Hello, everyone! The story is back! Sorry it took me like a month and a half to update this. I had some important things to accomplish before I could focus on my stories again...such as GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE! That's right, I am now a new graduate with a double major in Education and Creative Writing! (I know, who would've guessed?) Anyway, now that I am out for the summer, I can focus on writing for pleasure once again, so expect more updates soon! It seems that everyone agrees that Tohru's pov should have a place in this story, so I will start with that in the next chapter. And thank you all for your wonderful reviews in my absence! Allow me to respond to a few of them here...

DareDevil979: I am pleased you are enjoying my story! And don't worry, I take good care of my babies! (Stories, that is.) XD

Chiisai Senpai: I'm glad you asked! For you and anyone else who is interested, the url of the amv that first interested me in watching Shiki is /watch?v=AKH1VE4CBEQ Also, here is a Natsuno/Tohru amv that I really like: /watch?v=IBOHqas4yr0 NOTE: FanFiction doesn't appear to want to let me post the complete urls, so please take note that in front of these url addresses you should type in the site address of YouTube. Or if that doesn't work, just type in 'heardyoulikeamvs2 dragula' and 'natsuno tohru last conversation' into the search box. Because technology is sometimes complicated like that. :P

Moonlit Innocence: I wrote another chapter! It's here, so there will be no need to 'bust a cap' on me. But seriously, I started laughing so hard when I read that. Best way to request an update ever! XD

Sound of Bells: I will always stay awesome! I hope you do too! :D

Now on with the story! :)

Late in the day, as the sun sank toward the horizon and darkness began to rough the edges of visibility like a charcoal drawing, Natsuno Yuuki bent low to the ground and blew steadily into the little fire he'd created. The dark-haired jinrou was sitting beside the edge of a blackened river that he'd located earlier in the day, after he had awoken from his nap and decided to go exploring. This decision had been based not so much on curiosity, but rather on an increasing awareness that he could not survive off of only water indefinitely. Natsuno had no idea what he'd expected to find in terms of food upon setting out; the forest was a mantle of ash and burned vegetation. There was nothing left to eat; no pinecones, no berries, no seeds. He supposed he could dig for roots if he had no other choice, but the fact that the fire had burned all of the above-ground greenery into unrecognizable, charred skeletons meant that he could not determine which areas might have edible roots preserved underground. Confused and frustrated, he had wandered up a series of hills, away from the cabin and opposite the direction of Sotoba, until he heard a strange gurgling sound in the distance. It did not sound like a river, and as he drew closer he realized why; the water was pitch black and choked with the torched limbs of trees, disrupting its normally brisk flow. In some places, the river did not appear to be moving at all. However, he knew that there had to be movement underneath, or else the banks would flood, and since wood floated, this meant that the water underneath the surface had to be slightly cleaner. Intrigued, Natsuno started for the gleaming black water, and then stilled in surprise as the body of a bewildered-looking fish leapt out of the murk, flopped frantically against a large tree limb, and then tumbled back into the water. Fish. Of course, they must have gotten stranded by all the debris jamming up the river during the fire…. Taking on a predatory crouch, Natsuno moved down to the edge of the water, his lightning-fast eyes flicking attentively across the surface. There were fish here, and fish were food.

As a human, Natsuno would not have known the first thing about catching a fish, especially without any sort of fishing pole or net. He had helped his mother clean and prepare store-bought fish in the kitchen, but really, he was a city boy at heart. He liked his food made to order, without any mess or hassle. However, with all of the walking and hammering he'd been doing lately, he was hungry enough to accept the hassle if it meant acquiring the only food around for countless miles. And now, unlike before, Natsuno found himself possessed of a speed and agility that proved perfect for the task at hand. He crouched beside the obsidian river, piercing the murky folds of water with his razor-eyes and waiting. The first time he successfully snatched a passing fish, he was so surprised that he let go of it immediately, tossing it behind him up the shore. He then had to chase after it as it tried to flop its way back to the water. Holding it by the tail, Natsuno stared at the grotesquely gaping mouth, the rolling eyes and thrashing body. He felt the creaking of the spine as the fish fought for its life. A strange and irrational impulse rose within him to put the fish back in the water and let it go its way….where had that come from? He didn't even like fish or think of them as pets. Perhaps it was because he somehow couldn't look at the desperately flopping body without wondering if a human being thrashed around in the same way as they were robbed of their life by an okiagari's fangs. He thought of Tohru, and-

-slammed the writhing body headfirst against the nearest rock, where it jerked once and did not thrash anymore.

