"Fai…"
"Kurogane," I acknowledge. Not Kuro-chu, not Kuro-rin or Kuro-wanko, but Kurogane. I can no longer allow myself that small intimacy, the light-hearted series of nicknames I once took such pleasure in creating. If I allow myself to fall back on even that small show of affection, then I will be lost.
He will hold all that I am.
I want to draw away like I always do, to retreat behind the carefree façade that had once protected me, but I cannot hide from him. He sees straight through all of my lies, eyes piercing through to my very soul.
It frightens me.
I let them all become too close, too dear to me, yet he has become the closest and dearest of them all.
How did he manage to get so close? How could he possibly have drawn us closer together still? With that one foolish wish, he has caused our very lives to become intertwined so that I cannot live without him.
This intimacy terrifies me.
Does he even know what he has done to us? To me?
Why won't he just let me go?