Archive of Our Own ^beta

Our ancestors knew, even before they knew how to walk on two legs and take the journey to the lands they would call home, that they weren’t alone. There were spirits; Gods who travelled with them since before Men knew how to name themselves and who made them lucky, stronger or struck fear into their hearts. But they never ever left them alone. Every time people decided to move, the Gods travelled with them; always being part of them.

Our ancestors also knew about the Gods and spirits that bled into the land. They travelled with Men until they found a place to dwell and protect. They protected plants and animals and everything that lived between the land underfoot and the sky overhead. These beings, like the travelling ones, could either help Men or hurt them, depending on their mood and how their land was treated. As such, our ancestors learnt to worship them, to win their favour. Men knew these beings were as real as the other Gods, and that Mankind would never, ever be completely alone.

 It doesn’t matter where you are from, your language, or your traditions. These beings who exist and protect are also there.  They are in every place the human race has dwelled since the beginning of time.

Or they once were.

It is also known, if none remain who believe, the creatures of the earth grow weaker, fade from memory until they are forgotten and only myths remain. Other times it is the other way, the beings forget and wander, leaving the people to their fate, nothing left but a nagging feeling of something missing they never get to solve.

 But always something other that lingers. An old church that still keeps something sacred in its bones, when only ruins remain, an empty valley that feels loud when it is silent and quiet when there is din, a yawning lake that rests calmly under a stormy sky. A sense of something more that can’t be expressed with words.

Hasetsu is one of these places. A sleepy village where time seems to slow and stretch. Where nothing exciting ever happens, and one day looks much like the next or the one after. People either want to leave as soon as possible or flourish in its quiet atmosphere, chatting with the neighbours like it has been done for generations. It’s a place tourists – the few who decide to venture so far from the cities-- like for its relaxing peace. Where everyone is nice and polite and the only sounds that break the silence are children playing and gulls crying. Where everything seems to have been there for ages, settled in a way difficult to describe.  Unchangeable, always remaining the same as it has always been. Like its ninja castle. Like its forest.

Or that’s how it once was. Then, the Pine Grove began to die.

June.

Ecology Department. Faculty of Biology. St. Petersburg State University.

 “Hey, have you seen this?”

Viktor looked up from the textbook, now covered in newspaper, to check his youngest student's face.

  “No, I hadn’t. I’m busy, Yura. What’s going on?”

“Creepy shit. I found it while looking at all that stuff you are ignoring from that Japanese University you are running to. I don’t know what it says, but that picture looks like a haunted forest.  Finally, something interesting in this place.”

“It was you who wanted to spend your summer vacation working with me because ‘Moscow is warm as hell and there’s nothing to do,’” he said, mimicking Yuri’s voice.

“St. Petersburg is cooler, and you promised you would be here for the whole summer and that I could do an internship before starting Uni. But, of course, you forgot; and now you are going to ditch me --and the whole country-- to stay in a stuffy office in a shitty university in the middle of nowhere.”

“They warned you the internship wasn’t going to be with me before you signed on. I can’t have an intern when I’m not even doing most of my summer courses.”

“Yes but you promised you’d help with the project and its experiments. But you forgot, I’m sure.”

“Perhaps I did.” Viktor shrugged his shoulders. “But, I’ll still do it. I’ll just do it by email or skype instead of having you storming into my office every time you get bored about something.”

Yuri grunted, shaking his head and making Viktor want to tell him to go back to Moscow. He was sure most people thought they were related. Even if he thought of Yuri as the brat brother he never wanted or asked for, the truth was, he was doing Yuri’s grandfather a favour.

Nikolai Plisetsky had housed Viktor while he was doing his Master’s at Moscow University and when the University blocked his scholarship, he hadn’t made Viktor pay rent until he had won the battle with bureaucracy to have it back, even though Viktor knew for a fact they had needed the money.

That felt like ages ago, when he still loved everything about science and academia and every day was interesting. Now, Yuri’s grandfather was old and a bit sick, so taking in his teenage grandson for the summer before he started Uni hadn’t seen too much of a sacrifice.

Sure, he was 15 but he was also already enrolled at Uni. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t have anything to talk about. What Viktor hadn’t thought about was that, genius or not, Yuri was still a teenager and a very annoying one on top of that, one who constantly got on his nerves.

Sighing, Viktor looked at the newspaper on his desk. The picture showed a forest, but it looked creepy and terrible, with half-dead trees hunched among the healthy ones. He wasn’t surprised Yuri thought it was cool.

“It looks a bit like a horror film version of that elm plague they had in Great Britain a few years ago,” Viktor murmured while trying to decipher the language. “Hasetsu? I didn’t know they had forests there.”

“That picture looks like they aren’t going to have one for long. Or at least a living one. But the zombie version looks cool.”

Ignoring the blonde’s comment, Viktor focused on the newspaper, trying to figure out what was written. His spoken Japanese was good enough to have a conversation, but his reading skills needed work and understanding took effort.

“Their Pine Grove is dying? Why hasn’t anyone said anything? Why hasn’t anyone done anything to stop it?”

“Fuck if I know, old man.” Yuri shrugged. “I don’t understand shit from the article. I just think the picture is creepy. And cool. And wanted you to translate, so I know where I have to go.”

“Hasetsu. Not that far from Fukuoka. But you aren’t coming,” Viktor warned while packing the paper and the book he’d been checking before Yuri barged into his office.

“Where are you going?” Yuri yelled at Viktor’s back as the other man stormed out.

“To change my plane ticket. And to Yakov’s. He’ll need my notes if he’s going to teach the whole course,” Viktor said without stopping to look at the teenager, ignoring all the swearing he could hear coming from the room.

Hasetsu.

Viktor looked around the building while at his feet Makkachin bounced happily. It had been really impulsive to fly to Fukuoka without asking if he could arrive almost two months earlier than expected, but who would need the visitors’ building on summer? Campuses were always empty.

It seemed that wasn’t true in Fukuoka. They had let him store his belongings, but his apartment wouldn’t be ready until the originally arranged time. Luckily, a fellow professor from the Ecology Department had taken pity on him and --learning of his plans to check Hasetsu’s Pine Groove--had recommended a place to stay.

The building looked very traditional, exactly as he’d expected a Japanese building would be. Additionally, the inn had a hot spring and it was on one of the edges of the forest.
It did seem his impulsiveness had paid off for once.

 The screen door opened, and a middle-aged woman appeared on the threshold.

“I’m Katsuki Hiroko. Welcome to our Onsen,” the woman greeted in a strong accent before bowing.

“Viktor Nikiforov,” Viktor replied in stilted Japanese while copying the bow. “I’m glad to be here.”

~*~

His rooms were nice and quiet, and the bed looked comfortable enough. At least Makka seemed to agree. The poodle had jumped on the bed and was curled in a ball, close to sleep. Viktor was tempted to follow his dog’s example. He could rest for a while before going to the forest, perhaps even take a short nap, but he knew he was too curious and impatient and wouldn’t rest until he could take a look. Giving a last glance to the bed, he turned around and went for the door.

“Makka,” Viktor called. He could go without his dog. But everything was unfamiliar enough that he wanted the company. A touching stone among all the changes he had made.
Looking at the corridor he tried to find his way back to the main entrance. He was sure there would be someone there who could tell him a bit more about the forest. Or at least point the way to the people who knew. He was planning the questions he needed to ask when Makkachin stopped suddenly, making Viktor nearly trip.

“What’s the problem, Makka?”

The poodle’s only reaction was a twitch, too focused on the next door. A door he ran to and bounced around until it opened and a dark-haired guy appeared.

“Hey. What a cute dog.” The guy, who looked at most in his early twenties, kneeled and started petting and cooing at Makkachin. The poodle enjoyed the attention, flopping onto his back to demand belly rubs.

In any other situation Viktor would have let them be. He knew how much Makkachin liked being petted and he deserved all the praise he got. He was an amazing dog. But today he didn’t have time to waste if he wanted to do a first visual inspection of the forest.

“Hi. Are you also a guest?”

The younger man moved his head to look at Viktor without stopping petting Makkachin.

“No. I live here. Did you need anything? Is this dog yours? He’s amazing.”

“Yes, he is. Makkachin.” The poodle turned on his legs and trotted lazily to Viktor. “I have come to study the forest.”

“Oh, do you know what’s happening to it?” His face seemed friendly enough, but something in the way he had asked the question made Viktor feel attacked.

“Not yet. That’s why I came here, to figure it out. Do you know the shortest way to go into it?”

“There is a short-cut through the onsen but people aren’t allowed there with clothes. It’s better if you go through the main entrance and then go to the right. It’s five minutes”. The man smiled, making Viktor relax a bit. “I could show you the way?”

“Please, lead the way.”

The guy moved through the corridor, Makkachin bouncing next to him and earning himself a few more cooing words.

“You are excited, aren’t you? Don’t worry, you are going to have a lot of fun.” the guy talked earning a soft woof from Makkachin before turning to look at Viktor. “Are you staying for long, Mr…?

“Nikiforov. Viktor Nikiforov. I don’t know. I start teaching at Fukuoka University in September but the university won’t let me get into the apartments until late August. So, around that time.”

The dark-haired boy nodded, making his hair hide his face.

“Excuse me. If you live in the onsen, are you related to the owner? I talked to Katsuki Hiroko earlier.”

The man made a sound of agreement, distracted by Makkachin jumping next to him, demanding more pets.

“Should I call you Katsuki, then?” Viktor didn’t want to offend but the Japanese honorifics were complicated, especially when the other person didn’t seem inclined to offer his name.

“That would be fine”. Katsuki smiled before gesturing to the main door. “If you take the road that begins here and turn right you’ll find the closest entrance to the forest after a five or ten minute walk. Have fun.”

Viktor thanked him and leashed Makkachin before taking the road. It was as easy to find as Katsuki had mentioned. The day had started to end and the light that fell over them while they walked had that warm yellow hue that told him that sunset wasn’t too far but daylight would still last for a while. He walked into the forest and he immediately felt the difference. It wasn’t only that the trees made everything a bit darker and the air cooler. It wasn’t either the sound of crunching pine needles under his boots instead of the smooth step of the road he had just left behind.
It was something inherent to every forest he had ever visited but that he had never been able to put into words. In part because it was a weird feeling, but mainly because it made him think on the tales his grandmother had told him during the long winters. Of ghost, trolls, spirits and an evil woman living in a house standing on a chicken leg. Of things that couldn’t be explained by science and if there was a word Viktor Nikiforov used to describe himself it was scientist. All could and should have a logical explanation and if it didn’t it was because nobody had found it yet.

