Last chapter! If you've been with this story from the beginning, thank you so much! Enjoy!

Anywhere you go, anyone you meet,
Remember that your eyes can be your enemies.
I said, well hell is so close,
And heaven's out of reach.
I ain't giving up quite yet;
I've got too much to lose.

- Sweet and Low by Augustana

Returning to that cabin in the forest seemed terrifying to him. The thought itself was absolutely petrifying. What would he do when he saw her again? Greet her like usual with a "hey" and a grin? There was no way he could do that.

He didn't want to do that. The thing he wanted to do above all else was to wrap his arms around her and kiss every single part of her body. He wanted to smolder her and bruise her with every passionate movement he could muster.

It didn't seem right though. In all of the time they had known each other there had only been one moment where it could have even been called romantic and she had ended it by turning him down.

The other thing that was tugging at him was that she could be married now. What if she hadn't been successful in turning the boy down? What if she was pregnant and madly in love?

Several scenarios kept swimming around in his head as Ginko walked the familiar path to the cabin in the forest. No matter what happened he was going to see her. Married or not. Pregnant or not. Still in love with him or not. No doubts were in his mind in that one moment. He was going to see her.

Pushing past the thicket of trees, Ginko finally came across the all too familiar cabin. He took a moment to look at it in its entirety. It was small but the perfect size for one little girl. One little girl that for some reason he couldn't imagine his life without.

Ginko stepped on to the porch, kicked off his shoes, and shrugged his pack off of his shoulders with practiced ease. Sliding the door open the first thing he saw in the spacious room was Kingyo.

Sixteen years-old and heartbreakingly beautiful.

Long golden hair traveled in tumbling waves to her waist and was partially held in place by a pearl comb. A deep blue kimono was wrapped around her body only further amplifying the curves that had grown at her chest and hips.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she replied with a warm smile.

Taking only a small number of long strides across the wooden floor, Ginko walked towards her and enveloped her in his arms. He inhaled the natural scent from her hair and nearly cursed at the sheer rightness of it.

"Please tell me good news," he pleaded, tangling a hand in her hair.

"I'm not getting married to him," she said, wrapping her arms around his back and placing the side of her head comfortably on his chest.

Ginko's shoulders sagged in relief as he placed a hand behind her neck and tilted her head back. Backing away slightly he got a look at her face and felt that there was bad news accompanying this good news.

"What is it?" he asked.

"The only reason I could get out of marrying him was lying to him," Kingyo said, avoiding his eye and pushing herself out of his arms.

"Kingyo," Ginko said in a steady and warning tone. "What did you tell him?"

"That I belong to someone else," Kingyo said, walking toward her chest of drawers.

"That you're already married?" Ginko inquired.

She shook her head as she placed her hands on top of the chest. There was no way she could face him after telling the boy what she had.

"What did you say, Kingyo?" Ginko asked, fighting all urge to walk over to her and wrap her in his arms once again.

"I can't tell you," Kingyo replied, squeezing her eyes shut.

To say that she was excited to see him was a huge understatement. She loved him with every single fiber of her being and yet she had said such an awful thing. For some reason she even wished that he wasn't there. Gone, so then she wouldn't have to face him anymore.

"Why not?" Ginko pressed and Kingyo heard his feet walking across the wooden floor.

"I don't want you to take on something that has nothing to do with you," Kingyo said. "I wasn't thinking. You should- You should leave. There's nothing you can do here."

"If it's about you, it's about me," Ginko argued, now only inches away from her. "What did you say, Kingyo?"

His presence was thick and heavy and absolutely smoldering. Kingyo shook her head again since she truly thought it was the only move she could make.

"Just leave and never come back," Kingyo whispered. "Please."

She was expecting an argument, a rebuttal of some sort. The last thing she expected was for him to back away, take his pack, put on his shoes, and leave the cabin without another word. That was exactly what he did do though and she stood there for a few more minutes in shock.

Turning around quickly, Kingyo saw that he actually was gone. There was no sign of him in the cabin and no sign that he had even been there to begin with.

Ginko was pissed.

