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"You have my permission to yell at me all you want, Oriya-kun." Muraki whispered.

~ ~ ~

Muraki smiled, "I like it too... but only because it's the best weather for hot tea and reading by the fire."
The sight of the Strawberry Shortcake which Oriya had purchased, almost made the teen's mouth water.

~ ~ ~

"I can teach you." Watari whispered, pulling back and locking his amber gaze with Tsuzuki's amethyst one. "How do you think I've survived, ne?" he smiled softly. "I can teach you how to vent your emotions without harming Bon, or anyone else for that matter."

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(((OOC: Song used is...

"Life Goes On ~Side D~" by CHEMISTY, the ending theme for the anime "Antique Bakery".

Song can be listened to from; http://gendou.com/amusic/?filter=antique+bakery&match=0

Lyrics can be found; http://gendou.com/amusic/?filter=antique+bakery&match=0

You'll need to login and download to hear the song.)))

~ ~ ~

Frowning, the man reached one hand out, gently turning Oriya by his chin so that Muraki could look into his peaceful expression.
'How I wish I could have been the friend you wanted.' he found himself thinking, closing his eyes as painful memories washed over him.



The teen felt the slap, his cheek stinging, his body falling to the floor.
The thud, the pain, he looked up, grey eyes filled with tears as he tried to reason with his heart.
"Doushite, Aniki?" Kazutaka whispered, unable to stand. "Doushite?!"
Standing above him, Saki smirked, reaching down and taking the teen's chin in his hand, forcing his head up. "Dakara... aishiteru..."
Without any warning, the elder teen claimed his half-brother's lips with his own, savoring the rough kiss before pressing Kazutaka back against the floor.
Saki's lips traveled down, finding joy in the flesh of Muraki's neck.
For his part, the silver haired teen closed his eyes, leaning his head back. "Saki-kun... tomeru..."he gasped, his brother finding a particularly soft spot at the base of his neck.
"Zenzen..."



"Daijoubu ka?"
Kazutaka smiled softly, reaching one hand up to gently entangle in the man's long dark hair.
"Hai, Oriya-kun." he whispered, closing his eyes and simply reveling in the feel of strong arms around him.
They sat together, beneath the sakura tree, the swordsman holding his friend close. Neither truly moving or speaking.
As the sun began to set, the brunette whispered softly in his companion's ear. "Do you have to leave?"
Sitting up and turning around, Muraki nodded. "My retainers are waiting for me. I have to be home before it gets dark."
"Or he'll worry?"
The teen nodded once more, a frown evident in his expression.
"Just stay with me, Kazu-kun." Oriya whispered, grasping his friend's hands gently. "Don't go back to him."
But Muraki shook his head, pulling away and standing. "I have to..."
"Doushite?"
Grey eyes closed, the teen wrapping pale hands around his own arms.
"Wakaranai..."



"Ne? Ne?"
Kazutaka frowned uncomfortably, moving his ohashi over the bento beside him and snagging a tako weiner.
"Sooooooo?"
The adorably cute face of Sakuraiji Ukyou stared back at him, waiting, holding baited breath as he tried the tiny octopus shapped weiner.
His frown of discomfort turned to a smile, "Oishii." Kazutaka spoke happily. "It's been years since I had a bento, Sakuraiji-san."
The girl frowned in return. "Kazu-kun... Watashi Ukyou. U-kyo-u."
Laughing, Muraki nodded. "Hai hai. Gomen nasai, Ukyou-san."
"Chan."
He shook his head, trying to hold back his own laughter. "You're quite straightforward, ne?"
Ukyou smiled, nodding. "We're friends, remember? There's no need to be proper, Kazu-kun."
"Hai... Ukyou-chan."
Laughing, she leaned over Muraki's shoulder, stealing the umeboshi on top of his rice. She popped it into her mouth with a smile, laughing slightly afterwards and covering her mouth with one hand.
This garnered a laugh from the silver haired teen as well.



