"GET OUT OF THE WAY! LOOK OUT!" Tsukune screamed as hard as he could.
Tsukune watched helplessly from the side-lines as one of his bests friends died in front of him.
"MIZORE!" Tsukune screamed waking himself up.
Kurumu had also waken up and she quickly sat up to embrace him.
"Mizore? It was supposed to be Fong-Fong this time." Kurumu thought to herself.
None the less though she tried her best to comfort him.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" a voice said and they looked over.
A man with long hair, a white tee-shirt, shorts and sandals, sat on a rock nearby with a guitar on his lap.
"No. . .no, it's fine." Tsukune said as he looked down at his feet.
The man began to play on his guitar a slow and soulful melody, not noticing their distressed feelings. Tsukune and Kurumu sat and listened and the man began to sing.
Tsukune and Kurumu sat listening to the song mourning over their friends. Tsukune was saddened by the song as it pulled on his heart.
". . .good friends we've lost. . .along the way." he said sadly.
The song gave Kurumu a sliver of hope. . .the only thing she had left anymore.
"No woman, no cry." Kurumu laughed to herself and wiped away the tears.
"Everything's gonna be alright." she said softly and leaned on Tsukune.
They sat there for a long time and more and more people started appearing around them. They watched as other couples and families played on the beach. Kurumu watched the little kids make sand castles and watched them laugh and giggle as the waves washed over their castle. Tsukune placed his hand on the sand that was quickly warming up.
"She wouldn't like being out in the sun like this." he thought, thinking about Mizore.
He drew a circle in the sand with a line coming out of it, just like Mizore's lollipop. He then quickly wiped it away before Kurumu could see.
"I'm sorry Mizore." he said under his breath but he didn't realize that Kurumu had heard him.
"But today is going to be Kurumu's day. I'm sorry." he thought to himself.
Tsukune looked at Kurumu who was now staring at the sand between her feet. Kurumu felt something, a slightly warm feeling in her heart, a feeling she was getting from Tsukune. She looked up at him and he smiled gently and she smiled back. Tsukune stood up and extended a hand to help her up. They walked up the beach and Tsukune carried Kurumu across the river. On the other side the river they easily found a hiking trail that scaled along the cliff. It was an easy hike that snaked along the cliffs but Tsukune noticed Kurumu was having problems because of her shoes. When the hike leveled off he told her to jump on his back and that he would carry her. Kurumu had her arms and legs wrapped around Tsukune and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Tsukune easily held her up as the continued on with the hike.
Now that she wasn't focused on the hike she began to take in the scenery. Everything was so green and fresh with a brilliant contrast to the blue ocean below them. The air was so rich and invigorating that it gave her a new sense of strength and cleared her head. Every now and then Tsukune would step aside to let other hikers pass by, always being polite. Kurumu looked down at the ocean and saw several large fish jump out of the ocean.
"Look dolphins." Kurumu said warmly.
Tsukune stopped and looked down at the ocean and they watched them for a while. Kurumu kissed him on the side of the neck and they started hiking again. The hike gradually began to slope down but Kurumu never had to dismount. The trail had ended at a parking lot and Tsukune asked to borrow a phone. They sat on a rock while they waited for their ride.
Kurumu was thinking about the whales last night when she noticed Tsukune tense up and clench his fists. He was staring at two men who had been arguing very adamantly over a parking spot. The man who had been wronged gave up and drove away with his wife and daughter. Tsukune eased up and went to observing other people.
"Tsukune," Kurumu said and he looked at her, "what is it that you do when you leave the house? Does it have anything to do with the airplane incident?"
Tsukune looked at her and saw that she was deeply worried.
"I'm not going to lie to you. So are you sure you want to know?" he said seriously.
Kurumu thought about it and nodded.
"When I go out for my 'walks', I am looking for answers." he told her.
"What kind of answers?" Kurumu asked concerned.
"Mostly just. . .why. Why did I live and why did they have to die." he told her but she wanted to know more.
"I went looking for fights with bad guys. It started small with simple thieves and thugs. Then it moved to rapists and murderers and soon other youkai started to challenge me. I would dispose of them quickly without a word and soon I was named the Silent Reaper."
Tsukune paused when Kurumu gasped in recognition of the name.
"You can't be him! He is the most wanted man in all of the youkai world. My mother told me he was in our city, even though she doesn't know where we live, and I was worried he would go after you. They say he has killed hundreds if not thousands of humans and of the strongest youkai!" Kurumu said trembling in shock.
"No Kurumu, I never killed anyone. Please believe me." Tsukune said to her sadly.
Kurumu felt ashamed of herself and said, "Of course I believe in you. I will always believe in you and. . .in us."
