It was dark, and Tsukasa was walking Haruna home. They had stayed after school together - they both needed to work harder to catch up - and Tsukasa had offered out of kindness. They were friends; it was what friends did.

Haruna smiled, the light form the streetlamp making her seem almost too perfect. "Amou-kun," she said with laughter in her eyes, "have you ever been kissed?"

Tsukasa shook his head.

"Do you want to be?"

With someone else's face in his mind, Tsukasa nodded.

"Hold still a minute."

"N-Naoya-kun…" The stuttering call caught Itsuki's attention. Tsukasa was standing in the hall outside the classroom, more skittish than a rabbit. He swallowed, and tried again. "I-I wanted to ask your advice. On… g-girls."

The change in Itsuki's attitude was instantaneous, his smile turning from joking-with-your-classmates to confident-older-brother. He dropped an arm across Tsukasa's shoulders and led him away without a word, up toward the rooftop. Once there, he bid the Eraser sit and plopped down beside him. "Okay," he said slowly, "my interest is piqued. Shoot."

Tsukasa stared intently at his hands, which were twisting in his shirt nervously. "Um, alright. First, to be perfectly clear, there's a reason I'm talking to you about this, and not anyone else."

"Let me guess. You're too embarrassed to talk to Tomonori, Kirihara's already a girl, and I'm the next one on the list of people you trust." Itsuki looked over to see Tsukasa looking back, and his expression was not confirming it. "Was I close?"

Tsukasa took a deep breath, let it out, and said in a rush, "I kissed Haruna-chan."

"Haruna." Itsuki closed his eyes as though struck and dropped his chin to his chest, laughing satirically. "You kissed my sister."

"I know. I was there." Tsukasa leaned in closer to his friend, eyes pleading. "I'm sorry, Naoya-kun, I really am. I didn't mean to. It just happened! We were talking for a long time, and then I offered to walk her home because I was worried that something might happen, since it was after dark. And then she asked if I'd ever kissed anyone, and I said no, and then she leaned in and…and… kissed me."

Itsuki sat very still, head down, breathing slowly, for a few minutes. Then, he look up at the sky, probably talking to his sister telepathically. Finally, he turned to Tsukasa, totally calm, and said, "So, how was it?"

"What?" Tsukasa squeaked, blindsided.

"You know, can she kiss well? I want to know. See if I can marry her off proudly." He nudged his friend's side and said, "Are you going to go out with her? I never expected that you would like her."

Tsukasa was blushing furiously, and chose his words with care. "No," he said bluntly. "No, I'm not. I'm not going to ask her out, or do anything like that with her. I'm sorry, Naoya-kun," he looked over, afraid of bodily harm, "but I don't like her that way."

Itsuki's face didn't change, as though it was set in stone. "What's wrong with her?"

"It's not her. Really, it's not. It's me. The kiss was…pleasant. It was even enjoyable. But I couldn't pay attention to it, my mind kept drifting back to…to the person I really like. I was staring at a tree the entire time. I completely forgot to even close my eyes. I used to…I used to think that I really, really wanted to kiss someone. I couldn't breathe sometimes, I wanted it so much. But when Haruna-chan and I kissed…it wasn't what I expected."

Itsuki leaned back on his hands and regarded him. "Who do you like?"

Tsukasa mumbled something under his breath.

"Please tell me it's not me. Or Shiba. Is it Tomonori? Ooo, hey, you two will make a great couple, besides the whole 'God hates gays' mentality. Good lu-"

"It's Kaname-kun," Tsukasa blurted out.

Itsuki sucked air in through his teeth and whistled. "Ouch. Did not see that one coming." They sat in an uncomfortable silence. "Um…I guess the next question is really going to have to be 'Why?' "

"He's…he's…the opposite of me." He took a deep breath and continued, "I know it doesn't make sense to you, but he's a Darklore, and I'm an Eraser. I feel a sort of…attraction to him. He is black and I am white, like good and evil, but I'm the evil one and he forgives me."

"You're talking about when you killed his parents seven years ago."

"Yes."

"And you like him because he hasn't called you on it? That's kind of arbitrary. You'll never get him, so just go out with my sister. I'll hate you less."

"Naoya-kun," Tsukasa started carefully, "You love Kirihara-chan. Which means that you want Kaname-kun to break up with her. You want him to break her heart."

Itsuki shifted uncomfortably. "No. I'm fine if they stay together forever, even."

"But you would be happier if you could have her. I think everyone has to have someone like that. That's what love is. Everyone has their match. You want Kirihara-chan, and Haruna-chan wants Tomonori-kun," he held up a hand to shut down Itsuki's protests, "and I want Kaname-kun. But Tomonori-kun is a man of God and Kaname-kun loves Kirihara-chan and none of us will ever be happy. Isn't that what it looks like?

"But there's hope. There's always hope. The hope that something will happen, that they'll fight, that they won't last forever and then we'll be the ones to help them." Tsukasa paused with a watery sniff. "Am I a horrible person for thinking like that?"

"I'm…" Itsuki ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I think we need backup. We'll wait here until they arrive."

"But, Naoya-kun, it's lunchtime right now, and if we spend any more time we'll miss class."

"Yup. You have to make sacrifices in love. Besides, it'll be worth it. Trust me."

"Wait, what? Who's coming?" The bell to classes rang.

Just then, a thin, blond girl appeared in the doorway. "Hiya, Naoya, Amou! What's your big emergency?"

Tsukasa attempted to inhale his tongue, then coughed out, "Haruna-chan!"

Itsuki leaped up, ran to her, picked her up and twirled her around. "I'm so glad to see you, my only twin sister!"

