I do not own Daily Life With Monster Girls.

Chapter 18 Interview with a Yuki-Onna part 2

It only took them a few minutes to get to the park. Jack shut off the engine and got out.

"I thought we were going to the store." Dawn said as she exited.

"Interview first." Jack answered. "Come on. Take a walk with me."

They strode side by side along the gravel path that ringed a large pond. Children played on a jungle gym on the opposite shore while parents watched from benches. Next to them was a great grassy field with nets placed on opposite ends facing each other. Trees swayed against a light breeze at the outer edges of the park.

As they started to round the apex Jack glanced sideways at her. "I hope this isn't too insensitive to ask, but...who am I talking to right now?"

She firmly pressed her lips together and nodded. "You are talking to Dawn."

"Okay." He nodded. "And Kuro?"

"She is resting."

Jack stopped and narrowed his eyes. "How does that work?"

Dawn stopped and looked around. She spotted an empty table and pointed at it. "It's probably best if you and I sat down for this." Jack glanced at where she pointed then back to her. "It's a long story."

He nodded and slid into the seat opposite hers.

As she settled herself she held up a finger. "The first thing you should know is...I wasn't always like this."

Jack's eyes darted to the side and then ahead. "You weren't always a Yuki-onna?"

She waved both hands. "Oh no, no, no. I'm human." She considered her response for a moment. "Well, at least I was."

Jack lowered an eyebrow.

"Kuro is the Yuki-onna." Dawn placed a hand on her chest. "I am her spiritual host." She held her other hand out toward him. "Just like you are the host for those girls. You share the same house with them."

Jack placed a hand over his mouth and considered her words. "So..." He slid his forefinger over his chin. "There are two spirits sharing the same body."

She nodded. "Yes."

"And you're aware of each other?"

"Yes."

"You can communicate with each other?"

"Mentally, yes."

"But right now, I am speaking to Dawn?"

"Yes." She answered. "Kuro is...oh." Her head drew back. "She just woke up."

Jack scrutinized her face and tried to find a physical tell that would have indicated the presence of the other spirit. He might have seen a blue spark in the center of her eyes, but that might have been his imagination.

"Why did Kuro-"

Dawn held up a hand. "Hold on please, Jack. I'm getting her up to speed."

He tilted his head slightly.

"Okay done." Her eyes focused on him. "What were you asking?"

He hesitated a second. "Shouldn't I say hello to Kuro?"

She smirked. "I suppose that would be polite." A beat. "She says hello back."

Jack held up a finger. "So, you are both aware of each other and your surroundings."

"That's correct."

"Right now though, Dawn is the 'active spirit'?" He asked.

She nodded. "Also correct."

"Why did Kuro need to sleep?"

"Mr. Reginald asked us to test our new room's insulation. So she intensified her freezing aura."

Jack leaned back a bit. "I was down there. I didn't feel it."

Dawn nodded. "That's what both agents said. But that drained her energy and she needed to sleep. So we swapped again."

He narrowed his eyes. "That...what do mean swap?"

She inclined her head. "You saw it earlier." She placed a hand on her chest. "I, Dawn, chose to relinquish control of my body and hand over the 'reins' to Kuro."

Jack's eyes oscillated back and forth as he considered the implications of the terms she used. After a few moments he stared back. "So...only one spirit controls the body at a time."

"Correct."

"And when Kuro is in charge, she can use her Yuki-onna abilities."

"Yes."

"But you, Dawn, do not?"

She tilted her head side to side. "I have a little access." She looked around herself and then spotted something on the ground. She leaned over and picked up a stray oak leaf and placed it on the table. "Watch."

She pressed her forefinger and thumb together on the leaf. She closed her eyes and breathed in. She held it for a beat and then exhaled. The leaf curled in slightly and it's deep green faded into a pale tea green. Frost blotches formed in seconds and little dustings of snow fell off the edges of it.

Dawn removed her hand and opened her eyes. A blueish glow faded from the center of her pupils and winked out.

Jack gingerly reached toward the leaf and touched it. It was nearly frozen solid. Like it had been lying in a snowy field in January instead of a grassy park in the middle of summer.

