Author's notes: I took some creative liberty on the angel tier system. It differs greatly from the series, about the color of wings and such, so please read with open minds.

It was a little awkward being back in heaven again after being gone for so long. Several of my friends waved at me, which I returned with a nod and fast explanation that I had to be fast while here so I could get back to my mission. The truth was I really wanted to talk to them again, especially my two oldest ones who knew what my current mission was. As I flew down the long hallway, the arch angel Michael noticed my presence and turned his attention to me as I kneeled before him on his desk.

Snowcap Mountain IV

By: Satashi

"Access Time, it is good to see you back. How faired your mission on earth?" The full sized angel had large black wings behind him that seemed to be longer than most other's. Long blond hair traveled to his knees, tied halfway down into a weak ponytail. Unlike most angels, he wore light leather armor instead of silk robes. A large one handed sword was on his left side, sheathed in what looked to be a dark leather sheath. Michael motioned for Access to rise, which the small angel chose to rather stay kneeling, eyes looking at the ground. "I see. Would you care to discuss this in my office?"

Access nodded and floated up, following the grand angel to the large doors that opened before him and closed after Access was in the room as well. Sitting down at one of the small chairs on the large desk, the small angel took a deep steadying breath. "It's not all good news," He started off with the thing he was most dreading to say, lest he not gather the courage. "Fin found Jeanne first and they have been sealing demons."

"This is grave news indeed," he agreed with him and leaned forward to listen more. "What happened after this?"

"I know I should have come back immediately, but…" He clenched his small fist. "I'm sorry, Michael, I couldn't give up on Fin. I know it was wrong but I just had to do something! I… I gave a human the power to seal!"

"Who received this kind of power?"

"Chiaki Nagoya. He reacted to the power very well and we've managed to seal quite a number for ourselves." Access clapped his hands together and when he moved them apart, several black chess pieces appeared in front of him. "Jeanne got a lot of them, but we managed to collect a little over a quarter of what she has." The chess pieces lined up on the desk and Access took a steadying breath. "I know my actions were wrong and against my original mission, and I am prepared to accept the punishment for it." He bowed down deeply. "But please, sir, I must return shortly. Sinbad, Chiaki, has decided to fight Fin when she comes back and Jeanne's barrier will be completely broken soon."

The small black winged angel clenched his fist in anger. "Please sir, I beg you! Grant me power to see this through. I don't care if I die on earth!" raising his head, he met the eyes of his master. "I'll even give my wings when this is over if I survive!"

Michael took a long breath and leaned back in his chair. "Access, you have always been the reckless type. What you did on earth was against so many rules; your wings would have been taken from you when you returned regardless." The smaller angel flinched at hearing this, but kept his ground. "But never-the-less, you have always shown me true devotion and spirit."

He stood up and drew his sword. "Access Time, do you –knowing the next to nothing odds- accept the mission to stop Fin Fish at all cost, even if it means sacrificing yourself?"

"I do, sir."

"And, should you be successful, promise to atone for your mistake of granting a human divine powers by staying on earth and fighting there?"

Access looked to the ground and nodded. "I do, sir. Even if it means I won't be able to come back to heaven. These people are important to me, and you taught me to always follow my heart. It's telling me to continue my fight, and I will do anything to be able to follow that dream."

"Then, Access Time, I hereby acknowledge your determination and assign you with your new mission." Michael pointed his sword at the small angel

Chiaki looked to his left and broadly watched the trees go by underneath him. At first the ski lifts were exciting for him, being a nice chance to relax and just enjoy himself. Now, however, they were exceedingly boring. Fortunately for him, Yamato was sitting next to him this time, as they had stuck together most of the day. Deciding to pick on his friend, Chiaki looked over at him. "Its times like this it occurs to me that we were lied to
by 'The Jetsons'."

Yamato blinked and looked over at him. "What are you talking about?"

"According to that show, we were supposed to be tooling around in flying cars by now."

