Tokine blinked a few times as her sight slowly returned to her, still foggy. Her head pounded and she could feel a slight pain across her chest. Her surroundings slowly came to focus and she realized she was looking up into the canopies of trees.

You're awake.

She tried to look towards the voice but her vision swam so she settled over looking out of the corner of her eye. She could barely make out the form of a figure in the shadows cast by the surrounding trees.

"Who are you?" She croaked and immediately regretted it, the pain was like swallowing liquid fire down her poor throat. The being chuckled.

Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is if you are alright.

"Oh I'm just peachy, I have no idea where I am or who you are, my throat is killing me, and I'm pretty sure I just came close to dying. Not to mention that if you are a rapist you could easily 'bag' me seems how I can't even lift my head." Was what she meant to shout but it only came out as a mumble. She gritted her teeth as her throat protested against its use.

The man, she assumed, laughed at her outburst, the laugh shooting tingly feeling through her body and out her fingertips and toes.

Oh I have missed your humor, little baka. You have not changed at all.

"Wha-" She cringed as more pain shot down her abused trachea. She tried to take a deep breath but that only brought pain to her chest as well.

The man crept closer but still out of her regular sight. Forgive me, Tokine. I forgot about your throat. Please talk to me with your mind.

My mind? She thought bewhildered. How the heck would he be able to hear her thoughts?

Ah, a good question, but I can not tell you how just yet. It is still too early.

Who the hell are you?

Language, Tokine. She could just feel his smile. Be polite.

Could you please tell me who you are? She growled.

My name won't mean anything to you right now. I guess, like your friend, you could call me Death.

Death? Her eyes widened.

Yes Death. He chuckled. I have many names but you can call me that.

So are you here to kill me then?She asked, not the least bit frightened, surprisingly.

He outright roared with laughter at this. Oh no, far from that. If I wanted you dead I would've left you for Minotaur. You are greatly amusing.

Wait you said one of my friends call you Death. Who?

I believe it's Yoshimori.

Yoshi? Why would you be talking to him?

Ah. Now we get to the meat of things, as you humans nowadays say. That I must not tell you, at least not yet. Not until you have had contact, which I believe will be soon.

Contact? With who?

The man only smiled.

Tokine shakily raised her hand to her face and wiped away a few beads of sweat from her forehead. She tried to turn her head again, but she quickly became nauseated as the world spun around her.

Careful. A cool hand rested on her heated forehead, still out of sight. You have lost alot of blood. You are not ready to be moving yet.

She coughed slightly and winced at the pain. Where is Yoshi?

For the first time she felt the man hesitate in her mind. I believe he will be here soon. He only let me near you so he could finish the Minotaur, though he's wasting his time.

That last part he only muttered to himself and she believed she wasn't suppose to hear that. Is he ok?

The man smiled again, the warmth back in his voice. Yes, he is only worried about you.

She sighed in relief and melted into the ground, exhaustion slowly overcoming her body. Will you let me see you?

The man hesitated again and said gently, I do not believe that it would be in your interest to see me in your condition. Just know that you are completely safe with me, that I would rather die a thousand deaths than to ever hurt you.

Why is that? She murmured. Sadly she didn't hear his response as sleep washed over her.

Death frowned thoughtfully as he watched her beautiful eyes close. He softly stroked her face lightly, feeling the jealous pull of his chest.

Must be the boy, He thought amused. He carefully folded his majestic black wings against his back and slowly lifted her up into his strong arms.

Relax, young one. You are not as strong as me yet. If you carried her you could possibly hurt her.

Fine, just-just don't hurt her yourself. The boy muttered.

The otherworldly being only smiled and glided across the battered earth, a flick of his left wing returning everything to its original state before the fight.

He carefully opened the door to the boy's house and, following the boy's instructions brought her to their room and gently tucked the girl into bed. He stood there for a moment, taking in the beautiful girl who looked so much like his first life's Aimi and who also shared the same soul like he with the boy. He closed his eyes and could just feel Aimi's soft hands caress his face.

