Are We Alive?

Two: Buttercup

Buttercup–Cheerfulness, ingratitude, childishness

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"Just because you've secured yourself a place in this group doesn't mean you have to revert back to how you were before all this happened!" Rin yelled.

"Well maybe if you'd trust me more, I wouldn't be!" Yukio yelled back.

"You know how I feel about you around the kids! I said stay away for a reason, not just to be an asshole, as you seem to believe for some reason!" Rin snapped.

"What, I can't even play with the kids?! I'm not a monster, Rin!"

"That's not it! You may be immune to it, but I don't know if it can spread from you! You've heard about sicknesses like that where someone is immune, but they're a carrier! It's the same for you around Torako! Sicknesses have incubation times and can live I side if healthy host bodies! They can take out whole populations, Yuki!" Rin was reaching the end of his rope with his brother. Yukio wanted to be with his niece, but Rin was forever worried the young ones were susceptible to the Pink Flu.

"None of you have gotten it!" Yukio pointed out. "That's true." Kinzou agreed. Rin turned his glare on the man and he put his hands up in surrender and backed away from the brothers.

"No, we haven't. But I don't know about the younger and older people. I'm paranoid and there's nothing you can about it until one or the other is proven right. Please, just stay away from them until I say." Rin quieted down. He hadn't yelled at Yukio in a long time. Like, back-when-the Apocalypse-was-still-a-
new-thing long time.

Yukio opened his mouth to protest. "Listen." Rin demanded. The taller teen shut his mouth, surprisingly. "I'm not doing this to keep you from your niece or anything like that. I can't trust anything that we don't have enough information on. If you're contagious somehow and it passes to the kids or Torako, I'll never forgive myself and you won't either."

Rin didn't wait to see if Yukio was going to argue further. He left the room to go deal with the crowd of dead their shouting had attracted.

§~•~§~•~§

There was something therapeutic about slicing mostly solid bodies to pieces. It was a morbid tho but, but those were becoming less and less rare for Rin the longer he lived in this world and lead this group. His Katana blade sliced cleanly through the bodies and cut them to pieces. It was even more therapeutic when he'd gotten good enough to look like an actual samurai while doing it.

Ryuji, never one to miss out on the fun, came out and smashed the dead with a baseball bat. A big, chrome baseball bat. Rin wondered where he'd gotten it, but didn't deny the company. Kinzou joined them with a broomstick that he'd removed the bristles from and attached a knife to one end. He'd carved out an alcove in the broom handle at some place called Home Depot, found a kitchen knife, and used really strong glue to keep it in place. The blonde was nothing if not handy.

They got rid of the crowd pretty easily, but Rin ran into the forest across the street and sliced more corpses into chunks.

"Rin? I can talk to him." Kinzou offered, hastily catching up to him. Rin stopped running and sighed. "He was like this before, too. I don't think there's a point in trying." He said honestly. "Nonsense. Sometimes, people need someone else to help them change for the better. I can be that person. It's not always family that brings them home, you know?" Kinzou waved it off. Rin and Ryuji considered the fact.

"Alright. You babysit him from now on. I refuse to deal with his shit and I trust you. If you fuck up," Rin's bloody blade was at the man's throat in a second. "You'll regret it. Even if he's an asshole, that's still my little brother." Kinzou could've sworn Rin's eyes glowed a brighter blue in the shaded forest. He nodded quickly. "Of course." He agreed. Rin gave a bright smile. "Great! Ryuji and I are going on a run to see if there's anything worth picking up in this town. Keep him away from the kids." Rin told him, hooking his arm in his boyfriend's elbow. The glint in the teen's eye told Kinzou they weren't just looking for things to pick up while they were out.

He gave them a knowing grin and nodded, walking back to the house.

"Have fun, boys~!" He called behind him.

§~•~§~•~§

"Man, this place is nice!" Rin sighed satisfied as he flopped back down on the matress. They'd found a furniture store, which they'd taken advantage of with no trouble at all.

Ryuji hummed. He raised their intertwined fingers and kissed Rin's knuckles. Rin smiled and rolled over to be tucked into his boyfriend's chest.

After a while, Ryuji spoke. "As great as it would be to sleep here, we really need to get back. Izumo's cooking skills only extend so far in the Apocalypse." He told his boyfriend. Rin sighed heavily. "You'd think it would feel nice to be needed so much." The smaller teen grumbled. Ryuji laughed, shoulders shaking. "Yeah, I know. I'm pretty sure my arms will fall off if they need me to lift anything else within the next month." He groaned. "Ah, the things we suffer through for these people." Rin sighed dramatically. Ryuji hummed in agreement and pulled both of them up.

"I like those clothes on you." Ryuji commented. Rin smirked. "Don't look so bad yourself, Babe." Rin threw back as they got dressed. As they grabbed their weapons, Ryuji pulled him in for one more deep kiss before they left the store. Rin sighed happily. He would never get sick of this.

Even if they slept on the floor every night so the girls could have the beds and couches, he didn't mind as long as he was wrapped in Ryuji's arms.

Maybe the Apocalypse was good like Izumo said.

§~•~§~•~§

"Daddy?" Sachi called. "Yes, sweetie?" He answered. "Who dey?" She was looking at the pictures on the living room wall.

"That's the family that lived here before us." He told her. "Gone now?" Her eyes looked sad and Rin frowned, realizing she was talking about death. "I don't know, sweetie. It looks like the girls got away." He answered honestly. "I hope dey out dhere." She sighed, gazing at the pictures with a weird expression on her face.

"I hope they're surviving just like us." Rin agreed. He picked her up to put her to bed next to Tsukumo in the girls room. "Wait, Daddy!" She protested. "What?" She squirmed in his hold, turning around. She reached out to the picture frames. "You want the pictures?" Rin wondered, confused. Sachi nodded. Weird request, but okay. He took one of the family all together and smiling at the camera when the girls hit their teen years off the wall. "This one?" He offered. Sachi nodded again and as Rin told her and Tsukumo the story of Sleeping Beauty(Disney version, of course), she fell asleep holding onto the photo tightly.

Rin sighed and went to lay down with Ryuji on the living room floor.

"She's finally asleep?" The teen guessed. "Yeah. She's attached to those pictures. Should I worry about that?" Rin wondered. "No. This house looks like it's seen some good years. Those pictures look like something you would never see in this world. They're....nice to look at, I guess. I don't know. But if she wants the pictures, then she can have them. It'll give her something to hold onto." Ryuji tried to explain.

Rin hummed in understanding and Ryuji tucked him against his chest, kissing his forehead. "Get some sleep." He murmured. The carpet was old and practically pressed flat and slightly ratty and the throw pillows from the couch weren't very puffy and soft anymore, but Rin still fell asleep easily because he knew his family was safe and inside a decent shelter for the night.