This is a little bit of fiction that I have had for a little bit. It was a personal challenge. Putting Umi and Clef in the same bed, but keep the fic clean. I believe I have succeeded. .

Pillow Talk

By Milieva

Clef groaned and sat up to stare blurry eyed at the shadow in his doorway. It never failed. Anytime he had just drifted off to sleep, something or someone would disturb him. At least this time it was nothing that would require hours of attention. It was not uncommon for him to go days with almost no sleep, because every time he would have a chance to rest, something else would be all too pressing for him to sleep.

"I'm sorry." Umi's voice was barely above a whisper. She took a step back as if to go back to her own room.

"Same dream?" He mumbled

She nodded dumbly.

"Forgive me for not offering to sit with you again, but I am in dire need of rest."

"I'm sorry, I'll go."

"Umi…" The mage closed his eye as he tried to force his exhausted brain to form words for his thought. "If you don't mind my snoring, you are welcome to stay in here."

Timidly, the water knight closed the door and walked to the bed. If he had been in his right mind, Clef might had realized how inappropriate this was, but at that moment all he could think of was sinking back into oblivion. Groggily, he threw back the blankets on the opposite side of the bed, and sank back into his pillow, hardly even noticing the weight shift as Umi crawled under the blankets. He tried to say something reassuring, but his words came out in an incoherent mumble.

It couldn't have been much more than half an hour that Clef woke. He was freezing cold. Rolling over, he reached out for the blanket, but could only feel mattress. With an aggravated groan, he sat up to search for the truant cloth. On his right lay a rather small blob of blanket. How did he kick it into that strange long shape? Without a second thought, the mage grabbed for the edge of the blanket and pulled. It didn't come loose. He pulled again and only managed to receive a low moan from the blanket roll. That's right, it was Umi. With one finally burst of strength he pulled a portion of blanket free from her, rolled over and fell back to sleep.

Umi moaned as the blanket was pulled away from her. She sat up in surprise at the unfamiliar surroundings. Her heart pounded for the few moments it took her to remember where she was and why. Looking over to her left, she saw the hunched figure of the mage asleep on his pillow. He looked the most peaceful she had ever seen him. Curling up on her own side of the bed, she too drifted back off into her dreams.

"Oh God! No!"

A stray arm came down hard against Clef's skull. He woke with a start. What the… Sitting up a bit he was able to stop the next blow from hitting him. Still holding onto her wrist, he began to regret his decision to let the water knight into his bed. He would never get any sleep at this rate. The water knight flailed about in the bed for a few more seconds before Clef simply pulled her into his arms, throwing a leg over hers to keep her pinned to the bed. The sleeping knight did little to protest and relaxed in his grip enough that the mage was able to return to his slumber.

The water knight came slowly out of her coma and her face contorted in annoyance at the hideous smacking sound in her ear. She tried to move away from it, but found herself held by a heavy arm and leg? What did Clef think he was doing? She tried to pull away from him, but he only held her tighter.

"Ugh…Um..i..ruv..ou…"

He snorted loudly in her ear before his hold loosened a bit. Umi was about to attempt wriggling free when she froze. The hand that had been resting harmlessly on her side had drifted to a new residence, and was now cupping her breast. Her face was on fire within seconds. Maybe she should have gone back to her room. This wasn't right. And Clef would be more than embarrassed to here how he behaved tonight. Lifting the stray appendage from its resting place and moving it to a less awkward spot on her abdomen, she snuggled back into his grip. Truthfully she didn't really mind being held like this. If only she could manage to shut him up, as the mage was currently reciting statistical facts of the country and its environment, in an almost incoherent mumble. Rolling her eyes, the knight decided to do something about it and shoved her elbow back into his side. Clef merely gasped in slumbering surprise and pulled her tighter to him, but did quiet down.

Clef coughed once or twice as he woke. There was hair in his mouth. Blinking the blurring sleep from his eyes, the mage gazed at the blue haired girl in his arms. This dream felt so real. Had the knight actually come into his room last night? Or was his ill rested mind playing tricks on him. Slowly the foggy memories of the previous night surfaced enough for him to believe this was no dream. She really was here. But he couldn't stay her and enjoy her presence. Judging from the amount of light coming through the window, he should be getting up and dressed for the council meeting in little more than an hour. Carefully he tried to pry himself away from the smaller body without waking her.

Umi groaned slightly and rolled over to face him. "Good morning." She mumbled with a sleepy smile.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?"

"Quite well, but better if you didn't talk so much in your sleep."

"I wasn't the one screaming and throwing myself about the bed."

"Hey! I am prone to night mares."

"I noticed."

"At least I didn't grope you while you were sleeping."

The mage looked at her in shock. "I groped you?"

"Yes. You did." Her cheeks coloured slightly.

"Forgive me." He crawled back off the edge of the bed, and hastily grabbed his robes. It wasn't fitting for the council chair to be late to the meeting. Even if there was a beautiful girl in his bed. The mage smiled at this treasonous thought and politely excused himself, so he might change.

Umi forced herself to sit up. His bed was far more comfortable than hers. And that wasn't fair. Maybe she might drop by again some time. Aside form the occational disruption, she had slept rather well. No matter how wrong this arrangement was, she didn't mind having someone in the room with her. She missed the room she shared with the other girls. Ever since Cephiro had been back together and the peoples had left to their own homes, all three girls had been able to keep a small wing to themselves, each with her own room off a main common room. But her room was rather lonely at night. That was why she had a cat back at home. Truthfully, being woken up at night by odd noises and such were quite common placed in her house on earth. More than once she woke with the damn cat lying on her face. And Clef's mumbling was nothing compared to Yuki's yowling. If it wouldn't get them in too much trouble, she wouldn't mind staying in here more often.

On second thought, she curled back up against the pillows. A few more minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt anything. Especially if it was in this nice comfy bed.

"If I were you, I would be going back to my own room to do that."

She glanced up at the re-emerged Clef. "Hm?"

"If you stay in here much later, Hikaru and Fuu might get worried and come searching. I doubt they would believe that last night was as innocent as it really was."

Umi sighed. Maybe she could nap in here another day. "I guess you're right. Hikaru might not get it, but Fuu would." She stretched out across the bed and smiled at him teasingly. "They wouldn't be having false thoughts if we actually…"

"Out!"

She laughed and crawled off the bed. "You're no fun." She blew a kiss to him as she closed the door behind her.

Clef groaned as he followed her out. Things were becoming all too tempting. If she paid him another late night visit, he wasn't sure what would transpire between them, and frankly, that worried him. For he knew she was slowly waning his self control.

END

And thus ends this journey into the realm of Milieva Clean fiction. Reviews are greatly appreciated. I hope you liked it.