Chapter Text
Bon had left a while ago, but Fushi watched as the black-haired boy was still outside the sanctuary/house looking at everything with curiosity and astonishment. He remembered ephemerally how it felt to wake up after more than 400 years, going out for a walk after centuries and explore the new world. He hadn't finished discovering it yet (He actually didn't even start) and that seemed fascinating to him, the enormous size of this world and the rapid speed at which it changes are things that over time came to surprise and excite Fushi; the feeling of returning to a place and seeing it completely different was unmatched by leaving nostalgia and sadness since what he once knew no longer existed, but at the same time it gave rise to a feeling of curiosity and amazement, excitement, to discover what was new and how it changed, to see the vestiges of something that once was there but no longer remains. Ah, he hoped that Kahaku could feel that, that he could see the world and the great changes generated as Fushi did just a few months ago. It was fascinating.
"And... where are the others?" Kahaku asked as he carefully opened the door, making sure it didn't fall apart as he walked through it.
"Others?"
"You know... March, Bon... You revived them, right?" He sat on a futon lying on the floor, Fushi sitting next to him.
"Oh… yes, they are at a new friend's house."
"Ah... New friend..." He seemed thoughtful "Did you... revive Eko?"
Ah, Eko. Fushi wondered what the little girl would say with the return of Kahaku, who raised her and took care of her in the moments Fushi couldn’t. He found a slightly soft look on his partner and realized that Eko may have been the only person who had missed him.
"Yeah, she's doing fine"
"That's... Good," He cleared his throat. "Why... why aren't you with them right now? I mean, Bon will come back with my 'documents' or whatever that is and I could go around the world freely, no need to... you don't have to accompany me "
There was a melancholic tone to his voice, and Fushi was generally not one to discuss the decisions of others but just remembering how his friends scolded him after setting them free in an unknown world gave him chills.
"I don't think that’s a good idea," he said as he shook off the chill "You’re centuries in the future, even if you have your ‘ID’ or whatever you’ll get lost and confused at this new world”
“Well, how much could the world have changed? I mean, I understand that there probably is another type of money currency or new fashionable clothes, but I don't think there could be anything so drastic"
Fushi felt a smile crawl on his face as he generated a phone in his hand, that feeling of uncertainty was familiar to him. "Look" He unlocked the phone as Yuuki taught him and with his finger began to touch the screen, Kahaku was impressed how the image of the device changed with just the touch of his finger.
"What is... What is that..." He seemed to want to touch the device but his hand simply didn’t dare to touch the glass "How do you do that?!"
"Ah..." It really wasn't his place to explain what was in his hand because he really didn't know "Yuuki told me it was called 'phone' I don't know how it works, it's probably magic"
"Huh... so humans discovered magic..." Finally his partner took the phone carefully, as if it were about to explode or as if he could break it if he squeezed it too hard (which actually happens) and began to slide his astonished finger, touching different applications without understanding what they were doing "And who is Yuuki?" He asked while looking intently at the touch of his fingers and trying to decipher how did it work.
"Yuuki is a new friend, we live with him and his family! He’s really nice"
"I see... Woah! What’s this?" Fushi leaned from his seat and saw Kahaku reflected in the device.
"I've seen humans do this! I think it's called a 'video' and it remembers things from the past "
"It remembers stuff?"
"Yes! It reproduces stuff that has already happened"
"Woah... the world has really changed..."
"And this is nothing! There are giant ‘phones’ everywhere! And imagine! There are carriages without horses"
"That's impossible," Kahaku replied as he took his attention away from that artifact, holding it with his thumb and index finger looking at Fushi "There is no way, surely they hide the horses somewhere"
"No, no, there are no horses, Mizuha explained to me that it had to do with something called 'Motor' and 'Energy', I really didn't understand it but it seemed to make sense"
“Huh… Who is Mizuha? Another one of your new friends?"
"Yes! I’m also sure she’s your successor"
"Seriously!? How did you know?"
"Your whole family has the same eyes, I have distinguished them that way for centuries" Fushi focused on Kahaku's eyes, Brownish-red, slanted, and with a feeling that he could only see in the Yanome. However it had always felt different in Kahaku, Fushi couldn't understand why.
Kahaku looked away quickly as he scratched the back of his neck "Ah... I see... It must be hard to look into Hayase's eyes on each of us" Kahaku chuckled slightly, but he didn't seem amused.
