So, Any Perfect Girl Evolution (aka, The Wallflower) Fans Out There? - PART 2/2

[emsscraps]

x-x-x-x-x

When he thought about it, he wouldn’t be exactly certain how it happened. Truth be told, as it happened, he wasn’t really in the mood to try and figure it out. The point is, that he wasn’t drunk. He’d only had a few drinks, and although he wasn’t an avid drinker, he was certain he was sober enough to know what he was doing.

Later, if pressed, he would admit that even though he was the one who had given in to the laws of attraction and let his lips touch hers, he was very surprised when the hand she raised to the back of his head didn’t hit and the fingers she threaded through his hair didn’t pull.

Still, at some point, she had lost the mesh top leaving her only in the tight corset top and a skirt and he lost his shirt and they had moved from the living room and Ranmaru was certain that it all must have happened after he became so utterly lost the moment he felt her lips give under his, their softness teasing and her warmth all around him. It wasn’t until he recognized the softness as he laid her back against the soft goose down comforters on top of his bed that he even remembered where he was. How he had gotten there wouldn’t occur to him until much later.

And even still, it wasn’t until Sunako’s hips rose against him in response to his tugging the laces of her corset open that he realized just exactly what he was about to (and wanting very much) to do and to whom.

Every nerve ending in his body protesting, he pulled away from her lips and, breathing heavily, took her hands in his to still her from touching him otherwise. “Sunako,” he said, still breathless. He meant to sit up, but he couldn’t seem to make himself, and resorted instead to leaning his head on her shoulder. “We can’t do this,” he whispered hoarsely.

He felt her still -- freeze -- beneath him for a moment. And in between that moment and the moment her hands started pushing him away from her, he realized how his words might’ve sounded.

He looked at her, ignoring her half-hearted attempts at pulling him off her, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“Get off me then, if it’s so terrible to do this with me,” she demanded, frustrated, her legs starting to move as she got her coordination in order.

That was all he needed to confirm that she had misunderstood him afterall. “Stop, Sunako,” he said, roughly, most of his smooth veneer eroded by the fire that was still running through his veins and the knowledge that he couldn’t do anything about it. He tightened his hold on her shoulders and shook her a little, pressing her into the mattress. He was surprised when she stopped and exhaled, but afraid that she was just gathering her strength, he kept his hands on her. “Look at me,” he said.

She looked at him and her expression was hard and angry. “If you get your hands off me, I’ll get out of your sight.”

“I don’t want to,” he said honestly, his thumbs rubbing circles on the skin of her shoulders.

She frowned at him. “You just said you didn’t want me,” she said like an accusation.

He frowned, angry and frustrated. “When did I say that?” he asked. “God, Sunako, you are the Queen of misunderstanding and misreading!” he exclaimed.

She looked confused for a moment. “You said...”

He cut her off by leaning in close to her, capturing her eyes. “I said we couldn’t do this,” he repeated. “I never said I didn’t want you.” She still looked confused, so he thought he’d help her out. He took one of her hands and guided it to the evidence of just how much he wanted her. Her fingers only skimmed him, but her eyes widened and the flush rose to her cheeks.

“But...you said...” she stammered.

He brought her hand back up before she got any ideas and made this whole thing harder than it was already -- pun definitely not intended. He kissed her fingers, letting her hand go on her stomach. His fingers brushed the skin exposed there, almost absently. “I want you, Sunako,” he admitted.

“Then, I don’t...” she started.

He sat up, but didn’t move away from her. “You’ve been drinking,” he told her.

“So have you,” she pointed out logically.

He smirked at her. “Not as much as you, Sunako-chan,” he pointed out. “That’s obvious by the fact you’re even here,” he motioned to his bedroom. “If you were sober...”

“I’d still want you,” she interrupted him. “I just wouldn’t have the courage to do a thing about it,” she admitted.

He looked at her in surprise. Seeing his look, she laughed and the sultry, knowledgeable confidence coming back into her eyes, she let her fingers touch his, tracing the contours of his hand while even as her leg bumped against his back. “I’m not blind, Ranmaru,” she said. “I doubt there’s any woman alive that could actually not see you and think about what it would be like to sleep with you.” Gaining confidence, her leg slid against his naked back, raising goosebumps on his flesh and making the blood throb everywhere in his body. “I don’t care if I’m drunk, I won’t try to take retribution once I’m sober,” she assured him. At his look, she raised a brow, laughing when his hand almost unconsciously drifted to caress the soft skin of her leg still against him. “You want it in writing?”

