Never fear, this story didn't die. I've just been caught up with other things and the story had to sit on the backburner for a bit. I'm sorry for how long it took me to get this chapter up seeing as I did say that it wouldn't be that long. So enjoy the last chapter and as always nice reviews and constructive criticism are loved and flaming is used to keep my toes warm as I continue to write. Cheers.
Chapter Nine
Night had fallen, everyone else had gone to bed and the city was at rest. Kohana, however, was still wide awake and staring at the blank wall next to her bed. Her tears had dried up for now and a deep misery had settled into her being. After her Sensei had left she had not spoken to anyone, and had only eaten a few bites of her food at dinner. She knew that Kuro was worried but she couldn't bring herself to reassure him. Kohana stared, without seeing, at the white wall. All of her thoughts turned inwards.
She didn't want to leave it like this, her last memory being of tears and anguish. Suddenly she sat up as a thought occurred to her; perhaps it didn't have to end like this. Without stopping to think about what she was doing Kohana threw back the covers of her bed and got up. Stepping lightly she let herself out of the room, quietly closing the door behind her and walked down the stairs. Outside the moon was bright, throwing off enough light for her to see. Silently she ghosted through the streets, her plain white nightgown seeming to glow softly as she moved as though in a daze.
Finally she reached her destination. Her hand reached up and turned the door knob.
***
With a sudden jerk Gaara shot awake and sat up quickly with a kunai in his hand pointed at the intruder in his bedroom. He relaxed when the moonlight filtering through the window glinted off long waves of blue-black hair.
"Kohana? What are you doing here? I could've..." he was cut off as she moved forward and rested a finger on his lips.
"Sssh please." Gaara could feel her finger trembling slightly. She continued, "I just want one night. One night of memories that I can carry with me for the rest of my life. Please give me this."
Gaara reached up his hand to grasp hers and rested it against his cheek closing his eyes as he began to shiver himself. Oh, how much he wanted this. It would be memories that not only she would carry but he would as well. But this would be the one and only time. Was it worth it? This one night where they could forget about tomorrow. He knew that with the dawn of the new day the night would be gone, taking her with it.
Was it worth it?
"Yes." He said quietly.
Without hesitation she leaned in, her hair falling like a curtain around her face, capturing his lips with her own in a kiss that was soft and sweet. As he kissed her back the kunai fell to the floor with a clutter as his hands ran around her torso and he drew her slowly down to the bed.
It was bittersweet.
Afterwards she curled against his side, her arm resting over his bare chest as he gently stroked her hair. It wasn't long before they both fell asleep wrapped in each others arms.
***
Kohana woke, that was when she felt the pulse in her chakra. Closing her eyes again she sent a pulse back to Kuro to let him know that she was awake even though it was still dark out. Opening her eyes again a feeling of deep sadness welled up from the depth of her being before washing over her. Softly she moved her hand and drew upon her chakra, sending it to Gaara to keep him asleep as she gently extracted herself from his arms. Sitting on the edge of the bed she reached for her night gown. Lying on the ground was the kunai that was dropped earlier. She picked it up and looked down at it resting in her hands. Wrapping her hands around the hilt she stuck the tip into the bottom of the night gown and cut off a strip. Tying the strip around a lock of her hair she bought the kunai up to cut off the lock. Placing the weapon on the bedside table she gently laid the lock of hair on the pillow she had just vacated.
Kohana looked down at Gaara's peaceful sleeping face, drinking in every detail and storing it away. Finally she leaned down and, brushing the hair away, gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. Quickly she stood up and dressed before slipping out of the room, her vision turning blurry as she fled back to the inn.
***
Kuro looked up from the last of the packing he was doing as Kohana came in the door and without saying a word grabbed up the outfit that he had left on the bed for her and headed for the bathroom. Five minutes later she emerged fully dressed with her night clothes bundled in her hands. She walked over to the bags and stuffed them into the top of hers. Picking up her bags she turned to Kuro.
"Where's Sensei?" she asked.
"She's downstairs settling our account." Kuro replied. After a few moments he spoke again, "Kohana, I'm here if you need me."
She nodded as her vision blurred again, "I know. Thank you."
Kuro gently took her by the shoulders and guided her to the bed where he made her sit down. Quickly and deftly he put her hair into a long plait. After he tied off the end Kuro wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug.
"Come on, we better get going."
Kohana nodded numbly and stood up to grab her bags. They walked down the stairs where they met up with Azami and Grey. Quietly they slipped out into the darkness, leaving the bleary eyed innkeeper with a generous tip for being up before dawn. Down the streets they walked until they reached the gateway. Kohana paused and took a look back and knew that she would never return to this village again. She turned her back to the sandstone buildings walked away towards where the others waited for her.
They walked until they were out of sight of the village walls. They stopped and Grey stripped off his shirt and pants, handing the clothing to Azami. With a burst of silver chakra Grey changed to his natural demon wolf form. He was huge, towering above them at about three and a half to four metres at the shoulder. He was grey in colour with light silver markings on his face. He stretched himself out before shaking his entire body vigorously.
