A/N: Hey! I'm back with chapter 2! I think I already know where I wanna go with the next chapter, so that one may be up sooner than this one was. Thank you to those who have favorited, alerted, and reviewed! Wow it really means a lot to me! I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

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Chapter 2

Fragile

He wakes with a gasp, his chest heaving with a shortness of breath, the locks of his golden hair plastered flat against his forehead, damp with sweat. His hand tangles in the fabric of his shirt as he sits up abruptly and something clunks to the floor.

Akihito stares at his bed sheets and forces deep breaths in and out to smooth the erratic pacing of his heart. Something wet slides down his cheek, but he brushes it away and runs a hand through his disheveled hair. It was just a dream, right? He can't even recall most of it, but they're all the same these days anyway, so he searches for his phone - so that's what fell off his bed - and pulls up her number.

He has to be sure. Usually, he'd settle for a text message, and he knows that she's sleeping but the sun is starting to peek over the horizon and he's not going to be able to function until he knows for certain that she's safe. His heart clenches in his chest as the phone rings and goes to voicemail, panic setting in. Relentless, he redials her number and holds his breath. He begins to feel lightheaded and sick to his stomach when her voice message speaks up again.

"Mirai." He says her name like a prayer, like a plea for salvation, and dials once more. His hands are shaking and he think he might throw up, but then there is a click and a groan on the other end of the line. All at once the anxiety eases.

"Kanbara?" Her voice is groggy and unpleased. "Do you even know what -"

"I'm sorry," he cuts her off, gripping the phone with both hands, allowing the relief to pull his mouth into a smile. His eyes slip shut as he listens to the rustle of her blankets, the even lull of her breathing. "I just needed to make sure."

There are more faint rustling noises and he imagines that she's sitting up, her sunlit eyes droopy with sleep. He's never seen her with bed hair before. It probably looks really crazy. She probably looks really cute.

"Was it about me?" she asks in a tone that isn't so harsh or sleepy. She sounds soft and regretful and he hates that - he doesn't want her to feel regret over those choices because he saw, in those brief moments between the months that separated them, how happy she was. How sure she was about her choices. And he was frustrated with those choices but how is that anything different from what he would have done, had he been in her place?

"You don't have to worry about it, Kuriyama-san," he tells her gently. "It was just a dream."

"I do worry, Senpai," she retaliates.

He sighs. "You should go back to bed, yeah? I kept you up late last night. There's still a few hours before school starts."

When she huffs over the line, he can detect her frustration easily, and he's surprised that she lets it go. "Fine. I'll see you at the train station, okay?"

"Hmm," he replies and he wants to add 'I love you' to the end of that, but even though she knows and he's confessed it before, the words die on his tongue before he can say them. He doesn't want her to worry her anymore than he already has. "Be careful on the way; the rain was supposed to freeze overnight so it's going to be slippery."

"Yes, Senpai." She pauses, and he hears the hesitation in her voice. "I'm here, you know." It's small, the reassurance but it makes him feel better. He's glad that she sounds at peace, content to say the words, instead of being upset that it's all he seems to want to hear from her. "I'm not going anywhere anymore. I'm here."

His eyes prickle and he smiles as he rubs at them. "Yeah."

They don't say goodbye, because both of them shy away from the meaning of the word, so instead, Mirai sighs and promises to see him soon before hanging up. Akihito drops the phone to the mattress and then rubs his face, as if doing so would erase the lingering memories of the nightmare. It doesn't work, predictably, so he hops into the shower and takes his time.

Once dressed and ready for school, he stretches back out on his bed and stares at the ceiling, debating on whether or not he should eat. He doesn't particularly feel hungry right now, especially with the bad taste in his mouth from the dream, despite having brushed his teeth. But the hunger will be uncomfortable and he doesn't want to worry Mirai, so he opts for toast and a glass of juice before making his way slowly to the train station.

