AN: Feel like this chapter is lackluster compared to the first two. I apologize.

Bodyguard Part 3

It was just before dawn when Senkuu awoke with a full bladder. Inwardly cursing the doctor's orders to increase his water intake, he slid out of bed and padded across the small room into the bathroom. It was only on his return did he realize something was out of place. Pausing in the darkness of the room, he looked at the sleeping form perched at the foot of his bed not unlike a gargoyle. The security light coming in through the window allowed him to see how she had curled up against the wall, knees tucked against herself, and more specifically, that she had a knife in each hand.

It was no surprise that he had never felt her crawl onto his bed; he was fairly certain he had been dead to the world within minutes of his head hitting the pillow anyway. And honestly, he understood why she had decided to camp out on the corner of his bed, even if it was a little bit ridiculous. The revelation last night that he was a target had bothered her a lot more than it had him. Even ignoring that she was his temporary bodyguard, she was still Kohaku. Ever protective, ever diligent, almost to a fault.

To him, it was just another day. After all, he was used to threats, acts of aggression, attempts to take his life, being shot at, being successfully shot…

He paused, expression turning wry. At what point did keeping one's cool cross into the realm of clinical apathy?

Shaking his head of his thoughts, he took one more look at his bodyguard before reaching over and grabbing his lab coat from his desk chair. Walking around to the foot of the bed, he draped the fabric across her body without much ceremony, but with enough care to avoid waking her. She stirred, sighing softly, before continuing her slumber.

Crawling back into bed, the scientist buried himself under the blanket and closed his eyes. Honestly, it was ironic that after all of Kohaku's pushing to get him to rest yesterday, it had been him to insist they go to sleep and figure out a plan in the morning for dealing with the bad guys.

Though, he was going to have to talk to her about perching on his bed like this. He needed her well rested, too.

XX

It took Kohaku a few minutes upon waking to realize two unusual things. One, she had slept past sunrise, which was fairly unusual for herself. Two, she had a lab coat draped over her body. She blinked blearily, looking over to see Senkuu watching her with one eye half open, his blanket pulled up to his chin.

A faint smile passed over her lips, and she placed her knives down so that she could hug the fabric a little closer to her body, ignoring the snort that came from the other side of the bed as she pressed her nose into the fabric. Without looking over at her ward, she murmured, "Go back to sleep."

"I've stayed in bed long enough. It's almost eight," Came a groggy reply.

Kohaku glanced over at the lump of scientist under the blanket. "I don't care what time it is. You haven't had enough sleep. One more hour, and I'll let you get up."

Senkuu sighed loudly and began to sit up, pushing off his blanket. "You'll let me? How gracious of you, Lioness."

Any further progress in getting out of bed was hindered by a strong arm draping across his chest and forcing him back. With lightning speed, Kohaku had closed the gap between them and semi-tackled him back to the bed, lab coat left behind. Senkuu released a surprised squawk as his head hit his pillow and he found himself staring up at the ceiling, Kohaku's arm pinned to his chest.

Without a word, the warrior shifted until she was comfortable, then settled down beside him with her other arm cradling her head. It was only after she closed her eyes did she say, "One more hour. Please."

Senkuu sighed, trying to wrestle with his own emotions. He knew his frustrations were being amplified because he was so tired. And really, she was right. The lack of adequate rest was making him a tad illogical, and that was definitely not okay. With that thought, he resigned himself to the situation and reached up and patted the arm pinning him down. "At least let me get more comfortable. I'm not a back sleeper."

Kohaku opened one eye to look at him, as if assessing how sincere he was, before she lifted her arm up to let him adjust. The scientist shifted, turning his back to her and made himself comfortable, before pulling his blanket back up to his shoulders. Closing his eyes, he exhaled, only to pause when he felt her tug the blanket, pulling part of it over her lower body, before she curled her arm around him again and pulled him close. Her body heat seeped through his clothes as she pressed up against him, touching her forehead to his shoulder.

It made him focus on the fact that he had never been spooned before. Or cuddled. Or actively shared a proper bed with someone. He opened his eyes, staring at nothing in particular, brain fixating on that thought. In all honesty, he expected it to be unpleasant, even suffocating. At best, tolerable. Instead, the weight of Kohaku's arm was oddly comforting, and maybe even relaxing.

