Under The Circumstances
An r.k. Fanfic
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Warning:
This chapter contains some mild lime. If you are offended by sex
or in this case, the implication of such, see a therapist.
However, before that, read up to the Paula Cole lyrics
and forget about the rest of the document. Clear? I think so.
Enjoy.
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Confrontations"
"I'm feeling like I'm chasing
Like I'm facing myself alone
I've got somebody else's thought in my head
I want some of my own…"
Lifehouse
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Megumi arranged for a carriage to bring Soujiro back to the dojo as he would not have the strength to make it on his own. Once deposited into her care, Kaoru saw to it that he was well fed and placed on her softest futon, well away from any noise that may have disturbed his imminent slumber.
Misao arrived home an hour later, slipping quietly into her room to dispose of her mantle before making her way down the hall to Soujiro's room. Megumi had told her of her intentions to send the Tenken home, so she didn't bother with returning to the clinic after her visit with Kaede.
Soundlessly, she slid the shoji open to come upon his sleeping form curled on the futon. Apparently he was too exhausted to even remove the fresh change of street clothes that he was given at the clinic. Padding lightly toward him, she sank down on her knees as near to his side as she dared. Gently she brushed the bangs away from his closed eyes, thanking every god that she knew for the second opportunity that was lent to them. This time, she promised herself, they were going to get it right.
"Get away from him."
The words pierced Misao's heart like shards of ice, yet she made no sound of protest. Instead she gave Soujiro's forehead one, last, loving caress before standing to face what she had dreaded for three long years.
Quietly, she slid the shoji shut again, not that it would help to soften the sound of what promised to be the worst shouting match of the era. Another breath of fortification and she was ready. Come what may, she was going to confront the truth with the grace of an adult, no matter what.
"What is it Aoshi-sama?"
Aoshi could feel himself physically tremble with rage at the nonchalance in Misao's tone. After what they had found out about her…how could she be so callous? Hadn't he raised her with any honor at all?
"You know damn well what I'm talking about Misao," he seethed, "How could you betray your family like that? While everyone else was trying their best to defeat Shishio, you of all people, were traipsing around with his personal assassin?!"
Misao's eyes narrowed slightly, "If I remember correctly Aoshi-sama," she replied in an ironically polite tone, "You were on Shishio's side as well."
Aoshi was forced to bite back a curse as a gentle hand laid itself on his shoulder.
"Misao-dono, it is not right to speak to your guardian that way, that it is not."
Emerald eyes turned on violet with the anger of a cornered animal. "I apologize for my rudeness Himura, my quarrel is not with you." she responded, careful to keep her voice in check, "It's just that I find it a little unnerving that Aoshi-sama would have you gang up against me like this, I assure you it was not always his way."
Aoshi ground his teeth in frustration, "See how she thanks me?" he said to no-one in particular, "Okina, Omasu, Okon, Shikijo, Beshimi, Hyottoko, Hannya, all your so-called friends…is this the way you honor them?!"
The mask of calm covering Misao's features shifted slightly as she winced under the harshness of his words. Against her will her voice began to raise in volume.
"Oh, is that the way it is?" she sneered, "It's perfectly ok for everyone else to do whatever they like and keep their honor, but I lose mine for falling in love? How stupid is that?!"
"Hold your tongue!" Aoshi roared, "Haven't you any respect for anyone at all?"
"Of course I do!" she countered, "I respect all of you but I also respect my own heart!"
"And look where it's gotten you! You went with a lowly bastard that you found in the streets!"
SLAP!!!
Misao's nails raked across Aoshi's skin as her hand made its sharp contact with his face, digging deep lines of red across the entire surface of his cheek.
Angry tears welled up in her eyes as she faced her tormentor, "I don't mind if you speak about me that way," she snapped, "But I will not stand here and listen to you tear him up so viciously!"
A warm trickle of blood began to collect at his chin but Aoshi failed to notice as he stared the young woman down. "Just what the hell were you doing while everyone else was risking their lives, Okashira?"
Misao's hand raised itself slightly as if in defense, "Just what do you mean by that?" she snarled.
"You were with Himura and the others, but you were with him as well," Aoshi said darkly, "Just on who's side were you on?
For a moment Misao held the look of a cornered rabbit, but soon another emotion covered the first…rage. It permeated every fiber of her body, flashing in her eyes, curling her small hands into fists, prickling the fine hairs on the back of her neck.
