NB: This chapter has been edited (particularly the last half) per my conversation with Flower of the Flame (who is awesomeness incarnate, BTW). Flower of the Flame is *still* a better reader of this story than I deserve. Thanks!

With or without edits, this chapter remains dedicated to my anonymous "admirer" who tells me that I should "screw everyone else" and write what comes to me. Said admirer also asked for boy-on-boy action, and I'm nothing if not obliging. Thank you, thank you for your kind words. You've no idea how much I adore you.

Well folks, we've got action, but no happy ending. Yet. Sorry. You can't have it all. Do enjoy. And remember that I have a reviewer-shaped hole in my heart that you can fill. Won't you be so kind? Finally, (1) There is a perspective shift from Toshio to Seishin. A page break will indicate the shift. (2) I don't own Shiki, but I would make Seishin and Toshio kiss if I did!

Toshio remained on the hillside for another half hour. He looked up at the stars and contemplated falling asleep right there. He was exhausted after all, and his own flat was quite a long walk away. And then the fear of being hacked to pieces by a crazy axe murderer stopped all those thoughts short. Still he lingered. A beautiful day had turned into an equally gorgeous night, and since he decided that he'd be leaving for Tokyo in the morning, he took his fill of the Florentine countryside. Seishin was right; it was bloody beautiful. He shrugged. And then he smoked. Even Kuro's former exuberance had diminished as he lay on the grass watching the plumes of smoke swirl from the end of Toshio's cigarette. The doctor was furious with himself. His trip had been completely, utterly pointless. Yes, he'd seen Seishin, talked with him even, but there was a distance between them that he could not cross. He'd have to give up. Honestly, he hadn't been all that surprised. After all, Toshio would have killed him if he'd happened upon the jinrou in those final days of Sotoba. And Seishin had always been the brooding type. Toshio suspected that a great deal of angst could accrue in six years, especially when faced with the fact that your best friend would have gladly driven a stake through your heart because he'd prioritized revenge over friendship. And that would not be the greatest of my sins with regards to Seishin. I drove him away years before that. No. When he thought about it, he hadn't been surprised at all. He'd just been disappointed.

It was then that he felt a small, icy hand on his shoulder. Deep in thought, the doctor had not heard the approaching footfall (which was absurd given his recent preoccupation with axe murderers). "I was the one who sent you the book." He looked up. She was standing above him, hands on either side of his neck, fingernails slightly scraping along the line of his overlong hair. The brush of her fingers elicited an involuntary shiver. She was perfectly positioned to suck his blood, he realized. He stood no chance if she sought to finish him off, and given his earlier encounter with Seishin, he reckoned that he would not even be mourned. Murdered by a bloodthirsty little bitch. What a day. That she'd always managed to paint a patina of innocence over her devil's smile made the doctor livid. It was as if she were mocking him by holding her true nature in perfect irony with her frilly lavender dress. No doubt she found it all very entertaining.

Kuro's reaction to Sunako was markedly different from his reaction to Seishin. He pressed himself into the earth beside his master and cowered. You've been useless today, Kuro. Toshio couldn't help but to be darkly amused. What else could possibly go wrong?

"I figured that one out when he said he hadn't sent it. I'm not an idiot, you know." Sunako wrapped her small arms around his neck and allowed her lips to just touch his ear. He gasped. She was like a live wire, her lips sending a dangerous current through his body that wasn't at all sexy. If he'd been unnerved by the change in Seishin's demeanor, he was completely unhinged by Sunako. He had always been, even though he'd never met her. The Shiki had all been terrified of her, and that was enough for the doctor. He didn't need firsthand experience to know that Sunako Kirishiki was not a girl—a woman—to be trifled with. When you single-handedly rule over a horde of bloodsucking monsters, your ability to inspire fear is a given. His muscles seized up under her small body. She only laughed. It was a tinkling, metallic sound that crept through his skin. How had Seishin stood her presence all these years?

"Don't worry. I don't intend to kill you, even though I owe you a death. You would have killed me without hesitation."

"You destroyed my village. You stripped me of a home and killed my friends and family. What would you have done in my place?" He held nothing but contempt for Sunako. She was the reason his village lay in ruins. Because of her, he'd flown half-way around the world to find his friend. In his mind, Sunako was holding Seishin hostage, and the latter had developed a particularly acute case of Stockholm Syndrome. Despite the blame that lay squarely on her shoulders, Seishin seemed to adore her. After all, hadn't he left the village to be by her side? A heaviness was settling on the doctor's chest as he considered these things, and he knew that this time it would be permanent. He should not have come to Signa. He felt defeated. Seishin had chosen Sunako. Toshio realized that he'd lost before he ever boarded the plane. So he surrendered. "I'm sorry."

