My head immediately erupted from above the water and I coughed. Desperately my eyes searched for Nami and they widened in terror once seeing her and realizing that she was now unconscious.

"Nami!" I cried as I struggled to fight the harsh current and swim up to her. After about a minute, I was able to hold onto her from behind and make sure that her head stayed firmly above the water so she wouldn't drown. "Nami, please wake up!" I begged, pure panic in my voice as a rash waved then washed over us.

I gasped under water and immediately rushed upwards, coughing up water that I had accidentally swallowed. I used all my strength to both keep my body and Nami's above water as the outrageously strong current carried us along the river. I held Nami in my arms with all my might. I did my best to stay calm, especially since I'm not the best swimmer... but I have no choice to be calm right now in order for Nami and I to survive.

And where the heck did Skye go?! Did he fall in the river too?

"H-Help!" I shakily screamed as I was struggling to hold onto Nami, hoping that someone would hear me, and the waves and current were growing fiercer by the second. "HELP!"

Suddenly, I noticed that Nami and I were heading for...a waterfall.

"NOOOOOO!" I shrieked at the top of my lungs as Nami and I then were then falling down the waterfall; I held onto her with everything I had.

We crashed into the water; however, luckily I was still conscious and the fall didn't hurt physically or anything. The current had calmed down and I immediately grabbed onto Nami once more, swimming towards the land. Once the water got shallower, I carried Nami in my arms all bridal-style like and I lied her down on the ground outside of the entrance of this cave I found located near the waterfall. We were both unbelievably drenched and I felt a sting in my left arm; it was bleeding. It probably happened when the current would push my body into the bumpy walls of earth as I was trying to swim earlier.

I sat down beside her on my knees and lightly tapped on her face with my hand and frowned. "N-Nami? Please wake up.." Next, I realized that she wasn't breathing and panic engulfed me.

I have to perform CPR... I have no choice.

I-I... I don't remember how to do the hands-only method correctly, so...

I'll have to do mouth to mouth.

I have to do this quickly.

Doing my best not to blush, my face grew closer to hers, mere inches apart, and just when I was about to put my hand on her nose and begin the process, Nami began to cough and she opened her eyes. I immediately sat up, feeling relief wash over me that she was okay, and Nami sat up as well while rubbing her head.

Her quiet first words were, "...Did you kiss me just now?"

Immediately, my face completely flushed of neon-pink, and my eyes grew enormously wide. "N-NO!" I shrieked flustered as I waved my hands back and fourth.

A small smirk fell on Nami's lips. "Uh-huh. Pervertttt," she teased, in a somewhat deadpanned tone.

"I-I AM NOT!" I shouted mortified, blushing even more rapidly by the second. "I-I... I was-"

"You were trying to save me," Nami finished my sentence, her voice stern, and she looked down while muttering, "Thanks... Sorry, I shouldn't be making jokes right now. ...Are you okay?"

Nami then noticed my arm was bleeding somewhat and she immediately shot up more while sitting, and lightly grabbed onto my arm. "You're hurt! ...Damn, it's my fault. I'm sorry."

Before I could even speak, Nami all of a sudden forcibly ripped the sleeve of her black t-shirt as if it was nothing and she began to tie it around my arm. Feeling a little dumbstruck, I felt the heat rush to my cheeks as I watched her make the final knot.

"T-Thank you..." I told her breathlessly and next I looked down at the ground, my voice soft, "But Nami... It's not your fault, I-"

"Good thing we're near a cave," Nami observed quietly as her eyes scanned around the area, her completely not hearing me, and she then stood up. "Wait here. I'll be right back."

"W-Wait!" I yell as pure fear consumed my voice and I grabbed onto her hand, preventing her from walking away. "D-Don't leave me by myself... What if something crazy happens? Like what if a bear eats me or-OW!"

Nami flicked my forehead and I glared at her, blushing furiously. "W-What was that?! Is this my thank you for saving your life?!" I demanded flustered, my hand now resting on my forehead, which instantly caused me to release my previous grasp on her hand.

