Zero inhaled sharply.

Footsteps, accompanied by excited female voices, were quickly approaching our position. My ears swivelled to track their progress, and I was so absorbed in this task that I hadn't even noticed that Zero was moving until he had slipped his hand in mine and pulled me flush against his side; with me half-stumbling, half-running beside him as he dragged me into the Infirmary.

He slumped against the door, a massive, deep sigh of relief heaving from the very depths of his chest. He closed his eyes, and the tenseness around his lips dissipated somewhat.

I, on the other hand, didn't waste even a moment. I instantly went over to the medicine cabinets and began scouring the shelves. "This spell has a cure, right?"

"It does," Zero replied, his voice threadbare with exhaustion as he lazily teased a single eye open. "But that's not going to help us at all. The antidote is near impossible to find in the Magic World, so there's no way you'd ever find it just lying around in here." He raked his fingers through his hair, causing the ends stick up at awkward angles, as he focused on me with a softened expression. "Hikari... There's no human medicine that can change us back. We're going to have to think of something else."

I hesitated. There was one part of me that wanted to be stubborn and continue searching, despite Zero's words, but, irritatingly, another more logical part could see that that would be pointless. As much as it was unfortunate to admit, Zero was right. Reluctantly, I backed away and fell back against the door, slowly sliding down into a sitting position, and hugging my knees in tight. I wasn't sure what tipped him off to my sombre mood, those I suppose he spotted the numerous factors that I wasn't exactly attempting to hide, like my downcast expression, or how my forehead was pressed against my knees and the way my ears were drooping down low over my back. So, he carefully settled down next to me, reached up and ruffled my hair as he slung his arm around my shoulders.

"This is a mess," He admitted, in a voice he barely raised loud enough for me to hear. "I never meant for you to get caught up in this. It's my problem, after all."

I managed a ghost of a smile, and didn't complain as he drew me a little closer. Instead, I just allowed my head to rest on his shoulder. "Too late for that, huh?"

"Yeah, I suppose it is," He was tense, wired with coiled energy, like a spring. "Are... Are you scared, Hikari?"

"A little bit. I don't want to transform into a bunny, Zero. I mean, they're cute and all, but I wouldn't want to stay that way for ten years. Not when I've got my mother to think about." Zero was gently rubbing a lock of my hair between his thumb and forefinger, which expertly helped me to collect myself. "I watched her self-destruct when dad died. It was awful, she just crumbled away... I think the only reason why she pushed herself on, was because of me. She's always trying to be strong for me. You know, she hasn't cried in front of me in years. I feel like she'd deluded herself into believing that if she shows even one sliver of negative emotion, I'd just dissipate right into the air. If I just suddenly disappeared one day, it would break her... And I don't know if this time she'd be able to find the strength to put herself back together... That's what I'm scared about; leaving her all alone. I can't do that to her, Zero. I just can't."

He used the smooth pad of thumb to wipe away the stains from my earlier tears, and lightly squeezed my cheek. "And you won't. We're going to return to our normal bodies, okay?" His ears perked up, and a frown marred his face. There were people moving outside. His hand was back in mine as he guided me to the back of the room, quietly pulling the curtains closed behind us. "Damn, this sucks. We should hide in here until recess is over."

"Yeah."

He sprawled out on the bed, eyes closed contently, feet tucked up close. Though, when the door suddenly opened and the nurse returned, I noticed that, despite his cool exterior, Zero panicked just as much as me. "Is someone in here?" We had only a brief moment to hide, before the curtain was pulled back and she spotted Zero, lying somewhat awkwardly, with the blanket pulled right up over his head.

"What's wrong? Do you have a cold?"

I noticed his eyes flicker down towards me, his hand cradling the back of my head, tucking my ears out of sight. "Uh, no... I've got a headache. Can I stay in here for a while? A nap will make me feel better." Zero's cheeks were flushed scarlet, and I suppose the nurse took this as sign of his apparent sickness. In actuality, him straddling my waist was extremely uncomfortable for the both of us. While this kin of situation wasn't new, it was still enough to fluster us.

