A/N: As usual for the past two day, there are two new chapters! You could miss stuff if you haven't read the last. Citrus ahead! Warning, if you do not like acidic fruit or are otherwise allergic to vitamin D- I mean C-, you might want to stop at the bedroom. R&R please; don't hesitate to drop me a review and let me know what you think so far. :)

Morning came slowly and crept up on Kamui as he laid in contemplation. At some point, Ame had fallen asleep. He was thankful that she had, and even more so that she was undisturbed by whatever she usually dreamed. He considered sleeping in with her, but his stomach loudly protested and reminded him that he had hardly eaten in the past few days. With all the care that he could muster, he tore himself away from the woman that had yet to release him and left the room.

Once in the dining hall, Kamui crossed paths with Abuto. They sat together, and their morning routine assumed normalcy. Oddly enough, the dining area was relatively empty. Hand-fulls of men checkered the room, but beyond that, most tables were empty.

"Where is everybody?" Tipping a bowl of fruit into his mouth, Kamui readied his fork with a stab of sausage. As he swallowed, he turned to Abuto. The older man was calmly sipping on a bowl of broth.

When he finished, he set it down on the table and sighed.
"It's good that you're eating. There have been a few... Problems."
"Problems?" Kamui echoed. A single nod was all he received, then curt vocal assurance.
"It's nothing we can't handle. We didn't want to bother you with it."

Was everybody keeping secrets from him? Frowning as he scanned the room again, Kamui forked more food into his mouth. Three times as many people would usually be in for breakfast. Even the denim freak that Ame had set on fire was gone. Kamui started to respond, but before he could get a word out, his chest tightened, and a single cough jumped up his throat.

Abuto fully turned to him, wide eyed.
With no explanation, the older man nearly jumped from the table and held his hands out towards Kamui.
"Are you sick?"
Frowning, Kamui trailed his eyes over the room again. Other people were looking at him as well. His throat did feel a little scratchy, but...
"Sick? Of course not!"

Unconvinced, Abuto took another step back. Kamui eyed him as he eased around the table and took care to avoid him. Abandoned his food. No explanation was given as the older man backed away. Instead of accepting the odd display, Kamui stood and started to follow.

"Abuto! What's going on?"
"You just stay over there!"

Brimming with curiosity, Kamui paused. In turn, Abuto continued on his path to escape. Rouge mutterings of a later conversation trailed behind him as he maneuvered around the dining hall and eventually, out of it altogether. Perplexed beyond explanation, Kamui scratched his head. He was all better! There was no reason to treat him like a walking, breathing disease host. Everybody was keeping secrets from him. From Ame to Abuto, that was at least one letter of the English alphabet beyond trust. If Ryu joined in, Kamui would be two-thirds paranoid and beyond irritated.

He finished his meal, and Abuto's.

Was alone the entire time, still running the suspicious behavior of his friend and his lover through his mind. The man went about his daily routine undisturbed after that. If he was on his feet then he could accompany Ame to the hospital. Maybe the doctor would have more insight on her nightmares and give her some advice or medicine. Maybe a stinky herb that would right the karmic balance of the universe. Anything.

But when he reached the room, the woman was no longer in bed.

A short search revealed her to be at the window. People watching. The city was bustling with early activity and Ame was... Well, being Ame. Staring at them as they passed with her arms crossed and her usual thousand yard stare that made him question whether she was actually watching the activities or lost in thought. His arms snaked around her waist, and she hardly responded. Reached one hand up to grasp his sleeve as his chin set on her shoulder.

"Kamui."

The greeting held a warm amber tone that opposed her steel expression.

"What are you looking at?" His question produced the same answer she always gave. He knew it would. But there was something comforting about the fact that the line of dialogue didn't change. Everything, she said. She was always looking at everything, and Kamui had yet to feel as though he'd mastered that. Sure, he could look around and see whatever was there. But after that, he'd grow bored with the scenery and move on. Ame had to have found some deep meaning in it, or learned to see other things beyond what he could. Like ghosts.

Probably ghosts.

For all he knew, there could be a headless lady sweeping the doorway of the shop across from them, and Ame could be a ghost hunter on earth; plotting to send it to the afterlife. But ghosts didn't bleed. At least, Kamui didn't think they did, assuming they were real. And that wouldn't explain her coming back wearing a quarter of some human's blood.

A long spell of nothingness passed with Kamui trying to spy the "everything" that Ame was always observing. Curiosity overwhelmed him, and before he knew it, he was turning the woman around. Ame kept her eyes low. Didn't raise her head or acknowledge the change.

