Light streamed from my window as I slowly blinked my eyes opened. My head was pounding terribly but the pain became an afterthought as I realized that someone was squeezing my hand firmly. Turning I saw that Auntie was curled up on my bed with me and she was holding my hand tightly, even though she seemed to be asleep. Blinking slowly, memories from yesterday began to filter through my tired and sore brain and tears sprang to my eyes as I remembered what Auntie told me.

"...because Opal, when you're with me, you are not a mistake." As the rays of the morning sun filtered through my window and lit up her ebony hair I gently squeezed the hand holding mine. I didn't think I could ever truly forgive myself for ruining my parents' lives... but I couldn't believe how free and happy it made me feel to know that Auntie didn't see me as a mistake.

Auntie suddenly jerked awake, sitting up and blinking rapidly as our eyes met. Her eyes widened and she tightened her grip on my hand and reached out to stroke my cheek with the other. Tenderness, love, and worry all seemed to flow out of Auntie's eyes as she leaned down and gave me a small smile.

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" she whispered and I felt my lips curl up in response.

"My head hurts, but I'm okay," I responded and was surprised at how scratchy my voice was. Auntie nodded her head slowly and leaned down to peck my forehead.

"I'll go get you some water. I made Okayu last night so I'll warm that up for you. Would you like honey on it?" she asked in a whisper. I nodded but tightened my grip on her hand as she moved to leave the bed.

"What happened last night, Auntie? I can't remember anything after we talked." 

Auntie let out a deep sigh and she laid back down, turning to face me. Her gentle fingers stroked my cheek lovingly.

"You scared me is what happened," she said with a hitch in her voice and I blinked then frowned. "The doctors said you had a mild case of hypothermia. They covered you in heated blankets and gave you an IV to warm up your blood. You woke up for a while but were very disoriented and kept saying you wanted to go home. You fell back asleep pretty quick though and the doctors said you were stable so Castiel and I brought you back home."

"Castiel was there?" I asked awkwardly. 

Embarrassment and shame flooded through me as I thought of how I ran away from him. Auntie squeezed my hand and I reluctantly looked up at her.

"He was really worried about you, sweetheart. I think he would have slept over last night to make sure you were okay if Demon wasn't out in the car." 

I could feel my cheeks heating up with embarrassment but at the same time tears began to gather in my eyes.

"Opal, what's wrong?" Auntie asked softly, continuing to stroke my cheek gently.

"I messed up, Auntie," I croaked painfully. 

Auntie scooted closer and gently wrapped me in a hug, pulling me against her. I buried my sore head against Auntie's neck as tears squeezed past my tightly shut lids and listened as Auntie murmured soothingly to me and stroked my hair.

Once I calmed down a bit Auntie kissed my head and slipped out of the room, saying that I should eat and drink something before I exhausted myself. As I waited for her to come back, I glanced at my nightstand and was surprised to see that it was already 8 am. I was too exhausted to worry about missing school right now though, and my gaze slid from my clock to the beautiful glass sculpture that Castiel had given me. The beautiful fairy in her tones of red, orange, and clear glass seemed to mock me with her promise of happiness.

If only a sun fairy really had come to get me on the beach that day, maybe I wouldn't have caused Castiel so much pain. 

Just then Auntie walked through the door with a tray laden with a tall glass of grapefruit juice and a bowl of her special ginger okayu. I ate my breakfast quietly as Auntie fussed over me. When I asked her why she wasn't at work she grumbled under her breath that she was offended that I thought she would go into work when I had just passed out from hypothermia the night before.

"Now," Auntie said as she took away the tray after I finished eating. "Why do you think you messed up?" she asked kindly.

I swallowed hard but couldn't help but smile as she sat back on the bed and slipped under the covers with me. She took my hand in hers and squeezed it reassuringly. With a sigh, I squeezed hers back and slowly raised my eyes to meet hers.

"Castiel told me he loves me," I whispered. 

Auntie gasped lightly and scooched closer to me with wide eyes.

