Disclaimer: I'm so terribly sorry that this is late. Blame my new professors or TAs I should say. They are evil. They made me do extra work, they even bragged to their other classes how evil they were. So yeah... I spent my weekend in the labs instead of relaxing indoors. Ahahaha... I hope I didn't keep anyone waiting. As usual all credit goes to Shingo Nanami and フクロウ. We're at the 100th chapter guys, enjoy! :D

紡いでゆく時

The Spinning Hour

Kasane x Kuranosuke

Part Two

"..."

"What's wrong?"

Kuranosuke sullenly sat up straight on top of the futon.

"...?"

Kasane observed his silent form with confused eyes.

Her hands were paused at the covers, her head tilted off to the side.

"...W-we're, well, married right!"

"...Why're saying this all of the sudden, Kuranosuke-san."

Hearing such an unexpected statement from him, she raised a brow.

"T-that's why…"

"..."

He tried expressing out those spinning words and with a bright red face he turned straight towards Kasane.

"C...can we?"

She glanced down at him in puzzlement.

Her gaze intensely fixed on him, and she shyly smiled a little.

"...Yes."

After hearing her answer, Kuranosuke felt as if someone suddenly grabbed his heart.

He was delighted that Kasane accepted, and as a result, whether or not it was his intention, his hands shook from the tension.

His heart was beating awfully hard and his throat was terribly dry.

"..."

Kuranosuke placed his hands onto her shoulders.

She didn't resist him.

That small, shy look she gave him there was just too irresistible.

Hurry, hurry; the voice inside him told him to go on.

This is the moment he's been waiting for.

This was the moment he earnestly wished for, finally.

He pushed Kasane down, over the covers.

Such a tiny body.

Now that he was in his 20s, compared to the time he met Kasane, he's so much bigger.

Of course he wasn't as tall as his lord or Inuchiyo, but he was big as everyone else.

Back then they were eye to eye, but now he has overtaken her height.

His body was already of a grown man.

If he were to embrace her, he could easily trap her in his arms.

He buried his face into the crook of her neck.

Such a sweet scent.

It made his head spin.

Kasane shuddered as he traced her thigh.

Soft sensation.

It was as if he were learning the exciting new sensation that was addicting to cling to.

How tantalizing. Hurry, with Kasane…

"A-um, Ku...nosuke-san…"

Suddenly hearing her voice, Kuranosuke reflexively raised his face.

Did he do something strange?

He eyes met hers.

"U,um….. if we can, well before we do it…. as expected… I want… t-to.. kiss."

Her cheeks flushed red as she had a difficult time expressing this to him.

"As I thought… by going in order… before going all the way to the end… well…"

Hearing those words, Kuranosuke stiffened.

Kiss, it's not like he didn't understand her words.

For a while Kuranosuke said nothing and just stared at her before embarrassment crossed his face as he separated from her.

"Kura, nouke-san?"

"...done."

"Eh?"

"Done, we're done. ...I'm sorry."

Saying that he abashedly bit his lip.

Seeing this reaction, Kasane went, 'Eh?'.

"U-um… are you mad? Did Iーー"

"I'm fine! It's not that!"

Kasane drew closer to him and tugged his clothes.

Well of course he was the one who pushed her down and was now sulking over his decision to stop, her reaction was to be expected.

"...I."

"Yes."

Kuranosuke carefully began with great difficulty, his gaze swam about.

After a moment of hesitation, he made up his mind and faced her.

"...You… well… the things you've wanted to do, I've suddenly thought about it… and I then remembered… we've never kissed before."

"...Ah, Ah~..."

Now that he remembered, during the one year since they've become lovers, they've also never held hands.

He was so scared of touching her so of course he couldn't dare touch her then.

After marrying, because of his lack of virtue, all of that became vague.

That's why all that didn't come to account until she told him.

They never held hands nor kissed before.

They both jumped through all that and Kasane even so readily accept his selfish demand.

Just that before they do it, she wanted to kiss; just only that.

Kuranosuke felt shame and self hate build inside of him.

