There was a little cherry pit in the bottom of Kagura's stomach. A small seed that had begun to sprout the moment she had kissed him; had tasted and roamed him, and felt the bridge of their saliva plunk apart like a wet spiders' web. Her head was so full of information, doubt, and worry that it left her little time to think - to actually think in the privacy of her own mind. She thanked Saiga every day for that. He kept her thoughts so harrowed… so dripping with him. There was no space … there was only a cleft with his name on it in which she happily threw herself over.

But there were times when the essence of him was unbearable… the natural cologne that seeped out of his aged skin and soaked her feminine kinesthesia to a dripping. She would never say as much to him, but her heart remained in a vexed penalization when he would go away... When they would take him away from her…When he so much as slept in another room without her…

Kagura's mind ran laps in the night. She retraced the fine bone structure of his jawline over and over again just to be sure she hadn't forgotten. She swept over the paleness of his full lips with the panting conception of her mind… the gruff whiskers around his chin, oh, how she remembered they had tickled. And then the fear would come in the night at the thought of her captors coming, coming and taking him away again, but she was able to confidently wave her fear away because she was with Saiga, and anywhere with Saiga was safe.

The only trouble was the fact there was no way to be too close to Saiga, only too far away. And when she awoke that night in the room across the hall from him, her thoughts rumbling around her head like a tropical cloudburst, her legs attacked relentlessly against the besiege of her bed sheets with the force of a caged mare and sweat pearls slicked down her face.

'It was just another nightmare, Kagura..." she told herself, her breaths coming in dizzy puffs. Her small feet swung over the side of the bed and she sat staring up at the cloudless sky, the hopeless romantic within her sighing heavily as she took in the sight of a full moon. 'He's so much like the moon up there…' she thought to herself in awe, 'he's always there but I can never get close.'

Before she asked her legs where they were taking her, she stood standing at his door, the rug under her feet soft and warm. Her nightgown spun in the cold draft of the hallway like a baby flower petal. Her fist rested on the stocky sepia door and she waited.

Listened…

Kagura's ears identified the grumblings of a hibernating grizzly behind the door. A giggle escaped her thin lips and she blinked against the flashing colors behind her chestnut eyelids, the moon still imprinted there. She shook her head, stood straight and conjured the most authoritative expression possible. Banging on the door, she cringed at the thought of his reaction.

The loud thump of a dozen potato sacks rolling onto the ground resonated from underneath the door and it required the entire muster she had not to laugh again. The snoring had stopped, at least. Footsteps dragged themselves across the room and she heard him yawn loudly.

'It's a good thing I'm not one of the bad guys…" she entertained.

The heavy lock released itself from the door and in that moment, that one lonely moment, she realized that he was real… he was an actual man who had abandoned his measly, second-rate life to give her one of her own. And in that moment, her breath hitched. Her stomach jumped. Her heart quivered with the delight that this was not another dream… he was real.

And he was half naked.

His tired eyes blinked against the darkness but he had known it was her from the moment she had knocked delicately upon the door - ever so politely, as a sweet hummingbird would. He had known some woodpeckers in his life, and it made him glad in that moment to see her as an alternative. Seeing her small body silhouette against the darkness was no surprise to him, she had quite the history of showing up.

He shifted weight against the door frame and towered over her, his strong arms crossed. 'Be the father figure…' he chanted to himself, his eyes trained hard on her perfect bangs. 'Hold it together, Saiga…' he commanded as his heart churned like butter at the sight of her big brown eyes. It was always easier said than done. The way her little arms shivered against the currents of the hallway made him fight himself not to pull her in. He wrestled his primal instincts to wrap his arms around her back and sacrifice every ounce of warmth his body was composed of...

"Why are you out here so late?" he managed.