He laughed, and started to lean down toward her, but stopped himself again at the look in her eyes. “Sunako,” he breathed. “You’re so beautiful,” he told her, pressing a chaste kiss on her lips. “But I couldn’t live with myself if I took your virginity, especially when you’re cognitive functions are impaired.”

She stilled, and sat up. “My virginity?” she echoed, then, before he could say another word, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his.

He responded, of course. Ranmaru was still Ranmaru afterall, even when attempting to be a gentleman to a girl he genuinely liked and respected. And she tasted so good to him -- like chocolate and vodka and cranberries. Intoxicating as hell. Still, when he found himself deepening the kiss, his fingers tangling into her hair at her nape and pressing her against him, he told himself to stop, and somehow, managed to.

“Sunako,” he breathed. “You’re killing me,” he admitted. He pulled back to meet her eyes, drowning in them, growing hot and heavy just from noticing how dark her eyes had grown -- how dilated her pupils. “I’m trying to be a gentleman, and you’re killing me,” he whispered, his hand trailing from the nape of her neck to the front, thumb tracing the edge of her chin.

Sunako’s hand cupped the back of his head and pulled him back toward her. He resisted, but only when they were inches apart. “Who’s asking you to be a gentleman?” she asked, her voice low and seductive. “I need you to touch me, Ranmaru,” she said, leaning in again.

At the last minute, just before their lips touched, he pulled away, closing his eyes. “I wish I didn’t know that you’re not wanting me just because you’re drunk,” he said on a sigh. He opened his eyes and, taking hold of her hands still in his hair, he pulled them away and brought them onto the mattress between them. “But I respect you too much to let this be your first time, Sunako.”

He started to stand, and heard her sigh and lean back against his headrest. “Who said I’m a virgin?” she asked, seriously.

Ranmaru stopped and turned around to face her, sitting back on the mattress in surprise at the plain honesty he saw in her eyes. “You’re not?” he asked, and for some reason, it was more than relief, more than lust that shot through him at the admission.

She smiled at him and shook her head. “Nope,” she confirmed. “Not for awhile now.”

“I didn’t--” he started.

“Why would you?” she asked. “It’s not like people see me and think sexual experience.” She shrugged, looking slightly bored. “I don’t care one way or the other, usually,” she admitted. “It makes no difference to me, so why should I go about talking about it?”

He shouldn’t care. No, correction, he should care only insofar as it relieved him of his guilt and allowed him to finish what they’d started. Normally, he wouldn’t care beyond that at all. But again, that respect he felt for her made things difficult... complicated. “Who was it?” he asked, his tone low and serious.

She shrugged. “What does it matter?” she asked, sitting up and running her hands along his bare arms. “It wasn’t that important anyway,” she said, her breath tickling his collarbone as her hair tickled his back, her arms wrapping around his back to press against his chest. “but now you won’t have to worry about taking it--” she was cut off as in one swift, graceful movement, Ranmaru took her arms from around him and had her pinned to the bed, leaning over her, faces inches apart.

“Who was it?” he repeated.

She looked up at him, unsurprised with not even a hint of apprehension, and Ranmaru was experienced enough with women to know that the hitch in her breath and the dilation of her pupils at this new position was not from fear. “Why do you want to know?” she asked.

He wasn’t sure exactly why he wanted to know, only the thought of one of their other housemates taking her virginity in such a way so that she spoke of it as if it were nothing was building up the rage he barely ever felt deep in his stomach.

“Tell me Sunako,” he insisted, his eyes boring into hers.

He saw it when the simmering passion inside her morphed into the banked fire of anger. She didn’t struggle though. “What business is it of yours?” she countered, her tone sharp.

Realizing that he was one wrong move shy of getting either his ass kicked or having her walk away entirely (neither of which he wanted), he decided to change tactics. So, instead of asking outright again, he lowered his face the few remaining inches until his lips touched the skin of her collarbone and he kissed the spot as if he were kissing her lips, then proceeded to nip and kiss his way along her neck, all the while positioning his body between her legs, his hands still holding hers to the mattress began caressing the underside of her wrist, her arms as his mouth worked his way as far down as the slightly loosened and mildly gaping corset would allow and as high as the corner of her lips, the apple of her cheek, her eyelids when she closed her eyes, her forehead, her ears -- in short, every inch of her he could get.

