How do you protect someone you love…?

If they are the person that is supposed to protect you?

And what happens if you're different…

Like I am?

What happens then?

Does it matter to him that I have razor-like teeth?

Or claws that grow at will?

Does he love me still?

He dodges the blows for me. He swings his fist for me. But then why do I feel horrible when I see him do it? A claw rips at his shoulder. A knife hits him. I want it to stop. Oh, what's this? I'm crying? Why? I don't feel like crying, and yet I am. Is it because I feel hopeless?

"Xan! Stop it Xan!" Who is that yelling? Is it me?

"SASA!" he yells back. Fear is shown in his voice. I snap back to reality. The trees bend under the wind. The army has overtaken him. What can I do?

I slid out my claws that grow from my nails. They curve into unbreakable hooks. My teeth snap at the air. This is what I can do.

I breathe deeply and blood reaches my nostrils. For the life of the person down there it better not be Xan's. I race down the slope faster than a cheetah. The first beast I come to looks up at me jumping from half-way down the hill. I claw at his chest and bite his throat. He thrashes, but I clench tighter. It stings my throat, but I hold. Then when I feel the last breath leave him I jump back. The other beast sniff and then they attack upon the dead creature.

I race to Xan. His body lays broken in the field. I bend down to it. My tears flow down my face and gently fall on his scarred face. I lean down to hear nothing come from his chest. He is not breathing.

I love him. I have denied it too long and now he is gone. I lean against him sobbing onto his chest wound. My heart has died. "You idiot," I murmur. "You never let me tell you I love you." Then my chest heaving I look up into the sky which pours rain just for me. "Do you hear me? I love you, Xan!"

I fall back on his lifeless body crying out my heart. Finally I look into his unmoving blue eyes. Already the life that once sparked so clearly in them is fading. I lean in to his face. My copper hair drapes over his face. I sweep his black strands out of the way. My mind drifts as I look at him.

"Sasa!" he calls. "Look at what I got you!" His eyes shine. They close as he holds out a huge stuffed tiger for me.

"You're so childish, Xan," I scold taking it from him.

He peers at me from around it. "You don't like it?"

"Silly, I'll treasure it." I tap his nose.

He grins, takes it, and sets it down. "Good because I'll always treasure this moment."

I blush. "Why, it's not so special?"

He gets closer. "Not at this moment."

His eyes suddenly mature as they usually do. He's older than me. Only a year, but we knew each other forever. Ever since I was five he was my protector. I was special, always was. But together we were more special.

He wraps an arm around my waist and brings me closer.

"You know we can't do this?" I ask him in a whisper.

"Why not?" he asks back in the same volume.

"It's forbidden," I whisper.

"No it's not," he whispers into my ear. My heart thuds. "It's not forbidden. It's just frowned upon."

I breathe him in. He smells like a carnival. Popcorn butter, cotton candy, and some fast food junk. I smile. He won my tiger. "I have one question before," I whisper into his ear.

I can feel him smile. "Yes?"

"Am I yours?"

"Always have been, always will be."

Then he brought me around and kissed me. He was so soft tender almost like a flower. He was strong though. His muscular arms tighten around me as I remember to breathe through my nose.

He lets me go gently putting me next to my tiger. How could I have been stupid enough to not ask him if he loved me?

Tears still fell. I want him to kiss me again. Wrap his arms around me, hold me. Tell me I'm beautiful when I cry. To protect me. I lean on his chest and my hair falls on the ground effectively creating a curtain around us. We never even got the chance to look at each other when there were rings on our fingers and vows wrapping us together. I wished with all my heart this was some dream and it was real, but I could feel the water soaking us and the tears gently dropping on his face. Another memory comes along.

"Sasa," he whispers. It's dark. He snuggles me in his arms. I must have had a nightmare. He is comforting me.

"Yes, Xan?" I answer.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For that stupid fight we had about this whole thing. You know what, though?"

"What?"

"You look so pretty when you cry."

"Why?"

