Hey y'all, thanks for the action stories. It'll help.

            Um…quick note, all speech will technically be in English now, at least until the end of the little confrontation here. Not like I've been typing in Japanese or anything, but it's kinda, you know, a bit of a given I guess that they spoke it. Does that makes any sense at all? Guess there was a point to the seishi speaking English…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Lily held her breath as she came face to face with the people she left behind years ago. The first thing she expected was to be yelled at by all of them, especially her uncle.

But her aunt, instead, grabbed her and began to sob. "Alana, is it really you?"

Lily laughed nervously. "Uh…yeah…it's me. Um…how's…everything?"

Sherri was the next one to grab her. "Oh Alana! We were so worried! We didn't know what to do after those people took you away!"

"T…took me…away?"

Kei suddenly stood up. "Hey! We didn't take her! She came with us! We didn't make her! Don't make us out to be criminals!"

"Well, she wouldn't have gone if you hadn't done something!" Carol glared at Kei.

"Umm…can I say something?" Lily quietly raised her hand

Taki jumped up. "We were friends with her! If that's a crime, so be it."

"Excuse me…" Lily tried again.

Stacy frowned and pushed her dark red hair back. "We never said you were criminals, it's just that you took her. And she never talked to us.

"Took her?!?! She was 19 when we left! She didn't have to talk to you. She never did of her own accord." Kei crossed her arms over her chest.

"Will you all shut up?!?! I'm tryin' to say somethin' here!" Lily suddenly screamed. Everyone froze. Lily pointed to an area away from the other people around them. "Everyone, over there! We're disturbing the concert!"

Everyone quietly left the general area. Jason smirked to himself Lily looked over at Chichiri.

"Chichiri?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I shoot myself now? This is a disaster. Leave it to my old friends to get into a fight with my real friends in front of so many people the second I see them."

"Shooting yourself won't help…and did you honestly think it would go any other way except this?" He shrugged.

"Your probably right…" She slowly joined the others. Her aunt was about to say something when Lily held up her hand. She stared at her family. "No more talking. Time to listen. To me." She took a deep breath "First, don't call me Alana. I won't answer to that anymore. I'm Lily. Second, don't act like Kei and Taki brainwashed and kidnapped me. I left because I was tired of everyone telling me how sorry they were about what happened and that they understood how I felt. No one understood me." Her voice began to shake. "Third, don't act like you missed me. If you had as much as you act like you do, you would have tried to find me sooner."

Carol stepped up. "Ala…Lily, we tried to find you we really did, you were hidden from us very well."

"I was not hidden!" Lily felt her eyes tear. "You didn't listen to me! None of you could possibly understand what I went through after it happened. You all acted like you did, but you didn't. You couldn't!"

"Lily, we all went through it with you…" Her uncle spoke for the first time.

"NO! No, you didn't. You weren't raised by my parents. You didn't scream at them that night and say you wished they were dead! You didn't see them dead in the burning house!" Everyone looked shocked and horrified, even Jason. "I did! Why do you think I didn't speak for a week after it happened? You didn't go through what I did!"

Jason looked at her. "Lily, why didn't you say anything about that?"

"Because…because I was scared. I didn't want more adults telling me it would be alright and stick me in a room with some doctor I didn't know asking questions about what I saw." She collapsed onto a bench next to Chichiri. "I went through therapy for 4 years before I met Kei and Taki. They understood me in some way that none of you could. I went with them because I didn't want to leave the only people who understood me."

Jim reached for her hand. He had always like her. "Lily, you could have told us…"

She yanked her hand away and laid it in Chichiri's. He held it tightly. "No. I couldn't." A few tears fell from her eyes. "You never would have understood…"

Carol reached for her niece. "Oh honey…we had no idea…"

"I know. I was the one who hid it from all of you." She took a deep breath. "Now look I'll do whatever I have to for my parent's possessions, but then I'm coming back here."

"But honey, you belong at home."

"This is my home. It has been for a long time."

"Your family misses you and we want you back where you belong."

Jason bit his lower lip. "Ma, she belongs where she's happy. It ain't hard to see that that's here."

"Are you taking their side, Jason?" Lily's uncle looked pissed off.

"I'm not taking sides. I'm just sayin' that it's her decision where she should be. We can't tell her where she should be."

Lily looked up at him. So did everyone else. David sighed. "He's right really. Lily's old enough to know what's right for herself."

Lily stood up. "Can we just do whatever has to be done and put it all to rest? This is all hard enough as is, let's not drag it out any longer than it has to be…"

Stacy was about to burst into tears. "Lily, why do you want to do this to us? What didn't we do so you'd be happy?"

