Owari no Seraph / Seraph of the End: Chapter 2: Friends

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I don't own, you know.

A little touch of what might have been.

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Chapter 2: Friends

The next morning: Yu was doing his best to forget last night's adventures, and in this he was, for once, aided by his demonic guest. Instead, Asuramaru simply sat, silently, on his side of the small table in the breakfast nook, just outside the kitchenette. Probably, thought Yu, planning his next move. He wasn't wrong.

So, almost as a self-defense maneuver, he brought his napkin up and wiped his lips. "You know," he said, "Sometimes I worry about you, Maru."

Maru paused in mid bite. "Worry? About me? What about?"

Yu pointed with his spoon at Maru's cereal bowl. Actually, it was more properly named his "banana bowl," as it consisted primarily of sliced bananas with a little milk and cereal thrown in just for looks. "Well, your diet. I mean, you're wearing a physical body now; it needs a certain amount of upkeep. And about all you eat is bananas. I can't help but think that sort of thing just can't be healthy for you."

Maru narrowed his gaze at the crazy human, trying to figure out if this was some kind of crazy human game. But it didn't seem to be. There was no sign of abnormal brain wave or heart signature. Yu appeared to be genuinely concerned about his guest's health. "Soooo….what are you suggesting?"

"I'm going to start cooking healthier meals. You could use the roughage. And perhaps a greater cereal-to-banana ratio in your bowl." Maru immediately clutched his bowl to himself, practically snarling in defense of his favorite food. "Now, Maru. Don't be that way. I'm not saying cut out the bananas, just add more cereal. Look, I know you don't want to get all constipated; believe me, that's a miserable experience. So, healthier meals, a better balanced diet-God help us all if you turn up diabetic. Do demons even get diabetic? Never mind; you might. And I don't want that for you. An ounce of prevention, and all that.

"So come on, Maru. Work with me here. I'm only trying to help you."

Asuramaru was about to make some retort when his empathic senses told him the crazy human was speaking the exact truth. This wasn't some weird kind of mortal punishment; he really meant it.

That took all the wind out of his sails. "O...kay. Just promise me you won't take away my bananas!" Without realizing it, he'd wrapped a protective arm around his bowl. Asuramaru loved bananas more than life itself.

Yu reached over and gave the demon's hand a brief squeeze, surprising Asuramaru immensely. His senses told him Yu wasn't even aware he'd done that. "Promise. Now. For lunch. What sounds good?"

"Uhm...bananas?"

Well, I guess I should have seen that coming.

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Lunch: "What's this crap?" Maru was gazing, suspiciously, at the bowl in front of him. He was beginning to rethink the "weird human punishment" bit.

"Beef shigureni. With steamed rice. Not normally considered a lunch item, but it looked intriguing. Can't eat take out all the time, you know. It's pretty hot, so you might wanna blow on it a little. On the other hand, you tolerate heat pretty good. But anyway. Go ahead and dive in. Here. Like this." And he showed Asuramaru how to eat the meat with a fork. "Forks are better for this kind of food, anyway."

Hesitantly, Maru tried a bite of the meat. It slipped off his fork, so Yu got up and went over to his side of the table. The Black Demon watched him suspiciously. What was the crazy human up to now?

But Yu simply reached over and, using a table knife, began to cut up the meat for him. "There," he announced, finishing up, "try that. That should make it a bit easier."

But Maru's suspicions weren't totally allayed. "Yu," he asked, keeping his eyes on the crazy human. "Why did you just do that?"

"Hm? Do what?" Yu had resumed eating.

"You know what. You just cut up my food for me. Why did you do that?"

Yu was chewing his beef. "Huh?" He swallowed. "You were having difficulty getting it on your fork. This was faster, was all."

Suddenly, Asuramaru slammed his utensils down on the table, making Yu jump. "I'm not a child, Yu!" he shouted. "Stop treating me like one!"

There was a dead, awkward silence. Then Yu said, "I'm sorry, Maru. I, I guess my 'only trying to help' went a bit further than I intended it to go. I apologize."

