The rest of the details of that night passed into obscurity. After having his first kiss, Akito and Melody had stayed out in the garden for a while. Contented to be away from the crowd, yet still sort of hear the music, he danced with her some more—or at least he started to. Eventually, it just ended up being them holding each other and sort of swaying back and forth to the music. Neither of them spoke a word to each other. Neither one of them wanted to break the spell. For the first time in their lives, both of them felt truly alive. After it started getting obscenely late and people came looking for them, they reluctantly made their way back to the house. A few of the others noticed their joined hands, but not all of them made the connection. Shigure, of course, understood. Tohru seemed to know as well. Ayame knew for sure because he kept elbowing Hatori and Shigure and making smug grins. Tomorrow, they would be leaving on their honeymoon and Melody would take over temporarily, as they'd only be gone a few days. She'd call him if there was an emergency.

After that, he felt as if he were gliding. He hardly felt the impact of his feet touching the floor at all. It was like being drugged only there was none of the heaviness in his limbs. This was something else entirely…

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw someone sitting on his bed.

"Don't be alarmed," a familiar voice said, "it's only me."

Akito ventured closer. It was hard to see in the dark, but it somehow didn't occur to him to simply flip the light switch.

"Father?" he asked, stunned.

"Among other things," Father answered, patting the bed. Feeling a little nervous, Akito sat down beside him.

"Don't be frightened, Akito. You have nothing to fear from me."

"Well….um…don't take this the wrong way, but it's one thing to meet your…er…girlfriend's father, but I never imagined I'd be talking to…"

He drew in a deep breath and wished he could stop babbling and stuttering. This wasn't like him at all.

"God," he finished finally, "it's very strange."

Father laughed.

"Yes, I suppose for a mortal, it is. People dream of the day they can finally see me and they all have this excitement mixed with terror. I never seem to be what they expect. But that's all right—what is life without a little mystery?"

Akito gulped.

"Yeah, I suppose," he mumbled, "listen…are you here because of what happened earlier?"

Father turned his gentle gaze on Akito.

"What specifically?" he asked, "Because I do love a good wedding as much as the next person."

"The kiss. Are you upset with me because I did it?"

Father's hand gently settled on Akito's. It surprised Akito that it was so small…imagining these hands fashioning planets and worlds and universes…it was hard to believe that they were the same.

"What makes you think I'm upset with you?"

"Well, you didn't really appear to me unless you were trying to either talk me into something or talk me out of it."

Father nodded.

"All right," he said, "I'll get to the point. She really does love you, you know. And you mustn't blame her shyness on anything outside. I know you've been feeling some insecurities about your porphyria and your curse lately and so forth, but you shouldn't. She didn't want to act on her feelings until she was sure I was all right with it."

Akito nodded. It was a very Melody-ish thing to do.

"And are you?" he asked bluntly.

"I never pushed the two of you together directly," Father said, "if that's what you're asking. Rather, I knew the potential was there and I let you both make your own decision about it. I do want to warn you, though, that if you choose this kind of love that it's going to be the harder path."

"Of course," Akito said bitterly, "I only have a few months with her. I know that. I know that she's giving up her life so that I don't have to give up mine. And I tried talking her out of it and she wouldn't listen. She insists it's her job."

"It is her job," Father answered, "but death is not a forever thing. You know that, right? Death is merely a comma, a brief pause before going on to the next word. It is neither a period or an exclamation point. At only one point in history was it even a question mark."

"So, she dies. Then what happens?"

Father shook his head.

"Spoilers," he said smugly, mimicking someone off of Melody's favorite TV show.

