A/C - As always thanks for the wonderful reviews! And, as promised SHOUT-OUTS! AND (and) don't forget to kindly review, follow and fav!

CaitHawke5Ever - Without giving away spoilers, I hope you're right! Kitzune is a slippery character. You want to believe him and trust him but it's definitely not wise to blindly ignore his nature. I think Mai will learn that throughout. Huge thanks for the reviews on every chapter! I read them, love them and ultimately, they make me smile every time!

JanGemma123z - Thanks for the review!

Chapter 23 - Hearts Exposed

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Naru was gone by the time I woke up the next day and it gave me much needed time to think.

What I was going to do about this?

My deal with Kitzune was still vivid in my mind and I decided to do some quick research on the fox spirit. My research was probably not as sophisticated as Naru's would have been since I relied on the search engines 'Google' and 'Bing'. After a quick name search, the results were everything I had already known; Kitzune was a trickster and not to be trusted - least of all with any sort of dying wish.

I sighed, it didn't make anything better when I felt a presence near me. Suddenly, I could sense Gene hovering on that realm close by. He wasn't strong enough to appear on this world but he could certainly pull my consciousness from here if I wasn't careful. No doubt he had questions or maybe he just wanted to comfort me.

I ignored the sensation and knew Gene would understand. I focused my search on another matter that had began to plague my mind and began typing keywords relating to the Lasser Glass. I found archives of various stories on the ancient mirror.

I clicked on the first achieve which was a brief retelling of the original history on the Lasser Glass.

The elusive glass definitely had a bloody and horrifying past. I doubted the list of deaths and accidents I had come across were anywhere near the real number however, I had to caution myself on believing the things I found on the internet.

It did confirm some of my suspicions - the Lasser Glass was an old and ancient artifact that was made probably before this world even existed.

When Naru returned home later in the afternoon I had still had no more knowledge about the mirror than when I started my search. I didn't know what I was looking for, or where to find any reliable sources so searching took longer than I would have liked to admit. That department was all Naru.

With him being back, it reminded me that I still had to find a way to break the news to him.

It was not an ideal situation.

Earlier, I decided I was going to cook him dinner but I didn't expect him to be home so early. I had taken residency in the living room with printed papers spilled around me.

Naru gave me a confused look when he entered the room, "searching for something?"

"I didn't touch your stuff, I swear." I frantically tried to collect all of my loose papers, closing the lid of my laptop and unfolding my sore legs from their crossed position. I stretched my arms over my head and stood up, "How was your day?"

I moved past him and into the kitchen. Naru followed quietly, "It was fine. Lin and I packed the office away once again." Then, "Are you busy on Friday night?"

I stammered, not expecting that from Naru. Friday was two days from now. "No, what's up?"

"My parents are leaving for London. My mother is particularly fond of you and wants to know if you will see them off."

I fought the urge to squirm, instead I turned to the cabinets to begin grabbing supplies for dinner. "That's very nice of her. I would love to see them off, if you wanted to that is."

"I don't have much choice in the matter," Naru said. "I'll have to rent a car since Lin will be occupied showing them around and driving everywhere."

I smiled thinking of Lin, ever the gentlemen, and chauffeuring his fiancee around Japan.

Then, Naru left the kitchen and walked into the living room, probably making preparations for said car right now since he liked things to be punctual. I stayed in the kitchen, continuing with dinner preparations and chopping vegetables.

Since I was low on ingredients, and shopping day wasn't until Saturday, I was going to make a simple satay.

Methodically, I worked as my mind was swimming with ways to bring up the topic to Naru. It wasn't exactly a light topic to bestow on someone: ioh, by the way the curse we thought was broken? Well, it's not and now I'm bound to it and I'm going to die with it. Not to mention we need to restore the Lasser Glass and give it to a fox spirit that I bargained with to help me break the curse so you lose your memories of me./i

Even though that was the simplest way to explain the situation, it probably wasn't the most sensitive.