When he felt her moving beneath him, felt her legs squeeze him between them, her right leg wrapping around his waist to anchor him in place and the little gasps coming from her mouth every time his lips found a new place to explore, he knew it was time to ask again. Releasing her earlobe from his mouth, he pressed a chaste kiss against the shell of her ear and whispered. “Tell me who he was.”

Sunako didn’t seem to hear him, until he stopped and pulled away from her to look in her eyes. She gasped at the sudden deprivation, and finally got it when she met his eyes. “Fine, if you must know,” she said, her voice low from the passion that had been building, but still obviously annoyed. “He was a boy during my last year of Junior High,” she admitted. “His name doesn’t matter,” she said, “And for some reason, he thought it would be cool if he could get inside the pants of the loner-scary girl.”

“Did he force you?” Ranmaru asked, fighting to keep his tone neutral, not sure if he succeeded.

Sunako shook her head. “He just wore me down,” she admitted. “I didn’t really care one way or another -- he wasn’t so beautiful it hurt to look at him, and it wasn’t like I thought I had to save myself for anyone or that I’d find a better offer anywhere, so I let him do it,” she said, her tone dispassionate. Ranmaru hadn’t wanted to move away from her, but she had shifted so that she was sitting, and by the time she finished her story, she was facing the far wall off the left side of his bed, her back to him. “He wasn’t cruel or anything,” she said, “I recognize that now, he was actually pretty nice about it, and tried to make sure I felt good, too.” She was quiet for a moment, then scoffed and swung her legs off the bed. “Jeeze, what a buzzkill,” she said, shaking her head and running her fingers through her hair. She was scanning the room for her top.

“And did you?” Ranmaru asked, not wanting to touch her while she told him, knowing instinctively that she wouldn’t want to be touched while remembering something like that. She paused and turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Did he make you feel good?” he asked.

“Sure,” she shrugged. “It was nice,” she allowed. “I didn’t understand why people made such a big deal about it, and I had rather hoped if I gave it a second shot, I might find out, but I guess it doesn’t matter either way, it’s the same mechanics afterall -- what difference could there be?” she seemed to be asking herself more than him, her eyes back to scanning the room. Finding her blouse on the floor by the door, she started to stand, only to be pulled back by the shoulders.

Before she knew it, she was laying back on his bed, one arm on either side of her head, Ranmaru leaning over her with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“You dare compare my experience to that of a pimply faced 14 year old bratling?” he asked, his tone just as dangerous as his expression. “You are not getting away with that,” he vowed, and lowered his lips to hers before she could argue.

x-x-x-x-x-x

The next morning Ranmaru awoke with a sense of accomplishment, but it took him a moment to figure out why. When the decidedly female arm snaked around his waist all warm from sleep and still smelling faintly of sex, he wasn’t surprised or caught off guard; on the contrary, he snuggled down against the soft curves of whatever honey he had spent the night with and sighed contently even as he blinked more fully awake.

It wasn’t until he had fully recognized the shape and contours of his room at the Nakahara mansion that he felt a twinge of worry for the first time. ‘If Sunako finds out that I let one of my kittens spend the night, she’ll be upset,’ he thought.

Then, as he started to wonder about who had spent the night in order to best determine how to go about telling her that he’d have to sneak her out, so that Sunako wouldn’t see her and be offended, he stopped.

Sunako.

With the name, memory washed over him like a wave: limber, smooth, long limbs tangled up with his, a firm body under him; warm, supple fingers touching and exploring with curious abandon over his sensitized skin; velvety gasps, breathy moans, hot breath against his lips, the side of his neck; sharp little teeth nipping, wet tongue tasting, thick lips caressing; delicious, soft flesh against his lips; fragrant, silky hair like a curtain around him or the smoothest Egyptian silk in his hands; and perhaps most surprising of all, a playful, experimental, curious nature, touching tasting smelling laughing .

It shocked him to realize that despite all his considerable experience, he had never had such...innocent, no, unguarded, guileless, artless, fun in bed while still being kept incredibly hot, before.

And it was all thanks to Sunako.

An utterly, supremely, undeniably drunk Sunako, but still a remarkably capable sexy quick study drunk Sunako, just the same.

A part of him felt a momentary twinge of guilt...a thought that he perhaps should not have allowed things to go that far knowing that she was inebriated. Yet, she had seemed remarkably aware of what she (they) were doing, so he didn’t feel particularly guilty.