With shaking hands he lit a cigar as he stormed through the forest. That boy hadn't let her off completely and now she was too scared to tell him the truth. That bastard must have done something to hurt her. To scar her. To taint her.

Now he was going to pay.

Even though Ginko wasn't much of a fighter he was more than prepared to punch this brat right in the face and bring him to apologize to Kingyo on his hands and knees. These pleasant thoughts that were rattling through his head were currently putting him in a better mood.

There was no way in hell someone else was going to marry Kingyo other than-.

Other than whom?

Him?

No, there was no way he could marry Kingyo. She was half his age with her entire life ahead of her. It was true that she deserved better than this lowlife bastard, but she also deserved better than him as well.

Shaking these thoughts from his mind, Ginko continued to storm through the forest. A list of priorities was already being made in his head. Locate bastard, punch bastard in face, threaten and/or blackmail bastard, go back to Kingyo, apologize to Kingyo, and then leave Kingyo for good.

Going back to that cabin every year had always been amazing beyond belief, but he couldn't go anymore. Because if he went, there was no way he would be able to stop himself next time and going back there this time already seemed like a gamble.

After another 15 minutes of traveling, Ginko finally came across the village in full-on surveying mode when he realized something. He didn't know what this guy looked like or his name. The only thing he knew was that this kid was going to marry Kingyo if he didn't do anything to stop him.

Realizing that going back to Kingyo for information was pointless, Ginko decided to ask around for the young man who would be marrying the blonde beauty who lived in the forest. His first stop was a vegetable stand that an elderly woman was manning.

"Excuse me, miss," Ginko said in greeting as he leaned against the stand.

"Why hello, sir," the woman said, smiling at Ginko. She rarely got any good looking customers and this one looked like a foreigner!

"I would like to ask you something," Ginko continued as he pretended to examine a radish. "Do you know the young man who will be getting married soon? I hear he's getting married to some girl with golden hair or-."

"Oh! You mean him?" the woman asked, pointing in the direction to Ginko's left.

Ginko turned to see a young man, probably just a little older than Kingyo, talking to a few men. He seemed cocky, smug, and arrogant and Ginko slowly felt his blood start to boil.

"That's the one," Ginko gritted out, his hand forming into a fist.

"Well, they're not going to get married if she fails the test," the woman said, rearranging a few baskets on her stand.

"What test?" Ginko asked quickly, looking back to the old woman.

"A virginity test," she said, leaning closer to Ginko, her voice barely above a whisper. "A woman from the village is going up to Kingyo's cabin around nightfall and if she really isn't a virgin then the marriage is off."

Ginko was absolutely dumbfounded by this news. There was no way Kingyo wasn't a virgin. When had she ever had contact with a man other than himself?

Oh fuck.

She was going to be forced into a marriage with some raping bastard.

"The thing is," the woman continued, seemingly oblivious to Ginko's sudden realization. "Is that no one has ever seen Kingyo with another man before. Everyone is positive that she's a virgin, so that means there's going to be a wedding soon."

"Thank you for your help," Ginko said, surprised that he could choke out that much.

The woman gave a nod that went unnoticed by Ginko as he headed toward the man who would be marrying Kingyo. That is unless she lost her virginity by nightfall which was highly unlikely. Unless he-.

Unless he what?

There was no way Ginko could take something so precious like that away from her especially under these circumstances. He wanted to. He really wanted to.

As Ginko became closer and closer to the bastard he felt himself being pulled in another direction. The direction of the cabin he had become so accustomed to.

Stopping right between the bastard and the cabin, Ginko took a drag of his cigar. He was in some deep shit and none of this was technically even his problem. There was probably an hour until nightfall and it was about a half hour walk to the cabin. He could make it in time.

Should he go though? No. Did he want to go? More than anything. If there was ever a perfect opportunity to come on to Kingyo this was it and he would be an idiot to ignore it.

Giving the bastard one final look Ginko hiked his pack up on his shoulders and heading toward the exit of the village.

The sun was already started to go down when Ginko finally arrived at the cabin thanks to an impromptu bathroom break and a few times of heading back to the village only to turn back around. Walking up to the porch, Ginko kicked off his shoes and let his pack fall on to the wood.

