One Shot Smut

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Written for Red Brunja, not in answer to her challenge but as a gift for a very dear friend. I do hope you all enjoy this as well!

They fell back on the bed, gasping and sweat slicked. Yaone made a small protesting sound as he slid out of her, carefully removing the spent condom and tossing it into the can by the side of the bed. He immediately resettled himself on top of her, letting the cool air dry their skin before they crawled under the covers. Yaone smiled lazily up at him, tracing a finger down his cheek and across his lips. He kissed her fingertip gently, watching her face closely as he sucked lightly at it. Her smile brightened a little as she chuckled lightly underneath him. "Again so soon? I'm sorry, but after what we just did, I honestly don't think I'll be able to go another round."

Hakkai laughed, pressing his face to her neck and placing a few tender kisses to her skin. "And here you thought it couldn't be done," he remarked, shifting to one side of her so they could snuggle better. They had a bet going between them in regards to the Kama Sutra's sexual positions segment. He said they could get through ever single technique in the book before the end of the year. She said it wasn't possible, arguing that with the irregularity of her availability as well as being under time constraints upon the occassions when they did have the opportunity for a more intimate encounter, about thirty percent of what was suggested couldn't be done. So far, unless something unexpected happened, it looked like he might win the bet. She was, of course, stating that he cheated by doing two or three different techniques in one encounter. He was very quick to remind her on those occassions she hadn't complained while he'd been doing them.

Yaone rolled her eyes and turned onto her side to face him, slinging the blanket over them both in the process. Immediately, Hakkai draped an arm over her hip and pulled her to him, smiling when she in turn settled her arm around his waist. "That remains to be seen," she reminded him firmly. "The year is coming to an end pretty soon, and we still have quite a bit more to go."

He kissed her to quiet any further doubts about his estimation, his fingers sneaking beneath the blanket to run along her hip lightly. Yaone moaned and flicked her tongue against his lips, encouraging him to open his mouth for her. He met her tongue halfway, heat pooling in his stomach but not reaching into his groin quite yet. He was still rather worn out by the the acrobatics involved in their most recent round. Besides, he liked cuddling after sex and Yaone was a very good cuddler. He couldn't resist the urge to tickle the spot where her hip curved into her stomach, smiling against her lips when she squirmed away from him. "Something wrong?" he asked, running his fingers over the spot again.

She jumped, breaking their kiss completely to give him a mock glare that was ruined by the smile breaking across her face. "Don't," she warned lightly.

He was such a glutton for punishment. Yaone shrieked, laughing as he hauled her to him. She swatted at his arms and hands as his fingers quickly began searching out every area he knew of that made her squirm; her stomach, the small of her back, the area of skin right behind her tapered ears. She was breathlessly begging him to stop, tucking herself into a tight ball in an attempt to cover up as much of herself as possible. Hakkai, laughing and just as breathless, curled around her and ran his hands soothingly down any area he could get to. "Okay... okay, I'm done. I promise, no more," he swore, chuckling still as he layed a few kisses to her elbow and upper arm. It was all he could really get to from this position, unfortunately.

Yaone uncurled herself slowly, her pale brown eyes narrowed and suspicious. "You promise?" she repeated doubtfully.

Hakkai grinned and caught her hand as her arms unwrapped themselves from around her. "I already did, but if it'll make you feel better I'll do it again."

"No... once was enough." She stretched herself out next to him again, pressing their foreheads together so they could stare into each other's eyes.

Hakkai's smile gentled from amusement to affection as he continued to rub her arms tenderly. What happened next was completely unplanned and came from he-didn't-know-where. "I love you."

Both of them drew back at the words, their eyes equally round and filled with shock. Hakkai's cheeks burst out in a bright wash of embarassed blush, unbelieving he'd actually said that to her. Yaone's lips parted in a shaky breath as she sat up slowly, running her fingers back through her bangs. "You... what?" she asked asked incredulously.

