Smoke and Ashes

"She told me that your future disappeared. You just vanished, so I had to come check on you." he said, never once getting angry.

"What?" I asked mellowing out instantly. "How is that possible? What does that mean? Am I going to die?" I was really starting to freak out now.

"I don't think so. Listen, Raven said that she saw you give your blood to Kainan right before you passed out. After that she couldn't see your future. She thought you had died. That's when he called me and told me everything. I came down here as soon as I could. I really think we should go talk to her." Andy told me. All I could do was nod my head.

My mind was going at 40 MPH and before I even knew we had left my apartment, we were at Raven's house. Andy turned off the car and opened his door, and I hadn't made the gesture to move. Andy got out, went around the car, and opened my door. Still, I didn't move. He undid my seat belt and picked me up so that he could carry my inside.

"Oh thank, Inu Yasha, he's alive!" Yuuki exasperated, causing her older twin, Yuske, to look up and realize I was there.

"What is it," Andy said nodding toward the Auto. "Doing here?" Andy said angrily .

"It's ok. He's with us now." Yuuki said, moving to standing in front of him with either arm held out to the side as if protecting him from Andy's wrath.

"What?...How?" Andy asked.

"When we were escaping from Hell, the demons actually knew we were doing it and tried to stop us. Yuske here, killed them and went to Satan himself, telling him he was leaving." Yuuki replied."

"I told him that I was tired of being used for evil purposes just to be treated like I was a piece of shit beneath his hoof. I mean even some of the less powerful Autos were treated better than I. So I left on the promise that I would come back for him one day and end it all." Yuske said, speaking for the first time tonight.

"Bad ass." was all Andy said only mildly impressed.

"Can we get back to the major problem at hand?" Raven asked coming into the room through a wall.

"What's wrong with me?" I barley whispered.

"Seeing how you're alive right now, I'm not really sure. I think it would be best if you stayed here tonight so I can do some research and keep an eye on you. I-I also think it would be best if you stayed away from Kainan until we get everything worked out." Raven answered.

"Why should I stay away from him?" I asked a little agitated.

"Calm down, it's not because of the fact that I don’t like him, it's because I lost sight of you when you were with him and I don't want anything to happen to you before I even have a chance to fix this." Raven assured me.

"Oh, ok." I said looking down at the ground. "I don’t want to sleep here though. I wanna go back home and sleep in my own bed."

"You can, if Andy goes with you."

"What?!" Andy and I said in unison.

"He's the only one I trust to look after you." Raven replied a little confused about our reaction.

"What about me and my brother?" Yuuki asked walking toward where Raven, Andy and I were standing.

"The two of you have help me with research. It's either here, or with Andy." Raven tilted her head down and backed up, gesturing to the two options.

"Fine." I said giving up. I looked up at Andy as he turned his head to look at me.

I caught his eyes and found myself unable to remove my gaze from the two beautiful light blue pools. Time began to blur as stared into them deeply. I remembered the time that we first met. I thought he was totally insane, yet I let him take me to his home. I remembered how when I had my nightmare he came to my rescue. He told me everything was going to be ok as he wrapped me in his arms and fell asleep with me. The way we felt when we went hunting and I shot my first deer. He was so proud of me. Then a new image came; something I hadn't been with him during. I saw him coming into the kitchen, surprised when he saw me not there. It was the time I had been taken to Hell. I continued to watch, desperate to know the truth. I watched as he ran from room to room calling out my name, just end up back in the kitchen in front of my bandanna with tears in his eyes.

Everything that he had ever done that was bad and hurt me, was a lie, told to me by Satan. He had cared about me all this time. Even when he told me that he loved me. Even if he only said it because he was in the heat of the moment, there must have been some truth behind it.

Andy reached down taking hold of my hand. He started to bend down with his eyes partially closed.

I wanted to tilt my head up so that our lip would connect, and I almost did, but before I could, Andy turned and walked away.

"Are you coming?" he called over his shoulder when he saw that I hadn't moved.