Part 13: The Second Date An Even Bigger Disaster

-March 25th 2000-

Kento watched as Lita sashayed herself about the kitchen, humming to herself as she gathered baking materials.  She had told him earlier that she was going to bake up a storm in the kitchen and that his help, as always, was requested.  Of course, Kento couldn't say no and, having nothing to do on that March Saturday, agreed to help Lita.  Kento really didn't mind it at all, actually.  He loved being around Lita, except for the butterflies in his stomach that always managed to sneak their way in when he was with her.  For some reason or other, he was nervous around Lita when the two of them were by their selves.  It's because I'm in love with her that I get nervous, Kento told himself as he watched Lita dance her way over the side of the kitchen where her cooking base was. 

"Ok," Lita exclaimed loudly, "I think I have everything I need to make my ultimate chocolate-chip cookies!  Butter, milk, eggs, vanilla, chocolate chips, sugar, brown sugar, baking power, and, most importantly, flour.  Couldn't do anything with out it."  Kento smiled at Lita and said, "You know what, you're really cute when you get ready to bake your heart out, did you know that?"  Lita looked at Kento and turned an interesting shade of pink at his comment.

"No, I didn't.  Thanks for telling me."  Kento smiled broadly.

"No problem," he said with great bravado.  Lita giggled at Kento before turning back to her ingredients.  Kento just gazed at Lita, his eyes full of love and reverence.  I really should tell her how I feel about her.  I should at least ask her out.  Well, that's what Margot and Julie told me, anyway, Kento thought to himself. 

The night before, he had stumbled upon Margot and Julie, who were lounging around in the family room on the second floor.  He had been on his way up to his bedroom after going out with the guys; he was the only one who was heading upstairs.  Sage was spending time with Raye, Rowen was spending time with Ami, and Cye and Ryo were headed out to do some training.  Kento really didn't feel like joining Cye and Ryo, so he decided to head upstairs, where he ran into Julie and Margot.  They called him over and they had a long talk where he ended up spilling to them how much he loved Lita. He asked them what he should do and they told him to at least casually bring it up, like asking her out.  He felt a little better after the talk, but he was still nervous.  He still needed to find a way to bring it up.  He just decided ad-lib it. 

He pushed himself off of the island that he was leaning against.  He walked over to Lita, who was in the middle of mixing ingredients in a large bowl.  "So," he said, peering over her shoulder, "Whatcha making?"

"Didn't you hear?" Lita said, "I'm making chocolate-chip cookies."  Taking a dab of flour out of the bowl, she smeared it on the tip of his nose and said, "Duh," for emphasis.  His eyes narrowed and he pursed his lips.  "You do realize that this means war," he said quietly.  Lita giggled with a disbelieving look on her face.

"And what?" she said, "Are you going to pelt me with flour?"

"Exactly," Kento said before taking a small handful of flour out of the container and smearing it all over Lita's face.  Lita looked shocked and taken aback for a few seconds before she said, "Oh, you're asking for it, buster."  The two of them started frantically throwing flour at each other, covering themselves and the floor surrounding them until they were white as ghosts.  Kento picked up the huge, now half full, flour container, and made like he was going to dump it over Lita's head.  Lita's eyes grew as wide as saucers as she saw Kento pick up the flour container.  She immediately bolted out of the kitchen, heading down into the pantry to get more supplies. 

She emerged from the pantry about a minute later, holding a full bag of flour, but Kento was nowhere to be found.  She knew he had to be in the kitchen somewhere; he wouldn't abandon her during a flour fight.  But, she didn't know where he was hiding and the not knowing brought on a deep sense of fear and dread; he could pop out at any time.  "Kento," she crooned softly, calling out for him, "I know you're here somewhere.  Come out, come out, wherever you are." 

