Memento Mori (MikaYuu)

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"I know... That's why someone could kill him, or he might kill himself," Mika retorted, displeased with himself that he cared so much. Unfortunately, he was well aware he couldn't control it any longer and Sully was already acknowledging this, too. "I hate it but I can't let him die. I couldn't care less about him, but I can't let him die, Sully. I can't."

Silence poured into the cramped triangular room, Mika's own words still ringing in his head like a church bell. He couldn't hate not being in control of his own mind more. Being the co-admin against his brain wasn't enough. However something else was polluting his head. It was not just the act of keeping Yuu alive, but protecting him, in a sense.

Mika could not bear the sound of Yuu in distress. It touched a part too deep into his own memories, igniting a neurosis so strong that it could've made him ill.

After acknowledging that cancerous fact, he was infected with a repulsive urge to care.

"So don't let him die," the shorter boy sighed, crossing his arms. "Fine. That's another life on your hands to deal with. You gotta watch this boy every single second in that damned building, after school, and for fuck's sake - even when he sleeps. God knows if someone crawls through his window and puts a knife through his head as he's passed out. You do what you want, but just know your costs, Mika. As soon as that other gang sees that he's your lil pet of some sort, that's the first person they're gonna try and kill. You and I both know damn well. He is not safe in your hands."

If Mika wasn't molested by psychosis, he would've agreed with his companion in a heartbeat. Why should he care? He owed Yuu nothing and Yuu owed him nothing. They were strictly even with the deal of secrecy and Yuu's allowance to live.

Why care?

"Fine," Mika murmured, an icy chill settling over the two of them. He looked up at his partner, something unreadable in his eyes. "Perhaps I have another life on my hands."

It felt as if their bond was sliced right in two. Sully shook his head, stretching his arms.

"Alright. Whatever. Don't listen to me then. You want that lil boy to survive?" he asked as he raised the wooden door's latch to reveal a beam of light projecting from the lower level. "Teach him to fight back."

Darkness smothered Mika again as Sully leapt down and shut the latch, only his lone self haunting his room. He peered out his dirty, small window, moonlight casting upon his features.

Mika stuffed a remaining box of Chinese food in the cup holder of his car, buckling up his seatbelt. He drove with his lights off, his tires slowly crunching the tiny pebbles aligning their apartment road.

He arrived at the foster home, parking his car in the dimness of the alley. He rubbed his rough climbing gloves together, scuffing his boots against the gravel. Then he placed the cold, thin metal handles of the white box between his teeth, and tested for a leap.

"Let's see which window you're at, Yuichiro," he murmured through the metal, making sure every piece of gear was on right before he leaped up to a ledge. "Oh, fuck," he hissed, unprepared to have his entire weight dependent on his arms again. He dangled, only a foot or two from the ground. The bricks of the building dug into his hands, a loose rock falling on his helmet.

He growled, looking up as he continued to climb. His biceps ached, his fingers clinging on tightly to the miniature slopes of the ledges. The scent of the Chinese food was making him even more on edge, in some way.

Maybe delivering this around dinner time instead of 2 AM would've been more approachable... God knows with these crazy ass nuns. Let's hope they aren't against the Chinese. He thought to himself.

Now fifteen feet off of the ground, he began to slightly sweat. He tried to ignore that factor, peering into the many grimy windows of the foster building. None of them resembled that black-haired, baby-faced boy that was ever so famous in Mika's brain.

After swinging to a final ledge, and on the verge of giving in, he peered into another room, cracking the window this time. He leaned in over the window sill, relaxing and catching his breath for a moment. That looked quite terrifying though, half body in and the other nowhere to be seen.

He gazed into the hideous, poorly-decorated room, gentle snores filling his ears. He looked directly down, Yuu's small body curled up on the bed just below Mika's dangling arms from the window, sleeping soundly with a hand covering his lower face.

Mika nearly choked on the metal, the box threatening to collapse all over Yuichiro's face and spill a rice piñata everywhere. He battled a hazardous urge to kidnap Yuu right then and there and take him somewhere better... He looked purely gentle as his chest rose and fell, his blanket cocooning his tiny body.

I know you're starving...

Mika nudged the boy's soft cheek with a finger, scoping around to make sure the other boys in the room hadn't awakened. Yuu twitched microscopically in his slumber, shaking his head. He made a soft noise, fighting the urge to be woke by Mika's hand.

The blond removed the box from his mouth, whiffing the scent by Yuu's nose by teasing it in front of his face.

Drool pooled from the ravenette's lips.

Mika furrowed his eyebrows, shaking him one last time. Exhausted emerald eyes finally cracked open, slowly looking up at the helmeted blond boy dangling into his window.

At first, he assumed he was still dreaming. Then he saw him crack a smile. That was utterly fake.

He shot up, his head whipping around in panic.

"What-" he whispered to no one, the rest of the boys asleep. What on Earth could've been going on? He looked back at the blue-eyed criminal, wide awake now.

"Delivery for Yuichiro. Shh, eat it quick and toss the box out the window," Mika whispered, giving Yuu a thumbs up as he accepted the box.

Yuu stared at it in pure disbelief as if it were some million dollar's worth artifact. Right in his small hands. A meal. He looked back up at Mika with those innocent eyes.

"This is real?"

The criminal raised his brows. "Yes." He could practically hear the boy's heartbeat, making him smile again. "What's your name?"

Of course, he already knew. But he asked for a reason.

"Yuu..." the small boy whispered, the scent of the food making his stomach rumble.

That was Mika's reason.

"Hi, Yuu. I'll tutor you if you want. See you tomorrow."

And then he disappeared back over the ledge, never to be witnessed again.

Yuu stared back at the white box decorated in kanji, a tiny cartoon panda looking right back at him.

What are you waiting for? It seemed to ask. Eat!

And Yuu did, with his bare hands, tears of relief streaming down his pink cheeks.

A 2 AM miracle.