The silence between them was unnatural and so, he broke it.
"We should be heading to bed..."
She hummed in agreement. "Yeah, go ahead, if you want."
"What about you?"
"I think I'll smoke one, then... I don't know. But I'll be quiet, don't worry."
His instincts were correct once more. "I think I could use a minute or two outside."
The Italian nodded. She took a cigarette and a lighter, as Kurama went on and opened the door to the balcony. The girl crossed the living room and followed him outside, then lit her cigarette and took a deep breath of the night air combined with smoke.
"Do you plan on sleeping tonight?" he asked, leaning against the railway with his elbows.
Amara stood by his side, leaning with her back against the metal edge and looking up towards the sky.
"Probably not."
"Do you mind sharing the reason for that?"
The Italian shrugged. "I'll get nightmares. Why sleep and wake up every hour or so, when I can stay up and avoid all that? With some luck, by tomorrow night, I'll be too exhausted for nightmares."
"Is this the usual, or...?"
"I remembered a few things I shouldn't have... It's alright, though. It happens sometimes."
A thought was spinning through his mind. Had she been an Asian girl, he wouldn't have dared to ask for something like this, given it could have been taken as an insult. However, the West raised its girls differently. After a minute of silence and Amara blowing out several small white clouds, he brought himself to say it.
"Would you still avoid sleep if you were to have some company?"
Slowly, she turned her head towards him. Her violet hair was hanging over her shoulder and high above the city below them.
"I don't know..." she whispered, right before putting out the cigarette butt. "We should buy an ashtray," she pointed out as she straightened her back and slowly stumbled inside.
"We will," Kurama agreed as he followed and closed the door between the warm, slightly humid air of the living room and the cold, dry air of the city.
Although she didn't answer his question directly, she didn't deny it either. She simply stopped there, waiting for a hint on what was going to happen next.
"I wouldn't mind you, you know..." she sighed.
Taking the opportunity, Kurama wrapped his arms around her waist loosely and set his head over her shoulder. A few violet curls were blocking his view, but that didn't matter much.
"Nothing has to happen unless you want it."
Amara wasn't nearly as stiff as he expected her to be, leaning back against him and enjoying the warmth of his embrace. Taking another chance, he placed a kiss on her neck, followed by another, and soon, he felt her trembling just a little, as her lungs held onto the air.
Twisting herself around, she wrapped her arms around his neck and felt her chest and hips pressed against his own.
"I'm scarred... It's hard for me to believe someone like you could ever be attracted to me, especially since you've seen them before."
"I don't think I've seen those scars close enough to decide," he mumbled into her hair.
Amara could have sworn there was a purr in his voice, which sounded a little deeper. She was also certain he was grinning, though she didn't see him long enough before he had lowered himself between her jawbone and her shoulder. His breath was hot against her chilled skin.
Pulling away, Amara got the chance to see him through the dim light of the city night. It was never truly dark in the city, and his eyes were gleaming with greed. After a brief moment, she kissed him and shut her eyes, as she felt his hands already lifting her shirt and tugging at her bra. It was too soon for that to come off, it was only a tease, but her skin was crawling in anticipation.
Only seconds later, she felt him leading her away, but to her surprise, it wasn't the couch. Amara felt the cold, hard wall behind her and his hands cupping her cheeks and rubbing her thighs. She didn't mind losing the ground beneath her feet, not when it meant feeling his hips between her thighs much stronger and better toned than she had expected from a brilliant student who spent most of his time in the lab.
Kurama tried to earn a sound from her, but for a brief moment, he nearly gave it away before her. Amara had locked her legs around his waist, and then she pulled him closer, pressing their bodies together. He massaged her legs and her hips, slowly lifting her shirt as he tried to find her weakest points by kissing and nibbling all along her jawline, neck, and collar bone.
Once her hot skin was in contact with the wall, Amara instinctively arched her back to try and keep away from it. This led Kurama to focus on her chest as soon as her shirt was off his hands. Working fast and precisely, Amara found the buttons of his shirt and opened them one by one. She could feel his teeth running just above her skin, hunting for a spot to leave their mark, while his hands had already worked their way into her jeans.
