Blazing Divine Flame
Disclaimer: I don't own FY, I never will, and I never have..Although I would really like to...Sadly neither the manga nor the anime is my own...But I do own Makani!!!
A/N: You know the deal. Yadda yadda yadda...non-lemon/non-yaoi Tasuki fanfic...Blah blah blah...Rated PG-15 for some odd/slightly wrong situations that occur in this chapter...I thank you all who have read this far...For those concerned about Makani, you'll learn more about her this chapter!!
Chapter 6: A Second Chance
Makani awoke with a horrible headache. She felt a feather soft bead beneath her and when she opened her eyes, she saw that she was in a foggy room with pillars appearing in between the mist. She was laying in a king-sized bed and to her right was...Tasuki...But not in the sprawled out position he usually laid in. He actually looked normal in the position he was now. She turned her gaze away from him and focused it inwards for an instant, trying to remember, to recall to her mind what occurred before she ended up where she was now.
Just what had happened? she thought to her self, as she plummeted deep into her memory, and then the images struck her, like the blows of a thousand, tiny daggers. Men surrounding her, and then dead on the floor, the pool of blood spreading out beneath them. A doorway. Tasuki, lying, almost dead to her right. She saw his captors, his tormentors, so she attacked. Her face...Her arm...She had been mortally wounded...
She reached up her hand to touch her face. Nothing was there. A faint, near invisible scar at most, only slightly indented from her skin. she gripped her right arm with her left...Nothing...It was completely healed...
What the hell??! Where am I? How am I still alive... Then, all the blood drained from her face. A-am I still alive? She grabbed a decent chunk of her skin and twisted it. It stung and turned a bright red. Yup, I'm still alive, but that doesn't answer where the heck I am.. Makani sighed and relaxed. Oh well. All that matters is I'm still alive and... She listened for a second, holding her breath. Good, he's breathing, then so is he.
She turned over onto her side and started at him as he slept. He looked so peaceful. Tasuki's eyes fluttered, and then opened, to see Makani about six inches away, staring at him. At first his heart lept, and his muscles went rigid, he didn't know what was going on and how he had gotten where he was, but the calm smile on Makani's face soothed him a little, and eventually put a similar one on his own.
"Where are we?" he asked, to no one in particular as he sat up in the bed and looked around.
Makani propped herself up on her elbows. "I don't know, I was about to ask you the same-" She stopped in mid-sentence and looked down in horror, as she started to blush bright red. She quickly wrapped her sheet around her (thank God that they each had one!) and prayed that Tasuki hadn't noticed...But he had, and made his discovery at virtually the same time she did, and did almost the same thing, blushing as well.
"M-makani, I-I swear! It wasn't me!"
Makani sat up and looked at him, then laughed. "I kind-of figured it wasn't. Whoever healed our wounds probably did this.."
With that, Nyan Nyan appeared out of nowhere. Or, should I say, about four Nyan Nyans appeared out of no where.
"Yup! We healed you!"
"And fixed your clothes!"
"And washed you up!"
"Um...Thanks?...Thanks everyone!"
"No problem!"
"My pleasure!"
"It's okay!"
"Anytime!"
"We're going to leave you alone now!"
"You need some time to rest!"
"And to talk!"
Then, as soon as they came, they all parted, each saying "Good bye!" either at the same time as, or right after, one of the others.
"Who were they?" asked Makani, as much curious as she was confused.
"That was Nyan Nyan."
"You mean, it was one person?"
"Yeah..It's safer now to ask...And I know where we are now, too."
"Where?"
"Dachi-san Mountain. Tasiitsu-kun lives here. She's the creator of the Universe of the Four Gods."
"The what?"
"Long story...Maybe some other time."
