Crimso's Notes:

I hate it when we have band instead of study hall. Really, Friday fourth period is for STUDY HALL. That's what it says on the schedule. You don't change it to being band every once in a while. Sure, there isn't any other time to practice, but we should just do all that during music class. I need my study hall! …That said… I'm in Spanish class. I'm having study hall now in Spanish, since my work is done, but still, I'd like two periods (that's an hour and forty minutes!) to do my writing.

Note one: Direct continuation from last chapter.

Note two: THIS IS A FILLER CHAPTER. Don't worry; the build up is almost over.

Note three: Do note that only Rena, Mion, and Shion know that Keiichi's parents were killed.

~~~~X~~~~

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Warmth

Keiichi sat there in his seat, his eyes wide with shock and his mouth gaped open from such a revelation. What was Takeru telling him now? Was he really the Hero of Onigafuchi? He wasn't sure what to say. Takeru just sat there, a sad smile on his face as he nodded in confirmation. He had been expecting to gain small details to push him in the right direction, but finding out directly who the Hero was was not expected, and especially the identity of the Hero himself.

"…You…?" he finally said.

"Yes, me. I am the Hero, Keiichi," he repeated.

Keiichi once again found himself at a loss of words. He wasn't sure what to ask him now that he had been engulfed in complete and utter shock, but he tried his best to shake off the shock. As much as he tried, though, the shock was still there. He hadn't been expecting the Hero of Onigafuchi to be his friend Takeru of all people.

Does that mean…? He will be the one to fight the twins, whoever these twins were. And if they were Mion and Shion… it would mean that siblings would hold the fate of Onigafuchi, even if Mion and Shion didn't know their relationship to him. Takeru, on the other hand, certainly did know.

"How do you know?" Keiichi finally asked without thinking.

Takeru sighed. "In Koichi's book, the one he wrote himself about Makoto, he said that when one of The Three Great Families reaches a certain number of births since Makoto's defeat, that one would become the hero. With many people before me, plus the birth of the twins that were killed, I am that number in the Sonozaki family. We beat out the Kimiyoshi family and the Furude family," he explained to the boy, who was still very, very surprised. "I know it's confusing…"

Keiichi hadn't read Koichi's book, but that would definitely be a good source of information, as he was one of the two people who had actually heard the words, and the other person had died moments after the words had been spoken. Takeru, as the Hero, obviously learned about his status and probably had seen the original copy of Koichi's legend, though that didn't explain why he had been referring to Makoto as male before when she was clearly stated to be female in the book.

Maybe he only read the part about the Hero. That would explain things.

"Okay. Do you know anything about the twins?" Keiichi finally asked, moving onto the second part of the legend. If Mion and Shion really were the twins that were going to cause destruction… no, that wasn't possible. Mion and Shion were not the twins in the legend. They couldn't be.

"Well, as you know, my older twin siblings were killed at birth, so the chance of them being the bad guys were done away with, unless they happened to be the bad guys, then there would be no need for me," Takeru whispered carefully into his ear, eyeing Rena as she walked into the classroom. "I think that there may be a hidden pair of twins among the many demons, since I know everyone in the village and know that there are no human twins in the village aside from my sist-… my siblings, who are obviously dead."

He had a similar theory, but Keiichi doubted that he was being honest, seeing as he knew that his sisters were both alive, and the idea of looking for twins didn't need to be considered, seeing as a pair of twins was right there in front of his own eyes. The only reason why he was considering looking around for fraternal twin demons was because he knew that Mion and Shion were innocent. Of course, Takeru may know them well and know that such a thing wasn't possible. Maybe he bonded with them as well.

But that had to be wrong. He didn't let them free, after all, and on top of that, the twins said that no one had bothered interacting with them aside from that servant guy who had quit his job for no given reason.

"Well, that makes sense. I guess it would be hard to figure out if there are twins, since a lot of demons don't remember their siblings are know that they are siblings. Besides, fraternal twins are much more common than identical, and it is likely that the twins spoken of were just fraternal. Then you'd have no way of knowing by looks," Keiichi pointed out to the boy.

Takeru nodded. "It's going to be tough, but the twins shall make themselves known when the time has come." He sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. "Listen, Keiichi. I don't know about you, but I have this feeling that everything is going to go wrong now. I have a feeling that Onigafuchi is going to reach its downfall. And at time, I'm going to have to make myself known and become the Hero. How am I going to save the village? My grandmother has trained me to do heroic things like fight if I need to, but I don't know what I need to do in order to fend off these twins. It doesn't make any sense to me. There's so much pressure, and I can feel it happening soon."

Kaede thought something similar. She said that she could sense the downfall coming within days, and as did Rika's friend, who was supposedly not imaginary. There were three people, if you believed that Rika really wasn't lying when she said that her friend was not imaginary. And even if her friend was imaginary, wouldn't that mean Rika herself thought the same thing? Everyone felt it. Even in the atmosphere, Keiichi could feel it himself. The days of Onigafuchi were coming to a close.

