A/N – Happy Halloween. Waaah. Why is it so late? 5 in the morning. I need sleep. But I said I would put the new chapter out by Sunday, which required me staying up this late to write it. So I hope you enjoy.
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Disclaimer – I'm still bored with disclaimers. I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.
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Silver Cross
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Chapter 19 – Intermission
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What color do you think is more manly: lavender or magenta?Don't tell me you're actually going to wear one of those colors and that's why you're asking me.
Okay. I won't. So which shirt?
Lavender. I'll just pretend this never happened and go about my existence in oblivion.
I think I'm partial to the magenta.
Wear the lavender!
Okay, okay. Lavender it is.
Do I want to know why you're doing this to yourself?
Doing what to myself?
Disgracing yourself as a man.
Oh that. No. You don't.
-
For once it wasn't gradual. Awareness of his body surfaced from the dreams; he opened his eyes.
He almost felt shock at the difference. His usual awakenings were punctuated by a feeling of paranoia. The fact that freedom of movement was denied to his body only heightened the unsettling experience of waking. But this time was different. He felt warmth, not bitter cold. Then he did feel shock when he realized the warm blanket draped snugly over him wasn't a blanket. Kaoru wouldn't have liked it very much if she woke up at that moment. Well, she would have liked it, Ken thought for the benefit of his ego, but she would have been embarrassed. Half of him wanted to stay cocooned in the bed with one arm thrown carelessly around Kaoru, who currently lay curled against his side. The night before she'd braided his hair before they'd gone to sleep. Now she lay with the end of his long braid fisted in her right hand. Due to some quirk of nature, Ken had learned how to braid at some point in his past, and when she'd discovered this, she'd begged until he agreed to braid hers as well. Apparently, he hadn't done a very good job because her hair wisped out of the braid now, barely under control. It was cute, he found himself thinking. She was cute. Kaoru was also cute when she was angry, which was going to happen pretty soon if she happened to wake up. He wasn't sure how her left hand had gotten up his t-shirt while they were asleep, or how one of her legs had gotten stuck in between both of his. Her other leg rested on top of the leg sandwich. He didn't think he slept in an especially active style, which meant Kaoru definitely must. Ken dared to hope she also slept especially hard.
Step one: disentangling. He slid his captured legs from around hers. Years of experience aided him with the gracefulness and presence of mind to do it smoothly. Ken had the feeling she was going to resent him for that. Thankfully, not much reaction stemmed from her. She merely continued sleeping, her heart beat slow, breathing steady, face free of worry. Ken breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps the time for the second step had arrived then? Easier said than done, of course. All the difficult things in life seemed to have that quality.
Still, he had to at least try, or he'd be slapped silly when she woke up and found him staring at her. Did women expect men not to enjoy stuff like that or something? They always had to be quick to go and get offended, lash out, and then apologize later. Luckily, Kaoru couldn't actually hurt him, but with his luck, she'd get a lucky shot.
Kaoru's brow creased as soon as he pulled her hand from under his shirt, which meant sound sleep must be beginning evasion tactics. However, by that time, Ken had pronounced things 'all good'. He'd already managed to withdraw his arm from around her and replace it with covers. The only way in which they were still connected remained his braid, grasped tightly in her right hand.
"Ken…shin?" she asked in a small voice crowded with sleep. "Is it morning already?"
She didn't look capable of opening her eyes, sleep had slammed the window of her lids shut and locked it.
"Yes," he answered in as calm a voice as possible. If she noticed anything out of place in his tone he'd answer for it when she finally became more alert, which he had trouble imagining as possible in her groggy state. "I'm going to take a shower. Go back to sleep."
"Okay."
Her face instantly relaxed. Ken had a feeling she'd do anything he told her to, unless it involved getting out of bed. At least her grip had loosened. Ken maneuvered so that he could slide the braid from between her fingers. He pulled.
"What are you doing?"
Normally her tone would have held a lightly veiled threat behind that accusation. Lucky for him, Kaoru truly was more asleep than awake. "Let go of my hair. I need to get out of bed."
Confusion played across her features. "Your hair?"
"You're holding it in your hand."
Apparently, it took a long time for sensation to travel from her fingertips to register in her brain. He supposed he couldn't complain as long as it happened eventually.
"Oh, sorry."
