I suppose all I can say is that I'm sorry. I really did not intend to take this long to update, if you can believe me. It took a very kind reviewer to get me back to my story, for which I am very grateful. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 6

Shippo scowled at his breakfast cereal, not angry at it in particular, himself or Souta either. No, this anger was directionless, anger for the sake of being angry. Perhaps that is what made him feel all the worse.

Heavy footsteps coming down the stairs resonated through Shippo's skull; after all, those hangover-laden foot falls could only belong to one person. Souta dragged himself into a chair and rested his head on the table.

"Hey, Shippo?" He asked in a rather groggy voice.

Shippo was broken from his reverie so suddenly he could only stammer out his response, "Y...Y...Yes, um…I mean, uh…what is it?"

"Can you get me a glass of water, please?" Souta seemed not to take notice of Shippo's splutter.

Shippo got the water and smashed it on the table in front of Souta, spilling some of the water. Again, Souta seemed either not to notice or not to care. Souta sat up with great difficulty and guzzled the water, spilling some more onto the front of his shirt.

He looked down and noticed the shirt he was wearing, one of the pajama shirts they had bought for Shippo. Come to think of it, the pajama bottoms were his also. "Hmm, I don't remember changing into these last night." He commented lightly.

Shippo blushed and turned his head away, "Well, um, how much do you really remember from last night?"

"Yeah, ha, you're right, I guess was pretty hammered." Souta leaned back in the chair and for the first time took notice of Shippo's nervous, blushing complexion.

"Yeah. Ha-ha, I, uh, I guess you were." Shippo said in a very false tone of voice.

Souta narrowed his eyes and concentrated on Shippo. "Stop being so happy, you're giving me a headache." Souta rested his head back on the table and gave Shippo an exit he gladly took advantage of.

Shippo wandered the grounds of the shrine, thinking of the last words Mrs. Higurashi had said to him before she had left to run some errands.

"He gets like this once in a while, I am truly sorry Shippo. Ever since, well…I just don't know what I'm going to do sometimes."

Mrs. Higurashi told Shippo a story from Souta's past, a story hard for Shippo to hear and even harder for Mrs. Higurashi to tell.

As she fled out the door, Shippo saw tears streaming from her eyes. He stood there, vaguely aware of the sound of the car pulling out of the driveway, his mind somewhere else. He did little else until early in the afternoon when Souta had woken up.

The rest of the day was spent in similar fashion, Souta and Shippo keeping a relative distance from each other. Night fell soon enough and found Souta in his room looking out the window absentmindedly, his back to the door.

Shippo padded into the room silently, like only a kitsune can do. Shippo approached Souta, not sure exactly of what he was doing. In Shippo's mind it was like another force had taken over, not that he exactly minded it.

"Souta." Shippo called softly when he was right behind the teenager.

"Shippo, you scared me." Souta was very uncomfortable at their close proximity.

"I am sorry…Souta…" Shippo paced closer until he and Souta were just a hairs breadth away from each other.

"Did you want something, Shippo?" Souta stammered, while backing up until he reached the wall and could go no further.

Souta was painfully aware of what he was wearing, he had long since changed from the pajamas Shippo had leant him to his normal ones, which consisted mostly of a pair of boxer shorts and a white under-shirt. Even so, he felt as if he were standing naked in front of Shippo.

Though he willed his body to move, Souta's muscles were tense and unyielding. When Souta felt as if he couldn't stand waiting any longer, Shippo did something totally unexpected.

Shippo wrapped his arms around Souta and cried. His face was buried deep in the security of Souta's chest. Shippo cried for his friend. He cried for everything that had ever happened to his friend, than he cried because of what his friend had become.

Souta did not understand the motivation behind Shippo's actions, but he did understand the emotion, all too well.

'I met Shippo and…happiness, fear, sadness, pain…love…all of these things came back to me…once I met Shippo…oncehe appeared, he became my whole world…' Souta thought as Shippo held him.

"Shippo…" Souta said quietly. "…I love you, Shippo…"

Shippo looked into Souta's face and did not recognize the person staring back. Normally Souta was a man of little emotion, hiding his true feelings behind an unending, long-standing wall. The Souta he saw was the man behind the wall. It was the Souta he had fallen in love with.

Shippo smiled, "Can I stay here and hold you for a while, Souta?"

"Sorry, I was being weird." Shippo said after seeing the odd look come across Souta's face.

"No, you weren't Shippo." Souta bent down and clamped his mouth firmly over Shippo's.

His kiss was not dominating but still firm. Souta caressed Shippo's tongue with his own, pulling Shippo out until the kitsune exerted some of his own force.

The kiss became more passionate when Shippo came over his initial shock and kissed back. Two people became one at that moment, and as quickly as they had merged they separated.

Shippo felt a sudden sense of vertigo when Souta broke the connection and started to fall backwards. In an effort to catch him, Souta fell along with Shippo onto the bed behind them.

"Why did you stop?" Shippo asked.

"Because…I just need you to promise me something." Souta said with great effort.

"What's that?"

"That, no matter what, you won't leave me. I don't think I can ever deal with that again."

Shippo smiled and leaned in to Souta, giving his acknowledgement to keep the promise. 'This is a promise I will not fail to keep…because you've given me everything, Souta…love, memories, desire…'

"I love you too, Souta."