A/N: This is an M rated version of chapter 25 of my other story Shigeko Kageyama AKA Mob. Can be enjoyed on its own, too.

Mob, can you get it? My hands are full." Said Reigen who still hadn't finished his dinner. Mob nodded and opened the door with her powers.

"Master, do you want me to hold some of that?" asked Mob wondering how he would take off his shoes with his hands full like that. They had just gotten home after once again being left out in the middle of the woods without a ride. They had gotten back home after hitchhiking, taking the bus, catching a train, and walking. Their dinner had come from the vending machines near the train station and while Mob had finished hers Master Reigen was still attempting to balance his dinner in his arms as they made their way into their home.

"I've got it, Mob. You can just go inside." Said Reigen motioning for her to go in. It was late and they needed to rest. She may have needed more sleep than other people but she still needed sleep.

"You can't take off your shoes like that, Master." Said Mob using her powers to levitate what was left of Reigen's dinner in the house behind her.

"You're stubbornly helpful Mob, stubbornly helpful." Said Reigen as she carried his stuff inside. He could have carried that stuff in. She didn't have to worry about him so much all the time. He was supposed to be the one who worried about her.

"I know." Said Mob as she slipped her shoes off and sat down on the couch. Reigen slipped off his shoes and joined her, plucking his food from her telekinetic grasp.

"When did you get so stubborn? You used to do whatever I told you to." Said Reigen clicking the TV on. Mob shrugged.

"I've always been like this, I think. We just never spent this much time together." Said Mob flipping channels. Nothing much was on at this hour and she didn't feel like looking through streaming for a show to watch. A couple of her shows had updated but she could always watch them tomorrow.

"That's true…." Said Reigen as she flipped channels. He watched her. She seemed happy with him, she really did. Should he…no. After yesterday he wasn't asking her if she wanted to go back to her family again. She had made herself perfectly clear.

"There's nothing on this late." Said Mob after a while.

"Going to go work on the book some more?" asked Reigen

"No. I want to be with you. I'll type my portion up if you want to hang out in our room." Said Mob without looking at him. She knew that she needed to get some work done, it was the right thing to do, but she also wanted to watch TV with Master Reigen and maybe rest her head on him again.

"…we can watch TV if you want. Hang on, though, let me change." Said Reigen finishing up his dinner. He licked the corn flour from the mochi from his fingers and stood up. Mob used her powers to throw their trash away, still not looking at him. She had settled on a game show where everyone was dressed as cats and had to do cat things, They put the weirdest stuff on late at night

"Me too, I've been in my uniform for too long." Said Mob. Maybe she could see Teru after work tomorrow and wash her uniform at his house. Maybe she could take a bath, too. Maybe they could take a bath…

"Hang it up in front of an open window if you want to air it out." Said Reigen as he went to his room. Their room. She had called it there room. More permanence. He liked the idea of it. Did he like it in practice, though? She was going to be with him for the foreseeable future, forever if she could manage it. It scared him, a little. It had scared him enough to fight with her.

He pulled off his shirt and slid out of his pants. He missed it, being able to hang out like this. Not enough to get rid of Mob or anything but he missed it. Privacy. He used to have nothing but privacy but now she was always right there. It hadn't been a problem, not really. It had been two weeks already and most of those weeks had been spent working and trying not to think about his mortality and hers.

Still, he missed his privacy, sometimes. There were certain things that he absolutely would not do if she was around, which meant that they almost never got done. Maybe he could just let her leave work early tomorrow. She'd probably be out late with Teru again. That would give him some time to himself. He may have been her best friend and master but he was still a man.

He pulled on yesterday's pajamas. Still clean enough. He glanced over at his computer. He really should get some work done. He should but he won't. He's worked hard enough. It's time for bed, well, almost. It always helps to watch a little TV before going to sleep. He yawned and stretched. Man, it was late. He pulled his pillow and blanket off the bed. Maybe he'd just crash in the living room. Yeah, he'd crash in the living room in front of the TV just like old times. It would be nice even though the couch was hard and uncomfortable. It wasn't that he thought that it looked weird, him sharing a room with her. It wasn't that he was freaked out about the whole 'our room' thing. No, he just wanted to crash in front of the TV. That was all.

