After defeating him, all that was left to do was leave; so they packed everything up and got ready to head out. The weapons did most of the work though, because Maka was aching and Black Star was hungry. Soul grumbled of course, but not as much as he normally would have… probably because she looked like she'd been used as a scratching post.

Once packed and ready to go, they set off back towards the entrance to the park. Black Star ran along the ground despite his injuries… but of course he was a supernatural being that could probably brush off being run over by a truck. Maka, on the other hand, was very grateful that she got to ride Soul, because she was very sore. She was happy that she'd invested in a lovely pair of padded bike shorts that softened the blow of Soul's handle resting in between her legs, because – unlike on the way up – she didn't really feel like standing and balancing the whole way. So, she rode him witch-style.

In fact, after a while she even laid her top half down along his length – which wasn't super comfortable on her bruised torso, but at least let her rest a little.

"How you hangin' in there, Maka?"

"I'm fine." She groaned back. "Just tired and sore, but nothing to worry about. I'll be happy to get a hot shower though, let me tell you."

"Well it'll just be a little longer. I vote that we spend the night at the cabins they offer here so we can bandage you up properly and you can get some rest. You really should've done a better job treating your wounds."

"Yeah I know. But I just really wanted to get going."

Soul just sighed and continued to zip along through the air, picking up the pace a little.

It was another hour before they finally reached the visitor's center where they had first checked in.

"Oh, my goodness! Are you all right?" The lady at the front – Cindy, according to her name badge –exclaimed upon seeing their dirty, beaten up appearances.

"Yeah, we're fine." Maka sighed.

She was almost cut off by Black Star announcing loudly, "That kishin won't be bothering you any longer!"

"That's wonderful news!"

"Do you have any cabins available tonight?" Soul intercepted the conversation, his mind obviously going down one track.

"Of course! You can have two on the house as thanks for your hard work."

"That's wonderful! Thank you!" Tsubaki said gratefully and gave the lady behind the desk a little bow.

She quickly gave them their keys, and the four of them headed back out the door. Once outside the visitor's center, they headed directly for the cabins. Soul and Maka's turned up first, and so they parted ways with Tsubaki and Black Star – who was already loudly saying that he wanted to go check out the nearby restaurant Cindy had told them about.

Neither Soul or Maka were attracted by said restaurant, they had plenty of snacks left and were more interested in getting some bandages and rest.

Once inside their cabin, Maka tossed her bag onto the floor and then flopped onto the large king-sized bed in the center of the room. It looked like she and Soul were going to have to share, but she didn't even mind in the slightest. Mostly she was just happy to be on a bed.

She could hear Soul rummaging around in the bags and grumbling to himself under his breath. After a bit he spoke up, saying, "I'm gonna run down to the office and see if they have a first aid kit I could borrow. Ours is running a little low on supplies."

"Okay. I'll go take a shower while you do that then."

"Cool. Be back in a sec."

Then the sound of the door shutting resounded through the room. Sighing, she mustered up enough strength to push herself up on the bed. She turned around and poked through her bag to find her toiletries and something she could sleep in and then made her way into the bathroom. The hot water of the shower felt amazing, though it stung her cuts from the damned thorny bush she'd tangoed with earlier and really burned the gash in her thigh. The soap stung worse though, and she sucked in her breath and held it for a moment before giving in and cussing.

She was going for a record of stringing 'shit's together, when she heard the muffled sound of the cabin door shut behind Soul, who had apparently just come back.

He must have heard her because he called out, "Yo. You okay in there? That's a whole lot of cussing."

"Yep. Just fine."

There was a pause. "So then, did you just randomly decide 'shit' is your favorite word?"

"Currently? Yeah. Along with fuck, crap, dammit, and ow."

"Sounds like a fun time." He replied with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

"Oh yeah, it's just wonderful."

"What hurts so bad?"

"Remember that thorny bush I fell in? It got me worse than I thought it had. And that gash on my thigh where the kishin egg tried to rip me a new one isn't too fun either."

There was a pause and she could easily picture him wincing. "Oh. Ow."

"Yeah."

