Chapter Two, Little Mischief

I blinked my heavy lidded eyes, struggling back to consciousness. There was a pleasant sensation along my cheek and I realized that it was something was being dragged from my eyebrow to my jaw. I stirred, shifting slightly. I felt quite warm. I came into a comfortable awareness of where I was and turned towards Kyoya. His hand stilled as it trailed from my jaw. I smiled at him, blinking wearily. I hadn't realized that I could ever fall asleep in the daylight. Then again, I can't ever recall being so relaxed before.

"You're cute when you sleep," he said, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "To be honest I hadn't expected you to fall asleep."

I blushed weakly, "Neither had I," I admitted shakily, covering a yawn. I moved closer to my husband, letting my head rest against his chest, under his neck. "You're very comfortable," I said suggestively.

"Did you forget the last lesson we had here, or are you just unusually flirtatious?" he asked his mouth near my ear.

"I'm just very relaxed," I purred, oblivious to the warmth spreading through my body.

He set his hand on my shoulder, "Come one Ashia, it's time to wake up," he said shaking me.

I caught his hand and pulled it towards me, surprising him. "I'm awake," I murmured.

"Come on Ashia," he said pausing. Had I been in my usual frame of mind I would have known what was coming next. Sometime after our marriage, my husband had discovered one nickname that set me off every time. He still didn't know why, but he did have a highly accurate guess. He just didn't know the finer details. I refused to tell them to him. "Sweetheart," he called, eyes burning with amusement.

I withdrew from him with an angry rasp, fixing him with a firm glower. I was now awake. That was what he had called me in my nightmare. Sweetheart. I remembered when we had been in the hotel after the reception about to depart for our homes. He had been trying to find something to annoy me with as I had experimented with a couple of irritations. By sheer luck a couple walked past us, the husband referring to his wife as sweetheart. He had called me and in retaliation I had immediately blushed and glowered. The lingering horror of that dream would torment me for the rest of my life.

"I'm awake," I informed him venomously as I cast a glance to the digital clock on his bedside table. Two hours after noon. I whirled to my husband, agape. "I slept for two hours?!" that was unheard of for me. Unless I was sick I never slept during the day, the schedule just wreaked havoc on me.

He sat up, placing his hands on each cheek as he leaned towards me with a tender, sweet kiss. I returned it happily, letting the pleasurable sensations take my mind off my troubles. He was still half-naked, his torso bare. I let my hands wander across his flesh again and we separated. I was breathing a little heavier, and curious to know what he felt like. We were both sitting up, looking at each other and I moved my hands to rest on his chest, looking at him in puzzlement.

"You were so relaxed, I didn't want to bother you," he said softly.

I sat up a little straighter to press my lips against his cheek, "I didn't mean to fall asleep." I wrapped my arms around his neck and he set his around my back as we embraced. "Did your arm fall asleep?" I could distinctly remember lying on it when I had fallen asleep. He nodded against me, and I knew that he was inhaling my scent. "It must have hurt," I murmured.

He chuckled slightly, "It wasn't that bad, but it did test my endurance." I felt him flex said arm. "Pins and needles." I disentangled myself from him, looking at him with concern. I kissed him again, apologetic.

"Only pins and needles after two hours?"

He moved his arm, lightly wincing at it and chuckled at my expression. "It exceeded that sensation an hour ago. It went numb." He looked at his arm curiously, almost like he was expecting it to fall off at any time.

"And you expect that it will just fall off?" I teased.

"No, I'm just wondering how long it will take before the circulation comes back and the pin-and-needle sensation resumes." He grimaced suddenly, "And there it begins again."

I grinned at him, and moved closer to him, setting my lips so close to his that there was only a hair's breadth dividing us. "I could make you forget about it," I purred with a wicked gleam. I felt quite refreshed and playful.

I laughed as his pillow met the side of my head in a playful swat. He frowned at me, delight and humor twinkling in his eyes. "You let lust control you too often."

"Really?" I quipped. "Who was the one who pinned me under him? Hmm?"

He gave me a cool, unreadable expression and effectively hid his thoughts on my comment from me. I let out a low chuckle and fell back on the bed, lying sprawled. It was very comfortable. He looked down at me, one of his eyebrows raised. I looked away from him, and he pulled away, making his way to his wardrobe.

He paused, half opening the stylish doors. "Are you going to stay and watch me change, Ashia?"

I squeaked involuntarily, blushed, and fled his room. One day I would. One day. But that time wasn't now. It wasn't anywhere within the next few months that I would do that. But then again I wasn't entirely certain if that would hold true. It would depend on how many other situations like this that we had. I was bound to become more comfortable in situations like that if we continued to have moments like this.

I was only waiting outside his door, and when the door opened, he was fully dressed and looking as smooth and sophisticated as ever. He glanced at me and offered a wry smile. He grabbed my hand and before I had time to ask anything, we were making our way out of his house. The maids didn't look at us as we continued on our way and I was grateful. I didn't want to know what the nosy maid had thought of us like that. I supposed that to be honest it was irrelevant. I was married to Kyoya. But although we were married we had so few moments like these due to our age and living quarters. Neither my family nor his thought it appropriate for me to move in with him until we had graduated.

My husband didn't even stop for breakfast which was unlike him. He usually did his best to keep healthy. Kyoya wasn't one to invite illness to him if he had a choice to avoid it. He had a clear chance to get something from the chef, but he passed it by as we left the house. There was a limousine waiting and we entered into it quickly, my puzzlement and intrigue only doubling as we settled in the car. I looked at him wonderingly.

"Are you trying to get sick?" I asked, looking at him worriedly.

His smile softened, "No. I just wanted to get out of my house before you seduced me."

I blushed and looked away. I hadn't been trying to do anything like that. I refused to say anything in response to his comment. It was beneath me. And to prove that point, I lifted my head and looked away, the perfect image of an arrogant aristocrat.

"Ashia, sweetheart," he called softly, smirking.

It took every last ounce of my strength to not glower at him. I couldn't help that my hand clenched around his. He chuckled. I really needed to get back at him somehow but I had no idea how. He rarely revealed things to me that he didn't mean too. I had yet to surprise him.

I hope this doesn't come out too badly. To be honest, I wasn't too happy with it. Which is why it took so long to update. I'm not exactly impressed with the thousand word amount in this update, but it's still a new type of writing for me. I hope it's ok at the very least, and I hope you like. Thank you for reading and reviewing.