A part of him was worried that she wouldn't be there - a stupid part of him - but any anxiety he seemed to be retaining vanishes in this moment and his usual clumsy smile widens across his face when he sees her sitting on the bench alone. Her scarf is pulled up to her nose and she hasn't quite noticed him yet, but he sighs at the way her glasses sit on her face, at the way her hair curves softly around the red frames.

She notices him when he sits on the bench, close enough that his knee knocks against hers. It's still early for their train, but he guesses that she didn't go back to sleep like he wanted her too after their phone call this morning.

"Hi," he says simply, smiling at her as his chest swells. She has this special way of looking at him through those glasses. It's like she is seeing the heart of him, who he is, past the surface, past the labels and stereotypes and the unavoidable threat of his demon. Her honey colored eyes see him as a person, as someone worthy of love and attention, and before her no one had ever looked at him with such tenderness before.

"Good morning, Senpai," she says pleasantly. Her breath puffs out of her mouth in a frosty cloud and he thinks he would like to kiss her but he doesn't know how.

"No Sakura today?" he asks to distract himself.

"She's meeting up to walk to school with Ai-chan today," she tells him, an unexpected blush glowing on her cheeks. He grins ( how can she be that cute; does she have any idea at all?) and leans toward her a bit. No physical contact, he tells himself, but ah, he can smell her almond shampoo from here and her warmth is real as it presses against him and he is happy.

"What are you so flustered about?" he asks curiously.

"N-n-nothing!" she insists, resisting the urge to wipe her glasses.

He surprises her by taking one of her hands - the one wrapped in a bandage - and holds it with the utmost care. She blinks at him, wishing that he'd crush his skin against hers, that he'd hold her hand tight and hard because she is so, so desperate to be touched by him.

"Sakura did it to give us some time alone, didn't she?" he murmurs, his thumb running softly over her knuckles.

She swallows and feels the heat on her face from her embarrassment. "She's not v-very subtle, is she?"

Akihito laughs and meets her gaze. "At least she approves."

"Approves?"

"Of me. Of. . . of us."

It'd only been a week since she'd returned; neither one of them were still very accustomed to. . .well, whatever it was they had. Both of them blush deeply and Mirai looks at her knees as if they are the most important things in the world, but her fingers curl around his hand and they stay that way until their train arrives.

Once they get to school, Akihito walks Mirai to her homeroom and leans in to kiss her forehead when they think no one is watching. She treasures the way his mouth presses to her skin, wonders what it would feel like if it was her mouth instead of her forehead. It's only been a week, she reasons, as she takes her seat at her desk, and she hasn't been able to be with him as much as either of them would like, not alone in a way that leaves a kissing kind of mood at least.

Since Mirai returned, she'd been surrounded by all of her friends and her alone time with Akihito was diminished into alone time in public spaces. Which suited her fine! She loves spending time with him, no matter where they are or what they are doing. He is the only factor that matters. And yet. . .

She wants to kiss him. Terribly badly. Would he even, if he was given the chance? He seems so wary of her, too gentle, and she is not fragile. Akihito is the last person who would ever break her; doesn't he understand that? There is no danger to them anymore; they are free to do what they want without having to worry about other things. She does not have to choose between life and death anymore, and he does not have to suffer through her choices. They can be happy! And she is, oh God knows how she is.

But is asking for a kiss really too much?

With a groan, she drops her chin into her hands and stares forward, trying very hard not to think about anything at all.

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"What are you doing here?" Mitsuki asks, her voice blank with surprise. Hiroomi looks up from his laptop where he is sitting at the table of their clubroom. There are tired bags under his eyes, but he smiles. She wishes he wouldn't.

"Getting some work done," he tells her vaguely as she places her lunch tray across from him and takes a seat. The fact that he makes no comment at all on how his "little sister is joining him for lunch" disturbs her and even though she is also running low on sleep, she detects the tension in his shoulders as he turns his eyes back to his computer screen.