And still, even if he was sure of this with the same strength his grandmother believed in ghosts, he couldn’t help but feel there was something about the forest. About all the forests.

Forests --it didn’t matter the type of trees which made them, but it was usually stronger the older the forest was--, had their own type of feeling. It as was a kind of quiet and peace that made Viktor relax and bask in it. He loved it but it also made him uncomfortable. Like he was too close to hug the trees, howl at the moon or do any other new-age weird thing he sometimes had seen done in them.

But this forest was different. He didn’t know if it was because he could see the dead pines between the healthy ones but, even if he could still feel that peace he associated with the forests, this one felt different. If it were a person or an animal, Viktor would have said it felt sad and tired. Like its grief was so strong it was thinking on giving up.

Frowning and trying to ignore those weird feelings, Viktor crouched next to a dead tree to look more closely at the pine needles that covered the ground while keeping track of Makkachin who was busy sniffing everything.

The dog was used to going with him to forests and he usually was very well behaved but he was also very curious and it was better to keep track of him to avoid problems.

Viktor moved aside the brown pine needles, taking one and inspecting it. Looking for any kind of clue of what was happening on the grove without luck.

“No fungus. At least not one that can be seen easily,” he murmured, before paying attention to the soil underneath.

“Sand. It makes sense, we are close to the sea. But I should check where the dunes finish,” he dug a bit more, just using his fingers, looking for the first layer of rich deep brown soil and taking a pinch between them.  “Looks like it should, in a pine forest like this one.”

Still murmuring, Viktor shifted looking around and focused on the dead tree’s bark next to him, while Makkachin could be heard somewhere close sniffing around a tree.

“There aren’t any signs of beetles or any other type of insect.”

There wasn’t an easy answer to this mystery. All the first hypothesis he had about what could be happening to Hasetsu’s pine groove didn’t fit with what he was now seeing. He was glad, he liked solving this type of puzzle. Being surprised of where Science took him and enjoying the quest to reach that answer.

He sighed. He needed to check if Fukuoka University would let him use the lab even if he wasn’t working there yet or if there was another lab nearby he could use to analyse samples. And he had to figure out when it had started, too. There were plagues that only happened in specific months so it was a way to rule things out.

Makkachin’s sudden bark made Viktor look up. All his planning was forgotten when he stood up and went to see what had the poodle so excited. Getting closer he could see a pair of legs wearing the type of trousers with lots of pockets every hiker seemed to own and a pair of hiking boots.

“Makkachin. Stop. Leave that person alone.” He walked until he could see the face of the poor person suffering Makka’s affection. “I’m sorry. He’s a very enthusiastic dog, but he isn’t dangerous. I hope he didn’t hurt you.”

Makkachin moved aside, letting the young man move. He seemed okay apart from is slightly laboured breath and having his slicked brown hair full of brown pine needles.

“No, he is fine. Don’t worry. I just wasn’t expecting anyone.” The guy blushed, squinting at him before looking away to the ground, seeming completely embarrassed. “Usually nobody comes here.”

Viktor felt pity for the guy but also a bit of embarrassment, not knowing what to say to make it better.

“Well it’s nearly dark. I was studying the forest but I should leave soon anyway.”

“Studying?” He moved, standing up and brushing the needles stuck to his trousers and long-sleeve shirt.

“Yes. I’m a professor at Fukuoka University. I’m going to teach Basic Ecology but my field is mainly forests,” Viktor summed up without giving too many details. People usually got lost when he talked about his field of study or thought he was a member of one of those associations who chained themselves to factory gates or ships. He didn’t have anything against them, but he had too many years of study under his belt to want to be mistaken.

“Oh,” the man said, looking suddenly very nervous. “I have to go. It was nice meeting you and good luck with your study.”

He broke into a run, leaving Viktor, completely confused, behind.

“We didn’t even get his name.” Makkachin woofed in agreement. “What a pity, he’s cute.”

~*~

Soon Viktor settled into a routine halfway between a vacation and a field trip. He still had to help Yuri with his work back in Russia and Yakov hadn’t let him leave behind his course completely. He may not have been there for the teaching but he could correct the assignments as well as if he was in his apartment in St. Petersburg.

 But for the rest he could do anything he wanted. Even the mystery of the pine grove was something he was determined to solve because he wanted to, not because he needed to write a new paper, present a new discovery or have a new theme for a conference.

It was relaxing and strange to be able to do nothing at all. He couldn’t remember the last time he had this much free time. Time to be able to relax, after years and years only focused on Science and the academic world. To have long walks with Makkachin around the small town, talking to the inhabitants that after a few days were already getting used to the foreigner who liked to walk and explore every little corner of their town.
To fill his Instagram with casual scenes that he usually didn’t have time to take in Saint Petersburg. And even to be able to feel really homesick. He had been abroad before, it was part of his career and it had given him lots of things: knowledge, grants, even his best friend was something he had found because he had travelled and studied abroad. But aside from a small annoyance here or there, like trying to find something in a supermarket, he had been too busy to miss Russia much.

But Hasetsu was different. It was making him stop for once and look around. Stop and talk to people not out of politeness or duty but because he wanted to. He had time to enjoy their stories and anecdotes, and he especially had time to figure out what else was outside that little academic bubble where he lived in, who he was outside of that little world he had been in since he stepped into his first class at University at 16.

Even doing the same tests he had been doing for years in different forests around the world was different here. It usually was a task to complete to be sure his hypothesis was right, here they also reminded him why, a long time ago, a young man in his late teens had decided to choose this field instead of medicine like everybody expected him to.

It was the mystery of discovery; of trying to figure out a puzzle before him knowing that doing so meant saving a part of nature. But it was also the teaching, for the first time in a long time, he was excited to explain what he was doing and why. He knew it was because of the audience--The shy hiker, a quiet, more attentive student than any of the ones he ever had at University, even the ones that were in his class because it was what they wanted to do--. But also because it gave Viktor the chance to learn more about him. Teaching and talking freely about what he was doing seemed to relax the hiker enough to talk to him, sharing information here and there.

And for Viktor, learning anything about the mysterious hiker was a huge success. It was like learning a new language, like when he started studying and confusing until he suddenly figured something out and it felt like a big achievement even if it was a small thing.  Talking to Yuuri was similar --and if getting his name hadn’t been one of his biggest successes, he didn’t know what could be--- He never knew what could make Yuuri talk or run away and it all kept fascinating him.  Like everything Yuuri did.

Here, between Hasetsu and his pine grove, it was easy to settle in and let time fly. To let himself enjoy everything, even his career, and to be distracted by things and people as they came, not sticking to a plan that he had been following for years without thinking about it. To let himself think what he wanted to do and who he wanted to be.

If only he could figure out what was happening to the forest.

July

There were two main lessons Viktor had learnt early on in his career: one was that people were extremely nice when they needed anything and the other was that if everything seemed to be going completely well he was overlooking something. Every time he had mentioned these rules, most of his classmates who were years older simply shook their heads, dismissing him and commenting he was too young to be a cynic. Viktor knew better, it wasn’t cynism but observation. Science didn’t lie and he had proof after proof of how this seem to be an unwritten natural law.

That was how he should have known that the few very relaxing weeks he just had, were there just to lull him into letting down his guard before the other shoe dropped. Usually it was some kind of lab mishap, but this time the problem came in the form of a blond teenager wearing a lot of tiger print clothes.

“What are you doing here, Yuri?” Viktor asked when he saw the boy in front of the onsen’s door.

“Looking for you,” the kid growled pushing past him to walk into the building. “You promised you were going to help me and you will.”

Viktor sighed, looking at the teen’s back and trying to remember why murder was always a bad idea, even when it was deserved.

“I could have done it by email,” he answered gritting his teeth.

“Not the practical part, jackass.” Yuri twirled pointing a finger at him. “You promised me you’d show me how it’s done. I can’t do a biology project without the experiments and you know it.”

“Yeah, okay.” Viktor rubbed his forehead trying to ignore the headache starting to brew. “Where are you sleeping?”

“Here, of course,” stated Yuri arriving at the welcoming desk. “You aren’t going to leave my sight.”

“Have you at least asked if there are any empty rooms left?” Trying to suffocate the urge to throttle Yuri was getting more and more difficult.

Yuri’s answer got lost when Katsuki-san appeared from behind the desk. He looked briefly at Viktor before setting his gaze on Yuri who stood straight as a beam and uncharacteristically quiet.

“A new guest?” he asked blandly.

“Yes, if there are any rooms left” Viktor sighed. “If there aren’t we’ll figure something out. I guess.”

He probably could share with the teen if there wasn’t any other option, but it was going to be horrible. Katsuki nodded, checking on the book sitting on the desk.

“You are in luck. We have a room free next to yours,” the young man answered and looked for a moment at Yuri like trying to figure out how a teenager had arrived alone at such a far away place.

“Thank you. He should have all the documents you need to register him but if there’s anything he can’t do because he’s a minor I’ll do it for him.” Viktor sighed, hating the situation more and more with every passing second.

“I think that would be fine. I’m going to tell Mari, before it gets double booked,” Katsuki said before leaving.

Viktor turned and looked at Yuri who was looking with a frown at the door Katsuki had just disappeared through.

“Listen to me, Yuri,” he said seriously, making Yuri turn his head. “I’ll help you design and do the experiment and then you’ll go back home. You aren’t going to spend the whole summer here. You aren’t going to do your paper about Hasetsu’s Pine Grove.”

“As if I’d want to do it about that,” Yuri scoffed. “Show me how it’s done and I’ll do it better than you ever did.”

Viktor rolled his eyes. It was going to be a few long days.

~*~

Trying to explain things to someone who thought they knew better was always exhausting and frustrating. It was even worse when said person was fifteen and had a chip on his shoulder as big as a small continent.

Yuri was a nightmare, only stopping his glare when he was in the presence of any of the Katsukis, specially the younger ones or when they arrived in the forest. The first day had been the worst, trying to remind him how he should look at the soil and take samples, and being ignored. Viktor tried to remind him what he should know about the methods used. The teenager had learnt the theory but the only thing Viktor managed for his efforts was being talked back.

Every. Single. Time.

(All of this was a painful reminder of why Viktor had never had the impulse to become a high school teacher. Teaching was part of being a scientist at a University, but at least his students usually didn’t talk back. He hoped Yuri took the courses he usually taught before he had to go back to Russia or he’d end up committing a murder.)