"Um...okay...," said Makani. So. She left us here to talk, to be by ourselves...But about what?..And who saved us...And how? And Why?...Wait...What did I say before I passed out?...Oh no, I-I...'I love you'...I told him that I loved him...But I wonder, does he remember? She thought as she looked back up at him, blushing. No, he couldn't possibly...Should I say it?...Yes...I will, "Tasuki, I-"
"Please, don't say it," Tasuki said, his voice slightly wavering. You almost died and it was all my fault...You risked you life for me...Reirei...Gods, I don't want that to happen again! I don't want to lose anyone else!
"But..." What's wrong, Tasuki, I thought that you-
"I told you before, and I'm begging you now," Tasuki said as he turned around to face her. She was shocked at the tears that streamed down his face. "Don't love me."
She felt the tears well up in her own, and she reached out to touch him, but he flinched away from her touch. "W-why? Why are you doing this? Can't you see? You can't ask that of me now, it's too late!"
Tasuki cringed. No...Makani...Please don't do this...If I ever lost you..I...I.. "I don't feel the same Makani, I'm sorry," he said, against the voice in his head that screamed at him that that was a lie, that he loved her more than anyone else. He tried to ignore the pain of hid heart ripping into a million pieces. It's all for the best, he repeated over and over again in his head. It's for her own good. "I mean, I can't love someone that I don't even know," Even though it feels like I've know you for a thousand years.
Makani thought she would die of dispair. "Y-you can't mean that!"
Tasuki had to look away after he watched the first of her tears trickle down her cheeks. I'm sorry..Oh, gods I'm sorry...I never meant for it to be this way...
"Fine then!" she said through her tears. "Then I'll just tell you everything about me that you could ever want, or ever need to know!"
Tasuki turned around to look at her, his eyes, though full of pain and shock, also showed some hope, before the pain washed over it and hurt was all that could be read from his face.
"From as far back as I can remember, I've been poor. All of my friends had been poor, sometimes evern more worse off, than I was. When I was six years old, my best friend died in my arms. She was starving to death and had found a piece of meat on the ground, so she had quickly eaten it up, before I could warn her. The meat wsa meant to kill any stray dogs, raccoons, rats, anything like that, to keep them away from the chicken coop the meat was placed by. She didn't know, and I wept for weeks thinking that if I had spotted her two minutes earlier, she wouldn't have died. Her death burdened me for a long time. I made other friends tho, friends I kept for years. That is, friends I had until the slave traders came. One by one they went missing, and we all would fear that we would be next. Soon, it was just me and Arine. The day after we met one night to ensure each other that we would never loose the other or let the other be taken, I found her dead in an alley. They had hit her too hard on the bakc of the head when they were nabbing her. Which left me. I was the only one left, and in the end, I couldn't even save my own family. My parents died right in front of my face and there was nothing I could do...That's why...That's why I love you Tasuki, and never want to leave you. I've lost so many that I've loved before you, and you're the only one I have left that loved me. Everyone else...All the people I've ever known or loved or gone...That's why I followed you there, as soon as I heard what Kouji had told you...I'll die for you Tasuki! I'll risk my life for you...Because...Because you're the only one I have left...And...I need you."
Tasuki felt as if his heart had been torn out of his chest and stomped until it was flattened against the floor. I'll just be causing her more pain if I leave her now...She's be happier dying in my arms, sacrificing her life for mine, than living without me...How could I've been so selfish...So blind... "I love you, too," said Tasuki, as he reached out his arms and pulled her close to him. "I loved you since the day that I met you...And, I'm sorry..."
Makani looked at him, the tears that were flowing from her eyes starting to stop. Makani freed one of her arms from his grasp and wiped his tears away. "It's okay...As long as I know that you love me, then I don't care...I knew you weren't serious when you said that you didn't love me...You were just afraid to get hurt again...It's okay...I'm here with you, and I'll make sure you never get hurt again."
Tasuki looked down at her, tears still flowing from his eyes. Not ones of sadness and pain now, but of joy. Makani wrapped her free arm around his neck and pulled her self up. She closed her eyes, and he his, as they kissed.
