AN:  Sorry everyone for taking so long, but I really wanted to get both chapters done before posting them, mostly because I was worried you'd get mad at me for leaving you with such a cliffie!!  Gomen nasai minna, I hope you forgive me!

~~*~~ Keitaro

We all stared at her, and Francesca bowed her head, as if she were awaiting a sentencing for some crime.  I stared down at her, why did she seem to not be surprised?

"Just as my power called Francesca here, it also kept her safe here," she began. 

"Safe, you call all that has happened safe?!" I hissed.

"Silence! " She said softly but forcefully and I felt myself obeying.  In some ways, she reminded me of Grandmother Kaede, and when she was mad, you listened.

"I have kept her safe from the ravages of time.  Francesca is not of this time, and does not belong here.  Without the protection my power granted her, she would have died within a few days, her soul painfully rejected."

I clung to her tighter, afraid of the words that seemed to be coming, and yet the ones I wished would never come.

"She must return home.  She has fulfilled her duties here, there is no longer a reason for her to stay."

"Like hell there isn't," Kaemon cried angrily, his hands clenched at his side, "She has a husband now, she has a family here now, how can you say she doesn't belong here?" 

I could hear my own words echoing painfully in my head, from the day I yelled at her, You don't belong here.  Was this my punishment?  For my once own thoughts to take away the most important being in my life?

"I know these things, brave samurai, but it is not within my power to defy what is to be.  I can only delay it a short time," she stepped forward and touched her hand to Francesca's crown, smiling gently , "I leave you with my final gifts."  She whispered and bent her head to gently kiss Francesca's cheek, and I felt a tingle of warmth flow over the both of us.  "I grace you with the last vestiges of my power, the last bit of magic that kept me from joining my loved ones.  It will protect you from fate for a short time longer.  How much, I cannot tell you, so treasure the time that you have left."  She glanced back at the shack, which now stood crumpling.  It seemed her magic had kept time from eating away at it as well.

"Take all that you wish from my home, and to you Francesca, I leave you all that you find within the chest by the door."  She glanced skyward and smiled warmly, her eyes closing in peace.  "I feel my family calling to me, and so I give you my gratitude."  She opened her eyes once more and looked down at my mate.

"You have been the only person who has never asked something of me, but asked of me, concerned for my circumstances and forgoing your own.  For that you have no penalty to suffer for your questions.  Your compassion and kindness protected you."  She turned to look at me.

"Young hanyou, you however I cannot protect, so far as I wish I could, and I fear you do have to face the penalty for your questions.  When the time comes, and she is forced to leave," she paused a moment, "You must remain here.  If you try to follow her through the well, she will die."

I felt the cold of the snow fill my heart and I heard Francesca cry out softly in my arms.

"You bitch!" I hissed, "How could you do this to us, after everything we've done for you!?"

The old woman bowed her head, "If I could change things, I would.  But remember the red thread of fate still ties you.  Now, spend the time you have left wisely, and remember, when she takes with a swift fever, then my protection will have been too weak to aid her any longer.  She must leave that very day, or die."

I reached up to grab a hold of the old woman, to force her to change her judgment, but she faded through my fingertips and vanished.

Francesca remained deathly silent in my arms, and when I looked down at her face, it was as white as the snow around us.  She didn't move, and she barely breathed, her body tense and tight.

"Kei, Francesca-sama, we should return home swiftly," Naoko whispered.  I looked up at him, my eyes flashing in anger but he simply looked back with that calm stare he inherited from his father.

"If Francesca-sama's time is limited, perhaps it would be best that she be near the well, for her own protection."

"No, I won't give up this easily, I won't let her go," I hissed and felt Rose move in my arms.  I loosened my grip as she slowly rose to her feet.  Something about her had changed.  I could sense it, for something inside of me had changed as well. 

"Naoko-sama is right," she said, her hands folded before her meekly, "We should gather some belongings and return to the village quickly."

"You're just giving up!" I yelled, jumping to my feet and grabbing her shoulders.  It pained me inside when I saw her flinch physically, but I never loosened my grip.

"I don't have the power that she had, I don't have any way to fight this, and I don't want to waste any more time."  She looked up at me, and her normally warm chocolate eyes were now almost black.  Suddenly I knew what had changed.  Her soul.  Her soul was dying inside her physical shell. 

"When the time comes Kei," she whispered, "I will go down the well, because I don't want you to watch me die."

"We can fight this," I began but she shook her head.

