Oh… WOW. Several reviews on Chapter 9. THANKS GUYS! LOVE YOU ALL! *glomps everyone*

Also, DOUBLE DIGITS BABY! 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10!

Chapter 10 is up! Thank you for all of your support!

I heard him murmur in his sleep and shift closer to me, which made my blush brightly. Together, in my large bed, we had been talking over things that had happened to us in our lives before he had finally fallen into the pillows in sheer exhaustion and started to snore. I was tempted to fall asleep also—but how could I while feeling so jittery?

Kurgy—he'd told me to keep calling me the nicknames I began to ramble at him when I'd been angry, because apparently they showed my "true self"—breathed calmly now, no longer snoring. He had one arm over my shoulders, which had held me in place while we had shared our stories. I have to admit: many of the things I had to tell him made me want to tear out my tongue.

But I had told him anyway, fighting flits of anger at the people of my homeland and their hatred that had ruined me and my brother.

When he mentioned the bat symbol on the sword that had murdered his mother, I blanched and shakily replied that the man through the bubble in space had had a symbol like that, too. Kuro-tan's eyes narrowed at that, and he asked how I knew him. I shook my head and said that the guy had popped out in front of me and asked if I wanted to leave my prison—which I had easily said yes to.

'So Kuro-rinta knows him to, huh? Now that I think about it… this must be the boy the man had claimed to be my enemy—because some witch had gotten to him before he had.' I took a moment to watch Kurogane's face, putting the pieces of our recent lives together as I gazed at his sleeping self. 'That man must be frightened of Kuro-wan-wan for something…I wonder what it is…'

It didn't matter. No, Kuro was my friend now. He helped me through so much in so little time. It didn't matter that that man had said that this boy was my enemy. I didn't need to bring back Fai anymore. I was letting him go, so he could be in peace just as Kuro-woof had told me.

A sharp feeling tightened in my chest, and I whimpered and burrowed my face in the pillows. I still wanted my twin back. Hell, I knew I always would. There would always be that feeling in my chest that would tell me that I could have done something to bring him back. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to block out my pain. I tried to focus on something else—the soft fabric surrounding me, the cool chill on the back of my neck where the skin was exposed to the wind, the warmth around my shoulders…

Kuro-chan shifted again and held me against his chest. He sighed through his nose, his closed eyes peaceful. Looking at his sleeping face, I myself was suddenly exhausted. Everything that had been going on in the last few days left me utterly and unexpectedly drained.

My eyelids drooped and I snuggled against him. I knew this would get a strange response from whoever decided to walk in on them, but for the moment I didn't care. I closed my eyes and clutched the warm fabric of his wool shirt in my hands.

"Kuro-tan," I whispered, before letting my mind wander around aimlessly until sleep could finally find me. I tried to picture where Kuro-pii had lived before he had ended up here. I tried to see his parents. His father would look just like him, I believed. And his mother would be beautiful. All of this was obvious, but I couldn't seem to picture them.

In the warmth around me, the chill on the back of my neck didn't seem very important any more. I was free to explore my own thoughts while being surrounded by warmth I had never experienced before. A smile tugged on my lips, which I fought as I tried for sleep again.

Kuro's arm tightened around me, and I couldn't help the next smile that lit up my face. But by then, I had already sunken into another sleep; this time with someone very important to me sleeping with me. This sleep was so, so much better than any other sleep I could remember.

My eyes blinked groggily. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, yawning.

"Hello."

I jumped and yelped, turning quickly to the voice that had spoken. Where Kuro-burro should have been was a young girl with flowing black hair and strange ornaments decorating her. Her eyes were purple. She was sitting on the bed next to me with crossed legs, and her dress was so long that it flowed right off the bed and pooled on the ground.

I tried to lean away from her, but the blankets prevented this. "Wh-Who are you? Where's Kurogane?"

The girl smiled with an odd sadness deep in the violet of her eyes. "He is still with you, so don't worry."

"W-What?" I stuttered, confused. "Wait—is this a dream?!"

"Correct."

I looked around, finding everything but the bed to be completely black. What wasn't black was oddly luminous, like light was emanating from everything on my and on me. Shakily, I raised my hands to my face and stared at the eerie glow they were letting off.