Her eyes scanned the kitchen, looking for signs of the boy she loved.  She was totally unprepared for what happened next.  Out of the middle of nowhere, it seemed, a voice cried out, "BANZAI!" and Lita went crashing down to the floor with Kento on top of her.  It turned out that Kento had been hiding behind the island and jumped out right when he saw Lita.  The flour fight ended abruptly as the two struggled to catch their breath, but neither made a motion to get off the floor.  "Banzai?" Lita asked, "Why did you call out the name of a tree?"
"It's not the name of a tree," Kento said, giving Lita a look, "It's a warrior's call before going out into battle."

"And it's also the name of those tiny trees."  Kento sighed in frustration.

"Would you rather I called out 'Geronimo'?" Kento asked as he looked down at Lita.  Lita blanched and said, "The name of an Indian?  I don't think so."

"You are one hard woman to please, did you know that?"

"Yup!" Lita exclaimed.  Kento and Lita looked at each other, a slightly uncomfortable silence falling over the two of them for a moment, and Kento said, "God, we have flour everywhere."

"Yeah," Lita agreed, not thinking about her words before she said them, "I think I even have flour down my shirt."  At Kento's shocked expression, Lita grimaced and said, "I shouldn't have said that."  Kento only shook his head and chuckled at the girl underneath him.  "What?" Lita asked, studying Kento's face.

"You have this really funny smudge of flour underneath your eye," Kento said with a loving gaze.

"Where?" Lita asked.

"Right here," Kento said, pointing to where it would be on Lita.  Lita took it as if Kento was telling her through mirror image.  "Did I get it?" Lita asked, wiping off the wrong side of her face.  Kento shook his head and said, "No, let me get it."  He brought up a hand to wipe off the flour and leaned in closer to see it better. 

As Kento's face neared her, Lita was suddenly very aware of how close they were at that moment.  She could feel the length of his body pressed up against hers and the feeling of his breath and fingertips on her cheek as he concentrated on wiping the flour off of her face.  Smiling, Kento raised his head a little bit to look Lita in the eye.  "There, I got it," he said.  Lita only nodded her thanks as the two of them looked at each other, in what seemed like a trance.  Neither one of them could break eye contact and they didn't want to.  Slowly, Kento lowered his lips until they were mere millimeters from Lita's lips.  He froze like that, waiting for a sign on Lita's behalf that she wanted it as much as he did.  For a moment, there was no movement, just the sounds of the two of them breathing.  Then, Lita made her move. 

She tipped up her face so that her nose brushed up against his and their lips met, finishing a kiss that was started over a year and a half ago.  The kiss grew in passion and as the kiss grew, the more deeply involved the two were in each other until something was triggered inside of them and they were brought back 1000 years ago to a fateful day, much the same as the present one, yet different all in its own ways…

***
Prince Kento of Hardrock was diligently patrolling the royal gardens of the Wildfire kingdoms (AN: which is located in present day France).  Security around the palace was especially tight with the presence of the Moon family and the Moon family's royal guards for the wedding of Prince Ryo and Princess Mia.  The presence of the Moon family's royal guards was greatly appreciated by the Ronin Warriors and the Warlords, who were in charge of protecting Prince Ryo and his family.  The Sailor Scouts, who were the Moon family's royal guards, were helping the Ronin Warriors and Warlords with the protection of three royal families, Princess Serena's family, Prince Ryo's family, and Prince Darien and Princess Mia's family. 

At that moment, it was Kento's shift to patrol the gardens with the help of Princess Lita.  He didn't know where she was, but it was probably best that he didn't.  "She seems to have a problem with me.  I don't know what it is.  Maybe I shouldn't have called her 'babe' when I first met her…hmm, I guess that's it."  As he rounded a high hedge, he bumped into a figure.  He took a few steps back and his eyes focused on the figure that he bumped into.  "Well, speak of the devil," he said.

"HEY!  Watch where you're going!" Lita shouted.  Kento smiled good-naturedly; for all her temper, she was still beautiful.

"Hey, kid, how ya been?"  Lita practically screamed.

