It felt darker outside that it was. The golden light spilling out of the window from the party inside made the night fall blackly around Yuu as he sat on wide windowsill on the side of the mansion, the cool night blowing through his coat like it was made of paper. Yuu shivered.

He didn't want to go back inside. Guren had dragged him to a benefit at the mansion of one of his wealthy noble friends. And for some reason being there made Yuu feel more like a fraud than he ever had before.

Unfaithful. That's what Yuu felt like right now. Like he was cheating, even though that hardly made any sense. He felt like he was cheating on his new life, with the person he used to be. Because he couldn't stop thinking about Mika.

It had been so long. Yuu wished he could say that all in all these years he'd hardly thought about Mika but that would be a lie. He did think about him. All the time. And the sting of the last night he saw him never faded no matter how many times he told himself he'd done the right thing.

And now Mika was coming back.

Yuu curled in on himself, putting his forehead against his knees.

"I miss you." Yuu whispered, at least once just for himself. "I miss you so much, Mika. But this is wrong."

Yuu shouldn't leave. He knew that, deep down. Same as he knew it the night he had met Guren. Somethings were more important than what he wanted. Guren funding the orphanage, Yuu's loyalty to Guren, who had only ever been kind to him. Who had taken him in and raised him like a son. Those things mattered. More than a boy Yuu hadn't seen in six years should matter.

But it was Mika.

Yuu couldn't explain what he felt for him. It was just something that had always been there. A pull to this boy who had somehow wormed his way under Yuu's skin and stuck like a thorn. Who hadn't faded from his memory at all no matter how many miles or years were put between them. Yuu sighed.

Sometimes he would still imagine talking to Mika. A habit since six years ago. Sometimes he would picture Mika, still a child, sitting across from him and looking at him with those agelessly wise blue eyes that looked straight into him. And Yuu would spill his guts in a way he could to no one else.

Yuu did it now.

"What's wrong Yuu-chan?" Asked the young Mika in his mind, placing a hand on Yuu's shoulder. "You seem upset."

Yuu closed his eyes tightly.

"I don't want to lose you again, Mika." Yuu said in his mind, his voice urgent. "After all these years I finally found you, and I don't want to lose you again."

"Then don't." Mika said with a gentle smile. "I'm coming for you, aren't I? We can be together again."

"But it's wrong Mika." Yuu protested "You're a pirate now, and I have a life here. I owe Guren everything. I can't just leave him. And if I did leave what would happen to the orphanage? Guren protects it because of me, they could lose everything if I go."

Mika's eyes softened. "Then you have to protect it Yuu. The orphanage was where we can from. You have to keep it safe."

"I know," Yuu agreed, and he wished in that moment that Mika was flesh and blood in front of him. That he could pull Mika to him and feel his arms wrap around him in return. But he wasn't really there. Yuu was alone.

Yuu pressed his face into his hands.

"If I tell you that I have to stay here, you're going to leave again, aren't you Mika?" Yuu asked the Mika in his head. His chest hurting like something was being torn out of it. "It'll be like six years ago all over. And I'll never see you again."

"Do I hate you for what happened six years ago?" imaginary Mika asked.

Yuu shook his head. "I don't know."

"Do you regret what you did then?"

"No."

"Then why are you so afraid to make the same decision?"

"Because, maybe you don't hate me," Yuu said, "And maybe I don't regret what I did. But I still lost you. I haven't seen you in all this time because I didn't choose you. And I DO regret that, Mika. I regret losing my best friend."

Imaginary Mika looked at him sadly. "Then don't let me go this time, Yuu-chan."

"How?" Yuu asked in confusion. "How am I supposed to do that?"

Imaginary Mika looked at him in the eyes, but when he spoke his voice was lower. "We're here."

Yuu blinked. "What?"

Mika continued to look at him with a blank expression. "This is the place."

Yuu jolted back to himself, lifting his head and opening his eyes.

He was still sitting on the windowsill, but now he could hear footsteps. For a moment Yuu panicked, until he realized the footsteps were around the corner from him, at the front of the house. But he still tucked himself further into the window in hopes that whoever they belonged to wouldn't see him.

The footsteps grew closer.

"This is the place?" A male voice asked. "Well it sure is grand, isn't it?"

A smooth chuckle.

"Is that jealousy in your voice? Don't tell me you wish it had been you adopted by a nobel. I thought you hated these stuffed shirts."

