Rated M for sexual references.

Disclaimer: I do not own To LOVE-Ru.

~~~~oooo000oooo~~~~

The heart of the individual may change,

The hearts of the many may change,

The heart of the world in turn may change.

The heart of the writer may change,

The heart of the reader may change,

But the heart of the story...

That will never change.

~~~~oooo000oooo~~~~

To LOVE-Ru

Heart and Soul

Garbled images filled his mind. Clear ones, familiar ones, distant ones, but they all meant nothing. They blended together in a myriad of colors, then faded away. His eyes opened to the gentle light spilling through his window. They gazed up at the ceiling narrowed in concentration. Though the images had been confusing, there was a familiarity to them that nagged at his mind. The white ceiling stared back at him unblinkingly, and he shook his head clear of these thoughts as he sat up.

"What...was that?"

"Fuu...did you have a naughty dream...Rito-san?"

"Hm?" Yuuki Rito glanced down at the voice's owner and froze. Momo lay next to him, a sweet smile on her face, the front of her pajama top unbound and hanging over her breasts.

One second...

Rito's face flushed a deep red as his eyes traveled down her body, from her shamefully covered breasts to her hips to her unclothed thighs where the hem of her top clung precariously high.

Two seconds...

"Wha..."

Her mischievous smile curved upward still, and a giggle caused his blush to deepen.

Three seconds...

"Whaaaa!" A loud thump sounded through the floor as Rito fell off his bed.

Momo giggled once more as she sat up, her eyes twinkled at his innocence. "Ara, are you okay, Rito-san."

"Why are you in my bed again?"

"Why?" A look of confusion crossed her face. "Why not?"

"What do you mean, why not? How many times have I told you-"

"Rito, why are you making so much noise this early in the..." A familiar voice caught his ear and his heart sunk as the door opened and the voice trailed off. He turned towards the door fearfully to see his sister standing in the doorway with a stunned expression on her face. It passed after a moment, but was replaced with closed eyes and a furrowed brow. "Rito..."

"M-Mikan..."

"Why do I always come into your room in the morning and see this?"

"Ah, but..."

"And you!" Completely ignoring her older brother, she pointed a finger at the Third Princess. "Why are you always in his bed? And why are you dressed like that?"

Momo tilted her head curiously. "Like what?"

"You know like what!" Mikan stated placing her hand on her hips.

"You mean my pajamas?" Momo asked innocently.

"Why are they open? And where is the other half?"

"Oh." She looked down at her unclothed legs and placed a finger on her lips. "Hmm...Rito-san, what did we do with those?"

Rito's eyes widened. "Um, ah, but, we didn't, we never..." he stammered in desperation, but his sister would have none of it.

"Rito!"

o0o

A heavy sigh passed his lips as he walked through the halls of the high school. Next to him, Momo giggled.

"Whatcha thinkin about, Rito-san?"

"Momo-chan..."

"Hm?"

"Why do you do this almost ever morning?"

"Go to school?"

"Momo-chan..."

"Hai, sempai?"

"You know what I mean."

"Hm..." She circled an arm around his and held onto it with the other. "Well, either way the answer is the same..."

He edged away from her, nervous at their close proximity, but she remained attached to him. "And...th-that would be?"

"Why, to be close to you," she answered, smiling sweetly up at him.

"R-right...can um, can you let go of me now? Please?"

Still smiling, she nodded and let her arm slide down his until their hands were touching. Their fingers didn't intertwine, but she kept them close, so close that the back of her hand touched his as they walked.

"M-Momo-chan..."

"Hm?"

"J-just...could you please stop sneaking into my bed at night?"

"But, why?" she asked sweetly, rubbing her hand against his as she spoke.

"B-because...its not right for you to sneak into people's rooms."

"But, why?" she asked again.

"Because...because you c-can't sleep with people without their per...permission!" he stammered.

Momo smiled at the effects the contact of her skin was having, then pouted up at him. "You don't like it when we sleep together?"

Before he could answer her, the heavy thud of a book hitting the ground sounded through the hall. He looked forward and paled. There stood Kotegawa Yui, her face flushed red, her textbook on the floor.

"Sleeping with an underclassman?" Her voice was bare whisper. "Shameless!"

Rito watched her turn and walk away with clenched fists, his heart sinking rapidly as his outstretched hand fell back to his side, and hung his head. "Why...? Another misunderstanding..."

Beside him, Momo just giggled.

o0o

"Yo, Rito-kun you okay?"

His head buried in his folded arms over the desk, Rito could only groan.

