A/N: I might write a second part if this gets a good reception! Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

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"Hey, little girl. . .why are you crying?"

Mirai's head bobs up instantly, her red frames slipping down her nose. She didn't even hear anyone coming over the sound of her heart thumping erratically in her chest, the cursed, poisoned blood rushing in her ears, the painful lump of self-loathing settled in the back of her throat. Her glassy eyes look to the opening of the painted concrete tunnel where a boy her age kneels at the mouth, his blonde hair a tousled mess, the twilight silhouetting him against the darkness.

"I'm not crying!" Mirai cries obstinately. "I just have a cold." But she reaches up to wipe at the salty tear tracks on her face and wipes her running nose on the sleeve of her yellow cardigan.

They boy clearly doesn't believe her and she feels panic rising up in her as he enters the tunnel and begins to crawl toward her. She presses her back to the chalk filled walls and resists the urge to flee out the other end of the tube.

"Are you lost?" he asks her as he settles in across the way. It's too dark for either of them to see each other's faces, save for the sliver of an outline against their cheeks and shoulders. "Sometimes I cry when I'm lost, even though my mom says it's silly. She always knows how to find me because I smell weird."

Mirai notices that he does, indeed, smell kind of weird. She feels the panic again. "A-a-a-are you a youmu?!" she demands in a fluster, sniffling.

"Only half!" he says quickly, desperately. "Don't be afraid of me!" Something about his voice mirrors her own emotions and it calms her. She smears her sleeve under her nose again.

"Why would I be afraid?" she asks, curling her kneels into her flat chest, tucking her chin against her legs.

The boy sighs. "Everyone always ends up afraid of me. We have to move a lot because I get into trouble, and people become afraid. My mom says she doesn't want me to grow up in a place where people are scared of me. We just moved into the 'partments over there." He points at one wall of the tunnel. "How did you know I was a youmu?"

"I'm a Spirit World Warrior," she replies in a matter-of-fact voice. "I'm a part of the Blood clan. We just moved here, too, because bad people are looking for us." In talking to this boy, she forgot that she was sad in the first place.

"Is that why you were crying?" he asks.

"No," she says, her voice suddenly very small. The lump returns to her throat and her lip trembles. "P-P-People a-are afraid of me too. Because I'm part of the Blood clan."

He sounds mystified. "Really? That's kinda weird. You don't seem very scary to me." There's a pregnant pause in the tunnel before he speaks again, something like a grin in his voice. "I guess that means we're kinda the same, huh?"

She thinks about it for a moment before the lump in her throat disappears and the tightness in her chest eases. Moving to a new town she thought she wouldn't have a chance to make friends - she was afraid that they'd all treat her the way people besides her parents always did. But this boy didn't seem fazed at all, in the same way that his being a youmu hardly unsettled her.

"I guess so," she says with a sudden smile. "I'm Mirai and I'm five."

"Mirai-chan," the boy says in a lovely way. It makes her excited. "I'm Akihito and I'm six."

"Akihito-kun," she mocks lightly. They peer at each other in the darkness before giggling, their laughter bouncing off the walls of the tunnel.

"AKKUN!"

Akihito's mirth cuts short. "Oh, that's my mom. It's probably dinner time. Do you wanna eat too?"

Mirai becomes apprehensive. "I dunno. Is your mom a youmu?"

"Nope! She's a Spirit World Warrior like you!" He begins to crawl out and then extends a hand back into the tunnel. "C'mon!"

Smiling - feeling overjoyed that he is willingly offering to touch her - she crawls to him, scuffing up her knees against the concrete, and places her bandaged hand in his. He grins and its the first time she's actually seen his smile in the light of day, but she thinks that he must be the most wonderful boy in the world. His fingers curl around hers and then he's tugging her across the playground.

"Mom! Look, I got a friend!"

::::

He holds her hand a lot. Mirai is glad for it; friends hold hands, right? It makes her happy that he wants to touch her and that he's not afraid of her. She thought she hurt him last month with her blood, but that's when he told her that he couldn't die, and things made a lot more sense to her. It's okay. She would protect Akihito-kun forever, because he wasn't afraid of her, even when she drew her blood sword.

They're sitting on the bottom lip of the slide, their thighs and shoulder flattened against each others, hands tangled in her lap. A sloppy braid he wove together flutters in the wave of her short, pale hair as the wind picks up.

"My birthday is next week," he says as she kicks her legs back and forth. "Wanna come to my party?"

She lights up like a firework. "Yes!"

He grins as he looks at her and then uses an index finger to push her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "You know, I never really thought about glasses until I met you, Mirai-chan, but they're really cute."

She blushes and squeezes his hand to the point of pain. "Don't say weird things or I won't come to your party at all!"

He giggles and nudges her shoulder with his. "Yeah, you will!"

"Nope!"

"Yes!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah, you will, because you're my best friend!"

She grows abruptly serious, her eyes shining as she looks at him. "I'm your best friend?"

He stares at his knees, his cheeks turning red. "Is that okay?"

