It was nearly midnight in the diner. A young girl with a flowerd face sat alone in a back booth, sipping at a glass of water. She couldn't eat, and she couldn't drink anything else, but she just wanted to be... Be here right now. She wanted to just... Just watch as things seemed normal.

There were only three others in the diner. A trucker of sorts sitting at the front counter, and a couple across the way who seemed to be enjoying their conversation too much to notice the young girl.

Four... Four months she had been away from this city... From Keiran. From her brother and everything she ever loved.

She had been tracking her brother, trying to find him wherever he was... But when he realized what she was doing Asku had shut their mental link... He had cut her off from him completely and... And it was as if she were missing half of herself. Like she wasn't whole anymore, like a deep and strong part of her had died.

He told her to go back to their appartment, that he would return when the time was right... But he told her to wait and... And she never disobeyed him. Never.

She would wait until the end of time for him really... But... But what would she do in the mean time? Should she... Should she just sleep again? Should she just go to sleep and wait for him to come back? No. He had told her not to her. He had told her to live and be happy. But... But how could she be? Keiran... He... He wouldn't have waited for her. Why would he? He said he loved her, but he was a guy. What was he going to do, just wait for her... No, he knew that she would have wanted him to be happy without her. He would have found someone who made him happy like he should...

A tear fell into her glass, a crimson swirl dropping into the water. Why... Why had she come back?

Kieran had searched long and wide for Kanti, but she was gone. Almost like she had never existed. the only proof of that was the hole that was now in his heart. He missed her and even flirting with other women didn't cheer him up. So he spent most of the time doing absolutely nothing besides feeding and trying to stay busy or trying to forget her. He would forget for a bit and then once he wasn't busy, it would all come rushing back to him. He missed her so much.

He had opted to leave the apartment this one night, perhaps something that would make him forget her for a bit. The idea hit him like a hammer. Alcohol. Perhaps he could forget her for at least the rest of tonight. Why could he not forget her? He had forgotten other women before, but then this was different. She was very special and different to him, a somewhat female version of him, young like him and innocent.

His eyes caught sight of Mel's diner and he walked in with a decidedly important gait. As soon as he stepped in, he froze, his nostrils flaring. His eyes caught sight of Kanti. "Kanti?" He approached her tentatively, in case he was mistaken.

All of a sudden her heart began to ache. A pain that... A pain that she knew well... Something that was missing was... Was back?

Asku? No... It wasn't him.

As the door jangled open she caught his scent. "Kieran..." She whispered as she saw his face as he stepped in.

Her blue eyes never left him as he started walking towards her. Why... how had he found her? She... She hadn't wanted to see him just yet but...

"Yes..." She said quietly as her head tilted down so he wouldn't see the tear streak, her ebony hair hiding the flowered face. "It's me Keiran... I... I'm back now. I... I'm sorry for leaving. But I.. I had to Keiran." She said quietly. "I had to try to find him... I don't know if you understand, but I had to. He's my only family, the only one I have left."

That wasn't exactly true, but it had been what she felt when she had left. It was how she had justified it. "I... I understand if you're mad at me... If... If you never want to see me again."

Kieran brought a chair closer to her and sat down next to her. He gently brushed the hair away from her face. "How can you say that he's the only one left? I'm here too or did I not matter that much to you?" He shook his head it was not the time to get mad at her, she had left, she had been hurting.

"Don't look away from me. I love you and I would never leave you, the fact that you would think that, hurts." He had waited, been faithful and had never forgotten how beautiful she was. "You are the only thing that matters to me, you are my angel, you brighten my day."

"I wish you had told me when you left. At least i would have been ready for it." He wished for many things, yet he never got any of it, but was this truly too much to ask. He hadn't thought that it was. Over and over he went over what he had done wrong, if he had pushed her away what had done so. "I missed you."