His brows lifted slightly as he realized why. The gentle pressure of her body was, in its own way, a pressure therapy, like that of a weighted blanket. While he typically had no need for such things, there was supporting evidence from studies that pressure therapy could reduce cortisol levels and help subjects relax. Given the last few nights, his stress levels were certainly elevated, despite his cool demeanor. So this effect, coupled with the fact that he did not feel smothered because his back was to her, resulted in a sensation he found, well, generally pleasant.

Amused at the turn of events, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift back to sleep as he counted away the seconds.

XX

Admittedly, it had been more than an hour of extra sleep, but he knew he had needed it. Of course, what he had not expected was to wake up feeling kind of relaxed. It was not exactly because of the lioness holding him close, but rather, it was the gentle, but pointed reminder that he was in the presence of someone who cared for him and trusted him; that he was not alone.

He was well aware that the solitude he felt during his first six months in the stone world had left a mark on him, no matter how well he hid it and how little he spoke of it. Although Senkuu was not a people person, per se, he still craved connection. He needed people in his life.

Quietly, he lay there with one hand resting by his head, thinking, when he took notice of the very slight snores behind him. A smile pulled at his lips at the sound, and he allowed himself a gracious forty seconds of listening to the lioness slumber before he twisted onto his back and reached over, tapping her nose with his index finger.

She wrinkled her nose in a way that he found utterly comical, but he persisted, poking her again, this time in the cheek. "Oi, Lioness. Wake up."

She swatted at his hand, but cracked an eye open at him, indicating she was awake. Pulling back her arm to cover a yawn, she allowed him to leave the bed. He stood up, arching his back, but paused when he heard her sleepily confess, "That was nice. You're comfortable to hold."

He looked back at her to see her sit up and start stretching. Saying nothing, he turned and walked off to his bathroom, expression thoughtful.

By the time they got to the research center, it was around ten in the morning. Senkuu nodded to some of the other scientists as he walked in, his bodyguard trailing behind him, eyes surveying the area while she munched on an apple.

Approaching his work station, he began to pull on some gloves as he skimmed over his equations, picking up where he had left off the night before. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Xeno approach and he turned, nodding toward him.

The older man stopped when he reached the work station, his claws lightly tapping the surface. "Long night?" He asked mildly.

Senkuu chuckled, shrugging. "I suppose I did get to bed a little late because of explosions and gunfire. Typical Tuesday."

"Mm," Xeno hummed in agreement. "I suspect after losing two of their men, it will be a few days before they try something again. Though, when they do, they will try to isolate you."

Senkuu cast him a sidelong glance before grabbing a few glass vials, checking the labels as he searched for one in particular. "You noticed, too."

"Stanley confirmed it for me, as he was able to see the situation better than I could. I suppose targeting the scientist who hopes to revive all of humanity makes sense if you're opposed to returning to how things were 3700 years ago."

The younger scientist shrugged, a slight smile on his face. "I can't please everyone."

"Nor should you try," Xeno replied, though he knew his former mentee understood that. "Moving on, the security camera prototype should be done today. Assuming it works, we can have the rest built and installed by the end of the week. I've also heard back that our first wave of guards should be ready to start patrolling the compound in a couple of days."

Having found the materials he needed, Senkuu picked up the flasks and grinned. "Oho, that's exciting! Our productivity should increase with that because people will stop fretting over these attacks. Maybe we should have them work double time to make up for the hours we've lost!"

Those within earshot gave him dirty looks.

"Careful, or you'll get the opposite effect because you demoralized them," Xeno warned, amused. "Regardless, it's possible, if not likely, that those measures will be in place before they try to mobilize another attack. If so, that allows us to utilize our current assets in other ways. For example, Stanley and Kohaku going on offensive could put an end to this."

As Xeno explained, Senkuu moved to the chemistry station, setting up the beakers and flasks. Nodding while he worked, he replied, "Yeah, that makes sense. Having Kohaku on offensive or reconnaissance is a much better use of her skills. Right now she's playing a meat shield, which isn't the most effective since she's smaller than me." He paused, before adding, "Oh, speaking of shields, I need to repair hers. It's kind of full of dents."

Xeno looked off in the direction of the warrior standing guard by the entrance and nodded. "A meat shield who got you to sleep in, though. That is impressive."

The younger scientist paused, holding a dropper over a flask filled with clear liquid, brain doing calculations. Finally, he looked up, giving his former mentor a sour look. "Kind of creepy, old man."

Xeno offered a faint smile. "It is unusual for you to be late to your work, so I had Stanley check on you through the window to your room. Honestly, I'm glad someone got you to listen, regardless of how it happened."