"This is much better." he said, his voice low with a hint of a growl to it, as he settled down in a crouch.
The others scrambled onto his back, settling themselves in and clutching handfuls of fur.
"Everyone on?" He asked.
"Yes." Azami replied, "Let's go, we have to get to the coast by dawn."
"Easily done." he said lurching to feet and taking off across the sands at a ground eating lope.
As Grey settled into rhythm Kuro looked at Kohana a little worried. She hadn't said a word since the inn, hadn't even eaten anything either. He heaved a sigh, the sound of it lost on the cool night time wind as it rushed past. He wished that she would talk to him or something, holding in the pain wasn't healthy, especially the kind of pain that she was going through. He bowed his head and momentarily closed his eyes, she was falling and he was a little bit afraid that there might not be enough of her to catch.
***
Gaara jerked awake and sat up quickly all at once. Outside the sky was just beginning to lighten as the sun prepared to slip over the horizon. Looking at the empty side of his bed a vice gripped his heart in a painful hold as he absently ran his hand over the spot she was laying in not a few hours ago when they had both drifted off to sleep. It was almost as if she had never been there, nothing more then a dream. A slight wave of panic rushed through him, was last night nothing more then simply a dream?! It was then that he noticed the lock of hair tied in a ragged ribbon sitting quietly on the pillow next to his. With his hand trembling he gingerly picked it up and held it in his cupped hands as his whole body shook. After what seemed an eternity Gaara closed his hand over the lock of hair and laid back down on his side, pulling the other pillow close to his chest and burying his face in it. He could still smell her scent on it, he clutched the pillow closer and breathed deep trying to burn her scent into his brain forever whilst at the same time trying to block out the fact that she was gone and was never coming back. Eventually Gaara managed to fall back into the oblivion of sleep still clutching the lock of hair in one hand and holding the pillow close with the other, not caring that it was damp from the tears that had been running down his face since he first woke up.
***
They reached the shore just as the first of the stars started to fade away. Looking over at the east Azami could see the sky starting to lighten. Good, she thought, it was just before dawn and with any luck they could reach the first stopping island before sunset. Grey came to a stop and crouched down so that his passengers could slide off. Once they were off a swirl of silver chakra wrapped around him as he switched to his human form. Azami handed him his clothes with the addition of a warm jacket, she was already wearing hers and he could see Kohana pulling her jacket on. At the same time Kuro was stripping off his own clothes. Once naked, blue-black chakra flowed around his form, growing until he reached his natural demonic size before dissipating leaving behind a massive crow. Kohana started digging out lengths of rope and leather straps from her larger bag as Azami started to tap her foot.
"Where is Jet?" she asked Kuro.
Kuro fluffed out all his feathers and shook himself out as he looked around at the sky.
"Here he comes." he said pointing his beak into the sky.
Sure enough a black dot came hurtling down out of the sky. Just as it would seem that he would go splat on the ground he pulled out of the dive and landed with a little bounce. No sooner had he touched the ground then he swirled with blue-black chakra like Kuro and grew to his natural size.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Jet said pushing his head through the loop of rope that Grey was holding up, "I misjudged how fast I could fly in my smaller form."
Kuro just rolled his eyes from his crouched position on the ground, Kohana scrambling over his back with a bit of the harness in her hands.
"That's because you think your so much better at everything in any form then you actually are." Kuro said cheekily.
Jet just clacked his beak at his younger brother as Grey scrambled over his back. Soon both the demon crows where harnessed and they were almost ready to leave.
"Right, shake." Azami ordered.
Both crows started to shake themselves vigorously to get the harnesses to sit comfortably. Kuro only had to shake himself twice before he got it settled right. Jet shook a few more times before he was satisfied. He fluffed his feathers and spread his wings, catching the light of new day as it just slid over the horizon.
"Let's go." Jet said with a gleam in his eye.
Azami rolled her eyes, "That would be easier to do, vain bird, if you could let us get on."
Jet's feathers slicked themselves down as he mumbled an apology and crouched down to allow Azami and Grey to climb up. Kohana was already seated on Kuro and securely tying down their packs to the harness before tying herself in. In no time everyone and everything was secure.
"Now we can go." Kuro said.
"Race you to the first stopping point!" Jet said quickly, crouching and taking a leap, flapping his wings furiously to gain altitude. Kuro followed right on his tail, shaking his head as he heard Azami giving Jet a piece of her mind regarding the abrupt take off. Jet, as usual, ignored her lecture.
Once they were in the air and the ocean was sliding away far beneath them Jet tilted his wings slightly to give himself some distance from Kuro.
"What is wrong with Kohana?" Jet asked Azami, moving his head slightly so that she could hear him.
Azami gave a sigh and closed her eyes. "She fell in love." she said simply.
There was a long silence in which Azami could feel Jet becoming tense beneath her.
"Will she be alright?" he finally asked.
Azami could hear the unspoken concern behind the question, could feel the tension as the crow demon waited for the answer. Her hand crept over until she could grasp Grey's hand; he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as she opened her eyes and looked over at Kuro and Kohana. With one sentence she put Jet's fears to rest.
"She will be."