"Alright, get some rest. I need to do some work, will you be okay here by yourself?"

"I'll be just fine, thanks."

I cautiously teased an eye open, as the curtain was closed once more. A single ear raised, listening intently to her receding footsteps. "Aaaaaaaand, safe." Zero breathed an obvious sigh of relief, and shot me a little grin... which vanished instantly when his hand slipped. He winced and I felt the movement shudder through my body, though I could do nothing against his weight pinning me down against the mattress, or about how his face was close enough to mine that our breath intermingled between us. He processed this for a moment, blinking owlishly with a totally enchanting expression of total stupidity etched onto his face.

And the he was up and perched on the side of the bed, angling his body away from me. "Sorry about that." he mumbled, head hanging low in an attempt to hide his flushed cheeks from me.

"I-It's okay."

Silence prevailed.

I chanced a minute glance in his direction. His fits were clenched tight in the blanket, shoulders sagging low in defeat. "I don't know what to do. I have no idea how we can transform back..."

I pondered this for a long moment, thoughtfully tapping my finger against my chin. "Well... If I remember correctly, the last time couple of times we had this sort of predicament, the solution involved us having to be be closer, remember? Unifying our hearts was the key to returning to normal when Nanase used that weird curse to switch our bodies. And the time when you accidentally drank that love potion in Karuizawa, we managed to break the spell with a kiss."

"Love potion?" He echoed, brows furrowing. I stammered for a moment, and decided the best course of action was to avert my gaze. "Ah, forget it. That doesn't matter right now. Hikari, I suggest we try the same thing. If we get close, it may undo the spell."

I nodded faintly.

He flew at me, and embraced me. A sudden, awkward kind of thing; he was too strong and too fast, and it drew a startled little squeak from me, but the I relaxed and melted against him, my arms squeezing him just as tightly. His breathing was steady, making my skin tingle as it made contact. I could hear his heart pounding away in his chest, rhythmic and soothing, like a lullaby. His muscles were taunt, tensing and relaxing under my fingers and then he was pulling away, holding me at arms length, fingers gently gliding over the silky fur of my ears, a hint of confusion betraying his otherwise relatively calm composure.

"N-Nothing happened."

Realising what he was doing, Zero instantly retracted his hand. "Yeah." He was messing with his hair again, his movements stiff and lacking their usual confident edge. "I guess all that's left to try is a..."

A kiss.

Shifting nervously, I bit my lip. Zero blushed deep crimson and hurriedly looked away. He'd unconsciously been staring, and I'd noticed. "We can't possibly do that, right?" His laugh was forced, almost strangled. I twirled a lock of raven around my finger and nodded mutely in reply. Another long, deep sigh from the boy. "But, if it's our only option... Should we... give it a try? ... The kiss?"

Kiss him?

Kiss... Zero?

Well... To change us back... I suppose it'll be al-

Bad Thought: It will change everything.

My heart flipped painfully in my chest. Eyes widening, I backed away, clutching a pillow tightly to my chest. "B-But we don't even know if... if the kiss will change us back to normal." All of a sudden, my ears were flicking back and I was flinching as Zero threw the blanket over my head. "Wh-What are you doing-"

When I pushed it off my face, he was looking only slightly flushed as he wagged a finger in my direction. "I was kidding, stupid. Don't take everything so seriously!" He shifted away, hanging his legs off the side, sedately swinging them back and forth. His expression softened, and hair slowly fell across his face. "Sorry... I'm sorry for making you feel... uneasy."

No...

Zero... That's not what I meant. I- I didn't mean for it to sound like that!

