AN: It's not perfect, but it's finished. This is one of those chapters I might end up going back and rewriting to make it better. I hope it's not a terrible disappointment. If anything sounds familiar, I did work some parts of my old Shima oneshots into this, so I hope you don't mind.

It had been almost a week since they'd fled Cross Academy, but neither Rima nor Shiki made any suggestion to leave. Rima was sure their hotel bill was going up, but neither was she particularly concerned. They'd both contacted their parents in a vague sort of way to tell them that they were alright without revealing their whereabouts. As far as she knew, no one had come searching for them. She thought that was for the best. They still weren't quite ready to leave the small haven they'd made for themselves in room 354.

Rima shifted the plastic bags in her hands as she climbed the stairs to the third floor of the hotel, grimacing as they crinkled loudly. So far, her nightly convenience store raids had proved safe. At least, no one had recognized her, and she was grateful for that. Shiki always protested when she volunteered to go, and in the end caved every time when she expressed that if she didn't get out for a while she might get bored and they'd have to leave. Neither one of them was ready for that just yet. Soon, but not yet. Not until the events of that night at the academy were a little further removed from them.

At the top of the stairs she paused to catch her breath. It was there that she heard it. The sound was so small, the tiniest of barely uttered noises, that it was nearly impossible to hear. Yet, the noise fell on her ears immediately, as if it had been a scream ripped from a throat in terror. Because, such a small sound had the same equivalent.

Her feet propelled her to the door and into the room before another beat passed. A moment later she was inside, gaze falling upon the figure curled in the center of the bed. Asleep and caught within a nightmare, her coworker trembled, fingers pressed so tightly around his neck that the skin was white from the pressure.

She closed the door behind her with a quiet click and moved to stand by the bed, looking down at him, heart clenching in her chest. "Shiki-kun…," she whispered.

Setting her bags down, she climbed onto the bed and lay beside him. Rima reached out with a pale hand, touching his cheek softly. His eyes opened slowly, heavily at her touch, pools of deep sapphire drenched in starlight, filled with horror. They struggled to focus on her for a long moment, and then squeezed shut again, attempting to blot out the remembrance of terrible dreams.

She didn't need any further encouragement. She uncurled his fingers from his neck and slid her arms around him, drawing him close. She could feel him shaking as he clung to her, eyes shut tightly and face pressed against the side of her neck. The sound came again, a nearly inaudible whimper torn from him against his will, and he shook harder for a moment, chest heaving once against her. She understood, without him having to say. Ever since they'd come here, in the aftermath of the fight with Rido, Shiki had been haunted with nightmares from those weeks when his father had possessed his mind. She knew he was still wracked with guilt. She knew. And the only thing she wanted to do was erase it from his memory.

Instead, she just held him. She hated the feeling of helplessness, and all she could do was bring him closer, stroking his hair, leaning her cheek against his. His shaking slowed, stopped, and his breathing eased into a steadier rhythm; she drew comfort from that. Eventually he relaxed against her, fully released now from the grip of his dream. She hoped that, in time, these nightmares would fade away forever.

"He's dead, you know..," she murmured. "He can't hurt you or your mother again. Or anyone..."

"I know," he whispered. A long pause. Then, "I dreamt about hurting you..."

"Idiot. I already forgave you," she chastised gently.

He shifted away from her, just enough so that he could look at her face. The eyes that met hers were no longer grey at all, but blue. Beautifully, completely blue... Each time she looked at them now, they took her breath away. His words, however, broke the spell, as he asked a touch sardonically, "If you forgave me, then why haven't you called me by my name yet?"

Ah...that was right... She had said she would... She flushed, and found the words difficult to push out of her mouth as she grumbled, "You could always taste it in my blood..." His brows fell slightly, a sign of disappointment, and she caved in by adding on, "...Senri-kun." The syllables felt strange in her mouth. Strange, but good. She liked the weight of his name on her tongue.

Immediately, his eyes brightened, and he shifted forward to kiss her lightly on the lips. "I like it better when you say it."

"Better than what?"

He shrugged and said, "Better than my mother. Or anyone else." She smiled. "But," he continued, "the title sounds strange..."

She squinted at him. "What are you saying?"

"It should just be Senri...Rima."

