Originally this was just going to be a oneshot, but I ended up having ideas for other chapters and decided I just couldn't leave it there just like that. So here is the second chapter! I hope you enjoy.
Natsuno was currently snuggled up into Tohru's chest as the blonde held the younger gently, both enjoying the comfort of being in the other's arms and enjoying the comfortable silence between them, though both had many things to ask the other. Tohru knew everything that the blue-violet haired teen said was true, they couldn't stay here too much longer or they risked being found, but he couldn't help wonder how everything that his lover had planned would play out. It wasn't that he didn't trust the teen, he did, he trusted him with not only his life but the life of his family too, and he just didn't know how he could possibly help out with them having to move in a populated area. He was scared, scared that he might lose control of himself, and expose the both of them. It scared him more than anything that Natsuno might get hurt because of him.
"Natsuno?" Tohru called, making the younger teen open his eyes and look up at the blonde holding him.
"Yeah Tohru?" The blonde bit his lip and pulled the smaller teen tighter into him, blinking slightly confused Natsuno pulled away slightly to get a better look at the obviously stressed out Shiki. "Tohru, what's wrong?" Tohru pulled Natsuno in his lap, leaning forward slightly to rest his head on the crook of the smaller teen's neck. Slightly confused Natsuno wrapped his arms around the blonde's shoulders, bringing a hand up to comb through his soft and unruly hair.
"How are we going to do this? I mean, I can't go out during the day, how can we possibly move from here?" Tohru whispered as he closed his eyes, taking in the scent of the Jinrou. A small smile worked its way on the violet haired teen's face as he leaned his head on top of Torhu's.
"I'll take care of it. When the sun rises I'll go to the city, its not too far from here, I'll take the bus if I have to. It won't be too hard to find an apartment in the lower class area for us." Natsuno said gently. "If I have time I'll see if anyone is hiring nearby too then come back and get you." Tohru pulled his head off of his lover to get a better look at him, his ruby colored eyes boring into Natsuno's beautiful sapphires.
"How though? We don't have money to get an apartment Natsuno." Tohru said weakly, Natsuno only smiled and shook his head and reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, Tohru's eyes widening at the shock of seeing so much in his lover's hand.
"You know my parents were odd, they didn't trust the banks and hid their savings in my room. I grabbed it before things went down in Sotoba just in case, it should be enough to get something and have enough for the first few payments and some food." Natsuno explained, blinking a few times Tohru looked back up at the violet haired teen and smiled in relief.
"I see, you always were thinking ahead of everyone else weren't you? I'm glad." The Jinrou blushed lightly at the complement and put the money back into his pocket before Tohru brought their foreheads together in a loving gesture making the younger teen's blush brighten. "We really will be okay, won't we?" Natsuno smiled at him and nodded slightly, bringing a hand up to caress Tohru's cheek then leaning forward to place a soft kiss on his lips briefly before pulling away.
"Of course we are, I wouldn't have told you otherwise, baka." Tohru grinned widely at Natsuno before pulling him flush against himself a hand coming up to cradle the back of the violet haired teen's head.
"Natsuno." Flushing Natsuno realized Tohru had brought their faces closer together, their lips almost touching before the blonde had closed the gap, messaging the smaller teen's rose petal soft lips against his own cold ones. Natsuno melted into the kiss, and let Tohru take the lead. The longer the two kissed the more heated it got, Tohru had moved his hands that had been on Natsuno's hips down to his rounded jean clad ass, squeezing the cheeks roughly and making his lover gasp in pleasure. Taking the gasp as an open invitation he plunged his tongue in Natsuno's warm cavern, their tongues brushing briefly across the other's making Natsuno let out a breathy moan at the pleasurable heat that shot through his body at the contact. Tohru began to swirl his tongue around Natsuno's, attempting to coax the other into a dance, mewling the violet haired teen hesitantly began to kiss back. Moaning throatily into the kiss Natsuno angled his head to the side, giving Tohru better access to his mouth, whimpering as the older teen brought his tongue into his mouth and sucked on before going back to tangle their appendages together. After a few more moments of heated kissing Natsuno had finally pulled away, a thin trial of salvia connecting their lips, panting to catch his breath, while Tohru didn't need to breath Natsuno still did for the most part. Tohru happily pulled the Jinrou into his chest once more, basking in the warmth his lover's body radiated. After finally catching his breath Natsuno hummed contently as he snuggled into the embrace, Tohru smiling happily as he leaned his head on top of his lover's once more. "Hey Natsuno?"
"Hm?" the violet haired teen glanced up at Tohru through his thick lashes, the adorable yet sexy look he gave off had Tohru blinking in embarrassment, if he were still human the Shiki was sure he'd have been blushing brightly.