And Takeru was the only one that could stop it, as the Hero. But really, what was he supposed to do? The Legend of the Hero was vague. They said he would save everyone from destruction, but that was it. How? Takeru must have been having trouble figuring out exactly what he needed to do in order to stop the twins.

That legend really was vague, and that's why he was having so much trouble with it. Now that he knew Takeru was the Hero, a good portion of the legend was solved. But there was still the question as to who the twins were, and what they would do, and what the Hero would do to stop the downfall from happening. And he needed to do it soon.

"That murderer is probably connected," Takeru said, thinking of cloaked man. "We are trying to capture him for the Watanagashi… wait, Keiichi, do you know what the Watanagashi is?" He turned to the boy, his eyes looking somewhat serious, and Keiichi knew why. The Watanagashi was a seriously sick "festival" and just thinking about it probably wasn't any fun for him, mostly because the Sonozaki family was the one that organized it, and as the heir, he was expected to take part in it somehow.

"I know, I was told. A sacrifice is chosen and then their stomach gets ripped open and their intestines removed. You guys are in charge of the festival, aren't you?" he asked, referring to the Sonozaki family.

He nodded gravely. "Unfortunately yes, and it looks like we'll have to be borrowing a demon from someone this year. We're out, the Kimiyoshi family is missing all of the demons they own, and Rika refuses to lend me any of her demons for some strange reason. That aside, we need to find a sacrifice." He looked down at his desk, his teeth clenched together. "I know that the downfall is going to happen on the Watanagashi. I just know it. It's not even a guess. I know it's going to happen."

"I guess your sense as the Hero is telling you that, huh?" Keiichi spoke to him.

Takeru nodded. "I think so. Keiichi, please be ready for that time. I'll deal with it as the Hero, but I don't want you getting hurt. Who knows how many men the twins will be able to slaughter before I get to taking them down?" He balled his fist. "I'll take them down before they hurt anyone… for sure!" There was a bit of anger and determination in his eyes, though it mostly seemed to be anger. Why that was, Keiichi didn't know. He probably was just angry at the thought of someone attacking the village, and the fact that he had so much on his shoulders.

Suddenly, Rena walked up to them both, cutting off their conversation. She had been speaking to Satoko and Rika before thankfully, so she probably didn't hear any of their conversation. However, Keiichi wanted to tell Rena, as she Keiichi's friend and his closest human companion at the moment. They had vowed that they would find out together, and he couldn't just leave her in the dark like that after he had found out about something that major. However, it seemed like he didn't have much of a choice.

"Rena, Keiichi and I were just discussing something important. I'll tell you what it is when you come to my house after school," Takeru informed her.

Relief flooded through Keiichi. So Rena would find out after all. He shouldn't have put it past him to tell Rena such a thing. She was his girlfriend who he loved dearly, after all. Keeping such a secret from her wasn't okay.

"Mhm. Rena will listen to whatever Takeru-kun has to say!" Rena cried out, using her happy and cute voice.

"Good," Takeru spoke before turning back to Keiichi. "Don't tell anyone. I'm only going to tell Rena, and that's it for now. Everything will be unveiled when the time comes."

He knew that he had to tell Mion, but that shouldn't matter to Takeru, as he didn't know that Mion was with him and Mion wasn't going to go around spreading rumors like some people would do. It was important that Mion would find out about this information, seeing as she was apparently a part of the legend. While he didn't think so, he knew that Takeru and the others would instantly assume Shion and her were the twins that would destroy the village. It was important that they knew who the Hero was, just in case.

He wondered if the real twins would really make their appearance when the time came, or if they would do everything in secret. Perhaps it wouldn't be a heroic battle. Maybe they would just come up with a scheme and Takeru would foil it before it had been launched or something similar to that. He didn't know, but that was something to be considered. No one knew what would happen in the legend. All they knew were the characters and the ending.

"Ah, Takeru!" a blonde-haired boy called out as he went up to him.

"Satoshi?" Takeru said, slightly surprised. Satoshi wasn't usually the person to walk up and start a conversation with someone.

He smiled. "Good morning, Takeru, Keiichi, Rena," he greeted the three of them. "Takeru, I have a question for you."

"Shoot," the green-haired boy said.

"…Did you ever find those two demons that had gotten stolen?" asked Satoshi.

Now here was an interesting topic for Keiichi. If he said yes, then that meant that Shion was with him. Of course, he could go ahead and lie about it, but there was no need for him to do so since he thought that neither of them knew who the twins were. While Keiichi knew Satoshi didn't know about the truth about the twins and that he was simply asking, the fact that he really did know was unknown and Takeru would never suspect it.

"No, we didn't find either of them, unfortunately," Takeru said. "The thief and the demons are still on the run."

Relief flooded Keiichi. Unless his friend was lying, that meant that Shion wasn't captured. But where would she be, then? Was she in the middle of the forest? Well, at least he knew that he wasn't back in that cell of the Sonozaki basement. He needed to tell Mion to at least stop her worrying a little bit. Even if she were in the forest, it would be better than being trapped back in that basement,

He could relax a little for now. If she was in the forest, they could go out and look.

