Title: Thicker then Blood
Chapter 1: The Heart Tells Me So
Beta: ChaosGarden

Author: Harper Hisoka
Warning: Shonen Ai/Yaoi, dark themes (drugs, alcohol, sexual, etc), I don't own the series (Manga, Novel or Anime).

Series: Kyou Kara Maoh
Pairing: Yuuri x Wolfram

Summary: [Sequel to Future Moon] After that last battle, Yuuri and Murata find themselves stuck on Earth. Months later, they make a final pact to make their way home. What they find is unimaginable consequences they didn't expect to find.
Notes: When the chapter title no long has (unedited/no beta) behind it, then it has been checked. The name of my beta will be placed under the chapter title when finished.

"When love feels like magic, you call it destiny. When destiny has a sense of humor, you call it serendipity." –Serendipity (2001)

Destiny is something you can't control, or rather 'people blame things on destiny when events happen that are unexpectedly sudden (and without foreboding).' Yuuri knew he wasn't the kid he used to be anymore. He was older, wiser and had the sense to use the power he wielded over his kingdom with a remarkable absence of greed and self satisfaction. The people of Shin Makoku loved him and tales of his deeds naturally made their way around the general populace. To be sure, he was beginning to rise on a scale with that of the Original King – the only one most people talked about with a strong emphasis on loyalty and greatness. Back in his home world of Earth, he remembered the foreign tales of a king called Arthur during the dark ages that took place centuries ago. This made him wonder more than once if he would become the idol of legends; a normal school kid turned king in an unexpected twist of events.

Thanks to his own powers that had become more prominent the older he became, Yuuri was able to successfully travel between his world, Earth and that of the lands upon which Shin Makoku were built. That same travel still included jumping into large pools of water, and the thought crossed his mind once or twice about carrying a water proof back pack while wearing a wet suit like some fictional super hero under his clothing. As powerful as Yuuri still was, he knew he still had limitations, yet the discovery of what those restraints were always came with a price.

Several years Wolfram had been missing and it took seven years to find the first trace of his whereabouts. The kidnapper didn't want money or the kingdom – the insane, unstable demands sounded more like a child's game. In truth, they weren't far off for a month later the contact between the two parties ended without warning. It was like they had what they wanted, and like a gentle breeze slipped out of the known world without leaving any evidence of their identities behind. Yuuri, though all this time had been the only one to never give up hope. They didn't have any idea where to start, no idea who could have been behind it and interrogating the neighbor countries without cause would only produce undue stress and strained continued relations.

Wolfram had vanished overnight and there wasn't a thing anybody could do about it. It hurt the most at night; the memories, the visions and the ghosts would haunt his dreams. Yuuri's own mind couldn't let go even if he had wanted to. Some nights he would dream about when they first met, such a long time ago before but now seemed like only yesterday. Their wedding had been coming up and that was one of the worst dreams he could have. It was categorized under the word 'torturous nightmare' for its unredeemable happy quality that he couldn't touch or hold in his hands during the day.

Of course it had been those same dreams that brought him to the abandoned forest of legend that held rumors of a demon from ages ago; a she-wolf demon who had been around since the time of the original king. He wasn't entirely sure she was really alive or not, but only Murata had actually met the creature and he wouldn't talk no matter how much persuasion he poured onto the 'fire' as it were.

An old Victorian mansion, in a field of brightly glowing flowers lit the pitch black of night. For a thick coating of something akin to clouds covered the entire sky of the patch ground. Elizabeth, a witch of some sort, had captured Wolfram for reasons she wouldn't fully explain. She died before Yuuri could have asked, and as before Murata wasn't talking. Her death was the result of a fight that had broken out between them. A fight over Wolfram's heart and body, it was a battle to determine the better of the two great magic users.

Yuuri, of mixed origin against Elizabeth, a powerful person reincarnated probably about as many times as Murata had amidst his past lives. In the end, nothing in that field survived. The ground was a burnt landscape with deep trenches and the remnants of those beautiful black flowers which only moments before had been a marvelous glowing spectacle. The battle drew out to a tiring point, for the two great forces had only one option left: sacrifice. In a way, either they gave it all they had in one last attack or give up and prove that the love they had for Wolfram wasn't strong enough to win when it came down to it. That was the only reason they had to fight, it being pride, the heart and jealous stubbornness.