The second day seemed set to be a repetition of the first one- why did he have to repeat himself so often? He was supposed to be the forgetful one, not Yuri-, at least until Yuuri arrived. Then it got better and worse at the same time.

When Yuuri appeared, Yura stopped moving and got very quiet like he had done at the Katsukis, but soon he frowned and looked at Yuuri like he was invading instead of the other way around.

“Who?” he growled.

“Yuri, this is Yuuri.” Viktor frowned the names were going to get confusing fast. “Yuuri, this is Yuri. Yura I mean. It’s going to be confusing.”

“Only one of us can be called Yuri.” The blonde growled making Yuuri look nervous.

“Then he’ll be Yuuri and you Yura,” Viktor cut in before Yura said anything more annoying or Yuuri got more nervous. “It’s either that or another nickname. Deal with it.”

The teenager didn’t seem to like it but settled down. Good thing because Viktor was close to send him back to Russia in the next plane.

“Yura is going to design his own experiment in Russia and I’m teaching him how to take samples and do tests” Viktor explained focusing on Yuuri. “You want to lend us a hand?”

“No!” Yuri shouted.

“Yuuri has seen me do it several times and has helped,” Viktor frowned while Yuuri shook his head frantically. “He can do it as well as you.”

“That’s not true!”

“Viktor…” Yuuri murmured, blushing at the same time. “I don’t want to be a bother. I can come another time.”

Viktor focused all his attention on Yuuri, ignoring the ranting teenager next to him. The Japanese man seemed nervous and uncomfortable. Not as much as the first time they had met, but more than he had been in the last few days. Viktor frowned angrily at Yura, making Yuuri more nervous without meaning to.

“If you don’t want to stay or can’t, then it’s okay,” he said softly. “But you are a great help and I like talking to you, so I’d like you to stay.”

Yuuri seemed more nervous but drew a breath before coming to a decision.

“Okay. I’ll stay” He said walking next to Viktor. “Where do you want me?”

Suppressing the first idea that went through his head-probably poorly if Yuri’s yell of gross was any indicative- Viktor led Yuuri to where he had been teaching Yura how to take samples.

“I have been trying to teach him how to take soil samples. Like I was doing last time we talked,” he explained. “We can start here. Yura don’t complain. Getting help and seeing how it’s done from other source won’t kill you.”

Suddenly Viktor’s phone started to ring.

“Give me a minute,” he said when he took it out and saw a Japanese name on it. “I think it’s from Fukuoka.”

He took the call and started walking around, talking in a mix of English and Japanese, not paying attention to his surroundings but to the conversation. It was all about how his apartment should be ready by the end of August and the confirmation of his term teaching and experimenting at the University. All seemed fine but he had to set a meeting the following week with the dean and the faculty’s responsible to sign everything and get the paperwork done. Nobody could escape bureaucracy.

When he came back he saw both Yuris talking together head to head but the moment he cleared his throat, Yura jumped and moved a meter from Yuuri. Viktor mentally shrugged. If they could get along well he didn’t care if Yura tried to act like it hadn’t happened while he was around.

That day, the three of them settled into a pattern that lasted until the last day of Yuri’s stay. They’d spend a few hours in the morning or in the afternoon with the project- either talking samples or writing except the couple of days they travelled to Fukuoka so Viktor could talk to his new bosses and also show Yuri how the tests should be done thanks to one of the labs at university- and the rest of the day doing touristic things. That was usually the time of the day Viktor could get rid of Yuri and relax. Nothing would happen to the teenager in the small town and honestly, spending so much time with him was exhausting.

Viktor usually used that time to go back to the forest to talk to Yuuri without his Russian counterpart. The conversations were less stilted than when the teenager was around but they were still too polite, too cold. Every time Viktor tried to flirt, Yuuri would get flustered and either change the subject or run away. The Russian didn’t know how to avoid this and he was running out of ideas. Perhaps he should ask Chris. His friend had a never ending pool of flirting ideas, perhaps one of them could work.

 Viktor blinked getting out of his head when he heard his door slid open and Katsuki’s head appeared.

“Hey. Yuri left this afternoon and he left this note for you,” he said getting into the room and handing him a piece of paper.

“Thanks,” he murmured while trying to figure out if he was glad the kid was gone or annoyed he hadn’t been able to say goodbye. “I hope he was more polite to you all. Did he pay for his stay? If not I suppose I’ll cover it.”

“Don’t worry. It was settled.” Katsuki-san waved his hand while going to the door. “Have a nice evening.”

Viktor replied absentmindedly while already reading the letter. It was short and to the point, going from annoying to rude and back in just a few sentences. Just like Yuri himself.

Hey, old man,

I could have waited and say goodbye but you were daydreaming about something gross if your sappy smile was any clue and I didn’t want to deal with it

I’m leaving today. You have showed me a bit but you are too distracted to teach me the rest anyway. I’m going back to Yakov.

Have fun in this little town pining for the tree guy.

Yuri.

Viktor folded the little piece of paper not knowing if he was annoyed or relieved that they had skipped saying goodbye.

“Ok, have a nice trip, Yura,” he said aloud, earning a soft woof from a dozing Makkachin.

August

“I’m telling you, Chris. This doesn’t make sense at all. There is no logical reason why those trees are dying.” Viktor Nikiforov threw his hands up the air before turning to look at the computer where his friend’s face could be seen. “People are starting to think it’s cursed and I’m half tempted to start believing it. It makes as much sense as anything else.”

“Didn’t you say all started after they cut the trees on the border to make a road or something? Perhaps they have woken up a vengeful spirit who is cursing the trees while it bids its time to take revenge in the whole town.”

Viktor snorted, making his silver fringe fall over one eye, the other glaring at the screen.

“Are you drunk, have you been reading Poe again or both?” he demanded. Under normal circumstances, he would be amused by Chris’ antics but this month had proved to be an exercise in frustration. Every idea he had, every theory about what could be happening seemed fruitless. He was missing something and it was making him extremely annoyed. He wasn’t used to be this frustrated. Science has always been easy for him. Plants seemed to speak to him, their language as clear as his mother tongue.

But Hasetsu’s Pine Grove seemed to speak a more difficult language than the dialect spoken by the town’s inhabitants.

“A little bit. I needed to refresh what we are including in the Romanticism part of next year’s course. Not all of us torture trees with a huge corkscrew for a living, Vitya.”

“No, you just torture books. And the corkscrew is the last resort method and you know it. I have told you endless times.” Viktor waved a hand, ignoring the dig. It had been an argument going on and off since they had met years ago while they both had been bored foreign students in a residential building. “And in any case I can’t do that yet. I don’t have a lab to keep the samples.”

“Oh yes, because you arrived in the country far too soon and  Fukuoka wasn’t ready for you.” Chris snorted. “Not that I think it’ll ever be, but…where are you then?”

“Hasetsu. I rented a room in an onsen that is on the edge of the forest. The family who runs it is really nice and the son is really friendly.”

Chris moved his eyebrows.

“Sampling the locals?”

“Not like that. He really is friendly and nice but that’s it. Although…” Viktor put a finger on his lips.

“I know that expression. Spill, Vitya,” Chris came closer to the camera, as if this could force his friend to confide in him.

“Nothing. There’s this guy in the forest. I don’t know if he works as  some kind of Park Ranger or he’s not working and likes to walk in the forest. But I seem to find him at least once a week. Usually more. He talks to me, watches while I study the soil and the leaves but…”- Viktor sighed. “I don’t know. He sometimes seems flirty but when I flirt back he becomes really shy and runs.”

“Perhaps he is your forest’s ghost.”

“A ghost afraid of flirting.”

“I have seen your flirting, Vitya. Most people would be afraid of it.”

“Except you.”

“I can’t be afraid. I find you too amusing, especially after I dare you to do something.” Chris smiled.

Viktor let himself be distracted by Chris and his banter. It was a familiar rhythm, born of years of skype, emails and a few calls to fill the void between the times they managed to see each other in person. It was probably one of the easiest friendships Viktor had ever had and probably the one that required more work at the same time. It wasn’t easy to have your closest friend living far from you, but they had made it work for years.

“So, are you going to do something about your forest guy?” Chris inquired with an expression Viktor knew too well. It was the one that promised mischief. “Or are you getting shy in your old age?”

“I don’t know Chris. If he’s running perhaps I should let him go.”

“Or perhaps you should chase him. Or at least try to know him.” Chris put a hand under his chin, faking a pensive pose. “I know this is a very strange concept for you, but there are people who are really shy and perhaps getting to know him first would work better than all your innuendo”.

“I’m not that bad.”

“Tell that to someone who doesn’t know you. I’m sure half your flirting is barely veiled offers to fuck him against a tree.”

“I hadn’t thought about that one.” Viktor mused half joking.

“Vitya. No.”

“What do you know about hooking up? You have been as good as married for years. By the way, how is your ever-suffering boyfriend?”

“He is good. Moaning about why he decided to teach a summer course instead of lazing around for a whole month like his partner is doing,” he explained with a toothy smile.

“And you remind him every morning that he could stay in bed with you, right?” Viktor asked knowingly.

“You know it.” Chris sat back with a satisfied smile. “Now, about your forest crush…”

“How long have you thought about that word until you could use it today?”

“Honestly, I just made it up. But tell me you don’t have a crush on that mystery forest guy. I dare you.”

Viktor stopped. His first reaction was to deny it but he knew that wasn’t going to work with Chris.

“He seems interesting but…” he shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s difficult to talk normally to him. Calling that a crush…”

“Trust me, you have a crush. And if you are going to be so hung up on a guy, at least make him talk to you without running. I think you should make a plan.”

~*~

Viktor hated to admit that Chris was right about his crush but he had to admit the plan wasn’t difficult and only made him try to speak to Yuuri without his flirting. It was going to be hard-flirting was sort of ingrained by now, looking for a way to make Yuuri blush- but he wouldn’t lose anything by trying to make Yuuri talk to him more comfortably.

Luck seemed to be against him, though because when he decided to start his plan, Yuuri disappeared for nearly a week. Saying he didn’t miss him it would be a lie but he had enough to do to distract him. Another tree had gotten sick and there still wasn’t any clue about what was happening and nobody in Hasetsu seemed to know why it has happened then. The first trees had been sick. Or better said not sick, but dying. It had been an accident, a human one. The pines’ roots were too close to the road and when they had to dig in to fix a pipeline under the road, they had cut the roots. They were secondary roots and it shouldn’t have affected the trees so much, but the trees were old and Viktor figured the shock, the soil they moved around and the bad weather they had experienced then, had been too much for them. Cutting them down had been necessary to avoid the risk of them falling on the road.