"Yeah, well, most of us rational thinkers weren't banking on a cartoon to offer us a viable glimpse into the future of technological development."

Chiaki grinned. "Hey, what would you be willing to trade for the flying car?"

"What do you mean?"

"Say some German scientist comes up to you and he says 'I have invented the flying car. I'll give it to you on one condition.'"

Yamato waited a moment to see if he would keep talking, but when nothing more came, he asked his question. "Well? What's the condition?"

"He's not going to tell you." Chiaki put his hands behind his head and looked up the mountain.

"Then it's no deal." He crossed his arms and nodded to himself.

"The guy is offering you the flying car. You going to look a gift horse in the mouth? Just take the car man!"

"Not until I know what the catch is!" Yamato glared over at his ski lift partner.

"Ugh, Fine… The catch is you got to cut off a foot."

"Pfft! No way."

"Are you saying you wouldn't cut off your foot for the flying car? You're that selfish?"

Yamato started at him. "It's my foot! How am I supposed to walk?

"What walk? You'll have the flying car! Good God, you could sell the design and engineering secrets to the car companies and be a multibillionaire. After that you could buy like 50 prosthetic feet!"

"…Which foot, right or left?"

"You're choice"

"Ok…I'll trade my left foot for the flying car."

Chiaki grinned and offered his hand for a shake to confirm the trade. "So it's a deal then, your foot for the flying car. You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You can't welch."

"I won't welch!"

"Because the whoooole world is counting on you."

Yamato gave him and odd look and pulled his hand back. "What the hell kind of scientist is this guy anyways?"

"…One with a lot of free time on his hands… and a foot fetish…. Ok! So then what happens is you find out the guy is going to take your foot off with a hacksaw."

"What?"

"And no atheistic."

"Aww, screw that!"

"Come on its part of the deal!" The blue haired boy grinned like mad. He always enjoyed doing this to his best pal.

"You didn't say that before!"

"Come on, it only hurts when they're taking the foot off. After that they'll use a local on your stump and cauterize the wound."

"Well why can't I have a local before he cuts it off?"

"Because, he is a sick degenerate that likes to inflict pain."

"You said he was a man of science!" Yamato shook his head in disbelief.

"Oh, you don't think Einstein didn't like hacking guy's feet off? But, nobody ever said anything about it because he was one of the great thinkers of our time. But come on man! Take a hit for the team! Its a few seconds of pain for a lifetime of riches and zero traffic!"

Groaning, Yamato leaned back in the lift. "Fine, as long as I get the local as soon as he is done cutting."

"So you want the local?"

"Who am I, The Marquis De Sade? Yes, I want the local!"

"…All right."

"Why do you say it like that for?"

Shrugging, Chiaki continued. "It's just the local he gives you, knocks you out… and when your out he… diddles you pennie."

"Oh, come on!"

"Hey man, you made the deal."

"To trade my foot for the flying car, not to be tortured and molested by some mad German scientist!" He was beginning to regret ever getting on the same lift as Chiaki.

"And his friends."

"What?"

"It's just when he is done with you he gives his friends a shot at you too."

Fed up, Yamato scoffed and looked off to the side. "Deals off!"

"What are you some kind of homophobe?"

"No! I just don't want to be diddled by some insane German scientist and his friends after they've hacked my foot off."

"Need I remind you, this is for the flying car?" Chiaki put emphasis on the last words and threw out his hands.

"It ain't worth it!" Yamato retorted, also throwing out his hands to make his point.

""See, you're what's wrong with this country, hell with this world. You're always thinking about your own comfort level. Never thinking about the rest of us. You'll forever be remembered as the sad footnote in the book of life. The wimpy little scumbag who could of breached the chasm of becoming and being. But instead opted to cover his own ass… and foot… in the process."

"All right!" Yamato shouted at him. "I'll go. Through. With. The. Deal." He said each word separately to show that he would do it. "I'll let the German scientist hack my foot off! Then him and his friends can have their way with me! Alllllll for the flying car!" he panted when he was done with his rant and looked over at his friend while the safety bar was moved upwards and they could get off the lift.