When dinner was done, I plated it and brought it to Naru in the living room.

He had taken his usual spot on the couch and was rapidly typing away at something. I placed the plate on the table and it gently clattered.

"Thank you," he said, looking over at the food. "You were researching something earlier, what was it?"

I swallowed hard. Leave it to Naru to bring up awkward topics almost on cue.

"I, uh, was looking for an artifact." My hands were shaking so badly that I had hold my fingers to stop them from twitching.

Naru gently closed the lid on his laptop. "An artifact? That's a sophisticated term for you."

He meant it to be lighthearted but my heart was pounding in my ears. My chest rising and falling in tandem with my heavy breathing. "Last night, Gene found Sara and they paid me a visit."

Now, Naru's blue eyes darkened - no doubt realizing what, or where, I was last night.

I didn't give him time to speak though. "Sara was the only person we could ask and get answers about this mark. We thought that she had passed on but she hasn't."

Urgently, he asked. "Did you learn anything?"

Slowly, I nodded and the words caught in my throat. "It wasn't great news. Sara said that the curse isn't broken, that we left it half done when we didn't destroy an amulet - something called the Xipherian Amulet."

"Xipherian Amulet," Naru repeated it, as if it was the first time he heard the term.

Once again, I nodded. "According to Sara, the Xipherian Amulet was a key part of the curse. Without destroying it the curse was transferred to me."

I didn't have to explain how. Naru had seen my arm, had seen the early signs of infection growing deep within my flesh. It was my soul that was infected and then my physical body started to respond. In a twisted way, becoming the anchor had saved my life - I probably was going to die anyway.

Perhaps it was more of a gift than a curse, giving me a second chance.

I didn't voice any of this to Naru. Instead, I waited for him to speak.

"Is that what you were researching? The Xipherian Amulet." Naru said.

"Well, kind of." I heard the tremor in my own voice. "I was looking up something else. Something known as the Lasser Glass."

In a single, fluid motion, Naru stood up.

I instinctively jerked backwards. His eyes were pupil wide and from beneath his dark clothing, I could see the rise and fall of his chest. I watched as he brought his breathing under that tight control once again.

"Why would you be looking for such a thing?" Naru said precisely. Darkly.

I didn't answer his question because I was shocked he had known of it in the first place.

"You know of the Lasser Glass?"

"Of course." He answered. "The Lasser Glass has an infamous history among parapsychology researchers."

"All I could find out about it was that people died when it was in their possession," I said.

"Exactly," said Naru. "Many people have died with direct links to the mirror. Every family who has owned it has had misfortune brought to them and died a gruesome death. It is said that to gaze within the Lasser Glass one would have gone mad, or become broken beyond repair."

The Lasser Glass would make me go insane if I looked into it?

Conveniently, Kitzune had not mentioned that tidbit.

It was something which was partially my fault. Our deal was flimsy, full of loopholes and this was very possibly just one of them. I was starting to regret my decision of working with the fox spirit more than I already had. This was how the Lasser Glass was capable of killing so many people. Some of the stories I read still haunted my mind and I thought I was going to be sick.

Naru elaborated, "One of the first legends of the Lasser Glass started in the early sixteenth century. A man gifted the Lasser Glass to his young, vain daughter for her wedding day. However, once she received it , the woman claimed to see an old hag staring back at her from within the glass surface. She had insisted it was cursed but still kept the mirror. One day while combing her hair the young woman did not realize that she had actually grabbed a knife instead. She nearly skinned herself to death before slitting her throat."

I covered my mouth in horror. "That's... awful."

"Similar events have happened to families that owned the Lasser Glass. Each one ended in an unfortunate accident and then the mirror just disappeared. Or is given away to another family. It would be nearly impossible to track, let alone find."

In the silence, Naru's voice was tight, as if he was holding back some kind of strained emotion. "Did Gene put you up to this - to search for the Lasser Glass?"

I understood the emotion in his tone. It was anger at his brother for putting me in danger - or so he thought.