He sat up with her, his back against the head board and with his mind racing over what to do. He just said he loved her. He hadn't planned on saying it... but apparently he'd been thinking it subconsciously. Did he really love her, or was it only a fluke? He glanced at her, watching him carefully and with such a guarded look on her face that it made his chest ache. It was then that he decided he did love her. It was a different kind of love from what he'd had with Kannan, but he knew the general feel of the emotion. He smiled at her and met her gaze, confident in his unconscious decision. "I... love you, Yaone."

She blinked, her eyebrows forming thin, confused lines across her forehead. And then she got up and began getting dressed. Hakkai felt a weight settle into his stomach as he watched her preparing to leave, reattaching the chains to her top and keeping her back to him as much as possible. Never had he been so confused by the opposite sex as he was with her in this moment. Was it the wrong time for that kind of honesty? They'd been seeing each other fair regularly for over a year. Perhaps she had just remembered something she needed to do before returning? That had happened before, and right in the middle of her giving him oral sex. Frustrating didn't even begin to cover THAT disappointment as she'd sprinted from the room muttering about needing more mint. He had refused to touch mint for a week after that.

Hakkai swung his legs over the side of the bed, the sheets coming with him for the sake of modesty. He watched her hurry around the room to gather her belongings and felt a hurt pang stab through his chest. "Was it wrong of me to say that?" he asked miserably, raking his fingers through his hair and hoping to catch her eye through all the dashing back and forth. The last thing he had ever intended was to make her feel uncomfortable.

Yaone paused in stuffing a spare shirt into her bag and closed her eyes. Her fingers curled tightly into the cotton as she let out a long, low sigh before walking over to him. Hakkai spread his legs enough for her to fit between them, looping his arms around her hips as she circled her own around his neck. The look in her eyes was one of regret and a bit of pain, but he couldn't imagine it was because he said he loved her. "Hakkai... you're incredibly sweet," she began slowly, her fingers idly combing through the back of his hair. "The gods know I do care about you. You're... well, you're what every girl wants to show off to her friends and introduce to her father."

He wanted to smile at the odd compliments, typical of Yaone to give him, but had the sick feeling that this wasn't going to be the happy conversation he expected would follow a declaration of love.

"But... you don't love me."

That made him set her a little away from him, frowning up at her very serious face. She meant what she said. She honestly thought he didn't love her? But... He shook his head, lost and confused by what was going on. "Yaone," he began, pausing to clear his throat before continuing. "Yaone... why would you say that? After all this time... you really think I don't care about you?"

Yaone's smile was patient and sad as she leaned down and kissed him lightly. "I never said you didn't care," she murmured against his mouth. "I know you care about me. But you don't love me. You can't love me."

It took a moment or two, but he suddenly came to a conclusion as to what brought this on. Hakkai laughed gently and hugged her to him, rubbing his cheek along the leather covering her stomach. "Is this about us being enemies?" he questioned, the amusement still coming through as he spoke. "Because, if it is, I think we're well past that stage of concern."

She pulled away from him again, using her fingertips to gently tip his head back and meet his gaze. Hakkai felt the smile slide off his face when he noticed she was still wearing that same thoughtfully sad expression. "It has nothing to do with that," she explained gently. She let out a frustrated huff of breath, her eyebrows creasing as she tried to sort out what she was trying to say. He waited patiently, if with more than a little trepidation, and rubbed her lower back in slow, even circles. Finally, she looked him in the eye again and said more certainly, "I love you."

"Well, that's good to know."

"No. I mean, I love you. All of you."

