A/N: Oh gosh I don't like this story. I really don't. You'll probably agree with me, or maybe you won't. Probably you will. I didn't realize how hard Keiichiro is to write until I started this fic. ^^; He has literally no personality outside of being nice and charming and smiley and such. I was thinking his class and poise and such would be acceptable reasons for Mint to fall for him, but honestly. Mint definitely has more personality in this. I'm wondering if the whole scenario makes them both OoC? I dunno.

Anyway, I should probably mention that this was written for True Colours' Alternate Pairings Contest. MintxKeiichiro. Yeah. I didn't technically make the deadline for this one, even though she extended by a lot. But I was only two hours and twenty three minutes over the deadline. I was really busy and un-inspired but stayed up late to finish, so that counts for something, right True-chan? ^^; Anyway, I'm shutting up, here's the story (also, I didn't proofread as thoroughly as I should have, in attempting to be as un-late as possible):

Mint leaned slowly into his shoulder, the bark of the tree pulling at her cardigan. She noticed he still smelled of flour and freshly baked pastry – Mint smiled to herself as she recalled the very first time she'd noticed how wonderful that smell was. She wondered if he felt the weight of the years as clearly as she did in that moment, then sighed in contentment as she decided she didn't care about anything but the feel of his arm against her cheek.

"We'll have to go back soon, Minto," Keiichiro whispered, putting his arm around her as easily and naturally as if he'd been doing it for years.

"The others can wait," Mint replied flippantly. "They waited ten years for this reunion party; a few more minutes won't make much difference."

She smiled drowsily as the older man chuckled and reached over to stroke her chin between his thumb and finger. He handled her gently, as though she was a breakable doll or a wax figure.

Seeing him after all this time was wonderful. All the affirmation Mint needed that all of this was okay came to her in the form of Keiichiro's fingers gently working their way through her hair and the way her heart began to race in response.

"You don't wear your hair in odango anymore," Keiichiro commented.

"Not since eighth grade," Mint smirked in reply, fingering a stray lock of her long blue hair pensively. "You, however, still wear your hair in that ponytail." She reached up and tugged on the end of the ponytail in question lightly, garnering another chuckle from the man seated beside her.

"It's nice to see you wearing something casual," Mint remarked, and stroked the sleeve of his sweater.

"I thought it was more appropriate for the occasion, somehow," was his murmured reply. They lapsed into comfortable silence once more, listening to the drowsy thrumming noises growing louder around them as the forest prepared for the coming night. A slim brushstroke of burning gold still highlighted the edge of the sky through the trees as the sun sank below the horizon; the velvet darkness of the night chased the dying embers of day from the sky, deepening the soft hues of the landscape.

"My desk drawer is full of letters," Mint said after a while. "I kept all of them." She felt her cheeks burn a little and wondered at the ease with which she had divulged such an embarrassing vulnerability.

"I kept yours, too," Keiichiro replied, his hand leaving her shoulder to stroke her cheek in the darkness.

"Did I ever thank you for sending that first one?" Mint asked him suddenly, sitting up and facing him in the dark.

"I don't think you did," Keiichiro replied. "But that isn't something I need thanks for."

"I'm thanking you anyway," Mint replied, settling back down against his side. "I was lonely in those first years. Leaving all of you behind... Even though…" she trailed off, shifting slightly, Keiichiro's jacket rustling beneath her. "Even though ballet was all I'd wanted to do since I was little, I missed all of you. So thank you." She smiled at him, and even though it was dark she felt like he could see it.

"You're welcome, then, Minto," Keiichiro replied softly. "France has changed you, certainly," he continued. "You've grown into such an elegant woman…" He stopped at the sound of her soft laughter. "What is it?"

"That's too clichéd," Mint chided. "Don't say it like that."

"Alright, then," Keiichiro replied. "But you are beautiful, Minto, and always have been beautiful. No amount of growing or changing can alter that beauty, nor would I have it any other way." Mint ducked her head silently and blushed. The undercurrent of the letters she and Keiichiro and sent back and forth over the years had always been loving, longing, romantic – or had at least grown into something passionate as time wore on. A letter, however, could not compare to this feeling, to these words.