Both of their tears had stopped when they parted, mingling when they had first begun and gone when it was over. Even though they both had admitted their love towards each other, they both had still blushed during their first kiss.
"Now," said Makani. "If you don't mind, I'd like to know why you were so afraid to love me? Because I'm your second chance, now, and you have to set the past free in order to embrace the present."
Tasuki let out a deep sigh. "Her name was Reirei...."
* * * "Oh my god. Tasuki I'm so sorry, I had no ide-"
"It's okay," said Tasuki. "I didn't love her, but she loved me. And it hurt me knowing that she loved me with all her heart, and was a good friend, and then died in my arms. She sacrificed her life to give me a second chance at mine, and for that, I will never forget her."
Tasuki had started to cry again in the middle of the story, but now his tears where dry. He bent towards Makani and kissed her again, but pulled away when he felt a presence there other than there own."
He blushed bright red when he looked over to see who was standing in front to the bed.
"Da..."
"Um..H-hi Chichiri..."
"What about me!" said one of the Nyan Nyans that popped its head about from behind Chichiri's leg.
"Hi, Nyan Nyan," said Makani, she too, blushing.
Nyan Nyan walked over to her and took her hand. "Follow me please," she said, as she tugged on Makani's arm, encouraging her to get up.
Makani made sure that the sheet was wrapped tightly around her before she got up and followed Nyan Nyan, making sure to use her free hand to hold the sheet in place. She glanced back at Tasuki for a second, but all he did was smile and motion to her to keep following the child. Makani glanced back and then was some-what yanked from Tasuki's view, behind a curtain off to the far front and right side of the room.
Tasuki's gaze switched back to Chichiri, who was still standing in front of the bed. Tasuki went to stand up and walk over to him, but thought twice and thought it would be safer if he just stayed where he was. Chichiri noticed and seemed to materialize some clothes and handed them to Tasuki, turning his back to him as he dressed.
"So, you finally found her, do na,'" said Chichiri as he pulled off his mask and held it in his right hand. He looked down at it, wondering if he would ever wear a true smile, other than just the magical mask, ever again.
"Found who?" said Tasuki, as he struggled into the pants Chichiri had given to him. They resembled his old clothes, but these seemd much newer, and of stringer material.
"Your true love, no da."
"What?!" said Tasuki, as he nearly fell over. He was not expecting that at all. Maybe a friendly, 'Hi. How are you?' Nothing like, 'So, you've finally found your true love, congratulations!' It kind-of creeped him, out. Tasuki quickly picked himself up and finished dressing before he went and stood before the blue haired monk, his best friend, and a person he hadn't seen in a very long time.
Chichiri looked up from his mask and Tasuki noticed that he had been crying, ever so lightly. Chichiri wiped the tears away quickly and looked at Tasuki with the best smile he could muster. Tasuki smiled back, even though he didn't buy the fake grin. Poor guy...I know he lost his only love eight years ago...Damn...I had almost completely forgotten that...Bringing Makani here probably only brought back painfully memories to the front of his mind...
"She really loves you, no da. You should be happy."
Tasuki nodded his head. "Yeah...She's great...But on a lighter note,...How's it been? I haven't seen you in what, two or three years?" he said as he patted Chichiri on the back.
"Yeah. I've been doing good, no da," he said, as he put the mask back on his face. "Other than the usual bring back almost dead friends to be healed, no da. The same old, same old."
Tasuki laughed as heart fully as he could and Chichiri bought it, and smiled. A genuine smile. Even through the mask Tasuki could see it.
Tasuki heard foot steps approaching from behind, and knew it was Makani, but before he could turn around and greet her, Chichiri whispered something faintly to him.
"Never let her go, Tasuki, never let her go. Keep her close to you and love her with all your heart and soul, it will only be then that you find true happiness and peace." With that the monk, still smiling, but almost seeming to cry (even though the mask) disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Tasuki turned around to see a slightly startled Makani in a beautiful, ocean-blue kimono. His jaw almost dropped to the floor.