The red-head chuckled quietly and she put her hands in her pockets. "Don't worry, this area is familiar to me. Nothing will happen to you. I just need a minute, it's safer for you to stay put here anyway."

"Fine!" I whined cutely in defeat and hugged myself while still sitting on the ground. "You better come back alive!"

"You're so dramatic..." Nami mumbled in a deadpanned tone. "Don't make me tell you to lighten up."

"Excuse me?!" I say feistily while standing up and I adjusted my hands onto my hips. "We fell off a cliff, off of a large waterfall, and now we're stranded in the middle of some forest! And... A-And..."

I paused, feeling my eyes growing somewhat watery at realizing the reality of our situation and I hugged myself, starting to shiver from my wet clothes but also from the fear. "I-I... I was so scared I lost you in the water... I-I..."

Nami put both of her hands onto my shoulders and she looked me dead in the eyes, her voice firm. "I told you not to worry. I'll get you back home safe to your farm, but we both need to stay calm right now. Just trust me."

Shocked, I stared back at her in pure awe as I struggled to fight back tears from leaking out of my eyes, and then with much hesitance, I nodded.

"O-Okay."

- About Twenty Minutes Later -

After what felt like an eternity of waiting for me, Nami finally returned while carrying some firewood. She had also put some berries that weren't poisonous into her pockets for us to eat for later and for some reason she was also carrying... two big leaves? They literally looked like the size of blankets! Anyway, I didn't question her method of madness quite yet and when she returned, we entered the cave and Nami started a fire for us.

Nami and I both sat in front of the fire beside each other, trying to warm up.

I hugged my knees, feeling a bit somber, but there was a part of me that was grateful I had some alone time with Nami like this at least. I sadly smiled.

"Don't worry, I've slept outside like this many times, so I have the experience. I know what to do," Nami stated aloofly as she stared into the fire with one hand placed on her knee in a nonchalant manner. "Hopefully our clothes dry soon from the fire, otherwise we'll have to take them off."

Instantly, I blushed a bright neon-pink. "W-WHAT?!"

Nami let out a low chuckle. "Silly, we could get sick."

I blushed at hearing her call me 'silly' and didn't know what to say back, there was such a soft but hidden playfulness in her voice that just made my heart race. It somehow sounded so affectionate when she said silly a-and...

GAH WHY DOES IT SEEM LIKE SHE'S BEEN SO FLIRTY-ISH EVER SINCE SHE WOKE UP?! AM I HALLUCINATING?!

Two minutes of silence went by and I wasn't sure what to say, until I finally thought of something.

"I keep forgetting summer is almost over..." I mumbled with a sheepish smile, hugging my knees a little tighter.

"Oh great. My birthday is the first day of fall..." Nami sarcastically muttered as she rolled her eyes.

I gasped. "It is?! We got to do something to celebrate then!"

"No thanks. Not my thing..." Nami stated quietly, as she waved her hand to gesture 'no' and she avoided eye contact with me.

I frowned. "Well... At least let me-"

"Don't go through any trouble to do anything. It's not a day I like to celebrate or remember anyway..." Nami muttered, bitterness lurking in her voice.

My frown remained, sadness slowly invading me. "Well... I'm sure your parents might give you some birthday money or something, right? I've...been wondering for a long time. Are you close with them?"

"They probably will send me something on that day, that's part of the reason why I'm dreading it... I don't want to deal with it," Nami answered somewhat irked, rolling her eyes once more with a sigh. "Usually on my birthday they send me some money and a letter. But it's all empty words. I've told Lou before to throw the letters out when she receives them at the inn, but she gives them to me anyway."

She was quiet for a moment before she spoke up again and I felt as if I was holding my breath the whole time, the anticipation relentlessly consuming me at the thought of what she would say next.