Adopted by a nobel? Well great, they were talking about him. Yuu made even more of an effort to hide. But something was bothering him. The voices… they were oddly familiar

"Of course I don't wish that." The first voice replied. "I was just observing. But you do realize how risky this is, don't you? If we're caught here…"

"No one knows what we look like," The second voice replied. "We'll be fine as long as we blend in. There are hundreds of people here and none of them are looking for us. If we keep a low profile we'll be in and out with no one the wiser."

"But are you sure about this?" The first voice asked. "I mean… I miss him too. But this just seems like a lot of trouble to go through for someone we don't even really know anymore. I mean, it's been years. And this sort of life changes a person."

The second voice was curt as it replied. "Not Yuu-chan."

Yuu froze. Mika?

"I'm just saying," The first voice continued. "It's a bit much. Are you THAT certain that he'll even want to come back with us?"

Yuu almost didn't breath as he waited for the answer.

"No." Mika's voice was clear, and low as he said it. And Yuu thought he even sounded a little sad. "No. I'm not certain of anything."

"Then why?" the first voice asked, and Yuu realized it must have been one of the other orphans from when they were kids, one of the older ones that escaped with Mika.

Mika sighed.

"I just need to hear his answer." Mika said and his voice sounded tired. Like he'd been carrying around a profound weight until that moment.

Yuu closed his eyes like a flinch.

"Okay." The first voice agreed, then. Understanding in their tone. "And you're sure he's going to be here?"

"Yes." Mika replied. "I saw the Ichinose carriage."

"Then we better get inside and look for him."

The footsteps continued, and then there was the sound of a door opening and shutting. And Yuu was once again left alone in the dark.

He didn't move for a time. He simply sat, resting his head against the window and staring blankly into the night.

"I just need to hear his answer."

Yuu ran a hand through his hair, and then bent forward, holding his head in his hands.

"This is impossible." Yuu said, his voice breaking. "I'm incapable of hurting you, Mika. It's not fair."

With that Yuu stood up, smoothing down his hair and straightening his clothes.

He let out a breath.

"Okay," He said, shaking his head. "Okay, Mika. It's time to let you find me."

~.~.~.~.~

The party was lavish.

Mikaela looked around at the bright colors of the silk clothing and the bounty of food that was plied on the table and shook his head.

So this was the world Yuu lived in, Mika thought. He was a little concerned about letting his men lose in a place like this.

Mika moved through the party quietly. Avoiding attention as much as possible.

He was dressed the part. A perk of his collection of stolen property. But Mika hated slicking back his hair so he hadn't bothered. And he somehow felt that the people around him may have noticed.

Mika only cared about one thing, though. So he didn't let himself be distracted by the stray looks or the glamor of his surroundings. His mind was on one thing.

Yuu-chan.

Mikaela hadn't seen him yet. In the sea of glittering, shimmering people. He worried a little that he would have a hard time spotting him, after only seeing him once in the last six years. But he told himself that it would be all right. It was Yuu after all.

That was when Mika spotted Mr. Ichinose.

Mika's eyes narrowed.

The man was standing with a drink in his hand, looking bored and irritable, and he struck Mika as a cold person.

It made him angry. Someone like that being close to Yuu. Yuu deserved better. Yuu was kind, and warm. He was the sort of person that cared for others, that wanted to protect them. Mika didn't like the idea of those qualities being exploited by some noble who didn't look capable of properly loving anyone.

Then a new thought occurred to Mika.

Yuu wasn't with him.

Mika frowned. He doubted that the the nobel would come here without his heir along to be shown off, but if that was true why was Yuu nowhere to be found?

Mika was just starting to worry that he had somehow been wrong about this whole thing, that he'd come here following Mr. Ichinose, not Yuu, who had been left behind.

But before Mika's thoughts could spin too far off the handle a bit of motion caught his eye.

He looked up. The mansion had a second floor that was visible from the center of the room. A hallway that was missing it's wall and ran like a balcony between the first floor and the ceiling. And when Mika raised his eyes he spied a dark-haired finger standing along it's railing

Yuu.

Mika turned toward him, their eyes meeting across the great space as Yuu looked down at him from above.

When they had, and Yuu was certain Mika had seen him he turned his head, and Mika followed his eyeline to a doorway that lead into the hall, through which Mika caught a glimpse of a staircase.

Mika looked back up at Yuu and nodded.

Yuu nodded back and then took a few backward steps.

Mika could still see him, he was crossing the second floor hallway and opening a door that was directly behind him. Then the dark boy slipped inside and shut the door again.

Mika smirked and shook his head.

Mika held the image of the door in his mind carefully as he turned and walked toward the doorway and up the stairs outside.

He was cautious, making sure no one saw him as he slipped up the second floor and hunted for the door Yuu had gone through.

