"You really are some kind of idiot," Mitsuru sighed, and exasperated expression on her face. "I will never understand you. What, pray tell, made you think that rushing at such a strong shadow without a plan was a good idea?"

She was sitting on the couch with Akihiko, tending to his significant wounds from their time in Tartarus earlier that night. Everyone else was exhausted and went to bed as soon as they got home, but he was injured, and no matter how much he insisted he was fine she would not sleep until she felt satisfied with how he was doing.

He grunted. "You know I have no answer to that question."

She smirked. "My point exactly."

It was hard for him to ignore how close she was. She was sitting on the edge of the couch while he was laying down, and her hands hovered over the deep gash in his side. She had done her best to heal it, but her healing powers were mediocre and Yukari was asleep. Each time she moved, Akihiko got a whiff of her sweet, intoxicating smell. He had never thought of himself as the typical hormonal teenage boy, but he had to admit that he was having trouble controlling himself.

"This is a pretty bad wound, Akihiko," she said matter-of-factly as she wrapped the injury in clean white cloth. "I don't think even Takeba will be able to fully heal it. I believe time will be the only remedy for this little problem."

He groaned and sat up. "Gotcha doctor. But don't try to get off the hook, you've got plenty of injuries yourself." He dipped a rag in alcohol and teased her by waving it in front of her face.

"And I got them all saving your sorry ass," she said, pouting. He raised his eyebrows. She rarely used profanity, and when she did it was only around him. He liked that. The fact that she would reveal her rougher side only to him. It showed that she trusted and cared for him as much as he did for her.

"That's beside the point. You still got hurt." His eyes flickered to her bloodstained shirt and then back to her face, asking silently for permission to proceed. When she didn't protest he slowly lifted her shirt, revealing the cut within. It wasn't as bad as his was, but it could still get infected and cause damage if not handled properly. He gently dabbed at it with the rag.

She sucked in a quick breath. It hurt. A lot. It had been a while since she'd been injured so badly while fighting, and so the feeling of cleaning wounds or just having them in general had become rather foreign to her. She squeezed her eyes shut to prevent them from tearing. Mitsuru Kirijo was not going to cry because of some stupid scratch.

Heat rushed to the pit of Akihiko's stomach. Did he just here Mitsuru whimper? If this kept up, he would have to find some reason to excuse himself before he exploded in a fiery ball of lust. And exploding in a fiery ball of lust is something he knew Mitsuru would not appreciate.

"All done here," he said, wrapping the cut in bandages. He rolled her shirt back down and dipped the rag in the alcohol again. "Last one."

There was a fairly deep cut across her cheek. The son of a bitch wound had practically been bleeding the whole time, leaving a track of dried blood running from the cut down to her chin. Akihiko found it extremely attractive. She was tough. Strong. A fighter.

He cupped her cheek with his left hand cleaned the wound with his right. It was that moment that she became aware of how close his face was to hers. Normally she would be embarrassed, but the gentle, content look in his eyes captivated her and made her forget to blush. She had seen that look in him before, but she doubted any of the other SEES members had. It showed his affectionate, passionate side that he reserved solely for her. For some reason she couldn't understand, that thought relaxed her.

When the cut was cleaned, Akihiko put the rag down next to them, but he didn't remove his hand from her cheek. As his eyes met hers, it was almost as if he was losing control of his body. His face began to slowly, so slowly, inch towards hers. He couldn't believe he was doing this. But what made it even more unbelievable was that it looked like she was going to let him. He always believed that she would pull away and slap him if he ever dared try to kiss her.

Her eyes widened as his lips finally touched hers, and made a noise deep in her throat. She didn't respond to his kiss though; she was too shocked to do so. But that wasn't the only reason. She honestly had no idea how she was supposed to feel in this situation. Love was never something that she had had the privilege of feeling. There was always the ever present threat of her arranged marriage that loomed over her shoulder, preventing her from even attempting at developing such feelings for someone. Or if she did develop those feelings, they weren't something she was aware of. The very idea was too foreign to her.

When he pulled away and looked at her face, he could see a blush spreading across her cheeks, but she didn't protest. He went back in for another kiss, but before his lips could touch hers she leaned back and pressed a hand against his chest.

"Listen, I uh," she began. "I don't think this is a good idea. You're not thinking clearly."

"Trust me, I am," he said huskily. "Do you have any idea how much I've wanted this? Do you have any idea how strongly I feel about you? I love you, Mitsuru."

And there it was. Out in the open. She could either accept or reject him. "I-I'm confused, Akihiko. I don't know how I feel. I care about you a lot, but I've never had to think about anything like this before. I'm not the most experienced in this area and so I…I don't know."

"Let me help you figure it out then," he said, grasping her hand that had been pressed against his chest and threading his fingers through hers. "If you decide that you don't feel the same way, then I'll back off. I promise." He then moved so that he hovered over her, and he moved to once more and closed the distance between their lips.

The kiss, once again, was gentle. He was giving her time to decide how she felt. She could feel heat grow in her stomach and spread throughout her body, and before she knew what she was doing she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. A low growl was release from the back of his throat as he wrapped one arm around her back and drew her up and close to him, so that her chest pressed against his. He kept his other hand buried in her hair.

When they finally broke apart, they were both panting, their chests heaving. There was a slight moment of silence. Mitsuru finally broke it by beginning to chuckle. Akihiko joined her, and soon they were hysterical laughing, struggling for breath and tears coming from their eyes.

When the laughing subsided, they lay in comfortable silence. Akihiko was laying on the couch with his arms wrapped tightly around Mitsuru's waist, and she had her head pressed against his head. "So," he began. "Do you love me?"

She lifted her head so she could look down at him. She smirked. "Yeah, I think so."

A stubborn look came across his face. "Say it."

She raised her eyebrow and leaned down to press a quick kiss against his lips. "Akihiko Sanada, I love you."

He couldn't stop a huge, stupid grin from spreading across his face. Before she could react, he sat up quickly and pressed his lips firmly against hers again. He then lay back down so that they were in their previous position. He then kissed the top of her head and whispered, "I love you, too."