A/n: Fair warning for those of you who are uncomfortable with such things. There is a moderate sexual situation in here. I wouldn't call it a lime but I just wanted to allow for the warning.

Raised

Chapter Seven

The pitter patter of rain was a soothing sound as Piper laid under the heavy cover that Yomi had provided for the night. Underneath her body was the padding which was tucked away every morning. She had a feeling both of the items had actually been his to sleep on but she hadn't wanted to bring it up because that might have seemed rude. After everything that he had done for her in the past week, one of the last things she wanted to do was offend him.

Still, even with the sound of rain and comfortable bedding, it was hard to sleep. The medium had spent so much more time sleeping lately than she meant to after waking up from Spirit World's imposed coma. Though even Piper realized that it had been necessary sleep as she had worn out her body each and every day just by being in Demon World, much less all the physical activity that she'd partaken in. Knowing all that didn't sooth her mind nor did it soothe the ego inside of her that wanted to have gotten everything done by now. There were so many things that she hadn't done yet that it left her mind spinning. Which was exactly why sleep wasn't finding her very easily on this particular night.

In the relative silence of the night even she was able to hear one of the partition doors sliding. Piper didn't need to turn to face it to know that Yomi had come out of his and his son's bedroom. There were the subtle hints towards the senses that helped figure that one out even if one ignored the fact that she could feel his energy. It was like the ocean by this point - seemingly so still but it held the promise of being deep and being able to turn on the unsuspecting person at any point he chose. That was not exactly the comparison she had equated with him a thousand years ago; it was quite the opposite in fact. But times had a tendency to change people and seeing as she still knew and felt at least five hundred of those years pass, that was easier to accept than a lot of other things about the world.

She was tempted to turn around and see if there was something that her host wanted but she refrained. He'd only just come out of his room and she knew that it was the silence and cloak of night that made the seconds seem like minutes. With that in mind, Piper didn't turn around. Thankfully he didn't keep her waiting to know what he wanted for very long as he laid down beside her. Piper's entire body tensed up in a sort of shock as he slipped under the cover. It wasn't that she was unused to having someone sleep next to her, that was the farthest thing from the truth, it was more that it had never been him. The fact that he laid down behind her and got under the cover wasn't even the most shocking thing - that was saved for the fact that from what she could tell, Yomi wasn't wearing very much. Against the single layer of silk Piper could feel the warmth of his skin radiating towards her, pushing off the chill of the night in ways that only untempered body heat could do.

One of his arms slipped underneath her body while the other went over, wrapping the brunette securely in his hold as he closed the last few inches. Oh yeah, he was definitely only half—- wait, nope, there was no blockade on his end. Was sleeping without clothing the usual for him?

"What are you doing?" Piper decided to ask him directly.

After all, that's what he'd been telling her he prefered. Which was quite different from what she was personally used to. It wasn't that the young woman prefered lying. It was just that she was used to things being unsaid or naturally walking around them. It had been a sort of game for her and one of the very few she could keep up with as time went on.

"I thought I'd give you a reason to return," Yomi said in a quiet voice.

It wouldn't have been easy to mistake what he meant, though for once he'd chosen to go around the subject too. Piper wondered, idly, if he even realized he'd done that. Especially considering that he'd been the one to 'reprimand' her about such things. Somehow, as his hands started to glide over her skin and tease the bumps into showing up with his ghost like touches, reminding him to be more direct with his speech wasn't one of her priorities.

Piper shifted almost uncomfortable, though her body would tell a whole other story, as his fingers undid the knot to the silk garment she'd been given to wear to bed. It was when she felt his bare flesh pressing into her own around the navel that she was finally out of shock enough to act. Her hand moved to hold his just where it was, least he get the ideas to slide it anywhere less safe.

"Demon world has been more of my home than human world for a long time," she told him as she continued to lay in her spot with one of his hands gripped in hers.

"To me," he amended reasonably.

After living with a fox for most of her life, you think Piper have remembered that people had more than one hand (most of the time). Somehow that idea hadn't come back to her until after she felt his fingers slipping around the fold by her breasts.