"What happened last night?" Still staring at the metal grating beneath his feet, the woman crossed her arms. Her brow knit together as Kamui took hold of her chin and raised it. "Ame?'
"I killed a guy." She said it as if it was a mundane topic that didn't deserve his attention, but with the way that she was acting, Kamui couldn't believe that it was.
"And?" When Ame shrugged, his gaze trailed to the window behind her. Maybe that was the wrong question. "Why?"
A long sigh escaped the woman and she swat his hand away. Turned back to the window as if she would ignore him. But she spoke.
"I had to."

More questions buzzed at the vague sentence. When he started to touch her again, though her back was turned, she swatted his hand and glared up at him.
"I don't want to talk about it." Ame couldn't tell him about her ex. Or whatever the hell Iori was. If she had to explain it all, she would implode. The man followed her as she walked away, for some odd reason grinning, and it pissed her off more than it should have. What part of "fuck off" didn't he get? And still, as she reached the room, the idiot was there. She started to take advantage of their location; earth. To throw on shoes and storm out to have a decent moment of alone time, but with Kamui on her heels she had no such luck.

He entered the room behind her and she swiveled around to smack his shoulder.
"Stop following me!"
"I wasn't, my room is this way too." The cheeky bastard, of course it was, they had the same fucking room! "What's wrong with you?"
Patronizing grin in full effect, Kamui closed the door behind himself as the woman smacked his arm again.
"That's not funny. I'll kill you while you're still weak!" Another slap was directed towards the man, but halted halfway with an easy catch of her arm. She wasn't even trying. Upon seeing that she hadn't made contact, Ame's eyes went wide. As if she hadn't expected it. She backed away as Kamui stepped forward.
"I'm not weak."

She tried to pull her arm away, but his grip was iron and he allowed no such luxury. He advanced on the woman once more and she continued to tug at her arm, to no avail.
"You're not-" trying to use her weight against the man, Ame worked at freeing herself. "-that strong." An open palm jabbed into the man's chest and knocked him back long enough to yank away. He hit the door behind him as Ame stomped to her drawer and gave him the cold shoulder. The Human honestly thought that she could get away with that. Funny. The moment she lost her shirt and pulled the drawer open, he was back on her and far less forgiving. No warning was provided before she was roughly tugged back by her torso and fixed against the man.

"Let me go!" Glaring at the man through the mirror, Ame gripped a pair of scissors. She didn't have the patience for his crap.
"You're in a worse mood than usual." Cheerfully stating the observation, Kamui wasn't surprised when Ame pushed away from him and the dresser and swung the scissors towards him. He caught her again and the weapon was suspended over head. Much to the woman's surprise, in the same motion she was locked in a kiss.

She pushed against the man and felt her determination waver when he snagged the small of her back and firmly pinned her against the barrier. Her hand was forced down, and though she opposed him, the motion was as if there had been no resistance. With her wrist turned up and smashed against the wood, all hope of holding onto the scissors was lost. They clattered to the floor along with her rejection of him. It started with her mouth; eagerly returning his kiss. Then her body pressing into him as if to beg more attention be given.

He wasn't one to deny her.

Her arm was released and as quickly as the woman found herself in this position, she was gripping him back. His mouth danced down to her throat as her pants were worked away with no hint of finesse or regard for future use.

"Kamui-" His name was a loaded sigh on her lips, forced from a place that was bottling a moan. Her hands started at the clasps of his shirt and she barely managed to relieve him of the fabric before being whipped around and bent over the dresser. There was a moment of anticipation. One where she was consumed by the pull of her hair and being held to the wood under her; the man's open palm running down her back until reaching her thigh. His fingers prodded into her through the fabric of her underwear and the woman tensed with a long ragged moan that stole all the air from her and propelled her forward. Though she pushed herself towards the mirror, Kamui held her in place, just long enough for the sound to pass.

The woman was yanked back against him and through the reflection in front of them their eyes clashed.
"What have you been hiding from me, Ame?" The smile had drained from his face and his eyes were narrowed. Squirming against the man, she dared to grab onto him. Clutched his wrist and the side of his pants as she leered back at the man. Hypocrite. He'd scolded her before for using sex as a manipulation tactic.
"I'm not-" Another press against her brought the woman to the tips of her toes and further leaning into him. Cut her sentence with another sound that she couldn't prevent. Her hair was released in favor of her jaw, and the fabric of her panties were pulled to the threat of ripping. She could feel him pressing into her and knew his methods were working against him. Somehow, all of the fight had seeped from her limbs and she reduced to trying to compose herself. If this was going to be an interrogation, she wasn't going to give him any information. She'd been tortured before, for crying out loud, if he thought that a little foreplay was going to break her he was mistaken.

