Chapter 16

Morning Sunshine

Ugh.

That was the only word for it.  Ugh.

Momiji rolled onto her stomach and burrowed her face into her pillow, tucking her hands under on either side of her head to form a comfortable pit in which she wished she could forever hide in.  Moving her tongue a bit, Momiji came to the uncomfortable realization that sometime in the night something had crawled into her mouth and died.

“Momiji…”

Vaguely Momiji knew that something was trying to wake her, but she tried to ignore it as she sought after the comforts of sleep again.  The room was nice and warm and just seemed to say “Go ahead and sleep.”  Momiji thought that was a good idea and tried to burrow deeper into her pillow; pressing her arms up from underneath the pillow so that her pillow could cover her ears and block out whatever was so annoying as to try to wake her.

“Momiji…”

What ever was trying to wake her was getting louder and no matter how hard Momiji tried to hide from the sound she found herself waking up.  As she woke up the least fuggy parts of her brain began to assert itself and was hinting that there really should not be anyone in her room.   “Go away.”  Momiji moaned into her pillow.

“No.  Wake up.” 

Light flooded into the room seeping through the crevices of Momiji’s pillow to stab mercilessly at her tightly closed eyes.  With a groan Momiji reached one hand out from under her pillow just enough to catch the edge of the blanket she had tucked around her shoulders and pulled it up over her head.  Momiji could not remember ever feeling so groggy.  Though being groggy in the first place was making it hard to remember anything.  In her vain fight against waking, Momiji also became aware of another discomfort.  She was hungry.  Very hungry.  A sound that was a mix between a groan and a growl emitted from her throat as Momiji realized that she would have to get up now since she for sure could not return to the comforts of sleep while her body was demanding food in a louder voice than her rude awakener.

With a whoosh Momiji’s blanket was torn from her grasp and thrown completely off her bed.  Instinctively she curled up tighter, burrowing her face deeper into her pillow to try to escape the bright light conspiring to wake her fully.  That was until the realization that the sunlight felt go hit her barely functioning brain.  Instead of mercilessly stabbing at her it caressed her in a loving embrace of warmth and peacefulness.  Moaning her pleasure, Momiji rolled onto her back, her arms stretching out underneath her pillow to grasp and lightly pull on her hair as she stretched them to their limit while her toes first pointed and then curled releasing small pops.  Fresh morning air flowed lightly over her body, smelling slightly of evergreens and dew and causing goose bumps to briefly form in waves as the breeze cooled her flesh and the sun warmed it back up.  Stretched to her full length Momiji sighed her pleasure and briefly pondered opening her eyes before discarding such an unpleasant idea.  Much better to let the suns warmth lull her back to sleep.  While the fresh air did seem to heighten her senses, it in no way encouraged Momiji to join the waking world.  Within seconds she almost reached the nirvana of a few moments stolen sleep.

“Umm...  Momiji?”

There was no doubt about it; it was Kusanagi’s voice forcing her from the bliss of sleep.  With a slight bit of desperate hope Momiji thought *He sounds a bit uncertain.   Maybe if I ignore him a bit longer he will go away.*  Satisfied with her logic, Momiji let out a small mew as she rolled back onto her stomach to better ignore her rude intruder as well as let the sun caress the rest of her; her arms once again tucked under her pillow so as to raise the sides and better protect her eyes and ears from unwanted intrusions.  She nearly screamed when there was a slight movement in the air around her and the blanket was dropped back onto her blocking out the sun’s blissful embrace.  Releasing a childish growling whine, Momiji viciously kicked the blanket off and rolled once again onto her back.  Pushing her arms underneath her pillow so that her hands emerged out the top, Momiji gently grabbed the roots of her hair and pulled to try and relieve so of the tension her visitor was creating by not letting her sleep! 

Momiji barely cracked her eyes open and blearily tried to focus on Kusanagi.  Once she located him standing at the far corner of her room by the window she ground out an irritated “What?!”  Closing her eyes to the piercing rays she waited impatiently for what was surely going to be a maddening response designed to annoy her and pondered how the sun could feel so go on her body and be so brutal to her eyes.

“Not that I mind your sleeping attire…”  Kusanagi began in his usual cocky tone before seeming to run out of steam.