Senkuu snorted in response, but turned back to his work, hiding the slight smile that tugged at his lips.

XX

Much to Kohaku's approval, Senkuu retired from work at a reasonable hour. The relieved look she gave him made him shake his head, but he did not give her grief for it. Once they were back in his quarters after dinner, Kohaku had taken a seat at his desk to sharpen her knives with a whetstone, and he decided to shower while she did that.

Letting the water pour down on him, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to finally reflect on the events from yesterday. Now alone and not in front of his work, he let his mind, well, not wander per se, but explore. He started with facts.

Kohaku was attracted to him and had openly admitted it, but without any expectations. Additionally, he had not rejected or accepted her admission, which was an important note. He had thought about it right after she said it, and had wanted to think about it even more, and now here he was. Her admission had stirred something within him, something that he wanted to investigate and analyze. And now that he had started to think about it, he found his mind pulling at multiple threads and tying them all together at lightning speed.

He was attracted to her. Not in the way that most people talked about attraction - appearances had never mattered much to him. He was attracted to her diligence, her perseverance, and her compassion. And he suspected her attraction to him was similar - she loved his dedication to science, his ingenuity, and his desire to help everyone. And now, understanding that there was a mutual attraction in place, the foggy, unnamed piece of their relationship came into focus with startling clarity.

He lifted his head up, an awestruck look on his face as water rained down on him. His relationship with Kohaku felt different than his other relationships with people because there was a component of love there. Not the ridiculous, sappy love, like what Taiju had with Yuzuriha, or some heated, passionate nonsense you'd read in a cheesy novel, but a steadfast and constant connection that had been building over the years, formed by countless interactions, deep trust, and appealing to each other's values. A connection that could easily stay as it was without wavering, or evolve into something else if they let it.

He turned off the water and sighed. Of course, that was the biggest question. Did he want it to change? They already had something good, so was it worth risking it for more?

A very vocal part of him protested the idea, reciting all of the things he pronounced in his younger years. Love was illogical, relationships were nothing but trouble, and emotions would get in the way of everything.

Of course, the reality was, he was hardly bereft of emotions; he just kept them on a tight leash. Kohaku, on the other hand…

He stopped, mentally chastising himself. How unfair was it to assume she could not keep her emotions in check? Yes, Kohaku was hot headed when her loved ones were in danger, but she had been harboring feelings for him for some indefinite period of time without letting them get the best of her, or allowing them to affect him. Hell, that was the main reason he was here analyzing everything in the first place. She was dangling it in front of him that a romantic relationship could actually be free of those things he found annoying.

Maybe… she was more like him in this regard than he was properly giving her credit for.

He reached for the towel to dry off, pausing when he realized that through all of that, he had not even thought about what more there actually could be. What could they have that he would want?

He hesitated, lips pursing. 'I'm not really interested in having a family. The Kingdom of Science is practically my family. A companion? Yeah, probably. That seems beneficial and potentially enjoyable.' He paused, thinking back to Kohaku cuddling him in bed. 'OK, generally enjoyable. Intimacy?' He stopped toweling off, staring down at the bathroom floor. He had never been physically intimate with someone, and the thought of him left him uncertain. Did he want it? Years ago, the answer was a definite no, but things were not the same as they were back then. Would he even like it? Although some part of him said 'no', he had never tried, and he knew he would not have a real answer until he did. Experience did count for something, here.

And never mind the biggest variable of them all… what did Kohaku want? Tossing the towel over his shoulder, he grabbed his clean clothes and began to dress. There was a sure way to find out.

XX

When Senkuu exited the bathroom, he found Kohaku inspecting her blades in the lamplight, eyes focused on the razor sharp edge. Without looking at him, she commented, "Good timing. I need to rinse these."

"Help yourself," He replied, moving past her to take a seat on the edge of his bed. As he watched her disappear, he thought about how he was supposed to approach this topic. Gen often accused him of being too direct and to the point when negotiating or when finesse was preferred, which was true. However, when it came to matters close to him, he was not exactly verbose, either. In short, a terrible combination when it came to, well, this. He frowned, brain working through scenarios, ways to broach the subject, and even expected outcomes.

He barely paid attention to Kohaku returning, at least not until she had walked up to the edge of his bed, perching herself on the corner to look out the window. He turned his head to her, thinking back to how he had found her early that morning.

"That's probably overkill, Lioness," He found himself saying, one brow lifting.