"It’s less evident in Mizuha, I suppose because the Yanome’s features were dissipating" He brought one of his fingers to his chin, thinking; Will there ever be a time in which those eyes no longer chase him? In which those features had dissipated so much, generation after generation, that there will no longer be any Yanome? He hadn't thought about it, but something constant throughout his whole life were the Yanome. Although Fushi still hated Hayase he didn’t particularly hate the other successors, perhaps he would even miss them, he thought.
"I wonder what does she look like…" He added as he handed the cell phone back to Fushi, who noticed that now there were some marks of dried blood in the middle of the screen.
"...You should probably wash that blood off, and change your clothes."
"I should, it is kind of sticky"
He created a change of clothes consisting of a simple white buttoned shirt and baggy black pants, along with boots of the same color, discreet would be the keyword.
While Kahaku wiped off the blood, Fushi was in the garden outside, bloody clothes in his hands. He had asked why he had suddenly almost killed him, but he didn’t ask how. Whose blood was it? Was it all from Kahaku? After all he remembered how his left arm was barely there when he took his form, as if he had ripped it off himself. He should ask him, he thought.
Maybe another time.
When he saw Kahaku again he was looking at his new clothes in a strange way, oh, right, the texture of modern fabric is usually different. Hopefully it doesn’t bother him that much.
"Ready to go?" Fushi asked looking at Kahaku as he smoothed his clothes. He froze momentarily upon hearing Fushi.
"Go? Where?"
"To explore the new world"
Kahaku got lost in the look that Fushi was throwing at him, but only momentarily as the sound of a loud horn was heard from the street, startling him but calming down when he noticed that the white-haired boy didn't even flinch. Fushi came to wonder when he had gotten so used to the sounds of the new world; loud and annoying sounds that now sounded as familiar as birdsongs, though much less pleasant to hear, of course.
He couldn’t decipher if his face was one of extreme agony or of incalculable thrill since his eyes couldn’t stop wavering all over the place, from the floor on his feet (that used to be simply dirt) which was now hard and even kind of shiny, the strange ropes that hung over them and that were camouflaged with the trees ('power lines' Fushi remembered, were its name, the function they fulfilled was unknown to him) but mainly what had caught the attention of the boy next to him were those ‘carriages’ without horses that made strange noises and honestly looked like monsters.
"How- What were those things called again?"
"'Cars'" Fushi recalled, unable to avoid feeling proud to show someone the new world. His friends seemed to know more about it than he did, so being a guide to the new world was a compliment.
However, the look of surprise on his partner only increased after leaving the suburbs and reaching the most populated places in the city; Giant billboards, filled with lights and dozens of the aforementioned 'cars' (two-wheelers, six, eight, Woah! There really was a huge variety of them) filled the scene and Kahaku was totally overwhelmed by the sudden change of environment, but sincere emotion was the one that crossed his eyes when he saw one of those artifacts full of light and movement.
"What's that!?" He asked while pointing to one of the new inventions of mankind.
"Oh! That's a ‘television’, they tend to be bigger than phones"
"Does That... Does That also 'remember' things?!"
"Yes! It's cool right?"
They both just hung around the city for a bit, a calm weather surrounding them but always interrupted by those horrible sounds from all the cars and phones and televisions and Woah people got a lot louder over the years (or maybe there’s just more people) and the large buildings that generated immense shadows blocking the sunlight that left Fushi wishing for a calmer and less overwhelming place, in which Kahaku asked questions incessantly about every new thing that caught his attention, like when they were watching a woman with pink hair and Kahaku started bombarding him with questions;
"How- Does that person have pink hair?! How is that possible?!"
And although Fushi didn't know the answer either, that doesn't make it impossible for him to come to an obvious conclusion; "Probably a side effect of magic"
They also walked through one of Fushi's favorite places, oh a Boba place, that exquisite taste really was one of the things he loved the most about the new world.
"It's... Really sweet" Kahaku said as he tasted his drink.
"Yeah" replied the white-haired boy while savoring his boba as if he were experiencing the best sensation on his whole life (Maybe he was)
Something that also stole Kahaku's attention was how all gazes used to fall on Fushi, and he knew it, and it was one of the things he still couldn't decipher.
"People are always looking at you"
"Yeah" He took another sip of his drink "I don't know why they always do that" In part Fushi understood after Yuuki explained, his clothes were 'unusual' and usually that made people look at him in a strange way. So he would have understood the origin of their glances if it hadn’t been because that day Fushi was wearing his plain shirt and a pair of light and perforated shoes (He knew they were called 'crocs' or whatever, he still thought it was a strange name) so he had no reason to attract attention.