"I don't have very long to talk," she told me quietly, to snap me from my thoughts. I looked at her nervously.

"You're what they call a Dream Seer, right? What is it you want?" My voice squeaked, which I cursed mentally at. She didn't seem at all fazed by my struggle.

She smiled lightly, kindly. Much like my king Ashura. "You have been helped by him, right? I saw it would happen in one of my dreams."

"Yeah, okay… so?"

"He is still troubled by his own past."

I flinched, staring at her wide-eyed. "His o-own past? How do I help him?"

Her smile widened slightly. "Anxious to be helpful, are you?"

I leaned back a little, tucking in my chin and trying to look less startled by this girl's steady stream of questions. Her Dream Seer powers were very strong—I could sense where it originated in a whole other world.

Another world.

"I am a priestess, just like Kurogane's mother had been before she died. Kurogane had been staying in my sister's palace with me for about a week before he was sent here."

"A week?" my voice was strangely calmer now. It seemed I was already used to the way she spoke. "So it had been a week since his parent's died? Or am I wrong?"

"No, you're right," she held her cheek with one hand and sighed. "He was such a hard one to handle when his parents had died. He'd gone on a killing spree with his mother's corpse in one hand and his dead father's sword in the other."

I winced with that picture in my head. But I had been surrounded by dead bodies for almost eternity before he had even tried to picture a dead body. He may not have even been born by then. I squared my shoulders and looked her in the eye. "So you want me to heal his heart? I'll do what I can."

Slowly, she shook her head. Her hair rippled like water. "Impossible."

"WHAT?!" I shouted at her, throwing my arms in the air in exasperation. "Then what am I supposed to do?! If he can heal my heart, it shouldn't be much harder to heal his!"

She kept smiling and waited patiently for me to finish. When I had finally stopped, she took a deep breath to continue. "I didn't mean you couldn't do it. You are already a very precious one in his heart, and you can easily heal him. It just isn't possible to heal one in a place they don't belong."

I blinked and looked down at the bed. "So… what you're saying is…"

"Take Ginryu and Chi," she told me, nodding her head. "They will lead you on. And you must move quickly if you and he are going to be able to finish this in a moon. Do not let your king stop you, or all will be lost."

"Ashura-O…" I murmured, bowing my head.

"You will meet him again," she promised, and said no more. Her form began to disappear into the black. Her eyes closed.

"Wait!" I screamed, holding out a hand as if to stop her. "Tell me your name, at least! So I can prove to Kuro-tan that—"

"My name is Tomoyo. He will know me as Princess Tomoyo," she interrupted me briskly, her voice fading into the back of my mind.

"Okay," I whispered, a bit hurt that she'd broke me off midsentence. "See you soon, then, I guess."

Before she dissipated, I could've sworn she laughed. A pure, beautiful sound. Or maybe she didn't. I was conscious too soon to find out. Conscious and immediately awake. I sat up, sighing. A puff of chilly mist welcomed me. Glancing to the side, a veil of light allowed me to see the calm sleeping boy next to me. His arm had fallen from my shoulders, and lay flush with my leg.

Yup, definitely awake. I puffed out another cloud of warm air, just to watch it fade away.

'Quickly, huh? I guess I should wake him then. We're going to his world now.' Thinking 'we' put a strange feeling in my gut. Jittery, but still calm. Excited, maybe? Snowbirds chittered in the windless skies outside. Why was the window open?

Trying not to think too much and get too distracted, I turned to Kuro-tan and gently shook his shoulders. He grunted faintly, but didn't react otherwise. Nothing? Wasn't he supposed to be some sort of warrior or something? I shook his shoulders again, harder this time.

He groaned, but softly. His calm face was flushed for some reason. In fact, when I saw the dark red over his face, a heat of my own flooded my cheeks. But I wasn't embarrassed…! What was—

The window was open! The cold must have gotten us sick from overexposure. We had to get somewhere warmer. Fast.

By some gut instinct, I knew the door to the rest of the palace was locked, and the memory of Kuro-burro's first pair of clothes brought the thought of warmth. They had been super thin. His world had to be warm.

