Dedications: To my Usa-Onee-chan. Glad to have you back and writing.


Sanctuary: Haven - Interlude 01

Chains do not always have to be physical things; it just has to tie you down, lock you up, and restrict you from moving. Whether the ties that bind you are solid material or ropes around your heart, only you know. The good, solid, hard, metal chains are easily recognized and seen, but the ones in your heart can be obscured, invisible, denied. And hurt a whole lot more.

Ties that bind.

Ties that break.

Once recognized, it is hard to ignore those restricting, painful chains on our hearts. Once seen, they will refuse to be ignored. But after that, it is still up to ourselves to figure out if these ties are the ones people have over us, making them powerful, or if they are self-inflicted. Pain, that we refuse to give up because it has become addicting.

. : - : .

She was singing - singing and humming as she stroked his silky velvet brown locks. It did not matter that her each of her legs were tied up with a rope and attached to one of the bottom bedposts. It did not matter her ankles were itching from rope burn and her body was beginning to turn black and blue at various places. It did not matter he gripped her around her waist like he was never going to let her go. And it did not matter that his face was pressed up into her neck while his tears trickled down her body.

" Gomen. Gomen nasai. Gomen. Gomen gomen gomen. Please forgive me. Please forgive me."

She ran her fingers through his hair and continued humming softly. She wrapped her arms around him and slid her hands down his back in slow sensual timing. She loved the slow shuddering breath he took in and the knowledge that it was she who made him lose his control like this. His hold on her tightened even more and his arms drifted up her back in response. His lips trembling as they caressed the skin of her neck and trailed up to her ear, whispering for forgiveness the whole time.

" It's alright." She told him, turning her head to kiss his forehead in a loving gesture. " You can love me."

His eyelashes fluttered closed and his body positioned between her legs, surged up. She gasped, and he covered her lips with his. He moved passionately and deliberately, trying to devour her with his mouth and claim her with his body.

" Mine. Mine. Mine." He whispered to her as he slid up and down their sleek bodies. " Mine. Mine."

Her muscles were tensing and her nails dug into the flesh of his back. He didn't really care as he watched her expression when her body arched towards his. He watched in wonderment as he felt her whole body strain, and she gasped in frantic breaths for air. He covered her mouth again and continued his rhythm.

Mine. Mine.

" I love you." She said writhing below him.

Good. He thought, good.

He kept going, assaulting her senses and driving her wild. He couldn't seem to stop and she didn't want him to. The continued like this until time had stopped meaning anything to them. The world and its limitations meant nothing as they reveled in the feeling of each other. Nothing existed for them but each other, in all the ways that counted.

She moaned as he let his hand wonder, glomping and groping wherever he wanted. He trailed a path of saliva down her throat and she hissed when squeezed her breast almost painfully. She bit his shoulder and he slammed into her. Their lovemaking was never loud in the way of the way of flesh hitting flesh. Their bodies always made contact very silently, but they made up for the lost sounds by breath and strained voices as they called out to each other. Screaming obscenities and moaning in half pleasured pain.

If it hurt or scarred, they didn't care. If it confused and mystified other people, they didn't care. If it frightened or repulsed anyone, they didn't care.

A perfect world didn't exist. They knew that.

. : - : .

" Hey Usagi," Dorothy said from her spot at the table, sitting in a colorful lavender sundress patterned with light lilies and bare feet, to the blonde standing next to the counter dressed in nothing but a men shirt that covered her to mid thigh. " Where are we going today?"

" Hrm..." Usagi hummed as she turned around from staring out the kitchen window that faced the backyard, where a certain shirtless housemate was outside mowing the lawn. " Did you want to go somewhere fun today?"

She snorted, and replied with thick sarcasm. " No of course not."

" Hrm..." Usagi said again turning back to the window and stared out silently for a moment. " Isn't it nice we found this place? So nice of the owners to rent us the house for the week."

" Well we only paid them a month's rent for it." Dorothy muttered under her breath.

Usagi's lips twitched upwards just the smallest bit, but no other signs showed that she heard the blonde. Standing here like this, it was hard to believe the world was anything but peaceful - it was too bad they knew better. " Yeah, well."

Dorothy smiled and tilted her head to observe her friend. " How about we go to the amusement park today?"

"Amusement park?" Usagi asked intrigued.

" Yeah." She answered, " I want to try the new roller coaster they've been advertising."

" Hm..." the ex-heroine hummed, considering. " Well, I have been craving for some cotton candy..."

The other blonde silently rolled her eyes, " Like you've craving every other junk food out there, right?"

A tongue war was about to be announced between the two girls, if at that instant the backdoor didn't open to admit the glistening, dripping, sweaty body of one ex-Perfect Soldier. Hiiro shook his head to cool down and reach for the towel by the counter. Both girls watched him with interest.

Usagi raised an eyebrow. " Among other things."

Dorthy turned towards her, and she had to admit the hungry look in her friends eyes had nothing to do with cotton candy anymore. She watched with interest as Hiiro threw the towel around his shoulders and started dabbing his forehead with the cloth, looked up to see them, and froze. She enjoyed the way his eyes slowly slid from her to his girlfriend, and back again with a frantic gaze slowly growing behind the surface. She threw back her head and laughed. She pushed herself up from her seat and walked out of the kitchen.

" You win Usa." She said as she passed under the doorway and laughed again when she heard the sound of a body hitting a body and a masculine 'Hupmh!' sound.

She whistled as she walked down the hall and towards the front door. She tucked her feet into simply strap sandals that went well with her sundress and walked out the door to do some wondering for a while. The sun was shining, there was a pleasant wind in the air, and she could hear a faint giggling coming from the direction she had come from and a soft closing of a door. There were some joys in this world she would never ever trade for anything.

. : TBC : .

Author's Note: I know I said I would have this done a LONG time ago, but things kept popping up. Also I'm stuck on the same writer's block since then for this story. I can't quite make up my mind for which way I want this fic to take. So I'm sorry to all those who have been waiting for this update, please bear with me a little longer.