Dreamer Awakened

CHAPTER NINE

It had been a long time since she had been here, Kaede thought, standing in the darkness. However her journey here was not one of remembrance, but of renewal. She began to move, traveling the dark passage, her feet unsullied by the damp stone as she drifted quietly towards its end. Shimmering echoes of the child Susano-oh and the strong aura of the prideful Murakumo accompanied her on her journey. It had been another Kaede that had traveled here then, she thought, a mere child incapable of truly understanding the will of Lord Susano-oh.

Kaede sighed wistfully, wishing that she had known then what she knew now. But the nexperience of her youth and her naiveté had been the sins that had kept her from truly understanding the will of her husband until it was almost too late. Momiji had paid the price for Kaede’s mistake, offering herself as a willing sacrifice for what she believed and Kaede would never forget that. Youth and naiveté had been her sins, both of which she had shed with the growth of her spirit which was now caught in the currents of time unending.

She had shed her sins, but the same could not be said of Murakumo, Kaede thought bitterly as she reached the end of the passage where it opened into an antechamber of stone, the clear stillness of a pool as its centerpiece. Kaede ignored the pool and made her way around its edge, thinking about the Aragami prince who had sought to become a god.

The originations of his sins were pride and ambition, and they had led him to strike out against Susano-oh, seeking to claim the power and immortality that heaven had granted her husband. Murakumo had paid a heavy price for his betrayal, and like Kaede, he did not bear the burden of its measure alone.

Kaede followed the natural curving, stone wall of the antechamber to the deepest corner, stopping only when the light of her aura revealed the girl that suffered doubly the burden of Murakumo’s sins. Kaede’s heart filled with hatred for Murakumo as she gazed at the young girl who had lain in deep slumber for these three long years.

She couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen at the most, although if she had been allowed to live her life normally, she would be closer to Momiji’s age. She was petite, her white hair falling like moonbeams against the fragile curve of her cheek and spilling down her shoulders and across a waist made thick with child. Kaede’s eyes softened with compassion as she crouched down beside her and stretched her hand in front of the girl’s face as if to touch her, but hesitating. Kaede’s heart was filled with sorrow for this woman-child and she stood back up.

"You must awaken her Kaede. She must complete the journey that she began three years ago."

Kaede heard her husband’s voice commanding her through the darkness, and yet she still hesitated.

"She is just a child, my lord," Kaede entreated, "is there no way that we can help her?"

"Her destiny lies along a path that she alone chose, and I cannot alter her future. She is human and yet she sleeps the sleep of Aragami. It is a part of her destiny and yet the flow of time within her has only slowed and not stopped, an unnatural state for a human but necessary for her, for the protection of her unborn child. She has had nothing but her dreams to sustain her for these past three years and her body has become frail.

"If you do not awaken her, the Tengugaki will find her and they will rip her apart, seeking to devour the heart of innocence within her. Even now they gather in the gloom outside the iwattos, feeling the growing resonance of the stone and water as the dreamer’s time of awakening draws near. We cannot save her, but we can save her child, Kaede. We must save her child. It is the only way."

Kaede bowed her dark head in resignation and sighed. She crouched down once more and stretched out her hand. This time, she touched the girl’s forehead with the tips of her fingers, and the emanations of her aura glowed brightly against the girl’s skin as it penetrated into her mind, reawakening that part of her that lay so deep in slumber. As the girl began to awaken, the strength of Kaede’s presence began to fade into the etherealness of a dream where she could only watch as the girl opened her violet eyes and looked around.

Hikaru slowly opened her eyes and sat up, feeling weak and disoriented. Where was she? What was she doing here? A sudden pain gripped her around the middle and she gasped and put her hands to her rounded stomach. She reeled with shock as the pain subsided, realizing that she was pregnant. What happened? How come she couldn’t remember anything? And where was Tsurugi?

Hikaru struggled to her feet, concentrating on what she last remembered. She stumbled forward towards the pool of water feeling suddenly thirsty and bent clumsily down to drink from the still water. She scooped up a handful, causing ripples to break across the smooth surface, eddies shimmering with fragmented light much like her memory. Hikaru gulped the water thirstily, and a sudden image of Tsurugi leading her to this place flashed through her mind.