He gazed again at the girl who had his soul's affections. Hopefully she came to contact with Aimi soon. The first Other was desperate to feel her soul brush against his again.

My Kuro, we will be reunited soon...

The girl's shared soul called but he didn't hear.

Kuro/Death closed his eyes and slowly relished control of the boy's body back to him.

Guard her, protect her with your life. Do not make the same mistakes I have made. This time will be different, remember that. Kuro warned his newest reincarnation.

Yoshimori shuddered as a feeling of fatigue overcame him. He carefully looked Tokine over with his own charcoal eyes this time. He sighed in relief as he saw Death had bandaged her up; that was one less job for him. Yoshi took off his bloodied robe and tossed it into the dirty clothes hamper and pulled on a pair of sweats. He crept into the bed and carefully wrapped his arm around her waist, bringing her to him. He breathed in her scent and closed his eyes to surrender to sleep, relieved knowing his Tokine was okay.

Tokine slowly opened her eyes and yawned. She realized she was back in Yoshi's room and looked out the window to see the sun high in the sky. It had to be close to noon. They would be late for school again but she didn't feel like getting up today. She carefully turned and found herself face to face with Yoshimori's. His eyes were closed and he seemed completely relaxed, his features smoothed in the carefree relaxation of sleep. She smiled and traced his face softly, stopping and holding her breath when his eyebrows furrowed. She let it out when he went back to his deep sleep. She ran her fingers down his cheek and his strong jawline. She grinned when she felt a little stubble on his face and nuzzled into his neck, leaving her fingers lying against his cheek. She inhaled deeply, letting his male scent overwhelm her senses, feeling it enveloping her in its warm embrace. She sighed in contentment and felt two strong arms wrap around her and bring her closer to her male. She raised wide eyes up to his sleepy ones. She watched as a peaceful smile slowly crept on his lips. He pulled her closer still and pressed his nose into her hair, feeling him breathe deeply. She stared at his strong chest as she felt his lips move against her hair, her eyes widening more.

"Thank Kami." She heard him breathe. She pulled back to better look at him, violets questioning.

He smiled and ran a hand through her hair, her eyes closing in bliss as his nails raked softly against her scalp. She leaned up against him and brought her lips to his, stopping a milimeter away, feeling his slightly unsteady breath against her lips. She smiled down at him and pecked him sweetly before laying her head down on his chest. His hands ran down the expanse of her back, up and down, while her long fingers trailed down his chest and to his abs and back. They laid like this, not caring that they were missing school, wrapped in their own little world, just the two of them.

She watched as his fingers played with hers as they laid back in the bed, her head resting on her shoulder. He wrapped his fingers around hers, pinning them together. She glared up playfully but he only grinned. There was no need for words in this moment of peace that seemed to appear far less than they would wish. He brought her captured hand to his lips and playfully nipped at her index finger, before soothing the bite with a small flick of his tongue, earning himself a squeak from her, a triumphant smirk on his face as he pulled back. She frowned at him and got up from her spot, towering over him and kicking a leg over his hips. She leaned down, her hair brushing his face and flicked her tongue against his neck, a small gasp leaving him. She grinned and st back on him, raking a hand through her hair, the sunlight streaming against her back.

His face screwed up in mock disgust, rubbing his hand against the damp spot on his neck. He tackled her and pinned her underneath him. She let out a soft growl and tried to tug him down to the side but he locked his arms on either side of her. She huffed and gave up, crossing her arms underneath her chest and pouting. He let out a soft chuckle and leaned down, giving her an apology kiss to which she happily took, throwing her arms around his neck. Letting himself fall due to her insistant tugging, he carefully rested on her, making sure to not let his full weight crush her. He broke away and looked down on her mussed form. Their was a faint red to her cheeks and Yoshimori laughed lightly at this. Tokine scowled and brought his face back down to hers, frustrated beyond belief.