"I know she'll be glad to be out of her skin," Akito admitted, "but I'm going to miss her. She's the only real friend I've ever had. And now…"

"And now you're in love," Father said, "I know. And it's healed some pretty nasty wounds. We're only half the way there now. Another matter I wanted to discuss is what's coming up. You're going to face many more challenges before this is over. If you can hold on and stay strong through those, the 'Sohma curse' will be a thing of the past forever. But you're going to be very, very sorely tempted. You can't let your guard down or allow yourself to be deceived. If you do, it's going to be worse. I need you to trust me even if these demons—or even other people—make you angry with me. They will try to make you hate me and curse my name. Don't let them. For Melody's sake, and yours, and everyone else's, don't believe their lies. They have no real power—they can only test you."

Akito didn't want to think about that.

"You can do it, I know you can. Under all that perceived frailty, you are one of the strongest souls I've created. Don't get discouraged."

He hugged Akito before dissolving into thin air. Akito looked down at his bed and still saw the butt-print in the sheet where he'd been sitting. He would definitely have a story to tell his new girlfriend tomorrow.

He slid between the sheets feeling like a completely new person. He didn't want to think of what would happen these next few months. There were all sorts of things he wanted to try now that he had "joined the real world". The first thing he was going to do was get Melody a real kimono. The clothes that she wore were all right, but he wanted to see what she'd look like in a furisode. It was curiosity more than anything else; probably a deep royal blue or a mint green would be very pretty on her. And of course, he would pick a cherry blossom for her and tuck it behind her ear. And then her cheeks would turn all pink…

More than anything else, Akito was comforted to sleep that night by the sheer thought of not being alone. Even if it would only be for a short time, there would always be someone there with him. He found himself wondering what Akira would think—would he be proud that he was shedding his cruelty layer by layer like a rosebud, one petal at a time?

I think I understand what she meant, he thought sleepily, about a feeling being so big that it doesn't seem like your skin will contain it.

Melody carefully removed her wings and her dress and hung them up in the closet. They were so beautiful and so painstakingly made that she didn't want to risk marring them. Humming softly to herself, she washed all the makeup off her face and changed into her favorite aqua-blue nightgown. Tonight had been more special than anything she'd ever experienced on Earth, but the best was yet to come. Father had visited her just a short time ago and she was no longer afraid. Akito was no longer just her charge, but so much more than that. They were best friends and now something brand new and even more beautiful was unfolding between them. She had to confess to herself that she no longer thought kisses were silly. She'd once seen a couple kissing a couple of days after arriving and had been torn between laughing and getting grossed out. What was it about putting two mouths together that was such a big deal? And now, she'd figured it out. It had to be the right person. Kissing wasn't really something you did with your mouth as much as your heart.

She traced her lips with her fingers. She hadn't expected Akito's lips to be so warm and so soft. She'd assumed that everything about him—including his attitude—would always be hard, angular, and pointy to a certain extent. She'd been blessedly wrong about that. And something about the way he'd embraced her had made even his hard, undernourished body soften in her arms. She remembered that small smile he'd given her, letting the wall come crumbling down tonight where she could see his naked heart. Nudity of the body, Father had said, was sacred. Nudity of the soul was even more sacred.

Something very surprising had happened today. At Ayame's, she'd felt an awful pain in her lower belly. Upon closer investigation, she'd found a red stain on her underthings. Surprised and somewhat terrified, she'd scrubbed it away before anyone could find out and realized that she had become that much more human. After discreetly requesting some aspirin and some "girl-trouble" supplies from Ayame's friend (the one who worked in the store), everything else had gone smoothly that day.

If I can do that, Melody remembered, it means my body is behaving more like a human woman's does. And that means…

She remembered the feel of Tianshi in her arms. Six months wasn't nearly enough time to even think about babies, but she couldn't help herself. In no time at all, she'd imagined them having her curly dark hair and Akito's stunning dark blue eyes. If only…

Being human was harder than she'd ever imagined. If she wasn't so tired, she'd go sneak one of the medical books out of Hatori's office and get a closer look at what was happening. Or, she'd just look it up on the computer. Right now, though, she was exhausted. She hoped that no one found out about this, least of all the demons, for they would probably try to take advantage of the situation even more so. For now, she just wanted to curl up and sleep. Today had been a very big day for her.