Sliding the door back that time felt like it would the last time he ever would as he stepped into the almost dark room.

Sitting in the middle of the floor with her back to him was Kingyo.

"Um, I'm sorry you came all this way," Kingyo said, her voice small and meek. "I'm still a-."

"A virgin?" Ginko asked. "Yeah, I thought so."

Kingyo turned around quickly and Ginko felt his heart break at the sight of her swollen eyes.

"Ginko?" she asked. "What are you doing here? I'm expecting someone else."

"I know," he said, closing the door behind him. "The only was for you to get out of your marriage with that bastard is for you to pass some virginity test."

"Then why are you here?" Kingyo asked.

"To make sure you fail it," Ginko responded.

Before Kingyo could even process this new bit of information Ginko already had his arms wrapped around her and his lips on hers. His hands were in her hair as he laid her down on the futon. Her brain was fuzzy and she could barely register what was happening as he moved his lips to her neck.

"G-Ginko," she gasped out as her mind began to slowly clear. "Stop. Don't do this for me."

"I'm not," he replied when his mouth was away from her neck only to place it on her collarbone.

"Not what?" she asked, suppressing a moan as he bit down on her shoulder.

"Not stopping or doing this for you," he said, coming back up to look her in the eyes. "I'm doing this because I want to. This particular situation is just very convenient, that's all."

She honestly didn't have a good argument against that as Ginko untied the obi that was around her waist. Sharply inhaling, Kingyo shut her eyes and moved her head to the side. For some reason this was extremely embarrassing.

"What?" Ginko asked, his voice unusually husky.

"This doesn't feel right," Kingyo confessed, easing her eyes open to look up at him. "I never pictured it being this way."

"So you pictured it?" Ginko asked with a smug look on his face.

Kingyo's face immediately flushed and Ginko gave a low chuckle before placing a kiss on her forehead.

"I would be a liar if I said that I hadn't pictured this as well," he said, pressing his forehead against hers and looking into her amber eyes.

"I love you," she said, the words quickly spilling from her lips.

Those words somehow locked in what they were doing. There really was no looking back now. He was completely incapable of stopping.

It took him seconds to get the kimono off of her body and when he did he was heavily tempted not to stare for a good minute or two. Bringing his lips back to hers, he found himself surprised by the fact that she was slowly starting to respond to his advances.

First her lips began to move against his and then her hands were yanking his shirt over his head. Apparently there wasn't a doubt in her mind anymore either. Their movements were quickly becoming blurred together as he rid himself of the rest of his clothing.

More and more time kept passing but Ginko was still completely avoiding the reason for him even coming here in the first place. He was scared.

Give him a thousand flesh-hungry Mushi and he would gladly take them on. Give him a gorgeous sixteen year-old that he was insanely in love with and he felt like a bumbling idiot.

"Ginko," Kingyo managed to breathe out when his lips were detached momentarily from hers.

"I might be a virgin, but I know how this thing works and we're not exactly…" she trailed off.

If she was able to say such a rational thing at a time like this there definitely wasn't much more time left. Giving a lazy nod, Ginko brought his mouth back to hers as they continued their frenzied movements.

He didn't waste any time now and when they finally became one he managed to breathe only a few words into her ear.

"I love you too."

Afterward was awkward, as they both thought it would be. Ginko had already tugged his pants on and Kingyo had worked her way under the covers of her futon. Lighting a cigar from the pack he kept in his pants pocket, Ginko looked back at Kingyo whose face was flushed.

"I'm sorry," he said, taking a deep drag from his cigar.

She gave a slow nod and he could tell that she was receiving all of the mixed signals he was sending her way.

"I don't regret it," Ginko said in response to her confusion. "If it was up to me I would have waited until you were a bit older. But these circumstances required action."

"Thank you," Kingyo said.

For some reason Ginko wasn't even surprised by these words. In a way he had saved her from being in what would probably be a terrible situation.

"Wanna do it again?" Ginko asked, smirking at her.

"What?" Kingyo asked, sitting up slightly only for the blanket to fall into her lap, leaving her chest exposed.