Mob got changed quickly. She threw on yesterday's nightgown, the one with all the lace that was kind of itchy but it was still clean so she had might as well wear it. Master Reigen didn't change all of his clothes every day. They couldn't, it would make too many dirty clothes.

Mob missed having a washing machine. She missed only a few things about home.

Ritsu, a washer and dryer, baths, and privacy.

Mob loved Master Reigen in every single way one person could love another but sometimes she needed privacy. Especially because he could feel her feelings. He still didn't know how she felt, though, which was good. She knew that if he knew how she felt, how she really loved him, he'd reject her. No matter how close they got, no matter how many times he said he loved her, he was still a grown up and she was still a kid.

She didn't feel like a kid, though. She had stopped feeling like a kid after Ritsu got kidnapped. After they almost died. After she almost…after she fought. After she fought all those other espers and they could have died. She could have died. She knew she was young but she wasn't a child. Not anymore. Young but not a child. Master Reigen didn't see it though. She would always be a kid to him, well, until she actually grew up.

Mob laid down on the couch and drew her knees up. She was tired, a little, but she wanted to be near Master Reigen some more. Falling asleep on him had been so wonderful. Maybe they could…no. She had promised Teru that she wouldn't sleep next to him. On top of didn't count. Teru meant in a bed, she knew that. That was how they slept next to each other. Maybe they could nap together, her and him. She always felt tired after they…what was even the word for it? She'd ask him, he knew more about this sort of thing than she did.

She didn't know how to feel about that. She reminded herself that green was an ugly color on anyone. She reminded herself that she was not better than he was, really. She wasn't dumb, she knew what the internet was full of and she knew how boys were. She never looked at that, though. What would be the point? It would be like watching someone else eat, she figured. What would she get out of it? What would be the point when she could have him in real life? Boys were weird, sometimes. People were weird, sometimes.

She sat up when she heard Master Reigen's door open. He was in pajamas. Black t-shirt, grey sweatpants. Her eyes lingered on him, his chest, his shoulders, his bare arms. She liked seeing him like this. His suit was like a second skin that he shed at the end of the day. With it on he was Master Reigen, her wise and kind master. Without it he was Master Reigen, her best friend. Oh, he had a pillow and blanket with him.

"Mob, scoot." Said Reigen as he sat down. Mob scooted out of the center and watched him. He put his pillow on the side of him and covered himself with the blanket like a cloak.

"You look like a monk, Master." Said Mob with a smile. He really did look funny.

"Monk? I'm the grand master, Mob. Now, student, I shall entrust you with the greatest of responsibilities. Are you ready, my loyal disciple?" asked Reigen. Mob nodded. She knew that he was kidding, he was smiling and being silly, but she would accept any responsibility he was willing to give her.

"Yes Master, anything." Said Mob smiling. Reigen loved that smile, the little one where you could just barely see the corners of her mouth lift. Her eyes, that was where it could be seen best.

"Your mission, if you choose to take it, is one of great importance." Said Reigen trying to sound like a sage old Master. She was leaning towards him now, her eyes widened.

"Anything, Master Reigen." Said Mob leaning in. Reigen leaned in close to her.

"Are you ready?" asked Reigen. She nodded.

"Yes, Master, what is it?" asked Mob. Reigen held eye contact with her for a few moments. He let the tension grow. She leaned in closer and closer. He suddenly held the remote in front of her face.

"Mob, find us something to watch. I want to fall asleep in front of the TV tonight." Said Reigen causally. Oh. Right. He felt a stab of rejection. Mob was so sensitive sometimes.

"You don't want to sleep next to me?" asked Mob softly. Reigen flipped her fringe up.

"No, it's not you. I just want to crash in front of the TV tonight. Besides, I bet you want your own room for a little bit." Said Reigen

"I don't mind, I like sleeping next to you. Remember? I like that you're there when I go to sleep and still there when I wake up." Said Mob. Still flatly, still in her same monotone, but her eyes were expressive. Reigen sighed. He was such a pushover when it came to Mob.