The next morning, nobody was in much of a hurry to do anything. They all crowded at the door to see Hatori and Kana out the gate for their vacation. Little Tianshi was asleep in her car seat, as neither of the adults wanted to part with her. They were both grinning when they saw Akito and Melody's joined hands.

"Has either of them actually said a word to each other today?" Kyo wondered out loud.

"Not yet," Isuzu answered with a smirk. She and Kagura shared mischievous grins that basically said that Melody had her work cut out for her. Once the newlyweds were gone, everyone streamed into the dining room for breakfast.

"Not feeling well?" Akito wondered, seeing Melody try to discretely dump some aspirin into her hand.

"Just a little headache," she answered. It was true—she did have a headache. She decided to leave off the cramps. Just by hearing other girls talk, men tended to get a little squeamish about it. She was glad she'd worn a skirt that was looser around the middle.

After breakfast, they went to the clinic together. Melody still had to keep tabs on him while Hatori was away so that he wouldn't worry. They had a laugh about his heartbeat going so fast around her.

"Maybe we should wait a few minutes to write that one down," Melody chuckled. Akito was very amused: she'd borrowed one of Hatori's white coats and it was too big on her. She'd had to roll the sleeves up and the hem of it almost came to her ankles. It was like watching a little girl try on her father's clothes.

"I should have one made for you," Akito laughed, watching her try to tuck the sleeves back up when the roll came undone.

"In the meantime, I wonder if anyone has some pins," Melody answered. She finally got it situated and retrieved the clipboard again. Everything had checked out normal so far—even his pulse once he'd had a minute to sit quietly. He had no complaints with pain or sickness—in fact, he had some healthy color on his cheeks for a change.

"Clinic hours are from eight to five," she said, writing the last number down, "but I'm sure I can handle it. Kyoko said she'd bring me something to eat at lunchtime and nobody minds if I play my radio in here."

He was torn between not wanting to leave her, but he certainly didn't want to spend all day in here.

"I will see you at five, then," he said, kissing her on the cheek, "meet me by the gate."

"All right," she said warmly. She watched him stride out the door and smiled. If they were to meet by the gate, that could only mean they were going somewhere. Her stomach flip-flopped with excitement. A date! A real date!

She placed her laptop on a table at the back of the room. She wanted all the silly, cheesy, hopelessly romantic songs she'd stored on there. Before, she hadn't really known what the songs had meant, she'd just liked the way they sounded. Now, she could understand what the writers really meant.

"I feel delirious,

Come let's get out of here,

We're so anonymous,

But it's all coming clear,

We're headed for the sky!

And we'll get lost in it cause

All I want, all I want, all I want

Is everything!"

She danced with the mop while she cleaned the floors and put the new sheets on the beds. Even the chores that she really hated, like cleaning the bathroom, went faster with the music. She panned down the list of appointments and medicines that would need to be refilled. Going into the store-room, she made a note of what they had and what they were running low on. Hatori had already signed for all the ones that were being refilled so all she had to do was stick around for the delivery. The guy came around ten to bring in the new supplies. She thanked him and began to look through the boxes. The first thing she came across were IV bags. Carefully putting them away, she handled them as if they were made of glass. They were Akito's enzymes for when he had porphyria attacks. These were followed by his pain meds and his glucose solutions. She didn't want any of them to burst. It was like she held his life in the palms of her hands.

The rest were common antibiotics, antiseptics, bandages, pain relievers, and so forth. It was another hour before she'd finished putting all that away and she was glad to take a little break. Besides, it was time for her first appointment on her own.

"Did you have a good time yesterday at the wedding, Isuzu?" she asked as Isuzu slumped into one of the chairs.

"Yeah. Even when Haru spilled his punch on me," she said with a small smile.

"What can I help you with?" Melody asked.

