~*FOXFIRE*~

*****

Die rummaged through the last drawer, his eyes scanning each weird looking thing that came out in his hands curiously. While Shinya was sitting on the bed with the clear sketch of anticipation and impatience on his face.

" How can you forget where you put it?!" Shinya exclaimed.

" Hey, I’m doing you a favour here. Don’t talk so much." Die opened a carved wooden box and found some sweets he had hid there from his mom when he was five(note: Die is now 21), now all sticky and mouldy. Sticking his tongue out in disgust, he threw the box out of the window.

" Hm, why are you looking for that bracelet?" Die absentmindedly asked.

" It’s my friend’s…" Shinya said, a small smile on his face as he blushed slightly.

" Ah…" Die scratched his head, not noticing Shinya's strange tone. He clearly remembered Kaoru taking that thing of that beast of a fox who had given him this damn bandage on his head. " Your pet ne?"

Die’s continuos chatter disrupted the happy trance Shinya was in. "What pet?"

" That black fox."

" Toshiya?" Shinya asked innocently.

" Black fox with white stripe on its tail."

" That’s my friend," he said softly, hiding his face behind the veil of his long hair.

" Hm, where did I dump it?" Die muttered to himself, thinking hard where he had left the braid of beads. As if driven by instinct, he pulled out the drawer and fished in the empty hole. He groped the flat surface but then he caught something.

Shinya eyes lit up as he saw the trinket twined in the human’s hand. "That’s it!" He leapt down from the bed where he was seated previously and reached for the bracelet.

But Die snatched it back quickly. "Hey, what’s the excitement?" He appeared to study the thing for a moment.

" Give it to me!" Shinya clawed at him.

" Ack!" Die winced but then started laughing at Shinya annoyed expression.

" Stupid human!"

Die laughed so hard that he had to wipe up the tears that had welled up in his eyes. "Hmph! You always regard me as ‘stupid human’…aren’t you a human too..? Please, feel free to call me Die."

" No. Not unless you give me back the bracelet!"

" What if I don’t?"

But upon seeing the murderous glint in Shinya’s eyes, the ‘stupid human’ as referred to by Shinya, tossed the object to him. " Gee, some people can’t take a joke."

Irritated, Shinya said firmly, "I’m not like a human at all. I’m not as stupid."

" Ah, what are you then, friend-of-foxes-who-live-in-a-jungle-wearing-satin-dresses??"

Shinya glared indignantly at him but nonetheless, trailed behind him when he insisted he went out from the proper door. "I don’t want people to see a girl climbing out of my window." Though there were no people around.

Shinya looked at the interior of the house with great curiousity but showed none of its trace on his face. He wondered how could humans stand living in such a cage! The thought alone occurred absurd to him who had ran through the wide plains on his four furry paws and sometimes with his long legs.

" Where do you live?" Die asked.

" Out there."

" That’s a big place ne?" Die laughed. "Well, if you’re reluctant to say…I’d like you to come over some time."

" For what?" Shinya asked in a hostile tone, eyeing him suspiciously from the corner of his eyes.

" Aw, we can be friends, right?" Die pretended to sound very hurt, putting a palm to his chest.

Confused at what seemed to him an awkward request, Shinya kept quiet. Nobody ever asked to be his friend before. He had only one friend that would be his eternal companion -Toshiya.

" Treat it as your payment for me finding your bracelet for you," Die grinned. "Or else, you can give me a kiss, then we’ll be even," he said, winking at the girl-like man.

Shinya regarded him with caution as he stepped closer. If he can go off after he kissed this human, why not? Toshiya and he kissed plenty of times. He blushed when he thought about the times they had done more than kiss. Swiftly, he gave Die a peck on his startled lips and turned around to leave.

He broke out in a run, clutching the bracelet close to his heart. He closed his eyes as he felt the cool air blow against the skin of his face, knowing his legs would bring him home, back to the person he loved, the -only- person who owned his heart…

Die stood as still as a stone statue could be. Eyes wide in shock, he touched his lips, fearing that the other man had stolen it with his kiss. He felt as if a tree had fallen directly down on his head but it so hard that it smouldered his heart too when he saw the red-brown hair flying behind the mysterious man as he ran and faded into the darkness.

***

The moon hung in the dark skies, trying to hide behind moving veils of clouds. Somewhere in the trees, an owl hooted.

Toshiya gently dabbed the bloody wounds with the cloth he tore from the man’s shirt. The water in the river felt ice cold as he soak the cloth with it and brought it to the human’s forehead.

Kaoru groaned slightly as his broken flesh sting at the contact. His whole body ached with pain and his head was screeching with an awful migraine. He tried to open his eyes although he couldn’t feel them. And he didn’t know whether he managed to open them or not since all he saw was darkness with blurs of white. He would have fallen on his back if he weren’t already lying down. He felt as if something was gnawing at his flesh, his bones…

" Shh, relax…" he heard a soft voice telling him. But he wanted to shrink away every time the cold cloth touched his skin yet he was unable to move.

So painful…but the pain seemed to ebb away as a swooning fragrance enveloped him. He let his consciousness slip away to swim in the sweet smell.