"Drag your futon out here then, if you still want to share." Said Reigen. She was such a little kid sometimes. That was what he told himself, anyway. Nobody had ever said that to him before. How had she said it yesterday? 'You're the last thing I see before I close my eyes and the first thing I see when I wake up? '

"Thank you, Master." Said Mob. She used her powers to bring her futon out to the living room and unrolled it in front of the couch, moving the tiny table out of the way too.

She unrolled her futon but still sat on the couch. She wanted to be near Master Reigen. She went to streaming and put on a movie. She liked this one, it was about people who fell in love but then one of them died but then came back. It was romantic and had emotional depth.

Reigen laid down and put his feet behind her. She didn't make any move to lay down on her futon. She could be clingy, sometimes, but he didn't mind. He got comfortable and felt her scooting more towards the middle of the couch.

"Your nails were poking me." Said Mob simply as she sat with her back against Master Reigen's belly. He was laying on his side with the blanket over him. Mob wanted to lay down with him, I would have been so nice. Was that ok, though?

"Oh, sorry. You can sit on the floor if you want." Said Reigen nudging her with his leg. He didn't really want her to go, though. It was nice having her so near. She was warm and soft and there…maybe he was just starved for affection.

"No, this is nice." Said Mob leaning back into him. She could smell him better now, too. Cigarettes and incense.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" asked Reigen after a while. She was flipping through things to watch. Maybe he shouldn't have been so serious, before. She could take him so literally sometimes. All the times.

"You just did, Master." Said Mob not taking her eyes off the screen.

"When did you get so smart?" asked Reigen. He had given his mother than line plenty of times, too, when he was her age.

"I've always been smart, Master. You didn't think I was smart, before?" asked Mob slightly hurt. Maybe this was just one of those things she couldn't understand. There were layers to words after all.

"No, I always thought you were intelligent, it's just an…interesting observation, that's all. That asking someone if you can ask them a question is already asking them a question." Said Reigen. Now he remembered. He hated it, too, when his mother said he was being smart. Right, this was Mob, not him. She wasn't being mouthy, she was just making an observation.

"Oh. I just don't understand why people say that, that's all." Said Mob

"Just part of conversation, that's all." Said Reigen

"There's too many rules. I like texting better." Said Mob

"You want us to just text all the time? Mob, I don't think my phone has that kind of battery life." Said Reigen. Mob looked at him for a moment. Oh, he was being silly again.

"You can just get one of those portable battery block things." Said Mob smiling.

"Nah, too much work. Besides, I like talking to you." Said Reigen

"Even though I can't get a clue?" asked Mob

"That's just part of your charm." Said Reigen

"Master…thank you." Said Mob after a while. Reigen almost pulled away from her then. Happiness. Contentment. Safety. Adoration.

"Don't thank me, I'm just stating a fact." Said Reigen

"I still feel nice when you say things like that." Said Mob not looking at him. if she looked at him then she would start to think about him.

"…I know, Mob, I know." Said Reigen. He knew how she felt, sometimes, around him. Hormones. It was hormones. She was fourteen. She couldn't help the way her heart would pick up the pace or her stomach would take up acrobatics when she saw him. She was probably that way around every guy. He knew that he was that way around every girl.

"Are you ok? You had a tone." Said Mob

"No, I'm fine. Anyway, Mob, I was wondering something…." Said Reigen

"Bad things?" asked Mob

"No, never." Said Reigen

"Oh, alright. What is it, Master?" asked Mob

"Do you…do you ever want your own room?" asked Reigen finally.

"No, not really. I like sharing with you." Said Mob

"You don't want your own space, privacy?" asked Reigen

"…sometimes…but I like being with you, better." Said Mob

"I like being with you, too, but sometimes…and this is nothing against you…but I do miss privacy. Sometimes." Said Reigen

"Are you going to make me leave?" asked Mob softly. Reigen reached up and pulled her down next to him without thinking. He had only been reacting to that hum of rejection and fear that he was getting from her.