Asuramaru glared at him, fully intending to reject the stupid human's feeble attempt at an apology, when he felt something change inside him. Almost like ice melting in a glass of warm tea… "I...I guess...I mean...okay." He dropped his eyes, placing his hands in his lap. "I should be the one offering an apology, Yu. You were, like you said, only trying to help. Just...just like everything else you've...done." His voice cracked, and he got up and rushed off, running away from the small table, and into his favorite "alone" space, the half-bath adjoining the bedroom. Yu watched him go, concern in his expression.

What was wrong now?

That night, after a dinner of grilled tilapia, Yu was lying quietly in his bed, trying to still his mind in preparation for sleep. He heard a sound from the far side of his bed, down where Maru's futon was.

"Maru?" he asked, rolling over to that side of the bed. "You okay, over there?"

Maru made no reply, but Yu's now-focused sense of hearing seemed to catch a sound very much like a sniffle. "Maru? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Shut up and leave me alone." That cinched it. That was what Maru always said when he wasn't fine.

He got up and went around to Maru's side. Sat on the bed by the little demon's futon. "Maru, look. Tell me what's wrong. I'm sure, whatever it is, we can fix it, somehow."

"That's the problem with you humans!" Maru practically shouted, "Think you can fix everything!" Then he turned, savagely, away from Yu, his arm up to his chin. Again, Yu heard a sniffle. Now a sob.

Sighing, Yu got down on the floor, on the edge of Maru's futon. Lay down alongside the demon, his hands clasped behind his head. Maru half-turned over. "W-what are you doing, human? Get off my futon!"

"No. Not until you tell me what's made you cry."

"I'm not crying!"

Yu turned on his side, propping his head on his elbow, and studied him. "Well, let's see. Your eyes are leaking, your breath is hitching...and your nose is running." He got some tissues from the nightstand and wiped both tears and snot from the demon's face. Surprisingly, Maru didn't object. "Here. Blow your nose. Now come on. Tell me what's wrong, won't you?" he asked gently.

"I...I'm cold. Th-that's all. This, this is how we Black Demons react when we g-get cold."

"Uh huh. Well, I've got a cure for that." He got up, and picked Asuramaru up in his arms.

"What! What are you doing, human?! Put me down!"

"Oh, I will." And he put the protesting demon down...on his bed. When Asuramaru started to get up, he pointed at him and said, "Stay put."

Suddenly, Asuramaru's butt was frozen to the mattress. Oh, no. What was the crazy human going to do to him now? Payback for all those pranks and teases?

But instead, Yu just gathered Asuramaru's own blankets and spread them over Maru's body, tucking him in with the blankets that were already there, gathering them all around the demon, packing him in, until he was under nearly a solid foot of blankets. "There," he said, "Now you surely shouldn't be cold, what with all those blankets. Any more, and I'll need a forklift to uncover you, come morning." Asuramaru was still looking at him with a mixture of fear and anger. "Oh, right. Okay, you don't have to stay. I just wanted you to hang on long enough for me to show you what I was talking about." And he got back in on his side, turned on his left side, and, once again, tried to get ready for sleep.

"You...you don't mind if I...stay here...tonight?" There was something in the demon's tone of voice that Yu couldn't identify. But he didn't zip back down to his futon...well, of course. All the blankets were up here now, though Yu supposed it would have been no biggie for the Black Demon, with his vampire strength, to simply replace them where they had been.

Except he still would have been cold...

"No, Maru, I don't mind. I don't want you to be cold." And I don't want you to cry.

I'll do everything in my power to keep you from crying, ever again.

Wait a minute, his mind said. Where had that come from? Well, the mind is subject to strange thoughts, there in the twilight country just before sleep.

The next thing Yu knew, the Black Demon had slid up next to him, spooned up against his back, and slipped an arm around Yu, underneath Yu's own arm, pulling them both together in a most intimate embrace. "Maru, what-?"

"You said I could stay."

"Oh. Well, uh. Okay." He felt Maru stiffen slightly, then… "You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You don't mind me staying up here with you?"

"No, I don't. Like I said, I don't want you to be cold."

"Like...like this?" And Yu knew he was referring to the position, with Maru's arm around him.

"No, Maru. It's like I said. I don't want you to be cold."

It was a most peculiar sensation he got from Maru, as though the Black Demon wanted to say or ask something, but couldn't, for some reason. Then, "okay."

To be continued...