Authors Notes:

Over 1000 hits have been achieved! Thank you all very much for taking the time to read the story! iWillhexyou and I hope that you will all continue reading and continue to stick with us to the very end whenever that may be! Thank you once again and please enjoy!

Chapter Eight: Acceptance (MajorKris)

"Wh-what..?" came Mikuru's voice quietly, feeling her heart pounding against Itsuki's chest as he continued to hold her.

It was only then that Itsuki realized his mistake. He had just confessed to the love of his life that he loves her, and now he was probably going to lose that very person forever. Itsuki was feeling his heart begin to shatter.

"I-I'm so sorry Mikuru. I-I didn't mean to say…I mean…I meant w-what I said, but…" He turned away unable to look at her now that he pulled away from her, trying not to show the pained expression on his face.

Mikuru was just plan dumbfounded however. No one had ever shown so much care for her except for Kyon, but since the beginning she knew whom he was meant to be with. However, even in the confusion, Mikuru smiled. If Itsuki really meant what he said, then that would be good enough for her right?

For so long, guys just drooled over her for her looks, never once asking about herself or getting to know her before asking her out. She even had to use a court order to keep one of the upper classmen boys away from her. Thankfully, he had transferred to another school once the restraining order was put into effect.

But even if there was someone like that for her it wouldn't be allowed. She was a time traveler, not an ordinary girl who could go on dates and such whenever she pleased! That could change the course of the future, not to mention the heartbreak of finally having to go home and leave her loved ones behind! Still, just having someone to fill the gap in her heart would be wonderful even if just for the moment.

But could she really do it? Is her loneliness so high that she would be willing to just use Itsuki as a stump to lean against? No, she couldn't do that to him, not after he expressed such feelings for her. But yet, she longed so dearly for what he was offering.

There was a saying among time travelers whom found themselves in this sort of predicament, "Live in the moment." Was this an example of one of those times? Besides, Itsuki was a comrade, they had the same purpose. Well, almost.

Perhaps this was something Mikuru could learn from, to finally love and to be love. She dearly wanted love. Mikuru was tired of the loneliness in her heart ever sense she had to begin living in this time period, and tired of crying to sleep almost every night because of it. True, there were many reasons not to do it, but her one reason to do so overpowered the others. Mikuru was willing to give it a chance.

"Itsuki…" came Mikuru's voice softly, using her hand to gently turn Itsuki's head to have him look at her.

Itsuki turned, preparing himself for the blow. He knew rejection was coming, but he also knew that Mikuru was the type to be gentle. He was grateful for that at least.

'Please Mikuru,' Itsuki begged in his mind, 'please don't break me to hard.'

Then it came. The sudden soft feeling to his mouth, causing him to stare wide eyed as Mikuru kissed him. The feeling of her body heat and lips felt so wonderful, that Itsuki wondered if maybe he died and went to paradise but soon his train of thought was stopped as Mikuru opened her mouth to embrace his tongue.

Itsuki moaned deeply. Mikuru's taste was so incredible that he couldn't help but explore it as much as possible. Ecstasy was the perfect word to describe it, especially since he was now suddenly on top of her as they fell back on the bed. Mikuru's chest pressed against his as Itsuki lay between her legs, causing them both to moan as the kisses' intensity was finally beginning to wear down.

Mikuru felt more alive than ever before. She desperately clung to Itsuki was she gasped for air in-between kisses, she was definitely close to loosing it. Her body ached for attention that she knew, and wanted, only Itsuki to give and soon she began to thrust her hips upward pressing against Itsuki's groan in the process.

Itsuki moaned and gasped loudly from Mikuru's ministrations, gritting his teeth as he began to feel his pants become a little too tight. He then pulled back looking down at Mikuru whose lovely face was now flustering with red, only making Itsuki's need more, well…needful.

