Disclaimer: The characters of Fushigi Yuugi do not belong to me. They belong to Yuu Watase-san, so please don't sue me. Unless you want textbooks for your settlement.

Author's note: ::Gets whapped by several objects:: ;.; Gomen minna. For those who have been waiting at any rate. I have finally started to type again. A lot of crap and laziness was going on. Oh and forgetting my disk or my notebook. But I finally have the ninth chapter posted. YAY!!! I really do apologize for the EXTREME delay. And without further to do.. ~~~

For the next several days, Ruri slowly trusted all the men in the stronghold and was nearly her normal self. Her two major injuries have healed and her ankle was better, but she still limped a little. Throughout that time Tasuki was with her to help her and Kouji and Takeshi as well. No doubt about it, she was totally in love with the red-haired bandit. And as she spent more time with him, she felt that she could trust her life in his hands. The question now was how he felt about her.

Nights were hardest for Ruri. She would usually have a nightmare about the incident to some degree or another, but the past few days the nightmares became more infrequent. Usually if she did have a nightmare, she was able to take a few deep breaths and calm down before going back to sleep but one night the nightmare was especially vivid. Ruri woke up with a sweat and was short of breath. She quickly sat up. 'It's as if it happened just yesterday. The nightmare hadn't been this intense for a while.' She wiped away the perspiration from her brow and looked outside.

It didn't seem too late in the night and the sky was clear. The stars twinkled and the moon glowed. There was no sound at all.

'Maybe a walk outside will help me. I'll just walk in front'. She buttoned up a long sleeve sweater and headed outside. The fresh air did help and with each breath, she felt her mind clear. After a couple minutes of walking she sat down on the front steps and looked up.

A shadow loomed over her and Ruri tensed. As she slowly turned, a hand went on her shoulder. She cried out but was muffled when another hand clamped down on her mouth.

"Shhh~," the voice hissed. "Do ya want to wake up the whole place?"

Ruri turned and came face to face with Tasuki. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until she found herself exhaling. Tasuki took his hand off her mouth. "Tasuki! You scared the living shit out of me!"

"Sorry 'bout that," he sat next to her. "Why are ya up anyway? You should be sleeping.

Ruri shrugged, "Just couldn't sleep." Tasuki looked at her. "Ok, ok. It was a nightmare. I just wanted to clear my mind before going back to sleep." Then, Tasuki did something that shocked her.

Tasuki drew her into his arms and hugged her. "Gomen." Ruri blinked. "I wasn't able to look after you." Ruri relaxed and hugged back. "Daijoubu, Tasuki. Besides it was partly my fault as well. It was kinda foolish of me to go off like that."

Tasuki gave her a look, "Kinda?!"

Ruri sweatdropped. "Hai, hai. It was." She smiled up at him, brown eyes sparkling. "But I really want to thank you for saving me and looking after me. It was a little pathetic when I tried to tell you that before so. thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Their eyes fully met and all talk was gone. Amber eyes met brown and they wouldn't pull away.

Tasuki kept looking into her eyes, watching a turmoil of emotions pass. But underlying the emotions he saw was. anticipation? He drew closer.

Ruri looked up at his amber eyes and couldn't turn away even if she tried. His eyes had a feeling of desire, a desire only she could give him. She saw and felt him draw closer and she did the same.

As he drew closer, he knew it was anticipation he was feeling from her, but he also saw the desire that Ruri had seem in him. His eyes pulled away from the pools of brown and traveled down her face to her lips. At that moment, they seemed soft and inviting. Not passing up the opportunity, he closed the distance, meeting their lips.

Ruri felt a shiver through her whole body the second Tasuki's lips touched her.

The gentle kiss seemed to last an eternity for the two as time stood still at that moment, just for them. They finally pulled apart, slightly panting.

Tasuki looked at Ruri, she was shyly looking up at him and her cheeks were splashed with pink. He lifted her head with his hand. "Ruri?" He started.

"Hai?" She whispered.

His fingers traced her jaw line. 'What am I waiting for? Besides, they're only words.' Tasuki thought. But he knew deep down that those words would completely change their relationship for better or for worse. He hoped it would be for better. He drew her into his arms again, giving Ruri a crushing hug and whispered in her ear, "Wo ai ni."

Tears filled Ruri's eyes as she heard those words she longed to hear from him. She hugged back, "Ai shiteru, Gen-chan."

Tasuki pulled away to see tears falling from her eyes. He wiped them away. "Oi," he said softly. "You don't have to cry anymore."

Ruri smiled through her tears, "Hai. Demo, I'm happy."

Tasuki leaned over for another kiss. This one being sweeter than the last. When they pulled away, Tasuki nuzzles her neck and whispered, "Will you show me how much you love me?"

Ruri tensed at the question but remembered that she was with Tasuki, the man she loved. He wasn't going to hurt her. And it would be the perfect time to show him that she trusted him completely. "Hai," she whispered back.

