These wounds are deep. Is he sure that it was ice that cut into him? Ayano carefully wiped away blood with an alcohol wipe and glanced toward his face. It was the day after they had both been injured. Her own cuts and bruises hurt a lot, but she knew that it would be difficult for him to take care of the lacerations on his right arm so she was tending to it for him.
Sonic had his eyes narrowed, his left hand clenched into a fist at his side. It was clear that he was frustrated. After all, his whole issue with Saitama was brought on after losing a fight. From what he told Ayano, he had not won this fight either. He had been forced to retreat after his arm was almost cut off.
On his other side, their dog flopped down onto the floor and put its head on his lap. Staring up at him with deep brown eyes, head slightly tilted. When he conceded and used his left hand to rub behind the dog's ears, Bun's tail started wagging happily. This brought a smile to Ayano's face for a moment.
"So…the one that did this…?"
"I had to leave them so I could stop the bleeding. I don't know if they're still in the area or not, but I'm not going to let them think that they've won. As soon as this is healed enough, I'll find them and-"
"Don't push yourself too much…please." Ayano lifted a hand to adjust her glasses, her eyes shifting to the side to avoid his gaze. Warmth was collecting in her face and a tightness began to form at the center of her chest. The thought of Sonic being injured even worse than this, or possibly even killed, was too much for her to handle.
The corner of his mouth lifted and he leaned toward her. "Oh? Are you worried about me?" he taunted, his left hand slipping beneath her chin and making her look at him.
"O-of course I am!" She gently pulled out of his hold and continued cleaning his wounds without a word. Why am I blushing so much? We've had this relationship for a while. I just…get kind of giddy around him, for some reason. And I know it's not right, but I'm happy that I can take care of him right now. Especially after all of the times he's had to take care of my wounds.
When she finished, Sonic looked over her work and nodded in approval. "Not bad. Alright, now I need your help with something else."
"What?" Ayano moved so he could stand and tilted her head when she saw him walk into the bathroom. Her face went from pink to red and she slowly followed, but lingered in the doorway with her head turned to the side. "I-I think you can…take care of that yourself."
"I thought you wanted to take care of me," he teased.
"I do, but…I'm not…" She glanced over and felt a rush of relief. Sonic was holding a brush and a hair tie, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Right…your hair. Sorry." Ayano brushed the tangles out of his smooth, obsidian hair and did her best to put it in its usual topknot.
"And this." He handed her a small brush and a small pot of purple face paint.
"Right…" She stood in front of him, facing him, and very carefully drew the purple lines beneath his eyes. Tilting her head, she frowned to herself. I think I did a good job. They look normal. Offering a hand mirror, she felt her pulse quicken in anticipation.
Sonic examined his reflection and smirked. He looked over at Ayano, his eyes moving up and down her body. She was wearing a pair of black shorts and a loose-fitting purple t-shirt with a black tank top underneath. His smirk spread into a satisfied grin.
"You're not doing any hero work today." It was a statement; not a question. The bandaged fingers of his right hand lifted and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "You're still healing. So this is what we're going to do. I'm going to make sure we have a clear path and then we're going out."
It took a few seconds to click before Ayano's warm, honey-golden eyes widened. Since they were both recovering from pretty terrible injuries, it was out of the question to train. Whatever he had planned, she was both excited and nervous to find out what it was.
When Sonic returned from his brisk patrol around the area, they left for the more populated portion of City Z. The ninja stayed closed beside her on their walk to where the ghost town started, but actually took her hand in his when they crossed the threshold. It suddenly became clear that this was meant to be a date.
Ayano walked with her head slightly bowed, letting her chocolate brown hair fall forward to hide her blush. The warmth of his hand holding hers made her pulse quicken and she started to worry her palm might be sweating. She bit her lip and glanced over at the ninja, feeling heat rise to her face.
He was dressed pretty casually; a pair of tight black pants with a white belt, a black shirt with long sleeves and a low neckline that showed off his collarbones, and sneakers. If not for the eye makeup, he would just look like a normal twenty-something year old. It was a weird thing to think about.
For as long as Ayano had known him, she was unable to think about him that way. He was her teacher. He was a ninja, an assassin, a bodyguard, and a lot of other things that all had to do with his strength and fighting skills. Even when they had their romantic moments, she saw him as this strong, kind of imposing figure.
"We haven't eaten yet. What do you want to get for lunch?" Sonic's cold grey eyes turned toward Ayano and she jolted. His lips twitched into a teasing smirk and he leaned in a bit close. "Am I making you nervous?"
"N-no." She turned her head away. "Ah…how about that?"
"What?" He followed her line of sight to the street vendor and he raised an eyebrow. "Really? You don't want something else?"
"If you don't like them…"
"I'm just surprised. I thought you would want udon or something fancier. I'm fine with this, though. I'm actually glad you chose something like this." The ninja pulled her along across the street to the vendor and ordered meat buns, flashing Ayano an amused grin when she started to fidget with a stray lock of her hair.
Wait. This is the same place Garou and I got pork buns last time, she realized as she looked at the vendor. The man seemed to recognize her and scoffed. She pushed up her glasses and narrowed her eyes. Why does he look so smug?
This brought on a spike of worry as Ayano looked over her shoulder. She had failed to consider this, but there was a chance that she might run into Garou. This was definitely something she wanted to avoid. He was nice to her, but extremely protective. Not to mention how jealous Sonic could get.
He accepted the food and soon they were sitting on the rooftop of a two-story building with their meal. Sonic caught the concerned expression on her face and smirked. "What are you worried about, Ayano? You think your hero friends are going to see you with me and-?"