"Do you know what happened, in Sotoba I mean?" Tohru asked quietly, unconsciously hugging the younger teen tighter, still slightly guilty about what he had put his lover through. Natsuno sighed heavily in response, his eyes glancing over at his hand clutching Tohru's shirt over where his once beating heart laid.
"Yeah, I do." The Jinrou hesitantly replied, before moving his head off of Tohru's chest and looking up at him. "What do you want to know?" Tohru blinked, staring down at Natsuno for a moment before his gaze softened and he began to play with the teen's baby soft wavy violet hair, combing his fingers through his semi-long locks.
"I-.. What happened, why do you even know about it?" Natsuno sighed again, leaning his head back on Tohru's chest, the blonde still running his fingers through his hair.
"I guess it would be easier to start with telling you why I started hunting the Shiki then, huh? After all, that's where everything started, for me at least. I can't say the same for the rest of the humans that lived in Sotoba." Tohru nodded in agreement, instinctively pulled the younger teen closer, as if sensing his distress on the subject. "Do you remember the last time I slept over your house?" Tohru blinked slightly confused, what did that have to do with him hunting the Shiki?
"Yeah I do, why?" Natsuno sighed once again before he began to speak.
"I saw Shimizu attack you that night. I had been seeing, well it was more like sensing her, for a while before that. Even after she died I felt her staring at me during the night and it set me off, I couldn't sleep at home anymore. At first I thought I was just being paranoid about it, but sleeping there just didn't seem safe anymore. So I started sleeping over at your place." His grip on the older teen's shirt tightened as he thought back to when the pink haired stalked attacked Tohru. "That night, something woke me up, I felt her in your house. I felt how she moved, it was like I could see her through the walls, coming up the stairs. And then she went over to you, and I couldn't move, it was like something was holding me down. And I watched her, watched her as she told me she hated you that you took me away from her, or some other bullshit like that." Natsuno closed his eyes for a moment, taking a few calming breaths as Tohru began to rub his back soothingly, looking down at the struggling teen, his ruby eyes showing nothing but love and patience. "She bit you, and just like that I could finally move again. I jumped up and woke you up, looking for the bite marks, but I never saw any. I thought it was just a horrible nightmare, how wrong I was. I should have come over the next day, but I thought you were fine, your sister told me you were tired from playing your games too late." The violet haired teen began to tremble at the memory, Tohru's face when he was pronounced dead, his lifeless body at the funeral, biting his lip Natsuno shut his eyes tightly trying to keep his tears from falling. The pain he felt when he learned Tohru was dead, the guilt, the thought that he should have done something, anything that could have possibly saved his life, it was too much for him to bear, but for Aoi and Tamotsu he had kept his cool, but now, with Tohru holding him all the emotions came flooding back mixed with begrudged relief that the blonde while wasn't alive he was still here with him, and it was real.
"Natsuno." Tohru muttered sadly as he hugged Natsuno tightly, leaning his head on top of the shuddering teen. Gulping down his tears the violet haired teen calmed himself, before looking up at Tohru giving him a smile of reassurance, silently telling him that he was okay. 'That's right, Tohru is here, he's right here with me even though he's a Shiki now, he's still the same Tohru, he's still my Tohru.' The blonde smiled back at him, petting his hair soothingly as his lover leaned back into him, hiding his face in the crook of his neck.