"Oh, it's that usual crap that comes up. The thing where my stomach's trying to digest itself. It wasn't so bad last night, but it got worse this morning."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'll grab something for when you leave right quick and then we'll chase it out."

Melody retrieved the very potent prescription antacids. Hatori had said that she would need stronger ones soon the way things were going.

"Was it just a random attack or did something trigger it?" Melody asked.

"Just eating in general," Isuzu said with a dismissive shrug, "I usually live on crackers."

"Anything stressful happen?"

She could tell by the black scowl on her face that she'd touched a nerve.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Melody told her. She moved to place her hand over Isuzu's narrow belly, but Isuzu's hand stopped her, wrapping around her wrist.

"My parents were there last night," she said, meeting Melody's gaze, "and all they could talk about was what a loser Haru is. And what a burden I am to them even though I've been living with Kagura for years now."

"I'm really sorry," Melody said sympathetically.

"Oh, it gets better. They said that right in front of his face."

She released Melody's hand. Melody was very careful not to put any pressure on her belly, as she knew it was hurting.

"I'm going to marry him someday," Isuzu announced with a great deal of conviction, "we'll see who's the loser then!"

Melody grinned.

"There you go!"

Isuzu embraced the light, song, and colors that flowed through her as the pain was replaced with a pleasant cooling sensation. She felt the weakness and nausea leave her as Melody took her hands away.

"I have a little confession to make," Isuzu said as Melody mixed up some liquid medicine for her, "I couldn't stand you when I first met you. You were worse than Tohru. But I heard how you never took his crap, not really. Then I figured if you could do all the stuff that you do, what's stopping me?"

Melody added a flavoring syrup to make the antacid mix taste better.

"I appreciate that," she said gratefully, "and I'm glad I can help."

Isuzu took the cup from her and downed the contents of the thick, chalky-textured fluid.

"I'm curious," she said, handing the cup back, "when's my turn?"

"Your turn for what?"

"You know…when do I stop turning into a horse everytime I have a bad day?"

"Soon," Melody replied, "I'm not sure exactly when—we'll know when something specific changes. I'm not allowed to say."

"You can't just do it now?"

"No. There's a time and a place for everything. Father makes me stronger—Akito, too. If I tried to do it now, it would put too much strain on my flesh. It could even kill it."

"Oh…"

Melody busied herself with washing out the cup.

"Is that why Akito's going last?"

The cup clattered into the sink.

"What do you mean?"

"We know it's going to kill you. Is that why you're taking Akito's out last?"

"Yes," she said quietly, "I'm not going to be strong enough in this form. The flesh has to go before I'm at full power."

"It's going to kill him."

"No. It won't. He'll be sad for a while, but it will get better. And it's not like before—he'll have all of you to help this time."

She explained the instructions of the pills to Isuzu, eager to get off the subject. Her next visitor was Ritsu.

"How are the new meds working out?" Melody asked.

He was smiling.

"I don't need them. I haven't taken a single one since the day you freed me," he said. Melody's eyes were wide: he wasn't talking in that high-pitched screechy voice that he usually did.

"Well, if you're feeling better, than that's all that matters. Did you have a good time at the wedding?"

"I did," Ritsu responded, "I got to see all the work I did since Akito allowed me to help with the wedding plans. And I never knew I'd enjoy dancing so much!"

"I noticed you spent a lot of time with Mitsuru," Melody pointed out, taking all of his vital signs. She noticed that he had a slight weight increase, but that was good for him. Usually, he didn't eat enough due to the anxiety.

"Yes…about that…"

His cheeks reddened as he produced a very wrinkled napkin from his pocket. In a delicate woman's hand were written Mitsuru's full name and her phone number.

"All right! Congratulations!" Melody hugged him, causing him to go even redder.

"I haven't yet decided if I want to…you know…see her. I wanted to get to know her a little bit better," Ritsu confessed.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Melody said, giving his shoulder a squeeze, "Akito and I started out as friends first."

Ritsu stared.