"Never. Mob, I'll never kick you out. I'm your master, what kind of a person would I be if I threw you out?" asked Reigen. She was laying next to him, facing him. Too close. This was much too close. He couldn't push her away, though. He just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"A mean one, I guess, but you could never be mean, Master." Said Mob keeping eye contact with her. She could hear the TV in the background but it didn't sound like anything at all. Master Reigen's breathing seemed to much louder in comparison. If she got closer she could feel the rise and fall of his chest. She stuffed those feelings down before he could feel them.

"Sometimes I have to be. Sometimes we all have to be." Said Reigen. He should have been mean to her, right then and there, because he could feel how she felt. He should have told her to go lay on her futon because it would have looked so very bad, the two of them like this, if anyone was to see. But then again who was around? He was close to her, very close. He could feel it, from her, how she felt. Warm. Safe. Happy. Content. Everything felt right, perfect, then and there in that moment. Positive feedback loop. He got caught in it. He let himself get caught up in it.

"I don't like to be." Said Mob softly. He reached over and brushed some of her hair from her face. Mob smiled. That was nice. Not Teru nice but still nice. Master was always looking out for her, even in little ways.

"Me neither, but sometimes you have to be." Said Reigen. He should have been mean, he should have, but he wasn't going to be. Mob was so sensitive. She didn't need to feel rejected.

"Why? It just hurts you and the other person." Said Mob

"Sometimes to help someone you have to hurt them." Said Reigen

"I don't believe that. I think that if you're hurting someone then you're just making whatever it was that was the problem worse." Said Mob wishing that he had let his hand linger. She always felt so nice when he touched her.

"What about your boyfriend?" asked Reigen watching her eyes. She really did have expressive eyes, when you could see them. When you could really see them.

"Teru?" asked Mob softly. Right. Teru. Was this…was this ok? She wasn't doing anything, not really. She had promised that she wouldn't sleep with Master Reigen, next to him. This wasn't sleep, though. This was just being comfortable.

"Yeah, Teru. Didn't you two fight?" said Reigen. Mob nodded. She didn't want to remember that. Things were different, now. They were better.

"We did. I exploded at him." said Mob closing her eyes. Reigen wished that she would open them again.

"You were mean to him but you said that because you fought him he changed for you." Said Reigen. Mob opened her eyes again.

"I still didn't like being mean. I don't like to be mean, ever, to anyone, for any reason. The truth of one's charm is in their kindness. You said so." Mob. He had taught her that, it had been the first thing that he had taught her. She needed to be nice, to be kind. That was the sort of person she needed to be.

"You remember everything I teach you, don't you, Mob?" asked Reigen. She hung on his every word. She lived her life according to what he taught her. She would do anything for him, wouldn't she? Did he…did he want them?

"Of course. You're the master, Master Reigen. You teach me things." Said Mob. She wanted so badly to scoot closer. She wanted to press her head against his chest, to hear his heartbeat.

"I do, don't I?" said Reigen. He didn't know that this would be it, that this would be what their relationship would become. Whatever this was. This person, this girl, this meal ticket in pigtails had become his best friend. He had taught her how to…what had he taught her? To be a good person? No, she had already been a good person. She was a much better person than he would ever, could ever be.

"Yes, of course you do. I remember everything you tell me. I will always remember everything you teach me, Master." Said Mob. He was so close. She could reach out, it wasn't far, and touch his hand. His stomach. His side. She could lean her head into him and close her eyes. She could get lost in him, get mired in him. Cigarettes and incense.

"And I'll always remember what I've learned from you, Mob." Said Reigen. He had learned from her. He had learned just how far he would go for another person. He would die for her. He would fight for her. He would do anything for her.

"What did I teach you? I'm only the student." Said Mob almost whispering. She didn't have to be loud, neither of them did. They were so close now she could hear him clear as anything. The world seemed to fade away, hazy at the edges. Him, her, them. That was what mattered.

"You taught me how to be a better person, Mob." Said Reigen softly. Truth. The full truth. He had already lied to her so much, hadn't he? Lied and lied and lied. He needed to stop doing that. She didn't deserve him as he was. She didn't deserve Reigen Arataka the liar. She needed Master Reigen. She needed Master Reigen, the man who would always be there for her.

"You're a good person, Mob. I think you're so good, you know that?" said Reigen. Positive feedback. He couldn't think, he could only feel. He could only tell her everything because the more he told her the better she felt and the better she felt the better he felt.

