Disclaimer: You know the drill.

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Happy now, Airi led a mildly depressed Jeile to her room, giggling as she led him inside. "You know, I never thought I'd be able to get you in here so soon," she told him, clambering onto her mattress and sprawling on her stomach. She peeked up at him through her hair. "Well?"

"Well, what?" he asked, closing the door and turning to face her, looking nervous.

"Well, aren't you gonna come sit with me?" She pouted, sitting on her knees and twirling a piece of hair around her finger.

"I...don't think that's a very good idea, my dear," he told her, approaching the bed cautiously.

"Why not? Don't you love me anymore?" she asked, eyes welling with tears.

"Yes, of course I do!" he hurried to reassure her, climbing onto the high-set bed to sit beside her. Sighing happily, she threw her arms around him, tucking her head under his chin as she smoothed wrinkles in his shirt. He slowly undid the bows in her hair, frowning when they didn't bring about the desired result. He petted her hair, sneakily searching for more hidden bows as she almost purred and curled closer to him. "Jei-ile," she half-whine, half-pleaded, "Do you love me?"

He froze, one hand buried in her curled hair, the other hovering over the large bow on her derriere. "Umm...Well..." He struggled to find the "appropriate" response.

Startled out of her dream-like state, she sat up slowly, eyes teary and wide as she gently forced him to meet her gaze. "Do you love me?" she repeated quietly, searching his eyes desperately.

"Yes," he told her hoarsely, spilling his heart onto the mattress at her knees. She gave a little cry of joy, throwing herself into his arms. The force knocked him onto his back and he was too startled by the sudden change in position to even respond as she latched her lips onto his. He soon caught on, however, and spent the next few minutes shifting between focusing on kissing her back with all of his being and frantically undoing all of the bows he could find on her.

When he had undone all of the ones on her dress, he pulled back reluctantly, lightly nipping her lower lip between his teeth before resting his forehead against hers. She giggled and rubbed her nose against his. "Airi," he whispered so as not to ruin the mood, "Darling, your bows."

"My...bows?" she asked, leaning away from him to judge by his face whether or not he was being serious with her. "What about them?"

"Can you...umm...untie the ones...under...there?" he finished weakly, gesturing at her dress.

"Why?"

"Because...I want you back the way you normally are. You know, when you hate my guts and trip after my pathetic excuse for a brother?"

"But...if I'm normally opposed to your affections, and you prefer me that way, why kiss me?"

"...I just wanted a peaceful memory of you, one of you loving me instead of Aram to keep. I swear, Airi, that's all I wanted!"

"All right, then," she said after a moment of thoughtful silence.

"You'll do it?" She nodded in response, reaching down slowly to grasp her skirt hem in her fingers.

"Fair warning, though."

"For what," Jeile asked, confused and slightly nervous.

"I don't think it'll work," she muttered as a blush stole across her cheeks.

"Why not! Dammit, Maruru promised me it would!" he raged, leaping to his feet and heading for the door.

"Wait, Jeile! It's not that!" she cried, catching his coat hem and jerking him to a stop. "It works...or, rather, it worked," she hurried to explain. "It stopped working when we were one our way here, to my rooms," Airi confessed quietly, eyes glued to her shoes.

"How...what...why?!" Jeile spun to face her, gripping her shoulders in his hands. "How did it stop working, Airi!"

"One of the bows slipped loose and un-tied itself," Maruru told him, startling both mortals.

"How did you know?" they asked the tiny girl simultaneously.

"I made it happen." She shrugged and flew off once again, leaving the couple to face the fact that they had confessed to loving each other without the freeing effective of magic.

"So...did you mean it?" Airi asked, shifting slightly close to Jeile.

"Every word," he responded just as quietly, reaching out to entwine their fingers.

"Me, too."

"Wanna get married?" Jeile suddenly asked, looking excited.

"Maybe later," Airi told him. "But first, didn't I promise to undo some ribbons for you...?"

The End...