GUESS WHO'S ALIVE. ME. BARELY. I'm so sorry about the wait. My brain kind of fell apart completely due to health issues and stress.

Plagioclase would like the readers to note that even if they don't really get him, that it is okay, as he still loves them, and that all readers should not expect any sort of speed with updates. Ever. Also, I do not own anything you recognize other than the lovely orca himself (as much as we can own other creatures, that is).

Kyoko's mind reeled as she entered the apartment. She hadn't been wrong, then - she knew what those words meant, what they had meant when he'd said them during their day together, what they meant in the context of the story.

Meanwhile, in the Kyoko meeting room, Annabel was sprawled on one of the red, squashy couches, watching the going-ons of the outside world. "Wow," she said, after Ren's reply of cloaked love had been voiced, "cowboy really did it."

"Did what?" Kyoko's Kuon inquired.

"He really made her fall in love with him." The grudges were, by this time, huddled around Mio for protection; any exposure to this dangerous man, after all, would result in their untimely demise.

"Of course he did," Setsu scoffed, "he's nii-san's alter ego, and nii-san can do anything, so his alter ego should be able to do at least that much."

"It's much nicer in here now than it used to be, you know," commented the demon-angel, ignoring Setsu's typical comment. "When I first got here, it wasn't nearly this bright or comfortable."

"That's because Mama has healed some," an angel piped up - well, down, as she was painting the ceiling. "She's happy now."

The boss Kyoko was flailing in the driver's seat of the body. I cannot believe I just did that. He's probably heard the song, too, since he was doing research for his Lie Ren role… but he knows that I've seen the movie, I think I mentioned it to him at one point. So why…? Actually, you lot - she thought, addressing the inhabitants of the Kyoko meeting room - discuss. I'll deal with this… man.

"I… I brought Tangled," she volunteered, snapping back to the realm of reality. "But I forgot to go to the grocery store, even though I said I would! I'm very sorry!" She went to bow, but found that his proximity prevented such an action, as it resulted in her smacking her forehead against his chest.

One wave of apologies later (on which Plagioclase surfed like the pro he is), Ren laughed. "It's fine, Kyoko. I decided to try my hand at cooking something other than omurice, and I think that it turned out palatable at the very least."

"You didn't have to-!"

"I wanted to."

"But you've done so much already, and-" The smile he bestowed upon her silenced any further protests. "I… um… Magikarp."

"Come," he gestured grandly as he spoke, "let's go see if what I've concocted is edible in the slightest."

Plagioclase expressed his doubts; Kyoko giggled, relaxing a bit. Having a mystical creature around was very comforting to her distressed mind. Kuon - for he really was Kuon now, in everything but the language which he spoke - enjoyed the sound as he fetched the grilled cheese sandwiches from the oven and handed Kyoko the bowl of cherries. She observed them with a level of interest while trailing him back out to his living room, where, he explained, he thought they could watch the movie while they ate. She agreed, glad to have something with which she could distract her traitorous thoughts. Once the movie was in the DVD player, he sat down on the couch; however, rather than sitting opposite him, in one of the chairs, Kyoko elected to plop down on the cushion directly adjacent to his. Plagioclase chuckled as Kuon fought and lost the battle of hiding how ridiculously pleased this small action made him. A hint of color tinged his cheeks as she brushed against him, leaning forward to pick up one of the semi-mutilated sandwiches. The remote proved to be a good distraction, as it gave him something to do with his hands, choosing the "play" option - and with his eyes as well, rather than watching her lips part to take a bite of his concoction of cheese and bread.

"Wow, this is actually somewhat edible."

"You like it?" he asked, thoughts switching to more innocent rails.

"Well…" she tossed him a Natsu-esque wink. "I didn't say that."

"Ah… sorry," he chuckled, picking up his own to take a bite. "Dad's were always great - but then, he used homemade bread when he had a chance to make it."

"Really?" He'd never talked much, if at all, about his parents in front of her - as Kyoko, anyway.

"Yeah. I mean, this is somewhat edible, but his were great - and you know better than anyone that I don't really care about food unless it's phenomenal."

"But you always like my food," she countered, confused.

"My point stands." He took another bite and sighed. "I just which I could've made something a little more refined and a little less burnt."

