Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ One Last Night ❯ Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks goes to Asako for beta-reading. I hope you enjoy this one-shot as much as she did!

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

It was the persistent pounding at the door that finally shook Kurama from his pensive contemplation. Rising from his sitting position against the threshold of the open doors to his balcony where he'd been gazing up at the night sky, he made his way across his apartment cast in shadows as it was his wont to forgo manmade lights when he was alone. Wondering who could possibly be visiting him at this late hour, as he cracked open the door, it didn't take long for his curiosity to be satisfied.

 

“Keiko?”

 

She gave him a nervous smile, almost guilty even. “H-hi, Kurama. Umm…sorry for dropping by so unexpectedly.”

 

“That's quite alright,” he soothed automatically while he stared, wondering what to make of it all.

 

“Umm…Kurama?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Do you mind if I come in?”

 

“Oh! Of course.” He immediately moved, embarrassed at his belated response, and gestured for her to enter. “Come in, please. Have a seat. Make yourself comfortable. Do you want me to make some tea?”

 

“That's okay,” she said hesitantly as her gaze darted around the room, avoiding his gaze. “There was a reason I came. And I know it's late so I'd really rather just get to the point.”

 

“I see.”

 

Feeling unaccountably tense, he said no more. It briefly occurred to him to ask whether she wanted him to turn on the lights but, as the natural illumination from a full moon seemed to be enough for his small apartment and she made no complaints or even gave any sign that she noticed, he chose to forgo it. He didn't want to break the odd mood that seemed to have settled between them. It was uneasy, yes. But there was also something almost…charged.

 

Something that didn't want to be disturbed.

 

At least...not yet.

 

He led her to the living area, settling himself in the seat beside her on the forest green couch that had come with the apartment. It was definitely not the most comfortable piece of furniture that existed, but it was serviceable and he hadn't had to pay any extra for it, which he'd thought was a plus at the time. Besides, he usually didn't spend much time in this area of the apartment unless he had company, and that wasn't very often so his use of the couch was basically infrequent.

 

And why was he thinking so much about his couch?

 

It took only a flick of his emerald green eyes to his right to find the answer to that.

 

He drank in the sight of her. She was dressed in an outfit that he'd seen her wear before. It was one of his favorites; in form flattering mint green blouse and a dark brown skirt that barely stopped at mid-thigh, she was a pretty picture even if her clothing showed a rumpled testimony to a day's wear. She exuded a casual sexiness, casual because she was wholly unaware of just how appealing a picture she made. It was probably just as well. If she knew just how strong she stirred the lustful urges in him when she was simply sitting a scant arm's length away, he was certain that she'd be even less likely to confess whatever it was that was bothering her enough to come visiting him. He knew it had to be important.

 

After all, Keiko wasn't the type of woman to knock at a man's door the night before her wedding.

 

Time stretched on and, despite her previously expressed desire to get to the point, she seemed to be having difficulty doing so. As she stared with a fixed concentration at the fidgeting fingers picking at the pleats of her skirt, he felt like fidgeting himself as he wondered what the heck she was doing there. It made him tense - the not knowing, the dread, the hope…he needed to know.

 

Unable to bear it anymore, he opened his mouth-

 

“Kurama…”

 

-only to have her beat him to it.

 

“I'm sorry for barging in on you unannounced like this. Especially the night before…”

 

The wedding.

 

It went unspoken but, nevertheless, seemed to laden the air with a heavy weight. He didn't think it was just the nerves on his part that were coloring his opinion, but she was so obviously torn with whatever thoughts were plaguing her - and he didn't believe that it was a simple case of pre-wedding jitters - that he felt something inside himself winding up tight as he steeled his resolve. Trying to be the best confidante he could be towards this woman he saw as more than just a simple friend, he ignored his own desires and put her need before his. Schooling his features into a mask as sympathetic and understanding as he could make it, he reached over and placed a hand over hers, stilling their fidgeting. The action caused her to break her fixated concentration on the motion and, finally, she looked directly at him.

 

He made sure his smile was gentle, his expression without any judgment for her choices that she had made or had yet to make. Through body language, for he'd found that it often worked far better than words, he assured her that there were no apologies that she needed to make.

 

And when she smiled back at him, that slow lightening of her features that he always loved to see, he knew that she'd gotten the message.

 

Sensing it was alright to break the silence, he aimed for a casual air, hiding his true feelings from her as he strived to keep his tone as light as possible. “So, Keiko. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company tonight? Shouldn't you be home resting? After all, tomorrow will be a busy day.”

