Garnet & Amber

XO'MagickMoon'OX

Sweet Dreams …

Kohaku was kneeling in the street, cold and shivering. It was raining, pouring down onto her head, drenching her from head to toe.

It was almost impossible to tell the difference between the rain and the tears rolling down her cheeks.

A shadow loomed over her.

"Shuichiro?" Kohaku whimpered. She looked up into his eyes, empty and uncaring. This was not the Shuichiro she used to know, the man she had fallen in love with one hundred years ago. Though his soul had been reincarnated into this Shuichiro, his and the old Shuichiro's destinies were completely different.

And therefore, so were their hearts.

This Shuichiro had fallen in love with someone else, another human, whom he had married.

This Shuichiro didn't love Kohaku, the angel that the old Shuichiro had held close to his heart.

The old Shuichiro had had one wish:

For Kohaku to stay with him always.

But now that Shuichiro, the Shuichiro that had made that wish, was gone … forever.

And Kohaku was left all alone, to suffer for eternity, drowning in her sorrow.

The man before her smiled sadly and stooped to help the angel up … out of pity, not caring.

Kohaku didn't accept his help. Instead she closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands. She was shivering all over, the cold rain seeping through her robes and to her skin, numbing her to the bone.

She just wanted the pain to go away.

Then, she felt someone wrap their arms around her waist. The embrace was warm and gentle. The person lifted her from the road and held her against them.

Kohaku suddenly felt secure in the stranger's arms. The rain was falling softer now, and the drops were no longer icy cold, but soft and warm. There was a faint glow that she could sense from behind her closed eyelids.

She stopped shivering and smiled.

But who was it that was holding her?

Slowly she lifted her lids, and nearly stopped breathing as her gaze met a pair of garnet eyes.

"Koryu!" she gasped.

He smiled, and Kohaku couldn't help but smile back as she laid her head against his chest, the faint beating of his heart audible underneath the soft pitter-pattering of the rain.

She turned her head slightly and saw Shuichiro walking away, shrinking into the distance.

"Goodbye, Shuichiro," she whispered as she closed her eyes again, only to drift off to sleep, cradled against Koryu.

---

Kohaku's eyes flickered open. As her eyesight sharpened and she came to her senses, she realized that she was still in her bed. It was dark out, and a sweet, warm scent was carried in through her window on the cool autumn breeze. The light of the full moon flooded her room.

A dream.

It had all been a dream.

Why did she feel suddenly, strangely free? And free of what?

Not only did she feel free, she realized, but she also felt better. She wasn't sick anymore. She wasn't dizzy, or sweating, or shivering and cold, but better.

She was cured!

She laid her head back on her pillow and savored the peace around her.

It was then that she became aware of a soft pitter-pattering outside her window.

She turned her head and saw rain falling heavily from the sky. The aroma that drifted in on the breeze was the smell of the night rain.

Night rain …

Why was that scent so familiar? Why did it remind her of Koryu?

Koryu! He was in her dream! But what had her dream meant? Why had it (seemingly) cured her of her broken heartedness?

So many questions. Her mind was swimming in them.

So deep in thought was she that she didn't realize it when she absentmindedly slipped out of bed. Her feet led her to the back door, which she opened before stepping outside.

She found the cold wooden floor of the porch beneath her bare feet. She gazed out through the sheets of rain veiling the backyard. She could see very little beyond the porch.

But, the rain wasn't enough to veil the dark form lounging on a wisteria tree.

Koryu.

She sat down on the porch, shielded from the rain by the overhanging roof. She stared into the rain without actually seeing it. Her mind was elsewhere.

What had her dream meant? She had to know …

" … "

After pondering for some time, Kohaku was still clueless. Maybe, she thought. Maybe Madam Hisui will know.

"Hello, little one."

Speak of the devil.

"M-Madam Hisui!" Kohaku exclaimed softly as she looked up to see the ex-archangel towering over her. "Why are you up so late?"

Hisui sat down beside her. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I … I woke up … because of a dream I had. And I can't get back to sleep, especially since I'm not sick anymore."

"You're not?" Hisui smiled. "Well that's good news. And this dream? Why did it wake you up?"

"I don't know. I think … I think it meant something." Kohaku frowned. "But I can't figure out what."

"Well, why don't you tell me about it," Hisui prodded gently.

