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She stopped, digging her feet into the sand, her heart beating out of control again as she looked downwards while facing away from him. The shifting sand in the background told her he was following, it was his step pattern, limp and all.

"I never planned to love so recklessly, to lose control. I wanted to kiss you. I wanted to yield to your touch. You're destroying my power to stand on my own, Zetsu. I'm needing you more every minute I'm with you. Everything you say affects me, there's nothing you could ask of me that I wouldn't do, or try to do. You've seen me as I really am Zetsu, an emotional basket case, a sad, jealous, pathetic, and cowardly girl. I can't pretend to be something I'm not when I'm with you, not anymore. You have that affect on me now. I'm sorry. Would you want to have to suffer together with such a pathetic girl for the rest of your life?"

She brushed sand off her arm as she said this, holding back her tears.

She kicked some sand at nothing in particular, just into the air, away from them. She walked toward him quietly, and when she close.........

"Zetsu, YOU BIG JERK! I LOVE YOU!"

She hugged him tightly, a wet and squishy kind of hug, as they both were wet and exceedingly squishy. The good thing about that, it would be impossible to distinguish her tears from the water.

"Why can't you just tell me you love me?"

The salt air felt like a tonic in her lungs; she breathed it in deeply, which was easy to do because so much of it was evaporating from them. Any plans she had went out the window at the moment. She looked up and drank from his eyes, then closed her own, waiting.

"Get dry?" she said, dreamily, adoring him as he held her, completely oblivious to the fact she was soaking wet in atire not designed for swimming.

"Dry," she said, still in her dream world, still reliving that last short kiss but finally bringing herself back to reality enough to think somewhat, "We're pretty wet, aren't we? We should go back to the hotel and get cleaned up."

"Mmmhmm?" she asked, wanting him to finish his thought.

It's time to be one. As long as you have him to protect you, you will be fine.

But..... No, I see now. I've used you unfairly for too long.

She went in the direction he led without resistance or complaint, happy to see him take the initiative. The meekness ussually reserved in her sister extremely apparant in the way she was acting.

"Zetsu," she said, "I already booked us two rooms at one of the best hotels here. On the island. We can both get cleaned up in time for dinner tonight, I made reservations to a nice place. You didn't think I meant we should go all the way back to stadium, did you?"

It wasn't that cold out, and for as frail as she looked she was used to enduring the elements, so being soaked with cold sea water on a temperate day didn't even phase her. Still, she was wet and sandy, and her clothes were clinging to her.

It was a short walk down the boardwalk from where they parked to their hotel. The place was small, but it looked cozy and nice. By no means a luxury place, it had a decent swimming pool that was somewhat crowded with other patrons. Their rooms were on the top story, meaning the second floor for this place. She went into the lobby soaking wet. The man at the desk looked her over a bit disgustly, as she was dripping and covered in sand which she dragged into a fairly clean office. After confirming her reservations and picking up the keys, she came out and handed one to Zetsumeii. Her face a little red because of the way the man at the desk had looked at her.

Their rooms were buffered by another room. It was the way she had planned it, but now the distance seemed incredible.

"I have to get cleaned up, you too. Oh she said, I borrowed your measurements from the HoH forms to get you something formal for tonight. I hope you like it."

She kissed him on the cheek before retreating into her room and locking the door.

After Adaire finished showering, being the perfectionist she was, she came out of the bathroom without a grain of sand on her. In a long red bath robe, her hair wrapped in a towel, she walked delicately towards her bed like she was walking on air, twirled around, fell on the matress, and left out high pitched 'Squee.' as she balled her fists under her chin.

Zetsu actually thought she was beautiful, he actually loved her, his voice whenever he said her real name made her tingle, they couldn't stop looking in each others eyes, and whenever she kissed him she lost complete touch with the rest of the world. Who could ask for a better man, a better boyfriend? She was already determined to never let him go, to protect him, to help him, to be his partner. It was a wonderful dream, but right now she knew it was still a dream. Despite everything, it wasn't reality. Not that she cared, but she needed to tell Zetsu to tell no one about this day. Maybe on the day he became her husband those few people in her life would know, until then, she had to keep it secret. But that didn't mean they couldn't be together, she wasn't going to let her Zetsu get too far from her now.

When I'm with him I can be a frail as a flower, a butterfly, it doesn't matter.

Once finished dressing, she was in a white evening gown. The top was sleeveless and shoulderless, ending as it gently wrapped the center of her chest. There was a slit up the left side of the dress that ended at a point high on her thigh. She was wearing matching stockings and heels. In her her hair was a single white bow to accent the outfit. Crystal chandelier earings hung from her ear, and crystal hung from a neckless just above the gentle curve of her subdued cleavage.

She twirled around on the tip of her right heel, approving of the outfit she had selected for herself. It almost looked like she could fit into high society, except for one thing. A pair of contacts to change the color of her eyes. It took her a while to get them in, but once she did her eyes looked green instead of red, so she could actually pass herself off as a normal person. She worried what Zetsu might think, but she didn't want to be stared at because of her eyes, not tonight.

Then, she decided to leave her revolver inside the hotel room, for the first time in her life, she felt it would get in the way. There was a small, compact pistol in her pistol in her purse though, because old habits die hard. Deep inside, she knew she was a better fighter than a lover, and she felt the same way about Zetsu. He had been very awkward with her, but now she found it amusing, loveable even.

"Tee!"

She laughed at her reflection in the mirror, she couldn't believe how happy she was to be wearing this! Off she went, outside her room, to find Zetsu standing on the balcony waiting. It must have taken her considerably longer to get ready, even though she had no make-up except for a slight accent of lipstick to darken her pale lips. She pulled a comb out of her purse, holding it between her pointer and middle fingers as she hid her mouth with her right hand. She giggled happilly at his sloppy hair, just to see him amused her.

"You're hair is a mess, silly."

She sighed hapily as she reached up to comb it, not caring that she was pressed against him for a moment.

"All done! You should see how incredibly handsome you are when you neaten up that hair!"

When she stepped back his hair was parted neatly to the left. The comb went quickly back into her petite white purse. Then she twirled around in her new dress, demonstrating a growing mastery of her heels.

"What do you think?" she asked, confidently.

After his answer, she would extend her hand to him, waiting for him to take it and walk her to the front of the building, as a gentleman should. There would be a limo waiting for the two of them, to take them to the most overpriced restauraunt on the island. All paid by her R.I. expense account.