"OOH!  I am not a kid!  I am 21-years old, for goodness sake.  Why can't you get that through your thick skull?   God, it's like someone removed your brain in the middle of your sleep and replaced it with a hard rock."  Kento's hand tightened around his naginata (AN: it's a bo) and he growled.

"Watch what you're saying about Hardrock, miss lightning princess.  Do you even know what my power is?"

"No; why don't you enlighten the class, oh wise teacher," Lita said with a sneer.

"I come from the Hardrock kingdom and I am the heir to that throne.  My power is Hardrock so watch what you say about it!" Kento yelled.

"Oh, sorry for insulting your precious power," Lita mocked.

"You better be…KID!" Kento said, knowing how much she hated being called kid.

"OOH!  Stop calling me kid!  How many times to I have to tell you?"

"Well, then if you're 21, then when's your birthday?"

"December 5th," Lita said proudly.

"Well, you're still three months and 4 days younger than me, so I CAN call you kid if I want to." 

"You retarded bonehead!" Lita yelled at Kento.

"My, my, what an explosive temper you have there, kid," Kento said, not noticing that Lita was starting to give off electric sparks of static electricity.  Lita poked him none too gently with her index finger, shocking him greatly.  "Is that explosive enough for you?"  Kento growled again and said, "This time, you're going to get it."  Kento lunged for Lita, dropping his weapon and sending the two of them to the ground.  Lita fought back and, soon, they were wrestling each other on the grass. 

They weren't paying attention to the ground surrounding them and they were both shocked when Lita hit her head rather hard on Kento's naginata.  Immediately, they stopped wrestling and Kento looked down at Lita, who was underneath him.  "Oh god, are you ok?"  Lita shook her head, holding the spot where she bumped it.  Kento got off of Lita and helped her to her feet.  "Here, let me see," Kento said, turning Lita's head so he could examine the wound. 

He moved her hair out of the way, looking for signs of bleeding.  He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding when he saw that there was no blood, only the signs of a bump and a bruise.  "You're ok.  There's no bleeding, but you'll have a bump.  Do you want to sit down or something?" Kento asked, concerned.  Lita was really surprised at how sweet Kento was being.  She shook her head in response to his question.

"No, I just need to calm down for a minute," Lita said.  Lita then noticed that Kento hadn't removed his hand from her hair.

"You know what," Kento said, "I'm really sorry for what happened.  If I hadn't been trying to annoy you, this wouldn't have happened.  It's all my fault."

"No," Lita said, "It's my fault for overreacting.  Don't put the blame on yourself for something you didn't even do." 

"Well, I'm sorry anyway," Kento said with a tenderness in his voice that made Lita's heart skip a beat.

"You're forgiven," Lita said softly.  They looked at each other for a scant number of seconds before, for some unexplained reason, their lips met with a kiss.  Lita indulged in the feeling of his lips on hers before the memory of her fiancé popped into her mind. 

She pushed herself away from Kento and said, "No, I can't.  I'm engaged to Nephrite.  It's not right."

"I know.  I'm engaged to Almandine.  We shouldn't have done that."  Their eyes met again and their lips soon after.  It was like they couldn't keep away from each other.  Slowly, they sank down to the grass underfoot and there were no more words spoken for a long while.

***
Back in the present time, Kento and Lita were still kissing on the floor, totally oblivious to anything and everything around them; they were too wrapped up in each other to pay attention to the real world.  In fact, they were so wrapped up with each other that they didn't hear the sound of the kitchen door opening and two sets of footprints quietly making their way into the kitchen. 

Margot and Julie were on the search for a snack and instead of finding an empty kitchen with food, they found a kitchen that had food, but also had a flour-covered Lita and Kento kissing on the kitchen floor.  We see a lot of kissing lately, don't we? Margot asked Julie.

Yeah.  I sorta wished I had something like that for myself.

I know what you mean, Margot said in response.  The two of them looked at the kissing couple for a moment before Julie turned to Margot and said, The camera?