"…You would do it with a bunch of guys just to get a car?" the pair of teens looked at each other a moment before Chiaki slid off onto the ground and away from him. "…I thought I knew you man."

Sliding down the slope, he grinned as his friend caught up to him and shoved his arm lightly. "You jerk," Yamato accused him with a smirk. "Do you stay up at night and think about this crap?"

"You know it!" Chiaki laughed and gained more speed, slicing around a few trees before finally losing his balance and falling. He slid a few moments before lightly crashing against another snow covered tree and getting rewarded with a large blast of powdered snow falling on him from the jarred branches. "Oh man, its freezing!"

"Ha, serves you right!" Yamato cut sharply to stop, slinging more snow on him. "See what you get? May be next time you'll-" the smile on his lips suddenly vanished. "Chiaki, look!" He moved over to another fallen body by him and kneeled down while his friend stumbled over to see as well. "I know her, this is Meimi."

"What happened to her?" Chiaki looked the girl over. "Did she crash? We got to get her to the hospital, no telling how long she's been here!" moving his hands over her body as best he could with her thick skiing gear on he checked her for broken bones. "She doesn't seem to have anything snapped."

"It looks more like she was beat up than a simple crash…" Yamato lifted her up and cradled her against his chest. "You go ahead and tell the people at the bottom of the slope. It's going to be hard skiing down without my poles so I'll have to be really careful."

"You got it," Chiaki quickly turned his body and slammed his skiing poles into the ground to propel himself forward.

"Is she okay?" Miyako asked as she walked into the cabin where her friends were. "How long has she been here?"

"A few hours," Yamato answered her with his arms crossed. Around him were several more people with similar injuries. "This is odd. They were all on the beginners coarse. There's no way they could get this banged up from falling down, even if you did hit a tree. It's almost like they were attacked."

"Attacked?" Miyako repeated his words shocked. "But who would…?"

"I don't know. I could be wrong. It's just odd."

Chiaki turned to look at the people closer, a sick feeling coming up within his chest. 'It can't be…Not a demon. Not now!' He pulled a blanket down by one person he knew in his class and saw a slash mark over his shoulder. 'It's not scabbing over, almost like it was an energy blast…'

"Chiaki?"

"Something's come up, I gotta go." He walked from the room, vaguely aware of Yamato following him. "I hope I'm wrong…" He stopped and turned on his heels. "Hey, Linchou, Is there anything around here that would be considered exceptionally beautiful?"

"Eh?" He looked at his friend a little confused but slowly nodded. "Yeah, there's a shrine up around the expert side of the mountain. It's right before the ski slope."

"Right." He turned around and began walking to the ski lifts. Waiting impatiently, he got on the next swing and brought the safety rail down. He gripped it tightly and glared at the mountain in front of him. To his surprise, the swing jerked lightly and he found Yamato standing next to him, quickly dropping to a sitting position and getting situated just as the swing started ascending. "What the hell?"

"Something's up. I want to know what it is."

"It's nothing." Chiaki looked to the side and remained silent as they went up farther on the course.

"It's this way," Yamato lifted the rail and hopped off the lift. Since neither were wearing their skis, they easily made their way across the landing and past a coffee house. "The shrine is just up those stairs." He pointed up a steep and snow covered flight of stairs. "Keep your hand on the rail, if you fall it'll hurt."

"No kidding." Chiaki followed him up and looked around with a whistle. "Nice place."

The shrine was larger than he thought, even having a gate at the top of the steps and a large fenced in stone wall around the old Japanese style house. "This is the ' Ice Temple'." Yamato told him as he watched his friend walk around holding his rosary. "They say that angels can be seen here due to some holy power."

"Oh really?" He looked up at the sky, the thought of a full grown fin flashing before his mind. "That's something I'd rather not encounter."

"Says the man holding a rosary."

