Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/n: I rather like Son. Of course, not enough to pair him up with Sho or Kei. At least not in this fic.


DREAM OF FOREVER

soumanyon

Chapter 7


By the time we got back to the apartment, the symptoms from my concussion were mostly gone although my vision was still a little blurred at the edges. It was nothing I couldn't deal with after retreating to my cool, dark futon. I decided to relax for a little before getting up to tackle the bloody mess that was my favorite red jacket.

Dried blood is a bitch to clean, as I soon found out. I'd never really sustained any serious injuries before and when I did, it wasn't as if a little blood stain mattered much to me. But now, according to Sho, we had higher standards and it wouldn't look good for me to run around in blood-stained clothes. Like I did much running around anyway.

But I humoured the boy, as I'd gotten very used to doing through the years and set to scrubbing the stains from the back of my jacket.

By the time I finished with that spot, I wasn't in any mood to take out the stains on the inside of the jacket. Sho wouldn't see them, anyway so I cleaned them roughly and declared it done. The jacket was definitely not new anymore but what did that matter.

A glance at the floor near the bottom of the curtain declared that it was getting to sunset so I got up to knock at Sho's door. When we got home, he promptly took back his white jacket that I'd borrowed and retreated to his room, not quite slamming the door but shutting it firmly enough that I'd decided enquiring would be useless.

"Sho, wake up." I said, waiting a few courtesy seconds before opening the door to let myself in.

His room was dark except for the underlit fishtank but I could see well enough to discern his messy bedhead sprawled over his bed.

He never used to sleep that way—sprawled out carelessly. On the streets, you slept curled up as if turning your back to the world offered some weak sort of protection. The habit had lasted for a few weeks after we got our first apartment but Sho, it seemed, was very quick to adapt and soon learned that locks provided a very good feeling as did, I suppose, having a vampire by your side as you slept.

He didn't, of course, have that luxury for very long. When he started to take up more than three-quarters of the bed with lengthening limps and long hair sensitive to pulls, I had decided for both of us that we were moving to a bigger apartment, one where he could have his own room and his own bed and I could actually sleep on mine without the threat of melting into the wall every night.

Speaking of hair, I leaned over him to ruffle it, smiling at the sight. His face was buried in his pillow as he tried to block out the light coming in through his door and my annoying presence. He swatted at my hand but missed completely, of course.

"Sho, wake up." I said again but was only answered with a half-annoyed, half-whiny grunt of a sound, "Sho." I said, more firmly this time, pulling gently at his hair now tangled in my fingers.

"Owwww…" he whined, taking on a tone that you'd never catch him making around anyone else.

At least my actions gave their results and he sat up, although stubbornly refusing to open his eyes and scratched at the back of his head sleepily.

"Wake up, baka." I teased, slapping his head as I got up, stretched, and left him to wake up by himself. I heard a "baka" murmured under his breath as I left the room but only grinned as I laid back down on my futon.

A few minutes later, I heard him yawning and shuffling to the bathroom. I guess he didn't get much sleep the night before. He must have stayed up to wait for me even after I told him not to. Stubborn as always.

After I heard the shower turn on, I went back to his room to pick up his treasured jacket that he'd tossed over a chair back and took it back to its place near the apartment door. I idled a little, cleaning up the place until he came out of the bathroom in a towel.

Sho was weird like that. When he was little, he was so shy that he wouldn't even take his shirt off to swim with Toshi or Shinji when they went off on their little trips to the beach. I knew because of all the teasing he endured from Toshi for that. In his adolescence, Toshi, crude as always, kept up the teasing, asking if Sho was actually growing breasts under his baggy shirts.

As Sho got older and passed his mid-teens, he lost that shyness all of a sudden. It got so bad he'd come out of the shower dripping wet and absolutely naked. I dealt with it like an exasperated parent and yelled at him for trekking water all over the carpet. Luckily, he got over that stage.

Sho headed over to my section of the apartment, dragging over the white chair that he'd long ago claimed as his to the edge of my futon. I sighed, smiling to myself as I joined him, kneeling on the futon behind him as he sat down. I used to be able to sit down on my futon as still reach, but unfortunately he grew.

He flipped his loose hair over the back of the chair as he held his hand out, palm full of little rubber bands. It was such a vain thing that he insisted on, keeping his hair in little braids. I have only Shinji to blame, as always. Sho still idolizes his brother.

I set to combing out the wet hair, separating it as I went into little locks before I set to braiding. It didn't take too long and once in a while I'd take the liberty of speeding it up with vampiric abilities but today was one of those days that I didn't mind doing this for him and took my time. It was one of the intimate things we had together and it was a calming few minutes for the both of us.

Unless, of course, I was in a bad mood and pulled on his hair. Then it wasn't nearly so soothing for him as it was for me. But I hadn't done that since the last time he practiced target shooting with a few blue glass "trinkets" that he had found lying around the apartment.

This time I was careful not to pull.

"Done." I said, tossing a few of the finished braids over his shoulder. He turned his head to grin at me, giving me my customary kiss on the cheek to say thanks. More and more, these little kisses were making me uncomfortable but I couldn't and didn't want to refuse them.

I guess my attention faded a little because Sho was standing over me with a Cheshire grin before I even realized that he had stood up.

"Let's go," he said, heading to his room to get dressed. I rolled my eyes and put back the chair he'd used.