"Let's just say my parents don't accept the kind of person that I am... It's one of the reasons I travel around a lot... I rather not talk about the rest," Nami explained stoically as she avoided my gaze by staring into the fire.

Perplexed, I was at a loss of words as I innocently stared at her. Her parents don't accept the kind of person she is...? I wonder what she means by that, like what is the reason that they don't accept her? And... Empty words... It doesn't sound like the best relationship with her parents if she's saying that kind of thing about the letters that they send her.

Scratching her head, Nami let out a frustrated sigh and spoke once more. "I'm sorry again... For being so damned reckless earlier. I should have made more sure of my surroundings before sprinting after him, otherwise you wouldn't have followed me off that cliff, and..."

Trying to lighten the mood, I let out a soft giggle. "Don't be so hard on yourself, I'm just so glad you're okay, and... I've never heard you swear so much before until today, or - I think this is my first time at hearing you swear at all ever."

"Well, yeah I usually try to keep things PG-13," Nami joked in a deadpanned tone and she then looked down with a somber expression. "It's just... Because I was so angry... I..."

Nami was quiet for a moment before she spoke once more.

"When he took your money, my blood was boiling. I just wanted to break his skull..." Nami confessed and she then muttered, "Then again, murder isn't on my bucket list..."

I blushed at just hearing the fierce protectiveness she had for me in her voice and I let out a nervous laugh. "Y-Yeah, I don't want you going to jail next like Daryl did..."

"Skye is the next one who belongs in jail if anything," Nami bitterly stated in an instant and she then huffed, "He's the worst."

"Especially when he flirts with you..." Nami then quickly added under her breath, but she thought I didn't hear her.

I blushed at hearing the immense protectiveness in her voice for me. Wow, she must be really jealous... Or, maybe she's just really pissed off for me that he did that.

"I wonder if Skye fell off the cliff too..."I wondered out loud while looking up at the ceiling of the cave. "It just seemed like he vanished out of nowhere behind that bush..."

"I don't really give a shit what happened to him," Nami admitted harshly while scoffing and she ran her fingers through her scarlet colored bangs. "Because of him, we're in this mess, and you could have got badly hurt."

I hugged my knees a little tighter. "Well... You could have gotten hurt badly too, we both matter here."

"Tch. Yeah, I guess..." Nami muttered and she continued to gaze into the fire with an unsmiling expression. Silence fell upon the cave for a couple minutes and as I was struggling to think of what to say, my body started to shiver from feeling cold.

How am I freezing right now?! Isn't it summer? Maybe it's because my clothes are somewhat still wet, but... I do feel a small icy breeze entering this cave now that I think about it. I guess it is normal for it to be colder at night during the summer.

Nami seemed to noticed my trembling and so she scooted closer to me, putting her arm around me and pulling me close to her.

I blushed barbarically as my eyes grew wide in shock and I completely froze; feeling too utterly paralyzed to say anything.

"It's better this way so we both stay warm..." Nami mumbled in a soft tone, her voice still so irresistibly low.

Staring straight into the fire, my heart began to beat wildly in pure nervousness as I felt the warmth from her body and I felt this tension between us that just felt beyond... alluring.

Wordlessly, I nodded as I was placing my hand somewhat on the center of her black shirt while her arm still remained around me; my head somewhat almost nuzzling on her chest.

Wait. Are Nami and I...really kinda cuddling right now?!

My heart almost leaped out of my chest at that realization and to my surprise, I next heard Nami let out a quiet chuckle.

"I know you'd prefer this over us taking off our clothes."

My face almost exploded from all the blushing. "E-EXCUSE ME?! Y-You're bringing that up again?! And you call me a p-pervert!"

I gripped her shirt harder by accident due to my outburst and that caused her to hold me a little closer to her; my face felt like it was turning a million different shades of pink all at once.

Unexpectedly, Nami let out one big sigh and mumbled under her breath, "I don't get it."

Bewildered, I blinked my eyes a multiple amount of times. "You don't get... the pervert-thing I just said?"

