Author's Note: Here's my first attempt at writing a story for my latest anime obsession, Chrono Crusade---I got hooked on this fantastic story on Showtime Beyond and immediately began taping the episodes and then collected all the manga (therefore, my spelling of Rizelle is from the manga). I LOVE it--- between the wonderful storyline and romance between Chrono, the noble demon and Sister Rosette, the nun with a gun I am completely hooked. This story takes place as a variation of the second act of "Invocation". It is Chrono's thoughts as he experiences the secret formula to break his fever---the kiss of his beloved. I do not own Chrono Crusade it belongs to ADV, and was created by Daisuke Moriyama.

AWAKENING

I open my eyes slowly, feeling as if waking from the dead…or another 50-year slumber as with the fever I had felt close to death. That fever I got from walking in the desert after the battle with Rizelle on the train that destroyed the locomotive engine and forced us to walk hit me like being in another one of Rosette's car crashes…only this time I couldn't get up. The last thing I remembered clearly was being flat on my back after Satella knocked me for a loop when I passed out and fell on her, in a rather forward position and onto a rather prominent part of her body…I don't remember much before or after that.

Yeah, I do remember something…I remember awakening in bed in a guestroom in Satella's villa to find Azmaria bringing a tray to me, coaxing me to eat some soup that she had made. She's such a sweet kid and always tries so hard to help Rosette and me…and we really appreciate it so I taste the soup…which is quite good. Hunger hits me so I begin to eat for the first time in a few days and I glance around and notice the absence of a certain important person so I pause to ask Az…

"Where's Rosette?"

Azmaria bites her lip in worry and that makes me instantly alarmed. I'm filled with fear; afraid because Rosette had been so cut up by Aion's vicious black widow, maybe she's in worse shape then she let on (she always tries to be brave and hide her own pain from everyone but it doesn't fool me). So I tense up as I wait for Az to tell me so I can get over to her to protect her from…whatever…it doesn't matter. I vowed when Rosette literally gave up her own life to enter into the contract with me that I would always protect her, no matter what.

Reluctant to tell me Azmaria stammers, "Uhhh….well…she's…got a….fever."

"A FEVER?!"

I gasp as I get ready to toss aside both the tray of food and covers to rush to Rosette's side, my own illness forgotten as I only want to take care of the one most precious to me. But just as I make the motion to leap out of bed, Azmaria informs me that although she's feverish like me, her appetite is as robust as ever.

With a chuckle I smile fondly as I relax and state, "Well, that's our Rosette, all right."

Later, I remember waking again to the gentle touch of a cool cloth on my heated brow. I open my eyes and there she is, ministering to me in spite of her own weakness, leaving her sickbed to tend to me. My heart begins to constrict in fear for her condition as I know how she ignores her own needs to meet those of others yet I smile at her in gratitude and say…

"I'm so glad you're all right, Rosette."

But she frowns as her concern for me is evident on her face while she says, "You should be worrying about yourself, Chrono."

I gaze at her and assure, "I'll be fine once I get some….rest." I add quietly, "I'm sorry," before my eyes close… And I am truly sorry for having caused everyone such trouble.

I then drift off while inside relief floods my being as I realize she's all right and my heart eases its pounding. Fact is, the mere thought of Rosette hurt or in pain sends a chill through me, like a biting wind…and the thought of her in danger or dead is like someone reaching into my chest and ripping my heart out. It's true she's my contractor, the life force through which I can channel my powers but really, she's far more…

She's my life…

I blink my eyes trying to come to full consciousness and the sound of soft snoring to my side brings a sight that ignites a rush of warmth inside…it's my Rosette, asleep on her crossed arms. I smile with affection as I gaze on her pretty face, looking as innocent slumbering as she did that day under the apple tree when also watching her sleep I first felt the warmth that she brings inside of me…like a ray of spring sun after a long, cold winter. Her breathing is deep and steady as stray shafts of moonlight shining from the window and French doors play across her head turning the gold to silver, giving her a halo and the appearance of an angel. For to me that's what she is, my own personal angel. Although I myself am a demon; a fallen angel in fact, I feel that the hand of the Almighty has blessed me by allowing me to have met and be with Rosette…

I bring my hand tentatively forward, the desire to caress her almost overpowering but I hesitate...afraid to awaken her or disturb her rest. But my heart pounds with the magnitude of emotions evoked by the soft sensation I felt just moments ago awakening me….

