Hey everyone! Riku here! So Hika is very, very bad at ever remembering to log in to post. So most chapters were done by me, but then I wanted her to post our final chapter of Arc 1 and she never did and we forget to update it here. So sorry for that, but hey now that means I can post the last chapter of Arc 1 and a bunch of bulk for Arc 2 (so be on the look out after you read this!) Our Ao3 verison for Arc 2 is far ahead of this so if you can't wait, please go check out Shadows into Light on Ao3 until we get caught up here.
But enjoy the final chapter of Arc one of our little series!
Days had passed since that visit to the Spirit Sanctuary, and regular life resumed for the boys. It was as regular as it was for Riku and Saru, but now with the added part of talking more frequently with Yata and Sora. There were even more plans being made for the four of them to hangout again. More ideas and events seemed to come up and the four all had overlapping interests in them.
"So that carnival," Riku said as he looked at the newspaper. "Are you going to act like you did when we were at the theme park?"
"You're going to have to be more specific, Riku," Saru answered while flipping through the internet on his phone.
"Acting like a complete weirdo with Yata. Trying to rile him up and stuff," Riku replied.
"Are you going to act all lovey-dovey, sugary sweet with Sora?"
Riku rolled his eyes. "It's not as weird as what you do to annoy Yata. At least we look like a normal couple."
"You give anyone who looks at you two diabetes."
Riku snorted, smirking slightly. "And what happens when people look at you and Yata? People probably get a stomach bug staring."
Saru looked up from his phone with a confused expression. "What kind of response is that? If you're going to snark at me, at least make sense doing so."
Riku stared back before he ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I'm not good at snarky comebacks like you. I'm mostly just scolding you if you're doing something stupid. Which… just don't do anything stupid, okay?"
"No promises."
Shaking his head, Riku walked into the kitchen. He opened the cabin with the medication and took what dosage he needed. After that, he headed towards the front door, looking back to see if Saru had gotten off the couch yet.
"Well? Are you ready to leave? We're supposed to meet them in 10 minutes."
Saru got up to his feet and pocketed his phone. He followed quietly behind his brother, not caring enough to give another response.
As they neared the carnival, they could smell the various scents that came with it. From funnel cakes, to churro, to deep fried cookies, all of them blended together as they soon started to pass by different food stalls.
The sound too, filled with chatter, music, and screams from people on the rides. The carnival was in full swing, and already was extremely crowded. The two had to be careful as they squeezed by the amount of people who stood in lines that stretched out in front of them.
As they were passing by one of the larger food booths, someone wearing a long cloak turned, nearly crashing into Saru. In their hands was a clear, plastic container with a large and fresh burger inside.
The person immediately straightened up their posture and lowered their head. "Oh, pardon me," a male voice said softly in an English accent. "I'm afraid I wasn't quite looking where I was going."
"Just pay more attention next time, else someone might end up wearing your food." Saru spoke, before continuing to walk past the suspicious stranger.
Riku shook his head before looking towards the hooded man. "Sorry. He's a bit blunt at times."
There was a slight nod of the head that was under the hood. For a moment, Riku could have sworn he saw a glint from the eyes that hid underneath. "No reason to apologize. I'm just glad that I didn't lose my meal. Have a good rest of your day."
The person turned and started to walk away before Riku could even say anything else. He watched for a moment, his eyes catching something at the bottom of the cloak. It was only for a few seconds, before the man was lost in the crowd, but Riku could have sworn he saw a little tuft of a red tail sticking out at the edge.
"Huh… that's odd…" Riku thought for a moment.
He quickly dismissed the thought though as he ran to catch back up with Saru, who already was farther ahead. He shuffled past more people before he managed to grab his brother by the jacket, causing him to stop for a moment.
"Why can't you even be more polite towards others?" Riku huffed once they resumed walking alongside only another.
"Why must you nitpick everything I say and do?" Saru retorted in a bored tone.
"Because I don't need you saying the wrong thing and making enemies with the wrong people," Riku replied. "Even Zack's told you that over a hundred times."
"What's another enemy when I already have a hunter after my head." Saru commented sarcastically.
"Saru," Riku hissed. "Not so loud about that. But that… that has nothing to do with what I mean. I just meant when you talked to people. Remember when you first met Yata? You two nearly ended up fighting each other because of what you said to him."
"If it isn't obvious, I don't like social interaction."
"Yeah, I haven't forgotten. You've told me just as many times as I've scolded you for saying things," Riku said. "Now come on, I think I can see Yata and Sora in the clearing by the ferris wheel."
The two proceeded forward, finally breaking away from the thick areas of the crowd. Now out in a more open space, they walked up to Sora and Yata.
Sora smiled when they approached, reaching forward to hug Riku. "Hi Riku!"
Riku laughed lightly, returning a hug back to Sora. "Hey Sora. Hope we didn't keep you waiting for too long."
"Nah, we haven't been here long. Just got here a few minutes ago and decided to find a spot where hopefully you'd see us."
Yata looked at the two, before looking at Saru. "And you're not sleeping this time, that's a surprise."
"Ever heard of coffee, Misaki?"
"You drink coffee?" Yata asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not typically."
"Well we're all awake! That's what matters!" Sora cheered. "I already bought us plenty of tickets, so let's get on some rides! Let's start with the ferris wheel! We can go on it first and then end the night with it too!"
The three watched as Sora ran ahead towards the line to the ferris wheel, leaving them to move quickly to catch up to him. When they got their chance to get on, Sora and Riku sat on one side together while Yata and Saru were on the other.
