One-Shot # 11 First Kiss (Takes place during chapters 8 and 9 of Nature's Spirit)

I knew she would come back for her tonight. I just knew she did. She had no reason not to, seeing as she had clearly done it for the past few nights. Jessie... she wanted to harm Sarah.

I was well aware that, in a way, it was I that was doing wrong. Jessie and I had been together so long... But I never loved her. I never felt anything for her. Then I met Sarah...and I knew what it was like to fall in love. I never thought I would find love like this, especially not from a silly little human being. But Sarah wasn't a silly little human being...she was human, but her heart was pure and bright and her mind was so vast and full of light. I wanted to leave Jessie...but my parents...

I stopped my thoughts. I had to focus. I didn't remove my shirt, nor did I remove my scarf that night. I waited. Fearing I would fall asleep, I grabbed my Nintendo DS and switched it on, playing the night away. When it was about 2 in the morning, I decided it was about time to go.

Shutting off my game and tucking it away, I closed my eyes and shuddered from the rush of static and numbness that went through me as I shifted to my inhuman appearence. I caught sight of my reflection in the window. How Sarah had managed to fall for me, even knowing I wasn't human, was beyond me.

I thought of her home, her balcony. I felt myself fade away and when my vision returned, I was standing on the balcony. She was here...I knew it. Her tall and thin shape glowed under the pale light of the moon. She was dressed in a small...dress. It looked more like a shirt to me, however... It was black. Even if I felt nothing for this mad woman, I couldn't help it when my cheeks heated up from seeing her. I shook my head when I registered what she was doing.

She had her arms crossed on the window sill, her forehead pressed to the glass. There was an unnerving buzz in the air that told me she was using her powers, infiltrating Sarah's dreams. I walked next to her. She was concentrating. Her blank face was scrunched up. Considering the power that could come from Sarah's mind, it was to be expected that a more dim-witted being, such as Jessie, would struggle to get a grip on her mind. It briefly amused me that this all powerful slender was struggling against a sleeping human.

Jessie was so focused on her current task that she didn't even notice I was here. I could have just shaken her back to awareness and broken her hold on Sarah's mind, but part of me, that hero part of me formed by all the video games I played growing up, wanted to leave behind a sign that it was I that had saved my little human.

I knelt down next to Jessie and began to whisper in her ear. "Think of a tree. A beautiful tree. It is the most vibrant and beautiful shade of green you have seen in your life. It's branches, they are unbreakable. It reaches, so tall up, taller than all other trees." All the while, I allowed my aura to reach the edges of her conciousness. I hated doing this. Her narrow mind felt stuffy, like being trapped in a tiny room with walls painted in poison.

A few seconds later, I noticed her face was no longer contorted by concentration. Her aura suddently rang with confusion and I retreated away from her. She turned to me, looking stunned. Suddently, she ground her teeth together, snarling at me. "What are you doing here?!" I crossed my arms. "Funny, I could ask you the same thing." I took only a slightest amount of time to reach my aura to Sarah, trying to sooth her back to a peaceful sleep, but it only lasted a second.

She stood as tall as she could and walked towards me, her black tendrills slowly extending from her back. I allowed a few of my own extra appendages to reveal themselves. She continued to speak. "Why the heck are you doing this?! I thought there was something special between us! Now you're hanging out with this...this human instead?" "She may be human, but she's superior to you. She's better than you will ever be."

The slender woman suddently snapped. She flung her tendrills at me, trying to strangle me. I crashed into the railing, reflexively flailling a few of my tendrills blindly in the hopes that I could push her away. I hissed when I felt one of them impact with something solid, sending a horrible electrical numbness down my spine. She had a tendrill coiled around my neck. I was tempted to strike her and finish this, but I looked to her fine form. Images started racing through my mind. I feared I could very well kill her if I tried to fight back...physically.

I reached for her mind with my own, letting them enter full contact for the first time. She twitched and collapsed to the floor, her mouth open as if she was trying to scream, but no sound came out. I finally retreated into my own mind. She continued to shake pathetically on the ground for a few minutes. When she came to her senses, I spoke to her, firmly. "Jessie...you know we can't be together. You know we could never become mates. Your mind can't take contact with mine. Even if I loved you, it wouldn't work."

She was still catching her breath. She looked up at me, her eyeless gaze freezing me in place. "I can't withstand your mind but a human can?" I looked back towards the window. One quick check with my aura told me she was still sleeping. "Yes...she can." Jessie got to her knees and slowly stood up. I could tell she wasn't as violent anymore. I didn't risk getting attacked again. She tilted her head to the side, her movements making her look empty.

"So...what are you saying?" I looked back to her, inhaling. "I'm saying it's over. We're just not meant to be together." She looked back to the ground. Suddently, she punched the railing and slenderwalked away. It was just me, alone out here. I looked into Sarah's window one more time before I slenderwalked home.

Once I got to my room, I noticed it was about to be sunrise. Sarah would know that I was the one who saved her. She would want to see me as soon as she would wake up... I groaned, flickering away from my location once more. I was in the clearing where we liked to meet usually. I decided to rest against that rock face that bordered the area.

