Ever since Megumi's death, he hated sleeping alone.

Things like her strawberry-colored hair, almost glowing on top of her pale, translucent face, continued to haunt his very dreams. Natsuno couldn't seem to escape the noises of the rustling outside of his window or her low giggle of excitement as she crouched in the bushes, spying on him with avid, almost hypnotic intent. Most of all, that piercing blank stare of her's, with a porcelain doll's eerie smile plastered on, was enough to shake him loose from any sort of slumber.

Even now, though he only slept when he needed to sustain energy for hunting, Natsuno preferred companionship.

That was the only reason he had asked Tohru in the first place.

His friend, Tohru.

Someone Natsuno trusted without a doubt. Even if he had bitten him as a shiki, sucked out his very life, and then condemned him to another lifetime riddled with sin.

A friend.

That was Tohru, who had constantly, tearfully, apologized over and over again when he found out Natsuno had risen up and become a shiki as well.

"Are you sure you want to stay with me?" the blond-haired teenager had asked at the proposal, his face a mask of confusion and ever-present shame.

"Sure," was all Natsuno replied back, nonchalant. As though Tohru was the one asking and not him. He found that things were better when he was the person in control, and it was especially simple to maintain with Tohru's persona.

But when they separated from the other shikis and decided to camp out in one of the many abandoned houses, Natsuno was suddenly regretting his decision.

For one thing, the house was a bit cramped—and he was feeling uncomfortable with Tohru's piercing eyes following him everywhere.

"Here, Natsuno," Tohru said once they brought out the mats and pillows. He playfully threw a blanket to Natsuno and plopped to the ground.

"Thanks."

There was a moment of silence before his friend's next question, "So why?"

"Why what?" Natsuno wordlessly gathered his blanket and moved it over to his mat in the corner. Unfortunately, Tohru was still inches from where his mat ended, the blanket touching the bottom of his feet.

"Why are we sleeping at night?" He let out a laugh.

Natsuno slowly straightened out the creases on his blanket and, not meeting Tohru's eyes, murmured, "You know why..."

We're probably the only two that do it nowadays.

It was only natural for a shiki to hunt at night and sleep during the day, gathering enough stamina to face the humans they needed to feed off of. But Natsuno was an exception—he could wake during the day and either sleep at night or not. Because of this, the human part of him, the one that forever refused to consent to the idea of 'shiki', often enjoyed nighttime slumbers in the hopes of retaining a small bit of humanity. He knew that Tohru, though not as fortunate as him to wander during the day, wanted to keep that piece of humanity as well.

Natsuno finished smoothing his blanket out and clicked off the light. He saw Tohru discreetly move his own mat closer to the corner next to his and rolled his eyes. Still, he couldn't help smiling as he carefully stepped over the collapsed form and slipped under the sheets. There were no windows in the house and the sudden feeling of pure calm, peace, and silence greeted him. He was actually kind of glad Tohru was here, even if it was cramped and stuffy in the room.

"Thank you," Natsuno whispered to the figure lying beside him.

Tohru's eyes flickered to meet his, and he saw how empty yet brimming full of life those orbs were. An unexpected arm draped around his body, pulling him closer into Tohru. "You're very welcome, Natsuno," his friend smiled. "Though I'm kinda curious..."

Natsuno felt himself grow warm at the questioning gaze. "Yeah?"

"You haven't talked to me for a few weeks, and now you suddenly ask me to sleep with you. What's up?"

His eyes grew wide at the wording.

...Sleep with him?

"That's not...you...what-"

Natsuno finally frowned, turned his head the other way, and muttered, "I kept thinking of Megumi, that's all. I only asked you because..." He added the last part reluctantly. "I didn't want to be alone."

The arms around him tightened.

"Thinking what about Megumi?" Tohru's voice was cold.

"Ah, sorry. I forgot that you dislike her more than I do." Natsuno faced his friend again, along with an apologetic half-smile. He wondered why those arms were still wrapped around him. "It was just...you know how she stalked me before she died and even after she became a shiki?" Tohru nodded. "Well, I can't really shake it off," he admitted. "Things like the leaves moving at night makes me wonder if she's outside, staring at me, or if she'd still be crouching there giggling at every single thing I did if it hadn't been for Tatsumi."

Tohru was silent for a moment, then he smiled back and murmured, "Don't worry, Natsuno. Even if she did come, I'd have protected you from her anyway.

"And, you're not alone. You have me."

For some reason, he was suddenly filled with a flushed, dread-like warmth.

Natsuno shifted uncomfortably under the blankets, now more aware of Tohru's arms around him, those dark, red-rimmed irises staring right into him with more intent than he'd ever seen Megumi express. "Hey, Natsuno," his friend whispered and leaned his face forward. Now they were only mere centimeters apart and he could imagine feeling Tohru's warm breath on him if they'd been alive. Something strange and oddly foreboding stirred within of him.

"Aren't you sometimes glad that I bit you and you rose up?"