"He is my blood... He is my brother and my sire Kieran... Our connection was deeper, more intimate than you and I have known... He is all that is left of my family, my past Kieran. I cannot forget my past, my life before you woke me." Kanti said firmly, trying to explain her actions.

He should have not woken her, he shouldn't have disturbed her. It was because of Kieran's love that Asku had thought it okay to leave her.

"Kieran... I couldn't stop myself... When I woke up and he was gone... Was really gone I couldn't think. I didn't even know where I was Kieran. I was like a child, waking up to find that her parents were gone. That had waken up on the streets surrounded by scary noises and dark shadows."

She had been so scared, as if a nightmare had come to life, had taken over her waking moments.

"I... I don't know how I can explain it." Her eyes flicked up at him for a moment, but then looked back down. "I... I missed you too though..." Kanti whispered softly. She had missed him, truly but she hadn't noticed it. Asku had though. Asku knew that she needed to be back in the city... So he had ordered her to go back.

"I guess I understand why he told me to some back. I know why he wanted me to stay..."

kieran frowned. "You say that like i don't know it, but I do. I know that what your brother and you share is special and unusual. You are together, almost one and I envy that." He sighed and brushed the loose strands of hair out of his face. "When I first realized that you were gone, I though that you needed a few days to yourself, but as days passed by, I slowly understood that you were gone from the city. I spent every night looking for you and wondering where you were, hoping that some night i would find you again."

A part of him was hurt that Kanti left without saying anything, at least if he had known he wouldn't have worried so much. The stress of the last few months had left him ragged and exhausted. He hadn't slept well, usually exhaustion made him sleep. He hadn't cried, but depression had taken over. The only thought that had kept him going was that maybe she would come back.

She was back, but something had changed. He still loved her, but her leaving had created a chasm between them.

"Keiran... I'm sorry... I am. I wan't thinking. I didn't even know what I was doing when I left." She pleaded with him, looking up with blue eyes filled with sorrow. "I just had to... If there was a way I could stop him, I had to Kieran..."

If he had been so hurt by her leaving, then he would know a little of the pain she felt. It was as if someone litteraly ripped out half of her and tore it away. It was as if her past, her history and her life was being taken from her.

"We're the last ones of our tribe. We are the last of our people... He has done so much for me... I felt so lost without him Kieran... I didn't know what to do. I'm so sorry..."

The way he spoke... The way he hadn't even bothered to touch her or anything... It worried her terribly. Was he mad at her? Had he found someone new and got over her? Kanti swallowed hard.

"Please Kieran... Please forgive me I never ever meant to hurt you. I would never want to do that."

Kieran knew that she was trying to apologize but something in him wanted her to prove herself to him. She had hurt him and it was something that he had always feared. If you love someone you left yourself open to pain. You trust the person so much that when they leave you feel as if part of you was missing.

When she had left, Kieran had lost part of his heart. He had been depressed and a part of him had considered suicide. All he had to do was lie somewhere outside and he would combust as the sun rose. "I almost committed suicide." He said it softly. He wanted to forgive her, but what would happen if she left again? What would happen to his heart? He knew that if she left, he would stand in the sun. It was too painful to continue living, especially when he had no idea as to where she was or when she was going to come back.

"I didn't want that! Never Keiran!" Kanti choked out as crimson tears began to well up in her eyes.

He hated her... He hated her for what she had done to him. He hadn't forgiven her and he didn't love her anymore.

If only... If only they had never met... If only he hadn't tried to wake her up... Fallen so quickly for her. She hadn't wanted any of this. None of it. "Kieran... I... I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to still want me back... I don't know why I thought you would." She murmured as tears began to fall. She stood and ran off to the bathroom of the diner so no one, not even Kieran would see all her tears.

Kanti had wanted somone to love her as a woman dispite she looked like a child. And now she had found someone...

Locking herself in the one stall women's bathroom she let her tears fall freely though still silently.

Kieran watched her and despite the fact that he wanted her to pay to some extent, she didn't deserve it. She had gone through enough pain, it was true and he shouldn't be causing her more.