All of it made sense, the problem was the rest. The trees getting sick after they cut the two affected by the road hadn’t anything done to them. No reason, no clue. Nothing that could point to Viktor what was going on. And what was worse it seemed to be spreading. In the whole month the Russian had been there he had seen the sick ones get worse but not so much they had to be cut, but it was the first time he saw one of them suddenly getting sick. It was frustrating and heartbreaking at the same time.

Sighing Viktor sat in front of the new sick tree and stared.

“I wish I knew what’s happening to you and could fix it,” he mused.

“What would you do?” a familiar voice startled him making him twist his head.

“Katsuki-san. How strange seeing you here.” Viktor frowned trying to think if he had seen him outside the onsen and drawing a blank. “You usually stay at the onsen.”

The young man, dressed in the onsen staff’s uniform shrugged.

“Technically this part of the grove is part of the onsen, so I’m still on it.” He didn’t move from where he was, looking at Viktor like it was the first time he saw him and was trying to figure him out. “So, Mr Nikiforov, what would you do if you knew what was happening?”

“I would try to fix it,” Viktor said without stopping to think. “I would try to find a cure and see if it happens in other forests and fix them too.”

“And if it couldn’t be fixed?. If it’s time for these trees to end their lives and say goodbye?”

Viktor felt his hair stand on end. Everything in him rebelled against the idea.

“Why it should be that way Katsuki-san?” The Russian looked at the brown needles covering the forest floor trying to put into words what forests meant to him. “I know we have less and less time for nature but why should we say goodbye to the forests. To this forest. They had been here before you and I and they should stay. If they are sick, if they are slowing rotting and can be a risk then there’s nothing we can do. But if there’s something that could make this better, that could mean someone else will be able to see this forest and walk through it, why shouldn’t I try to help make it happen?”

Katsuki smiled and nodded and Viktor somehow had the feeling that he had been tested.

“Why not,” Katsuki murmured and seemed to come to a decision. “You have met Yuuri, haven’t you? Next time you see him ask him about the pines. If someone knows these trees, it’s him.”

Viktor stared at his unexpected ally completely surprised. Katsuki-san had never been unfriendly, unhelpful or rude but this was the first time he voluntary helped him and seemed to approve of him.

“Thank you. I’ll do my best.”

Katsuki nodded again before turning back and walking in the onsen’s direction, leaving Viktor looking back at the tree and trying to figure out what had just happened.

~*~

Two more days passed before Viktor saw Yuuri again and he was starting to get nervous. August was already half over and before September started, he had to be back in Fukuoka to move into his apartment and get ready his lab space. The new term didn’t start until October but there was a lot of work involved before that time arrived to be ready to teach his classes. The Russian already knew he was going to go back to Hasetsu very often, the forest’s mystery, Yuuri, even the onsen and the town and cold polite Katsuki-san were a call too strong for him. Just thinking about not coming back made his breath catch.

But that was the Future. He still had nearly two weeks and he wanted to talk to Yuuri, to try to figure out if what Chris had told him was true. If what Katsuki-san had implied would work.

“Hi.” A shy familiar voice pulled him out of his head.

“Yuuri!” Viktor smiled raising his head to look at him. “Sit if you want, I’m just looking.”

He pointed to the half-dead pine in front of him. It seemed to be battling against what was pulling it down, brown needles mixing with green ones.

“No tests, today?” Yuuri asked while sitting next to him, leaving enough space that another person could sit between them. “Where is Makka?”

“At the onsen. He had decided he likes the Katsukis more than me”. Viktor smiled thinking about his poodle. “At least when he knows he’ll get fed if he stays close to the kitchen.”

Yuuri laughed softly.

“Why aren’t you doing tests or something else Viktor?” he asked again, moving slightly to focus on the Russian.

“Because I’m going to get the same results, as usual.” Viktor sighed looking at the pine. “I’m missing something. There’s something I’m not seeing and until I do, I’m not going to do more tests. It seems invasive and useless.”

Viktor focused back on Yuuri and suddenly remembered Katsuki’s words.

“Katsuki-san told me to ask you about the pines. That you know a lot about them.”

The Japanese man frowned and pushed the glasses up his nose, the hair that was getting longer than the first time Viktor had seen him, moving around him.

“Who?”

“He told me to call him Katsuki. He is part of the onsen’s owner family. He’s more or less your height and your age or perhaps younger. Nice guy, friendly, and by the way he talked you seem to be close…”

Yuuri’s eyes brightened.

“Aah. Pichit.” Yuuri smiled. “Yes, he is a close friend. And did he tell you to ask me about the pines?”

Viktor nodded committing Katsuki’s name to memory. He wasn’t sure the man would accept him to use his name but sometimes it was confusing to call everybody Katsuki.

“The pines have been here for centuries,” Yuuri started explaining, but it seemed he was talking to himself instead of Viktor. “Books say they were planted by who would be later known as the first lord of Hasetsu. The same one who built the ninja castle up the hill.”

Viktor nodded. He knew that castle, his Instagram account was full of pictures of it.

“They were planted to protect Hasetsu from the storms, to hold the sand that threatened to invade the houses and fields. That’s why it follows the beach.” Yuuri raised an arm moving in an arc following the path of the forest.

Viktor was fascinated with this new Yuuri. The usually shy young man was gone and, in his place was a calm confident man, explaining how the pines had been born and making it more interesting than any article he had ever read. But he seemed to be keeping something. A part of him still held back, like he wasn’t sure if he should say it all or not.

“You said books. And what do people say?” Viktor asked looking closely at Yuuri, seeing a small flinch and trying to figure out why. “If the story is old enough there is always more than one version.”

Yuuri looked down at the forest floor and started fidgeting and playing with the brown needles.

“Yuuri?”

The Japanese man sighed before closing his eyes and raising his face, like he was trying to hear in the breeze if he could stop holding himself back. After a few seconds, he dropped his shoulders in relief, but there was still a lot of nervous energy in him. As if the answer he had heard in the breeze wasn’t satisfying enough.

“People say the first Lord of Hasetsu was afraid of the strength the storms had in this area. They came every year and destroyed houses and everything in their path. One day he asked for a priest’s help and the man gave him a black pine seed and told him to plant it before a storm. The Lord wasn’t too sure about this idea, so he went to check with the priests of a nearby shrine.” Yuuri pointed to one side of the forest where Viktor knew there was an old shrine that had been abandoned for a long time. “The priest there was a young man who was rumoured to be able to talk to the spirits of the elements. To the beings who are with us but we rarely see. And when he met the Lord and listened to his story he agreed with the first priest, but also told him to beg for a guardian’s help.”

“A guardian?” Viktor hated interrupting Yuuri, afraid he was going to break the spell that seemed to have fallen over them. But it didn’t happen, Yuuri had transformed again. Gone were both the shy man and the confident one who told the textbook explanation and in his place there was this calm creature that spoke softly, like the light passes between the pines branches while he weaved the story of how the grove had come to exist.

“A being that takes care of something. It could be your house, the well you own, animals…”

“Or a forest.”

 Yuuri nodded.

“The Lord believed the priests and when the next storm was approaching he left the safety of his home and came here to plant the seed and beg for the guardian’s help. He begged for a long time before having to go or risk dying in the storm.”

“And what happened?” Viktor asked after Yuuri stopped and didn’t continue for a minute. He didn’t believe in legends but he had to admit he was fascinated both by the story and by Yuuri’s transformation. When he thought he was starting to figure him out something happened again.

“The storm came but it was less dangerous than what the inhabitants of Hasetsu were used to and when it left they came, the lord the first one in the crowd, and found this forest protecting them from the sea. It even had a rainbow form, like you get when the sun appears after a storm.”

Yuuri smiled softly, looking lost in his thoughts before bowing his head again.

“But all of it seemed to be forgotten. I don’t know perhaps there’s no space left for old trees and forests while the town grows and becomes more modern. Perhaps the future isn’t for old trees and nature. There’s no place for them, it was stolen by metal and glass. Skyscrapers reaching for the sky instead of branches.” Yuuri concluded, sadly looking at Viktor like he was awaiting a verdict.

“I can’t believe that. There will always be someone who needs it,” Viktor denied. “Perhaps we don’t believe in spirits, guardians or anything supernatural anymore. Perhaps your story is only a legend but I have to believe people will always need nature. Some of us will always respect it.”

“Is it enough, Viktor?” Yuuri frowned. “Look at what is happening to this grove. If it were as sacred as the people believed it wouldn’t be this ill.”

“Or perhaps it would.” Viktor shrugged. “Things happen Yuuri, but that doesn’t mean we stop trying to make it better. Or trying to save what we can. I have to believe that.”

Yuuri looked thoughtfully at Viktor before rising from the ground.

“I’ll have to think about that. I have to go. See you tomorrow.”

Viktor kept looking at his back feeling more confused that he had been before Yuuri arrived but, at the same time, strangely at peace.

~*~

The Russian didn’t see Yuuri again for days, but he wasn’t stressed about it. He had mentioned to Katsuki-san- to Pichit, his mind added-, they had talked and that he knew his name. The young man frowned but didn’t say anything so Viktor decided to keep calling him Katsuki-san. Annoying part of the staff that made his life easier was having a death wish and Viktor could be very absent-minded but had a very sharp survival instinct. The days passed and with it the time to go to Fukuoka was coming closer and closer until he only had a couple of days left. Viktor kept not being stressed but his departure, even if he planned to go back on weekends, loomed over his head. He wanted to say goodbye to Yuuri. He wanted to tell him, the man who was shy and took the forest very seriously that he hadn’t left like the others. He didn’t want to be mistaken as a scientific sort of tourist who had come to solve a mystery and when he couldn’t he gave up. Somehow it was very important that Yuuri didn’t think that about him.

He was ready to ask Katsuki-san if he had Yuuri’s number or knew how to contact him, when the man appeared again in the forest.

“Did you really believe what you said?” Yuuri asked sitting next to him, like their conversation had stopped for a few minutes instead of days.

“About trying to fix this forest and nature in general?” Viktor asked, knowing perfectly this was what Yuuri wanted to talk about and deciding to follow his lead for now.

