(Warning: Mature content in this chapter, yes of that kind. Meaning adult situations between two men. If you don't approve, you do not have to read it. Thank you.)

Undertone: Part Two

Kei toweled his hair, changing his clothes and throwing the wet shirt and pants into a laundry hamper as he slid into a dry pair of jeans. Sho wasn't there. He and Son had gone to take care of Toshi's body, and without doubt Son would have some questions to ask.

He hadn't wanted them to see him like that. He could have kept it secret forever. At times it was too much having Sho know about him. At times he wished he could hide what he was to himself and be alone with it. He couldn't go through the rejection. He'd seen the way the others had looked at him when he'd finished drinking. They looked at him with accusation as if it had somehow been his fault that Toshi was dead.

He did not want to face them again after that. He'd fled from all of them, unable to take it, not wanting the questions that were sure to come. He did not want to endure whatever Sho would come to him with... It wasn't the first time he had let his control slip away.

He caused the boy so much pain, mental, physical and emotional. Sho spent all his energy putting up with it; making sure Kei ate and was healthy, making sure he had proper rest, neglecting his own needs along the way. Occasionally Sho would become so concerned for Kei, whatever the reason, that he'd become ill. He would forget to eat, forget to sleep, depriving himself of the many things that he needed. And it would all keep repeating, because Kei knew he wasn't going to change who he was and neither would Sho... But he didn't want to hurt Sho anymore. The boy needed to go on by himself. He had his own life to live and it did not involve Kei.

The man glanced around the room he was in, taking in all the fine detail. The light furniture arranged neatly, the hand-woven rug, the creamy walls, the lamps and the dark curtains...

He remembered vividly how he and Sho got the house a little over a year ago. The boy had been so excited about it. Before it, they'd moved constantly from cheap hotel to cheap hotel, rundown apartment to rundown apartment. They were always taking a portion of their earnings and saving up little by little.

Then a day slightly over fourteen months ago Sho'd come to Kei, a secretive grin on his face and a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Guess what?" He'd asked playfully. "I found the perfect thing that you could get me as an early birthday present. It'd be for both of us, actually..." They bought the house a week later. It wasn't huge or fancy but it was home. Yet sooner or later everyone has leave home.

Kei grabbed his jacket and slid his arms into the sleeves of it. He strode swiftly through the house to the front door, pausing when he saw his gun on a tabletop in the living room. Walking to it, he curled his fingers around the handle, lifting it to trace to trigger and barrel. It had been lots of fun. "But it won't last forever," he murmured to himself quietly then carelessly tossed the weapon back onto the tabletop. It rebounded off the surface with a loud sound then skidded, stopping an inch from the opposite edge.

The vampire turned away then started in surprise. Sho was standing in the doorway to the room, leaning against the frame, arms crossed over his chest, clothes and hair still damp from the earlier rain. The look he held was piercing. "Going somewhere?" he questioned.

"I'm leaving," the older man replied, not meeting Sho's eyes as he strode past him but Sho stopped him, grabbing Kei's left shoulder determinedly.

"And going where?"

The same exact question had run through Kei's mind several times. "Anywhere." It was not as if he had never been on the streets by himself before. He'd handled it and he could do it just as well this time. "Out of here." He couldn't bear to stay any longer.

"Then you should have gone while I wasn't here. I'm not going to let you walk out away. One mistake and you're running away?"

"I'm not running away!" Kei's voice rose. "I just..." He searched his mind for a reason, any reason. "I can't take it anymore, this cramped lifestyle. It's making me sick, everything," he lied. "And you're a damn bother."

A flicker of internal pain went through Sho's eyes and Kei knew it had been the wrong thing to say. He hadn't meant it. If he could push Sho away it would make leaving easier, wouldn't it? He hadn't expected the boy to return. He had planned to just get out without anything preventing him. So now, this was a problem. "Sho I didn't m-" Sho cut off his words.

"Do you think that's going to help? If you want to insult me, go ahead," answered Sho. "Tell me every little thing about me that bothers you. I can take it. I'm not going to break."

"Sho I-"

"No, please Kei. Tell me all about my faults!"

"Sho..."

"Tell me!"

"You're so stubborn!" Kei snapped without the full intention, it just blended in with the moment. Yet, it was true. Sho was stubborn, this being proof if anything. "You never know when to quit."