"Really? He told me he asked you to be his girlfriend, but he said he loved you?" Auntie asked with a familiar sparkle in her eyes.

I swallowed with difficulty and tried to keep myself from frowning but Auntie's grin slowly drooped.

"How do you feel about him?" Auntie asked in a soft voice. 

I flinched at the question, swallowing once more as I remembered the amazing feeling of joy that had rushed through me... right before I ran away from him.

"It doesn't matter. I can't be with him," I mumbled and my heart pounded painfully against my chest at the thought.

"What do you mean you can't be with him? This isn't about what your parents told you is it?" Auntie asked, her brown eyes darkening with barely contained anger. 

I hesitantly shook my head. Sadness and a guilty sense of relief slipped into my heart as I realized that Auntie had essentially chosen me over her relationship with her brother.

"Then what's the problem?" she asked with a small frown. I sighed and looked over at the sun fairy statue.

"Castiel has been through a lot with people leaving him in the past. His parents, his girlfriend... and now me." 

Auntie's brow furrowed in confusion and I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat.

"I ran away from him, Auntie. When he told me he loved me, I panicked. I thought that if I told him about how I ruined my parents' lives he would hate me. And I was terrified that Father would... that he might...." I trailed off as emotion clogged my airway. 

Without a word, Auntie gathered me into her arms. She rocked me silently as I tried to get a hold of myself and come to terms with my feelings for Castiel and my fear that I would just hurt him again.

"Wouldn't it be better to let him find someone else when I'm not sure I won't hurt him again?" I asked in a shaking voice.

Auntie stiffened and her arms tightened around my shoulders. She didn't reply for a moment and I frowned when she slowly let go of me and moved towards the edge of the bed. I watched as she glanced over her shoulder and gave me a small, sad smile.

"Wait here. I want to show you something," Auntie said softly. 

I nodded and she slipped out of my room with barely a sound. The pain in my head had calmed down after eating but I still felt tired so while I waited for Auntie to come back I laid back down and looked up at the ceiling.

Sooner than I was expecting I heard Auntie's soft footsteps padding back into my room. I turned to look at her and blinked rapidly when I saw the small glass figurine of a white tiger in her hands. Auntie sat down gently on the edge of my bed and I sat up, moving a little closer to look at the beautiful figurine. The tiger was depicted in a seated position with its tail wrapped around its feet.

"This is beautiful, Auntie. Where did you get it?" I asked as I fingered the rounded ear of the little figurine. 

Auntie's mouth twitched like she was trying to smile and I frowned as she ran a gentle finger down the tiger's back.

"This was a gift from my best friend in the world," she explained quietly, looking at the figurine in her hands. "When I was growing up there was a family across the street from us that had a son a couple of years older than me. We did everything together. I would hear Mom and Dad talking about my older brother every once in a while so I guess I saw my neighbor as my replacement older brother. He would always say I was as feisty as a tiger and for every birthday he would buy me something with a snow tiger on it because my name in Japanese means snow." 

Auntie paused in her story and hesitantly I moved a little closer to her. She seemed deep in thought so I cleared my throat. She looked up at me, blinking rapidly, and then smiled softly.

"Sorry," she apologized and I quickly shook my head, but winced when that caused it to throb slightly.

"It's okay. What was the boy's name?"

"Ian," Auntie said after swallowing quickly. "Ian was always looking after me. Even when he started going to high school he would pick me up after school got out and walk me home. I never thought anything of it, since I had thought of him as my brother my whole life. One day in my last year of middle school the most popular guy in my class asked me to be his girlfriend."

I listened to Auntie's story intently. She had eluded to a past romance that seemed to have ended badly in some way so I was excited she was finally telling me the story, but I wondered why my question had prompted her to tell me this.

"I had never really thought of dating anyone before, but he was really popular and cute, so I figured I might as well give it a shot." Auntie's face took on a faraway look and she slowly lowered the snow tiger in her hands to rest it on my bed. "When I left school Ian was waiting for me like always and I introduced him as my older brother to my new boyfriend. I'll never forget the look of shock and pain that he gave me."

