And then, the end. I hope you liked it :)

Heaven. Is there any other word to describe our cliff, Natsuki? A wisp of smoke was rising at my left, where there was the minor shuttle that I had stolen from the Kiyohime. A white, dense spiral of smoke pushed by the wind, towards a deep blue sky blessed by a double couple of suns. Was I really there? Yes, I was. I was really in that planet only for you.
I didn't vividly remember all my actions, nor those excited moments, but... there are things that we can only live, can we? I had left the Kiyohime and its crew members at their fates, because I knew I had to face mine. Now, I understand how much fool and crazy my actions were, how much stupid I was. In those strange moments I had only you in my mind, so I took the shuttle and reached that planet abandoned by the Gods, but I didn't realize at that time that there was no signs that your tribe was really there. My instinct led me, upsetting my gestures, my thoughts. How was that possible? I was the cynical, stiff, rational Shizuru Fujino... was I? No, that was a lie. A part of me, that part of me that belonged only to you, had traced for me a path to that cliff.

I didn't have the need to turn off, when the harmonious sound of yours steps reached my ears, echoing upon the black ground, in the light of the sunset. And I didn't have the need to ask, to give voice at my doubts, because I unconsciously knew that you was here to bring me all the truth. So, I stayed still, gazing at the sky, while you slowly sat upon the black stone, at my side. Say, Natsuki, did you realize how much I wanted embrace your shoulders? To sit at your side and stay with you forever? I knew there were barriers to put down. Yours. Mine. And we were there only for that.

- I know that you would be here, at the end.

Your voice broke off the flow of my thoughts, bringing me back at that moment. With my usual, innate calm, I turned to you as if that was the first time I saw your brilliant, sharp face. Sighing, I realized that I couldn't hold out anymore, that I wanted desperately answers at my wordless questions. I realized I wanted know everything. So, I raised my right hand at my hair, stopping the wind and with an accommodating tone of voice I admitted all my doubts.

- Why?

I couldn't see your face, at that moment, because you were sitting at my side, gazing at the sea under your feet, but in your voice I perceived the shadow of a smile. You gave me the rational, simple answers, the reasons even if your words hurt me.

- We needed you and the Kiyohime to understand the bound between an imperial ship and its Captain, because we want to reproduce this tie between the Vector and Me. That was the simplest way to find out. And, I admit, the most efficacious too.

Slowly, I turned at the major sun while it was setting in front of us, inflaming the ocean and at the same time my crimson eyes. Your words had the weight of a death sentence, to me. But, was that the only truth? I felt again your eyes upon me, and your wordless but decisive challenge. So, I bitterly smiled.

- Do you hate me that much?

I knew that that was a banality, a meaningless observation used to fill up the silence between us, but your question destabilized me.

- To hate you?

There was a strange disbelief, in that question, a strange astonishment that I couldn't understand, while you was turning again to face the quiet, distant sea. And exactly as in the Kiyohime, I noticed the awkwardness in your face. Could I run away, Natsuki? Could I? You know that I couldn't, do you?
Slowly, I sat at your side, observing the immensity of the sea, veiled by the gold of the sunset and inevitably noticing how much harmony was embracing us. And, equally, I felt that harmony also in your following words.

- How can I hate you? You are the only one who gives reasons at my actions, from years. We are tied. We chase each other in a run without time, a run endless.

- But you gave an end at that run, Natsuki. Why did you do?

I know you were searching the right words inside of you, those answers that you weren't able to give at your people, to explain that sudden contact with me. And I felt a strange, pleasant alchemy between the two of us, in our eyes, in the way we were searching each other.

- Facing the stormy sea, also the pirate needs his free port, a safe harbor where he can forget the evil of the world.

Natsuki. Have you an idea of the power oh those few, simple words? Do you know how much I loved them. How much I loved that flow of consciousness, veiled by a never-ending awkwardness, blessed by the disarming admission of your hidden tenderness? My rebel pirate, my nomad, my Redeemer... my chains. Do you realize how much those words dug inside of me? Inside of us? The people saw us so different, but the truth is that we were... no, we are so very much alike. I think that that was the time I realized the perfection of our destiny. And, on the other hand, every time you give in, every time you shrink the world, don't you search me as your free port, exactly as you said in that cliff? And, again, aren't you the only one who can see behind my masks, to find the storm that rages inside of me? Aren't you the only one who can love me as I really am? And so, following our feelings, I finally asked you what I had in mind for so many time.

- So, Is that the reason that drove you to break my chains?

I felt you became stiff, at my side. I saw your knuckle to whiten, against the bare rocks of that cliff. And again, your following words were veiled by the anger and by the grudge. I could feel those sensations as if they was an electrical discharge. And then, for the umpteenth time, I saw your shyness in your emerald eyes, immediately repressed by a deep melancholy. An ancient and equally real sadness, the longing of a pure-hearted and behind that, your chains. Those chains that now I had to break for you.

- I don't know why I broke your tie with your ship. I only know that I wanted an opportunity, only one, to lose myself in the eyes of my hunter. And really that's all.

Smiling, amused by that game between the two of us, I shook my head. I think that was that the time when I decided to embrace you. With embarrassment, I felt you against me for the first time, and I know you were stiff by that contact you didn't understand, or maybe you weren't able to accept. How much time passed before you relaxed in my arms, Natsuki? Do you remember? In the darkness, I couldn't see the awkwardness on your green eyes, while slowly our breathes were assuming the same rhythm, becoming one. And I don't remember how much time I stayed there, embracing your shoulders, gazing at the first stars on the sky, enjoying for the first time your smell. But I know that when my voice broke that blessed calm, the darkness was embracing the two of us.

- What must I do, Natsuki? What must I do, now, with you?

As if I could do anything about it, something different from loving you with all myself. And I felt you started, in an hint of laugh against my chest. So, slowly, I rested my chin against your left shoulder, gazing at the obsidian expanse of the sea in front of us. There was, in the air, the salty smell of the ocean, mixed with yours. In the distance, I heard the beginning of a singing, soon extinguished at the change of the wind. And then, I felt my astonishment, my confusion, when your fingers crossed mine, because in that very instant I understood that that was the first concession at our relationship, at the two of us.

- Do you really need that I tell you what you have to do?

No, I didn't really need that, and you knew very well. And when I searched, and then I found, your lips against mine for the first time, Natsuki, did you feel my overwhelming joy? And did you understand the tears in my eyes, when I felt you started and then gave up at... at me? Even now, every single time is the same, as if our astonishment is a part of our tie. And even now, every single time I feel you alive, and true, and real, and I can't help it but I cry for joy.

And with these thoughts on my mind, I leave my cup of tea upon the low table of our spartan tent and slowly I slide at your side, in our couch, gazing at your sleeping face.

You know I can't live without it, do you, Natsuki?

When I touch your lips with a light kiss, I feel you grumble in your sleep. Please, my chain to life, keep on sleeping. Tomorrow, the Vector will leave this little planet and I will be with you, by your side. A nomad who has found the way to her home.