"No, I just…don't want anything to ruin this," she admitted.
The ninja had been digging through their bag of meat buns and paused, his smirk dropping as his eyes lifted. He saw her face flushed a warm pink, her golden eyes fixed on the horizon. She bit her thumbnail and glanced over before looking away again. Sonic let the food drop back into the bag and he leaned toward her.
Warm fingertips slid beneath her chin and Ayano's face was gently turned. The man's mouth collided with hers in a sweet, soft kiss at first. His hand slid from her chin around to the back of her head and he tangled his fingers into her hair, keeping her in place as he closed the distance between them.
The hero fell onto her back on the roof, the ninja's body pressed close against hers and pinning her there as his lips parted. Ayano's hand lifted, her arms wrapping around his neck. She felt the tip of his tongue swipe along her lower lip and a timid squeak of surprise escaped her before he penetrated her mouth.
She felt the wet muscle brush along her tongue and her gasp was muffled by him. His free hand rested briefly on her hip before slipping beneath the hem of her shirt. Ayano's back arched when she felt his bandaged fingertips glide over her sensitive skin; along her smooth, flat stomach and up her ribcage until his hand rested on her breast. Feeling the rapid pulse of her heart. Muffling a sound of pleasure that tried to escape her when he kneaded.
His right leg moved between hers and, for a moment, it seemed like he wanted to take things further. Sonic abruptly stopped and stared down into her eyes. No smirk. He was just studying her for a long moment before he finally allowed himself a half-grin. "About what you said. If anyone tries to interrupt our day together, I'll be sure to put them in their place. Don't worry about that."
Her stomach felt like it was doing flips as she let him pull her to sit upright again. She had been worried he would be disgusted by the healing gouges on her cheek. She was afraid he would view her as weak after he saw her get rescued the day before. He doesn't see me any differently, she thought with a small smile.
The rest of the afternoon seemed to pass by in a haze. Since they were both still healing, they mostly walked around City Z's shopping area and talked about weapons. At one point, Ayano stopped in front of an electronics store to glare at the televisions showing Amai Mask being interviewed and Sonic had to draw her away. At another point, Sonic spotted Saitama and Genos shopping together and Ayano had to ask if he was leaving the date in order to challenge Saitama.
"So…when you were a kid, what did you want to grow up to be?" The girl wanted to learn more about him, but she was a little hesitant to ask. Just in case he got annoyed by her questions. I really don't know a lot about him, though. Nothing about his past. I'm not even sure how old he is.
"I wanted to be a ninja so I trained hard and became one," he replied simply. Sonic made it sound like this was a normal path for kids to choose. He pushed his hands into his pockets and looked over at the girl. "You didn't want to be a hero, did you?"
She rubbed at the back of her neck, frowning. "No. It's…kind of stupid. When I was really little, I wanted to become a doctor. I liked taking care of my sisters when they were sick and I'd always put bandages on their scrapes when they got hurt. I…really liked helping people. But then I went to middle school and my father…wanted me to get a job like his. So I started studying so I could go to a good college and get hired with his friend's company."
Sonic stared at her and raised an eyebrow. "That's really stupid. If you wanted to be a doctor, it would've been more helpful. When we have a child, he's going to at least learn the basics. How to clean a wound, how to wrap it correctly, how to make a splint, and how to stitch up a wound."
The mention of having a child, made her heart race and she lowered her head again. Her glasses slid down a little. It made her nervous, but at the same time it was hard to deny that she liked the idea. Having a child with the man she loved. Raising the child together. Solidifying their bond.
She followed him into a convenience store and to the ice cream section. Ayano chose a chocolate cone and he picked a green tea flavored ice cream bar. Green tea flavor. He likes…that sort of thing. He doesn't seem to like greasy food and he likes simpler flavors. I think he called it "traditional", didn't he?
Walking with him down the sidewalk, she tried to work up some courage for her next question. It was a big one because it was going to be pretty awkward to ask. They had been living together for a while now, even sleeping together, but she had no idea how old he was. "So…ah…how old are you?" She tried to be nonchalant, but there was no way around the awkwardness.
He was shoving the wrapper from his ice cream into his pocket and glanced over. "Twenty-five." Again, answering as if this was a normal question for someone's girlfriend of over a month to be asking.
Ayano was going to ask more, but caught herself staring now. It was hard to look away from Sonic when he brought the ice cream bar to his lips and sucked on it to soften it up. He finally drew it from his lips, only to do something even more distracting. Dragging his tongue along the length of the ice cream bar, licking the melted part that was threatening to run down and coat his fingers.
The hero felt her heart skip a beat and excitement sent a rush of heat directly to her core. She gripped her ice cream cone with both hands, watching his tongue repeat the action while he maintained a blissfully innocent expression. A little bit of melted ice cream ran down the opposite side and over his fingers, causing him to frown.
Sonic turned the bar to lick the other side and briefly looked at his hand before noticing Ayano's stare. A small grin took form on his lips. "You want a taste?" Without waiting for an answer, he brought his fingertips to her lips and pressed gently. "Lick the cream off. You wanted a taste, didn't you? Isn't that why you were staring?"
The warmth in her core grew and she felt a pulse of desire. She parted her lips slightly, licking very gently. He pushed his fingers in further and he leaned down to try her ice cream while she was distracted.
Licking his lips, Sonic prepared to tease her more. Seeing her lips wrapped around his fingers was too much for him because he soon drew them out and covered her mouth with his. When he broke the kiss, he smirked down at her. "Did you like my taste, Ayano? Maybe when we get home, I should treat you to more."
