It was Shuiichi, from school. He looked concerned, but I was entirely baffled. "You're not," I said, my jaw gaping wide. Feeling very vulnerable, I didn't want to try anything too drastic. That jacket was all I had on.

"I'm not what?" he asked, looking over at me.

"You're not him," I said, my eyes still open wide.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Kurama," I said, and watched as his mouth twitched. He had been about to speak, but had checked his tongue. So he was...but how? "You...you don't look anything like him."

"It sounds like you're talking about an entirely different person," he said, and set a plate of food out before me. A campfire was there, and it was nighttime. Everything on that plate smelled delicious, and I ate every bit of it. Even if it had been mud, I would have been hungry enough to eat it.

"What were you doing in that lake?" he asked. "It seemed like such a long time before you came up. I gasped and glared at him. So he had been watching me when I dived off the cliff naked, had he? The thought made me consider what he had done before covering me up.

"I was going swimming," I said sharply. "And for your information, I thought I was alone." Shuiichi turned a pale shade of red and started eating his meal.

"You were just lying prostrate on the shore," he said. "It's a lake...it's not as though you could have just drifted there on your own." I took a moment to think about that. Maybe Lirra had just given me a ride out of the water...where anyone could have seen me and done many other things.

How could Shuiichi be Kurama? He was too kind, without that certain savagery, but it seemed to fit too. The first day I saw him, I remembered him smelling of roses. Was that what the cathedral in the Plane had symbolized? Had Lirra been trying to tell me that he was the one all along? "Someone told me that the one who rescued me from the lake would be Kurama's vessel. I've been looking for him for so long." A few tears fell and I huddled up, trying to make myself feel safer.

Suddenly, I felt a hand brush aside the tears on my cheek, and I looked up to see Shuiichi with his hand cupping my cheek. Though I still didn't believe that he was Kurama, I let him touch me. It felt so much more concrete, and so much fuller than his touch had felt in my dreams. "Who knows," he said. "Maybe it was just a false, pseudoprophetic dream."

"You want me to move on so that you can have me," I said roughly while he embraced me.

"Maybe you won't have to move on," he said, and brushed back my inky black hair.

Though it wasn't like my fantasy of the time when we would be reunited, it still felt right. I didn't look like my old self, but this seemed to fit so perfectly. Slowly, I let the disguise melt away, and he saw my original form in my original outfit. Smiling, Shuiichi looked me up and down, stopping on my face. "It doesn't matter what you look like," he said softly, kissing me briefly on the lips. "You look beautiful either way." The compliment made me blush, and then I smiled demurely.

"Both of us changed," I said. "You used to be so different. If only I could have you as the original spirit fox, the one who used to be so forward."

"I can't change who I am," he replied, wrapping an arm around my waist, and I shifted back to my human form. Still wearing that ridiculous orange jacket, I felt a little awkward, but he just gave me a reassuring smile when I looked down at it.

"It fits you just right," he said. "You should keep it. As a gift."

"Thank you," I said, and wrapped my arms around his neck. I was pressed close to him, letting him feel every contour of my body, feel the passion that had been consuming me since we were separated. Always I had known that he would find a way back to me. He had loved me too much not to.

"You're welcome," Shuiichi replied, holding me in that delicate manner he seemed to have retained. Finally I was home, where I belonged. How could it have taken me so long to realize that it was him? When Shuiichi touched me, it was familiar, and his kiss was so delicate that I knew he must be the one. There was no mistaking it now.

Stars were in the sky, and I gazep up, remembering that there had been no visible stars in Hell's Grove. There had only been thickets and a broad, open sky. Taking in the whole scene, I gasped in awe and then smiled, thinking inwardly, These were the sort of things we should have been able to do all along. Now his passion had cooled down slightly, it felt so much slower, a much more comfortable pace. "I only hope that appearances cannot change hearts," I whispered to him as I found myself leaning into Shuiichi's chest. Honestly, I wasn't quite ready to call him Kurama just yet. I wouldn't be for a while.

"They only change shallow hearts," he replied, and I turned my head around to look at him. There were his eyes, such a captivating emerald green that I was spellbound.

I felt as though I were looking into very deep emerald pools, those that were unaffected by the hardships around this world. Now that I had found Kurama, my life was complete. Nobody could make me feel guilty abouut my own death anymore. I had seen him, felt his touch, even borrowed some of his clothes. The jacket came up just above midthigh as we stood up, my hands clasped in his. Standing on tiptoes, I leaned up and kissed him tenderly. Soon, he let my hands go and wrapped an arm around my waist, then another around my neck. Both of my arms were wrapped around his neck, and I could feel the cold sweat that ran down the back of his neck.

"You've always been so wild," Shuiichi said, letting me rest my chin on his shoulder. Hard, lean muscle caved slightly to the shape of my jaw, and one hand fell to his arm.

"Before, I thought that was the only life for me," I said. "Now I know the other path, and it's much more satisfying. I've met people like you and Tina, and I hope that I'll be able to find Jakiri soon. Everybody I ever loved is here, and I think I could end up living here."

"Would you let me take you in for a while?" he asked. "You don't seem to have much of a home."

"Of course," I replied, and then I understood what Lirra meant. I loved with rationality and passion. Demons would love with violent lust. Since coming out of the lake, I felt a little more of my power emerging.