His breath caught and a bolt of anxiety slashed through him when her fingers traced over his limiters for emphasis on the 'all' portion of her declaration. He had to remind himself to breathe, his heart rate skipping eratically. The limiters vibrated in response to her touch, the metal reacting to the youkai aura surrounding her. Unlike a majority of the youaki energy he could sense, hers was incredibly stable. The only time it ever shifted from its normal calm was when she was coming for him. At those moments, it would spike sharply and send tingles of sensation across his skin. While he couldn't deny how fantastic it felt, it also disturbed him to a very small degree. Every time he felt her aura, it made the youkai part of him strengthen. It made him want to do things to her that were... well... beastial, to put it bluntly. Yaone was the type of woman who deserved to be worshiped for hours. What he wanted to do to her when her energy peaked didn't fall under the umbrella of 'worshiping' at all.

His hand caught her wrist quickly, an automatic reflex to anyone besides himself touching his limiters. His entire back went straight, his body thrumming with the stillness of someone preparing to be attacked. It was all done on an unconscious decision, a conditioned reaction from his brain, but he could tell her response to it in the quickly sucked in breath and the tightening of her wrist under his fingers. Hakkai swallowed hard and forced his hand to relax its hold on her wrist. He couldn't meet her eyes, knowing they would show how deeply hurt she was by a reaction he had no control over. His eyes squeezed shut and it was now his turn to struggle for words that could explain and sooth hurt feelings at the same time.

Slowly, his shoulders curled forward and his eyes opened, staring fixedly at her stomach. She let him slide her hand away from his ear, pressing her palm to his cheek as his lips grazed against her wrist in gentle apology. "You don't know what you're saying," he finally stated in a soft voice. The aura around her was warm, calming almost. It was part of her youkai power, the ability to sooth stress away. It made dealing with difficult patients easier, she'd only half teased when he'd asked her about it. But to feel her aura stir against him so soon after touching his limiters... The images his youkai self conjured forth made him close his eyes again to keep her from seeing that darker side. He didn't want to explain to her that it made him want to mark her pale skin with his teeth. He waited until the little fantasy faded away before speaking again. "If I take my limiters off, I become-,"

"-A youkai," she interupted, speaking the words against the top of his head.

"A monster," he corrected on a whisper.

Yaone slipped lower in his arms, dropping to her knees between his legs so that their faces were on the same level. The look she gave him was one of gentle concern, deep affection and a thin lacing of pain. Her hand was still cupping his cheek, the thumb of that hand rubbing along his lower lip as if it could erase the word he just used. "Youkai and monster are not synonymous, Hakkai," she replied softly but with a firmness to her words as if she could convince him of the truth through sheer will alone. "There are youkai who act monstrously, but that can also be said of humans. Being youkai doesn't make you a monster."


"Yaone..."
"I'm youkai. Do you think I'm a monster?"

Hakkai flinched at the question but was quick to shake his head negatively. "No. God, no!" He would kill anyone to call this woman a monster.
"Then why do you call yourself that?"

He had no answer for her. She didn't understand what happened when he removed his limiters. She didn't know... He couldn't look at her any longer, an embarassed heat burning across his cheeks.

Sighing, Yaone leaned her forehead to his briefly before her lips touched his cheek and moved further back to whisper in his ear. "Love works two ways, Hakkai. it's meant to be reciprocated. How can you love me when you won't let me love you in return?" She stood up and unwound his arms from around her, slinging her bag to her shoulder as she went for the door.

Hakkai sat frozen on the bed, reeling in shock over what had just happened. He knew she was right. If he truly loved her, he wouldn't be hiding himself from her. He should trust her to accept him. It was just such a monumentally difficult thing to allow when he couldn't even accept himself. But if he wanted her to stay... if he loved her... It took every last scrap of will and control to force his body to stand up, the sheets slipping down his waist to pool at his feet and leave him completely naked. She was reaching for the door now. Hakkai closed his eyes, inhaled deeply and let it out slowly to silence the voice inside him screaming at him to just let her go. "Yaone."

He heard the light scraping of her boots as she turned around to face him. A blush stained his cheeks dark red, born out of embarassment and a slight thread of anger that she had backed him into this corner through unfallible logic. He kept his eyes closed, unwilling to look at the horror bloom across her face when she finally realized just what exactly he was. Slowly, his fingers touched the metal on his limiters.