She heard him busy himself with whatever he brought back from the office, and hurried to finish up her shower so he could help patch her up. Making sure to get the soap out of her cuts, she rinsed off an extra time and then stepped out. She grabbed a towel and patted herself dry carefully, then dressed in her improvised pajamas and brushed her teeth too. It was better to go ahead and get ready for bed now, since she was probably just going to pass out once Soul was done applying band-aides.

As soon as she stepped out of the bathroom and Soul got a good look at her, he hissed and made a very sour face, like he'd just sucked on a lemon. Her makeshift pajamas consisted of a spaghetti strap tank top that she normally wore under her white button-down shirts and a pair of Soul's boxers… which meant he had a great view of all her scratches. It had still been dark when she'd changed into her long-sleeved shirt and thigh-high stockings, so neither of them had seen the full damage.

"Alright, get over here and let's see if I can put you back together."

"Yes, Nurse." Maka replied, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, why don't I get to be a doctor?" Soul asked, making a face.

"Do you need to be a doctor to apply first aide?"

He pursed his lips in an almost-pout. "Well no, but a doctor is cooler than a nurse."

Maka just shook her head and walked over to park her butt on the bed. "Not really. Nurses have to do a lot of the really hard work."

"Well whatever, just stay put."

He was already rubbing ointment onto the cuts on her shoulders. It wasn't long before he was also tugging out a few thorns that she'd missed and were still splintered into her skin.

After a while, he softly whispered something, so quietly that she couldn't even make it out.

"Huh?" She asked and turned her head towards him over her shoulder.

"I…I just said 'sorry.' That's all." He mumbled, sounding perturbed. His red eyes remained stuck on her cuts and absolutely refused to meet hers over her shoulder.

"Sorry? For what?"

"For not being able to protect you better."

Turning fully, she fixed him with a stern look. "You did protect me. These are just little scratches and a few bruises. Besides, did you forget who's who? I'm the meister; I'm used to this sort of thing."

"Yeah. I know. Doesn't mean I like it though."

Alright, it was time to get to the bottom of this. Soul had been acting weird about her getting hurt on missions for weeks now, and it was going to have to stop.

Carefully she inquired, "What's wrong? It hasn't bothered you before."

"Of course it has! It's always bothered me, Maka. I hate seeing you get hurt. And then, at the end of the fight, you're exhausted and beaten up while I'm not. It's just been easier to accept before. It's harder now that we're in a relationship."

"Whether we're together romantically or not, the fact remains that I am the meister and you are the weapon in our partnership. I accepted everything that's entailed in my job description when I signed up for this. Honestly, I prefer it this way."

"Yeah. You'd rather get yourself hurt than see me get hurt right?"

And with that, suddenly she understood a little more of where he was coming from. The way he stared at her, it was obvious what he was saying. He felt the same way … he would rather get hurt than see her get hurt. Putting herself in his shoes, she knew she'd hate every minute of it. In fact, it was the same sort of thing she had gone through after seeing him almost get killed.

Since she could understand this particular emotion so well, she instantly knew it was dangerous. This was the first time it had come up since getting into a relationship, and she immediately knew she had to nip it in the butt right here or else it could end up being a big problem.

"Look. I get how you feel. I really do. But please try not to feel bad about it. It's not your fault if I get hurt. If you sink too far into that sort of thinking, it could really interfere with our ability to function as partners. You're just going to have to accept that this is the risk I run in my line of work."

After a long moment he finally swallowed thickly and nodded, shutting his red eyes on a deep inhale. "Yeah. You're right."

She turned back around and a few seconds later felt his finger return to her skin, gently smearing ointment onto her cuts. It was a soothing mixture Maka had found that wasn't nearly as toxic as the normal kind. Since she often ended up with little cuts and scrapes that she didn't want to wear bandages over, she picked up this ointment to soothe and work as an antibiotic. It was okay to accidentally get in your eyes or even in your food, unlike normal creams with harsh chemicals…. Which was why she didn't freak out when Soul gently pressed a kiss to her cut up shoulder. In fact, getting some of the cream on his lips might be good for them, since they were chapped.

As for Soul, he did indeed feel less guilty than before. However, he still hated seeing all the cuts peppering her skin and winced in sympathy.