Feeling flustered and elated all at once, she leans over and presses her lips against the curve of his cheek. He jumps under her and whips his head around, their noses bumping before she jumps back too. They both glow like stoplights.

"You're my best friend too," she says.

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They spend two years together before they are ripped apart.

It's a normal day at first, Akihito walks her home from school, balancing on the curb as he walks, arms splayed out. He purposely ruffles her hair when she purposefully walks too close to him. She blushes a lot around him now, he's noticed, but he blushes a lot too even though they don't hold hands the way they used to. She can't remember a day that she hasn't spent with him.

"Akihito-kun," she says conversationally, intertwining her fingers behind her back, "whatcha doin' this weekend?"

"Mmm, Yuuki-kun invited me to a sleepover, but I dunno if I wanna go yet," he replies, sneaking a glance over at her as they turn the last corner. Her apartment with her parents is just on the end of the block. "Why?"

"Well," she starts, before her voice is cut off, her sudden grin turning to a look of panic. He feels the dread grow in his stomach as he follows her eyes to where they are fixated on her apartment, where the door is broken and forced ajar. After a moment of hesitation, she unravels her bandage and leaves it on the sidewalk, running toward the apartment as she draws her blood out.

"Mirai-chan!" he yells, chasing her. "Wait! Don't!" She doesn't listen to him, stumbling over the debris of the door until she disappears into the house. He follows her without hesitation, lurching forward until he grabs her wrist and forces her to stop. "Are you stupid?"

She's still not listening. "Mom?" she calls out desperately. "Daddy?"

"It's not safe here," Akihito hisses, tightening his hand around her wrist. "They're gone, Mirai - we gotta tell my mom."

Mirai turns her wide, honey eyes to him and he's learned to fall in love with glasses, with the way she wears them, even as her heart is breaking. "Where'd they go?" she whispers.

"I dunno, but we gotta tell my mom! C'mon!" He yanks her back out the door and runs, tugging her along as he races toward his apartment a few blocks away. The sand kicks up under their shoes as they cut across their playground and then he's bursting through the door and his mom is pacing at the table in a strange outfit that resembles a cat, Mirai thinks vaguely, the tears rolling down her face.

"Akkun, Mirai-chan!" Kanbara-san says as both kids tumble inside, the little girl tear-streaked and trembling.

"You knew, didn't you!" Akihito yells at his mother, turning red in the face. "You knew about Mirai's parents! Why didn't you come get us at school?!"

She bends down and places a hand on her son's shoulder. "By the time I arrived to pick you up, you'd both already started walking home," she says seriously and not at all like her usual self. "The important thing is that you made it here safely."

"K-K-K-Kanbara-san?" Mirai says in a soft, choked voice, drawing the attention of the mother and son duo. "W-W-Where's my mommy? A-and my dad?"

Kanbara Yayoi's face distorts into despair and Akihito squeezes Mirai's hand tightly, pulling her in closer to him so that he can put his arm over her shoulder. "The bad guys got them," Yayoi says softly.

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It's hours later before the tears finally stop and she's left trembling. Akihito presses her against him, his arms wrapped around her as they lay in his bed, his mother pacing around in the kitchen on the phone. They can hear her talking to someone named Inami in a low voice, but his attention is focused only on her, his forehead flattened against hers as he runs his fingers through the ends of her hair.

"I'm really sorry, Mirai-chan," he whispers to her very, very gently. Her parents were really nice people - they seemed happy when Mirai brought him over for dinner and play dates on the weekends, despite the fact that he's half-youmu. He's sad that out of everyone in the world, it had to be Mirai that lost her parents. It seems so cruel to force a loss like this on her - she already struggles so much and he hates that. He wants things to be happy for her. To be easy, for her.

Her tiny hands fist in his shirt as she shakes. "D-D-D-Do you think the bad guys will find me, too?"

"Even if they did," he says, suddenly fierce with determination, "my mom would stop them. And I would protect you. I won't let anything hurt you!"

"Akihito-kun," she squeaks brokenly, burying her face in his chest. His heart aches and he pulls her tight against him. It's not fair, he thinks, though he is immensely relieved that she is safe, and here in his arms. He couldn't imagine losing her. "Akihito-kun," she mumbles, "I love you."

He presses his face into her hair. "I love you too, Mirai-chan."

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"Mirai-chan?" The early morning light streaks through the blinds of Akihito's window. Mirai's eyelids peel back sleepily as she peers over Akihito's shoulder - who's steady breathing and body heat are calling her back to the safety of unconsciousness where he still resides - to see Kanbara-san standing in the doorway with a sad smile on her face. "Hey, sweetheart. There's someone here to see you."

She clutches suddenly at Akihito's shirt, her voice breaking. "Is it the bad guys?"

Yayoi shakes her head vigorously. "Of course not! She's a nice lady - a friend."

Friends are nice, Mirai thinks as she stares at the woman, automatically seeing Akihito's grin in her face at the thought of the word.

"Can I bring Akihito-kun?" she whispers.