"No," I said, confidently. "He didn't. I'm looking for it because it's connected to the curse." Then, a little more honestly. "Gene doesn't know that part yet."

"What do you mean it's connected to the curse?"

I lowered myself down to the coffee table, grabbing a pen and a blank piece of paper to show him the dynamics of this curse.

I drew a square on the center of the paper, representing the Lasser Glass.

"This is going to sound crazy, but according to older spirits on the Dark Lands the Lasser Glass is missing a piece. This missing piece is bound to the Xipherian Amulet."

I drew a circle inside the square. Then inside the circle I drew three lines to represent the Iron Gates.

In a very clear voice, I said. "Together they have created an artificial anchor, or gate, to the otherworld."

Together my little drawings formed a familiar symbol. The exact symbol that was etched onto my arm in black ink beyond the swirl of words from a foreign tongue.

I put the pen down and pulled back my sleeve, revealing the tattoo to confirm the mark. Naru rounded the table to stand beside me.

I looked up at him, letting out an unsteady breath. "I'm the anchor. I experience the death of every spirit who passes through the gates."

An apostrophe formed in between Naru's brows. "What do you mean?"

This time, tears pricked at my eyes and I couldn't hold back the one that slipped free as I thought about Adina.

In a shaky voice, "Do you remember Adina? Well she passed away when we left and that's when I learned about being the anchor and what it meant. Souls that pass through the gates do not go to an afterlife. Instead, they are absorbed by the Xipherian Amulet, giving the wearer a longer life."

Naru, to his credit, did not look stunned or shocked. He gave me an emotionless expression. His blue eyes were unreadable in this dim light. I rose to stand in front of his unmoving figure.

"I know it sounds impossible but that's what we are up against. Sara's father, Izanagi, is drawing power from the Lasser Glass that is bound to the Xipherian Amulet. By doing so: he's been able to live all these years. We need to restore the missing piece of the Lasser Glass which is in Xipherian Amulet. Then, we put an end to this curse for good."

In the silence that rippled over us, the devastating truth lingered.

iAnd when the curse is broken, I will die with it./i

Beneath my skin, my heart was beating rapidly.

I almost thought that I had spoken those words out loud.

The air took on a new quality, heightened in static that I could feel like pinpricks on my skin. His eyes were dark as if he were on the edge of something sinister. I had seen that look in his eyes once when I had provoked him into using those abilities of his.

"Naru," I breathed and stepped towards him. He was significantly taller than me. Slowly, I lifted my hand to his face. My fingers trembled on his skin when he seemed to come out of his trance.

His eyes snapped to mine - pupil wide and I felt him jerk away from my touch. It was a keen breach of contact, bordering on something I was not allowed. However, I did not retract my hand and I once again closed the space between us, reaching out my hand as an offering - not a threat.

"I'm here," I whispered, heart pounding. It was a daring thing to say to anyone, least of all to Naru.

The second touch was accepted as the first had not been. In the moments before flight, Naru closed his eyes and let out an unsteady breath. I knew I should step back, give him space but I felt like he needed this.

Or maybe, more selfishly, I needed this. The truth was so close between us and yet I could not tell him. Not when it meant that I couldn't be with him in a more permanent way that I could have ever thought possible.

"I'm here," I said again and this time the distance between us was only inches.

His skin was so smooth and soft, it felt warm under my fingers. In a moment of boldness I slowly moved my thumb along his jaw, tracing the taut line of it. Naru's breath seemed to be shaken and I felt the desperate urge of flight once again become suppressed from beneath my trembling hand.

Our breaths tangled and the first wave of desire hit me hard. I shifted closer, my heart pounding now because of an entirely different reason.

What are you thinking? I wanted to say but it was a foolish thing to ask him. He would never let you inside his carefully built walls.

It was difficult to read Naru, his cool gaze gave nothing away and I sensed his need for comfort. His need for someone to bring him back from those dark thoughts that turned into dark emotions. Even though he would never allow himself to admit that to anyone, least of all himself.