"Master…I think that you're a good person. I wish everyone could see you how I see you. I wish…I wish that you could see you like I see you." Said Mob. She felt like she was sitting in a warm bath. She could feel nothing but warmth, but safety. This was the most perfect feeling in the world, knowing that Mater Reigen was there. He was there and he loved her. He loved her and she loved him. They loved each other. Not in the same way, not at all, but there was love between them.

"I wish I could, too, Mob. I wish that you could see yourself the way I see you, too. I wish that you could see just how amazing you really are." Said Reigen. He wanted to reach over to her, to hold her close, but he didn't. He didn't because that would have been crossing a line. They were close, now, emotionally. He knew how she felt, the layers to her feelings right then and there. She was young, she couldn't help it. She didn't have feelings for him. She had feelings towards him, feelings based in biology. That was all. He was Master Reigen to her and she did not have feelings for her. The very idea was absurd.

"I'm not amazing. I'm just…I'm just Mob." Said Mob. She didn't think that she was anything special. Sure she had powers and all but so did other people. She was strong, though, but that didn't mean anything at all. Everyone had their own talents. She was just a regular person.

"You're you, Mob…Shigeko. You're you and that's amazing. I've never met anyone as…genuine…as you." Said Reigen holding eye contact with her. Brown. Blue. Her. Him.

"Teru calls me that, too. Genuine." Said Mob. Teru. No, don't think about him and the last time they were that close. Think about master Reigen. No, not about him either. Think about something else, anything else.

"Because you are. You're refreshing like that, you know. You're yourself. You don't pretend, you don't lie. You just are." Said Reigen. God, he wants to hold her. No, she wants to hold him. She wants to be held. Yes, she wants to be held so he wants to be held but he can't because that would be too much even though she said that he never bothered her but he doesn't want to start and he knows how she's feeling and if he was to hold her like she wanted he would have been trying to put out a fire with gasoline.

"You don't lie either, Master. You're a good person like that." Said Mob. She suddenly feels like someone dumped a cup of ice water down her back.

"Mob…don't say things like that." Said Reigen, his mouth feeling chalky, his skin clammy. He does lie. He lies to her all the time.

"Why not?" asked Mob genuinely not understanding.

"Because…it isn't true. I lie Mob." Said Reigen. He can't tell her the truth now even though she deserves it.

"You do?" asked Mob. She couldn't imagine Master Reigen ever telling her lies.

"..yeah…" said Reigen softly. He couldn't do it. He couldn't shatter her image of him.

"Oh, like when you tell people that they're cursed even though they just have bad backs and stuff shoulders. That's alright. It's alright to tell little lies if it makes people feel better." Said Mob. Like when she told Teru that she wouldn't ever sleep next to master Reigen even though she really wants to. Like when she told Master Reigen that she only loved him in the way that he loved her.

"…yeah, Mob…just like that." Said Reigen. He lied to her. He still lies to her. He shouldn't. She doesn't deserve being treated like that. She's not just his secret weapon, she's not just his meal ticket. She's his everything.

"Master? Why do you look like that?" asked Mob. She couldn't read his face. It looked sort of sad but that didn't make any sense because they were so happy together. They were so warm and safe and happy together.

"…just tired, Mob. It's pretty late." Said Reigen lying to her once again. She accepted this, she accepted every single thing he told her.

"It is. Do you want to go to sleep?" asked Mob. She didn't need as much sleep as normal people and she had already taken a nap earlier. That didn't mean that Master Reigen wasn't tired.

"Yeah, I'm going to nod off now….you can stay…up…if you want." Said Reigen. He was about to tell her that she could stay up there next to him. No. That wouldn't have been right. He couldn't just fall asleep next to her.

"Ok." Said Mob. She wanted to keep talking to him, to keep being with him, but he was tired. She rolled over. He did say that she could stay 'up' and that could mean two things.

"You don't want to go down to your futon?" asked Reigen. He wanted to tell her to go back down to her futon. He wants to tell her that they're very close, too close, and she needs to sleep in her own bed. He wants to tell her to stay. Not in a weird way, he just likes being near her. She like a cat, sometimes. Small and warm.

