AN: So… this is unexpected, I didn't think I'd upload this soon, but here we are. I think the confirmation that we are in fact, getting more episodes, has spiked my HG writing bug.
princessanime29: Thank you for all of your reviews and support for this little story, it means a whole lot! (:
And to everyone else who has taken the time to review, follow, and favorite…. My love is never-ending!
I thought I should formally say thank you, I haven't yet and it's about time!
~Now~
They avoided each other, had been for quite some time now.
Outside of their mandatory interactions, if they were to be in each other's company, any and all conversations and quick glances were classified as sterically business – though this was far from the truth, for both of them.
If Ren were to catch heralone, which was almost never, he would quickly evert his eyes from her penetrating gaze and mutter a lame excuse about checking in on a potential client in the mortal realm.
Ren never imagined he could be such a coward.
But…
He was frightened. And that fear, that sheer terror, came both from the realization that he was feeling emotions like he hadn't felt in decades and most of all…
Because of the way Ren was beginning to feel whenever he caught her Red eyes lingering on him.
How did he feel, anyways?
Ren couldn't tell
Was it a mix of his always present gratitude, along with a new found longing?
Or perhaps, was the feeling not a feeling at all, merely pure desire or lust?
Ren ponders these thoughts, as he sits lazily on the porch of the hut.
The eternal sunset land is vacant, except for the ever present spinner, her wheel ever turning. Ai is out, investigating a client, so Ren is free to doze, until her return that is.
Ren is suddenly jolted from his thoughts; no… sleep as he feels an all too familiar sense enter his consciousness.
Rather the "sense" is prescience and that prescience is in very close proximity.
Ren straightens up from his slumped position to face his mistress; who sits beside him.
When he finally glances up to meet her gaze, he's surprised to find that she is already watching him; a look Ren's never seen reflected in her eyes.
She looks like iron softness, untouchable and completely within reach, all at once.
He's never received a look like that before, from anyone.
"Time moves so slowly." Ai says ever quiet
"I sometimes forget that it moves."
Ren can't speak, the shock that she is speaking to him, is making his brain slow to a halt
"I suppose so…" Ren says back stupidly
Ren can see her begin to reply, but a sudden; shrill ding startles them both.
Ai stands quickly, a swirl of dark hair and pleaded skirt, the only traces that she had been there. Ren allows himself to slump, allows his expression to fall.
Suddenly, he smells the ever present scent of blossoms that always seems to cling to her skin.
Looking up, Ren sees her offered hand stretched out; an invitation.
Ren takes it, that thrill making its way up his arm as their hands connect.
"Come." Ai murmurs and Ren obeys without a word.
Neither mistress nor servant willing to acknowledge that their hands are still threaded, as they leave to contract the client.
The eternal summer breeze lingers heavy with words unspoken.