"No. I'm frustrated because... I barely know anything about you, and still... I always feel drawn to you. I always feel connected to you. And I don't know why..." Nami confessed looking intently at the fire and she then sighed. "It's annoying..." she muttered.

Being in her arms, I looked up at her dumbstruck. "Then...get to know me."

"Alright, well... What about you and your parents then? I heard your dad used to own the farm that you have now," Nami mentioned calmly.

"Well, I'm not really close with my parents. I don't think bad about them, but... I'm kind of just indifferent? I don't know why, but I never had a desire to be close to them growing up... My dad recently passed away though and I have barely felt any grief. I know Takakura took it pretty hard, but I felt pretty neutral about his death. I wonder... maybe it was because I didn't want to get too close, because I was scared I'd be too hurt if I lost them in some way? I'm still trying to figure it out. ...Ehh, I rather not talk about the rest."

An awkward silence fell upon us for a few seconds and I felt embarrassment invade me.

"You sound like me now earlier..." Nami mumbled and she let out a soft chuckle as she then quoted me and herself, " 'I rather not talk about the rest…' "

I blushed and rolled my eyes, saying with a huff, "Well, I guess we are more alike than we both think. I know it's not common for someone to not want to be close to their parents, so I don't blame you if you think I'm a weirdo."

"...Well, I can't say I relate with the parents thing, I wish I was closer with mine some days, but I don't think you're a weirdo for that," Nami responded nonchalantly and she then teasingly said with a smirk, "You're definitely a weirdo for other things though."

I clenched my fist and glared up at her all flustered. "H-HEY! Don't be mean!" I then shook my head and blushed harder while looking back downwards as I gripped the center of her black shirt a little more firmly. "Anything else you want to know about me...?"

"Hmm. Yeah... What did that fortune teller tell you the other day?" Nami serenely asked, her being rather curious. "Molly said it was about your love life, or something."

I literally almost jumped while sitting, blushing furiously. "W-What?! Out of all of the things about me, you want to know about that?!"

Remaining rather composed, Nami raised an eyebrow and she shrugged. "Yeah, why not? ...Just tell me. I don't see what the big deal is."

"W-Well... Well..." My cheeks grew redder and I sighed in defeat, relaxing my shoulders a bit. "O-Okay..."

"She basically said someone I like has their eyes on me and that I should go for it, a-and..." I confessed shakily and I couldn't force myself to get any more words out; my cheeks growing more scorching hot by the second. Oh crap, I shouldn't have said that I liked someone! Now Nami's gonna-

"You like someone? Who? ...From the valley?" Nami asked carefully, her seeming very intrigued by this topic, and she added, "The other girls here don't seem like your type... Just please don't tell me the psychic told you that you were destined to be with a man or Rock, or something stupid like that. I don't know why he made it seemed like you two were engaged the other day to Lou and Tei."

Blushing, I shook my hands furiously and then hid my head in Nami's shirt beyond flustered, as I tightly clenched onto the fabric. "N-No! She didn't tell me any of that! I...I..." I paused and using my quick-wit, I decided to change the subject in order to avoid the question. There's no way I'm telling Nami that I like her right now! NO WAY! "Speaking of stuff like that, you said before that Popuri has a thing for you... How do you know that?"

Nami basically groaned and I could literally imagine her rolling her eyes at my question. "She confessed she wanted to date me awhile back. I was never into her like that though. Everywhere I have traveled, it's pretty normal for me to have girls or even dudes hit on me, I never reciprocate though. It's not my thing."

A little bubble of jealously began to bombard my heart; however, I tried to ignore it. Yeah, there's no way I'm telling my romantic feelings to Nami now. She'll definitely reject me, just like she did with all the others!

"What, are you the non-committal type or something?" I asked somewhat reluctantly.

"Not necessarily, I haven't really thought about a relationship to be honest," Nami answered casually. "I've got too many other things preoccupying my mind at the moment."

