The days passed by. A week to be exact.

Y/n pov:

I walked with Nahida to the exit of the sanctuary.
"He's done surprisingly well. I must say, I'm happy about that." She spoke as we stopped at the door.

"He's been reforming well. I'd like to report that it's going surprisingly fast. Perhaps... soon enough he's good enough to be let free." I said back.

Nahida is unaware of my new relationship
with Kunikuzushi...

She looked at me with a saying glance. "Is there anything... I should know?" She asked.

I thought for a moment. Telling her about me and Kuni could bring trust or the opposite.
"I believe... he will be reformed quicker and better if he's released from this cage." I said, his cage obviously being the sanctuary.

Nahida nodded in agreement. "I trust your judgement. Obviously you're the one with the best perspective here. But... perhaps we should wait, just a little more. I want to be absolutely sure about his progress before we make a decision. But trust me Y/n... your opinion is heard." She said.

"That's good enough." I said. For now.

She smiled at me. "I'll take my leave then." She said and left through the door. She went to observe human activity in the city.

My smile faded away and I stared at the door for a while.
This meant he wasn't able to go freely yet. Which is only inconvenient. Because I've snuck him outside a lot this past week.

The thought of him still using me to get outside and be released still lingers in the back of my mind.
What if he abandoned me immediately after he's been released?

Nahida doesn't know of our relationship or my - and possibly his - wish for us to live together.
So if she saw him without me, and he had decided to abandon me, she had no say in it. He would be free after all. He would have earned his freedom, and I would have no right to linger around him like an insect.

A small insecurity burdened my chest as it tightened around me.

But thankfully, a few other words lingered in my mind as well, making my feelings even on both sides of this situation.

"I love you"
He had said those words first. Looking right into my eyes and telling me with such comfort.

A smile found itself on my face again, making me comfortable.

"Boo."

A whisper right behind my ear spoke, causing me to jump at least three steps towards the door.

I turned around immediately, and had it not been his pretty face, I would have thrown hands.

Kunikuzushi smiled at me, probably happy with his sneak attack. His smile was quite real and it was more of a 'got you' smile instead of a 'you're so weak' smile.

Somehow, his smile made up for the scare. And instead of scolding him for it, I chuckled.

Of course, to prove my trust in him, I've left his door open for him to come and go as he wants, when I'm around that is.

"Very funny." I commented. I crossed my arms and gave him a fake angry look.
In return he did a fake pout. "Aw, I'm sorry, I thought I heard you laugh." He said, crossing his arms as well, mimicking me.

I smiled as his return of my playful gesture.
He came closer to me, and a week ago, I would have found this behavior completely unexpected. But not anymore.

"I just had to. I love it when your face makes expressions. Any, really." He commented as he stood unusually close to me.

I knew I was blushing now. Did he even know what he just said? Perhaps it was because this world was a little 'less intimate' than the one I was from... my mind went other places... not proud of it by the way...

He just had to do that teasing smirk of his before speaking. "Oh no. Where did your mind go just now? That's not very innocent and good-"
Before he could finish I flicked his forehead, causing him to do a cute yelp before his head slightly shot cutely backwards for a second.

This small adorable action of his caused me to close my eyes and force my mouth shut so I wouldn't laugh. He certainly wouldn't like to know how cute he was at times.

"I was just joking..." He said and sent me a fake glare. I simply gave him a close eyed smile.
He went silent for a second, his lips slightly parted as he just looked at me.

I opened my eyes and looked at him confused.
"Wha- hmm!" I was cut off by his lips on mine.

He had both of his hands on each side of my neck, holding me dangerously close.

"Y/n..." he mumbled against my lips between a couple of kisses.

I parted my lips, opening my mouth. He did the same and immediately went to kiss me a lot deeper.

That's when I felt his tongue brush against mine.

My heart jumped and I felt all sort of things.
He had kissed me a lot these past days, but not like this.

"Kuni..." I mumbled, which only made him slide one of his hands down and wrap around my torso, pulling us tightly together.

I did not know what made him react like this...
I sort of wished I knew though... then I'd do it more often.

At last, he separated our mouths, letting me catch my breath. He didn't catch his breath, simply because he didn't need to. Perhaps in that aspect I felt jealous of him.

He looked at me as I breathed heavily against him.

"Crazy man..." I whispered breathlessly, obviously as a joke. However I saw the corners of his mouth rise as he smiled, peering at me with his piercing eyes. If he still had his powers available, I bet his eyes would be glowing as well.

"What's with you?..." I asked, my breath stabilized again.

He leaned towards my ear. "My Y/n gave me such a sweet smile, how could I resist..." he said.
It made me smile again like an idiot.

