Chapter 7 _Questions_

Chapter 7 "Questions"

Kyoko made her way back through her darkened house to find Shinbe fast asleep. She silently wondered if she should tell him about her meeting with Toya. Sitting back at her desk, she set about to finish sewing the torn robes, but thoughts of Toya slowed her fingers.

He’d surprised her when he kissed her. She used to dream about him kissing her… she used to wish for it. She had to admit that kiss was exactly what she’d always imagined… it was the timing that had made it confusing. Maybe it was just Toya trying to distract her anger. He’d never tried to kiss her before, so why else would he do so now?

She thought about his lips on hers, and on instinct, she raised her fingers to her lips wondering at it… then another kiss invaded her mind. When she had casually brushed her lips against Shinbe’s, it was like an electrical shock ran through her. Had Toya not shown up when he did… she’d of liked to of experimented with that kiss a little more.

Shaking her head, she bit her bottom lip. Where on earth had that thought come from? She glanced over at Shinbe. How could she ever forgive herself for causing this to happen? She hadn’t meant for anyone to get hurt. She slowly walked over to the bed, watching him as she sat at the edge and reached her hand out to smooth the ebony-blue hair from his eyes. At least he was sleeping peacefully.

Her gaze roamed over his face, lingering on his lips. They were so soft in her dream, that’s what had caused her to try to kiss him when Toya had caught them. She had just wanted to know if they were as soft in real-life as in her dream… and they were.

Kyoko looked down at the blanket that had fallen, exposing his shoulders and chest just below his arms. He still had a bruise on one shoulder and she unconsciously reached her hand out to run a finger over it. Shinbe moaned in his sleep and she jumped, pulling her hand back and putting it to her lips. She guiltily turned, looking away.

Shinbe cracked an eye open, a smirk forming on his lips. He’d felt her weight on the edge of the bed and pretended to be asleep, but he’d secretly been watching her through his eyelashes, witnessing the emotions cross her face as she studied him. As much as his body hurt, he couldn’t help feeling aroused by her presence… it had always been that way for him. He hoped she didn’t look any lower, as he was sure a tent had formed in the lower regions.

When she touched his shoulder, he involuntarily moaned. As soon as she turned away, he sucked in his breath. Slowly releasing it, his lips parted as he inched his hand toward her. Before he could say anything, she stood up, and he let out a disappointed sigh.

Kyoko quickly turned around to see him looking at her, and his flexing hand didn’t go unnoticed. “Shinbe… what are you doing?” she stared at his hand, her head tilting to one side curiously.

Shinbe attempted to hide his hand back under the blanket letting out a groan of pain. Kyoko was immediately by his side, running her hand over his arm, trying to ease his pain, not realizing that wasn’t the kind of pain he was in.

“Please be careful, Shinbe. I want you to get better, not hurt yourself even more,” she looked down at him with sympathy in her eyes.

He smiled up at her, cherishing every moment of her tenderness, “it’s okay, Kyoko. I’m fine. Serves me right for my shameful thoughts,” He attempted a smile, and she frowned at him.

He just admitted to it? Her mind was in turmoil as she sat back down on the bed next to him. The memory of what Toya had said to her in the clearing coming back to haunt her.

“Shinbe, we really need to talk about what you and Toya fought about. He thinks that you are hiding something, and he says I shouldn’t trust you.” She felt uncomfortable asking him this, but he was the one asleep in her bed… so she felt like she had the right to at least ask. “Are you… hiding something?”

Shinbe’s thoughts went back to the night Kyoko came through the heart of time, drunk. What a predicament he’d gotten himself into. Not only would Toya kill him, but Kyoko would probably let him.

He sighed, looking away from her as his cheeks flushed, “No, I’m not hiding anything.”

Kyoko continued to study him. He wouldn’t make eye contact with her and she was convinced he was indeed hiding something. “You know I’m your friend, Shinbe. You can talk to me about anything,” she smiled and brushed her hand across his, causing him to shiver. She pulled the blanket up across his shoulders thinking he had gotten a chill.

