Shin stood at the surface of the ocean with Elizabeth at his side. Just a little bit, he began speaking again. He spoke with confidence in his voice, and he surely needed it for what he was going to do. ".....First of all, I need to explain one thing. I already told you that my parents died by car accident. I left out a detail. In a way...It was my fault. I ended up going into the middle of the street while rushing and my parents went to save me, so it's my fault just as much as the drivers, maybe even more." Shin said, completely seriously. Indeed, he HAD left out that detail, after all, who would EVER want to remember something like that? He had a fairly strong will, but even he had a breaking point. "I...For a entire year, I wondered to myself. Why am I standing here? Why am I alive? It should have been me who died that day, but instead the three most important people of my life were injured, or killed along with me. I have to say, that day, for an entire year, my soul died along with them." Shin said gripping his left hand rather hard. He looked at the sky as if he expected his parents to look back at him.

"You should know that after that my sister helped me through some things. I regained some of my humanity and my mind was slowly pieced together like a complicated puzzle. Even then, even NOW, I still wondered to myself. Why. Why am I still the only one without permanent injuries? They healed eventually, but even my sister who is still alive had something that will never quite heal. This single thought for seven years tormented me." Shin said. His knuckles was now turning white.

Elizabeth looked at him with big sad eyes. Tragic events seemed to run wild in their pasts. He seemed to think that his parents deaths' were his fault. Elizabeth knew that sentiment was utter nonsense. His parents loved him, and were protecting him. He had not pushed them out in the middle of the street. He hadn't been driving the car. He did have scars, maybe they weren't physical, but anyone who was around him long enough knew that he hadn't healed. She had seen it, why couldn't he.

She did understand everything, though. It was plain as day. He was trying to tell her he couldn't be around her. She looked at him forlornly. He had said his soul had died, and he had said he was broken before. She knew where this was going. He was leaving. He didn't want her around. She understood, so why the big show? She didn't voice any of her thoughts, or any of her sympathies. It would be pointless. She never listened to other's advice, so how could she expect him to listen to her.

For the first time in her life, she longed for human contact. She wanted to hug Mr. Seisuka. She wanted to offer him support silently, but she wasn't sure if he wanted. Right now everything was about him. She clenched, and unclenched her fists, as if trying to fight an impulse to reach out, and stood silent, waiting. She could tell there was more he needed to say.

"I honestly don't know if I could ever be forgiven, nor do I know if I deserve to." Shin said with a pause. He released his knuckles. "You now everything about the incident, and you are the first one to know about it. Even so, would you choose to stand beside me?" Shin said looking back. For once, his expression couldn't be read, and neither could his eyes. If there was one thing that could be noted about him though, it was that Shin was now standing on a extremely fine line, between going back to the tormented mute, or back to the regular Shin. This was something he absolutely needed to know, whether he had the support he needed from a woman he loved, or whether he was truly alone.

"I-...." she stopped. Of course she would. She would never not stand beside him. He was part of her now. They-she- couldn't picture not standing beside him. She had her own story, a story she would save for another day.(Tonight was Mr. Seisuka's) She was broken, too. She had misread his intentions. He had not wanted her to leave. He had never wanted her to leave. It had been the opposite. He wanted her to stay, and she wanted to stay. Mr. Seisuka was more to her than simply a medicine, so much more. She felt for him, and thought about him more than anyone on the face of the earth. He knew more about her than anyone, even her own mother. She started to cry, not because she was particularly sad, but just because it's what she was so used to doing. They were tears of released anxiety, and happiness that Mr. Seisuka wanted her around. She smiled even as the tears ran down her cheeks.

"Mr. Seisuka, I will always stand beside you, as long as you want me too...."

As soon as Elizabeth confirmed it, Shin's seriousness broke, and he finally let out his smile. "Then I thank you, with all my soul." Shin said, gazing at the infinite ocean of stars above him. He pulled out one of the last notes he wrote as a mute, a note to his parents and notably written completely in red ink. "Father, mother....You heard the lady!" Shin shouted up in the sky. His smile was different from how it was before. It was normally a kind and quiet smile, however this one was brimming with energy and happiness. He turned his page around, revealing a page full of odd looking runes on the back. It was the fireball spell. "From today until my time ends, I move on! And so....This is my last message to you two, accept it!" Shin cried out. With that, he raised the paper above his head, not breaking his gaze at the stars before him, while the runes on the paper began glowing.