The thought did occur to him that there was something about that realization that he knew he should be thinking about...something about how she seemed too relaxed and touchy feely to be sober yet still had moments of entirely un-drunken-like clarity-- but then he realized he was still in bed with her and he suddenly went cold.

If she went into a murderous rage when Kyohei accidentally (or not) kissed her, what would she do when she realized what she (they) had spent a good portion of the night doing?

Good lord, she’d either really spontaneously combust or kill him-- maybe both. Nevermind that she had been a quite active participant in the activities of the night, or that he had tried to be a gentleman, or that she had been quite vocal in her enjoyment.

She would kill him, then go into denial about having done any of it. There wouldn’t be a court in the country that would convict her. If anyone found the little pieces of his body, that was.

He had to get out of the bed before she woke up.

No, wait...this was his room. She’d know something was up if she woke up in his room...

He had to get her out of the bed and back into her room. Then, he could only hope and pray that she never remembered -- or, that if she remembered, she’d think it through and although she might avoid him for a few days (weeks? Months? Years?), she would know she really couldn’t (shouldn’t) kill him.

Never one to dwell, Ranmaru started to slip out of bed, pulling his satin sheets away from his body, only to pause when doing so revealed Sunako’s sleeping face resting peacefully on the pillow next to him.

The light must have hit her because, as he watched, she scrunched up her face and the arm slipped from around him to cover her face.

He froze, and he wasn’t altogether certain if it was the vision of her unguarded expression in the muted light from his curtained windows, or fear that she was waking up and would discover him -- perhaps both. Still, when she didn’t open her eyes or make any further movements of waking, he exhaled and turned to find his pajama pants. He took two steps but stopped and looked back at the bed when he heard her shift again. What he saw nearly took his breath away. The sheets had fallen down to her waist, revealing the gorgeously perfect creamy expanse of her back as she slept on her stomach with her right arm haphazardly thrown over the pillow he’d just vacated. If it were any other girl, he’d be wondering if he should wake her with kisses or caresses along that flawless skin exposed to his view. Considering it was Sunako, however, he thought better of it.

Instead, he lifted the sheet back over her shoulders, and as he did, she smiled and cuddled into the sheets, lifting her face a little as his hand grazed her cheek, not unlike a cat being coddled and searching for more contact.

Suddenly the pieces began fitting together and Ranmaru frowned. As an experiment (and not because he rather had liked the feel of her cheek under the pads of his fingers) he caressed her cheek with a featherlight touch. She leaned into his hand and mumbled something like a sleepy moan when he pulled away.

Ranmaru cursed under his breath as he tried again and watched the goosebumps break out on her flesh. He couldn’t be sure until she woke up, of course, but he was almost positive Sunako hadn’t been drunk last night (well not just drunk anyway). She had been drugged.

Why hadn’t he seen it?

Would it have changed his view about sleeping with her?

Maybe.

He would’ve at least let her know what was causing her to feel the way she had...

Then again, didn’t he remember her telling him that she’d ways wondered about him?

So maybe she would’ve wanted to sleep with him anyway...would he have said no?

Hell, who was he kidding? Ranmaru had never been a good little boy, and so long as she knew what she was doing, what did he care what prompted her to admit that she wanted to do it?

How much of her reasoning was actually impaired on that kind of drug anyway?

Next to him, Sunako shifted, bringing his thoughts back to the present. If she had been slipped what he thought she had been slipped, she wouldn’t be asleep much longer. People didn’t sleep much on Ecstasy. He didn’t have long to decide what he was going to do, but he never had been the indecisive type so it didn’t take him long before he slipped out of bed, trying not to wake her, and went to his drawers for his pajama pants.

It wouldn’t do to go outside as he was, after all, and the least he could do would be to check on the status of their other housemates. As an afterthought, he brought one of his shirts to lay on the bed, within reach, and he regretted it only a very little bit.

xxxxx

By the time he came back into his bedroom, Sunako was awake and, although she was looking around the room, she was still laying back against the pillows. She watched him enter his room with a sort of sleepy indulgence and although it should have surprised him that Sunako wasn’t reacting in any way badly to having woken up in his bedroom, under his covers, wearing nothing but the skin she was born with, it only served as confirmation of his previous theory. That she had obviously found the shirt he’d left for her and put it on reinforced the theory only more.

