A/N: Hey out there, real world. You will absolutely love this chapter, I promise you that.

And a correction - the poem in the last chapter is titled "On the Pulse of Morning".


I didn't fall far.

With what felt like nearly late timing, I was caught by a pair of familiar arms and whipped quickly in another trajectory. I was instantly wrapped in a scorchingly hot aura that smelled of pine and smoke. Without hesitation, I curled into Hiei's chest, burying my face into the rough texture of his coat.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I wanted to say thank you. Instead of any good action, I clung to Hiei desperately.

"What the hell were you thinking?" He snapped at me as we flew through the air at unreasonable speeds. His tone was sharp and hurtful, but his hands were gentle under my knees and on my back.

Tree branches scraped at my body as we landed in a tree - and not in Hiei's usual gentle fashion. He set me down hard on a tree branch, but I didn't let go of his cloak. I think my lack of reasonable action was disturbing him.

"Onna, are you hurt?" He asked it almost softly - his hands quickly checked my head and arms, finding no injury. I shook my head stiffly, and winced as my neck remembered that I was almost strangled to death. Firm hands directed my face away from his coat, and he tilted my head this way and that to examine my neck.

"Is it bad?" I sounded like a squashed frog. How attractive.

"Hn. You'll live." He let go of my chin, and the intense heat that surrounds his body abandoned me.

There was a horribly pained scream from the clifftop above, and we both glanced up. Hiei smirked.

Kurama? I thought to Hiei, trying to save what remained of my voice.

"Hn." Hiei grunted confirmation."Foxes are territorial."

But Kurama hates my guts, I replied.

"It's not his territory, but he protects it all the same."

I didn't get a chance to ask for clarification. Hiei glanced up at the clifftop again, answering a call I didn't hear. He focused on that unheard sound for a moment, before looking back at me.

"Time to go." Faster than I could process, Hiei had gathered me up again, and he took flight. Far be it for me to question why, Hiei was definitely deliberately avoiding the question that had been about to follow his statement on territory.

We were at the clifftop in half a moment. Given the bloody nature of the scene that was waiting, and oddly spotless Kurama was waiting for us, a thorny, green whip in hand. That whip was wrapped around my attackers' neck, who just happened to be missing both arms. He was leaking blue blood profusely onto the grass around him. He was kneeling in the bloody grass, wheezing around the tight grip of the whip.

Kurama greeted us with a pleasant smile and a nod. "I'm glad to see you alive, Aria." I was taken aback by his sudden courtesy for me.

"Mostly alive, anyway." I croaked back with a cheeky grin. Kurama chuckled, which disturbed me more. He then directed his cloaked gaze to Hiei. "Are you staying? Ghee and I are having a lovely conversation. It seems he would be partial to living after this incident."

"Hn. No."

"Later, at the Temple, then." And with a blur of green forest, Hiei and I left Kurama and his subject to their "conversation".

I had never before had the privilege of traveling at Hiei's speed. It's a wonder it takes the man more than half a second to do anything. As he ran, I wondered for a moment if the world around him seemed to move in slow-motion, and he was the only person running at the right speed.

Wrapped in his arms, my head was resting against his collar, and I could only smell the delightful scent that is Hiei. He was the kind of warm you only feel when sitting next to the perfect campfire after the perfect Summer day.

We came to an abrupt halt on the Temple porch, and Hiei set me on my feet. The door slid open about a quarter second later, and Kuwabara appeared. I saw a brief flash of excitement and relief, before his head was literally stomped out of the way by Yusuke.

"Don't just open doors without knowing who's there, dumbass!" Yusuke hollered at poor Kuwabara.

"Get off me, Urameshi! I knew it was them!" Kuwabara yelled back up, already flailing to get back on his feet.

"Hi guys." I croaked. My weak voice somehow managed to be heard over the two yahoos, and they stopped arguing to stare at me.

"...you sound almost dead." Yusuke commented, and Kuwabara punched him in the stomach - an impressive feat from his position under Yusuke's foot.

"Urameshi! You can't stay stuff like that about girls!"

Hiei had no patience for the bickering two. As they erupted into yet another brawl, Hiei grabbed me and we flitted around them and into the common room of the Temple.

Yukina and Genkai were sitting at the low table; Yukina was in a long nightgown, but Genkai was somehow in her usual clothing - did the old woman just wear the same thing all the time? Confusing old bat.

Yukina's eyes were brimming with tears, and as she saw me she cried out on joy, rushing up from the table and enveloping me in a tight hug.

