Work Text:
Doctor Ozaki stared at his reflection in his plain bathroom mirror. His entire bathroom was plain, with no attempts at decoration. It was a soulless room with nothing personal but a few necessary items.
The doctor lived in a house, not a home.
After shaving his chin, his eyes had fallen upon the scar on his right cheek. His fingers delicately traced the mark and he recalled how he had gotten it. A blade had broken off of a chainsaw while he was frantically cutting down a tree, and it flew back and sliced him on the face.
"If only it would fade away," Ozaki thought. The scar constantly reminded him of the day he lost the battle against the Shiki, and lost the village to fire.
Not only the scar reminded him, but his face did as well. It had only been three years since he had left the dead village behind him, so his face hadn't aged. He wished his face would quickly become old and wrinkled so that he would not have to see the very same man who had once lived in the village every time he looked in the mirror.
His lifestyle hadn't changed either. Ozaki was still a doctor, working at a small clinic. However, the town he lived in was significantly larger than Sotoba. It was almost a city and had little to no resemblance of his previous hometown. It was perfect for him to move on.
But his mind never moved on. He lived his life like a zombie with no one by his side. The larger hospital in town attracted most of his patients so he was rarely distracted by work. Despite this, the doctor still shaved at this mirror every day. He would then throw on his white doctor's coat, walk to work, and show up exactly on time. For three years he kept up this pattern and nothing would change.
He simply believed that this was all his life had left to offer for him for now on, and that he would be this way, unchanging, until he died of old age.
This day was not any different. He showed up to work and gave his usual greetings. The nurses would smile and greet him back, but it would just bring him more pain. His patients were typical. A mother bringing in her son who had a flu, an elderly man coming in for a check-up, and other mundane cases. It wasn't until it became night that his life would begin to change.
As he walked home down the lamp-lit streets, he passed a children's park like he always did every night. The park was eery at night; vacant, dark, and motionless. The playground equipment would remain still, not even gently blowing in the breeze. However, a slight movement caught Ozaki's eye. Someone was sitting quietly on one of the swings, gently rocking back and forth.
"That's odd," Ozaki thought. In all his three years, he had never seen anyone at the park at this hour, not even punk teen-agers.
He continued his walk home, but the path led him closer to the swings. As he gradually got closer to the stranger, his eyes were able to make out the individual.
"Natsuno!" Ozaki gasped and froze in place.
The jinrou flinched at the sound and looked up at the doctor. During the short time that Ozaki had seen the boy, he never had shown him any emotion. But tonight, Natsuno was showing him an expression of honest surprise.
"D-Doctor..." he murmured in shock.
Unpleasant memories began flooding into Ozaki's mind from just the sight of the young man.
Despite this, he didn't run.
"Don't look at me so surprised like that. Are you honestly going to say this unexpected reunion was of pure chance?" Ozaki spoke. Natsuno's shocked face turned into a glare.
"Why would I want to come see you?" Natsuno responded.
"You tell me. This is just too big a coincidence for us to just randomly meet again."
Natsuno stood up and Ozaki backed away a few steps in defense. However, Natsuno didn't approach the doctor and turned to leave.
"I have no business with you." the jinrou said coldly as he walked away.
"Wait!" Ozaki called out before he could stop himself.
Natsuno froze, and eventually turned around. His eyes showed the same surprise as earlier. At first, Ozaki had no idea why he had stopped him. But he soon realized that after all these years, Natsuno was the first person he met that knew the truth about Sotoba. He was there as well during the tragedy. Ozaki's pain was his pain too. During the three years, he had no one to talk to.
But most of all, the doctor was dying for a change in his tedious life. As soon as he saw Natsuno, his curiosity about the jinrou had already begun to eat at him.
How did he survive? Where did he go? Many questions had already begun to grow in Ozaki's mind. Before he could choose an explanation as to why he stopped Natsuno, the jinrou had already made his way back to him. They stared at each other for a quick moment before Natsuno spoke again.
"Can I crash at your place tonight?"
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Ozaki was back in front of his mirror, washing his face with a cloth. Natsuno was in the other room, but he was so silent he may as well not even be there. The doctor stared at himself in the mirror. His intense eyes glared at himself for being so foolish.