Laughing, he threw his head back, downing the entire masu of sake.
Oriya smiled, picking up the tokkuri and refilling the masu.
"Always so proper." Muraki whispered with his own smirk, holding his masu in one hand.
Likewise, Oriya was reclining next to the low table, his own masu in hand, "Yes well, it wouldn't do to have you pouring sake yourself, Kazu-kun. Besides, it's YOUR birthday, not mine. You need a little bit of pampering, after all."
"Urusai." he joked, downing his masu. "You're just happy I'm legal now."
Laughing, Oriya nodded, "That's true... Not that this isn't your first taste of sake. At least now you can enjoy it in the open if you wanted."
"Hai."
Muraki grew quiet for a long while.
"Oriya-kun... I... I think I'm going to go to college in Tokyo."
This sudden declaration stunned Mibu Oriya, the man unable to come up with words.
"I mean, they've got some of the best medical schools and Ukyou-chan will be there as well and..." he trailed off, afraid to continue.
Oriya's voice was quiet, shocked, but barely heard. "You'll follow her, ne?"
The silver haired man nodded.
"Have you already applied? Entrance exams? Fees?"
He nodded once more. "Everything's settled."
Oriya sighed, setting his untouched masu down on the table and falling back onto the tatami. Dark hair splayed around him like an ocean as he looked up to the wooden beams of his room in the Kou Kaku Rou.
"Will you come to visit me?"
Moving around the table, Muraki knelt beside Oriya, frowning. "Come with me."
"I hate school. You know that. Besides, I..."
"Have the restaurant." the teen finished for him.
Oriya nodded. "Hai."
Sighing, Kazutaka shook his head, "I don't know when I can come back, Oriya-kun... Kyoto... Kyoto..."
"Holds too many bad memories."
Smiling sadly, Muraki nodded. "Hai."
Oriya reached up, gently cupping the side of Muraki's face with one hand. "But it holds beautiful ones too." he whispered, drawing his friend down to rest against his chest.
The silver haired teen nodded again, "Some I never want to forget."
"Ever..." Oriya replied, their lips mere centimeters apart.
Muraki closed his eyes, his body shivering slightly in anticipation.
"Some are meant to be cherished and savored." Oriya whispered.
Nodding slightly, Muraki replied with a simple 'Hai' before his lips were claimed in a passionate kiss.



"IIE!"
The resounding snap was loud.
Deafening.
Kazutaka fell to the floor, already used to this treatment. But this time, there was terror in his grey gaze.
"Saki... onegai... onegai..." he begged, scrambling backwards slowly, the wooden floor beneath him helping his movements.
The glint of a sword in the elder teen's hand made Muraki tremble in fear.
"ONEGAI!"
"Iie, Kazu-kun..." Saki whispered, a deranged glee in his gaze. "You're mine, remember? You don't belong to that whore, Oriya! You belong to me! NO ONE ELSE!"
Muraki was paralyzed, looking up at his mad brother, unable to move, to speak.
"I kept you safe." Saki spoke, slowly raising the sword in his hand. "I took care of you." he began to laugh, his voice loud and shrill, obviously insane. "YOU BELONG TO ME!"
"IIE!"
The sword swung down.
Kazutaka couldn't look away.
He was going to die.
Finally...
He was going to die...
BANG!
Muraki's eyes widened as he saw the blood splurt from Saki's body. The elder teen gasped, his eyes widening, looking akin to a fish fighting to breathe in the open air.
Saki grabbed his chest, landing on Muraki, trying to scream.
It was in vein.
Covered in his brother's blood, his silver hair and pale features coated in the sticky substance, Muraki looked up at the sight of one of the household staff, one of his retainers.
The man stood there, a gun in his hands, the barrell still smoking.
And all Kazutaka could do was scream.