“We live in cities, made of glass and metal. Skyscrapers reaching the sky like trees used to do. There are no places for them now where we live; we have given it to buildings. That’s what fascinates us now,” Yuuri added feeling pensive and sad and making Viktor think of his grandmother.

“You remind me of my grandma,” Viktor mused. “She was from a small village in Russia and came to live with us when she got too old to live on her own. She believed in everything. Gods, ghosts, demons, those guardians you mentioned. All that could be, she believed in it.”

The Russian sighed making his hair move and trying to ignore the sense of melancholy that suddenly invaded him. He didn’t usually think about his grandmother and when he did, the sadness came back but mellowed by age. He had the feeling he’d always miss her but it was mixed with fondness.

“She taught me everything about them. But also about the forest close to her old house, about the trees and animals and all that live there. She even took me there a couple of times and showed me the forest and where, according to her, the faeries lived. I was eight and fascinated about everything she told me, but never believed in it. Funny though she was one of the reasons I choose to study Ecology, the one who showed me how fascinating nature is.” Viktor turned his face to look at Yuuri, feeling solemn. “I’m a scientist and believe what I can see. But Yuuri, you don’t have to believe in some kind of deity to cherish nature. You don’t have to worship it like a god to believe it’s sacred. But if you can’t believe that. If you need to think I worship something, then think trees are my temples and forests my cathedrals.”

Viktor looked around.

“This makes me homesick for the forests I know in Russia, the ones I visit even if I don’t have to study them. Here in nature, I’m home.” Viktor got up and brushed the pine needles that clung to his clothes. “So yes, if I, someone who was born and raised in one of the most beautiful European cities you can find and who will always want to live in a city, can love nature, everybody can Yuuri. We can live between glass and metal and still think this should be cherished.”

The Russian turned to face Yuuri who seemed rooted in the spot, completely shocked by his words. Viktor didn’t know what was so surprising about them and he was too tired of that pull and push to want to guess what was going through his head.

“I’m going to miss this place.”

“Miss?” Yuuri squeaked. “You are leaving?”

“To Fukuoka. I have to teach.” Viktor sighed. “I plan to come at weekends or whenever I have time but duty calls. I was nearly sure I wouldn’t see you before I had to leave.”

Yuuri got up very quickly and came close to Viktor.

“Can’t you stay?” Yuuri asked grabbing Viktor’s clothes.

“I need to work, Yuuri. I need money and my visa is valid because of my work,” he explained gently, closing his hands over Yuuri’s fists. “If not I’ll have to leave and Russia is way farther than Fukuoka.”

“I’m going to miss you,” Yuuri murmured blushing and bowing his head to avoid Viktor’s gaze. “I’m going to miss having someone to talk to.”

Viktor knew that was his chance and breathed in.

“Someone to talk to?” he repeated. “Is that what I am to you?”

The Japanese took a step back and raised his head in shock. His eyes were big and round behind the glasses Viktor had started to see him wearing the last few weeks.

“Yes. No.” Yuuri shook his head frantic.

“What do you want from me then, Yuuri?” Viktor pressed. “You want me to be a confidant, a friend. Perhaps something else?”

“No. No.” Yuuri looked frantic and terrified at the same time. “I just want you to be yourself, like you have been until now! Yourself, here.”

“I can be that.” Viktor nodded like Yuuri’s words didn’t leave him confused. “But I need you to meet me somewhere in the middle too. If I can’t be here, come to me.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Yuuri murmured. The blush that had been fading was back in full force.

“And calling me?” With any other person Viktor would be annoyed with how close to begging he was. He had never bent so out of shape for anyone.

Yuuri looked pensive for a moment.

“That, I could do. Give me your number?”

Viktor sighed again rummaging his pockets for the small notebook he always had with him, before tearing a piece of paper and scribbling down in it his Japanese number and the Russian one.

“Call me. Text me. Whatever makes you more comfortable. But keep in touch,” Viktor asked.

Yuuri looked completely serious, for once looking straight into his eyes.

“I will,” he promised.

September

The calendar said it was the middle of September but the warm air that greeted Viktor when he stepped off the train in Hasetsu with a bag, a small backpack and Makkachin was the same as in summer. Nothing had changed in a few weeks and it didn’t seem it was going to. Viktor breathed in the salt in the air, -the smell of the sea- and walked slowly to the onsen thinking on how different was this trip to his first one. Now Hasetsu was comfortable and familiar, like meeting with an old friend again after a long time. He was looking forward to soak in the onsen, taste’s Hiroko’s cooking and…Yuuri. Yuuri was the one he had missed the most. He had kept his promise of keeping in touch, but Viktor had quickly realised than texts weren’t enough. He wanted more; needed more and not even a sporadic call had been enough to stop missing Yuuri.

He knew what Chris would say if he mentioned this-he wasn’t looking forward to that conversation, the teasing was going to be annoying- and it wasn’t anything he hadn’t told himself. He didn’t just have a crush on Yuuri and it seemed the distance to Fukuoka wasn’t enough to make it fade. Makkachin tensed his leash, trying to run and not being able to, making him stop his train of thought. A few meters down the road was the Katsuki onsen and in front of the front door was Makka’s favourite Katsuki, the one Yuuri had called Pichit.

Smiling Viktor let the leash go and saw Makkachin sprint and jump at the laughing man who hugged the dog.

“I see someone missed me,” he laughed while petting the poodle. “Don’t worry, your treats are waiting for you.”

“Everybody has always told me I spoil him, but that’s nothing compared to how he’s treated here,” Viktor commented coming closer. “Good afternoon, Katsuki-san.”

“He deserves it,” Pichit explained and Viktor couldn’t agree more. “Good afternoon, Mr. Nikiforov. I’d ask if you missed us too, but I know who you want to meet.”

Pichit rose from where he was petting Makkachin-and earning a whine from the dog-and took Viktor’s bag from his hand.

“Go, I’ll put this in your assigned room. It’s the same one you had when you were here.”

Viktor nodded.

“But before you go, take this.” Pichit handed Viktor a canvas bag similar to what you’d use for shopping.

“A blanket and something to eat,” he explained when the Russian peaked in, curious. “I doubt you’ll come for dinner and the nights aren’t as warm as they were last month.”

Fighting the impulse of feeling like a teenager being caught by a parent, Viktor thanked him, waiting just enough to pet Makka before taking the familiar route to the forest path without having to think about it. His feet were taking him on their own accord, but he wasn’t complaining about it. The Pine Grove and Yuuri was where he wanted to go.

When he set foot into the forest, Viktor frowned. Something was off. He kept looking around while he walked into the deepest part of the forest, cataloguing if there were more ill pines or if a new one had died. The grove wasn’t worse than when he had left, but there was a deep feeling that was disturbing him but which he couldn’t exactly figure out. It was like the plants were sad; like something had gone out of them. It didn’t make sense but it was all he could think of.

A broken branch made him turn and there was who he wanted to see.

“Yuuri!” he exclaimed, a smile appearing on his lips and his hands itching with wanting to pull the Japanese man into a hug.

“Viktor,” Yuuri answered, coming closer until he could hug him. “I missed you.”

“So did I,” Viktor admitted, hugging him even closer, like he wanted to pull Yuuri into himself so he didn’t have to go away. “I wish you could have come.”

“Me too, but…” Yuuri stopped and sighed; breathing in. “I’m glad you are here. I wish you had never left.”

“Same here,” Viktor murmured, pulling him closer. “But we have time. I have no duties or place to be for now. Tell me what had happened during these days.”

Viktor settled on the forest floor, leaving his backpack and blanket next to him and extended his hand. An offer; a promise.

“Tell me what I have missed, Yuuri. I want to know everything.”

Yuuri grabbed his hand and let himself be pulled next to Viktor, before starting to talk.

~*~

It had been a long night, talking with Yuuri about what had being going on in the last few weeks. He had told him a lot of how he was adapting to Fukuoka and Yuuri had told him about the forest’s state, how it seem to stay stable, about Hasetsu’s calm, about the onsen and even a little about how he missed their talks. But it wasn’t the same texting or using facetime to seeing each other and being able to feel the other close while they talked. The last time Viktor had managed to talk face to face with Yuuri it had been the last week of August and now September was half gone. Life had a way to make you distracted with little everyday things and when you finally could look up around again you found out time had passed and you had been left behind. That that hole you felt it was you were missing something-someone-, and needed to go back. He was used to feeling he missed something, but it was the first time Viktor could say his homesickness was related to not only a place, but mainly to a person.

But staying away for so long seemed to have a bright side. He wasn’t the only one who had missed someone if the way Yuuri was sitting close to him was any indication. The young man had been more shy at the beginning. Like the first time they had seen each other and he had run away. But after a few hours it was like he hadn’t moved to Fukuoka, they spent the night talking, moving from under the trees to being under a small shelter used for refuge, talking next to each other, sitting under blankets when it got too cold to stay out without them. Moving from talking to soft touches, when Yuuri got brave and decided to nuzzle his neck. His hands, a sweet  warm caress, like a summer breeze between tree leaves.

Some time during the night the fog fell, surrounding them in a cloud, keeping them in their secret world, like a blanket fort protecting them from the rest of the universe, just the two of them in the forest where they had met. A blanket that started lifting when the sun rose, bathing the whole forest in soft, warm light and giving it an ethereal kind of feeling.

“Look, Yuuri.” Viktor breathed looking outside. “Let’s take a look.”

Yuuri gave a soft laugh and agreed, crawling around the refuge and moving around just in time to reach Viktor’s hand while he raised from the small wooden structure. They started walking softly, trying to avoid making noise and shattering the mystical feeling everything had in that moment. The air was cold, making Viktor want to shiver but he was too awed to mind. The whole forest seemed different. The trees far away of him still had wisps of mist, like it was trying to play with the trees, and looking closer the needles had small drops of water, glistening like gems when the light touched them in a certain way. All was beautiful and fuzzy around the edges, like a dream.

 A very beautiful dream.

And in the middle of it, looking like some kind of mystical creature was Yuuri. He had his head up, looking at how the trees reached for the sky, trying to touch it, moisture cling to his face like it did to the pine needles.

Viktor had never seen a more beautiful view.

“Yuuri,” he exhaled trembling, his name a prayer, a worship.

Yuuri turned his head and smiled at what he saw on his face. A smile so full of warmth and so intense that made Viktor’s breath hitch. The mystical creature that Yuuri had become went from just ethereal to alluring. Attracting Viktor like a flower seeks the sun, making him go closer until they could touch each other.