When their eyes met, she looked slightly confused and he figured that was thanks to the alcohol she did consume. When she didn’t start screaming or glare at him as if she wished she had a knife to carve him into little disposable pieces, he stepped the rest of the way into the room, closing the door behind him and setting the tray he was carrying onto the bedside table. She watched it all from where she was still leaning back against the pillows, the sheets pooled around her waist, and his white undershirt doing little to disguise the fact that she was wearing nothing more underneath.

He hid his face from her scrutiny for a moment by bending over to pluck a water bottle from the tray. He uncapped it and handed it to her. “Drink,” he said, meeting her eyes and trying to ignore the way her hair fell around her shoulders. “You’ll have dehydrated some.” She took the bottle and chugged the water back until she had drank nearly the whole thing. With a gasp, she stopped. “You’ll probably have a headache, but I don’t dare give you any aspirin,” he told her, sitting on his legs near the bed.

“Why not?” she asked, and her voice was a little scratchy and hoarse and she winced when she heard it. She cleared her throat and took another gulp of water. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to take for a hangover?” she asked.

“You don’t just have a hangover, Sunako-chan,” he told her. He met her eyes and prepared for the reaction. “You were drugged last night.”

She raised her brows. “I was what?” she asked, much calmer than he would’ve thought.

“Drugged,” he repeated. “My guess is someone slipped you ecstasy.” He thought about it for a moment. “Did you take a drink from anyone at the club last night?”

“Other than the bartender and Noi-chan or her friends, no,” Sunako answered. “Not that I remember,” she added. She shivered a little and burrowed under the covers. “I don’t feel as if I’ve been drugged,” she mused.

Ranmaru couldn’t help but smile at the picture she made. “Oh? And how do you feel?”

She frowned in thought. “Like Jason’s trying to cut his way out of my temples with a chainsaw,” she admitted. “But other than that, not sleepy at all and...” she smiled as she burrowed deeper into his covers. “Your sheets feel really good.”

“People on E usually don’t drink alcohol because it dehydrates you even more,” he told her. “So, that’s probably where the headache is coming from,” he looked at her and there was an edge of a smile still around the corners of his lips. “The sheets feel good because the ecstasy’s still in your system.”

She sat up suddenly. “There’s still drugs in my system?”

But he didn’t answer her, because what she had said had just filtered through his thought process completely. She had said that his sheets felt really good. She had recognized that she was in his bed. “Sunako, do you know where you are?”

She smiled. “Of course,” she said confidently, then, frowned. “But wait -- if I’m drugged, then maybe I only think I know.” She looked at him. “Am I at home in Japan, Ranmaru?” she asked. “At my oba-chan’s house?”

He smiled at her. “Yes, yes, you are,” he confirmed, much to her obvious relief. “I meant, do you know where in the mansion you are?”

She looked around, as if she were starting to doubt herself again. “In your room, right?” she asked, looking at him again. “Why, aren’t I?”

He was surprised at the ease with which she stated it, since he had been expecting some over-the-top dramatics. Maybe she didn’t remember what they’d done. Sure, E didn’t give amnesia, but the liquor did. “Do you remember how you got here?”

Sunako looked confused for a moment, but then it cleared up and she leaned back again. “I seem to remember everything about last night,” she confirmed. “Or, most of it, anyway,” she said.

“Like?” he prompted, and he hadn’t realized he had moved until he found himself with his arms on the bed, even as he sat on his legs.

“Like...” she trailed off as she thought. “I remember there being a bottle of Tequila...or maybe two?” she questioned. “At the club with Noi’s friends,” she said. “I remember when they all left, Noi and I didn’t have enough money left to call a cab, so we called the house and you were here.” He nodded to confirm it and she continued. “You told us to meet you in the first floor lounge, and you sat with us while we finished our drinks,” she narrated. She frowned again. “I think you had a drink yourself, didn’t you?” she asked.

“I had a beer,” he confirmed. “Noi said it would be rude to just watch girls drink and not join them.”

“Ah,” Sunako agreed. “I think I remember that, too.” She brought the covers up over her again and turned on her side to look at him. “I don’t remember much about the time in the lounge, and the next thing I remember, we were outside walking to your car.”

“A taxi,” Ranmaru corrected.

“Yeah, a taxi,” she agreed. “We dropped off Noi-chan first, and the next thing I remember was wanting ice cream.” She looked at him in some confusion.

