Hey! Sorry this is a short chapter, but there's a lot of action in it and I needed to make sure I saved some of the good stuff for the next one. I hope you're not too upset about how long it's been; college applications are killer, this is the first weekend of freedom I've had since about August. I'm really, really sorry, but I'm almost finished this story, and I'm going to try and update more often now that all my important applications are in and my computer is finally fixed. I hope you all understand! Until next time, enjoy and don't forget to read and review!

Chapter Sixteen: Secrets and War

Mitsuki pulled her legs underneath her and watched Takuto pace the floor of her room frantically, never meeting her eyes, never slowing in his pace, "I saw you in my vision Mitsuki," he blurted out, freezing for one instant to throw his eyes toward her, find that hers were averted, and begin pacing again.

"I was there," she murmured.

"But Full Moon was not," Takuto answered firmly and stopped dead center in front of her, staring down at her with his full heart, open and bleeding, for her to explain and hand back to him. She kept her head lowered while she twirled her hands anxiously in her lap.

"I don't know," she whispered softly. "You would never believe me if I told you."

"I'm willing to believe anything that comes out of your mouth Mitsuki-chan, I love you; don't you know that by now?" He knelt in front of her and pulled her hands into his own, laying his forearms on her folded knees. "What more do you want from me?"

She rose her eyes to meet his and shook her head fiercely, tears dripping down her cheeks, "Nothing, I just…" she looked around for Izumi, but he was nowhere to be found. This was her opportunity; this was the excuse she'd been searching for. How could she not take it? What will happen to Izumi? I know Meroko loved him…what if she's still…Meroko!

"She is safe, Mi-ki," Izumi materialized from the connecting room, and gave Mitsuki the saddest, most frightened look she'd ever seen on anyone's face. "Tell your story."

Mitsuki's eyes flew open, she stopped breathing; her hands shook. This couldn't be right. Terrified, she turned toward Takuto, who cocked his head, confusedly.

"Is there something…" Takuto stopped, he was going to ask if there was something wrong, but there didn't need to be an answer to that question. Of course there was something wrong; there were secrets that were obviously heavy on her heart. But why the sudden start? Why was she staring at something that wasn't there?

"Go on Mi-ki, I don't know how long it will take Jonathan to tell the Shinigami boss on me, if he hasn't already. You may not have much time, and Me-chan wanted him to know. She's safe, Mitsuki, tell your story, have your life, you deserve it, and I finally realize it. Me-chan wanted me to tell you that she loves you, that's she's looking out for you, and so am I, as long as I can be here with you."

"Th-thank you," Mitsuki didn't think the simple expression was enough; there were no words of gratitude that would express the sudden feeling of warmth and appreciation she felt toward Izumi, but his small smile and his brightening features told her it was enough for him. He waved a hand at her gently, urging her to continue, and she looked back to Takuto, setting her jaw determinedly and nodded.

"I'll tell you."

Takuto sighed heavily and nodded, moving next to her on the bed but refusing to drop her hands as they faced one another as if for the first time. Here was her clean slate, here was the honesty she'd craved for so long, handed to her so seemingly so easily. But life is never easy, and the telling would be painful.

"You died," she started bluntly, and Takuto's eyes shot open as he began to shake his head fiercely.

"What kind of sick joke…" he started, but Mitsuki put a small hand to his lips and hushed him.

"I have limited time to tell you this, listen to my story and if you don't believe me then say I'm crazy and leave me where I sit. This is how it happened; these are the answers you're seeking. I promise you what I'm about to tell you is no lie. Do you trust me?"

He nodded immediately, and she smiled.

"Then trust me when I tell you that you died. You had lung cancer, you know, and you went out for a final drive, but when you crashed your bike you really did die. Do you know the ancient story, that those who take their lives are turned into Shinigami, spirits that are destined to take the lives of children?"

"Yes…" Takuto drew the word out, suspicion written across his face, but he didn't question, he understood the urgency in Mitsuki's eyes even if it didn't appear in her steady voice.

"It's no legend. You were turned into a Shinigami, and you were assigned a partner, Meroko. You called yourselves Negi Ramen, and to make the whole experience easier for the child, you took the forms of a cat and a rabbit. You were the cat, she the rabbit. The two of you were assigned a child, your first, and that child was me."

