A/N: Set during episode 12 of Shiki. Contains spoilers and Shonen-ai (sort of).
You have been warned!
Natsuno was running.
He was undoubtedly running for his life from someone he never thought he'd need to flee from.
Tohru.
He was a monster now, soon to be a killer.
Yet this boy that was chasing him was once his best friend. The only one that he'd ever felt close to in this isolated village. It was terrifying to think how someone could change in such a short amount of time, but it wasn't his fault. No. It wasn't his fault at all, he'd never asked to become this thing.
It was her; Shimizu. She'd fallen for the charms of the newcomers – The Kirishikis and become one of their first victims. Of course that wouldn't be the end of it, she killed Tohru out of petty jealousy. She couldn't stand that Tohru meant more to her beloved 'Yuuki-kun' than she ever could.
Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Tohru had to rise from the grave didn't he? He had to become one of them, a Corpse Demon. A vampire of sorts... he depended on the blood of other humans to survive, he had gained 'the right' to kill other humans in order to survive. Tohru himself viewed it as systematic murder, but once the hunger came he couldn't control himself. He needed to feed, even if it was on his best friend.
Tohru had already bitten Natsuno once. He'd caught him off guard while he was corned by Shimizu and Tatsumi. Natsuno hadn't cared about the danger, he just wanted to see his friend again...
If only he could reason with him and bring the old Tohru back.
"Can't we all just coexist? Do you really have to attack innocent people?"
Natsuno was still running, praying that he wouldn't fall before making Tohru see sense. He knew that if he made the slightest mistake, Tohru would attack without mercy. The hunger would posses him like it did with countless other 'Shiki'.
"That's not possible!"
Tohru was closing the gap between him and Natsuno, his pace seemed to quicken a his previous statement making Natsuno anxious. How else could he make him see reason?
"If you guys just explained there might be people willing to share their blood! If we wait a little the amount of blood would go back to normal, so you wouldn't need to kill!"
"You can't understand! If we could solve things that way we wouldn't attack people in the first place!"
There was a momentary silence between them. Natsuno realised that he couldn't reason with Tohru, he was too far gone...
Tohru recalled how he initially felt. He knew that everyone was reluctant to feed at first, some would fear the sin of killing people, others would fear being punished for it. Yet he knew now that he wouldn't be punished, he had gotten used to the sin right away.
The sin of thinking of other humans as their food...
Natsuno looked back at Tohru. His eyes had changed again. The usual opaque sclera* briefly changed to a deep black; his eyes looked so hollow now. There was no 'life' left in them. The short flicker of red sent a shiver down Natsuno's spine. This must be what the hunger did to them, it made them cold-blooded killers who had lost rational thought.
Suddenly Natsuno came to a stop in a small clearing of the forest, causing Tohru to stop a few paces behind him.
"People don't eat a live pig by slicing off its' flesh little by little."
Tohru placed a hand over his stomach, it felt so tight. The pain was unbearable, he was so hungry...
He walked closer to Natsuno slowly. Was he trying to reason with Natsuno? Even he didn't know any more.
"Aren't I right?"
Natsuno turned to face Tohru pulling a large wooden stake and hammer out of his pocket causing Tohru to flinch and step away from him. Natsuno slowly raised them – poised to attack and defend himself. He wasn't going down without a fight, even if it was Tohru.
"If crosses work, this should work too, shouldn't it?"
Tohru stepped back several paces, raising his hands in a protest of fear, or was it innocence?
"D-Don't do it..."
Natsuno gritted his teeth and raised his weapon higher. He wasn't sure if he could do this. The feeling of hammering a stake into anyone's chest frightened him, let alone Tohru's.
Tohru's face was the perfect image of fear mixed with innocence. He looked sad - pained almost.
"Natsuno..."
His voice was so soft, so kind... Why? Natsuno couldn't bear it, he threw his make-shift stake and hammer to the ground in frustration.
"You play dirty!"
Tohru looked between the discarded weapon and Natsuno.
"Act more like a vampire! Stop acting like the guy I used to know!"
Natsuno couldn't take this. He couldn't kill his best friend. He was still there somewhere, he was sure of it. This thing in front of him, it was Tohru; he was cold, had no pulse, no colour in his eyes, no smile... but it was Tohru. His Tohru.
"Natsuno?"
Tohru was visibly confused, wasn't Natsuno going to defend himself? It's not like he wanted to hurt his best friend, but he was afraid he couldn't control himself. Of course it was frightening; more frightening than you can imagine when your best friend is about to force a wooden stake through your heart, but in a strange way Tohru could understand. He still had some humanity left within him.
Natsuno's thoughts were rash and uncontrolled, the voice of reason within his mind was gone. If this was Tohru he wanted to keep him by his side like it used to be. He didn't want- no, he couldn't handle losing him again.
He slowly lifted the sleeve of his shirt, exposing his forearm to Tohru.
Tohru flinched, yet watched his actions closely, he seemed fixated on the exposed flesh.
"If you get hungry, you can have my blood. We can think of a solution to all of this together."
Natsuno was smiling slightly, he raised his arm as if he was offering it to Tohru. Something inside of him yearned for Tohru to take his blood again. He wanted to experience the pain of fangs piercing his flesh, he wanted to remember everything he could about Tohru...
"Until we think of an answer, you can suck my blood. You might have to wait between meals, but you won't need to kill anyone!"
Tohru was listening to Natsuno. Honestly he was, but he was still fixated on the exposed flesh, he could almost hear Natsuno's heart beating, the blood running through his veins...
Natsuno slowly walked closer to Tohru, this time he was the one closing the gap. Still offering his blood to his friend.