He watched her as she continued to stare down at him, her hands still on the edge of the blanket, lightly touching his shoulders.

He whispered her name in a hoarse voice, “Kyoko.”

She glanced up to his face, blushing when she realized where her hands were. She turned her back to him feeling her cheeks began to heat. She’d been staring at his neck, daydreaming about her dream, and feeling the urge to lean down and kiss him there.

“Shinbe, remember when I came back… after the party? Where were you when I came through the time portal?” she asked timidly, not wanting to sound silly, but that dream was starting to affect her in ways that worried her.

Shinbe was taken aback by the question. Did she remember what happened and just hadn’t said anything? He stared at her back, “Kyoko, why are you asking? Did something happen?”

Kyoko blushed. Standing up, she walked to the window and looked out, “No, I just was curious where you were when I returned.” She swung around, smiling, hiding what was on her mind. “I just seem to remember you helping me from the shrine and back to Sennin’s hut,” she lied. She didn’t remember how she got there at all.

Shinbe sighed, closing his eyes. He had to digest this information. So she remembered something… what else did she remember? Now he was beginning to feel sick to his stomach. If she remembered that, she probably remembered what he did too. Or was she’s starting to suspect that maybe it wasn’t a dream. He needed to be careful for now.

He wanted to get up and fix the mess he’d caused but the pain in his head had slowly been getting worse instead of better and right now it was blinding. He felt himself sinking further away no matter how hard he tried to fight the oncoming darkness.

Kyoko glanced back at him. His eyes were closed and his breathing seemed to even out. “He’s fallen asleep,” she whispered softly then sighed. No more questions for now, he needed to rest. She turned back to her desk and sat down, picking up his clothes to finish sewing it but her eyes were burning because she’d been awake for so long. She laid her head down on the desk, his long trench coat still gripped in her hands on her lap, and she fell asleep.

***** Toya stood in front of the maiden statue, cursing Kyoko. She’d sealed the heart of time, and he was unable to break the spell. Why the hell did she do that? She needed protecting from that damn letch. Didn’t she understand that?

“Damn it Kyoko!” he yelled as if she could hear him on the other side. Toya tensed as he sensed a presence and prepared himself. Kyou? What the hell did he want? He waited for his brother to appear.

Kyou stood at the far end of the clearing, his clothing billowing in the breeze. Tucking a loose strand of silver hair behind his ear, he approached Toya. “You call to the priestess?”

Toya’s hand flexed as one of the twin daggers slipped into existence due to his agitation. “Yeah, what about it?” he wasn’t in the mood to be bullied by his older brother.

Kyou looked past Toya, towards the shrine. “Am I not allowed to be concerned about my brother’s fate?” his expression was emotionless as he continued to stare at the maiden statue suspiciously. He sensed old blood on Toya and identified it as Shinbe’s. He was also sensing Kyoko’s scent, mingled with the guardians.

“Since when do you care?” Toya took a step toward Kyou.

Kyou sniffed the air, narrowing his eyes at Toya. “You failed to claim the priestess as your mate?” His eyes glinted with undisclosed laughter, “How foolish of you to allow our brother to try and claim what is yours.”

Toya growled low in his throat, “What are you talking about, Kyou?”

Kyou could sense the grass was tainted, even if he could not see its evil aura. “Being a guardian, your senses are weak,” he turned his back on Toya and began to walk back towards the woods as his golden wings appeared across his back.

“Come back here, Kyou! What are you talking about?” Toya yelled behind him as Kyou took off towards the sky.

He smirked down at Toya, “You are foolish, little brother. You should never underestimate the enemy.”

Toya turned to glare at the shrine, angry that he could not pass through it. Kyoko’s scent still hung thick in the air. He took off towards the cave he’d been staying in since his return from Kyoko’s time. He didn’t want to face anyone right now. He only hoped that when Kyoko returned, she’d be able to smooth things over within the group.