Of course, this was hardly the first time she'd gotten hurt during a fight. Her body was covered in scars from top to bottom. Strangely, he'd never noticed them really, they were simply there…. but now that he was suddenly paying attention, he began to realize just how many she had. His fingers stalled out as he stared at all the scars layered over her skin, and he took a moment to just try and absorb the sheer amount and variety she sported. It took a good, long moment for him to wrap his head around it, and he almost felt like this was first fucking time he was truly seeing them.

Some of the most obvious – to him at least – were various sets of teethmarks, specifically his teethmarks. The one on the shoulder he was currently treating was from when he had bit her during the book of Eibon incident. He'd barely broken the skin really, so there was only a row of tiny pinpricks where the very tips of his teeth had dug in. Her other shoulder however, was much worse. That was from when he had lost control in Russia, and he'd really chomped down. It looked like an animal bite, with a very distinct dental impression in shiny dark pink skin. There were others like that as well, scattered here and there on her body from that same shit-storm, but the worst one was definitely on her shoulder.

There were lots of other scars though. Ones from blades, ones from teeth or claws, and ones from other, stranger things they had encountered. It was a pretty crazy assortment honestly, and he wasn't sure whether to be impressed or horrified by it.

After a long moment, he realized he was zoning out and immediately shook himself out of it, so he could continue to treat her wounds. As he applied her cream to the cuts, he paid attention to the old as well as the new, spending time to lightly touch some of them in passing. It wasn't like he was apologizing for them exactly, because he knew that would probably piss Maka off and send her into another lecture about how she was the meister and shit, so he did it more to honor them really. They all told a story of how she kicked ass, and he definitely respected each and every one.

Maka could tell when his touches changed. Along with applying ointment to her cuts, he also seemed to touch her in places that didn't hurt. It took her a long moment to realize he was touching her scars, and she felt a surge of warmth in her chest in appreciation for the sweet gesture. He didn't say anything further, just kept treating her wounds, but she could feel the tenderness in every stroke. It was nice, beyond nice really, and she felt warmth suffuse her body. Heat traveled from her chest and settled into her belly, where it sat and boiled.

Really though, now wasn't exactly the time to be getting excitable in any way. She was too cut up to do much of anything in her opinion, but she certainly wasn't going to complain the treatment she was getting.

Eventually he got to a point where he'd treated all the cuts he could get to, bandaging the worst and just rubbing ointment into the others. She thought he'd just leave it there, but then tensed a little in surprise when he tugged on the bottom of her tank top and pulled it up to look underneath.

"You've got cuts all under here too. Better take it off so I can get to them."

She pursed her lips and thought about it. "I don't think that's really necessary…"

He prodded something that made her yelp as it sent a little zing of pain through her. "You've got some thorns still stuck in your back too, probably cause it's where you first landed. I've gotta take them out at least or they could get infected."

"Right." Self-consciously she tugged the shirt over her head and then bundled it up over her breasts.

This was the first time she'd been topless in his presence…at least since they'd become a couple. It had happened once or twice in the past when he'd treated particularly nasty wounds on her back, but it hadn't been too awkward then. Now though… it was different.

She flushed and stared at the wall as he began pulling out thorns. Soon the pain eased her temporary awkwardness. She grumbled under her breath and cussed a little as he pulled the thorns out one by one and poked around to find more.

"How many are there anyways!? That seems like an awful lot…" She groused after a while.

"Well that's cause there are a lot. You landed in a fucking bramble bush, Maka."

"Feels more like I got attacked by a porcupine." She grumbled.

"That would probably hurt worse. Pretty sure porcupine quills are bigger than thorns."

"Whatever…"

Finally, he got the last one out and started smearing ointment on them. She relaxed, breathing out a sigh of relief. It had been unpleasant, but her back did feel better now that all the stickers were out. After a moment, she felt him press a gentle kiss to her back and she jumped, not expecting it.

"Sorry. I know that hurt like a bitch."

She flushed again, feeling bad for giving him such a hard time when he was just trying to help. "Nah, it didn't hurt too bad. I'm just tired and cranky."

"Gee, I wonder why?"

She snorted. "Oh, I dunno. It sure is a mystery. I mean fighting Big Foot was soooo much fun."