"No you're not."

He didn't respond immediately. She shook him then, demanding an answer to her charge. He could lose nothing by being honest, so he told her the truth. "No, I'm not. I might have been sorry if you hadn't stolen Seishin too."

"I don't think you're in a position to begrudge me anything after what you did to Chizuru."

"I never said I wasn't wrong. Only that I wasn't sorry. I'm no angel." She removed her arms and sat down beside him. From a distance they would have looked like a stargazing father and daughter. They even shared the same dark hair and eyes. Sunako arranged her dress prettily around her, smiling to herself as she did so. Even this mundane gesture seemed eerie. He looked across at her, studying her movements for the slightest tell. "And you're not sorry either." She rolled her eyes impatiently, as if Toshio had been a particularly uncomprehending subordinate. It occurred to him that she did not initiate this conversation to cast blame.

"Don't you want to know why I sent it?" Sunako's voice had a sing-song quality about it that set Toshio's teeth on edge. It was unsuitably high-pitched for the ages-old wisdom that it conveyed.

"I'm still alive, so I suspect that you don't want me dead. What do you want? To gloat? Fine. You win."

"You have no subtlety."

"Can't argue there." He pulled another cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. This little interlude of theirs had already gone on too long, but Toshio had nowhere to go. After all, he'd never turn his back on a vampire. It was just as he said; he wasn't stupid.

"He's missed you. So very much." The words slipped from her tongue with sadness etched in every syllable. He could hear her heartbreak and it further disturbed him. Toshio knew that Shiki were capable of feeling. He'd seen it when he'd betrayed Chizuru. Sunako could not be immune to sentiment. Seishin seemed to consider her a kindred spirit after all, and despite the jinrou's insensitivity to the doctor, Toshio was not wholly convinced that Seishin had turned into an emotionless bastard in the intervening years. No, if Seishin loved her, she'd have to have something worth loving. Nevertheless, her display of naked emotion now left him more confused than comforted. She'd been cast as the villain in the play unfolding in his mind, and he had no intention of seeing her in a different light.

"Really? That's strange, because he just told me to go the fuck home!" He hadn't meant to yell at her, but Toshio was very tired. He was tired of having pointless hillside conversations with repressed ex-priest-become-werewolves and creepy little girl vampires. He was tired of feeling like he'd been given a few bricks and told to build a fortress. He was tired because even though he wasn't exactly happy back in Tokyo, he was stable. Seeing Seishin had upended the life it took six years to build, and it was done in the span of a few hours. Was his life such a trifle that it could be rendered meaningless by the un-returned affections of a man he hadn't seen in six years? Apparently so. Hell, he was even tired of his traitorous dog who'd sold him out twice now.

Sunako laughed again, but she'd infused a touch of pity in her tone that made him take note. There was a faraway sadness in her dark, dark eyes and Toshio resisted the urge to take her hand. Whatever he thought of her, however much the two of them were to blame for the destruction of Sotoba, it was clear that she too cared for Seishin. It might be the only redeeming quality that either of them possessed. And he realized that's why she was here. It had nothing to do with Toshio or some deferred attempt at revenge. For Sunako, this must be about Seishin. This the two of them shared.

Sunako took Toshio's hand then. She felt brittle, like she'd break if he squeezed the tiny hand in his. He suppressed another shiver but did not recoil from her. As she slipped her hand away from his he found a small piece of paper pressed into his palm. It was covered in the same calligraphic script that addressed the package sent to his Tokyo apartment. "That won't stop a man like you, will it? At least it wouldn't stop the Dr. Ozaki I've heard so much about." She offered him a conciliatory smile. He would have found it charming if she wasn't so frightening. "How about I take your dog for a walk? I need to feed, and I could do with the company. I'll be out for a while."

"I don't think he likes you."

"He will." Sunako rose and dusted herself off in a gesture uncannily reminiscent of Seishin. She bent down and scratched Kuro behind the ears. The dog had been trembling in fear since her arrival, but at this he raised his head and licked her hand. She giggled, and for the briefest of moments, Toshio caught a glimpse of the little girl she must have been a long time ago. Sunako whistled sharply at Kuro and began walking away. He followed without hesitation, tail wagging happily in his wake. Toshio looked after the two of them with his mouth hanging open. How the hell did she...nevermind. I don't want to know.

"Don't you dare eat him!" He yelled after her in a feeble attempt at making a joke—a gesture of forgiveness or understanding that was meant as a kind of thank you for the information she gave him.