"What? You like?" she said, as she twirled around, revealing the outfit's true beauty and all the glory that it did for her. Makani smiled when she face him one again and then walked over and closed his jaw with the tip of her index finger. "So, what now?" she asked, arising Tasuki back to the real world.
"Back to Mt. Leikaku?" Tasuki said, more of a suggestion than a statement.
"Right, back to Mt. Leiakaku, where we both belong."
Tasuki lifted her up into his arms and kissed her yet again, before setting her down. She smiled and they both walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, since it was the only piece of furniture in the room. Makani leaned onto his arm and put her head on his left shoulder. Tasuki wrapped his arm around her.
Chichiri watched them both from behind the pillar closest to the door. "Sayoonara, no da," he said as he closed his eyes and brought his hand up to his face, concentrating on the two lovers and Mt. Leikaku. Sayoonara. With that they disappeared and Tasuki turned around and walked out the door, a tear splashing when it hit the floor as he walked away. He knew he wouldn't see either of them for a very long time, if at all. They were connected so close, that if one died, then proabaly so would the other. Chichiri smiled to himself. A love like that should never be broken, and probably won't be. For the rest of their lives they'll be together, and the same in death. I don't know if it's strong enough to last through reincarnation, but it just might, and you never know, no da.
When Tasuki and Makani opened their eyes after blinking they were in their room at Mt. Leikaku once again. And here was where they would start their new life together.
"And tomorrow?" said Makani.
"Like any other bandit, we will protect Mt. Leikaku and stop all trespassers."
"Sounds good," said Makani. "Sounds good."
And with that, Tasuki slid his hand under her chin and brought her face close to his own. They kissed more passionately then than they had before. A kiss that began their knew life together and one that they would probably share when they both met their ends.
* * *
A/N: Okay...I almost started crying when I was writing it, so I know you guys HAD to be!!! Just figured I'd tell ya guys, if I don't get enough reviews, then this is where the fanfic is going to end! So, R&R!! If you don't, then, c'ya, cause it ends here!
Disclaimer: I don't own FY, I never will, and I never have..Although I would really like to...Sadly neither the manga nor the anime is my own...But I do own Makani!!!
A/N: You know the deal. Yadda yadda yadda...non-lemon/non-yaoi Tasuki fanfic...Blah blah blah...Rated PG-15 for some odd/slightly wrong situations that occur in this chapter...I thank you all who have read this far...For those concerned about Makani, you'll learn more about her this chapter!!
Chapter 6: A Second Chance
Makani awoke with a horrible headache. She felt a feather soft bead beneath her and when she opened her eyes, she saw that she was in a foggy room with pillars appearing in between the mist. She was laying in a king-sized bed and to her right was...Tasuki...But not in the sprawled out position he usually laid in. He actually looked normal in the position he was now. She turned her gaze away from him and focused it inwards for an instant, trying to remember, to recall to her mind what occurred before she ended up where she was now.
Just what had happened? she thought to her self, as she plummeted deep into her memory, and then the images struck her, like the blows of a thousand, tiny daggers. Men surrounding her, and then dead on the floor, the pool of blood spreading out beneath them. A doorway. Tasuki, lying, almost dead to her right. She saw his captors, his tormentors, so she attacked. Her face...Her arm...She had been mortally wounded...
She reached up her hand to touch her face. Nothing was there. A faint, near invisible scar at most, only slightly indented from her skin. she gripped her right arm with her left...Nothing...It was completely healed...
What the hell??! Where am I? How am I still alive... Then, all the blood drained from her face. A-am I still alive? She grabbed a decent chunk of her skin and twisted it. It stung and turned a bright red. Yup, I'm still alive, but that doesn't answer where the heck I am.. Makani sighed and relaxed. Oh well. All that matters is I'm still alive and... She listened for a second, holding her breath. Good, he's breathing, then so is he.
