Oh gosh, it has been ages, hasn't it?

Gomen-ne on that, dear readers... First I was dealing with some dramas at home, followed by...well life, really. And then I got punched by a big fist of writers block (on practically everything) and well...here were are, months later.

I have to thank Grenouille-85 for smashing that wall of writers block I had...otherwise, who knows when I would have finally would have posted!

So, here we go!

I will update very soon, I promise!

*chapter 43*

*Yume's POV*

Panic continued to give me the surge of energy needed to hobble my way up the stairs and back to the room; of course, being in the state I was, the whole staggering walk up there was painful. When I slid open the door, I barely registered hearing Moru greet me as I hastily dropped to my knees and began shuffling through my blankets and pillow. It wasn't until another pair of hands entered my field of vision and joined the search did I stop.

"What's wrong, Yume-chan?"

I looked up to see Moru across from me, his one visible eyebrow furrowed in concentration. I sat back, my hand reaching for where my choker used to be.

"M…my…" I stammered, before digging through my blankets with even more fury. I hadn't found both items in question, and the idea of them being gone… It was enough to make tears well in my eyes.

Suddenly, Moru put his hands on my shoulders, pushing me back into a sitting position. With his one good eye, he stared me down.

"Did that Kensei do something to you?"

"Ehwah…?" I stared at him. "Why would you think that?"

"You…you've been gone for a while. I know you went to get some dinner…but I know you also went to see him." He replied, letting go of my shoulders but still holding my gaze with that serious expression of his.

Why does he sound like he's accusing me? I frowned, straightening the blanket as I tried to fix the mess I had made. My chocker and armlet weren't here.

"No…Kensei hasn't done anything." I replied, "I've lost my choker and armlet. Have you seen them?"

I bit back other words I wanted to say, such as why he had to suspect Kensei right off, as well as why he always carried so much animosity towards him. I knew Kensei's reasons, but Moru's…I couldn't be sure. Regardless, those two were never going to get along, were they?

"I haven't…" He replied, sitting back and rubbing at the bandage over his eye. "Did you lose them?" His voice was calm, but sounded a little strained. Ignoring it, I finished remaking the bed and climbed to my feet, wincing slightly.

"Yeah…" I rubbed at my face, trying to hold back the tears. Maybe it was silly to cry over losing jewelry when we had nearly lost our lives, but… they were special to me.

"Hm…well…maybe Tessai has them? I mean, jewelry might get in the way of healing after all," suggested Moru, his voice more even than before.

"Oh!" I glanced at him, hitting my fist against my palm. "That's right! Why didn't I…?" Without finishing my sentence, I hobbled towards the door, before realizing that I had no idea just where Tessai was. Slowly turning around, I found Moru grinning smugly at me.

"You don't know where you're going, do you?"

"Eheheh…no…"

Ten minutes later, I was wandering around the building, asking anyone I came across where Tessai, or even Urahara might be. He hadn't been in either place that Moru had suggested; the kitchen (which I found to be rather small, but nice) or the store front (which slightly scared me, as the human world—bustling human world—was out there).

I guess I'll have to wait… I thought, turning to go back downstairs. I didn't feel like going back to Moru; the way he had acted earlier, prior to telling me to seek out Tessai…confused me a little. So, seeing Kensei was for the best. And he was probably waiting for me.

A slight smile tugging on my lips, I hobbled past the storage room, glancing at it happily in memory of earlier. That room would forever be the place in which my wishes had come true (corny-sounding as it was); the place in which Kensei had told me he loved me.

But…those thoughts were dragged to a halt when I caught voices coming from the other room. I recognized the first as Shinji, and the second as…Urahara. I hobbled past the stairway and to the door, intent on finding out where Tessai was.

"…to a new place wouldn' be too hard. But we can't just take over a place…we need mortal money." That was the first sentence I caught Shinji say, followed by an amused chuckle from Urahara.

"Very true; well, perhaps I can help with that. I really shouldn't be surprised that you're already thinking of moving out of here… Plus the limited space, though it couldn't be helped. This part of the town is rather busy, Ahaha."

"I hate to have ta' ask you for more help, after all that you've done for us, but scraping up enough money in unfamiliar territory like this is rather difficult; I can already see all of us getting' culture shock, what with all the influx of the Western stuff an' all.** But there's too many of us here, and we can't live in your basement forever, can we? Plus, we're all anxious to check out the mortal world out there; it'd be better if we were outta' your hair for the most part, ya know?"

Ah, I get it. I thought, dropping my hand that had been raised to knock on the door. Shinji probably feels even more indebted than we do; and we are in rather cramped quarters…

"Ahaha, I understand. Well, I shall get on it as soon as I can," replied Urahara. I could feel that the conversation was at a milder point; one that I could more comfortably interrupt. I raised my hand again, started to knock, only to have the door slide open and come face to face with Shinji.

"Yume?"

"Hey," I replied, a sheepish grin on my face.

"Were you looking for me or somethin'?" he asked, resting his arm against the doorframe as he grinned down at me.

"Actually no…" I replied, pulling some loose strands of hair out of my face. "I was looking for Urahara-san…"

"Aw…And I thought you came to see me, you're no fun…" he mock whined. Putting his hand on the top of my head, he ruffled my hair. "Jus' kidding. Well, Urahara, seems Yume's got somethin' to ask you… and I'm off to go see if Love managed to fix that record player he found…"

I scowled and tried to straighten my hair as he pushed past, only to freeze when he added.

"And Yume-chan…congrats on you and Kensei~"

"Wha-?" I replied, turning eight shades of red. But he didn't answer, just waltzed off like usual. I could only stare after him, my mouth opening and shutting. Just how and the heck did he know?!

"So…you wanted to ask me something?" said Urahara as he came to the door, arms folded in a baggy green yukata.