I was pretty quiet. "Hmm. I see..."

"What about you? ...I bet you get hit on a lot," Nami proposed quietly.

I almost jumped in surprised. "H-Huh? Well, I mostly get hit on by guys... and it's not really what I want, so... I've always been a hopeful romantic, but it's been so hard for me to find other girls who I feel a connection with, so... I guess I'm picky."

"Hn. I see..." Nami mumbled. "You still didn't answer my question before, who is it that you like?"

"I-I'm pretty tired now, I think I want to sleep!" I said hastily, my face burning in embarrassment as I was still hiding it in her shirt. There's no way I'm telling her, NU-UH! Not now at least. We're stuck in a cave, so if she's going to reject me, I won't be able to run away and I'll be stuck with her! Realistically speaking, I'll need time alone to grieve if that happens! I'm sure she wouldn't want to be around me if I was constantly crying either...

"Alright... Let's lie down then."

Without warning, Nami then gently wrapped her arm around my waist and pulled me down with her to lie down, us facing in each other's direction. She then reached out with one hand to grab onto one of those big green leaves she brought in earlier and she put it over us, acting as a blanket. I blushed and felt my heart basically lurch out of my chest at feeling her arm around my waist, and then next her other arm wrapped around my back, pulling me close. My face was pretty much hidden, it snuggling into the top area of her shirt. Our bodies felt so warm, and I could just feel that she was blushing too... I swear I could hear her heart beating too like this as my head laid on her chest. The air in the freaking cave and energy just felt so wholesome and yet so... spicy?

"We're only staying like this to keep warm..." Nami reminded in a mutter, I could sense some flustered-ness in her voice and I noticed she held me a little tighter. "Goodnight."

I couldn't bring myself to say goodnight back to her, so I just nodded while being in her arms while blushing up a storm, and I drifted off to sleep.

- Two Hours Later -

My eyes pried open with tears releasing out of them and I panted wildly, a memory of a nightmare about Daryl flashing through my mind.

My panting seemed to have woken Nami up. "Are you okay...?" Nami asked quietly.

She then moved back a little to see that I was crying and we locked eyes. It seemed Nami was about to gasp but I noticed she held back from doing so. Instantly, she pulled me closer to her again and hugged me, attempting to comfort me. "What's wrong?" she asked sternly, but her voice was full of concern as well.

I sniffed and did my best not to tremble. "I-I... I had a nightmare about Daryl. I guess I really do have trauma from that whole night now."

Nami then took me by surprise by softly petting the back of my head. "He's behind bars in Mineral Town now, you have nothing to worry about anymore..." she soothed in her usual attractive low voice. "Plus, if that bastard comes back, I wouldn't let him do anything to you anyway."

I blushed insanely at hearing that familiar protectiveness in her voice. "T-Thanks..."

Suddenly, we heard low growling coming from outside the entrance of the cave that we were in. Immediately, Nami and I sat up to see...

"A-A pack of wolves?!" I cried, instantly terrified and I began to shiver. There was about six wolves glaring menacingly at us.

Without any hesitation, Nami grabbed my hand and briskly pulled me up. "Let's go!"

With Nami leading the way and holding onto my hand, we sprinted out of the cave and avoided the wolves from making any physical contact from us; however, now they were chasing us. As the darkness of the night sky almost made it impossible to see, I did my best to not shriek in panic as we ran and to also keep up with Nami's speed. Luckily, after about fifteen minutes, we had finally lost the wolves, and were now in the middle of the forest, while at the same time we were on top of a tall grassy hill.

We both panted wildly.

"I-I'm so glad we lost them..." I said out of breath and putting my hands on my knees. "That was really scary... I've never ran so fast before..."

Nami stopped panting and her mysterious eyes scanned the area. "I recognize this hill we're on... We're about five minutes away from the valley."

My green eyes sparkled and I jumped for joy. "Really?! Yay!"

