Quick Togainu no Chi drabble I wrote a while ago. Togainu no Chi is the property of Nitro Chiral.

Physical appearances mattered very little when personalities were entirely different, Rin had come to realise. Kazui had been warm, kind, entirely too accomodating of Rin's own childish whims. Akira wasn't the same. Not quite cold, but nowhere near warm. Kind in his own odd way, but also oddly distant and unforgiving. Akira was... Akira. Not Kazui, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Rin doesn't hate this new, peaceful life by any stretch of the imagination either. He still hates his prosthetic leg and that Shiki still insists on haunting his dreams in an entirely different way than he had five years ago. It's nice to settle into a normal routine of making meals, finding the odd freelance photography job and welcoming a lover back from a day of work. Akira always nods once in acknowledgement, asks what they were having for dinner, and then leaves Rin to himself without really waiting for an answer to the question.

As they grow more accustomed to one another's presence, Akira starts to open up, little by little. He thanks Rin for welcoming him home, tells Rin that whatever he has planned for dinner sounds good. Rin's nightmares become less frequent, he stops suggesting Kazui's favourite food as meals and not realising what he's done until after they are both full, he remembers to both say and think Akira when they fuck, instead of saying Akira and thinking Kazui.

It takes Rin a good three months to realise he's glad that Akira is not Kazui, and he doesn't bother answering Akira when he asks why he's suddenly throwing his arms around his neck. Akira looks at him like he's crazy for the briefest of moments, and Rin simply smirks in return and leaves Akira wondering for once, instead of the other way around.

Perhaps they have a long way to go, but it's a start.

END