But for now, he wanted to be alone to ponder what Kyou had said. He knew Kyoko would never be with that lecherous guardian through her own will. But if Kyou was right and Shinbe dared to touch her, the next time, he’d be dead.

***** Kyoko was startled awake by Shinbe’s moans. She rushed to his bedside, placing her hand on his forehead. He was sweating profusely and burning up with a fever at the same time. “Not good… oh this is so not good,” She whispered as she grabbed the bottle of aspirin and poured some water in a glass. Her hand was slightly shaking at the fact he was, for some reason, getting worse.

“Shinbe,” she gently shook his shoulder, attempting to wake him long enough to get the aspirin in him. “Damn,” she mumbled the word softly then she placed the glass back on the table when he wouldn’t wake up and ran from the room, now beginning to panic.

“Grandfather!” she yelled as she ran down the hall to his room.

“What is it, Kyoko?” Grandfather wiped the sleep from his eyes, then looked at his granddaughter questioningly. Realization dawned on him quickly that Shinbe must be in trouble.

Kyoko felt faint. If he had an infection, guardian or not… he could die… right? She groaned at the thought. “He’s burning up! We must do something,” Kyoko began to sob, blaming herself.

Grandfather stepped back into his room, and returned carrying a bag with herbs and medicine. “Go get some cool water and rags. It’ll be okay, Kyoko. We can take care of him,” he tried to soothe her, although even he was worried. Shinbe had looked like he was getting better yesterday, now this.

Tama came out of his room, rubbing his eyes, “What’s going on? Why are you crying?” His gaze darted to Kyoko’s room, “Is he… dead?” His face paled at seeing how upset his sister was.

Kyoko began to sob louder, and grandfather rolled his eyes. Patting Kyoko’s arm, he scowled at Tama, “He just has a fever, that’s all. Now help your sister get some water and rags.”

He only hoped he was telling the truth about Shinbe. The guardian had kept a headache since fighting with Toya and something about the gash in his side had him worried. He knew this was the second injury to the same area. Shinbe had filled him in on the injury while they’d been alone. Being slashed once by a poisonous scorpion demon was bad enough, then getting it in the same place during his fight with Toya was not good.

He’d once talked to Toya, and the guardian had mentioned his claws being very poisonous during battle, becoming deadly weapons. He only hoped Toya hadn’t poisoned his own brother. But from the looks of Shinbe, it would seem Toya might’ve unknowingly done just that.

Grandfather stood in the hall, pondering if he would be able to save the guardian. ‘I’m not sure I can heal someone that isn’t even human,’ he mused miserably. ‘Kyoko will never forgive herself if something happens to him.’ With that thought, he walked into the bedroom, preparing himself for the worst.

Kyoko returned to the room seeing Grandfather had removed the blankets from Shinbe. “What are you doing? He’s shivering,” she rushed over to his side, tugging the blanket back up.

“Kyoko, we need to lower the fever. He won’t wake up to take the aspirin, so we have to cool him down with wet rags. Now bring that basin over here,” he motioned to her to put it down on the table that he’d pushed over next to the bed. “We must work quickly to bring the fever down.”

He handed Kyoko a wet rag and pointed towards Shinbe’s legs. “You work that end, and Tama can do his upper body, while I call a friend.” He didn’t give either grandchild time to react as he quickly left the room.

Kyoko stared down at the guardian. When her grandfather had removed his clothes to treat the wounds the first time, he left him with nothing but a pair of black boxers. Kyoko mentally slapped herself for noticing that fact, and began to rub the wet rag over his legs.

She tilted her head, watching the droplets of water that she was leaving behind on his smooth, muscular legs, and mentally slapped her self again. She shook her head to get her thoughts out of the gutter and back to the task at hand. ‘He’s running a fever, for Pete’s sake.’

She glanced up at Tama with fear that he may have noticed that she was daydreaming. But Tama was busy wiping the wet cloth across Shinbe’s shoulders, and along the edge of the bandages.