"Yes" she hissed, "I was with him, but not in the twisted way you're suggesting." Her focus widened to include the short red-haired samurai that had for the most part kept his silence on the matter.
"How dare you," she whispered, "How dare you both stand there and judge me when both your crimes are no less than unspeakable!"
Within the room, Soujiro winced at the sound of fury in Misao's voice. The sound of the quarrel outside had awoken him mere minutes ago and now that its reasons were made clear to him, the guilt within his heart ached worse than the wound in his side. Half of this was his fault as well. Injured or not, he couldn't let Misao face the storm alone. Fighting his body's stiffness he forced himself to stand.
Outside, the fight had taken a turn for the worse. Tears of anger flowed freely over Misao's cheeks as all hope of coming to a rational understanding flew to the wind.
"Fine," she heard herself choke, "If we disgust you so much then we will leave."
A snort escaped Aoshi's throat, "Leave?" he scoffed, "Where would you possibly go?"
"Anywhere but here," she snarled under her breath.
"Misao-dono," Kenshin pleaded with her, "Please be rational about this."
"Enough of this nonsense," Aoshi finally snapped reaching out to grab her arm, "You're coming home right now, there's been way too much drama here."
"Get your hands off of me."
Aoshi's temper flared once more and he seemed to lose control of his own tongue, "Would you rather it be his hands on your body?" he snarled, "Is that what it was about?"
Soujiro slid the door open just in time to see Misao deliver a mighty kick to the weakest point on an unsuspecting Aoshi's jaw. With an uncharacteristic cry of pain, the former okashira staggered backward, releasing his hold on the girl's hand.
"My God…"
The hushed oath caused Misao to turn around, her expression breaking out into a mixture of surprise and relief as she fell into his embrace. As she clung to him as if for dear life, he looked at her two aggressors over the top of her head.
"If you wanted to speak about the past you could have at least woke me that I might defend myself," he said quietly, "If it were just me it would be fine, but I don't take kindly to the two of you ragging on Misao."
"This is none of your business, Tenken."
Soujiro's eyes narrowed even further, "I'll be the judge of that Shinormori-san." He said coldly.
Misao clutched the fabric of Soujiro's gi even tighter, "He wants to take me away from you anata," she said, "Don't let him do it."
In response, Soujiro only wrapped his arms more tightly around her slender frame, 'You don't have to be frightened," he promised, "I'm never leaving you again, koi."
Murder flashed in Aoshi's eyes as he rubbed the side of his jaw, "Misao," he growled, "If you do not come here now, I will come to you."
"You'll stay right where you are!" the young girl ordered with flashing eyes, "I'm not your possession, despite what you may think!"
Kenshin's eyes became expressionless as he turned them toward the younger ronin, "You really have loved her all this time, haven't you?" he asked.
Soujiro's face achieved the closest thing it could to a sneer, "With all due respect Himura-san," he said quietly, "You know absolutely nothing about me."
The older man stiffened, "Sou de gozaru ka?" he said.
"Yes. Yes it is," Soujiro replied defiantly, "You may have won last time but now it's our turn."
Misao looked up at him questioningly for a moment before a look of understanding overcame her face. Soujiro smiled and nodded down at her briefly before he released her from his grasp.
Misao looked toward Kenshin with a sigh, "I should have known this wouldn't work," she said sadly, "Now even you're against me…"
"No," Soujiro insisted, "It's my fault koi, I should not have said anything in the first place." Slowly his eyes lifted toward the two men who would keep him from his love. "Both of you are so full of shit. So we broke the code. So what? I'm not going to listen to you this time and you're not going to keep us apart any longer."
Misao extended one hand gracefully, revealing a fistful of her sharpest kunai. "I broke the law too," she said scornfully, "Cause I'm so very young and brash and irresponsible. But you know what, Aoshi-sama?"
"I don't regret a moment of it."
Soujiro smiled in response to Misao's words, "Neither do I."
"I guess then it's time to go, ne?"
"Sayonara Aoshi-sama."
"Sayonara Himura-san."
Aoshi's eyes widened in horror as Misao pulled her hand back briefly before releasing a flurry of sharpened knives down upon the two older men's heads. Acting on instinct alone, Kenshin placed himself in front of the younger man and created a vortex which stopped the weapons dead in their flight.
"No!"
But it was too late, there was the distinct sound of wood being torn apart and by the time the two of them recovered, neither of the lovers was anywhere to be found.
