Over Him
byMirune Keishiko
chapter seven
Taut
A hint of sweet roses; delicate feminine sweat; traces of rich shampoo.
Her skin glowing in the moonlight through the window. In the stillness of the night and the shadowed room, her deep, even breathing had seemed unbearably loud. It had drawn his attention insistently to the gentle rise and fall of her back as she slept.
Clasped loosely in his arms, she had been so real, so soft and solid and inviting; the heat from her body making it painfully clear how close to him she lay, how easy it would be to just move his head—only a little, little bit, it would be absolutely no effort at all—and kiss her, on those full, rosy lips just begging to be suckled...
And so he had leaped out of bed before hardly an hour had passed since she'd fallen asleep. He shivered, now, merely recalling the strength of will he'd had to muster just to move his taut and hungry body away from the beautiful woman who lay so trusting and unafraid in his own bed.
By four in the morning he had finished cleaning his apartment. He'd taken out the trash, done the week's worth of dishes, and put the cushions back on the sofa from their accustomed spot on the floor. He had even taken care to pick up his scattered laundry and put them in his hamper, rather than simply pile them in the corner as he usually did in his most industrious moments. He was reasonably certain that she'd been too out of it to notice the mess, for which he was deeply grateful.
He'd thought he could handle it then; he'd thought he had calmed down.
But in his bed, tangled up in his sheets, she had rolled over onto her back. Her flimsy costume gown had clung to the graceful curves of her body. Feeling like a teenager, picturing his grade school librarian naked—old Genzai-sensei naked—Katsu naked ("why Sano, I didn't know you cared!")—he had hurriedly drawn the blanket back over her exposed legs, her small feet, and left the room.
By five in the morning he had made more progress on his current project in thirty minutes than he'd done in the last three days.
Sanosuke sandpapered the arm of the chair with single-minded ferocity. At close to dawn on a late-autumn morning it was biting cold outside, but most of the windows to the workshop were closed and he had worked himself so hard that he'd stripped off his shirt, and still he was sweating.
He was thinking back to when he'd first met Megumi two years ago. Sekihara Tae had commissioned from him a set of shoji panels, as well as the entire bar, for her newly renovated restaurant the Akabeko; she had, naturally, invited him to the grand reopening. Fresh from an ugly breakup with one Amakusa Sayo at that time and not trusting himself to go alone, he had brought along his old friend Kenshin, who, that July, had been quietly moping about the graduation the previous month of some blue-eyed college student he'd been advising on her undergraduate thesis.
And then the sulking man had lit up like a lightbulb when he'd caught sight of Kamiya Kaoru from across the room—a bubbly, good-natured, hot-tempered girl he recognized from his little sister Misao's stories of their new social studies teacher, the one whom all the boys were falling for (ocean eyes rolling). Kenshin, of course, was all innocent politeness and formality as he congratulated his former student on her graduation and her new job. As far as Sano was concerned, though, the bright red blush across Kaoru's cheeks gave them both away.
He would never have let Kenshin live it down, except that, as it turned out, Kenshin also knew Kaoru's companion—a coy, haughty beauty who lost no time in draping herself over him, much to her best friend's palpable irritation. A classmate from his short-lived med school days, Kenshin had explained, sheepishly extricating himself from Takani Megumi's embrace.
Sano found himself intrigued by her—annoyed, challenged, tempted, baited, frustrated by her. She was a refreshing change from his old girlfriend: sassy and sharp-tongued where Sayo had been shy and tactful, mischievous and teasing where Sayo had been gentle and serious. Megumi had been surprised to learn that he had designed much of the furniture and crafted some of the large-scale woodwork, applying traditional Japanese artisanship to stylish European motifs. He had been surprised to realize that her genuine, knowledgeable admiration meant a lot to him.
He had thought, at first, that her flirting with Kenshin was nothing but playful. But as the night had worn on—they had gone for late-night dimsum and had had to be practically kicked out of the place—he had noticed the warmth in her hazel eyes whenever she looked at Kenshin and her small, envious glances toward him and Kaoru as the pair chatted companionably, and Sanosuke had known that she was lost to him.
Two years later the pain and sorrow of Sayo's leaving had long since faded, and he still couldn't bring himself to go back upstairs and calmly face a Megumi who looked good enough to eat, even when she was dead asleep, totally wasted, and heartbroken to boot.
Unable to hold back a rueful grin at the memory of her sprawled across his bed, he stopped sandpapering and stepped back to inspect his work. He blew on the now satin-smooth wood; fine sawdust gusted away in clouds.
He heard a sound behind him and turned before he thought.
Her long hair falling half-finger-combed around her face, his favorite red "Sekihoutai" shirt flopping down to her waist having been layered over her rumpled dress, a still-bleary Takani Megumi stared back at him artlessly.
Naked Katsu, thought Sano urgently, naked old Mrs. Erzinsky...
Good enough to eat.
tsuzuku
A/N. In terms of style, but I pray not of quality, this may or may not be what you're used to from me (if you've read my other stuff). But I hope it's fun all the same.
I am worried that I may run out of plot/story/timeline way, wayy ahead of running out of themes. (For this chapter: "introspection." For the previous chapter, "pain relief.") I still have a good three dozen themes and only a little less than a year to go. (sweatdrop) As a change from my previous multipart fics, I steadfastly refuse to think up an outline for this fic, and I really hope it doesn't suffer for that.
Lastly, I am enjoying tormenting Horny!Sano a wee bit too much. I think I need help... hee hee!