The sound of the metal hitting the wooden floor came as a sharp clink.

Hakkai hissed as heat flared and radiated from the scar marring his stomach. It traced in lines and swirls across his skin, and he knew without looking that those lines were becoming an intriquately detailed vine pattern on his skin. He could feel every inch of skin the vines touched, every delicate curl looking like the world's most delicately maed tattoo. Hair that normally was short and well kept trailed down the back of his neck and brushed across his shoulders. He could feel his ears stretching and tapering off at the end, allowing the sounds all around him to become more distinct. The insects creaking and buzzing outside, the faintest hitch to her breathing... her heart skipping a beat before picking up in tempo. He grit his teeth as the canines elongated, becoming sharper and very foreign in his mouth. When he went to curl his hands into fists, he had to remember to be careful of the wickedly pointed claws.

The transformation was complete, leaving him feeling more than just exposed in his nudity. He could feel her gaping at him, could hear her physical response to seeing him in this form. He knew she was conscious of the change in his aura seeing as he himself could feel the heady, rushing pulse more clearly than when he wore his limiters. It was heat. It was raw emotion. It was pure power that was just begging to be released. There was nothing kind or gentle to his energy now. It was all about domination and destruction. While he knew it would kill him completely if she turned and left, he couldn't fault her for it. He terrified himself in this form.

Her bag hit the floor with a thud that rang more clearly in his sensitive ears. He waited, breath stuck in shallow exchanges of air between his lungs and his nose, as her footsteps came back toward him. He caught her scent and instantly regretted the inhale he took of it when his cock began to harden. She always smelled so very good to him. Leather cleaner, gunpowder, freshly cleaned laundry, and a hint of perfume to try and cover it all up. He enjoyed the perfume, a lightly sweet floral scent that wasn't excrutiating on the nose like many of the same kind. It was lovely and suited her well... but it wasn't nearly as intoxicating as the natural smell of her skin. Her skin reminded him of raw vanilla; richer and smokier, more exotic than the processed kind. It made his mouth water for a taste of her.

"Oh... gods," she breathed, her words sending a small brush of air against his skin. Hakkai sucked in a quick breath when he felt hesitant finger tips trace the vines curling along one cheek and over the bridge of his nose. It hurt to swallow past the heavy lump in his throat and he couldn't control the faint tremors running through his shoulders while he prepared for her denial of him. Any second now, he knew it would come. "Open your eyes, Hakkai."

For the life of him, he had no idea where the will to do as she asked came from. Slowly, nervous and dreading to see her face, his eye lids lifted. The vision in his right eye remained blurred and completely useless while his left was so incredibly sharp it almost hurt to see the room through those contrasting views. Both of them widened slightly when he saw her parted lips, the awe written clearly across her features and reflected in her eyes. It wasn't at all the reaction he was expecting.

Yaone's brown eyes, usually a pale color that reminded him of tigerseye stones, began to darken around the edges. His left eye could easily make out the change, saw her pupils dilate and narrow to black slits. He knew that look very well, even without the acute sight, and... it made his cock twitch in response. This was how she looked when she really enjoyed something he did to her. It was hungry and demanding, a dark passion that he loved to satisfy. He just never expected to see it when he was in youkai form. He stood perfectly still as her fingers carefully ran along his eyebrows, a small sound of delighted discovery coming from her lips. "One green... and one green-gold," she murmured, and it took him a second to draw himself from the daze her touches put him in to realize she was talking about his eyes.

"I... wouldn't know," he admitted, wincing when he heard the slightly deeper, growling tone his voice took on. It was the truth, too. Usually, he was too preoccupied with other things to have had the time to explore this form. Other than the few physical details he couldn't help but notice, he had never once taken his limiters off to simply explore his new body.