She looked over her shoulder and laughed her bell-like laugh. "I wouldn't dream of it, Dr. Ozaki."

He considered the paper, knowing what its content would reveal before he read it. It was an address, and he knew exactly where to find the villa therein described. He was so buoyed by this latest set of events that he didn't realize that she'd not explained why she brought him here. He'd regret the oversight later.

Toshio steeled himself for what he was about to do. He wasn't sure of his plan, but he was determined to give it one last go. He'd never given up on anything without a fight. He was not going to give Seishin up so easily. He took one last glance at the nighttime sky and began marching down the hill. The small villa nestled in the hills on the opposite side of the village was a long walk away, but Toshio would need the time to prepare himself. He'd seen the house once or twice before while he was out with Kuro. He should have guessed its occupant much sooner. It was exactly the sort of place that Seishin would favor: quiet, secluded, with very few windows. A solitary light was on; he could see it even from across town. It twinkled like a beacon against the grey-green hills. He smiled mischievously as the light grew closer and closer. Seishin would never see this coming. The element of surprise was well within the doctor's favor.

The knock was far too urgent for it to be Sunako's, but Seishin didn't think it through sufficiently enough to come to this conclusion. After all, Sunako had been prone to forgetting her keys lately, and so he was not surprised to hear a knock so shortly after nightfall. He smiled to himself. It never failed to amuse him that a creature over a hundred years old would be capable of something so damnably human as forgetting her keys. These glimpses of the little girl that resided within the vampire's body were what bound him to her. He was one of the few that could see her humanity so clearly, and she loved him for it. And unlike Toshio, Sunako never asked for anything in return but companionship and the occasional story - both requests which the jinrou was more than willing to indulge.

"Did you forget your keys again?" Seishin called out as he made his way to the foyer. He opened the front door and had but a few seconds to register what was happening on before he found himself being assaulted by Toshio, who'd pulled at Seishin with one hand and slammed the door shut behind him with another. How in the world did he - That thought was cut short as Seishin felt himself being pushed against the now-closed front door. The doctor's lips were on his, the taste of nicotine and salt sending his head reeling and an incandescence coursing through his limbs. Toshio pulled at Seishin's lower lip with his teeth, and although he tried to resist, the jinrou's own teeth elongated in response. Damnit. The situation had escalated beyond Seishin's control. This had always been the case with Toshio. Seishin could never deny anything he asked for, even if, and perhaps most especially when those requests pertained Seishin himself. Some things never change. One of the doctor's hands had worked its was under Seishin's sweater and was now exploring the planes of his chest with an intent that brooked no resistance. That hand had gone from his chest to his stomach, and then slipped under the waistband of his slacks. Seishin gasped. Toshio's other hand grabbed a fistful of the jinrou's hair and tugged it back gently so the doctor could have better access to his neck. The dull scrape of human teeth followed by the slip of tongue against sensitive skin made Seishin's breath catch. A low growl escaped his throat, and he was ashamed that his body had betrayed him so thoroughly in so short a span of time. Toshio was unrelenting. He pressed himself into Seishin, trapping him between the door and the doctor. Seishin found he no longer wanted to escape. A heady mix of pleasure and pain was zipping down his spine, his knees nearly buckling under the doctor's ministrations. Fuck. Toshio slid against him hotly and laughed teasingly as he took Seishin's earlobe in his teeth. "So you missed me, did you?"

The words were enough to bring the ex-priest crashing back to the ground. What am I doing? He pushed Toshio off him as roughly as his conscience would allow. He landed a few feet away in a sprawled heap of long limbs and wrinkled clothing. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"You didn't mind about twenty seconds ago." Toshio was still grinning victoriously, and Seishin found himself vacillating between wanting to wring the other man's neck and wanting to finish what they'd started right there on the floor. The thought of Sunako's expression when she found her caretaker in flagrante delicto weighed decidedly in favor of the first option. Toshio had to go. Now.

"Well, I mind now. Get out." He wrapped his hand around the doorknob and let it linger there, prepared to see the doctor out and to lock the door behind him. Honestly, will I have to sell the house now? Toshio's ability to disrupt his life had only increased with age. The jinrou felt disheveled, insecure. He knew this would be the inevitable result of allowing Toshio Ozaki back into his life. It was the reason he'd walked away on the hillside, and the reason he'd decided to leave for Japan as soon as he returned to the villa. He'd hoped to be rid of Toshio by the time he returned to Signa.