"Yeah," I replied, shaking myself of embarrassment. "Have you by chance seen my choker or armlet? They're both a metallic black color…"

He put his finger to his chin thoughtfully and closed his eyes.

"Hm…I do remember seeing them ages back…but as for recently… No. I'm afraid I haven't, sorry." He gave an apologetic laugh.

"Damn…" I looked away, trying to keep my eyes from watering. Biting the inside of my lip, I looked up at him. "What about Tessai? Is he around?"

He shook his head. "Not right now, he and Yoruichi went venturing out to pick up some needed supplies. They probably won't be back for a while yet."

"I…I see…" I replied.

"He will be back later, I'll ask him and Yoruichi if they've seen them, alright?" he smiled. I nodded and smiled back, before moving back as he exited the room. "Now then, I'll be going… I've got quite a lot of work still cut out for me."

I tilted my head. "Work?"

He grinned. "Well, since we are here, I ought to make a living somehow… Have you seen the front of this place? It's shop potential! I shall make this place into 'Urahara's Grand Shouten'. How 'bout that?"

I chuckled. "Sounds good to me!"

Grinning still, he turned to walk away. I started to do the same (only of course I had to hobble, what with my crutches), only to stop.

"Um…Urahara-san?" I called out, feeling suddenly awkward. He turned around to stare at me curiously. I held tight to my crutches. "I…I wanted to thank you for all you've done. We owe you our lives…" I bowed my head.

"Ahaha, no need to be so formal, please! We're friends now, aren't we?"

I grinned and looked up at him.

"Yeah."

Somehow I found my mood to be much more cheerful than before, even though I still hadn't found my choker. I could only blame that on Urahara and his natural optimism; it was contagious.

I made my way downstairs, wondering where Kensei had run off to. I didn't see him among Shinji, Rose, Mashiro and Love who were sitting around a beat up looking box and placed to be a record player, and I didn't see him with Risa and Hacchi who were chatting and flipping through what seemed to be books of some kind.

I carefully wandered over to the bolder where Kensei and I had been relaxing earlier, finding him pretty much where I had left him.

Only now he was sound asleep, hands behind his head and back against the bolder. Smiling to myself, I watched him for few moments, before venturing closer and easing myself into a sitting position beside him. He didn't even seem to notice, he was so deeply asleep.

His hair moved lightly in the breeze (from where it came from I didn't know) as he breathed deeply, his powerful chest rising and falling in perfect rhythm. I slowly slid my hand on top of his as I leaned forward, intent on kissing his cheek. Just as my lips were centimeters away from his skin, he suddenly turned his head, catching my lips. And then things went totally wrong.

Surprised, I let out a gasp and nearly jumped clear out of my skin, smacking my forehead against his nose in the process. The result was him letting out a sharp cry of pain, followed by me falling backwards, eyes wide.

"Ahh! I'm sorry!" I gasped, watching as he covered his nose with both hands. "Are you alright?"

Wincing slightly, he dropped his hands. "Fine…that wasn't quite what I expected to happen though…tch."

Half glaring and half grinning I leaned towards him. "It's your own fault; I thought you were asleep!"

He scowled. "Like I could sleep with you walking so loud! I could hear you a mile away!"

"Uh-huh, sure," I teased, punching his arm lightly. "It's still your fault though."

"Hmph," was his own answer, before sitting more upright. "So, did you find them?"

"No…" I moaned, looking at my lap and frowning. "Urahara hasn't seen them, they weren't in my room…maybe, just maybe Tessai saw them…but I don't know… Gah! Where did they go!"

"Calm down, they're probably around here somewhere…" he grumbled, "There's no reason to get all worked up over some old jewelry—"

"But it's not old jewelry! That choker was my brothers! And the armlet…you bought me that…" I muttered, my eyes watering again. Letting out another moan, I leaned against his shoulder, my arms crossing.

He lifted his arm and pulled me closer. "…Sorry. I didn't know it was that important to you…well, it's bound to turn up somewhere eventually, right?" he said more softly. I didn't answer, closing my eyes and slowing my breathing.

A good five minutes or so passed, before I realized that I had no idea where I was going to be staying, now that I was supposedly out of the' infirmary'.

"So uh…where do we stay down here? Do we just sleep on the ground or what?" I asked.

"Nah, we've got tents for sleepin' and such," he rumbled, before shifting positions. "And uh…so you know, originally you were gonna bunk with Risa, but uh… I thought, err…I was wondering if… maybe you might want to…" he voice got steadily lower and more nervous as he continued. I glanced up at him, seeing that his face was turning a nice shade of red.

I grinned, feeling heat come to my face as well. "Share a tent with you?"

"If you…that is, if you want to." He replied, looking away. I pulled out from under his arm and turned to face him.

"Of course I do, silly." I chuckled, taking his hand in mine. "Why are you getting all flabbergasted all of a sudden?"

He rubbed at his face, a slight smile tugging on the corners of his mouth, before meeting my eyes.

"I hoped you would say that," he replied, before tugging me towards him and crashing his lips against mine. I could only laugh softly as I wrapped my arms around his neck, my mind and body churning with happiness.

Okay, so that's it! Yes, it was a little short (well, five pages on my word program)--but I have upcoming plans for everything (and admittedly and transitional little piece as well).

**Now, the time period for this isn't quite set, but I figure this is sometime around when Japan was starting to get really influenced by Western culture. It's kind of a gray area, since it's not really said what year it was, nor do I know exactly what was going on at that time...so bear with me please....

Also, unlike usual, I refrained from answering reviews, since it's been so long (heck, in you reader's places, i wouldn't even remember what I would have typed). I will start that up again next chapter, so...stay tuned, I guess?

-Okami