"Fireball!" That was the final part. The paper turned into a small ball of bright fire, then blasted into the sky until he could see it no more. The force of it took quite a bit out of him and he collapsed, laying on the sand facing upwards. "....You think they got it?" Shin asked Elizabeth.

Elizabeth saw the note, only for a second. Just long enough to see the red ink. She smiled wide, wider than she had in years, if ever. Mr. Seisuka was better. He had said thank you with all his soul. He was better. He was better. She was, although not as good as Mr. Seisuka, better too. Mr. Seisuka said it himself. He was moving on. He spoke a few of his precious words to his parents, as if telling them good bye. Elizabeth watched with curiosity as Mr. Seisuka made a great ball of fire, and sent it out into the sky. Normal, old pre-Mr. Seisuka, Elizabeth would have been petrified. Normal Elizabeth may have fainted. New, Elizabeth, or more accurately put, Mr. Seisuka's Elizabeth however, watched the fireball in awe, and when it was no longer visible, threw herself on the ground next to Mr. Seisuka, not caring to much about the sand getting on her clothes, or how close she was sitting to Mr. Seisuka.

"I am 99.9 repeating percent sure that they got it," She smiled, and then blushed.

She really was Mr. Seisuka's Elizabeth. Whether he liked it or not, whether he needed her or not, she could not, could never stand to be separated from him. She blushed redder at the thought. her cheeks felt hot, and her chest ached, but they weren't uncomfortable like she was used to. She sort of hoped that her chest would never stop aching like this.

Shin smiled when he heard Elizabeth plop down in the sand beside him and with what she said to him. So they did get it huh? He let out a small light hearted laugh. "That's plenty good for me." Shin said. He wondered how he got himself into something like this. He only knew Elizabeth for a month or so...But it sure took him a lot less time to be attracted to her. He felt brave enough tonight, so he wrapped his arm around Elizabeth, bringing her closer to him so they were laying down together. "Well then my lovely lady, as promised, tonight is a date between us and I'm all yours. What do you want to do?" Shin said with a smile and a faint blush. Well he was certainly daring tonight, but that was maybe because tonight was the day that he was officially "fixed". It sounded a bit odd coming from him since his voice was a little bit high pitched, not sounding very "suave", or whatever, but he didn't care. He had all he wanted around him, and particularly lying at his side.

Elizabeth blushed so much that her cheeks even changed in color. He had called her a 'lovely lady,' and used the "d word" in the same sentence. He had also posed a question. How did he expect her to think in situations like these? How could he possibly expect her to give him an answer before the night was out. She couldn't do it. It was physically impossible for her. On top of it all, and probably most important, seeing as it was the most distracting, was that Mr. Seisuka had wrapped his arm around her, and she was currently lying so close to him she could hear his breathing. This made her nervous, happy, and most importantly, completely brain dead. "I-" She started, but couldn't finish. If she was going to say something, anything, she would need full concentration to form even the simplest sentences.

"I don't know what I want to do," she finally admitted, "I've never been asked what I wanted to do," she blushed. She didn't want Mr. Seisuka to know how lonely her life had been before she had met him. True, he had a grasp on it, she had assumed, but to admit to not having any friends for most of your life was really pathetic. "So......what do you think we should do?" she asked back.

"Well...I don't really know either. I'm new to this too?" Shin replied. Never asked what she wanted to do before? Well now that was odd. That made it seem almost as if all her decisions were made by somebody else....Well, that very well could have been the case knowing Elizabeth, but still. Not once?....Who was he kidding. He was having a hard time just thinking straight at the moment. When was he ever this close to someone? It wasn't unpleasant, just it was...Distracting. Distractingly pleasant, yes, that's what it was. Shin found himself actually enjoying himself just sitting still with Elizabeth, but he didn't quite know the feeling. Perhaps this was just the feeling of being together with a lover? He didn't know, it was all new to him. "Just for a little while...Just this actually will do for a little while I think." Shin murmured to himself.