Elizabeth lost, he won and that's where the universe, if it had a hand in playing the cards of gods and fate, laughed at them from high above as they squirmed under its grasp. Even if Yuuri had won that battle against that girl, he realized it wouldn't mean a thing if he didn't get what he wanted. Maybe it wasn't logical to think like that, maybe love could also be 'as long as the person I love is alive'.

"I thought of the battle as our last, I thought that I would be able to sacrifice myself to save Wolfram," Yuuri had said. "I was wrong, Murata. I thought about it and I realize now, there would be no happy ending for us. Not like this. I can't live without him – I'm selfish in saying that and I know. As King, I always thought of others before myself but I can't do that, and it's a weird feeling. As my fiancé, he never came between my duties, not like this.

'If this is what it means to sacrifice myself for the sake of the one I love, only to inadvertently fail anyways, then nothing in the world could replace my will to live without the one I love. The adults here, on Earth say the same thing. I think they never have been in love before. I hear the words they speak, 'your lover would want you to live and move on.'

"Murata, they don't know the pain I feel right now. They don't know a thing and their ability to fathom it is entirely impossible on all scales unless they have been in my position before. Even so, it doesn't matter. If I can't find a way back to Shin Makoku then I swear I'll die trying. Old friend, tell me: are you with me?"

Yuuri stared at Murata, and those pitch black eyes showed nothing but passion and tragedy behind them. Murata knew exactly how Yuuri felt right now and his own guilt spurred on to outweigh his better judgment. Life didn't get easier to live with time. When those surrounding you had any kind of mortality rate, the loss and pain associated would be reoccurring and painful. Back in the kingdom, Murata had betrayed the one he loved with an affair but this separation made his feelings go haywire and vastly unpredictable.

Everything about him now was unpredictable and illogical. Both of them had lost an immense amount of magic in that final battle and the sudden transportation back to Earth didn't help. They woke up in an abandoned warehouse somewhere just on the outskirts of their home city. Months had passed, but their magic wasn't coming back. At first, it was an extreme weakness to adjusting to the sudden loss of magic but increasingly they felt as if they were becoming nothing but magic-less humans. That pointed to the one fear they couldn't speak out loud, of not being able to return Shin Makoku. To their second home.

Calm under pressure, Murata suddenly couldn't take that rational side of him that wanted to tell the truth of the situation. He couldn't take it anymore; rational thought, this dull life in compared to ruling a kingdom and the person he loved – his entire life was taken away. It was true, he had been born on Earth and humans were no different than anybody in Shin Makoku but rationality and truth wasn't good enough. "Yuuri," he said after a long, dark silence. "I'm with you, my King. To the end."

Murata thought about having to live life as a fleeting thought that was occasionally shooed away from time to time. Yet, a couple weeks of life dedicated to never being able to see their friends again made him fall into a sudden, deep depression. Even though school had never been a problem for someone like him, as smart as he was for possessing the knowledge of many lifetimes of experience and right now he found himself skipping classes to sleep on the roof top of the building or 'just because' more often. A month later, he found a certain satisfaction in the calamity that drinking and smoking drugs brought with it.

This wasn't in his personality, but the love he still felt in his heart wouldn't release its hold. No amount of sexual activity with either sex ever alleviated the memories. No amount of drinking made the pain go away for very long. This was it, Yuuri was right. Suicidal or not, no one would approve of their actions. It would be irresponsible and stupid but also unquestionably, the right thing to do. If neither of them were able to find their way back to Shin Makoku in this life, then waiting for the next life would be too long. Hoping some miracle comes along later in life wasn't good enough.

Waiting and accepting the possibility that they would have to move on with their lives like before, find new people to love and hold on to, nothing would be adequate. Murata didn't want anyone else and he was more than sure that after all Yuuri had done to save Wolfram, he wouldn't be able to just 'let go' no matter how much time passed by. Murata didn't know if Yuuri had fallen to quite the extend he had, but then again Yuuri changed as well in these passing months.

As the 'great sage' and right hand man to the King, Murata wouldn't give up on their past or his duty. It didn't matter if he would never be King in that world again; Yuuri more than deserved his devotion and respect over the years.

"I'm with you to the end, Yuuri. No matter where it may lead us."

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