"Calm Before the Storm"

The news was shocking- a special maid of the Princess being found dead in the middle of nowhere, not to mention covered in ghastly bruises, no doubt she had suffered an ugly, painful death. Ayano was a strong girl, but the news had shaken her a bit too much, may be because of her already weakened state of mind.

"She came to warn me, Kazuma" Ayano murmured quietly, looking outside through the window, "You know, before the fight."

Kazuma paused midway, his hands still tugging at the ends of his battle outfit, he turned to face his wife, but no words were spoken. Ayano turned to face her husband too, catching the pause in clothes shuffling she took it as her queue to continue. "Mother sent her to warn me. I was wondering if it…."

"It had nothing to do with you!"

His words came out a little harsher than he intended and she flinched. He immediately regretted his choice of words. But lately, days had become so stressful and watching Ayano crumble under the strains she'd been put into was adding to his mental havoc as well as physical from the long , nerve-wrecking sixteen hours of patrolling everyday. She was breaking a little bit everyday and it was hurting him immensely as he could do nothing but offer her his support , given any other time, he could have done something to bring back the flaming Princess he'd so easily fallen in love with.

"Come here," His words were a soft sigh as he beckoned her with open arms. Over the few days, they had fallen into a sort of truce of no fighting and trying to give each other the chance to give their relationship a go, or perhaps it was the situation, forcing them to work it out together. Whatever the cause, amidst all the tension, they had somewhat grown closer and just a tit-bit affectionate to each other. As she let herself be engulfed in his warm embrace, he spoke in a comforting tone, trying to talk her out of her baseless guilt.

"I know whatever has been going on for the past week has been hard on you and all the circumstances are quite hard to deal with."

"But its my…"

"Not your fault." He cut her off, this time pulling away to meet her eyes. "Never your fault."

His warm palms rose to cradle her face, his thumbs caressing her cheeks lightly, concerned brown eyes looking absently into worried amber ones. "Look, I understand your feelings at the moment. All these restrains and the tension and the heavy environment around, I know, even if you refuse to admit, is taking its toll on you. But I assure you," His voice was thick and it demanded her full attention, " It's going to be better."

Ayano nodded weakly, gaining some confidence at his words as he parted from her to resume his changing. Her eyes followed his movements and blood rushed to her face as she met with the muscled , smooth skin of his back before it disappeared under another piece of much simpler clothe.

"Like what you see, Princess?"

The slightly teasing voice broke her awe and she stammered for proper words.

"N-No!"

He turned to face her, that stupid grin on his face, which never covered his fake hurt that masked his smirk.

"That hurt my pride." He voiced and she awkwardly tried to find a way out. "Perhaps, another look and you could be more sure of your judgment ?"

"What?" She sounded unsure if not a little embarrassed and breathless from the fresh memory. Taking advantage of her indecisive state, he proceeded to tug at the ends of his yukata, intent on changing her verdict.

Ayano watched with open mouth as long, pale fingers slid upwards as if in slow motion, dragging the soft material with them, revealing more of his toned skin to her more than pleased eyes.

"You….I…." She struggled to form her words and thus she responded with the only thing she knew she could handle with a blind eye. Eyes burning and mind set, she shouted.

"ENRAIHA!"

A.N: Sorry for the super short chapter, but I hope you like it.

Do you think it's too early for them to get a little mushy and comfortable and all that in this time? I swear I planned some action but the keys pressed themselves. Oh, I'm going some sort of blanky-blanky, so, pls help. Ideas and requests are most welcome.

Since the chapter is super-short, I'm gonna fill the page with thanking you. If you haven't reviewed, don't waste your time!

Shelly terringstone: Thank you for your review. Here's chapter 10.

Ponychan13: Thank you very much for your kind words. They keep me going. So keep them coming.

Teddydandy: THHHAAAAANNNNNKKK YYYYOOOUUUU! You're like one of the best!

Guest: Thanks for your support. Keep praying cuz result comes out on 6th.

Hols: Thank you for having such faith in me. Keep wondering and you'll get to know soon!

Firedragonprincess: Continuing.

Hotakugirl1996:Updated soon(?). Thanks.

Kazenostigmafan4ever: Thank you so much for your prayers, I really need them at the moment.

Himura's Veera: JA harami! Jahannam e JA!