"And these markings... I've never seen anything like them before," she continued, as if not having heard him. Hakkai felt the flush spread down his neck when his cock stirred again under her gentle touches. Her fingertips followed the line of the vines, tracing down across his other cheek before running lower along his neck. She stopped when the trail she was following lead to his scar. He was panting lightly now, his body trembling with little flares of lust that quickly replaced any sort of fear he'd felt before. Yaone's gaze dropped further down his body, moving lower than where her hand stopped. A faint pink tinted her cheeks as her teeth caught her lower lip. A small groan came from her, so soft he doubted he would have heard it were he still wearing his limiters. That sound brought him to full hardness, and his embarassment at being caught in a serious situation while clearly aroused was drowned out as she made another little purr of approval.

"Turn around, please," she requested, pulling her hand away and waiting patiently for him to comply. Slowly, mind still dumbfounded that she actually seemed to enjoy seeing him like this, Hakkai turned so that his back was facing her. She let out a small gasp before she began tracing the vines weaving their pattern over his back. A curve around the base of his neck before a wider swirl onto his shoulder. Another strand came around the front of his hip to end in a curl that hugged the natural roundness of his ass. She found one lower than that, on the inside of his thigh that cut across his other cheek and wound its way up to the middle of his spine. Hakkai couldn't hold back the startled gasp when he felt her tongue flick against the vine on his neck, licking its path across his shoulder. God... he couldn't believe she was doing this to him! He'd felt her tongue on him before, but with the increase in the sensory department it felt like the first time all over again. His knees trembled and threatened to give out when one of her hands slid down between his legs to fondle his balls from behind.

"Beautiful," she breathed into his ear before nipping the lobe gently with her teeth. Hakkai was moaning steadily as her fingers continued to massage him teasingly. "I've never seen anything so beautiful before in my life."

"Y-You're just... nh... saying that to be... Oh, God!" Her other hand snaked around his hip to grip his cock and squeeze with carefully applied pressure. Her chest was pressed against his back, giving him the feel of softened leather covering the even softer skin of her breasts. Hakkai's fingers finally tightened into fists, and the first smell of blood hit his nose and made his back stiffen against hers. It smelled sweet... metalic... delicious. It stirred the darker part of him to full wakefulness and made him grip the wrist of her hand stroking his cock. She gasped, but the part of him concerned with hurting her couldn't overpower the one that wanted to hear more of those sounds from her. Hakkai turned around slowly, keeping his firm grip on her wrist.

Yaone looked like a woman drowning and loving every minute of it. Her eyes were dark, glinting with lust, her pale skin was flushed with arousal and she was making more of those incredibly erotic little pants and gasps. She groaned deeply when he trailed a single claw between her breasts, raising a red welt on her skin. "Are you certain about this?" he asked roughly, using her wrist to pull her closer to him. He could feel her breath blow hotly agains this mouth, almost taste her on his tongue. There was no part to him that could deny wanting her fiercely. Every part of him agreed on the fact that he'd never seen her look so... overwhelmed with desire. He had always thought she was a very pretty woman, but like this she was beautiful. Exquisite. She was perfection... and she was his.

His hand tightened around her fist, causing her to cry out at the slight pain, but it made the lust flash hotter through her eyes. She enjoyed it, his roughness. He never would have thought she would. Licking her lips, she nodded eagerly, speechless under the assault to her libido. Hakkai fought back the urge to savage her mouth to give her one last warning. 'If I hurt you... tell me to stop. I won't promise that I can, but I'll make every effort to try. Is that clear?" Her quick nod was all the permission he needed to continue with what she had started.

His mouth found hers in a hard, bruising kiss that made her cry out before her free hand dug into his shoulder to keep herself upright. Hakkai forced her lips open with his tongue greedily, maneuvering between sharpened canines to tangle with her own. He released her wrist in order the jerk hard on the leather boustier top she wore. Chain links popped as he ripped the material off and threw it aside. Yaone wrapped both arms around his neck and rubbed her breasts against his chest while her claws dug bloody scratches into his shoulders. Her clothing lay shredded on the ground and completely disregarded as he raked his own claws along the backs of her thighs. The animalistic growl that action produced in her brought forth an answering sound in him.