He did not push me away and I took that as a good sign.

There was more I needed to tell him, I couldn't find the words. Not when all of this was already so much to take in. Not when the truth was going to be so much harder to hear and I wondered if it were possible to take away someone's pain with a kiss.

My gaze dropped to Naru's sensual lips. I brought my other hand up, my fingers passing over the back of his neck, into his soft black hair. His eyebrows furrowed together, perhaps confused about this sudden detour of touch that he had been allowing me.

I gently drew his head down and kissed him.

Once. Twice.

It wasn't how our first kiss had been; tentative and soft.

Naru kissed me with a slight parting of his lips, as if unsure of what he was suggesting. My whole body felt light, I couldn't believe I was kissing Oliver Davis.

I had kissed other people. Lucien and I shared intimate kisses before, with hopes that it would ease my tension in bed. It never did though.

I didn't know if Naru had kissed anyone, ever. A part of me felt satisfied with that: that I was the only one to kiss these lips. But, even now I could feel that never-ending tension in Naru, who couldn't seem to relax. I pressed myself into him and his hands were a gentle pressure on my hips. Not to push me away but to steady me.

I didn't want gentle. I wanted him to submit to the passion I knew he felt towards me. There was no denying it anymore, not when our hearts were so exposed. I grew lightheaded with the idea: did Naru want me as much as I wanted him?

Our kiss had taken on a new passionate intensity. I groaned into his mouth, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

The sound snapped whatever leash of control Naru exerted upon himself at all times; had broken some tether deep within.

His hands gripped my waist, grounding me. Then they slide down the curve of my back. The kiss deepend at Naru's bidding as he leaned over me, pressing us closer. Those tight, tense, lines in his body disappeared after every sweep of tongue, caressing my own. I pressed myself completely against him, feeling every hard line on his body and it was impossible to identify where one began and one ended.

I poured everything into that kiss. My frustrations; my guilt; my desire and my ultimate passion for this man. It had an echoed remnant what our first kiss in the cabin had been. That kiss had been soft, tentative and exploratory; a need to get out feelings that we kept from each other.

This kiss was different. This kiss was everything that, all at once, hit me like a train.

I could never have Naru, this was all just temporary. He would never be mine just as I would never be able to outlive my fate but I still found myself with sudden enlightenment.

I didn't just want Naru. I couldn't imagine only having him for a moment, or for a night. I wanted to be with him for the rest of my days and nights, however short that was.

I loved Naru.

That was dangerous. Reckless.

It was Naru who ended it the kiss, abruptly. He jerked back, his hands on my body ripped away. I was breathless, shocked and I stumbled back, placing the back of my fingers over my lips. As if to chase the ghost of his lips on mine. There were four paces between the two of us now, when moments ago we had been pressed against one another closer than ever possible.

We stared at each other, wide-eyed. My eyes were burning with so many emotions still swirling within my body. Why did he pull away? Did he not like it? Was I not good enough?

Naru's hair was mused from where I had, gloriously, ran my hands through it; his breathing uneven.

"I'm sorry," Naru said, his voice was raw and rough; stripped of its usual tone.

"For what?" My own voice was trembling. I couldn't seem to catch my breath.

"It can't happen like this," he said and paused, pondering his next words. "I want - " Naru bit off his words with a jagged breath. "Can you just be here with me?"

I nodded, too afraid to open my mouth. It was Naru, though, who moved. He stepped towards me, taking me into his arms easily - although coming from Naru, it was a bit awkward. I hadn't expected it, hadn't expected the feel of him against me as he leaned down and into me, resting his head on mine; one hand on my waist, the other sliding into my hair.

"Just be here with me," he whispered into my ear.

I held onto those words almost as tightly as held onto him. The raw desperation in his voice was something I had never heard before, and yet I yearned for it - responded to it wholly.

I slid my arms around his lean waist and it felt like the most right thing I had done in a long time. We stood there, holding one another like it was something we had been doing all along.

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