"I was so scared!" She cried, squeezing harder. "I thought... I thought..." There was a clack-clack-clack of something falling to the floor over my shoulder.

"I'm okay, I promise." I wheezed, rubbing Yukina's back.

"Oh!" She cried in a tiny voice, pulling back sharply from the hug. "You're hurt! I'm so sorry - please sit!" Yukina all but pushed me into sitting at the low table. "Can you take off your sweater?" she urged, as the high collar was obstructing her view. I had a cami on underneath, so I obliged, cringing a little as it pulled at my neck.

As I folded it, I tried not to be self-conscious about my neck, healing burns, and chest tattoo. Yukina and her beautiful glowing hands didn't judge, and without any comment she placed cool hands gently on my neck.

"I'm so sorry we weren't awake to help you." Yukina apologized profusely, eyes brimming with tears again.

"No more tears." Hiei said softly. He reached over my shoulder, and placed three perfect blue little spheres on the table.

Where did those come from? I thought.

"As a Koorime, Yukina's tears become valuable gemstones called Hiruseki." Genkai grunted across the table, sweeping the gemstones swiftly from the surface and out of view. "It's best not to leave them lying around."

"Turn around, please." Yukina said quietly. I complied, and she started on the burn on my shoulder and back.

"We should start a club, you and I, of people who have gemstone body parts." I tried to joke, but it came out rather flat. Yukina honored me with a small giggle anyway. I had the feeling she had been wrestling with her own demons for a while, and had come to term with it a long time ago.

With nervous hands, I traced the raised skin of my chest tattoo, now completely in view above the line of my camisole. I caught Hiei following the motion; examining my tattoo. I made no comment.

"That's the best I can do on the shoulder, I'm afraid - it was mostly healed on it's own, but you'll have that scar..." She was so apologetic, I had to stop her, or else I was afraid she might tear up again.

"It's fine, really - it's just nice not to sound like a 4-pack a day smoker." I rolled my shoulder experimentally, and although I felt a tug of scar tissue, it felt much better, as did my neck.

"Come on," Genkai grumbled as she stood. "I'm not sitting here all day." She shot me a quick glance, and a nod, and I figured that was about as much of a "good job not dying" as I was going to get from Genkai. Yukina followed soon after, but only after asking two more times if I was really okay. I reassured her that I was, and she disappeared after Genkai. What those two did all day I had no idea.

I was about to say something to Hiei, when Yusuke and Kuwabara rejoined us, having worked out whatever their latest dispute might have been.

"Kurama's through with Ghee - he's on his way back now." Yusuke offered, and in almost synchrony, they plunked down at the table with all the grace of wet noodles. "Nice tattoo!" He pointed to the magnolias, and I traced the outline quickly, feeling self-conscious again.

"Thanks - and Ghee?" I asked.

Kurama's voice chimed in from the doorway behind me."The trees at the cliff will be well-fertilized for years to come." I jumped at Kurama's sudden presence - just like Hiei, he made hardly a sound when he moved.

"So what's the deal?" Yusuke chirped, leaning across the table as best he could. Kurama sat at the remaining place at the table, while Hiei remained standing behind me.

"When Taisho's energy was removed from Aria's soul, he lost track of her, and immediately ordered her retrieval. Apparently, they tried the apartment first, as that was her last residence. This was the second guess." Kurama sighed. "Sadly, our friend was none too bright, and could be of no further assistance to us."

Yusuke rapped the table with his knuckles. "By now, Taisho knows that this plan didn't work. He's going to try again."

"Agreed." Kurama affirmed. He looked back over at me with a wry smile. "You need to stay at the Temple, and you absolutely cannot leave without an escort."

I resisted the urge to bang my head against the table. "So I'm a prisoner again." I sighed deeply.

I was expecting a smart remark from Yusuke, but it was Hiei who replied.

"Would you prefer to be dead?"


They boys spent the rest of the morning, and the better part of the afternoon at the Temple. I'm not sure if it was for my benefit, or for their own self-assurance that everything was actually alright. It had been a pretty damn close call, and Yusuke's bad jokes were some comfort.

It was hard to describe the realization of how much I had missed them until that morning. I had built a new life - my third life, as it were - but it had been a hollow farce.

My first life - America - would always be important to me. But as I had realized last night, it wasn't what I wanted anymore. I had let go of the desire to return, and embraced my second life.

Now, this second life at the Temple was what I embraced with open arms. And bad jokes chorused by Kuwabara's guffaw and Kurama's polite chuckle.

