Sha hadn't seen the interior of the café in weeks. The only difference this time was the amount of people at the table. Six instead of three or four if they could catch Sukuna and get her to come out. The company kept was also vastly different. In fact, most everything in the situation was a complete shift from their norm. The walls of the café gave her a sense of normalcy.

It was what allowed her to act herself, despite the company at the table. She was still able to laugh as if it were just her and the team. To react with ease. She was able to amend a story and add on. She needed the interaction on familiar ground.

The man to her left, however, found himself distracted most of the outing. Before then, he had brief glimpses of what Sha would deem her normal self around others. Hiei had mainly avoided the social rings that erupted through the house while they were at Salem's so he had never really let himself see before. He somewhat hated himself for the deprivation.

He had made her smile, of course, but not like this. Not accompanied by slight tears from her laughter of completing the recollection of the presented story. Each weighed in their own laugh, but he could still hear hers clear among the noise. He waited to hear more, but with the story finished she resumed her meal like the others.

The sudden halt in conversation made him more aware of where his mind was going. He excused himself and left the table.

In his absence, all eyes fell to Sha. She noticed the sudden intrusion and looked up. "What? Not like it's a sign I have to follow him or something." She snorted. "Come on, we're not that bad."

Hyouga shrugged and popped another fry into her mouth. "Thought maybe he was looking for some stall nookie."

"Ew. No." Sha slid her knife through the rest of her fish. "Don't say that ever again, and two, mind your own business with this one."

Kurama also excused himself, following Hiei's retreating path.

He found said demon in the restroom, not quite looking at his reflection. "To be fair, I'm surprised you're here. Being in enclosed spaces is not your thing."

"I can do it when I feel the need to."

Kurama took a few steps behind him. "I know I'm here for Kitsu, and Salem for Hyouga. Is it true you're—"

"In a physical relationship. For now." He turned around on the fox, knowing his company was not there to use the facilities. "Being here wasn't exactly my idea."

"I wouldn't think a date to be something you were capable of initiating. Let alone go through with. Even less so with a group." He cocked a brow. "With simply a physical relationship."

"I was brought under the ruse of food I didn't have to kill or buy myself. You were there. Only halfway did Salem say we were going to get them. Not like it changed my incentives."

Kurama gave a knowing smile. "Though it added one once we arrived." He tapped his nose.

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Oh please. You didn't do the same?"

He simply walked away with his smile, forcing Hiei to let out an annoyed huff through his nose. He returned to the table, seeing conversation had picked up again between Salem and Kitsu. Hyouga chimed in every so often. He didn't hear a damned word of it. Upon his return, Sha leaned over to him.

"Is everything alright?"

"Only wanting something a little more quiet. And secluded."

She hummed in amusement. "I do need to work when we leave here. However, that doesn't mean we can't make later better."

His curiosity piqued. "How so?"

"Let's say that I have something at home to wear later. Just for you."

Oh. He looked around the table, but no one heard. They were each too engrossed in the other conversation at that point. It was this game, then. He felt his blood stir. "To wear, or to hide just what I want to see?"

"A little of both."

He was enjoying forming the mental image. "Black, of course."

"Mm, with a red bodice." She rested her chin close to his shoulder so he could hear her drop her voice. "Black tights held up by a garter belt."

He took in a sharp breath he hid behind his coffee. "And panties?"

She let out a subtle hiss of a purr. "What panties?"

"Fucking hell, good girl," he muttered. Before he realized what he said she was going with it.

"I can bend over the couch like I did yesterday, tail and ass in the air." She dropped her voice again "Begging."

He felt a rush of blood meet his cock as he tried to figure out the words that wanted to fall past his lips.

A mere whisper. "Dripping wet."

The memory of her scent filled his nose, kicking the words right out of his mouth. "I won't apologize if it ends up a torn mess. If I ruin those tights from friction." He kept partial attention to the others. A particular scent hit his nose. He smirked. "Naughty girl, you're wet now, aren't you?"

"You're helping with that part."

"Am I? Shall I stop? Just as I was about to talk about holding your tail tight to my chest as I rode your ass till you begged me to fuck your drenched pussy?"

Heat flashed through her cunt. "Don't."

"This was a good idea. I already have a few thoughts in mind for later. If there is still enough in that bottle in your drawer."

"There is." She smirked. "So, you did like that."

"Didn't hate it, obviously." He noticed the others returning their attention to the remains of their food. "Hopefully you didn't."

"Not in the slightest." She followed his attention and sent their conversation on a different track. Or attempted to. "I get off at 5:30."

He grinned and kept his voice low. "You get off when I say you do."

She felt another flash of heat. "If you feel you can tame a dragon."

"Trust me, di'mio, that won't be an issue." The question was did he even want to tame her? He let her join a conversation with the others, leaving him to his thoughts once more. What was stirring in his blood was more than just an image of the night before him. Much more than a good part of him wanted to tame her. He could see himself growing some sort of attachment to her in the future, but he wasn't sure how far he'd slip. His last relationship was more distance than intimacy. He had never developed such carnal urges as he did now. His bloodlust would typically manifest into the urge to fight and to kill as needed. Until he started fucking her. Which was why she had more rutting scars than females typically would. Though to be fair, fucking a dragon, even half of one, did not leave him unscathed in the slightest.

He looked up as he heard his name faintly called by Salem.

"Finish up what you want. Their lunch is about over."

Kitsu groaned. "Don't remind me."

