Tadashi should've known better than to think such a delightful evening could last. Usually, he had the clarity to hide Tsukki's gifts before he entered the village. Usually, he knew to take the backroads and not let anyone see him leave the forest. Usually, Tadashi wasn't a massive idiot. Usually.

So enamored was he, with Tsukki's well thought out gifts, with Tsukki's face so close to his, that Tadashi completely forgot that he and Tsukki were never supposed to know each other. A simple mistake, really. A simple mistake that had the misfortune of sending Tadashi's meticulously crafted narrative crashing down around him. Love had made him careless in a time where caution was most needed.

Everyone saw everything. The entire village, they saw him. They saw Tadashi exit the forest, well past nightfall, with a stupidly smitten smile on his face and a fine ribbon in his hair. He could've tried to craft an excuse about a secret lover from another town, but the craftsmanship was too fine to be of human make. Really, what other assumptions could people make?

It only took a few days for the gossip to spread, but the fallout afterward was horrendous. Everyone and their mothers had a different story about what Tadashi had been up to. The fine details, all made up by the town gossips, varied widely, but the broad strokes were still there. The general story went as follows.

Tadashi had been out late searching for herbs in the forest months before (wrong) and had stumbled across a beautiful woman (also wrong). This woman had offered to show Tadashi the herbs in exchange for a kiss (what?), and he had obliged. What resulted was a summer fling with a Kitsune, who would help Tadashi and gift him things for affection (Who thought of this?). The story had changed from Tadashi walking out of the forest to him stumbling out, disoriented, and heartbroken by a faerie that wanted to consume his soul. The whole thing was ridiculous and borderline amusing.

Unfortunately, Tadashi's father did not agree, a fact he made very clear the next morning. After a long series of arguments and plenty of bruising, truly, a wonderful way to wake up, Tadashi was up and frogmarched to the local priest. The resulting afternoon was nothing short of hell.

The town had gathered in the sanctum for a full inquisition, a quest to purify Tadashi. He spent hours in that accursed chapel, being probed with questions and exorcised. The ordeal lasted hours, with no breaks for food or water. Question after question, accusation after accusation. Throughout the entire mess, despite the stress and pain, it put him under, Tadashi made sure to give out no real information.

Although it brought him pain, the safest option was to agree with the stories of the townsfolk, that he had been duped by a wandering Kitstune and nothing more. But Tadashi knew the truth, and so did his father.

Everything that Tadashi had, things given to him by Tsukki and other personal effects, all of them destroyed. A watch around the village perimeters was kept throughout the night; no one could enter or exit without being seen. Not that Tadashi could've tried to sneak out anyway, not now that his father had him on such a tight leash.

He could not go anywhere without eyes on him, some mistrustful, others concerned for his safety. Tadashi truly didn't know which was worse, his time spent locked in the house, or the watchful eyes of the village. Either way, returning to the forest was nigh impossible.

Summer slowly waned away, its green warmth leading into autumn once again. And as the months passed, Tadashi grew restless. Every day he spent his life in a cage, never alone and never free. The wanderlust that had once been sated by weekly visits to Tsukki now reared its head like the ravenous beast it was. Tadashi wanted to move, to see, to spend time in the beautiful wilds and away from his stifling town. But there was no escape.

Every bone in his body ached for Tsukki, for the forest, for adventure. He craved the freedom and lightheartedness he felt around the faerie. The fluttering in his heart and the glow in his soul that only Tsukki could bring out. Unable to visit him, Tadashi's life grew gray and dour.

He realized too late that his love for medicine had stemmed from a desire to travel with Tsukki. Without the promise of travel, of companionship, of a life with the fae, salves and herbs lost their luster. Each night Tadadhi looked to the moon and ached with his whole heart, a hollow emptiness slowly consuming him and leaving a void in its wake. At some point, he became too tired to even cry.

So this was heartbreak.

Each day the need to move and to see Tsukki, to go places he shouldn't, grew greater. On the outside, Tadashi was sure to act content, even grateful, for the town's intervention. But on the inside, while brewing up salves for the apothecary, he was stewing over escape plans. If he could just make it to the faerie ring, he would be free, Tsukki would protect him from there. He could pack up what few belongings he had and be gone in one night. One night was all it would take for Tadashi to be free to live with the fair folk. It was the perfect plan, save for one catch. If Tadashi was too careless, he could lead to the destruction of the fae kingdom.