Toshio stood up gingerly and walked towards Seishin. He seemed to the jinrou to be appraising the situation. He held his hands up like a man caught in an ambush. No doubt the both of them had arrived at the same conclusions: Seishin wanted Toshio, and this was something the doctor could manipulate to his advantage. But Toshio was the one who'd made himself emotionally vulnerable by traveling all the way to Italy to hunt the other man down, and that evened the score somewhat. Despite Toshio's actions, Seishin was not convinced of the doctor's intentions. Toshio had always thought of him as property of sorts. They'd been friends, to be sure, but the doctor was always the leader, and the priest had always followed at a distance. It only made sense that Toshio would do whatever it takes to get back what was his. He was nothing if not persistent. But he had never understood the distinction between love and ownership. It was a distinction that Seishin knew too well. The man in front of him now, however, seemed so different from the man of long ago. This Toshio was world-weary and broken, and perhaps more sensitive and introspective. After all, he'd respected Seishin's wishes and remained behind on the hillside a few hours ago. Granted, he'd then tracked him down and showed up at his door unannounced, but at least the initial concern for what Seishin wanted was there, if even momentarily. Toshio closed the distance between the two of them while the jinrou was lost in thought. He came within arm's length of the door. Seishin opened it, allowing a breeze to blow between them, but Toshio only wrapped his hand around the wrist that held the doorknob and pushed the door closed again.

He lifted Seishin's wrist, the one the jinrou slashed open all those years ago, the one that the doctor had mended but that had not quite healed in sixteen years. Toshio turned it palm up and ran his fingers across the thin raised scar that cut across otherwise unmarred porcelain skin. Seishin bristled at the contact. It was so different from before, so gentle and sweet, and so unlike the Toshio he'd known. The old Toshio would have continued with his sexual advances as urgently as before. The old Toshio would not have stopped. The old Toshio had not stopped.

"Don't. I'll leave in the morning. But not tonight. I've come so far to find you." He kissed the priest's wrist where his fingers had lately traced their path and laced their fingers together. Toshio's hand was warm and comforting, and Seishin felt himself slip into complacency like he'd been placed under a spell. He shook his head to clear his mind. He's lied before. He doesn't love you. He just hates to lose, and he'll use any means to win.

"Why?" Seishin closed his eyes, trying to resist, knowing that looking at the other man now would shred whatever defenses he'd erected in the last several minutes.

"That should be obvious."

"Toshio, this is not the first time you've come barging through my door with your hormones in large control of your intellect."

"No. It's not. I know." Toshio moved even closer, keeping their fingers interlaced. He smelled of cigarette smoke and cologne and Seishin wanted nothing more than to bury himself in that smell. Toshio placed his free hand to Seishin's cheek and rested his forehead against his shoulder, but Seishin's eyes remained averted. "I'm sorry. I hurt you very deeply." He slid his lips up along the werewolf's neck and face and kissed his closed eyes one at a time, the jinrou's long lashes tickling his lips.

"You ran." Seishin's voice had become hard-edged as if in resistance to the doctor's tenderness. He was determined to fight, not only the romantic overtures of the other man, but also the memories he'd conjured. Toshio's lips brushed against his without warning. The jinrou's breath hitched in his throat, and he held it there, lest he give himself up too readily.

"I know." Each syllable caused their lips to just touch. Seishin turned away. He'd not be won over so easily.

"You slept with me, and before I could even process what happened, before I could even speak, you put your clothes back on and..."

"I was wrong." Toshio looked down in shame even though the other man couldn't see.

"About what?" Seishin spat the words. There was a venomous growl in his throat that betrayed the maelstrom of emotions stirring within. Toshio blanched, but he did not let go of the jinrou's hand and he did not shrink back. He only sqeezed Seishin's hand more tightly, hoping the gesture would be interpreted as a sign of sincerity. The other man ignored this. "Were you wrong for fucking me, or were you wrong for what happened afterwards? You ran, Toshio! Do you have any idea what that does to a twenty year old outcast who had only one friend?"

"I'm aware…" Seishin only held up his free hand. His eyes snapped open, but they were not the forgiving eyes Toshio longed to see. They were fierce and red, and Toshio stopped talking at once. It seemed that the both of them had changed during their time apart. In some ways, their roles had been reversed. Now it was Toshio staring at Seishin's back as the latter walked away without hesitation.

"No you're not. I loved you. You must have known. I mean, I was pretty obvious. You took advantage of those feelings, you manipulated me, you slept with me, and then you walked away as if I were nothing. You made me feel like you were ashamed of me. You made me ashamed of myself!"

"Seishin…."