But Kahaku looked at him with one of his long, indecipherable glances, as if Fushi failed again, to understand something that was obvious. And he hated when people did that, it’s true that there were certain things that he didn’t easily understand, but he hated when they didn’t explain and left Fushi feeling alone, inhuman, left out.
That's why he didn't expect Kahaku to explain himself;
"Well, uhm... It’s probably because… You’re, Y’know, attractive… to some people" he said with a strange tone in his voice and subtly looking away choosing to see his almost full drink.
'Attractive'
Another thing that he couldn’t understand; What made someone attractive? The shape of their face? The way they acted? Was that invisible standard something that all humans possessed equally? Was that the reason why Fushi couldn't make out what an attractive person looked like?
He took another sip of his drink, deciding to ignore those looks. It's not like they bother him anyway.
"Hm, I guess I still don't understand what being ‘attractive’ is..." he blurted out as a slight breeze blew his white hair out of place, slightly obscuring his vision of the blue sky and the lights all around.
"Huh?"
"Gugu tried to explain it to me once, that he was considered a monster, that he wasn't even a human... All because of his strange face, but I still don't understand why the shape of his face or the size of his body were so important..."
"Hm,"
He finally shifted his gaze to the person next to him, a silent Kahaku listening intently to what he was saying as he took a small sip and scowled in regret immediately… And had he said this to someone? Why was it so easy to just say what was on his mind?
"I may not understand many things about this new world, Fushi" Kahaku began to speak after a brief pause, "But people's beauty has always been based on the exotic, you have white hair and skin as pale as snow... people are attracted to you because your story might intrigue them, and those weird traits could make them curious, and people love being curious "
And oh, it made sense. Fushi couldn't remember a single person he’d ever met who had white hair; neither in the hundreds of books nor in the thousands of cities that he had visited, he never managed to find anyone like him. Should he be proud? Or embarrassed? When was being different okay? When was it wrong? How was he supposed to know?
Lately, Fushi came to the conclusion that the more answers he got to his questions the more questions arose from them. More complicated, less sensible, and that confused him much, much more.
“And why didn't they think Gugu was attractive? We were both different... "
He saw the raven-haired boy sigh beside him, pondering his question.
"Maybe... They knew they could have Gugu's appearance if they were unlucky enough, but they could never have your white hair and pale complexion" He looked around for a second more, thoughtful, as if he had come to that conclusion at that precise moment "Perhaps we think that beauty is unattainable"
Well, then what would be beautiful for him? He could take the form of whoever he wanted, obtain the features of hundreds of people; pale or dark complexion; light or dark hair; nothing was unattainable for Fushi; could he never consider anyone attractive?
"Huh... Yeah that makes sense" he managed to say. How could he put those questions into words?
And eventually they reached a park, the pace of the people was less and less and the overwhelming sound of the noisy artifacts were lowering its intensity as tree after tree interrupted their view. It felt like going back in time, the noises of the birds and the wind colliding with the leaves were a sound as familiar to Fushi as his own voice, the sound of grass below his feet reassuring as he finished his drink.
Kahaku silently offered him his drink, and although Fushi couldn’t understand very well most situations, it was painfully obvious that Kahaku didn't enjoy the boba as much as he did and honestly, he would rather the drink didn't get wasted.
Something that was also evident, or at least it was for Fushi, was how the black-haired boy saw the trees next to him with a kind of nostalgia or with at least a look that he couldn’t describe.
"You said you would show me things from the new world... and you show me trees?" He asked jockingly while a small laugh escaped his lips, Fushi had not thought of it that way but it was somewhat ironic that one of the first places that he’s showing him of the new world is a place full of trees, the same trees that inhabit the earth since the beginning of time.
"Hmm..." As he took a sip of his new drink they went to the shade of a tree to rest for a while, and at the same time he generated another phone as he had done a few hours before. "If you want to know so much about the new world then, here" He finally replied as he carelessly tossed the artifact at him.
Not a minute had passed and Kahaku was already opening the phone, Fushi couldn't help but mentally compare it to a sandwich. The boy next to him had nothing but a look of determination and curiosity as he opened (broke) the phone even more, breaking the glass and causing some sparks to come out while unraveling the poor phone, that curiosity was quickly transferred to Fushi who with a look of bewilderment slightly leaned towards Kahaku to see what he was doing — who turned away.