The camera, Margot said, pulling out the small camera that she had become accustomed to carrying around with her everywhere she went; one never knew when a photo-op would appear and one needed to always be prepare because those pictures could be used as blackmail.  Margot took the picture of Kento and Lita in a passionate embrace and put the camera away. 

As quietly as they could, Julie and Margot snuck out of the kitchen, leaving the couple alone and in peace.  "Well, there goes another couple.  And this time I'm only slightly annoyed at it.  I'm hungry and I can't get food!" Margot exclaimed.

"Well, we can always get food later," Julie said, "Besides, we've been waiting for the couples to get together and it was only a matter of time before those two got together." 

The two girls were walking down the hallway away from the kitchen at the same time that Rowen was walking towards the kitchen.  He was whistling something happy sounding and he had his hands shoved in his pockets while he walked.  "Hey Rowen," Margot said, "You're in a happy mood.  Any reason for it?"

"No," Rowen said, "I just woke up in a happy mood today."

"Where are you headed?" Julie asked.

"To the kitchen to get something to drink."

"NO!" Margot and Julie exclaimed at the same time.  Rowen's brow furrowed in confusion.

"And why can't I go to the kitchen."

"Because…" Julie trailed off, trying to find a reason.

"Because it's a mess.  We were just in there and it's too messy to do anything in there," Margot said, picking up where Julie left off.  Rowen shrugged.

"Well, I really don't care.  All I want is a clean glass so I can get some water.  I'm sure I can find a clean glass somewhere in that kitchen.  Besides, it can't be all that messy.  Lita would never allow her kitchen to become a mess."  Rowen walked on ahead, shrugging off Margot and Julie's warnings like they were nothing. 

"They're about to be disturbed," Julie said, leaning against the wall and slapping her forehead with her hand.

"Yeah, and Rowen is going to get a kick out of this," Margot concluded.  They just stood there, waiting for all hell to break loose.  Rowen walked into the kitchen, still whistling the same tune as before.  His whistling was cut off mid-blow as he spotted the kissing couple on the floor.  "Well, well, if it isn't the new pair of lovebirds!" Rowen exclaimed.  Kento and Lita broke apart, scared out of their minds by Rowen's seemingly sudden presence.  The two stood up from off of the floor.  Rowen raised his hands in defense.

"Oh, don't stop on my account.  I just came in here for a glass of water.  You can go back to making out if you want to.  I won't mind."  Lita and Kento knew by Rowen's tone of voice that he was teasing them.

"Rowen, leave," Kento said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, yeah, Romeo, I'll be out of here in a minute," Rowen said, grabbing a glass from the cupboard.  He walked over to the sink and nearly slipped on the flour that covered the floor.  Kento noticed.  It would serve him right, Kento thought.

"Whoa, why is there flour on the floor?" Rowen asked as he filled up his glass with water.  He glanced over at Lita and Kento and noticed that they too were covered in flour.

"Oh," Rowen said, "You got in a flour fight.  Aw, how cute."

"You know, you can leave at any time," Lita said with an annoyed tone of voice.

"Oh, I'll be out in a minute.  And then you two can recommence kissing.  It will be like I was never in the room."

"Too late," Kento muttered under his breath.

"What was that, Kento?" Rowen asked.

"Nothing," Kento said, trying to hurry Rowen out of the kitchen.

"Oh, ok then," Rowen said, holding his glass of water in one hand, "I guess I'll see you later."  Rowen walked out of the door and before he disappeared completely, he said, "Have fun and don't get into too much trouble you two." 

Rowen chuckled to himself as he walked down the hallway and Kento glared at the door, his eyes practically burning holes in the wood.  Snapping out of it, he turned to Lita and said, "Sorry for that interruption.  I guess Rowen is getting back at me for when I teased him about him and Ami."  Lita smiled and pressed her body up against Kento's, giving him another kiss.

"It's alright.  All that matters is that he's gone now."  Kento smiled; he didn't think he could stop smiling if his life depended on it.  He was just way too happy at that moment.  Lita wrapped her arms around Kento's neck and pulled him in for another kiss, one that lasted far longer than the previous one.  Kento was the one to break the kiss. 