"Your eyes shine and you show your teeth. It's almost like your happy until the tears come. But they highlight your face. They make you pretty."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me."

"Why not?"

"I am your protector. Your comforter. That is what I am here for."

I twist in his arms so I can almost see his face in the moonlight that is trying to peek through the curtains. "Thank you for being here."

"You're welcome," he whispers lips on mine.

"I wish we could always stay like this," I whisper.

"We could, if you believe hard enough." His lips move so softly on mine. It's not a kiss. It's better. I breathe in his breath.

"I believe," I gently mouth. He smiles and kisses me moving slightly closer.

I'm in the same position except I'm crying so hard I can't see anything. So I lean closer and my lips meet his cheek. I move over until I find his lips pressing ever so slightly against them I wish and I believe. The army is getting closer, but I would rather join him then go on living.

And I tell him that. I whisper everything crying harder and harder until I can get any words out.

"You so beautiful when you cry," he coughs.

I look at him. Emotions crash through me. The first I feel and the one that won't change is the one I don't recognize right away. But then as relief strengthens it I realize love flows through my veins more than anything.

So I smash my mouth against him. He gently presses on the back of my head holding me closer. I am clumsy in my kiss, but it makes no difference. He is gentle. I smell dirt and grit and grime in him, but I don't care. Because he is here breathing. On this world.

I let go and move back. Tears relentlessly flow down my cheeks. I can't do anything to stop them. It feels good though because they are not painful tears. They are happy tears.

"Sasa," he says brushing a hand down my face. "Sasa, I love you. Don't let me go."

"Xan, I love you too. I love you so much it hurts. I won't let you go. I promise." I grab his hand and hold it to my face. Then I bring it to my mouth and kiss it. The little bloody scratches go away.

I stare at it and an idea comes to me. I look over him. A huge gash runs from his shoulder to his chest. I tear the ragged shirt away and gently press my lips against them.

Xan looks at me. "Wha-?"

I stop him with a finger as I lift up. The searing claw marks are gone. "Look," I say. "I can be your healer." I keep going until I reach the knife in his leg. "Okay. Trust me and hold your breath. Ready?"

He nods. I grip it and yank. His scream makes the entire beasts' army move back. I quickly kiss it. It disappears, but it is slower than the rest. It must have been deep. I move back to his face.

It is painful and it is written across his face. "I'm sorry," I whisper.

He holds my face. "It's not your fault."

I kiss his hand. Then I remove it and move to his cheek. I slip a hand behind his back and tip him up. He holds onto my shoulders for support. I move along his jawline until I reach his mouth. I kiss him and at the same time lift him onto his legs. He sways badly, but he is standing.

I let him go. He leans on my shoulder and is breathing heavily, but he is standing. I hook an arm around his waist and help him out of the hellhole that the beast made around us. I let out my claws and slash at a random one. He falls screaming and his comrades fall to the pleasure of fresh meat. We go as fast as we can with Xan's leg.

But I don't care. Because eventually the storm ends and we are back on safe ground. In the meadow that is ours. I set him down in the herbs that come up to surround him.

"Never again will we have to prove it to them," he says still holding my cheek.

"Because we have proved it to ourselves," I finish as he pulls himself up for a hug. His lips press against my neck. "But I have a question."

"Mmnnnn," he murmurs against my skin.

Apprehensions fill me. "Do you love me even when I have my claws and teeth out? Do you love me even then?"

He breathes on my skin. "Of course I do," he answers. "I love you when it rains and you dance around, when you cry and it lights your face, when you kiss me and I can taste your love, when I wake up to see your face, when I can't see your face but I dream about it. I love you no matter what, Sasa."

"I love you, too, Xan. No matter what happens, ever. I will love you."

And we sat like that me in his arms his legs forming a protective circle as our heads lean against our shoulders and our lips press against our necks. In our meadow. As the grasses bent down along with the purple daisies, blue bell flowers, and white snowdrops that sprout here with the gentle breeze that carries the scent of two people so entangled they can only be in love.