"That's..that's amazing." He breathed. "Hehe." Jack shook his head slowly. "I know I should be more accustomed to stuff like this by now, but...liminals still fascinate me."

Dawn produced a small smile. "You don't think it's too weird?"

"Oh it's weird as hell." He faced up at her. "But I like weird."

She smiled wider. "Okay then. If you're willing, we'd like to show you something else."

Jack eyes lit up and he nodded excitedly. "Place your hand on the table, please." Dawn asked.

He complied and she lightly laid her fingers over his. As Jack felt earlier when they shook hands at his door, hers were colder but not unpleasantly so.

A few seconds passed. Then a few more.

"Uh..is something supposed to-"

A bright white flash blinded Jack and he recoiled. His hands tried to block the brightness and he stumbled away from the table.

Wait. I was sitting down. How am I standing?

The brightness faded and Jack cracked open his eyelids. The world around him was still white but not oppressively so. He blinked rapidly as his vision came back slowly.

"Dawn?" He craned his head around. "Dawn!" Nothing answered him.

"DAWN!" He stepped forward and heard a muffled crunch.

What the?

Jack looked down at his feet. He had stepped into snow.

"What. The hell?"

Snow was everywhere. He was standing in a snowy field. He looked up. The sky was white like an overcast day.

"Wha? Where am I?" He looked around some more. "Dawn!"

"Hello Jack." A deeper female voice intoned behind him.

He whirled around. A pale-skinned woman in an ornate kimono stood before him.

The front half of her white hair were straight bangs just over her eyebrows. Two longer bangs framed her face and ended just below her neck. The back half was a long ponytail that fell around her waist and held up by what looked like a giant snowflake. Pale blue pupil-less eyes set above high sharp cheeks stared at him. Her wide slightly darker lips were bent into a serene smile.

Her white kimono with gray trim was printed with large snowflakes. Her obi sash was colored a dark deep blue and also featured snowflakes. As she waved at him it looked like the flakes on her dress were falling slowly.

Jack stared in shock a few more seconds and then noted something else. She was standing on the snow.

"Uh...hi." He waved back. "You..you're Kuro."

"Yes I am." She smiled lightly. "I understand this may be...disorienting for you."

He nodded and looked around. "Yeah...yeah." He focused back on her and scratched the back of his head. "'Cause... I was sitting at a bench in the middle of summer a second ago."

She inclined her head. "You still are."

He reared back and blinked a few times.

"Or rather," She amended. "your body is."

Jack's confused expression didn't change.

"Your mind is here." She held an arm out and twirled in a full circle. The sleeves of her dress flared out and little snowflakes loosened and fell around her. "In my Winter Wonderland."

Jack held up a finger and opened his mouth but hesitated. Then opened it again."You...mean that literally. Don't you?"

She nodded firmly. "Indeed."

He kept his finger up. "How...is this possible?"

She grinned sardonically. "I'll admit this isn't a usual ability of my species. Rather it is a by-product of my unique circumstances."

Jack stared at her in even more confusion. "I'm sorry but I'm..really lost."

She closed her eyes. "I beg your pardon. I should let my partner explain."

Kuro reached out to her side with one hand. When it reached full length her hand disappeared. A ripple distorted the air around her wrist, like she had plunged her arm into invisible water.

Jack just stared wide-eyed and waited.

Kuro's arm seemed to grip something and she retracted it. Her hand reappeared from the ripple and was clasped on someone else'. She stepped back and gripped the hand with her other arm and pulled.

Dawn materialized out of the ripple and stood in the snow. She set her feet and then looked over at him. "Hey Jack."

His jaw went slack as he tried to comprehend what he just saw. Dawn held up her hands and approached him. "Don't think about it too much. None of this is real."

Jack just stared at her.

"We're inside her head, her imagination."

He blinked a few times. "Okay..this isn't real...um...what?"

Dawn giggled and knelt. She scooped up a handful of snow, stood and held it out to Jack. "Here."

