Heeeeeere we go! Hardly the longest chapter I've ever done but I've decided to split the plan I had for this one into two parts to make my life easier. I'm currently on work experience, which is something we do at my school for two weeks in my year/grade/whatever you want to call it (I am English), and I am currently working at a preschool for about seven+ hours a day so I don't exactly have a lot of time for writing.

Eight years…it's been eight years…

What were Yori and Yukiko like now? Would they even be able to recognize them? And what would their reaction be to seeing their parents for the fist time after eight years?

Those were the thoughts that constantly swirled around Chihiro's mind as she rode Haku through the night sky. She wondered vaguely if most mothers felt a little like this at some point in their lives. Possibly. It suddenly struck Chihiro just how little she knew about being a mother. She had spent the first eight years of her children's lives underground and asleep. She knew absolutely nothing about them. What if… what if they hated her for what she and Haku had done? Or worse, what if they refused to believe that they were their parents at all?

Her mate shifted slightly beneath her, sensing her unease. He turned his head slightly and looked at her. 'It's going to be ok,' his look said. Chihiro nodded, but was not convinced. Just how could anything ever be ok again?

A single tear slipped down her cheek and fell away into the night.

OXOXO

Yori couldn't sleep. He was far too exited to sleep. He could sense the cool night air and hear the wind rustling the leaves outside. Nights like this always made him feel strangely exited and set his blood tingling in anticipation. He had flown earlier that day. Had actually stood in the air. He felt as though he could do anything.

Trembling slightly with excitement, Yori silently untangled himself from his futon and, still in his pajamas, crossed the room and stood by the window. It was quite big, and easily big enough for him to fit through.

He opened the window and squeezed himself onto the sill. The wind tugged at his hair and clothes, much stronger than it had sounded from inside. Yori didn't let himself think of how far away the ground was, and indeed, there didn't seem to be much room left in his mind to think of anything other than flying.

Eyes and mind focused on nothing but the sky, Yori spread his arms wide and cast himself out of the window.

OXOXO

Yukiko was dreaming again.

Splashes and dashes of colour, blues, greens, whites and a flash of purple, like paint being spread across a canvas. The rush of water in her ears, and the thrumming of her own heart, becoming an amazing song played only for her.

Then the dream changed. She was holding in her hands a small purple band of wool, that sparkled and glittered in the strange, blue-green light. The skin of her palms tingled, as if the band was charged with static, but it didn't shock her.

The dream changed again. Now Yukiko was flying through the night sky, flying on the back of a great long white beast—a dragon. A dragon with turquoise mane and glittering olive-green eyes. They glided through the night, the shadowy ground far below them and above them the sky was lit with hundreds of stars that made constellations Yukiko had never seen before.

Suddenly there was a flash of brilliant white light, the light that had danced from her fingertips only two days ago. When it receded, Yukiko found herself in a river. In a river, underwater, breathing water as if it was air.

'Yukiko…' said a soft, high, female voice, one that Yukiko had heard just once before. 'Yukiko…,' it repeated. 'Yukiko… Yukiko… Yukiko…' A pair of eyes, as blue and sparkling as sapphires, stared deep into Yukiko's. 'Yukiko… I think you wake up now, Yukiko…'

Yukiko sat bolt upright, heart hammering, eyes wide. The window in the room was wide open and a cold night wind was billowing in. For a reason she could not quite place, Yukiko felt the horrible stirring of fear in her chest. 'Yori!' she called, her brother being the one she always called for when she was scared. 'Yori!' No reply. Yukiko got to her feet and stumbled over to her brother's futon. It was dark, very dark, the light of the moon having been blocked off by huge thunder clouds, but there was light enough for Yukiko to see that Yori's futon was empty.

Yukiko staggered over to the window and she stood by it, chilled fingers groping for it's frame, face lashed by wind and rain, eyes half-closed as she stared out into the night. He hadn't… please, he couldn't have…

But Yukiko knew in her heart of hearts that he had.

Yori had tried to fly.

Ohh boy, Yori, what have you gotten into now? XD

Things are starting to pick up a bit... Chihiro and Haku are gonna reenter the main plot soon, so keep reading... I have some good stuff planned for this story!

-Selena

P.S May Kami-sama be with you, Japan. We're all hoping you pull through this!