Shizuka did not remember how he came to be where they were, or how long it had taken for it to happen. All he knew was that they were naked, they were kissing and touching and grabbing, and he was desperate to feel himself enter the exquisite body that was sucking, licking, and tasting him.

His grandfather's far away memory proved itself to be correct – Kimihiro's tongue inside of his mouth was like inhaling pure opium. He could not think clearly with reason or restraint. Desire as he'd never endured before caused him to ache with want. When that hot mouth moved to the seal on his neck and sucked hard enough to leave a reddish bruise the spike of pleasure and fireworks of white behind his closed eyelids forced his body to shake and a mantra of the Traveler's name tumbled endlessly from his lips.

He wanted – needed – could not last a moment longer – without being inside of this man. With a great struggle against his mostly unresponsive body he sat up and tried to roll Kimihiro to the ground.

The one he wanted to make love to pulled his mouth away with a gasp. "No...Shizuka. Not yet."

Doumeki tried to growl in frustration, but it came out as a rather desperate moan. "I can't wait."

Kimihiro pushed Shizuka back to the floor and pulled the hunter's wrists above his head. "You must, just for a little while." His gasps of breath were shallow as he controlled his immediate want. "We must complete the ceremony properly."

"...?" He could not voice his question out loud, not with the way Kimihiro ground their groins together at that moment and the friction forced the words from his mind.

Thumbs pressed purposefully down on Doumeki's restrained wrists. He felt the hum of magic against his skin before the sharp end of what felt like a fiery hot needle broke through the appendage and all the way down to the floor. Doumeki grunted and gasped at the pain. "Kimihiro..." he opened his eyes and looked up at his left wrist.

A soft beam of light had penetrated his arm and pierced the wood floor beneath him. His blood seeped out slowly, sluggishly, and spread out along dark lines of wood ingrained into the floor. He realized belatedly there were patterns and glyphs beneath him.

His blood lit up the circle of power with a dark purple-red luminance. The designs were exactly what had shown up below Watanuki whenever he traveled from world to world.

Hands secured by his magic, Kimihiro moved his fingers to frame his Intended's face and brought their eyes together, nose to nose. They shared breath as they both continued to breathe heavily. "Shizuka, my Intended, I am sorry..."

Doumeki's heart muscles felt tight in his chest. "What?"

"We must complete this bond. It cannot be stopped now that the ritual has begun. My love..." he pressed his mouth against Shizuka's again and sucked greedily on his lower lip before he continued. "You must pay a price to complete this. To remain with me forever there is something that I must take from you."

At that point, he really didn't care what Kimihiro took, just as long as he didn't have to keep waiting! "Take it, whatever it is, just take it."

"I have to tell you the price first before I can accept your offer. Shizuka, in order to fully become mine, you must give up everything that has ever caused you pain. Every thought, emotion, memory, and object... you may never have it again."

"Everything..." Shizuka repeated. "My memories..."

"Yes. All of it. No pain may enter where I am about to take you."

He had to be free of all pain? Was such a request even possible?

Kimihiro's breath washed over his face and the man's irresistible scent filled his mind. Whatever it took... he was going to go mad if he had to wait any longer... "Take it."

Kimihiro smiled. "Done."

The Traveler moved his body, braced himself and suddenly Shizuka felt like his sex had been pressed inside of a furnace. Kimihiro screamed his name, magic and power washed up around him, and he was aware of no more.

. . . . . . . . .

When he opened his eyes the world that greeted him was alien and unfamiliar. Shizuka could not tell if he was laying down, standing up, flipped upside down, or floating in any particular direction. He was surrounded by warmth, as though the insubstantial world were a heated blanket wrapped securely around him.

A body was entangled with his. A name came to mind, and the knowledge that this was the person he was going to spend the rest of eternity with.

"Kimihiro," he intoned next to his lover's ear. The man stirred as he was roused from sleep.

"Hm," Watanuki's arms tightened around him. "Shizuka..."

Doumeki tried to dig through his memory but he could not find an answer for how he had come to be where he was, or why he was, or even how he with this person, except that he was supposed to be. "Where are we?"

A kiss to the hunter's neck. "We are at the source of my powers. It is a world unto itself, inaccessible by all but me. You are the only other person in all the worlds that may enter this place with me. It was necessary to bring you here, to solidify our bond, and to make you immortal."

Doumeki ran his hands up and down the pale side exposed to him. "Kimihiro, I can't-"

"Remember," the Traveler finished for him.