Glancing down I saw Auntie's hands clench and instinctively I reached out and held one of her balled-up fists. She jumped at the touch and looked at me with an expression mixed with guilt and sadness. I swallowed past a lump in my throat but she continued before I could offer to have her tell me another time.

"Ian walked with me and my boyfriend back to our neighborhood but he didn't come in like he normally did. See, both of his parents worked so he would normally come and hang out with me until they got home. My boyfriend distracted me by asking if I would go to a movie with him over the weekend though so I let him go without saying anything. I texted him once my boyfriend had left though and he said he was tired and was going to take a nap.

"After that Ian stopped showing up to walk me home. Almost two weeks went by like that until I was finally fed up with it and I went over to his house after my boyfriend had dropped me off at home. I pounded on Ian's door until he finally let me in and I tried to ask him why he was ignoring me." 

Auntie's head drooped and I felt her fist uncurl slowly as she turned it over so she could hold my hand.

"He apologized for ignoring me but said that if I wanted a boyfriend then I needed to pay attention to him and not rely on my 'brother' so much. I didn't understand why it should be a big deal, but I did what he said and stopped bothering him. I graduated from middle school and over the summer there were two weeks when my boyfriend was away on vacation with his family so I went over to hang out with Ian."

Auntie squeezed my hand before she let go and placed her hands behind her to prop herself up. She looked up at the ceiling for a minute but soon began her story again.

"Surprisingly he let me in without a fuss and for about a week everything went back to normal. We hung out all the time and I talked to him about all of my fashion things that my boyfriend hated to talk about. Ian didn't know anything about fashion, but he was a great listener and would give me ideas every once in a while when I showed him my designs."

"You wanted to be a fashion designer even back in middle school?" I asked in surprise and Auntie laughed a little.

"I can't ever remember wanting to be anything else, to be honest. I've always loved clothes and my mom taught me the basics of sewing when I was ten. Almost all of the clothes that I wore in middle and high school I made myself," Auntie said with a grin. I whistled quietly and she smiled but her smile slowly slipped away and she looked down at the blankets.

"Anyways. At one point during those two weeks, I started talking about my boyfriend to Ian and asking him his opinion about him and about dating in general. He seemed reluctant to talk about it and would always change the subject if I brought it up, that is until the last night before my boyfriend was supposed to come back. I asked Ian if he thought that it was normal for a couple to date all the way through high school and suddenly he punched the wall so hard he actually dented it."

My mouth dropped open in shock and Auntie laughed quietly at my reaction.

"Ian had a pretty intense temper. I didn't know this until I got into high school, but almost the whole school was scared of him. But even though he was pretty vocal when he was upset, he was like a strong wind. He made a lot of noise, but he didn't ever hurt anyone." 

I nodded slowly in understanding. To my surprise, Auntie moved so she was in my favorite position, with her knees tucked against her chest so she could lean her chin against them.

"So, he punched the wall and called me a lovesick idiot. I was shocked and yelled back that he wasn't being fair and then suddenly he marched over and kissed me."

I gasped and my hands flew to my mouth in surprise. Auntie tilted her head so she could look at me and gave me a tired smile.

"That was pretty much my reaction too. I was so shocked that I didn't even stop him. When he pulled away finally he told me that if I wanted to date my boyfriend all through high school then he was going to stop talking to me, because he loved me and it hurt him too much to see me with him." 

To my surprise, tears filled Auntie's brown eyes and I slowly lowered my hands from my mouth down to my lap.

"I had no idea how to respond. I had only ever thought of Ian as an older brother, so now that he was suddenly telling me he loved me... it was too much to handle. I ran out of his house and didn't talk to him for the rest of the summer. The weird thing though was that now that I knew Ian's feelings, all of the feelings that I thought I had for my boyfriend seemed to have disappeared. We stayed together at first, but I broke up with him less than a month after freshman year started."