 

She twitched before raking him with a gaze that bordered on defiant. “I could say the same for you. You're going to be at the wedding too-”

 

“Well, I could always just not show up.”

 

“Don't joke.” She glared, then continued as if he'd never interrupted, “And don't distract me. As I was saying, unless jeans are a new part of your bedtime attire, I doubt that I woke you up when I came knocking at your door.”

 

“Ah, well. I was just…thinking.” He resisted the urge to wince at the lame response. “It's just…it's hard to believe that the wedding's tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah…I know.”

 

“Your groom is a lucky man. Or should I say demon?”

 

“Doesn't matter. Um, and thank you…I guess.”

 

Feeling unsettled at the ensuing silence, he started, “Yusuke-”

 

A look from her stilled whatever it was he would have said next. He couldn't quite describe her expression, knew only that while it caused a part of him to tingle with relief, there was another part of him that was further aggravated with agitation. For all his years in this life and his last, for all the patience that he'd acquired in his days of thievery, the tension brought about by a mere slip of a human woman and this situation he found them in was suddenly just too much for him.

 

He couldn't take any more.

 

“Enough.” His voice was terser than he'd intended it to be. “Why did you come here tonight?”

 

She flushed, looked away.

 

He would have none of that. “What is it that you want, Keiko?”

 

At those words, she bit her lip. He sensed a moment of indecision warring within her before she lifted her chocolate brown eyes and, hit with the emotion held within them, Kurama thought that he would melt. Struck temporarily dumb, he couldn't speak, couldn't move, could only remain frozen as he watched while she took a deep breath as if steeling herself and moved forward until she was sitting right next to him. From hip to thigh they were pressed against each other until she leaned in even more and then the softness of her breasts were flattened against his chest with the pressure.

 

It was all he could do to keep from groaning aloud.

 

As for Keiko, she was experiencing a similar reaction. It was only her intense embarrassment at being so bold that gave her the strength to restrain herself from visibly showing just how greatly she was affected by the simple contact.

 

And she was very affected.

 

She was well aware that hers were not the type of look that could be called stunningly beautiful. But from what she'd garnered from friends, some of them male, was that she had a quieter prettiness that other females lacked, something more durable than the fleeting beauty of mere physical attractiveness. Though her hair was not an eye-catching shade, it was smooth and well kept. The same could be said for the color of her eyes, though she'd been told that it was their expressiveness and warmth that frequently drew people to her. As for the rest of her body, she was a physical person and knew that her body was well toned, even if she lacked the skinniness that other women her age seemed to strive for. If her friends could be believed, that was hardly a lack as she'd been told that her form was shapely and soft in all the right places with a robust appeal that, contrary to the opinion of most women, men found quite appealing.

 

She still harbored doubts about the praise and opinions passed her way that highlighted her attractiveness. However, there were moments that she was closer to believing it than others. And as good as Kurama could be at hiding his emotions, there was no denying the increased pace of his breathing upon their physical contact. It was a small thing, but she'd come to know him well over the years and it was a huge boost to her feminine ego, making her feel desirable to know that she could have such an affect on someone who had a beauty that women envied and drew attention from both the female and male population.

 

Never completely comfortable when it came to initiating sex, but also unwilling to back away from a decision she'd decided upon, Keiko tamped down on her embarrassment that even now was warning her to turn back and spare herself from this uncomfortable situation she'd placed herself in. She mustered all her courage as she lifted her hand to him, fingers tracing over his collarbone while her eyes filled with all the pleading and longing that she felt as she stared directly into Kurama's emerald green orbs.

 

“Tonight,” she whispered. “I want you.”

 

“Keiko…”

 

“No, please. Please just listen to what I have to say. Tomorrow's the wedding, I know…but I couldn't stay away. Maybe it's foolish of me, but this is my last chance to do this before I'm married and become a wife instead of a mere bride-to-be.”

 

“Your last night of freedom?” He couldn't help the dryness that crept into his tone.

 

She flushed. “Maybe. I don't know. You don't need to tell me that it's out of character, not like me at all. I already know that. And I'm not exactly sure what kind of bug I've caught but…it doesn't change what I want. And tonight…what I want is you.”