“Your face is full of drops. It looks beautiful,” Yuuri murmured blushing but at the same time reaching for the Russian’s face. Cleaning the drops on his face with a hand cool to the touch and warm words of praise on his lips.

Cool and warm. Daring and shy. Beautifully afar and close at the same time.

That was his Yuuri.

“So do you,” Viktor replied, before kissing him.

Yuuri looked at him shocked when they broke apart, but a smile appeared on his lips.

“Really?” he asked, smiling fondly before wetting his lips and looking up at Viktor.

“It was the only thing I could think of to surprise you as much as you surprise me.”

“I need to surprise you more often, then,” Yuuri replied, his gaze burning over Viktor’s skin before closing the space between them and kissing him again.

October

Chris arrived at Fukuoka airport like he had arrived to Viktor’s life years ago. Silently, keeping you unaware about the fact he was there until suddenly, you noticed him and any idea of personal space became irrelevant.

“Vitya!” he exclaimed pulling Viktor into a tight hug. “It has been a long time.”

“Way too long,” Viktor replied while hugging him back. He had missed his friend.

When they pulled apart, big smiles on their faces and still touching the other’s shoulders, Viktor started walking to the exit. They had a lot to do and he wanted to show Chris where he lived and worked before leaving for Hasetsu.

“Come on. I want to show you the highlights before we leave.”

“And for highlights you mean where you live and where you work right?” Chris asked and raised his eyebrows when Viktor nodded. “There was a time your highlights were the bars where you found the hottest guys to hook up with.”

 “You are getting old, Vitya.” Chris shook his head with mock pain

“Says the one who is old and married,” replied Viktor, pushing Chris slightly.

“Those are lies and you know it,” Chris replied. “I may be close to married but I’m not blind or old, dear. But you are older than me and have forgotten how to have fun so…”

“I could always leave you here so you can find the hottest guys.”

“Nah, I want to meet that Yuuri who makes you crazy.” Chris smiled with bright eyes. “I have so much to tell him.”

“I’m already regretting this.” Viktor frowned looking at Chris.

“And we haven’t started yet. Let’s move on.”

~*~

The trip to Hasetsu was quiet. Or as quiet as it could be with Chris and him in the same place. Viktor was sure the whole train had heard him laugh and talk too loudly while they caught up with each other. It didn’t bother him much but it was a bit disconcerting to move his head and see people looking at them. He was too used to being a nobody on that train, just another part of the scenery like he was already on Hasetsu.

There, not even the way they talked and moved was worthy of being noticed. Makkachin, Chris and him walked all the way to the onsen without being stared at like it had happened on the train. In a way, it was like being back at St. Petersbug, he was one of them and in that sense Chris wasn’t paid any attention to either.

The reception at the onsen was familiar too, with Hiroko greeting him like a lost son and promising katsudon for the both of them when they came back from the forest. The only weird part was Chris becoming quiet when Pichit appeared to take their bags and show them their rooms. Not talking or answering to anything Viktor said in the short ammount of time between the reception and the guests’ rooms. Viktor knew something was wrong because he had known Chris for years and knew the Swiss only shut up outside of work when he was thinking on something, but Pichit kept looking at them like he could feel something wasn’t exactly normal.

Chris didn’t say anything until he was shown his room and Pichit left his bag on the floor. Viktor became worried at the expression of his face. Where he was used to seeing confidence and mischief now there was a mix of amazement and wariness.

“How should I call you?” Chris asked with a level of respect in his voice that was close to reverence.

“Your friend calls me Katsuki-san, but you seem to know more than him,” Pichit answered amusedly, confusing Viktor even more.

“I met someone like you once. He liked to be called grandfather, but then, he looked like one,” Chris answered, confirming there was something going on that Viktor didn’t understand.

“The Katsukis call me grandfather too, but you aren’t family. What your friend uses is fine.”

“Katsuki-san, then,” Chris said before bowing to Viktor’s surprise before glancing at him. “Can I explain it to him? He has questions.”

“You should.” Pichit’s voice was full of approval. “He needs to know not all can be explained by his Science. I’ll leave you to it.”

With a nod Pichit left, leaving the two friends alone.

“What the hell is going on, Chris?”

“That guy is a tomte,” Chris answered like it explained it all.

“A what?”

“I don’t know the Japanese word for it. But Scandinavian people call them tomtes. They are house spirits.”

“You are kidding me.” Viktor shook his head in disbelief. “House spirits? You aren’t even Scandinavian.”

“No, but do you remember Arto?”

“Your ex.”

“One year I went to his home in Finland and I met his ‘grandfather’.” Chris even used quotation marks to say grandfather to Viktor’s slightly amusement. “A grandfather who had been with them for generations. He was the one to explain me about tomtes and he had the same presence that Katsuki-san does.”

“All this sounds crazy.”

“I know but it’s true. I don’t know if it’s different here.” Chris thumbed his phone for a few moments. “According to Wikipedia they are called zashiki-warashi and they are a bit similar to tomtes. In Russian they are called Domovoi if that tells you something.”

“Your Russian is atrocious.”

“My Russian is non-existent so don’t complain.”

“…but yes my grandma told me about them.” Viktor kept on talking like Chris hadn’t interrupted. “She also told me tales about Baba Yaga who lived deep into the forest. Do you want me to believe Yuuri is Baba Yaga?”

“I don’t know. There was any kind of house on a chicken leg?” Chris shrugged. “You are the expert, they’re your legends not mine.”

“My point is what you are saying is completely insane, Chris,” Viktor snapped, raising his hands. “Baba Yaga doesn’t exist, neither is Yuuri some kind of witch. Spirits, gods, all of that are only tales.”

“The guy who brought us here proofs differently,” Chris said keeping the calm while facing his friend’s outburst. “And perhaps not a witch but some kind of fairy or forest being? Like a dryad.”

Viktor’s mouth dropped open. He was unable to understand Chris’s certainty.

“You are telling me you really believe Katsuki is some kind of gnome, Yuuri a supernatural forest being and there are fairies and elves and all that among us?” Viktor asked incredulously. “Are you drunk or mad? Fairy tales and magic aren’t real.”

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Vitya, than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” Chris quoted. “And you have seen it with your own eyes. If you don’t want to believe me, believe what you see and can do, like you have always done.”

Viktor breathed in.

“Quoting Hamlet should mean you automatically lose the argument,” he grumped. “This should have a logical explanation but everything surrounding this town and the forest has been so crazy that I don’t know anymore.”

“Perhaps it does have an explanation. But Science hasn’t been able to figure out yet why it happens,” Chris said, patting Viktor’s shoulder. “My grandma told me a lot of tales that didn’t make a lot of sense, but what you do for a living doesn’t make sense to me either and there it is. That’s how I think of it.”

Viktor sighed, giving up for now.

“Let’s try to get something for dinner and tomorrow we’ll see if you can meet Yuuri.”

~*~

The rest of Chris’s visit was a bit anticlimactic after that weird beginning. He managed to make friends with all the Katsukis, specially Katsuki-san who seemed amused with the level of respect Chris gave him. Viktor didn’t quite believe what Chris had told him, even when he saw Pichit doing chores easier and faster than any human could have done, but he thought it was easier to keep his silence. It was weird and insane but it didn’t do any harm so he could ignore it. He liked the onsen and wanted to be able to come every time he went to see Yuuri.

Chris meeting Yuuri had been surprising by how normal it had been. Not because Viktor believed Chris’s nonsense about him being a dryad or a fairy but because he knew his best friend and was expecting a lot of teasing. But for once, Chris had behaved talking to Yuuri without barely any innuendo, letting the shy Japanese man set the limits of how they could interact. Just learning about him and telling things about his and Viktor’s adventures in return. Making Viktor remember that Chris wasn’t only his best friend and partner in crime, he was also a reliable friend and adult who taught at an important university. Seeing him putting so much care with his conversation with Yuuri made Viktor smile.

It was probably the most normal and at the same time heart-warming thing he had seen in years. After so much forest mystery he could do with normal for a while. Even if it was his best friend telling his -boyfriend he supposed-, all the embarrassing things they had done while they were students far from home.

He should have known that it wasn’t going to last.

~*~

Normality only lasted two weeks, but for once Viktor didn’t mind that craziness had found him again. Everything had started like any other weekend in Hasetsu: arriving on Friday, leaving his things and Makkachin in the onsen and then walking to the forest. It was a well-practised routine as familiar as the warmth that settled in his chest every time he thought of Yuuri.
He didn’t know when the young man had become so entrenched in his life, but he knew he couldn’t give him up. Not seeing Yuuri every day was bad enough; he didn’t want to think what he’d do if he couldn’t come every week. Viktor shook his head, trying to disperse those thoughts along with the nagging memory of the date written in his visa as his last day allowed in Japan. He would think of something.  He had to. But, for now, he wanted to focus on Yuuri.

The Japanese man had texted him that he would be waiting for him in a clear in the middle of the forest. He didn’t know how Yuuri did it but he seemed to had a sixth sense to know when he had arrived in Hasetsu and he always texted Viktor where to meet. Today hadn’t been an exception.

Viktor frowned at seeing how nervous Yuuri was. Even when they kissed, he seemed to be unable to stop and focus, like he had something weighing on his mind so much that he couldn’t think of anything else.

“Yuuri, what’s going on?” he asked worried. “Are you ok?”

“Yes, but I have something to tell you and I don’t know how,” the Japanese man answered, looking down. “I don’t want you to hate me.”

“Unless you are going to tell me that you have a partner and family somewhere and have been cheating on them all this time, I’d never hate you.” Viktor said, getting worried when he didn’t get an answer. “It’s that? Do you want to break up?”

“No! No!” Yuuri exclaimed, shaking his head frantically. “It’s nothing like that and I don’t want to break up. I promise!”

“It’s okay. I believe you,” Viktor hugged him, trying to calm him down. “If you don’t know how to say it, can you show me?”

“I can do that,” Yuuri breathed in, before walking closer to the stream that crossed the forest, nearly touching it.

And then, he moved.

Viktor couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He had to check the urge to rub his eyes or pinch his arm to be sure he wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating. A part of him knew that what he was seeing was real but the rational part of him -the one who had argued with Chris two weeks earlier because it sounded crazy and damn it, he wasn’t looking forward to that I told you so-, was struggling with admitting it could be true.

