Chapter 6
It had been almost a week since Sakura discovered that ran was alive. She sat on her bed and smiled. She was dressed and ready for school. It was the first whole week she hadn't woken from nightmares, screaming bloody murder or crying. Aya had managed to cajole the assassins to stay for the week, and even Yoji didn't protest. Ken had come back late last night. No one asked questions, but there were many different opinions on where he had been for little over three days. At the moment Ran, Yoji and ken were sleeping while Aya, Sakura and Omi prepared for school, and Sakura couldn't help but want to make sure again that the guys being back wasn't a dream, even though their snores made it almost impossible to doubt it was real.
Sakura pulled a chair past the divider up to Ran's cot. She loved the way he looked when he was sleeping. He looked younger and more innocent, somehow. She gently brushed some hair off his face. He smiled slightly in his sleep. She leaned over to kiss his cheek, but his eyes flew open and he grabbed her lips with his. Her eyes opened wide in shock, but then she relaxed and kissed him back. She smiled. "Good morning." She told him when they separated.
"Isn't it supposed to be the prince that wakes the princess, not the other way around?" A voice drawled. It was Yoji, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Ran sat up quickly. They both blushed. Yoji cocked an eye. He never recalled seeing the icy Ran blush like that before. 'Hmm…' He thought mischievously.
"Help me make breakfast, won't you, Yoji?" A voice said in his ear. Yoji jumped. "Aya! Don't do that!" He gasped. The others snickered. "What?" She said, innocently. "Never mind," He sighed, and then followed her as she went to the kitchen.
Ran and Sakura watched them enter the kitchen. Then he turned to Sakura, thoughtfully. "Since you've been staying together, has she always been this…. responsible? …I mean, cooking and cleaning, etc…?" He asked. "As far as I know; yeah. Why?" She asked. "She wasn't before?" "Well, … it is just that she was more… frivolous. She loved hanging out with her friends and shopping, more than anything." "…. And you wonder at her constant cleaning and not doing what she used to love, right?" Sakura finished for him. He looked at her in amazement at her accuracy. She smiled at that, but then she said seriously. "I guess that must be my fault. You saw the way I was when you came back?" She continued without waiting for an answer. "Well, I was very…out of it… for a long while. I guess she must have felt the need to care for me, since I couldn't…" She trailed off, realizing how she had truly impacted Aya. She looked away from Ran. Sensing her shame, he tilted her face to him, with his thumb under her chin. She looked into his eyes and felt nothing but love. "Its okay. I don't condemn you for loving me." He grinned. "Maybe she's better this way." He added. She smiled at him lovingly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. He put his arms around her and drew her closer as he deepened the kiss. She finally pulled away after a while. " Mmmm…." She sighed peacefully as she leaned on his shoulder. "It feels like I'm dreaming." Still holding her, he breathed her in. He felt her heart beating. "Yeah." He never felt this peaceful in his memory. "I keep thinking I'll wake up one morning to find that I still…" He trailed off. She felt him become tense. Looking up at him, she saw his eyes had become hard. She put a hand on his cheek. "Stop beating yourself up, Ran. Yoji was right, you know. There is no shame in saving the city from evil men." He looked at her and his eyes softened. Inhaling deeply, he closed his eyes. "That doesn't change the fact that I killed people. I was angry, Sakura… I wanted to do it…. And I wanted… I wanted… revenge." She felt an anger like electricity flow from him. Its force scared her. She caressed his cheek, which had its desired effect of bringing him back out of his anger. As it ebbed out of him, she held him, trying to force her fearfulness into nothingness. A silence hung in the air as thick as night. He was not a violent person in his heart, but time had hardened him to that softer side of him. He pushed away from her. She looked up, to see him put his head in his hands. He sighed. She held out her hand to touch him, but stopped, hand suspended in the air halfway there. "Ran…?" She stopped, startled by a single tear falling from his cheek. "Oh, Ran." She whispered, moving closer to him. He looked at her, his eyes filled with unspilt tears. He looked away, embarrassed. She put a hand on his cheek and turned his head towards her. She brushed the tear away. Looking into his eyes, she found intense pain. "Ran!" She cried out, throwing her arms around him. She wept for him; for his pain and the things he had lost. She felt his arms go around her, and the weight of his head on her shoulder. She felt her shoulder becoming wet. "Sakura!" Ran felt the last of his well-maintained façade of calm shatter like glass. What he felt engulfed him and he surrendered to it, wholeheartedly, at last. He hugged her until she cried out, the kissed her on the eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and then her mouth again, passionately. At first she was so shocked by the sudden gestures that she froze. Then she relaxed and kissed him back, feeling a hunger she had never felt before rage through her. As his hands went up through her hair, playing with it softly. She felt she liked this side of Ran.
Suddenly, she came to her senses and pulled away, blushing. He went back to his calm self, but Sakura saw the emotion behind it as he spoke. "What's wrong?" He asked, concern filling his once icy gaze. "We're on my bed." She said softly. It took a minute for him to get what she meant. "Oh." He said, at a loss for words. "I'm sorry if I've made you fell uncomfortable, Sakura." "It's just that I'm not ready for… anything like that yet." She said, awkwardly. "Ok." He said, just as awkwardly. 'Ok? That's all you can say? Ok?' He cursed himself, mentally. She felt better when she sensed his awkwardness. She knew he understood how she felt, and felt the same. He would not go farther than she could handle. She kissed his cheek. "Thank you." She said. "I have to go to school now, but since this is Friday, we have the weekend…together." She promised. She started to get up, but sat down and kissed him one last time, to assure him that their conversation had changed nothing between them.
(a/n: I hope ran doesn't seem out of character in this chapter, to all who love his aloof, mysterious ways. I thought it was time he unloaded his baggage and who better to be his ear than Sakura?
The going will be ever more slow from here on because, although I am in the process of writing the next chapter, time is not my friend. So I apologize, but please bear with me. Your feedback is very much appreciated. )