"We're mostly through the Li's," Sha said half-heartedly. "Years of work, but steady pay." She looked around. "And actually, good news while I'm with you all. I finally have enough for the house on the outskirts." She waited for the scattered compliments to die down. "So, that being said, I could use some help moving in probably two weeks?"

"Yeah, we got you," Hyouga said. "That two story you've been after for a year, right?"

Sha nodded. "If I'm making a life, I'm getting settled into a place I don't have to borrow. I started going forward with the paperwork. Just want to do a few things with it first. Paint and whatnot."

"That's still a bit farther for the portal to work," Kitsu said.

"And as I pointed out before I'll just fly. Not an issue there." She smirked. "You just don't want me to leave the city, do you?"

"When did you find out?" Hyouga asked.

"About an hour ago." They started shifting to the front register to pay their tabs. "So, here's hoping it's my year."

"We'll for sure be the muscle," Salem said, slinging his arms around the other two men. "Move you quicker." Hiei shrugged out of the grip and stepped aside. "Though a small one-bed to a four bedroom? That won't take long. You'll be refurnishing more than moving."

"That's the plan. From what I understand, it's better to buy the essentials for the permanent house."

"Well I'm happy for you at least," Hyouga said. "You need it. You're not a city girl. You and people don't exactly get along."

"It shouldn't be so damned hard to order a damned coffee, so why do they stand there for ten minutes adding shit so pretentiously?"

They each paid their tab and said their goodbyes, the females splitting off from the males to go about the respective businesses.

Kitsu was the first to break the silence for the females as they returned to the nearest portal to Spirit World. "Okay, so you're obviously still fucking him."

Sha rolled her eyes and Hyouga thwapped the fox about the head. "Lack of class, much?" the dog demon said as Kitsu rubbed her head.

"Whatever, just an observation. Just weird he was there is all. He's not social, so what else would make him come out into public? It's for sure not to do something nice."

"You should be a detective," Sha said with an annoyed sigh. "So what if we're still fucking?"

"Nothing. I don't know why you're getting defensive. At least you have an outlet again. Unless it's more than that."

"It's not." She pressed the button as they came to an intersection so they could cross the sidewalk unharmed.

"At least not yet it's not," Hyouga said, rewarding her with a glare from Sha.

"Whatever it is, or whatever it becomes, it is what it is." Sha frowned. "As confusing as that sounds."

"Sha, I'm not taunting you," Kitsu said. "I'm happy for you, really. It's Sukuna that's going to mock you, even at risk of her own safety."

"She does like to poke the dragon in the eye more than she should," Hyouga said. "Literally, once."

"Singed hair can be taken care of. It gave her an excuse to get it cut," Sha said with a sniff. "But... you two know me. Or at least know enough by now to know it takes me a long time to open up and trust enough with little details of my life." She adjusted the strap of her purse as they got the white to move forward. "Intimacy is still something that I thought was dead of me. It's going to take some time to admire him enough to let it go, little by little. I think it's the same for him." She felt her blood run a bit faster. "And with this house, that means if it does become a real thing, he'd be living there. We'd be domesticated." She shivered, not from the cold. "It's still scary, okay?"

She startled at a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Hyouga's amber eyes. "I get it."

"Same," Kitsu said. "These six weeks have been different for us. You have some catching up to do, but we can get you through some of it, at least." She grimaced. "Sorry for being a bitch and ditching you so much, by the way."

Sha shrugged. "It's okay. Water under the bridge, I think is that saying."

"Yeah, that's right." Hyouga grinned. "English for over a hundred years and you still need clarification."

"Some things in Dracish don't translate." She looked to Kitsu. "So different how?"

"It's weird at first, seeing so much of another person, especially a significant one in your life. It's a lot of sex at first, where and when you can, and then that dies down as you ride that lust wave."

Hyouga nodded. "Not to say it gets boring. You get comfortable. It's actually nice, not having to be the only one to be on alert for threats." They approached the portal. "However, you're also different. You have a weird situation where you're both hot-headed. Don't know how you two are alone, but I know it's going to be unique for you."

"Because we don't fawn over each other?" Sha scoffed. "Waste of effort."

"Uh-huh. So, you were whispering cake recipes in his ear at lunch then? Because that look he switched to after you started muttering oozed a certain…"

"Predatory nature," Kitsu supplied.

"That phrasing works, too." She looked back to Sha, who was glancing anywhere but at her friends. "So, you do have a good thing going. Don't be afraid of the label domesticated. You will be anything but, so long as he keeps those eyes burning only for you."

"I don't believe for a second you could ever truly be domesticated. Comfortable, yes, but in a way an animal would be in their den," Kitsu added.

They paused their conversation to pass through the portal.

Instantly they were among the hustle and bustle of the ogres running rampant on the main floor. While they were aiding in digitalizing the records to make it easier on everyone in the long run, the majority of ogres still needed to handle where and when to send out the reapers. At least with the completion of the digitalized records, the need for paper plummeted, and less of the Spirit World forests needed to be used. Eventually the ogres would be able to just pull up records without needing to sort through kilos of paper.

"We can talk more later. Better to get to the Ms today, I think," Sha said finally. They saw Sukuna walk down the hall towards their offices. "I didn't spend all that extra time here the last six weeks to have it squandered by a spider." At Kitsu and Hyouga's confused glances, Sha added, "What was I supposed to do the last six weeks to keep me motivated? A little healthy competition helps."

They retreated to their respective offices, throwing around plans for the rest of the week as they went. Once Sha was back in her office, she set her purse on the coat rack by her door. The scent of sex still lingered in the air. She sighed and settled in for what felt like the longest four hours of her life.