After a little bit though, Shin realized something. Even though they were like this at the moment, he still forgot to do something. Even if it was rather obvious as to how to two felt about each other, one or the other was still meant to state it right? Shin thought about it with a small blush creeping up on his face. He had pretty much stated it indirectly, but that wasn't quite enough in his opinion. He wanted to make it officially known to Elizabeth. "....I don't think you really need me to say this, but I think it's best that I say this now. I, Shinishi Seisuka am in love with you Elizabeth Nardelli." Shin stated plain and simply. That had to have been the most embarrassing line he ever said in his life and since he and Elizabeth were so close together, he could swear that she could now feel his heart attempted to kick it's way out of his chest as if to smack him for not thinking of something better to say.

"What! I-" Elizabeth blushed. He loved her. He was in love with her. In love....with her! "No-I-uhmmm.....I didn't know that you- I am in love with you to Mr. Seisuka!" She blushed. She had never been so bold in her life. She was also filled to the brim with happiness. She had never felt like this before. It was exhilarating. She felt, if it was only foe a few minutes, no pain, sadness, fear. She was simply filled to the brim with excitement. She felt as if she was going to explode. She didn't know what to do. Her heart was racing, her cheeks burned. She shivered in delight.

She had never in her life felt this wanting to do something. She wanted to run around, but she didn't want to let Mr. Seisuka's arm leave her side. she wanted dance, sing. Everything she usually cowered away from, she felt a desire to do. She blushed happily, as her shifted her position to smile at Mr. Seisuka. Her hair flopped in her face, and for once, she didn't obsessively neaten it.

Shin grinned back looking at Elizabeth. Both of them were blushing furiously , but if she was feeling anything like him, both were happier than ever. Even Elizabeth seemed much less timid than usual, after she responded anyways. "I guess that makes us each other's lovers then..." Shin responded. Again, that was a embarrassing line, but it was most definitely the truth.

There WAS something that kinda got to him though. Even though both admitted they were in love with each other, Elizabeth still called him "Mr. Seisuka" as if they were strangers. Even when they weren't in any special relationship he referred to Elizabeth rather than Ms. Nardelli....Not that she really knew it. He couldn't refer to ANYONE as ANYTHING without writing it out to them. Still though, it bothered him a little bit. "....Actually, there's been something kinda bothering me. Even though we're like this now, you still call me 'Mr. Seisuka' while I called you Elizabeth. Don't you think you should start calling me by my name now?" Shin asked.

She blushed in embarrassment. She had always called people by their last name. Even people she'd known all her life she called Mister or Misses. She had a hard time dealing with calling people by their first names. She hadn't had friends to play with for so long, and so the only people she talked to were, older than her, and demanded respect. Mr. Seisuka-Shin-was different, and he demanded a different title.

"Okay....I can do that...M-Shin," she mumbled with a silly grin on her face. It was strange. The lack of a title felt strange on her tongue, but she understood that it was a sort of a necessity. Lovers didn't go around calling each other Miss so and so and Mr. So and so, and her and Shin were lovers now. She smiled, and blushed sweetly. Lovers. They were lovers.

It was as if she was acting out a scene in one of her favorite movies. It was....strange to say the least. She knew how all of the scenes went, that started like this one had, or the basics. There was usually lots of talk, and lots of romantic things. Moonlight viewing, dancing, ect. ect. She liked it, a lot, and she couldn't wait to see where it went. She hoped she didn't do something stupid to mess everything up.

Well, that was the first time she called him by his name. Oddly enough, it didn't quite feel...normal. Perhaps being called that from his lover had a mysterious effect on him? He didn't really know. All he knew was that he was quite the happy man at the moment. "Perfect." He said with a smile.

He wondered what this was going to lead to in the future for them for a bit. They were lovers now, so what DID lovers do? Not the kind in the movies, although some of the things in the movies would do well, but what would they do in real life? Was there a specific way he was supposed to act towards Elizabeth? Of course not. They didn't fall in love with each other to re-enact a movie or a book, otherwise they would be actors. They fell in love with each other because, well, they were each other. Shin fell in love with Elizabeth and Elizabeth fell in love with Shin, nothing else.