"Was… was that a pun?" Kyoko inquired as the first song of the movie played in the background.

"Yeah, but not a very good one, apparently," he grinned, noting that his princess was paying more attention to their conversation than to the Disney movie on the television screen.

"No, I mean - I guess I'm still not quite used to you making puns yet, is all." After taking another bite, she added, "I mean, I think the first one I ever heard you make was Telling, so -" She paused here, taking another bite of her semi-palatable sandwich. "I just… thank you for the other day. Really." She met his eyes then, an earnest look shining from them that almost forced his hand.

"No problem," he smiled, resting his free arm along the back of the couch, "I enjoyed it as well. Really."

She recognized the teasing note in his voice and smiled, an unguarded action. Plagioclase observed as one of the feathers on Ren's back changed from murky black to a bright, shining gold; the pair lapsed into silence, eating the poor excuses for grilled cheese sandwiches and watching the movie's progression. Eventually, Kyoko finished hers and stood up to go refill her cup. Ren protested, saying that he ought to do it, as she was his guest, but she merely laughed and said that it was fine.

"Oh, and would you mind popping a few cherries onto my plate, please, if you're so intent on doing something?"

"Sure." I could pop yours for you, if you want…. He scolded himself for this thought; there were many more steps to scale before he could even think about getting to that point. Shaking his head, he did as she had asked. When she returned, he forced himself to attempt to pay attention to the movie - and not to the fact that she had just put the entire cherry, stem and all, into her mouth. Nor did he acknowledge the fact that when she spat out the stem and pit, the former was tied in a loose knot. Or, at least, he attempted not to do so; he failed miserably, as Ren is Ren but also is Kuon and thus there is no known cure.

Kyoko, upon noticing his noticing her, quirked an eyebrow. "Do you know what the deal with cherry stems is, Ren? Because I heard some of the girls in my class at school talking about it and when I asked Hikaru-onii-san at lunch today, he didn't really explain it all that well. Just muttered something about 'special' and then started eating pizza."

At which point Ren's (rather, Kuon's) mind predictably went blank before overloading. Plagioclase, for his part, floated over to explain the mythos surrounding the cherry knots to the highly confused seventeen-year-old; this resulted, of course, in said girl being left in a flustered mess of apologies, squeaking about how she never meant to imply anything of the sort and how she was probably awful at it regardless, so please forget all of that, Ren. Kuon forgot to shut his mouth in time to prevent a rebuttal from rising to it: "Of course you're not."

Kyoko, as she is Kyoko and therefore irrevocably naive, merely bit a cherry off of its stem and replied, "You really don't need to try to comfort me with lies about such things, Ren. I'm not all that worried about it - besides, you wouldn't know either way. Only Corn's counts, and that was to break a curse, and then as thanks."

Kuon was not quite sure whether he should feel relieved or incredibly frustrated, but somehow managed to hold in yet another lewd offer - this one of teaching her to do far more with one of the strongest muscles in her body than knotting cherry stems. Naturally, his thought process did not have this precise wording, but the authoress decided that a ridiculous description was necessary at this point, especially since the next few minutes consisted of almost nothing but the pair watching the movie in silence.

Of course, as they are them and there is no known cure, Plagioclase was not left to boredom. Being the spectral whale he was, he could sense most of what the humans were feeling at that moment. Kyoko was conflicted, feeling somewhat guilty about how much of an imposition she had been lately yet oddly comfortable in the fact that Ren had denied her most recent claim without any basis. A small, hopeful part of her attempted to whisper that perhaps he would like to try; this particular angel, unfortunately, flew too close to Mio, and was therefore put out of commission for the next twenty-seven and a half minutes. Kuon, for his part, was reflecting somewhat depressingly that, if she were to reject him once he told her all he had to tell, at least he would have these few golden days… and the knowledge of the symbol hidden in her tiara. Needless to say, no one was paying particular attention to the movie, and thus it should come to no surprise to the reader that the next scene begins before the meaning of the lanterns was revealed.

"Kyoko, I -"

"Um, Ren -"

"Go ahead."

"No, you're my sempai, you should go -"

"And I'm afraid I have quite a bit to tell you. I'm certain almost anything you have to say, unless it's a recital of War and Peace or of the fifth book in the Harry Potter series, will be much quicker. Please," he nodded, shifting his body so that he was entirely facing her, giving her his full attention, "go right ahead." After all, once I'm done, you might not want to tell me anything ever again.

