Title: A Conversation Between Old People

Characters: Evangeline A. K. McDowell and Miyoshi Youko

Genre: Angst/Friendship

Rated: G

Timeframe: After the Youkai Festival

Spoilers: None really, unless you somehow missed the truth about Youko, which has been known since the Kyoto arc in Book 1.

"Hey."

Eva, mildly annoyed, looked up from the book she was reading under her parasol. Her annoyance grew when she saw who had decided to visit her on the rooftop of the middle school. "Shouldn't you be in class?" she asked as she looked back down at her book and tried to remember where she had been on the page when she had been interrupted.

"I could say the same thing to you," student number twenty, Miyoshi Youko, said as she plopped down in the shade of one of the large potted plants that served as meager decorations on the rooftop.

Eva heaved a sigh and snapped her book shut; she'd never find where on the page she had stopped, now.

"Forgot your bookmark," Youko said.

Eva looked down at her book for a moment, then to the bookmark she held in her other hand, and heaved another sigh. Forget where on the page, she'd never find where in the book she had been on... "Why did you even come up here?" she demanded.

Youko turned to look toward the world tree; only its top was visible from where she sat due to the height of other nearby buildings. "How do you deal with it?" she asked after a moment.

Eva frowned. "What are you going on about now?" She eyed Youko speculatively. She had a pretty good idea of what the girl was going on about, actually; Youko confirmed her suspicions a moment later.

Youko shrugged and looked away, her usual grin plastered across her face like a mask. "I was only about a hundred and eighty when they locked me up, but still...anyone can tell the world's changed since then. How do you deal with it?"

"Oh," Eva said; she had also heard the question Youko hadn't asked. How do you deal with the deaths of your loved ones? Eva looked off toward the world tree herself as her face took on its own cold and distant expression, just as much a mask as Youko's grin. The two of them sat in silence for a long ten count before Eva spoke. "History. It helps if you know what happened between 'then' and 'now'."

"'Then' and 'now'..." Youko said in a musing manner. "It's been three hundred years since I was locked up, but..." She sighed and shook her head. When she started to speak again, her gaze was as far away as Eva's had been. "So many friends, even family..." She paused. "I...I had a kid back then, you know?" she said, glancing at Eva and then quickly away. "I don't even know what happened to him... He was only a year old when I was locked up."

"That'd be Genjirou," Eva said idly. She pretended not to notice when Youko stiffened up and turned all her attention toward her. "He took after his father."

"Ah," Youko said. She stood up and moved over to the safety wall that ringed the roof and leaned on it.

That 'Ah' said it all, Eva thought. When a half youkai 'took after' a human parent, it meant they were likely to die before they even reached a hundred years of age...quite short lived for a youkai. Youko's son had died almost two hundred years ago; it had taken Chachamaru some time to dig up the information, but Eva recalled the report in detail, if only because Youko was almost as long lived as she herself was.

"He helped keep the region from collapsing into turmoil, and ensured the Shinmeiryu would continue to survive, among other things," Eva said, pretending not to notice the effect her words were having on the Silver Fox Youkai leaning against the safety wall. Eva stood up and moved over to join her in leaning against the wall a comfortable distance away, parasol in hand to block the early summer sun. "From what I understand, he lived a good life." 'And had a lot of fun,' she mentally added. Having twenty three children by seven different women said quite a bit about a man, after all. From what she had read, Miyoshi Genjirou had been a lot like Nagi, in a lot of ways, except that Genjirou had never found a woman strong enough to keep him tied down the way Nagi had. He had been a master of not only the sword, but of eastern magic and ki usage as well, though he had ultimately died on the battlefield at the age of a hundred and three, utterly outnumbered and yet somehow managing to hold out even at his great age until his allies managed to escape with the innocents he was trying to protect. The only reason his name was all but lost to history was the fact that, though he had many friends, he had made a great many enemies in his day as well, and more than a few of them had been in significant positions of power.

"Did you ever..." Youko said, then trailed off.

"Miss anyone?" Eva supplied, cocking an eyebrow as she looked at the other girl. "Hell no," she lied. "Everyone I cared about died the day I became a vampire, and I killed anyone who ever gave me trouble. Outliving everybody around you is something you have to get used to if you want to live around humans," Eva said, waving her hand dismissively. "Even that Endo Haru you spend so much time with will die before you do. If you want my advice, you should give up on her and that Suzuki Keiko and go on with your own life. Not that anyone ever listens to me," Eva said, rolling her eyes. "I must have handed out that bit of advice a thousand times."

"Haru-chan'll be remembered for all time, though," Youko said, breaking into a grin, a real grin this time. "She's really gonna shake things up."

"'All time' is a long time," Eva said, looking back out at the world tree. Then, changing tack, she went back to address Youko's original question. "You seem to be adjusting just fine. I caught Chachamaru with a Do-It-Yourself can of instant mana and a 'thumb drive' full of pictures of The Boy the other day. She said you gave it to her," Eva said, sending a level glare at Youko.

Youko grinned a prankster's grin. "What, me? No way, Chachamaru must've been mistaken," she said, then reached down into her schoolbag and pulled out a manila envelope. "Ten thousand yen for the ones a bit too extreme for Chachamaru's tastes."

Eva forced her eyes to stop following the manila envelope and looked back out over the campus, her mind fully in the present. "Eight."

"Done. Nice doing business with you," Youko said, and grinned.