He dragged her to the floor with him, falling on top of her hard before placing a series of sharp bites to her neck. She gasped and moaned for him as his tongue bathed over the faint trails of blood his teeth had caused, shifting her hips to rub her heat against him in an invitation for more. He caught her hands when she made to reach for him, pinning them over her head. Yaone snarled angrily and nipped hard at his lips when he returned for a kiss. Her legs wrapped around his waist as she tried to angle herself to take him in. Hakkai pulled back and away from her, thrilling in the frustrated cries coming from her.

"Hakkai... gods, please...," she begged, her pale skin gleaming with the salty tang of sweat. She moaned, arched and writhed underneath him, using every inch of her body to enthrall him and make him give her what she wanted.

Hakkai's hands gripped her hips hard, earning him a hissed, 'yesss' from the woman beneath him. He caught he passion hazed eyes and smiled tauntingly at her before unwrapping her legs from around him and flipping her onto her stomach. She may have started this, but he was going to finish it and it was going to be how he wanted it. She struggled up onto her hands and knees and tried to turn to look at him questioningly over her shoulder. He brought his palm down in between her shoulder blades and gave a hard push, pressing her chest to the floor. Before she could even try to rise again, he let go of his carefully contained power and let it wash over her.

Yaone gave a sharp, surprised cry at the feel of his vines flowing off of his hand on her back and over her skin. Hakkai shivered as the shadowy vines obeyed him and wound across her shoulders and down her arms, crisscrossing over milk white skin like rope bindings. The vines trailed off at her wrists and spread a little onto the ground, effectively tying her to the floor with her hips in the air waiting for him to fuck her. She was panting, gasping for air and murmuring, "Oh, yes... Oh, gods, yes..." steadily.

Hakkai leaned over her and, starting right at the small of her back and working upward, began biting, kissing and licking along her spine. By the time he reached the base of her neck, she was shuddering uncontrolably and his cock was being teased by the warmth and wetness between her legs. He kissed her earlobe gently as one hand stroked low over her stomach and further to tease her cleft with just the lightest of touches. Somewhere amidst the lust filled haze, he managed to remind himself to be careful with his claws down there. "The gods aren't here with you," he purred in her ear, one finger slipping down to stroke her clitoris in tiny, circular movements. Yaone let out a sound that was half groan, half scream, her hips jerking back into his and grinding on his cock. Hakkai's other hand went to her hips and stopped the movement entirely, carefully maintaining skin contact so that the vines continued to hold her in place and ignoring the urge to bury himself in her and find release. Yaone gave a frustrated cry and tugged on the restraining vines. His fingers stopped teasing her, pressing firmly up her side and over her shoulder until he could spread his fingers around her neck.

"They have nothing to do with this," he continued into her ear, his nose pressed into the sweat dampened hair clinging to her skin and inhaled her scent. "So no name other than mine should ever leave your lips."

Yaone rotated her hips in his hand, rubbing herself along his cock teasingly. "Then perhaps you should give me a reason to say your name," she suggested, her voice low and carrying heat to it.

Hakkai growled at the challenge before sitting up, his legs on either side of hers to keep her legs from spreading wide, and thrust his cock into her with a quick snap of his hips. His name came from her, intermingled with a series of breathy screams and pleads for more. He was ever one to oblige a lady's request. After that initial thrust, there was no break in the pace. He used the grip on her hips to bring her slamming back to meet his rapidly, reveling in the complete rush of arousal spiking higher through him. He was pounding into her, harder than he'd ever dared to attempt before, and from the sounds she was making she was loving every minute of it. His balls were slapping against her with each thrust, the slight sting only serving to make the heat drain from his body and to his groin. He wasn't going to last very long, and she wasn't quite on the brink yet. He wanted her coming with him, her wetness clamping around him and making the pleasure just that much sweeter.