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They ran for what seemed to be an eternity, the whole world was nothing more than a blur of dimming colors at their side as the air steadily cooled and the blood in Soujiro's veins slowly turned to pure alcohol. But they didn't care, the only thing that mattered then was the ever increasing distance between themselves and their tormentors...their friends.
After a while the fatigue became too great a burden for him to bear and he staggered to a stop, still refusing to relax his hold on the woman that he loved so dearly, the woman that he had sacrificed so much to have.
As his breath came in ragged gasps, Misao wrapped her arms more firmly about his waist, murmuring soft words of comfort into the place where she had nuzzled her face into his neck.
As his breath slowed, her murmurs of comfort became more coherent and he found himself embracing her even more tightly as their meaning became clear.
"It's alright anata," she said soothingly, "There is nothing they can do to separate us, we belong to each other now.."
Setting her gently down on her feet, he took her by the hand and they both began walking, much more slowly than before but still always in the direction of freedom.
"Aoshi had no right to say that to you." he said softly after a pause
Misao gave one of her soft, enigmatic smiles but did not look up, "Didn't he?" she said gently, "Aoshi-sama may seem cold at times but the thing that's this issue here is...."
"Trust?" Sou offered somewhat bitterly.
Another smile, "Iie" she replied, "It's his ego."
Sou stopped dead in his tracks, inadvertently tugging on her hand as he did,
"His...ego?" he repeated, "How in the world did you come up with that?"
Flashing a third smile over her shoulder, she winked at him briefly before turning her face toward the sky.
"After you left, I made an extra effort to keep up appearances. To everyone else I had to be the Misao that they had always known....the Misao that was still hopelessly in love with her Aoshi-sama. I must admit," she continued, "I did lay it on a little thick. Of course I still love Aoshi in my own way, and I really did what I did to help him get over his depression. But the end result of my efforts was him thinking that I had never outgrown the crush I've had on him for as long as I can remember, He believed that he would always be first in my heart. I think that today he lost something that he has taken for granted for far too long, and that is what made him lash out the way that he did. In some subconscious corner of his mind, he feels as if he has been played for a fool."
Sou looked at her and simply blinked in disbelief, "I never looked at it that way." he admitted
Misao shrugged, "I suppose it's just the way I think," she replied while turning her eyes toward the dying sun, "We had better find someplace to bed down for the night." she said thoughtfully.
As her meaning slowly sunk in, Sou found himself blinking repeatedly in an effort to force his way back to reality, "Aa," he agreed, "How about we find ourselves a cozy little inn and we can leave the deep thinking for the morning, ne?"
Misao finally tore her gaze away from the sky and focused on Soujiro's eyes instead, "I'd like that" she said with a smile.
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"I will be your death, the moonlight,
Take your time…
You make me feel love."
Paula Cole
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The old woman who ran the inn was quick to believe the story the young "married" couple had given her. In fact, she practically gushed on and on about how cute they looked together and what beautiful children they would have further on down the road.. Misao had looked on with delight as Soujiro's face reddened considerably with that last comment, it made him look like a child himself.
The room that she gave them was light and airy, much like her own room back at the Aoiya. As she bent to unroll their single futon, Soujiro stood near the large window and looked out over the inn's tiny garden for a moment before turning his eyes to the sky above where the stars were one by one, peeking down upon the world.
Just as she was finished smoothing out the sheets, Misao heard Soujiro speak as much to the sky itself than the woman beside him.
"You know," he said, "As long as I could remember, these stars have held a special place in my heart. I remember thinking of them, how free they all seemed out there in the endless night, and I constantly wished that someday I would be as free as they were."
".........You too?"
Soujiro turned abruptly to find the ninja sitting on her ankles next to their bed, her eyes instantly locking onto his own as he did.
"All my life I've been referred to as a possession," she said somewhat bitterly, "The okashira's granddaughter, Aoshi's responsibility, Okina's ward. There were times when I wondered, what was the use in my having my own name ? I would sit beside my bedroom window and look at the stars. I remembered some of the things that Hannya had taught me as a little girl and I would think, 'Look at that, even the stars have their own names, their own identity. They belong to no-one but themselves and they are not expected to be anything different to what they are. I told myself that one day I would be recognized for who and what I was, not who I was associated with."
Just then her eyes softened and a smile of pure adoration played across her lips, "It was a dream that had no form.....until I met you."
For a long moment, Soujiro felt as if he were drowning in depths of Misao's eyes. It was if she had reached into the most secretive recesses of his heart without the slightest effort and used his own words. Never in a million years would he have found the lexis to express what she just had, and it made him love her all the more.