The other nodded. "First, it was dark, cold, rainy. I was soaked to the bone, kneeling in the street, and I was freezing cold. But … But I think that most of the numbness was in my chest, in my heart. Shuichiro … the reincarnated Shuichiro … was standing in front of me. His eyes … they held none of the love and warmth that the old Shuichiro's eyes held when he looked at me. He tried to help me up, but just because he felt sorry for me, not because he really cared."

Hisui was listening intently, her face emotionless as Kohaku outlined her dream.

"I wouldn't let him help me up," Kohaku continued. "Just as I was about to give up all hope … er, someone … picked me up and held me as if they would never let me go … as if they would never drop me … as if they were willing to protect me from every threat and danger that would ever come my way. I felt safe and loved, and I watched from … someone's arms as Shuichiro walked away. And I said, 'Goodbye, Shuichiro' and fell asleep … before I actually woke up, that is." Kohaku looked to Hisui for her response.

"This 'someone' … who is he … or she?" Hisui asked.

Kohaku looked away.

"You won't tell me?"

"Well, it was a 'he', for certain. But …"

"But you don't want me to know who he is."

Kohaku nodded. "Can you still help me decipher the meaning of my dream?"

"Well," Hisui began, "I think that it was all a reflection of your emotions. I think that when you said goodbye to Shuichiro in your dream, it represented your being able to finally let go of him, to fall out of love with him, and in love with someone else. That someone else was probably the same 'someone' who picked you up out of the rain. For, you see, Kohaku, an angel can only fall out of love when another love, stronger than the first, takes its place. So, your love for this other 'someone' was strong enough to heal your broken heart and fill it with a new love."

In love ... with KORYU? Kohaku thought. "No!" she cried, jumping up. "It … It can't be!"

"Why, Kohaku? Who is this 'someone' you seem so afraid of loving?" Hisui asked calmly.

Kohaku turned, blushing a bright red. "No one."

" … " Hisui nodded. "I see."

The rain stopped.

Kohaku and Hisui went back inside, leaving a drenched, sleeping Koryu in the wisteria tree.

---

Koryu's eyes flickered open. Why am I so cold and wet? he wondered. He looked around and jumped up in surprise before tumbling from the tree.

Soaking wet from head to toe, he shivered in the cool air. He hurried inside, where he found Hisui waiting with a towel.

"Good morning, Koryu."

"Dammit!" The flustered demon grabbed the towel and began to dry his hair. "Why didn't anyone wake me up! Why'd you guys just leave me there in the rain! You bastards!"

Hisui giggled, much to Koryu's annoyance. "You just looked so peaceful."

"We figured that if you were sleeping soundly enough to not wake up during the rainstorm, it wasn't worth waking you up," Kokuyo added from his seat at the kitchen table.

"But I made you some hot soup," Hisui offered as Koryu sat down across from Kokuyo.

Koryu grumbled angrily but accepted the soup as he knelt down on the floor. He took a sip and then looked up, feeling immediately warmer. "Where's that bubblehead?" he asked bitterly. "She still sleeping?"

"Kohaku? She's just washing her bed sheets. She'll be out in a minute for her breakfast," Hisui answered, her ever-pleasant smile irritating the already irritated demon.

Irritated or not, he was surprised to hear that Kohaku was out of bed. "Shouldn't she be sleeping?" he inquired.

"You sound concerned," Kokuyo said, an amused smiled playing across his lips. "Do you care about her that much?"

Koryu blushed angrily. Hisui said, "She's all better."

Koryu looked surprised. "'All better'? When'd that happen?"

"Last night. Apparently, she had a dream and it … helped to heal her heart," Hisui said, taking a seat beside Kokuyo. The son of Satan draped his arm around his lover's shoulder, pulling her close to him.

Koryu frowned. Why did he feel this sudden twinge of jealousy?

"Good morning!" Kohaku's voice rang out from behind Koryu as the angel plopped down next to him.

Koryu folded his arms. "I hear you're all better," he muttered.

A smile lit her face. "Yup!"

I'm glad to hear it, Koryu thought.

But he'd never say it out loud, especially not to Kohaku.

Last night he'd grudgingly remembered where her heart really lay.

With Shuichiro.

Koryu didn't have a chance with her.

Or, at least, that's what he thought.