This is kinda the epiloge to 'Midnight Candy'. It's about the boy (Shiro) mentioned there and the doctor (Taro). Because this story also illuminate the bondage and abuse of a child (first part) and sexual contact and love between two guys (both parts) it's reading on your own responsibility! So far this will be the only short story with a bl-content.

Part 2

Shiro was sitting on a large rock in the surf. He gazed at the wide open sea, the waves rolling around him, the seabirds in the sky and the person a few steps away, only wearing a now soaked hakama. Behind the boy on the rock was a stony beach and a cliff. A small trail leads to the woods on top. There, almost unseen from the sea, was a small building he was living in the past few weeks. The ninja brought him here after faking his drowning in the harbor. They got here by a small boat Shin had prepared. On the way he told the boy about his friend, Ryuma the police man, and about the doctor, desperately but unable to help the boy. Shin had saved him like a rock in a river safes drowning people, he had given him this place to rest and find himself, like a rock in a river gives birds a place to rest.

"There it is!" The loud voice snapped Shiro out of his thoughts. Taro, now wet from head to toe, held a big crab in his hands. "That'll be our dinner tonight! What do you think about it Shiro?" Still not used to having a name the boy needed a few moments to answer. "I don't know, i… i never ate such an animal…" The other man came over and held the crab out for Shiro to see. It pinched its pincers in the boy’s direction and with a high scream Shiro frightened away, falling backwards from the rock into the shallow water. "Shiro!" Taro dropped the dinner and ran around the rock to help the boy. "Don't scare me like this. Come, stand up." "The crab, doctor, don't let it get away, i want to know how it tastes!" The tall man saw down at the soaking wet boy sitting in the breakers and after a moment to process what just happened he could but laughed out loud. "We'll catch another one, together!"

It had taken Taro some time to get Shiro so carefree, even between only the two of them. When Shin carried the white body of the boy to the shore, Taro and Ryuma had just arrived at the small house between the trees on top of the cliff. The boy was exhausted, almost unconscious. So they only got him into some dry clothes and let him sleep. Ryuma had to go back to the town to make sure nobody would suspect him and Shin also left. When the boy woke up Taro tried to approximate the bed. First the boy backed off but as Taro was in front of the futon he stopped. "You… You're the doctor!" "You remember me? No, surely Shin told you about me." He knelt down. "Yes, I'm a doctor, i looked for you a few times before the war… It's really a long time ago. I wanted to save you back then as soon as I understood what was going on, but…" Resigned Taro put his head down into his hands. "I'm so sorry I couldn't help you little white flower…" A small hand patted his head. "I remember you, the kind doctor, even after we left the town, your kindness stayed with me through your tinctures and my memories of you." The boy’s small voice stopped for a moment. "And then, i sensed you in the inn, that's what gave me the strength for the ninja’s plan." "You remember me? That's really… something…" Taro looked up, taking the small hand from his head. "Can I treat your wounds for you?"

Taro then cleaned all the little scratches and bruises, added tincture and also some bandages. "This must have hurt a lot in the salty water of the harbor." "I didn't register them before, seems I'm used to this much injuries." "That's in the past! I'll support you now and make sure you won't get hurt anymore. From now on this is your life and you'll make the decisions! And we'll start this future with a name for you!" Taro proclaimed, then he continued in a lower voice. "He didn't give you a proper name, did he?" The boy hesitanted "He… didn't give me anything besides some food and what I needed to look like he wanted me to." "So, what do you think about 'Shiro' as your new name?"