~~~~X~~~~

Takeru sighed as he walked into his room, still covered in dirty clothing and assignments that had been given back to him that he just couldn't find a place for, rubbing the back of his head. He had told everything to Keiichi, about his secret about being the Hero of Onigafuchi. He had been planning to keep things a secret until Watanagashi rolled around and it was necessary to unveil things, but he figured that it would be okay to tell Keiichi of all people. It didn't really matter, anyways.

Still, though, Watanagashi was going to be big… and he could tell that already.

"Takeru?" a voice called out.

"Huh? Come in," he spoke.

The door to his room slid open, revealing the figure of his mother, much to his surprise. He hadn't been expected her to come in.

She sighed as she looked around his room. "Takeru, would you please pick up for once? I'm getting tired of telling you to do it. If you pick up after you make a mess, then you won't have to procrastinate when you have too much to do," she commented as she bent down and picked up a paper from the ground. "Huh? You got a C on this essay?" she spoke, staring at the grade written on the paper.

"Chie didn't teach it well," Takeru said, brushing the subject off.

Akane sighed and shook her head as she placed the paper down on his wardrobe before she bent down to pick up the other papers, beginning to stack them into a neat pile. "I'll do this much for you, but you have to take care of the clothing. You wore that shirt a week ago," she said, shuffling through the many papers on the ground. "You got a C on this assignment, too…"

Takeru ignored the talk about grades. "Why are you here, Mom?" he asked her.

"Oh, why not be here? I wanted to talk to you since it's been a while since we really sat down and talked together," she said as she stared at another assignment, wearing annoyed eyes as she looked at the grade on the assignment. "Aside from the fact that you haven't been doing well in school at all judging by these grades, how have your friends been? It's been a while since anyone aside from Rena came over."

"They're fine," the green-haired boy responded. "There hasn't been any trouble with anyone, I don't think. Satoko encountered the kidnapper a few days ago, but she managed to outrun the guy and she got a good look at what he looks like. Apparently, he's a very buff man and can run pretty fast. That aside, everything's been fine. I doubt that the kidnapper or the murder has any reason to target any of my friends, Satoko and Rika aside."

Akane placed the papers she had gathered onto the wardrobe, finding a free space on it. "Rika-chan is very good for being able to run the Furude family all by herself at such an age. I don't think I would be able to do that if Mother died when I was that little. Poor thing. I sure hope that the murderer doesn't decide to target her after the death of Kimiyoshi, seeing as he's trying to get his hands on as many demons as he can. Kaede is pretty tough, but he did manage to fight off the loyal Kai." She bent down to pick up another mess of papers.

Well, Kai didn't have emotions, so maybe that had affected his battle. …Takeru didn't know, though. Anger was often the key for strength. "Kaede is tough. I doubt that the man will be able to get through her that easily. Kai… well, I heard that Kaede's always been stronger than Kai. Makes me wonder why Koichi picked him over Kaede."

"…Well, I have only heard tales of the legend and I've never read the actual story, so I wouldn't know." She sat down on the ground in front of her son, having cleaned up most of the papers and having decided to leave her son to do the rest. It was his mess, after all. "But I am afraid for Rika, and especially for Mother since the man will also target our demons."

