Second Half, Forever

"Natsuno-niichan?"

The amethyst-eyed boy, deceptively young, turned his head to the voice calling his name. Tohru, as usual, sniffed the air, but otherwise didn't react much. There was no danger—Natsuno would've alerted him before it could reach the hearing distance.

"Is it really you, Natsuno-niichan?"

Slowly, amethyst and crimson eyes turned to the man standing on the corner. Chocolate brown hair and eyes. Slight tan. Small, lithe stature. Faint trace of wrinkles settling in around the mouth and eyes.

"Akira?" Natsuno asked, surprised. At the same moment, Tohru finally identified the scent. "Tanaka Akira?"

He must have been at least forty years old, though Tohru never counted properly and Natsuno had stopped telling him.

"It is you. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me." A brief chuckle. "You shouldn't surprise me like that. I'm not as resilient to shock as I used to be. Hello there, Tohru-san."

"Akira, I—"

"No, no. Our first meeting after so long… do you have some time? This probably isn't a conversation for the street. My house isn't far. I'll make us tea." Akira was pushier and far calmer than the Shiki remembered him being, but people changed. Akira turned and took a few steps, before looking back to make sure his old friend was following.

Akira's quiet certainty that they would follow was powerful enough to override their standard flight response and keep them trailing him in an uneasy silence back to his house, though Natsuno fidgeted and gazed longingly down the side streets. He was never given the opportunity to escape, as they walked only a scant three blocks before coming to a traditional house with a small yard, nestled snugly between modern apartment complexes and convenience stores.

"You'll have to forgive me for not knowing how to really react. I heard the rumors, but it's a little shocking," Akira apologized as he set out some tea for them inside. "For you to be an Okiagari and still alive with Tohru-san…"

Akira didn't notice the pale fingers tightening around Natsuno's knees, but Tohru did.

"Yes." Natsuno didn't elaborate.

"…Will you explain it to me?"

Natsuno jolted, glancing up and meeting Akira's eyes. "Explain?"

Akira just smiled softly. "I understand if you don't want to. But even if with our differences, I'm sure I still can understand enough to sympathize with you."

Bad choice of words. Natsuno wasn't the one who appreciates useless sympathy. But Tohru held his tongue. Natsuno befriended Akira and his sister after Tohru's 'passing', and Tohru would let Natsuno handle Akira as he pleased.

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For a time, there was understanding. Natsuno was kind and gentle, after all, nothing like his cold and broody exterior. And Tohru himself was far too naïve to know what was going on inside Natsuno's head, to see through the pain that Natsuno kept hidden deep within his heart.

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"I was bitten enough." Natsuno didn't say more.

The smile slipped a little from Akira's face, and he looked tired, showing the signs of his age for the first time. "I've been afraid to hear that," the man said. "Niichan, my parents were also bitten back at Sotoba. My mom passed away, but my dad became an Okiagari, and I was forced to kill him."

The air in the room grew heavier. Natsuno kept staring at his teacup. Akira took several sips of his tea. Tohru waited.

"No one choose to become like this." There was no hiding the bitterness those words.

Deep purple eyes caught on his once-hazel eyes. Tohru shook his head and turned his attention to a sparrow fluttering through the plum blossoms in the yard. The silence was stifling; neither Natsuno nor Akira wanted to break the ice.

"Kaori has twin boys with your brother Tamotsu, Tohru-san," Akira turned the conversation to a lighter topic. "They wanted to invite you to the naming ceremony, but both of you had already vanished from Fujimi by then. As for the names, Kaori chose Natsuya and Tamotsu chose Tohya."

Tohru felt Natsuno's hand on his own under the table, seeking and giving comfort at the same time.

"Kaori said that she felt indebted to you two." Akira smiled a bit. "When we received your phone call, our parents had already been dead, and I've killed our dad. Tamotsu helped us to convince his family because he and Aoi-san also believed your story, and we escaped to Mizobe together."

Tohru glanced at Natsuno, who looked genuinely happy. He made a mental note to ask Natsuno in detail about said 'phone call'.