"Right. And you always wake up in the middle of the night. Well actually you do tend to wake up obnoxiously early…"

"Not that early. I wake up at six or seven, not three or four in the morning!"

"Big diff."

She heaved a sigh, chuckling under her breath.

This was such a weird and paradoxical experience for her. As usual, the sweetness he was displaying made her feel all warm and fuzzy like a fluffy warm balloon had expanded inside her chest. Then, his small touches and kisses surprised her, but also had started warming her in a different way…even though she wouldn't have thought herself capable of that at this particular moment. Meanwhile, contradicting all that was the pain of her wounds and her sheer exhaustion.

Eventually - to get to her lower back - she ended up laying down on her front and stretched out, sighing as she relaxed into the mattress and nearly fell asleep. She would have too, if it weren't for the tension wound tight in her belly and some new stings as he found a few more thorns he'd missed. Things were about to get awkward she knew, because she had a really bad feeling that there were thorns in her butt, based on the pain from sitting.

She felt his hands hover over the band of his boxers that she was wearing and then very carefully inched them down lower until they were right above her crack. He treated the cuts and thorns there and then hesitated again.

With a sigh and groan, she reached back, shoved a thumb in the waistband, and yanked the boxers and her underwear down to her thighs, leaving her butt bare. "Just get the damn thorns out."

"Uh…right."

She did her very best to not be self-conscious…. They were a couple now so this should be perfectly acceptable. It was still embarrassing though. Frankly he'd grabbed her butt before, but that had been over clothes, so it was definitely different.

Despite the little stings of pain, the feel of his fingers on her skin made her hyper aware of her rear, and it wasn't all necessarily bad. In fact, when he wasn't pulling out thorns and was just gently poking around to try and find them it was kind of nice, and she could feel her face flushing a little while her heart kicked up a beat. This really shouldn't be such a big deal, but she still breathed a sigh of relief when he popped her underwear and his boxers back into place and moved onto the backs of her thighs.

The way he was touching her thighs now wound the little ball of tension in her belly tighter. It was ticklish, painful, and also felt nice when he wasn't on the cuts as he stroked his fingers along her skin there. Again, it was a confusing mix and she wasn't sure what to do with it. So, she just ended up laying there with her brain messy and confused and not sure where to put anything or how to categorize the experience.

Once he'd gotten down the length of her legs, he tucked a hand under her knee and tugged to the side, indicating she should roll over. She obliged, though there was some awkward squirming and rearranging as she tucked the cloth of her tank top back over her breasts and clamped her arms over it. She knew her face was pink, but tried to pretend it wasn't and gave him a sour look instead. His lips quirked as he took in her uncomfortable expression, though his own face was rather pink as he took in the sight of her half naked - aside from the cloth clutched to her chest.

That look quickly changed though to a frown as he took in the sight of the larger gash on her thigh where that monster had grabbed her and ripped the skin. It looked pretty nasty she knew. He grabbed more supplies for it, and started the treatment with an alcohol swap. The burn got a hiss and some cusses from her, and he sent her an apologetic grin. Once the thing was clean, he swabbed it with the ointment, then finally slapped on a gauze square and taped it up.

After he had tended that, his eyes relocated to her top half, probably with the idea of taking on the thorns from the top down like he had in the back. As soon as his eyes landed on her half-naked state though, he flushed lightly again and pursed his lips. Clearing his throat, he picked up the ointment tube again and started looking her over for cuts and thorns. He had already mostly gotten her arms from behind, but he re-examined them to smear some ointment into the cuts he had missed.

Then he prodded around where her arms were crossed and found a few cuts on her stomach that he treated. She raised her arms up a little, while keeping them clamped tight to her breasts, and gathered the fabric tighter up under them to make it easier for him to get to the cuts. From there, he moved down her stomach to her hips and pushed up the legs of his boxers to check her upper thighs. Finally, it was just her legs that needed to be treated.

Really, she could have doctored her front herself, but she let him do it. It felt nice and she was tired.

The whole time he worked on her, he was very thorough and, like before, spent some extra time gently touching old scars as he passed by them, which she didn't protest. It was nice to have him touch her in places that didn't hurt, and it helped to sooth the stings from her cuts.

