A/N: This is important, listen to 'Kikyo's death theme' just type it into YouTube. (You might have to play it twice.)

And then I fired…

…

…

…

Time skidded to a halt.

He fell through the sky for an eternity…

His expression of shock and pain as I had fired the attack was burned to my eyes. Even now, as he was falling through the great expanse between the sky and the floor, his face was scorched to my brain.

Kekishe.

"Mint!"

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!"

"Oneesama!"

My friend's screams seemed a million miles away; they echoed through the space in my mind. Empty space.

Thud.

Such an ugly sound; thud. It sounded like a dull gunshot; thud, or someone's last heartbeat; thud.

But it wasn't a gunshot. It was the sound of Kekishe hitting the ground.

A sob burst through my lips as my brain began to tick once more.

"Kekishe!" I screamed, running towards the pillow of dust where his broken body lie. When I finally reached him, I knelt down beside him and laid his head in my lap.

"Hannah…" He croaked, his breathing wheezy and forced.

"Kekishe- I- I!" My throat was as dry as the Sahara and it hurt too much to speak.

"Shh… Forget what I… said earlier…" he paused and coughed; with trembling hands I wiped away the trail of red down his face.

"I wanted… I wanted to hurt you… Hannah… I was so… so angry…"

His breathing was becoming ever more laboured, and I could tell his lungs were packing in.

"Kekishe! Don't- don't die! Please!" I sobbed, hugging his broken body close to me.

"I didn't mean it… I… do love… you…"

My sobs intensified at his words; tears spilling from my eyes like a waterfall.

"Never… forget, Whiskers… that I… love you…"

"Kekishe no! You're not dying! You not!"

My ribs had constricted and were squeezing my heart and my lungs; I couldn't breathe and had gone light-headed from lack of blood.

"Kiss… me…" He breathed, his voice barely there at all.

I leant over his bleeding chest and pressed my lips gently to his, not closing my eyes so as to savour my last look into his deep, chestnut-brown ones. Then his head lolled backwards and his eyes glazed over. He sighed as all the last of the air in his lungs emptied.

As all the last of the life in him left.

He was cold and white.

He was gone.

"Kekishe…"

Was my voice real, or in my head?

"Keki…"

"I'd like to think you've always liked me… ever since that first day…"

Why was the thought if his lips on mine so alluring? Then he was there. This alien, Keki, was kissing me, and it was like nothing I had known before. He suddenly grabbed my wrists with his strong, yet soft, hands, and I gasped. I could feel his muscular chest and abdomen pressing against my body, and the sensation only doubled the ferocity of the butterflies inside of me!

"But why? Why did this happen? After everything, why?"

I was suddenly back amongst the dusty boxes…

Then he bit my ear, making me shudder and melt all at the same time. Our fingers interlocked around my waist and he picked me up easily, carrying me over to a pile of dusty boxes as easily as someone lifting a pen. Kekishe laid me down on a patch of floor amongst the cardboard. My skin was hypersensitive and my heart was throbbing uncontrollably. Kekishe grinned sexily as he landed on all fours over me and his eyes flashed as he looked me up and down.

"Kekishe… even when you used me,,, even when I hated you… I still…"

"So I get to have you…" He licked slowly from my shoulder to my neck and almost up to my ear, where he paused, I tilted my head away, exposing my neck even more for his access, "Whenever I want…"

"And when I used to lie on your chest… and I could smell you… you always smelt so good…"

Kekishe rolled off me and lay beside me, staring at the murky, green sky, deep in thought. I rested my head on his muscular chest, inhaling his scent and smiling…

The smell of dusty cardboard was going to my head, but I was determined not to break the moment first. I was laid on Kekishe's chest, listening to his steady heartbeat and he was stroking my back. God knows how long we had been there, but I was too content to worry about Ichigo and the others…

"And I'll never get to see your smile again… or feel your lips on mine…"

Then he raised his head and kissed my lips slowly, devouring the moment as time stood still. I let my mind drift, and for this time forget why I was even in the building in the first place. Kekishe was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and all I had to do was feel…

"How did this happen?… Kekishe… you asked me if I hated you this morning… this morning… it seems so long ago…"

Kekishe cupped my cheek with his strong hand and kissed me. Not expecting his kiss, I melted into him and went with him, letting him take the lead as usual. He lifted me easily onto his lap so that my legs were wrapped around his hips and kissed me once more, running his hand through my hair and angling me down towards his face. I could feel the hard muscles of his chest pressing into my stomach and it made the butterflies in my stomach spring into life.

His hand found its way to my chest and under my top and I sucked in air in surprise…

"It was so perfect… but why did you ask me…?"

Kekishe rolled off me and lay beside me, staring at the murky, green sky, deep in thought. I rested my head on his muscular chest, inhaling his scent and smiling.

"Hannah, do you hate me?" he suddenly asked.

"Don't you know Kekishe?" My sobs were uncontrollable, and my tears were never ending. "I could never hate you! I never have! I- I love you! I will always… always be yours! My heart will always be yours…"

All my memories of him rolled into one as I stared down at his perfect face- even in death he was beautiful. His chestnut eyes that had reminded me so much of a forest, were blank and unseeing, and his soft lips that had kissed mine so many times lay agape, revealing his perfect rows of white teeth.

"Why did this happen? Is this what love is? Is this pain love?"

If this is love why does it hurt so much…?

"Kekishe forgive me! I fired the… I fired… and… and now… I'll never look into your eyes! And I'll never see your smirk… you'll never leave me speechless… you used to always leave me speechless… which is why I've never told you but…" My throat constricted before I could say the words, and it took a few seconds to overcome my sobs…

"I love you…" my voice was croaky, but as I hugged his dead body close to me and shut my eyes, I felt a strange peace wash over me, and I could almost hear Kekishe's voice telling me that he loved me too…

But it couldn't be his voice, because he was gone…