"You? But? You're just as alive as I am; Mitsuki, this explanation doesn't make sense!" but Takuto did recall slightly from his vision wearing cat ears and that girl Meroko. He remembered Mitsuki asking for Negi Ramen once in his apartment, it seemed so long ago that he hardly saw it in his memory; yet, it was there. She'd asked for Negi Ramen, and he'd thought of a team of super heroes, something that had seemed so odd at the time. But those occurrences were clockwork with Mitsuki, so it wouldn't have even registered now, but at the beginning of their acquaintance it was a different story. And all this time, had she been prompting him to remember? Did he have reason to shy away from her after all? Had she been the catalyst to his spells and fits?

"I was," she whispered, able to read his thoughts on his face. "I caused all your memories, that was my purpose, and once I get to the end of my story you'll understand why. I needed you to remember all of this."

"Mi-ki, quickly, I feel something coming," Izumi urged, and Mitsuki nodded and resumed her story as rapidly as she could throw herself back into it.

"So you were assigned to me, you had a year to wait for me to die. But the Fates hadn't been decided just yet, there were certain obstacles that could change my life, certain things that would allow to me to live. And you were supposed to make sure that these obstacles didn't hinder me on my path to death. So for a year you were to follow me, making sure that the things that could bring about my salvation never came – it was your curse for throwing away your own life that had been so precious. It's the curse of all Shinigamis," here, she tossed her head to Izumi who had grown pale with her words.

"How could I ever do that?" Takuto demanded fiercely, gripping her hands almost to the point of pain, but she held him just as tightly back, trying to make him see

Mitsuki shook her head, "You didn't Takuto; I'm here with you. You didn't," she reached out and stroked his cheek gently. "Because, you see, there was a slight hindrance already in place when we met. I could see you; you and Meroko both, and I wasn't supposed to. I could see you, and because of it, I grew close to the people who were supposed to take my life. I shared with you my one passion – to sing. I wanted to sing because…" she stopped and controlled her raging heart with a deep breath. "I was in love, with a boy I'd known in the orphanage. His name was Eichi…" Eichi-kun…the name still brought heartbreak, but she was healing, slowly, and with Takuto's help she would get through it. She'd loved Eichi-kun then, but she loved Takuto now, and she knew as much as anyone that she couldn't live in the past – not anymore.

"Eichi…" the name tasted familiar on Takuto's lips. "The guy in Arizona? The grave?"

Mitsuki bit her lip, "Yes, that's him."

"The one who left you?" Takuto's fists clenched. Why had he done that? Death seemed almost an appropriate punishment for someone leaving Mitsuki broken like this.

"In some ways, he did. He was adopted, and his new parents took him to America. We promised that when we were both older we would find one another again. We promised that when we found one another again we would both be doing what we loved, what we wanted to do with our lives. He wanted to be an astronomer; I wanted to be a famous singer. We would sit outside on the beach and stare at the stars, and I'd sing to him. It was a childhood romance that faded as quickly as the setting sun. Once he got to America, he never wrote; he never called. But with naiveté of the young girl I was, I clung to him, to his memory. And you hated that Takuto, I never knew why until much later, but you hated Eichi. You hated his memory. When I told you I wanted to sing for Eichi-kun, you told me that it wasn't a worthy reason. You said that I should want to sing for myself, but what you didn't quite understand was that singing for Eichi was singing for myself. I'd promised him I'd do what I wanted to do with my life, and what I wanted more than anything was to sing. But, again, there's always a catch, and my life has never been smooth. I had lung cancer, and it was going to kill me if I didn't get the surgery, but they told me the surgery would ruin my voice. I was prepared to die because of that, and maybe that's what won you over in the end. I had an audition that I was to go to, but I needed to be sixteen, so you took a drop of your magic Shinigami blood and made me into a sixteen year old – the sixteen year old that was to become Full Moon."

A scream erupted from the other side of the room, and Mitsuki's eyes flew toward Izumi who had his back toward her, obviously locked in some kind of struggle, a black force gripping him.

"No, not yet," Mitsuki whispered, and Takuto looked at her confusedly, but she couldn't explain. There was another Shinigami dying for her, and she wasn't sure Izumi would wind up where Takuto was. And what about Meroko? He said she was safe, but where was she? Was she happy?