"There's just one more thing I need to do to complete this night..." Shin said to himself quietly. "Elizabeth, do you mind closing your eyes for a second? I think I know what I need to do." Shin said, with a slight look of mischief in his eyes.

"Oh...uhhh...ummm....okay" Elizabeth was confused. She also didn't typically like closing her eyes. She felt cut off from the rest of the world. Oblivious, and oblivion was unsafe. She may have some irrational fears but every city girl knows that oblivion was never good. It was unsafe, and bad things happened to girls who weren't careful, but Elizabeth knew that Shin wouldn't hurt her. Well, she was almost positive that Shin wouldn't hurt her. So that wasn't the issue, but she still felt awkward sitting there, with her eyes closed, while he did whatever he needed to out of her site. She listened to the ocean in their near vicinity, and was suddenly engulfed with fear. It sounded so close. She remembered that the tide came in the night, and wondered if they should back up, or if the water wasn't as close as it sounded. She opened one of her eyes to check on the water, but quickly remembered that she needed to keep them closed, and shut them tight again, with the addition of shaking the sand off of her hands and covering her eyes with them as well.

She wasn't sure if she wanted the night to be completed yet. She felt as if in a dream. It was to easy, everything just fell together. She thought that if she lay her head down to sleep, that all of this would vanish, and she'd be back in the city, waking up and going about her wretched stutter-filled life once again. Dream or not, she wasn't going to argue with Shin, and she sat their patiently, looking like one of those 'see no evil' dolls that one often found in the nicer gift shops; hands over shut eyes, lips in a tight purse, and face utterly red.

Shin was resisting the urge to laugh when he saw what Elizabeth looked like with her eyes closed. She looked almost like she was following the rule "If I can't see you, you can't see me." Regardless though, he was going to finish up. He frowned when he saw that Elizabeth covered her forehead because that was what he was originally going to go for, but decided to change targets. So what did Shin do? He kissed her, straight on the lips softly. Well THIS was embarrassing, but in a way, it felt nice. He wondered what Elizabeth's reaction to this would be. Shy away? Be happy? Slap him (He REALLY hoped it wasn't the last one)? First two at once? He didn't really know. She was just unpredictable at times.

Elizabeth enjoyed the kiss. She knew that she did. She felt her heart racing in her chest. She had never been kissed before, and so she had nothing to base this particular kiss against, but in her mind, and on her lips it felt, right, and good, but at the same time, she was nervous. She couldn't know if it was apparent in her body, but she couldn't help her mind from racing. For a few moments the guise of the night, and the festival disappeared. She, for a moment was plain old paranoid, nervous, shy Elizabeth. They had met that fall, it was only just turning into spring. They had known each other for two season, at most. Things were going so fast, or were they? She had no previous experience in the love department. She had no previous experience in the people department, really. She had two things that she could compare their speed to. Movies, and observations. Movies weren't good to relate to when it was time that was the issue. In actuality, all romances happened in less than two hours, and that was unbelievably fast, and inaccurate. From her observations, there was no time basis. Some people courted for years, other's days. Some lasted until the ends of time, others ended before they even got started. Which were her and Shin?

But soon, she was lost in the kiss. She took her hands away from her eyes, which remained closed and wrapped them around Shin's neck drawing her closer to him, and clung to him until finally she was able to pull away. Her face burned in happy embarrassment. Was love supposed to feel this awkward? Was she supposed to turn crimson with every caress, or would this eventually stop, and she would be able to breath again. She realized that at that particular moment that she had, in fact, been holding her breath since he had asked her to close her eyes. So that must have been why her head was so dizzy. "Wow...." she said breathily with a long exhale. Then, she blacked out.

Shin was slightly surprised by Elizabeth's reaction to the kiss. She was definitely happy, but Shin could have sworn she would be surprised. Instead, he felt her arms wrap around his neck and pulled the kiss even deeper. Well THIS was indeed a pleasant surprise. Before he was feeling slightly cold, now he could feel warmth building up in his face. It must have been the blood rushing to his head and making him blush. He could have sworn that the feeling he had while kissing Elizabeth was slightly like small jolt of electricity running through him, except they felt pleasant and not extremely painful like electricity. Shin DID feel awkward, but that feeling was drowned out by his other feelings, such as happiness and love towards Elizabeth.