"Chiaki Nagoya!" A new voice came up, making them both turn. From the side a small black winged angel flew over to the person he addressed and stopped in front of him. "You're Chiaki, right?" His wings flapped behind him as he spoke. "I was asked by Arch Angel Michael to deliver a message."

"It's true…" Yamato stepped forward and inspected the surprised angel. "Chiaki you do have a guardian angel!"

"That's not him," Chiaki groaned. "You chose a good time to come to me…"

"Toki. I'm a friend of Access." He looked over at Yamato. "Why can he see me?"

"This place supposedly has holy powers, but that's not the point. Toki, how is Access? Is something wrong?"

"He'll be in heaven for a while longer. I was sent to tell you not to act on your on. There is a disturbance around here."

"I thought so," Chiaki clenched his cross in his hand. "Toki, can you grant me some power?"

"I can't."

"Whoa whoa whoa, what's going on here?" Yamato waved out his hands. "You're talking to an angel Chiaki! One with black wings, I thought they were supposed to be white!"

Chiaki stayed silent a moment before grinning. "I'm on a mission from god! To retrieve the holy grail!"

"This isn't the time for Monty Python references!" Yamato shouted at him angrily.

At the gate of the temple Maron gripped the hem of her jacket in disbelief. Miyako had told her that they had left so suddenly it made her nervous so she went to check up on the two. What she saw made her stomach feel sick. Chiaki was talking to a black winged angel that Yamato could apparently see as well. But what made her nervous was the angel mentioned Access… And that would mean that Chiaki knew Access…. But that would mean…

Turning, she ran through the snow as fast as she could. Her mind was foggy and in her confusion she found herself somehow lost. Looking around, she panted a bit and tried to piece everything together. 'It's not true!' Her mind screamed as she ran again, not knowing where she was going. 'It can't be. Something has to explain this!' She fell down and pushed herself back up with shaking arms before running again. 'There's some reason Chiaki knows Access. He's not Sinbad!'

By the time she was through, she found herself so tired and cold that she had to stop for a moment. Looking around once more, the area began to seem a little familiar and after thinking on it, she placed herself and began to walk in the direction of the coffee shop she had seen earlier.

The warm air was a relief on her body and through a daze, she managed to take off her jacket and sit at a table. Not sure how long she was there, she was startled by a hot cup of coco being sat in front of her and her friend, Levina, sitting across the booth from the girl. "Hey, you look a little cold." She took a small sip of her own drink and smiled over it. "Is something wrong?"

Maron opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. A few moments passed and she tried again, wording it as best she could. "Levina, you're religious right?" She got a nod. It was common knowledge she was, her parents being a priest and priestess. The girl never went anywhere without her bible and cross. "Have you ever…I mean, do you know what a black winged angel is for?"

"You saw one too?"

"Too?" She looked up suddenly at the girl.

"Yeah, a few people have seen a black winged angel at the shrine around here. He was lost, looking for someone but wouldn't tell me who."

"You… you talked to it?" Maron's voice was a little uneasy. "But… But wouldn't he attack someone like you? I mean a priestess in training?"

Levina gazed at her a moment before finally looking as if she realized something. "Oh that's right, you're not very religious are you?" She giggled a little. "Black winged angels aren't bad."

"…They're not?"

"No, of course not. Just because the devil had black wings and most the angels that fell with him also had them, doesn't mean they're all evil. I mean, would I seriously have a conversation with one if they were?"

Maron took a long drink of her drink and sighed. "Can you… tell me about them?"

"Sure!" She looked pleased that she would ask and didn't hesitate to pull out a small bible she had in her jacket pocket. "Let me show you a picture…" She flipped through the pages and soon found what she was looking for and moved it over so Maron could see. "This is Michael; he's the one that threw Satan from heaven. Notice the color of his wings?"

"White," Maron said easily.

"You see, white winged angels are servants of God. They protect people on earth, watch after us. They're the ones that send God's message."

"And the black winged ones?"