His eyes followed her as she went to the bathroom and he got up to follow her. He knew that she was crying, he could smell the blood. He felt like a monster. He shadow-walked in and could hear her sobbing. "Kanti please come out. We can't work this out, if you hide."

He was trying to find words that were appropriate to coax her to him. He didn't want to corner her, that would do nothing. He held one hand out to her. For the words, he knew exactly what to say, his heart spoke them to him and he repeated them. "I forgive you Kanti, I will always forgive you."

Her body was shaking with her silent sobs as sheburried her head in her hands. She wanted to believe that he forgave her... But... "I don't deserve it Kieran... I whould not have left. I shouldn't have. And that doesn't change what I did. I love you Kieran... I shouldn't have hurt you like that, I should have never thought that you wouldn't mind if I left, that you would forgive me...."

She shook her head as a tear fell.

"I can't even forgive myself." Keiran was her husband in all but ceremony. Asku had given her to him to be cared for, to love and to live with. Keiran was her husband and she had dishonored him greatly.

Sliding from the toilet she knelt before him, letting the tears fall and placed her forhead at his feet. "What I did is unexcuseable... I disobeyed and shamed you with my actions." She whispered. "I beg to attone for these wrongs in any way I can. Any way you see fit to punish me."

Kieran shook his head. "Nonsense." He knelt across from her and looked straight into her eyes. "You are the woman that i love and nothing will change that, it's because that i love you that I forgive you." That came from his heart and he meant it with total honesty.

"You are your own woman, you can do what you want and go where ever, I simply would like you to tell me, that way I don't have to worry." HE shook his head again. "You said yourself that were like a child and that you were scared and lost. I can't blame you for that, you miss him and that's perfectly normal."

He reached out and gently brush her tears away from her face. "Please stop crying, I hate to see you cry." His voice was soft and he continued to brush her tears away, caressing her cheek in the same movement.

"But I'm not a child Kieran... I have no right to act like one. I am a woman, not a girl... I should know where my duties and my responsibility lie." She said sincerly, moving her eyes away from his. "They are with you now... As my husband in all but words, I am responsible to you. I should not have fogoten that and run off the way I had Kieran. I was foolish to do that and deserve any punishment that you see fit. I will take it gladly Kieran." She said as she looked back up at him, streaks of blood on her face from her tears.

"I will take it knowing that you do it out of love. I am to blame... My childish ways have hurt you terribly... I should never have done the things I did, and I wish to make ammends. Please Kieran." She bowed before him again.

She had caused him such pain... Kanti could hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes. She knew that she had to be punished for the pain she had delt him, him who she loved so dearly. She wanted to be punished as it was only fair. Asku would punish her for her wrongs, even beat her on occasions. But it was always out of love, always to help her to understand her foolishness.

Kieran sighed as an idea came to mind. She wanted to be punished fine, he had an idea as to what to do. He didn't want to put her through this, but she was insistent. Then he would have to do what he thought best.

"Fine. I shall punish you." He paused and looked at her. "You will not leave my sight. EVery thing you want to do you run by me, once I thought that you have done enough, then I shall release you, but not before I deem that is has been long enough." He hesitated and added to it. "You will also do everything I say." He wasn't going to force her into anything that would be unpleasant, he loved her, but there was no way that she was going to leave him.

Kanti nodded as Kieran told her her punishment.

"Yes... I understand Kieran..." She whispered as she sat back up, her eyes still adverted from his face. "I will abide by your demands, I will do whatever you ask of me." She agreed.

Whatever she had to do to earn his love, his trust and his forgiveness.

"You have my promise Kieran. I will not leave your sight... I will not leave your side."

Kieran watched her and knew that she would do whatever he wished. She had agreed to it and he would make sure that she kept her word. He held out a hand to her. "Come here, we're going home." Obviously home was his place and from now on that was what it was going to be.