Before I knew it, we were lying next to each other on the ground, and he hugged me close. That was when his hand crept over to the jacket, unzipping it so that I was bared to him, but little enough that the wind didn't nip at my skin. Laughing giddily, I settled in, and the rest was history...

Morning came all too quickly, and I found myself lying next to Kurama, pressed very close to him. His arm was wrapped around my waist, and I felt so peaceful there. Zipping up the jacket, I decided it would be best to wait until he woke up. For now, I looked at his face, which was so peaceful when he was asleep. Even though I couldn't see his eyes, it looked so innocent the way his bangs covered them with mysterious shadows. I brushed the hair aside and kissed his forehead, breathing in the scent of roses. Burying my head in his hair, I smiled and waited.

It was only a couple of hours before I felt him stirring beside me, and I was face-to-face with those pure green eyes. "I see you're awake," he said, and tightened his grip on me.

"Last night was beautiful," I said, and kissed him on the cheek. Blushing furiously, he kept on stroking my hair and kissing me briefly. "The night is beautiful as it is, but I loved last night. The stars were so bright...and we were able to be alone...without worrying about anyone bothering us." My eyes opening wide, I remembered that my uniform had been left on the cliff where my clothes still were, and I needed those for school.

"Well," he said, "would you like to come along and get some breakfast?" Hearing my starving stomach, I nodded in agreement, and he let me go off and find my uniform. Without looking, he also allowed me time to change into some suitable clothes. I still wore his jacket, though.

The place we ate breakfast at was a very small cafe. The tables were a clean, hard, synthetic-looking surface, as were the benches that were attached by metal arms. Picking one, we sat down and Shuiichi ordered for us both. Waiting on us was a rather buxom woman who looked like she had been through quite a few years. When she smiled, you could see that she was missing a tooth or two. Everything she did was done in a tired, haggard manner. For a moment I felt guilty for enjoying myself so much while she suffered, but then the food came out, and we started talking.

"So what have you been doing all of these years?" I asked. "The Kurama in my dreams told me that he needed roughly seventeen years to recuperate."

"When I couldn't find another way to return, I had to enter a human embryo before it truly acquired a soul," he replied, and smiled at my curious nature. Every time he had seen me, I had been hurrying to get away from him or worried about something else. Now, we had just slowed down, and I was so ready to admit my love. Shuiichi was attractive, even if he wasn't as handsome as his old form, but I could get used to this.

"Now," Shuiichi said, "I believe it's your turn to answer the question. Where have you been this whole time?"

"I was looking for you," I said softly, "but I know why you were hiding. For now, never mind. I want you to come with me and meet someone who was very instrumental." Quickly, I dragged him away and found myself at Tina's. Luckily, she was still there.

Looking up, she smiled to see me with a companion. "So, you found him, did 'ya hon?" she said, flashing a toothy grin.

"Mmhmmm," I replied, and sat next to Kurama on a bench. Tina was grinning at us both after seeing the blissful look on my face. The radio was playing again, but it wasn't a country song. It was something much different...

The dawn is breaking,

A light shining through.

You're barely waking,

And I'm tangled up in you.

Yeah.

Slowly, I put my arms around his neck and leaned against him, feeling the toned muscle that lined his arm. It had taken so long to find him, and now it felt like my utopia to be in this dark little bar...

I'm open, you're closed.

Where I follow, you'll go.

I worry I won't see your face

Light up again.

As usual, ever so true. If I ever knew that I'd never be able to see him smile at the way I looked, at the beauty I knew I had always possessed. It had just taken a little motivation to unlock it. Now, I could tell that he was captivated with me entirely.

Even the best fall down sometimes,

Even the wrong words seem to rhyme,

Out of the doubt that fills my mind,

I somehow find

You and I collide.

We were so close, so intimate right then, and I heard the calm acoustic melodies, playing the delicate strings of my heart that I had come to know ever since Kurama died. They played a happy tune now that I was reunited with him.

I'm quiet you know.

You make a first impression.

I've found I'm scared to know

I'm always on your mind.

Even the best fall down sometimes,

Even the stars refuse to shine.

Out of the doubt that fills your mind,

You finally find

You and I collide.

We kissed, and fire ran up my spine. For a split second, the world only encompassed the two of us, and there was no angry Jakiri to worry me or interrupt us. Nobody could use their disparaging remarks. And, through all his attempts at being a gentleman, I felt his arm around my middle, longing to feel the girl that had been lost to him for so long. Such euphoria flooded me that I just let the deluge carry me. I could see every part of him...his gorgeous green eyes, his brilliant red hair, his strong arms. All of it was visible as I tasted him, felt him, saw him in my mind's eye. For that entire minute, it was paradise.

There was no doubt in my mind at all anymore. It was obvious from the passion in his kiss that he was Kurama. He was the one I had been searching for all along. Now I didn't have to wonder if Shuiichi was playing a prank to satisfy his lusts, playing along so that he could have me. This wasn't Shuiichi; it was Kurama. This was the Kurama that I had waited so long to return to, and now I was home, in his arms, where I belonged. Nothing had ever felt so good before...

Well, the end of another chapter. I figured there had to be some sort of fluffy chapter to illustrate how deeply they really felt for each other. Thanks to all my reviewers for staying with me. Hopefully, I'll be able to utilize my study halls well enough to finish this story before winter. I'll be going away for Labor Day weekend, but after that I'll be back in full swing. For now, Au Revoir!

Miari