"I'm still annoyed. You didn't even ask my permission to use my name so lightly...Senri."

He gave her a lopsided grin, a faint laugh rumbling across his chest. "It's better like that," he told her, and perhaps he was right. She didn't want there to be anymore distance between them, not after having nearly lost each other as they had. Everything they did together, every moment spent with one another, it was all so natural and so easy... She thought their names should be the same.

"I'm serious about my blood, though. You should take some," she offered, as always very much aware that her feelings would become more than apparent the moment he did so. But, perhaps it would be okay now for him to find out...

He shook his head. "No. Not yet."

Rima sighed. "I'm fine," she insisted.

"Not yet," he repeated. "Take more of mine first. Just a little..."

"Alright, but only if you do the same," she relented.

After a moment's consideration he agreed, "Okay."

This time, when her teeth broke through the skin, she caught a rush of thoughts and emotions that were distinctly his, distinctly Shiki. She could still taste the rain, the twilight, the agar, the evening, but beneath it she could also taste doubts, fears, and insecurities, coupled with an intense desire to protect her from all of those things. From himself. It was only a glimpse, but that glimpse into Senri Shiki was enough to understand him just a little better.

And beyond it, burning blue, was a longing that matched her own. A longing to remain by her side, to stay with her not just for their brief time at school or modeling, but forever. The feelings she tasted in his blood didn't have words. They could not be described simply, or even eloquently, yet she understood that he felt the same attachment that she did. The same sentiment that she wasn't quite sure was love, at least not yet, but rapidly on its way to becoming such.

As his fangs settled into her wrist, she knew he tasted the same feelings reflected back.

Rima released him, moved her mouth to his ear, and whispered, "Me, too." His lips arced upward against her skin before his teeth separated from her, taking only that small taste to sate him.

"Yeah..." he murmured, thumb smoothing over the healing puncture marks.

Yeah... She should be content to leave it there, but with the taste of his blood lingering on her tongue she was stricken by a moment of weakness. She pulled him close, pressing her lips against his demandingly. His mouth aligned with hers and her lips went transparent, exhaling his name before he greedily swallowed the word. The horrors she knew dwelled in his heart fed the flames in her own. She would burn for him, burn so hot and fierce in his arms that she might incinerate every last one of them with a mere touch. She would salvage and reconstruct every unspoken word from his tongue, suck the sorrow from his lips, and treasure every second of their enjoined mouths.

She should stop, but instead she let him open her mouth, felt his tongue run behind her lips against her own. Within another moment, he had altered the kiss in a way that burned inside her, leaving her gasping, her pulse quickening into fire. His fingers slid down her cheek, leaving a trail of flames behind. She could feel his lean muscles beneath his shirt, straining against her with each breath, his body pressed so tightly against hers that she wasn't sure if they were breathing separately or together. The world did not exist beyond them and this one heated moment.

He gave her room to catch her breath; kissing her cheeks, her jaw, lingering over her neck, before snatching it all away again with another kiss that sent her reeling further into oblivion. Her fingers wandered, sliding up beneath the material of his shirt, tracing the flawless contours of his chest, his shoulders, his stomach, relishing the feel of his bare skin. She shuddered, and she could hear his breathing falter. She couldn't get enough of him. Clutching him against her wasn't enough, kissing him wasn't enough. She wanted more. She wanted all of him, in a way she hadn't ever wanted anyone before.

And then, just before she totally lost all her judgment, she felt him wrench himself away from her with effort, falling to the other side of bed, breathing ragged. She lay there for a stunned moment, trying desperately to gather air in her lungs and to calm herself down. The world was spinning around her, though from a lack of oxygen or an overdose of Shiki, she couldn't be sure.

She waited, the fire slowly extinguishing itself from her sensitized body, though every nerve was still hyper-aware of his proximity, dancing with electric memories of the ways he had been touching her just a moment before. She took a deep breath, then glanced over at him. He seemed relatively composed now, despite the uneven rise and fall of his chest, eyes half shut and hand over his brow to help shield from the increasing strength of the sun's rays through the curtains. They were rather flimsy, she noted with distaste. Hardly adequate for proper sleeping arrangements.

