"Darling~."

Arms slid around him from behind.

Bare skin.

Warm.

They closed around his chest and pulled him back tight.

No space left between his body and hers.

Her chest pressed into his back, full and heavy and soft, her breasts against him.

Her hips pushed into his.

Her thighs on either side.

She wrapped around him completely and held.

The hand at his throat kept him lifted. Her arms kept him in place.

He could not move.

"Gh— let—"

Her chin settled on his shoulder.

She breathed in, slow, her nose pressed into the side of his neck.

"AaaAaArh~~: A low sound came from her throat, soft and drawn out, pleased.

Her lips touched the side of his neck.

Stayed.

He felt them part slightly against his skin.

"You left me," she said.

Her fingers pressed deeper into his chest through his shirt.

Her mouth moved.

A second touch, lower, slow.

Then a third.

His fingers slipped on the wrist at his throat. His grip was weakening. His legs had stopped kicking.

"Gh— hk— I can’t—"

Her arms tightened.

Her body pulled closer against his back, her breasts, her stomach, her hips, all of it pressing in.

Her lips found his neck again and this time they stayed, open and warm, moving slowly upward toward his jaw.

"I waited," she said.

The pressure on his throat increased. His toes barely touched the floor. His vision was grey at the edges.

Her mouth reached the side of his jaw. Her breath was hot on his cheek.

"I am coming back for you."

The hand lifted him higher.

"Ngh—"

Her lips moved from his jaw to the back of his ear.

Her arms pulled him impossibly tighter.

Her chest against his back.

Her thighs. Her hips.

Everything pressed in, warm and soft and suffocating.

Her mouth was at his ear now, lips brushing the skin there, open and slow.

The room was almost completely dark.

"You’re mine."

Her arms did not let go.

The white was gone.

Only darkness.

Only her.

And the hand at his throat, clenched harder.

"Ack!"

.

.

He opened his eyes with a jolt.

Red.

Two red eyes, right there, enormous and close, taking up most of his vision.

Shizuka was directly above him, her face inches from his, close enough that he could feel her breath on his lips.

Her silver hair was loose and falling around them both, curtaining everything else out.

Her lips were parted, her cheeks flushed, her eyes half lidded and burning.

"AAAA!" he shrieked.

He shoved back.

His shoulders met empty air.

There was nothing under him.

He dropped, the wooden floor hitting his back and the back of his skull at the same moment.

He lay there, staring at the ceiling, not moving.

"Careful," Shizuka said from above.

He breathed.

He was on his bedroom floor.

The ceiling above him was familiar, the shelf beside it, the curtains he had never opened all the way.

He was home.

His bedroom.

He sat up slowly. His ribs burned on the left side. His spine ached from the base upward. The back of his skull throbbed where it had struck the floor.

Shizuka was sitting on the edge of the mattress looking down at him, her legs crossed.

Her black crop top sitting low enough that the upper curve of her breasts was visible.

Her silver hair loose around her shoulders and slightly disheveled.

Her thighs in the short skirt were right there at eye level from the floor.

She looked completely unbothered by the fact that he had just screamed and fallen off the bed.

He rubbed the back of his head.

"What were you trying to do?," he asked.

She tilted her head and said nothing. Which was an answer.

"And how am I here."

He looked at his hands. Scraped knuckles. His whole body ached, heavy and hollow at the same time, his muscles stiff and his spiritual energy completely flat.

Then the rooftop came back.

Hana near the edge. The ghost in the chains. Sora on the concrete with her hands over her face.

He stood up fast. Too fast. His vision went grey and he grabbed the bedframe with both hands.

"Hana. What happened to Hana?"

"Calm down." Shizuka reached up and gathered her silver hair, twisting it up into a loose bun.

A few strands fell across her face anyway.

She stood and crossed to him, her red eyes moving over him top to bottom.

"She is fine Kai~~. I called an ambulance before I brought you home. She will be at a hospital by now." She stopped in front of him, close.

"When she wakes up she probably will not remember what happened. Even if she does, she will think it was a nightmare."

He let out a slow breath.

Shizuka’s hands slid onto his waist.

Both of them, her fingers pressing lightly through the fabric of his shirt, holding him there.

She looked up at him with her chin tilted slightly, her red eyes steady on his, the bun slightly loose with a few strands across her cheek.

"Your body is exhausted," she said.

"You have not trained in months. You used everything you had last night and now... You need rest."

"I’m fine."

"You are hardly able to stand upright. That’s not the same as fine."

She turned him around, her hands firm on his waist, and walked him back toward the bed and gently lay him down.

Then she lay down alongside him, her head on the pillow beside his, one arm draping across his chest.

Her body pressed warm against his side, her breasts against his arm, her thigh heavy over his, the hem of her skirt riding up.

He could feel the heat of her through the thin fabric of her crop top.

She lay half on top of him and showed no intention of moving.

He stared at the ceiling.

"I’d get better rest if you were outside."

"Mmm~~~." She turned her face into his chest and rubbed her cheek against him slowly, her silver hair spreading across him.

"You are so mean," she said into his shirt. "I carried you home. I helped you. I was extremely heroic. I deserve to be here."

"You could have come earlier."

She went still.

A beat.

"I got distracted," she said. Her voice came out quieter. "During your date. I didn’t want to watch that so I left." A pause.

"I went to sit by the river for a while."