"When you were pronounced dead that was when I knew she had done it. She had somehow come back from the dead and took you from me. So I set out to prove it, prove the dead were rising back up. That's when I saw Akira and Kaori checking out the Kirishiki's house, I had to pull them away because Tatsumi was stalking them, he probably would have killed them if I hadn't gotten them away from there." Natsuno paused for a moment. "We went out to the grave yard that night to dig up Shimizu's grave, prove she came back from the dead. And we ending up finding someone who had risen, though it wasn't Shimizu, he was about to attack Kaori but I hit him with a shovel and knocked him out. We made sure to check for a pulse, when we didn't find one, I partially buried him so others could find him but when we came back the next morning and he wasn't where we left him, and no one was saying anything, it meant he must've woken up and gotten away, that's what I thought. That was all the proof I needed, so I started making crosses and stakes, hoping it would work, knowing that we were on our own. But Tatsumi found out I guess, and realized I was intending to hunt them down, make them pay for all the people they killed and that night you showed up." Thinking back to when he had saw Tohru that night, the confusion, dread, guilt and fear he had felt and then the acceptance and relief he felt later, he was in turmoil when it all happened. "I honestly didn't know what to think when you ran away from me but I knew I had to find you and started to run all over town looking for you, but then I was cornered by Shimizu and Tatsumi. I'm honestly glad you bit me before they had a chance to, if it were anyone else, I probably would've fought harder, tried to kill them. But it wasn't anyone else it was you, and the thought of you dying again was too much. So I offered you my blood willingly, hoping we could run away, but even that last night, I knew it was impossible for us to, but I still kept hoping that we would leave it all behind." Natsuno sighed and closed his eyes. "The next morning my mom found me dead and left. My dad called the city funeral home but when they got there I had woken up. He lost it after that I think, after sending the funeral home away I realized my advantage, I could take out the Shiki, and get revenge on what they had done to me, to you and everyone else. Dad, he didn't seem all there after that, but he still took care of me, still loved be after everything that happened, after knowing what I had become, he even went as far as stabbing Tatsumi when he came to the door." Natsuno chuckled dryly at the memory, the look on the hulking man's face was priceless. "After some planning I went to the doctor and gave him hope that he wasn't alone in his hunt and eventually bit him before that blonde haired Kirishiki bit him. It ended up canceling out her own hypnotism on him. Then I watched, knowing that soon everyone would know, and there would be a fight and people would die. But I had to wait, Tatsumi was who I was aiming for, he was the muscle throughout it all, and if I took him out the Villagers had a chance to win." Natsuno opened his eyes then continued. "It wasn't easy watching how the humans became ruthless, even killing people who were hypnotized. Yoshi became a problem too, so I had the human that was with the Kirishiki's shoot her in the head, I didn't know if it would kill her or not but I knew it would slow her down at least. I still have no clue if she made it or not. Then the fire started, I think one of the Villagers snapped and set a house on fire, I decided to add to it, blowing up the funeral home and causing a commotion. I looked for you, hoping that you somehow got away from it all. I never saw your body so it gave me hope. So I lured Tatsumi away and close to the pit where they had started throwing the bodies into and threw us both in. I had some explosives with me because I didn't know if the fall would kill us or not, I set it off hoping it would be the end of it all and I could finally die like I was supposed to." Natsuno smiled sadly. "But it didn't happen, somehow I survived the blast and you found me. But now that I'm here, and I'm with you, it's not so bad. Surviving just so I could be with you again, its not a bad thing at all." Natsuno finished smiling slightly, Tohru was smiling too, happy that the teen survived and was with him, while he may not have liked the slaughter he was happy with his ending.
"Natsuno" the violet haired teen looked up at his smiling over. "I'm happy too." Natsuno smiled gently and wrapped his arms around the blonde's neck, hugging him tightly.
"I'm glad. If anyone deserves to be happy it's you Tohru." Tohru chuckled as he hugged Natsuno back just as tightly. They had stayed like that for a while, and soon Tohru had laid down, brining Natsuno with him, the violet haired teen lying on top of him as the blonde played with his hair. "Hey Tohru." The blonde hummed in reply. "I've been wondering since I woke up, what is this place?" Tohru blinked, almost as if he wasn't expecting the question.
"Oh yeah." The blonde chuckled before kissing the top of Natsuno's head then continuing. "It's my family's cabin. My parents never really wanted to be too far from Sotoba, so going to the city for a vacation was out of the question so they bought this place. We used to come here a lot when, Aoi, Tamotsu and I were little, as we got older we came here less and less. It was our favorite place to be during the summer and winter holidays, we were actually planning to come here this summer but then everyone started dying and getting sick and Father couldn't get time off work. The basement was my room, everyone else slept up here." Tohru explained his a nostalgic smile on his face. "We learnt how to fish here, and sometimes we camped out, out back. We always had a lot of fun when we came here. I was hoping to bring you with us when we came here next." The blonde said quietly. "Hey Natsuno, do-do you know what happened to them?" Tohru asked offhandedly. Natsuno sighed and closed his eyes momentarily as if trying to remember.
"The last I heard they were fine. I know your dad had joined in on the hunt near the end though, so I'd say there's a good chance they're all okay." Natsuno answered, Tohru smiled and nodded happy with the answer he received.
"Do you think we'll ever see our families again?" the violet haired teen shook his head slightly.
"I don't know. Most likely not, not with them knowing about the Shiki and all. I don't think it would be too good of an idea to show ourselves to them even if we ever did see them with what happened in Sotoba." Natsuno whispered curling up closer into his lover. While he'd never admit it out loud Natsuno loved his mother and father, and wanted to know what happened to them, but with the letter his mom had left for his dad he didn't think it would be too good of an idea, no matter how much he wanted to check and make sure how his dad was coping with everything. Not only that but he was sure that Tohru wanted to know for sure about his own family, but seeing them after Sotoba and his father participating in the hunt was just mess waiting to happen. Maybe once they got settled in the city they could look at the public records to see if they were okay? It would be the only way to make sure their families were okay without actually going up to them; that is if they could access the information.
