"You know, I think that's the first time I've ever had sex on a sofa," Misaki mused, half asleep as she listened to Hei's steady heartbeat beneath her head where they lay stretched out on the cushions.

He ran his fingers idly through her long hair, which was splayed across his chest, and her scalp tingled pleasantly at the touch.

"Really?"

Misaki felt a flash of irritation at his tone of surprise, then chided herself for it. So what if he'd been more adventurous than her in the past? It wasn't like she was completely inexperienced; but this was supposed to be a no-strings, casual hook-up. Neither of their pasts mattered. She doubted that he'd had many long-term relationships, given both his nature and the nature of his occupation - but he might have had to sleep with a lot of women as part of his job.

That was an ugly thought. Misaki pushed it from her mind - she didn't want to know anything about his past relationships, professional or otherwise. Instead, she focused on the sensation of his soft touch, the thump of his heart, the slow rise and fall of his chest. Her eyes began to drift shut under the soothing rhythm.

A loud rumbling in her ear startled her awake; the growl sounded again, and she laughed.

"Didn't you eat dinner?" she asked, turning her face up to look into his.

He nodded, looking slightly sheepish.

"You eat an awful lot," she mused, "but cooking isn't your price. Is it your appetite?" Misaki regretted the question as soon as she'd asked it; he was here because he trusted her with his identity, and she had no right to abuse that trust by asking such a probing question. "But no," she hurried on, hoping to cover her slip, "that can't be it. I would have gotten a call if your star was active at all today."

Hei's expression hardened at her words. Shit, she was just making it worse. She was trying desperately to come up with a way to dig herself out when he said in a low voice, "Keeping tabs on me, Chief Kirihara?"

His tone sent a shiver down her spine, and her eyes flicked to his in worry; but there was nothing in his gaze except his usual intensity. His hand had wandered to her breast, which he kneaded gently. Arousal washed through her, setting her skin to tingling.

"Of course," she answered, hardly believing her own daring. "You are the most wanted man in Tokyo, after all." She emphasized wanted with a squeeze of her own. Hei's breath caught at her touch; in a sudden movement, he twisted his body so that she rolled beneath him. Misaki stretched out beneath the press of his weight and hooked her leg behind his knee. She ran her hands down his back, feeling the muscles flexing smoothly beneath his skin.

He brushed a hand down her cheek - then his stomach gave another angry growl, and she burst out giggling. Her laughter sparked the desire in his eyes, and Misaki's pulse quickened under that burning gaze. "You'd better eat something, before you starve," she whispered.

