Hei was seated on the bank of the still pool when Amber found him, leaning back against the gnarled roots of a towering tree and listening with eyes closed to the steady hum of insects that never seemed to stop, day or night. Amber's quiet passage through the undergrowth was like a swirling eddy in the stream of sound.

"Aren't you on watch with Bai?" he asked, not opening his eyes as she approached him from behind.

He heard the pause in her step, and could picture the small smile curving her lips. "Will I ever be able to catch you off guard?" she said, mostly to herself.

"Bai?" Hei repeated, opening his eyes. Ghostly mist was beginning to form over the shadowed water as night drew closer. Normally he tried to get some sleep when Bai had duties that didn't require his presence, but today the camp had felt too claustrophobic, his tent even more so.

Amber sat down next to him, tucking herself in between him and a twisted root. She pulled his arm around her shoulder and pressed close, despite the heat in the heavy air. She never seemed to mind the ever-present knives strapped to his side.

"The watch just changed over," she said. "Bai is checking her gear. Morado said to tell you we're moving out in one hour."

Hei didn't respond. Another midnight ambush of another mercenary camp. At least it wasn't a town this time; Carmine would remain behind, and Bai and Hei would do most of the killing. It would be clean.

Amber turned her attention to a flowering plant near her foot. Most of the pale yellow buds were closed, but a few were beginning to open. She leaned forward and plucked one of the open blossoms, twirling it between her fingers.

"Evening primrose," she said. "It only blooms at night. It reminds me of you." She drew back her long hair and tucked the flower behind her ear, then let her hair cascade back down.

"What do you think?" she asked, posing with her hand on her cheek as if for a vacation photo.

Hei looked at her for a long moment. He could almost forget that they were in the middle of a war. "You look nice," he said finally.

"Really? That's sweet of you to say." Amber smiled at him, then settled back and nestled her head in the crook of his neck. The petals in her hair tickled his chin.

Hei closed his eyes and held her close, hoping that this moment of peace would keep the nightmares at bay for another night.

He woke from the dream slowly, eyes opening to reveal the dim interior of the safe house. A small patch of bright sunlight was peeking through a chink in the curtains; it must be midmorning at least. Hei didn't remember going to sleep. He knew he should get up and check on Jiao-tu, but at the moment he was too comfortable to move. The dream still lingered on the edges of his consciousness; he thought he could still feel Amber resting in his arms.

Then something tickled his chin again, and he shifted his head to see a spill of soft chestnut hair across his chest.

Misaki.

They'd fallen asleep sitting up on the sofa, leaning against each other. She was curled tightly against him, head on his shoulder. Hei watched her sleep, her breathing measured and slow. Peaceful. He'd told her his darkest secret, the ugly truth that he was a monster of his own creation, that had nothing to do with his becoming a contractor. And she hadn't run.

A lock of hair had fallen across her eyes. He reached over to brush it aside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Misaki was almost afraid to open her eyes. She'd been dreaming of that night in the basement of the bar, when Hei had kissed her with such unexpected passion. Only in the dream, they'd done a lot more than just kiss. She thought she could still feel his hand cupping her face while he brushed the hair out of her eyes. She didn't want that feeling to fade.

It didn't. Gradually, she realized that the strong, steady heartbeat sounding in her ear wasn't her own, and the hand on her cheek wasn't the lingering memory of the dream. She opened her eyes. Hei was gazing down at her with a soft expression she'd never seen from him before.

He stroked her cheekbone with his thumb again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's fine," she replied, and wondered with an involuntary flush how long he had been watching her sleep, warm hand on her cheek. She hesitantly brought her hand up to his chest, feeling the sculpted muscles beneath the knitted fabric of his shirt, afraid that if she made one wrong move, he would retreat into his contractor persona and this beautiful waking dream would shatter. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's fine," Hei said, and the sincerity in his deep blue eyes told her that it truly was. She smiled. With his fingertips, he tilted her chin up until she could feel his warm breath on her mouth. They remained like that for a long moment, neither one quite ready to close the distance. Then Hei leaned in slightly.

