NeonHorizon: Just a reminder that I write primarily love triangles, everyone. I like Renji and Uta. So I'll have scenes with both of them.
Miyu's eyes opened to fix upon the far wall, her mind trying to register what had happened. She had dozed off on the couch, by herself, but now she could feel a warm body beneath hers. Bare skin pressed against her cheek, her neon pink hair falling across her friend's chest and his arm wrapped around her waist.
A careful tilt of her head let her look up and she saw that Uta was still asleep, despite holding her so firmly against him. She frowned slightly, but moved closer. One leg was already draped over his and now her stomach pressed against his side. The female ghoul enjoyed the warmth radiating from his body. It was a good distraction and it was comforting.
It had been a while since she slept so close to him. Of course, a lot of things had changed. For one, they were no longer teenagers. The boy with the dyed blond hair was gone; replaced by this dark-haired man with tattoos. Miyu stared up at the inked words that went around his neck. She knew that they were in a foreign language. He had told her that before. She could not remember what they meant.
Her gaze slid downward from his face, skimming over his free arm and the designs that decorated it. Pausing when she came to the ink on his fingers, she had to resist the urge to touch them. Miyu's gaze roamed back up along his arm and finally rested on the sun tattoo that was on his chest. It was just inches away from her face, slightly obscured by strands of her vibrant pink hair.
Did those hurt? And how did he get them? I know that some ghouls have tattoos, but…it's different than when a human gets one, right? The tools must be different. She half-closed her eyes and bit her lower lip, trying to withhold a sigh. His hold on her was comforting. It almost lulled her back to sleep, but she knew that it must be morning. Soon she would need to go home to confront Renji and Uta would need to open the studio for the day.
The young woman's eyes widened as her wrist was gently taken by his hand and her fingers were pressed against the sun tattoo on his chest. "Ah…y-you're awake?"
"You can touch me if you want to," he whispered. The arm around her waist tightened a little more. "You have such a cute look on your face right now. You look so afraid. Did I startle you?" He waited for her to tip her head back so that their eyes met and his lips curled into a smile.
Instantly, her face heated with a reddish hue and she forced her gaze elsewhere. "I-I'm sorry. I should have gotten out of the bed when I woke up. Um…and I think I might've sleep-walked."
"You're even cuter when you get flustered like this." He released her wrist in favor of running his fingers through her hair, watching the inked designs on his digits disappear into the sea of hot pink. "You looked cold so I moved you."
"Th-thank you." Miyu continued to blush, trying not to focus on the sensation of those warm, gentle fingers caressing her scalp with each run through her hair. "I…I should probably go. You need to open your shop and I-I should probably go to Anteiku. I'm pretty sure that I have a shift this afternoon, but I need to-"
Uta felt her squirm a little as she attempted to sit up, but pulled her back down against his chest. "I don't need to open right away. I have some time."
Her heart sped up as she felt him moving her on top of him. When she tried to lean up again, her soft hair fell forward and brushed against his chest. She stared down at him, trying to read his expression and determine what he was thinking. The red and black eyes that stared back at her half-closed and she saw his lips draw into a smile once more. "Uta…?"
"Hm?" Fingers trailed along her spine through her shirt and he felt her back arch, pushing her chest against his. He saw her face contort in pleasure and repeated the action. "I like to see the expressions that you make, even when I do something this small. You're so sensitive."
"I…I really do need to go," she tried to argue. It's not that I don't appreciate everything that he's done for me. I just need to talk to Renji. And he's making it hard for me to concentrate. Her eyes widened as she planted her hands on his chest and she skimmed over his bare skin. "Y-your back. Does it still hurt?" She remembered the way that her kagune had stabbed into him the previous afternoon and immediately felt panicked that he might be in pain.
Uta appeared a little taken aback by her sudden shift in attention, but was glad that she was still there. "I'm fine. I already healed." Maneuvering himself so that he sat up in the bed and she half-straddled his lap, he leaned down to her ear. "Were you worried about me?" he teased.
"I-I stabbed you…of course I was worried." Miyu's hands shifted to his shoulders as she tried to steady herself. "I'm sorry about that. Are you sure that you're alright? It doesn't hurt?"
"I'm fine. But if you want to make it up to me…why don't you spend the day with me? It's been a while, hasn't it? We usually have Itori or Renji with us." He drew back from her ear, a hand lifting to push her hair away from her face. "Are you hungry?"