She stood there, the cutest look of forced determination he had ever seen plastered on anyone's face before in his life. Her swollen lip turned up into a thin line and her eyes were wide and challenging. The length of her thick black lashes cast sultry shadows of their own against her cheekbones and he swore to God he heard his heart crack for about the fifth time that day. 'I'll never get used to this…' he marveled as he felt his defenses disintegrating already before his very eyes. 'Must be a female thing or something'…'

She stared up at his bare chest because her line of sight was parallel to his abdomen, and, well… there was no other way to say it except that he was beautiful. Was this why her mother had taken a liking to so many members of the opposite sex? It suddenly made sense as she stood there unable to turn a blind eye – in fact, she thought vaguely; it seemed instead a crime not to stare. Her gaze trailed the nooks and dips of his form, and even in the darkness she could tell the way the shadows fell on him where his chiseled muscles twined to build a wall of muscle. He was utterly angelic.

Saiga soundlessly thanked Sweet Baby Jesus for the darkness, for he felt his cheeks burning like all holy hell against her peering, and fought a twitching at the corner of his mouth, much to his embarrassment. He watched her eyes scrutinize his body - up and down her pupils went, dilating and gorgeous in the midnight. He shook his head, "Listen Kagura, if you don't have anything to say we've got to get to bed…" he mumbled and bounced his shoulder off of the door frame.

"That's just it…" he strained to hear her squeak. She sniffled against the chill of her nose and leaned closer so that he could hear her voice through the sleepiness of her tone. "I can't seem to stay asleep. I keep dreaming those horrible dreams."

He stood quite still for a man so jittery and pondered one of the greatest mysteries of his life… that being, 'how does a guy defend himself against such a sweetheart? Honestly…' He scratched at his messy bedhead and sighed impatiently, "And what would you like me to do about it, Kagura?"

Kagura stood very still for a moment, as if she herself did not know the answer to his question, but then painfully slowly, raised her arm as straight as a board to shoulder level and pointed inside his room. "Let me come in with you."

He had known it was coming. He had seen it from a mile away, and yet, he had still answered the door…Had still entertained the notion of her coming to his room even before she had awoken from her troubled slumber. He was violently ashamed of himself as his heart rate climbed steadily and surely, and shook his head. "Kagura, you and I both know we can't share a room together for the night."

The pout she had worn earlier came right back to its place and she scowled at him bitterly, "But I'm scared," She countered and planted her feet firmly into the carpet below as a softball batter would. "I can't be alone anymore, Saiga. I…" she fumbled for words, and this time he could see the genuine flustered panic setting into her gaze, "Saiga, I've been alone my whole life. I can't take it anymore. Not right now."

His foot tapped in agitation, but the main source of his unease came from the way his stomach and heart were racing for her…the thought of her needing him... needing him so badly in this moment, for whatever reason it did not matter. Her nightgown fluttered once more in the frigid air and he felt his last straw break. Begrudgingly, he moved aside.

She hurriedly bounded through the door as if it were her last chance… Which it was, Saiga told himself. Her long hair flowed behind her in a careless braid, and he stopped and gazed as she went. His throat closed up tightly, and before he could stop himself he brought his hands up to his face in a picture frame; he let out a shuttering breath as he focused in on her contour against the window.

She nestled herself into a large chair and brought her knees up to her chin in a form of self-defense against the animalistic feelings that surged though her after seeing him. Her eyes drooped warily from the hour of morning but she far from tired… her heart was on the rocks after her dream and the fears were all coming back to her. "Thank you for letting me come in…" she mentioned, her eyes trained on her toes.

Saiga blinked and lowered his hands as quickly as manageable, but the damage had already been done. His pulse was drumming against his ears, fighting all clear sense he had, but he managed to beat it down for her sake. 'It's not her fault… she's young, she doesn't know any better.' He cleared his throat and grabbed for what looked like a t-shirt in the gloom of his messy sheets. That was all she was getting for an answer.

Kagura could sense that his body was tense even from where she sat watching him. It was not clear to her what was bothering him but she decided against commenting. He pulled the dark grey shirt over his head and she noticed with bashfulness the hard nipples that stuck out from beneath his shirt. Looking back down to her toes, she mumbled, "Saiga… how old are you?"

He paused for only a brief moment to reply, "Thirty-two," And walked across the room to sit on the corner of the bed, kicking his slippers out of the way as he went. Kagura took a moment to think… he was thirty-two, and she was fifteen… but he looked twenty-five, and she looked twenty… she let out a small huff and scrunched her thin eyebrows. "What is it?" he asked curiously, his body finally slowing itself down. She wiggled her toes and then looked deep into his black eyes, "You don't seem as old as you are."

