Together

"You're leaving already?" Syaoran yells out as he quickly pulls his shirt over his head. He tossed it into the hamper beside him, and put his shower on hold to see off his beloved girlfriend before she left for the evening. He found her in front of the standing mirror right before their front door, stepping into sleek black stilettoes, staggering as she attempted to pose. He swiftly stood himself closely behind her in time for her to wobble into his embrace. He kissed her bare neck just within the cut of her velvety black dress. "If you can wait a little bit, I can drop you off on my way."

"Oh, thank you, Syaoran, but my coworkers, they're already on their way," she squeaked out, her voice caught in her shy disposition during intimate moments. The intimacy was new to her; there had not been many romantic experiences for her to become familiar, and she had spent her first year dating Syaoran living an ocean apart from him. Still, she hoped her timid nature in this moment was not confused for rejection, so she simply leaned back into his hug, taking advantage of his seemingly unlimited capacity for initiating affection. Finally, there were no barriers to keep them from a single touch, but being without the touches was all she knew, even in her life before dating him, and being given a privilege without knowing the feeling of wanting it made her feel as though she'd received a gift she could not fully appreciate.

"Sakura," he held her elbows and turned her around while stepping back to look her from head to toe. He did not say a word afterwards, but his eyes made contact with hers in a way that told her exactly what he wanted. They had always felt between them a relationship where they required few words to understand each other. Exchanging conversation was a sprinkle of color to their interactions, but their love did not seem to depend on it. She let him know with the closing of her own eyes, she wanted the same as he did, and put both her hands in his to squeeze away her insecurities and take her own step forward.

His lips could sense her hesitation, but his understanding of her character allowed him to view her reaction as nothing less than adorable. He met her enthusiasm with a sweet kiss, and they shared a quiet moment melting into the comfort of intimacy based in genuine love and affection. Soon, it progressed into a more passionate moment with less regard for their own comfort and somewhat desperation to satisfy a lustful hunger that had accumulated in the year they had lived apart. When Sakura felt herself being lowered down to the floor, the rapid beating of her heart nearly frightened her, and her mind suddenly reminded her that she was running short of time. She had an entire apology ready in her mind, but all that came out of her mouth was a squeaky voice that said, "Syaoran, not now!"

Thankfully, he found her reaction cute, and chuckled lightly as he moved his mouth away from hers to settle in her neck. He enjoyed their position as long as he could before she again squeaked out that she would be late. Though deciding to hide his disappointment, he couldn't help but sigh, secretly hoping to playfully incite a tiny bit of guilt in the woman who would care enough to be sensitive to his feelings. He chuckled again as she reacted the way he had hoped, suddenly hugging him tighter and whispering, "I-it's not that I don't want to ... I'll be back later tonight, so ..."

"I know," he gave her a final peck on the lips as he lifted her back up to her feet. "I figured you're always late anyway, no one would care if we took advantage of that extra time to enjoy ourselves, right?"

"I'm not always late!" she retorted, but the embarrassment on her face seemed to acknowledge his words as true, so she picked up her phone on the table near the door and without looking up, mumbled, "At least not late enough to have time to do that ..."

"Sorry, I can't help myself now that I can finally hold you in my arms," he said, and with another kiss, another tight embrace, and the small spark of annoyance she felt was instantly gone. He looked at her with his usual smile, the naughty smile of a boy entertained by the recipient of his playful pranks, and she felt frustrated the thought she had at that moment was that he was cute. Yet she let herself succumb to her own feelings, letting her affection overcome her pride. After all, he only seemed to act this way around her, and that made her feel special.

"It's not enough that we live together now, and sleep in the same bed?" Sakura made an attempt to tease him back, but it only inspired more teasing from him.

"Not when all we do is sleep," he teased back, excited to have his line already set up for him to say.

"I-I thought you said it was okay that I ... take it slow," she returned to simply feeling embarrassed, and when she saw him laugh at her again, she turned to walk towards the door, but before she reached it, his arms pulled her back into his hold. Recently, since moving in together, their interactions repeated a cycle of playful teasing, and from the confidence they had in the understanding of each other's character, along with a bond built from years of friendship and comradery during tougher times, they trusted the other to still be sensitive enough of feelings, and behind the potentially endless sessions of harmful jabs, they were glad to have each other.

"I'll see you later tonight," he said and she nodded shyly as she stepped out the door, waving awkwardly at him before the door completely closed.