Chapter 39 - TBWTLSE

NOTE: Squeal~!

~~~

AKEMI

"This is where they always dated..." Akemi and Naru walked down a fairly steep way down the platform shore. It was fine enough for Oliver to guide Akemi with Naru's help.

Once they finally reached the very flat rock ground that connects them to the see, a flash of light glow flowed not far from them.

"Akemi what is it?" Naru asks, the image of the light not too clear for him to get an idea.

"A boat..." Akemi's eyes brightened, the sight of it all too clear for her to see. "A man is on the boat... It must be the woman's lover— he must have heard about the maiden falling into the ocean that he came searching for her..." The heiress says, a sad smile lifts her face.

With her heart warm, Akemi thought to herself. 'He couldn't forget about her after all...'

"He was searching for her all along." Akemi nods at Naru's out of thought,

"Let's go and see if we can give it to him." Like fire, Akemi's heart swelled. Determined for the man to get the letter the woman gave her whole heart to write.

Akemi was about to try and speed walk around, look for a way to get near but it was hopeless, she needed a boat to get across.

"Akemi we could come bac—" knowing what he was going to propose, Akemi snaps before Naru could finish.

Turning to face him, "No! We shouldn't leave!" Akemi spats, passionate tears brim the corner of her eyes. "They waited for this opportunity for years maybe decades!"

"-Akemi." Naru sternly speaks,

Seeing it was wrong of her to lash out of nowhere when he was only making a suggestion, Akemi inhaled. Shutting her eyes as she continued to take breath, opening them once finished. Her voice no longer loud. "We shouldn't keep them waiting in sorrow anymore... They had enough,"

Both of them had enough. The maiden died thinking she now lives with no love anymore while the other left the world regretting ever leaving. For years, this was all they thought. These were all they felt. Sorrow. Misery. Heartbreak.

Akemi shuddered at only thinking about it. She wouldn't be able to take having such regrets.

They had enough waiting.

"Give it to me."

"Eh?" Naru unbuttons his coat, taking off his shoes and socks. Without another word, Naru snatches the letter Akemi took from his hand earlier and dives.

Akemi and Oliver stayed on the shore in silence, watching Naru swimming towards the light boat with precision. Reaching out the letter for the spirit to take once he got close.

"Here." Naru reaches out the letter, the male spirit turning his head away from the boat and glance at Naru's way. Opening it's mouth from a silent gasp, lifting his transparent hand to take the letter.

Once the letter was out of his hand, Naru swam back to the shore, Akemi bending down to help him get up.

"What's wrong?" Naru asks when Akemi lifts her head. His soaked shirt clinging close to his figure, the weight of his pants making it a bit heavy to lift up the rock platform.

"The two have finally met each other." Akemi smiles, pointing towards the soft glowing light. Naru glancing back to see the man was no longer alone on the boat.

The letter in his hand became the maiden they saw back in the study. The two spirits hugging from their reunion.

"Yeah," Naru spoke, his voice somehow gentle. "It seems that way."

Akemi places her attention back to Naru, pulling his body up. Biting her lip when she saw how soaked he was.

Naru frowns, thinking she was going to make her usual puns but when the heiress only gave a soft grateful smile, he thought otherwise. "Thank you..."

Naru didn't know why she thanked him but Akemi knew she had to thank him. She wouldn't have seen such a beautiful sight of two lovers reconnecting if it weren't for him. As well as the show she got now.

Naru hums as an answer. Both turning back to the ocean only to see the two spirits floating towards them.

Now that they were close in his sight, Naru could actually make up their appearance.

The woman appeared fully traditional while the male hold a more western country. No wonder their parents opposed their idea of love,

"Thank you." The male nods at them, his arm wrapped around the girl's waist. Happy at no longer hiding their love from somebody else. "-Because of you, we finally had the chance to meet again..."

"That's a relief," Akemi smiles.

"To be able to meet the person you like again..." The maiden spoke this time. "-It is such a blessing and we are grateful for what you did however, we have another request..."

Akemi blinks, a bit stunned at the sudden favor. "Request?"

The lovers nodded, the maiden moving close to Akemi— practically inches away from her body. "Just once more, I would like to be able to touch..." And with that, the maiden flew into Akemi.

The male doing the same towards Naru.

'Huh?' Akemi froze, the familiar feeling of possession struck her mind. But unlike her usual experience, this feeling was snug; comfortable. Akemi didn't feel scared.

Just longing.

'Is this what her soul is feeling, right now?' Akemi thought to herself. Fully aware of the warm hand being placed on her shoulders— turning her body to face her company.

'Wait... This is?!' Akemi's heart beat fastens on her chest, the drumming loud on her ears as she grasped Naru's gaze. She didn't know why she was seeing Naru when usually it was the spirit she could only see, but somehow— in some way she was actually seeing Naru.

'He really is handsome...' Akemi blushes, Naru remained neutral in his expression yet Akemi could see the slight shaking of his eyes. A deep color of the ocean.

Naru's hand on her shoulder moved towards her chin, lifting it up. 'Wa- wait... that is?!'

Naru's face leans closer to hers, his other hand moving to grasp her petite waist.

Every second he uses to move closer to her, made Akemi's heart beat twice as normal. She wondered how she's not yet being hospitalized at this very moment.

Couldn't longer helping herself, Akemi softly shuts her eyes. Waiting.

Feeling affectionate breath grazing her lips, Akemi shudders a tingling touch in her spine. Naru's fingers, tracing her back with the slightest touch of his fingertips. The feeling comfortable on her skin, one touch started a ripple of feelings.

Like water and skin.

Akemi kept her eyes closed until darkness was all she could remember.