But looking at him brought back a familiar ache in her heart. She still longed to touch him…no, needed to touch him, just to reassure herself that he was there, really there, as himself. That this was not a cruel illusion but a reality, and that Rido was long gone from that precious body. That his eyes were blue and would remain blue... Her arm stretched out to close the distance between them, hesitating for a beat before touching his hand timidly. His eyes flicked to her, and he smiled again, the corner of his mouth creasing upwards in that familiar and beloved way. His fingers laced with hers, and she was happier than she could ever remember being at such a simple touch.

Suddenly, it wasn't enough. She swallowed hard past the lump that had formed in her throat. It wasn't enough. She wanted to touch him again. To hold him close. A little more, even the slightest amount, would do. So she leaned over him, her face inches from his, hand resting against his cheek now. His eyes widened slightly in surprise. She let her whim control her, touching her lips to his with the barest of pressures. His breath caught, and she felt his arms fold around her, pulling her close again like she wanted. His lips were sweet and soft, brushing against hers like butterfly wings. Gently, tenderly…

Still not enough.

He broke off the kiss as soon as she began to increase the pressure. "Rima. Stop," he admonished her, and the blue in his eyes was bright, hypnotic, and perhaps a little desperate.

"Why…?" the question sounded pitiful, even to her ears.

He shook his head slowly, almost in disbelief, it seemed. "How much control do you expect me to have…? We shouldn't do this now."

She glowered at him. Well, why not? She could feel her jaw jutting out stubbornly, in preparation to object.

"Not now," he repeated, cutting her off before she had a chance to begin.

Her eyes fixed him with intense disapproval.

"Later," he promised. "Another time."

"Fine," she sighed, settling back into his arms, perturbed but feeling suddenly too tired to pursue the matter.

"Hey, Rima…" his voice came after a moment, a barely audible murmur, scarcely more than a breath against her skin.

"Hmm?" she asked, letting her fingers trace down his spine lazily.

He shivered a little, arms tightening around her fractionally, and then whispered, "Let's stay together."

"Yeah…" she agreed, weariness beginning to tug at the edges of her mind. "Always."

Yawning, she dislodged him long enough to sit up and pull the blankets over them. Her earlier restless desire was gone, though. She was warm and content with Shiki so near to her. Not just for now, but for always. Within moments, she had drifted off into peaceful slumber.

[EPILOGUE]

Days later, Senri and Rima would search for Ichijou, who had gone missing in the aftermath of the events at the academy. They wouldn't find him until much later, by coincidence, but Senri wouldn't feel lonely during the time between. Not while Rima was beside him.

Months later, Senri would try the new blood tablet pills designed by Sara Shirabuki, and be forced to separate from his coworker for a few painful weeks. Those tablets only magnified his desire for her blood tenfold. No, a hundredfold...

Years later, the pair would go into acting together, unknowingly sparking a chain of events that would force them to become fugitives from anti-vampire organizations. Yet Rima would tell him that she was happy, because she'd been able to pursue her dream.

Decades later, and his mother would turn to ash in the night, swept away by the wind, and he would feel sad to know that she had never found true happiness. But perhaps she had finally been at peace knowing that her son was safe. That he would not become like his father.

And somewhere during those long decades that bled into centuries, as naturally as breathing, Senri fell in love with Rima. Or rather, he realized that he was already in love. He couldn't say when or where or how, simply that it was, and that was the way it should be. Him and her, together, for the rest of their lives. Which were very long indeed...

Fin.

AN: I just want to say that however you may have expected this to end, I never had any intention of making things concrete between them. They don't say "I love you," there's no random proposal on Rima's part, nothing of the sort. It all just kind of happens, the way Shima have always been in the manga/anime. I suppose I could have extended this fic to cover more arcs and lead up to an ending where they do tell each other they love one another, but I kind of prefer to leave it up to the imagination?

Plus, truth be told, I wanted to finish this and the Aidori fic so I could start publishing another fic I've been working on (oops). I'm working on a story that centers around Ai and Ren (since a few people have requested something with Ai). I'm pretty nervous about it since it's so different than anything I've worked on before, so when I do publish it, please don't be too harsh on me (-sweatdrop-).

Finally, as I commented, there are at least 2 chapters in this fic that I'd like to rework. If/when I do, I'll post a note as a chapter so you guys know when I've done it.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed the ride!