Tryst
Part Three: Narumi

The cold of the metal railings that supported the staircases burned Narumi's blood-soaked hand. Cold cannot burn. That was the truth. But he felt it burn against the raw wound. The blood dripped on the metal floor and it stained his clothes. It was his blood. Crimson and it shone against the dim lights around them. He was beaten and battered and bloody…

What a sight he must be….

Is this what a man gone a-wooing should look like? He thought, amused.

He already knew the answer to that question. He thought it was a little strange to think of laughing at himself at such a time and in such a state. He was relieved to see him. But this was neither the time nor place to meet. He was happy to see the young man; to actually see him standing there, alive and well. But this was a place of death. His place and of his old life's place of death.

Even if the fox has seen a thousand years and lived a thousand lives, it did not mean that he had no right to worry about his fox's well being.

Even if he were only mortal.

"Raidou…" He called.

The Devil Summoner did not speak. Instead, he slowly walked toward the bleeding man. The sound of his steps echoed about them. The sound should've alerted the demons.

Yet no demons came.

Narumi sighed and placed a hand—his bleeding hand—to his forehead. It stung but he didn't care. He didn't even care for the blood that had started to flow from the wound onto his face.

He didn't care he was bleeding.

All he knew was that the building was burning, brightly and without care for whomever stood in its way. It ate up the things in the rooms. It ate up the people.

Screams of agony and pain filled his ears as people burned and died in the heart of the fire. Thick, black smoke fogged his vision and took what little air was left with it. And the sickening scent of burning flesh and hair hung in the air, gripping him in their grasp.

He was going to suffocate if he didn't get out soon. But he was frozen in his spot as he looked at a man standing with his back to him.

"Who are you?!" He demanded. "What have you done?!"

The man slowly turned, twitching as if in great pain. His eyes went wide in shock when he realized who it was.

"Na-Nakai-kun…" The man called.

"Major general!!" He ran toward the Major General and—

—Caught himself before he fell forward and truly disgraced himself. Narumi didn't want to show how much in pain he was. Not to this boy. He didn't want him to worry anymore than he already has. He didn't want to see him bleeding for everyone's sake.

He can bleed for him too, can he not?

"What are you doing here, Raidou? Hadn't I told you to wait back at the agency?!"

Raidou looked at him evenly, his face, a mask of calm but there were strong emotions dancing in those gray eyes. It lit a bright fire in them. And Narumi could not bring himself to look away.

"You're not planning on returning." Raidou said, simply.

It was a simple statement but why did it hurt him so?

Narumi closed his eyes, vision blurred red from the blood on his face. His heart pounding on his chest. Can't he see what he's trying to do?

Narumi sighed. "Raidou, I can't have you get involved in this…." He began. "I can't—!"

"—let them… get you…! Nakai-kun…!"

The fire that surrounded them, blazed and the heat stung his skin. Yet he did not feel it. He felt nothing except the Major General's grip on his shoulders which was more painful than the heat and touch of the flames.

His world was crumbling.

"You must… run away. Change your name… everything! They must not find you!"

"I'm not afraid to die!"

"N-Nakai… The boy was… right…" The Major General muttered. "I… shouldn't have…. I thought it would… help…! You must run! Everything's been arranged! You must go! They must not… find you!"

He was about to say something to stop the Major General from doing himself more harm but then a shadow loomed above them. A shadow that was not human. The Major General saw and gritted his teeth.

"Nakai-kun, you… must go!"

Despite the injuries, the older man stood up and with a strength that surprised him, the Major General pushed him, almost throwing him against the wall out the room. He looked up to where the Major General was and saw the pained smile on his lips.

He knew that look. He'd seen so many others with same smile before. And he didn't like that smile one bit.

Before he could recover, he saw the figure in the fire, a demon that reached out and took the Major General back into the flames.

Death filled his ears and his senses as he saw the shadows against the smoke and flames. The shadows danced, twisting and turning into something else not human. Something else…

His angry scream echoed across the—

—walls. Narumi sighed, tiredly as he leaned against it. The wall was cold even through the thick of his clothes. It was not like the fires of hell that he had been through once.

He'd died once before after all.

"Understand, Raidou…" He said. "It's an adult's job to finish this, you young ones are supposed to worry about what comes after…"

"You're not planning on returning." Raidou said once again.

Narumi sighed once again. The demons have not come yet despite his voice being loud and the sounds that echoed and bounced about the earthen walls of the facility. The hum of the machines continued and smoke and steam rose up and up…

There was an end to it. The ceiling was up there after all. There was no place to go.

"Are you going to make me wait again…?"

The words were whispered so softly he would've missed it. The Devil Summoner's words stung more, hurt more than the wounds in his body and the scars in his soul. He knew he waited but the fox's wait was much longer than his.

For the fox was not quite mortal. He does not live and age and die as he would. He was only human after all.

"You cannot stop it." Narumi said, simply.

Raidou did not answer.

"I will die one day."

It was a simple truth.

"I've tasted death before." He said. "Dying a second time wouldn't be so bad…"

"Are you in such a hurry to die?"

The voice was cold and sad and lonely.

"No." He replied. "But if it would keep you safe than I would gladly go."

Raidou scoffed. "I am not fragile."

Narumi grinned. "I never said you were." He said.

"I cannot allow you to march to your death."