"I don't want to do this. You act like it isn't hard for me. I would rather just go back, get it over with and leave as soon as it's over."

Carol began sobbing. Jeff looked at Lily. "Here." He handed her a plane ticket. "There's a plane leaving tomorrow night for L.A. Everything will actually be taken care of there instead of in Texas."

"Um…thanks Uncle Jeff…" She held the ticket in her hands, shaking. "I'll be there."

"Then we'll see you soon. Everyone let's go." Jeff motioned to everyone to leave. They all looked at Lily, then left. Jason stood still. "Jason, I'll be speaking to you later."

"Sure…whatever." He turned his back to Lily's uncle.

"Negative much?" Kei poked Jason.

"I don't care what he has to say to me. Probably 'I'm disappointed in you for not telling us you knew she was here' shit." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

Lily was still staring at the ticket. "That went surprisingly better than I thought it would."

"What did you figure would happen, no da?"

"I figured on a little bloodshed somewhere along the line…"

"Lily, can I ask you a question in private?" Jason looked over at her.

"Sure." She slowly stood up and moved a ways away from the others. "What is it?"

"Are you sure about this? You've been shaking so much in the past few minutes."

"No, I'm not. But do I really have a choice? This has to be done. I'm nervous as hell, but somewhere along the line, I'll have to get over it."

"Would you feel better if your boyfriend was with you?"

"Boyfriend?" A deep blush spread across her face. "Chichiri?"

"Yeah. The blue dude."

"Blue dude? His name is Chichiri. And I'm not sure he's my boyfriend…"

"Do you love him?"

"…Yes…"

"Does he know?"

"…Yes…"

"What did he say?"

"…He loves me too…"

"Then he's your man. Now answer the first one."

"I…uh…I would feel better if he was with me." She blushed even deeper.

"Thought so. Here." He handed her another ticket. "Take him with you."

"Isn't this your stuff?"

"Yeah. I'll get another flight."

"But…"

"No buts…if he's so important to you, he should be with you. I brought this to you, I should at least try to make it better." He sighed.

"Thanks Jason. It's nice to know someone sees things my way."

"Yeah…mmm…whatever. Don't get all mushy on me…" He put his hands behind his head.

"You never were one for sentimental things…except for with Nuriko." She smirked.

He blushed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Maybe you just gave me your ticket do you could spend more time here, with her…"

"Shut up!"

"Don't deny it! Nuriko likes you just as much as you like her."

"She couldn't."

"Then why does she mumble your name in her sleep?"

"She what?" His face went totally red.

"She dreams about you. You made quite an impression on her."

"I didn't mean to…"

"Bull shit, Jason."

"Okay, okay…so maybe I do want to stay around her longer…"

"I knew it! You can't hide anything from me!"

"Fine, whatever, just shut it, will you?" He glared.

"Touchy, touchy…it's not that bad, is it?"

"Oh it's worse than you think. I've been trying to do some work for this shitty office job I have back home and every time I sit down to work, I can't 'cause Nuriko pops into my head. And I have to convince myself not to get up and go find her. She's all I can think about!"

"Wow, you do have it bad. I'll leave it alone."

"Thank you…" He muttered.

"Yeah…anyway, thanks for everything Jason."

"Sure. What are cousins for?"

"I don't know…" She smiled and held the ticket tighter.

"Neither do I…" He shook his head and began to walk away. " You better go get ready to leave. I'll see you later. Probably not until we're in L.A. anyway."

"Yeah…see ya…" She watched Jason walk away in no particular direction, not towards her friends or his family, just away. She mused about how strange he looked as the wind blew by and tossed around his hair and black duster, as if he was in a movie. 'Jason…I hope you find your way someday. I know you don't know where you're going, but I know you'll find it.' She pushed back her hair and walked back to the others.

Nuriko watched Jason. "Where's he going?"

"No where in particular…" Lily put the tickets in her jacket pocket. "Let's go back to the house and sort things out. I'm tired…"

"Understandable." Kei nodded.

"I'll go back to the later…" Nuriko then ran off after Jason.

Taki sighed. "She's so hopelessly in love with him…"

The others nodded.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jason sat under a large cherry tree at the top of a hill near the lake in the park. He sighed as he buried his head in his hands. He closed his eyes and leaned back on the tree, listening to the far off sounds of children laughing while playing and the concert starting another song. It was the picture of relaxation, though Jason was anything and everything but relaxed.

A figure was walking up the backside of the hill. It knelt down silently next to Jason. It's hand moved to his shoulder. "Relaxed much?"

