I gazed up at him, the perfect mixture of sultry and cold and distant. My tail stopped it's waving as he spoke, and the despair and hurt in his words nearly shattered my guise on the spot. Somehow, amazingly, I held it together- I swallowed past the lump in my throat and blinked my eyes. "Maybe up to the mountain peak, I'm a little too late to watch the sun set, though." I said with the same briskness as I had had before, my dark eyes holding no hint of their familiar warmness. Perhaps I was being a bit childish with this whole thing, but his words had really shaken me to my core. It had... hurt, like an injury would, but it couldn't be fixed with any herb.

I tilted my head slightly as he stepped forwards, and my eyes ran the length of his body almost involuntarily. With his gaze on me again I could almost melt, and especially right now, I hated the effect that those two-toned eyes had on me. I was ready to refuse his offer, to lie and say I'd rather be alone, but I wasn't given the chance.

My gaze widened slightly at the apology and I opened my mouth, but it seemed that my soul wasn't going to let me get a word in edgewise. I felt... strangely light, like I could just float away on the breeze, and my heart was pounding in my chest. I swallowed thickly as he finished. There was certainly no fear in my eyes now, they were simply searching, flicking back and forth between Hollow's dual-colored eyes, watery and misty with almost-tears. I stared into his eyes as he stared into mine, and silently I beckoned him to continue. For once someone else had shocked me into silence- something that had rarely happened before.

I couldn't help but grin as he chuckled, remarking on how things never went as planned. "No." I managed. "They never do." My voice was all choked up and raspy but it was full of happiness and love and excitement, and none of my previous coldness was there anymore. There was no need to be cold, now that Hollow was being honest... now that I could be honest.

His next words could have knocked me off my feet, they were so potent. It was like everything we've ever said to each other had been leading up to those three words, and the only thing I could do was echo them. "I love you, too. I never thought..." I trailed off, because talking was getting boring, and I wanted to touch him right now. We were kids, in love, under the sunset, and talking was for those who couldn't feel.

With a few bounding leaps I closed the gap between us, pressing my face into his chest and breathing in his scent. I would have been perfectly content if someone had frozen me in place right then and there.