Clouds beyond clouds above me,

Wastes beyond wastes below;

But nothing drear can move me;

I will not, cannot go.

-from "The Night is Darkening round Me"

by Emily Brönte

Shizuka couldn't remember exactly how long it took him to get from the park to Kimihiro's apartment, but when he arrived, he was nonplussed to find a piece of paper taped to the front door.

Doumeki-kun, it said in that woman's flowing script. I talked to him while you were gone and gave him some advice. There was a butterfly insignia on the bottom corner.

Oh good grief. If Yuuko had tried to give Kimihiro advice, Shizuka was almost sure this wouldn't end well. He shut his eyes wearily, then opened them again to look down at the paper. The writing had changed.

Quit worrying, it said now. Remember this invincible spell, and follow your instincts. Again there was a butterfly insignia, but nothing else written. Perplexed, he turned the paper over.

I'm sure everything will be all right.

He blinked at the words, printed neatly and with almost childlike handwriting, not Yuuko's elegant hand. Why did this 'invincible spell' tug at something inside him? He couldn't remember ever having heard the phrase before…

Shaking his head and shoving the note into his pocket, he didn't even bother to knock; he slammed into the apartment with such force that he was surprised the wall didn't collapse.

Kimihiro was not in the living room where Shizuka had left him.

Annoyed, Shizuka took a few steps into the apartment, intent on hunting the boy down, but a door flew open in the hallway and Kimihiro stumbled into view, looking panicked and indignant and evidently searching for the perpetrator of the loud bang. When his eyes locked on Shizuka's, they widened, and his face went pale.

Shizuka cringed inwardly at the sight of such shock and almost-terror and painful hope on Kimihiro's face. Kunogi had been right; he'd hurt the boy badly by walking away from him. And he had absolutely no clue where to start fixing it.

He opened his mouth to apologize, to explain, to beg.

"Oi."

He could have kicked himself.

At the single word, Kimihiro's face went slack and disbelieving; then, to Shizuka's surprise, it filled with such unmitigated relief that Kimihiro seemed to be glowing with it. The boy slumped against the doorway and brought a shaking hand up to cover his eyes.

"Oh God," he whispered jaggedly. "Thank God." And then, so low that Shizuka almost didn't catch it, "You came back."

Shizuka was striding toward him before he realized what he was doing, fully intent on wrapping the boy in his arms and never letting him go no matter what kind of struggle he put up.

He grabbed Kimihiro's shirt collar.

What the fuck is wrong with my subconscious tonight?

Furious at himself, at Kimihiro, at both and neither of them, Shizuka said threateningly, "If you ever do this to me again, I'll never forgive you."

Hearing his own words thrown back at him, Kimihiro blinked. His lower lip trembled, thoroughly distracting Shizuka for all of three seconds, before his mouth firmed into a thin white line.

"B-Bastard," Kimihiro said, albeit weakly, without any sort of heat at all. "I don't take orders from you—of any kind."

Shizuka felt himself starting to smile.

"Moron," he retorted, and had to actually fight the smile from widening when Kimihiro snorted derisively.

Nearly ten seconds passed in which they simply looked at one another without speaking.

"Don't leave me again."

At the single, muttered sentence, the half-smile dropped away from Shizuka's lips, and he stared at Kimihiro, who looked—oh God—as if he was struggling not to cry, and was simply scowling for the purpose of masking his misery.

Oh God. Oh God. What to do? Shizuka let go of Kimihiro's collar and instead took him gently by the shoulders. "Quit running away, dammit," he said gruffly. When Kimihiro frowned up at him, he added sharply, "And quit trying to put me in a box. I can handle the damned spirits." He forced a smirk onto his lips to lighten the tension. "You're the damsel-in-distress here."

Kimihiro's glare became venomous—but he didn't move away from Shizuka's touch. "I swear to every god and demon who's listening, I am going to kill you myself," he snapped. "You won't need to worry about the spirits getting to you."

"Yeah, well, neither will you," said Shizuka pointedly.