Slowly, shyly, he reached out his hand toward her, a silent invitation on his part. Smile brightening even more than before, she stood and took the proffered hand, responding readily to his touch when he tugged for her to come closer, her body melding into his like a ship coming to rest in it's own personal harbor.
His warmth surrounding her better than any blanket ever could Misao turned her head slightly to look up to the sky again to find one more twinkling light than there was just minutes before.
"Let's go to sleep, ne?" Soujiro whispered softly into the midnight fall of her hair.
Unknowing to him, Misao rolled her eyes a little. The thought of his warmth beside her the entire night, sleep indeed.
"Hai," she answered nonetheless, pagan thoughts aside sleep is what they both really needed at the moment.
Allowing him to lead her back to the futon, she found herself instinctively reaching for the tie of her obi. It then occurred to her that in their haste she had neglected to bring any comfortable sleeping gear. With a resolute sigh, she allowed her hands to drop to her sides.
Her actions did not go unnoticed by her companion who then proceeded to remove his faded blue gi, It was only when he began to undo the buttons of his western shirt did Misao choose to question his actions.
"Sou? Anou....what are you...?"
Her answer soon came when he slipped off the shirt and held it out toward her,
"Here," he said, "This will be much more comfortable than what you're wearing now."
Blushing madly at his gesture, Misao took the proffered garment and looked on dumbly as Sou turned his bare back toward her in order to allow her what little privacy he could as she changed. She did not fail to notice the way his otherwise hidden muscles rippled beneath his nearly-flawless skin as he folded his arms across his equally impressive torso.
"Well?" he prompted, depositing her back into reality, "Aren't you going to put it on?"
Misao blinked a couple of times before ripping her gaze away from the tempting view, "H-hai!" she answered quickly before turning in the opposite direction and discarding her street-clothes.
"You...can turn around now."
If he was asked later on what was so special about the way Misao had looked to him in that next moment, he wouldn't be able to begin to say. The sight of her wearing something that belonged to him seemed so ....right.
Consider the fact that the thin material did little to hide the curves of her slender body and that the hem of the garment barely reached her mid-thigh, leaving almost all of her beautifully toned legs bare to his view and his next response would have not seemed the least bit odd.
"..........Whoa."
Nervously, Misao allowed one leg to rub against the other as she clasped both hands behind her back. Her hair was tousled slightly and a faint line of pink stained both cheeks. In a word, she was adorable.
So caught up he was in his admiration, he forgot the fact that he was standing before her nearly naked himself. It was only when he realized that her eyes were constantly drifting to the area below his chin did he finally catch on.
"Ahem...well." he said with his own blush of embarrassment, "I suppose we should get to it.....ah! I mean to bed! I mean we should go to sleep together....no! I mean....oh Buddha."
Misao's shoulder's began to shake, and before long she was laughing outright at his cute fumbling. "Anou, I catch your drift Sou," she chuckled, "Let's get some sleep, ne?"
Blushing madly Sou settled for a mute nod as he climbed into the opposite side of the futon.
It had seemed a perfectly logical idea to him at the time for them to share the same bed that night, but as he felt Misao's weight settle in next to him on the mattress, he couldn't help but wonder if he had been a bit too hasty in his judgment.
"Get a hold of yourself Seta!" he thought to himself, "It's just Misao. The same Misao you've been comfortable with for as long as you've known her. Sure, she might not exactly be dressed....and she's wearing your shirt.....which isn't doing a very good job of covering those gorgeous legs of hers........"
"Waaah!!! bad thoughts! bad thoughts!"
Misao turned her head slightly as she felt Sou fidget under the blankets. But since he had his back turned to her all she could see of him was the tanned perfection of his time-broadened shoulders. Her widened eyes couldn't help but blink in reaction to the rippling she could see there in the pale silver light of the moon that shone through their single window.
"Kami-sama he's beautiful...." she thought even as a prominent blush began to stain her cheeks.
After a while he stopped fidgeting and his breathing slowed a bit. Misao withheld her breath, afraid that even that might disturb what she perceived as his slumber. After a few more moments, she allowed her head to relax against her pillow, still not turning away from his form.
"He's so peaceful when he sleeps," she whispered as she reached her hand toward him. Her slender fingers hovered over the silky, soft mass of his hair for a moment before descending on the gleaming strands as gently as a fallen feather. Gingerly, she brushed her hand over the back of his head, drawing back all but her index finger as she reached his nape.
