Hey again, everybody. Tomorrow will be the day of truth and a possible end to my insanity, or beginning of it, I'm not so certain. Hope you guys like!

Oh, and Hcc, that email you gave me didn't seem to work. It didn't let me send when I tried. I'm all right though, just so you know.

Disclaimer: TMM is not mine, look at the disclaimers of every other chapter I have posted. It should be obvious by now.

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Ichigo's POV

Right as soon as we made it back to the room I went directly to the bathroom to change out of my dress. The lowness of the neck was making me more self conscious than I liked being, and the feeling of no underpants didn't help the effect. I had removed them before the dance when I realized the lines showed at dinner. My night apparel, would be embarrassing enough anyway, now that Ryou was to be my room mate. With an even lower neckline on the spaghetti strap shirt that allowed no bra, and short shorts, modesty would be something I didn't have.

I washed the make up off my face carefully, and studied my reflection in the mirror. Something about me had attracted that creep at the party, and it might have been the same thing that allowed Ryou to kiss me.

Nothing just stuck out to me, so I gave up searching. Instead I prepared myself for embarrassment when Ryou would see my clothing, not expecting the sight of him without a shirt to be there waiting for me stretched out upon the bed.

I don't know which of us was redder in the face, and instead of finding out, I turned to wall, trying to calm myself. So he was shirtless. He was shirtless at the pool too...

Oh, wait. So was I. Ice would melt on my cheeks right now.

I could feel him moving behind me, coming close to where I stood. He didn't move after he was standing directly behind me. I turned to face him, just as a roar of thunder sounded, surprising me. The next thing I knew I was clutching him for dear life as the after waves rode throughout the room.

We didn't utter another word, instead, when it had calmed down more, Ryou led me to the bed. With gentle hands he picked me up and lay me down, crawling in beside me. He stayed propped up on his elbow next to me, a calm expression in his eyes. The storm grew louder outside but it seemed to be silent in the room. With the softest of caresses he stroked my cheek, his face looming ever so close to my own. I could feel his breath on my neck, his hand still on my face, and then for the briefest of moments, his lips upon my own. He pulled back before I could respond, and smiled.

The corners of my lips curled up in a smile of its own, before I leaned back towards him, our mouths molding themselves together easily, gently trying to lead each other in a simple dance. Soon I gave up fighting with his mouth and let him take control, his tongue tracing my lips. I opened and the battle was on again, as I felt not only his possessive mouth but the eagerness of his hands as well. Ryou had crawled on top of me, his hands begging for permission to explore. He contented himself with rubbing my stomach under my shirt before my own hands urged him higher.

Why I did all this I didn't know. If it was merely because I loved him, I felt it to be the wrong thing to do. If it was the pent up lust, even more so I would be confused. All that could be true though, was when I woke up the next morning I felt lighter than I had ever been, and happy for what might have been the first time in years.

I sighed, stretching. My shirt was falling off my shoulder, and my shorts felt like they had risen to my belly button. Ryou was sleeping soundly beside me, one hand across my lap. Nothing major had happened last night, but for the first time I felt like I was right that he loved me. I smiled, and kissed his soft lips, stirring him slightly from his slumber. We had kissed so many times, and he'd let his hands learn most everything my body had to offer. We might have gone farther, but the storm scared me out of it. Instead he'd ended up holding me to him all night, in a sign of comfort.

We slept peacefully, for the remainder of the night.

After a few more soft kisses Ryou began to respond, his mouth moving against mine in the same possessive way he'd done last night. I never noticed when his hand had snuck up behind my head, pinning us together. We might have even stayed glued like that if it weren't for the sudden knocking on the door.

Groaning, Ryou released me and stood up, heading for the bathroom. I went to open the door, understanding how bad it'd look if Ryou opened the door wearing only the pants he'd worn last night.

Lettuce stood outside, once again wearing just a swim suit. "Wanna come swim with me? The others are already there."

I yawned in answer. "Yeah... give us a few minutes, though, ok? We just got up."

She looked at me, a knowing expression in her eyes as she looked me over. "So I can see. But just how much sleep did you two actually get last night? Looks like you were busy."

"Why do you say that?"

She grinned. "Look in the mirror. I told you he liked you!" without another word, she turned and headed for the upper decks, where the swimming pools would be waiting.

Returnng to the room, I found the mirror in my purse. She was right! Ryou had been busy marking me... every where! My swim suits could never cover all of this up. If Ryou wanted to hide what we did, he certainly didn't make it easy to do so.

Swimming would be interesting. Very interesting.

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Sorry, not the best place, but at least you have an update. Also, what I put at the beginning of the chapter was from a few days ago. In honesty, the day I was awaiting has come and gone, and I wish it had never come at all. I might have been able to keep on pretending that someone might actually be in love with me for just a few days more, and now my heart's just broken once again.