"It's nothing, really… I just…"

His heart took up a sudden hammering. Do not get your hopes up. Do not get your hopes up.

"I just wanted to… to thank you again for everything you've done for me. I… I don't know what I ever did to deserve any of it." ...or you.

"You've done more than you know, Kyoko." She sensed the bitter edge to his smile, his reluctance, and looked at him questioningly. "I… was that all you had to say?"

No. I have so much more I need to tell you, not that I ever could, not really. "Yes."

"Then I'll… I'll be right back." He stood up and, leaving her in the living room, walked back to his bathroom and opened his contacts case. Plagioclase observed with interest as the man steeled himself before removing the shields of false identity from his eyes, revealing the color that Kyoko so loved. Then, as if walking to his death, he exited the bathroom and returned to his lady-love.

The change in his appearance, once noticed, resulted in two minutes of absolute silence during which Kyoko's mind switched from maximum overdrive to light speed to plaid, and then -

"Your hair?"

"Naturally blonde."

This was met by yet more silence, during which she matched his physical stats with Corn's and took into consideration Ren's mention to Bo of knowing the girl whom he loved since childhood. Going forward on the assumption that that girl was her, then….

Ren sat down next to the silent, still Kyoko, worrying over her lack of response. He opened his mouth to ask something, anything, when -

"HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID?"

He startled backwards as she rocketed to her feet. "K-Kyoko?"

She paced back and forth in front of the couch, waving her arms madly as she spoke, "At Last I See the Light" playing in the background. "All the stats match, and I should have known that there couldn't possibly be two people like that, able to emit that type of smile, heavenly or not! And they tried to tell me - they did, and I didn't listen! All the grudges and angels whispering everything to me, trying to get me to see what was right in front of my face this whole time, but I thought that it couldn't possibly be true, but - THEY WERE RIGHT! WHY AM I SO DENSE? THEY WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG - YOU PRETTY MUCH TOLD ME AS BO! AND - UGH!"

Bo chose that moment to burst into the Kyoko meeting room with the lala land marching band, with which he had been training all this time.

"Kyoko… Kyoko, is… are you -?"

"WILL YOU PLEASE JUST LET ME PANIC FOR A MOMENT?" This was somewhat outside of her normal range of reactions, but it must be taken into account that she had just suffered a rather large shock.

Kuon nodded mutely as Kyoko continued.

"And I'd talked myself out of it because you told Bo - who is me, by the way, since secret identities are coming out - that it was 'as kids,' but as you're Corn and have been hiding it from me for some god-forsaken reason, then that can't really taken into account anymore. And after all this time, I - I thought I could trust you, but you've been hiding this from me, you laughed at me when I confided in you about Corn! And - and -!" Her words stopped here as she gulped for air; water was streaming down her face, more from frustration and notions of betrayal than anything else.

"If... " Kuon swallowed, figuring that this might be his only chance to say anything for another little while. "If it helps at all… I have my reasons and would like to tell you, if I may."

Unsure of whether she was more frustrated at his silence or her own denseness, Kyoko nodded, flopping back down on the opposite side of the couch and hugged one of his sofa parasites.

And so Kuon talked, talked until his voice was raw and his hands shook from the reliving of the events, begging her with every syllable to understand, to listen, to believe him - to believe that he had not wanted to keep it from her, once he realized who she was, had not wanted to keep any of it from her, not even himself as Kuon - "...please, Kyoko. I really - I didn't…I didn't mean for any of this to happen… but it led me back to you, and…" his voice shook and died.

She nodded, eyes still trained on him; that simple action alone was enough so that even he could almost feel the feathers on his back being cleansed, turning brilliant after spending so long in the muck. And then -

"I understand why you kept quiet. That doesn't mean that I'm happy about it, but I understand why you did it. And I can't really blame you for that, either - for any of it."

"You - you don't?" he asked, taken aback.

"Nope. Especially the part with your mentor - your friend. That was an accident."

"But if I hadn't -"

"Nope."