When he found it, he carefully turned the knob.

~.~.~.~.~

"Yuu?"

Yuu heard Mika's voice behind him as he entered the room, and the door clicked shut as Mika closed it.

Yuu was standing across from the door, staring out the window. He could see Mika's reflection in the glass like a black mirror. His pale hair tousled and uncovered, and dressed in a fine gray suit.

Yuu smiled. He looked like nobel, except for his hair. And Yuu got a flash of this situation happening in reverse. If it were him standing there, and Mika who had become the nobel in his place. And he asked himself what he would want from his old friend after all these years.

Happiness, Yuu decided, looking for the blue of Mika's eyes in his reflection. He would want Mika to be happy.

Yuu turned around.

"Mika," He said and smiled. "You found me."

"You weren't exactly hiding, were you?" Mika asked, stepping forward into the room. He smiled back.

Yuu looked down. They were standing in some sort of guest room. The small, quiet space suddenly feeling very close and intimate, and it made Yuu's palms feel damp.

He hadn't been alone like this with Mika in a long time.

Yuu took a few steps and sat down on the edge of the bed at the center of the room. He let out a breath and folded his hands together in his lap. "No I wasn't hiding."

Mika raised an eyebrow, approaching Yuu cautiously. "What's wrong Yuu-chan?"

Yuu smiled. Those words hit him like a familiar scent. Something that took him back to being a kid, and being happy. One of those memories that stays sparkly and lovely forever because it happened when you were young, because it was home to you.

That's what Mika was for him. A piece of home.

"I just missed you, Mika." Yuu whispered, and he closed his eyes feeling hot tears well up in them and feeling immediately embarrassed as they slid down his cheeks.

Mika's eyes widened and he sat down beside him.

"Yuu-chan," His hand touched Yuu's back. "I'm here now."

Yuu dragged his jacket sleeve across his eyes, darkening the black of his suit. "Mika I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Mika's hand rubbed his back like when they were kids and Yuu wanted to laugh.

Mika was no different. He was the same. Protective, and selfless and the same.

"For what happened when we were kids," Yuu said, turning to look into Mika's eyes. "I left, and I never got to tell you anything. I just let you wait for me to come."

Mika's eyes widened in surprise. "Yuu…"

"Guren promised to save the orphanage," Yuu's voice became urgent. "He had all this money and he said he would pay the expenses. I didn't see a way out of it, and all of those kids were so young-,"

"Yuu," Mika put his hands on Yuu's shoulders. "It's okay. You were trying to protect them. I understood when I found out what happened."

"You knew?" Yuu asked in surprise. "How?"

Mika shrugged. "I didn't know everything. Not that it was Guren Ichinose. But I saw the orphanage got new funding, and I knew it had something to do with your note."

Yuu's eyebrows furrowed. "But you never went back?"

Mika shook his head.

"We were already out, Yuu." Mika said, his voice gentle and somber. "I asked the others what they wanted and they said they wanted to go. Were were already getting too old to have hope of being adopted. What life were we waiting for, there?" Mika shook his head. "We decided we wanted to leave."

Yuu searched his eyes. "I still go back there." He said. "Part of me thought…"

Mika looked down. "I'm sorry, Yuu. I didn't know."

Yuu shook his head. "Don't apologize. You did what the others needed."

"So did you." Mika looked at him. "And now here we are."

Yuu nodded his head slowly.

"I never thought I would see you again." He murmured. "Not after a while. I thought you would hate me."

"I don't hate you." Mika said quickly. "I just didn't know where you were."

"And if you had?" Yuu asked, looking into Mika's eyes. His expression was serious.

"I do now." Mika replied. "So I came for you. Isn't that obviously my answer?"

"But why?" Yuu asked, shaking his head. "What do you want by coming here, Mika?"

A sad look, came over Mika's eyes.

"I thought that was obvious, too." He replied. "I'm here to take you with me. If you're willing to come."

Yuu's jaw pulled tight, but he forced himself to keep looking in Mika's eyes. "Do you have any idea what I would be leaving behind?"

Mika pulled back from him.

"What?" Mika asked in a hard voice, anger blazing up in his eyes. He gestured to the room around them. "All of this? The parties and the trappings? To be honest, Yuu I didn't think we were the type to care about all of that."

"I don't." Yuu reached out to grab Mika's arm. "That's not what I'm talking about."

"Then what?!"

"Guren!" Yuu shouted, and then flinched when he heard his own tone. "I meant Guren. He's taken care of me. He protected the orphanage for me. What kind of person would I be if I just left now? After everything."

