66
Dangerous Territory
It wasn't long before Furuichi completely healed, and though Oga thought he was beautiful, others would definitely know the silvernette wasn't completely human anymore. Both men kept their hair in low ponytails, but Furuichi's ponytail had leaves, vines and flowers of all sorts of species and colors. It was pretty intriguing to see the types of growth Furuichi would grow in his hair because it all complemented the seasons. Though that was one of Furuichi's new quirks it wasn't all. It seemed that Mother had made select changes to Furuichi's body to remain more in tune with hers if the full transformation had gone through of course.
Although Furuichi's old build was slender, there was a subtle sway and air about Furuichi now that was considerably more feminine. Furuichi's arms and legs sported flecks of willow bark, eyes several times sharper than an owl's- though Oga was more than happy to see that they remained the same doe brown- and the scent that followed the hybrid human was that of the hills of spring before the world collapsed.
Furuichi didn't mind the change, now that Mother was behaving herself. She seemed less...homicidal toward humans since sharing Furuichi's body for a few months. "Is she sleeping?"
"No," Furuichi responded while joining Oga at the entrance of their hideout to see the moon in its glory. "She's still looking out for reasons to kill us all, but she's mostly gazing at the stars."
Oga hummed and reached for Furuichi's hand. Furuichi's hand stilled before allowing fingers to curl into Oga's fingers. Oga had professed his attraction toward Furuichi, despite the alterations and extra party. They remained seated that way until something happened within Furuichi's body that, while has been happening for a few days, he hadn't told Oga about. Furuichi experienced cramps in his lower abdomen, and slight bloating to his stomach. Alarmed that Mother might have been trying to take over his body again, Furuichi confronted Mother in their shared subconscious.
Mother reassured Furuichi that this was nothing of the sort, but that he was experiencing the closest thing to a menstrual period as he was going to get without bleeding. "Ugh."
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. I promise."
"Furuichi there's no such thing as nothing when it comes to your body."
"Shhhh! Someone's coming!"
"Where?"
The land was still dark with the sliver of moonlight shining over the rocky boulders that surrounded their cave site. Furuichi had time to hide before Hilde and Aoi wandered up the cliffs, greeting Oga as they came up.
"We wanted to see if you'd like to join our camp for the Great Reconstruction."
"Thanks for coming up here, but I'd like to stay out of it for now."
"Suit yourself," Hilde shrugged, but made to move further into the camp. Oga blocked the entrance. "I'm sorry but you can't stay the night."
"You can't expect us not to. We've come a long way and it's still dangerous to move at night."
Aoi giggled as she slipped past the bickering brunet and blond. "You're hiding something." Her sing-song voice bounced off the walls to reach Furuichi's ears. Hilde slid her eyes to look at Oga sideways. "You found him."
Aoi giggled again, the dirty bandages trailing after her as she crept along the walls of the cave. Oga was about to pull Aoi out of the cave to kick them both out when Furuichi stepped into the firelight. "Yes," Furuichi stood his ground when Aoi came to inspect him in the light, "he found me."
"Oooohhh pretty boy! Look Hildi, pretty boy!"
"Pretty yes. But boy," Hilda faced Oga once more, "he is not, is he?"
Oga fiddled with the knife in his pocket. "He's still half human."
Oga and Hilde watched on, ready to intervene if something were to happen to their respective lovers. Furuichi ignored Mother's commentary of why Aoi shouldn't be so close, let alone touching their body. "Silver fox, not a fox. Not a man. But pretty, pretty, pretty." No one knew what happened to Aoi's mind during Mother's tirade. It could've been the trauma, the toxic dust; it could've been anything, but what Furuichi appreciated was the woman's honesty. "Thank you, Aoi."
"May I…" Aoi peered over her shoulder to Hilde, "braid your hair?"
"I don't think-" Both Oga and Hilde began in unison.
"Of course, Aoi. Where should I sit?"
"Yay! Pretty hair, leaves and flowers."
Oga and Hilde awkwardly moved toward the fire agreeing to their haphazard truce coming from their lover's friendship.
"So," Hilde took a bite from her canned pineapples, "what happened?"
"Well," Oga leaned against the wall, sliding his hand out of his pocket, "that story falls
into dangerous territory."
Hilde looked back at her Aoi and the silvernette. Although to many, Aoi seemed like a puppy, or a little girl at best, the blue haired woman had an intuition Hilde had never seen in anyone else. If Aoi trusted Furuichi, then Hilde could too. "Then we better watch where we tread. So, get to shedding light on the subject."
Aoi hummed as her gentle hands flitted over Furuichi's and Mother's locks. Mother hummed too until she fell asleep, remembering how not all humans had harsh hands and tools. Furuichi was soothed, but his stomach panged like something needed to be released. "You're like me, but not like me, yes?" Aoi whispered into Furuichi's ear.
"Erm, I guess you can say that. I'm not fully human anymore if that's what you mean…"
"No, no," Aoi batted her hand, "like this."
Furuichi blushed when Aoi took one of his hands to cup her breasts. "Yes," Furuichi took his hand back and tried to ignore the warmth, "sort of like that too."
Aoi giggled, "I help. Warm water. Tea best."
Furuichi stared at Aoi before dissolving into the first bout of laughter in a long time. "You are something else. I think we have some tea bags in one of the backpacks."
