*Stop!* his mind screamed at him, but everything in him fought against the imperative. She was so willing, pressed against him and setting his senses afire with every little movement; he couldn't do what he knew he had to.

It took her drawing away, her breathing heavy and her eyes downcast as she turned, for him to regain any kind of control over himself. She kept one arm around him, and he tried not to grip her shoulder too hard as she said unsteadily, "I know this looks strange, Ash..."

She couldn't seem to continue, and he tried to draw in an even breath. "I apologize for my behavior toward your sister," he offered, knowing he sounded awkward as he tore his eyes away from the beautiful vision at his side and tried to focus on the girl in yellow. "It was not my intent to offend."

It had not been his intent to do *anything*--he had promised himself that he would not so much as touch her this night. *Unless she touched me first...* That had been the one exception that he hadn't been able to deny himself, and he had thought it so unlikely that he hadn't bothered to worry over it. For the truth, as he now knew it, was that he couldn't deny her anything when she turned that innocent gaze on him.

*Innocent, nothing,* he thought involuntarily, trying not to let his eyes drift back to her. The way she kissed robbed him of any sensible thought, stealing the aloofness and restraint that he had always been so good at and throwing them to the wind as though they were nothing.

"Maybe you should apologize to Cassie first," the other girl replied, her icy tone grabbing his attention once more. He flushed, realizing that despite his best efforts he had indeed been staring at her sister again.

"No, it's okay." The dark-haired Ranger straightened, but didn't step away from him. "I *asked* him to kiss me, Ashley. He didn't do anything wrong."

That wasn't entirely true--any of it--but his heart melted at the sound of her voice defending him. Who did she think he was, that she would stand up for him like this? And who was she, that her loyalty to someone she had only just met could be so strong?

"Who is he?" The words were an eerie echo of his own thoughts, and he glanced back at the girl he now assumed was the Yellow Ranger. How unusual to have two Rangers in one family--but her voice was the same, and she wore as much yellow as her teammate wore pink.

He felt more than saw Cassie's gaze on him, and he knew with a certainty he couldn't explain that she would not reveal him. It was up to him to offer his identity, or not, as he saw fit. But what would her teammate think of him if he told her?

What would she think of Cassie, if he did not?

"I believe you refer to me as the 'Phantom Ranger'," he said at last.

The yellow-clad girl stared back at him, the light from behind her lending a forbiddingly shadowed look to her posture. "That doesn't answer the question," she pointed out.

He swallowed uncomfortably. "I prefer not to answer in greater detail."

"What if Cassie prefers to know?" the girl demanded.

"Ash!" The arm around his waist tightened, almost as if to hold him in place. "This isn't any of your business!"

Her sister shifted her gaze to her and put her hands on her hips. "Cassie, can I talk to you for a minute?"

There was a brief moment of hesitation. He felt his heart sink as she let go of him, but she turned to him with an imploring expression and asked, "Will you wait?"

"Of course," he said softly, reaching out to touch her face. She stood, whether intentionally or not, at exactly the right angle for the light from her home to reflect in her eye--and remind him once again of how alien she really was. "I would wait forever."

As soon as the words were out, he knew they were wrong. He was helpless around her, incapable of preventing words of love and devotion from escaping from a place in his soul that he had long ago thought buried. And even more frightening was the fact that he meant them; he meant every word he said so unintentionally to her, without understanding how or why.

Her mouth curved at his simple declaration, and all his concerns evaporated into the warmth of that smile. What did the how or the why matter, after all? He had spent years trying to right myriad wrongs all across the universe, never seeming to gain any ground in either the war against evil or the fight to make his own battle-weary heart care about something--anything--again... Until he saw her, and found that she could make everything right with nothing more than a look.

He sighed silently as she turned away, taking all his hope and certainty with her. He knew nothing about her, and she knew less about him. What right did he have to think that she would even want him? How could he be so sure he wanted *her*?

For he did, he knew. He cared what she thought of him as he had not cared what anyone thought in so long. He wanted her to like him, to see someone worthwhile in who he was--he wanted, more than anything, to have her affection and... love.

And he admitted, if only to himself as he watched her slender figure climb the steps, that there was more. The way his heart pounded in his ears when she kissed him, the way he had not been able to let her go, the way his body ached when she stood so close... He didn't just want her love. He wanted *her*, as thoroughly and undeniably as he had once hungered for another's touch. He had thought those desires long gone, turned to ashes with the death of his first love and never to be rekindled.