His kiss was a question; just the lightest brush of his lips against hers, asking her permission, giving her every chance to push away, to run from him. She answered by crushing her mouth against his.

It was as if the past few weeks hadn't happened. They were alone in the basement, alone in her dream, and all her questions regarding his feelings for her disappeared. Hei took her face in both of his hands, slowing her torrent of passion into a long, sweet kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck, fingers clutching at his hair as she drowned in him.

They broke apart only long enough to gasp for breath before his mouth was on hers again, his tongue running along the inside of her lip. His hands slipped around her to pull her tighter against him. She didn't care that he was a contractor, didn't care that she had every reason to arrest him, or that she could lose her job over this. She felt the heat of his body and the hunger of his kiss and she wanted him.

She leaned away from him a bit, forcing him to follow if he wanted to keep their mouths locked. He caught on to her ploy quickly, and shifted his weight to lay her back against the seat cushions; Misaki could hardly contain a shudder of delight at the feeling of his body pressing down on hers. She wanted to wrap her legs around him, but they were pinned between the sofa back and his hip as he knelt above her.

She relinquished her hold on his neck and dropped her hands to his hips, rucking up his shirt so that she could trail her fingers across his rippling abs. She remembered the sight of him in his apartment, lying fevered and unconscious from KV-464's attack, skin glistening with sweat. Her fingertips traced the ridges of old scars that she hadn't noticed that night, ghosts of the death that followed in his wake. She'd yearned to touch him then, despite the seriousness of the situation, and could hardly believe that he was here, now, under her exploring hands.

As if taking his cue from her, Hei slid a hand down to her waist and slipped it under the hem of her shirt. She gasped at the feel of his calloused fingers following the outline of her ribs as his hand moved up to the band of her bra. She rolled slightly onto her side, pressing against his chest to allow him to reach the clasp, which he undid deftly. When he pushed away the lacy material to cup her breast, her own hands lost all sense of purpose. All she could do was cleave to him desperately, as if their passion was a tide that threatened to sweep her away.

His kisses were beginning to drift away from her mouth, and at first she turned her head to follow him, but the scratch of his unshaven chin on her heated skin entranced her, and she lay gasping for breath as he moved with lips, tongue, and teeth along her jaw line to her ear. He nipped at her earlobe, sending a jolt of pleasure straight to the center of her being, and a small moan escaped her.

Suddenly Hei froze, every muscle tense and stiff. At first Misaki thought it was her moan of pleasure that had startled him and didn't understand his reaction. But as he hovered above her protectively, she realized that his attention wasn't on her at all. Then she heard it too: the soft sound of a door sliding shut, followed by muffled footsteps and another door opening and closing.

Xu, going into the bathroom. She'd completely forgotten that the girl was even there. Misaki relaxed back into the cushions. Hei, on the other hand, didn't relax at all, but pushed himself off of her and off the sofa.

"I should check the perimeter," he said in a low, businesslike voice. And without waiting for an answer or even looking at Misaki, he strode around the sofa to the tiny entry hall. She heard something that might have been him putting on his shoes, then the quiet snick of the deadbolt as he unlocked the door and left the apartment.

Misaki was almost embarrassed, like she'd nearly been caught making out with her high school boyfriend by a nosy little sister. She felt a stab of irritation towards Xu, but it was gone as soon as it had come. That wasn't fair to Xu.

She curled onto her side and clutched a throw pillow to her chest, sighing in frustration. She should be thanking the young woman - that had been escalating way too quickly, and while she still felt a burning desire to be back in Hei's arms, this was hardly the time or the place.

That Hei felt an equal desire for her, she now had no doubt. Not after the carnal way he'd kissed her. She shivered at the memory. She hoped that the only reason he had left really was for security, and not because he was running from her.

She understood him much better now than she had before, now that she knew more of his past; it seemed as if he was two halves, contractor and human, and these halves were at war with each other. Misaki knew that it was his rational, calculating contractor nature that kept him alive day to day, but she fervently hoped that he would let his humanity win this particular fight.