The next few weeks had passed by rather uneventfully, with nothing exciting happening during the days. Even after Mina had told her family she was dating Ankoku, she hadn't mentioned any details about her new boyfriend. Her parents had been shocked to learn that their daughter had finally taken the initiative to date someone. In fact, they seemed to be more than happy to accept the situation.

"I'm glad that everything has finally gotten better between you two," her mother told her happily.

"So am I, mom," Mina said smiling widely, "but I hope that you don't mind if we keep this between us for now. Don't want anyone asking questions. And besides, we need time." Her father raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"For what, exactly?" he questioned. "Because judging by how close you both are already, I wouldn't expect you to wait long."

Mina shook her head vigorously. "No, Dad. That's not it at all."

"Well what is it then?" he asked impatiently.

"Well, I think we might be getting a little ahead of ourselves," she told him sheepishly.

Her father chuckled and patted her shoulder affectionately.

"Of course you must be careful, dear," he assured her. "Your future depends on it, don't forget that."

"I won't," she reassured him, grinning.

At the end of the week, her mother had called her one evening and informed her that they had decided to move back to Endeavour for a while. Mina was happy to hear that. She loved her childhood home, but living here was not going to be easy for her anymore. Her parents had been adamant about leaving their home for good and moving to a small apartment near their workplace, where she would live with them full time. But she would never complain; it was a very comfortable home. At least, it had been since her last visit.

She had just finished unpacking the rest of the boxes that had been delivered to the house the previous day when the doorbell rang. Wondering who could be there at such a late hour, she hurried to answer it. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Ankoku standing on the other side, holding a large bouquet of flowers, along with a huge box of chocolate.

He held out the flowers to her. "Happy birthday, princess," he said cheerily. She grinned brightly.

"Thanks!" she exclaimed happily.

"Did you open them already?" he asked, noticing her excitement.

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"Yes," she confirmed proudly. "And thank you for the flowers, by the way."

"Of course."

She stepped aside and allowed Ankoku to enter. Once inside, she closed the door behind him and followed him into the kitchen.

"So what brings you here? You didn't tell me you were coming," she commented.

"Do I really have to mention it? Your family practically invited me to come over and stay with them. So, I thought it was only right to return the favor."

Mina grinned. She couldn't deny that she was relieved.

"By the way, did you make it home okay yesterday?" Ankoku asked casually, leaning against the counter. Mina nodded.

"Yeah, I did," she answered.

"How was school?" he asked.

"Good, considering." She looked away awkwardly. "Uh...about what happened during the fight yesterday..."

His eyes widened slightly, and he averted his gaze. Mina stared at him in concern for a moment before walking over and placing a hand on his arm.

"Hey, whatever it was, we can talk about it later. Okay? We're here for the weekend now." His lips curved upward. She returned the smile before continuing. "So what are your plans for today? Did you want to spend some quality time with your parents?"

"Actually yeah," he replied enthusiastically, "that would be nice. Although, you'd probably hate to meet them. My mother thinks that you' ve changed so much because I brought you around a lot, so she's going to judge you. She hasn't liked people ever since I've met you." Mina giggled softly at that. Ankoku glanced sideways at her briefly.

"Really? I haven't noticed." She gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder.

"Yeah, and neither should you." They both laughed quietly and continued teasing each other. They spent the rest of their afternoon relaxing in the lounge room, joking and laughing amongst themselves. Later that night they lay in bed watching TV together. Neither of them knew what show they were watching until Mina suddenly sat up excitedly.

"Oh, no! It's that new animated series!" she exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, I remember! I like it too." Ankoku watched as a familiar character was being tortured by a bunch of thugs in a bar. "You know, you should watch the new one sometime. This series came out yesterday," he informed her.

"Really? I'll have to check it out after I finish watching the first one, that would be cool." She sighed.

She lay back down onto the pillow and continued resting.

"Hmm…" Ankoku murmured, staring absentmindedly at the ceiling.

Suddenly she turned her body over and reached towards his face.

"Um…?" he whispered nervously.

"Can I kiss you?" she asked.

"Uh, sure," he said slowly. As soon as she leaned towards his face he shut his eyes and braced himself for impact. Just before she could touch him however, she pulled back abruptly.

He opened his eyes and found her smiling at him.

"What did you stop for?" he asked confused.

"Are you seriously that dense?" she asked with a smirk. He furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Don't act all cute and innocent and pretend that you don' t know anything," she scolded him playfully, although he had no idea why. Was he playing a prank on her? Why was she teasing him again? What was going on?

"Then what's your reason for stopping?" he asked innocently, ignoring her comment.

She smirked knowingly. "You still haven't figured it out yet, huh?" she teased. He shook his head and she took advantage of the opportunity. Lifting her hips from the mattress she straddled Ankoku's lap. She lowered her head and planted a deep kiss upon his lips, which made him blush deeply in response.

"Weren' t expecting that," he remarked. She smiled.

"Neither was I."