A/N: I've been flying through writing this, but I have to take a break this weekend. Next update won't be until Monday night. Hopefully this will tide you over until then! Enjoy!

Dressed in my black kunoichi jumpsuit, I walked up to the door of the dark castle and knocked.

Rumpelstiltskin answered. He grinned and flexed his fingers, assessing me from head to toe. "A kunoichi!" he exclaimed. "And what deal do you …"

He stopped in midsentence when he noticed my eyes. He stepped forward to examine me closer.

I pulled my mask off and ran my fingers through my hair.

His eyes widened in terror. He stumbled backward, bumping into the rose pedestal behind him. He held onto it for dear life.

"Hello," I greeted, bemused at his reaction.

He gathered his wits and stood on wobbly legs. "But I thought… But I was told you…"

He scrutinized me dubiously. Then he stood more steadily and stepped toward me. I felt magic travel through my body. I knew what he was trying to do.

"It's not a trick. It is me," I said. "The only magic you'll find is my shoes, which you already know are magic anyway."

I bent one knee and then the other, slipping the shoes off with my hands. I shoved them into his torso. He held them, examining them closely in awe as if they were cherished artifacts. I stood back and spread my arms.

"Go ahead, detect magic again," I suggested. "You won't find any."

Realization dawned on his face. He dropped the shoes and reached for me.

"Belle," he murmured, moving forward.

I stepped back out of his grasp, my anger burning. How dare he try to touch me.

"I am here to make a deal with you," I clarified.

He weighed my words and blinked. "A deal?" he asked incredulously. "What is it that you want?"

You, you dummy. But I don't say that.

"I want your potion that makes people fall out of love."

He looked at the floor and turned his back to me. I bristled at his silent treatment. I drew my katana and started pacing behind him.

"It seems I've encountered true love," I explained with venom, "and yet I cannot claim it. So I want to forget it."

Rumpelstiltskin slowly pivoted back to me and shook his head. "Belle, you don't want that."

I pointed the katana at him, but I kept my voice steady. "You have no right to tell me what I do or do not want."

His face hardened and he stepped into the katana. "Fine. Then let's talk price." He flicked the blade away from him.

"Price?" I asked, squinting in disgust. "You already have my heart and I have nothing of yours, so you are in no position to negotiate."

He threw the shoes back at me. I dropped the katana to catch them. It clattered against the stone floor.

He merely smiled. "Doesn't work that way, dearie. But I'll go easy on you." He put his finger to his lips, deep in thought, as I slipped the shoes back on and put the katana back in its sheath.

"I will give you the potion you seek, with two conditions. One, I choose the location in which you drink it. And two," he stepped forward menacingly, "you must drink it in front of me."

I exhaled and my lower lip quivered. Oh, that's cold. How heartless is he? He wants to see me go from loving him to hating him?

Fine, then I'll give him one hell of a show.

I pursed my lips with greater resolve and clenched my fists. "Agreed. Take me where you need to take me, as long as it's done now."

"Just let me gather my things," he said with a flourish of his arm. A handle attached to a large wooden box appeared in his hands. "And we'll set off."

He grabbed my arm and transported us to a dusty, dilapidated, one room house. He heaved the wooden box on the table and opened it. A transportable version of the shelves I once dusted in his lab appeared. While he prepared the potion, I explored the room. I looked out a nearby window; the few buildings in the area look similarly abandoned. I stepped back and something beneath my feet cracked: a broken spinning wheel.

I turned away from the window just as he turned to present me with the vial.

"Here you are, dearie. Bottoms up."

I took the vial of clear liquid and kept my eyes on him. He watched me keenly, patiently, tapping his fingertips together. I downed the whole potion in one swig, burning my throat. I slammed the empty vial on the table.

Rumpelstiltskin stared in shock at the empty vial. Then his wide-eyed gaze fell on me.

"You … you drank it."

I blinked and stood akimbo. "Of course I drank it! Why would I ask for it in the first place if not to drink it?"

He pointed at me accusingly. "Because maybe the queen put you up to asking for it."

I growled in frustration. "Oh, for the last time, stop it with the queen!" I was so angry, I could feel the potion taking affect. "You are still a coward, still looking for excuses, and you don't deserve my love. And yet you have it anyway and do you know why? Because it's True Love and I cannot control it. It's there and no matter what I do to fight it, to forget it, it's not going away. And now it can finally, finally…"

During my speech, he backed up to the wall of the hut and slid down it, but the action neglected my notice.

My voice trailed off before I could start to cry. I blinked in confusion as I tried to assess my feelings.

"How long does it take for the potion to set in?" I asked.

"Oh for most people, it takes a minute. For others the effect is more immediate." His breathing was shallow and his body was shaking.

I began pacing in frustration. Yes, I felt anger. But my love was just as strong. "It's not working! Make me another one."

I grabbed the bottle he poured the potion from.

The label read vodka.

I turned to him in shock.

"Oops," he quipped, a finger covering his mouth in mocking. "But it is what people drink to forget."

I slammed the bottle back on the shelf. "Give me the potion!" I demanded.

He shook his head. "No," he answered quietly.

"Give it to me!" I'm surprised at the strength of my voice.

But Rumpelstiltskin was just as adamant. "I will not!"