"Later, but not now. I can't sleep up here. I have to sleep on the floor." Said Mob simply. She wasn't really watching TV, she was watching Master Reigen. Not with her eyes, of course, she was facing the wrong way. She was watching him with her aura. He was in her aura, again. Yellow was mixing with pink and blue. It always moved, this was the lazy sort of moving it did when she was calm.

"…yeah…you should sleep in your own bed." Said Reigen softly. He closes his eyes. He can still feel her. She's there. She's warm. He exhales, slowly and deeply. He tries to get comfortable. She scoots back, a little, just a little. He couldn't tell her to sit on the floor even though he knew that he should have. He knew that he should have…he knows that he should do a lot of things.

"Goodnight, Master." Said Mob. She can feel him relaxing. He's there and nice and warm and she can't help but scoot back towards him. She's not watching TV, not really. She uses her powers to turn the lights off. The world felt small, then. Small and cozy.

She lays still until she can feel him drifting off. It's nice and she wants to follow him into sleep but she can't. She made a promise to Teru and a promise was a promise. She can still lie there, though. She can still lie there and enjoy their proximity. This wasn't wrong because it wasn't the same as her and Teru. That was different. That was….it wasn't this cozy, when she and Teru cuddled. Between the two of them, she and Teru, there was something else between them that always invaded these quiet moments. Something exciting and electric and something that they couldn't help but act on. Afterwards there was the feeling of bonelessness, like she was made out of jelly, like she was made from LCL. Like they had both become LCL and it was instrumentality and there was nothing between the two of them.

She couldn't imagine feeling like that with Master Reigen. She imagined it with him, the physical act of fooling around, of making love, she had done so plenty of times, but the after feelings, even the during feelings, were just…she couldn't imagine something like that with Master Reigen. Intense. Intimidating. Too much. It would be too much. If she ever had that with Master Reigen then…then she would lose what they had now.

She shifted closer to him. She didn't want to lose this. She didn't want to lose what they had. Their friendship. Their happiness. Their silliness. Their seriousness. Their closeness. If she ever tried to have more, if she ever actually confessed to Master Reigen she could lose everything. She couldn't handle it. She had meant it when she had said that she wanted perpetuity. She had been serious when she said that she never wanted them to go their separate ways. She couldn't lose him. She couldn't confess.

She couldn't have him, either. She couldn't have him because that would just be…a lot. She imagined him, imagined what it would be like with him. She imagined what it would be like to kiss him. What it would be liked to actually kiss him, deep and hard. Would it be hard to match up with him? To match her breathing with his, her movements with his? Or would he lead? He probably would. He'd lead because he always leads. He was their leader. He would lead and she'd follow.

He'd kiss her slowly at first. Like practice. Then he'd kiss her deeper and deeper. He'd taste like cigarettes and mochi and ramen and takoyaki. He would kiss her like he talked, expertly. He'd lead her. Not too fast but not too slow. Their teeth wouldn't scrape, no, he'd know how to keep that from happening. He'd play with her hair while he kissed her. She'd tie it back up in braids just to that he could undo them, pull on them. He'd pull out the ribbons and run his hands through her hair until it was free. Then he'd move down to her shoulders, her back. Her front. Her breasts. He'd put his hands to good use.

She'd wear a shirt with buttons. He was good with his hands. While he kissed her he'd reach down and undo them. While he undid them he'd kiss his way down lower and lower. He'd kiss her where she liked it. Those spots on her neck that made her squirm. That place on her collarbone that made her cry out. While he kissed her his hands would move to her breasts. He'd know just what to do so she'd call out, cry out, cry out his name.

Master Reigen. Reigen Arataka.

He wouldn't stop there. No. He's push her shirt from her, pull it across her shoulders and toss it aside. He'd pull her undershirt up over her head. No, in her mind she was just in a shirt. No undershirt, nothing between him and her. She wouldn't just sit there passively. She'd pull him close, she'd reach over and yank him by his tie. She'd make him kiss her. She'd kiss him everywhere. She'd find all the places that made him cry out. She'd kiss him, bite him. She'd kiss his neck, his collar bone, his chest. She'd run her hands through his hair. She'd pull him on top of her. He'd be so much bigger than she was, heavier, stronger.