She'd let go. Before she could draw any connections that didn't need drawing in order for him to actually make it to the shower, Ken literally hopped out of bed, grabbed some clothing from the closet and a towel, and abandoned the bedroom in favor of the safe haven the bathroom promised. At least there he could lock the door.
-Wow. Now that's what I call a ballet!
I did enjoy the music, but you only liked it because of the fight.
Hey, I'm all for songs that cause riots.
'The Rite of Spring' is a little more than that I hope.
Eh, whatever. That woman looked impressed when I saved her from that guy who almost hit her with a chair.
She was grateful. You're not going to score with her.
But since she's right over there, I my as well try. Thanks for introducing me to the Russian ballet, Ken.
We're in Paris you idiot. It's the Ballets Russes.
Yeah, whatever. See you later.
Why do I bother?
-
Kaoru yawned and opened her eyes. The air conditioner splayed cold air across her face, which didn't entice her to roll out of bed. Was there a reason she should be getting out of bed anyway? Some idea had pricked a nerve in the back of her mind, so there would be no slipping back into sleep. Vague connotations, rather, possible connotations threatened to surface in the back of her mind. Kaoru didn't like being threatened. This meant she had to remember whatever it was she hadn't picked up on before she could head back to sleep. Or maybe she'd just say screw you, connotations, and your threatening, and head back to sleep anyway. But that optioned deleted itself now that she finally remembered why she was sleeping in a bed and not on the couch.
Why?
Because for once she hadn't had an argument with a certain man before falling asleep. She hadn't had any reservations either. So when the time had come for them to sleep, she'd taken a shower and wound up in the bedroom with him, braiding his hair. He had a nice head of hair by her standards, which was surprising, since she didn't usually go for guys with long hair. But when it came to him, everything sort of surprised her. Surprisingly enough, she was okay with that. So one thing had led to another, he'd revealed that he knew how to braid, so of course she'd challenged him to actually do it. He'd done it, not very well, but well enough for a grown man. She'd gotten cold and slid under the covers instead of gathering blankets and walking all the way to the couch. She must have fallen asleep, and it wasn't like he could sleep in the living room, because of the huge windows and not near enough curtain. So that meant that they'd slept together.
Okay, so they hadn't actually slept together. But they'd slept in the same bed. It wasn't like she hadn't done that with Sou a rare time or two. Did it make sense that it meant more with Ken? And she hadn't even been awake for it!
Kaoru sat straight up in bed. Wait a minute. She knew herself to sleep restlessly. She never woke up in the middle of the night, but her covers were always scattered about her when she woke the next morning. These covers were deceptively smooth. Kaoru found it hard to believe that Ken's presence had miraculously calmed her subconsciousness so that she slept absolutely still. Her face burned as she wondered what position she'd been in when Ken had woken up. Had she been lying all over him? Was that why he'd been in such a hurry to leave and take his shower? What had he had to do to extract his body from the bed? If he'd taken advantage of her in her sleep… Kaoru made plans to beat him within an inch of his life.
Throwing the covers away from her, she launched off the bed and marched over to the walk-in closet to find a sweater. A t-shirt and pajama pants wasn't going to cut it.
"Kaoru, come to the kitchen, I made breakfast," she heard Ken yell.
So he had the nerve to act so deceptively innocent? Men. He'd probably try to play it off like nothing happened at all.
"Alright. Thanks," she yelled back, trying her best to sound sweet so he wouldn't suspect she was angry and have time to think up an excuse. She headed to the bathroom.
Hopefully, Kaoru would get the joke when she came into the kitchen and discovered that the breakfast he'd made existed as nothing more than cereal and toast. But hey, he had pressing issues on his mind, like deciding what action to take now that he was officially healed and ready to go again. He needed to think up a way to keep her safe in a situation that held no aura of safety. She didn't wear her cross earrings around him anymore, but she still wore them whenever they left the apartment. He had no problems with that. He didn't want Kaoru to think of her safety as absolute when there were so many ways for him to fail to protect her.
Kaoru walked in the kitchen then, and Ken started thinking about ways to protect himself. Her eyes landed on the 'breakfast'. She obviously didn't get the joke. His only choice: to play it off like he didn't notice. What else could he do since he didn't have the slightest clue as to what had angered her? Had he left the toilet seat up or something? Surely that wouldn't have pissed her off? But what if she'd somehow found out how they'd been sleeping, gotten angry, and then gone to the bathroom and discovered he'd left the toilet seat up, which would have only increased her anger, and then she came in and saw that breakfast didn't really exist, or at least that he hadn't made it for her, and gotten even more angry?