"Ever since you saw that woman you've been weird. Who was she?"
"I don't know."
"You're not a very good liar." The moment he spoke Ame was further assaulted by his fingers. She tried to contain herself. Really. She did. But between the hand against her and he pressure around her neck, she was literally caught between a rock and a hard place that she wanted to explore further.

Groaning in frustration, the woman managed a "fuck you" that only intensified the harsh treatment of her body, and to her delight, pushed the man further. The only fabric around her hips ripped and she was forced back over the dresser. Locked against the man and swirled into a head-rush that only he could satiate. Then his teasing grew more severe and brought her to the edge of release, only to suspend her there in dire need of more. He stopped and fully retracted his hand, but held her firm.

"I'll leave you like this until you tell me." He was evil.
"No!" In all of Ame's life she had never met anybody so terrible. How had she not known? All of the galactic killing sprees and mass slaughter should have tipped her off. Every single time he smiled while killing somebody, an alarm should have sounded in her mind, but it was just her luck that she wouldn't realize until it was too late.

"Then you have to tell me." The ghost off a smile crept onto the man's lips as he stared down at Ame. She tried to oppose him with everything in her, and he had to give her that, but it just wasn't enough. The way she was forcing herself to scowl; red faced and panting. He knew she wanted to refuse but the threat was enough to make her second guess herself. It was no secret that he could do exactly as he said. The woman tried to stare him down, but with each passing moment, they both knew that he wasn't backing down.

She didn't say a word. Didn't move an inch, and Kamui figured that they had both lost. Nothing could have been that important. As much as she had been prodding him for sex and trying to lure him in, it just didn't make sense.

He was up to it now, and he could look past her injuries and reward her for her wavering patience, but Ame wouldn't abandon her pride for him. Even in nothing but a bra, she was brimming with pride and though he could strip her of her clothes, he couldn't unlatch her tongue.

Considering the fact that she never talked about herself, he didn't know what else he expected.

Ame was released, fully, and he sighed to himself. Had gotten all worked up for nothing. Kamui shrugged back into his shirt and just as he reached for the doorknob, Ame muttered under her breath.
"God damn it..."

He turned to peer at her, only to find the woman right behind him. The door had been cracked, but she snatched him back by his shirt and slammed it with one hand. "We aren't finished."
He had no chance to refuse her.

The moment she had him, his pants were falling and his back met the door. Kamui could barely make a single sound as he was dragged back into the room and locked in a kiss that stole not only his breath, but his mind. They bumped into the dresser again, and rolled around its edge in an attempt at reaching the bed, but their stumbling left them no further than the floor; tugging at each other and tangling together.

With one quick thrust, the man found himself buried in the woman and their voices severed their tongues. Kamui drew Ame's leg up as her other snaked around him, and with each thrust against her, he earned another enticing moan that wound his stomach into knots. He could feel the carpet against his skin, protesting. But as long as they had waited, it was impossible to care. All he needed was her; her voice, her body, everything that she could give him, and he took it without delay.

The woman below him kept up with his pace. Practically begged him to treat her as roughly as possible. Between the bruising kisses and the bites trailing down his neck, he didn't know where he'd lost himself.

A groan tore through him as nails dragged up his back. He slammed into the woman, caught off guard when she rolled over him and continued with a rhythm just as urgent as his. Kamui barely managed to lean up and rip her bra away. His tongue slid up her body and to the peak of her breast, where it tortured another sound from the woman.

The hands on her hips squeezed her back down onto him, and as his end was approaching, Ame tensed. Couldn't last. But she couldn't have all of the fun.
She was pulled back into their rhythm until Kamui joined her in orgasmic bliss. Wasn't permitted to move until his muscles loosened and he was reduced to fighting for his breath.

When they reached their point of mutual understanding, Ame slumped into the man's chest and he fell back to the carpet chuckling to himself at his failure to keep his word. Between her gasps for air, Ame peered up at the man and breathlessly murmured.
"Don't you ever- ever make me wait so long again."
Though she was completely serious, Kamui did something she didn't expect. He giggled. She didn't know whether she considered it more of an insult or cute, but the devious sound was undeniable. He started to say something but his words were lost in the sound and came as a jumbled mush of nonsense that he gave up on half way. Though Ame fought with all her might she could feel her face twisting into one of the most unusual lopsided grins she'd ever worn. When Kamui saw her face, the sound intensified, and Ame couldn't help but feel her own laugh threaten to make an appearance.

An echo escaped the woman and she covered her face.