Jack stared at her hand and gingerly held out his own. Dawn turned over her palm and let the snow plop onto his.

He caught it and studied what he could. Something felt off about the snow.

"Does it feel cold?" She asked.

He blinked a couple times. "No.." He glanced up at Dawn. "No it doesn't. How...?"

She inclined her head. "Because it's not real. It's imaginary."

Jack looked down at the substance in his fingers and placed his other hand over it. It behaved like snow, looked like snow. Yet it wasn't.

"Huh."

He looked back at Dawn. "You said we're inside her head."

She nodded. "Yes."

"But yuki-onna's can't normally do this."

She shook her head. "No."

He dropped the 'snow' and held his hands up. "Okay...then how?"

Dawn closed her eyes. "It's probably best if I start from the beginning."

Kuro stepped up beside her. "Allow me to help." She waved an arm, spreading more snow dust from her dress. As she did that however, the scenery around them changed.

The empty field dissolved and was replaced with a winter forest. Leafless trees covered in snow appeared some distance all around them.

Jack felt something by his legs and he looked down. The snow he was over the ankle deep in had vanished. Instead his feet were planted on ice. He looked about. They were in the middle of a frozen lake.

"Whoa."

"My parents used to take me ice fishing here." Dawn began. "I didn't like it much. But they enjoyed getting away from their jobs, all the noise of the city."

A pair of winter-clothes clad humans walked onto the lake and sat on fold-up lawn chairs near a small hole in the ice.

Jack raised a hand. "This...this is a real place?"

Dawn nodded. "Kuro is using a memory of mine to make this."

"A composite of several memories actually." The yuki-onna clarified.

Jack blinked. "Where is this?"

Dawn glanced down. "Somewhere in Canada. North of Ottawa. I don't remember what it's called."

She breathed out and continued. "When I got older, I would bring my ice skates."

A teenage girl in winter clothes materialized a few meters away from the other humans. She held her arms out gracefully and glided in patterns over the lake.

"That year was unseasonably warm."

Jack darted his eyes at Dawn. She stared at her younger self. A dread had leaked into her voice.

He forced himself to look back at what he strongly suspected was going to be a tragedy. He felt it before he heard it.

The crack appeared right under the skating girl. Jack will never forget the look of surprise and terror on her face.

"It happened so quickly." Dawn's dull voice narrated.

She slipped under with barely a splash. Her cry for help silenced as she went under.

"Jesus!" Jack started toward the helpless girl. He reached down toward the crack. It vanished into blackness right before him. He stumbled and slid over the ice.

"I don't know how long I was down there."

Jack flipped around. Everything was black save for Kuro and Dawn. He could see them perfectly, clear as day. He blinked a few times.

Above him dim light waved around. He looked up and saw a vast fading blue glow. A small bright spot shone in a jagged tear directly above them.

"I don't remember how I got out. I only remember...cold."

The light dimmed and faded into nothingness.

Jack got up and crossed back over to them. His footsteps made no sound. He did his best not to let the eerie lack of anything affect him. "W-what happened next?"

Kuro raised a hand and snapped her fingers.

The three of them stood together in a wooden cabin. Jack looked about and noted all the wood furniture and a few metal utensils.

He narrowed his eyes and looked back at Kuro. "Where is-"

The front door burst open behind him. Jack whirled and saw a pair of soaked adult humans carrying a teenager between them.

"They broke into my home." Kuro's voice was devoid of emotion.

The pair laid the girl by the empty fireplace. They split up and searched frantically for firewood. Although Jack could see their mouths moving and throats straining he couldn't hear the shouting. They had to be shouting.

"They destroyed my property."

One of Dawn's parents found an ax and smashed a small stool. She picked up the pieces and tossed them in the fireplace.

The other found a bunch of old newspapers and produced a match. He stuffed them under the broken furniture and lit it. He held it in place until fire caught onto the dry paper and spread to the solid wood.

Jack blinked and took a few steps about trying find something. He looked back at Kuro. "Why wasn't there any firewood?"

Dawn glanced at him. "She's a yuki-onna Jack." She shook her head. "She's doesn't need firewood."