They were going to go home and they were going to take it slow. He would make sure that she followed every rule. He would allow her to hunt and would go with her. She needed to understand that her actions could hurt more people than she thought and she had to start being aware of this.

"Yes Kieran..." She said softly as she took his hand.

Kanti thought it was a bit unfair that she had to be with him every moment of the night... And what if he told her to stay behind just to test her, what should she do? Should she stay with him because she promised that first? Or because he added the following his orders it was more important...

And what about when he went hunting? She didn't hunt, she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to hurt another person... So...

They were going to his appartment, that much was clear... "There are things I need to collect... Things in Asku's old appartment... And my cave. I need to get them sooner or later." She said quietly. The furs, her clothing and her computer and camera equipment. Other things as well.

"Is that okay..."

Kieran was perhaps being a little unfair but she had asked to be punished, so he was abiding her request. "Do you need your things now or can you wait until tomorrow?" He had had enough excitement for one night and he simply wanted to go to his place and lay down, maybe that would stop him from thinking for awhile.

He didn't know she wanted from him, she wanted to be punished so he had done so. He didn't want to get physical. He didn't like hurting her, but she had insisted. What was he supposed to do, but do as she asked? "Are you going to make this difficult? If you are I'd rather take the punishment back. This wasn't my decision and you know it." He continued on his way to the apartment.

"No, I won't make it difficult. Why would I? I... I just need some time to get used to... Seeing you again. It's hard... Knowing the pain I caused you. It makes my heart hurt to even look at you now.

"I just want your forgiveness Kieran..." She said softly looking up at him. "And I know you could simply give it to me, but it wouldn't seem right. Not after all I've done to you and after all you've done for me." She said explaining.

"You woke me from what would have been an eternity of sleep. You took me in... Came to me when I had run away from you the first time... You were the first person to treat me as a woman... Not a child. And all I've done is hurt you. I deserve nothing you give me Kieran." She said with a smile up at him.

Kieran let out a sigh and opened the door to his building. He nodded to the concierge and pulled Kanti in after him, right into the elevator. He didn't want to think anymore, he simply wanted to lay down on his bed and close his eyes.

"Whatever you say Kanti." He then hesitated and turned to look at her as the elevator went up. "There is no other way that you could be. To me you are a woman, I don't see the girl." He caressed her cheek lightly. "You are the most beautiful woman in the world, I wouldn't want to be with anybody else."

She stood sliently as he spoke, praising her for qualities only he could see.

Jason... He had thought her a child... He might have bedded her... But that was the only time he thought of her as a woman... And only because he couldn't bed a child... He had said so... Jason had left her because she was a child in his eyes.

Her own brother treated her like a child.

Chi... She did at first... But when she saw the pain Jason's betrayal had cause her, Chi learned the truth... Chi... She missed the woman a great deal.

"Kieran... My blanket. The one with the wolves on it. Is it still in your appartment? I. I have missed it terribly and it would help to sooth me greatly." She asked hopefully, looking up as he stroked her face.

She wasn't responding to his praises not to be rude, but to spare them both a pointless argument.

Kieran knew that she would never agree with him praising her qualities but it didn't quite matter, not right now. The elevator doors opened and he brought her to his apartment. He opened the door to his apartment and brought her in, directly to his couch and grabbed the blanket on the back. "Here you go." He watched her cautiously. "Are you ok, you seem off."

He wanted her to be happy and he didn't like seeing her unhappy. It made him uncertain.

"Ah! It is here!" She said with a bright smile, cheering up greatly as she clutched the blanket to her, nuzzling the soft fabric.

Kanti looked up though as she heard Kieran's voice. "Of course." She nodded. "It just feels odd being back really..." She looked down again. "It feels like I'm admitting Asku will never return. But otherwise I'm okay Kieran. I promise." She looked up at the last with a smile. It had a slight pain to it, but it was a smile.