That put a hitch in Kimihiro's stride. He seemed to grasp at straws for some worthy response.

"I mean it about taking hits for me," he muttered finally, his eyes fixed straight ahead—which just happened to be Shizuka's chest. "Stop it. It's…it's irritating."

Shizuka snorted his opinion of that nonsense. "Right. That's going to happen."

"I'm serious, Doumeki." In his zeal, Kimihiro brought both hands up to grip Shizuka's wrists where they rested on his shoulders. Shizuka felt a thrill go through him at such a…voluntary touch. "Next time, you could die."

"So could you." And that was a non-negotiable point. Kimihiro's life would be placed above Shizuka's own. End of story.

"Dammit, Doumeki…" Kimihiro's eyes flashed at him.

Shizuka wasn't going to be dissuaded on this. His grip tightened on Kimihiro's shoulders, and he shook the boy lightly. "Look, we can do this all night," he said casually. "But I'll win."

"Why you…" Kimihiro breathed in deeply, presumably to keep himself from calling Shizuka something unpleasant. "Doumeki." His tone was deliberately practical. Shizuka wanted to pat him on the head like a puppy who'd done a trick well. "Listen to me. If it's a choice between my life and yours—"

"You'd better not finish that sentence," Shizuka warned him grimly.

Kimihiro's patience had apparently reached its breaking point. He fisted both hands at the sides of Shizuka's shirt in a desperate move. That thrill zinged through Shizuka again.

"Some of those spirits will eat your fucking soul, dammit!" Yeah, Kimihiro sounded desperate, all right. "Weren't you raised in a temple?" he demanded. "Don't you have any concerns about saving your immortal soul or whatnot?"

"What good is saving my soul if you're going to break my heart?"

At Shizuka's soft question, Kimihiro's cheeks turned pink. "That's—"

"Damn right," finished Shizuka for him. Kimihiro looked completely flustered, which was kind of…really fucking adorable.

"You're—"

"Not kidding."

"But—"

"But nothing." With one hand, Shizuka tipped up Kimihiro's chin. "Don't test me on this, Watanuki," he said flatly. "If you leave me alone in this life, I swear that I'll find you and make your afterlife a living hell."

The pink in Kimihiro's cheeks intensified. "Like you do every day," he mumbled.

Joy spread through Shizuka. He fought to keep it from showing in his face or voice.

"Worse," he said lightly. "You can't escape me in the afterlife. I'll definitely never let you go."

Kimihiro stared at him, his cheeks now completely red. "Doumeki…" he said after a moment, confusion and ill-concealed, embarrassed pleasure in his voice. "That's—"

"You got it." Shizuka leaned down until his mouth hovered just over Kimihiro's, his breath brushing across the other boy's parted lips.

"Bento boxes for eternity."

It took a moment for the words to penetrate Kimihiro's mind; then, to Shizuka's unparalleled delight, the red in his cheeks darkened with anger, and his eyes spat lightning bolts of fury and mortification.

"You miserable, greedy, arrogant piece of—"

Shizuka laughed, and met the boy's snarling mouth with his own.

.1.

.0.

.4.

A/N: Whoo, boy. I…really hate that ending. No, I do. :P Hate the whole chapter, really. I feel like it's too contrived. But that's as far as I'm going with this. Nothing more. And THANKFULLY FOR YOU LOT, nothing less. grumbles Now I need to go finish chapter six of Dreamwalker. moseys along

Oh, one thing I did like about this story—which I didn't realize until I started writing this chapter—was that in chapter one, I referred to the boys as 'Shizuka' and 'Kimihiro' the whole time. In chapter two, from Watanuki's POV, I refer to him as 'Watanuki' and to Doumeki as 'Shizuka,' and then in Doumeki's POV, I change it to 'Doumeki' and 'Kimihiro.' I figure that my subconscious just randomly decided that Watanuki cannot think of himself as 'Kimihiro' without Shizuka, just as Doumeki cannot be 'Shizuka' for anyone but Kimihiro. It works, yes:D