He left the bathroom and was surprised to see that Natsuno had already fallen asleep in an upright sitting position. Ozaki had noticed the dark circles around his eyes earlier.
"What have you been through?" Ozaki wanted to ask. There were many questions he wanted to ask, but it would have to wait.
Since the doctor now lived in a small apartment, the rooms were limited. Much to his discomfort, the couch and his bed were in the same room. Fear of being killed in his sleep began to creep at his mind and stomach. Despite this, he still crawled into bed. As he stared up at the ceiling, he realized it didn't really matter. He didn't care if he never woke up again. With that in mind, he quickly fell asleep.
Beams of sunlight escaping through the cracks of his closed window woke up the doctor the next morning. As he sat up and ruffled his messy bed hair, he immediately realized that he was running very late for work. He didn't panic. He didn't want to play the role today, all he cared about was the sleeping jinrou across from him. Now that the natural light illuminated the room, Ozaki could clearly see just how sickly Natsuno looked.
"Who knows when he'll wake up," Ozaki sighed, and decided to prepare his morning coffee. It was going to be a long day. After pouring himself a cup, he turned to sit down and was startled by Natsuno who was standing right beside him. As he flinched, a splash of coffee splattered on the floor.
"Ah, good morning..." Ozaki greeted, unsure of what else to say. Natsuno responded with a subtle nod and sat down at the table.
"You look terrible," the doctor pointed out.
"I used to look a lot worse," Natsuno murmured. It was obvious that the boy wasn't fully awake yet. Ozaki took his coffee and sat down beside him.
"Worse?" Ozaki chuckled, finding that hard to believe. Natsuno covered the right side of his face with his hand. His exposed eye showed that he seemed to be lost in thought.
"A scar," Natsuno began, "across my body. It took a year to heal."
Ozaki's thoughts went to his own scar and how it hadn't changed since that night.
"How did that happen?" the doctor asked, not worrying about being insensitive.
"I took out the other jinrou, the servant from the Kuroshiki family."
"Tatsumi?" Ozaki said hopefully. The news of his death brought instant relief to the man.
"It wasn't easy. My body was nearly destroyed." Natsuno's eyes squinted as if the memory alone caused him pain. Ozaki's hand gripped tightly onto his coffee mug and it began to gently rattle from his anger. There was no way that the jinrou could have survived without 'assistance'.
"So you've been taking human blood?"
Natsuno glared at the doctor with his demon-like eyes. The sight of his eyes made Ozaki think of his late wife, who had once had those very same eyes. This caused the doctor's anger to grow even more.
"Unlike shiki, I don't need to kill when I take blood."
Ozaki rapidly rose to his feet and glared down at the young man.
"Calm down. Its not like I attacked a stranger. My... friends helped me," Natsuno said the word friends as if he were embarrassed by it, "I didn't force them. It was just like the time I fed off of you."
Ozaki grimaced at the memory.
"What about dying? You said that you would take out all the shiki, and then yourself."
Natsuno went silent and looked away.
"I wanted to. I want to, even now."
"You were too much of a coward? Afraid of what the afterlife had in store for a monster?"
Natsuno shot Ozaki a deadly, hateful look. Ozaki glared back at the demon, but decided to back off.
"So why do you look so sick now? What have you been through?" the doctor asked.
"I don't need blood to survive. I can live off of food, but... I just haven't been eating well. Sometimes I just forget that I still need something to keep me going," Natsuno answered.
"Dumb ass," Ozaki walked to the drawers in his kitchen and grabbed a bagel. He tossed it at Natsuno, who swiftly caught it.
"If you're not going to end yourself, then at least take care of yourself. As I doctor I can't just sit by and watch," Ozaki sat back down and hit his fist on the table to emphasize his point. Natsuno began eating the bagel without complaining.
"It's not enough, is it." Ozaki stated. Natsuno didn't respond and continued to munch on the bagel.
