"Seems like you may find it awkward to talk about this. Let me take the lead." Kirill suggested, noticing her hesitation. "Dreams." He looked at her with anticipation.
Arina snapped out of her contemplative state and gaped at him. A stunned expression appeared on her face. Finally, she began to slowly turn her head from side to side, as if unwilling to believe what she had just heard:
"No... You can't...'
"But I am right, yes?" He made a quick movement forward, as if he wanted to take her hands, but Arina leaned away agilely.
"No!" she exclaimed. As if she needed him, of all people, to confirm her madness, – now, when she had almost found a reasonable explanation for it...
Kirill, as if recollecting himself, raised his hands in a disarming gesture.
"But you also saw it, didn't you?" he persisted nonetheless. "A world inhabited, along with ordinary people, with ninjas, possessing special abilities?"
"How can you even...?" Panic replaced the expression on the girl's face.
Kirill leaned forward again, but this time did not attempt to touch her, instead redirecting his overflowing emotions into words:
"Because I had those dreams too," he said fervently. "And... I was looking for you. For years, I was."
"'Years'?" Arina's face now expressed genuine bewilderment.
"Yes... because all this time I saw you only in dreams... A settlement... a mountain range with carved images of the leaders – the Hokage... we were there... you and me... and you... were from 'another' world – from this world!"
Arina looked at him, still in shock, but then nodded – at first barely noticeable, then a bit more confidently.
Kirill smiled, but his smile faded quickly.
"Well... and when I pulled you out... I didn't even realize straight away that it was you... but when I did... damn... I was so..."
Panic almost overtook him again as he recalled the horror he felt when he suddenly recognized the lifeless face of the girl, whom he had been searching for so long, looking out for everywhere... And now he had finally found her. Found – only to lose her forever that same moment...
It took him great effort to calm down and act; his hands had never trembled so much, even in the most critical situations... How he prayed for the first time in his life, to all the gods at once – prayed that his actions wouldn't harm even more. And that she would hold on... That she would make it until the ambulance arrives... That she would make it to the hospital. That she would come back...
Arina looked at him, biting her lip.
"But now everything is alright," Kirill finally smiled again. "And I don't even have to feel like a complete idiot trying to explain to you why I suddenly became so interested in you..."
"But how can this be?" Arina almost whispered.
"I don't understand myself..." The young man shook his head. "I only know one thing: I have been having strange dreams for many years. As if I'm watching a movie, or rather – a series. And the main thing in them was you..."
"And I 'watched' this movie in one go, apparently," Arina chuckled nervously.
"Huh?"
"I experienced this while I was unconscious... There was nothing like this before the accident."
"And what episode are you on now?" Kirill asked jokingly.
"The last words were yours: 'Hold on, girl.'" Arina answered after a brief moment to think.
Kirill flinched, but Arina didn't notice, averting her gaze.
"But it was from some incomprehensible vision... And before that... we didn't part too well, to be honest... by Hiruzen's office... and I jumped... off a cliff..." Arina mumbled and looked at Kirill with embarrassment: it still felt strange discussing 'that' world so openly with him, and especially that act of hers that felt so absurd now. Really that could have only made sense in a dream...
Kirill, on the other hand, kept batting his eyelids in confusion.
"But... I said that 'in reality', when I pulled you to the surface... When I didn't even realize it was you..."
Arina rubbed her face wearily.
"I'm not sure I want to get into this... What it was – a dream, delirium, or some strange death... and why we, apparently, saw the same thing – at different times and under different circumstances... And now, found ourselves in such a situation... It seems more like some stupid joke..."
"But the 'joke' is that you know me, and I know you, even though we've never met. At least, not in this world," Kirill said earnestly.
"But you're not exactly the same..." Arina tilted her head slightly and squinted her eyes.
"You too," Kirill smiled. "I knew you with lavender-coloured hair, or rather closer to white, and golden eyes..."
"And you had silvery hair... and darker eyes... or, to be more precise, 'an eye' – because the left one..."
"The 'Sharingan'," yes.
"Shit," Arina pressed her hand to her mouth. "How is that possible? You... you can't be real... I don't believe it..."
"You can touch me and see for yourself – I am very real," Kirill smirked.
And Arina did reach out, while Kirill leaned a bit closer to make it more convenient for her. After a brief hesitation, the girl touched his cheek with the knuckles of her fingers, ran her hand a bit higher, and traced with her fingers across his forehead, shifting the hair covering his left eye, then gently touched the scar above the eye.
Kirill kept his gaze on her, as if enchanted by her actions. Finally, Arina, already more confidently, placed her palm on his cheek, and then Kirill covered her hand with his – gently, almost weightlessly. Then he slightly turned his head and closed his eyes, pressing his lips to her palm, making her flutter.
"This just can't be..." the girl moaned – for these sensations were so familiar. "I'm going crazy... Tell me I'm not going crazy?"
"You're not..." his breath gave the girl's palm a light burning sensation, "otherwise we are going crazy together... and you know, I actually wouldn't mind that for some reason..."
At that moment, Arina realized that she had truly come back. Regained a missing part of herself. The oppressive feeling disappeared; the anxiety, that only intensified when she first saw Kirill, was also gone. Everything finally fell into place.
Kirill opened his eyes again, turned his face towards her, and smiled gently. Then, still pressing her hand to his cheek, he leaned even closer.
"What are you doing?" Arina whispered when their lips were mere centimetres apart.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I want to check something... But this time I guess there's no point asking you not to peek..." Kirill murmured through a playful smile.