He grinned. “That’s when you found the vodka,” he supplied.

“Ah, yeah...” she sighed and licked her lips. “And the cranberry juice, huh?” she remembered. He nodded. “And the next thing I remember, we were on the couch watching bad infomercials.”

“Trying to watch bad infomercials,” he corrected her again. “You kept talking right through them, no matter how much I insisted that I wanted to hear all about how ShamWow can change my life.”

She smiled a little at him. “Sure you did,” she scoffed. “You might think a ShamWow was a sturdy and ugly scarf if anyone showed one to you.”

He made a face. “I’d like to think that I have enough fashion sense to realize that no one would ever think of making a scarf that ugly.”

She chuckled.

“What else do you remember?” he prompted after a few moments.

She knit her brow and thought. “There was some cartoon on tv at one point,” she said. “A really bad dubbing of Scooby Doo , right?” she asked. He chuckled and nodded. “We were making fun of it, and gulping on our drinks every time Velma said “jinkies,” Scooby laughed, Shaggy mentioned food, or they split up.”

“No,” he corrected once again. “You were taking shots with Velma’s jinkies and Shaggy’s food, while I was taking shots with Scooby’s laugh and everytime they split up.”

She chuckled. “We finished that vodka bottle pretty quick, didn’t we?” she asked. He smiled and nodded. She was back to frowning in thought. “Then, we started talking about something to do with comparing Velma and Daphne, didn’t we?” she asked. “You mentioned something about Velma having a certain geeky charm.”

“And you,” Ranmaru added, an air of offense to his tone. “Doubted my sincerity,” he told her. “You said that I’d be just like Fred and be all over Daphne, ignoring poor Velma except whenever I needed her brainpower.”

Sunako shrugged, unconcerned. “You probably would,” she confirmed. “Most guys would prefer Daphne to Velma.”

Ranmaru frowned. “You said that last night too,” he told her.

“Yeah?” she asked. “And what did you reply?”

Now, Kyohei, Ranmaru knew, would never in a million years admit to what his true reply was -- especially if Sunako herself didn’t remember. But Ranmaru had never believed in running away from his actions and what they had been, and the truth was, that even if Sunako reacted the way she normally did, he’d prefer to have it out in the open and deal with it than hide it away as if he were ashamed.

He felt that way even the night before. He accepted the risk.

So, Ranmaru answered truthfully. “I kissed you.” He waited a beat for her reaction, but seeing absolutely nothing on her face except a kind of neutrality, he continued. “In my defense, you were leaning against me on the couch -- had been all night -- with your legs caught up in mine on the coffee table, and you were looking at me as you waited for me to answer and your lips were so close...” he leaned back away from the bed to sit on his legs, and smiled charmingly. “How could I resist?”

“You did?” she asked, her voice calm and neutral.

“Resist?” he asked, smiling still. “No, actually, I didn’t. Quite the contrary.”

Sunako ignored his cheek. “You kissed me ?” she asked again.

He continued to smile. “I did,” he confirmed.

“On the lips?” she asked, catching his gaze.

He smiled even brighter. “Squarely,” he assured her.

He watched it as the flush spread over her cheeks and figured that the memories of the night before had begun to flood her conscious. Ranmaru prepared for retribution, but none came. Instead, she looked embarrassed rather than mad.

“I kissed you back, didn’t I?” she asked after a few moments of silence.

He smiled again. “You did,” he looked at her until she met his eyes again. “Do you remember it?” he asked.

She flushed even brighter and dipped her head, pulling aside the sheets as if she were suddenly hot. “I...” and her voice was no longer neutral. Neither, Ranmaru was pleased to notice, was her expression.

He grinned. “You do, don’t you?” he leaned back onto the bed. She was looking around as if wondering how to escape, but he wouldn’t let her. He reached over and tugged on her foot under the blanket. “Sunako,” he called. She jumped a little, but finally looked at him. It didn’t escape his notice she didn’t move her foot away from his hand. “You remember the promise you made, while we were right here on this bed, don’t you?”

She pressed a palm to her forehead, as if she were checking her own temperature, then her cheeks. She thought for a moment and her eyes went wide. She exhaled. “I’m sorry,” she said, glancing up at him and then quickly away. The smile left his lips as he realized what she’d said.

