Narrator
Ryu quickly ran to her and caught her delicate body before it hit the forest grounds.
"Kasumi!"
She looked up at him and smiled weakly. Trying, but failing to reassure him that she was alright. How could I never have trusted him? He is the most wonderful and thoughtful man anyone would ever know. Ryu-san... please forgive me.
She closed her eyes.
"No! Please!" He screamed.
He quickly laid her down on the soiled ground. He searched her body for any possible reason she was feeling this way, but to no avail. Until his eyes caught a gleaming dark brown substance that etched downwards from her thighs. Moving the piece of white fabric away, he found a deep cut, that was oozing out the thick substance.
He examined the cut and found out that it was the poison of the one thousand dead roses.
The shuriken that cut her must have carried the poison, but hadn't she cleansed it already?
Not allowing himself to waste any more time on dwindling, he quickly put her on his right shoulder and searched for the remedy, which were a hundred live roses that would turn into a paste. Although the poison was easy to reverse, if it took to long to carry out the procedures it could potentially kill the victim.
He hooked her stomach onto his shoulder and carried her deeper into the obscure woods. His eyes moving constantly, trying to find a rose bush.
The more he went into the woods, the more hard it was to see. But finally he caught a quick glimpse of the blood red flowers. He set Kasumi down next to him and knelt down to get them.
His hands and wrists started to bleed, for there were many thorns of which, he could not avoid. After picking many roses he slid them into his pocket, on his side. He hauled Kasumi up and ran to the river.
Carefully he set her down, in the shade of a large sakura tree.
The river water stung his raw hands. He winced.
Maybe after this, Kasumi will start to trust me.
Dusk was starting to creep up on him, and he quickly took the roses out of his pocket.
Ryu started to crush them with some water, to make a thick paste. After the consistency of it was where he wanted it, he walked over to her and began massaging the pink paste into her thigh.
It timidly bubbled, and then dark green liquid, began to pour out of the wound. When there could be no more of the poison, he cleansed it with care.
Night came and so did the cold. Therefore he decided to sleep next to her, sharing each others warmth.
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The morning sun came quickly through the night and Kasumi laid awake in the arms of a person. She slowly turned to face the unnamed, trying not to scare the warmth away.
Smiling at Ryu's presence and thoughtfulness, she framed his face with one hand. Strong features they were. His eyes peacefully closed, his nose tall and slim, and his lips thin and trembling. Although he still slept, he let out a lazy smile. She quietly chuckled and dug her face into his chest, and wrapped her arms around the wonderful man she had learned to fall in love with.
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Arms wrapped around him, he woke up to find Kasumi nicely nested in his chest. Making him beam.
Finally.
He hugged her even tighter, making a few strands of her hair fall gently on her lovely face. He urged himself not to move it, or else she would wake up, and leave him with his own feelings. But couldn't take it any longer and proceeded to do so. As he had predicted she woke up.
But to his surprise she did not jump up and leave him, rather, she smiled back and held him even tighter.
"Good morning Ryu-san." She said sweetly.
"Good morning."
"Thank you for doing this for me."
"My pleasure."
He froze, but quickly framed her face with his one hand and brought her close to his lips. He felt her surprise, as she froze there herself, but she quickly followed his movements.
He felt her lips gliding over his, he felt her throat tremble, moaning for more of the sweet embrace. Ryu quickly slowed down and let go of her, afraid that he might do something he may later regret.
He sat up. Looking at the innocent girl stay laid down.
She looked up at him with surprise, but it wasn't because of the kiss, but because of his cut hands.
"Ryu-san! What happened to your hands? Are you alright? Do you need me to do anything?" She asked, panicking. She sat up next to him and grabbed his hands into her gentle ones.
"No, I'm alright. It's just nothing." He said. "We should get going, I think we're near Shunsaku's village." Standing up, he began to walk with the river.
She obediently stood up and walked with him. Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion.
What happened to him? Was it something I did?
She abruptly stopped making Ryu look dazed.
"Is something the matter?"
"Ryu, please tell me what happened to your hands! Please!"
He looked down, as if it caused him great pain. Letting out a breath he answered her. "When you blacked out I took a look at your body, searching for what could have made you this way. So I found a tainted cut on your right thigh. Soon after, I found out that it was the poison of the one thousand dead roses, and the only cure was to-."
"Get another hundred roses!" She gasped. "I'm so sorry Ryu!"
"Don't be." He simply stated and walked onwards.
Her lips trembled, what was she to do?
"Ryu, if there's anything I can do to repay you, please tell me."
He stopped, and looked at her straight in the eye. His stern face, was unexpectedly very attractive. "Repay me, by accepting me to take your hand in marriage. Please, Kasumi. Since the first second I saw you I fell into this strange world, where I couldn't stop thinking about you. At first I didn't know what it was, but then I found out... I was and still am in love with my best friend's sister. Please Kasumi, I know that you have a hard time trusting anyone, but please trust me." He looked away. Leaving Kasumi dumbfound. Orange and red leaves fell down in front of her.
"Ryu..." She said quietly and shyly. "If that is how I can repay you, then yes."
He turned around and stared at her with bewilderment, and ran to her. Positioning himself in front of her, he yelled out the words that Kasumi never thought a man would say to her.
"I love you!" She laughed, and said it back to him.
"I love you too." He hugged her, and it felt too short, he quickly peered into her eyes and grinned.
"Let's get a move on, I want to marry you as soon as I can!"
Thanks for reading this chapter, and thanks if you are going to review it. I was just wondering if you could review my Inuyasha one shot, one. Go to my profile and you'll see it! Please review it! I also started on this awesome vampire story on FictionPress, called A Desolute Half Way Damnation. If you go on my profile and click on homepage or the thumbnail I added at the bottom it will bring you to my profile there, and you could read it. Please review for any! PLEASE! Thank you.