Chapter 36... Approximately four chapters left!! Oh the suspense is killing me!! No, not really. I know what's going to happen, so I won't be surprised. Oh well! I'll enjoy writing the rest of this. Good luck, Juunishi and Tohru! I hope you make it ok! Cackles evilly. Don't worry about it too much though. I'm a fairly nice person. Enjoy Chapter 36!

OoO

Tohru glanced at the closed door behind her. Hatori had insisted that she do this alone. He was standing... elsewhere in the house. She glanced at the small knife in her hand, then at the gleaming white statues. This wouldn't take long.

She stepped over to the animals, which were almost glowing in the dim candle light, and knelt down. She was ready. She was definitely ready for them to be free.

"This is for you..." she muttered softly, then positioned her hand above the first ornament, a small dragon. "For Hatori." she said softly, drawing the knife across the tips of her four fingers. Blood trailed out and dripped onto the pure white of the dragon.

Blood is life...

She continued. She held her hand over the next statue, making sure the old cut didn't drip on the new statue. "For Kagura." she said, bringing the knife across all four fingers again, about a centimeter lower than the last cut.

And this is how she continued, gently staining the white with her blood. It wouldn't hurt her much, just leave a scar or two. She was glad she could do something for them.

"For Shigure."

"For Momiji."

"For Ayame."

"For Kisa."

"For Hiro."

"For Hatsuharu."

"For Isuzu."'

"For Kureno."

"For Yuki."

"For Ristu."

Kyo was the last one she did, and brought the knife across the heal of her palm. "For you, Kyo." she whispered.

And at that instant, the door flew open, an outraged man standing there. "You took them...!" he screamed, and lunged...

OoO

Kyo was dreaming again...

They were standing on the path that Kyo didn't recognize. She was standing in front of him, her face blurry, like it always was.

"Kyo... will you always remember me?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Of course I will."

"Do you promise?"

He nodded. "Of course I promise."

"You won't ever forget me?"

"No, I won't."

He was leaning towards her now, sights set upon a kiss, but this did not happen as he wanted it to. When their lips were only centimeters away, a small explosion went off.

He jerked back, and found that he was no longer in the wooded area with his beloved someone. And as he looked around into the darkness, small white feathers fluttered down, and disappeared. But he didn't notice.

"Hello?" he called out into the dark space he stood in. "Hello?"

There was... something strange about this darkness. Something he felt he had experienced before. Suddenly, a thought entered his mind. Well, less a thought, and less in his mind, but more around him, more like a timid murmur that came from an unknown source...

Kyoko...

Hmmm? This was strange... When was the last time he had thought of Kyoko Honda? And in the blackness, a small square, grayish in color, appeared, and fuzzy images began to play across it. He stepped closer... Hey! That was Kyoko there on the small screen looking thing...

Ah, yes... he recalled her talking to him... telling him things that as a child, he didn't understand. He remembered now... and among the rememberings of Kyoko, brought another person. The strange feeling of something murmuring into the silence of the air happened again...

Tohru...

The small girl he had gone to see? When Kyoko had taken a night job... he remembered now... how Kyoko had said that she was worried about her daughter, afraid that she might be lonely... and Kyo had gone to check up on her.

He remembered her.

The small screen progressed through his life, reminding him of events that... he seemed to have forgotten. The story progressed, and he watched Kyoko die before his eyes... and the horror, the guilt, all the feelings he had felt then came rushing back to him.

He remembered.

He watched his life go forward, as Shishou helped him recover from his depression... but it never went away. It always remained... along with lot's and lot's of guilt. Then, she appeared again.

He had crashed through the roof... and he had transformed into a cat. This was there first meeting. He had been angry that she had interfered with the fight he was about to start with Yuki. But that was before he found out who she was. When he found out... the guilt came back... and he was angry.

But he had changed. Slowly, over time. And the thing that had helped him change the most... was her. Her smile... seemed to forgive him for everything... everything he had ever done. And he like that feeling.

Then came the day that Shishou had come back... the day he had removed his beads. And he had ran. He was scared... so scared. Scared of losing her, of being hated more than he already was. And he didn't want that. He didn't want to lose her. He didn't...

But then she had come after him. And he didn't want her pitty. He wanted her to stay, wanted her to be with him, to be together, but he didn't want her to hate him. And so he had hurt her, cut her shoulder, made her bleed. And she had walked away. He couldn't blame her for leaving.

But then she came back. She begged him to stay, to come back home with her. And he was happy. He was confused, but so glad that she was still there for him, that she didn't hate him. And so he went back with her.

And time rolled on... and then came the summer when some of the Juunishi had gone to the beach house. And then Akito had come, calling all of the rest of the Juunishi away form her, leaving her all alone. But he was with her... until Akito had sent for him.

And, though Akito had said horrible things about him, and about her, a good thing had come from it. He realized something that changed him drastically. Something that was insanely unheard of for the cat. He realized just how much he loved her.

Love...

And with this... his eyes opened.