"Yeah, well I am old anyways." He replied, his husky voice stirring dust within her chest as he opened up his comforter to crawl in. "And you're too young."

She closed her eyes, the sting of memories flooding back to her at the mention of old age. "Saiga, I…" She shook her head and hid her face. Her breathing hitched and emotion began to bubble its way to the surface of her glittering eyes. "Saiga, I've kissed a lot of old men…" He felt himself cringe as her tone of voice changed to deep devastation. "I didn't want to do it…"

Saiga sat up in bed and the warmth his body was generating without her laden sever guilt upon him. He felt his humanity wrench at the sight of her shaking body and quickly stuttered, "Yeah, and, well," he started, glancing around the room, "And I've kissed a lot of old hags in my day and you don't see me worrying about it..." He watched her shoulders slow to a rhythmic rasping. "It doesn't change who you are to me, Kagura."

She raised her eyes to look at him, and it was a look that he would never, ever forget. Her sparkling orbs glowed in the light of Luna herself, and he felt his body stand but did not register it. She was up on her feet as silent as a dove, and he was there in front of her within seconds, his arms twisting themselves around her like toasty tree roots. He buried his cheek in her hair and was shocked at the frozen girl against his chest. She was an iceberg.

"Why didn't you tell me you were this cold before…" he growled and rubbed her back. And despite himself, he greedily took in the sensation of her body in his arms, taking the liberty of memorizing every curvature and grotto her body produced against his. The small but fair lumps of her bosom, the womanly arches of her hips against his… She shuttered against him and stayed silent, his grey shirt soaking up the remainder of her sadness.

Her mind focused on the feeling of his hands on her back, rubbing slowly to produce much needed heat… but it was more than that to her. She could live without the heat, and she could live without the sweet words… but she could not live without the feeling of his protective arms around her, sheltering her like birdcage against a harsh winter's night. She sighed into his chest and let her legs collapse underneath her weight.

Saiga reacted to the slumping body beneath him calculatingly and fell to his knees, absorbing the impact of the floor for her. She slid against his body as they came to a stop and she touched her cheeks softly, which glimmered with rouge incandescence. "Sometimes I get scared of things, Saiga…" she peppered faintly, her eyes staring absently to the ground. His chest rumbled like a loving guard dog and he absently pushed the bangs out of her eyes. "Scared of what?"

Her eyes focused out of the fog and trailed their way across his chest, up his collarbone, through the crooks of his neck, across his Adam's apple, along his jawline, and finally rested on his quivering eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen lust in the eyes of a man.

"I'm petrified that I will be undesirable because of what I've done."

Ironic.

There were so many words to describe Kagura. There were so many adjectives and verbs and nouns and expressions and poems that could describe how she looked, and how she came off to others. To describe what a wonderful, strong, brave, good spirited person she was. And there were that many more words that Saiga could have chosen to explain the true beauty he felt radiating from her in that moment - that moment that she rested in his arms, their eyes locked like someone had threw away the key long ago.

And yet he was at a loss for words.

He let out a long stream of air through his nostrils. "Kagura…" he groaned, "Kagura, I can't tell you how beautiful you are to me." He shifted away from her, but her slender fingers quickly caught hold of the fabric of his shirt in desperation. "Why not?" She demanded, the look on her face barely holding her together.

Time stopped in that moment. The articulation on Kagura's face etched itself into his memory and stung him like a paper cut. "Kagura I can't tell you, because…" he took a deep breath, "Because there are no words to describe how beautiful you actually are. It would be an insult."

Kagura froze and turned her gaze to the wall. He was relieved to see a tiny smile curl at the side of her lips. Saiga picked her up into his arms and carried her to his bed. Opening the covers, he clumsily dropped her into the sheets and hoped she could manage from there - he heard her giggle like a thousand chimes, "You're so awkward."

That one hurt like a thousand needles. But he took it because it made her happy. It made her feel free.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

Saiga tucked the blankets around Kagura tightly, pushing the covers around the detail of her body so that she lie snug as an ancient mummy. She wiggled but discovered that she was trapped. Due to her lack of mobility, she watched him closely from her position on the bed, ready to spring like a panther should he decide to switch rooms on her again… She surveyed his thin body as he silently rummaged through his bag of belongings and pulled out a camera.