"So did you start going out with Ian?" I asked, moving closer to Auntie. She sighed heavily and slowly stretched out her legs in front of her as she shook her head.

"No. Ian completely ignored me at school and he had joined the weight-lifting team so we never went home together. And just because I broke up with my boyfriend, I wasn't sure if I wanted to date Ian. To be honest, I felt like he betrayed me." 

I blinked in confusion and Auntie sighed again.

"It's just that... Ian had been a part of my life growing up and I had loved him as a brother. To have him force a kiss on me and tell me his feelings like he did was kind of traumatic for me and I felt like I didn't even know who he was anymore. I kind of swore off guys in general and just focused on enjoying my high school life with my girlfriends for the rest of Freshman year. But when Sophomore year came and I realized that Ian was going to be graduating soon and probably leaving town to go to college I started having really complicated feelings that I couldn't make sense of."

Auntie ran a hand through her bangs roughly. As I watched her search for words I wondered if she had ever shared this story with anyone before. A rush of happiness went through me to think that she trusted me enough to tell me her story, but I quickly refocused as she began speaking again.

"One night I was up really late trying to work on a new dress I had designed and it just wasn't working because my thoughts kept going back to Ian. I was so frustrated that I decided to go on a walk to clear my head. It was past midnight, but our neighborhood was really safe so I didn't think twice about going out on a walk by myself."

I blinked in surprise. As far as I knew Auntie had no training in self-defense so I was surprised that she had done something so risky, but I didn't comment since she was continuing.

"I hadn't even made it down the road when I heard loud footsteps coming up behind me. Before I could even think of what to do hands grabbed me. I was about to scream when the hands turned me around and I found myself looking into Ian's panicked face." 

Auntie let out a small chuckle and looked at the wall as if she were reliving the memory and she had forgotten that I was there.

"I was so mad at him! I hit his chest and yelled at him for scaring me and he yelled at me for being an idiot and walking around at night alone. Honestly, I was surprised we didn't wake up any of the neighbors because we yelled at each other for a solid five minutes. By the end of it, I actually told him that it was his fault since his ignoring me had made me so confused and upset that I couldn't think straight and needed to get some air. That actually shut him up for a minute. I don't know how it happened but we ended up walking back to his house where we sat on his porch swing and started talking."

Auntie's face softened into a genuine smile and she continued to look at the wall. I wondered what it would be like if Auntie could project her memory onto the wall for me to watch it like a movie.

"We talked for hours and hours, catching each other up on the year that we hadn't been speaking. Finally, we didn't have anything else to talk about and after neither of us said anything for a while he quietly apologized to me. He said that he realized he had been an idiot and decided that it would be better to distance himself from me instead of hurting me the way he did."

My eyes flew open and Auntie looked over at me, nodding slightly. I bit my lip and looked down at my lap, fiddling with the blanket as I tried to both ignore and analyze the message Auntie was trying to get across to me.

"We decided that it was hurting us both more to not be together than it had hurt when we were, so from that day on we became boyfriend and girlfriend." Auntie smiled ruefully and shook her head slightly. "We were both very stubborn and opinionated people so we had our fair share of fights, but even if we were fighting as soon as it was over and we had come to an agreement I felt like we were closer than ever."

Auntie trailed off and I looked at the small snow tiger in between us on the bed. Slowly I looked up at her and wondered if I had any right to ask the question that seemed to be burning the tip of my tongue. Finally, I took a deep breath and just let it out.

"Where is Ian now?" I whispered. Auntie's shoulders slumped as she looked over at me. A lump formed in my throat as I saw the moisture gathering in the back of her eyes.

"The summer after he graduated he got a job as a fireman. There were a lot of wildfires where I grew up and they paid really well for strong men to help out when they broke out. One fire was really bad..." 

Auntie's voice trailed off and she cleared her throat as a single tear slipped from her eye. I quickly moved closer to her, laying a hand on her arm as silent support. She squeezed my fingers and bravely went on.