Akane wasn't aware of the fact that there were only two demons, and that those two demons were her daughters. She was still unaware of the fact that her daughters had been kept alive, and Oryou intended to keep it that way for a long, long time. She did know that two of them had gone missing, though. "I know Mother is tough, but who knows what she can do against a man who killed Kimiyoshi and eight demons, also fighting off Kai, who is said to be very powerful. I wonder if even Kenji can take all that…" She looked down at the ground.

Takeru winced at the name of the former head demon. He was dead, but his mother didn't know that.

"Mom, don't worry. The Watanagashi is coming soon, and we will capture him as a sacrifice," the green-haired boy told his mother gently, in order to reassure her. "I am the Hero after all, Mom. I can take him down. We will definitely capture that man, and the Watanagashi this year will be splendid. Grandmother has already told me her plans for everything, and even if we can't find that killer, we can find the person who stole Number Twenty-Seven and Number Twenty-Eight, if they are a different person."

Akane looked apprehensive. "Takeru, please be careful. I know you're the Hero and all that, and you're going to reveal that fact during the speech Yasuo's going to make for the Watanagashi, but you're still my son…" she spoke, her voice edged with worry.

"Don't worry. Do you think that someone can take down the Hero so easily?" Takeru reassured her again, giving her a wink.

In truth, Akane was shaky about the whole situation about her son being the Hero. She had known at his birth, since he was the number needed in the family to become the Hero. However, the fact that all of her children born were related to the legend made her a little upset. Even if they were going to become to head of the Sonozaki family, Akane wanted to have a normal child. If only her twins hadn't been killed… then thing would be different. Sure, they would be suspected for being the twins from the legend, but then there wouldn't be a hero.

And no matter how many times Takeru would speak about him being the Hero, so that he can remind her that he wouldn't die no matter what, she always felt scared. Even though he was the Hero, she felt something bad about the whole situation, like he wasn't so indestructible as the Hero was said to be. She couldn't help but worry about the situation with the destruction of Onigafuchi. Her mother had spoken to her recently about how she felt it coming soon with all the recent murders, and that meant that her son would have to take an action as the Hero. What if he really wasn't as powerful? What if he failed the legend? It was only a legend, after all.

"Please, Takeru. Even though you're the Hero, it doesn't mean that you're immortal. Don't be reckless," she whispered to him, fear in her voice as she thought about seeing her child dead on the ground.

She had already lost two children. She didn't want lose another. Though she had refused to have another child at first, Takeru was someone she deeply loved and cared for, even if he didn't pick up his room and got Cs on essays. Just the thought of losing him was enough for pain to shoot through her body.

She thought about the time when she had been pregnant with the twins, and she had vowed that she would keep them alive, no matter what. After giving birth, her plan was to stand up for her children and convince Oryou to let her keep them, and even force her to if possible. Her husband was certainly sided with her, and he could easily order people from the yakuza to snatch her babies out of the servant's arms and bring them to somewhere safe. The thought of her failing still was deep in her mind, which only added to the pain.

She had to wonder why being a mother was so complicated when it came to keeping her children alive.

"Mother, I'm going to be fine. Don't worry about it, okay? I know I keep saying that, but I know that everything's going to be okay. I'll take down those evil twins, and I'll save Onigafuchi. Then, I'll become a hero, recognized by all of Onigafuchi." There was a spark of excitement in his eyes as he thought about it. "Listen, I promise I won't get hurt, no matter how strong these twins are. I will not die, Mom. I know you're still heartbroken over… my siblings…" He seemed a little uneasy when he spoke those words. Takeru always felt funny whenever he talked about the loss of his sisters, as he really did know that the twins were alive. Speaking to someone about someone who was alive as if they were dead was always odd.

Akane sighed. No matter how many times he would tell her this, her thoughts about the whole thing wouldn't change. She really did have an awful feeling about this.

"Anyways, how's Keiichi?" Akane asked, trying to bring the subject away to distract herself from the idea of Takeru dying and the twins. "Has he been getting along well in the village?"

Takeru nodded with a smile on his face. "He really likes it. He's a fun guy to talk to, too. I like hanging around him, and I'm glad he joined. And I'm especially glad that he has no romantic intention towards Rena…" He was not embarrassed about talking about Rena in front of his mother. She had seen how much affection he gave her whenever she was over, so there was no point in holding back.