"I never would have had the nerve to make first contact," Mint said suddenly, trying to mask her embarrassment. "I wouldn't have sent that first letter. I would have denied my feelings for you, and then where would we be?"

"Certainly not in this moment," Keiichiro mused. "Not here." Mint heard him turn his head in the darkness, hair brushing against the bark of the tree, and in that moment she knew what would happen next. Was she ready for this? Acknowledging her love for this man who had always been her superior – off limits – was one thing. Embracing this love and plunging into the realm of intimate closeness was entirely another. She was frightened in this moment. But then the soft lips of the man sitting beside her bridged the gap between them, and his warm scent enveloped her, and she leaned into his kiss, returning it in an outpouring of passion she'd nurtured hesitantly for years. A passion that had grown and matured along with the girl who felt it so strongly in that culmination moments – of sweetly worded, overwhelmingly romantic letters sent across oceans.

Keiichiro smiled softly into the kiss, and Mint's lips curved in tandem, mirroring his happiness. She inhaled deeply, feeling like she was melting and trying to memorize his scent before she liquefied completely, unwilling to let go of such a perfect moment. Finally, however, Keiichiro placed his hands on her shoulders, breaking the kiss in the gentlest of ways. Mint still scowled slightly as he pulled away.

"I wait ten years for that, and you end it that quickly?" Keiichiro began to respond but was interrupted by Mint's mouth on his once more. Their lips moved together gracefully, mirroring the elegance and poise that came so naturally to each of them. Keiichiro stroked Mint's hair until she broke away. She wrapped her arms around him then in a fit of whimsy and passion, holding herself tight to him, trying to make up for all the hugs she'd missed. She sighed internally and relaxed as his arms wrapped slowly around her shoulders and he pulled her onto his lap. His chest was warm, if not particularly broad, and his heartbeat pulsed gently beneath her cheek as she laid her head against him.

"Let's stay like this…" she said, not finishing her thought but knowing he heard the 'forever' in her tone. He remained silent, however, and she realized he had stiffened slightly. "What is it?" She sat up and gazed at the pale outline of his face, heart racing. Had he decided this was wrong? Maybe she'd misinterpreted everything he'd said so far, maybe he'd-

"It's nothing, Minto," he said, interrupting her frantic thoughts. As if he'd read her mind, he leaned forward to give her a reassuring kiss on the forehead. "I just recalled the data yielded by some of the research Ryou and I have been doing recently. Have you noticed your Mew powers returning at all lately?" Mint shook her head impatiently, unsure what he was getting at and wary of the tone in his voice that suggested he was going into a speech. "We thought there was a possibility of power surges, so to speak. Hard-to-control resurgences in Mew energy-" Mint put a finger to his lips.

"Stop," she commanded. "Do we have to discuss that now? After not seeing each other for so long, do we really need to get back into all of that?" She realized her tone was almost pleading, which startled her. But she knew how absorbed Keiichiro used to get in his work. The prospect of losing the perfection of this moment to talk of Mews and DNA and science terrified her. Seeming to sense her distress, Keiichiro put a soothing hand on her back and gently pulled her back against his chest.

"You're right," he murmured softly, his hand taking up a slow, rhythmic circling across her back. "It was just a hypothesis… Ryou and I will discuss it with you all tomorrow, after the festivities." Mint inclined her head slightly to look up at him.

"So that's what this reunion was all about?" she asked. "And to think we all thought you missed us. I'm joking," she added as he looked down in alarm. "Besides," she continued. "I'm glad to see you again, whatever the reason."

Keiichiro exhaled slowly and bent his neck to rest his cheek on the top of Mint's head. "Would that this evening was longer," he mused. Mint smiled, enjoying the deep thrum of his voice vibrating against her cheek.

"We have the rest of our lives, ne?" she ventured, hesitantly confident that his answer would be the one she was hoping for.

"Of course."

She smiled again and closed her eyes, sinking into the deep contentment of simply being held by him. The night was close, drowsiness-inducing and warm. "I think I love you," she mumbled sleepily.

Keiichiro paused for a moment. Finally: "I love you, Minto-chan." Mint sighed and, having heard what it was she had wanted to hear for a long time, fell the rest of the way into slumber.

Mint's eyes snapped open.