You’ll be safe here until I come for you, he had told her. Safe from what, she had asked and he had never answered. He had turned away from her and left her without looking back, and she had waited as he had told her to do. That was the last thing she remembered.

She climbed back to her feet and began to stumble towards the only passageway leading away from the pool, and put her hand to her stomach. What was wrong with her, she wondered, that she couldn’t remember yesterday, or the day before that, or the day before that? She didn’t become pregnant overnight, so how come she couldn’t remember any of her pregnancy? And what had become of Tsurugi?

She could see feeble daylight ahead of her now and she hurried towards it only to stop as something massive leaped out at her, its deadly claws silhouetted against the light. A scream froze in her throat as it bore down on her and in a reflexive gesture she covered her belly with her hands. It was almost on top of her, its roar echoing off the stone walls when a sudden burst of blue lightning came from behind her. It struck the beast squarely in the chest, and the creature was thrown against the wall like a rag doll. A ragged screech rose from its throat as it struggled to free itself from the light that kept it pinioned to the wall, but Hikaru didn’t wait to see if it would break free. She scrambled past it towards the light. As she escaped into the open air and away from the iwatto, she could still hear the beast’s cries of rage coming from the passageway. She kept moving until she couldn’t hear it anymore and then she collapsed upon the cold ground, sobbing. Where was she to go? What was she to do?

"Come, Hikaru. Follow me." It was the voice of a woman.

Hikaru’s tears ceased and she looked around, but there was no one.

"You must complete your journey, young one," the voice proclaimed, "you must follow me."

Hikaru’s face went blank as a sudden peaceful sensation drifted over her, her worries fading into the nothingness of the void that had enveloped her. She rose to her feet, her violet eyes expressionless as she moved forward to the bidding of the voice that beckoned her.

Yaegashi clenched his lips together. His hands paused in their typing as he felt Sakura lean over his shoulder, her breasts brushing up against his back, for what seemed like the tenth time, ostensibly to study the data on Kusanagi’s blood that Matsu had given him, but more likely than not, just to enjoy stirring up trouble. He felt his face redden uncomfortably as he heard his wife’s strident tones issue yet another warning to Sakura.

"You do that one more time, Sakura, and, I swear to god, I’ll make sure that you’ll be wearing your boobs on your back!" Kome’s blue eyes burned brightly with her anger while she watched Sakura slowly turn and give her an assessing look without moving away from Yaegashi.

Kome jerked her feet off of Matsu’s desk and jumped to her feet, her posture menacing and Sakura, seeing that she meant business backed down, finally moving away from Yaegashi, her hands held defensively in front of her.

"Okay, okay!" she said, rolling her crimson eyes, "jeez, you guys are no fun at all!" She crossed her arms over her breast and turned petulantly towards the window. "It’s so boring here," she whined, "why are we here anyway? Why don’t we go back to Tokyo?"

"Because," Ms. Matsudaira said, looking up from the Erlenmeyer flask she was holding to directly answer Sakura’s question, "the Aragami are here, not in Tokyo. Well be staying here on Mr. Kunikida’s orders until we’ve had another sighting or had proof that the Aragami have moved on."

"Well, can’t they at least afford a bigger place?" Sakura demanded waving a languid hand around the small office and lab, "I mean we’re all jammed in here like sardines!"

"Why don’t you just shut up!" Kome suggested, her temper flaring brighter than the red of her hair. " – You think I want I want to be cooped up in here with a narcissistic nutball like you!? NO! – But you don’t hear me whining about it, do you?"

Ms. Matsudaira had finally had enough, having listened to their verbal wrangling for the last several hours.

She thunked the flask down on the table and said with strained patience, "Please! Both of you! I can’t work when you behave like this! Could you please just call a truce for the next hour or so, so Yaegashi and I can finish what we’re doing?"

Neither woman said anything, but Yaegashi drew Matsu’s attention away from them with his triumphant exclamation.

"I’m finished!" he cried.

Matsu bustled over to him and squinted down at the computer. "That’s amazing, Yaegashi! I didn’t think you could finish so quickly."

Yaegashi swelled with pride, but his voice was all modesty as he said, "It really wasn’t that difficult. Kusanagi’s serum is relatively similar to that of a normal human, it’s the platelets and the hemoglobin that are so different. " Yaegashi hit a key on the computer and all the data shifted into a formula. "Here," he said, pointing to the equation on the screen, "is what you’re looking for. "

Kome had come to stand next to Matsu and she looked down at the screen, puzzlement on her face. ‘What is that?"