So, one fall night, under the cover of a new moon, Tadashi hid in a bush by the town outskirts and weighed his options. Thanks to the town's increased paranoia, a militia stood to watch on all borders, ever militant with few gaps. They would be hard to get by, and Tadashi was awful at sneaking. If he was chased, though, he could still make it to safety; he knew the forest better than any other human in town. Desperate to see Tsukki once more, Tadashi lightly shifted his weight and prepared to dash for the forest. One stray thought, however, turned his blood to stone and froze him in his tracks.

He could make it to the faerie ring and to Tsukki before the guards, yes, but that would lead them straight to the fae kingdom. No matter how well he knew the trees, Tadashi still wouldn't be able to lose the guards in the forest. If anyone saw Tsukki accept and bring Tadashi into the fae realm, war would be inevitable. The village put up with name taking and curses and ill-advised deals because there was an etiquette, rules to acknowledge and follow. If Tadashi was just taken to the fae lands, his people would see it as a kidnapping, a direct assault on their town.

They would rally the neighboring villages and attack the fae forest with the full might of human rage. The forest would be burned, and there would be casualties on both sides. Surely, most of the fae would be killed, but those that survived would ravage the towns. So many innocent lives would be lost, a war between the races could last for decades or longer, and for what? Tadashi's selfish desires? His foolish, unrequited, unnatural, love for one faerie? And what if Tsukki rejected him? What then? So much death for no reason. Even if Tsukki accepted him, would the cost in lives be worth it? Would Tsukki even survive? Would Tadashi?

The death of thousands was not a weight Tadashi was willing to bear. The risk was too great, the reward too self-serving. As much as he loved Tsukki, Tadashi knew he had to push aside his feelings for the sake of others. It was a love doomed from the start, and he had known that. The two of them weren't even supposed to be friends. Tadashi was human, Tsukki was a fae. It was a wonder they had even lasted this long. Tadashi was a fool to think any future with the two of them was conceivable.

The stars shone brightly in the cloudless sky as Tadashi sat in his bush and pondered the potential consequences of his actions. He loved Tsukki, and wanted so badly to be with him, but was it really worth it to start a war for someone who could never love him back? With a heavy heart and steeled resignation, Tadashi decided that no, it was not worth it. He would only end up ruining everything they loved, and while Tadashi was willing to die for Tsukki, the other wouldn't feel the same.

He took one last glance at the forest and thought of all the memories that he had made there. The pain and betrayal he and Tsukki had suffered through in the safety of the mushroom ring, the simple delight of snow fights and ice skating in the winter, watching the baby animals and searching for flowers in the spring, falling in love over their last summer. Tadashi's best memories were in the forest, and he wouldn't trade them for the world, but perhaps it was time to move on. He couldn't stay a child forever, and time in the forest seemed to only encourage his youthful naivete. It was time to grow up and live in the human world, where he belonged.

Slowly, solemnly, Tadashi slipped back to the main roads of the village, and slunk into the house he grew up in. The lifeless wood walls filled him with comfort, and the boorish snores of his wretched father in the room across the hall didn't make him feel safe in the same way Tsukki did, but this was where home needed to be.

No more talking to the trees and birds, no more flower crowns, no more fanciful dreams with Tsukki. It was about time Tadashi accepted his place in life. He was not meant for grand and magical adventures; his human feet were never meant to tarnish the purity of the faerie realm. Maybe things were better this way; at least he wouldn't have to see Tsukki's face when he left.

He would miss the fae, ever so dearly, but it was time to put this love behind him. Tsukki was a wonderful first love, but that was how he should remain. Soon he would be a memory from younger years to look back fondly on, and nothing more.

As Tadashi climbed into his scratchy bed, he took a look at the moonless sky and gave his last farewell to the wind and the wilds of his youth.

"Goodbye, Tsukki. I'm glad I got to love you, it's something I'll always remember."