The rain seemed to melt Ember away, replacing her with Lone Wolf. The white haired super heroine bounded from rooftop to rooftop, aided by her staff. She took out her frustrations on various objects that she passed; satellite dishes, soda cans, and the rooftops themselves, banging her staff against them as she groaned in emotional agony.

"Why can't someone love me for a change? I mean really love me, not just be infatuated with me and confuse it for an emotion that is so much deeper." She stopped on one of the roofs and let her tears flow freely again. Leaning over on her staff, she decided that it was too much. "Pretending to be strong when I'm so weak inside, so easily wounded, it's too much." And so she cried, and even the arctic wolf within her let out a whimper at the loss of its mate.

"That's right," she remembered. "Wolves mate for life. I was so sure we'd be together forever, I kissed him like a fool every chance I got. And I never stopped to consider what could happen… What did happen. How could I be so stupid? Was I so hungry for love? Am I still?"

An all too familiar voice asked behind her, "Is something wrong, okamino-chan?"

She quickly wiped at her eyes before turning and saying stoically, "Kisshu, could you go away please? I don't feel like fighting right now."

"Well, that's good, okaminomimi-chan, because I don't feel like fighting either." He stared at her with intense yellow-gold eyes.

"Then… what do you want?" she asked him, frustrated.

He looked at this girl who had already captured his interest, and he had to admit that he didn't like the answer to her question. However, it was impossible to change the truth, and he had learned better than to try.

The building they were on had an elevator, and the top of the shaft which contained the pulleys stuck out from the rooftop like a brick box. Kisshu pushed her up against one of its walls, pinning her wrists beside her head with his hands. Then he answered, "To do something I know I'll regret later." He leaned in closer to her face. She was surprised when his lips brushed over hers gently, strengthening their pressure as the kiss continued. Her mind reeled.

"Why is he kissing me? Oh my gosh, this is so weird and creepy. Kisshu is kissing me."

"Is it really so weird, though?" asked a still small voice in the back of her brain. "Think about it a little more. It's not that odd. So maybe he has ears that are eight inches long, but Wolf, you have four ears. And two of them are furry. His hair may be green, but yours is white. And your eyes are the same color. If you're going to compare him to human ideals, you had best remember that you don't live up to them yourself. Give the boy a chance."

"But, we're enemies!" she tried to argue.

The voice countered, "You don't have to be." And as much as Ember knew this statement wasn't true, she wanted to believe it, because here he was offering her the thing someone else had just told her she couldn't have. He was dangling love in front of her face, letting her taste it with her mouth, and this assuaged her pain.

"Gomenesai," (I'm sorry) Kisshu muttered as he let up, only to kiss her again. But this time, her lips pressed back against his. He pulled away, surprised. "Did you just… kiss me back?"

"I don't know," she said shyly. "Why don't we find out?"

He didn't know what to think, but he wasn't in the mood for thinking, and neither was she. He leaned back in, pressing his lips into hers once more. She responded, wrenching her hands from his and pressing her face forward so that Kisshu was forced to step back. If she had done it to get free, now was her chance.

But instead, she was clinging to his shirt, her lips tingling with a foreign flavor of passion. It was something she had never experienced before. Kissing Josué had never produced this kind of reaction from her.

Inexperience and hunger caused them to knock their teeth together, but they didn't stop, reluctantly pulling back a little to avoid another collision. Another and another kiss, and Lone Wolf could feel her senses heightening. Taste was everything. Then touch; the rain streaked down her face and drenched her hair, Kisshu playfully nipped her lip with a pearly fang. Then there was sound, Lone Wolf growling in pleasure.

The lack of oxygen was beginning to make her dizzy. She knew that if she couldn't find anything solid to grab onto, she would most likely fall over. But there wasn't anything in the world, save Kisshu. Her hands clutched his forearms strongly, and she jumped, wrapping her legs around his hips. The power in his kiss intensified, and somehow she found herself running her fingers through his hair.

Kisshu was over the moon. She had kissed him back, and not just once; over and over and over again. His hands slid under her thighs, supporting her in his arms and helping her keep her balance. This was a rush like he had never experienced. She hadn't run away screaming, "No, I hate you!" Instead, she was here in his arms, running her hands through his hair.

His anatomy decided that was enough for now, and he pulled his mouth away, staring at her in awestruck disbelief. He then remembered that her species required oxygen to survive. Sure enough, she was breathing heavily, taking in air almost as hungrily as she had his kiss.

Lone Wolf stared deep into Kisshu's eyes, and the realization of what she had just done hit her like a wrecking ball. She placed her hands firmly on his shoulders and untangled herself from his body. Letting go, she took a step back. She had just made out with the enemy. What was she thinking? Why didn't she stop herself? He gazed at her serenely with his amber eyes, and she shook her head in protest of her own actions. Kisshu reached out his hand to her, but she shied away, staring at him like he was death itself. He was slightly shocked, but for the most part remained in a daze.

She turned and walked closer to the edge of the building and stopped halfway between it and Kisshu. But really, weren't they both the edge? And she had already jumped off of one of them. She massaged her temple a little, and then ran that same hand through her white hair, stopping it at the base of her wolf's ear, which she scratched nervously.

"Okaminomimi-chan," Kisshu's voice was calm and gentle, and he walked over to her, reaching to grab her wrist.

"Don't touch me!" she spat, yanking her arm away.

Kisshu was confused. "Okamino-"

"Don't you get it?" she sighed in frustration. "We can't do this!"

"Why not?" he yammered, still on cloud nine. "No one has to know about it. We can be together, just the two of us. If it came down to it, I could even make us an alternate world in another dimension. We could run away from all this fighting." Kisshu couldn't tell if he was serious, or if he was lulling her into a trap. It was his job to manipulate her emotions, to convince her to change sides. But right now, he wasn't sure what he was doing.

"This was a mistake," she rationalized. "We both have responsibilities to people other than ourselves. We can't just-"

"Ember," he looked at her through half-lidded eyes and she was surprised by his use of her secret name. "Do you like me?"

She narrowed her eyes. Did she? Reflecting on the reaction of her body, it certainly seemed that she did. But… it was impossible! "Th- That's not the point, Kisshu!"

"That's not a 'no'," he smirked.

"The point is," Ember yelled, ignoring his comment, "it doesn't matter what we think or what we feel! This is not allowed."

Kisshu finally looked sober. "So, okamino-chan, you're not even going to give me a chance?"

She looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry, but no." He looked stricken, but she continued. "I did not choose my destiny, Kisshu, and neither did you. However, we have no choice but to fulfill them. We are enemies, and we always will be."

"Maybe not…" Kisshu's tone was defeated, but he had to voice his doubts. "What if I'm your destiny, wolf-chan?"

She looked up at him, shocked. That thought hadn't even entered her mind. She stammered, "Th- That's impossible!"

"Is it now?" he looked at her with sad eyes. His brow furrowed and he stared at the ground, clenching his fist, angry at himself for risking this much. Now he was bonded to this girl, and he wasn't looking forward to the future of agony. "Ksuh!" he shouted, the space around him moving visibly in the beginnings of a ripple. And then he was gone.

Lone Wolf dropped to her knees in exhaustion, resuming her tears. She didn't know why she was crying; not for lack of reasons, but for the abundance of them.