The blanket though did raise her spirits and it felt good to have something so comforting and familliar with her. Right now one thing she wanted to do was simply cuddle with Kieran, to let herself know him again, to remember what she left.

Kieran smiled, she was smiling and that was great. It made him feel better to remember what it had been like when they were together. He wrapped an arm around her. "Come on, let's sit down." He brought her to the couch and tugged her to him, onto the couch.

He held her close and spread the blanket around both of them. "Let's simply relax ok, I'm sure that everything will be fine." He wrapped his arms around her too and kept her close, his chin on the top of her head.

Yeah it was what she wanted to do... But... As Kieran pulled her suddenly to him she stiffened, as if she were unsure what she should... Well, what she should do.

Making herself relax a hair of a second after it had happened was the first step. It was simply... It was just that... That it was hard to get used to something that you expected from another person that was suddenly coming from a different person all together.

"Keiran... Do you mind if I lay my head on your lap?" She asked hesitantly, unsure if he would like that or not.

Kieran felt her stiffen, but she soon relaxed. He simply wanted to hold her and never let go. He gently held her, his eyes half closed, he could never not love her. She was the woman for him and that was the only thing that truly mattered to them.

He opened his arms to release her. "Sure I don't mind." If she wanted to lay on his lap, he would be happy to stroke her hair and help her relax. He shifted the blanket to let her lay down while still covering her. He didn't mind, as long as she was happy.

Smiling as Kieran agreed and loosened his hold on her she shifted slightly, laying down on the couch, her head in his lap.

"I... I miss him so much Kieran..." She murmured. "All my life he's been with me... Been with me through the... The hardest times. When my father died... When I was growing up and the others looked at us so strangely because he would not make me marry." Kanti sighed. "I never wanted to because... Because I knew I would lose him. I knew he would go away... And I was so afraid I would never see him again."

That was why she had never wanted to fall in love. Never wanted to find a man who could make her happy. She wanted to be with him forever... She hadn't wanted anything to change... Why... Why did it have to change?

Kieran gently brushed her hair back and listened to her. He was careful not to do anything that would pull or tug at her hair as he gently brushed her hair away. He loved to do this, simply pass his hand through her hair for ever, it would soothe her and seemed to soothe him down too.

He listened and felt a little hurt. Was he not there to take care of her and to make sure that she needed nothing? Was she trying to make suffer more then he already had? She had already hurt him deeply and she seemed to push him further down. He took a deep breath to soothe the pain. "You have to look to the future and as much as you can't forget the past, you have to move on."

Move forward, yes. She did need to do that. Kanti knew she needed to, he didn't have to tell her that.

"It... It's hard for me Kieran... For three hundred years I was living in a fantasy that hadn't ever changed... That hadn't been threatened. I've been a child all my life, never really having to grow up. It will take time Kieran... It will. I wish I could just forget and move on as easy as it sounds, but it's not Kieran." She said as she turned to look up at him with a soft frown.

"I don't mean to hurt you... Never. But you have to understand. Understand that I'm still a child trying so hard to grow up quickly." That was the thing she realized when she had been chasing after Asku. She had realized that her whole life she had only been a child, spoiled by a never ending fantasy.

Kanti knew she had to grow out of it, and she was trying in earnest, trying for him.

Kieran sighed, he understood he supposed, it would have been hard for her to grow up. Perhaps he should blame Asku from stopping her from growing up. Vampires learned to be self-sufficient, yet Asku hadn't let her do that. He had always taken care of her, like she was a child, but she wasn't and that was what Asku had over-looked. He had to some extent stunted her growth.

"Did you think that this isn't hard for me? To know that I'll be always second in your heart? To know that no matter how much I try, I'll be pushed aside if Asku asks you to go to him. How do you think that makes me feel?" Despite the pain in his voice, his hand was gentle and never hurt her.