"Continue!" Izumi shouted at Mitsuki.

"What was that?" Takuto demanded, standing up and staring directly at Izumi, unable to make out the strange swirl of colors he thought he saw, but when he blinked, they were gone.

"I can't!" Mitsuki shouted, standing beside Takuto, hands clenched in fear. "I can't see someone else die for me Izumi!"

"You have to!" Izumi called back at her. "Mi-ki, I asked for this! This is the price I pay for Meroko's love! You don't have to pay it with me!"

Meroko's love? Mitsuki's face dropped, so she was safe, and she'd finally found the Izumi she always knew existed but was so long gone. Meroko was her friend; she'd stolen Takuto from him, could she now steal Izumi from him as well?

"No!" Mitsuki stood still, refusing to move an inch as the darkness gripped Izumi tighter.

"If you don't, you'll never be with Ta-kun!" Izumi turned to face Mitsuki, who crumpled to the floor when she saw that Jonathan was imbedded in the Shinigami's chest, burrowing a hole into his soul, stealing what was good in Izumi, while consuming his body and powers. "Please Mi-ki," Izumi begged. "Please, for Me-chan, you can't forsake what she handed to you at so high a cost. Please don't let me die in vain. I'm scared Mi-ki, I don't want to die alone. Please, tell him, tell him quickly."

"I can't, I can't," Mitsuki whispered. "You'll be okay if I don't."

"Mitsuki-chan? Mitsuki!" Takuto was calling frantically beside her, but she couldn't hear; all she could see was that horrific form of Izumi being consumed, it was burned into her mind.

"I will never be okay Mi-ki, I remembered my past. I won't ever be all right, please," Izumi's voice was so gentle and tender that it tore Mitsuki's heart in two. Determinedly, she rose into Takuto's outstretched arms.

"We went to America, you and Meroko and I, with me disguised as Full Moon. I found Eichi's grave; I wanted to die. I got the surgery, my voice was saved, but I couldn't be the same without Eichi. Another Shinigami, Izumi, came to take my soul, because you and Meroko had vowed to keep me safe; you couldn't see me die. But I went with Izumi, and he almost killed me, except you fought for me. You pulled me out of the melancholy that would have consumed me, and when we got back to Japan, I put on a final concert, the biggest of the ones that I was to perform. I put it on the day that I was to die. In the process, you'd remembered your past," tears poured down her cheeks as Izumi struggled, Jonathan burying deeper and deeper into his former partner's quickly vanishing soul. "If a Shinigami remembers his past he turns into a ghost," she closed her eyes. "So Meroko went to the spirit world to find a flower to make you forget, and on the night that we confessed our love for one another you drank that potion, so that you wouldn't disappear from my life. That night, you and Meroko fought the Fates for me, both of you vanished. I thought you'd both died for me – because I continued to live. But…neither of you did. You came back to me, like this, completely unaware of who I was. And Meroko, she…she's all right, somewhere."

"No!" a voice roared from the sky, and Izumi sighed heavily and gave up the struggle as Jonathan stretched his new fingers and grinned triumphantly.

"Finally, I have the body I always coveted," it was Izumi's face, but not his voice, and Mitsuki stood and struggled toward Jonathan, glaring at him defiantly.

"Where is Izumi?" she screamed.

"Izumi?" Takuto sat back against the bed, shaking, as visions and images flew back to him, everything falling into place except for one piece, the piece that Mitsuki didn't know, the piece that the Shinigami coveted so much.

Jonathan smiled sickly in Izumi's skin, "I took his body, so his displaced soul is doomed to roam the spirit world until he finishes his penance for his crimes against the Shinigami, or so the legend says."

"Penance? How long?" Mitsuki questioned, pulling her hand to her mouth to keep from screaming.

"Until the world ends."

"Lately

I'm into circuitry

What it means to be

Made of you but not enough for you

And I wonder if you can

Bilocate

Is that what I taste

Your supernova juice?

You know it's true

I'm part of you

Steady as it comes

Right down to you

So maybe we're a bliss of another kind

I said, bliss of another kind…"

Tori Amos, To Venus and Back, Bliss