Kodama forests's Curse

Chapter 10 - Making this worth it.

Dauirmuid and Lexi flew peacefully through the sky, yet the silence was as tense as a wire. Dauirmuid had changed into a tanuki again to make flying easier for Lexi, even though he said it was alright. He my have been sulking but he couldn't help but feel guilty for making the journey difficult. Neither of them could take the silence anymore.
"Hey.. I'm... I'm sorry for lashing out."
"You didn't lash out, it's fine. You have every right to be scared, angry or sad. It's a huge change." Dauirmuid nodded his head in reply. Lexi had something on his mind, and decided if there was any time to say it, it was now.
"I.. I know you've heard this an annoying about of times, but... this all does come with benefits."
"... I know it would. But those things are keeping me from living a normal life."
"Well, what about me?" Lexi asked, almost regretting saying it.
"What about you?"
"I... we'll still be friends after this. Right?"
"Of course, none of this is your fault.."
"Okay..."
The two flew along quietly for a while.
"Unless..?" Lexi s
"Unless what?"
"What if after this, we became... 'more'?"
"...More?"
"You're repeating a lot of what I say, its kind of unsettling."
"Sorry."
"..More... than friends?" Dauirmuid sat upright on Lexi's back and his eyes widened.
"What??"
"Sorry! Sorry. I- We don't have to, I just wanted to put that out there."
"..You think we have the kind of relationship for that?"
"Well, if you have the same feelings we can absolutley become a thing."
"...'Bit surprising to think about how my first girlfriend is my boyfriend."
"Aha.. so, we're a thing?"
"Yeah, I guess..."
"...Would it be like- a kissing kind of thing?"
"Who the heck calls it a kissing thing?-"
"There's not much of another way to put it-"
Dauirmuid couldn't finish his scentence, Lexi had changed back into a human, and they were falling. Lexi wrapped his arms around Dauirmuid's neck and put his lips to his. Dauirmuid hugged him back. The full moon turned their shape into a sillouhette as they fell in what felt like slow motion. The world was alright again. Maybe being a yokai wouldn't be so bad. Lexi changed back a few centimeters away from the ocean, and he flew straight up. Dauirmuid had frozen up again once they reached their normal height. Lexi was visibly smiling, despite the strange shape of the kitsune's face. And they flew so fast that to anybody else, they would simply be a blur of blonde and brown.
"...Well?"
"I.. wow."
"'Wow' good or 'wow' bad?"
"The.. the first one. What did you think?" Dauirmuid smiled weakly.
"Did I scare you?"
"A little, yeah."
"I'm sorry.
"No worries, th-thats a first kiss worth remembering."
"It's your first?"
"Yeah?"
"You clearly didn't have much luck with women."
"Very funny..." He stared off into space for a minute, then his expression changed to fear. "..wait. shit." Dauirmuid muttered under his breath, worriedly.
"What?"
"It's about my sister.. you know the law about telling others you're a shifter?"
"...That's one way to end a conversation about your first kiss, but yeah.. why?"
"I left a note explaining everything before I left.."
"I- WHAT?!"
"Only because I thought I'd be fine when I got back-!" He didn't get to finish his scentence. Out of fear for Dauirmuid's fate, Lexi was flying so fast the ocean was nothing but a big, blue, deep blur. The wind nearly took Dauirmuid off Lexi's back, so he held on for dear life. They would be back in Ireland in practically no time.

