Nezushi in bloom

Past

"Dad, mom?" Shion cried as he struggled with the belt that was tightening over his chest and legs.

With a jerk the pale teen opened his eyes. Just another nightmare. "Hey, I was just going to wake you. The girls are on there way." Nezumi petted his white hair. Shion had fallen asleep at his desk. He pressed his head into the hands.

"Everything ready?" he asked. Nezumi bent to kiss his lips. When he stood back up, he smiled.

"Yeah, all good." He stated. Shion went to take a quick shower. He was changed and waiting to play the proper host when the girls showed up. They got food and moved to sit where ever was comfortable for them. Shion pulled himself up into the windowsill. He looked up at the full moon.

"OK, let's start at the beginning." He smirked. "Fresh out of high school, my parents got married. They didn't have a lot of money, but dad saw this advertisement for young adults. This company was promoting a free house and work in what ever field they wanted. Neither mom nor dad knew what they wanted so, when they signed up. They were given a proficiency exam.

Turned out, dad was good with customer relations. He was placed in a job where he worked with the public. Mom was a baker. They moved to this experimental housing. The idea was basically a utopia. For a few years things were great. I was born we lived in this mid sector range of the hierarchy. " Shion smiled. "Then when I was three, I was tested. It showed my IQ was off the charts. I tested highest in science and math, but I was above the above average intelligence in everything. This meant I was placed in the fast track. My parents were upgraded to the highest level. We were rich with anything and everything I needed to succeed. Dad was given a job in the government. Mom was told to stay home and nurture me.

When I was eight, dad stumbled on something that disturbed him. You see the children in this society, were vanishing. The smarter the better. They were taken into the center and no one ever saw them again. The parents were given a yearly salary, claiming it was from the kids work. Dad didn't buy it.

He started digging into other things about the experiment. They were using these kids as test subjects. Yet, no one knew what they were testing or being tested for. It was all classified and above his pay rate. Either way, Dad decided he wanted out.

Problem was you signed a lifelong contract to live your life in this society. Also, any children born in the society were the property of the government. It was why they only took young family oriented adults.

Dad discovered the government was ready for me. They were coming to take me on my twelfth birthday. Nezumi belonged to a resistance group." Shion glanced over at him.

"My parents drank the Kool aide and joined the experiment too." Nezumi stated. "When I was tested they noticed I had an extreme dislike for rules." He smirked. "They put us in west block, the worst of the worst. It was outside the city and basically the slums of the hole operation. We were closer to the outside. When I was about eight, my folks decided they were going to lead a band of people out. We would leave the experiment and never look back. Well, like Shion said, that wasn't allowed. My folks and all the adults were killed. The children were put into work camps. We were slaves to the city. God, I hated that place. We lived in filth while they all lived in their ivory towers.

The resistance broke a lot of the kids out. I was one of them. I joined. They taught me to fight. I became one of their best soldiers. One of my jobs was to find and locate other kids who would be good for rehabilitation from the city. I was pretty good at it. Got many kids slated for the project that they vanished for, out of the city.

One night I was asked to help get a convoy of people outside the city. It would be my first, and only time, I did this. I got hurt, badly. It nearly ended my own life doing it." Here Nezumi took off his shirt to show the burned scars he had. The girls winced at it.