"No, we can't.  I should have known, I should have imagined.  For once in my life, I was happy, truly deeply happy.  I should have known it was too good to be true.  I've finished my duties, and now I have to return ho-" she paused as pain flashed over her features, "home."

Kirara and Mistero stepped forward, growling softly, and she turned to look at them.  Mistero gently pressed his muzzle into her stomach, purring loudly and she reached down to rub the base of his ears.

"My friends, can you take all of us back?  Kirara, will the trip be too tiring on you?"

Kirara growled softly and sighed, and Francesca nodded, looking up to the rest of our party.

"Let us gather what we need and get going," she whispered, but her voice carried with it a tone of power.  No one would question her, no one would object, I could see it in their face.  The last requests of a dying woman, that was they were thinking.

I scooped her up bridal style and took off through the snow.  She clung to my haori weakly, a smile gracing her lips gently.  "I'm not dying Kei," she said softly.

I pulled her closer, "I'm not letting you out of my arms, if I have to lose you, I will hold onto you to make up for all the years I won't be able to."

She bowed her head, "Kei, my home is 500 years in the future, I don't think-" she began and I bowed my head, silencing her words with a kiss.

"Baka woman, I am a hanyou, I live longer than humans," I said and she looked at me with sad eyes.

"Not that long," she whispered with a finality in her voice that I refused to let settle.  I set her down on the wooden floor of the hut as we arrived and looked her in the eyes.

"For you, I will find a way to survive, this won't be our goodbye."

She turned away from me, and I could smell the tears that quickly slid down her cheeks as she knelt by the promised chest, and fumbled with the closing mechanism.  Everyone joined us, and began gathering up some dried bits of food.  Maeko took an extra quiver of arrows, and Naoko found some ofudas which he tucked into his robes.  Kaemon and Aki remained outside with the cats I assumed.

"Naoko-sama," I heard Francesca whisper and my cousin knelt at her side, "What is this?"

He took the scroll from her hands, and carefully opened it, his eyes scanning, "I do not know, I've never seen this language before," he said, and Francesca took it from his outstretched hands.  Something crossed her eyes, and if I didn't know better, it was a glimmer of hope as she took a piece of linen from inside the chest and carefully wrapped up the scroll.

We walked back out into the sunlight, where everyone else was waiting.

"Kirara will carry Aki, Francesca and I," Maeko said, "We're lighter than the rest of you."  I growled at my sister, I didn't want to leave Francesca and even Mistero echoed my protests. 

"I can ride with the women," Naoko volunteered, noticing the tension, "that way you can fly faster and we'll catch up."

Francesca glanced at them and nodded, and without a moment's hesitation, I scooped her up in my arms and jumped onto Mistero's back, Kaemon quickly scrambling behind me as the giant fire-cat took off into the sky.

~~*~~ Francesca

I felt nothing.  It was a peaceful feeling, like floating in water. No sensations, no emotions, nothing.  I could see the concern on their faces, but around me was this empty void.  I responded minimally to the questions around me, but inside I was empty. 

I was dying.  My body continued to move, my heart to beat, my brain to think, but I was dying.  My spirit was withering inside me, and I could do nothing to stop it.  All this journey, I had believed that finally, finally something special was coming to me.  After all that I had endured, I would finally be graced with a drop of joy in my own life.

No, life would not be so kind to me.  She is a bitter creature, who sucks all she can from those helpless mortals around her that are powerless to control the fate of their lives.

Fate.  It wasn't fate that brought me here, no it was the ghost of a witch, a woman who cursed the world in her grief and then asked me to fix it.  A woman who spoke words of gratefulness, but still took from me the one glimmer of hope I had ever had in my own life.  My mate, my husband, my soul mate. 

I had to live the rest of my time here, with the knowledge that I would be torn from him at any moment, the pain of knowing that distance and time would separate us.  Centuries of wars, and horror and change.   I did not know if we would ever see each other again.

I had no will to fight, no fire inside.  The spark of never-ending hope that somehow kept me going, kept me believing that somehow I would finally end up on top was gone.  My world was gone, and I wanted to be swallowed up by the cold that circled my heart.

I should have never let it happen, I thought.  I should have never allowed myself to love again, never given him the hope that I did.  I made him the promise of my life when I should have known that I'll never be able to keep that promise.