When he was finally done, he sighed and then leaned over to press a kiss beneath her belly button, right above the waistband of her shorts. That shocked her, and she sucked in her breath and tensed up. He flinched hard enough that he pulled back.

"Sorry. Too much?"

"No, it's fine. But if you're trying to initiate something, I don't know how much I'll be able to do."

He flushed a little. "You don't have to do anything. Just lie down and relax. But if you don't mind me kissing you and stuff for a bit…"

"Sure, as long as I don't have to move. I may fall asleep though."

"If I want to keep you awake I know how to, don't worry about that." He grinned, and her tummy tensed up a little, not sure exactly what to think about that statement.

She should have expected this.

After becoming a couple, she'd noticed that he was super touchy feely after a mission, especially if she got hurt. He'd want to hold her, and sometimes just cuddle – especially if she'd been hurt badly – but other times he would kiss and touch her other ways. It was like he was trying to make up for the pain by replacing it with pleasant stuff.

He leaned on one elbow to stretch out next to her on the bed, then leaned over to press another kiss to her belly, careful to avoid the cuts. His fingers trailed up her thigh, between the thorn marks, and she shivered. Another tremor worked through her when his lips started gently traveling upwards as well. When he reached her belly button he stuck his tongue in, and she yelped out a short laugh of surprise. She felt him grin against her. The exhaustion was pushed back a bit by the warmth building in her stomach, and she decided that maybe she was up for some stuff after all.

When he reached her arms, he skipped over them and her chest and went up to give her a kiss on the lips. She met him and kissed him back. It started out sweet and humid, gentle and tender, but quickly grew heated. Their tongues twined, and she wrapped one arm around his neck, leaving the other to hold her tank top in place.

After a bit, he pulled back and moved to her neck, which was free of scratches, and latched on.

"No hickeys Soul, I don't have a scarf to cover it up…" She groaned.

"Then I won't leave any where they could be seen." He promised, moving down to her collarbone instead, which was covered by her shirt usually. Sharp teeth nipped her there and she shivered, relaxing her arm a bit as he nuzzled his chin into the tank top over her chest.

He sucked on her skin and then moved lower, sucking on the skin on her chest. After a bit he pulled back some, and tugged at the shirt covering her chest. "Do you mind if…?"

She bit her lip. They'd been to second base before, but only over clothes. He'd never seen her breasts and hadn't ever touched them directly. Seeing them was a different ball game, and made her more concerned about their size.

She must have scowled or made a face, because he asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's just…they're pretty small…"

"So?"

"They probably won't be that interesting."

"That's dumb. Of course they'll be interesting."

Pursing her lips, she gave him a look. "Promise not to make fun of them?"

He grimaced. "Look, I was stupid and immature when I said all that shit about your boobs. Of course I'm not going to make fun of them. I've been groping them for weeks now. They're awesome."

She thought about it and decided she might as well. It was kind of scary exposing herself for the first time, but after touching soul to soul, this didn't seem as big a deal as it probably would have a year or so ago. She'd already used the metaphor of being naked in reference to resonating with each other. Plus, after taking things so slowly, she felt like she was ready to take this next step without having a freak-out. Besides that, it would happen sooner or later, and she doubted she was going to get any more comfortable with the idea than she was currently. So, there wasn't any reason really to postpone it.

"Okay. Fine."

Gingerly she removed the tank top and tossed it aside before resting her hands on her rib cage under her breasts and lacing her fingers together. She flushed when his eyes slid down and locked onto her chest, but thankfully he didn't seem to show any sign of being disappointed. If anything - judging by the way his pupils blew wide open and darkened his eyes from crimson to a deep wine color - he really liked what he saw. The little bit of drool that appeared on his lip was another sign, but it quickly disappeared with a, 'sshhhp,' sound.

"So? Are they too tiny?" She teased, already knowing the answer based on his expression, but not ready to let it go just yet. This was her chance to get him back for all those jokes, though she had already been doing that for a couple of weeks now.

"Uh…n-nope, not at all. They're perfect." He stuttered, blinking a bit dazedly.

After a moment he reached out and hesitated, "Can I touch?"