Yayoi's smile falters a bit but she nods. "Yes, hon. Come on out when you're ready, okay?" She leaves the door ajar as her footsteps fade down the hallway. Mirai turns back to the sleeping boy beside her, his arms still draped over her. She wrinkles her nose when she sees the drool stain on the pillow beside his mouth, but her drool stain is on his shirt and she had no room to be disgusted. Tentatively, she allows her trembling hands to touch his chin.

"Akihito-kun," she says softly. "Akihito-kuuuuun."

He blinks very slowly and then moans, twisting his face into the pillow. "What is it? Are you okay?" His voice is sleep-ridden, but it sounds like honey and she is suddenly afraid of the feeling in her gut.

"Your mom said there's someone here to see me," she whispers. "I'm scared."

That wakes him up abruptly. "Did she say who?" he asks, propping himself up on his arm, gazing down at her where she's still trembling from the night before, her hair a halo around her head, hands still fisted in his shirt.

"A nice lady friend," she replies.

He stares at her for a moment before rolling out of the bed, pulling her with him. "Well then, c'mon." Akihito grabs her glasses off his bed stand and slips them onto her face before wrapping his arm around her shoulder and leading her out to the kitchen. A brown-eyed woman sits at the table with his mom, a cup of coffee between both of their hands, somber expressions settled on their faces.

Immediately, both of them look to the children, Mirai huddled into Akihito's side. He's got a protective look about him, curled around her as she clings to his shirt. The stranger smiles at them.

"Hi there, Kuriyama-san," the woman says pleasantly. "My name is Inami Tomoe. I heard what happened to your parents, and I'm here to take care of you."

Mirai freezes. "I thought Akihito-kun was going to take care of me."

The adults exchange a look that gives Akihito a stomach ache, his arm pulling her in even closer. He wants to keep Mirai safe, but, he realizes with sudden despair, that maybe he can't. He turns to his best friend. "Hey, I'll always take care of you," he says with a sense of false cheer. "But other people can help, right?"

She seems to soften up at that. "Y-Yeah."

::::

Mirai doesn't think the hug can possibly last long enough. "You'll write me letters, won't you?" she mutters into his shirt.

He nods against her shoulder. "Yeah, of course."

"And you won't forget?"

"I'll never forget you."

She pulls away slightly to look up at him and she's crying again and so is he. "This is for the best, right?"

"Inami-san said she had daughters," he tells her. "You'll have friends and you'll be safe! It'll be fun." He's trying to convince himself; it's important that she's safe, but he doesn't know how he's supposed to go back to a life without her. She was the only friend he had that understood him, who knew every part of him and still loved him either way. It's going to be so hard, he thinks, to watch that car drive away.

"I wish you could come," she says sadly.

"Me too," he replies. "But Mom said we gotta leave, too."

She stares at him for a moment before slipping the golden ring her parents gave her off of her index finger. "Here, Akihito-kun," her voice is a whisper.

"I can't take that from you, Mirai-chan," he mumbles, though he desperately wants to. "You need it for your powers."

She shakes her head and her glasses slip down her nose. "I don't care. I'll get a new one." She presses it into his hand and lurches forward for another hug, a sob ripping from her mouth. "I'll miss you!"

Akihito smothers his face into her hair, wishing that this was all a really bad dream.

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He sits on the porch long after she's gone and Yayoi comes to take a seat beside him.

"I won't be able to talk to her ever again, will I?" he asks in a tone that makes him sound much older than any eight-year-old has a right to sound.

For once, his mother is solemn. "I'm sorry, Akkun."

::::

She's fifteen now. He never calls. He never writes. As far as she knows, he's dropped off the face of the earth. It shouldn't matter - she was five when she met him and seven when she left. But it does - he does. He's imprinted into her heart and even when she's sleeping her mouth shapes around his name and she sighs because she misses him so much it's like he died that day with her parents, too. She really could have used him when she murdered Yui. Maybe he would have held her the way he did when she was told her parents were gone and whispered that he loved her into her hair.

She doesn't even know if he remembers her, but that doesn't matter either because she remembers him. She doesn't know, though, that he walks around every day with her ring on a chain around his neck. That he stares at the ceiling of his new apartment, lonely in the silences that suffocates him. That he wants to tell her there's more to the monster inside of him than anyone could have ever dreamed. That he sits on a bench at a playground near his house because it reminds him of her and her pale hair and her bell-like laughter.

So when she gets the call from a woman named Nase Izumi about killing a creature called Beyond the Boundary, she takes it. She owes the Nase woman, but she also needs to leave this place. To move on. In the basement of the Nase manor, the picture of Beyond the Boundary projected in front of her, the monster's face is so distorted by its surface, youmu form that she does not recognize the cowlicks of its hair or the curve of his cheek or the shape of his eyes.

Her heart turns cold, however, when later that night, Izumi sends her a photo of the human form of her target, a boy named Akihito Kanbara in a yellow sweater, an easy going smile on his face. Knees turning to jelly, she leans against the wall trembles.

Somewhere across town, Akihito-kun presses the metal of her ring against his mouth.