I was sleeping, deep into my rest and then suddenly there was a dream…

We were in the woods surrounding Seventh Bell again, Rosette and me like we were four years ago reclining on a blanket spread under the canopy of the apple tree. Only this time we were different, I was in my true form, still hornless but fully grown and she was in the full bloom of womanhood…lovely and taking my breath away as I stare and watch her nap...

She is clad not in the dark blue habit of a postulate of the Magdalene Order but rather in a diaphanous ivory gown that does little more than showcase her lush curves, whetting my long dormant desires. As demons in the realm of darkness, we are constantly pursuing pleasures of all kinds but most especially the flesh, with demonic temptresses there to fulfill our every whim. But as much as I partook of what was offered, it left an empty, hollow feeling inside me. Until I came to Earth and had experienced the depth of true human emotions with Mary it was all I knew. But now that I know the richness of those feelings I want to experience them with the beautiful and fiery girl whose kindness and caring brings out her hidden delicate essence…something I yearn for like sustenance…

Rosette stirs in her sleep and I watch as her inky lashes flutter on her cheeks then she opens her eyes of the purest bright blue…like a sky in the middle of summer. She yawns and stretches her slender arms as if reaching toward heaven then turns and smiles at me, causing my heart to pound…

"I must've drifted off, Chrono," she admits sheepishly as her smile fades. "Sorry."

Looking as she does I can forgive her anything. "It's okay, Rosette," I tell her with a smile of my own (I can't help it, she just always makes me smile.)

With those words another smile lights her face as she leaps to her feet and reaches to take hold of my hand. "C'mon Chrono. Let's go down to the pond. I'll race ya."

Rosette giggles and again she's the elfin sprite with thick braids of gold who offered me a handful of candy, sweetness I can still taste and savor four years later. So with a grin I get up and accept the challenge…

"You're on!"

She takes off, sprinting over the long blades of grass, gracefully racing to the water's edge, her golden mane flying behind her and I follow, laughing and effortlessly keeping pace, yet lagging just behind to give her the lead as we reach the announced finish line. However, an unseen obstacle, a protruding tree root from a dead oak that catches her foot and sends her tumbling down an incline just by the pond halts Rosette's flight.

"AHHHH!"

Her scream sounds and echoes, shattering the quiet of the wilderness as the momentum of her pace sends her landing hard down the hill, hitting every stone and she rolls to a stop, in a heap at the bottom of the hill by some briars. She is motionless and my heart drops to my belly.

"ROSETTE!" I cry out in alarm as I increase my speed to rush to her, hoping that she isn't hurt. I practically leap through the air to get there, kneeling beside her as she painfully rises up with a moan.

I take hold of her shoulders to steady her. "Rosette, please speak to me. Are you okay?"

She replies with another moan and opens her eyes, which are glistening with unshed tears, "I-I think so. Geez, did anybody get the number of that truck?"

Being glib is her main defense mechanism against any pain so I manage a grin and do the same, saying, "You're the truck, kid. You just hit one hell of a bump."

"Yeah I guess so."

Rosette shakes her head to clear it and then brings her right hand up from her side. "OWW!" she wails as she holds it up and sees that she injured her finger on a thorny branch of one of the briar bushes. "That smarts!"

"Geez, what didja do now?" I grouse but in reality I am as always concerned when she's in pain or hurt in any way.

"I hurt myself." She holds up the index finger, a bright crimson drop prominent on the deep scratch left by a rather vicious thorn. "See?"

I'm so relieved that a scratch on her finger was the only injury she got after she had such a fall I stupidly say it. "Is that all?"