The slight curve of his mouth told her that he intended to do just that.

~~~~o~~~~

By the time they were finished, it was clear that Hei was in need of real sustenance. Misaki was pretty sure that cooking together was not something that you did in an arrangement that wasn't a relationship, but she couldn't in good conscience send him home now, half-starved as he was. She reached over the side of the sofa for her underwear, suddenly acutely aware of her lack of clothing. That Hei had just seen every inch of her didn't matter; it was different, after. She slid down to the floor to retrieve her t-shirt. Hei rose behind her.

"I don't have much in the kitchen," Misaki said as she pulled her shirt down over her head, wincing a bit as the fabric brushed her pleasantly tender breasts. "We can order something if you like, though."

She picked up her glasses from the coffee table and put them on, then scanned the paper-strewn wooden surface. Not there. She turned and started searching in the sofa cushions.

"What are you looking for?" Hei asked. Misaki glanced up, and was slightly disappointed to see that he was buttoning up his jeans; she definitely preferred him out of them. Still, the denim riding low on his hips, combined with those naked abs…she realized that she'd been staring when he blushed slightly. She averted her gaze with a cough, resuming her search.

"My hair tie," she explained. "I hate the way it hangs in my face; I can't work like that."

"By your foot."

She looked down. "Oh. Thanks." Pulling her hair out of her eyes, she tied it back - and realized belatedly that she'd been giving him quite a view while down on her knees. She tugged her shirt down in a vain attempt to cover her sheer underwear, then stopped herself when he caught her eye.

Abruptly, Hei looked away, scratching the back of his head absently. "What do you have in the kitchen?" he asked. Misaki smiled at his awkward non sequitur.

"I don't know," she said. "We'll have to look."

He headed into the kitchen without waiting for her. Misaki followed behind. She paused to pick up her shorts; then, debating, dropped them again. It was probably wrong, how much she enjoyed seeing him thrown off balance; but she did.

When she entered the kitchen, she saw that Hei had found some packages of instant ramen in a cupboard. Misaki opened the fridge: there was nothing in there except some prepackaged bentos for her lunches the rest of the week; a bottle of soy sauce; and a carton containing seven eggs. She pulled out the soy sauce and the eggs.

"These are old, but I think they're still good."

Hei lifted out an egg and inspected it, then replaced it in the carton, seemingly satisfied. "Where are your pots?"

Misaki only had two, that she had picked up for cheap in college. Hei set the ramen to boiling in one pot, then began cracking eggs into the smaller, shallower one. She watched, fascinated by the way he could do it one-handed while he stirred. She'd seen him cooking like this once before, but something was different about it. After a moment, she was able to put her finger on the change. Previously, he'd been so tense and on edge, despite the fact that they'd been temporarily safe. And now that she thought about it, when he'd made her dinner as Li, that tension had still been present; except, it had manifested in a very Li-like apologetic chatter.

But now, his posture was relaxed; and though he was quiet, it was a comfortable, companionable silence.

"Do you have anything sweet?"

The question jolted her back to reality. "Um…" Spotting an unopened bottle of wine on the counter, she brought it over. "Kanami left this here a few weeks ago, but it's sweeter than I usually like. Will this work?"

He took the bottle and popped the cork; apparently it would work, because he added a generous measure to the egg and soy sauce mixture. "You seem close."

It took her a minute to fit any kind of context to the statement. "With Kanami?" She smiled. "Yes; we've been friends since junior high. In high school, she and Alice and I were inseparable."

"Alice?"

Damn, why had she brought Alice up? She opened her mouth to brush the name aside; but instead, found herself recounting the history of her friendship with the gang-leader's daughter. Hei didn't interrupt - most of the time he wasn't even looking at her, focusing instead on his task - but she could tell that he was listening.

"Kanami doesn't think that anything I could have done would have helped her," she finished pensively, staring at the floor. "But…I don't know, I keep thinking that there must be something I missed. Something that would have made a difference."

"You don't blame her for betraying you?"

Misaki glanced up into his face. He had the same look of empathy that had so surprised her when they'd first talked together, in that hotel bathroom stall. She wondered, again, who had betrayed him; but she didn't feel right asking.

"No," she said honestly. "It wasn't about me - not really. Even though I was still her friend, she didn't see it that way." Misaki shrugged. "Anyway. I'm sorry to talk so much - but thanks for listening. Now, and then."

She thought she saw his expression soften at the allusion to that first, strange meeting. "I like listening to you talk," was all he said, as he turned to dish out the food.

They ate on the floor of the living room, knees touching beneath the coffee table. Misaki wasn't very hungry, and only ate a small portion, despite how surprisingly good it was. Hei devoured the rest. As he ate, Misaki talked just to fill the silence; mostly meaningless chatter about her day. She took care not to mention anything that was classified. Not because she didn't trust him: she didn't think that he would care about the details of her cases, but she didn't want to burden him with information that he might feel obligated to pass on to his employers, or feel guilty for keeping from them.

All too soon, Hei finished his midnight meal; Misaki wasn't ready to see him go. "Are you busy tomorrow night?" she asked, trying to sound casual, her gaze focused on the inside of her bowl.

"I have to work."

She looked up sharply.

"At the restaurant," he added carefully.

"Oh. Okay." How she was going to deal with the reality of his other job, she hadn't quite figured out. But the less she thought about it, the better. "So what do you do in your time off?" she asked, suddenly curious.

He scraped up the last of the noodles from his bowl. "Walk around the city, usually. Today I went to the library."

"The library?" Misaki asked, nonplussed.

Hei's face was expressionless when he replied, "It's the place where they keep all the books."

It took her a moment to realize that he was teasing her; then she snorted a laugh. "Ass," she said, and flicked a piece of egg at him. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, the closest that she ever saw him get to a smile. "Why did you go to the library? And don't you dare say 'to read'."

"I'm not great at reading kanji; I like to practice reading newspapers."

Misaki smiled at this little peek into his life. "I thought kanji was the same in Chinese?"

"A lot of it is; enough isn't that it's hard sometimes." He shrugged lightly. "It's better than sitting at home."

She started to reply, but an unexpected yawn took over.

"I'll go, so you can get some sleep." Hei stood abruptly; picking up their bowls, he headed into the kitchen and began washing up.

Misaki followed. "You don't have to do that."

"I don't mind."

She hesitated. "You don't have to leave, either." If there was one thing that she knew about casual sex, it was that you weren't supposed to stay the night. But right now, she didn't care. He looked to her in surprise, and she hurried on. "I mean, there's plenty of room in my bed for two people, and it's a long walk back to your place."

"I'll have to go before it gets light," he said slowly, and her heart warmed a little.

"Okay."

He nodded, expression soft. "Okay."

Misaki helped him finish washing the dishes, then turned off the lights. They made their way into the dark bedroom and undressed. "Oh, wait," Misaki said, then dashed back out into the living room to grab her phone. She placed it in its customary spot on her nightstand and plugged it into the charger, then pulled Hei down to the mattress with her. At first, he settled stiffly a few inches away; but she scooted to his side. Encouraged, he spooned up against her. She heard his quiet, contented sigh and smiled. He wrapped his arm around her, and she felt herself drifting off to sleep almost immediately.

This had the potential to become a dangerous habit, she knew - but she didn't care.