Once they separated, Shin slightly missed the feeling, but he also missed the fact that he needed to breath. After taking in a breath he looked at Elizabeth and smiled...And then the smile faded once she fainted. Well THAT wasn't good...And yet it was slightly expected. ".....Huh. Thats very bad. Elizabeth? Wake up please?" Shin said, not really sure what to do. He didn't know where she lived, so he couldn't take her home. Taking her over to his home would raise some questions once she woke up, so that might be out of the question. Pouring some sea water on her seemed like a good choice, but he didn't have the heart to give her such a rude awakening. "Hmmn now. What shall I do to wake up the sleeping beauty...And since when did I start talking like this?" Shin thought aloud. True, he wasn't speaking like he used to, and he would never refer to anyone as "Sleeping Beauty", but maybe this was an exception?

"Hmn. This new idea seems kinda cliche...But who knows. It might work. Well, only one way to find out." Shin said to himself. This was going to be humiliating if it worked, but then again, it would also in a sense be awesome. So what was Shin's bright idea? He crouched down next to Elizabeth's unconcious figure, put her in a position so that she was sitting up, though at a slight angle, and kissed her again. Well, thats how they did it in the Children's films, right?

Author's Note:....This is so embarrassing. >_<

OOC: If it's embarrassing you don't have to do it silly! =P

However cliché Shin's actions were, they simply weren't enough. Yes, Elizabeth passed out a lot, and yes, the passing out usually resolved itself moderately quickly. This was a special circumstance. She had never been kissed before, and she had never had so many worries about one particular subject ever in her life. When she woke up she would certainly have to tell Shin that he had accomplished a first, but she was out cold, definitely for a while, and quite possibly for the whole night. If she were awake, she would be utterly ashamed of herself. She left poor Shin in such a compromising position. Know he had his girlfriend in his arms, unconscious, on the beach, in the dark.

She also would have been blushing, profusely especially at a particular line. She would have argued with him on it. There was no way she was a 'beauty.' She would have pointed to her to frizzy hair, or her gangly arms. She would have sighed. She didn't argue often. It made her feel mean, and she knew that people didn't like to argue. However this one point. This single issue of her beauty was the one that she would negate and shake her head. She was not pretty. She was never pretty.

However, she was unconscious, and she heard none of this, nor did she acknowledge the presence of his lips against hers for the second time.

After sitting there for a couple seconds to see if anything changed, he gave up, classifying his past actions in the "Stupid Me" part of his mind. "Really, why was I stupid enough to try that?" Shin said facepalming himself. Not only was Elizabeth unconcious, but now he was embarrased as hell. So NOW what? "...Indeed, this could be considered rather troubling. What to do what to do..." Shin said to himself, yawning afterwards, then plopping down beside Elizabeth, sitting with his arms folded across his chest and his legs crossed. This was indeed a pickle.

"Hnnnph. I'd hate to wake her up forcefully, but it's late at night. What would I do if she slept the full night off? It would raise a few questions if I just started wandering around with her being unconcious and all...I don't know where she lives...Gah. Gotta ask that later on." Shin said with a sigh. With that, he just sat there thinking.

Elizabeth felt the effects of the kiss wearing off. Finally she was slowly coming to, and she was finally able to think clearly. She sat with her eyes closed for a minute, simply to collect her thoughts, and hoping that she hadn't in fact dreamed the events that had happened. She moved her fingers first. The ground beneath her wasn't hard like the floor of her room, or in one piece like the sheets of her bed. She heard the ocean, she felt the breeze, she could even smell the salt. She was at the beach. She knew that. She didn't want to open her eyes. If Shin wasn't there she would be horribly upset, and if he was there, she'd feel like a bad friend for passing out on him. Her back, and neck hurt, and she let out a small groan of agony.