Things were totally normal. I guess he'd forgotten all about my hitting on his crush to get back at Son. Or maybe he was just in denial. Or maybe, I thought, thinking on his I-know-something-you-don't-know grin that he'd flashed me with just a few seconds ago, maybe Sho was more perceptive than I could credit him for. I flushed at the thought. Too often I still thought of him as a completely oblivious kid and too often now he proves me entirely wrong.

Sho, with his perfect timing, came back while my face was reaching its pinnacle of redness but to his credit, didn't do more than raise an eyebrow at me. It was humiliating how our positions were switched so that I felt like the young, immature one.

Sho's stomach growled, the signal for me to stop dawdling and hurry up, which I did, considering the boy had also missed lunch.

The light was mostly gone by the time we left so that I had no problems. We drove through the thinning post-rush hour traffic without having to weave too much and arrived at Shinji's place only a few minutes late but Sho has always liked to make an entrance.

We headed in to the smell of wonderful home-cooked dinner. That was one of the best benefits of having met Yi-Che and Son, real food. You could only eat pizza for so many months before becoming tired of it. Of course, we had to make our way all the way down to Shinji's place each time but Yi-Che's cooking was worth it.

We had decided to assemble each night at his place. He had a little kitchen, only slightly used and the roof had more than enough space and a decent view on a clear night. Son and Yi-Che's place was much better of course, but Sho didn't want to risk them by gathering there every night.

When we first got there, they all greeted Sho happily but the only one happy to see me was Toshi. I guessed, from his enthusiastic greeting to me and his dismissal of the usual stony glare from Shinji and the new heated glare from Son that he'd collected a nice chunk of cash the previous night.

They all took their places around the ragged little table; Sho, Shinji, Toshi, Son, and Yi-Che. Sho had confided that it had taken a little getting used to, former street rats having a civilized sit-down meal every night but again, the kid had a talent for adapting, especially to comfort.

Yi-Che had wordlessly invited me to eat countless times but I'd always refused. Son had questioned my refusals in the beginning but Sho always politely dismissed their invitations for me, something I was very glad of. I don't know what excuses he used but so long as I didn't have to explain that I was a vampire and only needed blood for sustenance…I was happy. Or something like that.

Toshi still doesn't know. He had run off that day when I first revealed to Sho and Shinji that I was a vampire and none of us seemed to feel the need to tell him after we moved on from that place with the money we stole from the guy. Toshi didn't ask questions, even at that age. Or maybe the prospect of having so much money all at once distracted him.

Anyway, they all dished up bowls of rice and started on the dishes Yi-Che had so carefully prepared. Everyone helped pick up the tab for the groceries, even me, so we could afford some pretty nice food.

As always, I took my seat on the wall around the roof, leaning against a taller part as I stared out over the city. The aromas from their meal drifted back to me and it brought me back to times long ago, much easier and lighter times. I let myself remember, just for the duration of their meal, about times almost too long ago to remember.

"Oi, Kei!" I heard Sho call around a mouthful of food and I opened my eyes just in time to catch the roll of money he threw at me. It was considerably thicker than anything we'd gotten before. I turned back around, weighing in it my hand and throwing a questioning glance at Toshi,

"What size bills are these?" I accused, but he grinned back, "the usual."

My eyebrows arched up a few notches. I was holding a hell of a lot of money, then.

"From both nights." He clarified, "last night and the night before." That was all I listened to before I tuned him out as he tried to sort out the nights they really were. Our missions usually fell during or slightly before or after midnight so they'd trip him up every so often.

It was amusing watching him try to figure it out with only half his attention on his calculations. The other half was more focused on the food, of course. If we got tired of pizza, you can be sure that a pizza boy would.

"Oh, by the way," Toshi turned back around and I focused my wandering attention on him again, "good job on the second warehouse." He winked before his expression took on some confusion, "only one guy died but I think it was someone after us…poor bastard had these little holes in his neck and his blood was all gone but the ground was clear." He stuffed his mouth before talking again, "weirdest damn thing I've ever seen." He shook his head, turning back to the table.

"What?" he asked, mouth still full; it must've been at Sho's face. I'm glad Toshi had his back to me or else he would have seen my own stricken expression.

It felt like a punch in the gut. Everyone had been enjoying themselves until Toshi mentioned my handiwork. It seems like I bring strife wherever I go. Ever since he met me and found out what I was, Shinji had hated me. If it weren't for me, Sho could have a more normal life and have a regular friendship with Son and Yi-Che as his girlfriend. Just by being around, I held Sho back from his potential.

I pushed off from the wall, feeling Shinji's heated glare on my back along with Sho's concern and Son's confusion. I hate being the center of attention. All their stares lent to a feeling of claustrophobia that I wasn't particularly fond of.

"I'm going to get some air." I said, mostly for Sho's sake but they accepted it.

I half-heard Toshi protest--where else could you breathe better than on a rooftop?


tbc...
I broke down on my no-japanese rule and used the word "baka." But that's only because baka is kind of a hard word to translate. Idiot sounds too harsh. Baka always has a more of a "lovable idiot" or "idiot of whom I am fond" feel to it, at least to me.

But then again, I'm a total Gravitation fangirl and Yuki's "baka" is an endearment. Bakabakabakabaka.


Tixxana, Lady-Willowish, Lulu, Essenity, fujipuri, TheTrueSilver