The world seemed to bend and distort before them, the vault of the darkness above her a roiling ocean for all its movement. Thoughts skittered across the tangled web of her mind and she twitched slightly, broken threads of movement sparking through her limbs and dying at her toes and fingertips.

Where was this? The gentle thrum of night insects rose slowly in her ears. The forest. Why was she on the ground in the forest? Where were the others? Bright snatches of memory came back to her in flashes – colours, smiles, balloons, laughter, a strong feeling of nostalgia… She was lying on something – something stiff and scratchy was pressed between her bare shoulders and the ground. She tried to move and a soft hem brushed against her thighs. She hadn't been wearing a dress, had she? Annoyance flitted across her consciousness. Why couldn't she just get up? She tried to move, but something heavy on her stomach pinned her down. Her head throbbed from the exertion. What…? Her thoughts trailed off as she felt faint again and closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against the dusty ground. She started as she noticed her hair was gathered into two buns, one on each side of her head.

How had that happened?

She tried to lift her hand – which she now noticed had a glove on it – to touch one of the odango, but stopped as she realized she was holding something. Her Mint Arrow. She jerked in surprise and dropped the smooth object, but was stopped again by the mysterious weight pressing down on her and fell back. She hadn't held that small, blue weapon in years. Why now….?

Mint inhaled sharply, trying to gather her thoughts. A metallic scent permeated the air. That smell was familiar. She blinked as she tried to place it, watching the outlines of tree branches become clearer overhead. Her eyes widened as she remembered Keiichiro. What was it he had said about her powers? This must have been what he'd meant… A resurgence of Mew powers…. Hard to control… Is that why my head is so fuzzy? Mint wondered. She'd always used to feel faint after intense battles, after she used a lot of energy… She closed her eyes and shook her head vigorously, trying to clear it. Why hadn't she listened to him? She wondered where he was, slightly annoyed that he'd left her alone in the forest. She inhaled again and the tangy smell filled her nostrils. Her eyes opened wide and bugged out as she realized what it was.

Blood.

She put a hand to her chest and squinted in the darkness. Her palm came away dark. She sat up shrieking, the force of her movement enough to counteract the pressure on her abdomen. The weight shifted and moved off to the side somewhere. She stared down at herself, at her Mew costume. She'd been lying in a pool of blood. Whose blood? she wondered frantically. She patted her chest, panicked, and found a small tear in the fabric of her dress; blood oozed from a small gash just above her navel. Her fingers closed around something small and firm, caught between her stomach and her dress. She withdrew her hand and moved the object up to her face to examine it, heart thudding. Her eyes widened as she recognized the end of one of her arrows, broken at the shaft and covered in her blood. So where's the rest of it?

Her heart thudded to a stop as the light of the situation dawned on her, fragments of memory snapping into place to form the terrible, incomprehensible truth. She turned her head slowly to the side, breath growing stale in her lungs as she held it there, eyes settling on the slim form that lay sprawled beside her. Face pale, eyes closed, blood soaking his clothing, pooling around him. Her arrow – shaft broken, random sparks of blue light still crackling around it – buried deep in his chest.

Mint lurched onto her hands and knees, tremors racking her lithe body, shock shooting through her like adrenaline. Her mouth opened slowly, as though unwilling let out what was bottled inside her and rapidly obstructing her airways. The scream gurgled up, catching in her throat but refusing to come out as her hands slipped and she fell onto him. Warm, only just. She wrapped her arms around him and sat up, bringing him with her, feeling like she was dying, feeling like the world was dying, shuddering sobs wracking her body as the tears that were choking her spilled over.

She hugged him close and screamed.

A/N: Dark much? Like I said, I don't like it. My self-critique: 'I realized that none of my oneshots had any plot to them and attempted this to remedy it. The first and second parts were disjointed and didn't mesh.'

Anyway. I've never done anything this dark. I was debating whether or not to end it with Mint falling asleep and have a nice, fluffy fic. As you can see I decided to add this last part. Only time will tell if that was a good decision. I s'pose you could just leave the second part out, if you really wanted Mint and Keiichiro to have a happy ending (and of course that would be nice).

Anywhats, constructive criticism, please!

Part one gets this song: Chances – Athlete

And part two gets this song: Mama – My Chemical Romance

Or something.