"No, No Keiran... Not at all... But... Kieran... He left because he knows that I will love you like I love him... I think he left to even give you a chance. If he had been here Kieran no. You would never be my first love. But with him gone... He has made it so that there is only you in my life... That you are the only one I can turn to for love. He left because he wants us to have a chance."

Didn't he understand that? Well, it was really just speculation on her part, but it seemed to fit. "I don't... I don't want to hurt you Kieran. I never did. You have to know that. And remember that... Please."

Kieran looked at her. "You said it yourself, in a roundabout way that I will be second, that no matter how hard I would try, I would never be first, unless he left. How do you think that makes me feel? If he comes back, it was like he never left. You will look back at him and leave me behind, i know that."

So Asku had left to give him a chance. So there wouldn't have been a chance if he hadn't left? That was simply bloody wonderful. So he ended up being second rate despite of it and despite of everything he had a feeling that he would never hold the first place in her heart, even if he was the only one around. He gave a soft sigh and continued to run his fingers through her hair. It was difficult for him to simply accept it, he didn't usually simply accept things.

Didn't he understand? Didn't he understand anything she was saying?

With a sigh of exasperation She sat up and moved to the other end of the couch, pulling the blanket around her tightly. He was being stubborn. Stubborn and deaf. She wanted to love him, she wanted him to be the one in her life. But in order for that to happen she would have to forget Asku. She would have to see that Kieran was indeed better for her.

"I'm not going to argue with you Kieran. I didn't mean it that way and I don't know why you think I did." She said simply, closing her eyes as she lay her head on the arm of the couch.

"I didn't have to come back though... I didn't have to stop looking for him. I could have chosen death... I could have kept searching. But I came back to you Kieran. Just think of that." She said before falling silent, her eyes opening to stare straight ahead.

Kieran was being a little stubborn and was closing himself off to what she was saying, but in the same moment he was hurting, which made it that much harder for him to understand. He had waited so long to find someone that understood him, only to have the said person run off. Was he suppose to be understanding? He had almost committed suicide over it. Did she not get that?

He gave a sigh. "I'm hurting Kanti. When I hurt, it makes it harder for me to understand. I'm trying, really but I'm having trouble even when I'm trying." He didn't want to push her, or make her feel like she was in a corner. He gave her space, despite the fact that he wanted to hug her and hold her. "I'm sorry for what I said. I said it in anger and in pain, I should have been able to control my temper."

"If that's the case Kieran... Then we shouldn't try to talk through anything yet..." She said simply as she curled into the corner of the couch, clutching the blanket to her.

"Sorry doesn't make things better Kieran. It didn't make my leaving any better did it? No... Sorry doesn't help anything." Besides, she was sure he meant was he said, and she understood why he said it and the way he said it. Kanti knew full well that he was upset with her. And though she understood that, he too should try to be understanding. It wasn't like she knew what she was doing that night...

She could only remember... Waking up... And... And she couldn't feel Asku. She couldn't feel him, only a cool and unfamiliar body around her. Asku hadn't been there. She had torn wildly through the apartment looking for him, screaming his name over and over again in the night, but never hearing his voice in return.

She had torn out of the house in only her dear skin leggings and the t-shirt she had been sleeping in. She had began to run towards the direction she felt him and hadn't stopped till morning.

"Kieran.... When I woke up... And... And I couldn't feel Asku. I panicked. It was something so overwhelming, something I hadn't ever felt before and I was terrified. I didn't know what to do, it was like something just took over my whole being... I couldn't think of anything else... But to find him. I couldn't help it."

Kieran sighed. She was right, perhaps she should be punishing him, but having her stay away from him, was punishment enough. He wanted to reach out and pull her to him, but he didn't want her to resent him. Their relationship was already under strain and he didn't want to make it worse. "You're right and I'm an idiot." He was and despite his usual control and happiness, all he could see and feel now was a spiral that led to darkness.

He propped his elbows on his knees and rubbed his face with his hands to then simply press the palm of his hands to his eyes. He was terrified, so terrified of losing her again and simply being left alone again, he didn't know if he could deal with it again.