 

He couldn't help the way his breath hitched at the look in her eyes, her words, her tone. All the while, a tiny voice in the back of his mind wondered what had gotten in to her. Her actions were surprising and not something one would expect from the woman he'd come to know as responsible and prone to following the rules…well, most of them anyway. It was that discrepancy that provided him enough self-control to pull back slightly, even though his body was clamoring to get closer to her warmth - especially when she slid her hand up over his shoulder and around his neck while pushing her body tighter against his until she was spilling halfway across his lap.

 

“What are you doing?” Kurama rasped hoarsely, grabbing and holding her slithering arm in place.

 

But Keiko was undeterred. As if a switch had been flipped somewhere in her mind, turning off all reason until only instinct and desire was left, she was filled only with the thought of what had brought her there to him on that night. Never one to stray from a goal once it had been set, she'd gone too far already on this path she'd undertaken to turn back no matter what embarrassment and discomfort she felt then or would feel in the morning when it was over.

 

Her answer to his question was to push her body even closer to his and, from her half-sprawled position across him, there was no mistaking the press of his erection against her belly. Part of her admired him because, even with the proof of his desire rubbing against her, she knew he was fighting the pull with that gentlemanly honor that he possessed. Yes, part of her respected that he was taking such care to avoid committing to something that he felt she wasn't thinking quite through and may even later regret. However, the larger part of her-

 

Just wanted him to surrender.

 

She wanted him - intensely and so much that it nearly scared her off. But she wanted this too much. She wanted him, tonight, and she didn't care that she was getting married tomorrow. She leaned closer and kissed the line of his jaw gently.

 

“Please, Kurama, please,” she whispered pleadingly. “I want you. And I know you want me.”

 

He held himself back, but he couldn't deny it.

 

“Please don't fight me.” She put all of her longing, all of her entreaty into her beseeching gaze. “Oh, please, please, don't think about anything else. Just this one last night - please, give me this one last night.”

 

She strained herself upwards and he felt the soft heatedness of her lips as she started trailing soft kisses on his cheeks down to his jaw. He could tell she was about journey downwards to nuzzle his neck when he recognized a faint tangy scent wafting from her mouth.

 

He stiffened. “You've been drinking.”

 

“Bachelorette party, I told you about it last week.” She continued administering her string of kisses. “Doesn't matter; I didn't have much.”

 

“In your opinion.”

 

“I know my limits. I didn't even have enough to leave me with a hangover in the morning. I'm fully aware of what I'm doing. I only had enough to…”

 

“Lower your inhibitions,” he finished when she seemed too embarrassed to.

 

She made a noncommittal sound and concentrated on him rather than her discomfort with the conversation. She wanted him, wanted him to give in without caring about anyone or anything else. And the only way to do that would be to erode his resistance. There may have been a multitude of ways in which to do that; she went with the one that would be more pleasurable to them both. She put all of her focus, all of her attention, on breaking him down until he sank to the same level that she was already on.

 

And it worked.

 

Kurama groaned. He could feel himself hardening even further at the feel of her hands, her lips, as they worked over him and fueled his fantasies of taking her. He thought of them entwined, him, her, her body arching beneath his in a bed, even on that couch. It could have been anywhere; he didn't care.

 

He just wanted her.

 

Kami-sama - this wasn't supposed to happen! It was wrong!

 

He knew that. But control was slipping away and, with each stroke of her body against his, he was finding himself caring about the wrongness of it less and less. He could only think about what he wanted and, at that moment, it was all wrapped up in the warm bundle of womanly flesh twining around him.

 

A flash of guilt speared through him, a momentary feeling of regret for stealing away something - no, someone - that was so important to a former comrade and friend. Things were no longer the same between them, hadn't been since his feelings were realized, and maybe never would be. That's what happened when friends fall in love with the same woman. And it was something he did regret, though he couldn't have stopped his feelings no matter how hard he'd tried, for he had valued the friendship of one of the few friends he'd ever had. But even that guilt, that brief moment of reflection, was fleeting, burned away in the heat that was her who left no room for anything else.

 

Yusuke, I'm sorry was all Kurama had time to think before his senses were drowned in her scent, her feel.

 

Tonight.

 

Just for tonight.

 

He'd drive out thoughts of all other men from her, would make sure she'd remember this night forever.

 

Perhaps he would be damned to an eternity of Hell for being so weak, for giving in like this. But that was beyond him to care about anymore as he let go of his last shred of resistance. He parted his lips in invitation and Keiko, still caught in the grips of her uncharacteristic bold streak, took up the unspoken challenge and darted in her tongue, tasting his mouth. He shuddered at the sensation and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her even tighter against him as he deepened their kiss and reveled in her flavor.

