#okuribi

Considering how Lamie died, though, Law wasn't so sure, and grew sad at the thought. He leaned into Marco despite the sweat that soaked their shirts, and dipped his head rather than kiss him. It was too hot. The hair at the back of his neck was damp as if he'd stepped out from the shower. He only crowded his lover for a second.

Marco's hand slipped out of his as either man wiped a palm on their shirtfront or trouser leg, but they joined together again shortly. The need to comfort their hearts took priority over discomfort of the body.

Law usually only lit one candle for his mother, father and sister, so they could be together. He hoped. He hoped he didn't exclude any one of them.

Lamie had been so small. He had a hard time imagining her alone, and his fingers curled with a little more pressure into Marco's. If he'd taken her with him that night? What might have happened? He survived the disease after all, but would he want her to experience even one of the things he had?

This way, all three left on water, so maybe that gave them some control over the blaze, and they were now from the water, so they were well protected from heat and flames.

There was no point in thinking they didn't have peace. Like he had now. He was happy with his life. But living, surviving, certainly hadn't been free of apprehension.

As the lanterns drifted down the stream against the dark summer night, and Law's hand once again grew a little clammy in Marco's own, he also let go of the less welcome ghosts in his life. He didn't invite them to follow his own loved ones, except in terms of finally reaching the wide ocean where the sea winds and salt air would surely whittle and erode them into grit to build upon, rather than to destroy.

Law wasn't one for hyperbole, but he recognised as truth that his every breathing minute for much of his life had been of fear, hate and anxiety. This was fact, and he faced down the disquiet that arose even now.

The candles guiding Ace, Cora, Whitebeard, his mother, father and sister, the ancestors of the village, followed the stream's current out to the ocean.

He looked across at Marco, that fire ability of his allowing him to glow in this heat like the mythical creature he was. Maybe only Law's finely tuned eyes could discern that. He wished it were cool enough to grab the ends of that towel around his neck and pull him close.