Tucking a strand of her loose hair behind her ear, he said, "Hey, I know that this is a little backwards and everything because normally the first kiss comes after the first date, but since I know you're not doing anything tonight, do you want to go out?  I mean, the rest of the house can fend for themselves with dinner.  I want to have time that's just you and me with no possible interruptions."  Lita looked at Kento through her eyelashes and she smiled slightly.  "That would be wonderful.  I would love that."  Kento grinned widely and said, "Great.  Well then, let's clean up our mess and then get back to those cookies."

"Sounds like a plan," Lita said as the two of them worked on cleaning up the kitchen.

***
In the Negaverse, Cairngorm was thinking.  Those Universal Warriors must be strong if they destroyed Heliodore.  But, did they destroy her because she was weak or because she slipped up?  It could very well be the second one, considering this is Heliodore we're talking about.  But, how do these warriors keep coming up with this sort of blind luck?  It's like something is on their side, aiding them through it.  Or, what if it's right that's on their side?  What if their intentions are the right ones and Queen Metallia's are wrong?  Well, I really don't care either way.  I'm only in this to be with Labradorite. 

Gods, I love her so much.  It's the only real reason I'm here on Metallia's side.  Maybe if I get rid of those blasted warriors, then Labradorite and I can live in peace without Metallia ruling our actions and lives.  As it is now, Labradorite and I barely get time to spend with each other.  If I destroy the Universal Warriors, then maybe, just maybe, Metallia could let Labradorite and I go off on our own and we could truly be together, Cairngorm thought.  With a smile on his face as he considered the type of future that he could have with Labradorite, he came up with a plan.

***
Lita breathed in the night air, just content to enjoy her surroundings.  She and Kento were still out, but now they were going out on a walk through the park.  Lita looked over at Kento, noticing that he had made himself look a little nicer than he usually did for their date.  She did too.  After cleaning off all of the flour, she had changed into a long emerald green skirt with a simple black blouse to go with it.  Kento, on the other hand, was wearing khakis and a nice, midnight blue silk shirt. 

They had gone out to dinner at a nice sushi restaurant, where they had stayed for 2 hours, and now they were in the park, just enjoying each other's company.  The two held hands while they walked and were just content with the comfortable silence that existed between the two at the moment; there was no need for words when one was in love.  Throughout the entire evening, Kento was trying to find the perfect opportunity to tell Lita how much he loved her because he felt that she needed to know.  His opportunity opened up when Lita spoke.  "It's really beautiful out tonight, isn't Kento?" Lita said, expecting a response from Kento, looking at him expediently.  Kento smiled.

"Yes, it is.  But not as beautiful as you."  Lita blushed and smiled.  They stopped walking as she leaned over and kissed him.

"That was really classic, did you know that?"

"Yeah," Kento said, "But I mean it.  There's nothing that's more beautiful than you."  Lita's blush deepened.

"You know," she said, "I don't think my face will ever go back to its natural color if you keep complimenting me."  Kento chuckled slightly and turned towards Lita. 

"But what if I don't want to stop complimenting you?"

"Why would you compliment me?" Lita asked.  Kento drew in a deep breath and was about to tell her how he felt about her when a bright light flashed and a beam of energy flew past their heads, missing them by a few feet.  Kento and Lita sprang to action.  Both of them transformed into their sub-armor, using the heightened senses that came from it to search the area around them, which was shrouded in semi-darkness. 

A deep laugh sounded from behind them and they turned to see what it was.  "Well, well, you finally noticed me," the voice said, "I'm surprised.  I thought that you all had a sense for when we arrived."

"No, not all of us," Lita said, trying to make out the figure.  She was guessing it was human, but she couldn't be sure.

"Well, no matter.  I finally got your attention, which was hard to do considering the fact that you two were so wrapped up in each other."  Cairngorm finally recognized the two people in front of him, remembering them from his life during the Silver Millennium.