She beans me on the head as she retorts, "Damn you it HURTS!"

"Yeah, and so does your fist," I mutter as I rub the bump she just gave me (Rosette packs quite a wallop when she wants to and believe me, I've been on the receiving end…frequently). She just sniffs as she studies her finger and complains.

"Chrono, it really, really hurts and it won't stop bleeding. What do I do?"

"Let me have it." I grasp her hand to examine the wound and then take her finger into my mouth, gently sucking the tip to stem the bleeding, giving her comfort and taking away her pain.

The seemingly intimate action brings a soft pink tint to her cheeks…usually we're not so bold in spite of our closeness. Our eyes locked on each other, I then slowly withdraw her digit from my mouth…and then she does something that takes me completely off guard…

Rosette, her blue eyes soft and steady, leans over to me, laying her hands on my shoulders and draws closer, her lips landing on mine lightly like a feather wafting down from a passing bird. My eyes widen in surprise first, then close as I surrender to the sweetness of her to be remembered and savored, like the flavor of the candy she gave me the day we first met…

The feeling of Rosette's kiss in my dream is so intensely felt by me that heat rises, and not the heat of the fever but from another part in the lower regions of me. And it's like I can actually feel her mouth on mine, softly like a butterfly so awakened I crack open my eyes and see with pleasured surprise….

This is no dream! Rosette, my Rosette is kissing me!

Can this be possible? I mean, it's pretty obvious to everybody at the Order that there's something between us…the other postulates all whisper when I approach and then wave at me, flirting with me…and Rosette gets so mad at them! She always denies the claims made about us but I guess this shoots down that theory…

I fight the urges that come over me as she continues…the urge to sigh in bliss…and the strong urge to wrap my arms around her and kiss her back which I am fighting with everything in me. Most of all, I am fighting to ignore the physical urge of my body as I become fully aroused. I may look like a boy barely outside of puberty but in my true form I am a man full-grown…and in the four years since our meeting Rosette has blossomed into a beautiful young woman…a young woman that lights the fires of desire in me as a man more and more. So through my slitted eyes I content myself by just watching her…relishing the feel of her lips on mine and her hands cupping my face in a tender moment that will be etched in my memory for all eternity.

However, all too soon, Rosette ends the kiss, drawing away from me and I already start missing the warmth of her touch. Disappointed by her withdrawal yet knowing the need she has to rest I silently encourage her to seek it.

Go ahead, Rosette. Sleep, my love, and don't worry about me I'll be all right in the morning. Sweet dreams. And as if she hears me, she lays her head down on the mattress and drifts off. But now stimulated to distraction, that same sleep she enjoys eludes me so without disturbing her I rise and exit the bed, tiptoeing over to the to get a blanket to spread over her to keep her warm. I do this and then no longer able to resist showing her my heart, I plant the softest of kisses on her forehead. I then go out the French doors and out onto the balcony to watch over her…

But Rosette stirs and awakened by the night breeze blowing in from the San Francisco Bay, looks for me. Ever alert to anything having to do with her, I wave at her as I call to her…quietly as not to wake the others in the villa…

"Hey Rosette!"

"Oh Chrono!" She rises up with a smile, happy to see me at first, then like a sudden storm to the midday sky, her face darkens and she tosses the blanket aside to rush over to me, to start my punishment…

"Chrono, you jerk, how dare you get so sick! Didn't you know how worried I've been? Do you know that Satella and me drove all over San Francisco to find you some medicine? And it took all day!" She wraps an arm around my neck while pounding on my not-yet-recovered head and as I try to shield myself from her attack, it suddenly stops as she then engulfs me in a tight embrace.

"Chrono, don't you ever do that again! I was worried sick about you!" Her voice was muffled against my shoulder and my own arms encircle her just as tightly as I answer….

"Please forgive me for worrying you so, Rosette. I promise won't do it again." I say this as she holds me even closer and I respond in kind, squeezing her until we both can hardly breathe…

And we stay in the clutch until the horizon glows pink with the dawn of a new day.

END