"I'm a girl," Shion continued. "It's not right for a guy to unbutton his shirt in front of a girl if they aren't related or in a romantic relationship."

So that was why Shion acted so odd around me as if flirting. Ugh, I am as naive as Tsukyo made me out to be after all...

"So you are a girl," I said laughing as I showed myself.

"What? No, I am not!" Shion said as she put her arms in front of her chest.

"Don't lie, I heard you. Why were you trying to act like a boy while on the surface?"

She lowered her head and gulped as I got closer.

"You really don't know anything that is going on in the rest of the country do you?" Shion said as she looked at her siblings. "This country doesn't allow women to have manual labor jobs and that's what most of the jobs I find consist of. So, even if today I was just selling food, I wouldn't be allowed to appear like a girl. That's why that woman was being harassed by those men in black, well that, and because they wanted to tax her gains."

"I see," I said as I sat down on a wooden chair.

"We women are only allowed to get an education and do desk jobs but only rich girls in this country are allowed to get educated nowadays due to costs. So, without a job, or the ability to go to school, I had to dress up like a boy," Shion said as she looked into my eyes.

"Wow, that sucks. I know a bit of how that is, we poor men are doomed to only having manual jobs," I said as I looked down at the wooden table. "I always wanted to become a teacher but I can't as I'm a male. Even if I were a girl, I wouldn't be able to be a teacher as I'm poor."

"That's right, the current system sucks, but at least you were free from it all this time. You were free from the society of a city, one that views poor girls as nothing but trash or "prizes" to be won in gang fights, or buying them off using one's wealth," Shion said as tears rolled down her left eye. "Life gets even harder for you when your parents have to leave the country to find jobs to try to educate you, but said parents are still poor in that new nation to afford to feed us."

"I wish I could help you," I said sympathetically. I got up and wiped the tears out of her eyes. Seeing her like that...I knew it was chivalrous, but I felt a need to help her. "I'm gonna help you sell things tomorrow. That way ya little sister here can at least go to school."

"You would really do that for me?" Shion said as her eyes began to glow.

"Of course! Ya are my friend after all, like a friend of mine said, "Friends help out friends, that's what we are there for"," I said remembering what Tsukyo said to me and my siblings in the past.

"Thanks a lot, you are the best, Sora!" Shion said as she hugged me.

"I'm sorry that I made ya get so red," I said as I began to blush.

"Don't worry it wasn't that bad," Shion said with a smile on her face. "It would have been worse if it was you who saw me."

"I'm glad that isn't how I discovered that ya were a girl," I said looking away. 

Wipe that image out of your head Sora! She's a friend, not a potential girlfriend. 

"Well how about we go get the four of us some dinner?" I asked.

"Alright," Shion said as she grabbed her siblings' hands.

"Oh, but ya can dress up as a girl this time," I said as I grabbed her siblings. "After all, there's nothing against a girl eating out, is there?"

"That's true, but..." She glanced down at the black table. "I don't have any girl clothes," Shion said.

"Well I still have one pair of girl clothes left, ya can wear that," I said. "Wait here." I ran back to the bathroom and grabbed my backpack from under the wash basin. I took out a plain white skirt and a matching blue frilly shirt. "Do you have a needle?"

Shion raised an eyebrow.

"Ma didn't finish sewing these, that's why I didn't bother selling them."

Shion looked around the place. "I think there are still some sewing needles in my parents' room. I'll go get them."

She returned some minutes later with a white sewing kit. Inside of the kit were three different sizes of needles. I picked out two of the smallest sized ones, some white thread, as well as some blue thread, and a pair of scissors. I cut the threads diagonally so that it would be easier to put it through the holes of the needles. I then formed small knots at the end of each thread. Once I was done with that I held the two pieces of fabric of the skirt together, and perform a running stitch, a simple form of needlework that is made up of small, even stitches.

As I worked Shion just stared at me with her mouth agape.

I placed my needle on the black table. "Is something the matter?"