Levina turned the page and showed her a picture of Michael with black wings and a sword. "The black winged angels serve under Michael now; they're the warriors of heaven. They're sent to kill demons or seal them to prevent them from hurting us or the white wings. In fact, they're probably the best angels of heaven. It must be a huge honor to have black wings."

Maron rubbed her temples in confusion. "If… if a black winged angel came to earth, what would you think it would be for?"

"To protect someone from something."

"I'll protect you!" Chiaki's voice shot through Maron's mind. "Look at my actions and decide for yourself why I do what I do… I can't tell you right now, I don't know it all myself. But know this Jeanne; you're not my rival by choice. There's something else I can't say. But trust me!"

Maron looked down in her drink and smiled to herself. 'I trust him…No matter if I understand it or not…'

"There's something I want to tell you…" Chiaki's voice drifted through her mind once again and she realized that this was what he had meant those times.

"Levina?"

"Yes?"

Maron smiled happily. "So a black winged angel is a good thing?"

"Most definitely. Demons are granted leather wings, like bats. So don't be fooled just because their wings are dark."

'He has a reason!' Maron smiled to herself again. 'A reason he's doing this…to protect me. But from what?' Taking another drink of her coco she thought about what it could possibly be. True he was protecting her from demons, but that was obvious. What was that thing that he couldn't tell her? What was it that made him so determined to checkmate before her?

"You look a little confused?"

"Eh? Oh, no, yes, I don't know." Maron sighed a moment before smiling at her again. "Actually you've really helped me out a lot. I just need to find out something for myself later." She gave her friend an encouraging look and slowly finished off her drink. 'I trust you Chiaki. You're hiding it to protect me, I understand that. I'll wait till you talk to me about it and we'll work through this…somehow.'

"My best friend talks to angels." Yamato sat down on the steps of the temple and put his head in his hands. "And I thought I had it rough. But what's this power you want, Chiaki?"

"I can't tell you, Bud." Chiaki smirked at him. "Trust me, its better if you didn't know."

"Or maybe I already know." He looked back at the ground. "Remember what I said about Sinbad a few days ago?"

"What part?" Chiaki sat down by his friend and let Toki sit on his shoulder.

"What he does when he does it. When he steals. It's like magic. Magic or something else helping him. Like a guardian." He eyed Toki.

"I see." Chiaki looked forward. His friend had just all but insinuated that he thought he was Sinbad. "Well then, I guess you'll stop chasing after him now that you know that he has angels on his side, whoever he may be."

"Fat chance." Yamato leaned back an the steps and smirked. "He's my goal. When I catch him, it'll mean that I've finally changed. I'm someone who can stand up for himself. And then I can live fully."

"Gah, you're going to be the death of me." He laughed and was soon joined by his friend. "I thought you did it to impress Maron?"

"Yeah, originally. But after a while I came to decide that that was a pointless struggle...Why do you do it?" He asked after they calmed down. "I know it's not for money or for fame. Why are angels involved? What's going on here?

"Well,"

"He can't say." Toki spoke up, taking to the air and flying in front of them. "No wonder Access has such a hard time with you, you're so careless!" He threw out one arm. "Anyway, Sinbad, Don't do anything before Access returns. He's going through some serious training right now. If a demon attacks do not engage at any cost, you understand?"

"Demons?"

"Smooth move, pal." Chiaki grinned at the angel, who had a hand clamped over his mouth.

"A-anyway, I'm going back now." He flew back more and turned. "I forbid you to do anything irrational!"

"Demons…?" Yamato looked over at Chiaki. "What did he mean demons?"

Any response he might have given was cut off by a light beeping sound coming from the boy's pocket. Reaching into it, he pulled out the rosary and looked at the gem flashing on it. "Linchou."

"Yeah?"

"Go hide." When the boy didn't make a move to leave, he turned and yelled at him. "NOW!" That did the trick and he scrambled up the stairs and slid down, looking around the corner of the temple at him. The beeping grew steadier and he turned to look at the steep stairs leading up to where he was. Slowly a figure came up to him, dressed in loose red fighting pants and matching top. Long blond hair flew behind him in a ponytail and a black belt wrapped around his waist with several gold markings on it.