He reached between her legs and found her clitoris again, using the motion of her hips to rub against the small bundle of nerves. Yaone screamed in response, her neck arching back as far as she could manage while still being bound to the floor. Hakkai stared at the faint red marks his teeth had made on her spine and couldn't resist the temptation any longer. He waited until he could feel her muscles fluttering around his cock, preparing to send her over the edge, before he leaned over her and sank his teeth into the back of her neck. Her entire body began to shudder, choked, gasping cries broke from her lips. Her claws dug deep furrows into the wooden floor as her body began to squeeze around him.

The second he tasted a few drops of her blood on his tongue, Hakkai felt all the heat and need gathered in his stomach burst outward in a numbing wave of orgasmic bliss. He growled against the skin held between his teeth, pulling out just as he was about to come. His seed hit her back, spraying thick, white strands up her spine and painting her lower back. He rode the euphoric haze for all it was worth, breathing hard and still gripping her hip hard enough to leave bloodied scratches on her skin. Still panting and dizzy from the after glow of a potent orgasm, Hakkai fell backward onto his ass, his hand still pressed to her skin and keeping her bound to the floor with his vines. His eyes swept over her appreciatively, a surge of male pride kicking in at the sight she made. Sweaty, covered in his vines and seed, breathing hard and making the most satisfied little purrs of sound he'd ever delighted in hearing. Her lavender hair was so damp it appeared almost plum colored and from what he could see of her face she was completely blissed out. Slowly, reasoning began to settle in again. He removed his hand from her flesh, pulling the vines along with it until they settled back into the tattoo markings on his skin. She fell flat to the ground the minute he released her, groaning as one hand moved to rub her stomach gently.

"Too hard?" he asked as he groped for his limiters amidst the shredded remains of her clothing.

"Perhaps a little... but it was worth it a thousand times over," she replied as her fingers slipped around to touch the cooling fluids on her back. "I don't think I can make it to the shower quite yet."

"Then don't." He found the three little clips of metal and slipped them back into place. Immediately, everything was sucked back in again and the sudden shock of it made him hiss, holding himself up on his arms at the burning of his scar. He forced a smile as she placed a concerned hand on his. "I'm fine. It just feels odd reverting back."

Yaone nodded weakly, her eyes half closed and looking beyond sated. "And how are you feeling?" she asked, and he knew she wasn't inquiring as to whether or not he was just as satisfied with the encounter.

Hakkai thought about it carefully before saying, "This isn't something we can do every time we meet... but once in a while wouldn't be too bad. And I can't promise you that I'll ever be completely comfortable without these," his fingers brushed over the metal just beginning to warm against his skin. "But... I can try and accept it. It's not going to be easy."

"I know. I'll be patient with you." She sat up carefully, grimacing as she pulled her sticky fingers from her back. "I don't expect miracles over night, Hakkai."

He stood up just as carefully, amazed at how sore his thighs felt already, and offered her a hand as well to help her to the bathroom. He placed a kiss to her hand, matching her smile with one of his own. "Thank you," he murmured.

Yaone squeezed his hand and began to walk oddly toward the bathroom. He went with her and made her sit down while he filled the tub with steaming hot water and a few bath salts from the complimentary tray on the counter top. He entered first before helping her settle on his lap and leaning back so that the water came up higher on them. She groaned her appreciation for the relaxing heat and rested her head against his shoulder before closing her eyes and letting out a long, controled breath.

Hakkai wrapped his arms around her and layed a kiss to her temple. "Let's start over, shall we?" he suggested. She moved slightly to see him better, her eyebrows raised questioningly. His smile widened as he kissed her chastely on the lips and said, "I love you."

Yaone flashed a bright grin back and said, "I love you, too."