“What?” he asked. He tugged at her foot again until she looked at him and squeezed her foot when she started to look away.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I practically forced you to--” she shook her head. “I know what it’s like for all of you, and yet I practically--”

He was sitting on the bed before he even remembered moving, His finger pressing gently on her soft lips cut off her statement. “You didn’t force me to do anything,” he said, his tone serious and low. He sought out her eyes again, finally grabbing her chin to make her look at him. “I don’t know what exactly you remember, but I’m the one that carried you from the couch so that I could ravish you without the threat of any of the others interrupting,” he confessed. “If anything,” he trailed off and exhaled. “I should be apologizing to you.” He moved his finger and leaned away from her. “I didn’t know you had been drugged last night, but I did know you had been drinking,” he confessed. “I shouldn’t have let it get so far when your judgment was impaired.”

Sunako frowned. “You’re blaming yourself?” she asked, obviously incredulous. “You tried to stop, unless I’m remembering wrong,” she said. “And I practically threw myself at you,” she said, looking away. “I don’t know what came over me...”

“It’s the E,” he said. “It lowers your inhibitions and makes you very susceptible to touch,”[2] he tried to phrase it in a way other than telling her it made her aroused in blunt terms. “It makes even the lightest touch very exciting and stimulating,” he explained. “Once we started making out...”

She dipped her head and her hair rushed forward like a cascade of black to cover her face. “So, I’m sorry,” she said after a few moments of silence. “I shouldn’t have thrown myself at you, even if I was drugged,” she pushed off the covers and scrambled off the other side of the bed, pulling down the shirt she was wearing and starting, rather unsteadily toward the door.

It was easy to grab her arm as she passed him; her coordination and motor skills were not at their best. He half expected her to struggle, he even expected a punch somewhere on his person (Sunako, he knew, could defend herself rather well when she chose to). What he hadn’t expected, however, was the speeding pulse of her heart under his fingers or to hear her gasp when their skin made contact.

She looked at him in surprise, but then away again quickly. “I’ll keep my promise,” she assured him. “No retaliation,” she said. “I’ll go back to my room and we can pretend this never happened, and I’ll act like normal when you come down for breakfast.”

He didn’t let her go. Instead, he ran his thumb along the inside of her arm. He saw the goosebumps rise on her skin and knew he shouldn’t do this -- he shouldn’t use the fact that she was still under the influence of the E to make her react this way. And if she really wanted to pretend like nothing had happened between them, he could do that. But he wouldn’t let her go thinking he regretted it.

“Is that what you want, Sunako?” he asked, stepping closer to her. Her pulse was like a wild bird fluttering madly in the cage of her skin.

“I shouldn’t have pushed you when you didn’t want to--” she started to answer.

He cut her off by turning her to face him. “If you remember what we did, you must remember how I touched you?” he asked. He took a step closer to her. “How I tasted you?” he continued, his eyes lingering over her lips, his hand holding her wrist trailing upwards. “How we fit together?” he pulled her close until their toes were touching, then, he lifted her chin so she would be looking at his face. “Did any of that feel like I was being forced?” he asked. He could see the confusion in her eyes as she tried to reconcile what he was telling her with what she thought she knew about herself. He brought a hand to her face, tracing the line of her cheek. “Is this the face of someone who isn’t enjoying doing precisely what he’s doing -- touching who he’s touching?” he asked. Sunako’s lips opened and she licked them, absently. It was all he could do to refrain from surrendering to her unconscious invitation. But there was still a point he had to make clear.

“I wanted you last night, Sunako,” he confessed. “Hell, I want you just about any time I look at you, but no one would blame me,” he said. He could practically see her working through all the information and sensations running through her in that moment, he felt it when she shifted oh-so-subtly, probably unconsciously, into his hold and the soft silk of her hair brushed against his forearm. “I especially want you now,” he said, his voice low, his face inching closer to hers. “Watching you in my bed, under my sheets, wearing my shirt, smelling of sex and me and you...” he was practically whispering, but then again, he was so close to her face, speaking any louder would have been overkill.

The moment he felt the cool softness of her fingers on his bare arm, he tensed, half expecting her to push him away, but she didn’t. He chanced a glance at her face and the tension eased out of him at the recognition of the curiosity on her face.

“Why can I still bear to look at you?” she asked, her voice quiet as her fingers hesitantly skimmed the contours of his forearm. He was still looking at her face, however, so when she looked at him, their eyes caught and held. “Normally, I can’t -- no matter how much I try,” her voice seemed strained, as if she were afraid he wouldn’t believe her. “But now...”