At some point in the afternoon, Genkai came into the room and barked that anyone who didn't need to be there had to leave; she wasn't going to feed any more of us hooligans than she had to.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama all stood to leave. Kurama stood around for a moment after the bickering duo left, and caught my eye. "Aria - might I have a word?" I glanced at Hiei, who appeared unconcerned and uninterested, so I had no good reason to avoid him

"Uh, sure." I replied, and Kurama gestured for me to follow him outside. We walked in silence until we were out of earshot, moving slowly around the perimeter of the Temple.

"I understand that you have been under the impression that I dislike you. I simply wanted to assure you that is not the case." Kurama offered me a benign smile, that truly appeared to be genuine. "I am... overprotective of the few people I consider to be my friends and family. You suffered for this, and I apologize."

I was unprepared for such a turnaround of behavior, and my mind raced for a possible explanation. My imaginary lightbulb finally lit. "Hiei mentioned that you protect this territory, even though it's not yours."

He chuckled, and nodded. "Yes, the two are related."

Kurama looked out over my overgrown and weedy garden rows - the rows that had damn near split my hands open with blood and blisters - and smiled approvingly. On that smile, all the weeds and little vines that had emerged from my hard labor quivered, and began to shrink in on themselves. Before my eyes, the plants regressed back to little seeds littered on the soil.

"You do all things with passion, Aria. I can appreciate that. July is a little late to start a garden, but it's been unseasonably cool, so who knows."

God, was it July already? I worked backwards, and came up with the same conclusion. Kurama left me with beautiful, perfect bare soil - just as I had left it three months ago. It was quite a gift.

"Aria." With his tone, Kurama demanded my attention."He's waiting." For the second time today, I was not allowed the follow-up question that I so desired, as Kurama bowed and promptly abandoned me. As he walked away, Hiei appeared around the corner. Hiei eyed the fox demon suspiciously as they passed; Kurama leaving with a secretive smile, and Hiei approaching.

"What did he want?" Hiei growled, looking surly. I offered a smile in an attempt to placate him, but he still looked grouchy.

"He just wanted to help with the garden." I nodded to the bare garden rows, which still astonished me.

"Hn. Nosy fox."

I sighed. There was no pleasing some people. I changed the topic instead.

"Hiei, I've been meaning to say – thank you." I rarely had to provide Hiei with conversational context. I wasn't sure if he was reading my mind, or if he simply knew me that well, even after three months apart.

"Hn. Don't do it again." He scowled deeply.

"But what if I'm chased by another Godzilla?" I was joking, but obviously Hiei didn't catch that. Or he didn't care.

"Don't." He growled, eyes narrowing.

"But I love flying!" I giggled, waving my arms around.

"Onna…" he snarled, but it was so fun pushing his buttons.

"Besides, you clearly have no good feelings for little old me, so what does it matter? Your life would be a lot easier if I had just gone splat." My sarcasm paired with a teasing smile did not make for a happy fire demon. I felt like a teenager again – goading a crush to finally take action.

He said nothing.

There was a long, awkward, pregnant silence between us. I shifted from one foot to the other. What was silence supposed to mean after a statement like that? Was it true? Not true?

Two seconds of courage, I thought to myself, I only need two seconds of courage.

I took a step forward, closing the gap between us swiftly. The rest of the world must move incredibly slow to the fire demon, and he could have easily stopped me, but he didn't. Hiei's energy enveloped me in his aura of heat, and before I could stop myself, I crossed the Rubicon and captured his lips with mine.

It wasn't a kiss to end the world, but it was an honest kiss. His lips were softer than I thought they would be. I lingered for only a few seconds, hoping to memorize the feeling.

The flush of embarrassment was already rising in my face as I pulled back.

Hiei didn't move. He said absolutely nothing, and the longer that nothing went on the faster my heart continued to beat. Had I been wrong? Had I just kissed someone who felt nothing for me?

If I start running now, I can probably drown myself in the ocean before sundown.

On my second step backwards, however, Hiei caught my arm. "Wait."

He slowly pulled me back into the heat of his presence, and his hand moved from my arm to my back. One hand pressed against the small of my back, his free hand brushed gently against my cheek, before running through the short, soft hairs on the back of my neck. I felt his chest rumble under my hands – like a predatory purr.

And then he kissed me.


A/N: I'm not certain this is the best I could have done with this chapter, but following my favorite chapter anything would fall a little short. But hey, THEY FINALLY FREAKING KISS. Please please please review! It's what makes me write more!