"Sure." She nodded, flushing a little, but overall relatively comfortable now. This wasn't as awkward as she'd thought it would be. Somehow getting thorns pulled out of her ass was much worse. That had been horrifyingly embarrassing for some reason.

He didn't waste any time and immediately put both hands on her, resting all his weight on his knees. He squeezed a little too hard and she winced. "Easy there. Remember, they aren't stress balls."

They'd had this conversation before, but it seemed like he'd gotten a little over excited.

"Oh. Right! Sorry!"

He instantly eased up on his grip, which was much nicer. The gentle squeezes were pleasant, and she relaxed into his touches. As soon as his fingers found the peaks though she jumped and got much less relaxed quite suddenly. At the first pinch, the heat in her belly writhed and then burned, and all the muscles down there clenched up a few times spastically.

That got her tensed up with nerves too. Touching her through her clothes and bras hadn't felt this good, and true physical pleasure was something she still felt kind of unsure about. Sure, she'd gotten excited, and had felt the throb in her nether regions that indicated she was wet when they made-out sometimes and when they touched, but that was manageable. It was a different kind of pleasure, intense and heart pounding and full of heavy heated emotions and excitement - because it was Soul.

On the other hand, there was a more focused kind of pleasure that could cause loss of control and eventually an orgasm… and that was another thing entirely. As she'd already discovered, she liked being in control of the situation. Plus…she still hadn't quite gotten over her issues with sex, and getting too excited with a guy – even Soul – still made her feel a little slutty.

Over all, it just felt like a line in the sand she wasn't ready to cross yet.

Instantly, her hand rose and seized his, stalling him. "Hold up a minute."

He stopped and looked at her, obviously confused. "What's wrong?"

"Uh…." How was she supposed to explain the fact that she was uncomfortable with sexual pleasure? They had conversed plenty about her issues, but this one specifically had never come up because he'd never stumbled across anything quite this pleasurable before.

This was going to be awkward however she put it, but she still took a few moments to try and figure out the best way to approach it. Perhaps she could just ask him not to mess with her nipples? Worth a shot she supposed.

"Maybe just, uh, avoid touching my nipples too much? Kay?"

He cocked his head to the side and blinked at her, looking nonplussed and confused.

"Why exactly? I thought they were the parts that felt the best?"

Well shit. Why'd he have to know that? Actually…. curious now, she asked, "How'd you know that? Are guy's nipples sensitive too?"

He paused for a moment and seemed to consider the query.

"Uh, no I don't think so?" When he finally answered, it came out as a question, like he wasn't sure. "I mean, they hurt if you pinch them too hard, but other than that…I dunno. I've never messed with them to be honest."

"Huh. Interesting." So, Soul's nipples weren't super sensitive like hers were. Good to know.

"Anyways, weren't we talking about your nips not mine? You just admitted that I was right, and they felt the best, so what exactly is the problem here?"

"That. That right there is the problem."

"Them feeling good is a problem?"

"Yes, okay?" She said exasperatedly. "Kissing and stuff feels good, but not good like that. That's a different level of good, one which I'm comfortable with. But this is a level I'm not comfortable with yet."

"Oh." He blinked, looking stunned. "Okay. That makes sense I guess. But you don't mind me touching your boobs as long as I don't mess with your nipples too much?"

"Yeah, basically. The squeezing thing you were doing before was fine."

"Alright." He nodded and agreed easily, and she relaxed, feeling herself fall just a little more in love with him for his easy-going nature. All she ever had to do was tell him that something made her uncomfortable and he wouldn't do it. Simple as that. He never fought her, never pushed her too hard, and was always considerate.

Funny. Nobody would peg the rude, lazy, drooling, devil-may-care Soul Eater as being a perfect gentleman, but when it came to Maka he was exactly that. At least when it came to stuff like this. He still nearly knocked her over on a regular basis when reaching over her for food from the cabinet, or to get the toothpaste, or to reach the salt on the other side of the table. He had no concept of personal space and never really had. But since that never really bothered her it didn't matter. Undoubtedly if she told him it did bother her, he would instantly stop.

He resumed touching her, carefully avoiding touching her nipples too much, though of course his palms still pressed into them when he grabbed her with his whole hand. That was manageable though.