They wouldn't stop at what she and Teru practiced at. They had never done that, not yet. She was nervous. He was nervous. Master Reigen wouldn't be nervous. He'd know what to do. He'd lead and she'd follow. It wouldn't just be practice. She wouldn't just kiss him. She wouldn't just hold him. She wouldn't just wrap herself around him and move against him until…until she calls him Arataka.

She needs to stop. She needs to get her mind off of this. Anything that's light is floating lazily around her. She's flushed. She closes her eyes tightly. She needs to think about something else, anything else. Master Reigen throws an arm over her. For a moment she thinks that he's awake. Just a moment. No, he's still asleep.

"Mmm…" Master Reigen murmurs. He's got an arm around her. He's still asleep. Maybe he's a bed hog, too. Mob gasps, slightly. Because this is so good. It's so safe. It's so warm. It's so intimate. She could just melt away to nothing. She could just let herself become LCL with him. She could. It would be easy

It is easy.

She stays. He pulls her close, his hand between her breasts. Well, what little breasts that she had. Her chest isn't totally flat, not anymore, but she's still in just an undershirt. Though her breasts do hurt when she runs or jumps. She's noticed eyes lingering during gym or body improvement club. Teru's eyes certainly linger. Master Reigen's don't. He doesn't even notice her, not really. She'll always be a little kid to him.

She wants him to stop calling her a kid. To stop seeing her as a child. She isn't eleven anymore but he just won't accept it. He won't open his eyes and look at her. He looks at her but to him it's like looking into the past. She wants him to look at her the way Teru does. She wants to feel his eyes lingering on her breasts, her hips, her butt. She wants him to look at her the way she looks at him.

That's never going to happen.

She, instead, only has her own mind. Her own mind and the little moments that she can steal, like this. His hand there between her breasts, him fast asleep. The broadness of his chest against her back. She sighs. It's nice, what she can get. These little moments. These little touches. She squeezes her thighs together absently. He's asleep, maybe he can't pick up on her feelings now. She wondered what his powers were like before they changed, before she poured so much of her own energy into him that he became what he was. Empath. Empathy. That was his power, feeling her feelings. Feeling everyone's feelings. Making them his own and giving his feelings away to others.

But he can't feel her feelings now, can he?

She squeezes her thighs together again. She can feel it, that slickness. The slimy slickness that happened whenever they were together. Whenever her eyes lingered and her mind ran away. It ran to the most…private….of places. To the feelings, thoughts, and ideas that were for her and her alone. The thoughts that came when she watched him move, his body straining against his suit. When he held her close and she could feel his heartbeat, smell the cigarettes and incense that made him up. When he smoked or ate and her eyes lingered on his mouth wondering what it would feel like against hers.

He's still asleep.

She knows that she needs to climb down onto her futon. She needs to lay down and think of something else, anything else, because if she gets caught she'll die or explode or a combination of both. She wants to but she can't because he's right there. She can feel him, hear him, smell him. The crazy part of her, the part of her that lives in that other self, the other Shigeko, the part that explodes, wants to roll over and kiss him. Wants to shove her tongue between his teeth, wants to touch every inch of him, wants to make him squirm.

She's not crazy. She knows that she can't do that. She knows that she can't kiss him until her lips are swollen. She knows that she can't pull his shirt up over his head and kiss her way across his chest. She knows that she can't wrap her legs around him and grind herself into him until she turns to LCL. It would be so good though, wouldn't it? To feel him, to feel him against her. To have hardness meet slickness. To practice like she and Teru did whenever they got the chance. To watch his face, to watch Master Reigen go to pieces on top of her. To feel him go rigid and then melt into LCL with her.

She will never have instrumentality with Master Reigen. She will never have that and she needs to go down to her own bed and go to sleep. She needs to squish this feeling down, no, to save it. She needs to save it for Teru, for when he meets her on their walk to school. She needs to save it for when they go off to that thicket of bushes together and explore each other. She needs to save it for when they go to his apartment, to his room. To when they lay themselves bare for each other and practice. His hardness against her slickness. Never inside, no. They're both too nervous about that. It would be easy, though. To angle her hips just right. On ill-timed motion, one misstep, and they could so easily become one.