"That's right, keep going," Sho urged.

There was no way to get out of it now, so he continued. "You smoke too much."

"I wonder who I picked that habit up from," Sho countered.

"You're too loud and rambunctious," Kei listed.

"You were the one that raised me."

"You're always getting hurt or wounded."

"That's easy for you to say, being immortal." They snapped back and forth. Kei provided a wrong and Sho found a way to correct it, a way to defend himself.

"You're flirtatious with any decent-looking woman that you lay your eyes on," Kei muttered in disapproval. It had always been something that bothered to the core.

"Can you blame me for living a little?" Sho questioned.

"You think that you know everything!"

"Oh, we both know that's bullshit."

"You're reckless, annoying, childish and careless. You never listen and never do as you are told. You're always getting in the way. You think that you can get away with anything but you can't!" Kei said. "You're such a fool. You cause trouble and get caught, then everyone else has to get involved in order to save your ass. And you can never seem to do anything right."

"Come on, there's got to be more!" Sho yelled back, but by the tremors shaking through his body Kei could tell he'd taken it too far. "Say how much you hate me!"

"I wish I did, Sho. I wish that right now I could hate you!"

"Then why can't you?" The younger of the two demanded, taking a step forward to grab Kei's shoulders, gazing down hard into the vampire's eyes. "Why don't you hate me?! I don't think it would be too difficult for you!"

"Because I love you!" He broke, meeting his gaze firmly. It wasn't an accident. Those words hadn't slipped out on their own. He had meant to say it. The air of argument around them faded in that instant. He lifted his hands to push Sho's off his shoulders but the other man resisted, not letting his grip slip.

For the second time in the day, tears began glistened in Sho's eyes as he hung his head. The transition of emotions was so swift, yet almost unnoticeable. "Please Kei... I need you. I can't do everything on my own. You said it yourself; I can't do anything on my own!" Kei was always there to save him, to laugh with him, to scold him, and to care for him.

"I can't always be there for you," the older man replied and Sho looked up.

"That's not what I'm asking! I'm asking for you to be there some of the time!" he said firmly. "I won't know what to do without you... Please..." he said quietly, his tone now soft. "Just stay."

Kei dropped his gaze, feeling Sho's hands tightened ever so slightly on his shoulders. How could he stay? "Sho... What if I'd waited?" he murmured the question. "What if I'd waited and then bit Yi-Che or Son or... or you? What if I was too weak and been able to get there in time? I was already too late for Toshi! Just a little while longer... and all of you..." He could have saved Toshi. If he had been in his regular condition he could have so easily taken out both of the gang bangers before they could have let a single bullet fire. Self-pity cost him the life of a friend, and now guilt layered on. "You could have all been..." He could not bring himself to say the word, avoiding it. "... All because of me."

"Kei, look at me." It was Sho's turn to say the phrase. "It's not your fault. None of us could have done anything about it. We messed up. We got ourselves into trouble and it came back at us. If you leave, it would be as if... as if you hadn't been there today. We all needed you."

Kei shook his head in response. "You... I can't. I let myself get away. I lost it. All I could think about was to kill him. I just wanted to cause him pain. I just wanted him to hurt and suffer." He gazed up. "I saw the way they looked at me when they saw and the way you looked at me.But I couldn't stop. I had to keep going. I had to drink every last drop!" He bit his lower lip, chewing at the skin. "I heard you, but I didn't want to stop. I say that it's horrible, what I do, taking the life of others... I say that and I know it... but I like it. I like the taste and the feeling of it. I want it... I want blood," he whispered then glanced to meet Sho's eyes. He had expected that same expression of disappointment, the same blank stare he'd seen earlier but instead he saw only sorrow, the tears barely clinging to the lashes. "Sho, I..." he paused and lifted his hands to place them on the sides of Sho's face, leaning up to kiss the corner of an eye, the salt of the tears moist on his lips.

He felt Sho relax, all his muscles slacken and loosen. "You're still just a kid," Kei said. "One day you're going to have to learn to grow up. You're going to be left on your own a lot, start learning now. It's not like it's something new," he continued then let go, but Sho caught his wrists, holding them gently.