"I'm glad to see that you two are such good friends, and I'm glad that the presences of the demons in the village hasn't chased him away… yet," she said.

"Well, he seemed to be scared at first, but he's grown tolerant to the fact that demons dwell in the village. It's like that for a lot of people who move here… if people even move here at all. I think that the name kind of puts people off. I'm surprised that he even moved here." He smiled at the memory of the first time he had come to the Sonozaki Manor. He had actually had quite a bit of fun. "It's a good thing, too. We were worried that the guy would run off and away from the village out of fear. We planned to keep the demons a secret, but when Satoko slipped and mentioned them, it was kind of hard. I don't know when he truly realized they existed, though." He had never asked Keiichi about that. He never found the need to do so, after all.

She smiled at her son. It was rare to see an outsider actually enjoying Onigafuchi. The atmosphere and the legend of demons just scared everyone off, though when she heard about the Maebara parents, it became apparent to her that they just thought that the presence of demons was an old tale. She didn't understand how someone could think of demons as unreal, but then again, she had been born into a village that had them, and she had known about them all her life and had been raised to take care of them. Not that she ever went down there anymore. Demons weren't something that concerned her so much anymore.

"That's good. How has your relationship with Rena been?" she asked, changing the topic ever so slightly.

At the mention of his girlfriend, Takeru's attitude completely changed. "Oh! They've been great! Wonderful! Amazing!" he cried out, sparks of joy in his eyes at the thought of her. "She's the most wonderful thing on this earth, and I'm so glad that we're dating now. Just the other day, we spent the time outside on the koi pond and I was talking about how romantic it would be if the Watanagashi festival was changed to an actual festival, one where we could be happy! We would walk down the paths of the village talking about how much we meant to each other. It would be so romantic!" As he thought more and more about the idea, he could feel his cheeks flush. Even if he wasn't embarrassed about the idea of flirting and being open about his feelings, he got blushes from thinking about such romantic things every once in a while. He really did love the girl.

Akane chuckled at her son's attitude. "Well, if we ever do change this cursed down, the first thing we'll be sure to do is change that awful Watanagashi into a festival where people can have fun. But I guess that's up to you, isn't it? You're going to be the head, not me."

"Well, of course I'll do that! We are the ones that are in charge of the Watanagashi, after all." He smiled at the thought. When he was to be head, he could change the Watanagashi. Then, he could be married to Rena, and they could live peacefully with their children, not having to worry about that festival. He didn't really want to be in charge of doing such a thing.

"All right then, Takeru. Just don't rush into things with your relationship. I'll have you know that Oryou will have you disinherited in seconds if you get her pregnant or anything like that. Not even that, if you two were to sleep together or anything like that." Her tone was full with warning as she spoke about such a subject, her eyes narrowed sternly at him. "And if she doesn't disinherit you, then I will find some other way to punish you. I would definitely—"

"Mom, I'm not going to get her pregnant, and we're not going to sleep together!" cried a blushing Takeru. "It's too early for that!" Despite being in love with her, the idea of doing such an action with her was uncomfortable to the young one. He didn't have intent like that in mind, so it was embarrassing and very uncomfortable when his mother brought up the subject.

Akane still looked stern. "Takeru, I'm serious about the matter. I swear, if I hear that you two slept together, I will ground you in your room and never let you see her again, even if you are the heir."

Takeru was getting uncomfortable with the conversation, especially since he knew such wasn't going to happen anytime soon. He just wanted a steady relationship for now. "Listen, I'm not going to do such a thing! Please believe me! And Mom, please get out of my room. I need to do homework," he lied, knowing that his mother would go on about the idea until she was certain he wouldn't do such a thing. "I mean it this time! See, I'm going to get my homework!" he cried out as he walked towards his bag.

Akane didn't look convinced, but she decided to drop the conversation. If her son was getting this uncomfortable towards the idea, that had to be a sign that he wouldn't. With a sigh, she nodded. "Do your homework well, please." And then she walked out of the door, leaving her son alone.

The boy sighed in relief now that the subject of that was over. His hands drifted away from the bag and he lay down on the futon. No, he would never do that with Rena. It was too early, and even if he did love her very much, it was going too far. Besides, such was hardly on his mind. Being with Rena was comforting for him, seeing as his life was filled with a whole bunch of stuff right now. There was the pressure of being the Hero, the pressure of being the heir, all the killings, the fact that Number Twenty-Seven and Number Twenty-Eight had gone missing… being with Rena really did make him forget about the harshness of life.