Kahaku had abruptly pulled away from him the moment he got a little closer than normal, as their arms collided and their closeness was enough to feel his body heat — Kahaku had rejected his closeness — which wouldn't be totally abnormal as Fushi realized that he didn't understand the limits of others in terms of 'personal space' or whatever that was, but Kahaku never seemed to care. What's more, in the years that he met him, Kahaku was always the one who initiated his proximity, whether it was a light touch on his shoulder or a simple brush of arms, it was his partner who leaned in and Fushi who accepted the proximity, he was never rejected by him.
So the look of bewilderment that accompanied Fushi as the leaves of the trees collided with each other was most noticeable, much more so for the person next to him who was looking at him — he was looking at him strangely, as if a pain had passed through his chest, a pain so sharp that even Fushi could feel the other's heart twist in his chest.
“I… I'm sorry! It's just that… You still remember how I feel… about you… Right? "
He did.
"I do"
There was a silence between them, small pieces of the artifact from Kahaku's hands fell subtly, but Fushi was more interested in knowing why his chest was so twisted in pain. In part this feeling was familiar to him because he had felt it years and years ago, every time he saw the raven-haired boy in front of him; Little pangs invaded him, pains that he knew were from Kahaku and that he remembered feeling for the first time so long ago when Gugu was talking to Rynn… and Oh. It was that, and he knew it, and he remembered it.
"I remember... I thought you liked being close to me" Fushi didn’t really care, either way, whether Kahaku was touching his arm or 5 meters away.
"I do"
"Then why did you pull away?"
Fushi couldn't help but hear the sound of frustration escaping from Kahaku followed by a sigh, he seemed frustrated, he looked like himself when he couldn’t understand a concept apparently so easy for others, so it wasn’t difficult for him to feel empathy and wait for a few seconds for the boy to compose himself and explain (if he wanted to)
"I just — I want to stop loving you" He quickly blurted out "I'm choosing not to be in love with you anymore."
He was what?
"You can choose to stop being in love?" Fushi asked seriously taken aback. That seemed to contradict everything he had ever heard about love; How it’s unstable, cursed, unfortunate and above all, how you’re unable to control it. Yet here in the middle of a park Kahaku had confessed that there was apparently a way to quell those feelings willingly.
To his surprise, Kahaku chuckled. An empty laugh. "You can't" was the only thing that came out of his mouth. "But im choosing not to act on it, luckily one day I'll stop loving you"
He felt somewhat bad for him.
Because Fushi could recognize that the origin of his affection was totally sincere and real. He had always known.
However, over time he managed to get used to having those eyes glued to the back of his neck and that soft gaze looking at him from the side, wishing him well and watching over his well-being. It was comforting, knowing that he meant so much to someone. And oh it was nostalgic to have that sweet look on him once more after so many years, he couldn't help but think how empty he would feel if one day he stopped feeling those warm eyes on him.
"I'm sorry" He didn't know what else to say. He didn't even know what he was apologizing for because it wasn't his fault. The entire premise of love was indescribable, it seemed so painful but so pleasant at the same time. He couldn't even imagine it.
"No, no please don't be sorry, it’s all right" He let out a carefree laugh as a small smile accompanied his face when he saw the blue sky above him. "I guess I just didn’t mean to love you so much"
Hopefully, Kahaku would stop loving him soon. Well, Fushi couldn't wait to get rid of that stabbing pain in his chest that came from Kahaku.
"I-" The white-haired boy didn’t even begin to speak because a group of two young girls approached them in timid steps and with their ‘phones’ in hand, the red of their cheeks puzzled Fushi.
"Um— Hi." The shorter of the two began to speak as she tried to look away. "I—Um, Hello! Im Teruhashi and this is Misaki… Um— We— We were wondering if… "
"If we could please have your numbers!" The other followed when she saw that her friend was unable to continue.
Their number? The boys both looked at each other, puzzled.
"What do you mean?" Kahaku asked
"Oh — Um, Your… Your phone number?" With that tone the girl seemed even more lost than them. She wanted... his phone? Even though she was already holding one in her hands? Fushi was completely confused and from his partner's gaze, he wasn’t in a very different position.
Creating a new cell phone behind his back (it was better to be subtle) Fushi handed the artifact to one of the girls who first saw him with a confused look, but after a few seconds her face seemed to frown in anticipation.
"This is... For me?"
"Yeah! I mean you… asked for it? "
If they were referring to something else they’ll never know because as soon as he said that both girls ran away as if a pack of wolves were chasing them, smiles plastered on their faces accompanied by apparent confusion.
The new world was indeed a strange place.