"We could run away together Tohru."
Tohru took his sight away from Natsuno's arm and looked him in the eyes; even if it was only for a moment.
"What?"
Natsuno was still smiling, it was an unusual sight – almost frightening to Tohru in the current situation. It was rare for Natsuno to smile, but now of all times?
"We'll go somewhere Tatsumi and the others can't find us. Just you and me Tohru-chan."
Tohru-chan...
It had been so long since Tohru had heard those words. A strange, small warmth crept into his chest. It wasn't hunger, it wasn't painful, it almost felt nice.
Natsuno lifted his arm slowly, still offering his blood.
Tohru returned his gaze to Natsuno's forearm. He didn't want to take his blood, but he was so hungry. His thoughts were so conflicting, so frustrating! But... running away together? What would that achieve? It would only increase the risk of Tohru killing his best friend. He might not be able to control himself between 'meals', the hunger might become too great... he turned away quickly at the thought, falling to his knees.
It was so hard for Natsuno not to move closer to his friend. He wanted to comfort him, tell him everything would be okay, that they could work this out somehow. Hell, stranger things have happened, vampires had invaded an isolated village it couldn't get much weirder than that.
Tohru hid his face in his hands, starting to sob quietly. If he did run away with Natsuno he'd kill him. But if he stayed... he'd kill him. He knew it was inevitable, he wouldn't be able to stop himself however hard he tried.
"We can't escape from Tatsumi!"
Natsuno stood behind Tohru, defiant for them to leave Sotoba together, to escape to the city away from everything that had happened here and go back to a lifestyle like their old one in some way.
"Yes we can, we'll leave here together, so suck my blood Tohru-Chan..."
Tohru continued to sob into his hands, the hunger was getting unbearable inside of him. It was taking all his strength not to attack Natsuno right here and now.
"Tohru-Chan!"
Was Natsuno trying to hurt him? To tempt him to sin once again? Or was he just being kind? Tohru rose to his feet and screamed his pain into the night; the torment finally getting the better of him.
He had to attack Natsuno, even if it meant killing him. He was too hungry to think any more. No! He couldn't! He had to stop himself, he had to.
Tohru fell forward onto his knees again, he couldn't do it. They had to run away together, he couldn't deny what he wanted – to be close to Natsuno again, to spend time together, to have fun, to smile and be happy... just like it used to be.
Natsuno lowered his arm, realising the pain he was causing his friend. He walked closer to him until he was standing right behind him. He knelt down beside him so he was level with Tohru.
"Tohru-Cha-"
"I'm so sorry Natsuno..."
Tohru sat up slowly and looked Natsuno in the eyes, tears streaming down his face.
"I can't stop myself any more"
Natsuno nodded slowly, seeming to understand. There was no hope for them to run away together was there?
"It's o-"
Before Natsuno even had time to reply, Tohru pinned him to the ground roughly by his shoulders. He hated the thought of hurting Natsuno again, he resented it, but he needed to feed... Hoping it would somehow reduce the pain, Tohru ran his tongue along Natsuno's skin finding the place he wanted to bite. He felt Natsuno shudder under him as he slowly dug his fangs into the tender flesh of his neck.
A low groan escaped Natsuno's throat at the foreign sensation. He couldn't deny that he gained some kind of twisted pleasure from Tohru holding him down and biting into him like this...
After a few minutes Tohru pulled back from Natsuno, licking any excess blood away from the wound on his neck and sitting up slowly. Natsuno was having trouble staying awake, Tohru had taken a lot of his blood and he was already weakened from the previous time. Having Anaemia was tougher than he thought it would be. His vision was hazy but he could still see Tohru sitting next to him now, he looked sad.
"It's.. okay Tohru-Chan.. we can still leave.."
Natsuno was already finding it harder to breathe than before. Tohru shook his head slowly; a small smear of blood still on his chin.
"We can't leave with you in this state!"
Tohru was already regretting what he'd done, but he found himself much easier to control now that he had fed. His friend was already having trouble staying awake let alone breathing and he wanted to leave Sotoba? It's not like they'd be able to just walk out of the village, although Natsuno probably didn't know that Tatsumi was working on sealing the road entrances day by day.
Natsuno tried to force himself into a sitting position but couldn't, he was too weak. He sighed softly and glanced at Tohru as if asking him for help. Tohru looked back at him with tears in his eyes. Natsuno chuckled quietly, it was about as much as he could muster for now.
"It's okay... really."
Tohru bit his lip as if to fight the tears that he could feel building up in his eyes. It's strange that Shiki can cry... You'd almost think that a corpse would have no feelings left, let alone a way to express them. Tohru berated himself silently when he realised he'd made his own lip bleed. The wound sealed itself and the bleeding stopped soon enough but it still irritated him.
"Natsuno..."
Natsuno had closed his eyes for a moment, he opened them again slowly and looked over to Tohru.
"Hm?"
Tohru seemed to fidget, he looked nervous.
"Why... do you want to run away with me?"
Natsuno stayed quiet for a moment looking as if he was thinking.
"Even after.. everything that's happened.."
Natsuno was struggling to speak, breathing was hard so talking was even harder right now,
"You're still.. my Tohru-chan.."
"Eh?"
Tohru was confused, 'my Tohru-chan?'
Natsuno closed his eyes, he needed to rest for a while. He smiled and mumbled,
"I love you... Idiot..."
A/N: Hopefully that wasn't too bad... It will probably be a one-shot but if it gets positive reception and people want a sequel, I'll consider writing one.
*Sclera – the white (or opaque) part of the eye