"In essence, " Matsu told her as she printed the compound out, "it’s an antibiotic for Kusanagi."

"You mean, you’re going to make a fertilizer for Plant Boy?" Sakura joked disdainfully and snorted when everyone just ignored her.

"If I start to work on this now, I should be able to get it to Momiji before nightfall," Matsu said, going back over to her lab table and immersing herself in her work.

Momiji sat at the kitchen table staring down at the numbers on her computer, a puzzled frown on her face.

"This can’t be right, can it?" she muttered to herself and picked up her data sheets, paging through them to correlate what she was seeing on her computer screen.

Before she could find the sheet she was looking for, she heard a knock on her front door and was forced to abandon her search. She pattered into the living room and looked out the window. It was Ms. Matsudaira. Momiji hurriedly yanked the door open and let her in.

With a big smile, Matsu held up a vial of powder and said, "With Yaegashi’s help, I was able to get through before I thought I would. This is some medicine for Kusanagi. Dissolve it in a glass of water and have him drink it. He should be feeling much better in a few days or so."

Momiji took the vial from her, a look of patent relief on her face as she offered her profuse thanks to Ms. Matsudaira.

"That’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?" was all Matsu said.

Clutching the vial tightly, Momiji changed the subject, her thoughts returning to her data on the iwatto. "Can you come and look at something for me while you’re here?" She asked, and Matsu, after giving her a look of inquiry, followed Momiji into the kitchen where Momiji showed her the numbers she was compiling.

Matsu leaned over her computer while Momiji filled a glass of water and dumped the powder that Matsu had given her into it. "Hmmm," Matsu said, putting her finger to her chin, "this shows an abnormal amount of particle ionization, almost like an electrochemical reaction is occurring."

Momiji put a spoon in the glass and stirred the water until the powder dissolved. She set the spoon next to the glass on the counter and turned to look at Matsu. ‘Do you think that this has anything to do with the new Aragami?"

Matsu turned and absently met Momiji’s gaze, her mind busily sifting through several possibilities. She looked back at the computer screen, baffled. "In all honesty, I just don’t know. Perhaps it would help if we were to make a comparison of the other iwattos and see what those results yielded."

"Midori’s in Ise," Momiji offered, "her parents live there and she’s visiting them for the weekend. We could ask her to stop by the iwatto before she heads back to Tokyo. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind."

"And I could send Kome and Yaegashi to Takachiho to get some samples from there," Matsu commented, adding mostly to herself, "and if we don’t find out anything useful, at least it will keep Kome and Sakura from being at each other’s throats for a while." She smiled at the thought and said, "It’s settled then, I’ll call Midori and ask her to go by the iwatto in Ise on official TAC business, and I’ll also have Yaegashi and Kome check out the other iwatto. And you too, Momiji," she added as an afterthought, "you could go back to the iwatto here some time tomorrow and resample the area to make sure that it wasn’t just an aberration." Momiji nodded her head in acquiescence and Matsu pointed to the glass on the counter, "you’ll need to give that to him soon, and I don’t imagine it tastes too good, so you might want to warn him beforehand."

Momiji grimaced. In Kusanagi’s mind it would only be one more grievance to add to the growing list he had started against her since he had fallen ill. Seeing the look on Momiji’s face, Matsu gave a little chuckle and patted her shoulder sympathetically.

"Most men make lousy patients," she told her as Momiji walked her to the door, "acting like big babies over the smallest of things."

"You can say that again," Momiji mumbled sourly, "He’s so cranky right now that I don’t know if I should try fluffing his pillow or burping him instead."

Matsu laughed and replied, "The best advice I can give you is to stay out of his way until he feels better. He’ll be back to his normal self in no time." And with that she turned and left, leaving Momiji to go back into the kitchen for Kusanagi’s medicine.

Kusanagi’s body jerked all over, he was so cold. He gritted his teeth together to keep them from clacking against each other and felt a stab of pain shoot from his jaw to the top of his head, which was already pounding. He pulled the covers tighter around his shoulders trying to draw some warmth from them, and then his body curled into itself as his mitamas began to glow and a wave of pain crashed over him. Momiji, he thought forcing his eyes open and tried to focus on the room around him. The last two times his mitamas had done this, Momiji had been in trouble.

