And some time alone with Ikuto and Yuki...and a sworn promise that Ikuto will protect Yuki.

Protect You Always

Ikuto helped set an extra mattress to his room and set it down on the ground, a few inches closer to his bed and Lei brought in some blankets and pillows for Yuki to sleep in as well and as they helped set it up, Yuki comes out of the shower and heads to his room, wearing some of Ikuto's old shorts and vests and she said, "Thanks for letting me wear your son's clothes tonight."

"No problem, Yuki. Ikuto outgrew those when he was 13, so they fit just about your size really well." Lei answered.

"Mom...you really didn't have to tell her that I outgrew my clothes." Ikuto said, embarrassed.

"Sorry, son." Lei said, pinching his cheeks.

"Mom..." Ikuto whined, feeling the pinch of his cheeks.

Yuki giggled at this and notices Lei's way of still seeing her son as her pup and she said, "It's nice to have a mother that cares about you."

"Yeah...if she doesn't show your baby pictures." Ikuto answered.

"Oh...you've got to see my son's baby pictures in the morning. They're so cute that I keep them on my sword box." Lei stated.

"Mom...no one wants to see my baby pictures. They're too embarrassing." Ikuto said, blushing harder.

"Well goodnight, son. Sleep tight, Yuki." Lei said, leaving the room for a while.

Ikuto sighed at this as Yuki gets on the mattress and lays down there and she said, "I can tell that you deal with this everyday."

"I love my mom to death, but sometimes when you're older, you know how they are. They still see you as their little cub." Ikuto answered.

"Even when you get older, they'll always have the image of you as a little cub." Yuki finished.

Ikuto was surprised to hear that response Yuki got and it's like they understood what that feels like and Yuki said, "Trust me. I've been there with my parents since I was 13. My mom usually shows most of my baby pictures to everyone she knows."

"But not your dad?" asked Ikuto.

"No. My dad would never dare show everyone he knows my baby pictures. He's not that kind of father that would do that to me." Yuki replied.

"You're lucky." Ikuto added.

Yuki lays back and looks up at the ceiling for a while and thinks about the ordeal she had faced about bailing out of Kuzan and also dealing with the repercussions about being one of his victims and she felt really ashamed of herself for not stepping up to stop this earlier tonight and Ikuto noticed a little bit of silence and sadness in Yuki and he slowly walked to her and he said, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know. I just...I just feel so ashamed of myself over everything that happened tonight." Yuki replied.

Ikuto disagreed with that and he said, "Don't beat yourself up for it. You escaped from that guy."

"Yeah, but it still hurts." Yuki answered.

Ikuto sighed at this and this was a first for him to deal with the fact that his beloved Yuki had been abused, tortured and beaten by this criminal and he asked, "Why didn't you tell me this had happened to you?"

Yuki sighed again and sat up as he looked at Ikuto in the eye and said, "I was scared, confused, fearful for my life and just ashamed that something like this happened to me. I didn't know how to tell you. I was afraid that if you thought I would have a relationship with that jerk that you'd...leave me forever."

"I would never leave you for anything. I knew something was wrong with you for a long time, but I didn't know what it was. But when you told me about this guy, I wanted to go out and find this guy and give him a lesson on how to treat other girls and then throw him off a cliff." Ikuto answered.

"And another reason why I didn't tell you; Kuzan threatened me not to. He said if I told you or my family about this, he'd not only kill me, but he'll kill my entire family and everyone I care about as a capital punishment...and that he'd slit my throat and rape me." Yuki answered.

Something tells Ikuto that there was a lot more happening and he said, "Tell me everything."

Yuki then explained everything about how she had endured all the mental, physical and emotional scars that she had carried through those 18 months being abused, stalked, harrassed and mistreated by Kuzan and Ikuto's jaw dropped as Yuki explains some pretty explicit things that Kuzan would do to her or make her do and in most of those were refused and she'd get locked up for 12 hours, beaten with a metal object, threatened to get burned or thrown into a volcano and then manipulating her with some false facts about her family beheading her, saying that they don't care about her or hate her and also some lies about Ikuto and how Kuzan tells her that he's a molesting monster that rapes innocent girls and that a wolf shouldn't get romantically involved wth a tiger because it's against the laws of nature and the big lie Kuzan made that Ikuto is a serial rapist and murderer and that literally made Ikuto sick to his stomach that Kuzan would manipulate her like that.

"I didn't really believe any of those lies he told because they're just plain stupid anyway. I may be young, but I'm not stupid. I know that you have a really good heart and that you do love me and would never do anything to hurt me." Yuki said.

Ikuto immediately hugged her tightly and said, "You know that I would never do any of those things that that jerk said. I would never do anything to hurt you, Yuki. I made a promise to myself to protect you no matter what."

"I know you have. And you're the only guy in the whole entire world for me." Yuki agreed.

Ikuto sighed heavily as his ears drooped down and said, "Gods forbid, if something had happened to you and I wasn't there to protect you in time, I would never forgive myself. There's nothing I would love better other than spending the rest of my life with you. And who cares if something thinks we shouldn't be together? They don't matter at all. Akashi and Miyo are different species and they love each other. It's no different for both of us."

Yuki held onto his paw as his was on her shoulder and she said, "Promise you'll never leave me by my side."

"I promise." Ikuto whispered.

With that, both of them kissed each other on the lips very tenderly and after that, Yuki loved the feeling of it and she said, "I wish we can have moments like this."

"Yeah. Maybe when we're married, we can have some extra moments together alone." Ikuto said, smiling.

Ikuto went forward towards her mattress and kissed her on the forehead and whispered, "Good night, Yuki."

"Good night, Ikuto." Yuki answered.

Ikuto then got back on his bed and laid down as he looked at the ceiling and asked, "I'm somewhat of a snorer when I sleep. Hopefully, that doesn't bother you."

"Not at all. I snore too. Plus...I know I'll have a dream about you when I fall asleep." Yuki replied.

"Me too." Ikuto replied, with a smile.

So sweet! Stay tuned to see Yuki dreaming about Ikuto!