Days went by and Taro watched over Shiro's recovery. They could make their living almost without the outside world. Only the boy and the doctor in the woods on the cliff above the stony beach at the blue sea. There was a little waterfall only a short walk from the house and Shiro had asked for help with his long hair while he wanted to take a bath there. "Do you want me to cut it a bit?" Taro asked on their way between the trees. "Would you like it to be short?" Shiro asked. "No, no that's not what I wanted to say, I mean, it's your decision if you want your hair short or not…" The boy looked back at Taro with an unreadable face. "So, maybe only a bit shorter." They arrived at the water and without hesitation Shiro let his Kimono float from his shoulders, placed his clothes on a nearby stone and stepped into the small lake under the waterfall. The white boy in the dark water between the green trees was a breathtaking sight. So it took Taro a moment to process what just happened and that he shouldn't stare at the handsome boy in front of him. Embarrassed he turned his gaze away. "Shiro you shouldn't show your body so openly." "But," Shiro turned his head around "it's only you and me here…" "That's even more a reason to be careful!" "No!" Vigorously the boy turned all around and started walking toward Taro. But as he arrived at the lakeside he hesitated. "I…" Shiro blushed and went quiet. After a moment of shyly silence he turned around again and walked into the little waterfall. "Cut my hair please." Taro heard him dulled.

Taro extinguished the light at the side of the futon and turned around to Shiro. At the beginning they had slept in separate futons on opposite sides of the room, but after a while Shiro had started to get into Taros futon and refused to sleep alone. After a few nights the doctor had given up on stopping him. So now they shared a single futon and he had to take Shiro in his arms for both of them to sleep comfortably. Still, Taro had problems adjusting to their close connection. It wasn't only that Shiro stayed near him all the time, he also thirsted after skin contact. And even the doctor was only a man, furthermore the boy had always been a part of Taros wet dreams. Shiro's strange behavior started with the incident at the waterfall, no, maybe even way before. The boy seems to be attracted to Taro more and more. However, the doctor thought it wasn't rightly. Shiro was just at the beginning of his new free life and who had the rights to bind him again at this point? Tired Taro closed his eyes but it took him a long time to find peace in the lands of dreams.

More days went by. It was still pretty hot and because Shiro never had the opportunity to go outside in his former life they now went out as much as possible. Of course Taro couldn't let other people see Shiro. The white hair and skin was way too extraordinary to not get noticed at first sight while the case of the secretary of the states and the drowning boy was still in people's mind. So they went to the beach in front of the house or to the surrounding woods. Only if Taro had to go back to the town Shiro would stay behind in the small house, waiting desperately for his return. On one of those days he was sitting on the open window in sweltering heat. A sudden crack made him cringe. Dark clouds appeared like out of nowhere and the light of the afternoon vanished. The thunder shortly followed the flash of the lightning and the clouds erupted in a downpour of rain. Like an animal Shiro backed off to the farest corner, unable to close the shutter of the window. The wind and rain got into the house and the change of light and darkness covered the whole room. Also this thunderstorm only leasted a short time it felt like an eternity for Shiro. He wasn't able to move or open the eyes, even as the storm was long gone and the sky had returned to a light blue. That was how Taro found him after his return in the hour of the monkey.

Taro had hurried back as soon as the rain began. He knew Shiro wasn't good with loud, unfamiliar noises and surely the thunderstorm would frighten him. As he arrived, drenched despite the large bamboo hat, the doctor left his stuff at the entrance and searched for a dry blanket before approaching Shiro. Carefully he wrapped the boy in the blanket and placed him on his lap while sitting down on the fortunately dry futon. "Shhh, shhh, everything is fine now, I'm here with you, shhh…" He let his hand softly slide up and down the back of the boy. "I'm sorry I left you alone, I'll let Ryuma take care of the things in town from now on." Taro hugged, lulled and petted Shiro till the boy stopped shaking. "There, there, everything is fine now Shiro. I'm here with you and i won't leave you alone anymore. Shhh, shhh…" All this gentleness and soft movements got even Taro sleepy. He not only walked into the town in the morning and did lots of errands, he also ran the whole way back in the rain. So then the doctor woke up to find out he's been sleeping soundly with Shiro firmly in his arms. Taro remembered his Haori at the entrance, left wet beside his hat and shoes. And now Shiro started opening his kimono, his small hands slid up on his bare chest and stripped the fabrics from his shoulders. "Sh…iro?" Taro squinted his eyes two times to get the sleep out of them. What he saw then was Shiro snuggling up to his bar chest while fighting with the still damp kimono on his back. "Shiro what are you doing here, aren't you feeling better yet?" "Taro, let me be with you! I was so afraid, I don't want to be alone anymore. And I don't want to be just your acquaintance…" The normally shy boy looked up at Taro, put his hands on the taller man's neck and pulled him down for a kiss. "I want you to want me, only you, and I'll open myself only for you Taro." Shiro said after a small peck, then he pressed his lips firmly against Taros, again and again, begging with his tongue for entrance.