With great effort, Kusanagi pushed his body away from the mattress, panting from the effort, beads of sweat, forming on his fevered skin. His breath was suddenly cut off and he doubled over drawing his body towards his knees resting against the mattress as another severe wave of pain rose in a crescendo and swept over him.

"Momiji!" he bellowed hoarsely, his teeth bared against the pain. He managed to slide to the edge of the bed, the room slipping in and out of focus as he put his feet on the floor. Where was she? he thought, panicked. "Momiji!" he yelled again, his voice cutting in and out as it threatened to quit altogether and he struggled to his feet.

The room spun and he swayed, barely able to maintain his balance, his body getting heavier with each passing second. His mitamas still glowed ominously and the pain flowed in pulsating waves, almost immobilizing him, but he had to find Momiji. He had to make sure that she was safe.

Momiji had just returned to the kitchen and had picked up the glass of medicine to take to Kusanagi when she heard his voice calling to her. Her heart froze at the panicked sound of it, and she put the glass back on the counter and sprinted from the kitchen. She was halfway up the stairs when he called again and she tried to answer, but she tripped on the last tread and her response was nothing more than an ummmph! as she landed hard against the top step..

Clambering to her feet she rushed into his room to find him out of bed, his mitamas glowing brightly as he reeled drunkenly into the center of the room.

"Kusanagi!" she cried in alarm and rushed to help him, seeing that he was ready to collapse.

As she neared him, he swayed forward, his body colliding with hers, his weight and momentum driving her backwards. She put her arms around him and tried to steady him, but it was no use. He was just so much bigger than her. She reeled under his weight, trying to maintain her own balance now as they went crashing into the closet. Momiji’s feet slid out from beneath her as she tripped over something lying in the bottom of the closet and she was squashed between the wall of Kusanagi’s chest and the wall of the closet. Together they slid down stopping only when they reached the ground. Momiji lay panting pinned beneath Kusanagi whose body was wracked with shivers, his mitamas no longer aglow.

"Why didn’t you answer me, dammit?" he demanded his teeth clenched as his body continued to shudder with fever.

Momiji squirmed beneath him, her palms pushing weakly against his chest. "You’re crushing me!" she croaked in a strained voice.

Kusanagi pulled himself off of her and collapsed in the floor, face down, shivering and too weak to move. Breathing freely now, Momiji sat up, her eyes pinned to Kusanagi, and she reached out and touched his back. Despite his shivers, he was alarmingly hot to the touch. At the feel of her hand, he turned and looked at her, anger burning dully in his eyes.

"Where the hell were you?" he snarled hoarsely.

"I was downstairs –"

"Why the hell didn’t you answer me, Momiji!" he continued to rant, "jeez, you took ten years off my life. I thought something had happened to you!" He stopped as his body shook with a strong chill and he clamped his mouth shut to keep from biting his own lip.

Momiji scrambled to her knees and crawled over to Kusanagi, struggling to get him to his feet and back into bed. He was able to help her, but only marginally since most of his strength had been used up by his mitamas.

"I was downstairs, leaving you alone like you requested, Kusanagi. And why would you think something had happened to me?" She huffed, weaving to and fro as they crossed the room, her arm around his waist and his arm slung across her shoulders.

"My mitamas," he panted hoarsely collapsing, exhausted, across the bed as they reached it.

"That’s right," Momiji observed as she yanked at the sheet caught beneath Kusanagi’s hip, trying to pull if free so she could cover him up. ‘They were glowing, weren’t they? How come?"

"I don’t know," Kusanagi replied in a faint voice, his eyes squeezed shut in a grimace as he huddled miserably under the sheet that Momiji had managed to pull free. "This is the third time it’s happened. The first was the night of your accident, and the second, last night when Kaede led me to you –"

"Kaede?" Momiji asked in a slight shriek, unable to control the irrational bolt of jealousy shooting through her, "you saw Kaede?"

Kusanagi tiredly opened one eye and looked at Momiji’s agitated countenance. "No, I didn’t see Kaede," he mumbled, "but I heard her. She led me to you Momiji. She helped me to save you." He groaned and turned his head away, the sheets shuddering against his body as he trembled beneath them.