But there was Yuuri, walking on the water that crossed the forest and ended at the sea, uniting them. A body of water half sea-half river, moving around on his way to the sea, only touched by Yuuri’s feet. The only proof that he wasn’t floating were the small ripples that appeared every time Yuuri moved. It was magical and crazy and Viktor was trying very hard to not freak out or think he was dreaming. Dreaming sounded fine, it did look like a dream and the mist surrounding them, like a hug-exactly like the day they kissed for the first time- helped making the scene looked ethereal.
The only thing that made Viktor know he wasn’t dreaming was Yuuri’s face. He looked so serious and nervous he knew he couldn’t have dreamt what he was seeing. He would never dream a worried Yuuri. He only wanted to see him happy.

Viktor tracked Yuuri’s movements without saying anything. Not only because he didn’t know what to say but because the moment felt so fragile he was worried to do so. Yuuri seemed to be lost in his thoughts, moving around with the mist following him like a shadow, touching land and going back to the water following a path he only seemed to know. He wasn’t paying attention to where he walked, showing he knew by heart what he was doing. He was moving with a purpose Viktor couldn’t make sense of, moving around and stopping from time to time- the mist curling around him like a cloak- to touch a tree’s bark or a branch. The pines seemed to know he was there, moving their branches when Yuuri got close to them, like they were arms who wanted to touch him. A breeze that Viktor didn’t feel, but moved Yuuri’s hair and the pines’ needles sounding when he got touched like it were the trees’ voices.

 “They like you. The trees, I mean,“ Yuuri said breaking the silence and confirming Viktor’s fancy thought at the same time. “They know you are trying to help them.  That you want them healthy again and are trying to fix what is going on with them.”

Yuuri stopped, smiling melancholy to the tree he was touching before speaking again.

“They know you like me and you also want to help me. Even if I’m not a good protector and I have failed them.”

Viktor couldn’t let Yuuri keep pulling himself down. It was one of his most frustrating traits, never realising what good he did. How much the little things he did seem to make life-his life-better.

“Yuuri I don’t know what is going on or what you are but if I know one thing about you is-that if you failed-it wasn’t because you weren’t good enough.” Viktor continued, before Yuuri could stop him to say something else bad about him. “I know you and if something is happening to this grove, it isn’t because you didn’t do your best. If there’s anything you could have done, you’d have. But sometimes even our best isn’t enough.”

Yuuri started shaking his head, not believing what Viktor was saying. His boyfriend could be magic and walk on water but he was the same stubborn self-deprecating idiot he had got to know in the last month.

“Yuuri,” Viktor sighed. “I know it hurts, but sometimes, things happen.  And sometimes they are good like meeting you and sometimes, they are bad. And even, sometimes, more of them than we think, good and bad things happen nearly at the same time, like meeting you and this forest being ill. But in any case they happen even if we try our best. And we can’t expect them or plan for them.  We can’t control the universe, we are just humans.“

“But I’m not. Viktor” Yuuri snapped, his eyes bright like he was trying to avoid crying. “If I were a good guardian I should have been able to do more. But I’m just a good for nothing one and…”

Yuuri’s voice broke, a harsh sob that travelled through the completely silent forest. Even the birds had stopped singing, all waiting to hear what the Japanese man needed to say. Viktor felt a knot in his chest and started looking for a way to cross the stream and reach Yuuri without getting into the cold water. He couldn’t bear being at the other side, too far away to be able to comfort Yuuri.

Yuuri breathed in. His breath shaky and broken with sobs.

“I tried to save them and I couldn’t. They cut them, they died,” Yuuri said, tears flowing from his eyes and running over his cheeks, his voice completely anguished. “I tried and it wasn’t enough.”

 “And I’m trying to save the rest and I can’t either.” Viktor admitted, giving up and walking into the stream, making a face when the cold water reached his clothes. “All my knowledge, all the science and experience I have hadn’t meant a thing to those trees that have died since I arrived a few months ago. Does that mean I’m useless?”

“No, it means it’s my fault. It means I’m not good enough.”

“You may not be human Yuuri, but you don’t control the whole universe and not everything is your fault,” Viktor grabbed Yuuri’s chin making him look into his eyes, trying to make him see the truth of what he was saying. “You may be some kind of forest guardian, spirit or god but you can’t stop things from happening. And you may have these amazing powers I know nothing about but you aren’t an all-powerful being who can do anything he wants.  Because if you could, this grove would be healthy. Doing your best doesn’t always mean managing to get what you hoped for.”

Yuuri sighed, moving from where he had stayed over the water; Viktor following him and making a face at this wet clothes. The Russian shivered a bit, it was too cold for that.

“You haven’t freaked out about my walking on water.”

“I have. A bit. Honestly,” Viktor repeated at Yuuri’s look of disbelief, omiting he'd probably freak out more later when he was alone in his room at the onsen. “But it’s difficult to focus on that when I see my boyfriend being his stubborn self and burdening himself with the whole world. I don’t know what you are Yuuri or if you could transform me into a frog. But I have to trust what I see and I see the same person I fell in love with.”

“I’m a kodaima. A tree spirit. That’s why I had to say no to visit you in Fukuoka. I can’t leave my forest. Or what’s left of it.”

“And if the forest gives up and dies. What will happen to you?”

“I don’t know.” Yuuri sighed looking around. “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t live here.”

Viktor breathed in, trying to suffocate the terror filling his chest at the mere thought of Yuuri disappearing with the forest.

“But the grove was only planted a few centuries ago. Where you were before that?”

“That was before my time.” Yuuri shook his head. “I have always lived here. There had been others  with me, but they left because something was calling them. I never had that impulse, I have always felt my home was this place.”

Yuuri looked around with a fond sad smile.

“But you feel well? As healthy as always?” Viktor asked trying to be logical when nothing around him was making sense.

“I think so?” Yuuri frowned thinking. “My powers aren’t working too well, but it could be because the forest is sick or because I pressure myself too much. It worked well with the trees close to the hot springs.”

“Can you reach the onsen? But you said you can’t leave the forest.”

“Only the trees that end the property, the big ones close to the springs are part of this grove. I have never been inside the house, no matter how much Pichit has tried.”

“What happens if you try to get far from the forest?”

“At the beginning nothing,” Yuuri frowned looking at some point into the forest. “But after a couple of minutes I start getting a headache that gets worse as time pass. I haven’t tried beyond that.”

Viktor nodded while trying to figure out a plan. Of course Yuuri couldn’t leave a place that was dying. It seemed the only law that kept being unbroken was Murphy’s Law and his own personal motto of doing things always in the most difficult way possible.

“Then let’s try to avoid having to figure out if you can live in another place. Let’s try all we can do for these trees.”

Yuuri’s fond smile and a sudden summer-like breeze were all the answer he needed.

November

“That was a legend, Chris. A forest can’t grow in a night. It’s impossible.” Viktor frowned while peering at the laptop screen where his friend’s face was. He was feeling a bit of déjà-vú being in this situation again. It had been a month since Chris had come to visit him and all the changes it made –it should have surprised him Chris had been some sort of catalyst, but it really didn’t. Somehow they had always managed to push each other. - He missed seeing his friend every day without having to rely on laptops and phones. This kind of talk, however, was something he didn’t miss at all.

“Well, so are dryads and you are fucking one,” Chris replied raising an eyebrow.

“We aren’t.” Viktor stopped himself. If there was something Chris didn’t need to know, it was about his sex life or lack of it.

“Perhaps that’s the problem!” Chris said giving him a shit-eating smile. “Perhaps we are going crazing looking for a solution and what you need is some kind of fertility rite.”

Viktor glared.

“That’s not funny, Chris. I wouldn’t…” Viktor stopped what he was saying and sighed. “I don’t even know if Yuuri…”

“According to Greek myths they could and did have sex,” Chris helpfully pointed out. “Every time they had a chance.”

“That was Zeus.”

“Nah, that was all of them, except Artemis. Check your myths, Vitya.”

“We are digressing.”

“Right.” Chris nodded. “What I was saying earlier. Think about that legend. Your boyfriend is a dryad, saying it’s impossible doesn’t work here anymore. Perhaps you can plant a few seeds and make new trees grow.”

Viktor put a hand under his chin thinking.

“That could work, but he’d still be stuck here with his forest.”

“Well, perhaps you should focus first on the small but likely possibility that if you don’t save the forest, your boyfriend will die and leave trying to figure out how to move the trees and him for later.” Chris reminded him.

“You are right.”

“I don’t know if I’d have recorded that to remind you in the future or hate you a little for making me being the voice of reason,” Chris tried to joke but his comment barely made Viktor smile.

The Swiss got serious again.

“What are you going to do?”

Viktor sighed again and looked at the ceiling before looking back to the laptop.

“What I always do: Science,” Viktor pointed out. “I’ll collect a few seed cones tomorrow and with the seeds I’ll try to see if they grow and if with Yuuri’s help they can grow faster or not.”

“With a control group and everything done in a proper experimental way, right?” Chris asked with barely veiled amusement. “It’s funny that when you don’t know what to do you fall back onto Science. Even if the issue is completely out of what anyone would call science.”

“When you don’t know what to do, go back to your origins and what you trust.” Viktor shrugged.

“Let’s hope it works,” Chris hoped, trying to avoid thinking how it’d break Viktor if the forest disappeared and Yuuri with it.

~*~

 “Yuuri, I know you can do it. I have seen you make seeds grow if you think they aren’t going to stay here in the forest, so why do you don’t want them to grow here? Why you aren’t letting this grove thrive.” Viktor growled, shaking his notebook.

He had been measuring pines and taking pictures and records of every experiment they did with seeds. Some were only planted and moved to Fukuoka. Others were moved after Yuuri had made them grow and others had been kept where they were. He had followed the scientific method step by step and it showed Yuuri could make the plants grow. But somehow, when he knew the plant wasn’t going to go to Fukuoka or when he tried to use his powers on the forest instead of on just one small seed it didn’t work. And it was driving Viktor crazy, even more than finding that the answer to the mysterious illness that affected the grove was Magic. He knew Yuuri could do it, he had seen him do it. But the pressure made him anxious until he broke down.

The Russian felt bad when he saw Yuuri’s eyes fill with tears and his lips tremble. He hadn’t wanted to make him cry. He was horrible at comforting and supporting people. Every time he tried to make them know they could overcome the pressure, he only made it worse. Chris was used to not taking too seriously how harsh he sounded, Yura often ignored him. But Yuuri did neither and here he was crying in frustration; Viktor’s words the last drop that had broken his control.