"Mikuru…" Panted Itsuki as he gasped for air, "we need to stop now. I...I don't want to do this if you're not sure about…"

"Yes..I know," Mikuru gasped as she too caught her breath as she suddenly realized what happened and began to blush uncontrollably. "I'm so sorry, I guess I got a little carried away, I'm usually not like that…"

"It's alright," Itsuki laughed loving how adorable she looks as he tries to calm his body's needs down.

After Mikuru felt herself calming down after a few seconds she spoke, "Itsuki, I have something I want to tell you," Mikuru's voice came naturally as she now gave him a somewhat sadden expression with a smile placed afterwards, "I…I know I mustn't do this, you know the reason why, you know what I am, but…I really want to be with you…"

Itsuki stood over her stunned for a moment once he realized what she meant and sadly turned away, "I see…I knew one day you would have to return to your time period, but…I just couldn't keep it to myself anymore."

"And I'm glad you didn't," Mikuru whispered as she noticed the saddened expression on his face, feeling her heart almost shatter with guilt from the sight of it, "Itsuki you should never keep emotions like that bottled up, and besides don't you remember the famous quote among love stories?"

Itsuki turned his head back to her, feeling a smile yet somewhat forced smile appear on his face, "It's better to have lost love…"

"…Then to have never loved at all," Mikuru finished for him as she smiled warmly, placing another kiss on his lips as she pulled the younger boy down on top of her.

For what seemed like hours the two laid together on the bed, merely just holding each other in an embrace until Itsuki found himself lacing his fingers in her hair as he spoke, "Mikuru, being a time traveler and being bale to go this far back in time, do you know when you will be returning home, and what you must do with your actions such as Haruhi?"

Mikuru shook her head, knowing full well she couldn't tell him even if she did know the answer but Itsuki seemed to have gotten the message.

"I see," Itsuki said quietly before speaking again, "For so long I had always believed that my powers were only capable of working in closed spaces, but after today I'm not so sure. I mean, my visions were always so random, that I never thought to put two and two together. But still, I feel that something isn't right at all."

"What things do you usually see?" Mikuru asked.

"Well it depends, I suppose. Sometimes I'll see something that'll happen in five minutes, or I'll see something that will happen fifty years from now. But usually it's something I can't change no matter how much I want to."

"Like what?"

"Well, awhile back when this all happened and gained my abilities, I witnessed how my dad had died. Then well, it happened."

"Oh, Itsuki," Mikuru whispered as she looked toward him. "I'm so sorry."

Itsuki smiled as he turned toward her again and kissed her forehead, thanking her for the sentiment before he spoke, "You know, this changes a lot now…"

"I know," Mikuru answered quietly as Itsuki helped her sit up over the bed with him still next to her as well.

Itsuki grasped Mikuru's hand, clutching it as he brought it to his lips and kissed it, causing Mikuru to blush again even more. It was then that Mikuru found Itsuki staring at the wall with an empty look in his eyes.

"Itsuki?" Mikuru said in worry, shaking Itsuki's shoulder in an attempt to get him out of the state.

Itsuki blinked as he snapped out of his trance, finding a worried Mikuru looking straight at him. "I'm sorry; sometimes I tend to space out whenever I feel a vision may be coming"

"Did you see anything?"

Itsuki found himself giving her one of his natural smiles of happiness as she asked him, "Yes,"

"What was it about?" Mikuru asked with a curiously with her usual cheerful smile and a small hint of joy in her eyes, "It must have been something good to bring a smile like that out!"

Itsuki only winked, feeling a need to mess with her a little as he spoke, "Why should I? It's a secret"

"Aw, c'mon! Tell me!" Mikuru laughed as she pushed Itsuki playfully.

Itsuki couldn't help himself he put his hands on her waist and began to tickle the younger girl causing Mikuru to laugh so hard that she fell back against the bed again.

"Stop it! I can't breath!" Mikuru laughed as found herself at the mercy of the younger boy who was glad to see her happy again and so finally left her be, getting a rather playful hit on his arm in return, "You're so mean, Itsuki!" Mikuru joked as she smiled at him once again.