Flushing, Kingyo snatched the blanket up to cover her chest when Ginko's hand rested over hers.

"Don't," he said, taking the cigar out of his mouth and smearing it on the floor before capturing her lips with his.

Wrapping an arm around her naked waist, Ginko pulled her closer to his bare chest as he continued to kiss her long and slow. Her hands were placed on his forearms as she returned his kiss with a rhythm she had become so accustomed to.

Both were completely unaware of the frantic knocks on the door or it sliding open until soft moonlight lit up the room. There was a loud gasp of shock which caused Ginko and Kingyo to pull away from each other in a heartbeat.

Kingyo grabbed the blanket and pulled it up to her chest as she and Ginko looked to the open door. A woman Kingyo recognized from the village was standing there looking completely bewildered. Her eyes kept darting from Kingyo to Ginko and back again.

"Kingyo," the woman said after some time. "Who is this?"

"I'm Ginko," Ginko said bluntly.

"Ginko," Kingyo hissed, nudging him in the side and giving him a look.

"What the hell is this?" another voice asked, coming from behind the woman.

The man who was supposed to marry Kingyo stepped into the cabin and rested his eyes on Kingyo. He didn't even seem to notice Ginko as he walked to Kingyo and crouched down beside her.

"I guess I'm too late," the Bastard said with a shrug. "Oh well, we can still tell everyone you were lying. Don't worry, my love. We'll be married within a week."

Ginko would have felt sorry for the Bastard. But since he deserved that sharp slap to the face he couldn't honestly say that he was.

Kingyo was breathing hard, her eyes flashing with anger.

"I will never marry you!" Kingyo said, the blanket she had been trying so hard to cover herself with all but forgotten in her lap. "Because I'm… I'm-."

"Marrying me tomorrow," Ginko said before he could stop himself as he wrapped an arm around her stomach and pulled her close to him.

Everyone including Ginko himself seemed completely baffled by this sudden news.

"Oh, please," the Bastard scoffed. "She belongs to me."

"Actually, no," Ginko said, feeling a smirk working its way to his lips. "She belongs to me. I bought her when she was nine years-old and I just now got what I paid for. Technically she's my property and you marrying her without my consent is illegal. And since I'm never going to give you that consent I'll give you some advice instead."

"What's that?" the Bastard asked meekly.

"Fuck off," Ginko said.

The woman who had arrived earlier was leaning against the door frame as she looked at the scene unfolding before her eyes. The situation seemed helpless. If Kingyo really was this man's property then there really was nothing the young man could do.

The Bastard opened his mouth to make a remark when he noticed the expression on Ginko's face. Boredom. Absolute boredom. The Bastard took a deep breath and then gave a curt nod.

"Fine," he said. "I never desired her anyway."

With that final note the Bastard and the village woman left the cabin almost at once. The woman too embarrassed about the predicament she had just seen and the Bastard too surprised by his sudden defeat.

"Well that was anti-climactic," Ginko said, running a hand through his silver hair. "I was expecting to throw a few punches, not for you to smack him right across the face."

Kingyo on the other hand didn't seem to mind the Bastard's sudden departure. In fact, she had rarely even noticed it.

"You really think of me as only your possession?" Kingyo asked.

There were two things Ginko could do at that moment. He could tell her yes and treat her just as badly as the Bastard had. He could leave her broken, but not for long since he had faith she would pull herself together and forget about him eventually. Or he could say no. The honest answer was always the hardest thing to say, wasn't it? If he said no he could keep being with her, but also keep her from living what would probably end up to be a very fulfilling life.

"No," Ginko said, realizing that there was no thinking to be done after all.

He took her silence gratefully as he scooped up his discarded shirt from the floor and offered it to her. Kingyo took the shirt from him and slipped it over her head. It came about mid-thigh on her, only acting as a reminder to Ginko of how small she was. How young she was.

"Are you leaving soon?" Kingyo asked. "You always leave around this time."

"No," he repeated. "We are getting married tomorrow, aren't we? I can't leave now."

"Wait, you were serious about that?" Kingyo asked.

"You believe the part about me thinking of you as my possession, but not wanting to marry you?" Ginko asked with a sigh.