"Let me get you an extra blanket," she said in concern and quickly flitted over to the closet. She almost tripped and fell again as her toe collided with the corner of a solid object, knocking it over. She heard something spill across the floor but she ignored whatever it was, shuffling to maintain her balance as she reached up and grabbed a blanket from the top shelf. "Ms. Matsudaira brought you some medicine," she told Kusanagi quietly as she threw the blanket over him, tucking it around his body. "I was just about to bring it up when you called. I’ll go get it now," she said and turned to go when his voice stopped her.

"Momiji," he stopped when she turned, her green eyes focused on him, "stay," he told her, closing his eyes as if to deny he had made the request. The fact that he had another episode with his mitamas worried him, and if she was in danger he couldn’t protect her. Not in his current condition. But if she stayed with him he could be assured that she was all right. "I want to make sure that you’re safe." He mumbled his eyes still closed.

Momiji kneeled next to the bed and allowed herself to reach out and brush his greenish black hair away from his fevered brow. It was so soft, she thought as her fingers lingered there for a few seconds longer.

"I’ll be all right, Kusanagi," she told him softly, "I just want to go downstairs and get your medicine. You really need it, you’re burning up with fever." She pulled her hand away from his face, getting ready to stand when she felt her wrist captured in a surprisingly strong grip. And then Momiji found herself pulled forward against the bed, unable to rise.

"No, Momiji," he replied adamantly, another shudder wracking his body so that his fingers tightened around her wrist. "Stay."

His eyes were still closed, but he wasn’t letting go of her, even when she tried tugging experimentally against his grip. With a sigh, her efforts to free herself subsided and she slid to a sitting position on the floor, her wrist still held in Kusanagi’s grasp. She tried looking at her watch, but unless she twisted back to her feet, she couldn’t see it. So she stayed where she was, glancing at the fading light outside the window. She needed to get that medicine, she thought fretfully as she leaned her head against the bed and listened to his breathing. He was just going to get worse without it.

Momiji didn’t know how long she sat there, but the light outside the window had long faded when she felt Kusanagi’s grip relax on her arm, finally slipping into uneasy slumber. Momiji climbed stiffly to her feet, her back hurting from sitting in such an awkward position for so long and she quietly left the room to go downstairs and get the medicine. She picked it up and turned to take it back to Kusanagi, but hesitated. Maybe she should make him some some shoga-yu and some miso soup, she thought, biting her lip in indecision. He hadn’t had anything to drink since his early morning tea and the shoga-yu might help his fever to break a little. And he hadn’t had anything to eat all day either. Come to think of it, neither had she, she realized as her stomach gurgled.

I’ll just go and check on him, she thought, and if his fever is worse then I’ll wake him up and give him the medicine. She took the glass upstairs and entered his room as quietly as she could. He was still asleep, but at least his shivers had subsided, she thought with relief. His fever was still high, though and so she put her hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. He jerked awake with a start, looking confused as to where he was and Momiji had to call his name several times before he focused his cat-like eyes in her direction.

"I brought you your medicine," she told him as she helped him to sit up, putting the glass in his hand.

He just stared blankly at it without raising it to his lips. "What’s in it?" he asked hoarsely, his voice almost completely gone now.

"You mean besides the water?" she asked, and, when he shot her a sardonic look, added in all honesty, "Ummm, I’m not really sure, but Ms. Matsudaira was positive that it would help you." She pushed encouragingly at his hand to get him to drink it and he finally raised it to his lips and took a small sip, sputtering at the bitter taste. "Oh, yeah," Momiji added as an afterthought, "she told me to tell you that it would probably taste really bad, but that you should drink it anyway."

Kusanagi rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the warning, Momiji."

She gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry," she said and pushed at the glass in his hand again, wanting him to finish it.

He glared at her then. "Quit pushing, dammit!"

"I just want you to drink it," she responded defensively, "or you won’t get better!"

"I’m going to drink it!" he flared up at her, "just give me a minute!"

"Fine!" she said and she turned on her heel to leave.

"Where are you going?" he wanted to know in a suddenly apprehensive voice.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "I’m going back downstairs," she informed him in an affronted way as she watched him drain the glass with a grimace.

"No, Momiji, stay." He said, reaching over and putting the empty glass on the table.

