It had been many days since that day when she had refused to go with him, and every day was the same...
He asked, she refused, and he said nothing, embracing her for a time too long and yet too short, and leaving Moth in a constant state of anxiety.
She knew him too well to think he was content with merely visiting her cell.
He smiled.
She wasn't used to his smiles, so she simply ignored them...
That made it easier to keep her head down, eat her bowl of rice, and attempt to forget the events of all the yesterdays gone by.
"Good morning." he said softly, settling down beside her in the cell once again.
She hated him for doing that, for she knew that he knew the effect that had on her...
The fact that whenever she was near him, her knees went weak and she found herself incapable of proper speech.
It was degrading, it was embarrassing, it was humiliating beyond belief... Yet it was also enticingly familiar.
Every morning she woke to it, every day she thought of it, and every night she dreamt of it.
She'd begun to consider titling her situation a mere case of Stockholm Syndrome...
Now that he didn't hit her anymore, she couldn't exactly call him an abusive husband.
Was he a husband?
Had he so easily transformed from the enemy to the lover that she barely noticed the change?
If so, she would be dreadfully pissed.
"Good morning." she mumbled, continuing to pick at her rice and hating the fact that she felt like a petulant child.
He smiled back at her, and though she did not look up, she felt the smile warm her bones and her cheeks...
She also heard his deep, dark chuckle, which only heightened her blush.
"Well then, little Moth." he said with tender softness, lifting her chin so her eyes were forced to meet his.
"Is your mind changed? Will you take back the words you have so often spoke and begin anew?"
Moth shook her head. "I-I won't... I can't!"
She hated the desperation within her voice and the break in her tone...
She longed to be firm, but instead felt droplets of water leaking from her eyes and being absorbed into the concrete.
Spider gently wiped away her tears, a move she could not help but consider gallant.
"Hush..." he murmured softly. "I can wait. I will wait until you are ready to come up into the world again..."
Of course, this only made her cry harder.
He pulled her into his arms and she did not fight, feeling herself far beyond the chance she had had to speak foul and venomous words...
Now, all she could do was tremble like a leaf and pray her discipline did not fail her.
But his embrace and the warmth of the fabric he wore made her heady, and she buried her head in his shirt, desperate and starved for a single kind look, and yet afraid, knowing who was the only person who could bestow that look and afraid they might.
He did not withdraw again, as he had done yesterday.
Today, Spider simply held her close and said nothing, allowing Moth to spin herself a web that would block her into a corner from which she could only escape through his arms...
And, in the process of escaping her own web, she would catch herself in his and rebound into the safety of the protected world he lived in now.
He had the Shikon Jewel, he had his desire, and yet nothing had happened.
He had been able to make no wish despite his constant attempts, and now he lived in anger with Moth as his only escape.
Moth simply allowed herself to rest, gathering her strength for the inevitably approaching time when one of them would have to withdraw for each to go their separate ways and sleep...
Yet, when she tried to withdraw, he merely tightened his hold and held her closer.
The harder she tried to escape, the closer he held her, until finally she stopped and rested once again within his arms, trembling like a frantic rabbit.
Softly, crooning in silence, Spider stroked her hair.
Lulled by his touch, she fell asleep.