Narumi smiled as he closed his eyes, hearing the unspoken words from the sound of the summoner's voice. Riddles that spoke more riddles with profound answers. Words that would not be uttered. Not in a place like this. This was not the place to meet.

It was not the place to say the things that are hidden in those words. Words that he'd longed to say.

"I will not die little fox…" Narumi said, smiling.

A small frown. The most one can get out of the fox.

Not whilst you live.

Those words almost escaped his lips. Almost. But they did not. Narumi thought that those words were better spoken some other time, some other day, some other place. Somewhere that isn't here. Somewhere—

—safe. But is there a safe place for him? The corridors burned as he staggered away, aware that something was chasing after him. Something that was not human. The smoke made his eyes water as it thickened, surrounding him.

"Come out, boy…" A familiar voice spoke.

He continued to stagger through the flames. It hurt just to breathe. But he can't give out now. He needed to get out.

"I know you're out there…"

Before he could take another step and a hand grasped his shoulder. The hands were cold like Death.

The heat of the flames did not reach him as the cold of death gripped him with the hard steel that struck him from behind. He saw the blood, his blood, as it dripped from the blade through his chest.

You will kill my Darling….

The boy had said so. His beloved fox boy said so. It would come to pass and it finally has. And he is dying and falling and dying into the cold embrace.

Oh, how he wished to sleep but he remembered the lonely face of the fox he left behind so many nights before and regretted not being able to see him again.

I will kill you.

It was a simple statement. A simple prophesy. And it too will come to pass one day. But he found himself wishing, as he fell into his death, that his fox boy didn't dirty his white hands with the blood of sinners. They were all sinners, each and every one of them for drabbling with magic and summons and the re-animating of the dead. They were all sinners.

And so was he.

Strange that he did not fear death. He was not afraid of it as he had said. He sighed heavily as he fell to the floor. He—

—Regretted being powerless against it all. Narumi wanted, at least, to spare his dear one from being stained by the blood of sinners.

For Kuzu no Ha was divine.

Narumi watched the summoner close his eyes and take a deep breath and let it out. He smiled at him but winced when the summoner reached out and touched the bleeding gash on his chest. The hands were warm as fox fire and soft.

"You're wounded…" It was not a question.

Narumi gave him a small, pained smile. The only one he could manage and reached up to—

—touch the apparition before him. He smiled a little as much as his current conditions would allow. Around him the flames still blazed but unlike then, he was alone. His killer had left. He didn't know how he knew, he just did.

He knew he had died and that what he was seeing was something his mind may have conjured up to comfort him in his last moments. They used to say that one's life flashes before their eyes before one dies. The fox was his whole life since that fateful evening by the woods of Shinoda.

"Darling…"

He coughed out blood as a small pair of white feet walked up closer to him and a small pair of white hands touched his bleeding, body. His dying self felt the heat in those small, pale hands as if those hands were enough to revive him. Breathe life into him.

"Darling..." The voice sad and longing, almost begging. Why did his fox sound so sad?

"Good evening, little fox…" He greeted, smiling painfully. "I was just… thinking that I… wanted to see… you…"

This was not at all real. His mind supplied. But he didn't mind. He just wanted, even if it were just a figment of his imagination, to see his fox boy before he died. He wanted to—

—hold his hand. The touch made the summoner look up at his face. Raidou did not withdraw his hand nor did he grasp it back. Narumi continued to smile as the blood flowed, dripping onto his shoes and smearing onto the summoner's pale hand.

The crimson is beautiful against the summoner's white skin but he did not want this sort of thing to stain the white of a fox.

It was not right for him to bleed.

"It's alright." Narumi said, gently. "I'll live."

He slowly released the warm, comforting hand from his gentle hold. He had never held the summoner's hand before. Mainly because he was afraid that if he touched him, he would suddenly shatter into pieces and disappear from his sight.

Kuzu no Ha Raidou was not made of cold crystal or marble but, he could not help thinking he was made of a dream.

Narumi straightened up the best he can. He would not be able to dissuade the summoner from the task at hand. A task that should've been his. After all, this was his unfinished business. But if what had been said was true then it would be Raidou who would kill the Major General.

Not him.

Narumi turned away from the young summoner to keep his face from view. He knew the fox would not need any protection from a mortal man like him but that didn't mean he would not give it. He would pay anything—his limbs, his heart, his very soul if need be—just to keep his fox safe.

"I guess your lineage makes this your problem too."

Raidou merely gave him a nod. Narumi reached into his jacket and took out his gun, a luger pistol that he had since he lost his old gun to the flames of that long ago night he first died. It was still loaded. He may not be able to fight as well as the summoner but he can hold his own.

He'd done that before. He remembered it. And words of comfort whispered in his ear that brought him back from the land of the dead.

I will wait for you… In Shinoda…

He would hold his own. Just so he could return. Just so…

"Narumi-san."

He stopped when he was called and turned to the summoner. Raidou didn't speak and his face was a mask of calm but a storm raged within those gray eyes. Emotions that danced like fox fire, far more alluring than the flames cast of magic and fire made by human hands.

"I will not die little fox." He said.

It may not be the time to say such things but Narumi opened his mouth and said it to calm the raging flames of fox fire he so adored. It would not hurt to say it. And he had longed to say them. If his body crumbled to ashes tonight, at least he had said one thing to his fox.

"I will not die…" He said once again.

Gray eyes went wide in surprise. The raging fox fire frozen for an instant.

"Not whilst you live."

Tryst
Part Three End