Nami was quiet for a moment and she then pointed to a path ahead of us. "You should go ahead on that path... It'll lead to Forgotten Valley. I'm going to stay out here for a bit. There's an area I want to check out for myself."

I clenched my fists in fear and frantically said, "W-What?! But we almost just got eaten by wolves! What if they find you out here?! A-And... I don't want to go out there alone! W-What if I get lost?! What if I... I..."

My eyes then widened in horror at a slow realization. What if... What if Nami wants to leave the valley right now?

Getting emotional, my eyes begin to instantly water at that very thought.

"You're not... You're not planning to leave the valley, are you? You're planning to come back there tonight, r-right?" I asked her through sobs and I hugged myself as tears began to leak out of my eyes.

Nami's eyes grew wide with shock and she walked up to me a little closer. I saw she put her arms out to hug me for a second, but then she stopped herself; holding back.

Her gaze was intense and fierce as she locked eyes with mine, her voice next sounding a little cold. "Even if I wanted to really leave right now, all my stuff is at the inn. Quit jumping to conclusions... Man, you really cry a lot, don't you? Especially at the thought of me leaving. You..."

Nami then narrowed her eyes, her realizing something.

"Wait. That pink bag of gold that Skye stole from you... When you gave me gold that night Daryl got arrested, the bag you handed me was the same color of pink that Skye stole. That wasn't Takakura's money... That was your money, wasn't it?" Nami asked me firmly, pure determination in her voice to find out the truth. "You were scared I was leaving the valley that night, weren't you?"

Shocked, I looked at her wide-eyed and then sadness and frustration plagued my face. I cried harder as the wind briskly rushed through our hair.

"...You're sure insightful, Nami. Yes, it was my money! I'm sorry, eventually I was going to confess to it! If you're mad at me, fine, be mad! I... I was just scared for you to leave! I even saw you packed a suitcase when I visited you in your room a-and..."

My voice got shaky and suddenly I was unable to talk. Getting completely choked up, I hugged myself for comfort as I began to sob even more.

Nami was quiet for a moment as she looked down and then put her hands in her pockets; rummaging through them. She pulled out the tiny pink-clothed bag of gold that I gave her and began to walk toward me.

"You need to take this back right now. I'm not taking your money," Nami strictly said and she attempted to try to put it into my pink skirt pocket, but I blocked her hand.

"Stop! You're keeping it!" I insisted fiercely.

Nami then repeatedly kept on trying to put it in my pocket and I struggled to stop her each time. She then tried grabbing onto my right wrist in mid-air to stop me from blocking her and then I grabbed onto her left wrist in id-air.

"S-Stop! I can literally make the money back easily by selling stuff on my farm! It's no big deal! You don't have a job, so! ...So, just take it!" I hissed as I was struggling to escape her grasp and she was still relentlessly trying to put my bag of gold into my pocket.

"I don't want to hurt you by accident by being rough..." Nami warned and her fierce, mysterious eyes were looking into mine. "Maybe I really would be better off leaving the valley, if I'm just going to keep causing you trouble like this..."

"NO! Don't say that! Nami, I-Ah!" I shouted as I suddenly tripped and fell backwards, with Nami landing on top of me. I winced hitting the ground and instantly Nami began to once again try to put the pink bag of money into my pocket, but I didn't let her. We began to struggle and wrestle on the ground while constantly rolling on top of each other, over and over again, for about five minutes.

Just as I was about to roll on top of her, we didn't realize we were at the edge on top of that grassy hill we were currently on, and we began to roll down the hill, us rolling on top of each other nonstop, our speed accelerating more and more the farther our bodies went down the hill.

"AHHHHH!" I shrieked as we were falling.

Our bodies finally reached the bottom of the hill and Nami landed right on top of me. I blushed wildly as she pinned me to the ground and I looked up at her. Somehow, she was still firmly holding the pink bag of gold in her grasp with her right hand, both her hands pinning my wrists down to the ground. We both panted immensely as we looked at each other. Our hair was a mess, there was now specks of dirt on our skin and clothes, there was even some leaves in our hair, and I noticed Nami's lower lip was now a little bloody. Which, somehow made her look kind of hot...wait, what am I thinking in such a serious situation like this?!