With a jerk Taro pulled his head back. "What are you doing Shiro? You can't… You don't mean this… That's…" He gripped the boy on both arms, pressing them against the small body. "Get yourself together Shiro, this is the life you let behind! You don't have to do such things ever again, not with me nor with someone else!" Shiro started shaking again and Taro let go of him as if he were burned. "I…I didn't mean to hurt you." The shaking got worse. "So you say I'm allowed to choose my life from now on but I'm not allowed to choose you? Then it would have been better if you never came back! So I would still have the memories of you to hold dear! But now I've a life I can't handle alone and you even dared to reject the love that had held me up all these years!" And while Taro was poleaxed on the futon, Shiro ran out of the house into the woods.

He ran, crying, in the first direction his mind came up with, to the lake under the waterfall. Almost blind by the setting sun from the coast and the tears running out of his eyes he stumbled through the trees till he heard the water. That was when Taro caught up to him. "Shiro, wait, you'll fall!" "That's not important, even if I'll fall into the water, maybe then I'll get the peace you promised me!" Shiro tried to run further but entangled himself in the arms of the doctor. Taro yanked the boy at his chest, the kimono only carelessly straightened. "I won't let you kill yourself! And I won't let you go until you explain yourself properly to me! So start speaking!" With these words he forced Shiro to sit down on a large rock at the lakeside and knelt before him. Taro didn't let go of the boy for only a moment. "Speak." He repeated softly.

"What else is there to explain?" Shiro shouted angry. "I don't know what love is, so of course I can't know if I love you! But what I know is that I want to be near you, really near you, even get touched by you like he did it." Startled the gaze of the boy went from the floor to Taros eyes. "Not with all the ropes and the pain but still… somehow… I want to give you my body, I want to be taken by you… loved?" With a jerk Shiro freed himself from Taros loosened grip and stood up. "Every time I saw you back then it was like food for my inner light. As long as I thought 'Somewhere out there is the doctor' I could go on in my life. And now, you even got me free and all that's left to want is be with you, as much and close as possible… " Shiro’s tears came back as he sank back on the stone.

Taro was speechless. Shiro… loved him? "You… shhh shh, don't cry so much Shiro." He hugged the small, trembling boy in front of him. "You're sure about this? I don't want you to force yourself into the only things you knew till now. I really want you to be free from this nightmare!" "I know." Shiro answered muffled. "But I don't think this is the same. You always treat me with care and never force me into things. And also, don't you like me at least a little bit?" Taro carefully took Shiro's head in his hands, long, suntanned fingers on teary, snow-white cheeks. For Shiro it felt like the time stopped as Taro kissed him. "I thought from the first time I met you, there was something special about it. That's why I'm so desperately trying to really free you from the past. But at the same time, yes, you're a very beautiful man and I can't stop getting attracted to you…" Shiros hope resonated in his voice as he asked, "So you won't reject me anymore?" "I won't." Taros answer was clear as the water next to them.

A year and a half went by and as the snow melted the doctor returned into town. It was said he was on a journey to learn about new healing methods and he also came back with an apprentice. It was, again, the talk of the town. A very light skinned young man, always wearing amber glasses and a scarf on the head. But a very friendly person and the townspeople liked him from the start. So now Taro and Shiro had always many visitors, not everyone with an actual illness. But at nights, they again were just only the boy and the doctor, in loving togetherness like they lived before in the woods on the cliff above the stony beach at the blue sea.