~~~

AKEMI

"This summer is going swimmingly..." Naru groans at her untimely pun.

The heiress giggling beside him while they wait for their energy to replenish. Knowing possession takes a lot of spiritual energy,

The two were at the back of the rocky platform, sitting next to each other with Oliver resting his head on Akemi's lap. Akemi had her legs together, resting on her sides while Naru leans back on the rocky cliff with his left leg extended forward and the other perched up.

The two finding themselves sitting on this very end when they woke up from their possession, and deciding to remain on it for a while.

"Are you okay?" Akemi lifts her head, turning to glance at Naru who avoided her gaze.

"Hm?" She tilts her head, confused.

"About the lack of visions," Naru simply says and Akemi finally understood what he meant.

Keeping her gaze back to Oliver's head, she gave a hesitant smile while she petted the dog.

"I'm..."

'What should I say? I feel scared? Useless? Ecstatic?... No...'

"I'm not sure how to take it all in," Akemi decided to say. "Having no visions for months made me experience what normal people usually have and yet... It worries me as well..." Akemi breathes out a sigh, realizing she should say what she should have said from the beginning.

Naru waited, letting his gaze remain on the sea. The sun already gone.

"I've been seeing these two shadowy figures," Akemi admits, lifting her head to glance at where the two shadowy figures stood. Despite the night, she could see them clearly up the cliff, staring at them. "I've started seeing them when I was young— right after my eyesight started diminishing... They stopped when I took the medication but after my last vision, they started appearing again..."

"..." Naru glances at her.

"I try to avoid them but the more I avoid them the more I can't see... It's like— it's like..." Akemi couldn't continue her words.

Her ears ringed, she felt herself sinking to the point she couldn't hear nor see anything. Her sense of touch of the world enclosing her— blocking her connection to actual life, she couldn't breathe.

"Why are you avoiding them?" Naru's voice was like a gasp of air. Opening her eyes, Akemi slowly turns to Naru. 'A...ra?'

Where Naru sat was a different person— No, not a different person but a different version of Naru. He looked... Small— young.

"Why are you avoiding them?" The kid asks, highly contrasting his grown self's deep smooth voice. She noted how he spoke in English, actual English.

"You..." She brokenly mutters under her breath, not understanding.

The heiress blinks and she's back to seeing a blurred Naru figure. She's back.

"What?" Akemi stupidly mutters, wanting to hit herself from the sudden shift of perspective.

Naru sighs, a bit irritated for having to repeat himself. "Why are you avoiding them?" He says, the boy lifting his gaze up to the stars. "After everything you've been through— after considering everything you have... shouldn't you know better?"

Akemi's heart fluttered when Naru turns his head back to glance at her. Despite the blindness, she knew those midnight eyes were staring right directly at her wide purples.

The kid she saw looked at her directly earlier as well. Unwavering.

"I...should know better?" Naru frowns when Akemi repeated his words. She felt bare.

"What are you, a parrot?" Naru huffs, his words making the heiress snap out of her mindset. Pouting at him,

But not before letting a grateful smile slip on her lips. Nudging herself closer, Akemi leans her head bravely on his shoulders. "You're a meanie." She says, moving her head a bit to get comfortable.

'You're a big meanie! I hope you get stung by a bee!' Naru hears the child yell on his head after his young self once again shuts her up with his mouth.

"Hn." Was all Naru could say, letting Akemi lay her head on his shoulders, both still a bit weak from the possession.

He did get stung by a bee that day too.

~~~

When Lin finally finds them, he was shocked and irritated at seeing them sitting next to each other. All this time he worried for their safety and yet here was the brat, flirting with Akemi.

Lin sighs in defeat. Wait till he tells this to the Professors.

~~~

The Heiress and Wizard was oblivious to the world and Lin's thoughts; Akemi with her head on Naru's shoulder while the boy had his on top of Akemi's. The golden retriever quietly keeping guard yet still laying its head on his owner's lap. Both teenagers peacefully sitting on their spot.

Calm and unconscious. Sleeping.