Saruyama sighed and shook his head. "Wow, you really seem out of it. I haven't seen you this down since you were stalking Sairenji-chan."

"I wasn't stalking Haruna-chan," Rito grumbled.

"Ah, a response." Saruyama nodded. "Yeah you were. But you haven't done that since...gosh, has it been two years already?"

"I never stalked her," he repeated.

"Then what do you call it?"

"Waiting for the right time to confess my feelings to her."

"...by following her around the school without her knowing. Right. Not stalking. Thanks for clarifying that."

Rito grumbled smothered oaths of pain and let his head fall to the side. His view of the classroom, now sideways, was filled with the everyday commotion of school: people chatting about this and that, the always haphazard, desperate last minute homework copying, Mio and Risa molesting other girl's breasts, Haruna organizing her notes and pulling out what she needed for class, Yui pointedly ignoring him... Saruyama sat atop the desk next to him with a foot resting on the edge of Rito's desk, a puzzled expression on his face. Beyond him, the class's door slid open and a familiar pink-haired girl walked into the room.

"Morning!" she said, her face flushed and her breathing slightly expedited.

"Morning, Lala-chan," Sairenji greeted, turning to look at her as she made her way to Rito's desk.

"Ne, what's wrong with Rito?"

Saruyama only shrugged.

"I'm fine, Lala-chan," Rito sighed. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "So what took you so long to get here?"

"Ah, I stayed up late watching a Magical Kyoko marathon so..."

"Oh yeah, that was last night, huh?"

"Yup!" Lala nodded cheerfully and began to tell him about the episodes she saw.

Rito smiled warmly as she went on. It always refreshed him when he saw her so happy.

"And then Magical Kyoko said..."

As Lala continued, Saruyama glanced back at the door as it slid open. He raised a brow and shook Rito's shoulder. "Who's that?"

Looking to the door, Rito saw an older man with long black hair wearing a black coat over a black dress shirt and dress pants. His eyes were of a deep brown, and they swept over the class carefully, then stopped when they saw Rito. Their gazes locked for a moment, then the man closed the door and walked to the teacher's desk. The class quieted as he walked and watched as he sat down behind the desk. The man said nothing, but set his bag on the desk and pulled out a folder.

Murmurs started to sound through the class, then rose back to the full hum of conversation as the man pulled papers out of his folder. Rito watched him intently as he went through his papers, an unnerving sense of curiosity gnawing at him. The man appeared young, in his thirties, if Rito had to place it, but there was something about him...

"Who do you think that is?" Saruyama asked quietly.

Rito could only shake his head.

The door opened once more and their homeroom teacher entered just as the bell rang. "Settle down, everyone," he called. Students quieted and returned to their seats as he took his place at the podium. "Now then. Good morning class."

"Good morning, sensei," the class chorused.

"It's good to see you all again. Let's get on with the usual morning duties, shall we?"

After role was taken and announcements made, their homeroom teacher closed his folder and cleared his throat. "Today for first period we will be having a guest lecturer. So if you will please welcome your teacher, Asiling Tetsuya-san."

The man behind the teacher's desk rose from his seat and bowed.

"Aisling-sensei will be lecturing on philosophy today." Unfazed y the class's groan, he continued on. "I will be here to see that everything goes smoothly, so behave yourselves." He then turned and nodded to the man.

He was silent as he approached the podium. He placed the small stack of papers in his hand onto the stand and gazed at the class. "Have you ever studied philosophy before?" his voice was soft, his gaze almost void of emotion.

"Not to a great extent, sensei," Haruna answered, raising her hand as she spoke.

He gazed at her in silence for a moment, then nodded. "Then have any of you heard of Plato?" he watched as various heads shook and nodded throughout the room. "Plato was a student of Socrates, and he theorized," he began, turning to the chalkboard and picking up a piece of chalk, "that people live in 'caves'." The chalk skritched against the board as he wrote. "This came to be known as the Allegory of the Cave." He tapped the words he had written on the board to emphasize his point. "The basic explanation of this theory is that there exists an absolute Goodness in everything. I'm not talking about good and evil, mind you. What Plato spoke of, rather, is the essence, or form of an object. It was his philosophy that everything you see around you are 'shadows' of the true object. For example," he tapped the podium with his hand as he continued, "this podium is just a copy of a podium's true form. The true form is the idea of a podium in the mind.

"This podium, if not maintained, will eventually rot and fall apart, for it is made of wood. But the true form of a podium, its form of Goodness, the idea of it in the mind, will never change It will not rot, it will not fall apart, it is a podium. Another example would be books and stories." His gaze flickered to Rito as he said this, and remained there as he continued. "The story that you see in the words of a book, is just a shadow of the stories true form of Goodness."