It would be easy.

She scoots back so that she's pushed against Master Reigen. He shifts a little, his hand on her stomach now. She wants him to move up. She wants him to untie the ribbon on the front of her nightgown. She push aside the lace that covered the front buttons and to unbutton them slowly. She wants to feel the air against her breasts, her aching breasts. She wants and she hasn't felt want like this without relief in a while. She can't achieve it, though, because he's right there beside her but she won't move. She doesn't want to move. She's so rarely this close to him for this long. She rocks, a little, just a little. Just to get even a moment of relief.

She wants him to reach down. She wants him to reach his hand up from under her nightgown. To run his fingers up and down her thighs. He'd tease her like Teru did, without even realize that he was teasing her. She'd rock and moan and groan and beg. She wants to beg. She wants to beg Master Reigen to reach down and touch her because it's just so much. She needs to be touched. She wants him to reach his fingers up, shyly. No, not shyly. Master Reigen would never be shy. He would flip her onto her back. He would pull her nightgown up over her head and toss it aside. He would hook his fingers in the band of her underwear, she'd wear nice ones for him. She's wear pretty silky ones with bows. No, something more grown up. Black lace. Yes. He'd hook his fingers in the lace and slide them down her thighs. She'd help him. She'd shimmy her hips, lift herself up, and he'd cast those aside too until she was naked before him.

He wouldn't look away, he wouldn't blush. He'd run his hands across her thighs, first, because he liked to get a feel for things before he jumped in. He'd run his hands up and down her thighs, slowly, tortuously, before moving to their center. He'd run his fingers though that sparse, coarse, hair she had there. In playing in her garden he'd move his fingers down lower and lower until he found that part of her that felt amazing when it was touched. That part of her that stood at attention, that was standing at attention. That was standing at attention and just begging for her, for him, for anyone to just reach down.

"Oh God…." Mob freezes. Master Reigen sounded awake, His aura, his breathing, said otherwise. He was asleep, half asleep. His hand was still on her stomach. She could feel it, it's weight, it's warmth. She leans back into him, slowly, like she's being poured from a pot into a bowl. She stretches her body out and takes the shape of him. She's completely parallel to him now. She lets herself settle into him and feel something poking her.

Oh.

Oh.

She takes a deep breath. She tries to keep calm, to keep it together. Her face is flushing, her entire body must be beet read. The objects in a lazy orbit around her are spinning now like they're caught in a black hole. She balls her fists up in her nightgown and wills her powers to calm down. She needs to keep calm because…because….because…

Master Reigen is….

War. There's a war inside of her now. Dreams vs Reality. Wants vs Needs. Desire vs Sense. Mob vs. Shigeko. 0% vs ?%.

Mob wants this. She had wanted this. She had wanted this with Master Reigen for so long. Now she had it. She maybe had it. She didn't know. She shifted her weight a little. A thrill of fear, of nerves, of excitement, of anticipation, roll through her. Master Reigen murmurs and pulls her closer. She didn't know that such a thing was possible, to be any closer to him.

He buries his face in her hair, his fingers are splayed out on her stomach. Her stomach is doing flips, somersaults, cartwheels, trapeze acts. She wishes that they weren't all of these layers between them. Cotton, far too much cotton. She rocks against him, slightly, and elicits a deep groan. His hand goes to upwards to her side, where her waist dips inwards slightly. He splays his finegrs out there, running a hand up and down her side.

"Master…." Murmured Mob as let herself get mired in the feeling of him. His hands. Strong and calloused, skin a little dry from all the salt. She could stay there, it wouldn't be so easy…but she won't.

Mob used her powers to extract herself, slowly, from Master Reigen. She wanted to stay, to chase the feelings that he gave her, that she gave him, but she didn't. She didn't want to ruin what they had, to change what they had. She knew what she wanted, what she ached for, but she knew that she couldn't have him.

She couldn't have him, yet. She was still too young.

But when she does have him it will be amazing.