I never noticed the change of scenery below us as we flew, I didn't feel his arms around me, I didn't hear any words.  Everything flew by me in a dull blur.  It wasn't until I felt the cold of night kiss my skin and the sun's warmth fade from my sight did I realize we might be landing soon.  I shifted slightly, and felt Kei's arms loosen around my waist giving me more flexibility.  I could feel Mistero's heart beating rapidly beneath me, and I knew he was probably exhausted.

"Set down in the first clearing you see," I said softly and saw his ears twitch as he growled and began to descend.

"We should try and cover more ground," Kei said and I shook my head.

"He's exhausted, and a long night's sleep will be good for all of us," I replied, my voice foreign in my own ears.  It was dead, vacant of all emotion. 

Because I am, I thought, I am dead.  The pain swelled in my breast and I closed my eyes.  It was trying to consume me, I could feel it pulling at me, and I wanted nothing more for everything to end.  So I did the only thing I knew, the only survival method I had left, the only measure I had any control over anymore.  I withdrew.

~~*~~ Keitaro

She ate, only because food was placed in her hands, and it was as mechanical and automatic as the tides that come and go, or the sun rising and falling.  Her eyes were vacant and distant, and she never spoke.

It was killing me inside, not only to feel the void that resided inside, but the ache of being powerless to stop it.  Everyone could see it as well.  Naoko looked concerned, glancing between us and then down into the flames as if he was trying to figure out a solution.  Kaemon couldn't even look at her, and I felt a bit of pity for my cousin.  I knew that he still cared for her, in his own way, and wished as I did to help her.  Aiko and Maeko blinked away tears that shone in their eyes every time they looked at her silent form, and then tried to bring up something cheerful to speak of.

The fire cats had curled up in Francesca's lap, and seemed to use her simultaneously as a cushion and at the same time, place themselves as her protectors.  I snarled softly as I tore at the fish in my hands, and with a split second of decision I jumped to my feet, grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to her feet.

The cats were awake and growling in a second and I glared down at them, growling my own threats, and everyone stared at me.

"Kei," my sister began and I growled loudly at her.  Her eyes widened and she fell silent, her mouth falling open.

"Mae," Naoko whispered, staring now at her, rather than I.  Kaemon started to rise and Maeko shot her arm out and grabbed his, keeping him down.

"Don't, you don't want to mess with him right now," she said and I took that opportunity to pull Francesca into the woods with me.  She didn't resist, but I did notice she wasn't helping any, her feet dragging in the dirt behind her.

Behind us, I heard the faint whisper of Maeko's explanation, "I've only seen that expression on two people.  Father, and Kei, and they both mean it the same way.  Leave me the hell alone and mind your own business.  When they growl like that, you listen."

Good little sister, you understand.  I pulled Francesca deeper into the trees, coming to a very small clearing and I grabbed her by the shoulders hard.  I saw her face make the natural reaction of pain, but it never registered in her eyes.

"Snap out of it Rose," I hissed at her and shook her for good measure, but nothing seemed to dawn in her eyes.  I shook her harder, and a dull ache began in the back of my neck.  Her eyes still registered nothing, but I knew that I had probably hurt her.  I released her shoulders and pulled her tight against me, my hand running through her thick hair and gently rubbing the back of her neck to make up for my actions.  Her scent was faint, delicate, even though my nose was buried deep against her scalp.

"Rose, please just answer me," I murmured against her and heard a faint muffled reply.

"What am I supposed to say?"

I released her and watched as she pulled away from my arms, her eyes downcast.  She couldn't look at me, her hands fell in front of her submissively.  This wasn't my Rose, this was a puppet mimicking her voice and image.  Even sleeping, she bore more fire in her body than this creature.

"Talk to me, tell me what you're thinking.  You're shutting yourself off from me and its killing me inside!" I yelled at her, and watched as she turned her back to me.

"You should have left me dead, it would have made things easier for you," she whispered.

A cold sting of pain slapped me in the face, and I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling her close.  "You don't mean that," I whispered in return.

"I do, I was dead then, I'm dead now.  Only now you have to suffer for who knows how long," she said, her head falling forward.  Bitter salt scent touched my nose, and hot tears fell on my hands.  I felt them slide over the back of my hands as I pulled her closer, bending my head down instinctively to nibble along her neck.  ]

Her heart galloped beneath my lips, the only reaction to my affections, and I felt her try to pull away.

"Don't," she whispered, and it only fueled my efforts.  She was trying to put a distance between us, to save me.  I held her tighter.

"I won't let you leave me, not when we have this time still granted to us, it's not over yet Rose.  We'll find a way, I swear we will."