"No," he confirmed softly. He grabbed Kimihiro's soft bottom and squeezed gently. "I know my name, and yours. I know that I belong here. My past... I had parents, I think. Relatives. Why can't I..."

"Too many memories from your past caused you pain. It was the price you paid to be with me. Those memories, and the heartache that they caused, will never return."

Doumeki brought his hand back towards his vision and looked at his palm. It was rough and calloused, his nails blunt and his fingers dotted with scars he did not remember receiving. "I used to fight."

Watanuki's legs wrapped around his hips tightly. Doumeki felt his body stir with arousal. "You still do," he answered back.

Shizuka moved his hand back down to pull those hips higher for a better position. "Good," he whispered, relieved at having a purpose. He kissed Watanuki's neck. "I want you."

Kimihiro laughed lightly, breathy. "Then take me, Shizuka. Make me yours again."

Doumeki pressed inside of his gorgeous lover's entrance. It was tight, burning hot, and he could not get enough of it.

. . . . . . . .

There was a great commotion of noise as Doumeki Kino rode up to the village's entrance. Pink dawn light was spilling across the forested countryside and over the village walls, so it was odd to hear so much noise at such an hour. He urged his horse to a faster gait and strained his vision to see a little better.

Hunters and common citizens alike were out in the streets in an agitated swarm. Kino rode into the crowd and watched as people started to part around him. He called to the hunter closest to him. "What's happened? Why is everyone out this morning?"

The man that turned to him was Commander Sakurazuka. There was dried blood crusted along the his right temple. His eyes snapped towards him, then narrowed in rage. "Him! Grab him!"

Flabbergasted wouldn't have been able to begin to cover Kino's shock as he was roughly grabbed from his horse and pulled to the ground. Every hunter in the village suddenly descended upon him and tied him down.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"A family of traitors!" Sakurazuka hissed. "Bring him to the town square!"

Kino winced as he was forced up and practically dragged to his destination. The space between his shoulders protested with a throbbing ache as his arms were manhandled and tugged in unnatural angles.

"What happened?" He tried again.

General Monou Fuuma and General Shiro Kamui were both standing in the middle of the crowd. Monou was frowning, visibly upset, while General Shiro looked... sad?

Kino tried to swallow the lump in his throat. No matter what had actually happened or what he said, they were going to kill him. Sakurazuka forced him to his knees before the two generals. His hair was grabbed by a fist and his head was pulled up painfully and roughly to look at them. "What have I done?" He pleaded.

"Your son, Captain Doumeki Shizuka, willingly allowed himself to be enthralled by a witch last night and has given himself to the enemy," Monou told him.

"No," Kino's eyes widened in horror.

"Your family stands accused of aiding the Witch's Collective," Seiichiro bit out in his ear. "Do you know where the cursed girl Kunogi Himawari is?"

Kunogi was gone too? Kino squeezed his eyes closed. Both his father... and his son... it couldn't be true. Not Shizuka, not him!

"Bring that woman over!" Fuuma commanded.

Kino strained his head to look behind him when he heard the voice of his wife yelp in pain. "No, Yakani!" He turned back to the generals. "Please, leave her alone! I beg you! Do what you want with me, anything, just don't hurt my wife!"

"Two generations of traitors," Sakurazuka spat at him. "The both of you are implicated. The less you ask for, the better."

"Please," Kino asked, sobbed, as he heard a slap and his wife's voice cry out again. "Don't hurt her."

Someone, somehow, laughed, but it wasn't a cruel one. Kino gasped as a wave of power swept through the crowd and knocked everyone down. Citizens screamed in fear and hunters yelled in anger. Doumeki Kino managed to struggle back to his knees and gaze around.

Fuuma, Kamui, and Seiichiro looked ready to commit murder as a woman and man walked lazily up to the tied up Doumeki.

Kino did not recognize the bindings that had been placed on everyone. The threads of magic were pink, solid, and nearly hypnotizing in their glow.

The woman walked into his view was young and beautiful. The deep green eyes that smiled at him were framed by soft sandy brown hair. "Hello, Doumeki Kino." Her voice was sweeter than spring.

The man that stood closely next to her had sharp brown eyes that stared at all of the tied up people accusingly. Kino eyed the sword tied to the man's waist cautiously.

"You... are not a witch," General Shiro spoke loudly from his place on the ground.

