoint you gave up whatever was asked. Only a stupid person would fight back.

"What do you want?" He was surprised at how even his voice came out. Inside, his heart was pounding heavily in his chest.

The two men snickered and it was a raspy, low sort of chuckle. Shion stood his ground, eyes flickering from back and forth from the two men, observing.

"I bet you have a lot of money on your e-cards – but, no, I bet you're worth even more than that."

Shion took a step back without even thinking about it, and the loud sound of a gun going off echoed loud in his ears, almost popping his ear drums. A low gasp escaped his lips as he crashed into the ground and pain throbbed throughout his entire body like burning flames. He noted the damage then. A bullet shot to his shoulder, nothing big. He was sure they hadn't hit a bone or anything major like that at the least but it didn't stop the injury from stinging.

He felt hands pulling him up and he hissed in pain, shutting his eyes tight. Today was just getting to be worse and worse for him.

Suddenly then, he heard the groaning sound of a male and felt a strong whoosh of wind with a quick spinning motion. The hands on him were gone and just as he was turning around, Shion caught sight of a figure doing a spinning kick and knocking out the other man. Shion's breath caught in his throat.

"Um," he started. "Thank you for your assistance - " He then found himself slammed into the brick wall with the sharp edge of a knife pressing against his throat.

"Who said I was helping you?" A deep masculine voice murmured with a hint of derisiveness in his tone.

Shion made a mental note to never take this alley ever again. He tried to hold back the swallow he had an urge to do and instead held still, breathing slowly despite the racing in his chest. The other male was wearing a hooded jacket and it was dark so he couldn't really make out much of his features aside from the curve of lips and glint of light eyes.

"How much do you want?" Shion asked, without trepidation. He felt the edge of the knife press more against his neck and bit his tongue to prevent himself from wincing.

"You high official brats sure are full of yourselves."

The pressure was released on Shion's form and he saw the male pull away, swinging the knife's blade back into its hilt. The white haired male's fingers slipped up to his neck, feeling wetness gather at his fingertips.

"Regardless," Shion replied. "I owe you."

He could see the male's head turned in his direction.

"My payment doesn't come cheap, your Majesty," the other male drawled.

Shion shook his head. "I can afford it," he said unwittingly.

A low chuckle came from the other male. It was a smooth, deep sound that made Shion wonder how much older the other was than him. Certainly, he had to be at least twenty-one? Shion wished he could at the least see the other's masked face.

"Of course." Definitely a mocking tone, Shion heard. "Be ready to pay up when I demand since you're so damn eager to throw out money."

Shion's lips parted to say something but the other was strutting away in a casual pace. He found himself running after the other male, turning around the corner of the alley as he spotted the other's form a few steps ahead. "Wait! I'm Shion, what's your name?"

The other paused shortly. For a second, Shion thought he would ignore him and continue walking; instead, the other male whipped his head back, looking over his shoulder at Shion. "Nezumi."

Nezumi?

That was it. That was all Shion got before the mysterious stranger walked away leaving Shion by himself again. Not having anything else to do, Shion turned and made his way home.

He avoided the alley, of course.

~xx;~

His mother, Karan, was home when he walked in. Shion pulled up his collar to hide the markings on his neck from her overly protective eyes and quickly headed up the stairs, calling out to her from on top. He made sure to keep the side that showed his blooded shoulder from her view. "Hi, mom."

"Shion, I was worried when you would be home. Are you hungry?"

Shion merely shook his head. "I just had dinner with Safu."

Karan's eyes widened then before a smile came across her lips. "I see. How is she doing?"

"Fine," he answered. "I'm going to head up to bed now, mom. I'll see you in the morning."

His mother nodded and left him be despite his quite short responses. Shion felt pretty crummy knowing she was watching him unbeknownst to what had happened to him today. His mother worried enough over things and he didn't want to burden her anymore. She had her hands full with his father as it was.

When he reached his room, he locked the door behind him with the computer keypad, and immediately fell onto his bed tiredly. He stared up at the ceiling briefly before he held up his fingers and spotted the caked blood on them. He slipped to his feet then and reached out to grab the self-medic aid kit he had in his bathroom. He wasn't a doctor or surgeon but he knew the basic principles that he had learned from his anatomy e-books. First an anesthesia shot then he'd have to take out the bullet by using a scalpel. The worst thing that could happen was it could get infected.

Focus, focus. . . Shion injected himself with the needle, waiting a bit for the liquid to kick in and numb his shoulder. When he felt his shoulder numb, he held the scalpel in his right hand and got to work. Luckily, he was ambidextrous, so even if he had been shot in his right shoulder he would have been able to treat himself. He managed to get the bullet out and worked on sewing the wound. Like everything else, it wasn't easy with just one hand but he managed to do the deed.

After Shion was done, he was tired and sore and wanted nothing more than to collapse on his bed. He headed to the mirror to check himself. Most of the time, he avoided looking into the mirror, for obvious reasons.

He saw someone else stare back at him; someone with snowy white hair and pale red eyes. His eyelids lowered as he traced the cut on his neck, seeing faint dry blood on his slightly tanned skin. He rubbed almost viciously at his neck then, ignoring the throbbing pain that came with it. With the powder rubbed off, he could see the faded pink markings that coiled around his neck.

He knew the comments others said. Why the odd hair color? Why the odd eye color? They couldn't possibly know nor could they possibly ever understand.

Shion walked away from the mirror, falling back face down onto his bed. It was warm and soft but cold. He could still hear the low whispers echoing in his ears.

It took all his might not to scream into his pillow.

~xx;~

A/N: Anyone want me to even continue this? xD;