He blinked. "Oh, right." He looked back at the girl by the fireplace. Her skin was blue. Unnaturally blue.

He sucked in a breath. "You...you died." He darted his eyes back at Dawn. "You were dead."

The flaxen haired woman didn't say anything.

"When I arrived home." Kuro narrated. "I was vexed."

The door swung open again to reveal a white-haired angry woman in a familiar looking kimono. Dawn's parents turned toward her and clearly started to beg for help.

"I thought that some disrespectful delinquents had ransacked my abode for their own amusement."

The woman in the kimono looked down by the fireplace. Her anger dissipated, replaced by shock and sympathy. After a few moments of contemplation she spoke in Kuro's voice. "She is dead."

The pronouncement fell like a hammer on the parent's hearts. It even hit Jack hard.

Her mother's face crumpled into disbelieving grief and tears. The father lunged and seized onto past Kuro's dress yelling silent denials.

Jack stood still and watched, not daring to even breath.

Past Kuro raised her arms and slapped the father's grip away. "There is one thing that might save her."

She turned on her heel and marched back out to the forest. Spurred by hope, Jack followed her outside.

Past Kuro picked up a broken stick and traced a symbol he didn't recognize into the snow. Then she produced a small knife in her hand and cut a gash on her palm. He recoiled from the abhorrent mutilation but continued to watch.

A deep red liquid with a frosty tint dripped out of her hand and onto the symbol in the snow. After a sufficient amount was given she stepped back on the snow and spoke a single word. "Soki."

For a moment Jack could have sworn he saw the snow falling upward. Then the blood in the symbol rose and twisted and blackened. A shadow cast by nothing apparated above the disturbed snow. It soaked in the blood and grew into a vaguely humanoid shape.

"What in the hell?"

A woman with pale blue skin and straight white hair stood before the yuki-onna. A rather large cow-lick stuck out from her brow like a blade. Her eyes were black with gold irises. A black scarf covered her mouth. She was maybe half a head shorter than Kuro and clad in a black coat with a white dress underneath. Ancient western style armor covered her arms and legs. She also wore a dark armored corset.

The woman raised her hand and a long shadow coalesced above her head. A moment later a black scythe with a large notch dropped into her hand. She planted the end of it near her feet.

Past Kuro bowed respectfully. "Dullahan."

The new woman's eyes tracked to her. "Mortal."

Past Kuro held an arm toward the cabin. The black clad woman proceeded inside. Jack followed them both back in.

Dawn's parents were both gathered around the fireplace. When they saw the woman with the scythe they gasped and held tighter to their daughter. The father shouted something, but his voice was muted like before.

The golden eyed woman surveyed the dead girl and then turned toward Past Kuro. "You are prepared?"

She nodded. "I would not have called were it otherwise."

The black clad woman swung her scythe and pointed the bladed end of it at Past Kuro. "Do not trifle with an agent of death." The yuki-onna backed a step and held up a hand. "Are you prepared?"

Past Kuro bowed. "Yes. I am prepared."

The blue-skinned woman retracted her scythe and planted it by her feet again. "So be it."

The scenery dissolved again. This time they were in a green field with flowers. A bright white sun shone overhead. Past Kuro and Dawn's parents were gone. Jack looked about and noticed a river flowing nearby.

"Holy shit." He breathed.

The Dullahan crossed to Dawn and knelt by her. She placed a hand on Past Dawn's head. "Awake."

Past Dawn sucked in a breath and sat up suddenly. The Dullahan stood back up and offered her hand.

The girl looked around. "W-where am I?"

"The Fields of Elysium." The woman pronounced.

Past Dawn looked up. "Who're you?"

"I am a Dullahan. A guide to souls and reaper of death."

Past Dawn blinked. "Oh. I'm dead?" She looked about. "I thought it'd be darker."

"Your soul has not yet passed the gates Beyond." The dark clad-woman replied. "This is merely the threshold."

Past Dawn took her hand and stood up. "I'm... almost dead?"

The Dullahan stepped back and planted her scythe. "Dawn Walker. I ask you this. Do you want power?"

