Disclaimer: Sorry, can't talk right now. I'm busy having tea with Satan and his evil friends, so don't sue me for anything or I'll sic them on you!

Chapter 7: The Truth

Mimori's P.O.V…

I can't believe he's actually coming with me. He is actually coming with me back to Aunt Naria's house.

Glancing quickly over at Ryuhou yet again, I still couldn't wrap my mind around this change. The Ryuhou I had met when I'd come to HOLY those few months ago wouldn't have come with me. This was something that the old Ryuhou would have done, and that made my heart so glad. It was a step towards something that I had been trying to do ever since I'd stepped off the plane. I was slowing worming my way through he cold shell.

I tore my eyes away from his cool, perfect profile and maneuvered the car around a large and out of place boulder. The night wind whipped through my hair, swirling through the jeep and blowing straight through. Two bright beams from the headlights cut a path through the darkness, lighting what the moonlight didn't reveal.

"We'll be there in about twenty more minutes," I announced as we passed a cliff face that resembled a setting sun, one of the familiar landmarks I'd come to recognize in this wasteland beyond the city's walls.

"Why does your aunt live all the way out here?" Ryuhou asked. I looked at him briefly, finding him staring ahead at the plateus in the distance.

"Well…" He wasn't going to like the answer. Not one bit. "She didn't want to be bothered by HOLY. She's a native Alter, and she didn't want any trouble for it." When he didn't say anything, I continued, "It's the reputation that you've all built up. Out here your thought of as bringers of destruction. HOLD and HOLY are the stories that mothers tell their children when they don't behave, like the boogieman. I've heard it said myself. 'If you aren't a good child, then HOLY will come and get you,'" I quoted to him.

He visibly flinched. "And here I thought we were actually helping, keeping order and apprehending criminals." His red eyes were narrowed with anger, his voice hot and tight with it.

Taking one hand off the wheel, I gently touched his arm. "Sometimes you do. But people don't always see things the way you do. Some of the Alters you've apprehended were someone's loved one or friend. They're just as angry at you as you are at them. It's all about perspective. There are some out here who are grateful to you, too, because you've saved them or helped them in some way." I spoke soothingly. I didn't want him to be angry, or hurt.

Ryuhou looked at me strangely for a moment and then faced forward again. He never objected to the hand I had placed on his arm. A small smile tugged at my lips as I let my hand begin to drop. He wasn't as tough and cold as he made you think.

I was about to return my hand to the wheel, when he grabbed it abruptly. A startled blush sprang up over my cheeks. His hand was warm and dry, slightly calloused. His grip was firm, but not tight. It was almost electric, holding his hand. My mouth slightly dry, I asked, "Ryuhou?" My eyed flicked in between him and the ground ahead.

"And what do you think of what HOLY has been doing out here, Mimori? Do you think we've been doing something unjust?" he asked, staring out his side of the jeep.

"I…I think you've done justice to some, Ryuhou. I think that you had pure intentions, but at some point, you crossed a line between keeping order and leading a crusade. The fact that you cared enough to try is what really matters, Ryuhou. That is the only thing that matters because it means that you want to help people, and that means that you can start correcting any mistakes you've made," I answered as truthfully as I knew how. I could tell that my answer mattered to him a great deal. I hope that I've given him the answer he was looking for.

He squeezed my hand hard. "Is that what you really think?"

I squeezed back. "Yes, it is."

We continued to hold hands until I need both of mine to control the jeep as it began to climb the rocky and slightly unstable trail to my aunt's cabin. I'd slowed down so that I didn't drive us off the cliff and drop fifty feet and die.

Eventually, I pulled up in front of the place I'd come to think of as my home. Shutting off the ignition, I swung my legs out of the car, wincing slightly as my injured leg made contact with the earth. Damn that hurt.

Limping a tad, I led Ryuhou through the door into the welcoming light of the kitchenette. Ria was sitting at the small table, drinking tea from a ceramic mug. Looking up from the cup, she smiled. "So there you are…and you've brought a friend?" she asked, staring past me at Ryuhou.

"Ria, this is Ryuhou. Ryuhou, meet my aunt, Naria Miamoto," I said, making the necessary introductions.

"So you're the young man I've heard so much about," my aunt greeted him warmly. I blushed and she giggled like a school-girl, murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like, "Young love."

Damn her, why did she have to be so embarrassing? Although my dad was worse. I had had one boyfriend in college and my dad had essentially put him through an Inquisition style interrogation. Poor Suichi… I'd never wondered why he broke off the relationship. After what my dad asked him, I would have done the same thing if I had been him.

Ryuhou, thank God, didn't comment on it, but instead said, "A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Miamoto."

"Oh, and he's as polite as he is cute!" Ria exclaimed, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Just like you said Mori!" She gave me a conspirator's wink and continued, "You kids have fun! I think I'm going to go for a long run. You had be a bit stressed since you didn't come home right away, Mori. You gave this old lady quite a scare, young lady, so now I need to work off the extra stress." She sounded so serious, even through all the bull she was spouting.