His eyes shot open and he turned to the person. "Nuriko…you're here…"

"Don't sound so surprised. Did you really think I'd let you walk off on your own after that?"

He blushed. "I…I…I dunno…"

She shifted her weight and sat so she was against his out stretched legs, facing him. "If you thought I would, you're very wrong."

He tried to avoid looking at her so he looked down towards the lake. "You sure Lily wants you around me?"

"I don't care what any of them think. I don't think being with you is so terrible." She pulled his hands away from his face and held them tightly. "Do you?"

He felt his hands begin to shake, as if he was cold. He'd never felt so nervous around anyone. He was  "I don't…I don't know…"

"That's been your answer a lot." She moved closer to him.

Jason's heart began to beat wildly. His eyes were locked with hers. He felt that he'd do anything to just stay in that one moment, the one moment where the whole world didn't matter. It was just Nuriko and him, and that was the only thing that mattered.

"Jason?"

"What?"

"Do you want to kiss me?" Nuriko already knew the answer, she just wanted him to admit it.

Jason couldn't speak. All he could manager was a small nod.

She smiled moved closer to him. "All you had to do was say so." She let go of his hands so she could put her hands around his neck.

Jason smiled a little and pulled her the rest of the way to him. He quickly worked her jacket off her shoulders and kissed her deeply. As they kissed, a very cool breeze blew past and Jason pulled her into his coat when she shivered. He chuckled when Nuriko gave him a funny look.

"You planned for that, didn't you?" She cuddled closer as it got breezier.

"You're not complaining, are you?" He ran his fingers through her hair a few times.

Nuriko blushed. "No…"

"Didn't think so…" He kissed the top of her head. "Nuriko?"

"What?"

"Why do you like me? I'm not the greatest…"

"Oh hush up about that, will you?" She covered his mouth with her hand. "You're perfect to me. You're absolutely adorable and incredibly sweet. There's nothing about you that I could not love."

"Love?"

"Di…did I say love?" Nuriko blushed. "I don't think I said love…"

"I love you too, Nuriko…" He murmured softly in her ear.

"You do?"

He silently nodded. "Yes. I've only loved three women in my life: my adoptive mother, Lily…and you."

She rested her head on his chest, blushing and listening to his heartbeat. "I love you Jason, but…"

"But?"

"How much longer will you be here? Isn't your plane leaving tomorrow night?"

"Not anymore…I gave my ticket to Lily so she could take Chichiri with her. She really needs him now…also I did it so I could spend longer here…"

"I knew you were the sweetest guy ever!" She kissed him again.

"I'm not sure 'sweet' is the word to describe me. Maybe just 'hopelessly in love.'" He murmured again and tightened his grip on her waist.

Nuriko giggled as he nuzzled at her neck. His warm breath tickled. She nestled herself deep in his arms and stayed like that, neither of them wanting it to end.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lily stood at her closet picking out things to pack. Chichiri came in.

"How are you feeling, no da?"

"Still a little shaky. I don't know if I can do this…"

"You're stronger than anyone I know. You can, no da."

"Chichiri?"

"Yes?"

"Today, after my family left, I went to talk to Jason. He thinks it would be a good idea if you went with me…and so do I…"

"You want me to go with you?"

"Mm-hmm…"

"Then I will, no da."

She hugged him. "Thank you…"

"You know I'd do anything for you Lily…"

"I know…it's just sometimes…I don't know what I'd do without you…I don't deserve your love."

"Lily, you deserve anything and everything, no da." He brushed her hair back with his fingers. "I'm the one who doesn't deserve you…"

"We're both going to have to stop with the 'I don't deserve this' stuff soon."

"How about now, no da?"

"Works for me." She tossed a few more pieces of clothing out of her closet and onto her bed. "I can finish that later."

Chichiri stood with her next to the window. The sun was setting, but the stars weren't out yet. Lily loved watching the sunset.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

"Mm-hmm…"

Lily noted a little bit of spacey-ness in his voice. She looked up at him. He was staring at her, not out the window. "Chichiri, you're making me blush!" She covered her face with her hands.

"I was just telling the truth, no da!" He chuckled and hugged her.

"Chichiri, do you know where flattery will get you?"

"Everywhere, no da?"

"Yes." She giggled let Chichiri nuzzle at her neck while they stood smiling at the window. 'My life has always been far from perfect, but now it's getting damn close…'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ah…that took long enough, no? Ay caramba…this is getting harder and harder to write…I was stuck in like the middle of this chapter for like a week. Well, until next time, Ja'ne!

~*~Shadow Hawk~*~