Kaoru must be rubbing off on me, Ken thought. I don't usually read so much into a glare.
"Hi. Are you ready to eat?" Ken asked from his seat at the table.
"This is what you call making breakfast?" she asked, taking a seat opposite him.
Heartened that she didn't sound particularly angry, Ken deemed it safe to respond normally. "I only said that to get you out of bed. I'm well, so there are things we need to get done tonight."
"Oh? Like what?" she asked, in the middle of choosing which cereal she wanted.
"First, I need to feed, then research. I need to know exactly when the Juppongatana expects an attack. Then I figure I'll question one of the dark one's vampires and get it confirmed."
"Is there anything you wanted to tell me before we go out and do this? I'm giving you a chance."
She abandoned the premise of choosing a cereal. She had no intention of eating until she'd wrung the truth from him.
"I did a crappy job braiding your hair."
Kaoru blinked. She had left her hair in the braid he'd woven it into last night, and she'd forgotten to take it out and brush her hair while she was in the bathroom because she'd been too angry. She hadn't expected him to notice or care though. He rarely made passing comments on her appearance. And just like that, all her anger evaporated. It felt bewildering, the change from determined anger to content satisfaction. She couldn't help but smile.
All these years, and he still hadn't decoded the mind of a woman. Someone should write a book on it. Ken swore he'd buy the damn thing. Kaoru's smile must have made him senile, because Ken found himself willingly standing up and walking into the female danger zone.
Kaoru closed her eyes as Ken drew a hand over her head and undid her braid, not an easy task considering the state of entanglement it had achieved.
"Just as long as you do a better job tonight," she heard her voice mock-threatening.
"Does this mean I get to hang out with you for another night?"
Kaoru felt her smile widen. "Hmm. It's Friday night. I don't hang around with just anyone on a Friday night," she trailed off. As if she had anything else to do.
"What can I do to earn the privilege?"
Kaoru was pleased that he'd decided to play along. "I don't think there's anything I really need," she stated thoughtfully, opening her eyes to meet Ken's gaze as he withdrew his hand from her hair and let it hang by his side. "Although I would appreciate a warm breakfast, emphasis on warm, instead of cold cereal and toast."
"There's no time to cook. We have things to do."
"Well, you should have thought of that earlier. Make me food, Kenshin."
She'd never issued him a direct command before. It seemed as if Kaoru had gotten bolder. Ken couldn't really place an opportunity for this to have occurred, but occur it must have, in testimony of the event had just been narrated to his ears. Not that he had any intention of making her breakfast. He hadn't from the start. When he'd said they needed to get going, he'd uttered a truthful statement. Until now he'd managed to cast aside the antsy feeling that resulted from doing nothing but recuperating while the Juppongatana and the dark one were out and about. He'd known that disadvantage would occur the moment he'd been ordered to kill Tomoe. It still didn't make him very happy about the whole arrangement, but as long as Kaoru was sitting in front of him, engaging him in some ridiculous game he should have been too mature to enjoy, but wasn't, life's decisions must have been worth it.
"You're like a baby bird in a nest: make me food, make me food," Ken mocked. "Haven't you ever heard of please?"
"You're the one who's supposed to be honored to have the privilege to make me food in the first place."
"Don't the marriage vows say something in there about honoring and obeying your husband, Mrs. Sato?"
"I'm all too sure I had that part taken out, dear," Kaoru shot back with the most insincere smile she could muster.
"You may have forgotten."
"No. I can guarantee that I've never vowed to honor or," Kaoru stressed the syllable, "obey you, so let's not even entertain the event of me honoring and obeying you," Kaoru finished with an emphasis on the 'and'. "Your memory must be slipping in your old age."
Low blow, the like of which he'd doubtless be receiving more and more the longer he hung around Kaoru.
"You ran out of insults that fast that you had to fall back on our age difference, dear?" Ken asked smoothly.
Kaoru blinked. Had Ken just called her 'dear'? It was probably just a tactical move to keep her off balance.
"Oh there are plenty more waiting where that came from. More importantly, I guess this means you're not making me French toast and waffles?" Kaoru asked in a valiant attempt to change the subject.
The false smile on Ken's face was spooky.
"When you so recklessly went to the store the other day, you bought waffle cereal." He pointed to the box sitting in the middle of the table among a couple other varieties. "Would you like me to get you some milk?"