"How," she sobbed, and I could feel her resolve beginning to falter, "I don't know any magic, you don't know any magic, I doubt that even your mother could stop this."

"Then I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes, no matter what I do, I'll live for you, for us.  But I can't do it alone, you have to promise me, right now, on everything that we hold dear, to fight.  You have to live for me, live for us as well, both in this time and the next.  Do what ever it takes, but survive for us."

She bobbed her head up and down, her hair caressing my skin with its silkiness as she agreed.  I smiled and moved my lips up against her earlobe, "I never wanted to cause you any pain, so give me this chance to make you happy, happy enough to last through our separation, happy enough to keep you smiling till I can hold you again.  Will you let me do that?"

She turned in my arms and smiled up at me, the tears still staining her cheeks as she lifted her arms to wrap them around my neck.  I felt her small arms pull my head down to hers and she pressed our foreheads together, her words fragrant caresses on my skin as she spoke.

"Time will be so much longer for you, so I will keep my promise, so long as you let me return the happiness.  Promise me that no matter what happens, no matter what horrors you will see, and there are many from this time till then, promise me you will always keep hope."

I nodded my head and felt her close her eyes, her long lashes brushing against my skin.

"We should get back to the others," she said and I purred, wrapping my arms tighter around her waist as I let a mischievous grin slip over my lips.

"We'll see them in the morning," I murmured and saw her eyes light up as she looked into mine.

"Kei-" she began, a blush rising to her cheeks as I bowed my head to leave a string of kisses up her jaw line to her ear.  Once there I burrowed into her hair and whispered.

"Happiness to last you a million lifetimes, and I think I'll start right now."

~~*~~ Maeko

I yawned and opened my eyes, to see the morning fire bright and roaring, and Francesca smiling warmly from nearby, turning some meat on a spit.

"You're awake," she said softly and I nodded, rubbing my eyes, before my mind decided to wake up as well.  I sat up quickly, Naoko's arm dropping from about my waist with a thud.

"You're- Where's Kei?" I said quickly and saw the flicker of red as he walked through the tree line, a small pelt of fur in his hands.  Francesca turned her head to smile at him as he sat beside her.

"Little sister, you worry too much.  Though I have to say I am less than pleased at finding you in such a position this morning," he said, and his eyes lit up with his usual mock anger.  Only his voice really revealed his own 'older brother' tone.

I tilted my head back, "I am grown in my own right," I said softly and he tilted his head to the side.

"You're still a pup," he said, and I felt my temper rise.  I hated to be treated like a child and he knew it.  "But I wonder what Mother and Father would say, if they were to come across us.  I think our cousin would fare better with me, than with Father.  After all, you are his precious baby girl."  He said the last bit with an exaggerated tone to his voice that sent flames to my cheeks.

"Kohana has that position now," I said and rose to my feet, careful not to disturb Naoko in his sleep and moved over to the fire.  "Besides, I was polite enough not to question where you have been all night, you should do your 'little baby sister' the same courtesy.  At least I can vouch for my virtue."

Francesca began laughing softly as Kei's face flushed to match his haori before he crossed his arms with his usual tough look and simply looked away.  I leaned over and took the rabbit from my brother's hand, and pulled out a small blade, carefully cleaning the pelt.  He kept trying to hold his wounded look, but Francesca took one look at him, and burst into laughter.

"I'm glad to see you smiling, Nee-chan," I said softly and she smiled warmly at me.

"I'm sorry for causing you all that worry," she replied softly.  I still saw some lingering sadness in her eyes, but only a little.  She was recovering, in her own way she found the strength to keep fighting, and I suspected it had to do with my brother.

"What's going on- Bara!  You're okay," came a happy voice and I saw Aki launch herself from her blankets at Francesca, wrapping her up in a tight hug.  I saw tears slide down from her eyes as Francesca gently returned the embrace.

"I was so worried," she said and Francesca smiled.

"I'm alright now," she reassured her, but I had a feeling it was directed to all of us.  Mistero and Kirara were on their feet, stretching out the sleep from their limbs and I heard the rustling sound of my beloved and his brother stirring behind me.

"Enough wasting time, we need to get back to the village," Kei announced gruffly and began carving up our morning meal.

AN:  I think I'll end here, for this chapter anyway.  I really have to get a lot of finals projects done, but as soon as I get done what I have to for Monday (hopefully by tonight) I'll start working on the last *looks* 2-3 chapters of Well.  I hope you all enjoy this!!