Slowly, gently, she began to trace the lines of the muscles she had previously seen from a distance. With a touch no stronger than the brush of a butterfly's wing she examined the quality of, what was to her, Kami-sama's finest work. His skin was almost unnaturally warm under her hand, and his skin as smooth as a woman's, sliding like silk over the steel of his body.
Finally banishing the evil thoughts that had entered his brain, Sou settled against his side of the futon only to have his eyes widen in surprise at the feather-light touch of a hand on his hair.
Controlling his reactions by sheer will, Sou found himself using every ounce of his energy to remain still as the soft, questing hand began a ticklish caress over the skin of his bare back.
A touch that seemed to set off a chain reaction that led to.....quite different parts of himself.
Misao was on her third trek around Sou's left shoulder blade when a soft, barely audible voice caused her to freeze in mid-caress.
"Your hands are very soft...."
Folding the offending finger back against her palm, Misao felt the blush on her cheeks increase tenfold as she struggled find something appropriate to say.
"G-gomen," she finally managed to squeak, "I did not that you were still awake."
After a pause, his quiet gentle tone broke through the semi darkness again, "It's alright.....I....I like it when you touch me."
If it were possible, Misao's blush would have deepened further, "Sou..." she said in a broken whisper, "Sou da ne....."
"Aa" he replied, his semi-naked form finally turning over to face her, "It is."
Despite the heat he could feel rising in his own cheeks, the fact that Misao looked so adorable peeking up at him through her lashes, her sensuous little mouth forming a tiny perfect "o" in her surprise did not escape him in the least.
The top buttons of his shirt were undone as well, allowing a greater view of her body than that was usually available to his eyes and it's slightly oversized state made her seem even smaller, more vulnerable, more precious than ever.
His scent became stronger as he leaned into her body, she could his presence permeate all of her senses at once. His breathing, his beautiful body, his warmth.....his taste.
Everything about him held a certain sense of duplicity. His touch was ardent, yet gentle. His body strong, yet soft. Even as his mouth caressed every inch of her own, his ministrations remained gentle enough that she might push him away at any moment without effort. It was clear to her that he was giving her room to set the pace, it was totally up to her where and how far they should go.
Even as he tried to maintain his tiny distance, Misao's more aggressive side took hold. Her fingers quick to tangle themselves in the smooth softness of his hair, tugging a little less than gently at the roots as she pulled him closer, exploring his mouth as thoroughly as he was hers.
As he was forced to place his body fully over hers, she took the opportunity to instinctively draw both her bare legs up around his waist, locking her ankles together to keep him there.
Instinctively she drew him even closer, somehow able to guess that his presence would do something to ease the heat that was building up within her virile body. A moan of pure bliss escaped her throat as he temporarily abandoned her lips in favor of nibbling at the delicate skin around her jaw line, her head pushing back against the pillow as she sought more of his attention.
A swell of male pride rose in Sou's heart at the sound of his beloved's wordless encouragement. Traveling further away from her mouth he began to nibble a teasing trail along her neckline, nipping at the skin with his front teeth for a brief moment before laving his tongue over the same spot in a soothing motion.
Misao's hands slipped from his hair onto his shoulders, gripping tightly at his own flesh as her breath became labored and broken with the primal sounds of encouragement that she made ever so often.
Dipping his tongue into the hollow of her throat once, he returned his attention to her mouth again, stealing her breath along with any rational thought as he kissed her tenderly once more.
Drawing his face away, he looked down at her, liking the way her lashes fluttered lazily before drawing away to reveal the luminous blue-green color of her eyes.
One hand drew upward, caressing his sword-calloused palm against the side of her perfect face, tracing faint lines over every feature as she had done to his own body before.
"You're beautiful" he breathed.
Despite the warm color dusted across her face, Misao's eyes slid into lazy, seductive slits, "So are you, anata" she replied in her favored night-walker tone.
Again, he drew closer to her form, this time brushing butterfly kisses over the lids of both eyes, the tip of her nose and her cheek traveling further still to her left temple as he breathed into her ear.
"Misao-mine," he whispered, "Do you trust me?"
Without hesitation she responded to his question, "Completely" she said.
"Good" he said, his words little more than a brush of his lips against her own.
Once again he began to nibble a lazy trail down into the neckline of her....or rather, his, shirt. Misao watched through the dark veil of her lashes as his nipping traveled even further down her body that before, barely noticing that as he went, that one by one, the buttons of her garment was being ever so discreetly undone.