"You decided to try to seduce me to accomplish that?" The young looking woman questioned, keeping the surprise out of her tone and body language as much as she was able. Which, considering everything, was a lot more than most people.

His claws brushed up against her nipple teasingly. Piper didn't even have to clench her jaw to hide the reaction to that, though it would have been appropriate. Too bad that it was harder to hide the physical reaction to such a thing. She had to shift your body in order to free up her arm to grab at his exploring fingers. And while she stopped his exploration it also had the effect of pressing at least half of her back closer to him and effectively making it feel like she was being hugged. The unintended affection felt good, admittedly, but not so much that she forgot where she was or who she was with.

"It seemed like the right tactic to use."

Piper entirely sure if she should be flattered by that or insulted. She did know that despite the indecision his attentions did feel very good. She was only human after all. Yomi had been nothing but kind, understanding, and attentive since she met back up with him. There was also the fact that he was an attractive male who had been all of that to her; one that was now showing something akin to interest. Oh, she knew it might be a ploy but that would be assuming he had something to gain. As far as she was aware there was nothing she could offer him that would actually be of value. Well, outside of sexual gratification but if it was a ploy then his motives would have to go deeper than that.

"Your tactic is flawed," Piper told him in a steady voice.

"Oh?" He sounded interested. "In what ways?"

"For one, you seemingly lack the passion to make such a tactic believable. If you want to lie to me, you will have to lie a whole lot better than this."

She felt him brushing hair away from her ear with his nose. Piper still held onto his hands so he hadn't really been left with very many options. She wondered if she should have let his hands go so he didn't feel the need to make such an intimate display. Especially when the next words out of his mouth had to have dropped down an octave even in their whispered form.

"Who says I'm lying?"

Remember that whole only human thing? Yeah, well Piper was suddenly being reminded by her body that despite everything that happened she was still in a sort of physical prime. The way the muscles in his hands seem to flex with want to continue their exploration didn't help matters either.

"Your body," she told him with confidence despite her physical state.

"I see," he murmured practically into her ear.

Seriously if she closed her eyes right now she could almost pretend. That sort of pretending would do a disservice to his memory and to Yomi himself. So Piper resolved not to do that under any circumstances. Besides with part of Kuronue in the necklace, part of his spirit, she had no idea knowing if there was even a symbolance of consciousness. And if there was how much of what was going on around the pendant he could actually sense.

In her ponderings she'd forgotten to account for something yet again. Which was rather sloppy of her - normally she didn't forget this many things. First she'd forgot that he had two hands and then she'd forgot how much stronger he was. Yomi turned her around which made a bit of a mess with the covers. Piper was sure that it had made a bit of noise too and with that she was mildly concerned that there would be a bruise somewhere on her body in a few hours. After all, she was already fighting off the ill effects of being in demon world so she definitely weren't at her strongest.

However when she felt him commandeer her hand to reach down between their bodies, all concern over something as silly as a bruise went up and smoke. He moved his hand away from hers only after cupping her around his quickly hardening member. Then he pulled one of her legs around his waist, curling his hand around her silk covered butt. Not that the silk did a lot of good at this point. Especially considering how he'd parted her legs.

"Is that proof enough for you?"

Alright, she had tried to not be offensive. She had tried to stop this despite the screams of her body based on a lack of reaction from his. That way it could be pushed onto the idea that he wasn't truly interested in her that way. And no one would blame him. He was a demon and she was human. Not that it really stopped many people in the past but it was something that could be blamed without either party losing face.

"Yomi, I am not interested."

"Your body says otherwise."

"I am not only just my body," she told him evenly. "No matter what my body reacts to, it is my mind that is control. I am not a lower life form who blames base desires for my actions."

"If it's not obvious by this point, let me make this clear," Yomi started out.

Originally when he turned her over so that you was facing him, he had to dislodge himself away from her head. Especially considering what he'd planned to do. With the height disparities that meant that he had to angle himself practically off the bed in order to bring her within sight range of his face (for her own comfort most likely) while still allowing and or forcing her hand towards the proof of his 'passion'. Which all just meant that as he talked to her, Piper saw his face in the pale moonlight. His face and all the muscles below it. He really was quite beautiful and what he was doing was dragging his beauty down into something more tangible - something that could be sexually desired. But that wasn't enough for her to act on anything.