She blinked. "I don't understand."

"To live, a mortal requires power. Do you want it?"

Past Dawn paused a moment and then nodded. "Yes. Yes I want to live."

A bright flash blinded Jack. He blinked rapidly and found himself back in the cabin.

Past Dawn's body's color returned. She woke up and breathed. Her parent's clutched their daughter tightly in tearful joy.

"Holy shit." Jack breathed. He stared at the miracle he just witnessed. "Wait." He looked in the corner. "What happened to..?"

Past Kuro was gone. There was no trace of her. Jack furrowed his eyes and turned toward Dawn and Kuro. "What happened to you?"

The yuki-onna dipped her head. "In order to restore Dawn, a body needed to be sacrificed." She faced him directly. "I volunteered mine."

He stared ahead. "You...didn't even know her."

She shook her head. "Inconsequential. Life is precious." She nodded at Dawn's parents. "They requested my help." She looked back at Jack. "So I helped."

"...gods..."

He squinted after a moment. "Wait. Why didn't Dullahan offer that to her parents"

Kuro placed a hand on her chest. "I called the Dullahan. I needed to make the sacrifice for her service." She waved toward the memory. "Her parents were not mine to give."

Jack closed his mouth.

"The Dullahan visited me again, in the hospital where I recovered." Dawn said. "She explained that the dead parts of my body were replaced with functioning living ones from Kuro. As a result, our spirits, or souls as she calls them, are intertwined." A pause. "She called it the Melding."

Jack rocked his head lightly. "So...the body you have now is...Dawn and Kuro."

"Correct."

"But, only one spirit can control it at a time." He concluded.

"We discussed that before. Yes."

He furrowed his eyebrows again. He walked a few steps and out of the cabin toward the spot Dulluhan was summoned. "Who is she?"

"A more proper question is 'what is she?'" Kuro stated. Jack turned back to her. "Dullahans guide the souls of the dead to the Next World. They have great power over life and death in the mortal realm, but

are limited in their responsibilities."

Jack took a moment to take that in. "So... a reaper. Like a Reaper, Reaper."

She nodded. "The scythe is kind of a give-away."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "But she isn't Dullahan." He rattled his head. "I mean, her name isn't Dullahan."

Kuro shook her head lightly. "I know not the name of any agent of death. I merely called for the nearest one." She dipped her head. "I was fortunate that she was willing to accept my bargain."

He narrowed his eyes. "But you didn't say anything to her."

The yuki-onna's face set seriously. "No one calls an agent of death for anything other than to alter the fate of a dead or dying mortal." She paused a moment. "I can't imagine they're all that entertaining as dinner guests."

Jack blinked a few times and regarded her skeptically. "You seem a little too cavalier about this."

"Pardon me Jack." She chuckled lightly. "I find levity an effective defense against morbidity."

He thought about all the good talks he and his brothers and friends had after his parents died. He couldn't remember what they were about but he greatly appreciated the sentiment in the days following the funeral.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I know how that goes." He idly wondered if this Dullahan was the one who guided his parents. He also wondered if he could have...NO! No nonono. Don't go there. I said my goodbyes. Matt and Isaac said good bye, everyone else said goodbye.

He sucked in a breath and tried to clear his head. But that lingering thought wouldn't go away. Like an itch he couldn't scratch, he just had to pick at it. He looked over at the partially ruined symbol in the snow.

"What was that?" He pointed at the disturbed snow. "With the blood and the symbol."

Kuro took her time to consider an answer. "In a very general term, that was magic."

He raised his head and faced her. "Magic." He eyed her intensely. "As in magic, magic." He waggled his fingers with an outstretched hand. "Not some fancy card trick or an elaborate illusion with smoke and mirrors." She nodded.

He dropped his hand. "Magic." He repeated, trying to fathom the concept long thought impossible by centuries of aggregated human wisdom. "As in something that tells conventionally known physics to go sit in a corner while it twists reality."

Kuro smirked and giggled. "I hadn't heard it described quite like that before."