Tasuki nipped at the nape of her neck with his fangs. Ruri felt electric bolts run through her and all reasoning shut down. Tasuki picked her up and went to his room. With a soft tap the door shut and the two spent the night together in their own world.

~~~

The next morning, Tasuki awoke and felt something unfamiliar next to him. He looked down to see a sea of dark hair and remembered what happened the night before. A wide grin spread on his face and he looked up at the ceiling. It had been the best night of his life.

Ruri turned over, her face facing him. He looked at her and sat up. She looked so content sleeping and looked like an angel. With a gentle caress he ran his hands through her long, soft hair. And for several minutes he sat there slightly dozing, stroking her hair.

Suddenly the door flew open and Takeshi ran in, "Boss!" He stopped short and cowered when he saw the look on Tasuki's face. Then, quietly, "Boss, Ruri's-" Once again, Takeshi's sentence was cut short when something moved and revealed an arm. A very feminine arm. Then he saw some dark hair and sweatdropped. The young bandit looked at Tasuki and more sweatdrops appeared seeing Tasuki's glare. Tasuki pointed to the door and Takeshi quickly left.

Tasuki looked down to see if Ruri had woken up, but found her still sleeping. He smiled and continued running his hand through her hair.

Several minutes later, the door opened once again, not so violently, and Kouji strolled in. "Hey, Genrou. Chichiri's-" Kouji stopped when he saw his best friend's face glower. Behind the blue-haired bandit, Chichiri entered as well. "Ohayo Ta-." He stopped and saw a glowering Tasuki.

"What's wrong, Tasuki-kun?" The monk asked his fellow Seishi.

At that moment, Ruri stirred again and turned while throwing off the covers. Tasuki's eyes bulged and quickly covered her back up. He looked over at the other two. If the situation weren't so awkward, Tasuki would have laughed. The look on the other two was priceless, a look of incredulity was written all over their faces and a big sweatdrop hung over their heads.

Instead Tasuki pointed to the door with a glare. They completely understood and quickly left. Outside, the two of them looked at each other. "Oi. That was Ruri, right?" Kouji asked Chichiri.

Chichiri nodded, "Hai, no da. Da~ I guess they finally professed their love, no da." Chichiri looked at the door. "Maybe we should have someone stand guard, no da."

Kouji sweatdropped. "Maybe that's not such a good idea, Chichiri. Just in case. ya know." They both sweatdropped again and walked away from Tasuki's door. "I think we're better off just telling the men to steer clear of Genrou's room."

~~~

Tasuki leaned back in the bed and shook his head. 'Aho-tachi.' He went back to stroking her hair.

Ruri slowly opened her eyes and felt something stroking her hair. She came to focus wondering what it was and came into vision of a mighty fine set of abs. She blinked and looked up to see a familiar face. The night before came back to her and remembered the whole night. A smile spread across her face and she sighed. 'It's great knowing that he loves me.'

Tasuki looked down when he heard a sigh and saw that Ruri was awake. He gave a soft smile, "Ohayo."

Ruri smiled back and hugged him, "Ohayo."

"How are ya feelin'?"

"Ok, I guess."

"Honto?"

"Hai," Ruri sat up, covering herself with the covers, "Ne, Gen-chan. Suki dayo."

Tasuki caressed her face, "Aa, suki."

She gave him a suspicious look, "This wasn't a one shot deal, right?"

Tasuki glared at her, "Oi! Whaddaya take me for? It's not to every woman I say, 'I love you.' In actuality, you're the only one."

Ruri hid under the covers, "Hai, Sorry I asked."

"Where do ya think you're goin'?"

"Um. no where?" Was the muffled reply.

"Then get back over here!" He grabbed the covers where Ruri was hiding under and pulled it off her.

Laughing, Ruri swept back her hair and sat up. "Ne, it's cold. Give back the covers!"

Tasuki didn't say anything. 'Gods, she's beautiful,' he thought as he ran his eyes over every curve of her body. Instead of handing Ruri the blankets, he grabbed her and gave her a passionate kiss. Ruri was surprised for a second but recovered and responded. Tasuki planted kisses all over her body and Ruri ran her hands through his hair. "Ai shiteru."

~~~

As usual, the dining hall was filled with loud, hungry men. Chichiri and Kouji sat side by side with a sweatdrop.

"When do you think we'll be able to talk to Genrou?" Kouji asked the Seishi.

"Da~ I don't know, no da." Chichiri said. "I thought he was going to get something to eat and talk, no da. Demo, it was just to get a bath ready."

Kouji got up and turned to Chichiri. "It's already been a couple hours. Maybe they stopped."

Chichiri got up as well, "Might as well check, no da."

While the two men headed towards Tasuki's room, they heard squealing and yelling. When they reached the door, they were able to hear what was being said.

"Oi, give it back already, dammit!"

"Iya! I wanna see it! I was always curious to see it up close."

"Damn you woman!" Tasuki growled.

"I love you, too, Gen-chan." Ruri giggled.

There was a padding of feet and jumping. "Give it back!"

"Not yet, please?"

Kouji opened the door without knocking and him and Chichiri peeked in. Thankfully they were both clothed, although Ruri was wearing one of Tasuki's shirts and Tasuki was shirtless. Tasuki was holding Ruri with one arm, who had her arm up holding his tessen. With his other arm, Tasuki was reaching for the tessen. The two turned to Kouji and Chichiri.

Ruri smiled. "Yo! Kouji! Chichiri!"

aa," they said.

At this point, Tasuki decided to take advantage of the situation and finally snatched his tessen from Ruri's hand.

"Ah~!" Ruri turned to Tasuki. "You cheated!"

"Oi, I'm a bandit. Whaddaya expect?"

Ruri pulled out a hammer from anime limbo and started attacking the leader of the bandits. "Gen-chan no baka! Give it back! Give it back!" She shouted.

Tasuki retaliated with his tessen and yelled back, "It's my fuckin' tessen so why should I give it back to you?!"

The two observing men had a collection of sweatdrops running down their heads. They looked at each other and nodded. Kouji went to Ruri and picked her up. Chichiri went to Tasuki and caught him by the arms.

"Leggo! Lemme go!" Ruri and Tasuki both shouted.

"Oi," Kouji started. "Is this any way two lovers are supposed to act?"

Suddenly, the two stopped and slowly turned red. Chichiri and Kouji laughed.