"OW!" cried Aera, dropping her hammer and wincing in pain. Her non-dominant hand gripped the one that was using the hammer tightly. She bent over, exhaling her breath in between her teeth.

Loki looked up from his end of the sword-in-progress, still holding the hammer above his head. "What's the matter?" he asked.

The Craftknight bit her lip as she held her hand tighter. "I hit my hand with the hammer..."

Loki sighed. "You're no longer an Apprentice, you've made hundreds of weapons, and you hurt yourself like an amateur?" He shook his head. "Man, Master, you're pathetic."

"Oh, shut up!" Aera hissed, brining her hand closer to her chest. "Oh...it hurts..." she whimpered. Loki sighed again, lowering the hammer to the ground. In no time, he was at Aera's end of the work-table and holding his own hand out, palm up.

"Okay," he said. "Let me see it..."

Aera sniffled and slowly brought her hand out towards him, palm down. Loki snatched it up, ignoring her quick hiss of pain. "Sorry," he said off-handedly. He brought it closer to his face, staring hard at it. "Hmm...nothing a good Healing Spell and a band-aid won't fix," he said.

Aera nodded, biting her lip and looking at her hand for the first time. It was bright red where the hammer hit her, slightly swollen, and her three middle fingers were bent slightly. Loki only raised an eyebrow, smiling cockily. "Master?" he asked. Aera nodded.

"Okay then..." Loki held his free hand over Aera's injured one and the familiar blue light appeared around it. The healing energy went to his master's injury, and it healed before their eyes. Aera breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the pain ebbing away.

"Thank you, Loki..."

"Well, okay, we don't need a band-aid," Loki chuckled. Aera nodded, blushing slightly. Loki still had a firm grip on her hand.

"Umm...Loki, you can let go now," she whispered. Loki flushed red himself and released her in a hurry. Aera cradled her hand again, glancing away for a moment. Damn, why did Loki have to look so damn attractive in his older form? Well...not that he wasn't attractive before...Aera thought.

It had been a few years since the two had successfully stopped Guren. Aera hadn't changed much...she preferred to keep her hair the same length as before, getting it trimmed regularly. She had gotten a few inches taller and her breasts were bigger, a little bit. Loki teased her by saying they would never be like Lynn's, a fact that Aera couldn't deny. Granted, that didn't mean she didn't threaten to hit Loki in the face whenever he said this.

Loki on the other hand...he seemed so much more different than he was before. He had gotten taller as well, a few inches taller than Aera was, most likely thanks to special oni growth spurts... His hair had grown out, his horns had lengthened, and all those hours of combined Weapon-Crafting, fighting, and practicing had made him develop more muscles. And the part that weirded out Aera and her family the most...he had taken to not wearing his shirt. This showed off all the body tattoos he had gotten from God knows where, and never failed to make Blaire nervous. In fact, every time Aera and Loki wound up alone together, especially in the Workshop, Master Blaire would find some strange excuse to come barreling over every ten minutes. Orin hadn't made it any better when he decided to mess with his dad and tell him that there were some things that "could be accomplished in only five minutes." (Blaire was not pleased, and spent a good hour lecturing Loki and Aera, rambling and switching from one topic to another...Orin had thought it was hilarious.)

"Aera?" Loki was saying. He waved a hand in front of her eyes. "You okay?"

Aera started. "Yes, why?" she asked hastily.

Loki shrugged. "Well, you were looking at the floor and your face was red...d'you know how it would look if Master Blaire came in right then?" Loki sure could imagine it...him standing there a few inches away from his master, Aera blushing like that...he'd be kicked out of the house and a way to break the Bond would be heavily researched.

"Hey, you two!" cried Master Blaire, suddenly rushing down the stairs, in a voice that was a little too cheerful. "I was just checking on how your sword was coming along!"

"Oh...w-we took a break," Aera laughed.

Master Blaire's smile became even more forced than it already was. "A break! Great! And what have you been doing?" he asked, eyes opening, his face turning scary.

Aera waved her hands in front of her. "It's not like that!" she cried nervously. "I hurt my hand! Loki just healed it, that's all!"

"Yeah!" Loki offered. Bigger as he was, he was still a little nervous around Master Blaire...especially since that time Blaire was talking about "Aera getting a boyfriend any day now," while he made a show of sharpening a knife for cooking.

Master Blaire resumed his false smile. "Well, good to know that you're better...say, do you mind if I stay here and keep an eye on you two for awhile?" His eyes opened again, and his expression plainly said that he would not be denied.

Aera and Loki exchanged worried glances before giving in.

PBPBPBPBPB

Finally, night time...Loki stood in the spot where he and Aera had often sat talking together when they took their walks. And while he still came up here night after night, Aera herself had opted to go to other places, oftentimes saying she'd been talking to Gabriel. That really ticked Loki off for some reason..."Aera..." he groaned, resting his head in his hands. "Damn it, girl..."

In truth...Loki had felt more than a Summon Creature should feel for their master...for a long time now...His eyes stared down at the ground as he remembered...Aera had smiled at him once one day, like she always did, and told him she was lucky to have him with her. And when she had said that, he had felt some strange warmth spreading in his chest, and his heart seemed to skip a beat. Of course, he had insulted her in order to hide this. That just made her angry, and they started arguing...again.

And every day since that...he still felt the warmth and the strange fluttering. And he began to wonder what exactly this "kiss" was. He laughed a little as he remembered it.

"Hey, Aera, you wanna tell me somethin'?"

Aera sighed, setting down the spear they had just made. "What, Loki?"

Loki leaned against his hammer, the metal part at the ground, staring at his master as though he felt no nervousness whatsoever. "I was wondering...what's the big deal about kissing?"

Aera nearly fell over. "Wh-What?" she stuttered, face red.