She turned over onto her side and started at him as he slept. He looked so peaceful. Tasuki's eyes fluttered, and then opened, to see Makani about six inches away, staring at him. At first his heart lept, and his muscles went rigid, he didn't know what was going on and how he had gotten where he was, but the calm smile on Makani's face soothed him a little, and eventually put a similar one on his own.
"Where are we?" he asked, to no one in particular as he sat up in the bed and looked around.
Makani propped herself up on her elbows. "I don't know, I was about to ask you the same-" She stopped in mid-sentence and looked down in horror, as she started to blush bright red. She quickly wrapped her sheet around her (thank God that they each had one!) and prayed that Tasuki hadn't noticed...But he had, and made his discovery at virtually the same time she did, and did almost the same thing, blushing as well.
"M-makani, I-I swear! It wasn't me!"
Makani sat up and looked at him, then laughed. "I kind-of figured it wasn't. Whoever healed our wounds probably did this.."
With that, Nyan Nyan appeared out of nowhere. Or, should I say, about four Nyan Nyans appeared out of no where.
"Yup! We healed you!"
"And fixed your clothes!"
"And washed you up!"
"Um...Thanks?...Thanks everyone!"
"No problem!"
"My pleasure!"
"It's okay!"
"Anytime!"
"We're going to leave you alone now!"
"You need some time to rest!"
"And to talk!"
Then, as soon as they came, they all parted, each saying "Good bye!" either at the same time as, or right after, one of the others.
"Who were they?" asked Makani, as much curious as she was confused.
"That was Nyan Nyan."
"You mean, it was one person?"
"Yeah..It's safer now to ask...And I know where we are now, too."
"Where?"
"Dachi-san Mountain. Tasiitsu-kun lives here. She's the creator of the Universe of the Four Gods."
"The what?"
"Long story...Maybe some other time."
"Um...okay...," said Makani. So. She left us here to talk, to be by ourselves...But about what?..And who saved us...And how? And Why?...Wait...What did I say before I passed out?...Oh no, I-I...'I love you'...I told him that I loved him...But I wonder, does he remember? She thought as she looked back up at him, blushing. No, he couldn't possibly...Should I say it?...Yes...I will, "Tasuki, I-"
"Please, don't say it," Tasuki said, his voice slightly wavering. You almost died and it was all my fault...You risked you life for me...Reirei...Gods, I don't want that to happen again! I don't want to lose anyone else!
"But..." What's wrong, Tasuki, I thought that you-
"I told you before, and I'm begging you now," Tasuki said as he turned around to face her. She was shocked at the tears that streamed down his face. "Don't love me."
She felt the tears well up in her own, and she reached out to touch him, but he flinched away from her touch. "W-why? Why are you doing this? Can't you see? You can't ask that of me now, it's too late!"
Tasuki cringed. No...Makani...Please don't do this...If I ever lost you..I...I.. "I don't feel the same Makani, I'm sorry," he said, against the voice in his head that screamed at him that that was a lie, that he loved her more than anyone else. He tried to ignore the pain of hid heart ripping into a million pieces. It's all for the best, he repeated over and over again in his head. It's for her own good. "I mean, I can't love someone that I don't even know," Even though it feels like I've know you for a thousand years.
Makani thought she would die of dispair. "Y-you can't mean that!"
Tasuki had to look away after he watched the first of her tears trickle down her cheeks. I'm sorry..Oh, gods I'm sorry...I never meant for it to be this way...
"Fine then!" she said through her tears. "Then I'll just tell you everything about me that you could ever want, or ever need to know!"
Tasuki turned around to look at her, his eyes, though full of pain and shock, also showed some hope, before the pain washed over it and hurt was all that could be read from his face.
