My heart was beating against my ribcage as if trying to break its cage open, my blood rushed in my ears. Stumbling and coughing, I dragged myself forward, even though I couldn't see where I was going. Street lights were dancing in the dark before my eyes like fireflies while I struggled to breathe, my body burning like a furnace. Finally, the shrine came into view in the distance, the sight of its golden glow made me sigh in relief.

"Sakura," I called out, my voice cracking and dissolving into another cough. Steadying myself against the gate, I dragged my feet over the gravel and into the garden. The main building was dark except for one single light, but it was enough to give me hope she might still be awake. I wanted to call out again when I heard the doors sliding open and for a hot moment, I felt stupid. Shit... what if it was not her? But then Sakura's face appeared in the opening. She was wearing a bright blue blouse tonight but her look was impatient and I knew she would reprimand me for disturbing the peace of the shrine and probably waking her grandmother in the middle of the night. But then she laid eyes on me and paled.

Without saying anything, she rushed forward and reached for my arm. I collapsed against her, relief and something else that I failed to name washing over me at seeing her. My pulse calmed just slightly but my chest felt lighter. Silently, she helped me walk over to the storeroom unit across the yard. Once again, I leant against her and I hated myself for being so weak, but she supported my weight. When I sank to the floor, she was right beside me. I inhaled her scent, unable or unwilling to bring space between us so soon and as oddly as it sounds, it helped to calm my nerves.

"What happened?" Sakura asked finally and pulled away to look at me. "Another episode?" She sounded worried and her hands began to wander over my arms and torso. Her touch was innocent and intuitive but made me flustered nonetheless. I moved to retreat when pain sliced through my back, it burned and I hissed. She stilled.

"You're hurt," she said but I just shook my head and managed to trap her hands in mine.

"I'm fine, I just need a minute to breathe, that's all."

"Is that why you called out my name like that? You scared me there." She freed her hands and I heard a rustle in the dark when she reached out and the room lit up in soft yellow light. She leant over me and looked at my face, observed me. "You look like death. When was the last time you slept?"

I wanted to look away, but she caught my chin and made me look at her. "Ben, please, let me help you." She was kneeling in front of me and her hands cupped my face... she was near, so terribly near, that I felt the warmth of her breath tickle the side of my face. Her eyes drew me in and I finally sighed and nodded.

"Good, now take off your shirt."

Any other time, this would've made me blush but the commanding tone of her voice wiped all other thoughts from my brain, there was no arguing with her when she was like this, I had learned as much already. I reached for the hem of my shirt. The muscles in my back stretched painfully and I hissed again. Sakura was there in an instant and reached out to help me pull the shirt over my head. The draft brushed my skin but the goosebumps didn't come until Sakura's warm fingers touched my back.

She drew in a breath and probed the sensitive flesh. "Did you fall?"

"I don't know," I whispered. "I don't remember what I did between lunch and now."

She was silent for several seconds and I didn't know if she was speechless or just contemplating what to say. Her hands brushed my back again and I closed my eyes, unsure of what I wanted more — this moment to end right now or for it to go on forever.

"How long have you been possessed?" she asked then.

My heart leapt in my chest. She knows? Darkness stirred inside me, the fog, that I seemed to know so well by now, trying to push its way into my thoughts, trying to take over my mind. Part of me wanted to answer the questions, but something — someone — was holding me back, tying my tongue in knots.

"I—" I struggled to form words before I felt Sakura's fingers close around mine. Her eyes caught mine in a gaze so intense I felt like I had to back away, but they won't let me go. The coldness in them was a stark contrast to her gentle touch from before and I struggled to wrap my head around the sudden change.

"You have no power over him here, impure spirit." Her voice was hard, commanding. "We're on sacred grounds, so let him speak."

A growl escaped my lips, a deep sound in the back of my throat before I felt something loosen inside of me. A pressure I hadn't noticed before fell off of me, releasing its grip from my chest, and I was able to breathe again. I inhaled deeply, eyes blinking as if waking from a dreamless sleep. I was stunned for several seconds and a silence settled over us.

"I can't pinpoint the exact moment it started," I croaked, pressing my eyes tightly shut and releasing another breath. "But it's been years, since I was a kid. I've felt this presence in the back of my head for almost as long as I can remember." Sakura's hand squeezed mine and I let out a soft sigh. When I opened my eyes, I found her looking back at me. Her thigh was pressed against mine and I felt her warmth seep into me through her jeans and it gave me the strength to keep talking.

"I think I was eight when I first felt it. I used to have a brother and for a long time, it was just him and me. Our parents died when we were both little kids. I don't remember them much, but my brother did, and he would tell me stories about them until his memories became my own." I paused when I remembered Luke, furrowing my brow. I hadn't thought of him in a while, I realised but I couldn't put a finger on the feeling in my chest when I talked about him now. It was as if my memories of him were behind a curtain. The ache I felt was always on my mind, but it had been hidden away, obscured so I wouldn't dwell on it.

"We lived with our grandmother after that, until she died, too and then we were alone. An orphanage took us in and that was where I first felt it. There was this priest, who would teach us sometimes. And no, he did not touch me, it was something else." I closed my eyes again, my hands cramping around the fabric of my pants, trying to grasp for something I struggled to put into words.

"It was like something was brushing against the outer corners of my consciousness. Like a hand reaching out. Every time I talked to Father Miller, I would feel it. At first, it seemed like curiosity but over time, it got more forceful, until I could feel it in my head."

"The demon," said Sakura and even though the term had never occurred to me, it seemed right. I knew in that instant that it was exactly what I had been dealing with, it was like the presence in the back of my mind was nodding at me finally giving it a name. "It must have used the priest before it found you and made you its new host."

I was silent as she contemplated. My back was still hurting and I was tired, tired of talking, of hiding, of being afraid. I just wished I could get one night of sleep without the whispers and unsettling images in my head.

"What happened to your brother?" Sakura asked then. Her voice was quiet, hesitant as if she already knew the answer before even asking. That familiar ache rose in my chest again and I didn't know if it was because Sakura had told the demon off and weakened its grip on me or if he was mad and was trying to get back at me, but the thought of Luke pierced my heart this time and it fucking hurt.

"I don't want to talk about it," I whispered, voice thick with the feelings I tried to swallow and keep from overflowing. Whoever said time heals all wounds? I still felt as miserable as I had on the first day.

Suddenly I felt arms around me and without thinking, I let myself fall into Sakura's warmth and her scent, realising that an embrace was what I had longed for all along. Her hair brushed my cheek and her chest pressed against mine.

"It's okay, you don't have to." She released me but didn't pull away. She remained close, so close I could feel her breath fanning my face. There was something in her lingering that made my heart race, like a sudden awareness that spread through me and if I'd turn my head, I'd...

I turned my face toward her. A heartbeat passed and our breathing was the only thing I could hear over the drumming of my pulse in my ears. And then she leant forward and her lips were on mine, warm and sweet and soft. She sighed as if she'd finally found something she'd been searching for and her hands wound around my neck. It took me a moment to process what was happening, I was too stunned to move. But then my arms found their way around her waist, pulling her closer and I kissed her back.

When she pulled me down towards the floor, on top of her, I gave in. I was unable, unwilling to resist the hold she'd had over me from the first time I'd spoken to her anymore. My mouth found the side of her neck and she buried her fingers into my hair when I sank into her warmth and into her.