"I guess you're right." Tohru sighed sadly nuzzling Natsuno's hair sleepily. 'The sun will be coming up soon, but I don't want to move' Tohru thought. Natsuno blushed at the blonde actions then looked up to see the older teen start to doze off, sighing he slowly removed himself from the couch. "Natsuno?" the violet haired teen smiled down at him.
"You're getting tired right? That means the sun will be coming up." Natsuno offered his hand to help the Shiki up. "Let's get you down stairs so you can sleep safely." Tohru pouted a little but took the offered hand. Once up and standing Tohru laced their fingers together as the made their way down stairs and into Tohru's room. Natsuno led them to the bed, and laid Tohru down before climbing in next to him, snuggling up into his chest, smiling sleepily Tohru wrapped his arms around the smaller teen loosely. "I'll stay until you fall asleep. Then I'll go look for a place for us to stay okay? I'll be back hopefully before the sun sets." Tohru smiled sleepily and nodded before slowly closing his eyes and succumbing to sleep. For a few moments Natsuno watched the blonde sleep peacefully before carefully climbing out of bed. Leaning down the Jinrou pressed a kiss to the blonde's forehead. "I'll be back soon, sleep well Tohru." With a smiled he left the room and closed the door behind him. Sighing the teen headed upstairs and out the door, looking around for a few moments to decide on a direction then took off running.
It had taken Natsuno an hour and a half to reach the road, and another 20 minutes to find a bus stop that headed towards the city. It was about 8 in the morning when he finally reached Fukuoka, the city he and his family had passed through before Mizobe Town then Sotoba. Once off the bus Natsuno began walking towards a real-estate office. Once inside one of the employees came to help him, after telling her he was looking for a place with two bedrooms and his price point she gave him a folder of available apartments and surprisingly a small two story house close to the riverbed and near the University he was hoping to apply to that upcoming fall. The house interested him so he asked about it. The girl then explained that while the house was in peek condition and that the furniture was included most people didn't want it, when asked why she grudgingly told him that a family was brutally murdered inside and everyone who had looked at it claimed it haunted. Rolling his eyes Natsuno asked if he could get a look at the house, seemingly surprised she contacted the owner then offered to drive the teen there. Agreeing he went with her, and when he arrived at the house an old woman waited by the entrance for them.
"Why hello young man." The old woman greeted him with a soft smile, before turning around and opening the gate to the front yard and walking to the entrance, Natsuno followed, amusingly taking note that the woman from the office didn't follow him, but instead waited by the car. Once inside the elderly woman turned back to the teen. "Well here we are. Why don't you go have a look around deary?" Nodding Natsuno began walking around the house, the first floor had a kitchen, dining room and living room along with a small bathroom with a shower. The room as well furnished, complete with a flat screen in the living area. Going upstairs Natsuno found two rooms, the master bedroom with had a queen sized bed, set up similarly to the room Tohru was currently sleeping it, odd enough though there was only one window which had black out curtains hung up on them, deciding the check out the adjoining bathroom he found a rather large tub and shower. Liking what he was seeing so far he went to check out the next room, there was a bathroom in the hall way next to it. Entering Natsuno found a loft bed and a futon couch under it, it wasn't a large room but was cozy enough. Exiting that room Natsuno entered the last room, upon entering the teen saw several book cases, and a desk at the center of the wall near the windows, it was a study, the shelves had scattered books in them, probably from the previous owners or bought just to make the room seem nice. Once going through all the rooms he walked back down the stairs where he was greeted by the smiling woman.
"Why do you want so little for this place, if I may ask?" Natsuno spoke, the woman sighed and smiled sadly.
"My son and his family used to live here. But after they died everyone who came to see the house or stayed overnight felt watched. And sometimes there were accidents, like people falling down the stairs, feeling like someone pushed them down, things sometimes going missing, and stuff like that. Soon no one wanted to see this place anymore because it was labeled haunted. I couldn't even sell their things for the same reason. And now my husband is in the hospital sick, I just want to get rid of the house so I can finally move on and focus on caring for him." She explained, Natsuno nodded and silently looked around opening his senses, attempting to see if the place was indeed haunted, but finding nothing.
"Well this place is right in my price range, and it's close to the University I'm hoping to get into this coming fall. I'd be happy to take this place off your hands." Smiling widely the woman nodded happily as tears of joy sprung in her eyes.
