Let's Run Away Memory

[thricebitten]

Let's run away together

[ Natsuno hides in the bushes of his back yard, looking at his own bedroom window. He hears someone approaching and crouches down as a blond boy wearing a pink shirt approaches. As he watches, the boy puts his back against the wall and reluctantly raises his arm as if to knock at his window - and stops. He holds his arm up for a long moment, as if gathering courage, then looks down and away, guilt and shame clear on his pale face as he drops his arm.

It's strange, Natsuno thinks. When Tohru-chan lay dead in his coffin, he didn't look the same to me. But this person right here... This person having doubts about attacking me is the Tohru-chan I remember.

He stands up from the bushes with a frown, prompting a surpised noise from Tohru-chan. ]

I'm here.

[ Tohru-chan looks away for a moment, again seeming to need to gather courage for the attack. When he looks again at Natsuno, his dark eyes with their red, shining ring around the pupil are steady with determination. He steps forward, toward the bushes. Natsuno lets him get closer, then holds up a makeshift cross of wood fastened together with wire. Tohru-chan looks shocked - looks afraid, recoiling back a half-step. ]

So this works? What's wrong? Are you afraid of it? How do you feel right now?

[ He walks out of the bushes towards Tohru-chan, who backs up. That's - good. It works. That's something he can protect himself with. He needs to understand more, to know more of how to fight them. Needs to confirm. ]

Or did you fear it even when you were alive?

[ Tohru-chan looks at him with a trembling face, his voice sounding conflicted. ]

Natsuno...

[ He's calling his name - he feels a flush of frustration, and raises his arm in an angry impulse. ]

I told you not to call me that!

[ He throws the cross at him. It hits the wall and bounces, uselessly falling to the ground. He just threw away his protection. He turns and runs into the forest, calling back over his shoulder. ]

Can't you co-exist with us?! Can't you stop attacking us?!

[ Tohru-chan chases after him, voice desperate with denial. ]

No!

[ As if it were impossible. ]

If you just explained it clearly, I'm sure people would donate some blood! And if you waited a little, their blood would replenish! No-one would have to die!

[ Tohru-chan holds a hand over his stomach as he chases after him. He looks... thin, haggard, his cheeks more hollow than the last time Natsuno saw him. It's been two days since then. Has he not... bitten anyone else? His voice sounds strained and hungry when he answers him. ]

You don't understand! If we could've done that, we never would've attacked humans!

[ Looking back at him, Natsuno can see the hunger in his eyes as well. They reach something of a clearing, and he slows to a stop, to hear Tohru-chan speak up again. To steel himself. ]

People don't shave flesh off a live pig and eat it bit by bit. Am I wrong?

[ He doesn't dignify that with an answer - not in words. He turns and raises the mallet and wooden stake he'd prepared and hidden on himself, and again Tohru-chan looks afraid, backing away from him. ]

If a cross worked, so should this, right?

[ Tohru-chan keeps backing away, raising his hands. Scared. ]

Stop! Natsuno...

[ No matter how he looks at him, that's Tohru-chan looking back. His face just like it was when he was alive, trembling in fear - of him. He casts aside the mallet and stake, frustrated with himself as they clatter to the ground. ]

It's not fair! Act more like a vampire! You're the same as you were before!

[ Tohru-chan looks at him in confusion.]

Natsuno?

[ He rolls his shirt sleeve up above his elbow, baring his forearm, and Tohru-chan gasps, eyes going wide. Natsuno smiles, offering his arm forward. ]

Drink my blood if you're hungry. We'll figure something out. And if you still feel like killing, just drink my blood. [ He steps forward, steadily closing the gap between them. ] Then we'll leave this village. We'll go somewhere Tatsumi and the others can't find us.

[ Tohru-chan struggles, making some odd, half-hissing, desperate noises, resisting the urge to leap forward and take Natsuno's offered arm. He shakes his head and turns his back on Natsuno, sinking to the ground with his head in his hands. ]

We can't! We can't escape from Tatsumi.

[ Natsuno insists, mind made up now that he's seen his friend suffering in front of him. ]

Then drink my blood, Tohru-chan! Tohru-chan!

[ Tohru-chan shakes, and screams desperately, clutching his head as he sinks to his knees. Natsuno can see his back shaking, hear him making more pitiful, desperate noises. Struggling. Suffering. He walks closer, close enough to reach out for his shoulder. ]

Tohru-chan.

[ Before he can reach him, Tohru-chan springs up, turning. His eyes are a glowing red blur, and his tears sparkle coldly in the moonlight as he opens his mouth, fangs sharply bearing down on Natsuno. He's pushed to the ground, the earth hard against his back as Tohru-chan holds his arms spread and bites into his neck, blood flowing out of him again, his body feeling heavy as his consciousness fades. ]