Yeah! I'm back from A-Kon!!! So now it's time to get Inuyasha, Spiral, and Gravitation out of my head and come back down to earth!

Anyway here is the next chapter of Trading Pain, I hope you enjoy it, and as always please feel free to review.

This isn't the last of the story. There will probably be 1 or 2 chapters after this to tie things up properly. Also in case you don't know if you actually 'die' in a dream in some instances it will kill you. Your brain goes into shock thinking it's dead and shuts down... well at least that's what the theory is.

Chapter 20: Dreams of Truth

Adrian had only awoken a few hours earlier, and she had found herself walking down the old path leading away from Akito's house.

What did that dream mean? Dreams like that were rarely false, especially for her. There had to be something she was overlooking, but what was it? That dream was important but what did it mean.

Adrian was yawning pretty heavily as she continued to walk down the path. Dawn hadn't arrived yet, and darkness was everywhere, it was shrouding the road in an eerie moonlight. Adrian's mind though was still on the dream.

She felt a tree branch brushing against her cheek; its touch could only be described as loving in its gentle caress. She looked beside her and she could barely make out the lines of the beautiful old sakura tree besides her. The wind gently blowing through it's branches, and its graceful movements became mesmerizing to watch.

Adrian found her back leaning against the trunk of the tree staring up into the darkness, and listening to the comforting sounds of the wind and it's branches. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep again. The dream had slipped from her mind and she felt safe and protected.

"Where is she?" Akito screamed as he slammed a vase into the wall. Hatori didn't even flinch. "Find her! You must find her!" Akito howled in agony.

Akito didn't even notice as Hatori left. The only thing he knew or cared about was that Adrian was gone.

Was it what he had said yesterday? Had she taken it to mean she could leave then?

No!

He wouldn't let her escape him. He meant what he had said when he had told her that she wasn't allowed to die for him.

He would die.

For once he wouldn't resent this horrific curse, as long as it meant he could spend what little time he had left by her side. It didn't matter if she loved him or not as long as she was there by his side. As long as she was close enough to watch over, to protect as best as he could, as long as she was just there!

The thought of Adrian being gone tore at his heart, leaving him more exposed than he had ever been in his entire life. It was as though he was dying inside. The thought of being alone again was killing him far more than the curse ever could. Being without Adrian was killing his soul; the curse could only touch his body.

Blindly, pulled by a stubborn desire to see her again, no matter what, he searched every room in the house again. He looked in the yard, at Hatori's home, and at last when he felt that he couldn't keep the tears away anymore, he heard a whisper in the winds. He didn't understand what it meant. He felt that his body was being pulled towards it, as though the wind held a secret power over him, calling him down the old path that few took. The wind kept calling for him, and he followed it. His feet felt heavy as he walked more and more down the winding pathway, when his eyes fell upon the old sakura tree swaying in the breeze, beneath it lay what he was looking for.

She lay there sleeping her golden hair spilling around her and blowing lightly in the wind. The branches of the sakura tree protecting her from any harm, as he approached it seemed almost as though the tree allowed him to enter beneath it's heavy branches and allowed him to come closer to her side.

It was almost as though the world lightened for just a moment, when he saw that she was all right. The world was even more beautiful, and nothing else mattered. Just her. He sat himself down beside her. Right now he was too tired to do anything much and he found himself staring up at the tree branches swaying hypnotically in the wind. Before he fell asleep, he pulled her body closer to his to give her some extra warmth. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep with her in his arms. He knew in the darkest recesses of his mind what today was.

Terror.

Pain.

Loneliness.

All of these things were present but they weren't either. It was as though the dream they had both shared had merged and now they stood in their respective rolls knowing something was different.

They had changed.

They both knew where they were inside of the darkness, and they both knew that the other was in great danger, and they both acted. Neither hesitated.

Adrian ran towards Akito, even though she couldn't hear or even see him.

Akito stood his ground waiting for the approaching monster to come, preparing for his own death.

Both hurried.

Neither hesitated.

Both were desperate.

The howling sounds that the monster made echoed against the cavern walls.

Adrian's feet felt light as she ran to where that monster was. Wherever it was Akito would definitely be.

That was her reasoning.

Akito stood there waiting. He would die. He was happy in the knowledge that Adrian would live on after his death. He thought back as he waited on the good and bad memories he had and he knew that without Adrian he would die anyway.

Adrian ran so fast she practically flew.

The howling sounds just got louder and louder.

Akito was calm and in peace as he waited passively.

He stood there with his arms out stretched as he waited for the monster to kill him. He knew this was the end. Dream or not he was going to die here. Right now.

This was the end.

Adrian screamed his name when she was finally able to see Akito. He screamed for him to run, but he didn't listen.

Adrian ran quickly trying to close the distance between them, when she saw the monster yet again. Its twisted face coming out of the shadows, its hands out stretched a wicked smile across it's face as it lifted it's hand ready to kill Akito once and for all.

Adrian dove at Akito, knocking him to his knees. She covered his body with her own; there was nothing else she could do.

She couldn't deny it. Saving his life for her was selfish. She loved him more than she had ever been willing to even acknowledge.

She loved him.

Her magic couldn't save them.

They would die here together, in this dream. Both souls would be lost due to there own respective curses. Neither could be saved.

Adrian could feel the tears running down her cheeks. It was already to late. They would both die.

"I love you." She whispered to Akito as she waited for the final blow.

It never fell.

A large root had come out of the walls of the cavern, wrapping itself around the monster's hand. Roots had shot out of the ground and the ceiling binding the monster in one place. A few rays of sunlight broke through the cavern walls to illuminate everything. As the monster slowly died it's body disintegrating in the light, the roots began to wither. As though the last act of the monster was to take whatever killed him into the bowls of hell with it. She reached out carefully offering Akito her hand, and he took it.

When at last they had awaken. The tree that had once cared so tenderly for them both, was beginning to whither and die.

Chapter 21