Tokine crashed her lips onto his, their tongues and teeth harshly clashing together. This kiss was different from the others, full of passion and aggression, a battle of domination in which only one can win. Yoshimori pulled back, breathing heavily, their chests rising and falling together. Tokine smirked up at him.

"Well how was that?" She asked, winking at him playfully. He chuckled breathlessly.

"That was definetely something."

She laughed and rolled out from under him, bringing her feet to the ground before she rolled off the bed. Standing beside it, she brushed her fingers through her tangled hair, frowning, "Look what you did to my hair. It's all tangled now."

He gaped at her. "How can you blame me for that?"

"Well, you must've tried to do something to me in my vulnerable state last night."

"What the hell, Tokine? You almost died last night and you think I'd take advantage of you?"

She only laughed and patted his head, laughing more when she saw his pouting face. His face smoothed into seriousness and he grabbed her hand.

"Speaking of which, I didn't get to ask you how you're feeling."

She stared at him before going into a fit of giggles. "Yoshimori," She gasped between, "We pretty much just had a make-out session and now you remember?" He seemed put out and crossed his arms. "You distracted me." He muttered which only made her laugh harder. A hand clamping on her neck made her stop and look down at him.

"Seriously though, are you alright?" Her eyes softened when she saw his look down at the scar on her hand out of habit. She smiled softly. He's still the same. She brought her hand to his cheek which made him look up. "To be perfectly honest, I feel just fine, great even. Nothing feels like it hurts."

He got off the bed. "Well just in case, we should probably change the bandages."

He left the room and after a few minutes returned with a familiar bowl of water and white strips. An idea popped into her head and she smirked inwardly. She sat up straighter and crossed her legs. "Remember, Yoshi, be gentle."

She was rewarded when his face went red just like she thought it would and she mentally patted herself on the back. "And also, don't peak at anything you're not supposed to."

He gawked up at her from his place on the floor, face beat red under his tan. "Tokine! Don't say stuff like that." She laughed, holding her sides when she heard his mumbled curse. He scowled as he rolled up her right pants leg expertly. Spying the old bandage, he carefully unravaled it to see a perfectly thin scar, the skin a little red around the edges.

His gasp startled her out of her thoughts, looking down to see what he was staring at so intently on her leg, holding back a gasp herself when she saw the scar. She pulled her leg away from his schrutinizing and looked at it better, tracing the line with her finger, feeling no pain at all. "H-how?"

Yoshimori shook his head, watching her eyes run over the scar of the gash that had caused her grief during her fight. "I don't know Tokine. Let's see the one on your chest."

Her shaky hands pulled off her shirt, leaving her in only her bra. Despite their discovery, Tokine couldn't help but smirk at the blush staining his cheeks.

Doing the same to the other bandage, he traced the new scar that looked exactly the same as the one on her leg, only running from her left shoulder to her right hip.

"How is this possible, Yoshi?" Tokine questioned, a small frown on her lips. He again shook his head in response.

Was this you? He asked Death, to which he only received a light chuckle. Taking that as a yes he sighed and leaned back on his heels, scratching his head. "Well I guess that it doesn't matter how it's possible or not. All that does is that you arn't in pain at all. You're not in pain right?" He eyed Tokine warily. She only shook her head with a small smile. He smiled back and grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers. He tugged and pulled her down, Tokine letting out a startled yelp as she landed in his lap. Growling she glared up at him while he busied himself with tangling their fingers. She pulled away with a scowl and he laughed before unceremonely dumping her to the floor as he stood up. Holding out a hand to her, he said, "Come on, I'm starving!"

She laughed lightly and took the outstretched hand, groaning when her back popped as she stood up. She turned to him wiht a smirk on her face, "Come on, Yoshi. Let's see if you can cook breakfast or if you're only good for cakes." She winked and left, Yoshimori following with a scowl on his face.

"Oi, I can cook just fine!"

Shoo, finally got this out and let me tell you, its been hard to do. Hope you enjoyed it! R&R and don't forget, I don't update fast unless I get some reviews!