"But -"

"Nope. That was then; this is now. I would, however, like an explanation for your actions in Guam. You," she paused, emotions flashing in her eyes, "tricked me. I thought you were my friend, I thought I could trust you, but you -! You lied to me, you took advantage of me! You - you played me!" Emotion seemed to overcome her now; she turned her head away from him as memories flickered on the projector in the Kyoko meeting room, replaying every time - everything.

"Kyoko, I wanted to tell you, but I - I didn't know how, and I didn't want to kill your fantasy before I had to -"

"You started walking away, but then came back. Why didn't you just leave?"

"Because I couldn't leave you like that," his voice was quieter now, begging for her to believe him - to give him another chance, a chance he did not deserve. "You've had so much sadness already… I couldn't stand to cause you any more."

"Then why," she whispered, voice shaking - from what, he could not tell, "why did you tell me all those beautiful lies? Why did you kiss me?

"Because I'm selfish."

Plagioclase nodded, bobbing up and down in the current that was starting to rise around Kyoko.

"What?" Her shoulders dropped back as she sat up straighter, more defiant now than she was before that statement. "What?"

"I…" His hands opened and closed, as if by catching the air he could find the right way, the only way, to explain this trespassing of his into her faerie world. "I thought - I knew - that I would never have a chance to do anything like that otherwise. I believed that you would sooner turn away from me as I am - as I've now shown you, told you - than ever… ever want to come near me. I never thought you would still be sitting here, listening to my feeble excuses for my disasters… I just wanted to feel close to you, once." He swallowed, his words having tumbled over one another, coating the inside of his throat until he could no longer speak clearly. "I'm so sorry, Kyoko… I'm so, so sorry."

"So you made fun of the traditions of fairy tales just to… 'feel close to me?'" she inquired, fingers sketching quotes in the air; her voice had a bite to it that she did not want there, but could not prevent from manifesting. Not once, but twice… twice he's used fairy tales to make me fall for him. That's just not fair.

"I never meant to make fun of them! I wanted to help you live one!" These words were ripped from him, tugged from his tortured throat - but how else could he try to make her understand, even if she had already understood far more than he had ever expected of her?

"Well, then why me? Why tell me any of this - all of this? Why go so far for someone like me, not for someone who's more deserving, more on your level - you know I'm not remotely good enough for something like -"

"Bullshit!" he snapped, before he could stop himself. "There's no way in hell that that's true! You of all people should -" his voice broke, "... should know that now."

"Am I also allowed to call male cow poop?" she inquired, arms folded; she was no longer yelling, but the softness of her voice was frightening. "I thought we established that all of that was in the past, and it would no longer be considered in the discussion of current events?"

"I…" He swallowed again. "If you want it to be."

"Yes. Now actually answer my question."

"Which one?" Dare I feel relieved yet…? No, I shouldn't. She might just be trying to be fair to me, to hear me out completely before cutting ties forever….

"Why did you kiss me - why did you pretend to follow the fairy tale's guidelines if you were just going to kiss me again? Why?"

"Because…" Line, please? "...because I-I needed to."

Her eyes grew wide; he recognized the signs of lala land. "You mean you were actually cursed?"

"In a way, but not by any hand other than my own. My wings… they may have grown in, but I've stained them beyond repair - I'm so sorry, Kyoko. I don't think I'll ever be able to fly for you again."

Thwap. A couch parasite smacked into the side of his face; Kyoko had taken it in hand.

"Will -"

Thwap.

"- you -"

Thwap.

"- shut -"

Thwap.

"- UP?" She ceased her assaults when he caught the cushion; her chest was heaving. "You are not beyond repair! Stop spouting self-deprecating gibberish, especially since it isn't true now even if it might have been once! It's killing me inside to see you like this, to hear you say this stuff - I…!" Her eyes were bright, from water or anger or both. "I…!"

Plagioclase nudged the back of Ren's head, prompting him to say something, do anything.

"Kyoko… if… if it helps any," he paused, reaching towards her, surprised when she let him brush a stray tear from her cheek. "I… do you remember how I told Bo that… that I couldn't have happiness anywhere?"

She nodded, eyes blazing into his as another tear slipped down her cheek; her hand held his to her flushed skin. "I do."

"I think that… with time, and with some help… I think I might be able to change that view."

Plagioclase nodded to the intangible wings stretched behind the man; Kyoko, without shifting her gaze, touched a feather, causing it to turn a bright, shining gold.