Very soon he removed one hand to take his weight as he lowered himself back over her and his lips came into contact with her skin. Chapped lips kissed the center of her chest, and then his long tongue snaked up her sternum between her breasts. With a contented sigh and closed eyes, she raised one hand and rested her arm on his shoulders while her fingers burrowed into his white mop. She was careful about it, since her arms were all scratched up, but strangely she didn't feel the pain nearly as sharply at the moment.

Soon enough, his mouth mounted one small hill, and she jumped and yelped when he bit her. It wasn't too hard, just a nibble really compared to his normal bites, and then he sucked. Several hickeys were laid in short succession over both breasts, which actually felt as good as his other hickeys, maybe even better. She relaxed completely and let herself enjoy it, trusting him entirely to not pass the line she'd just laid down. It was precisely why she trusted him so much, because he never betrayed her. He was loyal to a fault, which allowed her to let herself be putty in his hands and under his mouth with no fear.

Letting herself trust him so completely had the side effect of prompting her other emotions to rise to the surface - her love for him beating behind her breastbone so hard that it felt like it would break and shatter into pieces. That didn't seem to be such a bad thing though, especially not as his breath caressed her and fanned the flames right over said breastbone.

Things grew hazy with both emotion and the pleasurable feelings shivering through her body and she almost forgot the fact that she was in pain at all.

But then she had to close her legs on his hand as it sneakily made its way up between her thighs.

He'd touched her there over her underwear before off and on since the first time. It was still sort of awkward for her, and still felt weird. Mostly the attempts had been clumsy and hadn't felt particularly amazing by any means. In the end she had determined that it felt…okay, but not pleasurable the way it did when she touched herself. Maybe she just had to get used to the feel of his fingers and the idea of him touching her there.

Right now certainly wasn't the time to try again. On the off chance something went right, and he figured everything out down there, she knew good and well she wasn't ready for it. She'd let him touch her there when she was fully in control, excited yes, but not overwhelmed with emotion the way she was right now. She had let herself relax too much of her control, trusted him too much, and couldn't let him go that far at this particular moment.

So she had to put a stop to it.

"Um…I don't think that's a good idea…"

"Don't worry. I won't do anything to freak you out."

She stared up at him, his crimson eyes urging her to trust him. Here was a line in the sand that maybe she could move. Right now, she could choose to continue trusting him, that he wouldn't do anything she wasn't ready for, or she could turn him away. It was surprisingly difficult for her, with him locking his gaze to hers so forcefully, practically begging her to trust him. It didn't even seem like it was something he wanted to do, so much as it seemed like he was trying to prove himself to her.

The answer was simple. Of course she trusted him. Slowly she willed herself to relax her thighs and the rest of her body followed suit. Holding her stare, his hand slowly inched up the last few inches, and she sucked in her breath to hold in her chest when his hand made contact. It shifted until his palm was fully covering her and pressed to her. It was oddly intense, especially with the eye contact, and she wished she could break it but somehow couldn't.

For a moment she was confused, but when he didn't move his fingers and simply cupped her there, she realized he just planned on holding her. That was fine. A little awkward perhaps, but fine. The weight of his hand there felt nice actually. After a long moment, she finally began to fully relax, her muscles untensing and her breathing returning to normal.

"See? This is okay right?"

"Yeah." She breathed, nodding.

A small smile parted his lips and then he dipped his head and pressed gentle kisses to her throat and collarbone, in a more soothing manner than before. Gradually she relaxed enough to even close her eyes. Even the tension from arousal began to drift as he didn't do anything to re-spark it. Eventually his hand gently eased away, and he shifted to the side of her, still pressing gentle kisses to her skin.

As she snuggled up to him and drifted off, she very faintly heard him murmur, "…love you, Maka."

Already mostly asleep, she mumbled, "…love you too…" and then passed out.

Authors Note:

Alrighty. And here's the next chapter! Sorry, once again, for the slight delay. I really am trying to get these chapters out at least every other week, but preferably every week. Sometimes life gets in the way though. But there you go. Anyways! I hope everyone enjoyed this lovely chappie with a hint of citrus in the air. ;) No worries, more actual lemons and limes will be coming up, and of course some more humor and action too.

As always, a huge thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Hugs and kisses and confetti all around!