• Chapter Nine: A Blossoming Love
    Lola wakes up on Kino’s back, in human form. She is wrapped around his neck, her head craning to see his face from the side. His arms’ supporting her underneath her legs and his stride is long yet his walk is smooth. Lola begins to blush do to how close they are, how they are together. She feels oddly warm, but it feels nice.
    “I see you’re awake. I hope you don’t mind, I thought that we should be getting back, you slept through the night and they would be wondering where we were.” The word that Kino spoke that remains in Lola’s ears is the simple term of ‘we’. After she realizes that its morning she begins to think of what has happened the night before. Finding no recollection she begins to worry of the possibilities.
    “Um, uh… what uh…”
    “Oh you fell asleep, of course not until after crying into my shirt. This by the way is now very dirty. But don’t worry; there are no hard feelings here.” Kino begins to laugh, Lola then glances and notices that he has no shirt on, explaining why she is so warm; this further causes her to blush. Her face is a cherry red by this point.
    “Well uh, is that all? Or um, did uh…” Lola stops talking, and begins to try and hide her face to the side, but that doesn’t work and only brings her further into his view. Revealing her ever so red face; her eyes begin to drift to his chest, his very bare chest. He is very fit for a young man; a six pack is displayed to the world at this moment. She then notices he is staring at her, staring with such intensity it almost brings her eyes completely away from his chest.
    “Yes, that’s all. Although I did watch you while you slept. I couldn’t sleep, I was afraid you might wake up. I didn’t want to leave you awake in the middle of the night by yourself. I actually started walking just a while ago, you’re surprisingly light. Are you sure you’ve been eating lately?”
    It takes Lola a moment to respond but manages to make a sound. “Oh I uh, I’ve been working a little harder than usual, I’ve probably worked the weight off but, well maybe it’s not just me.” Lola moves her eyes back to his chest, unable to look at his face by fear that she would be lost once more.
    “Well I have been working double shifts with hunting. Most everyone is out protecting the boundary lines.” He begins to laugh a bit, confusing Lola. Stupidly she looks at his face being puzzled, only to see that his face is very sad. She cranes her neck around so as to get a better look at his face, but only throws him off balance. They both fall, but he makes sure to catch Lola before she hits the ground.
    They lie facing each other, Lola on top of Kino, staring at each other. Lola quickly scrambles to another position, now sitting on Kino. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean too… I’m sorry.” Lola turns around so she isn’t facing him. “I didn’t mean too… I was only…”
    “It’s okay, I know you didn’t do it on purpose, no harm no fowl right? But uh, it would be nice if you could get off of me, it’s a little hard to breathe with you sitting on me.” Lola begins to stand and helps Kino up, they stand face to face. Even though he is about an inch or two taller than Lola, their faces are almost exactly level with each other. “Uh, um… you’re really pretty.”
    “You’re really pretty too.” Lola looks down as she speaks, but Kino puts his hand under her chin and lifts her face. They look into each others eyes, as if searching for something that’s wrong. Finding nothing, Kino kisses Lola, one hand on her chin and the other around her waist. Her arms grab hold around his neck, pulling closer to him.