"How?"

"By giving you a proper answer this time. I've been trying to wait for ages - until I got up my nerve, until I thought you were ready, and tonight, until I thought we were both calm enough for me to be able to say it." He took a shaky breath; he knew that his hand trembled against her cheek. "May I?"

"Please," she whispered, almost knowing what was coming next… and not quite sure whether or not she wanted to hear it. "Please."

"As you wi-" His voice broke again; he closed his eyes, trying to gather himself. It would be better to just say it, no codes or foreign languages this time; he needed to be absolutely sure that his words reached her, if only in a whisper. "I… I love you, Kyoko. I have for a very long time and I've tried not to because neither of us were ready for it, but I can't help it. You're everything to me - you've dragged me out of my darkest times just by being there and I will never be able to thank you enough for it; you are the reason I can feel happy again. I can… I can wait if you need more time, and I'll understand if you don't want a relationship, or just not one with me - but I never meant to play you. I meant every bit of what I said in Guam, and everything I told you on our date - I still do. I love you, Kyoko. Please just… do I have a chance to stay in your life? Any at all?"

Kyoko, who had not moved once during this impromptu speech, save for the widening of her eyes and the quickening of her breath, pulled back slightly and gave a helpless little shrug.

Plagioclase waited, holding his spectral breath; the inhabitants of the Kyoko meeting room did the same, though they knew what words were to come next.

"I've told you already, haven't I?" she inquired, giving him a bittersweet little smile before raising her finger and touching it to his nose. "Boop."

Slowly, visible only to Plagioclase, a change occurred. The wings on Kuon's back seemed to shake off a layer of filth - not the entirety of it, for that he would have to do himself, over time, but the first layer - revealing a gold equal only to the eyes of the girl sitting before him. Simultaneously, the inhabitants of the Kyoko meeting room observed with varying levels of relief, amusement, and disgust as the warning ropes around a certain part of lala land disintegrated completely. A stray lala-lobster ate the particles before scuttling off to find more nutritious sustenance.

"But…" she continued, after a few moments of stunned silence, "I'm not quite sure about being together-together with… anyone. I trust you, so I do want to at least try it if you'll have me, but I… if we do… could we take it slow? I'm not used to… anything like this. To being loved at all."

He nodded a confirmation, now unable to speak for an entirely different reason than that of some few minutes prior.

"I just… this past year or so has been insane. Coming to terms with reality, meeting everyone at LME, finally finding a best friend, gaining a little sister… finding you - again, even if I didn't know I had until now - finding me. I'm so scared that one day I'm going to wake up and all of this will be gone, that I'll be back in Kyoto without any of this - that I'll be who I was and might have been had I not stumbled into this fairy tale. I just… I don't want the magic to end, any of it. I've been extremely lucky since coming here… this is everything beyond my wildest fantasies, and it's real, it's mine." She turned her face in his hand, and nuzzled against his fingers, her lips tracing the base of his thumb as she fought to get her breathing back to normal. "I want to keep it forever… I don't want it to be another nightmare of beautiful, stupid dreams."

"It won't be." His voice had returned at the feel of her somewhat chapped lips against his skin.

"How can you promise that?" Her eyes were away from his, now; she could not bear to see what lay there, behind the green that had just promised her everything she could ever want out of her life.

"I can't promise that; but I can promise that I'll try to help you keep it, if you'll let me. May I… may we…could we be together-together?"

"We may," she whispered, a smile tugging its way onto her face when she realized whose line he had used. Swallowing again, she shifted suddenly to sitting on her knees, putting her on his eye level as her lips formed a name she had known longer than she thought she had. "Kuon…."

The pseudo-fairy prince could have sworn that in that moment his pulse was visible. Kyoko - his Kyoko, he could say that now - had just done, confirmed what he had thought was impossible. And now, she was leaning towards him, drawing her face towards his; he leaned forward as well, hardly daring to believe that this could be something happening while awake, not during the sleeping hours -

But it was her fingers that touched his lips, blocking his assumption. Instead she touched her nose to his in a light gesture, whispering that word again.

He nodded, feeling a bit foolish for thinking it might move that quickly. "Yeah… boop."