"...Are you okay?" Nami asked me while panting.

"Y-Yeah. Just please... Please keep the money..." I beg, as a single tear slipped down the right side of my face. "I don't want you to leave..."

Nami sighed and she gradually got up while offering her hand out, next carefully helping me up.

Nami turned away from me as she then put the pink bag of gold back into her pocket and it began to rain.

I started to shiver from the cold and hugged myself.

Nami then spoke, her voice dead-serious.

"Look... You deserve someone so much more better than me in your life. I'm just always going to end up dissapointing you. It's probably best for me to just go and leave the valley at this point. Hurting you is never my intention..."

Tears cascaded down my face like no tomorrow and I put my right clenched fist to my heart; my eyes fierce and passionately full of pure determination.

"Quit telling me what you think I deserve! Nami, I want you-I... I mean, I always want you in my life! I want you just as you are now... You don't have to be perfect to be in my life. Nami, I... Please, I beg of you, please stay here...in the valley..." With me. Or take me with you, Nami. I thought, too scared to say those very last parts out loud.

The rain began to hit the ground harder.

Nami turned around to face me and I hugged myself, crying my eyes out while feeling the most unbearable pain imaginable in my heart.

Nami seemed that she couldn't stand to see me in that heartbroken state, because she immediately then rushed up to me and hugged me.

Shocked, I opened my eyes as tears continued to flow out of them, and I leaned myself more into her hug; I wrapped my arms around her back and hugged her back.

"Are you really... going to leave the valley one day?" I asked softly in a whisper, my voice reeking of anguish.

Nami held me a little tighter.

"I don't know... All I know is... That I just want to keep on holding you right now."

I felt my heart tremble berserk-ily, as if a bunch of tiny little fireworks were going off it in. Blushing, my eyes trembled with shock at hearing her words and I held onto her a little tighter as well.

You just don't say that kind of thing to a friend RIGHT?! ...Am I dreaming right now? Did she really just say that to me?

Nami pulled back a little to look down at me and our eyes locked. Slowly, she closed her eyes and her face started to lean down towards me. It felt as if my heart was galloping like a horse wildly, but I then composed myself once I realized what was happening, and ever so slowly, I closed my eyes as well, and leaned in to her.

I waited for Nami's lips to touch mine, but they never came. Bewildered, I opened up my eyes to see that she was staring down at me with a somewhat unreadable expression and she then pulled away from me.

With her hands in her pockets, Nami began to walk forward.

"It's getting late... I should get you home. I know the way back from here."

Nami didn't kiss me.

Author Note: Ahhhh, I enjoyed writing this chapter! Chapter 25 is already written, I just have to edit it, so I'll be posting it sometime tomorrow. Thank you guys so much for reading! And oh my gosh, wow! We're at 104 reviews already, I was not expecting that! XD thank you all so much!

And to Juxapose4ever: I sent a message replying to your review but I don't know if you got it. I basically said thank you so much! I'm so happy you've enjoyed my story to the point you're now a fan of it; that means a lot to my heart! And that, I totally forgot that story of seasons Popuri existed...*sweatdrops* haha, but either way I would use the original Popuri for this story of course, haha.

And to the reviewer Skye, oh my goodness thank you so so SO much! I've enjoyed reading your extremely thoughtful and rather entertaining reviews! XD They touched my heart so much, thank you! Absolutely makes my day! You remind me of my old reviewer from nine years ago, Princess Toasty, perhaps you're her...or?

And Piplup, you're my friend in real life/coworker, I hope you're having fun in Mexico! XD Hi when you see this!lol.

Anyway, thank you so much for everyone reading and reviewing. I always look forward to your thoughts so much whenever I read the reviews. Hope you all have a nice day! :)