Under her gaze, his eyes flashed up at her, silver in the moon's deceptive light. She could barely detect a shadow of a smile tugging at his lips before.....
"Aaahh!!! Kami-sama...." she hissed as the new sensation ripped through her body like a lightning bolt. To this, Sou's only response was to tighten his grip on her waist as his tongue began to trace agonizingly slow circles over the aroused flesh of her nipple.
Sou could not help but smile against the curve of her breast at the reaction the ninja girl had to his careful ministrations. Momentarily he forgot about his own predicament, a fact that was glaringly obvious as the material of his hakama tightened slightly around his waist as he coaxed more yelps and moans out of the young girl's mouth.
As he switched his attention to the other side, Misao found herself throwing her head back against the pillow, her arms, suddenly too weak to offer resistance of any kind, lay flat on the futon as her hands fisted again and again in an effort to work of some of the tension that had flooded her entire being.
Her response was like a booster to his ego. Sou found himself wanting....needing to hear her reach even greater levels of bliss. The fingers of his right hand moved invisibly to release the last fastening of the shirt, and both his hands traveled underneath, smoothing over the expanse of her belly as they pushed the material aside.
Her voice reached a new pitch as his hands touched the skin of her stomach. He was so close to the ache that had started from the first instant that he had touched her. "Sou...." she pleaded between breaths, "I...I need...." she trailed off, unable to give words to the unknown. like a memory that is just beyond one's reach that they can never name.
"Ssshh....." he breathed against her body, "I know Misao-mine, I know..."
Without another word he continued his trek down her body, drawing ever closer to what she what she so badly needed of him.
How can one begin to describe the first sensation of such a caress? Even the least romantic among us would not scoff if it were likened to a glimpse of heaven itself. The entire world, as big, as beautiful as intimidating as it is, slips away entirely in a fraction of a second. In that moment the entirety of existence is complete within just two human forms and perfection becomes much more than just a spoken word.
The sound of his name on her lips was like a prayer as her entire body arched backward, drawn as tightly as a bow's string before settling back onto the futon even as every inch of her continued to shiver in delight.
Gently, patiently, Sou coaxed her toward the brink of her pleasure, his only guide the sound of her voice as her assent became wordless and her body arched toward him, greedily seeking more and more of what he so willingly offered.
As her thighs began to tremble in anxiety, Sou turned his eyes toward her face once more, delighting at the expression of pleasure written there. Under his gaze her body grew rigid and in response he tightened his grip on her, holding her firmly, pleasuring her more ardently than ever even as the first shudders of her climax rippled across her form.
His name came again in a strangled sob as her entire body shook violently under his touch. After a few moments, she fell to the futon again, her chest heaving as a sudden exhaustion left her body completely spent.
Lifting himself off of her form, Sou drew himself upward again licking his lips as he nuzzled his face into her neck again.
Ever so slowly Misao drifted back to reality, her lashes fluttering open once again as her eyes focused themselves on the ceiling above.
"My god..." she whispered to the darkness.
Again Sou raised his head, this time capturing her lips with his own drawing out a long, sensuous kiss. Misao responded instinctively, a dim corner of her mind aware of the fact that she was tasting her own essence on his lips as he drew away slightly.
"Did you like it?" he asked.
Her response was a lazy nod of the head. "Hai," she added in a broken whisper. Her body brushing against his as she sought to make herself more comfortable. As she did, she could not help but notice the evidence of his arousal as it brushed against her thigh, "Demo....what about you?" she asked.
His response was to kiss her even more thoroughly than before. "Do not worry about me Misao-mine. We have the rest of our lives to discover the rest."
A faint blush painted her cheeks once more at his mention of "the rest". Still she felt guilty that he had not had the pleasure that she did but rather than to argue her point she simply made a mental note to return the favor at the first opportunity she had.
"We do," she agreed sleepily.
Sou rolled his body off of hers, instead laying on his side to spoon his body around her own for warmth as he drew the blanket around them once more.
"Go to sleep Misao-mine," he whispered into her drowsy, muddled mind, "I will be here when you wake up. I promise."
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Author's Notes:
Well, there you go. The third-to-last chapter, all new an in your face. Didja like it? Hate it? Contemplate my demise? I won't know unless you review ^^.
On an even lighter note, this story's been nominated for best alternate pairing down at the RK Reader's Choice Awards (rkawards.gloriousforest.net). I've accepted, now it's up to one of you lucky people to second me so that I'm eligible for the award. Yes, yes I do want it…badly.
Time to tell me what you think.
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