Kingyo gave a slow nod and he brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. Ginko let out a small chuckle as he cupped her cheek with his hand and angled her face towards his.

"Kingyo, will you marry me tomorrow?" he asked.

She didn't even need a second to respond. "Of course I will."

This time she kissed him and he welcomed it happily.

"Happy birthday, Kingyo," he murmured against her lips when they parted.

"Happy birthday, Ginko," she muttered back.

Kingyo awoke the next morning feeling extremely hot. She was definitely not used to someone sleeping pressed against her for her an entire night. The funny thing was that she didn't really care.

"Good morning," Ginko breathed on to the back of her neck, his arm wrapped firmly around her.

"Good morning," Kingyo responded, enjoying the foreign way those words felt on her tongue.

Turning around, Kingyo was slightly disappointed to find that Ginko looked the same. She had never seen him on the day after before so she wasn't sure what she was expecting, but to find him lying there looking utterly ordinary was strange.

Ginko didn't waste another precious second as he kissed her and rolled her on to her back. Kingyo sunk into the thin material of her futon as she buried a hand into his silver hair, stroking the back of his scalp.

"We're getting married today," Kingyo said once she managed to pry her lips from his.

"Yeah," Ginko said absentmindedly.

"Regrets?" Kingyo asked.

"Just thinking," Ginko said, shaking his head and sitting up.

"About what?" Kingyo asked, sitting up as well and bringing her knees to her chest.

"You do know that I can't stay here with you all of the time," Ginko said, looking at her.

Kingyo nodded. "I can always go with you."

"But do you want to?" Ginko asked.

Kingyo was more than ready to respond with a fervent yes when something stopped her. Was she ready to travel all across the country to watch as Ginko helped people? She could only see the Mushi in her dreams and for some reason she only saw herself as being a complete burden to Ginko.

"I do," Kingyo said slowly. "But I'll only be a burden to you."

"Impossible," Ginko said with a shake of his head.

The topic was dropped for the remainder of the morning as they both got dressed and Kingyo made breakfast. Afterward Ginko and Kingyo headed towards the village to get married. It sounded so strange. After years of suppressed feelings they were finally doing what had all along been inevitable.

The only other person who attended the ceremony was the old woman who ran the produce stand. She truly was the only person Kingyo could trust in the village and after the ceremony she enveloped Kingyo into a warm hug.

"Congratulations," the woman said, beaming at the newlyweds.

"Thank you, Aina," Kingyo said.

To say the least the events that followed the ceremony were much more thrilling. Kingyo was surprised her cabin was still left standing after they had finally stopped "celebrating". She was once again wearing one of Ginko's shirts as they sat on the porch looking at stars with their arms wrapped around each other.

"I love you," Ginko said, his chin resting snugly on top of her head.

"I love you too," Kingyo responded.

Ginko felt slightly disgusted with himself. After all that had happened over the span of those two days the happiness was starting to wear off and the reality was beginning to sink in. He used to picture her lying broken in pools of blood and now he was having such a beautiful moment with her it almost made him sick.

He could so easily grab her arm and break it like a twig. Bash her head on the side of the porch and watch that delicious red ooze from the opening. Dig his fingernails into her neck. Knee her in the stomach and crush organs, break ribs.

"Ginko?" Kingyo asked, looking up at him with a concerned look on her face.

Looking up at the roof over the porch Ginko saw the Mushi that Kingyo always attracted. He finally understood.

"Yūgaina shikō," Ginko breathed.

"Huh?" Kingyo asked arching an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Ginko said with a shake of his head. "I just recognized a type of Mushi."

Kingyo gave a small nod, still not looking entirely convinced. Ginko was too relieved to care. The Mushi that Kingyo attracted weren't good Mushi. They were the type that made anyone who stayed with their attractor for too long insane with images of killing the attractor.

To know that his own mind hadn't conjured all of those thoughts of Kingyo was the biggest relief he had ever felt in his life. He had also saved her as well. If someone else had married Kingyo they would have been eventually driven over the edge and would have killed her within the first week.

After stargazing for a few more minutes, Ginko and Kingyo went back inside the cabin.