Surprisingly, Saru and Yata managed to both remain quiet enough that no issues had occurred. It probably helped that Sora seemed to be in an excitable, talkative mood, and took up most of the conversation.
After the ferris wheel, the group got off and began to look around the park to see what ride they would go on next. They passed by all sorts of different rides, from the rocking boat, to the one that spun so fast it made you stick to the wall, and they even had one of those coaster-like rides that would go around in a circle several times.
"Ah! There's just so much to choose from!" Sora sighed. "I don't know what to do next!"
"Maybe we just start with the most extreme ones first?" Riku offered.
"But what do you classify as 'most extreme'?" Yata asked. "Not like we'd all have the same view for that stuff."
"Okay… uh, what about…"
"So, these are the two guys we've heard so much about," a new voice said.
Everyone turned their attention to see a redhead with a young silver haired girl standing near them.
"Axel! Anna! Hi guys!" Sora greeted them.
"Guess everyone thought to come here today," Yata commented. "No wonder it's so crowded."
"Anna wanted to come," Axel said with a shrug. "So, being the best uncle I am, I said I'd take her. Mikoto wouldn't be too interested in coming anyways."
"Well it's great to see you two! Oh, so yeah, this is Riku and this is Saruhiko," Sora stated as he pointed to the two boys.
"Riku and Saruhiko, eh?" Axel said.
He gazed at the two boys, and from that small gaze, Riku and Saru could feel the hair on the neck rise. Without any words, there was a definite sense that Axel could tell just what was different about them.
"Uh, nice to meet you," Riku replied politely.
Axel nodded. "Same to you. And you," he said looking over at Saruhiko. "Heard you caused some trouble for Yata at first, but you guys managed to work it out. Sometimes it's hard to get along with the hothead, isn't it?"
Yata groaned. "Axel, please shut up. As if you're one to talk about being a hothead!"
"Tch," Saru clicked his tongue. "Yet you're the one who is always shouting like an idiot."
"You shut up too!" Yata grumbled, his face burning red.
Axel laughed. "Well it looks like you guys get along just great. Even with your… differences, it seems that it can work out in the end."
"Differences?" Riku questioned.
There was an amused glint in Axel's eyes. He chuckled before giving a shrug. "You know, how they argue and fuss at each other. You and Sora don't seem to have that problem however, so it probably makes it a lot easier."
"Yeah! Riku and I get along perfectly!" Sora beamed.
"So, been on many rides yet?" Axel asked.
"Just the ferris wheel so far," Sora answered. "But we're looking for what to go on next."
"Ah, right. Well you kids have fun," Axel said as he started walking past the group.
Anna was following right behind him when she stopped briefly. She looked up at Saru and Riku, humming softly to herself. She started to smile after a moment and began to run to catch up with Axel.
"What was that about?" Riku asked.
"Anna has some pretty unique powers, probably like trying to read your minds or something," Sora explained. "But she's very nice, just a little curious."
Saru hummed. "Let's just keep going. No point in just standing here wasting time."
"Well we still haven't decided on a ride yet! We can't just go without knowing where to go!" Sora replied.
"Maybe we should just look at the games area first? We could look at the games and food before deciding what ride to go on next?" Riku suggested.
The others looked at Riku and then at one another, each of them not having anything opposed to the idea. Without any of them finding a reason to counter Riku's suggestion, they started making their way towards the section of the carnival that had the games
Sora, out of the four, was in awe over all the prizes, commenting over the ones that he wanted to try and win later.
"These games are always too hard," Yata muttered.
"Not unless you know how to beat them," Saru replied.
Yata turned to him, staring at him with a suspicious glare. "You saying you know how to?"
"Tch, doesn't take long to figure out the technique."
"Oh yeah? Then why don't we find a game later on and you show me!"
Saru shrugged. "I guess, if it makes you satisfied."
"Deal!"
Riku laughed. "Don't be too surprised, Yata. Saru has a knack for these carnival games."
"Of course he does," Yata said as he rolled his eyes. "It's going to be like at the arcade, isn't it?"
"Maybe, guess you'll just have to find out later," Riku replied.
As they exited the aisle of games, it opened up to a much wider area with food stalls lining the perimeter. There were also less people currently in the food section compared to the games, making it feel far less crowded and open.
Sora hummed as he looked around the closest food places. "So what food should we get? Or are we all going to get different things?"
"Probably different things, but we should see what they got," Riku answered.
Just as the group was going to proceed, a voice shouted from behind them.
"Hey Sora! Yata!"
Everyone turned around to find the source of the voice, and when Riku and Saru saw who it was, they almost couldn't believe who it was they were seeing. The boy who essentially was the catalyst for everything that led Riku and Saru to this very point.
"Tatara!" Sora greeted him cheerfully with a hug. "Glad to see you! How've you been?"
"I've been doing quite well, thank you. I should have expected to run into you and Yata today, it's a great day for a carnival. But I see that you have some new…" Tatara stopped for a moment as he finally started back at Saru and Riku.
His mouth dropped wide open as he let out a soft gasp. "You're the vampires who drank my blood."
Riku and Saru should have known it would have happened sooner or later. Neither of them had forgotten the moment they discovered that Yata and Sora were friends with the guy they had drunk from months ago. So much had happened with only the four of them, the idea that they would ever run into Tatara took a back seat.
But now Saru and Riku were staring back, their eyes wide, like a deer caught in the headlights. They could only manage a brief glance to one another, both of them thinking the same exact thing.
Oh shit.