"Oh thank you! This is wonderful!" she cheered, Natsuno gave her a small smiled before he thought of something.
"Oh! Is there any place near here that is hiring?" He asked, the woman blinked and put a finger to her chin in thought before smiling at him.
"Yes! There's this wonderful café/book store that just opened up not too long ago. The woman who owns it used to go to school with my son!" Natsuno nodded at her.
"Would you mind telling me where at? After we get the paperwork settled I'd like to apply." The old woman smiled and nodded.
"Of course! I'll even show you the way once we're done!" Natsuno smiled slightly in politeness and nodded.
"Thank you." She nodded back up at him smiling and then they left. It didn't take long for them to settle the paperwork once they got back to the office, once paying her upfront with cash Natsuno received the key and deed to the house then he and the old lady left. She led him onto a bus on which took them one block away from the store, after walking him to it she left him to enter on his own. Upon entering Natsuno realized it wasn't that big of a place, it was small and quaint. Walking up to the counter, which had no line at the time he asked to see the manger or owner.
"Oh! That's me! The names Satsuma, what can I do for you?" She replied cheerfully placer her hands on her hips, her hair was a bright purple color and tied up in a mess bun on top of her head, small strands falling around and on her face, she was about as tall as Natsuno and had warm, caring teal colored eyes.
"I was just getting everything in place before I moved here. I was told that you were hiring and I was wondering if I could apply for a job." He replied politely. The young woman brought a finger to her chin as she looked at him in thought for a few moments before smiling widely at him.
"Of course! Here let me get the application! You're the first who's asked." Nodding Natsuno followed her as she left the coffee counter and headed to the check-out area in the book store part of the store. Once handing him the paper and a pen to fill it out she leaned on the desk watching as he began to fill out the paper. "So, when do you think you can start?" she asked cheerfully, startled Natsuno looked up at her shocked. "Don't look at me like that, I've been open for a while now and since I'm getting more customers I need someone to help out around here! You're the first person who's asked and I like the air around you, don't be so shocked, I happen to be a good judge of character you know." Natsuno nodded hesitantly before finishing the application and handing to her. She looked down at the application and read through it before smiling once more up at him "Yuuki Natsuno huh? Nice name. Well then Yuuki-kun when can you start?"
"Next week on Monday. I should have everything settled in by then." He replied. She nodded happily then stuck out her hand, reaching out the teen shook her hand briefly.
"Well then, I guess I'll see you in five days then, be here by 6:30 that's when I open shop." She said cheerily, nodding at her Natsuno thanked her before heading out. Once back outside he breathed a sigh of relief before checking how much money he had on him. After counting it out he checked his phone for the time, it was a little past 2 in the afternoon. Looking around briefly Natsuno set out to the clothes store across the street, after all the only clothes he had were on him. So after spending an hour there he came out with five more pairs of jeans and 12 shirts along with a plaid jacket similar to the one he wore in Sotoba before everything went up in flames, and a few more pairs of shoes. Checking the time once more he decided to drop of the clothes then head to the grocery store to stock up on some food until he got his first paycheck. By the time he was done with everything and put his things away it was getting close to four. Knowing Tohru would be waking in a few hours he grabbed his keys and headed out, taking the bus back to where he first got on and running back to the cabin. By the time he got there the sun had just started to set. Happy he made it on time Natsuno headed in and went into the bedroom Tohru was sleeping in. When he entered the room Tohru was just starting to stir, walking over Natsuno sat down on the bed next to the blonde waiting for him to fully wake. Slowly the Shiki opened his eyes to the pleasant feeling of a hand running through his hair, turning around he found Natsuno smiling down at him.
"Hey." Natsuno said, Tohru smiled up at him and sat up.
"Natsuno, hey." Tohru then leaned over to give the smaller teen a peck on the lips before stretching his arms above his head.
"Did you sleep well?" The blonde nodded and smiled happily earning a smile back from the violet haired teen. "Good" Natsuno climbed up in the bed and sat in Tohru's lap, his arms looping around the Shiki's neck as he tossed his head to the side, inviting the blonde to feed. "Eat, once you're done we'll head out. I got the perfect place for us, a job too." Licking his lips Tohru nodded silently his eyes bleeding black and red like they always did when he ate. Leaning over he gave Natsuno a gentle kiss in his neck before sinking his fangs into the tender flesh exposed to him wringing out a pleasured gasp and mewl from the teen in his arms. Natsuno smiled as he cradled the back of the blonde's head happily offering his blood. Finally things were going their way, and now they had a whole new beginning to start.