I just-

"O-Okay," Zero looked slightly bewildered. "You can... kiss me..." I really wasn't looking at him now, and I could feel my tail twitching nervously. "It's not like... I was reluctant... I just don't want it to change anything between us... I thought that if we kissed, everything would be different. There's no going back from that, you know? I thought we'd suddenly have to put a label on our relationship and consider things and follow all these rules... and... I don't want that. I like how we are now, you know? And I didn't want to lose that. And I know some people don't think what we have is important because I'm not dating one of you, as if romance is the only thing that matters, as if somehow the bond we share doesn't mean anything because I'm not romantically involved with either of you but... That's not true. We're just... Us. We don't need anything more than that. Right? We'll define-" I gestured helplessly around. "this how we want to... And we won't let people pressure us into anything. We won't rush because we feel it's what we have to do, as if this only goes one way, like it's inevitable. Most of all, I guess, is that I don't want anyone to gt hurt... You know what I mean? I just... I love you, Zero. Ichii, too. But, I also love my mum. I love Kei, and Ayumi. I love my dad- present tense. You know, I guess I love Hiro, too. But, in my opinion, there's a big difference between loving somebody and being in love with them... And I didn't want to push that boundary by kissing you and making it seem like we needed to be anything more."

I finally pulled in a big, shaky breath and summoned the courage to meet Zero's gaze. He was staring at me, wide-eyed. "You were really worrying about all that?" He flicked my forehead, and chastised me, though his face slowly dropped and he really did think his answer through. "It's just to break the spell, right? I don't think there has to be any other meaning besides that."

I smiled, a soft, tentative tug of my lips, which had Zero's tense shoulders relaxing. "Yeah, you're right."

"No labels. No changes. We'll forget it ever happened, if you want. It's just to break the spell."

"It's just to break the spell," I echoed, nodding lightly. "I'll let you, Zero. You can... Kiss me."

He was gentle, his hand cupping my cheek with his light, butterfly touch. Though, he was bashful when peering into my eyes, a blush brushing across his skin. "Could you... close your eyes?"

I easily obeyed. All that remained was his touch. I was floating on air, with only his hand to anchor me down, acutely aware of the rapidly shrinking distance between us, and how my ears were pricked up and quivering, and how I could feel the subtle shake of Zero's hand as he was leaning in. His warm breath against my mouth was what alerted me to what little distance remained. He hesitated, and I was lost in a wave of peppermint. And I could almost, almost feel his lips against mine, when Zero jerked away, startled by a loud, unexpected noise.

He stared disbelievingly down at his hands.

But they weren't his slender, albeit slightly rough hands any more.

They were paws.

"It's getting worse," He said, faltering as he saw my nose twitching and the way my ears were hanging low over my back. "No, it's alright, Hikari. We'll fix this-"

The door crashed open, smoothly interrupting the bluenette's stammered comforts. "Ah, I've finally found you, Zero." Kuku, standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the light with a smile that was Wicked-Witch-of-The-West evil. "You seem really troubled. Do you regret cheating on me now?" She giggled manically. "This'll teach you. Next time you'll think twice before going behind me back like this."

"Enough!" Zero's voice was firm, and by now, threadbare with exhaustion. "Stop kidding around, Kuku. Change us back, now!"

She honestly debated this for a moment. "Well, if you insist... I suppose I can release you from the spell, Zero."

Just... Zero?

My heart plummeted.

"No way!" And then soared higher than ever before. "You're kidding, right? Leaving her out is ridiculous! You have to release Hikari, too. I'm won't do it without her, there'd be no point at all if she remained like that!"

Kuku threw a dark, poisonous look towards me which might've actually managed to scare me when I was, like, five. "Ugh, it's always Hikari this and Hikari that. She can't be that important to you. You... can't care about her more than me, right? I'm your fiancée and I... I love you Zero!" Which, by his obviously stunned reaction, Zero hadn't been expecting. Nor was he expecting the waterfall of tears that quickly followed. "I wasn't marrying you out of obligation. I love... only you... Do you understand how badly I wanted to see you? It's the only reason I came here... I really missed you! But now that I'm here and you're... with her. Why won't you understand how I feel?"

Zero's ears slowly flattened back. He could sense the malice rippling from the girl. "If- If I can't have you... Then I'll make everyone pay! I'll turn this entire school into animals!"

And she did.

Even Zero's clumsy lunge didn't serve to stop her.

