NekoMentals!

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Kurogane laid Aito's frozen body onto his bed, and put the wooden chest onto the floor. He unzipped his pocket and retrieved the two crystals from it, the rocks clinking together. After a minute of hesitation, he placed the white crystal onto Aito's sternum, just as Tama instructed him to do, and held the black one over his.

Aito's body began to glow a bright white, and the crystals seemed to almost solidify. His eyes twitched, and the rest of his body followed. The crystal tumbled off of him and onto the floor, as did Kurogane's.

"Kuro?" Aito whispered, traces of awe embedded in his eyes. "What happened?"

"I brought you back."

Aito knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. "How? What did you do?"

"Long story short, I killed my mother, and Tama helped me enchant these crystals to bring you back to life. The others don't know yet," Kurogane held the black and white stones up to Aito. After, he put them in the chest and watched it seal shut, just as Tama promised.

"Oh. Why do I feel so...strong?" he examined his hands, as if he would find answers within them.

Kurogane hesitated, but eventually answered him. "You're immortal now, like me. It was the only way. I also had to sacrifice Rocky–"

Aito jumped off of the bed and gave Kurogane a tight squeeze. "I'm sure Rocky didn't mind. He had been through a lot. If I'm immortal, doesn't that mean I'll have to watch my family age and die?"

"Yes. It's a sacrifice I had to make. Believe me, I went through the positives and negatives of bringing you back for days, because I was so worried that you wouldn't want to come back. Living forever is more of a curse than it is a blessing."

"I'll get to spend forever with you, though. It won't be too cursed," Aito smiled at him and then regained seriousness. "Should we tell the others? I feel like it would be pretty awkward if I just showed up at dinner."

Kurogane nodded. "We should."

They found Mrs. Fujimoto was making food in the kitchen, and Yurika was helping her.

"Aito. How–" she ran to her son and hugged him as hard and she could. "I'm not dreaming, right?" She looked to Kurogane for confirmation. When he shook his head, she kissed Aito on the forehead. "I'm never letting you leave the house again."

"That's okay. What's for dinner?" Aito wiped tears from his eyes, grateful to be with his family once again.

Mrs. Fujimoto pursed her lips. "That's the first thing you think about? Anyway, we're having oyakodon."

"Aito?" Sachiko bolted into the kitchen, Damion in tow. She looked at Kurogane, knowing that it was him, and mouthed thank you. "We missed you so much."

The rest of the evening was full of long embraces, salty tears, and spending lots of time with each other. They all slept in the living room together, as if they were having a sleepover.

Kurogane and Aito explained everything to the others the following morning over breakfast. There were many questions; bringing someone back to life wasn't exactly the simplest topic.

While they were all cleaning up from the meal, the doorbell rang. Mrs. Fujimoto paused her wiping, gave the rag to Sachiko, and answered the door. It was a man and a woman.

"Can I help you?" Mrs. Fujimoto asked them.

The woman nodded. "We asked around Toyohashi for our daughter's whereabouts, and a very kind lady told us she'd be here."

"Could I get your names first?"

"I'm Mika Akiyama," the woman– Mika– touched a hand to her heart and placed the other on the man. "And this is my husband, Ren Akiyama."

Mrs. Fujimoto turned around, back towards the couple. "Yurika!" she called out. "Could you come here, please?"

"What's going on?" Yurika wrapped her arms around her middle.

"These are your parents." Indeed, there were many physical similarities between the couple and Yurika. "Apparently, they've been looking for you."

Mika was sobbing, tears of joy falling onto the concrete step. "We have. We heard about Aunt Bethany's passing and came looking for you. We redecorated your bedroom a little, since you're not little anymore. How long have you been staying here, sweetheart?"

"Not long. Do you want to come inside?" Yurika's heart pounded in her ears; she hadn't seen her parents in thirteen years and she was as nervous as ever.

"Sure," Ren replied for Mika.

The others, who had just finished cleaning up from breakfast, glanced between Yurika and her parents.

Damion walked up to her and placed his hands on her face. "Who are they, my love?"

"My parents. According to them, they've been trying to find me for a while now," Yurika sighed and look back at them; they were still talking to Mrs. Fujimoto.

Once Mika and Ren were settled, and Mrs. Fujimoto had made fresh tea for them, they conversed with their daughter.

"I thought you passed away. That's what Aunt Bethany told me," she studied her mother's eyes; they were hers in every way.

"She didn't know that we didn't," Mika cradled the warm tea in her hands. "After we got in the accident, your father fell into comatose and I was left to deal with the house payments. I trusted Aunt Bethany to take good care of you, for however long necessary. A few months ago, your father awoke and I spent my time taking care of him. Only recently have we started to look for you, and that was only after we heard about Aunt Bethany.

"You can come home now, sweetheart. You'll finish school in Toyama, where our house is, and you can still see your friends every now and then. You can grab whatever you need from Aunt Bethany's house and we'll be on our way."

Yurika plastered a faux smile on her face, but it wasn't convincing enough; her father asked her what was wrong.

She hesitated, but gave in. "I, um, have a life here, you know. So, moving to a different city and transferring schools would sort mess everything up."

"You'll get used to it, sweetheart. I promise." Ren smiled warmly at her.