As I suspected, I soon sensed her walk over to me. At least...I think that was her...I was half asleep at this point. Out of the corner of my...vision... I saw her. I groaned and rubbed the spots where my eyes should be. "I thought our shouting would wake you up early, and I knew you'd come here." She looked down to me. I sensed concern coming off of her. "You didn't get any sleep at all?" It amused me that she worried more about me than herself. I was a slender. She was human.

"None." I answered. She sat down next to me. Instinctively, I reached for her with two of my tendrills. I clung to her ankle. Contact with her soothed me. I thanked her, even if she never actually did anything, by reaching for her with the static of my mind. I knew it soothed her too. I noticed her blush. "Thanks for saving me in that dream. You made that tree appear, didn't you?"

I couldn't help but smile at the mix of anxiety and pure gratitude in her voice. "Not exactly. Jessie made that tree appear. I'm not gifted in any way for my powers, so I can't really affect the way people think. The most I can do is mild calming. Or overwhelm them with static, like all slenders can, but I never had to do that... I simply whispered in her ear while she was focused. Her subconcious made that tree appear."

She smiled again. It fadded and was replaced with more concern, however. I noticed her looking at my arm. I looked down and saw that bruises were starting to form."We had a fight..." "I'm sorry" If I had eyes, they would have widenned. I propped myself up on my elbows, turning towards her. "Why are YOU sorry?"

"Well, none of this would happen if I wasn't here." I felt like ice was dropped in my stomach, my blood suddently boiling. How dare she think that of herself?! I decided to show her, finally, what I thought of her. Without much thought, I lifted her chin and pressed my lips softly against hers. The contact didn't even last a second, but I already wanted more... I wanted, no... needed to feel her lips against mine. I didn't try to kiss her again, though. She seemed in shock, gazing off into empty space with her jaw slightly dropped. I had forgotten she never kissed anyone before... Suddently, I felt terribly anxious. I gave her her first kiss... Then I also thought of that fact that she didn't know I was now single.

I could tell awareness was coming back to her eyes. Her cheeks flared up redder than I had ever seen them. It was a nice color on her.. "I broke-up with Jessie. I don't know how our parents will react." My voice probably wasn't as strong as I would have liked it to be. I was surprised when I felt her hand reach for mine.

"I never really liked her, but she fell for me." I was slightly surprised when I heard her speak up. "I can see why." I grinned, continuing my explanation.

"I just went along with it because, well, our parents wanted me to be with an other slender. Both of them have been pure blood 100% slender for generations. I don't know if they'd want me to be with a human. Over time, Jessie took over. I just did nothing. I let her take me around, I let her say all that stuff about us, but I could feel that this wasn't meant to be. Then I met you."

I trailed off. My fingers curled around hers as I held her hand tightly in mine and I scooted over, closer to her. I felt my cheeks heat up as I continued. "I've even had several people come up to me to tell me that we appeared to be made for one an other."

I yawned. I had forgotten how tired I was. "You need sleep. Thanks for helping me, by the way." Again, she cared more for me than for herself. I wasn't just a little human boy... Still, I answered. "Yeah, I should. And it was no problem. Jessie had no right to do that."

We both stood up at the same time. It was only then that I realized my tendrills were still curled around her leg and we were still holding hands. I looked at her soft and warm lips. I retracted my tendrills, but I didn't let go of her hand. Instead, I took the other one as well. She looked right where my eyes should be, her cheeks bright red again.

I leaned forward and kissed her. This time, she kissed me back fully. I melted in the feeling. I never thought a human could make me feel this way. The feeling wasn't...electrical...like kissing a slender. But it filled me with so much more warmth than I had ever felt. I could hear her heart beat speeding up and feel my own racing as well. The rising sun added even more warmth to this much needed embrace. It was like a flame was ignited inside me. I wanted to go furthur, but I had to remeber: She had never kissed anyone before, never even felt anything for anyone before me. I couldn't rush things.

I decided to slenderwalk her home right before we broke apart, breathing heavily. The smile on her face when I moved away from her...I wanted to see her smile like that all the time. A simple nod was as good for us as a verbal goodbye and I fadded back to my room, finally able to get some sleep.

I laid there on my bed, gazing at the ceiling. All I could think of was her. I kissed her. As I changed back to my human image, finally falling to my exhaustion, her face was the only thing on my mind.

AN: I decided to take some instances in my first fanfic, Nature's Spirit, and try to bring them into Tom's point of view. I really enjoy writting his character... he's one of the more complex ones. But it does get annoying and long over time because I have to type slightly slower than I usually do...It,s the only reason I don't write Sarah's chracater the same way, because their minds are pretty much the same.. but chapters like these are supposed to really put in the fact that the guy is A LOT smarter than ordinary people. Anyway, I heard there's some confusion on what's Sarah's job is. She's a biologist that also does some paleontology and specializes in the evolution of life. She's a field researcher at first, but, due to events explaned in the previous One-Shot, she evntually decides to switch to analyzing data on finds, which is why she works on a computer during Sakura's Journey. Hope that clears some stuff up. Anyway, thank you for reading! This is the longest single chapter I think I have ever written...