After a minute, she opened her eyes, and saw Shin sitting there. He was still very close to her, and he looked as if he was getting prepared to stay the weekend. She sat up quickly, and happily. She was so excited that he was there and everything that she remembered was real. She dusted the sand off of her arms and clothes before pouncing on Shin and wrapping him in a tight and lovely hug. She had never been one to speak loud. Even now her voice was far from shouting, but to her, and to everyone who knew her it was easily understood that her vocal levels were much louder than usual. She was much happier than usual, after all, so it fit.

"Oh Shin, I'm so glad that it wasn't a dream!" She said near his ear. It was as almost as if she was telling him a secret. A happy, excited secret.

Shin who wasn't paying attention suddenly saw a bit of movement at the corner of his eye. Looking over, he saw that Elizabeth was up. A delayed effect? Nah, she just woke up randomly. "Ah good, you're awa-" Before he could finish his sentence, Elizabeth pounced him with a hug, knocking him over. She was afraid that she was dreaming about him? Well surely that wasn't the case. "A dream? What? Am I too good to be true or something?" Shin said teasingly. "Well, if you still don't believe me, there's a very good way to find out." Shin said. Once he said that, he gave Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek.

"There, awake now?" He asked.

Elizabeth blushed again. She enjoyed being kissed by Shin, regardless of however awkward it made her feel. She was feeling more talkative than usual. She felt sorry for Shin. She had two settings, either not talking at all, or feeling as if she was rambling. Whether she was or not was up to the listener, but no matter what, Elizabeth was talkative. She smiled, as if she was a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "I still don't believe I'm awake...It's to unnatural.........I-well I don't feel as if any of this could possibly happen," she sighed. Her fears were silly, and she was currently making a fool of herself, "I feel that the moment you leave my side, and I go to bed that when I wake up in the morning I-you...this," she made a quick, small gesture with her arms to signify the goings on between them, "won't be real......like.....like.......like nothings changed," she sighed, sorry she had confessed her fears. She didn't want Shin to misunderstand. She was unbelievably happy hugging him. She was unbelievably happy to be with him, and she would take whatever contact she could get with him, "It's just that everything is going so....dreamy.......I'm sorry I sound dumb, and corny and....." she sighed again, upset that she had ruined the carefree mood.

Shin raised an eyebrow when Elizabeth called it "unnatural". Unnatural? What was unnatural about this? Sure, it was quicker than usual, but it wasn't like there was any magic spell cast to do something like this or some higher force helping it along. (A/N: Lies.) As a result, Shin pulled her closer. "There's nothing unnatural about this, trust me. This all happened in real life, when you wake up next time, I'll still be in love with you." Shin said with a small smile. It was of course, natural to feel something like this. He sometimes kept the saying "If it's too good to be true, then it isn't true." in mind. This time though, he knew that it was really happening. All his senses worked, he could feel Elizabeth hugging him, everything. He knew it wasn't a dream.

"Well, to insure you that this isn't a dream...Hmmm....Ah. I know." Shin said as he pulled out his old notebook and pen. Both had a rather long history about them and pretty much everything he thought or talked about for a certain period of time. "Sorry, I don't really have anything else to give you at the moment except for this. It's got some history behind it, since, well, that was almost like my mind for awhile. Keep it near you, you'll know it's not a dream like that." Shin said.

She smiled. This would work. This was stone cold proof that she didn't dream up this night. This was stone cold proof that Mr. Se-Shin did care about her. IT was nice. She was happy. Shin seemed happy, too. She separated from the embrace for a moment to ascertain the look on his face. She wondered, momentarily, if this 'love' he felt for her was true. She guessed that she would always doubt it. She knew that she would probably never believe that anyone could like her. It was so strange. She knew that she had latched on to Shin unnatural fast, and she knew that was bad. She knew that the odds for her not getting hurt were slim, and she knew that the chances of him not getting hurt were just as slim, but she glanced at his face, for just a moment, and stopped her fretting. She liked Shin. Regardless of how long that love lasted. She would try to enjoy it, so that she no regrets.

She was tired of regrets, and tired of being so scared. So this one aspect of her life that she seemed to have control over she was going to latch on to. Take full advantage of it. She liked Shin. She knew that much, and the rest just required time. However she still clung to the gifts as if the held the answers of life written on their pages.