A/N: An enormous THANK YOU to the E/K server folks who have grown into an uplifting community of art and friendship, and especially to AOD10 for organizing this wonderful, challenging month of prompts.

These mini-fic ratings range from G to E according to level of sexual content and roughness of language, but the average rating hovers around T-M. Individual warnings at the head of chapters, if applicable.

Blinded

"Where are we?" Enishi asks. "I can't see shit."

"That's because you keep staring straight into the flashlight." The last thing Kaoru needed was to get paired with Enishi at the annual all-staff murder mystery teambuilding retreat. The whole situation is totally getting in the way of her ability to process the fact that she made out with him in his sports car after happy hour last week. "I think we're in the first floor library, or the gentleman's salon? Something like that."

"This game is infantile." Enishi leans into Kaoru's space, and her heart thumps. Maybe he's angling for another kiss?

No, he's just reaching for the flashlight. He clicks the button, and then only the faint glow of a distant streetlamp outlines the contents of the room.

"We won't find clues in the dark," she mutters.

"I don't want to find clues," he murmurs. His hand presses into the small of her back. "I want to fool around with you."

Oh. Apparently Enishi is interested in that. The darkness turns out to have an upside, after all: surely Kaoru's face has turned an embarrassing shade of red. "S-save it for after the party," she stutters, squirming out of his arms. "Kamatari refused to partner with me for this game, so we have to beat them."

Enishi snorts. "You're mad about Kamatari? They wanted to be on your team, but I traded them a better project so that you and I could be together. In the dark. With nobody else around." He embraces her again, and this time she doesn't try to get away.

"I'm serious about beating Kamatari," she says quietly. "And if you don't get serious too, we're going to come in last place."

"Give me a reason to care." His breath is warm on her neck.

Kaoru squares her shoulders and swallows her nerves. Then she stands on tip-toe and gives Enishi a long, messy kiss.

"Good enough for me," Enishi breathes. "Let's win this thing and get the hell out of here." He clicks the flashlight on again, and Kaoru can see that his face has flushed red, too.