There followed a brief silence during which Plagioclase sent out great wails of happiness, which somewhat broke the mood for Kyoko, who laughed and then had to explain why she was laughing to a highly confused Kuon. This resulted in mildly befuddled laughter from the man; when this had abated, she spoke again, now looking a bit abashed.

"I'm sorry for attacking you with your own cushions. I just kind of… lost it."

"As it was in my defense, I don't think I can really fault you on it."

"True."

"I kind of deserved it."

"You did. But still, I'm sorry."

"I'm just glad that they're soft. Otherwise there might have been vaguely discernable damage."

"Kuon!" she said with a bit of a whine, recognizing his teasing tone. It was odd, she mused, how easily the name slipped off her tongue, as if she'd known it all along - which, she realized, she probably had on some level.

"Say it again, please?" he murmured, amazed that she was still here, that she could laugh with him again, that she had expressed something impossible and then made it possible.

"Say what?"

"My name. Please."

"...Kuon."

He observed her a few moments longer before inquiring, "Would you mind if I held you for a little while? May I?"

She observed him for a moment before reaching over to the table that bore, among other things, the now-forgotten cherries. With a few clicks of the remote, she restarted the movie that had long since finished, and then said with a nod, scooting closer to him, "I think that my heart might be able to handle it now."

The movie flickered on the screen, playing out the story of a girl kept away from what the world could be by someone whom she believed to love her who, after meeting one who kept a false name, saved him just as much as he saved her - if not more.

Kuon once more paid partial attention to the beginning of this movie, unable to pay it full as he was still far too stunned by the fact that Kyoko was still here, with him, snuggled under his arm as comfortably as if they'd done this hundreds of times as themselves - and not running for the nearest mountain. "Hey, Kyoko…"

"Mmm?" she tilted her head up towards him, yanking herself out of the double-daze induced by the movie and the man whom, she realized, she could now claim as hers.

She understood what he intended as he bent his head towards hers - it was the same as she had done with the same motion not long before. She knew this - and yet she tilted her head; her eyes slid shut as she raised herself just a few more inches -

Plagioclase was swimming joyous loops around the room -

Ring-a-ling-a-ding-dong~!

Kuon's phone, one of the many objects on the table, unleashed a highly irritating ringtone at just the wrong moment, startling Kyoko into falling backwards. Kuon cursed in English as he reached for the offending device, having recognized the ringtone and knowing better than to attempt to avoid a call this late at night.

"What?" he barked, again in English, as Kyoko busied herself with some cherries and gave a poor display of attempting to watch the movie.

Lory's amused voice, also speaking English, blared into the room; in his haste, Kuon had pressed speakerphone. "I call you to warn you of impending danger, and you greet me like that? Brat."

Kyoko let out a squeak, remembering the 'kidnapper' portion of the woeful tale Kuon had spun for her not even two hours previously. There was a pause on the other end of the line.

"It's fine, boss," Kuon replied, switching back to Japanese for Kyoko's benefit. "Say whatever you need to."

"Did you finally confess your undying love for each other, then?" After another embarrassed squeak from Kyoko, Lory continued, "Please tell me you already have."

"What would you say if I said we haven't?"

"Ah, so you have. Congrats, you two. I'll let you be for now, at least." On his end of the line, Lory signalled to Sebastian to start making the proper preparations.

"Wait!" Kyoko yelped, pulling herself back together. "Why did you call, President?"

"Ah, yes! Silly me! I was so pleased by you two finally getting your acts together that I almost forgot!" He cleared his throat. "Kuon, your parents should be arriving in Japan sometime soon. They left earlier today and I do not doubt that they will head straight to you, as I was forced to disclose your address to them. You've been warned." After a chuckle, he added, "So make sure you're both... presentable when they arrive. Enjoy your newfound love!" Cackling with undisguised glee, he hung up.

"Should I go?" Kyoko inquired, one hand in her hair. "If your parents are coming, they'll want to see just you, right? Because they haven't seen you in a long time?"

"Stay. Please."

"But -"

"I called them the other night; that's why boss lifted the ban and let them come visit. I… well, you came up in the conversation, and I know that Dad's eager to see you again and that Mom can't wait to meet you. Besides, I…" he gave a shaky laugh. "I need you to be here. Please. I'm terrified, and having you here will help me stay a little more sane."