After this, Natsuno rooted around in the woods to find some wood that had not been completely burned. Carrying it back to the river, he flicked the lighter he had found in one of the bedside drawers of the cabin and lit a tongue of flame inside the wooden stack. It took a while for the flame to build; while the fire progressed, Natsuno returned to the river and continued his fish massacre, this time with no hesitation. Soon he had half a dozen silver-streaming bodies lying at his feet upon the bank. Fetching a knife from within his pocket, Natsuno knelt down and slowly let his hands work with the memory of the motions his mother had showed him long ago. It was significantly messier this time because the fish weren't frozen. Several times, the jinrou sulked down to the bank to wash his hands off, although replacing the blood and grime with dirt and soot wasn't much of an improvement. It took him longer than he'd anticipated to remove the head, tail, scales, and bones. By the time he had stripped the bodies down to only the meat, the fire was roaring merrily above the bank. Natsuno was not worried about the smoke leading someone to him; his was just one of the many smoke trails climbing into the sky from still-smoldering debris. Once again, he walked into the woods and roamed until he found some long, thin sticks that felt hardy to the touch. Hauling them back, he sat cross-legged beside the fire and shaved their ends into points. With one end, he speared a slab of meat and dangled it over the fire, driving the other end down into the ground so the stick would stay upright. He repeated the procedure until all the meat was roasting, then hunched over and stared dully into the flames. Only now did he allow himself to think about what he'd been doing. He remembered the second night Tohru had come to his home as an okiagari, and he had tried to run from him after confronting him outside. He remembered asking his former friend why they couldn't all live in peace, why the okiagari couldn't simply take minimal amounts of blood from humans without killing them. He remembered how Tohru had insisted it could never work that way, growing increasingly frantic as he rationalized that killing a human for their blood was no different than killing a pig for its meat. Or a fish, Natsuno thought languidly. Did Tohru really believe that, he wondered, or had it been nothing more than a pathetic attempt to make himself feel better about what he was going to do? Of course, Natsuno knew now that killing humans had been the point all along; the Kirishikis had been trying to create a Shiki haven in Sotoba by killing off all the villagers in hopes that some would rise up and join their ranks. The newly-turned okiagari would not have been permitted to drink without killing. Even so….Natsuno scowled and drove his blade deep into the blackened earth. Even so, Tohru was wrong, whether he had meant what he said or not. Killing a human was not like killing a pig or a fish or a cow. It just wasn't. It was unacceptable.

As the sun swung low on the horizon and the fire cooked his meat, Natsuno unclipped a canteen, his latest find, from the ridge of his pants and carefully opened the lid. He had been saving this clean water, and now he carefully poured it in little streams over his meat to keep it from drying out. The meat hissed and crackled, and he knew that it was almost done. On a whim, the jinrou closed the canteen again and scooped up the scattered bones of the fish in his dirty hands. They felt alien, bending between his fingers like strange jewelry. He carried them to the water's edge and poured the bones back into the murk, watching their whiteness vanish as soon as they hit the water as though they had been eaten. He had read once in his textbook during history class that the indigenous peoples who had used to live off this land thousands of years ago had believed that returning the bones of a fish to the water meant the fish would live again, and that this ritual ought to be observed by humans as a sign of gratitude for the meal the fish provided. Natsuno didn't think he really believed in fish returning to life, but then, not so long ago he would have called the idea of a dead person returning from their grave ludicrous. The world was no longer the sensible place he had once thought it was, and in the end, he supposed, one never knew. The water vibrated for a moment as a gentle wave rolled over the top, and then all was still.

Natsuno returned to the fireside and used the last of his water to get his hands as clean as possible before beginning his long-anticipated meal. He ate quickly, noticing the sun setting and the forest darkening around him. He had nothing to season the fish with, so it tasted like fish, but he could feel the food rejuvenating his mind, making him stronger and more alert. As he moved around the fire, taking down strip after strip of meat and devouring them hungrily, he began to think ahead to the days and weeks to come. How was he going to find food in the future? And not just that, but he needed new clothes, shoes, more water, additional survival materials…. And not only for him, but- Tohru. Sighing, Natsuno gazed into the fire and thought deeply about all of this, his newly alert mind beginning to devise the vestiges of a plan.