Laughing as he set her down again, Haruna asked, "Alright, what's the favor?"

"You only have to wait here with us."

"For what?"

"Did you relay my message to Kirihara?"

"It was just 'Fireworks burn out all too soon, bring everyone,' right? Sure I did. Why?"

"She's going to bring everyone up here. At least, I hope so. And she's probably figured out that we're going to try to break Kaname and her up. But, um, other than that, no reason."

"Naoya…" Haruna growled, and tackled him to the ground.

As Itsuki had his butt handed to him by his sister, Tsukasa's mind was reeling. "Naoya-kun, this isn't good."

"Oh? Why not?"

Tsukasa was on the verge of hyperventilating. "I can't do this."

"What are you talking about, Amou?" Haruna sat up and looked closely at him. "Naoya, what's he talking about?"

"He likes Kaname."

"Ouch. Did not see that one coming."

"Out of the blue, right?"

"Though I did know it wasn't me." She tousled Tsukasa's hair and said, "Just so you know, kissing's much better when you like the guy."

Itsuki hugged her from behind and leered, "You been kissing teachers lately, Haruna?"

"Tsukasa," she squealed, blushing, "you spilled the beans! I can't believe Tomonori told you!"

"Told him what?" Tomonori asked, walking through the door. He was closely followed by Mana, Kaname, and Shiba. "Hello, Amou, Haruna, Itsuki. You're lucky I have a free period, though I still do not approve of all of you cutting any class."

"Naoya-kun," Mana said, "I hope you didn't mean what I think you meant."

Kaname looked between the two of them. "Why? What did he mean?"

Itsuki sprang to his feet, pulling Tsukasa up with him. The Eraser hissed in his ear, "I like him because we're opposites. Since I love him, that means he hates me!"

"I thought he forgave you."

"Just because he hasn't hurt me yet doesn't mean he doesn't hate me!"

"And he hates you because…why?"

Blushing, Tsukasa yelled, "Because I love him!"

Silence overtook the entire rooftop. Tsukasa made a sound akin to that which one makes when one's heart stops. Smiling impishly, Haruna said, "Just to clarify, he means you, Kaname-kun."

Kaname blinked. "Oh."

Itsuki stepped forward. "And, much to the amazement of all, I love you, Mana."

Haruna took a running jump, wrapped her legs around Tomonori's waist, and said the equivalent with a kiss.

Slowly, Mana walked forward and whispered to Tsukasa, "Good luck, but I don't think he loves anyone. He's never even said it to me." And then she turned around, smiling, and said, "I love you, too, Naoya!"

Tsukasa was staring at the ground. Okay, so Kaname knew. Okay, so he was going to die a slow and expressively painful death. Okay, but what if it was returned? He felt a rush of emotions - none of them bad - and his wings appeared. Oh no, he was crying. He flapped his wings once experimentally. No, they were too weak. He needed his stronger ones, the ones he had lost, to be able to fly. He knew that.

He sank slowly to his knees, arms wrapped around himself, tears streaming down his cheeks.

It had been a mistake to go to Itsuki for help. His love for Kname had been his last bastion, not even Tomonori had known, and now it was gone. This was an important turning point. Either they could still be friends, or he would…kill himself. Yes. That was all.

Polished black shoes came down next to him. Kaname bent down, carefully avoiding his wings, and, in a low, muttered voice, said, "What do you want to do the most right now?"

Slowly looking up, Tsukasa stuttered, "I-I want to fly away. I want to fly back to this morning. Or yesterday, even. I should never have kissed Haruna.It raised all these different questions, and then I went and asked Itsuki's advice-"

"You talked to Itsuki after kissing Haruna? Wow." Kaname turned to where Itsuki was have an apparently intense discussion with Mana, and said, "Thanks for not killing him."

Itsuki waved. "I figured you'd be mad. Go off, you two, but no hanky-panky."

Tsukasa didn't notice being led to the edge of the building as he said distractedly, "I can't fly, did you know? It's a horrible feeling, like I'm trapped here. I'm blind, I'm deaf, I'm dumb, I've lost a part of myself and it's horrible…"

"Yes," Kaname agreed, a small smile on his face. "I like flying the best of all since I found out that I'm a Darklore. Listen, you're in shock, and I'm going to get us out of here. Alright?"

"What?" But Kaname had already picked him up, grown his beautiful black wings, and jumped.

Over the wind rushing past his ears, Tsukasa heard Kaname ask, "Speaking of, don't you mind that I'm a Darklore and some reincarnation of some god and all that?"

Tsukasa sighed and laughed, "Just part of your charm. A good match, you and I. Light and dark, good and evil…"

"I'm evil?"

"No, I am," he paused to listen to Kaname's wings beating, "but you were right about me being in shock, I think. Why am I not crying anymore, and why haven't you left yet?"

"Because I love you."

"Oh. Wait, why?"

Kaname landed easily. "Because I kill and you heal. Good and evil."

Kaname leaned forward. Tsukasa closed his eyes.

It was much better.

Itsuki watched his two friends on a distant rooftop and looked and Mana, whose arm was hooked in his. "First off, I was serious about loving you."

"I know."

"It wasn't just a ploy to get them together."

"Naoya, I know."

"It was just a gamble about who he would go to. I'm still amazed that Tomonori let Haruna do it, protective as he is."

"I think he was more worried about letting Amou-kun go."

"Funny how they both think the other is good to their evil. Maybe they just even out. I hope they'll be okay."

"It was just so easy to fool him…"

"It's so adorable how much you worry. Maybe you like Kaname more than me?"

"Maybe?"

She laughed as she hit him halfheartedly.