Memories brutally slammed into Momiji’s head as she remembered last night.  After unloading her car, Momiji had the dubious task of finding new homes for her new treasures or tortures as she sarcastically thought.  She had paused with dread when she got to her new pajamas.  *I just had to go and promise to wear one of these tonight, didn’t I?*  With a sigh, Momiji decided to pick out her pajamas.  Everything Sakura had picked out barely covered her butt and tended to dip so low in the front, Momiji suspected that her breast would constantly pop out while she was sleeping.  Akiko’s selections were no better since while they were technically covering, many of them even having pants, they were all at least partially transparent.  To add insult to injury, she had been forbidden to wear normal panties with her pajamas because they would surely clash.  Luckily, Sakura had tried to lighten the blow to Momiji’s sleep time comfort by first selecting a creamy silk slip that actually came down to her mid thighs and while it was a bit see thru if one was looking for it did not blatantly cry out “Look at me!  Look at me!   I’m virtually naked!”  Best of all, the material was so soft and light it felt like nothing at all.  However, Momiji was still a bit nervous about wearing it so she decided to put it off by going in search of Kusanagi and hopefully being able to make friends with him as Inda.

Luckily Momiji’s brain was still being lulled by the relaxing sun and her desire for more sleep so her blush only went down to her chest.  “Sakura and Akiko picked it out for me.”  Momiji muttered in embarrassment, though she was still to relaxed to open her eyes, let alone cover herself up.  Somehow the part of her that wanted to enjoy the sunlight and go back to sleep (which was most of her) was able to assert the logic that she was going to have to get used to Kusanagi seeing her on occasion in more daring pajamas than these since he felt he could enter her room anytime, so she might just as well get used to it.

“Really?!”  Was all Kusanagi said.  His voice was definitely mocking though it seemed a bit strained.

Momiji could hear the smirk in his voice and it annoyed her.  “Yes really.”  Momiji ground out cracking her eyes once again to glare at Kusanagi.  “Some of the others are even worse so stop acting like a pervert and get used to it.”

“The others are even worse?  I have to admit I’m curious.”

Hearing the suppressed laughter in Kusanagi’s voice, Momiji decided she would kill him first and then hunt down Akiko and Sakura for setting her up for this humiliation.  Emitting a growled that ended in a scream, Momiji shot up to a sitting position and flung her eyes open to glare in full force and Kusanagi.  “Was there a reason for you being here, or did you just want to be perverted?!” 

Momiji swore Kusanagi mouthed to himself something about wishing it was the second choice but she wasn’t sure.  There was a slight pause before he looked her firmly in the eyes and demanded, “Where is Inda?”

“She wants to be left alone.”  Momiji stated thinking that with how awake she now was there was no chance of going back to sleep and her stomach was back to demanding food.

“It’s important Momiji.”  Kusanagi’s tone of voice had gone completely serious.

A slight bit of adrenalin shot thru her system at the thought that Kusanagi may want to speak to her because some new Arigami was around.  The anticipation of finally being able to do something in a fight was enough to make her want to get up.  Of course there was the problem of getting Kusanagi to go away and hopefully not notice when she changed over.  Her mind worked in overdrive finally deciding to pull from her own circumstance.  “Why don’t you go and wait where you fought last night and I will tell her to meet you there.”  Before Kusanagi could protest Momiji continued, “She doesn’t sleep in much so I suspect she wouldn’t like you dropping in.”  Momiji was sure that that would solve her problem.  Of course she forgot to factor in that Kusanagi was a pervert. 

Smirking evilly Kusanagi took on a bored tone and stated, “Considering she fights in the nude, I’m sure she would not mind.” 

Leaping up, intent on trying to beat the perversion out of Kusanagi, Momiji yelled out, “KUSANAGI….”  That was all she got out before her mind became fully awake and she realized something was wrong, or more correctly missing.  Life seemed to move in slow motion so she could savor the sinking feeling of dread.  Desperately, Momiji remembered that the pajamas she had picked out where so light and silky smooth they felt like practically nothing.  Practically was the operating word.  Looking down at her body, Momiji let out a gasp of pure horror and embarrassment.  In a strangely detached way she noticed that it was possible to blush clear down to your toes. 

Momiji did not move nor make a sound for a whole second, so intent was she in building up her murderous rage.  “KUSANAGI!!”  But he was already gone.   *Now I’m really looking forward to seeing Kusanagi as Inda.*  Momiji  thought murderously as she played with the idea of beating him into the ground.  That was until she remembered that he now knew she was naked when she fought.