"From as far back as I can remember, I've been poor. All of my friends had been poor, sometimes evern more worse off, than I was. When I was six years old, my best friend died in my arms. She was starving to death and had found a piece of meat on the ground, so she had quickly eaten it up, before I could warn her. The meat wsa meant to kill any stray dogs, raccoons, rats, anything like that, to keep them away from the chicken coop the meat was placed by. She didn't know, and I wept for weeks thinking that if I had spotted her two minutes earlier, she wouldn't have died. Her death burdened me for a long time. I made other friends tho, friends I kept for years. That is, friends I had until the slave traders came. One by one they went missing, and we all would fear that we would be next. Soon, it was just me and Arine. The day after we met one night to ensure each other that we would never loose the other or let the other be taken, I found her dead in an alley. They had hit her too hard on the bakc of the head when they were nabbing her. Which left me. I was the only one left, and in the end, I couldn't even save my own family. My parents died right in front of my face and there was nothing I could do...That's why...That's why I love you Tasuki, and never want to leave you. I've lost so many that I've loved before you, and you're the only one I have left that loved me. Everyone else...All the people I've ever known or loved or gone...That's why I followed you there, as soon as I heard what Kouji had told you...I'll die for you Tasuki! I'll risk my life for you...Because...Because you're the only one I have left...And...I need you."
Tasuki felt as if his heart had been torn out of his chest and stomped until it was flattened against the floor. I'll just be causing her more pain if I leave her now...She's be happier dying in my arms, sacrificing her life for mine, than living without me...How could I've been so selfish...So blind... "I love you, too," said Tasuki, as he reached out his arms and pulled her close to him. "I loved you since the day that I met you...And, I'm sorry..."
Makani looked at him, the tears that were flowing from her eyes starting to stop. Makani freed one of her arms from his grasp and wiped his tears away. "It's okay...As long as I know that you love me, then I don't care...I knew you weren't serious when you said that you didn't love me...You were just afraid to get hurt again...It's okay...I'm here with you, and I'll make sure you never get hurt again."
Tasuki looked down at her, tears still flowing from his eyes. Not ones of sadness and pain now, but of joy. Makani wrapped her free arm around his neck and pulled her self up. She closed her eyes, and he his, as they kissed.
Both of their tears had stopped when they parted, mingling when they had first begun and gone when it was over. Even though they both had admitted their love towards each other, they both had still blushed during their first kiss.
"Now," said Makani. "If you don't mind, I'd like to know why you were so afraid to love me? Because I'm your second chance, now, and you have to set the past free in order to embrace the present."
Tasuki let out a deep sigh. "Her name was Reirei...."
* * * "Oh my god. Tasuki I'm so sorry, I had no ide-"
"It's okay," said Tasuki. "I didn't love her, but she loved me. And it hurt me knowing that she loved me with all her heart, and was a good friend, and then died in my arms. She sacrificed her life to give me a second chance at mine, and for that, I will never forget her."
Tasuki had started to cry again in the middle of the story, but now his tears where dry. He bent towards Makani and kissed her again, but pulled away when he felt a presence there other than there own."
He blushed bright red when he looked over to see who was standing in front to the bed.
"Da..."
"Um..H-hi Chichiri..."
"What about me!" said one of the Nyan Nyans that popped its head about from behind Chichiri's leg.
"Hi, Nyan Nyan," said Makani, she too, blushing.
Nyan Nyan walked over to her and took her hand. "Follow me please," she said, as she tugged on Makani's arm, encouraging her to get up.
Makani made sure that the sheet was wrapped tightly around her before she got up and followed Nyan Nyan, making sure to use her free hand to hold the sheet in place. She glanced back at Tasuki for a second, but all he did was smile and motion to her to keep following the child. Makani glanced back and then was some-what yanked from Tasuki's view, behind a curtain off to the far front and right side of the room.
Tasuki's gaze switched back to Chichiri, who was still standing in front of the bed. Tasuki went to stand up and walk over to him, but thought twice and thought it would be safer if he just stayed where he was. Chichiri noticed and seemed to materialize some clothes and handed them to Tasuki, turning his back to him as he dressed.
"So, you finally found her, do na,'" said Chichiri as he pulled off his mask and held it in his right hand. He looked down at it, wondering if he would ever wear a true smile, other than just the magical mask, ever again.