I’m at the wrong end,’ she decided and backed away from the foot of the bed before coming around to stand next to Tama. “Here, let me do that, okay? We have to cool his head first.” She dipped her rag in the basin and began patting his forehead and hair. Shinbe moaned at the contact and turned his head toward her, mumbling.

“This is all my fault. I’m so sorry,” Kyoko whispered the words while she set to work, trying to cool his body down.

Tama glanced up at his sister, having heard her words, “Why is it your fault, Sis?”

Kyoko sighed, “Nothing, don’t worry about it.” There was no way she was going to tell Tama that she kissed Shinbe and sent Toya into a rage. Hopefully he’d leave it at that.

Grandfather quietly entered the room without them hearing him. He heard Kyoko’s words and looked at her thoughtfully. What was going on between his granddaughter and these two men from another era? He didn’t want to press his granddaughter while she was feeling so much guilt, so for now he’d forget about it.

“Kyoko, I’ve called a doctor friend of mine and he’s going to come by and have a look at him.” Grandfather reached out putting his hand to Shinbe’s forehead. “It seems like the fever is subsiding.”

Kyoko stared at him incredulously, “Grandfather, a doctor coming here to see Shinbe? Don’t you think he’s going to be suspicious?” She tilted her head, looking down at Shinbe, “I mean, had he been from this time, we would have taken him to a hospital.”

Grandfather patted Kyoko’s hand, “It’s alright child. I explained everything to him.” Well… not exactly, he corrected himself silently. His friend owed him a huge favor and he’d called it in. There was an agreement that there’d be no questions asked, and no mention of it later.

Kyoko’s brow furrowed, “Just what kind of doctor is he?” She was beginning to get a bad feeling about this.

Grandfather grinned, “Why a veterinarian, of course. Don’t worry. He says being an animal doctor is no different than treating men.”

Kyoko rolled her eyes, dipping the rag in the water, “If you say so, Grandfather.” Then she went back to work putting water on Shinbe’s forehead.

Grandfather put his hands on Shinbe’s arms, legs, chest, and head. “Well, I think the fever is going down. Good. Let’s see if we can wake him so he can take the aspirin.” He reached out and quickly tapped Shinbe’s cheek several times and not all that gently. He chuckled when the guardian’s eyes snapped open.

“I am in Valhalla, right? I am truly dead now?” Shinbe whispered in a dry voice before closing his eyes again. His head hurt, but his side felt like flames were eating away at it.

“No, Shinbe. You’re not dead. I’m here with you, taking care of you. Can you lift your head a little, so I can give you some medicine?” Kyoko put her hand on his face and rubbed his cheek.

Shinbe turned his face into her hand and sighed. “Hmm, Kyoko,” his voice cracked with dryness, and his eyes fluttered.

Kyoko put her hand under his head, lifting it, while grandfather put the aspirin in his mouth. “Here, drink this,” Kyoko held the glass of water to his lips, and let him take a slow sip.

“Thank you, priestess,” Shinbe tried to lift his hand to hers, but he couldn’t. Sighing, he closed his eyes again and fell asleep.

“Well, he should be alright for tonight.” Grandfather looked over at Tama and added, “And we should get some sleep, too.”

Kyoko glanced at Tama and ruffled his hair. “Thank you, Tama, for helping me. You’ve been great. Now off to bed you go,” she turned him towards the bedroom door and pointed.

He obliged, “Goodnight, Kyoko. I hope Shinbe gets better.”

“Thanks, Tama. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Now get going,” she looked to Grandfather as he gave a yawn. “You, too,” she pointed Grandfather towards the door. “Thank you for helping him.”

“Now, don’t you stay up all night again. You need to get rest, too,” he wiggled his finger at his granddaughter, knowing that she would be by this man’s side the rest of the night.

“I will, Grandfather,” Kyoko shrugged, picking a rag out of the basin and wringing it out. “I’m just gonna clean up first.”

“Well, okay. But be sure to get some sleep, child. We don’t need you getting sick, too,” Grandfather left the room, closing the door behind him.