Osaka's Itami Airport was crowded. People were coming and going, planes taking off and landing, passangers claiming and checking their bags.
But none of that really matter to Muraki Yutaka.
He had come by car, Oriya driving him the entire trip from Kyoto to Osaka.
But now they stood, one in front of the other, both watching the other nervously.
"Don't forget to write." Oriya spoke softly, handing Muraki one of his bags. "The days will be rather boring without you around, you know."
Kazutaka nodded, taking the bag and setting it down at his side. "I won't forget. Besides, they can't keep me that busy."
"I bet Ukyou can." the dark haired teen joked.
Smirking, Muraki blushed slightly, "Yes well... I think we'll both have our own things to work on. I just..."
His sentence trailed off, unable to continue.
"Wakatta." Oriya replied with a sad smile.
He understood.
Oriya always understood.
"Those boarding JAL172, please proceed to Gate 3." came a voice on the loudspeakers.
People began rushing around the two.
"That's your flight." Oriya whispered softly.
Muraki nodded. "Wakarimasu..."
The silver haired teen reached his hand out, waiting for Oriya to grasp it.
But instead, his friend pulled Muraki close, kissing him deeply. "I'll always be here for you." Oriya whispered afterwards, holding Kazutaka as if he never wished to let go.
Muraki smiled, kissing Oriya gently. "I'll come back."
"Yakusoku?"
Nodding, the man smirked. "Yakusoku... Oriya-kun."



Smiling to himself, Muraki closed his eyes as he lay beside Oriya in the hospital bed.
Vision of their past flashed through his mind.
Visions of everything Oriya had done.
Of the love between them.
'Is this all I need?' the man wondered. 'Could I give up my search... could I just live my life?'
He was trying to talk himself into forgetting about his deal with Saki.
Forgetting everything.
His brother... the shinigami... eternal life...

But then the voice returned, dark and cryptic...
He knew that tone... each seductive whisper passed from pale lips...
'Give up... and your life is forfeit.' Saki hissed from deep within the doctor's very soul. 'Give up... and I'll make sure those you leave behind... meet a fate worse than death.'

Muraki shivered, pulling himself close to Oriya and burying his face in the man's long hair.
Just as before, he was trapped...
And clinging to the only comfort he had ever known...

Those thoughts raced through the doctor's mind, as he soon fell into an exhausted sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(((
Translations:
Doushite, Aniki? = Why, brother?
Doushite?! = Why?!
Dakara... ashiteru... = Because... I love you...
Saki-kun... tomeru... = Saki... stop...
Zenzen... = Never...
Daijoubu ka? = Are you alright?
Hai = Yes
Wakaranai... = I don't know...
Ne? Ne? = Huh? Huh?
Oishii. = Delicious.
Watashi Ukyou. = I'm Ukyou.
Urusai. = Shut up.
Iie! = No!
Onegai... = Please...
Wakatta = I know
Yakusoku = Promise

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"It'll be soon." He sips his own sake, reacing back to pull his hair loose, shaking it out a little. it's more comfortable down, when he's relaxing like this. He lays back, hair splaying out a bit. Closing his eyes, he inhalses deeply, letting the breath out between parted lips.

----

Tsuzuki sighs a little, kind of feeling like Watari's trying to make things too simple. His depression is genuine and violent, and he's had it since he was a child.

"That's the goal." He smiles a little, looking over at him.

----

He raised an eyebrow. An offer like that is almost too good to be true. "No innocently slipping things into the coffee machine either?"

"Of course I do. Who doesn't?" He grins, shifting to sit up, picking up the pomegranate and starting to open it, carefully pulling the seeds out and placing them in a bowl.

----

"I suppose I could deal with anything for that." A mild tease... a good sign, that he can tease him.

((Sure. Cause Muraki's passed out))

~ ~ ~

Muraki frowned, "What in the world are you doing, Oriya-kun?" he asked, confused as to why he wasn't eating the pomegranate.

~ ~ ~

"Good." Watari smiled, "Now, what I want you to start focusing on is how you feel your emotions." he spoke, standing and moving to get a tablet.

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Muraki looked at his friend as if he were crazy. "Or... Oriya-kun... that's just seeds."

~ ~ ~

"Exactly." Watari nodded. "When you're angry, do you feel it in your stomach, your chest, your head? Where do you feel it. Plus, how does the emotion come on? Is it strong at first and gradually subsiding, is it a wave of intensity?"

~ ~ ~

Carefully, Muraki wheeled Oriya into his restaurant. "How does it feel to finally be home?" the doctor asked, taking special care not to make his friend feel weak. "I don't think you'll need the wheelchair, except when walking a long distance. But I'd avoid stairs."

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