"Found who?" said Tasuki, as he struggled into the pants Chichiri had given to him. They resembled his old clothes, but these seemd much newer, and of stringer material.
"Your true love, no da."
"What?!" said Tasuki, as he nearly fell over. He was not expecting that at all. Maybe a friendly, 'Hi. How are you?' Nothing like, 'So, you've finally found your true love, congratulations!' It kind-of creeped him, out. Tasuki quickly picked himself up and finished dressing before he went and stood before the blue haired monk, his best friend, and a person he hadn't seen in a very long time.
Chichiri looked up from his mask and Tasuki noticed that he had been crying, ever so lightly. Chichiri wiped the tears away quickly and looked at Tasuki with the best smile he could muster. Tasuki smiled back, even though he didn't buy the fake grin. Poor guy...I know he lost his only love eight years ago...Damn...I had almost completely forgotten that...Bringing Makani here probably only brought back painfully memories to the front of his mind...
"She really loves you, no da. You should be happy."
Tasuki nodded his head. "Yeah...She's great...But on a lighter note,...How's it been? I haven't seen you in what, two or three years?" he said as he patted Chichiri on the back.
"Yeah. I've been doing good, no da," he said, as he put the mask back on his face. "Other than the usual bring back almost dead friends to be healed, no da. The same old, same old."
Tasuki laughed as heart fully as he could and Chichiri bought it, and smiled. A genuine smile. Even through the mask Tasuki could see it.
Tasuki heard foot steps approaching from behind, and knew it was Makani, but before he could turn around and greet her, Chichiri whispered something faintly to him.
"Never let her go, Tasuki, never let her go. Keep her close to you and love her with all your heart and soul, it will only be then that you find true happiness and peace." With that the monk, still smiling, but almost seeming to cry (even though the mask) disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Tasuki turned around to see a slightly startled Makani in a beautiful, ocean-blue kimono. His jaw almost dropped to the floor.
"What? You like?" she said, as she twirled around, revealing the outfit's true beauty and all the glory that it did for her. Makani smiled when she face him one again and then walked over and closed his jaw with the tip of her index finger. "So, what now?" she asked, arising Tasuki back to the real world.
"Back to Mt. Leikaku?" Tasuki said, more of a suggestion than a statement.
"Right, back to Mt. Leiakaku, where we both belong."
Tasuki lifted her up into his arms and kissed her yet again, before setting her down. She smiled and they both walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, since it was the only piece of furniture in the room. Makani leaned onto his arm and put her head on his left shoulder. Tasuki wrapped his arm around her.
Chichiri watched them both from behind the pillar closest to the door. "Sayoonara, no da," he said as he closed his eyes and brought his hand up to his face, concentrating on the two lovers and Mt. Leikaku. Sayoonara. With that they disappeared and Tasuki turned around and walked out the door, a tear splashing when it hit the floor as he walked away. He knew he wouldn't see either of them for a very long time, if at all. They were connected so close, that if one died, then proabaly so would the other. Chichiri smiled to himself. A love like that should never be broken, and probably won't be. For the rest of their lives they'll be together, and the same in death. I don't know if it's strong enough to last through reincarnation, but it just might, and you never know, no da.
When Tasuki and Makani opened their eyes after blinking they were in their room at Mt. Leikaku once again. And here was where they would start their new life together.
"And tomorrow?" said Makani.
"Like any other bandit, we will protect Mt. Leikaku and stop all trespassers."
"Sounds good," said Makani. "Sounds good."
And with that, Tasuki slid his hand under her chin and brought her face close to his own. They kissed more passionately then than they had before. A kiss that began their knew life together and one that they would probably share when they both met their ends.
* * *
A/N: Okay...I almost started crying when I was writing it, so I know you guys HAD to be!!! Just figured I'd tell ya guys, if I don't get enough reviews, then this is where the fanfic is going to end! So, R&R!! If you don't, then, c'ya, cause it ends here!