His face was pale, and tense and twisted with worry. Before I'd even fully processed the thought, I'd took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He flinched, eyes uncertainly flickering over and his fingers flexed in a small, guarded motion. Ichii blowing through the door complete with wolf ears was enough of a distraction for me to let go, and I was content with how the light had returned to Zero's shimmering blue orbs. "You're both affected, too?" He tipped his head towards me, his smile brimming with charm. "Cute ears." And while I was distracted with blushing, he threw a short glare towards Kuku. "So, you're the problem. The entire school is in a panic, you know."

"If Zero won't love me, then I don't care! Everyone should turn into animals!" She honestly seemed so heartbroken, I actually... pitied her. Love was a fickle thing, with enough power to cause the greatest pain, but enough potential to create something even greater.

"Kuku!" Toto. That small, shy, bespectacled boy from before was leaning against the door frame, panting heavily. "Kuku, stop. Stop it now! This is pointless! It isn't going to solve anything, and you know it. Please, just calm down and change everyone back!"

"Shut up! You just don't understand how I feel. You don't understand me at all!"

For a moment, it really looked as if this timid boy was about to smack her. But then his hand dropped lightly on Kuku's shoulder and his expression softened. "Don't say I don't understand. I've been right by your side, ever since we were kids, and I've always looked after you. I know you've always loved Zero and... how you feel now. I'll always be here for you, Kuku. You're so important to me, I want to stay right by your side, to be that special person that you share your life with. So, please, Kuku, look at me. Listen, this isn't going to make you feel any better and you know it, don't you?"

"T-Toto..."

He carefully drew her into his arms, and she melted against him, nestling her head right into the crook of his neck as the tears flowed freely once more. "I'm here for you, Kuku. Forever. I promise."

Zero smirked and ruffled my hair. Evidently I hadn't been subtle enough as I swiped at my eyes. Idiot, He mouthed, affectionately. I channelled my inner-child, puffed up my cheeks and poked my tongue out at him. He seemed at least somewhat amused by that. Though, his expression lightened considerably as he tapped his head and gestured towards me.

Slightly confused, I ran my fingers through my hair, which triggered an insufferable grin from the boy. Then, I realised. The ears were gone. The nose, tail, paws. Everything. Kuku had released the spell. And it wasn't only me, both Zero and Ichii were void of their, admittedly somewhat attractive, animal qualities. Eyes widening, I focused on him with wide, happy eyes. Ichii gave me a fierce, one-armed hug as he guided us out of the room. As we headed towards the courtyard, Hiro shot my a secret wink, and saluted. I copied the gesture, and smiled reassuringly at his slightly concerned expression. He accepted this, and disappeared back into our classroom. Somehow, I had a feeling he'd be smoothing down the situation with Kei and Ayumi.

"Hikari, I'm sorry for causing so much trouble for you."

I waved my hands dismissively. "It's alright, honestly. Trouble is my natural state, nowadays." That enticed a small grin from her. "Are you returning to the Magic World, now?"

She nodded her head, yes. "I was never interested in the exam, anyway." She turned to Toto, who blushed, and beamed brightly. "And I want to nurture my new relationship there!" Kuku beckoned me closer and stooped down to whisper in my ear. "By the way, I think you and Zero make a really cute couple. You must invite me to your wedding, okay?"

I blushed brighter than I thought was humanely possible, and merely stammered as Kuku returned to Toto's side, waving enthusiastically as they left. Zero cocked his head to the side and studied me intently. "What'd she say to you?"

"N-Nothing!"

My wedding? I chanced a glance up at his bewildered expression. Well...

I won't completely disregard the possibility...

A/N: I'm kind of disappointed with how this turned out. It's a little too short for my taste, but I have no idea of what else to add. Since I've been stumped on it for a while, I just decide to Hell with it, and posted it anyway. I intended to add Hiro all the way back in that arc where Ayumi and Hikari had their little disagreement, but I completely forgot. Oops.

Breebreebabygirl: I'm glad you enjoyed it. Well, background on Hiro and Hikari is on the way, I think. I need to figure out how exactly to fit it in. And, I'll do my best!

LoveInuyasha22: Thank you! I'm glad you liked him. His addition is pretty late, I intended for him to make an appearance earlier, I'm too forgetful sometimes.