Mika jerked his arm out of Yuu's grasp.

"So you're not coming with us?" Mika summarized, his tone dropping low. "That's your decision,"

Yuu looked down. "I didn't say that."

"Then what are you saying?" Mika's voice was raised again. "Tell me, Yuu, because I don't understand."

Yuu's eyes flashed up in a frenzy, "I don't want to say goodbye to you, Mika!" he snapped, his hands balling up into fists. "I can't do that again, not after I just got you back." Yuu quickly looked down when his voice broke.

He was NOT going to cry again.

Mika's eyes widened in surprise as Yuu cleared his throat.

"If you tell me I have to choose between you and everything else in my life…" Yuu murmured lowly and without looking up. "Then I've already made up my mind."

Yuu reaches out and finds Mika's hand, twisting their fingers together. He forces himself to look back into Mika's eyes.

"I'll choose you, Mika." Yuu promised, his eyes bright with sincerity and still red around the edges. "No matter what I have to give up, If you asked I would do it for you."

Mika's breathing faltered a little as Yuu reached up to touch his face with a gloved hand. His piercing emerald eyes drawing closer.

Then Yuu said, "But I'm asking you not to make me."

Mika blinked, coming back to himself. "What?"

"You heard me." Yuu replied. "I'll leaving the decision up to you, because I know that I'm not capable of giving you up again. But I want you to think about what you're really asking from be."

Mika stared at him, his eyes bright and searching. "Yuu… I don't have another choice. I have to leave here. My crew could get arrested if I don't."

Yuu nods. "And the orphanage could go under if I leave with you."

Mika shook his head. "Yuu, this is your choice-,"

"I told you, I chose."

"Then why are you doing this to me?" Mika demanded. "You want me to feel guilty for taking you away?"

"I'm just telling you the truth." Yuu shot back.

"Then give me up!" Mika shouted. "If the world is going to go to hell from us trying to be together, then maybe we shouldn't be!"

Yuu ground his teeth together, "If you could live with that, then what are you doing here?"

Mika glared at him. "What?"

"You're the one who came back for me!" Yuu shouted. "I already made the hard choice once, Mika. I tried to do the right thing, and it nearly killed me. Now you've stormed back into my life, and tore everything apart, just to make me lose you all over again?"

Mika shook his head. "That isn't fair."

"None of this is fair!" Yuu shoved Mika's shoulder.

Mika growled, "What do you want from me, Yuu?"

Yuu shoved him again. "I want this to be as hard for you as it is for me."

"You think this is easy for me?" Mika scoffed.

"I think I told you I would give up everything for you." Yuu spat pushing Mika in the chest one more time. "AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THE SAME."

~.~.~.~.~

Yuu's words seemed to echo in the empty room as Mika stared at him wide eyed.

Yuu stared back. The red at the edge of his eyes slowly spreading through the rest of it like he was about to cry again.

Then he stood up.

"I guess that's my answer then."

Mika immediately stood with him. "Yuu, this isn't just about me."

"It's not just about me either," said Yuu, his hands going white at the knuckles from fisting them so hard. "But I would still choose you."

And then Yuu stepped passed Mika towards the door.

Mika turned around, "Yuu, wait!"

"Just answer me one thing." Yuu said, and he didn't turn around as he said it.

"What?" Mika asked, when Yuu didn't immediately continue, and Yuu's back straightened like he was bracing himself.

"Why did you kiss me?"

Mika froze in surprise.

"It's always when you're about to leave," Yuu continued, when Mika didn't respond. His voice was hard but he still didn't turn around. "You just kiss me."

Mika closed his eyes. "Yuu…"

Mika didn't know how Yuu moved so fast, but between one moment and the next, Yuu's lips were suddenly against his, and Mika was being shoved down onto the bed.

Mika groaned without meaning to, feeling Yuu's body land on top of his as he was pushed into the bed. On top of him, Yuu's lip pressed against his eagerly, and his hands found their way into Mika's hair.

"Yuu!" Mika tried to shout when he could get his lips free. "Yuu! What- are - you - doing?"

"You always kiss me goodbye right?" Yuu panted between kisses. "Well if this is our last goodbye then I'm taking what I'm owed."

Mika flushed all the way down his neck as Yuu captured his lips again and Mika felt their legs tangling together against the sheets.

"Yuu!" Mika tried to plead again but Yuu just used the opportunity to slip his tongue into Mika's mouth.

Mika moaned.

He head was starting to feel cloudy, and for a moment he forgot the pain in his chest, as Yuu's hands slid under his shirt, he forgot how angry Yuu had been as Yuu's legs slide up between his, and he even forgot his own name… until he felt something wet land against his cheek.