 

He wanted to just eat her up.

 

Similarly afflicted, Keiko slipped her hands under his shirt, feeling the taut skin on his back. However, she wasn't satisfied. The contact was too little, not enough, and she was quick to unbutton the simple white cotton shirt and Kurama, knowing what she wanted, helped by shrugging out of it. The expanse of his torso bare to her, she enjoyed the varied textures of his body as she ran her fingers up his tight stomach to his chest, circling his nipples with her thumb.

 

“Keiko!” Kurama groaned, shuddering. “Bedroom, let's go to the bedroom.”

 

Quickly, before she could either protest or agree, he lifted her up in his arms and carried her to his bedroom. Feeling urgent, rushed, he nevertheless took his time to settle her gently upon his bed. Preoccupied, Keiko spared little notice for his restraint as she pulled off her shirt in one motion while Kurama reached for the fastenings of her skirt before drawing it down her legs and tugging it completely off. Her breasts were encased in a lacy baby pink bra and her panties were a matched set that barely covered her mound.

 

Seductive yet innocent - impossible to resist.

 

He never had a chance.

 

“Tonight, just for tonight.” He leaned down and captured her mouth in a short, hard kiss before drawing back. He gave her a look. “It will be our secret.”

 

“Yes,” Keiko whispered. “Our secret.”

 

Her hands went to waist of his jeans, and soon she was pushing them down his legs until he was nearly naked before her. She then looked up at him while she slowly scooted backwards on the bed, her eyes beckoning with unmistakable invitation for him to follow her.

 

She wanted him.

 

Well, she was going to get him.

 

Conscience discarded Kurama couldn't prevent a slight smirk as he crawled towards her like the graceful predator that he was. He nuzzled her neck while his hands worked on the fastening of her bra and pulled it down and off her arms. When she was bared to him, he took a moment to sit back and savored the view presented to him.

 

Her breasts were beautiful.

 

He'd always enjoyed a woman's breasts - the suppleness, the softness, the smoothness - and for longer than he could remember, he'd been particularly fascinated by hers. They were fuller than average and her typical habit of dressing modestly instead of flaunting one of the finer features of her body as most other women would only seemed to whet his interest even more, as if the not seeing made it somehow taboo and the kitsune side of him had always been eager to push the lines.

 

Though he'd never particularly thought of himself as having a breast fetish, he couldn't tear his gaze away from hers as, unbidden, he felt his mouth water. He couldn't help it. He had a fondness for sweets and rich foods and the sight before his eyes reminded him of mounds of luscious cream with juicy ripe berries crowning the tips. Drawn by his hunger, he bent his head to take a nipple in his mouth.

 

They tasted better than berries.

 

With a sigh, he settled against her. It was like a fantasy come true, only better because it was real. He felt the solidness of her flesh under his hands and was reassured that she wasn't a mere dream meant to disappear upon waking. Determined to enjoy every moment of his heart's desire come true, he gave in to his wants and swirled his tongue around and around one hardened nub, suckling on it like a baby, while his fingers toyed with its twin.

 

Shuddering, Keiko moaned and buried her hands in his hair, red silk to the touch. She arched her back, expressing her pleasure as electricity shot to her center when Kurama gently scraped his teeth over one sensitive tip before releasing it with an audible pop. He then switched his attention to her other breast, laving it with the same care and concentration. At the same time, he started to take things to the next level, hands sweeping across smooth skin on the way down until he was cupping the scrap of pink covering her mound.

 

Kami-sama, she was soaking! The realization merely fanned the flames of his lust higher.

 

“You're so wet,” he whispered to her.

 

It was a pleased purring of male satisfaction in her ears that made her shiver, as if his voice alone was another touch she felt down to her core. And when it seemed he'd had enough of toying with her through the material, always wanting more, he placed his hands on her hips then slowly pulled the pink lace down her legs. But before throwing it aside, he couldn't resist raising it to his nose and inhaling her musk.

 

He growled, “You smell delicious, Keiko.”

 

Keiko's breath hitched at his words, the look in his eyes, and she could feel her blood pumping furiously through her veins to her very center.

 

Kurama looked down at her and groaned aloud at the sight. Her coral pink flesh was glistening and the crowning bundle of nerves at the top of that blossom was swollen with her yearning need.

 

For him.

 

The scent of her teased him, beckoned him like a dehydrated sailor who'd finally found water after weeks of going without. Unable to resist, he bent his head and nuzzled her flowering flesh affectionately. He looked up at her, eyes awash in an erotic shade of lustful green as he guided her hands to the heart of her and growled his demand.