Just bellow her right cheek, Kurama felt the unmistakably soft scar tissue. Her left hip had also revealed its weakness. He couldn't help but imagine the agony that came with so much of her skin burning off, and the slow and painful healing process that followed.
"Is it alright if I do this?"
Amara felt his hands running over her scarred skin which had made her so ashamed of revealing her legs to anyone. A light chill ran through her body.
"Yes, it doesn't hurt or anything."
"But do you like it, or just tolerate it?"
After a moment of hesitation and a kiss, Amara gave him a sly grin.
"I haven't felt it long enough to decide."
Recognizing his words from before, Kurama let out a light chuckle. He picked her up better and carried Amara to the extended couch which he had previously prepared for another lonely night's sleep, and as he laid her down, he traced his hands over her legs and pulled off her jeans. He then took off his unbuttoned shirt and climbed over her.
Amara had caught him into a deep and passionate kiss, while she was feeling his body. To her surprise, there were a couple of scars, but none of them seemed recent. However, there was no time to lose herself in thought. Kurama wasn't exactly patient in that given situation and she could feel that in every touch. His weight was pressing down on her as she was trying to unbuckle the belt holding his pants.
For a moment, Kurama stopped. He had decided he needed to help Amara get rid of his clothes as those were no longer tolerated between them. The sight of the Italian on his sofa in her underwear was turning him on more than he had first anticipated when he had seen her laying on the carpet not too long ago. There was no sight of disgust in his mind - on the contrary. Her markings sparked his curiosity and drew his attention in a positive way.
This time, he stopped with his head between her knees. There was a faint pink creeping up on her and he could hear her pulse with ease. Smiling, he began to play a game. Ever so slowly, his hands slipped from her knees to her hips on her outer thighs, and to his surprise, he heard her gasping and locking a breath of air in her lungs. A thought crossed his mind - what if he could make her pant and moan without touching any private parts? That would certainly be an achievement or at least an interesting investigation.
Grasping her cheeks and massaging her legs, he began working her up, only to slow down to barely tracing his fingers over her thin skin the next second. The alternating pattern was broken only by a couple of kisses which he chose carefully so that when he left his first mark, he heard her whining softly. Taking the hint, he continued until he felt her trembling in his hands.
As his focus shifted upwards and he explored her body, Kurama kept the rule in mind. Despite his painful desire to consume the act, he kept her underwear on and continued to tease Amara in less than obvious ways. He had marked her most sensitive points around her hip bones and ribs, right below the metal frame of her bra, on the soft inner side of her elbow and right by her wrists. The only pay he needed was to hear her trembling voice moaning and whining lowly, her heart pounding inside her chest, and the heavy breaths escaping her teeth. She was biting her lips trying to hold back, but Kurama's victory was plain to see.
"Have you decided yet...?" Kurama asked her while taking a short break from the teasing.
Her skin was crawling with lingering sensations and excitement.
"Do you really need an answer?" she mumbled through a smile.
"Yes," Kurama insisted.
For a moment, Amara was mad. Why did he have to be this way? Did he need the praise? She thought not. Couldn't they skip through all this talk and save it for the morning after?
"...I like this, but I'd love it even more if you could just... You know..."
"I'm not sure I know... This?"
Hot from the blood running through his veins much faster than normal, his hand slipped underneath the lace of her underwear. This was a whole new level of teasing and so, it didn't take him long to hear her pleading. Moving swiftly from one thing to the other, they eventually ended up naked and performed the act, but it was the brief moment before sleep which made him rethink the entire situation.
In his demon form, he had taken many women for himself - some just once, a few several times, and he knew how to read them and what to deliver. The more sentimental would lay on his chest and praise him, in hopes of reaching some deeper feelings in him, while the less sentimental would usually act as not much happened and go back to the usual coldness of demons.
However, Amara did something else. She did what no demon or animal or any living creature that had to fight for its survival would ever do. She turned her back on him, sharing the same pillow and looking for the warmth and closeness of his body, but also exposing herself as her most vulnerable. She was fast asleep - he couldn't blame her for that, but... she trusted him completely, just like family.
This was the first time he noticed this kind of behavior in a woman. Kurama pulled the covers over both of them and made himself comfortable on his side, wrapping an arm around her. This thought had stayed in his mind until reality would fade into darkness - she trusted him like family.