Author's Note:
Huzzah for sleep and dream sequences! Huzzah!
The following characters belong to Gonzo.
. . .
Saiga attempted to teach her poker; but he was a horrible card teacher, and she'd never been around cards in her entire life.
"I guess poker's not the best start," he said.
Kagura watched him shuffle the cards. "I have an idea that I've wanted to try." She flipped through a couple magazines and showed him a section with men's hairstyles.
He laughed. "Um… Kagura…"
"Come on." She grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the couch, sitting him on the floor in front of it. "I'll be right back. Go ahead and watch TV or something."
He stared after her as she ran into her room. His hand reached for the remote absently, and he stared at the lighted buttons, trying to clear his thoughts and overlook his increasingly irritating desires, making his throat and chest tighten. Kagura raced back into the room and jumped onto the couch behind him. She fitted her legs behind his shoulders and began tugging a wet comb through his hair.
"Sorry if I hurt you," she giggled.
He stayed quiet so he could focus on the sensation her fingers made on his scalp. Somehow, she had managed to smuggle mousse into the cart at the store, and she rubbed that into his hair, pulling his damp hair up in clumps. He chuckled to himself.
She sighed. "Saiga, this has been one of the best days of my life."
Saiga shut his eyes. "Are you happy, Kagura?"
"I've never been happier," she answered dreamily. "Are you happy, Saiga?"
"I'm home, I think." He said so softly she could barely hear him.
. . .
Around one o'clock that morning, Kagura's fist rapped on his bedroom door.
"Kagura?" He wondered aloud. He struggled out of his sheets. Clawing at his eyes, he jerked open the door. "Something wrong?"
"Do you think I could sleep in your room?"
He sighed heavily. "You're just across the hall, Kagura. Go back to bed."
Her palm caught the door as he tried to close it. "Just this one night?" She begged.
"No, Kagura." He said firmly and closed his door once more, cursing under his breath that it didn't have a lock.
. . .
Kagura huffed and went back to her room, hanging her feet off the bed. She hated being away from him, even if for a single night. The clock challenged her to a staring contest, and they faced off while she tried to remember the way he looked at her as he shut the door. She reached for the pictures she'd taken, tracing his jaw line in her favorite shots.
Holding her breath and willing her feet to be absolutely silent, she crept out of bed and eased his door open. She waited for him to protest. His breathing was deep and heavy in sleep. Kagura snuck to the side of bed and gingerly lowered herself into it, staring at the back of his head and half expecting him to turn at any moment. He didn't notice as she laid her head on a pillow, wrapped the comforter around her, turned her back to him. She grinned triumphantly.
It wasn't long before her eyelids began to droop. She stiffened as Saiga groaned and rolled over onto his other side. Without warning, he tucked his arm around her stomach and nuzzled his face in the back of her neck. She stifled a surprised cry.
With a delicate and cautious touch, she rested her fingers on his arm; when he didn't wake, she half-smiled and shut her eyes again.
. . .
Saiga dreamt vividly of Ginza. He wasn't paying attention to her, trying to develop photos in his dark room, but she wouldn't leave him alone. She flipped the bright lights on, ruining the photos he was processing. He snarled, whirling on her telling her to get out. She reached behind her to loosen her bodice. As she rotated around, she dropped her top on the floor.
Saiga wasn't interested. Just before he could turn back to his photos, Ginza faced him; but it was Kagura's face he saw instead. She walked towards him slowly, arms folded across her chest. Saiga shook his head and backed away, but she continued to advance on him, grin widening as she drew closer.
. . .
Kagura's eyes flew open as Saiga stirred behind her. She knew he was still asleep, but he must have been dreaming because his arm flexed and he began to mumble incoherently. He drew his arm behind her and rubbed her back gently.
"Saiga?" She whispered.
His fingers traced clumsy paths around her, resting on her ribcage. "No…I can't," he mumbled.
She wriggled. "Saiga…"
He continued to caress her softly, and his legs shifted underneath the sheets.