"The head fireman came to Ian's parents' home. I was visiting with them when he showed up and he told us all that during the fire one of the firemen got too close and was trapped by a falling branch. Ian tried to go save him, but as he was lifting the branch the whole tree gave way and... he didn't make it."

Tears streamed down Auntie's cheeks and I was surprised at how much my arms were shaking as I reached out and circled them around her shoulders. We sat together on my bed for several long minutes as Auntie mourned for her lost love. Eventually, Auntie's tears began to slow and she wiped at her cheeks and eyes with the blanket since the box of tissues was out of reach.

"Sorry. I'm not sure I've ever told anyone our whole story like this," Auntie said with an apologetic smile and I wiped my own moist eyes.

"Thank you for telling me. I'm really sorry he died so young." I said sincerely. Auntie sighed and stroked my cheek with her gentle fingers.

"I am too. But when his parents were going through his things they showed me something they found. Ian had written a list of goals for his life. At first, I didn't want to read it because it was a cruel reminder that he would never be able to achieve them, but eventually, I made myself read it and I was shocked at what he wrote."

"What did he write?" I asked quietly and Auntie smiled.

"He wrote things like, 'Attend Tiger's High School Graduation' and 'Buy flowers for Tiger's first Fashion Show'. He even put, 'Brag to my friends that Tiger is a famous Fashion Designer' as one of his ten-year goals." Auntie was chuckling but I didn't miss the few stray tears running down her cheeks and my heart clenched in pain for her.

"I decided that even though Ian had died, I was going to do everything I could to make my dream come true because he believed that I could do it. And when my parents died a few years later, the only thing that kept me going was that dream."

Auntie rubbed her eyes slowly and let out a long sigh before looking up and meeting my eyes.

"Opal. I told you this story because I want you to understand. One of my biggest regrets in my life is that year when Ian and I didn't speak. If I hadn't been so stubborn and if Ian hadn't been so worried about having hurt me, then we could have had longer to be happy together."

Auntie's strong gaze seemed to have rooted me to my spot. I met her eyes and slowly thought back to when Castiel told me he loved me and the hurt in his eyes as I backed away from him. That memory caused my throat to tighten but I cleared it quietly and really thought about what Auntie was saying.

"I.... I'm still a little scared that I might hurt him. But..." My voice trailed off and Auntie smiled at me gently, reaching out and stroking my cheek with the backs of her knuckles.

"Do you love him, Opal?" she whispered and I felt my cheeks heat up slightly at the question. 

I shrugged helplessly before clearing my throat again. "I've lived my whole life telling myself I don't deserve love, so... I'm not sure. But I know I felt happy when he said he wanted to stay with me," I admitted. 

Auntie smiled brightly and once again stroked my cheek. "Then you should tell him that. Honesty and communication are the keys to any successful relationship," she said firmly. 

I tilted my head slightly and before I lost my courage I spoke my mind.

"Did you reject Shin Woo for all these years because you missed Ian so much?" I asked quietly. Auntie's eyes blinked and shock registered in her brown eyes as she regarded me.

"Where did that question come from?" she asked in surprise and I looked down for a second in embarrassment but then raised my eyes to meet hers.

"Shin Woo really cares for you, Auntie. It was one of the first things he told me when I met him. Whenever I ask him about it he always says that you are the only one for him, but he knows you don't feel the same way so he's given up." 

Auntie's mouth dropped open in shock and to my surprise, her pale tan cheeks colored slightly. She opened and closed her mouth wordlessly for a few seconds so I continued.

"I can't even imagine losing someone that you grew up with and loved so much and I'm sure it was really hard for you, Auntie. But... don't you think Ian would want you to be happy even if you did go out with someone else?" 

Auntie blinked several times as she looked at me then shook her head and chuckled nervously.

"It's not exactly that..." she said awkwardly. After a pause, she sighed and met my eyes. "When I first met Shin Woo it was less than a year since my parent's accident and Ian had been gone for almost three. Their deaths pushed me to study and do everything I could to become a fashion designer. When I saw an advertisement in the newspaper saying a new dance studio was being opened I went in and basically told Shin Woo that I was going to be his new costume designer."