Kyoko set about cleaning up the water that spilled over on the table and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Shinbe talking in his sleep.

“Kyoko,” Shinbe sighed in his sleep, his brow creasing with some unknown pain. “My priestess… I’m so sorry.”

She walked over to the bed, pulling the blanket up over him and patting his shoulder. “It’s okay, Shinbe. I’m here,” she tried to comfort him.

Shinbe’s eyelids fluttered and he frowned at her. “Kyoko, can you ever forgive me? I didn’t mean for things to happen like this. It’s just… ” His eyes closed again trying to fight the pain.

Kyoko sat on the edge of the bed, taking his hand in hers. “Shhh, it’s okay,” she picked up his hand, putting the back of it to her cheek. “It’s okay,” she whispered again.

Shinbe opened his eyes, “Kyoko, I have to tell you what I did. Please don’t hate me.” He closed his eyes again, a painful look crossing his features.

“Shhh, it’s okay, Shinbe. You rest now. You can tell me tomorrow.” She leaned over and whispered in his ear, “I’ll be right here.”

Using the hand Kyoko had been holding Shinbe reached for her in one last desperate attempt, “Tomorrow? I must tell you now. I must tell you before I… die.” His hand slowly slipped down from her shoulder to land limply on the bed.

“Shinbe? NO! Shinbe… ” Kyoko stared down at Shinbe’s chest and saw it was still rising and falling like it should be. She reached up with the back of her hand and wiped at the tears that left a salty trail down her cheeks.

“What would I do if you died?” Kyoko sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over Shinbe’s once again fevered body, putting her head on his good shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Shinbe. I’ve caused you so much pain.”

***** 3 days later…

“Well, it’s really nice to see your appetite returning, young man.” Grandfather sat at Kyoko’s desk sipping his cup of tea. “Now tell me, is there not anything of your past you remember?”

Shinbe was doing much better since his fever went away. The only problem now was that he seemed to be suffering from amnesia. He couldn’t remember anything, not who he was, or where he came from.

Kyoko stood in the doorway watching Shinbe as he sat in the bed with the tray of food that Grandfather had prepared. She silently shook her head knowing her grandfather was into old-fashioned remedies. She only hoped there was no bat wing, or anything else just as foul, mixed within Shinbe’s food.

The veterinarian that Grandfather had called to look at him really couldn’t do much for him other than what they’d already done. She remembered the look on his face as he was leaving and he’d seemed a little disturbed. He’d been mumbling something about the highest fever he’d ever witnessed.

Kyoko was shaken from her thoughts as her grandfather passed her on the way out the door. “Now you see that your friend eats all his breakfast,” he gave her a secretive wink because they still hadn’t told Shinbe who he really was… an immortal, not to mention a guardian of a certain priestess and the heart of time.

“Yes, Grandfather,” she smiled over at Shinbe, who was poking his food with the fork. He looked like he was depressed.

“Shinbe?” Kyoko called to him as she approached the bed, smiling. “Is something wrong?”

Shinbe looked up at her, “No, not really. I was just wondering. How did we meet? And what exactly is our relationship?” He looked back down at his food and missed the frightened look that crossed Kyoko’s features.

Kyoko turned away from him and walked to her desk. She felt panic begin to rise, as no one had yet to tell him that he was from another time. How could one explain that?

Shinbe looked over at her as she took the seat she’d sat in the whole time he’d been there. He couldn’t remember a damn thing about how he came to be here or how his wounds were inflicted. He kept having dreams about Kyoko that were beginning to make him think they were more than simply friends. And then there were the other dreams … He didn’t like to think about them, as they somewhat alarmed him.

In his dreams of her, in some of them … she’d be in his arms, kissing, or he’d be making love to her. The dreams were rather troubling to him. Were they lovers? She seemed to care deeply about him, but how she acted now, it was as though they were only friends. Had they broken up? Had he done something to her that made their relationship change? He had so many questions he wanted to ask her but had no idea how to approach the subject.