He had been wrong.

"You've been acting weird since this morning..." The words, spoken in the Yellow Ranger's suspicious tone, drifted through the open window of their home to freeze him where he stood. "Cassie, *look* at yourself. Doesn't this seem at all strange to you, that you're suddenly head over heels for a guy you've never even met before today?"

Perhaps she didn't know he could overhear. Perhaps she simply didn't care. In either case, he could not avoid listening, and he could barely contain his dismay when Cassie's wooden reply broke the lengthening silence. "You think it's one of Divatox's tricks."

"I think we don't know anything about him," her sister said, her tone suddenly more gentle. "He could be anyone--good or evil. No one but you even saw him, at the bank *or* at the mine, and all of a sudden he turns up on your doorstep and proclaims his undying love?"

"He didn't," Cassie muttered, barely audible through the window.

"Well, he should have, if he was going to kiss you like that. It's only polite."

There was no reply.

"Cass... just think how this looks, please? He won't talk to anyone but you; he won't even show his face or tell us anything about where he's from or who he is. And you're out there, defending him and telling me to mind my own business. Doesn't that sound a little like..."

"A spell?" The controlled hurt in her voice made him want to cry out. He wanted to burst into their home and deny it, to take her in his arms and promise her anything she had ever wanted, if only she would believe in him.

But that would only convince them further, and he knew with sinking certainty that there was nothing he could say now that would prove his good intent. They continued to talk, but the words made no impression on him. He had been unable to hide what she made him feel, and now his sincerity must ring false in her ears. His recklessness had cost him the only chance he would ever have.

He heard the flimsy door bang against the side of their home, and he dragged his eyes back toward her only because he couldn't help it. The lightness was gone from her step as she came toward him, and wariness replaced the expression of wonder she had worn only a few minutes before.

"I heard," he said softly, and her eyes widened. "I will go," he added, trying to sound calm.

"But I..." She didn't finish, but an uncertain look flickered across her face.

"If you wish me to stay, you have only to say so," he whispered.

It was the wrong thing to say, for her expression closed up again, and her one word stabbed deep into his wakening heart. "No."

He swallowed. "I understand," he said carefully, and he reached for his ruby.

At the last moment, though, he could not do it. He could not will himself to teleport away, to leave her behind forever, while she still stood before him.

Letting his hand fall, he turned to walk away.

"Phan--Saryn." The uncertainty in her voice made him hesitate, and she said more quietly, "Do you understand? It's the only way I can be sure." There was a brief pause, and then a murmured, "I'm sorry."

He knew it was wrong, but he had to try. "There is nothing I can do to counter such an accusation," he said softly, turning around. Her hair gleamed in the light he stood in the shadows of, and her eyes sparkled in the dimness. "But I can not pretend I am whole without you. What would it take to convince you that I mean everything I say?"

She lifted a hand to her face, a quick, impatient gesture, and he realized that it was tears that made her eyes shine so brightly. He longed to step closer and wipe them away, but he was afraid to see her flinch from his touch. "It would take you being willing to leave me and my friends and never come back," she whispered, her voice unsteady as she stared at him.

"And the only way you will know this--"

"Is if you leave," she finished.

Would she push him away if he tried to kiss her? His soul cried out for hers, despairing at the thought of never feeling her near him again, and his body trembled in anticipation of such a loss. *Just that one memory,* he pleaded with his conscience. Something to take with him back into lonely oblivion...

He didn't even remember the single stride that he must have taken to put them so close together, but his hand was on the back of her head, clenching his fingers in her hair as he pressed his mouth to hers. *Why* did his heart beat so for this girl? Why was *she* so special? Why had his heart picked now to care, to come to life with such sudden and breathtaking vehemence?

Why now, why so quickly, was he presented with the one thing that gave his existence meaning, only to have it snatched away? *Am I to know love again only that I may live with the torment of having it denied?*

She melted against him, letting his savage kiss go on and on--he had expected her to pull away the moment he touched her, and now he couldn't think enough to remember what he was supposed to do. Her arms slid around behind his neck, the heat of her body a delicious promise--an empty promise, of a future they could never have.

With an anguished groan, he tore himself away from her and strode rapidly into the darkness, letting the night envelop him even as his cloak settled about his frame. He was invisible before she could see the teleportation that carried him away.