"So, it's true then?"

"Yeah," Melody admitted shyly, "I guess weddings are good for reminding us that we don't all have to be alone down here."

It was a relief to sit down at last and eat her lunch. After Ritsu and Isuzu's checkups, she had to deal with a screaming baby with an ear infection. She could hear her coming a very long way down the hall and eagerly sent out her healing energies. Though it made her a little tired, she managed to get the little girl calmed down—along with her hysterical mother—and sent them home with some ear drops and liquid antibiotics.

"Whew…" she sighed, her synesthesia still going crazy, "I'm glad that's over!"

The downside to having synesthesia was that every time there was a noise she didn't like, it caused her physical pain. It would begin as an earache, but the pain would literally flow down her spine. Her field of vision had been flashing bright orange, white, red, hot pink, and all manner of very invasive colors. The soft piano music that was playing soothed it, but it would usually take a while for the pain to completely stop.

There was a middle-aged woman next who spent a good hour complaining. It was clear that her health complaints (headaches, stomachaches, backaches, and so forth) were clearly coming from the fact that she was so unhappy. Melody listened patiently, healed her, and gave her the mild pain relievers that Hatori had left for her though she wasn't sure she should. An old man who had a case of gout appeared and he didn't seem willing to follow instructions. Melody told him that he needed to stay off of his affected foot. She took the inflammation away, but she knew he'd need to change his lifestyle if he wanted to keep well permanently.

The last case of the day was a little boy who'd gotten into his dad's private stash of alcohol. His mother was terrified, of course, but she needn't have worried. Melody had the misfortune of being thrown up on. Sighing, she placed her hands over his head and his stomach and drew the poison out. Feeling much better, the young boy giggled and clapped his hands together.

"Glad one of us is better," Melody mumbled, feeling exhausted and sick herself. She'd have to wash Hatori's coat for sure, along with her other clothes.

"Could you tell Akito it's going to be a few minutes? There was a little mishap back there," Melody sighed to Kyoko.

"I'll tell him," she said sympathetically.

She scrubbed out her clothes in the bathtub before laying them out to dry and getting washed up herself. Then, she paused. What exactly did people do on first dates? She wondered where he was taking her. Deciding on a black skirt and a red sleeveless top, she smoothed her hair down and hurried out the door. Now that she didn't smell vomit, she was actually starting to get hungry again. It had been a long day, but it had been worth it.

Akito was already by the car when she found him. He hadn't yet seen her, so she took this opportunity to admire the scene. The sun had bathed him in a soft golden color and the wind was ruffling his dark hair. He was leaning against the side of the car, his pose suggesting contentment. Despite him not wanting to be sketched, she contemplated doing it anyway. She smiled and made her presence known.

"Rough day?" he asked, referencing the "mishap" that Kyoko had mentioned.

"Just a little bit," she answered, "I can say I've got a new respect for what Hatori does. Most of what I did was changed dressings and did office work before."

He opened the door for her and she slid in.

"I've hardly ever been out of the house," he confessed, "so this city is as new to me as it is to you. So don't get annoyed if I get lost, got it?"

"I won't," Melody said mischievously, "I'll just drive."

"No, you won't. Not after last time."

She giggled, seeing the look of dread on his face.

"I'm going to have to learn eventually," she reminded him.

"But not from me."

They pulled out of the gate. For some odd reason, it felt like leaving prison. Akito had never had an excuse to take anyone into town before and he'd never seen a reason to go when everything was brought to him instead. He had to be more careful because there were many more people on the road here, but he got used to it quickly. That was becoming the story of his life: more people everywhere. Despite the fact that it was really jarring after a lifetime of loneliness, he was learning to appreciate it. Melody sang along with the radio, drumming her hands against the console.

"You never get tired of singing, do you?" he asked.

"Nope," she admitted honestly, "I consider it a very good day if I go to bed with a raw throat."

"Then you're going to love where we're going."

His smile was smug.