Kaoru glared at him and muttered a sullen yes. The first round went to Ken, but the night was young and she had full confidence in her ability to come away in the position of overall winner. And for now, in Ken she had her own personal servant who fetched her milk as well as a bowl and spoon. Kaoru possessed full confidence that she could at least convince him to do the dishes.
"What are you smiling for? You lost," Ken declared bluntly, placing the half gallon of milk and eating utensils on the table in front of her.
Kaoru realized she'd begun to smile without noticing. That's what the smell of potential victory did to you. She bounced from her chair and flung her arms around Ken's neck. "What don't I have to smile about?" she enjoyed watching a small flicker of surprise flutter on and bounce off of Ken's features. "So at least tell me one thing we're doing tonight after you feed," she requested, enjoying the sensation of his arms reflexively encircling her waist.
"Research."
"Research doesn't tell me much. Where? When?"
"The symphony," Ken told her reluctantly.
Kaoru's eyes lit up. "Which orchestra?"
"The Los Angeles Philharmonic something."
"Wow. I've heard of them. So this means I get a new dress, right?"
"What about the one you wore the other day?"
"It's dirty because I was wearing it when we did the laundry. Besides, it's not formal. Does this mean I'm coming with you when you feed and then we're going to a store to get some clothes and then we're going to the orchestra?"
Just as he suspected, telling Kaoru about the orchestra equaled mistake. Ken sighed. "I guess so."
"Good. Because I've been curious as to how you actually do it."
"Do what?"
"You know, feed."
Ken sighed. "It's not something you want to see, Kaoru. I'd rather you didn't."
"You're forever making me stay behind, Kenshin. It's a part of your life and I want to know you more than I do now. So I want you to let me come."
The air contained none of the lighter tones present wafting through that it had moments ago. Kaoru was serious. But self-doubt was also a serious thing, and Kenshin Himura had been inflicted with it since before he'd become a vampire. Kaoru sensed this, or at least that some reason existed more than the one Ken had given. So she waited.
"I'd rather you didn't," he repeated again.
"I want to. Do I have to pester you into bending to my will?"
He appreciated her attempt to make light of the issue, but for him, it was only an attempt. "Kaoru," he started.
Kaoru cut him off. "This isn't going to make me hate you."
"I know. But I'm not sure how much control I'll have at that point."
So he didn't trust himself enough not to hurt her, Kaoru concluded. That's what it came down to in the end. "Well I am. And even if I'm wrong, I'll have enough control for both of us."
She could still sense his hesitation, but he didn't argue. Perhaps he couldn't find the words? But that was uncharacteristic of him. He must have decided to give in. Point for Kaoru. All smiles once again, she stood on her toes and kissed his mouth, leaning into her body into his. It barely took him a heartbeat to kiss her back.
It was settled then.
-
Hey, do you know what's going on with the humans? I headed over to the office, but the door was locked.
Why'd you go so early?
What do you mean early? I went the same time I go every week.
Hahahaha
What?
I can't believe you forgot.
What?!
It's daylight savings time, baka.
What? . . . Damnit!
-
Soujiro had been awake for over thirty-six hours. Considering the circumstances, he didn't think anyone could honestly expect him to drop his guard and sleep. As soon as he'd adjusted to sitting in the back of the car with three blood-sucking vampires, all too conscious of the fact that he had blood and the fact that he needed said blood, as soon as he'd accepted that fact, the Uzi vampire had blindfolded him. Then he'd had to come to terms with the fact that he was a giant container of blood, sitting in a car with three blood-sucking vampires, blindfolded. No, he hadn't been happy. The silence in the car had also contributed to the fact that he was less happy than he could have been, if it was possible that he could have been happy in the first place. He'd been moderately pleased when the car had stopped, but the Uzi vampire then warned him not to take off his blindfold, so he'd sunk down into depression again.
Soujiro wondered what kind of impression he made for the other vampires he heard greet the ones he was with, as he entered the building, guided by the Uzi vampire. Probably a weak one. He didn't want to appear weak when every vampire in the facility had access to the rooms they'd given him. They were probably watching him via a hidden camera that very second. It wasn't even like he'd done anything worth watching, besides smell vaguely like Shishio. Oh yes, Sou noted grimly, he'd heard several whispers addressing that issue the previous night as he'd been led to these rooms.