Before long, Natsuno realized it was completely dark and he should probably head back. He didn't want to leave Tohru alone when he was awake, especially since he wasn't sure about the other's state of mind or whether he could trust him to remain by the cabin. Finishing his last bite of fish, Natsuno considered the fire for a moment before deciding to let it burn itself out. He didn't really feel like stomping down the flames with bare feet, even though the wounds would heal quickly afterward. Gathering up the canteen, the lighter, and the knife, Natsuno took one last glance toward the river, now visually indistinguishable from the wasteland around it, and began to run back the way he'd come, allowing his night vision and superior senses to guide him.

As he drew up beside the half-collapsed cabin, the jinrou's ears picked up a soft shuddering sound coming from behind the closed bedroom door. Stepping over the downed rubble of the living room wall, he listened intently as he approached the door. It seemed to be coming from the middle of the bedroom. Tentatively, he gripped the handle and quickly pushed open the door, staring sharply inside. He caught a glimpse of Tohru curled up on the floor beside his bed, head bowed and sobbing softly into his fists. Then the okiagari raised his head and red eyes widened as they latched onto Natsuno. The next thing he knew, the blonde boy had heaved himself to his feet and vanished from his place beside the bed. The startled jinrou barely had time to take another breath before he found himself tackled to the ground with wild abandon. "Natsuno!"

In the moment between drawing out his claws in instinctual defense and actually swiping at Tohru with them, Natsuno realized the okiagari was not trying to attack him. He was able to change the trajectory of his hands as the blonde boy gripped his shoulders fiercely, eyes still jeweled with tears. The jinrou stared quizzically up into them, startled by the impassioned response to his arrival. "….Yes?"

Tohru shook his head, gripping the other's shoulders tighter. "W-when I woke up, I- you were gone, and I- I thought you'd probably left and gone on without me, and I didn't know w-what to do…."

Ah. That explained it. Still lying languidly against the ground, Natsuno tried to mold his face into something resembling reassurance. "Of course not, Tohru. I said I would be here, didn't I? There's no need to get so worked up. I just went into the woods to find some food, and it took me longer than I expected to finish cooking and eating it."

The okiagari breathed deeply and nodded, leaning back and allowing Natsuno to sit upright upon the floorboards. He seemed in no hurry to move away to a proper distance, though. "Well then, I- I'm glad you had something to eat. What did you find?" He wrinkled his nose slightly. "You smell like-"

"Like fish? That would be an astute observation," Natsuno finished, frowning as he looked down at his dirty arms. "The rivers are pitch-black, but they're still flowing, although not very well."

"I was going to say you smell like smoke, but now that you mention it, there's fish too," Tohru commented softly, glancing over Natsuno as though wondering whether he was allowed to look. "Smoke and fish and- aaaaaah!"

The jinrou's senses sharpened again as Tohru let out a painful grunt and whipped away from him, turning his back and hunching his shoulders. It was too late, though- Natsuno had seen the blood-red hunger gleaming in his eyes. He knew what Tohru had smelled on him underneath the scents of fire and dirty water. He sighed, stood up, and headed for the bathroom.

Tohru's guilty expression followed him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Natsuno. I didn't mean-"

"How long has it been since you last fed?" the jinrou asked curtly. He scooped some clean water into the mixing bowl, grabbed a washcloth from underneath the sink, and picked up the bar of soap resting on the shelf.

Tohru blinked, biting his lip. "I….I don't know. It's been a while."

Natsuno grunted under his breath as he stepped outside the bedroom. Tohru followed him timidly as he squatted at the edge of the ruined living room wall, soaked the washcloth, and began to rinse the soot and murk off his arms and hands. He did not speak or acknowledge the other. When he finished, he poured the now-blackened water out onto the ground, wrung out the washcloth, and left it upon a stone to dry. He loped back into the bathroom and returned the soap to the shelf. Then he sat down on the bed he'd claimed for himself and stared out the door, into the night.