Kyoko blinked, trying and failing to process this information; eventually, she gave up and simply leaned into his side again, accepting her temporary fate. Kuon, pleased by this, pressed a kiss to the exposed tip of her ear.

Her reaction was as amusing as it was predictable; her head jolted upward, knocking into his. Kuon murmured some apologies, before repeating the action and getting a cushion to the face for his troubles; this resulted in a brief cushion-war that ended with his holding the pillow above his head as she, almost completely on top of him now, squirmed in her attempts to reach it. (The authoress would like the reader to note that there were several points like this that could have turned this tale into smut - that is, if she could write smut, which she cannot, regardless of her sempai's encouragements and numerous suggestions.) It was then that Kyoko was struck by the thought that she really, judging by her personality and everything she had fought against for so long, ought to be panicking right now, and set to wondering why she was not. In her wondering, she ceased fighting for the cushion and merely collapsed against him, testing her own limits. After a brief conference with her other selves, it was agreed that she was in something of a shock, and that panic would come when everything had sunk in a bit more. Upon coming to this conclusion, she decided to take advantage of this fact, snuggling closer to Kuon.

The man in question, while greatly confused by Kyoko's sudden switch, did not complain, as he had come to the same conclusion about why this seemed so easy at the moment. Really, one of them ought to be panicking - but then, he mused, they'd experienced so many emotions in the past few hours that they were quite exhausted by the proceedings. Thus, it was understandable that panic would be left for another day - especially if the panic was decent enough to stay away, as panic is usually a heartless jerk who enjoys ruining everything. However, as prolonged contact was permitted, Kuon was not complaining; being able to feel Kyoko's breathing, wonderful in and of itself, also helped to assure him that this was not some elaborate dream. One of his arms drifted up to her back, pulling her a little more atop him and securing her there. She glanced up at him, a smile gracing her lips before she tucked her head into the crook of his neck, forcibly reminding him of the last time they had been in a position similar to this; as her breath skated across his skin, however, he felt his mind go beautifully blank of everything but that simple sensation and the fact that yes, Kyoko was still here and no, she didn't hate him - in fact, just the opposite was true.

Plagioclase was, by this point, the only one paying any attention to the movie - or at least, he would have been, had he even been facing in the direction of the screen. No, he was watching the far longer anticipated love story unfold as the two, taking advantage of the shock, moved perhaps a bit too quickly into one another's comfort, as their movements followed the comfortable patterns of those who have long since been together-together….

"Kyoko?" he whispered, one hand tangled in the hair at the base of her neck.

"Mmm?" she hummed back, intoxicated as much by everything that had just happened as she was by his touch.

"Are you comfortable?"

"Not entirely."

"Should we move, then?"

"No. It's not… uncomfortable, it's just different. But," she blushed here, surprised by her own boldness, "it's a… a good different. So if you don't mind, I'd… I'd like to stay like this a while longer."

She felt his lips press against the crown of her head, brushing again and again as he murmured, "As you wish."

Plagioclase, for his part, did loop-the-loops in the air once more, as one of his fellow Regioners now owed him a bowl of chocolate pudding, and then floated over to the lightswitch to make it a darkswitch. Neither of the sleepy humans noticed this, as they were too busy noticing one another.

The screen flickered in the new darkness as Kyoko shifted atop her beloved, cracking her neck in the process. "Kuon?"

"Yes, princess?"

"This is what I wished for on that dandelion, that wish I didn't want to tell you - I never dreamed..." she yawned, "that it could ever come true. You were right about the faerie dreams…."

He smiled, not quite sure if he could respond to something as wonderful as that.

She yawned again and then, slipping off into dreamland, murmured, "You smell like fairyland…" A soft laugh slipped from between her lips. "No… fairyland smells like you."

"Magikarp," he whispered back, pulling the blanket off of the back of his couch over the pair of them, glad that he had indulged that prior fantasy… especially now that his wildest fantasy was now a reality.

And so the pair of them drifted off to sleep like that, unaware of the new trial that would come in less than an hour's time.

AND CHAPTER CUT!

*whew* Finally, am I right? Too long, far too long of a wait. BUT HEY. FLUFF. BE HAPPY (and do not expect quick updates).

There should only be a few more chapters of this arc left to go!

Please review, lovelies! :D I hope you liked this! ^^