Jack shrugged. "I played a lot of fantasy table-top games in college. One of the players liked to describe his character casting a spell like it was an abusive relationship between magic and physics." He shrugged again. "The imagery kinda stuck."

Kuro giggled again. "That's actually not too far off from the observable truth." She waved at the symbol. "Drawing a rune and bleeding on it should have been just that." She paused. "But when you've existed in this world as long as I have, one tends to pick up a trick or two."

Jack mulled over her words and their implications. "You learned magic."

"Yes."

He stared ahead, trying to not dare ask the follow-up. Trying to convince himself that he should leave well enough alone. But the miracle he witnessed, and that itch he had started to pick at got worse.

"Could I...?"

She smirked again. "Do you have a century or three to spare?"

Jack's expression fell. Of course.

She giggled lightly. "Take it from me Jack, as a nominal practitioner of the arcane arts, the gains are not always worth the cost." She nodded at the cabin. "I performed one spell and I lost most of my body as a result."

He narrowed his eyes. "But that was the Dullahan that did that. Not you."

She shook her head lightly. "I really don't see the difference. One does not perform magic to ever do something simple." She raised her hand palm up at him. "I know of those games you mentioned:" He tilted his head slightly. "The magic spells they describe could also be performed by other means. A fireball, for example, could be replicated with a rag, a match and a glass bottle filled with a flammable substance."

Jack nodded lightly. "Molotov cocktail." He identified.

"But real magic," She continued. "something that known sciences cannot yet achieve. Something truly significant, like restoring life to death." She let her tone dip. "Requires real sacrifice." She paused. "And the best I could do, was magically invite some one else that knew how to do that."

Jack knew that this was where the conversation was headed. Somehow he knew. Perhaps it was the faux knowledge in those games. Perhaps it was the nature of life itself: If you wanted something meaningful, you work at it to achieve it. Almost nothing is ever handed to you without effort from somebody.

"Alright." He said to himself. "Alright." Saying it out loud helped him ignore the itch. Instead he focused on something else. He looked directly at Kuro.

"So, how long have you been alive?"

Her expression twitched and she raised an eyebrow. Jack tried to gauge her response and then sucked in a breath. "Oh crap, I just asked a woman her age." He held up both hands to ward off the punishment for committing a universal cross-species taboo. "I am so sorry."

She held her disapproval for a good ten count. Long enough for Jack to start worrying that he was in for something horrible. All the talk of magic and sacrifice fueled his imagination and he pictured himself suffering several unpleasant fates, one right after another.

Then she smiled warmly. "You're forgiven Jack."

He dropped his hands and let out a breath.

"Everything alright?" Dawn walked over to them.

"We're fine." Kuro assured her partner.

Dawn regarded her host a moment. "Okay." Her tone didn't convey whether she was convinced or not. "So do you have any other questions for us?"

Jack shook his head and focused ahead. "Yeah, yeah I do." He faced them directly. " I still don't know how were you able to show me this."

"Dawn's body was restored." Kuro said. "But as you observed, mine was almost completely lost. There is very little holding me to the mortal realm. In a sense, I am anchored to Dawn. Or at least the vital pieces of my former body that are keeping her alive." She raised a finger. "As a result of being a near body-less spirit I can communicate directly with another person's spirit or mind as it were. I merely require physical contact from my host."

Jack put a knuckle on his chin. "You can communicate mind to mind...by touch."

"I looked it up." Dawn said. "It's called tactile or haptic telepathy."

Jack raised his hand. "Telepathy. Of course." He nodded a few times. "So, how do you decide who gets to be the active spirit?"

Both women looked at each other. Then back to him. "We're almost always in constant communication. One gets to experience what the other is doing." Dawn explained. "There is no conflict between us." Dawn placed a hand on her chest and closed her eyes. "I am extremely grateful that Kuro's sacrifice allows me to live."

"And Dawn's human body allows me to travel and experience things and places that I could not as a yuki-onna." Kuro complimented.

Jack blinked a few times. Then he giggled. Both women gave him odd looks.