“Because I don’t deserve to keep it. I didn’t save those trees, the people in Hasetsu don’t come back anymore. I’m not good enough and people don’t care about this place,” Yuuri said, tears spilling down his cheeks and making Viktor’s heart break.

“That’s not true. Do you know how many times people have asked me if I have found out what’s wrong with the grove?” Viktor said, coming closer, wanting to hug him but not daring to. “A lot. The dancer, the people in the market. That man who is always fishing on the bridge I have told you about. The owner of the ice rink and her triplets love this place. I’m sure you have seen them around. “

“I have. Those little girls are a handful.” Yuuri smiled a bit between the tears before becoming sad again. “But they stopped after they cut those trees.”

“Because it looks dangerous and they are afraid,” Viktor explained softly. “People are always scared of things they don’t understand or don’t know. And even if it isn’t, this grove right now seems scary and dangerous.”

“Then it’s my fault. The trees starting dying because I couldn’t take care of them and the forest became too dangerous.”

Viktor sighed.

“You made a mistake. Perhaps you may have saved those trees but I do think they were too sick for it. And you may have influenced how the forest is now but that can be fixed. Heal the trees, let others grow and then people will come again.”

Viktor came closer.

“Show me what you can really do. What this forests means for you. Show me what you like the most.”

Yuuri closed his eyes before opening them again. The transformation was subtle but it was there. There was a new sense of confidence, of magic around him and a subtle glow around his skin that showed he wasn’t just what he seemed. Even the way he moved fascinated Viktor. The Russian had never understood why painters portrayed nymphs and fairies as dancing beings but now, seeing Yuuri go between the trees, touching and leaving scars and green leaves where before there were dying trees with holes, he did. It was like he could do music with his body while he moved to get closer to the trees. He was seeing a dancer. A very beautiful and powerful one.

Viktor’s breath caught in his chest when Yuuri turned around a last time after finishing his healing, a smile in his still slightly glowing face. He stayed rooted to the place while the kodaima walked to him, a hint of dancing in his movements, making Viktor feel under a spell.

His grandmother had always warned him about faeries and how they could capture him with a spell, but she had never said anything about forest’s guardians. Not that he cared, if this was the way to stay with Yuuri forever he’d be happy to stay under a spell. He would be lucky to stay under it.

Yuuri’s smile got bigger when he reached him, his warm fingers touching Viktor’s face and tilting it without any opposition from the Russian.
There was nowhere else where Viktor wanted to stay but with Yuuri. Because for some reason that he couldn’t really understand, this being who could do things that should be impossible had decided that wanted to be with him and that was the biggest of the miracles he was witnessing today.

Yuuri’s lips touched his and Viktor stopped thinking.

December

The press around Japan called it a miracle and that name was kept when the story jumped to news programs around the world as a cute story to make feel people better about how horrible the world could be. Even the academia circles were grudgingly calling it unusual-miracle wasn’t a word a scientist would ever use-, but they were as confused by the sudden recovery of the forest as the rest of the world. Confused but amazed and happy.

Viktor, on the other hand, knew perfectly well how Hasetsu’s Pine Grove had grown back again and he was as amazed as the rest--perhaps even more, having witnessed how it had been done. How amazing Yuuri really was-, but he wasn’t really that happy about it.

Viktor sighed, looking from the window of his Fukuoka apartment. That wasn’t really true either. He was happy that the pines were healthy again. That the terror that had been eating him inside at the idea that Yuuri could die with the forest had disappeared. It was healthy and whole again, his Yuuri wasn’t in risk of disappearing anymore and he would stay there forever.

And that was the problem.

Viktor sighed again, moving slightly to pet Makkachin who was lying beside him on the sofa, his tail moving lazily at the same rhythm Viktor petted his head.

His time in Fukuoka had a limit, like his job there, like his visa. And sooner than he’d have liked to, he would have to find another job in Japan and give up all his life work or go back to Russia. Give up everything or say goodbye to Yuuri, when he put it that way it wasn’t that difficult to know what he was going to choose. But it still hurt.

“I used to skate a lot when I was still studying. I even have a few medals to prove it,” Viktor told Makkachin, thinking about the trophies from regional competitions he had back at St. Petersburg. “Perhaps, the family at the ice rink could hire me as a coach. What do you think Makka?”

The dog barked and moved his head, demanding more pets.

“Yeah, I don’t know either,” he sighed looking back through the window.

~*~

 “Vitya, I don’t know if it works that way but you know about those selkie stories?” Chris asked without saying hello, a big smile on his face.

Viktor frowned looking at his phone screen and wondering why if Chris had called saying he had an idea to solve his dilemma he was talking about selkies. “Not really. Aren’t they those beings who look like a seal but can be human too?”

“The stories my grandma told me said that if you wanted to keep a selkie with you, you had to hide their pelt so they couldn’t go back to the sea.”

“I don’t want Yuuri to be with me because he has to!” Viktor interrupted. “And also he doesn’t have a pelt or anything.”

“I’m sure there’s innuendo there somewhere but I’m going to let it pass for now,” Chris said pushing the glasses up his nose. “I know it doesn’t work exactly like that and I’m glad you don’t want to trap Yuuri. I’d have to rethink our friendship if you did. What I meant is that perhaps you can keep something from him and that way he could leave his grove if he wanted.”

Chris shrugged, feeling uncharacteristically self-conscious.

“You don’t lose anything for trying, Vitya.”

Viktor slumped his shoulders.

“You are right. I don’t lose anything for asking Yuuri what he thinks. I’m going to Hasetsu tomorrow. If we don’t manage it, I suppose that will be the time to say goodbye.”

“Good luck, my friend.”

~*~

The path to the forest seemed longer than ever. Viktor tried to rub his sweaty hands on his trousers, to look around at the now healthy and growing trees and not think much about how everything had changed. Not because he wasn’t proud and relieved. Proud of what Yuuri had done. Relieved because the forest was healthy because somehow along the line he had remembered why he liked forests so much, why he had decided to set himself on this career and not any other, what had mattered under all the papers, academia and stock answers to the same boring questions any person asked when they learnt about his field of study. Part of it had been the place, Yuuri and falling in love, he knew it. But part of him wanted to believe the rest was because of Magic. Not Yuuri’s magic. Or at least not the one he used to make things grow, but his enjoyment of the forests and the trees. That little part that reminded him of his childhood and his grandma’s stories.

The simply small magic of living.

The grove was completely silent, even the water and the wind seemed to have stopped. It wasn’t uncomfortable but the forest seemed expectant. Like the trees were holding their breath waiting for an answer and hoping it was the outcome they wanted. A few months earlier, Viktor would have scoffed at himself for thinking nonsense. Nowadays he wasn’t so sure it was nonsense. He had learnt much in these months. About life, love and himself. All of them things he had left behind for years, distracted by the lure of knowledge and how easy to understand plants and nature were compared to humans.

But all had changed with this place and Yuuri. Yuuri who was in the heart of the forest looking nervous but determined, like there was something he had to do but he wasn’t sure if he would dare to do it.

“Yuuri,” he exhaled, coming closer until they were nearly touching. “I was looking for you.”

“I got that feeling.” Yuuri breathed in, like he was trying to gather his courage and making Viktor nervous.

“I…” Viktor started and his voice broke. “It isn’t bad, I promise. I hope.”

He started rambling making things more confusing and not really explaining anything but making Yuuri grow more nervous with any word that slipped past his lips.

“Viktor…” Yuuri asked, his voice trembling a little. “If you have to say goodbye. If we have to end this, let’s do it now.”

“NO!” Viktor yelled making Yuuri jump. “I mean. Yes, my contract at the Uni is finishing but no, let’s not end this. I can stay here, find a job or…”

Yuuri shook his head.

 “I have seen how much you love what you do Viktor. You would wilt like a plant without sun doing a job here in small Hasetsu.”

“But you are here, Yuuri. Your forest is here,” Viktor replied grabbing his hands. “My job isn’t worth not staying with you.”

“And if you could have both?” the kodaima asked shy but confident, like he had already set his mind. “If I could leave this forest and stay with you wherever you go?”

“That would be a dream,” Viktor answered, his eyes becoming blurry with tears. “That’s all I want. To show you my world, my life. The forest my grandma took me to see.”

“It can be done,” Yuuri whispered close to his lips. “You can show me all those things and everything you want. And perhaps I can tell you what those other trees say.”

Viktor didn’t know who closed the gap between them but suddenly he felt Yuuri’s lips on his, drawing him in, trying to devour him and hug him at the same time so he’d never able to let go. Not that Viktor wanted. He was where he wanted to stay.

After a few minutes, when breathing became a necessity, they drew apart and Yuuri took one of Viktor’s hands.

 “To leave, I only need to bring a piece of the forest with me,” He explained before leaving Viktor’s hand.

In it, there was a bit of soil and in the centre a seed that could have been mistaken for a pine one if it wasn’t for the small golden glow it had.

 “Please take care of me.”

“That sounds like a marriage proposal,” Viktor mused looking from the seed to Yuuri.

Yuuri’s only answer was a smile.

Months later

Viktor left St. Petersburg’s University hurrying to the closest park. He was a bit late, but for once students had been interested in what he was teaching, so he hadn’t wanted to stop the questions.

It had been a few busy months since that evening where he had left Hasetsu’s pine grove hand in hand with Yuuri. Between both palms a small golden seed that nowadays rested in a tiny glass vial around Yuuri’s neck, like a medal.

Viktor had always thought his intercontinental move had been a nightmare but that had nothing on moving with Yuuri to Russia and especially in creating an official identity for Yuuri. He hadn’t had the first idea of where to start with that –how do you create a person that has never existed-, but Pichit had gone and saved the day, making Yuuri Katsuki a real person that had always existed in the world.

(Viktor had no idea how the Zashiki-warashi had done it but he wasn’t going to ask. It was a priceless gift and he didn’t dare to dig in just in case it went up in a puff of smoke.)

The move, settling in, letting Yuuri start studying so he could use science as a cover for what he could do, all of it had taken time, but it was done. It had been thrilling and exhausting and everything Viktor could ask for.
And through all of it Yuuri had been with him, like he was now, in the forests and the labs. In boring conferences and classes but also in pressure groups, making people remember nature was also important.

In the little things and the big ones, sharing and reminding him why he held nature so dearly and why he loved cities. What made him alive and what he wanted to get.  Sharing every part of him and specially that dream about the day they didn’t need to fight for the forests because they had managed to make people care for them and finally forests had a chance to last.

Making him reach that part of him you only reach when you have a dream too big to bear it alone.

THE END