Itsuki laughed as well, pretending to rub his arm as if she pained him, "Me? You're the one hitting people!" Itsuki smiled once again and brought his head down to kiss her one last time as he stood up, just realizing the time as well. "Shall we go find the others?"

Mikuru nodded, taking Itsuki's hand as they left out the door but Itsuki only grinned as he openly asked her a question, "So, what's it like kissing such a good looking esper like me?"

Mikuru giggled and winked, giving Itsuki the one of a kind smile she was known for as she brought a finger to her lips, "Classified information."

But truthfully Itsuki did see a wonderful thing. Sure, it didn't give much detail as to what was to come or when it was to come. But as she gave him that lovely smile, the future form of Mikuru Asahina once again came into his mind, offering the most beautiful smile that he ever imagined possible.

0o0o0o (iWillhexyou)

Kyon was sitting outside the emergency room with his head in his hands when Mikuru and Itsuki finally arrived. It was well past two A.M. and they both ran in with looks of sheer panic.

"Haruhi!" Cried Mikuru, "Is she alright?"

"She's alive," Kyon said suddenly not looking up from the floor. "Yuki is being treated for minor injuries and should be out any minute. But they said that Haruhi…" Kyon couldn't finish and covered his face with his hands.

"Oh Kyon!" Mikuru said taking a seat by Kyon and resting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Itsuki was silent and starring off into the distance. Finally he said, "What happened exactly? Were you guys attacked by something?"

"Sort of," Kyon said, "it was Yuki's idea. We went into that damned closed space and everything seemed to be working to our advantage but then…"

"Closed space!?" Itsuki cried looking wide eyed at Kyon. "All of Haruhi's closed spaces have been destroyed and if she had created a new one I would've known."

"Well this wasn't a new one!" Snapped Kyon raising his head, "it was from the last one! It wasn't closed! Why the hell didn't you and the others make sure it was destroyed?"

"I…well…we thought Haruhi had made the whole thing collapse! I didn't think…"

"No you didn't!" Kyon cried, his built up rage finally getting the better of him. He stood and flinched because of his ankle but nevertheless he stood his ground. "Where were you and Mikuru when this happened? And why was Yuki so careless? Aren't you all here to protect her? Great job you've done!"

Itsuki stood frozen while Mikuru burst into tears. Kyon was right, even thought they both had the most amazing night of their lives they had ignored their duty to observe and protect Haruhi.

Kyon was about to continue when a soft voice reached everyone in the groups ears.

"Stop this, we won't get anywhere by blaming the others Kyon, yes I may have been careless but it was better than having thousands of humans die," said Yuki sitting next to Mikuru. "Something is not right. Don't ask me how but I know Haruhi originally destroyed that space. We need to find out how and why it came back. Yelling at each other only takes us a step back."

Kyon sighed then looked to Itsuki kindly, "I'm sorry Itsuki and I'm sorry Mikuru, I'm not thinking clearly right now."

"I know," Itsuki replied giving Kyon a weak smile, "we're all worried about Haruhi, Kyon, please don't think any different."

Kyon nodded and say beside Mikuru again. She was still crying but her sobs were soft and quiet, "How are we supposed to know how she's doing?"

"Her parents are here," said Kyon remember his brief first meeting with the distressed Mr. and Mrs. Suzumiya. They were very kind and very normal people who didn't deserve to be woken up in the middle of the night to find out their daughter was in the E.R. "Mr. Suzumiya comes out every half an hour or so to explain to me what's going on. She has a broken arm and some internal bleeding. She's also knocked out and they pray that it's just a slight concussion."

"Oh!" Mikuru cried with fresh tears coming to her eyes, "Why didn't I know about it? How could something like this happen without me knowing? Why is everything so fucked up?!"

If it had been a normal day Itsuki would've stood dumbfounded that Mikuru had cussed, but under the circumstances he just rested his hand on her shoulder and said, "I don't know, but I believe you, Yuki, and I all need to go and find out what we can. Something is just terribly, terribly wrong. We'll all meet back here in the morning; Haruhi needs us to be here."