 

“Do it for me, Keiko. Open those plush petals for me.”

 

Her body flushed with something less pleasant than desire, but the aching clamoring of her body for what she knew would come next overrode all else. So, hot with a mix of shame and uncontrollable craving, she gave a brief nod of her head before opening her legs wider and, with trembling hands, spreading the slick flesh of her lower lips apart with her fingers. Her actions were rewarded when Kurama smiled with something dark, possessive, so unlike his usual gentlemanly persona that it sent another streak of heat zinging through her.

 

“Perfect,” he murmured.

 

Then there were no more words from him as he bent his head and darted out his tongue. He started teasing her, sucking and licking, lapping at the wetness that coated her and his searching mouth. He was too good at it and her helpless whimpers only seemed to fuel him on.

 

Any lingering embarrassment she might still have had was pushed away as her thighs shook and trembled with the effort it took to keep them open for him, to keep from snapping around his head and pressing him harder against her, especially when she felt herself getting close, so close to that glittering end that seemed suspended just a touch out of reach. Unable to completely restrain herself, she threaded her hands through the red strands of his hair, urging pleas for more dropping unwillingly from her lips.

 

“Please, Kurama,” she panted. “More…yes, I need more. Please.”

 

Kurama wasn't completely heartless. He took pity on her agony and drew the tiny hard nub into his mouth and suckled while he inserted one, then two fingers inside her tight warmth, stretching her with brief but constant back and forth sliding thrusts. Then he added a third digit to the action and gave that nub of hers a little nip.

 

That was all it took.

 

Keiko screamed as her orgasm burst through her, consuming her in a heated conflagration that had her body quaking with the force of it. Unable to hold herself upright, she fell back on the bed, still shuddering from the pleasure rippling through her.

 

Kurama followed her, moving up her body and kissing her along the way until he reached her mouth, letting her taste herself on his lips. Still aroused despite her heavy panting, she had enough strength left to roll over and push him onto his back so that she was on top of him, straddling him with legs splayed to either side of his lean form. She started nuzzling his chest, trailing kisses to his abdomen. Once there, she paused to remove his briefs and the hard length of him sprang free from its confinement. He was long and thick and her senses delighted in him as she nuzzled him, taking in his musky scent.

 

Kurama watched her with an intense focus as she ran her fingers up his straining flesh. A low guttural moan was reluctantly pulled from him when she darted out her tongue and licked purplish head crowning its top. She took him in her mouth, encasing him in warm wet velvet, first just the tip then slowly taking him in bit by bit, more and more. The sight of her sweet pink lips wrapped around him like a vise caused him to swell even more. It wasn't long before he was pumping in and out of her mouth in a steady pistoning motion, holding himself in check with barely the right amount of restraint so that he wasn't thrusting hard enough down her throat to gag her.

 

At his actions, Keiko felt a warm glow of feminine triumph spread through her. Going further, she caressed the one hand further downwards, smoothing over steely muscles before sliding between his legs to cup the softer flesh of his balls.

 

“Keiko!” Kurama cried out with an involuntary arch of his hips. “Stop!”

 

She paused, stared back with surprise.

 

Heavy-lidded eyes stared back at her. “I want to be inside you when I come.”

 

She shivered, smiled. How could she refuse that?

 

She couldn't.

 

“Yes,” she whispered as she shifted.

 

She flowed over him, settling herself above him. The tip of him hovered just outside her entrance, brushing against each other in a tiny wet kiss until, impatient and unable to restrain himself any longer, he grabbed her hips, slamming her down onto him. She let out a whimper as he stabbed into her, filled her with his flesh until there was no more room to be filled.

 

“Ooooh…” she couldn't help moaning breathlessly. “Kurama…”

 

Kurama thought he had gone to heaven as she closed over him with a wet heat that clung to every inch of him. If he were to die at that moment, he wouldn't have complained. Not with the way she cradled him within her; she fit like she was made for him, a custom-made glove of liquid silk that was all woman, all her. He wished that moment would last forever with them locked together, forever joined in flesh.

 

But that was impossible.

 

Keiko started to move against him, an up and down, circling her hips to find the right angle as she sought the right rhythm to please her. And, at her movements, Kurama could no longer hold still. He had urgings of his own and a male primitiveness within him wouldn't allow her to set the pace.