Natsuno blinked. It was really rare for Tohru to bring up anything that dealt with his death and transformation into a shiki. But he gave a hesitant nod. "I guess..."

"I'm glad," his friend said, a sad smile on his lips. "I'm not happy that I had to bite you...but I'm glad that you didn't just die. I'm glad that you're here as well..."

Tohru pulled him into an even closer embrace, their bodies now touching in a gentle and almost wary gesture. Natsuno's eyes widened as he felt Tohru's head on his shoulder and the cool trickle of tears sliding down his back. "I was scared too..." the blond-haired boy whispered, his voice muffled against Natsuno. "I was afraid of losing you..."

And before he could do respond, Natsuno felt the tell-tale prick of Tohru's incisors gently graze the side of his neck.

Do you miss it too? he could hear Tohru asking. Do you miss me biting you...as well?

The honest answer was yes, he had missed it. Even in the sense of doom, in the euphoria of cloudy mists and floating air, Natsuno had enjoyed the feeling of being gently caressed by Tohru. Missed the fuzzy warm spurt in his heart as pints of blood drained away, leaving him an empty and almost soulless shell.

But still... Natsuno couldn't control the cry of surprise as those sharp fangs pierced into his flesh. Almost at once, his eyes grew drowsy; he felt himself flicker between death...and well, deathbeyond death. But because they were both shiki, the feeling of discomfort disappeared in an instant, to be replaced with nothing but his usual coldness.

When Tohru drew away, the weight of his attack gone, Natsuno didn't have to look up to know that he was still crying. "...You didn't feel anything, did you...?" Tohru murmured.

"No." He turned away, feeling tears of his own falling.

Of course not.

They were shiki. It wasn't right to feed off of each other—it wouldn't feel right. Humans were their prey, the ones that would fill up their hunger and make them a little less empty. If Tohru, an empty shell, fed on him, an empty shell as well, what would they gain from it...?

Nothing. Nothing at all. We would just become even emptier.

Natsuno angrily wiped the tears away, his fists clenched tight. If we were human, then it'd be okay...I would actually feel something. We both would... But dammit! If only stupid Megumi hadn't attacked Tohru... if only the stupid Kirishikis hadn't come to town... if only-

"If only we had never risen up," Tohru finished for him, eyes downcast. "Then none of this would have happened, right?"

Natsuno watched as the ever-familiar, comforting face of his friend lowered once more; but this time, he didn't aim for the neck. Wet, blood-stained lips touched his in one swift movement. They forced his own mouth opened, the sharp tip of Tohru's incisors cutting him, though he was pretty sure his were hurting Tohru as well. He was too surprised to respond back, or noticed that Tohru was practically mashed against his own body, hands dominantly holding his arms down, his demeanor a sort of possessing stance that didn't quite allow for any objection.

What...?

Hadn't he said that it was better for him to be in control?

So...why?

"Warm," Tohru said against his mouth. His lids were lowered, staring almost sleepily into Natsuno's eyes. Blood trailed down the corner of his lips, and Natsuno felt the urge to press forward and lick it clean. What...- Ugh. I shouldn't be thinking things like this... "I feel so warm," the mouth moved again, almost slurring out the words. "Don't you think so, Natsuno?"

Warmth. The violet-haired boy hesitantly reached to touch Tohru's cheek and almost reeled back in shock at the heat. Maybe he was imagining it, but Tohru was definitely flushed.

Flushed and warm.

"You're warm too," Tohru laughed at his expression. His eyes softened as he murmured the next words, "We can't changed what's happened, no matter how much we want to." Tohru reached to squeeze his hand in a firm, but gentle grip. "So instead of wishing for something impossible, how about we make something possible?"

Natsuno knew that, ever since Megumi's death, he'd always hated sleeping alone. He hated being alone, hated never being able to feel the warmth of the sun, of life, flowing through his veins anymore. He hated being forced to admit that the countryside town he'd moved to was being annihilated by 'corpse demons' and that he had become one too...

But maybe, if there were more nights like tonight, with Tohru's lips - his body and hands touching close - to warm Natsuno's own empty, shiki-infested body, he wouldn't be plagued by those impossible wishes anymore.

End.

A/N: I've only watched up to Episode 17 of Shiki and haven't read the manga, so if I've done anything wrong, please feel free to clobber me. Also, I guess you would say this takes place at any time after Ep. 17, though by the way I described Natsuno's acceptance, it's like the shiki have taken over and won, but I don't know if that's true or not. So the best thing to do is consider the fic as something that happened in an (perhaps) AU and bare in mind that it's the first fic of this fandom I've written, so yeah there's a billion mistakes in here I'm not going to point out (*coughs at OOC and angst melodrama*) C:

Update: Kay, so since Ep. 18, I now know that Natsuno is a 'jinrou' and they're a bit different from shiki, but I'm not gonna change the fic, so just read this as though it happened after Ep. 17 anyway XD (Still gonna refer to Natsuno as 'shiki' as well.)

But I hope everyone enjoyed this random onshot :D -scurries off to study for my State History test-