"My shield has eleven dents in it that say otherwise," The warrior replied, not looking at him.

Senkuu sighed, leaning back onto his hands, still peeking at her over his shoulder. "Yeah, well, they've probably learned by now that their current approach isn't working. You flattened the first group of guys, and the ones from last night are dead. I can ten billion percent promise they won't be trying anything again until they have reassessed the situation."

Pausing, he turned his gaze back to the floor, thinking back to what Xeno had said earlier in the day. "We should have security cameras and trained guards here within a couple of days. When that happens, we level up and can probably put a stop to this nonsense."

By this point Kohaku had turned to him, listening to him speak quietly. "So you're saying my job as your bodyguard will be done then?"

He tilted his head, still staring at the floor, a faint smile on his lips. "Possibly. I might need you to go on the offensive to put an end to all this."

"If it is the best way to keep you safe, then of course I will," She replied, glancing back out the window.

"And then what?" He felt her gaze on him after he asked, and he looked up from the floor to meet her eyes. Her expression was pensive, as if unsure what he meant. So he elaborated. "What will you do once the threat is gone?"

She nodded, understanding. "Well, the expedition will be close to done, so it's no use going back out there. I guess wherever you need me next." She shrugged. "Have something in mind?"

Senkuu was quiet in response, breaking eye contact as he thought. Kohaku watched him curiously, as the behavior was somewhat unusual for him. Finally, he asked, "What would you want?"

The woman furrowed her brow, as if confused he would ask that question. "That's a strange thing for you to ask, Senkuu. I want to do what I can to support you and science. I thought that was obvious."

Senkuu sighed a little and turned to better face her, pulling one foot up onto the mattress, the other still touching the floor. Time for being blunt; Gen could suck it. "You said yesterday that you were attracted to me. Does that not mean you want something from me?"

Kohaku blinked several times, before she grinned. "Hah! Is that what you're asking about?" Turning away from the window, she faced him, legs tucked around her. "I mean, I meant what I said. I do find you attractive, and I also care a lot about you, but it doesn't mean I need more. And I'm not asking you for more. I know what you've dedicated your life to, and I think the best way to love you is to assist you in accomplishing your goals." She shrugged. "And I mean, I know you care about me, too. Not in the same way, but that's fine. It doesn't devalue my feelings or the relationship we do have."

Of course, everything she said was what he expected, but it was nice to have confirmation, though admittedly hearing her freely speak of love and how she wanted to express it, touched him in a way he had not predicted. Senkuu drummed his fingers on his leg, thinking quietly for a few seconds.

"Lioness…" She narrowed her eyes, but he ignored it, continuing. "I have historically avoided the notions of love or relationships because they don't resonate with me. I saw them as a conflict to my goals, and to my identity. However…" He paused, brow furrowing. "I've realized that perhaps a bond like that can coexist with how I live my life, if it builds around who I am instead of trying to change it."

He pursed his lips, looking back up at her, noting he had her full attention. "I don't know what I would want in a romantic relationship, or if I really want it. It may not even work. However, I do feel something towards you that I would call an attraction, and I have a desire to explore it so I can better understand it." He exhaled a little, thoughtfully, before speaking his next words carefully. "And…I can also promise you ten billion percent that if a romantic relationship is not something I want, I won't let it change what we have now, if you can promise me the same."

Kohaku leaned back a little, the surprise evident on her face. "Senkuu…I…" It was clear she was trying to process everything he had just dropped into her lap. Finally, she gave a soft laugh, placing her hands in her lap and looking away. "Well, I admit, I never expected to have this kind of conversation with you."

He could not help but grin at that. Up until half an hour ago, he did not expect to ever have this kind of conversation, either; not in ten billion years.

Kohaku paused thoughtfully, before looking back up to him. "But… yes. I can promise that. I mean, sometimes people aren't compatible romantically, but that shouldn't mean the friendship they built should also end. If you're willing, I'm happy to explore with you and see what happens. Maybe we'll both learn something new."

"An experiment, huh? Now I'm getting excited!"

In response, the warrior rolled her eyes, even if a smile played at her lips. "Don't get too excited, Senkuu. It's time to sleep. We can figure things out starting tomorrow." Sliding off of his bed, she pulled her hair tie out, before looking back over to him with a playful look. "So… which bed should I stay in tonight?"

The scientist lifted a brow at her, before smirking. "I guess you can stay in mine, but if you snore too loudly I'm kicking you out."

He dodged the rope she kept her hair tied in, laughing the entire time.