"Don't..." he mumbled. "Stay... tonight." Unsure of what to say he stumbled with the words, not knowing if he should offer an explanation or keep silent.

"What are you trying to accomplish?" Kei questioned. "If you think you can convince me-"

"Please Kei!" The tone of his voice sharpened, and the grip he had on Kei's wrists tightened. "I-... I want you here. I need you with me."

Smiling sadly, Kei took his hands from Sho's hold and slid them over to lace their fingers. Without a pause, hesitation or thought he leaned up and caught Sho's lips with his own, hearing the quiet gasp of response. Kei had no doubt about his forward action. He was able to read Sho like a book after their years of being together, able to detect any lies, grief, happiness, secrets or desires in the boy.

The kiss was slow, soft, undemanding. It was the simple gesture of infatuation that a kiss was originally intended to be. Although his affection surpassed of a close friend or a brotherly love Kei had never lusted after Sho. He would admit the romantic attraction, but he had never taken it as far as need for he knew it would be scaling too high. So he kept it subtle, all actions, thoughts and emotions under control.

And now, for a moment, he could let it come out. When he broke away his eyes met Sho's again, and wordlessly, they formed an agreement, joining for another kiss. They exhaled sweet warm breaths between each oral caress, and Sho slid a hand up a hand from Kei's left shoulder up along the back of his neck to weave his fingers with the blonde's hair. They'd always understood each other.

Again, there were no words spoken when the two separated. Sho's expression took hold of a firm determination and Kei knew what he wanted. Sho never really hid his emotions. At the times that he tried he did it well. He would mask himself so that what he showed could contrast as the exact opposite of what he sincerely felt and no one would know the difference.

Now, there were only the basic needs and desires a person had. No questions asked. If Sho wanted him to stay that night Kei would stay that night. With hands together and fingers entwined they made their way to the master bedroom.

There was no clear dominance in either of them, no clear submissiveness. As with everything they did together, they were equal partners. What one earned, the other received. What one lost, the other surrendered. All exchanges were fair, calculated. Neither ever raised a complaint. And if one wanted main control, he could take it. Kei did.

Sho lay down on the bed, beckoning his companion onto him. Kei's fingers worked at the buttons of Sho's shirt, his concentration fixated there until the last one released from the cloth, and he pushed the fabric off the younger man's shoulders, sliding it from his arms. Neatly folding the material, he set it carefully aside instead of tossing it carelessly.

Sho took the hem of the other's top and drew it over his head, imitating what Kei had done with his own before he dropped his hands to unbuckle Kei's belt and unzip his jeans.

Lowering himself down, Kei set his lips against Sho's neck, tasting the golden skin. His mouth went across the extent then onto his throat. He felt Sho stiffen when he parted his lips to scrap the sharp fangs below his Adam's apple. Being so close to the all-too-vulnerable flesh made him able to feel Sho's blood flowing through its veins, able to hear the quickened pulses of his heart. If he bit Sho, the boy would not resist him. Rather, he would allow him to drink for he trusted his life to Kei.

Yet, the vampire drew back, kissing the dip in Sho's collarbone as he tugged the older man's pants down and stripped him of the under-layer, having done the same to himself. For a moment they lay flush against each other, basking in the light warmth their naked bodies radiated.

Kei let his eyes burn along the other's solid form. Sho was beautiful, no other word for it. His brunette hair splayed over the pillows, braids twisted with a few lying loosely across the broad shoulders. In turn, the boy's own brown eyes were studying Kei, whose knees rested at each of his hips.

With the smallest of smirks, Kei arched his back, causing his hips to dig into the one beneath him, creating a heated fiction with their bare skin. A mix of a gasp and moan rumbled from the back of Sho's throat as he ground back up against the other. His palms glided upward, starting at Kei's flat stomach to inch to the ribcage, fingers tracing the pectorals of his chest, then further to the curved shoulder. Sho pushed himself up and twisted his torso to lean over and kiss the tattooed ink peeking from Kei's shoulder blades.

