Just One Yesterday

Yuki

"Ready or not, here I come!" I said aloud, dropping my hands to my sides and taking a quick look around. The forest was still and quiet, with the wind rustling through the trees every now and again. Other than some squirrels, there was no other living thing in sight, and I grinned with elation. The hunt would take some time then. That was good.

I started walking in circles, first small ones that gradually got bigger the longer it took to find him. I was scenting with my nose, but my human nose couldn't distinguish his earthy, masculine scent from the forest itself, and when I did catch a stronger whiff of it, it led to dead ends or too far out for the amount of time he had to hide. I wasn't worried though, it made the game more fun.

There was a song in my veins, one that had been dormant for many years, and I found it harder and harder to ignore. It changed between a keen and a growl, a sigh and the pounding of feet on earthen floors. It was the call of the Hunt, something I had been without in my locked state for many years. I had been unable to shift for so long, it felt like eternity. And it just figured that in a harmless game, the song would cry out for me now.

I couldn't shift, not fully. I could call on different attributes, but I would never be able to fully morph again. It was a blessing and a curse, but for the moment I was thankful for what little I could do. Shifting through the amount of animals and people I had come into contact with, I thought of the hearing and nose I needed and chose a fox. The emergence of fox ears left my head itchy and heavy after so long, and the scents that were so much clearer were almost overwhelming. I knew if I looked I looked in a mirror, my pupils would be large and slitted, and I could feel the sharp nails cutting lightly into my hands.

Sniffing around, I moved back to where I had been and almost fell over from the power of Brokentear's scent. For a moment I basked unashamedly in it, taking it in and memorizing it, and then shook off the feint euphoria it brought. I followed it to an old tree, one that looked to have been here for many years, and felt a predator's smile cross my lips. I stepped carefully, slowly to the giant roots of the tree and climbed aboard, and then circled around until I was looking at Brokentear form above. He looked up as my shadow fell over him, his semi-wide silver eyes meeting my animalistic crimson ones, and I grinned down at him.

"Found you," I crooned, voice something between a human croon and an animal's husky growl, reaching out to tag his shoulder playfully. Somewhere, farther back in my head, I had the thought that it might not have been a good idea to let the power out after so long being dammed up.

Setsuna

"I really want to save you, Setsu.. I.. I don't want to live without you." Forever begged quietly, his voice sounding desperate to my ears. I felt my heart stop for a moment, and then restart with a resounding break, feeling miserable from what I had done. I pulled him closer to me, his head burying itself in my neck, his body coming to rest half curled on my chest. I was a skinny but lean man, and a part of me couldn't believe how easy it was to surround Forever. I rolled us onto our sides and curled myself around him, looking out the window over his hair. My hands continued their slow, soft caress of his body, running down his back to his cute little tail and back again.

I didn't answer him for a long moment, lost in my head. I wanted to reassure him. I wanted to hold him tight and promise I would never leave him. I wanted to tie him to me in ways I had never tied anyone else, not even the first male from so long ago. And another part contradicted me, wanting to push him away, to shake him until he stopped feeling so strongly for me like I was for him. But the biggest thing about me was my possessiveness, and I would never willingly let him go, not unless he asked me.

But where did that leave us? I had been searching for many, many years to somehow extract the demons from myself, and the only two options were things I had no inclination for, not when they required someone else. I may have fallen from grace because of a person, but I would be damned before I hurt Forever like that. But the options were what was left.

"Calm yourself, dearheart. I did say I thought I had time yet, didn't I?" I murmured,kissing his head softly. I hugged him tight with one arm, and continued to caress him with the other. "We could do some research, if you'd like. See what we could find out. We have options, love." I told him slowly, savoring the moment.

End