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Even when Natsuno finished high school, and then college, and still hadn't changed, his expression was soft. Even when he had to change jobs every five years, had to break ties with his few precious friends, had to move towns so that people wouldn't wonder why the forty-year-old man still looked like a high school student. Even then, Natsuno's gaze—even after gaining a sad, lonely quality—remained soft and full of understanding when he glanced at the Undead walking by his side.

Things changed when Akiba Shirou passed away of old age, and Natsuno was forced to watch the funeral from a distance. When Rin caught sight of him, and gasped of curses.

Natsuno's eyes were a little colder after that.

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"Where are you staying now? Do you need a place?"

"It's fine. My current job comes with board." Another lie—it sounded effortless, after so many years. Tohru himself might have been convinced if he didn't already know that they were between jobs at the moment.

"It's been so long, though. Can you stay for just a little while? Kaori and the others will want to see you. I'll warn them—it'll be fine."

"Don't!" Natsuno blurted, then hesitated at the force of his words and the startled expression on Akira's face. "It's… I'd rather she didn't know. She might worry, or do something dangerous. Kaori… you… have a family. You can't risk becoming mixed up with the Okiagari again."

"But you shouldn't have to bear the burden alone. I want to help." The words were quiet and even and understanding. Tohru could hear the years of reflection put into them.

Natsuno didn't respond.

A sigh, and a rustle of cloth as Akira folded his arms. "…If that's what you want. But please stay at least until dinner. My wife passed away a few years ago, so I live alone here. You two could even stay the night. There's so much to catch up on. You must have some amazing stories too. Some happy ones, I hope?"

The first hint of a smile glimmered on that lonely face. "…A few."

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They wandered the countryside, sometimes exterminating rogue Shiki on the way. They met Natsuno's aged father, who had welcomed them with open arms. It was the first time Natsuno smiled since Shirou's funeral, and for a short while his eyes were soft and warm and full of forgiveness again.

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"Good to hear." There was the trill of a bell in the distance. "Oh, the phone. It might be Kaori. Excuse me, just a moment." With the slowness of age, Akira creaked to his feet and headed into the main hall.

It turned out to be only a telemarketer. Akira headed back to the living room. "Sorry about that, Natsuno-nii…" He trailed off.

The room was empty, plum blossoms littering the floor by the shouji left ajar.

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"You sure you don't want to talk to them?"

"They might accept about what I am, Tohru, but immortality is something else. It isn't something I can hide."

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"Natsuno! Oi, Natsuno!"

Tohru chased the sound of sneakers pounding on the pavement. With nothing more than a brief thought, he leapt from tree to tree with a Shiki's speed. Growling, he took off after the Jinrou, finally cornering him in a deserted park several blocks from Akira's house.

"Natsuno, don't just run off like that," he chided, leaping down in front of the shorter boy to block his escape.

"Damn! Damn damn dammit it all!" The amethyst-eyed boy exclaimed, a fist pounding Tohru's chest with each heartbroken declaration, but there was no Jinrou energy behind the motion. Each thump grew weaker, and then fingers twined in Tohru's shirt and Natsuno slid to the ground, tears still tracking down his ageless features. "Why, Tohru? Why us?"

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"I don't understand, Tohru. Why couldn't I just die then? I don't want to become a bloodsucking monster." The words were hollow—spoken a thousand times. And like a thousand times before, Tohru didn't answer.

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Tohru embraced the slender, weeping form, cold arms providing a bitter pillow for the purple mess of tresses.

Natsuno wouldn't be like humans, who died quickly and with hundreds of unfulfilled promises. Even if Natsuno came to hate him, even if Natsuno cried himself to sleep every night, even if the loneliness would eat him alive, the Shiki didn't care as long as he could keep the thin, slender form by his side.

"I hate this all," Natsuno whispered, eyes sliding shut as exhaustion claimed him.

Tohru didn't pay the proclamation any mind.

They had a whole eternity with each other, after all.