As the boy lay back once more, his legs wound around Kei's waist, arms locked around his neck with fingertips brushing the lines of the angel wings. One of Kei's hands slid low between their bodies so he could slowly guide himself into joining with Sho. Sho's eyes clenched shut and his nails buried in Kei's flesh at the sear of the intrusion. Millimeter by millimeter he slid inside, his arms snaked about his partner's long slender form to keep them close in comfort. Sho's buried his face in the crook of Kei's neck, his breath hitching while Kei's fingertips soothed random patterns in the small of his back.

They both stayed still, neither paying attention to how long it was for. They were involved in another task: the intimacy of how close they were. They breathed together, enveloped in each other's company for they were, at that moment, one. They were connected, joined, linked to one another.

When Sho's parted lips pressed the gentlest of butterfly kisses to Kei's skin, the vampire began to move. It was slow, an inching of growing further apart then closer together. Sho's flesh gleamed in the dim lighting, the beginnings of sweat droplets forming on his abdominals. Kei could smell the younger boy's blood, the overpoweringly sweet aroma flooding and consuming him just like the hot, tight heat.

They shifted together, both seeking to bring pleasure, not for himself, but for the other. Again and then Sho would emit a strangled groan as Kei struck the specific nerves inside of him, or a heavenly ripple would shudder through Kei's spine. It stayed slow, like their kissing, like their tongues that met to waltz between their mouths.

Sho let a hushed murmur reach his lover's ears and Kei leaned forward to adjust their angle, sinking deeper, firmer into the other, receiving a moan of approval. As it reaching it had been, their climax was slow. Sho arched his back first, whispering Kei's name while white ribbons decorated their stomachs. A light smile settled a place on Kei's lips as he sought a final kiss, a last sensual thrust being all that he needed to give Sho his fulfillment.

A sigh of content left him as Kei set a hand on the side of Sho's face, pecking his left cheek as he withdrew and rose from the bed, returning momentarily with a warm, damp hand towel to wash them, the fabric taking red hue when Kei ran it gently over Sho's thighs. After cleaning the boy he turned it over and folded it, repeating the actions to himself. He left then once more to rinse the cloth in cold water in the bathroom, placing it away before he strode back into the bedroom where Sho was waiting for him under drawn blankets.

Kei slid under them to the comfort of the other's presence and Sho pressed close to the vampire. Arms bound tight around his nude warmth, his head laid on a curved shoulder, braids splayed over the pillows and older man's chest. "Kei..." he called sleepily.

"Nani?"

"You'll stay?" Sho begged, his vibrant eyes closed, his lean body relaxed, lips parted as he breathed slowly through them.

Kei didn't answer but turned his head and gently pressed his lips to the side of Sho's face. Sho was still just a child, no matter how much He'd grown up. Still a child clinging to contact and comfort, but the child was quickly aging, maturing. The child had fallen in love and he was separating him from that. Kei knew Yi-Che had a crush on him, but he also knew she was equally fond of Sho. And while he harbored no romantic feelings for her that child, that precious child did. He loved Sho in all ways possible and respected Yi-Che at the highest level. They were good for each other.

Sho's breathing evened and the grip he had on Kei loosened. The vampire looked at his sleeping companion, admiring the handsomely rugged features that were so soft-set in his rest. Scars stood out pale on Sho's arms and chest, memories of unsuccessful jobs. They were such a natural part that Kei had never noticed them before. They fitted Sho, somehow, fitted in so well with his body.

And suddenly that child wasn't a child anymore. Sho was a man, one with a life before him, a long and healthy one. He was no longer dependant on anyone other than himself. Sho had grown up a long time ago. Kei had been the one unable to let go.

Slowly and carefully, Kei slid out of Sho's limp embrace and from the bed. Off the nightstand he took his clothes, sliding into his pants and tugging on his shirt. Sho couldn't keep living Kei's life.

Glancing back at the one in the bed, unmoved, his golden body half-covered by the sheets, Sho never appeared more adult to Kei. Without stopping a moment to lean over to press a kiss to Sho's flushed cheek, without taking a few seconds to quietly whisper unheard love words into his ear, without tucking the blankets in around the sleeping man, Kei left. Unaware that he was facing nine years of broken solitude, unaware that the next time he saw Sho would be behind prison separations, he paused at the bedroom door only to snatch a half-empty pack of cigarettes from the drawer top.

(A third part is in consideration upon request of other readers. If you would like a continuation please speak up and address this opinion, and it will be taken into process. Arigato.

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