Dedication: This fanfic is dedicated to the wonderful Kelly-san (Kyo-kun) for her equally wonderful Yami no Matsuei fics. Thank you for all the hard work you have put in to what you write, and I will always be waiting on the edge of my seat for the next chapter

You wake up with a sudden jolt, eyes wide and body ridged, before you are able to remember where you are and that the body sleeping peacefully next to you is not your enemy's.

You sit up in the bed, covers sliding down your slim body and the arm of your partner tightening slightly around your waist. You raise a hand to your forehead and rub it for a moment, blinking out the last bits of sleep from your eyes. You look down at the other man lying beside you, dark brown hair in a disarray and amethyst eyes shut, an innocent and peaceful look on his face. You smile at the sight in spite of yourself, before abruptly recalling the dream that woke you up.

You lift up that arm and slide out from underneath it and the covers, placing your feet on the ground softly and standing up. You look back to make sure he didn't wake up, and are relieved to find he hasn't. You slip on your shoes and then a coat over the pants and shirt you wore to bed before opening the door to the small house that the two of you share up in Meifu and stepping out in to the chill night air.

It is, of course, spring still, since it is never anything but in Meifu, the land of the dead. The seasons never change; the leaves and flowers never die. Maybe that is supposed to symbolize something, but right now it isn't important to you. You have too much on your mind already.

There is no one else out this late at night. You look up at the moon above, not even realizing that you were worried it would be red until after you had looked. It's a clear white though, a full moon on this night, and you feel relieved. You think that, after having that dream, if it even appeared the slightest tinge of red that you would scream. But it's not and you don't; just stand there with your arms wrapped around your frail body and your head tilted up to look at the large orb in the sky.

You can fly now; it is one of the powers granted to all shinigami. But you think that even if you were to fly and fly, you would never reach that moon. You don't know why you think that, it's just a feeling, and it annoys you. Thinking weird things like that is Tsuzuki's job, the man back inside in that bed you just left. You are one for logic.

You roll up the long sleeves of the coat and shirt you are wearing and look at your arm. It still appears strange to you, that after all this time, it would suddenly be unmarked by the curse that was your death. You can finally live (though, it's not really living, since you are actually dead) without that shame covering your body. No matter what the older man said, you always thought that the sight of the marks repulsed Tsuzuki, as they did you. They brought forth too many unpleasant memories for the both of you.

But even with those marks gone at long last, that man is still hurting you. He is finally dead but he is still there, lurking in the shadows. He must be rotting in hell by now, you know, after all of the things he did with his life, all of the things he did to other people's lives.

You know all this, and yet, he is still there. When you go out on a mission, you still catch yourself wondering for even a brief second if he is behind it, before you remember. There will be no more missions caused by that insane and evil man. No more missions where the sole purpose of the crime was to hurt your partner, to hurt Tsuzuki. And you are beyond glad that it is so. Though you would never tell the man that, of course. But, even though you are the empath out of the two of you, you still feel certain he knows how much you worry and care for him.

You have managed to get a hold on your empathy by now. You can construct strong shields that will keep out the wandering emotions of random people and you only wish that you had learned and mastered this technique sooner. Like, before you died, preferably. Maybe then you could have fit in with your family and be accepted. But it is of course too late for those kinds of thoughts by now.

Back to gazing up at the moon and with those same shields unconsciously up and so lost in your thoughts, you don't notice the taller man come up behind you until the arms surround you. You jump and your body gets ready to attack for a moment before you realize it is Tsuzuki, your lover. You lean back against him to look up in to those large intensely purple eyes and say, "Did I wake you?"

"No," comes the answer, accompanied with a smile. "I don't sleep as well when you're not there, 'Soka-chan." He pauses for a moment before asking, "What are you doing out here? You'll get sick."

You snort in laughter at that, "Isn't it ironic that even though we're dead, we can still catch something like the common cold?" You look away from his face and back up to the moon, both of you silent. He follows your gaze and looks up at it as well.

"That same dream again?" Tsuzuki suddenly asks, breaking the silence. You aren't startled though, you were expecting the question all along.

You nod in agreement. Pulling out of your lover's arms and turning to face him from a few feet away, you hold out a hand in front of you and look down at it. "Muraki is gone now, I know that. But he's still here, inside of me, and I can't escape from him. Can a God of Death be haunted?" you ask, not really expecting an answer.

But you get one all the same. You hear his footsteps crunch on the ground as he steps closer to you again. You look up in to those eyes once more, though this time they are filled with concern and an underlying sadness. The both of you have seen too many things in both your lives and afterlives, both when you were apart and together, though you prefer the times when you faced those things together.

"Yes, a God of Death can be haunted." Tsuzuki taps you lightly on the head, "In here," he taps your chest over your heart, "and in here."

He takes you in to his arms again now and you bury your head in his chest, relishing in that safe warmth. You hear him say softly, then:

"The important thing is that you don't have to face that which haunts you on your own."

-owari-

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it, reviews are greatly appreciated, whether you liked it or not (though if you didn't like something about it, please leave constructive criticism so that I can improve). Thanks for reading!