I couldn't help but feel sad to think of Auntie informing Shin Woo of her new position in his company while thinking of her lost parents.

"Shin Woo told me he made you take dance lessons when you first started working for him," I commented as a small silence stretched between us. Auntie laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Working for Shin Woo and dancing with him was so much fun, and I absolutely loved designing the costumes for his students. But I was so focused on improving my portfolio and studying hard at college that I didn't have time to worry about a relationship. So I shut down any attempt Shin Woo made to ask me out." 

I winced as I imagined Auntie point-blank rejecting Shin Woo's attempts at flirtation and I was surprised at the brief look of guilt that flitted behind her brown eyes.

"It wasn't until I had broken into the fashion world and made a name for myself as a designer that I could finally relax enough to consider the possibility of dating again," Auntie explained with a sigh. "By then I had quit as Shin Woo's costume designer and hadn't spoken to him for a few years so I ended up going out with guys I met at work or the gym that I went to. I never lasted longer than a few months with a guy though and even though I was designing I was beginning to feel like there was a hole in me that I couldn't fill. That's when I decided to hire a private investigator to try and find my..."

Auntie glanced over at me, cutting off her sentence sharply. I knew what she was going to say and a flash of guilt went through me as I realized that she didn't even want to mention my father's name in front of me.

"Did it take you long to find us?" I asked carefully. 

Auntie gave me a searching look as if making sure that it was okay for her to talk about my parents and I smiled gently at her so she reluctantly picked up her story.

"Not as long as I expected," she answered. "When I went to visit... him... and I found out that I had a niece you completely filled in the empty spot in my heart that I thought would only be filled by having a family of my own," Auntie said with a gentle smile but I gasped in horror.

"So I'm the reason you stopped dating?" I asked in a panic. Auntie's eyes widened and she quickly shook her head, shifting to crawl on her knees and come closer to me.

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant! I just meant that since I hadn't found anyone I wanted to spend my life with I finally felt complete when you came into my life," she explained quickly. 

I blinked in surprise and my panic slowly eased away as Auntie's sincere concern seemed to wash over me and calm me down.

"I see," I said with a relief-filled sigh. Auntie sank back to a seated position, looking relieved as well. She reached out and squeezed my hand and I looked at our joined hands for a second before looking back up at Auntie.

"So... do you dislike Shin Woo?" I asked hesitantly. Auntie blinked at me and then shook her head.

"Of course not. I've always liked Shin Woo, he's one of my oldest friends," she said easily and I nodded quietly.

"But you don't find him attractive?" I asked quietly. Auntie blinked again and I couldn't help but smile when her cheeks became flushed with color.

"Well... I mean... obviously, Shin Woo is an attractive man. But..." Auntie trailed off for a second and met my eyes. Her embarrassment seemed to fade and was replaced by a somewhat sneaky expression. "I'll tell you what. If you agree to talk things out with Castiel, then I'll give Shin Woo a chance. I'll even ask him out on a date myself," she said with a sparkle in her eyes. 

Now it was my turn for my cheeks to heat up. I glanced between her excited expression and my blankets repeatedly.

"He may not even want to date me anymore," I said so softly I barely could even hear myself. Auntie squeezed my hand and pulled me into a loose hug.

"I highly doubt that, but you don't have to worry about it right now. Why don't you take a nap and I'll go start on lunch?" she suggested kindly.

"I can help..." I offered but Auntie firmly pushed on my shoulders, forcing my head back on my pillow.

"YOU will lay down and rest," she said with a huff. 

I couldn't keep a smile from tipping up the corners of my mouth as Auntie leaned over and pressed a kiss to my forehead. She left to start lunch and even though I wanted to think more about everything Auntie shared with me I felt myself begin to drift off into a peaceful sleep.

A/N I honestly don't know which of Yuki's backstories I like better. It is quite different between this and the original story, but I like them both... Although they both are really sad :S