She blinked rapidly, her eyes betraying her confusion. Saiga chuckled to himself and loaded the film on his camera. "Listen, Kagura…" he mumbled, the sudden urges coming back to him as he took a test shot against the wall. "I can't possibly tell you how beautiful you are because, well, I'm awkward." He shorted, but his voice was flooded with an entirely foreign flavor that sent shivers through her warm covers.

"So I'm going to show you instead."

He lifted the camera to his eye and peered through the lenses, his sweatpants instantly tenting to accommodate a large erection. Kagura's eyes traveled to the bulge on Saiga and her jaw went slack – he shifted the camera for a moment and added, "What can I say, I'm an awkward kind of guy." And the breathed out slowly, preparing for the perfect shot.

Kagura's eyes shifted away from his pants and rose back to his camera, her adrenalin pumping hurriedly through her system. "S-Saiga…" she mumbled, her body quaking despite the heat. And then the camera flashed, snap, and it was over. He put the camera down on the couch and looked down at the female below him. Never had he ever felt so male in his entire life. He made no move to hide his arousal, but rather embraced the irony of it all…

Kagura's doe eyes blinked up at him for a long time. "Saiga," she started, "I have something to tell you." She whispered quietly. He shook his head and sat on the edge of the bed, "No, I have something to tell you first." He leaned into her porcelain earlobe and whispered hotly, "I can't show you your picture until tomorrow. It's the one hour photo developer deal," and chuckled. She giggled back.

Kagura pulled him in close to her face and let out a breathy sigh, "Saiga, I've never had my period." She began, and despite the arousal that was throbbing in his pants at her close proximity and photogenic face, he grimaced at where this was going. "No, don't worry." She insisted and then leaned in close. "But I know that I have gone through puberty, because, Saiga…"

Saiga clenched his fist in her nightgown and focused on controlling his breathing, his shaking… "Saiga… I'm wet between my legs. I can feel it." To demonstrate she shifted within the sheets for a moment, her cheeks a burning rose as her body pressed closer to his body. "And it's because of you, Saiga. You've made me this way."

His mind raced with every primal instinct a man could ever have – procreate, mate, impregnate, and yet – some miraculous part of him resisted her. Some part of him that he never knew he had. He blinked the lust out of his gaze long enough to rest his eyes on what she really was – an innocent virgin of fifteen. His sweaty palms traveled to the sides of her face and he rested his forehead against hers. "Kagura…"

Her chin tilted upwards toward his broad face and he took her lips with the most resistance he had left. Her thin petals moved against his in a beautiful dance, her innocence driving him feral. And yet he loved her, and he knew he did, and so he stayed very calm and still, and let her have this moment.

Her mouth parted and she ran her sweet tongue across his bottom lip, teeth almost chattering. 'Poor kid must be scared…' he thought absentmindedly to himself as his strong arms came to pull her into his lap. She squeaked as she felt the rock hardness in his pants press solidly against her core, but he smiled the least rampart he could, and she seemed to relax into this unknown of hers.

His hands tilled their way through her soft hair and quiet suddenly she arched her back, a small gasp escaping into the dead quiet of their room. His blood boiled at every small sound she made, and he continued, harder, their saliva blending together in a frighteningly familiar way. Against his will, his mind trailed to their first meeting, their kiss saving his life is more ways than comprehensible… and here he was… with the Goddess… nothing but a frightened teenager.

Her nails drug themselves down his broad back and he broke their kiss for only a moment to groan into her, to press into her… and then he opened his eyes, and he saw the most gorgeous shot of his life. He leaned over to his camera and took aim…

Her nightgown was draped nonchalantly off of one snow white shoulder and her eyes carried a look of lewdness that made him hungrier than he had ever been before. Her perfect nose had a hint of strawberry, the cold from the hallway seeping in fogging up the lens on one corner.

"I love you, Saiga." She mumbled, and gave a crooked smile to the camera.

"I love you, too, Kagura." He mumbled back.

"Say cheese."