At least he had someone who loved him in a dark time like this.

~~~~X~~~~

Mion placed her hand on the single window in Keiichi's room, letting out a sigh as she looked outside. Sure, it was beautiful, but the only thing on her mind right now was Shion. Where was she? Had she been captured? She sure hoped not. She ran her hand down the window, leaving a mark on the glass as she did so, but she found that she did not care. All she cared about right now was whether or not her sister was safe. If she had been killed… Mion gulped. She didn't know what she would do.

The mood whenever Keiichi wasn't there was solemn. She had nothing to do without him or Shion around, and she found that most of the time she had was spent attempting to sleep. However, such was impossible when she did not have the warmth needed to fall asleep. She had gotten so used to having her warm sister by her side as she slept, and now, during the times where she was alone, there was nothing but the cold reminder that she was no longer beside her.

Even though she missed her sister, it wasn't like that when Keiichi was around. When he was there, she could forget about the cold void left by Shion's absence. The warmth Keiichi gave, even if it was different than the warmth her sister gave, filled up that void. She felt her face grow hot as she thought about him for some strange reason, and her heart was beginning to beat fast.

She wondered why it always did that when she thought about him. It had actually started happening a long, long, long time ago, but she had never paid much attention to it until the night where Shion disappeared. It really didn't make any sense to her.

Mion glanced down at the bracelet that Keiichi had given her. It was a reminder of him when he wasn't around, and she found that she had been looking at it often all day long.

"I don't know how to explain it, Mion, but I want you to know that I am in love with you. …When you figure out what that is, I want to hear from your own mouth if you love me, too," he told her gently, moving down her hand to touch the bracelet that he gave her. "Please think about what I told you. Every time you look at this bracelet, I want you to remember what I told you and the feeling you had before when I was holding you."

Mion didn't know what he meant by being in love with her, and no matter how hard she thought about it, it didn't make very much sense. He said that that warm feeling was love… but there was two kinds love. How was that possible? How was there two loves? There was only one happy, but two loves. She wondered how that was possible.

She touched the bracelet, and just as he had said, she remembered the feeling she got when he held her. It was so warm… so amazing. She blushed as she thought about it. That was love, the romantic kind, whatever that meant. It was a wonderful feeling, and she wanted to feel it again, no matter what.

So she got that feeling every time Keiichi held her? That was what she was picking up on. She got that when she was snuggling next to him as well. Why that was, she didn't know. She knew that Shion felt the same way whenever she slept near her, that she felt the same warmth. Then she wondered if Keiichi felt the same warmth whenever he was next to her. Sure, it was mutual for Mion and Shion, but since it was a different kind of love, it could work differently. Keiichi didn't explain that well.

Whatever the case was, she would always remember that feeling every time she looked at that bracelet, just as he had told her to. Maybe she'd figure things out then.

Suddenly, the door opened, revealing the figure of Keiichi. Mion instantly felt her heart race when she saw him, and she felt happiness along with that strange warm feeling mix inside of her. "Kei-chan!" she cried out instantly as she ran towards the boy, and before she knew what she was doing, her arms were wrapped around him. The warm feeling came to her again, and she held him tighter to get more of that feeling.

"M-Mion?" Keiichi sounded shocked as he looked down at the girl. "Hello?"

Mion buried herself into his chest. Warm. He's so warm. "Kei-chan… Kei-chan…"

She didn't want to pull away from that warmth. It filled the void that was left from Shion's disappearance, and she didn't want that void to empty again. She hated it when she felt sad about her disappearance. She learned that sadness was a terrible emotion and she never wanted to experience it. It was a wound of a heart, one that would only heal if she did this. It really did work, she realized.

The minutes were flying by like seconds, but Mion didn't care. She wanted to hold him forever. If she didn't hold him, then the wound would hurt again.

Keiichi stood there like a statue. He didn't really know what to do with Mion embracing him like that. He couldn't push her away or anything like that.

Mion eventually moved away, though, just so that she could look at his eyes. She found that her face was growing hot again when she looked into those eyes. There was just something about them that did that to her, though she wasn't sure what it was. She looked into them for a while, not doing anything else but thinking about how she liked the blue color of them and how they made her heart race. There wasn't a blue like that in the basement.

"Mion, what are you doing?" Keiichi said with a slight chuckle. "You've been looking at my eyes for some time now. Is there something interesting?"

Mion shook her head. "I just like them," she said, to put it very simply.

Keiichi patted the girl on the head, which just caused her heart rate to increase. Mion was afraid now. Her heart had never raced this fast, not even when she saw Oryou holding a katana above her head. Was this even natural?

"You're funny, Mion."

Mion didn't know what to make of that comment.

The two of them sat down on the futon, all the while Mion thinking about the warm feeling, trying to forget about the void of sadness created. If she spent time thinking about Keiichi, she found that the wound didn't hurt so much.

"So, Mion, I found out that Shion hasn't been captured…" Keiichi told her.

The remains of the void at the current time closed up with relief. Her sister wasn't in the basement, where she would be cold and all alone. She didn't have to worry about her being killed or beaten horribly as a punishment for escaping, and she didn't have to worry about how her sister felt about being all alone in the cold basement without her.

"Really? !" she cried out with happiness. "Is she really okay?"

Keiichi nodded, smiling. "She's okay."

"How did you find out? Did you find her?" Mion asked excitedly.

He shook his head. "What happened was that my classmate happened to ask one of my other classmates, who is a Sonozaki, if they had found the two missing demons. He simply said that they hadn't found either demon, and that they were still at large. Unless he was lying, Shion is probably somewhere in the forest. She's okay. She's not with them." He patted Mion on the head once again, causing her face to turn a deep shade of red. "Don't worry anymore."

Mion felt many emotions. There was joy, relief, happiness… and then there was that warm feeling, both kinds of warm, actually, which was apparently love. She felt the non-romantic warm feeling from thinking about seeing her sister again, and the romantic kind knowing that Keiichi was beside her for now.

He would bring Shion back, wouldn't he?

"I think you should get some rest for now, Mion. I know you've been on edge not knowing that your sister has been okay. Why don't we both take a nap together?" Keiichi suggested, pointing towards the futon. She wondered if he could see how tired she was. She hadn't slept at all that afternoon.

Mion nodded and she instantly crawled towards the futon, though she waited for the boy to get in before she did. She felt warm envelop her as she snuggled against his body, wrapping her arms around him as she embraced the feeling. She would be able to get some sleep this way. She was dead tired from not sleeping all afternoon, and she found that she couldn't sleep without the warm feeling no matter how tired she was. And now, she had that warm feeling beside her.

That was why she fell asleep almost instantly.

But as she did so, Keiichi couldn't help but wonder about Satoshi. Had he asked about the demons for some sort of reason? If he did, then what was the reason? He thought about that for a little bit. He didn't really have a reason to ask, after all.

But then he realized he was probably being silly. Satoshi was always concerned about everyone, even if it didn't have to do with him. The reason why he asked was probably just him being concerned. That was how he was, after all.