"What kind of work?" she asks as she picks at her food. The line of his mouth is hard and then she shakes her head and averts her eyes, irritated that she is looking at his mouth.

"Paper work," he murmurs.

She's sick of these delicate answers. "What's the paperwork for?"

His fingers pause over the keys and he looks back up at her; she can feel how his eyes appraise her expression and when she finds the courage to return his gaze, she doesn't like the look there on his face. "You're very curious about me lately, Mitsuki."

Her scowl is instant and lethal. "I'm not curious about you, idiot, I'm curious about what kind of work is so urgent that you have to give it attention at school."

He purses his lips and turns his eyes back to the computer. "It's nothing you need to worry about, little sister."

She's about to demand that her last name is Nase, and it damn well is her worry, too, but the door swings open and Akihito wanders in casually, looking not at all surprised to see the two siblings there.

"Hey," he greets in his usual manner, raising a suspicious eyebrow at Hiroomi, who hadn't looked up at his entrance. "What's with the dead beat over there?" His question is directed at Mitsuki who merely sighs and begins to eat her lunch. If Akihito hadn't come in, she may have been able to wring answers out of her brother, and she tries not to be frustrated at the half-youmu boy but she is.

"Is that any way to address your senpai, Akkey?" Hiroomi questions, still focused on his computer screen.

Akihito rolls his eyes, still suspicious. "You never do work at school, so what gives?"

With a heavy sigh, Hiroomi clicks a few things on his laptop and then shuts it. "I won't be getting any of it done with you two around. Don't expect to see me at club." He wanders out of the room with his bag and his laptop, his scarf fluttering behind him slightly as he leaves.

"He's been weirder than usual lately," Akihito observes as he takes a seat next to Mitsuki.

She takes another bite of her lunch. "It's making me nervous," she confesses grudgingly, uneasy with speaking so openly about the way she feels, but Akihito is her friend and the next best thing to Kuriyama Mirai. "Where's Mirai?"

"She's getting her lunch now," he says and Mitsuki marvels at the way his face softens ever so slightly at the mere mention of the blood wielding girl. "What're you so nervous about?"

She glances up to meet his gaze and as she chews her last bite, she mulls over the thought of confiding in him. Who else did she have? Akihito seems like the best choice since he understands Hiroomi almost better than herself.

"Something just feels off," she mutters. "And Aniki is always staying up late, always off doing some sort of work that he won't tell me about. I have a bad feeling, about this stuff."

"That is weird," Akihito agrees. Hiroomi is hardly the type to keep Mitsuki from things she wants to know, considering how desperate he is to have her love him. "Have you looked into that stuff yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean - "

The door swings open and Mirai paces into the room with her bowl of udon noodles held very carefully on the tray with her hands. Akihito's chest tightens and he pulls out the chair beside him, unable to help the goofy smile that crosses his face. Mitsuki thinks that he's never looked happier than when he's with Kuriyama-san; she notes the way he lights up when she enters the room. He deserves this, she thinks, he's been through so much and he deserves this.

"Hello, Mitsuki-senpai!" Mirai greets as she takes the seat. "I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation."

Mitsuki smiles at the bespectacled girl, aware that Akihito has yet to take his eyes off of her. "No worries, Kuriyama-san. It wasn't that important."

"Eh? But weren't you talking about Hiroomi-senpai? Your voices were carrying down the hall a bit. He's been acting strange lately." So Mirai had noticed it too.

Of course, Mitsuki is sick of focusing on her brother - all he seems to be doing to her lately is giving her anxiety, and when she's with her friends, she doesn't want to feel that way. It's best to consider Akihito's idea of looking into Aniki's work herself and leave it at that, so she says, "Like I said, it wasn't that important."

Akihito mumbles something about how he's not buying it, and Mirai smothers a chuckle at her words, but they lull into a pointless conversation that makes all three of them feel as if they are normal people with no connection to the Spirit World whatsoever.