Are We Dead Now?

Twenty-Two

They found a bus. Not a school bus, but one of the expensive charter busses.

"Alright, who's ready to rock?" Kinzou grinned at them from the driver's seat. Everyone had chosen various places to sit in the bus. Yukio in the front with Kinzou and Torako. Shima, who was on baby duty, in the middle with Shiemi cooing over the little girl. Rin and Bon in the back cuddling.

The man started up the bus and they were on their way to a Naval Base they now knew was Sasebo Naval Base.

"I'm surprised you didn't sit with your brother." Kinzou said. "I'd rather not be stuck as a third- wheel, thank you. And besides, no one gets any real personal time to themselves anymore." Yukio sighed.

"Are you jealous?" The blonde wondered cheekily. "Why would I be jealous?" Yukio asked. "You used to be the most important thing to Rin and now he's found someone to love in the End of the World." Kinzou offered easily.

Yukio frowned. "Is it that obvious?" He muttered, leaning closer to the man. Kinzou laughed. "Nah. I feel that. Juzo–Sachi's dad–kinda left me and Renzou behind after he married Mamushi. Yeah, it took them years to get together finally, but it hurt a lot more than we thought it would when he left the house. Then they were having a kid and the end of the world happened and everything went sideways. It got messy." Kinzou told him.

"We never got to say goodbye to him." The blonde said softly. Yukio didn't offer an "I'm sorry." like most people would've. It was appreciated. You can't be sorry if you weren't even there to experience it.

"We'd been fine until that radiation cloud and the acid rain. I guess it took a while to get all the way up the mountain, huh? One minute, we were all doing chores and the kids were playing outside and the next, Rin is running to the kids and grabbing Sachi and Yumi. Juzo followed his lead, but Rin was barely fast enough to save Sachi. He wrapped her in his clothes to protect her." Kinzou kept his eyes on the road as he recounted that horrid day. The day he still had nightmares about.

"Rin was trying to tell everyone to stay in solid rooms, but everyone was too busy panicking to listen. We lost most to the rain, watched them melt like candles." Yukio's stomach lurched uncomfortably at the comparison. God, human beings got melted by acid and had no idea what was even happening. 

"Over the next few days, more and more people died from radiation poisoning. Mamushi died with Rin by her side. She wanted to see Sachi one last time, but refused to expose the baby and kill her. She made Rin promise he'd train her to be strong. That he'd protect her. He didn't even think before promising it, either. Cried for hours over the whole fiasco. Only ones left were us all. He's tried to apologize several times for not being faster to warn us, but it's really not his fault." Kinzou smiled plainly at the thought. This blue-eyed, katana-wielding Japanese boy stumbled into Kyoto, sick as a dog and fighting off an entire mob of undead that was surrounding him–and then tried to apologize for something he couldn't control. It was almost funny.

"Where was he, at the time? Before he ran to help, I mean?" Yukio wondered. Kinzou's smile turned into a sharp grin. "Y'know, I saw him run down from a hill and then saw Bon run down right after and I can only suspect what they were doing up there and why they wanted that privacy. Never gonna ask about it though. That's their business." The blonde laughed at Yukio's disgusted expression. "Hey, gotta find some way to have fun in the Apocalypse." Kinzou winked at the teen. The cowboy outfit combined with his personality just made him seem like a dorky Westerner and Yukio found his face going red. He never wanted to think of his brother sleeping with someone.

"Stop giving away our secrets, John Wayne!" Rin shouted from the back of the bus. "Okay, how can you hear from all the way back there?!" The man yelled back, narrowing his eyes. "Dunno, but I can and I have a sword and an axe that you've never Introduced yourself to, so watch it, Blondie!" Rin answered. Bon laughed at his boyfriend's antics. He placed a kiss on Rin's cheek and the teen scoffed. "I'm trying to threaten someone, stop that!" He complained. "You love my kisses, fuck you." Bon grumbled planting another one next to Rin's eye. "You already did, but I wouldn't mind another go." He answered casually. He didn't even have to look at the older boy's face to know it was red and grinned triumphantly.