Ken stood in front of him with a grin on his face, eyes clouded by a black fog. "Chiaki. Good to see you again."

He dropped into a fighting stance. "Get out of his body."

"Ohhh, so you know huh?" Ken slowly slipped into a stance. "Well then, boy, let's just see how you do against me in this body…"

Chiaki flew back in the air before he could even react, slamming against the floor and sliding harshly on the frozen ground. He grunted and flip kicked back up and caught a punch thrown at him, only to have it keep moving and still hit his face.

'Oh man…' Chiaki felt his eye start to swell. 'This is not good.' He blocked another attack but the power of the demon sent him literally flying through the air and into the side wall of the building. 'The demon is using its powers through him… I have to checkmate or there's no way I'll be able to win this.'

Ken walked ran up to him and reared back his fist to strike again. Chiaki brought his hands up to block but the attack never landed. He heard several small thwacks against the wall he was by and when he opened his eyes he saw Ken's fighting shirt tacked to the wall with playing cards. Both of them looked to the side and say a shaking Yamato with a stack of cards in one hand and a single one in his other, ready to be thrown. Small drops of blood dripped over the razor edged cards from his scared grip on them. "N-Next time I'll aim for something besides your cloths!" He challenged, voice wavering.

Ken pulled himself free, ripping his cloths in the process. "I'll enjoy this some other time, then. A real challenge is one on one." He turned and walked away, leaving Chiaki to sink to his knees.

"You okay?" Yamato ran over to him and kneeled down. "What was that?" He looked over at Ken's retreating back. "Is that a demon in him? Is that what you do?"

"Yeah," Chiaki weakly pushed himself up. "That's what I do. Right now my angel is in heaven and I can't transform into Sinbad…" He looked over to the side where Ken was no longer visible. "Until then… we're all in danger."

Yamato looked down at his hands and placed the cards back into the case that came with them. "I guess I won't be showing you how to throw these today after all." His hands had several cuts and scrapes on them, bleeding a lot for being so small. "Man these things are worse than face cuts." He looked around to see what he could wrap them up in but came up with nothing.

"Come on; let's get back to the cabin." Chiaki started walking back to the path that lead to the ski lifts while gingerly rubbing his face and nursing his bruised side. "And Yamato?"

"Yeah?" He felt a little strange hearing his name called for the first time by his friend, instead of Linchou.

"Anyone who can risk themselves for their friend is a real man. You don't have to prove anything by catching me." He turned back around and started walking again.

"What happened to you two?" Miyako yelled at them as soon as they walked in the door of the cabin. "We have been worried sick!"

Maron walked into the room from her bedroom just in time to hear her friend freak out about Chiaki's black eye, then proceeding to Yamato's cut up hands. "Ah, you see, Chiaki fell down and I cut my hands on some ice trying to help him up…" Yamato grinned lamely.

"You're such a bother!" Miyako pulled him over to the sink and turned on the water. "Here, wash the blood off, I'll get the bandages."

"Should I bother asking if you're okay?" Maron whispered as Chiaki walked past her to him room.

"Something like this can't keep me down."

"I know. You heal fast." She looked over at him, torn between hugging him or running from him. She took a long slow intake of breath. "Chiaki?"

"Yes?"

"You wanted to tell me something?" He froze a moment hearing her words. "Want to talk about it?"

He took her hand and lead her back to his room, slowly closing the door behind himself. The pair walked to his bed and sat down. Instantly Chiaki leaned forward and looked at the ground. "Well, this is really weird."

"I know." She leaned against the wall behind him and hugged her knees. "But it had to be done sooner or later."

He felt his lips turn up into a smirk. "You know I know who you are."

"Mm." She nodded.

"And you're still here."

"Mm," she repeated her hum and rested her chin on her knees. "I want to know why. I trust you Chiaki, so please tell me the truth."