I finally came to my senses and noticed the sweat on his brow. He was shivering as if he had hypothermia.

I squatted down to his level and placed my hand on his forehead with concern. His eyes closed and he sighed at my touch.

"You're running a fever," I noted.

"So much for me never getting sick, huh. Been too long since I've had your prune-laced oatmeal obviously."

I tilted my head to the side. "Well, you're still your sarcastic self, so that has to be a good sign."

He put his head in his hands. "The curse isn't happy with me right now," he mumbled.

I scanned the cabin for signs of water or a rag that I could use as a cold compress. My need for the potion was long forgotten. "Let me scrounge for a cloth… some water… some…"

I moved to stand back up, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me off balance. I landed in his lap and yelped in surprise.

And then his lips were against mine.

At first I didn't react. I was so shocked and in disbelief as I lay cradled in his arms. And then his fingers combed through my hair, his thumb caressed my cheek, and I became putty in his hands.

The curse slowly left him, and the anger slowly left me.

After a full minute of kissing, I felt tears on my cheeks that were not my own. I opened my eyes to see the man I only briefly glimpsed before.

His deep dark brown eyes gazed into mine with such love, admiration and anguish. The walls he had once kept so fortified were torn down.

"I'm sorry," he began, "but I had to know for sure that you really still ... It makes no sense that you do ... not safe at the dark castle if I lost my powers there … My son, finding him … I couldn't, but I can now ... "

I wiped the tears away, bemused at his inability to complete a thought. "You don't have to get me drunk to get me to kiss you," I quipped.

My lips covered his this time. It had been a full 10 seconds since I last kissed him, far too long a period. His explanation would have to be gradually spread over 10 second breaks until it was completed — which he was having enough trouble doing anyway whether I kissed him or not.

When he noticed I showed no signs of stopping, he chuckled at my brazenness. "The curse is gone, Belle," he explained with a twinkle in his eye.

"Better safe," I paused between kisses, "then sorry."

His arms surrounded me, pulling me closer. He laughed. Not a cackle but an honest to goodness, from-the-belly kind of laugh.

I opened my eyes — my real eyes this time — and found myself in the field. Rumpelstiltskin's laughter echoed in my ears. My lips still tingled from his kisses.

Oh, I cannot describe the agony in discovering that all I described did not happen.

In the distance, Minamoto was a small figure dressed in black and flanked by two horses. His arms were folded in front of him.

The wind blew as if it taunted me.

I rose slowly and walked back to him, my heart in agony. The vision was so vivid that it felt like I was living it. But then it was ripped from me, a figment of my imagination. So close to my dream, and again snatched away.

"That was cruel," I spat, bumping my shoulder against Minamoto's.

"Cruel?" he turned and asked in confusion. "What did you see?"

I grabbed my horse's reins. "Me getting my heart's desire. And me actually believing I was living it."

"That tree showed you what you must do to get what you want," he explained.

I turned harshly to him. "Then I should not be here!"

He reacted as if I slapped him. I immediately regretted my words. But they were the truth, I realized. I enjoyed learning what I did and the adventures I had to date, but now I needed to go back, to try one last time. To fight for True Love.

"If that's what it told you," he whispered.

I hopped on the horse. He slowly got on his own and sighed.

"When are you leaving?" he asked.

I didn't answer right away. I gazed at the tree and then looked at my hands, trying to formulate a plan as thoughts swirled through my mind. "Tomorrow morning," I answered.

He nodded, the tension in his face palpable.

"So what I saw in my vision — is that my future?" I asked.

"It's a possible future."

"But his feelings," I began. "He expressed things to me that …"

"Those are real," Minamoto interrupted. "Whether they are expressed in the same manner, however, may be another story."

I smiled. Rumpelstiltskin felt deeply for me and regretted his actions, just as I predicted — perhaps even more than I predicted. "That's all I needed to know." I could feel my resolve growing and my courage rising at the thought of going back to him.

Now that I made my decision, I amazingly felt at peace.

I looked back at the cherry tree and smiled, thanking it. It's boughs waved in the breeze at me, as if saying goodbye.

"It's amazing that the cherry tree is just like the one I sat under a year ago," I observed.

Minamoto looked at me askance. "You see a cherry tree?" he asked.

I blinked. "Yes. What do you see?"

"I see a weeping willow."

"So it changes depending on who is around."

Minamoto shook his head. "Not quite. You just don't go out and pick a style off a tree one day. The tree is inside you, growing naturally."

I liked that idea. I replayed the words in my head as we headed back to the school.

Minamoto was unnervingly quiet for most of the trip.

"And what did you see when you last sat under that tree?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

Minamoto kept his eyes on the road ahead. "I saw that I needed to go to Arabia."

I blushed and bit my lip. I was too uncomfortable to ask for more details, but I had a feeling it had to do with me. After a few more minutes of silence, I changed tactics.

"Minamoto, the ninja students in class were playing a game earlier and asked me to envision a body of water. Do you know what that means?"

He laughed and I relaxed a little. "The size of the body of water envisioned is directly proportional to one's libido."

"Oh," I responded with alarm.

I guess in more ways than one, Rumpelstiltskin was in for a heck of a surprise.