"If he were human, he would have long died from starvation by now. Even as a jinrou, it's got to be tough," the doctor thought. As Natsuno ate, Ozaki decided to call the clinic to say that he wouldn't be showing up to work today. The nurse on the other line was surprised by the call since the good doctor never missed work. Before he could finish the phone call, a crashing noise interrupted him. Natsuno had slipped out of his seat and fallen to the ground. Ozaki quickly hung up the phone and ran to the collapsed teenager. He fell to his knees and lifted Natsuno in his arms. The jinrou was breathing heavily and his eyes were closed tightly in pain.
"Shit, this is bad," the doctor thought, "he might just die at any moment."
Ozaki yelled Natsuno's name a few times, but the jinrou didn't respond and seemed to not even be aware of his presence.
"To..ru..." Natsuno managed to let out a quiet murmur.
"Toru? Muto's son?" Ozaki questioned, but Natsuno continued to be unresponsive.
"Damn it, he's slipping away," the doctor then rolled up his sleeve and presented his arm to the jinrou.
"Natsuno, just take what you need. Just enough to get you by for now."
Natsuno finally responded by grimacing and pushing the doctor's arm away.
"No!" he cried out.
"Just do it!" Ozaki shook the boy by his shoulders. In a flash, Natsuno was at Ozaki's neck. He could feel the sharp penetration of the fangs before he could even realize what had just happened. Clinging desperately to the doctor's shirt, Natsuno took in more and more of his blood with each gulp. Ozaki held onto Natsuno to steady the boy's shaking.
"That's enough," Ozaki said and placed his hand over one of Natsuno's quivering hands. The jinrou released the man from his fangs, but was still unable to move due to the fatigue. Natsuno rested his head on Ozaki's shoulder as he caught his breath. Ozaki could feel his warm breath against the skin of his neck; warmer than usual now that he was full of hot blood. The doctor continued to hold Natsuno in his arms until he drifted off into sleep.
He laid the sleeping jinrou down on his bed and left to clean up the mess. The spilled coffee, the half-eaten bagel, an overturned chair, a few drops of blood.... and a notebook. Since it did not belong to him, Ozaki blinked in surprise when his eyes fell upon the book. He opened the notebook curiously, expecting the contents to be Natsuno's diary. He filled with disappointment when he discovered the book was entirely empty, except for a few pressed flowers. The doctor recognized that they were wild flowers that used to grow on the roadsides around Sotoba. Even more peculiar was that the flowers appeared to be already dead and shriveled before they were pressed in the book. Sighing, he closed the notebook and left it beside Natsuno's head. He sat down on the couch that Natsuno previously slept on.
"He is probably filled with self-hate," Ozaki thought as he stared at the sleeping boy, "that's why he's been doing such a horrible job of taking care of himself. But if that's the case, why hasn't he killed himself yet? What is he living for?"
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Natsuno awoke in the middle of the night. He glanced across the room and spotted Ozaki asleep on the couch. Beside him was an ashtray filled with newly finished cigarette butts. The memories of what previously happened that day flooded into Natsuno's mind, and the boy turned red from embarrassment. He felt anger towards Ozaki.
"Why did he do that? He should have just let me die," he thought, but couldn't help feeling grateful at the same time. It had only been a few hours, but when Natsuno awoke he was in perfect health. Human blood had given him just what he needed.
His eyes then came to the notebook beside him. He lifted in up and stared at it, letting the feeling of nostalgia spread through his chest. Ozaki's words then returned to his mind.
"What about dying? You said that you would take out all the shiki, and then yourself. You were too much of a coward? Afraid of what the afterlife had in store for a monster?"
Natsuno clutched the aged notebook tightly in his hands and brought it close to his chest.
"That's not it," Natsuno thought, "if I die, my memories die as well. And my memories of him are more important to me than my life."
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The sunrise began to appear over the mountains, lighting up the buildings below. The jinrou didn't bother to stop and admire; he kept moving forward to an unknown destination. As he walked, he came across the park that he had visited the night before. However this time, he didn't stop to rest on the swing. If he did, he feared Ozaki might be able to find him again. Before he continued on his journey, he had a random desire to take out his notebook to see the flowers again. He lifted one flower up over his head so that he could look at it with the beautiful morning sky in the background. As he stared silently at the memory, he heard the sound of a piece of paper slipping from the notebook and falling to the ground.
"A note?"
He read it to himself, and let out a quiet chuckle.
"Come by anytime you want another drink."