It sounded more like an order than a request to Momiji and she felt a spark of rebellion well up in her. Who did he think he was? Her father? "I think you’ll do fine without my presence for a little while," she told him dismissively and looked away from him. She had only taken a few steps when she heard the bed creak and she turned around again to see Kusanagi trying to get out of bed. "What are you doing?" she asked in alarm, her arms outstretched, as she sprinted over to try and keep him from getting up. "Do you want to end up on the floor like before?"

She managed to push him back down on the bed and then realized she had done exactly what he had expected her to do when she saw the triumphant gleam in his eye and felt his fingers wrap around her wrist in an uncompromising grip. She frowned at him and made a frustrated noise, tugging at her wrist, but he held fast to her.

"I’m sorry, Momiji, but this is the only way I can keep an eye on you and know that you’re safe."

He phrased it as an apology, but he didn’t sound the least bit sorry, she thought sourly. In fact, he sounded downright pleased at having been able to manipulate her into doing exactly what he wanted her to do.

"Kusanagi," she told him repressively, "you’re being silly. I am perfectly safe here. Nothing is going to hurt me."

"That’s right," he responded and closed his eyes, "because you are staying right here, with me."

‘Come on, Kusanagi," she said and he tugged on her arm so that she was forced to get on her knees next to the bed. It was either that, or lay on the bed next to him. "Be reasonable!" and when he didn’t say anything, unwisely added, "you’re being very childish."

His eyes snapped open at that and he looked at her. "You’d better stop complaining while you’re ahead, Princess," he warned her and then sneezed, "hell hath no fury like a man belittled," he told her meaningfully and closed his eyes again.

Momiji groaned and slid to the floor to assume her earlier position. Fortunately for her, the medicine Kusanagi had swallowed must have had some kind of sedative in it, for he was back to sleep within fifteen minutes and Momiji was able to slip away and return to the kitchen.

She spent quite a while preparing the ingredients for the soup and painstakingly grating up the ginger for the shoga-yu and her body drooped with fatigue once the soup was finally simmering. She looked at her watch and was horrified to see that it was after ten. It would still be a few minutes before she could dish up the soup, she thought tiredly, so she took Kebooru out for her final sprint around the yard and then went upstairs and put her pajamas on. She thought of taking the food to Kusanagi and then going straight to bed, since she was so tired. She had been hungry earlier, but she had waited so long to eat that she didn’t really feel all that hungry anymore and found the idea of an early night much more appealing.

Momiji padded back down to the kitchen and checked on the soup. Then she put some water on to boil to add to the ginger and the honey she had already put in a cup for the shoga-yu. She got out a tray, put a bowl on it and ladled some soup into the bowl. The kettle started to sing and she was able to add the water to the mug that she had set on the tray as well. Grabbing up a spoon and a napkin, she carried the tray back to Kusanagi’s room.

She put the tray at the foot of the bed, and put a hand to Kusanagi’s shoulder. Relief flooded through her when she touched him. The medicine was already working, she realized. His skin was still warm to the touch, but it was much cooler than before.

"I made you some soup," she told him as he opened his eyes at the touch of her hand .

"I thought I asked you to stay with me," he said grumpily as he sat up and pushed onto the floor the blanket that she had put over him earlier. He was too hot, and his body beginning to sweat from the heat of it.

"Well," Momiji replied matter-of-factly, "I thought you might be hungry." She picked the tray up and sat it across his lap, smiling shyly at him. "No cement this time, I promise."

Kusanagi looked down at the steaming bowl of soup. It did look good and didn’t even closely resemble what she had served him the night before. "You made this?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, why is that so hard to believe," she asked with just a hint of tartness.

"No, well, it’s just," he muttered looking down into the bowl, "it’s such a vast improvement over what we had last night."

"Well, I did tell you that if you had gotten home a lot sooner, it would have been better."

"You mean it would have actually been edible?" he asked as he took a sip of the shoga-yu.

"Kusanagi!" she fumed, making to grab the tray, "if all you’re going to do is insult me, then you can go hungry!" She didn’t really mean it, but was glad when he grabbed the tray to keep her from taking it away.

"I was only teasing," he told her and watched a pleased smile curve her lips when he added, "it looks really good, Momiji." He picked up the spoon and tasted the soup. It was really good. "Why aren’t you eating?" he wanted to know as he took another bite.