With a final farewell, she breezed out the door and was gone, leaving me and Ryuhou standing shocked and blushing in the middle of the room.

"Is she always like that?" Ryuhou asked, trying in vain to hide his faintly pink cheeks from my view. Ria was right about at least one thing: he was cute.

"She is a bit all over the place. I've just learned to adapt to her many personalities," I sighed, dropping into a chair in the corner of the room in front of my laptop.

"Many personalities?"

I grinned. "Not as in schizophrenia. She just has a lot of different faces. She's been my loving aunt, my best friend, my teacher and trainer, my mom at times, and the face you just saw was her inner teenager, I guess." I shook my head with the last.

"Right…" he muttered.

"Welcome to my world." With a sigh, I turned on the computer and inserted the disc. Pulling up the appropriate files, I shifted to the side and said, "Take a look. Here's the proof I promised."

Ryuhou leaned over my shoulder, his face even with mine. He was so close that I could smell the scent of his skin. He smelled of sweat, but not unpleasantly, and of rain laden wind. I couldn't stop myself from inhaling deeply.

Watching him intently, I was far too aware of how close he was. His HOLY uniform brushed against my arm, and I could feel his body heat through his clothing and my bandages. His brows were knitted and a saw the disbelief flash across his face and he read the confidential documents about the atrocities Zigmar had been privy to. His body was rigid with anger and a thirst for justice. I knew well enough to recognize the signs.

Without drawing away, he turned his head and brought his face close to mine. "I'll kill him for this," he whispered. His eyes were so angry, and I knew that a great deal of it directed not at Zigmar, but at himself. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you, Mimori. I you wouldn't lie about something like this, but I had to make sure. And now that I know…" He trailed off, but he didn't have to finish. I understood, at least as much as I was capable.

I didn't want him to blame himself. It wasn't his fault. He'd only trusted too well, that's all. I didn't want him to hate himself or hurt. I just wanted to take away whatever he was feeling and make it better. I wanted to heal him, or at least make him numb from those self-loathing emotions for a little while.

That was all I was thinking when I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him to me. That was all I was thinking when I kissed his lips gently, trying to tell him without words that it wasn't his fault.

When his lips moved against mine in response, I knew he understood. I knew that I'd finally broken through that barrier he'd built and found my Ryuhou, the one I'd shared six months of laughter with six years ago. We kissed as if there was no time, no hurry. I let his tongue into my mouth, giving myself over to the sensations my body was experiencing.

Pulling me up from my chair, Ryuhou pressed me into his chest, one hand kneading my lower back and the other cupping my face. The hand on my back moved up and brushed against one of the deeper cuts on my back, causing me to wince involuntarily. He pulled back, and just looked down at me, for once readable and unguarded. I could see into his eyes and found the fountain of emotion that I'd always known existed inside him.

"You should lie down," he finally breathed, "you're injured and probably tired." He started to move away, but I stopped him, hand clutching his arm.

"You will stay, right?" I didn't want him to confront Zigmar alone, and I knew that if I didn't make him stay, he would leave when I wasn't paying attention.

He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly misinterpreting the request.

Blushing furiously, I added, "I want to be there to confront Zigmar. I want to go with you."

Now he frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea. It's too dangerous."

"So was breaking into HOLY, but yet I did it and lived to tell the tale," I countered.

"And ended up with too many gashes to count."

…He had me there.

"Let me put it this way, Ryuhou. If you do leave without me, I'll follow you anyway."

"You most certainly will not," he said sternly, "You will get hurt."

I looked into those dark red eyes of his and let my love for him show completely in my eyes and face. "I'd follow you anyway." I brushed my lips against his again. He needed to understand that I'd follow him anywhere. Like the song, ain't no mountain high enough…

I felt nothing less than complete devotion to him, nothing less than the deepest love. When we'd been kids, he'd been my best friend. Over time, that friendship had changed and I'd fallen in love. I don't think I'd realized how deeply I'd fallen until now though.

"Mimori…" He wrapped me in a tight embrace. "Damn it all, Mimori. Why do have to be so stubborn all the time?"

"I don't know, why do you have to be so bossy?" I joked, hugging him back. I win. He would wait for me. I wanted to hold him forever.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I felt the now slightly familiar tingle and saw the green light that told me I was using my Alter. Ice wrapped around me and Ryuhou, encasing us. Surprisingly, it wasn't cold. It was just there.

"What did you do?" Ryuhou asked, as surprised as I was.

"…Nothing. I just thought that I wanted to stay like this forever."

He gave me a small smile that I hadn't seen for a long, long time. "I think that you need some more practice with your Alter before we go after Zigmar."

"My aunt is teaching me."

"I think you need a different teacher."

"Like who?" Was he suggesting what I think he was?

"Me."

(A.N.) Thank you for being patient, and for sending me all your reviews! I really appreciate it. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope I can pull some more time together in the near future to type up a new one. Thanks for ready and please review!