Miyu soon found herself alone on the bed as he went to retrieve some food, pondering once again how she would approach Renji when she spoke to him. Sleep had done nothing to make her less upset. She was still angry that he had been keeping such important information from her. More than the anger, however, she was sad. She was hurt. Even though Uta had said that he kept the secret to try to protect her from the pain of losing her brother, she still felt wounded. Ten years just makes it hurt worse, she thought to herself. Ten years just amplifies it because now I feel like they thought I was too weak to handle it.
She shook her head and pushed herself to stand. Staying with Uta for the day would solve nothing; she needed to confront Renji and get it over with. As much as she enjoyed the dark-haired ghoul's company and as easy as it would be to just let him continue to distract her, this was something that needed to be done.
Uta returned with some meat, his smile fading when he saw her getting ready to leave. "What's wrong?"
"I…I need to go. I'm sorry. I just…need to…" Miyu felt heat rising to her cheeks as the man approached her, a hand reaching out to caress the side of her face. Subconsciously leaning into his touch, the female ghoul closed her eyes. "Thank you…for telling me the truth, Uta. At least now I know what happened. I can…make a decision about my niece's future."
"Do you really have to go?" His voice was close, lips skimming over her ear and his dark hair tickling at her shoulder and neck. "I've liked our time together."
"I-I'm sorry. I'll…p-probably see you again later this week, so-"
"Do you promise?" When she nodded, he drew away from her ear. "If you break your promise…can I punish you?" He saw her face turn bright red and he smiled sheepishly. Her eyes half-opened to meet his gaze and the man saw her subtly bite her lip. His hand moved beneath her chin, tipping her head up so their eyes met. "That's a nice expression," he mused. Closing the distance between them, his lips caressed hers and he felt her arms lift to go around his neck.
Miyu's pulse was rapid, almost painful. The fluttery sensation in her stomach and chest was increasing by the second and she was reminded of when she was a teenager. The nights they spent hunting together, with him helping to guide her. The night that she had her first time. The lips that were molding so perfectly against hers had pressed kisses along her legs, trailing upward to her core. Pressing her thighs together now, she broke the kiss and looked away. "I have to go. I'm sorry."
Though he was obviously a little disappointed, he kept a neutral expression. "It's alright. Later this week. Promise?"
"I promise."
Shift P.O.V
It was mid-morning and he was still waiting for her to come home. Renji looked at his phone again, checking for a missed call or a message from Miyu that he might not have noticed. There was nothing. His eyes lifted from the screen, half-glaring at the door, and then turned his gaze to the bottle of fermented blood that was perched on the coffee table in front of him.
He had gone to Itori the previous afternoon and asked for it, planning an important evening with Miyu. His plan was to loosen himself up enough to talk about Hideaki's fate, but he wanted to remain sober enough to be remember it. The last thing that Renji wanted was a repeat of when he told her about her niece. He had consumed too much fermented blood and apparently told her, but could not remember the next morning so he had repeated himself. Repeating the details of her brother's death and burial were not something that he wanted. It would hurt her even worse than the initial explanation.
Uta killed him. I don't know what exactly happened, but I'm sure now that it wasn't the CCG. Renji frowned and leaned back on the couch, closing his eyes. Uta killed her brother. I know that he did it. There's just too much evidence. I just didn't want to believe it before. He was so close to her. I didn't want to think about him killing Hideaki and then…Renji heard the lock click and tensed as the door opened. His nose twitched slightly as he caught a scent that made his stomach drop. "Miyu."
She met his gaze when he turned to look at her and then quickly looked away. "Renji…we need to talk. About Aki-nii." Miyu lifted her right hand, revealing the bundle of flowers that he had most recently left on her brother's grave. Her fist clenched the bouquet tightly, her lips settled into a frown.
He moved before she could approach and took the flowers from her. Anger was starting to bubble up now, blending with the despair of knowing that this conversation was coming sooner than planned. Sooner than he could actually prepare himself. The worst part was that, as he stared down at the pink-haired ghoul, he could smell Uta's scent all over her. "Why didn't you come home last night? I waited for you."
Miyu took a step back, her cheeks turning almost as pink as her hair. "I…I wanted to take some time to cool off. Uta told me what happened. About the doves ten years ago. About how they killed my brother. I-I overreacted and…stabbed him with my kagune. I didn't want to hurt you, too."
Renji's frown deepened and he dropped the flowers. "He told you that it was doves?" It was taking a lot of control to not blurt out the truth. Uta finally decided to tell her, but he's not willing to tell her the truth. I know that it wasn't the CCG. The hole in Hideaki's chest was too ragged to be from a quinque. As much as he wanted to tell her, he could see it in her eyes that she was pained just from the half-truth. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her against him. "I'm sorry."
