Jun 2008

Chapter 249Guiling Gifts

The others looked at me with surprise. Valerie in particular wondered what was on my mind. I, however, knew where I wanted to go. There was someone I wanted to be with right now and someone else I wanted to keep company.

"Amy?"

I smiled. "I have to go."

Valerie blinked and then smiled. "Say hi to Hitori for me." A little wink added to her smile.

I blushed, I guess they did know me pretty well. "I will."

Valerie gave me a quick hug and walked to the fire. Khuna and Kai followed her example and walked off to the fire after giving me a hug as well. They, like me, had a lot of thoughts to dance off. But for me, this time, it wasn't the dance I craved. Tonight it was the soft embrace of someone I loved.

And to embrace one who needed me and whom I had neglected a little.

It was time to fly.

After I walked a little away from the fire and the curious eyes that were glancing in my direction, I could rise. This time I went as slow as I possibly could. The air didn't rush at all, it was almost as slow as walking, but upwards. I tried going forwards without tilting over and found that it was possible as long as I kept a gentle speed.

Almost automatically I spread my arms a little and let my fingers touch the air as if I was in water. To me, ripples of my passing moved over the city where I went. Like waves that would cause small disturbances in every household, but pass by mostly unnoticed. Maybe a paper would ripple or some salt would move, but nothing more.

Still, I found myself reach out into the city with my fingers riding the wind.

Hitori's house was unusually dark, not completely but with only one light on. And, to my surprise, Hitori had left a window open far enough for me to climb in. It led to the large room he usually painted in. There wasn't any here.

I'd made no noise as I climbed in and found, to my greater surprise, that there were two someones sleeping on the sofa.

Hitori and Nuru had fallen asleep in front of the television. I smiled a little, it was very cute in a way. Did they wait up for me but fall asleep in the long hours? I noticed how the TV was on standby and not properly off. I wondered if it had shutdown itself automatically.

I smiled to myself, as usual I was trying to find everything out the hard way.

I leaned over and kissed Nuru on her cheek and Hitori on his lips. They both stirred and woke up slowly. Nuru opened her eyes first.

"Miss Amy, you're back." Then she touched her cheek and blushed in realization.

I smiled and nodded. "Did you miss me."

Nuru answered simply by nodding.

Hitori opened his eyes as well, but he realized where he was sleeping, with his arms around Nuru, and looked up at me with a bit of shock in his eyes.

It made me giggle. "Worried?"

Hitori blushed and then smiled as well. "I'm sorry, I didn't have a lot of sleep lately and Nuru was so calming."

Nuru giggled with me. I stepped closer and smiled. "Is there some space for me left?"

They moved aside so I could sit between them. Nuru and Hitori both snuggled against me as soon as I sat down, holding me warmly from both sides. It made my heart glow.

Hitori spoke gently. "How did it go?"

I sighed a little. "Much better than I had expected. After the tough fight we let them pass away and we buried them in a nice place."

He caressed my hair, it was nice. "Where are the others?"

I breathed deeply, enjoying the caress. "Dancing with the Gypsies."

His hand traced my ears and the back of my neck. "And you didn't join them?"

I shook my head. "No, this time I wanted to here, with you and Nuru."

Hitori looked out of the window and, although it was by far not time to go to bed for me, he looked at me expectantly. "Shall we go to bed?"

I nodded silently.

Nuru got up without a word and started walking to the guest room, I interrupted her. "Nuru, do you want to stay with us?"

Hitori looked at me with a little surprise in his eyes but smiled and nodded. Nuru turned around with a big grin on her face, nodding happily and walked back to us. We all got up and went into the bedroom. Something there made me smile... and wonder...

The bed was beautifully made, better than I'd seen it ever here. It was smooth and perfectly done, almost as if someone had used a ruler while doing it. But the strange thing wasn't how well it was made, it was the little bundle of flowers on the pillow.

A small bundle of forget-me-not flowers, not tied or held together by anything, spread a very gentle scent through the room. I wondered if Hitori or Nuru could even smell it. The whole thing didn't feel dangerous at all, in fact it felt and looked like a gift.

But from who?

Hitori picked up the flowers gently and put them on the small desk in his room. He looked around, but there wasn't anything broken, missing or even open. He shrugged and looked at me, wondering what to do.

I smiled. "Let's leave it for now."

We all undressed to our underwear, Nuru looking at us closely if she should keep it on, and got into bed. We hugged close together and just held each other with a smile on our lips.

No worries about the others, no worries about Faith, Rain or Afentis, Khuna, Valerie or Kai. No worries, even, about the stolen book by Anka or Isabel. This was my time. And I was going to give it my all.

The night faded slowly into day while we faded gently into sleep.