"Well, whenever Lynn said that she'd kiss you, you'd freak out. And everyone else gets all red when someone mentions that thing. So what's the big deal?" Loki rested his chin in his palm. "Enlighten me, will you?"

Aera's face turned redder by the passing second. "It's...I..."

"Yeah?"

"I gotta go!" she cried, taking off. Loki just stared after her.

The very next day, Master Blaire had begun to check up on them.

Loki laughed again, returning to the present. "Aera said she didn't tell him a word...so I was right, Master Blaire is psychic."

PBPBPBPBPB

"So, what do you think?" Aera asked, hands behind her back, biting her lip. Gabriel and Xeride were in front of her, looking amused.

"Aera, you come here, every night and ask us this. And you know that every night our answer is the same," laughed Gabriel. "If you love someone, you must hurry up and confess!"

"But-" Aera looked up, face red. "What if...what if...?"

"If that's so, then so be it," said Xeride gently, answering her unasked question. "Your heart will be broken for a little while, but at least your feelings will be known. And you don't have to have it bottled up inside."

"Yeah, that's never good for you," Gabriel nodded.

Aera sighed, looking back down, wringing her hands. "Are...are you sure...?"

A nod.

"...

"Alright..." Aera inhaled deeply as she closed her eyes, straightening her back. "Thank you," she said, smiling faintly, as she turned and walked back toward the town. Gabriel and Xeride watched her go. Once she was out of sight, Gabriel let out his own sigh.

"It's okay, Gabriel," Xeride tried to comfort his friend.

Gabriel smiled at him. "I guess so...and hey, if he ends up breaking her heart, I may have another chance," he laughed.

PBPBPBPBPB

Loki still stood there, in Aera's special place. He heard a rustling behind him, and chuckled. "No use hiding, Aera. I know it's you." There was a sigh, and Aera came up behind him.

"How'd you know it was me?" she asked, frowning. "You don't have a powerful sense of smell like Gabriel does, and I'm sure you're not psychic."

"Aera, when a Summon Creature's with his master long enough, he'd better be able to tell when the master is nearby."

Aera sighed, unable to argue with that. She made her way over to where Loki stood, but a little in front of him, and leaned against the fence. "I talked with Gabriel tonight," she said quietly.

Loki gritted his teeth. Of course. She could love this Summon Creature...but when it came to him...Oh, no, he wasn't mad at Gabriel...just...just...

A bit jealous.

Okay, a lot jealous.

"Did you?"

Aera nodded. "We talked about...a lot of things," she whispered, turning away. "I asked him about...about loving Summon Creatures...He says it shouldn't matter who it is, as long as you love each other and are happy...nobody should say anything."

Loki couldn't hold it in any longer. "Damn it, Aera," he growled. "If you like Gabriel or something, you should tell him, not me."

"Wha-?"

Loki clenched his fists. "I mean, you keep talking about Gabriel telling you this and that when you went out for the walk with him. You go with him every single night, I know you go with him, I don't need to be reminded of it every time we talk to each other."

Aera blinked. "But, Loki, I-"

And just then the fence she was leaning against gave way, the planks tumbling over the cliff. Aera screamed as she pitched forward.

"AERA!"

Aera had a quick moment of deja vu as she was grabbed by the shoulders and pulled back. But this time she wasn't flung against a wall...This time she found her back against something warm...with a heartbeat. Aera opened her eyes, blushing, and noticed that Loki had his arms wrapped around her upper-body. Her back was to him, and he was holding her tightly. "Loki...?"

Loki felt his own heart beat faster, and he lowered his head, breathing deeply. "Aera..." he whispered. "I..." There was a pause. "Aera...I love you. Does that mean nothing to you?"

Aera' eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. "Loki..." She made no move to escape, just leaned against him, moving her head to look upward. "Loki, I...

"I do love you."

Loki's own eyes widened now. "But..."

"That's why...I've been talking to Gabriel," she said, blushing and shifting her eyes. "I needed help...he's a friend, and so I thought he could be the one to help me...I mean, Blaire wouldn't let me get a word out,, Tatiana and Orin would just make fun of me..." She returned her gaze to Loki. "But...I love you, too..."

Loki stared at her for the longest time, finally loosening his grip and turning her around. Aera blinked. "What are-?" She was silenced as Loki suddenly leaned down and kissed her, eyes closed, his hands on her shoulders. Aera's face heated up, and she slowly gave in, her own eyes closing as well. She felt one of Loki's hands leave her shoulder and stroke her hair...And a few minutes later, it was over. Loki pulled back, opening his eyes.

"Aera..." he whispered. A small smile graced his features as he laughed quietly. "So, that's the big deal."

"How did you know what it was if you never knew the big deal?" Aera said, giggling nervously.

"Eh, I saw Orin try it on Nina."

Aera sighed, embarrassed. "O...kay..."

"And then he caught me..." Loki sighed.

Aera laughed again.

PBPBPBPBPB

"Come on, let them sleep will ya?" asked Orin from his room, having just caught Master Blaire trying to sneak downstairs. "It's after midnight!"

"But..." Blaire looked down the stairs nervously. "They could be..."

"Dad, it's after midnight, and you know neither of them are night-owls...they're sleeping! How much trouble can they get into while they're asleep?"

Neither of them knew that in the Workshop, Aera and Loki were indeed sleeping, but in each other's arms. Aera was sleeping with her upper-body on top of Loki's own body, one of her hands on his chest. Loki had one arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close. Aera moaned in her sleep and moved her head. "Loki..."

Loki's eyes opened as he awoke for a moment, and smiled.

Okay, it's me, the author. I'm really sorry that this isn't as good as "Loneliness" but hey, I tried! If it was bad, go easy on me, okay...