“You feel nothing when you look at me?” he asked carefully.

She frowned. “No, that’s not it...” she allowed. “I feel expectation,” she admitted. “Coiled, here...” her other hand hovered over her abdomen. “Like when I’m about to start a competition.”

“Something good, then?” he asked, a smile curling his lips.

She nodded. “Yes, I suppose,” she mused. “But before, looking at any of you was like staring straight at the sun, it hurt my eyes,” she admitted. “I don’t feel that now.” Her eyes trailed over his face. “I can still see your beauty,” she said, and her tone was plain and not like she was trying to compliment him at all. “But I don’t feel like my eyes hurt just looking at you anymore.” She met his eyes again. “Will this go away when the effects of the drug wear off?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know, Sunako-chan,” he admitted. “But there is another possibility,” he offered, letting one of his hands start to mirror the fluttering touch her own hand was still doing over his arm.

“What?” she asked, her attention obviously being drawn to the soft touch of his fingers on her forearm.

“Perhaps it was true last night that you could look at me without having that feeling because of the alcohol and the E,” he mused. “But now, maybe it’s just because you’ve already seen all of me and I’ve already seen all of you and that--” he was cut off by the sudden movement as she turned her head to the side.

“Oh no,” she moaned. “You’ve seen...” she trailed off.

Ranmaru laughed and he let his hands trail over the edge of the collar of the shirt she was wearing. “Oh yes,” he said, his tone low and seductive. “I’ve seen every inch of you, Sunako,” he said, ignoring the way some little distraught sound came from her turned away face. “I’ve touched every part of your body,” he chuckled again. “Because trust me, I am very thorough,” he felt her body tense, as if to run away. “And I really must say,” he sighed, watching as his breath brought goosebumps where it caressed her neck. “I don’t think I could ever get tired of it.”

She glanced at him, the confusion obvious in her expression. “You--”

Ranmaru smiled at her. “Isn’t it obvious what I am so shamelessly trying to do right this moment?” he asked. “I don’t know what kind of mirror you’ve looked at yourself in before to think you have any reason to hide your body, Sunako, but I hope there’s some way I can convince you never to hide it from me again.”

“Again?” she asked.

He grinned wickedly at her. “If you’re up for it...” he took her hand and brought it back to his chest. “I certainly am.”

She shook her head and Ranmaru stopped her from speaking by leaning forward and pressing his lips to the underside of her chin, then, when she inhaled sharply, but didn’t push him away, doing it again closer to her cheek. She exhaled a shuddery breath, as if she were doing it only because she had to and not because she quite remembered how. Ranmaru took that as a positive sign, and when he pressed his lips so that he just barely touched the outer left-hand corner of hers, he let the tip of his tongue just barely touch her skin, before pulling back again.

Her hand fisted his shirt at his shoulder. “This is crazy,” she breathed.

Ranmaru laughed, pulling back to look at her. “Maybe,” he admitted, nodding. “But I don’t particularly care.” He leaned in slowly; slowly enough to give her a chance to turn her face or stop him or even to change her expression from one of bewildered curiosity. She didn’t, and when his lips pressed against hers, she arched into him and his arms wrapped around her as he deepened the kiss. Eventually, he pulled away from her mouth, but kept his face mere inches away from hers as he asked, “Do you?”

She seemed to think about it for a moment, before shaking her head, once and not with as much decisiveness as he might have normally liked, but Ranmaru was fully aware that he couldn’t really ask for more than that.

So, he didn’t.

Instead, he leaned in and kissed her again, walking with her away from the door and back toward his bed with his eyes closed from practice.

They’d deal with the consequences of this when the E wore off...he knew that.

But Ranmaru didn’t care about that either. He had never been a particularly forward thinking kind of man, after all.

---
Notes:
[1] The club Sunako and Noi go to is an actual club in Shibuya. I looked that up. I could not find much about the inside of the club, so that's all my imagination.

[2] The effects and behavior of someone on the drug Ecstasy is depicted by me courtesy of some friends who did the drug during the height of its popularity. I don't think it's very popular anymore. I have been assured that people on E suffer no memory loss and really can seen sober other than for their easily distracted nature. I've never taken it myself, and I am not condoning nor promoting the use of illegal drugs. ^_^

So? What do you guys think? Please comment with all constructive criticism!

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