"Ah, Kento and Lita.  I see you two are still together, even in this lifetime.  You're lucky that Almandine still isn't alive, Lita.  It would kill Almandine to know that you still ended up with her fiancé."

"What are you talking about?" Kento asked, "I've never been engaged to be married in my life."  Cairngorm dismissed the subject with a wave of his hand.

"It doesn't matter anymore because you'll be dead soon enough.  It's nothing personal.  You're deaths mean nothing to me."

"Then why do you want to kill us?" Lita asked.

"Because then, and only then, can I live a life with true love.  It's your existence that's preventing the two of us from leading a happy life together and I've come down to fix that.  Now, die!"  Cairngorm sent out another blast at the two, who both dodged and transformed.  "ARMOR OF HARDROCK!  DAO GI!"

"I call upon the armor of Lightning!  Armor of Lightning, TO ARMS!"  Within seconds, the couple stood in their armor, weapons poised to attack, both of them ready to fight.  "LIGHTNING SWORD STRIKE!" Lita called out, using her sword to channel her lightning energy, sending it towards the male general.  Cairngorm easily dodged it, moving so fast that it seemed to be that he disappeared and reappeared 3 feet from where he was originally. 

Cairngorm laughed.  "You're going to have to do better than that if you're going to defeat me," he said cruelly.  Lita gritted her teeth and clenched her sword in one fist as she took in his mocking words.  Cairngorm chuckled slightly before sending off another attack without any warning.  The blast hit both Kento and Lita, sending both of them flying backwards.  They both crashed to the ground at about the same time and both slid back several feet, creating deep grooves in the dirt surface from their armor. 

Kento pushed himself up to look at Lita.  "Are you ok?"  Lita forced her eyes open, but she didn't move; she could feel the beginning of bruises all over.  "Yeah.  How about you?" she asked.

"I'll survive."  He pushed himself off the ground and to his feet.  Kento then leaned over and offered Lita his hand so she could get up.  She took it gracefully and rose to her feet.  "I say it's time to get rid of him," Kento said.

"Couldn't agree more," Lita said.  Cairngorm raised an eyebrow in interest at Lita and Kento.

"So, I see you're standing up for yourselves.  Or do you just want more of a beating.  The second one can be easily arranged, you know."

"Not in this life time, Cairngorm!" another voice cried out.  Lita and Kento turned to see Serena, Michelle, Sage, and Ami, who came to serve as backup.  Ami was the one who called out to Cairngorm and she was glaring at him.

"Ah, Ami.  So nice to see you again after all these years.  You look well.  I see the last 1000 years has treated you well."

"Well, considering that I haven't been alive for all of it, thanks to you, I really haven't been through much.  But you, Cairngorm, are about to go through so much more than you put me through back then."  Everyone was staring at Ami with understanding.  They all had their memories of the Silver Millennium and knew that Ami was engaged to Cairngorm back then before he turned to Queen Metallia's side after finding out that Ami had been having an affair with Rowen behind his back. 

Ami stepped forward to attack Cairngorm, but Lita stopped her.

"No," Lita said, "I want to take care of him."  Lita also remembered him, not only from the Silver Millennium, but from when Queen Metallia captured her; Cairngorm was the one who tortured her.  Ami stepped back, not understanding, but respecting Lita's wish to get rid of him herself.  But, Lita didn't plan to do it by herself.  Turning her head, she looked at Kento, who looked back with understanding.  It was as if their minds were one, thinking along the same brain waves.  They each knew what the other was planning. 

Lita closed her eyes and held her sword in one hand, two of her fingers on her other hand pressed up against the back of the blade, as she concentrated her power, forcing it into the blade once again.  Kento stood next to her, his naginata held horizontally in both of his hands, also pouring his power into his weapon.  "THUNDER ROCK STRIKE!" both of them yelled simultaneously. 

