Prompt 14: " .Off"

Pairing: Tora x Ushii

Genre: Comfort, romance

A/N: At first, I was going for some more lewd stuff here but then I thought that I rarely see Tora confronting her problems and let's face it, that girl had some real mental issues /depression / to be taken care of.

It was almost three and half of the morning when the apartment's door opened to reveal a slight tipsy Tora, who was instantly confronted by her partner, who was more concerned than mad.

"Tora... Were you crying?" Ushii instantly notices her red eyes and didn't take too long for him to realize she was in an emotional drunken state, that didn't really happened too often but it wasn't the first time he had caught her that way.

"Great deduction daddy. " She laughed a little, intoxicated by the alcohol and proceeded to head to the kitchen in search for more drinks.

Ushii just followed, only to find her already sitting on the counter with two bottles of wine on each hand, one empty and the other full "Why were you crying?"

She didn't answer until the bottle was almost empty and even after it still took a while for her to give him his reply, yet she refused to look at him, instead, she looked at the ground like a child that was guilty of doing something wrong.

"Sometimes... I wonder why you need such a useless thing like me by your side"

"What do you mean?"

She laughed "C'mon, let's face the truth, I'm completely broken. I don't blame my father for doing what he did, even if I try to fix my life I'll always end up fucking somewhere... " She took another sip of her drink and looked at him with a somewhat mocking smile even if her eyes could only reveal a broken gleam " Oh... I think I know why you need me... I never thought the almighty genius of slaughter would take pride in watching those around him admire him and as doing so, realize they'll never be as good as him. Great job, Ox-boy."

"Take it off." He tone is colder than she'd ever heard him, in any situation she had faced with him.

"Why? Tell me why. You know it's true"

He grabbed her face with both of his hands, making her look straight at him to see how serious he was, it was even intimidating " You're not broken. You're not useless. You don't ruin anything. You could have lost your way in the past, but you've found it again, didn't you? It's our past that makes us what we are today, yet it's us of the present that makes the future. Don't be lost in something that you can't change and just focus on what you are now: you're strong, independent, loyal and that's all I ask for someone to be by my side. No, I don't want someone. I want you, and you know that perfectly."

Tears start forming in her eyes during his speech and by the end of it, it was impossible to stop the tears that ran down her cheeks, slow yet abundant as the girl let out all the frustration she had been holding, until she couldn't help but hug that figure she admired so much, once again being her support.

A long silence followed, yet the couple stood lost in each other's embrace until Tora spoke again, her tears by now stopped "I love you... I really love you"

"I know."

"Please, don't let me fall again... "

"Never." He moves to kiss her, gently and tender and she instantly melted into it, the effect that the alcohol that she had used to forget her worries was nothing compared with the comforting effects that Ushii gave her.

Her hands moved to his shirt and were starting to unbutton the buttons when the two hands that were on her cheeks moved to stop her, causing Ushii to break the kiss and look at her

"You're drunk." If it was another case where she wasn't emotional needy, he would probably just let go with the flow and let things happen yet, this time sex wasn't what Tora needed and so he would control himself for both of them.

"You're sexy, what's the news? Why are we stating the obvious?" She rolled her eyes at the obvious statement as if that wasn't something frequent.

"The news is " He picks her up and she, in her tired state, only allowed him to do so without giving any resistance "That you're going to sleep."

With a hum, the tiger curled up in his arms under the protection and warmth they gave her, falling asleep instantly.

When laying down, the two are cuddling as the tiger even asleep refused to let go of Ox's figure, Ushii placed a kiss on top of Tora's head and gently rubbed her head, playing a little with her wild ginger hair and hearing a purr coming from the sleeping girl "I love you too much to ever let you fall."