My Y/n.
My Kuni called me 'my Y/n'...

Then he playfully groaned with a chuckle. "Now you're just smiling so beautifully on purpose..." He looked at me with his loving eyes again that made me regret ever doubting his feelings.

-

Another couple of days passed by, and I was planning on sneaking him out tonight.
I had planned what I wanted to do.

I wanted to take him to the city corner and let him meet some of my animals. Perhaps he would allow us to keep a few when we moved into our own place...

With a smile on my face I entered the sanctuary, ready to sneak him out. Nahida was off doing some stuff with Aether so we had plenty of time.

As soon as I stepped into the sanctuary, Kuni was in the middle of the room, leaning in a pillar, smiling at me. Was he waiting?

"Kuniiiii" I chanted and walked down to him, taking his hand.

His smile disappeared as I started pulling him towards the exit. "I want you to meet some of my friends. Although they might not be seen as friends. They're not the typical kind of friends you'd be introduced to, but who cares- anyways, when you meet them, you mustn't think I haven't got other frien-" he cut me off from my rambling.

"We're leaving the sanctuary?" He stopped letting me pull him towards the door.
I smiled, not seeing the problem. "Yeah, why?" I asked simply.

He seemed to think for a moment. "Maybe we should just stay indoors for today." He answered.
My smile faded.

He said that yesterday too.

"Alright, if you want to. But why?" I asked. There wasn't really anything to do in the sanctuary. Not really suited for a date if you ask me.
I had a deep feeling this didn't have anything to do with feeling intimate or anything like that.

"I don't know. I'm just a little tired." He said truthfully. My eyes widened slightly and I looked at him a little sadly. He seemed to notice and immediately chuckled and pulled me closer.

"Is it wrong to want to spend the night in the arms of my love?" He asked with that smirk of his.
I returned his playfulness by wrapping my arms around him.

But somewhat, something felt wrong.

-

Two nights later, Nahida left the sanctuary again. I started suspecting she knew we had something going on and wanted to give us privacy to be a good friend or something.

This time there was supposed to be a festival down in the Main Street. Obviously since I wanted me and Kuni to stay a little hidden, we couldn't watch the main attractions like normal people.

But I had planned for us to sit on a tree branch from the city tree. There was supposed to be fireworks, a full moon, dances and theatrical performances.

I wanted to watch them and hoped Kuni would join me, hopefully he wouldn't find it uninteresting or boring. But if he did, we could of course find something else to do.

I stepped inside the sanctuary, returning from the desert and ready to watch the festival.
When I walked inside the sanctuary, I expected Kuni to stand there, waiting for me with that smirk of his like he always did.

However this time when I walked inside, I saw him leaning on one of the pillars, sitting on the floor. He was facing away from the door. He seemed to be tired again.

Tired. In what way?

I shoved my worries away and put on a smile. I walked down the path to him and slid down next to him.

He noticed my presence and smiled at me, and putting his arm over my shoulder.

"There's a festival happening in a few hours." I mentioned.

He hummed, "Mhm." and motioned for me to go on.

"Why don't we go watch it. I'm sure there will be a lot of attractions to watch. It'll be fun for sure." I suggested, hoping so dearly he would agree.

Instead I saw his smile fade, causing mine to do the same.

"I'm sorry Y/n. You must enjoy the festival. But I think I'll just stay inside tonight." He said. He seemed genuinely sorry about it. I swallowed away the disappointment.

I shook my head. "I'll stay in with you. I can fetch some delicacies that we can try!" I said enthusiastically, trying to change the topic to food instead.

He simply nodded in agreement which made my heart clench.

-

Only one day later I stood in front of his room door.

He hadn't stepped outside of his room the whole day. When I returned to the sanctuary earlier, I expected to find him waiting for me like he always did.

But he was not there today. The only other place he could be is inside his room.
He was never inside his room before when he was allowed to step out in the sanctuary, which worried me. He worried me a lot.

I knocked on the door. A simple 'come in' sounded from the other side. I opened the door and saw him there.

He laid on the bed, using his arms behind his head as a pillow, while having his legs crossed. He was staring at nothing in particular but the roof.

I stood in the doorway. He didn't turn to me once, he didn't say a word. His eyes simply opened and closed which was the only movement I could register from him.

"Are you okay?" I asked. It was more of an open question, wanting him to actually talk to me.
I got more worried when I didn't get an answer at all.

He turned his face away from my direction, staring at the other wall next to him.
I saw a muscle in his jaw move as I observed him.
Something quite common when you're about to cry but want to hide it.

This wasn't simply about wanting to be free anymore.

He was not okay at all.