...Woman treasure such things.

Doesn't that mean they should spend time together and slowly deepen their bond?

To commune.

To hold hands, to hug, kiss.

And when they wish for something more, isn't that the time to do such things?

….At least in this perspective wasn't his demand more one sided on his end?

To wish for Kasane was to have her 'accept' him.

Kasane didn't have that kind of demand to him.

How shameful.

Bypass being a good person, he was a pathetic example of a man.

Surely Gorouza and even slant eyes* would properly go through all the steps and sprout out sweet words like 'I like you, I love you' to Kasane and become a couple both in body and soul.

Compared to that he's….

Kasane worriedly glanced at him as he bowed his head.

"We haven't held hands. We've never really hugged… We haven't even kissed…"

"..."

Kasane made a complicated expression.

She was at a loss whether or not she should cheer him up.

"That's why, for us to suddenly do this is weird."

"Kuranosuke-san…"

Kasane is his precious woman.

If he just wanted to do it with a woman, then he should have just gotten any kind of woman.

He didn't want to do it with Kasane based on that kind of reason.

He wanted to become a couple with her.

To laugh and fight, to warm each other and make kids.

That's the kind of couple he wanted to become.

Even then he left out all that and only went after her out of man's greed.

She's his important woman.

That's why he didn't want to do this.

Just carefully, after all so carefully growing together he wished to bind himself to Kasane.

"..."

Kasane faintly laughed and sat by his side.

"...I don't hate it when Kuranosuke-san touches me, you know?"

"...I didn't want to do that…"

With a pouting face, he scratched his chin as he avoided her gaze.

Seeing that, Kasane chuckled.

"What's so funny!?"

"Ahaha, sorry. Somehow it came to me that Kuranosuke-san is such a romanticist…"**

"Romanchisuto?"

"Ah u~m…. just ignore that."***

She ambiguously replied while Kuranosuke's brow crinkled.

Sulking, he turned his head away.

"...Kuranosuke-san."

"What."

Kasane closed in the distance between them and placed her head on his shoulder.

"っ"

For a second his heart skipped a beat and he nearly withdrew from the area, but he managed to hold back.

With the soft sensation of her half-leaning onto him, Kuranosuke couldn't help himself as his face lit up and his body stiffened.

Her thin fingers trailed over his hand where it rested on his crossed-legged leg and firmly gripped it.

"...With this, we've finally held our hands for the first time.

"..."

The heat from her hands.

It's so soft and warm.

For some reason the warmth that emitted from holding their hands satisfied him far more than the idea of sex.

Kasane continued to lean on him and close her eyes.

She must have become sleepy from this warmth.

"Kuranosuke-san. I love you…"

"...Ou."

As she tiredly muttered out loud, he faintly blushed and curtly replied back.

As if she became relieved by his response, Kasane then fell asleep and he heard her adorable breathing.

He's such an idiot.

What was he so eager about?

There was no need to rush things.

Take things slowly, like this they should just deepen their bond.

Holding hands, embracing, kissing.

They have all the time in the world.

...They're already a proper couple after all.

Contemplating over this, he parted himself away from his vacant consciousness to sleep.

*Toukichirou

**ロマンチスト It's a foreign word for Kuranosuke, that's why he's confused.

*** She says こっちの話 (kocchi no hanashi) which… I don't really know how to translate this… You say this in the context like…. let's say you see something and it makes you laugh because it reminds you a funny moment where your uncle did something ridiculous. Your friend, that happened to see you laugh, would wonder why you're laughing. Of course if you take the time to explain it to your friend, they probably won't understand it then. That's why it's just 'their side of the story'.

Well... so how was that for the 100th chapter? Kuranosuke is cute isn't he? I can't imagine how he'll react when Kasane is pregnant or giving birth. The poor guy's going to get a heart attack.

We're sadly coming to an end soon... Which is why I left most of the really good stories for last! The following stories are my favorites so I really hope you all enjoy them. Hopefully, when everything settles down, I will upload the story next week. So until then, I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable week!