"I'm not finished. How do you suppose I should have felt when you married Kyouko only one week later? Did you think I could just move on because you had? Or did you think that I was in the habit of having casual sex?" Seishin barked a sarcastic laugh and pressed his free hand to his temple. Toshio was ridiculous - so utterly, unforgivably ridiculous. "You know the worst of it was that I would have been content to remain your friend. I would have been satisfied with only that, but you gave me the hope of something more only to snatch it away! Tell me Toshio, what would you have done if the only bit of light in your small, small world had been taken from you with no explanation? You've no idea how cruel you can be." Seishin was ready to rage at the doctor mercilessly, but Toshio's next words stopped him short.

"I wanted to die too." The jinrou had forced his hand. Sure, he'd thought about killing himself briefly after their night together, but not for the same reasons as Seishin and certainly not for any considerable length of time. Toshio had realized too late that he'd crossed a line with his best friend that could not be uncrossed. He'd known that Seishin loved him. He'd always known, and maybe that's why he rushed headlong into the church that night. He knew Seishin wouldn't refuse him, that Seishin would gratefully accept whatever Toshio could offer, and ultimately, that Seishin wouldn't need anything more. It was a grievous miscalculation for which he'd been atoning over the last sixteen years.

Seishin's mouth dropped open briefly, but then he closed it again. "You've manipulated me before. Why should I believe you now?"

Toshio sighed. He'd have to explain himself. "I was scared and stupid, and I'd just had sex with another man—my best friend no less. I was worried about what the village would say if they found out. I was worried about what my parents would say, and about my girlfriend too. I was ashamed, but not of you - only myself. Mostly, I felt guilty. You loved me, and I took advantage of that because I was lonely and bored, and seduced by the desire to have someone all to myself." He tucked a stray strand of hair behind the jinrou's ear. Seishin flinched. Toshio's confession was surprising to the both of them. Had Toshio ever truly understood his actions all those years ago? He was beginning to see them clearly now, nearly two decades too late. Kyouko had been around the block, so to speak, and while he'd agreed to marry her because he liked her well enough, Toshio longed to have someone who was only his. The lure of possession was a powerful aphrodisiac, and Seishin always seemed to the doctor to be a little otherworldly, a little out of reach, and at the time, wholly uncorrupted. Toshio wanted what he thought he didn't deserve. He wondered how many of his true motivations Seishin had worked out before drawing the razor across his wrist. It must have been awful to feel so ill-used. "What I did was unforgivable. Of course I wanted die, at least at first. I was entirely too much of a coward to face the repercussions of my actions. That's the difference between us, Seishin. I never had the courage to hope for anything more than the obligations foisted upon me. You did."

"And look where it got me. Hope in Sotoba is nothing more than a gilded cage."

"Maybe. But you'd have been caged bird anywhere. Even now, you're not completely free. Why not come back? What do you have to lose?"

Seishin shook his head, dislodging the hair that Toshio had just pushed behind his ear. Toshio's tragic flaw had always been his inability to think through the implications of his behavior, or to think at all really. The man simply acted. This recklessness had led Toshio to come rushing into the church that night with alcohol on his lips and desperation in his step. It had led him to organize the hunt for Shiki in Sotoba without hesitation or remorse, and now, it had led him to pursue Seishin across an ocean without once considering how a reunion would affect them both. Seishin never understood how someone could be so unaware. "Too much has transpired between us, Toshio. There are no happily ever afters. Not anymore. Maybe you felt something for me back then. I think you probably feel something for me now, although I am sure you still hate to lose. But I made a choice. I chose Sunako. And while I'm sure she's the one who sent you here, I'm equally sure she would not have done so if she knew the entirety of our history."

"It's been so long. Can't you forgive me one youthful indiscretion?" The doctor's own eyes were closed now, his forehead resting against the werewolf's chest. Seishin's free arm longed to wrap itself around Toshio. He felt his anger abate. He'd never been able to stay upset with Toshio for very long, and therein lay the danger of their relationship.

"I forgave you long ago. But forgiving you does not mean that I'm willing to allow you back into my life." A sigh, and then he lifted the doctor's chin with his free hand. He lowered his voice to a whisper and smiled gently. "And by my count, this is the second such indiscretion."

"Then at least give me tonight." Toshio leaned in and kissed Seishin slowly, trying to imbue his kiss with all the things that he'd left unsaid. He knew if he could have tonight, he would be able to win him over. Seishin had never denied him before. He would not deny him now. And then, there would be happily ever afters once again. It was simple. All Toshio needed was a little time. "Please Seishin."

Seishin returned the kiss, knowing he'd regret his decision in the morning, but acquiescing anyway because he'd known from the minute Toshio had come crashing through his front door that he'd yield. Some things remain unchanged, after all. "Yes. You can have tonight."