His eyes bore into Rito, causing him to shift uncomfortably in his seat.

"The story's form of Goodness will never change, and neither will the story. It can be said the same thing of a character. Though a character may be written about many times, the form of Goodness of that character will never change." His gaze lingered on the boy for a moment longer, then he turned back to the board and continued to write.

Through the rest of the class, Rito watched him with suspicion and curiosity, but the man's gaze never touched upon him again.

o0o

"Well, that was a rather interesting first period," Lala said to herself as they walked out of the school building. Rito nodded absentmindedly as they headed towards the gate with their friends. It had indeed been an interesting first period, so much so that his thoughts were adrift the rest of the school day, and he was barely aware of the lectures his teachers had given.

"He said a lot of complicated things," Risa sighed.

Mio nodded. "Although what I understood of it was kinda interesting."

"Kind of messed with your head didn't it?" Lisa asked with a laugh.

"A little," Haruna consented. "But it was fascinating, wasn't it, Rito-kun?"

"Mm."

"What's up with Rito-kun?" Risa asked.

"Dunno." Lala shook her head and glanced at him. "He was like this this morning, too."

"Oh..." A mischievous smile crossed Risa's lips, and she sidled up next to him. "Having problems, Rito-kun?"

"No. Just thinking."

"Bout what?"

He sighed. "Nothing."

"Ah, come on, Rito-kun. We're all friends here. What's the problem?"

"There isn't a problem," Rito insisted.

"He's probably thinking about sleeping with underclassmen," Yui huffed, crossing her arm disapprovingly.

"Ohh?" The smile on Risa's face blossomed to an outright grin.

"S-sleeping with underclassmen?" Haruna's face drained of color as Rito's flushed red.

"I am not!"

"I know what I heard."

"You're mistaken!"

Risa and Mio laughed at Rito's discomfort until a voice interrupted.

"Excuse me."

Face beet red, Rito turned towards the voice. Standing at the school gate with his bag in hand waited Aisling-sensei. He stopped in mid-step. There was something about the man that perturbed him, but he couldn't quite place why.

"Ah, Aisling-sensei." Haruna bowed and approached him. "Can we help you?"

He nodded and his gaze flickered to Rito. "I was hoping to speak with Yuuki-san, if that's not too much trouble."

Haruna glanced back at Rito. His gaze swept past hers and locked with the man's. He nodded slowly and stepped forward.

Aisling nodded and began to walk away. Somewhat puzzled, Rito waved a goodbye to his friends and followed after him. They did not speak as they walked, and they eventually came to the park not far from Rito's house. They continued along the walk until Aisling stepped off the path and came to a stop in front of a tree. He gazed up at it in silence while Rito waited, but he never spoke. Rito, out of patience, spoke out.

"Aisling-sensei, what-"

But the man spoke over him. "Do you know a young man called Elden?"

Rito looked up at him in confusion. "No, why?"

The man considered Rito for a moment, then looked him in the eye. "What if I told you...that a part of your world has disappeared?"

"Wh...what?"

Aisling smiled somberly and gazed out at the sun. "A part of your world has disappeared. A part of your life; past, present, and future, has been taken away."

"What...what are you talking about?" Rito shook his head. "I don't understand."

Aisling turned his gaze to the young man and studied him in silence.

The man's silence perturbed Rito. "What?"

"Have you ever read a book?" the man finally asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"How did you feel?"

"Excuse me?"

"When you read that story, how did you feel?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Are they real? The characters in the story, the world they live in- are they real?"

Rito shook his head. "Of course not."

"But aren't they?"

"What?"

"Story's are worlds that only exist on pages, they only exist because pen strikes paper. But, they are only real when they are being written or read. A rather sad existence, isn't it? For a time they will teem with life, but eventually they will sit on shelves, alone and lifeless."

This made perfect sense to Rito, for that's how books were used.

"Elden is the name of the man who created the part of your world that disappeared. He is also the man who took that part away."

Rito stared at him in silence as his words registered. "You're saying..."

Aisling raised his arms and gestured to the world around him. "This is a world that only exists in the hearts of its writers and readers."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

Aisling gazed at the young man's eyes in silence.

"You're crazy."

He laughed. "Am I?"

"Yeah. Who would ever believe such a thing?"

"The people reading these words."

Rito's hands clenched into fists and he gritted his teeth. "I am me!" he declared, placing a hand on his chest. "I exist! I'm not some character in a book!"

