Hi, everybody!

Hostfanatic here. Hope you enjoy my story, just something that I dreamed up. It isn't exactly a one-shot, but it isn't really a novel, either, if you get what I mean. It's just sort of a short story.

Enjoy! I'd like it if you reviewed. Constructive criticism will be appreciated and taken into consideration; unhelpful flames will not.

Disclaimer—I do not, unfortunately, own the awesomeness that is The Host. Stephanie Meyer does. Got problems with that? Take 'em up with her. Thanx!

Sunny POV

I yawned and stretched, reaching up to the sky and then back down again. Blinking, my eyes slowly opened as I took in the familiar landscape of the rocky ceiling in our room.

I rolled over into a pair of very familiar arms.

My heartbeat instantly quickened, just like it always did when Kyle held me.

"Morning, Sunny," he yawned. I smiled. Even just waking up, he was just so cute!

"Good morning, Kyle," I barely whispered. I was still shy around him…and others, too. Wanda was the only one I really felt comfortable around. Maybe it's because she's just like me.

He groaned and stretched. "Sleep well?" he murmured.

"More or less," I murmured back, rolling off the mattress and climbing unsteadily to my feet. Kyle grinned up at me from his place on the floor, his blue eyes sparkling.

"Help me up?" he asked innocently.

I groaned and flopped down on the bed, and he burst into a loud spasm of laughter. I had spent nearly ten minutes yesterday trying, with all my strength to get him up off the mattress, but I was just too small, and he was just too big. Finally, he had taken pity on me and gotten up himself.

"Just kidding, Sunny," he chuckled, heaving himself to his feet. Then he reached down, grabbing both my tiny hands in one of his enormous ones, and easily pulled me up next to him, almost pulling me entirely off of my feet in the process. I grinned at him as he wrapped his arm around my waist like he always did and escorted me out of the room.

I leaned into Kyle, thinking about Wanda. We had another conversation last night. She was trying to teach me about how to look for Jodi.

I had mixed feelings about Jodi. I didn't think she was a bad person—on the contrary, she was one of the sweetest I knew, judging from the memories her body had left behind for me. I just didn't know if I actually wanted to find her or not.

On one hand, I knew that Kyle would be overjoyed to get Jodi back, and there was nothing I wanted more than to make this human next to me happy. I didn't know how much of that was me, though, and how much of it was Jodi.

On the other hand, though, I sometimes selfishly wished that Jodi would stay away. I wanted Kyle all to myself, and I certainly didn't want to leave and have to go away to another planet.

But…

Would I be happier on a different planet? At least in a different body on this one? Maybe I didn't love Kyle. Maybe that was just Jodi's body.

Very possible.

I didn't know what to think when it came to this subject. I thought that I loved Kyle. I thought it was the one thing I was sure about. When he took me that first time, and when he was so gentle, I had thought that it was part of a dream. I dreamt about him all the time. His hands, his touch…

His lips.

Kyle was nice to me. He was gentle and caring, just how Jodi had remembered him to be. He had a bit of a temper now, and could be rough on occasion. I feared he would hate me because I was in Jodi's place. He SHOULD hate me. Sometimes it felt so wrong that I wanted him to hate me.

He cared for me so much, though, and he held me to his side. He touched me sometimes, but it was never really in a romantic way. He had certainly never kissed me, but occasionally, I saw him looking at me in a way that made me think he was about to.

Human emotions were so complicated and confusing. They could be so bad, and then suddenly so good.

We stepped into the loud, bustling breakfast room and headed over to get our breakfast. It was just the usual rolls and milk, and a few packaged things. No delicacies, but no harder, tougher goods that were usually served when we were running out of food and had to go on a raid soon.

After we'd gotten our breakfast, we headed over to our usual table. Kyle and I always sat at that table with Ian, Wanda, Melanie, Jared, Jamie, and Jeb. We had a lot of fun conversations together, and I was really beginning to make friends.

I settled down on the bench and put my tray in front of me. Then, as Kyle joined in conversation with Ian and Jared, and Wanda and Melanie chatted to one another in low voices, I closed my eyes and sank deep into my mind, going through my daily ritual of looking for Jodi.

I tried to really search the way Wanda had taught me to, but as usual, I didn't find anyone. I was alone in this mind, in this body.

Did that make it right, though? Was it really better this way?

And if Jodi wasn't still here, like most of the other humans, then where did she go?

I opened my eyes with a little sigh and looked up to see Kyle staring at me with a bittersweet expression.

"Anything?" he asked a little dejectedly, and I shook my head sadly.

He sighed a little, but he didn't look surprised. He had probably known the answer already.

"I'll keep looking, Kyle," I whispered to him, laying a little hand on his arm. "I promise."

He twisted around to throw a half smile at me. "I really appreciate all you've done for me, Sunny," he said quietly, hugging me a little tighter. "If I could have picked any soul to put into Jodi's body instead of her, it probably would have been you."

He turned to go back to his food, leaving me stunned and a little guilty.

I never knew that Kyle cared for me so much, that he really appreciated me being here in Jodi's body.

Oh, get a grip, I scolded myself. He probably just cares that you're keeping her alive for him.

I felt guilty, though.

He wants her back so badly…that should be reason enough for me to look for her even harder. I've got to start really trying, for Kyle's sake. And Jodi's.

I began to eat.

After we were finished, Kyle and I went to work in the fields. Wanda went to help Trudy and Lily with the dishes—Ian didn't allow her to work in the fields, where she could potentially get hurt, and neither did Melanie, Jared, or any of the others. This annoyed her to no end, but she was still needed with other work, too, especially in the kitchens.

I followed Kyle out. We were working in the wheat fields today, so we all grabbed scythes to reap it.

I wasn't paying much attention to my work—it was easy, and I'd done it many times before. I was thinking.

About Kyle, of course.

Which is why, when there was suddenly a deafening rumble, I didn't realize at first what was going on.

Then I looked up and gasped.

Part of the ceiling was starting to crumble.

Right over my head.

I heard a few gasps, and a few screams. I heard someone calling my name.

Then I looked up to see Kyle drop his scythe and start to run.

Kyle, I love you, I thought.

Then I looked back up at the ceiling, frozen, paralyzed with terror. I couldn't force my feet to move out of the way!

Suddenly, I felt two arms around my waist, and then there was a hard yank. The world spun around me, and I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for impact.

There was a deafening crash, and I waited.

Nothing happened.

Dust filled the air, and I coughed, opening one eye. I was staring straight into Kyle's eyes. He had gotten there, and pulled me out of the way.

We stared at each other for a long, long moment.

Then, to my utter astonishment, his lips came down on mine, hard.

My eyes widened, and then slowly closed. I kissed him back, feeling shivers racing down my spine. I had dreamed about this for so long…

Was I dreaming? I didn't know. I didn't really care. My hands wound into his hair, pulling him closer, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. There was nothing in the world, nothing at all; just me and Kyle, the feeling of his body against mine…

And in that instant, I heard a weak voice in the back of my head.