"Alright," both Mikuru and Yuki agreed standing beside Itsuki. At the same time the three looked down at Kyon who was starring at the E.R. doors.

"Will you be alright, Kyon?" Mikuru asked.

"Huh?" Kyon said tiredly, "Oh, yes I will be fine, thank you. I'm not leaving until she's awake so I'll be here when you get back."

"Kyon…" Mikuru began before Itsuki cut her off.

"That's fine Kyon. Don't worry we'll all do out best to figure this out, call my cell if something happens. Okay?"

Kyon nodded but then looked at the doors again and didn't even notice his three friends leave and go their separate ways.

"C'mon Haruhi," he whispered. "You're strong, you can beat this, just don't go anywhere without me letting you know that I love you."

Suddenly Kyon's eyes grew heavy and he only lasted another half hour before he shut his eyes and fell asleep.

Kyon had a short but sweet dream about the few kisses Haruhi and he have had together. Then he dreamed about that day they had fallen during the storm. Haruhi had looked down at him with a smile on her face and said, 'Kyon we'll get though this, we will!'

That was the last thing Kyon remembered when he suddenly felt a strong arm on his shoulder and he woke up.

"Mr. Suzumiya!" Kyon said sitting up, "What's happened? Is Haruhi alright?"

Mr. Suzumiya was obviously tired but he still smiled, "Well she'll be in pain for awhile but she made it through the operation and is awake but barely. They gave her a large dose of painkillers and she's not really awake of where she is or what's going on, but she's been saying your name for about half an hour now and Mrs. Suzumiya and I think you should see her."

Kyon sprung up instantly and almost sprinted to Haruhi but he stopped and turned to thank Mr.Suzumiya before he went straight to the intensive care ward. Not even noticing or taking cautious of his sprained ankle.

Mrs. Suzumiya was waiting outside her room with her face buried in a handkerchief. Kyon would've said something but he felt she was having a personal moment so he went straight in and first thing he noticed was that sun was barely over the horizon from the window.

Then he saw her, his Haruhi, lying on a while hospital bed, her hair laid out upon the pillow and her face still angelic even with the small cuts and bruises. Her eyes were closed but her lips her parted and she said the name, "Kyon," in a light raspy whisper.

Kyon went straight to the side of her bed and took the hand of her unbroken arm and squeezed it.

"Haruhi, I'm here, it's me Kyon."

Her eyes opened, but slightly, and two shining jewels pierced his own and seemed to read his soul.

"Kyon," she said again taking in a deep breath, "I'm sorry," she whispered, her eyes tearing up.

"Haruhi!" Kyon said, bringing her hand to his lips for a gentle kiss, "there's nothing for you to be sorry for. You saved Yuki's life and you saved mine."

"But…I….those things…I made them," she said, her voice cracking.

"Haruhi!" Kyon said again this time taking a loose strand of hair that had fallen across her face and wrapping it behind her ear, "None of this is your fault."

Haruhi let out a low sob as her lovely eyes closed once again and a single tear escaped. Kyon quickly kissed it away as gently as he could, his hand still in hers.

"I love you, Haruhi," he whispered as he looked down at her. Although she had closed her eyes and the drugs were kicking in Haruhi gave his hand one tight squeeze before the waves of sleep crashed over her.

Kyon sat there for a few minutes more holding her limp hand in his making sure she was actually breathing. Eventually a nurse came in and said she needed to rest, Kyon planted one last light kiss on her forehead before heading outside for some air; politely bowing to Mr. and Mrs. Suzumiya as he left.

He didn't go far; he had no intentions of leaving the hospital, even for school. The others could go but there was no way he was leaving Haruhi's side. Everyone was an esper, a time traveler, or a robot while Kyon was simply normal, but he knew that Haruhi would take comfort in the fact that he was there for her, whether he was normal or not.