Consolation

28| Run (Or, a rapid series of descending musical notes)

The next morning, Kurama felt like his head was splitting in two. He opened one eye and found himself still entangled with Asuka in the golden field. His arms were draped over her and hers were wrapped tightly around his midsection. He felt her fingers in his tail.

"Asuka?" he asked, bleary.

"I'm here, Love. Morning."

He rolled off her and placed his hand on her cheek. Her bronze hair glowed like a waterfall as she responded to his touch.

"Do you remember what happened?" she asked.

Kurama's head swam with the images and feelings from the previous night. "I do, but it's a little hazy." He squeezed his eyes. "I guess that's what the expression 'drunk on love' means."

She laughed, and he stopped it with a kiss.

"I suppose I can't keep you here for more," he breathed.

"No, though I wish you could."

Kurama kissed her mouth again before he reluctantly broke away. They both sat up, still naked among the reeds. "Thank you."

She traced his jaw. "I love you."

"And I love you." They stared at each other for a few minutes before Asuka finally stood. Kurama watched her loveliness sway through the reeds. His ears picked up the hum of her power. So powerful. So glorious. And she's mine. Until the end. He got up and dressed in white clothes while Asuka put on her iridescent purple dress.

"Hold my hand?" she asked.

He slipped it into hers, and they took off running again through the quiet morning of the perfect circle. I'll remember yesterday, forever. No matter what happened, no matter where they went, no matter what awaited Asuka at the lake. He'd remember it.

After what seemed like a few hours, they stopped at a grove of trees.

"I've never seen this type of fruit before," Kurama said as he picked the spikey blue melon off a weighted branch. "Shall I cut them open?"

"Please."

Kurama sliced the fruit open with his sharpened nail and gave one half to Asuka. It was tart, almost evoking the flavor of a raspberry, but not quite. Energy sizzled through his body as he consumed the light blue pulpy innards.

They ate one more fruit each. Once they were done, Asuka went to the center of the fruit tree grove. "Here is the gateway."

Kurama slipped his hand into his wife's again and together they passed through the gateway to the Second Circle.

There was no height difference, so they walked into the next plane, where a fierce wind met them and almost blew them back through the gate. Lightning flickered above them and crashed into the ground less than a kilometer away.

Another lightning bolt zigged down from the sky but never connected to the ground. Kurama squinted.

"Kurama, hold on!" Asuka shouted. "That's a time distortion bubble!"

"It's huge," he said, eyes widening.

Asuka gripped Kurama's hand tight and stepped up to the bubble that was growing at an exponential rate. She placed her hand on the oily surface and pushed. After a moment, she frowned. "I can't get rid of it. The distortion is too big for me to manage, but I stopped it from growing bigger."

"What do we do? Go around it?" Kurama shouted over another crack of lightning.

"We can't. It's kilometers and kilometers across. We have to go through it." Kurama felt Asuka's power surround them and she stepped into the bubble.