His stomach growled. Did vampires even bother to keep food around? His watch told him the time: early evening. The sun had set. Shouldn't someone come in to tell him what was going on soon? If his uncle let him rot in vampire prison…
"So you're Seta Soujiro."
"How did you get in?"
The woman was not supposed to be there. He'd only taken his gaze from the door a moment…
"What do you mean? I just walked in the door. I brought you dinner."
She was carrying a tray laden with food. Soujiro vaguely wondered if the food was drugged, but the smell of stuffing and turkey reached his nose and he suddenly remembered that it had been eighteen hours since he'd eaten. She set the tray down on the table in front of him and seated herself in the chair at the opposite end of the small table. Sou started salivating.
"Have you been treated well? Usui's not the most gentle man. He can be reckless with his strength. Did he bruise your neck?"
Soujiro blinked at the brown-eyed woman. She acted too nice to be a vampire. Her voice was high-pitched with a slight lilt. She gave the impression of kindness, her eyes soft and serene beneath her brown bangs. And his neck was bruised? He ran his fingers over it lightly and winced. He hadn't noticed until she'd asked, but it hurt to talk too.
"I'll be okay."
Her eyes clouded. "I didn't think it would be this bad. I hope you can swallow the food. If it hurts too much, then just drink the tea. I had the cook put some herbs in it to sooth your throat."
Soujiro looked down at the tray in front of him. Poisoned or no?
"Please, eat," she said kindly. "Yahiko told me you threw up last night. You probably don't have any food in you. I promise it'll taste good."
Soujiro didn't doubt that, judging from the smell of the food, and anything would taste better than the faint tinge of vomit still gracing his tongue.
"Who's Yahiko?" he asked, not quite having gathered the courage to take a bite. He did pick up the fork on the side of the tray though. He could at least play along.
"You met him last night. He's the Juppongatana leader. After you're done eating, I'm going to take you to him. We're going to meet with someone."
"Who?"
She glanced away, a thoughtful expression on her face. "I wasn't given instructions as to whether I'm cleared to tell you this information. But I will if you at least take a bite of food. The Juppongatana needs you, and I can't have you passing out at a crucial moment."
Soujiro sighed. "Fine." He stabbed a forkful of stuffing, sent a prayer to the Lord, and took the plunge.
Ten seconds, fifteen seconds, thirty seconds passed and he wasn't dead. Of course it could be a slow acting poison. If that was the case, he my as well take another bite, because he was dead already, and the food wasn't bad. Another bite and Sou realized just how hungry his body was, which increased his appetite until he was literally feeding his face.
She laughed.
"I knew you'd like it. Even Yahiko does, and he doesn't actually need food." She leaned back in her chair and waited until he'd finished. Every time he looked up she was in the same spot, watching him with a content smile on her face, humming a tune he didn't recognize.
When he was finished and he still wasn't dead, he asked her who he was going to meet.
"We," she corrected. "I don't expect you could get there on your own. I have to tell you though, that until this is over, you're not going back to your uncle. Your knowledge would jeopardize the person we're going to meet. I know you don't want to be responsible for a death."
Soujiro nodded, remembering the confusion he'd felt when he'd seen Jineh's body, the revulsion. The woman was right, but still he resented the way she'd lectured him in that last sentence, as if they were teacher and student in class.
"I didn't expect to be alive tonight. I'll be grateful for whatever extra time I receive."
She seemed genuinely disturbed. "You're not going to die. I'll protect you."
Soujiro doubted a petite waif of a woman like her could protect him from a horde of vampires, or this dark one everyone kept talking about, or even his uncle. "I think it's more like I'm supposed to protect you," he ventured.
She blinked, clearly surprised, before dissolving into girlish giggles. A few tears leaked from her eyes. "Oh dear," she said with a hiccup, still laughing. "What will my husband say when he hears this?"
Soujiro felt his cheeks blush red. "Oh," was all he managed to muster.
She calmed, degree by degree, until she hiccupped one last time and was able to speak. "I'm more than capable of taking care of myself and you, Soujiro, but I find it adorable that you volunteered to protect me," she told him in her serious girl's voice.
"I'm not volunteering," Soujiro protested. "I'm saying I'll do it, as best I can, which probably isn't very well compared to your husband, but I guess he'll appreciate the help when he's not around."