The woman smiled wider in response to the question. "It is easy to see why you were made a general, Kamui. You are very astute." She turned to her silent companion. "Syaoran, please bring the woman over here."

Syaoran moved away from her and headed in Yakani's direction. Kino followed him with anxious eyes. "Please, please... don't hurt my wife. She hasn't done anything wrong."

Yakani shook and sobbed on the ground the closer the man came. Kino fought against the ropes that tied his hands in place when Syaoran drew his sword, but he merely cut the bindings on Yakani's feet, though he left her hands tied in place behind her back. He put his sword away then hoisted the woman to stand upright. He ignored the heckling he received as he walked through the crowd of bound people and back towards the mysterious woman.

"Who are you?" Yakani asked as she was released. She tumbled to her knees and pressed herself against her husband's side.

"She's just like the one that took your good for nothing son!" Sakurazuka informed her hatefully. "Just like the ones that captured all of us last night, and that enthralled man that just brought you over is no better than the one that gave me this head wound!"

The Traveler ignored the commander. "My name is Sakura." She moved, and as she did her delicate legs swept her long kimono out of the way. She placed herself in front of Kino and his shivering wife. "Kimihiro asked me to look out for you." Her delicate hand slid under his chin and lifted his gaze further. "Your son worried about you so. My brother wished to be here himself to help you, but he knew he would not be able to. I will bring you somewhere safe."

The woman moved away from him and walked away, towards the still bound generals. Syaroan's hand twitched impatiently against the hilt of his sword, as though someone could break out of the confines of the pink cords at any moment. Sakura looked in Fuuma's eyes meaningfully. "You hunters turn against your own kind so quickly. Truly, it is a shame."

Fuuma's dark red eyes narrowed. "We have our reasons."

"Do not be so arrogant as to believe your world is the only one plagued by the dark disease of corrupted magic. Witches, spirits, chaos and its ilk, is something we Travelers have been working against for eons. Your ways are archaic in comparison to what I have seen." She stepped away from Fuuma then pressed herself against Syaoran's side.

The tall man did not flinch, or really even seem to notice, as she slid her hands across his chest. "Darling, cut the ropes from Shizuka's parents."

He drew his sword as he stepped behind the couple. Kino embraced his wife as soon as the ropes fell away. They stood, and Yakani quietly cried into his side as he kissed her forehead.

"It's time to go." Sakura stretched out her hand and called forth a large circle of symbols that shimmered beneath them.

Someone was yelling angrily about them getting away but the sound of the wind that picked up and the magic that chattered noisily around them drowned out who it really was.

When the world righted itself again, Kino and Yakani found themselves at the top of a large hill. There wasn't a sign of civilization for miles. Rolling grasses filled with wildflowers swayed gently in a summer breeze. At the very top of the hill was a small cottage.

"You will be safe here," Sakura's voice captured their attention. "There is fresh water and enough resources to live off the land. Should you find need of anything else there is a small village three leagues to the west. No one will know who you are."

"My son," Yakani's voice quivered. "What's become of him?"

Sakura smiled at the other woman sweetly. "Shizuka is where he belongs now. You don't need to worry about him. He will live forever."

"Forever? How?" Kino asked. There was no magic he knew of that offered eternal life.

"Because he is my bother's Intended. It was fated for Kimihiro to find him."

"And Himawari?" Yakani asked.

Sakura leaned against Syaoran's chest, who in turn wrapped his arms around her waist. "The cursed girl has been brought somewhere safe as well. The people around her are not affected by her curse, so she is now free to be happy. You must forget about her."

Yakani sobbed openly in Kino's arms. "How did this happen?"

"Doumeki Kino," Sakura's voice demanded his attention. He looked up at her. "Kimihiro will find you in the near future. You will not be able to escape an old hunter's death, but my brother will ensure that you feel no pain. Know that he does not do this for you, but for Shizuka, and only for Shizuka."

Kino resented these people for meddling so, but still... he was grateful to be alive, and even more grateful that his wife was unharmed. It would have been far easier for them to ignore him, Yakani, and even poor Kunogi. "Thank you," he admitted, "even though I hate you, thank you. Just as long as my wife is safe."

Sakura did not seem to take offense. "You will understand more once you've died. Things always become clearer when you do not have mortality clouding your vision." She lifted her hand again and her pink and yellow circle of magic sprang to life beneath her feet. "Good luck, Yakani and Kino. You will not be seeing me or Syaoran again."

The air become blindingly hot, then freezing cold, then the Traveler and her Intended were gone.