Shinbe took a deep breath and continued, “I keep having these dreams. I assume they’re memories.” He stopped there, not wanting to tell her about the dreams he had of her. Most of the dreams were broken dreams, like little bits and pieces of his life, thrown into one pot and stirred constantly.

Sometimes he’d be watching her bathe in a stream, other times he’d be sitting on the other side of a fire, watching as she interacted with others.... and then there were the monsters. He really wanted to know about them, but how to ask?

Kyoko stood up and stared at him, a smile gracing her lips, “You’re having dreams of the past? Well, that’s great progress Shinbe! Maybe it’s a sign that you’ll get your memories back soon!”

“I wouldn’t really say that. They are fragmented. Like only the edges of pieces of a puzzle. I can make no sense of them, no matter how hard I try to put them together,” he looked down at the tray on his lap. “Kyoko, I have to know. Are we … were we more than friends?” he glanced up at her as she turned her back to him and shook her head.

Kyoko was shocked, her face paling at his question. Why would he ask a question like that? She thought back to her dream of him that night she came through the shrine. ‘It was just a dream, wasn’t it?’ she knew the kiss had been real.

She tried her best to smile at him, but her heart was fluttering and she couldn’t seem to regain her composure. “I … Um … No, we are just really good friends, Shinbe,” she stuttered her words. “Do you mind if we talk later. I’d really like to hear about your dreams and see if you are actually remembering real things. But I have some friends I have to go see.” She’d already broken her word with Toya and couldn’t put it off any longer.

She hated leaving him now when he might actually be remembering something but the question he just asked unnerved her. Why would he ask that? She kept thinking about the dream she had, and she was starting to think that perhaps it had really happened. But if it had … Then that would mean Shinbe had taken advantage of her in her drunken state, and Shinbe would never had done something like that, would he?

Kyoko bit her lip. “You need to rest anyway. I’ll be back in a couple hours, okay?” she turned to leave when Shinbe reached out and gripped her hand.

“Kyoko,” Shinbe whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion. “I need to know what happened to me. I need to know if I’ve done something to make you… hate me.” He held her hand in his, feeling her warmth, and wishing he could pull her into his arms as he did in the fragmented visions.

Kyoko turned back to him and smiled a little too brightly, “You haven’t done anything to make me hate you. As for what happened to you, well, you got into a fight with one of our friends, and things got out of hand.” She wanted to leave now. She didn’t want to have this conversation, not yet. She didn’t want to tell him Toya had nearly killed him or that there was a very good chance that she was the blame.’

“You need to rest now Shinbe. We’ll talk about this later. I promise, I won’t be long, and then I’ll answer any questions you have.” She put her other hand over his and rubbed it soothingly. “I’ll only be gone a couple hours.”

Shinbe didn’t take his eyes off Kyoko as he leaned back against the pillows. “Okay. I guess I can’t argue with you. Just answer me one question. What is the name of this so called friend that I fought with?”

Kyoko‘s lips parted but no sound came out. It was a simple question with a simple answer so why was it so hard. “The name?” she repeated as she backed away from him and turned toward the door pretending to be distracted.

“Please, Kyoko. Maybe it will help me to remember,” Shinbe pleaded with her as she walked away.

“You and Toya were both fighting… not just him,” she blurted and quickly exited the room.

Shinbe stared at the spot that Kyoko previously occupied, wondering why he could smell salt in the air. “Toya,” he repeated the name but felt nothing.

Kyoko ran all the way to the shrine house and threw open the wooden doors, stumbling in. She quickly removed the scrolls that kept Toya from crossing through the portal. She was actually surprised that he hadn’t broken the barrier spell yet… because he could if he tried hard enough. She reached for the maiden’s hands and closed her eyes to the florescent blue light.

***** Toya sat in a tree where the maiden statue was in his direct line of vision. It had been three days. "THREE DAYS!" And she hadn’t come back yet. Kyoko usually didn’t lie to him like that. She’d said she would come back the next day to let him know what was happening with Shinbe, and now she was nowhere to be seen.