"Kurogane, wake up!" I shouted into his ear, croaking with an icky feeling in the back of my throat.

He stirred, but settled back down, shuffling closer to me.

I breathed another puff of air, in impatience. My eyes slid away from him for a mere moment before going back to him. "You want warmth, don't you?" It was a stupid idea. Absolutely, irrevocably stupid. But it was the best idea I could think of at the moment, and so I acted on it.

I brought my face close to his, breathing warm air into his face. His eyebrow twitched. Cocking my head, I was unable to stop myself from relishing in this closeness and the warmth he breathed onto my face. I had a feeling this was the last time in a while I would be near him like this. His tan, flushed face was very handsome, even in the softness of young age. I was much softer, true…and more feminine. Maybe… this was okay.

Without another time-wasting hesitation, I pressed my mouth to his. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and parted my lips slightly to breathe over his mouth. A fraction of the warmth bounced back to me, making me shiver.

The reaction was almost immediate. Within a few moments my face was being held in his hands, and his own mouth parted with mine. Something warm and wet invaded my mouth, causing me to flinch slightly. But… it was so warm. I couldn't resist touching my tongue to it.

A moan escaped the mouth of Kuro-myuu. His hands tightened against my face, forcing me painfully closer. A gasp escaped my mouth. My arms wound around his neck, locking him to me. Kuro-nya~

'Nya? Am I a cat now?' that thought made me stop.

Kuro-tan tried to bring another response from my suddenly frozen mouth. But his movements would only distract me more. I needed to get him to his world. Reluctantly, I pulled away from him, tugging at him arms and looking into his dazed eyes.

"Awake, Kuro-puu?" I purred, his hands settled on my shoulders, my fingers wrapped around his to keep him from trying to force me back to him. I cocked my head at him and feigned being a curious kitten with wide eyes. His eyes swiftly narrowed.

"Mage…" he growled lowly. "I don't like being played while I'm half-asleep. There had better be a very good explanation for this." His tone was one for no lame excuses.

I grinned at him, once again, like a cat. "Then it's good that I have a good explanation, nya~?"

"'Nya'?" he hissed, yanking his hands from mine and grabbing the tops of my arms. "Explain."

And I did.

"…also, I figure we're both pretty ill right now. We should get going soon. Like, now," I finished, grinning impishly. My flushed face was burning angrily at me, just as Kuro's glare was as he digested what I said. It took him a few minutes, but slowly he nodded.

"Pretty good explanation," he admitted. His red eyes were brighter than normal. "You met Princess Tomoyo? Then this must be urgent. How will those horses get us to another world?"

I shrugged helplessly, struggling out of the covers of my bed—shivering at the intense cold—and crawling off the bed toward the open window. "They have a strong magic of some sort. Enough for them to talk to me… maybe they have the ability to travel worlds. Who knows? All I know is that the door is probably still locked, the window's open, and we're sick. We have to get somewhere warm."

"Like back in bed," he suggested, but got out of bed as he spoke. A sharp shiver travelled down his back when he stood straight.

I laughed without humor. "I wish, Kurgs. But now isn't the time." I turned to my closet and rummaged through it before bringing out two cloaks. I handed a black one to Kurogane, and put my traditional white one on. I reached back inside… and cursed.

"What?" Kuro asked.

"That damn Ashura-O still has my staff!" I sighed. "I'll have to go without it..."

A sharp banging sound came from the door. When I looked, the hinges rattled. Kurogane and I swore in unison, and rushed for the balcony. Quickly we ran. But not fast enough.

Never fast enough. Wasn't that traditional!

Please review like last time! *Fai gives you big kitten eyes and then drags in Kuro-puu and forces his lips into a smile with a swift tug. Kuro-puppy murderously slashes his sword at him, who ducks and yells "Hyuu!" joyously and begins to mewl like a cat as he's chased all around the room.*

I'm sure you've all noticed that these chapters are all fairly short. I apologize. I try my best to get a new chapter to you all every week, so I need to keep each update around 2,000 words (more if I'm motivated to write more in a short period of time). ((BTW this Chapter was 2,493 words long XP))

Thanks for all of your support! Look forward to Chapter 11!