The man's gaze softened.

"Don't look at me like that! I am! Nothing can change that!"

"Only in the hearts of readers and writers."

"You're insane!" Rito shouted. The man's words angered Rito, so much so that it surprised him. "If what you're saying is true, then what does that make you?"

"The same as you." Rito's eyes widened as the man looked down at his hand and clenched it gently into a fist. "Just a figment of one man's imagination that got put on paper."

"Wha...Why are you telling me this? Why me?"

"Out of all the stories that will be told about you, only you will probably ever know what your existence is. That makes you special."

"It changes nothing! You're saying that the very words that are coming out of my mouth aren't mine! They're someone else's! That I'm just a character! A figment! That my actions aren't my own, that I don't even exist!"

"You exist. In ways that some people don't. There are those who live through reading stories like yours."

"But...no." Rito shook his head adamantly. "I exist. You're insane." He turned abruptly and walked away. The man gazed after him in silence, then shook his head.

"If only that were so," he sighed.

Rto stumbled back as an overwhelming flow of images assaulted him invading his mind with such ferocity that he fell to his knees. He grasped his head in desperation, but just as quickly as the overwhelming sensation had come, it stopped. All he was left with was images. Images and emotions. They tore into him until all he knew were these two things.

Skin, pink hair, jade eyes...Lala filled his senses, her scent, her beauty. She was so close... A tail wrapped around his hand, her bare skin touching his, his lips on hers. Their bodies joined and separated, her sighs filled his ears. The image changed then. Black hair flowing beautifully in the breeze. A soft smile on her lips as she gazed at the young man next to her, his head resting on her shoulder, asleep as they studied from a textbook. The image changed again. A flower. Pink and vibrant atop a young woman's head, her green hair reaching halfway down her back and a sweet smile on her face. And again. Snow. A small girl huddled against a tree. A kitten buried in her jacket to keep it safe from the elements. And again. Short pink hair. A devious smile aimed at the young man pinning her to a wall, then confusion at her inability to push him off as his lips descended upon her neck. A soft sigh and a gasp as she listened to the growled words coming from his mouth. Again and again these images changed, flashing through his mind and bringing with them emotions. Emotions. Love, pleasure, contentment, happiness, despair...all collided within his mind. Tears formed in his eyes, so strong were these emotions.

What...what is this?

"What could have been, what will never be, what was but now is lost...these are the burdens you now carry."

Tears burning his eyes, Rito looked back at the man. "What...could have been?"

He nodded and turned his eyes to the sky. "What he wrote but never shared, what he never wrote, and what he wrote but has taken away."

"Wha..." The images stopped coming, but a dull ache in his heart caused him to bite his lip, and he worked desperately to recall them. They once again scrolled through his mind, so precious and fresh, like a dream he feared he might forget. He looked at each one, and closed his eyes in frustration. This pain, so intense, so despairing... he looked up at the man with tear-stricken eyes in contempt. "What did you do?"

The man shrugged. "I did nothing."

"Then why-"

"Because you were meant to."

Rito stared at him at a loss for words. They gazed at each other in silence until Rito finally spoke. "This Elden...you said he took away a part of my world. Why?"

"Elden...he loves this world." He spread his arms wide and shook his head sadly. "He loves it so much that it pains him that he cannot touch it. And since he could not touch it, he tried to add to it, to contribute to it. To make it so that others would love this world. But this world, no one can touch it. Not really. This world...he thought he understood it. But he didn't. Can you imagine how despairing that is? To think you understand something, devote your time to it, then find out you didn't actually know it at all?"

"But... that part of me that is missing...will it ever come back?"

He looked down at Rito quietly, his eyes a distant gaze. "Perhaps he will return," he said quietly. "But I know not. One quests for enlightenment in their own way these days." He bowed then, low and respectfully. "I am sorry to have burdened you with this, Yuuki Rito, but..." he rose and shook his head bitterly. "Its only fair that at least you should know. If no other Yuuki Rito in any of the other world is ever told this, then at least you know."

Rito could only stare as the man bowed once more and walked away. He watched him in silence for a moment, then he too turned and began to walk away.

"Oh."

Rito turned to see the man gazing back at him, a small smile on his face.

"He asked me to tell you... that he wishes you a life worth living, and that fate be kind." With that, he turned and walked off, leaving Rito alone to his thoughts.

~~~~oooo000oooo~~~~

The winds of time roam never ceasing,

The wants of men change not at all.

When all is said and all is done,

The world still spins,

And life goes on.

~~~~oooo000oooo~~~~

-END-