He could have brought up the fact that she knew that Asku was going to leave, yet it seemed pointless now, he didn't want to push her further away. He kept his head bowed, though his arms wanted to reach out and wrap themselves around her and drag her close. He craved her and never wanted to let her go, perhaps he should leave and go for a hunt, it would make him feel better and perhaps he would be able to relax a bit, yet he didn't want to leave. It seemed that he couldn't make a decision anymore.

"I never said that..." Kanti said softly. "I never said you were an idiot. You're just like most men... Emotionally constipated as I've heard others say. You try not to let your feelings show and you just bottle them up until they all come out at once. Maybe I shouldn't have come back... Hating me would give you a reason to live... And a lot less problems too."

She looked over at him for a moment. "Why didn't you try to stop me from leaving? Didn't you even try to look for me?" Had he tried to stop her from leaving? She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember much but desperation, hunger and grief those long nights searching for her brother.

He said he was planing on leaving... But for good? So far away? Not wanting her to even know where he was?

"I can't remember that night very well other than what I told you... Did... Did you try to stop me?"

Kieran frowned as he thought the night over, his mind playing back. "I did try to stop you." He remembered that much, but there was something else. "You kept saying you had to leave and the more I tried to hold you back, the more desperate you became. I didn't know what to do to soothe you and I wanted too so much. There was nothing i could do, so I let you go. At the time I had thought that you would be gone for a few days maybe a week at most and you would feel better, but then you didn't come back."

He lifted his head to her and his eyes for the first time showed the pain he had felt. "I searched for you, high and low. I must have searched the city at least three times before realizing that you weren't here. It was at that moment that I first considered suicide, but something stopped me from going through with it. I think that the hope that you would eventually return was stronger that my desire to die."

He scooted over, closer to her simply so he could brush her cheek with his fingers. He resented to comment that he was emotionally constipated, but he brushed it off. She saw the way he reacted, she knew whether he had problems with his emotions or not. "Therein lies the problem, I wouldn't hate. I would have died in despair thinking that I had hurt you in some way. I would have blamed myself for pushing you away, without even thinking that perhaps it wasn't my fault."

"Now you are being an idiot Kieran..." Kanti murmured as she let a slight smile tug at the corner of her lips. "You should have know that it wasn't your fault... Not that night. I was simply hysterical... A child who woke to find her family was missing." She shook her head as the smile faded. "It wasn't your fault." No... It was Asku's. He shouldn't have left. He shouldn't have disappeared like that, not even telling her where he was going. He should have known she was going to panic.

"I was afraid Kieran... Never in my life had I been afraid before that night. Before, I always had my brother or my father with me. I felt safe. And then all of a sudden, the security I've known all my life was pulled away so sharply." She gave a slight sigh. "Not that I mean I don't feel safe with you, but I don't know... Three hundred years as opposed to three weeks of knowing someone... It wasn't the same Kieran."

"Your fingers are cold though... Have you fed tonight?" She asked with concern even though her eyes only flicked up to him for a moment.

Kieran raised an eyebrow at that. "How was I supposed to know? You simply kept repeating that you had to go, without telling me why or where. I didn't understand what had made you so frightened and desperate. It worried me, because I love you. I decided to let you go, thinking that a little time on your own might help you." It was what he had thought, he wasn't a telepath, simply an empath. So he felt emotions, but didn't understand what the emotions were there for.

Kieran let a soft smile grace his lips. "I understand that, I simply wish that I had known. I'm not your keeper, you were gone for so long, I was afraid that you would be gone for good. I never met anyone like you and I doubt that I ever will."

Kieran shook his head. "I haven't fed, I simply fed enough to stay alive, so i could look for you. The last time I would have fed would have been last night and not very much at that. It isn't a wonder that I feel cold." Food had been his second priority, behind looking for Kanti. He fed when he was hungry at that was it.