Tohru sat tentatively upon his own bed and wrapped his arms around himself. His movements were painful and pressurized, and every now and then, he shook his head sharply as though trying to dislodge something within it. Eventually he rolled over and lay down, curling himself up tightly. His red eyes peered through the darkness at the jinrou. "Natsuno….?"

"Hmmm?"

"I- I know you told me not to attack humans, and I really….I really don't want to attack anyone. I really don't. But I'm getting so thirsty and I'm not sure how much longer I can take this and stay calm, so maybe….maybe you should restrain me so I won't be able to attack you if I lose control."

Natsuno shook his head calmly. "There's no need for that."

"But I-"

"I told you that you weren't allowed to attack humans, didn't I? There aren't any humans around here for you to feed off of, anyway. But I'm not going to make impossible demands. I'm not asking you to starve. I'm just asking you not to kill." Natsuno rolled up the sleeve of his bedraggled shirt, revealing the clean white flesh underneath. "You can't kill me, Tohru. Not again."

The red eyes widened, and then sank down into a deep sadness. "Natsuno…." For a moment, the okiagari looked as though he would refuse, but he could not deny that his body desperately needed what was offered. He silently rose and edged his way over to the jinrou's bed, suddenly seeming fearful of coming too close.

Natsuno patted the bedspread. "Sit down," he ordered, and Tohru obeyed. He cast a glance over his outstretched arm. "Will it work? Will my blood still satisfy you? I'm not human anymore…."

"I think it will," Tohru murmured, closing his eyes briefly.

Natsuno looked at him calculatingly. "How do you know?"

"Because I can smell it, and I want it," the okiagari explained, a little shiver running through his body. "It's only like that with blood that can nourish me. Animal blood doesn't smell that way, for example."

"All right," Natsuno acquiesced, holding out the proffered arm. "Go ahead, then. Try not to spill any blood on the bedsheets. Or my clothes, for that matter."

Tohru only stared, looking like a child lost in the woods after dark. Natsuno pressed his arm insistently against the okiagari's chest. "Come on, Tohru. We both know you need it. Don't draw out your suffering."

Inhaling a shuddering and unnecessary breath, the blonde boy carefully gripped Natsuno's wrist in one hand and his elbow in the other. His eyes were blazing with hunger, yet he paused for a long moment before murmuring, "Give me a push on the shoulder if you want me to stop," and then letting his head descend slowly toward the upturned arm. He did not bite right away. He ran his freezing lips over the heated flesh, stopping every so often to probe the skin with his tongue. Probably looking for the largest, most swollen vein, Natsuno figured. He was glad that Tohru's face was turned down so he could not see him blushing at the sensations of this close contact, which he was not at all accustomed to. Finally, Tohru found a place near the crook of his arm and held still a moment before swiftly piercing open the flesh. Natsuno winced, but kept his arm determinedly still. Although he could apparently heal almost immediately after any injury, pain was still a reality in his life during the time the wound was open. Being a jinrou, he was immune to the hypnotic chemicals contained within Tohru's fangs. He remained alert as the okiagari suctioned his lips against his flesh and began to rhythmatically drink the blood as it seeped from the bite marks. Tohru was mostly silent, except for occasional hums of satisfaction as he fed the demanding hunger inside of him. Natsuno watched for a little while, then stared out the door into the night again. He himself had fed on human blood only once so far in his career as a jinrou. It had been after he had rescued Akira from Tatsumi's trap and brought him to reunite with Kaori in a hospital outside of Sotoba. There, he had explained to the siblings what he had become and the mission he intended to accomplish with his undead existence. It cost him a fair bit of his pride, but he had begrudgingly admitted that Tatsumi was much stronger than he was, and he would need to drink blood if he were to have any chance of facing him head-on. Kaori had looked like she might faint at the suggestion, but Akira had boldly volunteered, saying that if it was to defeat the monsters who had killed his parents, he would gladly donate his blood to 'Natsuno nii-san.' The feeding in itself had been tense and fast, with the pressure of death all around him, surrounded by two people he thought he would never live to see again. He had not enjoyed it at all. He remembered thinking as he departed from the hospital that he had crossed the final frontier, and it was a good thing he would soon be permanently dead, so he wouldn't have to live with the loss of his humanity. In the present time, Natsuno returned his eyes to Tohru's bowed head as the okiagari continued feeding on his blood, now more slowly and pleasurably. Fate, it seemed, had other plans for him, and he wasn't sure at all how to feel about this.

