Kon'wa! I know the last chapter was dark, but 
this chapter will be a little happier. ^_~ I hope that
you all enjoyed this, and for those of you who didn't 
know, it is in the early 1900's. 

Standard Disclaimer Applies

Forest Walker
Chapter Ten
<jupiterlightning@yahoo.com>

	Mamoru leaned aganist a tree, depressed. Usagi
had been gone for so long. He hadn't seen her since that
one brief second when he held her in his arms, before
she had been ripped away to a fate unknown. He wished
she was here with him now. It was impossible, though. She
was far away from him now. He would never see her again.
He wondered if there was someway at all that she could be
with him again. He checked the edges of the forest, his
eyes narrowing as he came across a figure huddling in the
trees. His heart sped up. Could it be Usa, come back to
him? He walked closer, and realized that it wasn't her,
that it was another small girl, scared and alone. He
gently cleared the path for her, so that she could find
her own way out. He wished more than ever that Usagi was
by his side. He made one more rounds of the outer edge of
the forest, and then he nearly collapsed when he saw a
broken, bruised body lying on the ground before him, just
barely in the edge of the forest. It was his Usagi, and
she was hurt bad.

	He didn't want to pick her up in his arms, lest
she be injured in more ways he could see. He bit his lip.
She needed medical attention, but he knew if he brought 
her anywhere near a hospital, they'd lock her up again, 
and she would never be able to escape. Looking at her 
now, it seemed that the price of escape had been high for
her already. He didn't want to harm her...but he didn't
want to lose her. He did the only thing he could do. He
threw the consequences to the winds, and carried her
gently in his arms, not jarring her already injured body.
He quickly slipped in *his* time, his lifestyle, where
the house was. The house no longer existed in Usagi's time.
The people from the school had tore it down. No one was
allowed near the forest. That was why he got the child
out as soon as possible. He didn't want anything to 
happen to her. 
	Usagi never moved in his arms. Never woke up, and
Mamoru feared for the worse. He wished he could go faster
to his home, but he didn't want to risk her. If anything
had happened to her, he would blame only himself. He 
already blamed himself for what had happened to her. She
never would have been in that situation if it had not 
been for him. He cursed himself a thousand times over a
fool for what he did to this sweet, innocent girl that 
had been so full of life, and now was reduced to a broken
child who would never wake up.
	Finally, he broke for camp for the night. He set
Usagi carefully on the ground, stroking her hair. He
hardly even recognized his love through the mass of bruises
on her face. He still loved her though, and vowed that
she would become whole once again, in body and spirit. 
She couldn't die like this, in utter pain. He watched 
over her the entire night, but she never even moved in 
her sleep, and Mamoru feared that she *would* die this 
way, never seeing his face again, never knowing she had
made it safely to the forest, to his arms. How she might
think that she was still trapped within the fortress 
walls of the hosptial with no escape. He prayed that she
would at least wake up one last time to see his eyes
focused on her, so she could hear him whisper to her how
much he loved her. 

	After several days of traveling, Mamoru felt 
Usagi stir in his arms, and his heart lightened. She 
frowned though when she opened her eyes, and they focused
somewhere beyond him. Then there was fright in them. 
	"Mamoru? Mamoru? Why is it so dark?" Usagi 
asked. If Mamoru had a heart at that time, it would have
stopped beating at Usagi's question. Oh...no...she...
couldn't be....
	Mamoru smiled. Not that it would do any good, but
perhaps she would be able to hear the confidence in his
voice that everything was going to be okay. He didn't 
know how though. He couldn't tell what was going to happen
to her. Gods...he wanted her awake, but he never wanted
her blind! 
	She smiled up at him, even though her eyes were
blank. "I love you more than anything, Mamoru. Any pain
that I endured in that hospital was worth it." Mamoru 
could only stare at her. Why was she saying this now? He
didn't understand. They had plenty of time together. 
PLENTY! He ran his hands through her hair one more time,
trying to reassure her that it was all going to be okay,
that she was going to live, and to be with him. She closed
her eyes and her breathing slowed, until it stopped 
completly. 
	It took a few moments for Mamoru to realize that
she had stopped. That the beautiful soul that had been 
in Usagi's body had finally fled. His eyes teared up, and
his heart felt like it was being pulled apart. His love.
They were meant to be together. It wasn't right. It wasn't
supposed to be this way...He held her body closer to him,
trying in some futile way to bring her back. To have her
spirit come to him, comforting him. He was alone, though.
He would always be alone from this day forth. Even though
she ws so longer in danger, he still held her body as if
she was a fragile bird, liable to break. He carried her
to his home, to where his family's graveyard was. Even
though he hated to do it. He didn't want to lay his angel
in the cold ground, where her beauty would be lost to him.
He felt it was fitting, though, that he buried her with
his family, for he loved her like his family, loved her
as much, and that brief moment that she had seen them, 
she had shown compassion for what had happened to them.
	He could only put up a simple marker, to signify
where she laid, but it was enough for him. This simple
burial. It was strange...a ghost having a funeral for a
person he loved. What was he even doing around anymore? 
He never even got to tell Usagi that important detail 
about his past. About...Unmei.
	

	Mamoru leaned up agsnist the tree that his love
was buried near, and began to talk. To tell her of what
happened to him, and to his family to bring down their
death. 
	"It had begun with a small girl named Unmei, 
who's family was outcasted....they were from the wrong 
part of the world, they led the wrong types of lives and 
the people didn't like that. They harrassed them wherever
they went. I was one of the few who didn't judge her 
family. They were hard-working. They planted their 
garden, and milked the cows. They weren't so different
from us, except that people said their beliefs were wrong.
Unmei's family came from a line of gypsy stock." Mamoru
smiled briefly as he remembered the light=hearted girl
who was called Unmei...destiny. 
	"One day came that their house was going to be
invaded...ransacked and burned to the ground to get rid
of these intruders on their sacred land. Our family knew
of this, and we warned Unemi's family in time, giving 
them that chance to escape. They did so, but now our lives
were in peril. We now became the outcasts. Many things
were said aganist our family. That we lived in the woods
only to go to our "master". Nothing we said or did could
change their minds. They were truly set aganist us, and
eventually the raid that had been planned for Unmei's
family was set upon our own home."
	Mamoru was silent once more. He touched the 
small marker gently, as if it was Usagi in front of him, 
and went inside his home to mourn. He didn't see the true
reason to stay around anymore, except to watch over the 
graves of his family and love. 

	It has been several weeks when he heard a knock
on his door. He was startled. How could anyone knock on
the door? It simply didn't exsist out of his world. His
heart began to fill with hope. Could it be Usagi? He 
wondered. He hoped it was so. He ran for the door, and
was met by a familiar presence. 
	It was Unmei, and she had someone by the hand. 
Mamoru's eyes widened in shock. It couldn't be! Usagi...
and Unmei? How did Unmei ever meet Usagi? And his Usagi..
his beloved...was here with him. He reached out and hugged
them both tightly, too happy to speak almost. 
	"Unmei...how is it that you are here?" Mamoru 
asked. Unmei smiled and gestured towards the happily 
smiling Usagi. "I had to bring her to you, Mamoru. She
was so lost...I brought her back to you." Mamoru hugged
Unmei once more, and smiled at her. "I cannot stay, 
Mamoru. I need to get back to my duties. But I wish you
and Usagi much happiness." With that, she vanished back
into whatever space she had come out of, and he faced
his love.

	Here is the real ending for chapter ten. Gomen 
ne. I had to revise it a little and write some more. I 
hope that you enjoy. 

laz