They didn't have much longer to wait till another limousine pulled up to take them to their hotel. It was a quite ride to the hotel but Kurumu enjoyed the scenery outside of the limousine. Tsukune watched her look out the window as they passed many tropical trees. He had thought it would have been hard to devote his attention completely to Kurumu but once he started thinking about her he couldn't stop. He looked at her and she was the most beautiful girls he had ever seen, but something was wrong. Her hair, her eyes and even her skin seemed to be pale and she didn't shine like she used to, back before the Fairy-Tail incident . Kurumu caught him staring at her and she blushed slightly, another thing she hadn't done in years.
"What?" she asked shyly.
"Well I was thinking that since we lost all of our stuff on the plane that we should go to the mall." he told her casually.
"Really!" Kurumu chirped and get eyes instantly light up.
"I haven't been shopping for so long. I'm going to get some new outfits, some makeup, some perfume." Kurumu said and she started listing off all of the specifics as if making a mental note.
Tsukune watched her and she seemed so cute when she was excited. He told the driver to head towards the mall.
[~][~][~]
When Kurumu stepped out of the limousine her jaw dropped.
"This place is huge!" she exclaimed.
Before Tsukune could even get out of the car Kurumu was already dragging him by the arm going from shop to shop. The first thing they did was get a change of summer cloths and threw away their old sandy ones. Tsukune bought a couple changes of clothes and shoes for himself and a grooming kit. Kurumu on the other hand bought everything under the sun and Tsukune had to make a couple trips back to the limousine to unload. Kurumu made him sit outside of the changing room while she showed off all of the different outfits she found. Tsukune would just nod and smile when she came out and did a twirl to show off the outfit.
On the fourth outfit she twirled and asked,"What do you think?"
"I think this is all pointless. . ." he said standing up and Kurumu got sad and looked down, "because no matter what you wear, you will always be beautiful."
Kurumu looked him in the eyes and he pulled her into a kiss, slightly shocking her.
"Don't think that gets you off the hook. I have a lot more outfits to show you." Kurumu said teasingly.
"I don't mind at all, today is your day Kurumu." Tsukune told her.
Kurumu didn't know exactly what he meant and she went back to change again.
"Has he forgiven himself? What does he mean by 'my day'?" she thought to herself while she was changing.
Tsukune spent the next hour judging Kurumu's outfits always telling her she looked beautiful and he was always smiling. She even purposely tried on bad and even horrendous outfits but he still told her she looked beautiful. The only reason they stopped was because the were both starving from not eating since the plane flight. They had lunch at the food court. The food was good, but just not as good as Kurumu's, Tsukune thought.
Kurumu was happy and that made Tsukune happy but their happiness was only a shell and inside the shell they both still hurt, but neither of them were going to ruin the day with sad thoughts. The spent the rest of the afternoon bartering with the local shops and stands for trinkets and souvenirs. Tsukune was mostly just watching Kurumu have fun until he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. He walked over to a stand that had mostly jewelry. Hanging from the stand was a very petite necklace with a large, beautiful, heart shaped, sapphire. The sapphire was in a silver mold complemented by the silver necklace. He generously paid the shop keeper and pocketed the necklace. Kurumu had watched him by the heart shaped sapphire and figured that it most have reminded him of Mizore. Even though it hurt her to think of Mizore she didn't let it show, for Tsukune's sake. They took the limousine and checked into a hotel on the beach, Tsukune making sure they got the suite.
[~][~][~]
Tsukune asked the front desk for some good sites to visit and hey gave him a map of the surrounding area marked with lots of shops and recreational spots. There was a main street for tourists that ran along side of the beach, mostly just souvenir shops. As they were walking down the street Kurumu spotted an art gallery along a chain of shops. They decided to go in to view some of the exhibits. There was fascinating paintings of the Hawaiians and their ancestors and some of the exotic fish around Hawaii. One picture in particular caught Tsukune's eyes. It was the lava clashing in a futile battle with the ocean under the moon. The swirling lava and the never relenting ocean, always in turmoil, but out of all of that destructive power they created something unmanageable by other standards. They created islands, just like the beautiful island they now stood on, as if it preordained by the clashing foes.
To Tsukune it looked like love and through that, it created such amazing beauty. Kurumu had tried to pull him away from the painting because to her it only reminded her of the horrible monster that had taken their friends from them. Her mood was not to be dampened for long because they went out for ice cream next and ice cream always cheered Kurumu up. They walked down to the end of the main strip and back, stopping at any store that caught their eyes. They arrived back at the hotel right around dinner time. Inside the hotel was a very nice restaurant that hung over the ocean and was open the outside. The lighting in the restaurant was set to romantic and the crashing waves below was their music. They talked about the scenery and their plans for tomorrow and Kurumu insisted on getting the recipe for the kalua pork that she had ordered. It had been an almost perfect day, the only thing that would have made it perfect was three simple words. Three words that Kurumu has wanted to hear for years and needed so bad. But she would give him time and wait till he was ready.