"If I hadn't seen you unbutton your shirt, I would've thought that you were a girl."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What's that supposed to mean?" I lifted up the needle. "Oh, ya mean this? Us men can sew too, it's not a skill limited to gals. I ran another running stitch over the same pieces of fabric and finally ripped the string with my teeth. "There, it's done. Now I only need the shirt."

She took the clothes into her hands once I finished with the shirt. She glanced at the skirt strangely.

"Don't tell me you don't know how to put on a skirt."

"I do too," she said, blushing. "Alright, wait here I'll be back in a moment and show you I do know." She ran into her room.

"You like sister, don't you?" Shion's little brother said, smiling at me.

"What? No, I don't," I said as I turned away from him. "I barely met her."

He giggled. "I might be a little kid but I know you like her."

"Not true," I repeated. "Now tell me why you are living underground and who made this place, it's too finely made to have been made by one person."

"This place was made by our parents for us to live in, no one knows about it, not even the government. They built it to prevent the tax collectors from stealing all of our money," Shion's little sister said as she curled her light blue hair.

"I see, so my parents were right, the government truly is corrupt."

"No, not the town's government, the federal government, they have been taking the money away from the poor and disenfranchised for themselves," she said as she turned her tiny hands into fists. "They are also the ones who prevent boys, and poor girls from getting an education."

"How about we protest in front of the castle?" I said. "We could get the queen's attention."

"Easier said than done, the government doesn't like to hear from peasants like us," Shion said as she appeared in the blue shirt and a white skirt making her look like a school girl.

I adverted my gaze as my heart began pounding. "Why do you say that? Do you also think that the queen is a tyrant?"

"Your parents are right. The monarchy is tyrannical, we are ruled by a dictatorship that kills all of its critics, or forces them to flee from their home country like they did to my parents," Shion screamed. "If I were to meet the queen I would slice her throat open and then pull her heart out!"

"You're awfully violent. I'm sure there are more civilized ways to fix things." I looked up at her. I felt warmer. "Say, y actually look like a girl with that dress on."

She hit me playfully. "I am a girl, you doofus!" She looked down at her hands. "Also, I know it's not good to hurt others, but...at this point, I'm starting to wonder if violence is the only way to change things." She shook her head. "Let's forget about that for now. Let's go eat."

"Alright," I said as I got up.

***

The four of us ended up eating at a homey 'country-style restaurant'. The home-like appearance of the place and the homecooked taste of the food reminded me of home. What was my family doing right now? Were they alright? Did they miss me? I hoped that my being here allowed them to have more food to chow down.

"Sora," Shion said, waving a hand in front of me. "Hello, Sora!"

I jumped and noticed that she was waving her hand in front of my eyes. "Are you ready to go home? It's getting really dark right now."

I nodded solemnly and stood up to put my plates into an empty basin.

"Is something troubling you?" Shion said once we were outside. "Do you feel queasy? Maybe your stomach isn't used to city food."

I patted my stomach and grinned. "Nah, I'm alright." I sighed. "The only kind of sickness I have is the home kind."

Shion and her siblings glanced at one another. "At least you got a home." She ran past an empty alleyway. "And a family close enough to visit."

That's right, the three of them hadn't seen their parents for a while. "How about ya collect money to join them?"

Shion's chuckled. "That's exactly what I'm doing, but we still need a lot more. Especially if I want my sister and brother to get an education at Sanuri or even Yamuri. Not to mention that Sanuri isn't a safe country anymore. The place is falling apart. Perhaps sending them to Yamuri would be better..."

Even I had heard about how Sanuri's queen had suffered a coup at the hands of the women and men meant to protect her and the kingdom. Our own country had experienced a coup too, long before I was born. The father of the current queen had overthrown his own sister in order to snatch the throne. It's said that all four members of the old main family had perished in a fire at the castle.

"Sora," Shion snapped. I looked up. In front of us were three men pointing guns at us. "Stand back, protect my siblings."

"You, boy, you were at that plaza earlier."

I glanced over at Shion. Had they discovered her secret too?