He held up a hand. "Sorry it's just...you'd make an odd couple...er," He raised his eyes in thought. "An odd triple?"

Both women looked at him askance.

He pointed at Kuro. "You want to see the world that you couldn't get to as a yuki-onna right?"

She maintained her expression but nodded affirmatively.

Jack then pointed at Dawn. "And you're more than willing to take her."

She repeated the gesture her partner made.

Jack face-palmed with one hand and giggled some more. "Well guess who wants to see as much of the world as they can too?"

They glanced at each then back to Jack "You?" Dawn guessed.

Jack raised both his arms at them. "No, Sula."

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "The echidna?"

Kuro blinked a few times...and then giggled herself. She placed a hand to her mouth and giggled harder. Dawn glanced at her partner. Incomprehension was clear on her face. "What?"

Kuro held up a hand. "I can see it now." She waved her arm and the scenery changed.

Instead of a dimly lit cabin the three of them were in the middle of a busy street in a city. Jack looked about and didn't recognize any of the architecture, but he was pretty certain they were somewhere in Europe.

"Uh, where is this...oh." Directly ahead of him was the Eiffel Tower.

Kuro approached him and raised a hand. "If I may Jack." He gave her a curious look. "Just think on her for a moment."

He paused and then closed his eyes. He tried to recall the first time he saw Sula, back at the Exchange building.

"Perfect." The yuki-onna commented.

Jack opened his eyes and saw the echidna sitting at an outdoor cafe. He tail was curled underneath the table and she was reading a book with a large lettered title in French. He couldn't help but smile at the image of his friend living her dream.

"Oh, I get it." Dawn said. "That is kinda funny." She crossed the way and sat at the empty chair opposite Sula. She picked up a tea cup and sipped it. "Mmmm." She raised it toward Jack "Your friend has good taste."

"A cold-blooded lamia and a yuki-onna traveling the world together." Kuro mused. "All conventional logic should rule out such an occurrence. And yet..."

"It just may be possible." Jack finished. "I'll do what I can." He turned toward the liminal and blinked back a tear. "You have to show her this. You have to show them all this."

She gave him a serious look. "It's not a substitute for the real thing Jack." She raised her hand toward the Tower in the distance. It wavered and wobbled like a CG optical effect. "This is just my imagination."

He nodded. "I know, I get that." He held up a hand. "But seeing their dreams fulfilled. Experiencing it like this." He paused. "Is priceless." He placed that hand on her shoulder. "You have a gift Kuro."

She smiled and nodded. "Thank you Jack."

He stepped back and looked overat the cafe. "I think I'm ready to leave now."

She closed her eyes. "Very well."

Jack and Dawn were back at the table in the park. No flash, no rush of air. Just them and the still frozen leaf.

He blinked and shook his head. "That was awesome."

Dawn smirked. "You wanna know the best part?" Jack tilted his head. She gestured with her chin. "Check your phone."

He lowered an eyebrow but followed her instruction. He studied the screen for a second. "What am I supposed to..." He squinted at the time display. Jack shot her a look of disbelief across the table. "That...that only took two minutes!?"

"Yep." She smirked and nodded. "That was all in Kuro's imagination. Everything occurred at the speed of thought."

He blinked a few times. Then chuckled once. "Inception."

Dawn lowered her eyebrows.

"Inception." He repeated. "That," He pointed up vaguely. "That followed Inception rules."

She blinked once. "Oh the movie, you mean."

He nodded. "Yeah."

She glanced up and placed a hand on her chin. "I suppose it kinda does." She held still a second. "Kuro wants to see it. I can't remember the whole thing."

Jack nodded. "I have a copy. I'd be glad to watch it with you." He held out his hand across the table. "Welcome to the family Dawn and welcome to the family Kuro." She grasped his hand and shook it.

A brief blue flare shone in her eyes. For the barest moment he thought he saw Kuro's face transposed over Dawn's. "We thank you Jack."

A/N Hello again readers. Holidays are over and I'm back to work and back to writing.

Hopefully I've laid out Kuro and Dawn's situation clearly enough this time.

At any rate comment and review please.