Groaning, he put his face in his hands. "You know who I am too…"

"Mm,"

He let out a long sigh. "It happened about the same time I met you, I guess." He heard Maron shift lightly from behind and sat next to him. "Access ran into me on the street. Already I was thinking about running away from home, but I didn't have the motive. When he told me what was going on, I took the chance to leave. Even if it meant being a thief." He looked over at her and offered a small smile. "At first, Access told me my mission was to make you stop being a thief so you wouldn't seal anymore."

"Why?"

He broke eye contact with her and looked back down. "I can't tell you right now. Not until Access comes back and I get him to tell me the part of the story that he has left out. All I can say right now is we're both in grave danger. Something is coming soon and we have to be ready for it."

"After you left?" She changed the topic back to his story, filing away what she just heard for later.

"After I left, I moved in next to you, of course. At first, I tried making you stop being a thief, like I promised Access… But after a while I couldn't do it anymore. I… Kinda started to like you. Could you tell?"

"Hardly," she snorted. "you've only kissed me a hundred times and felt me up more than that."

"You're so cute I can't help it."

"Back to the story." She stopped his hand before it reached her. "Please, I want to know Chiaki."

"Yeah, okay. Anyway, I told Access that my main goal was to protect Jeanne and seal when I could. He took it really well, he had come to earth to try and protect someone as well."

"Who?"

"Fin," He answered before he could stop himself.

"Fin? Why? She told me that you two worked for the devil!"

Chiaki let out a loud, sick laugh. "She would." He felt Maron get angry at him so he continued before she could speak. "Access loves her. I can tell. Quit obviously. He was sent to earth to stop Fin from finding you and to take her back to heaven. The reasons were kept from me, said he couldn't say that information. He's already in deep trouble for turning me into Sinbad. If he was to fail at stopping Jeanne from appearing then another angel would have come in his place to finish things."

"Finish things?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "But he didn't like whatever it was. Promised to grant me one wish if I would help him."

"What is your wish?"

"I want my mother back."

"But surely you know that…"

"I know. She can't come back."

"Then why?"

He looked over at her. "Because you sighed in front of your mailbox. If it wasn't you, if I didn't feel anything for the girl, I would have stopped. But it was you," he looked forward again. "And I knew that I had to stop what was happening from happening. I wanted to protect you. Access granted me that power."

"And after that?"

"And after that, here we are." He leaned back on the bed and looked at the ceiling. "My goal as Sinbad is to make sure you don't get hurt. The reason I seal is secret until I know everything. I can't hurt you with false information."

"So it was all for me?" She spoke softly, putting her hand over her heart. "The reason you steal? The reason you fight?"

"I told you, you're my main goal. I want to protect you."

"Chiaki?"

"Yes?"

"I trust you." She looked over and down at him. "No matter how what, I'll believe in you. So please, believe in me too?"

"Maron…" he pulled her down on top of him and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry…about everything… how I can't tell you…"

"It's okay…" she closed her eyes. "You're not here to hurt me, that's all that matters right now." Maron let him hold her and contently listened to the sound of his heart.

"Maron?" She slowly lifted her head and met his eyes. A moment later she found his lips on hers and contently allowed him to kiss her. When it ended another followed and she felt his hands rub her back gently.

"Hey, Chiaki, I- holy hell!" Yamato stopped in the doorway after walking in on them. Maron quickly shot away from him and adjusted her shirt, blushing madly.

"Yamato!" Chiaki sat up in bed. "I was this close man, what the hell?"

"Ugh! Men!" Maron shoved him back on the bed and walked out of the room. "Good night guys."

"Maron!" She stopped and looked back over at her shoulder at him. Their eyes met and she sent him a small playful smile. "Sweet dreams, Maron."

"You too, Chiaki. And you too, Linchou."

"Ah. Sweet dreams." Yamato looked back over at his friend and shook his head. "Go to bed man. Lord knows I need the sleep."

A/N: Sorry for the delay updating, hope the length makes up for it.