Kayleigh jumped at the sound of the door opening. He was finally home. She ran downstairs as fast as she could to see her brother. In the doorway, he was there. But he was barely recognisable, messy, and had a bloodstain in his side. She slowed to a halt as she noticed his appearance.
"What the FUCK happened?! Where have you been?!" Dauirmuid ran past her up the stairs, Kayleigh ran up after him. He reached the top and scrambled to the dresser for the note, but it wasn't there.
"What have you been up to?!" She repeated. Dauirmuid turned to face her.
"This weird phase you're having isn't funny anymore." She took his letter out of her pocket and unfolded it.
"'Turns out I was cursed by a ghost in Japan', I'll need a less vauge explanation next time, Jeremy."
"Give me that!" Dauirmuid lunged over and sntached the letter from his sister and tore it up.
"Good to see you've gotten over it then, now. A proper explanation. Where did you really go?!"
"I WAS in Japan! I was at risk of becoming some kind of ghos-"
"Enough with the bullshit. I need to know-!" Dauirmuid glared at her with the same dark, glowing eyes he had before.
"Very scary contacts." Kayleigh said, sarcastically. Dauirmuid blinked and the eyes went away. He stared at her, in full seriousness.
"I'm not having some kind of riciculous phase, we're both in trouble because of me. I cannot stress how.. ridiculous you're being about this."
"Ridiculous!? Nothing you're saying is beleiveable at all! I was worried about you! I'm not going to let whatever lycanthropy, roleplay bullshit this is drive you mad!" Dauirmuid ran into his room and threw his bag off his back, and began packing more stuff into a larger one.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
"Away from you! For your sake, we can't speak again for a while."
"You expect me to beleive you went all the way to Japan, got cured of some curse, then flew all the way back in like, three days?"
"Well, yeah! That's exactly what happened! Apart from the cured part."
"So, wait. You're still cursed? What does the curse do then?"
"I become a ghost too. And I need to leave because assassins of some sort will come and kill the both of us."
"Well, how come I can see you then?" Dauirmuid stood back up.
"You find that part the most important? You could die!"
"No I couldn't, you're making this all up. You're running away from nothing!"
"Just.. stop." Dauirmuid stormed past her with a duffel bag full of clothes. Kayleigh gripped his shoulder tightly and he turned his head around abruptly. His eyes were black and white again, his nose was darkening and he had sideburns going down the sides of his face. Dauirmuid was showing genuine fear and anger. Kayleigh let go and stepped back, fear stroke through her slightly.
"Where did you get the money for that kind of hologram work?"
"It's not.. just, for our safety. Lexi explained-"
"Oh, you got a boyfriend too?"
"Yes! I was in Japan for christ sakes! And I'll be gone for a year or two at most. I don't care if you miss me or not, just break off all contacts with me for now... and admittedly, I'll miss you." And he stormed downstairs. Kayleigh followed as fast as she could, she tripped and fell stomach first down. Kayleigh grunted and stumbled to her feet, but Dauirmuid was nowhere to be seen. Nobody except a small raccoon in the doorway. It was staring at her on it's hind legs.
"Jer.. what the hell?" She mumbled. The raccoon turned into a robin and fluttered away. Just like that, Dauirmuid was gone. Kayleigh sat down on the stairs, and clasped her hand to her forehead. And simply stared off into space. She realised what was happening, and knew she had to think of something beleiveable to tell her mother..

"Well.. that's that. I'll not see my family again." Dauirmuid said. Him and Lexi were sitting on a bench in Belfast Centre, Dauirmuid wanted to see the place at night with him.
"Only for like, two years. I haven't seen mine in eight, nearly nine." Lexi said, attempting to be comforting. Dauirmuid sighed and leaned forward, his hands clasped together. Lexi put his arm around Dauirmuid's back, and lightly hugged him with it.
"It'll be okay, we can figure out a way to survive."
"I've never been to Florida, is it as bad as people say?"
"Well, it's my home."
"Heh." Dauirmuid leaned back to look at the city. It was as bright as ever, christmas lights were up from ages ago, creating a nostalgic festive feeling in the atmostphere.
"I'm sure not nearly as bright as America, but I'll miss the city."
"Yeah, it's nice here. It's somehow still very busy but much quieter, you know?"
"I'd say so." They sat together in silence for a while, as the lights turned on and off in a satysfying pattern. Then Dauirmuid showed what looked like confusion on his face before he turned around and asked:
"Hey, why didn't you go back to your family after you turned?" Lexi's expression changed abruptly, and he sat up and turned to face Dauirmuid.
"I didn't.. really have parents. My real mum disowned me when I was really young, so I'm a foster kid." Dauirmuid sat up and faced Lexi in both shock and empathy. "I moved between homes quite a lot. When I was ten I got the beginning signs of me being inhumane. I found the shifter's web and discovered I was a kitsune, cursed when I was in the womb. I turned this into an excuse to run away, and I did." Lexi hesitated and took a breath, and Dauirmuid put his hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to tell me, it's fine."
"It's fine.." Lexi replied. "So.. I hid in a forest for a few years, didn't have to eat really so it was easy enough. I became old enough to have a job and started working for minimum wage, bought an apartment, and.. a while later, met you." Lexi smiled at Dauirmuid. "Thanks to you I don't feel as alone as before." Dauirmuid smiled back and put his hand over Lexi's.
"I'm so sorry you went through all that, but I'm happy to make a difference." The two lost track of time in each other's eyes, until eventually Dauirmuid pulled his eyes away from Lexi. He wasn't very good with eye contact.
"Well.." Lexi said, once the street was pretty much empty, he stood up and held out his hand. "Let's head to Florida, shall we?" Dauirmuid took his hand and put his arms around Lexi's waist.
"Right." Then Lexi jumped as high as he could, blurring himself into the shape of the Kitsune, then they flew east into the rising sun. Wether this relationship lasted or not, they knew they were part of each other's clan now. There was no seperating them now.