"Saiga," Kagura said aloud.
Jerking awake, he bolted upright in his bed and pushed himself away from her, rolling her out of bed in the process.
"Fuck!" He shouted. "What the hell are you doing, Kagura?"
"What were you doing?" She pulled herself to her feet and wrapped her arms around her torso.
"I was fucking dreaming, damn it!"
"About what?"
"You shouldn't even be in here! Why are you in my bed? I told you to go back to your room, Kagura!"
"I didn't want to be away from you!" She cried.
"I'm across the god-damned hall." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"It's not the same." Her chin dropped to her chest.
"So, what? You'd rather be curled up in here, with me fondling you in my sleep? God damn it, Kagura."
"Saiga, I—"
"No, no excuses." He seized her wrist and dragged her to her bedroom. He put a heavy hand on her shoulder. "This is your room, okay? You stay in here and stay the fuck out of my bedroom!"
He locked himself in the bathroom and fell asleep in the empty tub with his bottle of rum tucked in the crook of his arm, thinking of things he should and should not do: actions that made his limbs ache. He shook his head slowly. 'The saddest part is that I was actually enjoying that dream,' he thought as he drifted off into a drunken slumber.
. . .
Kagura knocked on the door the next morning, timidly at first then increasingly louder.
"Saiga, Bob's on the phone. He wants to talk to you."
He almost fell trying to peel himself from the tub. His back felt crooked. He staggered out of the bathroom and snatched the phone from Kagura's hand, heading for the balcony and not giving her a second glance.
"Morning," Saiga said into the receiver. He shut the door forcefully.
Bob clucked his tongue. "Kagura told me what happened last night."
"Jesus." His forehead landed in his palm. "Did she call you?"
"No, I called, but she answered the phone. I asked her if I could speak to 'that sexy beast, Saiga,' and the poor girl started bawling!"
"Poor girl? Bob, I woke up and… Look, I don't want to talk about this. I feel like some kind of monster."
"But why? You were just dreaming!"
"Yeah, about her! This is driving me insane. I shouldn't feel this way: she's just a child."
"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that."
"She's fifteen, Bob."
"I asked her how she felt about the whole thing, and she said—"
"I don't want to know."
"But—"
"I don't want to fucking know, Bob."
"Fine, fine. She is really upset, though, Saiga. You need to talk with her."
"What am I going to say?"
"Hell, I don't know. Tell her you liked it."
"Bob!"
"Or tell her that you're an adult and she's a 'child.' Tell her that things happen differently for you, and she needs to be more mature to understand. And Saiga..."
"Yes?"
"You might want to apologize for screaming at her. Poor girl."
Saiga had no idea there was a clock in the room that made noise, but sure enough, as they sat across from each other at the table, there was a clock ticking the seconds away. He hadn't said a single word to her. A few tears leaked from her eyes, but now she was stoic, staring at the table.
An entire hour passed this way. Finally, Kagura pushed herself up from the table and stormed off to her room, slamming the door behind her.
Saiga gaped after her, mouth ajar.
"Hey!" He shouted at her door. "I was going to talk to you."
She swung open the door and glared at him. "So talk."
"I'm…I'm sorry."
Kagura lowered her eyes and shuffled back to the table. "I'm sorry, too," she muttered. "I should've stayed in my room."
"I shouldn't have yelled at you."
"I don't think it was as big of a deal as you made it out to be."
"You don't know the dream I was having." Saiga said, instantly regretting his choice of words.
Kagura blushed. "Do I want to know?"
He shook his head fiercely. "Forget it. But what was so important about sleeping in my room anyway?"
"I don't like being away from you—even for a short amount of time."
"Well, that's not going to work. You have to sleep in your own bedroom."
"Okay," she replied meekly.
He drummed his fingers on the table, then stood and held his arms open. Kagura jumped to her feet and, smiling, squeezed his chest.
"I don't like it when you're angry with me," she admitted.
"I'll try to keep my temper." He patted her back awkwardly.
. . .
Author's Note:
Saiga love!