"Who are ya?" I said, shielding Shion's younger siblings.

"We saw you leave with a pretty boy, the two of you ran off with a rather large sum of money. You even managed to evade us."

I scoffed. "Ah, so ya're the punks who stole that money from that lady back there." I stepped forward and cracked my knuckles.

"Stop," Shion said. Sweat poured down her forehead. "Stay back, Sora. I'll deal with them."

The men scoffed. "What can a girl do to us?"

"A lot!" Shion's sister yelled.

One of the men reached his hand out for Shion. "You know, you're rather..." He didn't finish that sentence, because the next thing he knew he was on the ground, his jaw bloodied.

"Stupid pig!" Shion said. Her blue eyes seemed lighter but more dangerous under the silver moonlight.

The two other men pointed their guns at her back. "You shouldn't have done that girl."

Shion glanced over at the three of us and then back at them. "The monarchy shall fall in due time, you're siding with evil, you know that?" She spin-kicked the two, causing them to fall back. She grabbed the gun from the man she had first knocked out and pointed it at the other two. "Don't mess with me, or my family."

Shion was amazing. If I hadn't listened in on her, I would've thought that she was actually a guy, instead of a girl.

Suddenly, two other men appeared behind Shion's siblings, and me. The kids hugged my legs.

"Sora," Shion's siblings said in unison. I could feel their little fingers shaking against my legs.

"Let go of me," I said, in a cold tone. The two instantly let go of me. I took a step forward toward the two new arrivals.

"Give us your money, and we won't harm you," one of the men said.

Shion, and her siblings...they wanted to see their parents too. I held both hands out and grabbed the gun, quickly pushing them towards the ground before they could fire them. "Run Shion, take ya siblings away! I'll handle these two."

Shion grabbed her siblings' hands. She looked over at the alley behind her.

"Die, you stupid brat!" the two men yelled. Their shots formed three-inch holes in the concrete.

I kicked one of the men in the stomach, sending him flying into a streetlight. The next one I flipped the gun so that it pointed at his foot, the idiot actually shot himself. He fell to the ground in agony.

I stepped on his hand until he let go of the gun. "Don't ya dare try to lay a finger on the Topaz siblings again. Ya hear?" I turned around and saw my own reflection. My orange eyes were glowing menacingly. Was this the same face that Pa made when furious?

I shook my head and ran into the alley to meet up with the Topaz siblings. Shion led us through what seemed to be a maze, I'm sure she had developed such skills from running from this kind of men over her years of selling at the plaza. After what seemed like an eternity we finally arrived at the spot with the concrete slab.

"We made it," I said, with a bounce in my step. I laughed loudly. "I thought we were going to die...yet...what's this feeling?"

Shion glared at me as she had at the men. "Don't you ever do that again, you idiot! You could've gotten yourself killed. You're only a country boy. You don't know how dangerous those guys are."

I lowered my head. "Sorry."

Her intimidating look vanished, replaced by what seemed to be sadness. The next thing I knew she was hugging me. "I'm just glad that you made it back alive."

I hugged her back. "I was worried about ya too."

"Sora and Shion sitting in a tree," Shion's brother began chanting.

"Shut up!" I shouted, my face bright red.

"Way to ruin the moment," Shion said, chuckling.

"Yeah..." Shion's little sister said, glaring at him.

He lowered his head and fidgeted. "Sorry."

I laughed and ruffled the kid's hair. "It's alright!"

The little boy looked up at me and gave me a large smile. It reminded me of Alan's.

***

Shion showed me to a large room with nothing but a bed, it used to belong to her parents before they left to Sanuri. I put down my head on a pillow I had brought from home and covered myself in a quilt made out of works I had made with my mother when I was younger. As I sat there, looking at the barely visible ceiling, I wondered what other things I would discover about my country and the wider world during my stay in Ame city. 

** Solar Notes: So, who was surprised by the reveal of Shion being a girl? What did you think of the chapter overall? I know it was pretty long, it was actually one chapter with the first two at one point xD**