AN: Lol, I'm sorry I seemed to have made quite a few of you sad with my last Puff XD

The next time I'll put up a little warning like "not a happy Puff" or something :p

But I just wanted to show that I could write more than happy, fluff pieces. That I was a versatile writer =3

Thank you VERY much to those who took the time to leave a review! =D

You guys rock, and I promise that the next Puff after this one, will be a 'happy Puff' to make up for these last two =3

Small warning: This Puff is a continuation of the last one, but with a much 'happier' ending. Hope you all enjoy! =D

Natsuki's POV

It had been 5 years since Shizuru died.

Five long and lonely years that I spent lost and alone, not knowing what to do or who to turn to. I took a one year leave of absence from Garderobe, as I tried to get my life back together.

I don't remember much from that one year off. I drank on and off. Tried to drown away all my sorrows with the bottle.

That didn't work of course.

Shizuru's face and image as she passed from this world into the next, forever haunted my every waking hour, and my every sleeping hour to the point that I almost stopped sleeping all together, and could only rest with the help of very powerful sleep medications.

But that was four years ago. It's now year five, and I've been back at Garderobe ever since then. Doing my best to get through each and every day without my soulmate by my side. I buried myself in my work, and became obsessed with finding Shizuru's killers.

I eventually did.

It was a faction that had been hired to assassinate the headmistress of the school, which of course was me. But Shizuru got in their way. And I hunted each and every single bastard involved in that organization down, and either brought them to justice...or took them out if they resisted.

Too bad for the majority of them they 'resisted'.

I am now on an incredibly dangerous mission. Up against overwhelming numbers, and I can almost hear Mai's voice in my head, as she told me a couple of years ago, "that I was taking on too many dangerous missions since Shizuru's death, and that Shizuru wouldn't want to see what I was doing to myself."

I shook my head to get Mai's voice out of my head, as I quickly re-focused on the battle at hand.

I dodged swiftly out of the way of a wickedly-sharp blade, and then had to scramble quickly to avoid getting my head sliced off by a rotating energy sphere.

Things were heating up fast, and I had already been fighting too long, and I was still surrounded by six of the twelve attackers who had originally ambushed me.

I quickly held up my two pistols and took aim at one of my attackers, when I felt a sudden wrenching and agonizing pain rip through my stomach, and I looked down in stunned, pained shock to see an energy blade protruding from my stomach.

When had I missed the bastard who had snuck up behind me to deliver this killing blow.

I fell to my knees, blood already beginning to seep from the corner of my mouth, as the world around me began to waver and fade as my vision began to dim.

I never felt myself hit the cold hard pavement, or even the sudden sounds of massive explosions going off all around me, as Mai and Haruka came charging in as the reinforcements sent by Garderobe.

I never got a chance to see them avenge me, or to see the anguished tears that fell from Mai's eyes, as she held my body close to her own. I never got to see Haruka standing off to the side, biting her lower lip until it bled, as she tried in vain to hold back her tears.

No. I never got to see any of what was happening back with my now-cold, lifeless body...

Because my entire vision was now filled with Shizuru. My beautiful, precious, wonderful Shizuru. She was standing there...right there...waiting for me in a halo of pure pristine light, her hand outstretched to me, and that ever mischievous smile playing on the corners of her lips.

I raised my own hand, and folded it around Shizuru's and found her hand warm to the touch.

Tears spilled forth from my eyes, as I quickly swept Shizuru up into a tight embrace, clinging to her as if I would never let her go...and I never planned to again.

Shizuru didn't say a word, she just smiled beautifully at me, and then captured my lips in a literal soul-searing kiss, and I could almost feel myself floating from the majesty of her kiss. Imagine my shock when I looked down after our kiss, and saw that we really were floating.

I quickly looked back up into Shizuru's rose-coloured eyes, and as I opened my mouth to speak, to ask her just what was going on, to find out where we were, Shizuru just raised a finger and gently placed it against my lips, while quietly whispering "shhh" to me.

I easily complied, and placed a light kiss on her finger, and then watched as she smiled tenderly back at me. She then leaned forward and lovingly kissed my lips one more time before pulling back, taking my hand in hers, and began 'leading' me towards that pristinely-white light source, that I had seen surround her when she first appeared to me.

Shizuru kept on leading me forward towards the light, but then a sound that seemed to fill the entire air around us, suddenly came to my ears and I stopped, tugging gently on Shizuru's hand to stop her too.

She looked back at me curiously, and I gestured about as I tried to explain about the sound that I was now suddenly hearing. It sounded like someone weeping, and without warning an almost-window suddenly appeared beside Shizuru and I, and I could see Mai crying over what I instantly knew was my now-dead body, as Haruka stood behind her stoically with a hand on Mai's shoulder, as she tried to give as much support as she could, while looking like she was holding back her own tears.

Shizuru looked at the image of our two friends, then looked back at me and smiled sweetly at me, and for the first time since I'd been reunited with the love of my life, Shizuru spoke.

"Don't worry, Natsuki. They'll be alright."

And then as I watched with slightly-rounded eyes, Shizuru closed her own eyes, and whispered something softly beneath her breath, and I watched as Mai's head suddenly shot forward, and her eyes seemed to focus on something floating lightly through the air before her.

When I focused in on the object, I saw that it was a pure white feather, and it landed squarely on the spot where my no-longer-beating heart was.

Mai looked down at the feather, then looked up and over at Haruka, who had a mildly shocked look on her face, as she too gazed down at the feather.

Mai reached out and gently picked up the feather, and as she held it in her hand, a look of peace came over her features, and she pulled the feather against her chest, right by her own heart. I then heard her softly whisper to Haruka, "she's alright. Natsuki...wherever she is...she's alright now...and for the first time in five years...really and truly happy."

The last image that I saw of Mai and Haruka, was of Haruka giving Mai one of her rare true smiles, as she gave Mai's shoulder a final squeeze. Mai then slowly rose to her feet, my body cradled carefully in her arms, as the two of them then turned around, and began making their way back towards Garderobe.

The image of Mai and Haruka faded away, and I turned to Shizuru with a question on my lips, but Shizuru just smiled at me, shook her head lightly, and answered my question without me even having to voice it.

"I couldn't have done that for you my dearest sweet Natsuki, over those five long years that you had to suffer without me there by your side. I was only allowed to come back to you now to bring you with me. And having you here with me now, and because Mai was there as one of your closest friends, we were able to send her our feelings through that one single feather. It only worked because you were here with me Natsuki," Shizuru said, as she tenderly trailed her fingers down the side of my face, and I leaned lightly into her touch, gently kissing her fingers as they trailed past my lips.

Shizuru giggled lightly, and then with a sudden burst of joy-filled energy, she pulled me along quickly behind her, and towards the still glowing, bright-white light source.

Once we had gotten to within a couple feet of it, Shizuru tightened her grip on my hand, gave me a beautiful, serene smile and leapt without abandon into the light.

I followed right along behind her, never looking back, only looking forward to being with my precious Shizuru.

Forever.

AN 2: This was my longest 'short' Puff yet XD

Hope that you all enjoyed it, and please review! =3