~~~~X~~~~

Crimso's Corner V.2

Please note that while this is filler, I hope that it was somewhat entertaining. I know it's kind of boring, just… somewhat, would be okay. I think that this is going to be the last filler for a long, long, long, long time. Maybe even the last filler all together. No, I'm sure that it is going to be the last filler. So with that, I hope you're somewhat satisfied. Really, the action begins shortly. I promise. No, really. I promise. I'm trying to write more chapters more often, and it is working. I wrote… what… three chapters this week? That's a huge accomplishment. I could do something like that with GED, but those were times when I was a year young and a grade lower, so that meant I had less work and more time. I hope that we can get to the end of this by January, and then I hope you are looking forward to WAN.

This chapter wasn't entirely pointless, though, when I think about it. Here, you have the explanation of Takeru. Do know that the number was some sort of exact number that he didn't actually remember, but I will let you know that he IS that number. He just doesn't remember it. I'm not trying to fool you with the whole number thing. Also, the end was build up with Mion's feelings towards Keiichi. We saw a lot of it from Keiichi's mind, but not from Mion's. I think I needed to add something like that in so we can have a clear view of what she thinks.

Not much else to say. The week went by fast, and for that, I'm glad. The work has decreased. I have a science test on Tuesday, but when do I ever do badly on science tests?

Please review! People who review can get some kind of pastry, and if you don't like that, you can get some kind of other awesome food. People who point out typos will get another ticket to Crimso Land, because you need one for every few days that you stay. Really, I want to know what you think, and what you think is going to happen, seeing as the next chapter is where things really get going.

Sorry for the boring Crimso's Corner. It was only yesterday that I wrote the other one, so not much has happened to share.

~Crimso