"I’m not really hungry," she told him truthfully, still standing next to the bed, not adding that she could probably lie down on the floor and go straight to sleep.

He was watching her speculatively, his gaze flitting over her as he ate his soup. Momiji began to fidget under his close scrutiny, uncomfortably picking at the top button of her nightgown and, as she did so, she watched a slow cat-like smile appear on his face.

"First it was pink teddies, now it’s blue bunnies. Don’t you own anything more…adult?" he wanted to know and watched as the color rose from her neck all the way into her forehead.

"What is you’re fascination with my nighttime apparel?" she wanted to know grumpily, "it’s comfortable and it’s warm. I doubt that you could suggest something better!" she shot at him and realized her mistake as she watched his smile widen into an unholy grin.

"Well," he said, pushing the tray with the empty soup bowl aside as he gave her a considering look, "one or two choices come to mind," he told her, his voice rasping hoarsely despite his teasing manner. "One of them would be, of course something you seem to like – pink teddies, or rather a pink teddy. " he pretended not to notice her mounting discomfort as he continued, "of course they aren’t quite as voluminous as what you’re wearing now, and I doubt you could find one made of flannel, since they’re usually made of something a little sexier, like silk, but hey, you can’t have everything… come to think of it, they probably aren’t as comfortable as what you’re wearing now, either, so I guess that isn’t really a good suggestion if all you’re considering is, er sleepwear. What a pity." He heaved a mocking sigh, his eyes pinned to her, noting that she was so embarrassed now, that she wouldn’t even meet his gaze. "But there’s always my second choice," he murmured, gleefully anticipating her reaction, "a highly desirable alternative, if you ask me. It would be infinitely more practical and much more comfortable. Even more comfortable than what you’re wearing now."

"More comfortable than what I’m wearing now?" she mumbled dubiously, sliding him a shy look from underneath her lashes as she picked the tray up off the bed and set it on the floor, to give herself something to do.

"Yes, much more comfortable," he assured her, waiting for her to take the bait.

"What could possibly be more comfortably than what I’m wearing now?" she asked, rising to take the bait.

"Why, nothing at all," he replied blandly his eyes gleaming madly when she finally understood what he was saying, her face buzzing with furious color.

"Very funny," she said, her bottom lip stuck out in a cute pout.

He was in a dangerous mood, she thought. Better make a hasty retreat while she still had a little of her dignity in tact, she decided and rushed forward to take the tray from the floor.

As she bent down for the tray, he grabbed her around the waist and yanked her off her feet, pulling her onto the bed with him where she landed with a soft oof!

She started squirming immediately, but he held her fast, her back pulled up hard against his chest, "Just what do you think you’re doing!?" she demanded, her arms and legs flailing as she strained to free herself.

"I told you not to leave, Momiji," he told her, his breath tickling her ear, "twice, as a matter of fact. And now I’m going to make sure that you stay put. There was a reason my mitamas were glowing, and I just want to make sure that you’re safe. This is the only way I can protect you right now,"

"Protect!? HA! That’s a laugh!" she retorted in a strained voice, "I would call it bullying!"

"Call it what you want," he responded easily, holding her with little effort, "but you’re not going anywhere for the rest of the night, so I suggest you just make yourself comfortable."

She groaned in frustration but refused to give up. "You must be feeling bet-ter," she huffed, still twisting and turning, even planting her feet against his legs and pushing with all her might to no avail.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I can’t get free, darn it!" she panted and stopped moving, exhausted.

He gave a husky laugh, his arm still around her and asked lowly, "Are you finished yet?"

"Do you want to give me your cold? Is that the revenge you have planned?" she asked, seething.

"Oh, no, I have something much better in mind for my revenge," he replied smoothly, "and as far as getting sick, you’ve already been exposed to me enough today that a little more exposure isn’t going to make a difference."

Momiji didn’t say anything else because she just didn’t know what to say. Kusanagi, taking her silence as capitulation, yanked the sheet from underneath her hip and threw it over her body, his other arm still anchoring her in place. Then Momiji felt him reach back for something and a feather pillow flopped against the side of her head, obscuring her vision. She pulled it off of her face, and shoved it viciously beneath her head, still seething.

"Go to sleep, Princess." He told her.

And surprisingly, she did.