Tsukune decided to take Kurumu down to the beach to watch the sunset. She sat there with him and it had been one of the most beautiful sunsets they had ever seen.
"This is all like a dream come true. The limousines and champagne, private plane, shopping, the romantic dinner and us sitting on a beach in Hawaii watching the sunset. This is just like my. . .diary. No. . .he didn't?" Kurumu thought looking towards Tsukune who seemed to be nervous.
"So what happens now?" Kurumu asked setting him up.
Now Tsukune seemed really nervous as he looked around.
"Well I guess we umm. . .make love?" he said blushing, instantly confirming her beliefs.
"YOU READ MY DIARY!" Kurumu screamed and tackled him the ground.
She had kept her deepest and darkest secrets and also her most kinky fantasies in her diary and was meant for her eyes alone.
"HOW COULD YOU!" Kurumu screamed blushing madly from anger and embarrassment.
Kurumu had pinned him under her and she stared angrily at him.
"I'm sorry Kurumu. At first I didn't know it was a diary. I thought. . ." he mumbled quickly.
"YOU THOUGHT WHAT? HOW MUCH DID YOU READ?" she screamed some more shaking him by the shirt.
Tsukune looked very ashamed of himself and wasn't looking her in the eyes.
"It was the only thing that helped me keep going." he mumbled and then looked her in the eyes and said, "I just wanted to make you happy."
Kurumu saw something in his eyes and even if it was for a split second she knew she had seen it. For so long all she saw was cold dead eyes that always seemed to look through her, but for a split second she had seen a fire in his eyes, a fire for her. She leaned down and kissed him a very deep and loving kiss.
"So does that mean yo still want to. . .you know?" he asked slightly taken aback by Kurumu's actions.
"What? Out here in the open?" Kurumu asked in disbelief.
"Your diary said you didn't care. . ." he began but Kurumu cut him off.
"SHUT UP!" Kurumu yelled this time blushing from just embarrassment.
Tuskune reached down into his pocket and pulled out the necklace he had bought earlier.
"I bought this because it reminded me of you. I hope you like it." Tsukune said and held it up to her.
"For me?" Kurumu said softly.
She was so overwhelmed that Tsukune took advantage of the situation and put the necklace around her neck. She looked down and held it in her hand and a single tear fell from her eye.
"Oh Tsukune!" she said happily and to fulfill her fantasy they made 'love' on the beach.
Thankfully no one was around.
[~][~][~]
Kurumu knew that Tsukune was trying his hardest to make her happy and she loved him for that, but she could feel that there was still no room in his heart for her. They spent a whole week doing everything they possibly could. They snorkeled and Kurumu swam with a giant turtle. They went on some beautiful hikes to different beaches and waterfalls. They took a helicopter ride around the island and even went to watch the lava flow into the ocean. The people were nice and helped them with anything they needed. They sent some post cards to their families as a 'senior trip' kind of idea. They went to a luau and watched them dance with fire. Every night they would go down to the beach and watch the sunset, each one as beautiful as the last. They both knew that they couldn't do this forever and that they would have to return home to reality.
Their last night there Kurumu and Tsukune laid together in their bed holding each other. Kurumu was deeply troubled by something she has wondered about for three years but was too afraid to bring it up, until now.
"Tsukune. . .do you ever regret. . .that you choose to save me. . .and not one of the others. . .like Moka?" Kurumu asked terribly scared.
Tsukune knew he had to word it just right, her life could depend on his answer and she would know if he lied.
"No Kurumu I don't. . .and I have never regretted it. . .I only regret not being able to save the others." he said slowly seeing their faces one by one as they died, all crying for help.
Kurumu didn't know how she had felt. Relieved? Sad? Depressed?
"I'm sorry. . .I had to know." Kurumu told him knowing full well that it hurt him.
"Its ok." Tsukune told her but it didn't seem good enough.
"Kurumu I. . .I am trying so very hard. . .my heart is in so many pieces. . .and I am trying to put it back together to give to you. Please Kurumu. . .wait for me." he said and for the first time in three years Tsukune cried but he didn't cry for Mizore, Rubi, Yukari, Gin, Fong-Fong or even Moka.
He cried for Kurumu, he cried because she gave him all her love and more and he couldn't give anything back.
Most of this chapter and last chapter had a lot of aspects that I have used from personal experiences. The description of the beach, the hike, the dolphins, the guitar player and the guys arguing over the parking spot, were all part of my own experiences when I went to Hawaii. I would also have to say it was a very beautiful hike that I went on. I did not plan on it, but I remembered the guitar player singing, "No Woman, No Cry" by: Bob Marley, when I hiked to the beach. So that was the song the guitar player sang on the beach and I think it fits.
I also want to thank all of you who are interested in my story and those of you who have written reviews as well. I work on this story every day and I will be posting more in the near future.