Eventually Tohru withdrew his fangs and lapped gently at the blood still leaking from the twin wounds until they healed over. Then he sighed, a soft, relieved sound, and lifted his head to meet Natsuno's eyes, a single line of red running down the right side of his mouth. "Thank you, Natsuno…."

"It's fine," the jinrou answered huskily, averting his eyes and staring out the door. "That's one more thing we won't have to worry about for now."

"No, really. I mean it," Tohru insisted, still holding on to Natsuno's arm despite the fact that he was done feeding. "You're much kinder to me than I deserve, Natsuno…." He sniffled slightly, licking the redness from his lips and staring down into his lap. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you. I didn't want to do it, but I- I was scared. I was so scared, and I couldn't see a way out. I ruined your dreams and threatened your future, and then I left you alone to die. I don't expect you to ever forgive me for that." Two large, silver tears fell down into his lap, and despite this declaration, the okiagari clung tighter to the jinrou's arm. Natsuno did not respond. Tohru was trying to cross a bridge that he was not ready to come to. Still staring determinedly at his kneecaps, the blonde boy shuddered and murmured softly, "I left flowers outside your window. Every night, until I couldn't stand to come there anymore. Did you know that?"

"I did. I saw you," the jinrou responded, remembering the line of wilted flowers on the earth below his window ledge, the sight of the miserable okiagari kneeling there in the night, crying and confessing his sins as if expecting some sort of response from his dead friend's bedroom. He remembered how he had hidden himself in the trees above his house and contemplated showing himself to Tohru, but ultimately decided he had nothing to say to the weeping murderer below. Now Tohru leaned his messy head softly against his shoulder, and Natsuno debated pushing him away. The okiagari did not ask why his former friend had not revealed his continued existence to him before.

"Hey. Listen," Natsuno spoke up, deciding that changing the subject would be the safest course of action right now. "Tomorrow night, we're going to hike down to the remains of the village and see what we can find."

Tohru sat up straighter, turning his hesitant eyes on the jinrou. "Go back to Sotoba? Are you sure that will be safe?"

"I think so. There shouldn't be anyone around at night. And even if there is, we'll be able to sense their presence and avoid them. I've got a list of materials I hope we'll be able to find intact inside the ruined buildings. We should operate on the assumption that we'll be here for a little while, and if we have the things we need, it will be less risky."

Tohru nodded slowly. "All right. Then….do you need me to do anything to prepare?"

Natsuno shrugged. "Not really. We haven't got much to prepare with at the moment, which is why we're going scavenging down there. We'll carry back whatever we find inside these pillowcases." He patted the pillow leaning against the headboard of his bed. "Right now, what I really need to do is take another nap so I'll have my energy back when we make the trip. You keep an eye on the forests around the cabin until daylight. All right?"

Tohru nodded again, standing up from Natsuno's bed and pulling back the covers so the jinrou could crawl blearily under them. He could recover from blood loss faster than a human, but he still needed rest to accomplish this. Remembering something else, Natsuno flicked his hand toward the door. "Put all of the bowls and cups out in the kitchen area in case it rains again, but aside from that, stay here."

The okiagari quirked his lips back in a humorless smile as he lowered the covers lightly over Natsuno. "Why would I leave?" he murmured lowly. "And where would I go?" Assuming the question was rhetorical, the jinrou did not answer, burying the side of his face in the pillow and folding the bottom edge of the blankets underneath his feet so the heat would not escape. He watched the straight-backed figure of Tohru wander slowly toward the door, glancing back once as he stood underneath its frame. His lower jaw worked as though he wanted to say something, but when he met Natsuno's stare, his eyes dropped and the moment passed in silence. The jinrou shut his eyes as the door closed and the faint, ashy breeze blowing through the doorway stopped. He breathed in and out, inhaling intermixing scents of the cabin- of him, of Tohru, of the unnamed humans who had stayed here before them, of the wood and nails and rust that made up the building. He fell asleep quickly and dreamed he was at home in his bedroom, listening to his father working in the woodshop down the hall, the sharp smell of newly sawed wood wafting under his door and crowding the air above his bed.