"I do not blame you for your reactions. In fact, I encourage them."

"I am not a whore," Piper said firmly, something that was seemingly off topic but only for the fact that it was one of the most pressing thoughts on her mind.

"I never assumed you were."

"You might not have assumed it but you are treating me as though I am," she told him plainly because that was apparently the tactic he liked the most. It was the most effective with him. "You talk about how my body desires yours. That is true enough. But this puts me in a position where I am forced to explain myself for my denial to you...you who has been nothing but kind by housing, educating, and feeding me while I have nothing else to repay you with other than my body."

"I did not asked for repayment," he spoke out, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"No one does anything for free, Yomi," the brunette pointed out. "And if I was unattached with no loyalties due to another, I might not mind as much. But I…"

Actually she couldn't finish that thought with one hundred percent certainty. It wasn't like she could claim to be attached to someone else with all honesty. Piper couldn't feel him anymore - there was no soul bond holding the two of them close through the worlds. And if rumors were to be believed, if the pendant in her hand could be taken as a sort of evidence, then he was dead. Which really did sever any bond she had with him. But it was something she had only just awoken to and so the thought of it was enough to slice another deep wound in her mind.

"He is gone," Yomi spoke in a mildly understanding tone.

Really, it was surprising how gentle he was being even with such a blunt statement. Piper could feel his body balancing somewhere between picking up and continuing with the sex act and relaxing. Like there was a constant battle and he was prepared for whatever outcome. She dared not move her hand in fear that the movement could cause a resurgence.

"I know. Under any normal circumstance, it would hard to let go of someone so important no matter the truth of the matter. And it only just happened for me. And I...I do not know what to do with my life anymore," Piper admitted. "But even with that, I would not feel right if we did have sex. I owe him a whole lot more than a week worth of grieving."

"You owe him nothing."

It was a silly thing to be loyal to the dead, she knew that much. Yomi wasn't saying something that she hadn't said a few times in the past. Right now, though, there was a three way battle going on and it wasn't one she wanted to do while naked with a man in bed. In one hand (...literally) she had a man who was offering to make her aching body light up like a bonfire for the night; her heart cried that it was wrong while her head agreed but only because of the unequal footing between the two of them. Piper felt like quite the hypocrite, actually, because in this she felt that it really was her heart leading the way. That was something that she had always advised against. It was something that Piper, for the most part, liked to do without. People made bad choices when they made emotional ones. Right now though the feeling of grief and resurgence of loyalty at such pain really did make it hard to focus on anything else.

"I owe him nothing yet I owe him everything," the woman said, purposefully contradicting herself. "And if this, whatever exactly it is you had in mind, isn't just about repayment or some ploy then those are not the kind of thoughts I want to start off with. As soon as I am able and I have cleared my body of all ills caused by demon world, then I will return here. You have my word on that. You do not need to try to seduce me into coming back. I will come back of my own volition."

Oh good, she'd finally talked enough that the lower half of his body had become docile enough that she could move her hand without fear. Thankfully Yomi had turned into someone that thought with their head more than their 'heart'.

"Very well," he said after a moment of silence.

He stood up and pulled on a robe she hadn't realized had been on the ground. As he walked away Piper couldn't help but feel odd. It was a very strange situation to realize she'd just been a part of. And the idea that it had been Yomi was still hard to reconcile in her head. Without turning back around to face the stunned woman, he paused at the sliding door leading to the outside world. Apparently he didn't want to go back to bed right away. Not that she blamed him - even from something so seemingly simple her body was buzzing with the could have beens.

"When you are ready remember this - I am willing to offer you everything he was not. A stable home and a family of your own."

As he walked out the door her eyes widened. It was in that moment she felt the pit of her stomach fall. Was she such a silly little girl that such a thing appealed to her? — The reason that her stomach dropped was because the answer was quite simple. Yes. Yes she was.

Damn him.

Piper wasn't quite sure to which him she wanted to damn either.