Kento's actions were the same as his own attack.  He twirled his weapon above his head before lowering it and pointing it towards Cairngorm, sending off his power.  Lita, on the other hand, simply held her arms out so that her elbow were locked, her hands not changing position, and her power was forced out of her sword and mixed with Kento's power, adding lightning to Kento's destructive power. 

Cairngorm could barely think as pain coursed through his body.  "Labradorite," he whispered, "I'm sorry."  Cairngorm then left the land of the living, dissolving with the force of Kento and Lita's attack.  The two of them suddenly felt the taxation of using so much power and immediately detransformed back into their clothes.  The other four who arrived did the same.  "Thanks for taking care of him," Ami said to Lita.

"No problem," Lita said in response.

"It's just that seeing him brought back a lot of what happened during the Silver Millennium and a lot of it is bad memories," Ami continued.

"Like I said before, no problem," Lita said.  Ami smiled and turned to walk away, noticing Kento and Lita's want to be alone as Kento came up behind Lita and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Come on, you guys," she said to the other three, "Let's go home."

"There really was no need for us, was there?" Sage asked as they walked.

"No, I guess not," Serena said.

"Well," Michelle speculated, "I guess all the warriors aren't needed all the time.  This time seemed to be one of them.  Cairngorm wasn't really powerful."

"No, he never was and he was always the most passive out of all the generals," Ami said. 

As the voices faded, Kento and Lita turned towards each other.   "Are you hurt too badly?" Kento asked.  Lita shrugged.

"I'll have a few bruises tomorrow, but nothing that won't go away in a couple of days.  How about you?" Lita asked.

"About the same," Kento said, "But, for a moment there, after Cairngorm hit us and we went flying, I thought I lost you and it scared me.  I didn't like that feeling."

"I felt the same.  It scared me because…"  Lita trailed off as she chose her next words carefully.  Then, she spoke.

"It scared me because I love you and I thought that I wouldn't get the chance to tell you that, Kento and that scared me more than anything."  Kento smiled.

"I was also scared that I wasn't going to be able to tell you that I love you."  Lita smiled at Kento.  "I mean," Kento continued, "It's not everyday that you meet the girl of you dreams and from our memories from the past, our relationship goes back much further.  It's not something to abandon." 

Kento thought about it and then laughed slightly.  "You know," he said, "For a while there, I didn't think you could possibly love me."  Lita almost squawked.

"What?" she said, "How could I not love you?  Your funny, good-looking, sensitive, nice, compassionate, caring, and, most of all, you make my life worthwhile.  I wake up in the morning knowing that you'll be there for me.  It's what keeps me going most days and sometimes, I love you so much that it's overwhelming."  Lita's voice was clogged up with tears of emotion as she tried to hold them back.  Kento smiled at her words.

"Ditto, for lack of a better word," he said, "I wake up every morning thinking about you and how much I love you.  I am so thankful and grateful that I have you in my life, Lita; you're what keeps me together.  Without you, my life would be meaningless."  Lita smiled broadly and kissed Kento.  He kissed her back with all the love he felt for her, finally happy that he was given the chance to tell her how he felt about her. 

Finally, they broke the kiss.  "Come on," Lita said, "Let's head home."  Kento nodded.

"Ok," he said, "Let's go."  Smiling at each other, the couple headed on home, their lives now complete.

***
In the Negaverse, Labradorite, who had watched the whole scene where Cairngorm died, was huddled up on her bed, crying.  Why did he have to leave me?  He was the only person who truly understood me and loved me.  I'll get those miserable warriors for killing Cairngorm.  They'll wish they never even messed with Queen Metallia because the other generals' power is nothing compared to mine.  I'm the last one left.  It's up to me to kill them all, a task which I'll do with pleasure, Labradorite thought.  She smiled cruelly through her tears and worked on a revenge plan, one that would destroy the Universal Warriors. 

********

Hey Peoples!  Getting closer to the end!  Next chapter will be up . . . sometime this weekend, I think.  Review, Please!!!!!!!!!!! : )  Alright, I gotta go and study for finals now, eww. ~ Des