Mika's eyes opened, startled, and he started to taste salt between Yuu's lips as he continued to silence Mika with bruising kisses. But then Mika felt Yuu's body shaking against him.

The the kisses broke off as Yuu started to sob.

"Yuu-chan," Mika panted, trying to catch his breath as Yuu buried his face against Mika's neck.

Hot tears slipped between their skin.

"Is this really goodbye, Mika." Yuu cried, his arms going around Mika's waist. "Am I really never going to see you again?"

Mika felt his own throat tighten, and his eyes started to burn.

He reached up, his fingers weaving into Yuu's hair as he stroked his head, trying to sooth him.

"I don't want to take all of this away from you, Yuu." Mika whispered lowly, his other arm reaching up to hold Yuu too him around the waist. "You're right. I was selfish to come here and expect that from you."

Yuu shook his head. "I don't care about that anymore. I just wanted you to give me a reason to go. To tell me that being with me was more important."

Mika held him tighter. "How could I do that to you? You've done everything right, being here. How could I tell you to give that up?"

"The same reason I would give it up for you." Yuu whispered. "Because you love me."

Mika sucked in a breath.

"At least that's what I wanted." Yuu continued, sniffing. He'd stopped crying. Now he just sounded hurt, as he slowly tried to pull back and sit up.

But Mika didn't let him. He kept his arms locked around Yuu like iron, and Yuu remained trapped against his chest.

"Mika?"

"You love me?" Mika whispered, his voice low in Yuuichiro's ear.

The noble boy stilled, it only now occurring to him that he'd just admitted to that.

Finally he sighed.

"Yes. I love you, Mika." He said, twisting to press a kiss to Mika's cheek. "I always have."

Mika's arms tightened around him, almost until it hurt.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Mika asked, sounding shaky. "When I it could destroy everything for you? For both of us?"

"When else was I supposed to tell you?" Yuu asked. "When I was twelve?"

"If you had I wouldn't have-,"

"Wouldn't have what?" Yuu demanded. "What could you have done to change all of this, Mika? Tell me."

Mika shook his head. "I don't know."

"Nothing." Yuu replied. "There's nothing."

"And you would really give all of this up for me?" Mika asked, his voice low and almost sounding frightened.

Yuu nodded his head.

"I love you too." Mika whispered.

Yuu jolted.

"Why are you staying that now?"

"I almost said it that night." Mika admitted. "When we were twelve. I wanted too. But I was just a kid, and I thought we were going to be together forever. So I just kissed you instead."

Yuu blinked in surprise. "It wasn't a goodbye kiss?"

"It's never been a goodbye kiss, Yuu." Mika shook his head. "I just kissed you because I wanted too."

Yuu closed his eyes.

"Then don't leave me." He said. "Because you don't want to."

"I can't asked the others to get arrested for me, Yuu." Mika replied.

"What if you didn't?"

"What?"

"Just give me time," Yuu pleaded, pulling back to sit up and look down into Mika's face. "Maybe we could find a way to protect you and your crew, or I could find a way to leave without hurting Guren. We don't have to do this tonight."

"Yuu…" Mika hesitated. "That's selfish. We're putting everyone else at risk."

"I don't care." Yuu reached down and stroked his thumb across Mika's cheek. "I love you too much not to try."

Mika smiled sadly. "I love you too much to let you get hurt."

"You'll only hurt me if you leave." Yuu insisted. "Everything else I can handle."

Mika looked into his eyes and shook his head, sighing.

"Yuu…" he started, like he was heavily resisting whatever he had to say. "If… If I get caught…" He took a deep breath.

"Yuu, I'll be hanged."

Yuu went silent.

Mika swallowed. "I'm sorry. I can't stay here, Yuu."

Tears slipped down Yuu's cheeks again.

"Then I'm going with you."

"Yuu-,"

"Shut up." Yuu leaned down to kiss him again. "I'll explain it to Guren, somehow, but I'm going. You can't stop me."

Mika kissed him back feeling the way it made his heart stutter and it chest ache. Choosing not to argue with him, in favor of Yuu's tongue pushing through his lips.

But he still wasn't sure about this.

He still wasn't sure about what he was asking Yuu to do. Still wasn't sure that it was all right to take him away from everything he had.

Because Yuu was right before. Mika was the one who came back. Mika was the one that asked him to give everything up, even though he couldn't do the same.

And Yuu was also right about something else too.

None of it was fair.

~.~.~.~.~.~

End of Part Two

~.~.~.~.~.~