At first, Toya had worried. That soon passed and he had become angry knowing she had sealed the heart of time against him. He’d become hurt and brooding. Ever since then, he was like a yo-yo. He would flip from worried to mad, to hurt. Now on the third day, his nerves were on edge, and he felt like he was about to snap. Since meeting her, this was the longest they had ever been separated.

He remembered what Kyou had said about letting Shinbe try to claim her. The muscles in his jaws clenched at the thought. Was that what was going on? Had she decided to abandon him, and stay in her world with Shinbe forever? Had his letch of a brother talked her into it? He clenched his fist in retaliation of the thought and growled, "Over my dead body."

Toya jumped down from the tree, landing hard in the tainted grass, staring menacingly at the maiden statue. With quick strides, he made up his mind. He would go get her and nothing would stop him this time. Not even the damned barrier she’d cast on the shrine to keep him from coming after her. With more willpower than he had ever possessed before, he lunged at the maiden just as his twin daggers crawled across his palms.

As soon as he saw the light start to engulf him, he felt Kyoko's aura and reached out to claim it possessively.

Kyoko was within the light when someone reached out and crushed her against a hard solid chest. Her emerald eyes widened as she saw silver streaks within dark locks of hair float within her eyesight.

"Toya?" she whispered hesitantly.

Toya lost all his anger the moment his arms wrapped around her soft body. He hugged her to him, lowering his face into her silky hair as he landed back on his side of the heart of time. He was still holding her flush against him as if the hounds of hell couldn’t pull her away from him when he realized what he was doing. Instantly, he released her and turned his back to her with a scowl.

Kyoko frowned, confused by his reaction. She took a quick step back when he suddenly turned back around and took a step toward her with an angry look on his face.

"Where the hell have you been?" he yelled, leaning over her. She had to lean back and look up at him as he towered above her.

Kyoko felt her eyebrow start to twitch and she pushed her face in his, making him now take a step back from her anger, "You know damn well where I have been, dummy!"

"Kyoko!" he pushed his face back at hers. This time they wound up nose to nose, neither one wanting to back down. "You said you would be back the next day. THAT WAS THREE DAYS AGO, KYOKO! Now where the hell have you been?" he reached out and grabbed a hold of her arm so she couldn’t escape him.

Kyoko looked down at his hand. That’s right… she’d told him that she would be back the next day. Biting her bottom lip, she felt her anger fade. "I’m sorry," she whispered. "But I thought Shinbe was dying, and he almost did. I wouldn’t leave him until today," she looked at the ground, not really wanting to meet Toya’s eyes. "That’s not all of it, either."

Toya let go of her arm as he inhaled, trying to relax the tension back out of him. It was a wonder she wasn’t yelling at him, telling him he had almost killed Shinbe. At least for that he could be grateful, but then her gaze lifted and met his again.

"Shinbe's body is healing, but now he doesn’t remember anything," Kyoko frowned.

"He doesn’t remember the fight?" Toya questioned, smirking and thinking that maybe he’d hit him harder than he had thought.

Kyoko reached out and slapped him on the arm when she saw his smirk. "No, idiot! He doesn’t remember anything! Not you, not me, not even this time period!" she yelled, as her eyebrow began to twitch again.

The first thing that went through Toya's mind was the fact that Shinbe wouldn’t remember kissing Kyoko, or Kyoko kissing him, that is. Then he mentally shook his head as the impact of her words really hit him. "You mean he doesn’t remember anything, not even the curse that Hyakuhei put on him?"

Kyoko inhaled sharply, her eyes opening to the alarming thought that entered her mind. "Oh my god!" she screamed as she turned to run back to the maiden statue. "What if he unknowingly releases the spell?" she screamed in horror, mentally seeing her house being sucked up by a shocked guardian, that didn’t know what the hell he was doing.

Toya growled as he took off after her.