Laying on a warm futon. A woman's back pressed against my chest. I am holding her hands, and they feel strangely small in mine. She turns over front-to-front with me, but I cannot see her face because of her bangs. The rest of her shining black hair spreads like a fan behind her.

She runs a cool hand up my chest, landing butterfly kisses along their trajectory. As she does so, I can feel my scars disappear. She pulls away for a moment, and I can see her mouth, smiling, but it somehow seems sad to me.

"Do you love me?" I can barely hear what she whispers. And when the woman looks up at me with luminous sea-green eyes, and I gasp, my eyes widening.

"Misao?!" And it seems my surprise is enough because tears come to her eyes and she stands up and leaves, and I know that I will never see her again and I call out for her, tell her I love her, and then… I wake up.

I sat up, my heart hammering, putting a hand over my face. What kind of a dream was that?

There was a timid knock at my door. "Aoshi-sama?"

I try to get my breath back. "Yes?"

Misao slid the door open just enough for her to slip through. She was still in her sleep yukata. "Um…" she said, avoiding my eyes. "You called?"

"What?"

She looked at me, then quickly away again, her cheeks bright red. "You called out for me and-" she cut herself off. "Yeah." She looked away.

I also looked away. "I… That is… I was having a dream." I quickly changed the subject. "What time is it?"

"One o'clock in the morning." Misao answered promptly.

"I apologize for waking you up."

She laughed, waving her hand. "No, no! I was already awake." Then she shivered. "Haha. It's kinda cold. Your room is pretty warm though."

"Do you want to stay here for the rest of the night?" I blurted out before I could stop myself and assess how it sounded. "That is… I mean… Not like-" I stopped myself from talking.

Misao looked at me, her cheeks red. "U-um… I-if it's okay… I mean…" She stared at me for another few seconds, then she began laughing. "Haha… I'm sorry…"

"What is so amusing?"

She covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head at me. "No… It's… It's just… Aoshi-sama…" she stopped laughing, and looked at me. She smiled, and slipped into bed next to me. "It's warm…" she said drowsily.

I tried to keep all signs of anything but the utmost calm from my face. When I had said 'stay here for the rest of the night', I had meant her get on the futon, and I would stay up, reading. But… This situation is not entirely unpleasant. In fact… I would call it a… favorable turn of fate?

"Whenever I had a nightmare as a little kid, I used to do this. Climb into Aoshi-sama's bed." She said, stifling a yawn.

I raised my eyebrows. "Except you haven't been a child for quite a while now, and I was the one having a nightmare."

She laughed, but it was more like a smile with a breath. "Yeah, but it's kinda the same." She propped herself up on her elbows. "You gave me quite a shock, Aoshi-sama… I was just reading a little, and I could hear you in your room, call out for me and you said… you loved me… really desperately. Must've been a hell of a nightmare…"

What could I say to that? "…Indeed." She was so warm. And I didn't know how to answer. I simply turned onto my side and wrapped my arms around her, taking her small hands in mine. She relaxed against my chest, her breath evening out, but her heart hammering. As was mine.

"Hey, Aoshi-sama?" she asked, a while later.

"Hm?"

She turned around to face me. "Do you actually… love me?"

"More than anything." I suppressed the urge to yawn. "Go to sleep."

"So matter-of-fact as always, Aoshi-sama." She muttered sounding a little annoyed but very amused.

"Just tired." I said. I did yawn this time. "Conversations in the morning."

She snorted.

I yawn again and close my eyes. "I love you."

I could almost feel her eyes widening, her cheeks flushing and her lips pressing together to suppress a happy sound. "Aoshi-sama!"

"Now please sleep."