His arm is draped across my waist, his fingers cold against my hip. It isn't unpleasant; in fact, the sensation sends chills up my spine. His jaw rests against my collarbone so that his sleeping face is tilted toward mine.
He has always been a man whose emotions show on his face. Usually, it was contorted in rage, or gleefully grinning during a kill, or distorted by a protrusion of food in his mouth. He shows too much emotion, I think, to be a successful samurai. He lets the enemy get too close; he lets insults cut him.
I trace his cheekbone with my fingertip and he smiles lightly in his sleep, pressing close to me.
I smile down at him. This new emotion that lights his face, this happiness is refreshing.
He told me last night, as his eyes closed, "You're the only one that can truly hurt me."
And before I knew what I was doing, I was pulling him into my arms and letting my lips fall gently against his hot mouth and chapped skin.
He tensed and then melted like ice into me, like I was a place for him to be warm again.
He murmured something against my cheek that sounded familiarly like "I'll kill you" but beautifully like "I'll love you."
The sun is coming up over the windowsill now. He stirs in his sleep and grasps my hand which is resting on his face. His eyes blink open, dull, and then bright, and emotions flit through them: alarm, alert awareness, and then satisfaction, and affection, accompanied with a smile at recognizing me. "How long have you been awake?" he murmurs, his breath puffing gently across my pale skin.
"I never fell asleep." I return quietly, letting my fingers run up his side.
He shivers and lays his hand on my chest, pushing himself off the floor to lay a kiss on my jaw.
I close my eyes at his touch and feel his lips against my own. He is so gentle, with the way his hands stroke my sides and his chest touches mine – I wonder how he is capable of killing. "Is this how you are with all your women?" I whisper against his mouth.
He kisses the curve of my neck and then I hear his breathing against my ear. "No. I've never loved any of those women."
My fingers trail up his spine. "Do you love me?"
He smiles and pulls me to him. "More than my sword."
