Mornings

By Cassandra Sisenta

A/N: Well, this is mostly an OC fic but it does have the right to be here because all of these events are taking place in Kinmoku. I could explain all of this but doing that would be a too grueling process that I don't want to get into. For more info concerning the characters, you could just go to my livejournal and Nagareboshi Destiny, a site which is owned by Senashenta and somewhere I contribute my Starlights stuff in. Or you could just e-mail me to ask or put it in your review! *hinthint* Whatever works for you. ^_^ I'll have the URLs ready for you guys who are interested. Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki will be making appearances later, but at the moment you're going to be encountering some OCs. But they will appear later! Promise!

DISCLAIMER: Senashenta and I own everything that you don't recognize. The rest belongs to Naoko Takeuchi.

Chapter I

Ren and Yuki

Ren Akari was smiling into his pillow with his eyes closed that beautiful morning. He could tell even without drawing his curtains that the sun was shining brightly outside and a slight wind was blowing through the trees. Surely the sky would be clear that morning and he was sure that at any other day he would have been outside right now and marveling at its blue beauty.

However, the pleasure of looking at a clear blue sky would have to be put aside for more time in his spacious and snug bed.

He moaned low in his throat as he pulled his blanket closer, happy and content at his curled up position on his bed. Today was his day off and he'd be damned if he will not oversleep. After years of service as a Knight and now as one of the trainers of the Kinmoku sentinel army, simple things like staying in longer in bed still gave him pleasure.

Not that he looked a day over twenty-one.

How long had he been serving Kinmoku anyway?

Hell, he'd never counted anyway so why start now?

A sound that could have been a purr crooned out of his half-closed lips as he turned over and pulled his pillow closer, tousling his messy black hair with purple highlights even more.

Blissful, quiet mornings surely didn't last long when you were Ren Akari.

"REEEEEEEEEEEN-KUUUUUUUUUUN!"

Ren would have screamed. He really would have if he had forgotten who he was and it would have been a possibility since something had come out of nowhere and had fallen over him, hitting his head. The breath was knocked out of him when he was pushed further into his cushion, pain smarting all over the back of his head and almost choking him as his face was mashed deep into his pillow. Whatever it was that fell over him was certainly not heavy, but the force with which it crashed onto him was enough to make him think otherwise.

"Ren-kuuuuuuuun!! Ohayoooooooo~!"

Just when he had succeeded in pulling his face from his pillow to gather as much air into his lungs as he could, he felt two arms clasp around his midsection like a vice and wouldn't let go. How that was possible with his whole length plastered against his bed, he didn't want to know. He gasped for breath. The arms' grip would not permit air into him for some reason.

"Lheeet….lheeeet…" He hacked for breath and tried to speak at the same time as he tried to reach for the bed's head rails. He actually felt his vision swimming. A survival instinct told him to go to higher ground as if he were drowning but the weight that still crushed him to the bed prevented him.

"Neeeeeeee Ren-kun! Stop fidgeting. I'm trying to give you a good morning hug! You could be such a meanie sometimes…"

At the sound of the familiar voice, he struggled with renewed vigor. It took a lot of maneuvering and a lot of careful but firm efforts, but he somehow managed to get free and in turn trap the one who had assaulted him. Soon, he was glaring down at big, innocent blue eyes.

There was a slight giggle as those blue eyes blinked up at him, looking unconcerned and far too peppy far too early in the morning. Then again, Yukiko Kou had always been peppy no matter what time it was in the day.

The blond-haired Neo-Maker grinned in greeting as if Ren wasn't holding her arms in place over her head as he trapped her body under his against the bed.

"Ohayo again Ren-kun!"

Ren growled, his own purple eyes narrowing with near-breaking impatience as the overly-genki girl greeted him with a cheerful good morning.

He didn't know why the girl insisted to be like this around him. So fine, he listened to her inner turmoil every now and then and he knew there was a more thoughtful, serious side to her beside the genki façade she always seemed to show everyone. Sure she thought of him as a good friend, but did she really have to be like this every morning?

She knew she irritated him with her genki antics. She was just too cheerful in the morning that he knew it wasn't normal. Then there was the glomping. The horrid glomping…

Sighing mentally in resignation, he let go of his grip on her arms and sat up, groaning slightly when she immediately latched on to his arm when she found herself free. She was making herself comfortable against his bare arm and was actually starting to rub her cheek against it when he spoke.

"Baka." He told her in a slightly morose voice, eyeing her with a bit of exasperation as he tried to disentangle himself from the bedclothes that he had managed to wrap around his legs so that he could get away from her.

She just giggled in response, not phased at all and it made Ren roll his eyes.

"What are you doing here, Yuki?"

Large blue eyes met his gaze when he looked at her. "I just wanted to wake you up. It's a beautiful morning." Then she beamed up at him.

He sighed and shook his head, raking his bangs away absently when they fell in the way of his vision. He moved to reclaim his arm from her a bit too roughly, which caused her to fall forward into his lap with a small squeak. With his head bowed, he looked down at her.

Her long blond hair was loose that morning and it covered almost the whole expanse of his lap. A peaceful expression was on her face as she smiled and shifted just so that she was lying on her side with her face a hair's breadth from his stomach. Her blue eyes were on him though, shining and trusting as he continued to eye her with disapproval.

Ren sighed again as he looked at her. His movements were a bit hesitant as his left hand reached for a lock of hair that fell against her cheek. With a gentleness that would have surprised everyone else, he tucked it behind her ear, slightly grazing her neck with his knuckles and making her giggle a bit because she was slightly ticklish there.

"Smile ne?" Yuki said, catching his hand and giving it a small kiss. She smiled. "Ren-kun."

He tried to look stern, but failed for the most part as he could distinctly feel one side of his lips quirking. Why couldn't he stay frustrated with her?

"You do realize that you have ruined my plans of sleeping in on my day off ne?"

"Hm?" She looked innocent as she responded with a questioning look. "Gomen, I didn't know."

"Yare, yare." He sighed and waved it away, moving a bit to signal that she sit up so he could stand. "I guess my day's starting now."

"So what are your other plans?" Yuki asked as she bounced off the bed to follow his smooth motions and stand to the side so he could fix his bed. As was her custom, she quickly began to list some suggestions, which then carried on to her usual babbling. "Are you going to the river? Have a picnic? Hang out with Akuma-san or Endo-san? Shopping? Ooh! Shopping reminds me of that cute dress I saw in the shopping district the other day! Suta-chan had been grumbling all day and I wasn't able to get it. Then Taiga said that we could go back and—"

"I think a big breakfast first is in order." Ren murmured more to himself since obviously Yuki was in full chatter mode and he believed barely heard him. If he knew how his day was going to be like, especially with Yuki around, he was sure it would need a lot of energy to keep up.

As Yuki continued on babbling away and Ren tried to tolerate her noise, he led her off towards the dining room, neither noticing that he had taken her hand in his and that it didn't look like he was going to be letting go anytime soon.