Ginko slid the door shut and turned around to see Kingyo already walking towards the futon. If she honestly thought she was going to get any sleep tonight she was sadly mistaken. In seconds he had walked across the room and lowered her to the wooden floor.

Her golden hair fanned around her head slightly as he bent over her. The look on her face was one of surprise, not panic or fear. Apparently she really had thought she was going to get some sleep tonight.

"You just can't cut me any slack, can you?" she asked.

He gave a small grin as he lowered his face closer to hers. "No way."

She didn't know what to expect the next day but for some reason she never expected him to not be there. Sitting up quickly, Kingyo held the blanket up to her bare chest as she looked around the lonely cabin.

Wrapping the blanket around her completely, Kingyo slid open the door to find the porch unoccupied except for a small package and a pouch of money. Her knees gave out as she sat in front of the two objects. A present and money. Just like always.

Things really hadn't changed at all.

Kingyo set the money aside and took the package in her hands. She unwrapped it quickly to find a navy blue… thing. It was some kind of piece of clothing. It was one piece with a skirt and something that vaguely resembled the shirts that Ginko wore.

Standing up, Kingyo dropped the blanket from around her and slipped the article of clothing over her head. It was more comfortable than a kimono for sure and Kingyo found the way the skirt fanned out around her every time she turned quite beautiful.

The smile that had appeared on her face soon disappeared though when she realized that Ginko had left her with no note and no goodbye. She would have to wait a year for him to come back and without a goodbye that seemed nearly impossible.

A thought then struck her. Since when did she have to wait for him to say goodbye? Why couldn't she take matters into her own hands and say goodbye to him herself?

Kingyo smiled at her sudden and seemingly genius plan as she bolted back into the cabin to slip on her sandals before darting off of the porch and into the forest. She didn't know where she was going or what direction she was heading in but for some reason she found that she knew she was getting closer to Ginko.

Running through thickets of trees she had never seen, passing ponds she never knew the existence of, and climbing up small hills that could have appeared there overnight without her knowledge, Kingyo had only one thought on her mind, and that was seeing Ginko again.

Soon she was out of the forest and in a small clearing on top of a hill. Finding her way back was the least of her worries though and Kingyo didn't have to walk a step further before seeing Ginko standing a ways away with a smile on his face.

She walked to him instead of running and when she finally reached him she had no idea what to say. So the first thing that came to her mind came tumbling out of her mouth without a second thought.

"What is this called?" Kingyo asked, tugging on her sleeve.

"A dress," Ginko said simply, an ever present cigar poking out of the side of his mouth.

"I really like it," she said. "You should bring me more next time you come."

"Of course," he nodded.

"Why didn't you say goodbye?" Kingyo asked.

"I was hoping you would for a change," Ginko shrugged, looking out into the distance.

Kingyo looked in the same direction and felt herself gasp at the vast beauty of it all. This landscape had been only minutes away from her all of this time and she had never even noticed. Looking out for miles and miles, Kingyo never felt so small in her life. Never before had she realized how small her world was.

"I can't come with you, can I?" Kingyo asked, looking back at Ginko.

"No," Ginko said with a shake of his head. "But I'll promise you something."

"What?" Kingyo asked, taking a step toward him.

"I will remain completely and utterly faithful to you," he said, taking her chin in his hand. "I'll think of you every day. I'll send you letters every day. I will come back to that cabin every single year for the same two days until the day I die."

Kingyo didn't even realize she was crying until the teardrops started to roll down her neck. Taking the cigar out of his mouth, Ginko closed the space between them with a final kiss.

"Goodbye," he said, taking his hand from her chin.

"Goodbye," she whispered.

As he began to walk away Kingyo felt that the goodbye was missing something. A promise on her part.

"I'll wait for you!" she called out.

Ginko turned around to see her standing a considerable distance away. Her hands were folded on her stomach as her golden hair tumbled in the light mid-Autumn breeze.

It was mid-Autumn when he made an everlasting promise to her, and when she did the same for him.

The End.

Thank you so much for reading this story! It honestly means the world to me. I would love to hear your feedback, so review! God bless!

- Erin aka linksofmemories