She was serious now. "That's very kind of you, Soujiro. We shall protect each other then. I'm sure all this is very lonely for you, so I'll try to be there to keep you amused. But let me tell you what we're doing first."
Soujiro sighed. Women. She was still treating him like he was a kid. She was nice, but stubborn. He'd just have to prove he wasn't then. Yeah, like that was going to happen any time soon.
"We're meeting with Yahiko, but you should call him Myojin. Don't forget that. He'd probably be mad if he knew I told you his first name. Oh well. Anyway, we're meeting with the Battousai…"
Soujiro blanked out. That meant Kaoru would be there. Kaoru. He didn't think himself ready to see her yet. The pain throbbed even now, in the back of his mind like a headache, always there. They'd broken up. His witnessing her kissing another man had broken them up. He'd often wondered since when she'd planned on telling him. That was what hurt most of all, that she'd been cheating on him. He knew she hadn't gone out of her way to find the Battousai, her 'Ken'. She'd told him that on the phone, but Sou hated to think of what she must have left out. She must have been attracted to him even then. If he hadn't gone to Japan with his family, if he'd been there to pick her up, she never would have gone with the Battousai, never would have gone to him. Shishio would still be in the mental hospital, Soujiro would be in Japan, calling Kaoru every other day, and they'd be just as in love, just as secure in their feelings for each other as they'd been a year ago.
But he had to wonder how secure they'd been if a week with another man could change her so drastically, lead her to conclude she hadn't been in love with him after all, or, at least, that she could love the Battousai more. And she did love him more. That had also hurt. It wasn't just a passing fancy. It was like one of those perfect couples you saw walking down the street, secure with one another. You looked at them and thought, wow. I wish I had that with someone. Before that night on the beach, he'd thought he had.
The brown-haired, brown-eyed woman's hand on his shoulder jolted him out of his thoughts.
"You're sad. What's wrong?"
Soujiro pasted on his best smile. "I'm sorry, I never caught your name."
"Tsubame."
"Thank you for the food, Tsubame. I'm ready to go now, I think."
She withdrew her hand from his shoulder, watching his eyes carefully. "You don't have to tell me." She watched him longer, but Sou made certain that his smile didn't waver. "Alright. Follow me please."
She turned away and Sou stood, stretched a moment, and trailed behind her from the room.
-I find it ironic.
Me too.
Very ironic.
I hear you.
How can we get thrown out of a party for not having costumes?
I know.
We told them we were vampires!
I know.
Even showed them our fangs…
I know.
That's messed up.
I know.
-
"I love it when you wear tank tops," Ken said in her ear from behind as he loped his arms around her.
"What do you mean, when I wear tank tops? This is the first time I've worn just a tank top to go out," Kaoru informed him, watching his reflection in the floor length mirror as she put her hair up in a ponytail.
"Wear them more often," he advised, playing a hand across her stomach as he watched their reflection.
She finished tying up her hair and lowered her arms to rest on his, meeting his eyes in the mirror. "My father wouldn't be very pleased with you."
"He'll come around eventually."
Kaoru smiled.
For once he seemed to have said the right thing. It was hard to tell with Kaoru really. But then she wouldn't be half as interesting if he could read her like a book.
Kaoru acknowledged that a gap existed between woman and man, a gap which forever prevented them from fully understanding each other. She realized that because of said gap, Ken probably hadn't realized what he'd just implied. But somewhere inside of him, he must have, or else he wouldn't have said it. He wouldn't have implied that he'd be around to meet her father, that in fact, he wanted to meet her father. Lord, was she still so insecure about their relationship? Sigh. She was. And there wasn't anything to do about it until the whole mess with the dark one was over. Then she'd have to sit down and really think, which she dreaded doing, because she most likely wasn't going to like doing whatever she decided upon the conclusion of her thinking session.
"Are you ready to go?"
Kaoru nodded to his reflection. "I just have to go put the earrings on in the bathroom."
Ken sighed and turned her around to face him. He kissed the hollow of her throat, once, briefly. "You're sure?"
"I surely I am sure by now," she smiled.
"That was dumb."
"I said it to relieve the gravity of the situation."
"I got that."
"Oh, you did?"
"Yes."
"That's good then." She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew close, until she could feel his breath on her face. "Because it would really suck if you didn't get my jokes."
A/N – There you have it. Chapter 19. Hope you liked it. Sorry not that much happened action wise. I had to provide some character interaction. You'll see why. So yeah. Until next time.
Aryanne