 

Before she could comprehend, much less attempt protest, he rolled her onto her back with a speed and agility that no mere human could lay a claim to. For a moment, he was poised above her, staring down into her surprised eyes.

 

Then he started pumping and there was no more thinking on either side.

 

He thrust hard and deep as if he could spear through the other end of her, her slick flesh parting easily before him even as it clung to his length. Wanting to possess her, to imprint himself on her, to mark her, his fingers dug into the softness of her hips as he pulled her harder against him. He angled her for better leverage until he was stroking into her so deeply that he could feel himself bumping against the entrance to her cervix with each thrust.

 

She liked it. Loved it.

 

She needed more.

 

She hooked her legs high around his waist, trying to pull him even deeper into her depths, wanting him to crawl into her and touch her everywhere inside. She could feel every inch of him as he moved in and out of her with wet sliding strokes, all of her nerve endings tingling as his flesh rasped against hers, pushing her higher and higher until she couldn't take it anymore.

 

“Please, please, Kurama! More! Harder! Please!”

 

He complied even as he started to murmur in her ear. In low purring whispers that stroked her senses in another way, his words flowed around her and over her and into her as he told her that he loved how tight she was, how good she felt around him, how delicious she had tasted when he'd had her in his mouth, how he was turned on by knowing she wanted him so much that she couldn't help begging for more. He told her that he liked it when she begged, liked knowing that he could get her so hot, so fast.

 

And he told her that he liked it even better when she came.

 

As if his words were a trigger, he immediately got his wish as Keiko's second wave of orgasm crashed into her, crushing her with a bursting strength that almost made her black out. High on pleasure, her vision dimmed as she felt as if she'd be torn apart from inside out with the force of the climax that clenched her in its tight-fisted grip. Caught up as she was in her own earth-shattering peak, she barely noticed when Kurama followed soon after her.

 

He couldn't help it, couldn't put it off any longer. When that heated wetness closed tight on the length of him buried in her depths, spasming and sucking on him like another mouth trying to milk him dry, the hot massaging friction proved to be too much. Fastening his mouth on hers, he devoured her as he gave one last hard thrust of his hips and shuddered against her still quaking body as he emptied himself deep inside her with a muffled groan of release.

 

Drained and slightly trembling, he rolled to the side before he collapsed on top of her and crushed her with his weight. The action served to pull his softening length out of her and he regretted the loss even as he drew her lax form closer to his, snuggling into her and nuzzling her hair.

 

He wished he could make that moment last, even if he knew it couldn't.

 

“Your husband-to-be is lucky to have you,” was all he could find to say as drowsiness crept closer to claim him. He hadn't been sleeping well lately and the exertions of the past hour had worn him out. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep awake for much longer but he still resisted, wanting to remember as much as he could of the time they had left together.

 

As for Keiko, she refused to look back at him. Instead her eyes fell on the bedside clock and she started disentangling herself from him. He protested, tightening his told until she subsided with a sigh of regret.

 

“I have to go. Dawn's not too far away. If I leave now, I can still make it back home before anyone notices I'm gone.”

 

“Don't go,” he murmured sleepily, even as his hold on her loosened. “Stay with me.”

 

“I'm sorry. But I have to.”

 

She was able to break free this time and slid off the bed. She was quick to dress; hardly anyone would be wandering out on the streets at that time of night so she didn't need to worry about how her appearance would appear to others. Still she lingered, not really wanting to go. But she had to and so she mustered her willpower to leave.

 

“I'll see you at the wedding?” she asked finally, turning back to look at him once more.

 

But Kurama didn't answer. He was already asleep.

 

Her lips curved, a small smile. She took a moment to appreciate the picture he represented - form nude and framed on a disheveled bed, features smoothed out in peaceful slumber. He looked like a fallen angel, a beautiful one, and she treasured the gift of that night he had given her. On impulse, she bent town to press a gentle kiss on his temple before drawing up a loose sheet to cover him.

 

“Thank you,” she whispered softly, regret and longing mingled in her gaze. “And good-bye.”

 

The door closed behind her on the way out.

 

 

oOoOoOo

 

A bride was supposed to save herself for her groom until the wedding night - or so she'd heard. And she had tried to stick somewhat to that adage for tradition's sake, even if that had ended in an abysmal failure.

 

Well, though she was definitely no virgin, she still wore white.

 

Bride's prerogative.

 

Standing in front of a full-length mirror, nervous, feeling like a hypocrite with several bridesmaids fussing with her dress, she wondered just why was it again that a Western styled wedding had been decided on to seal their marriage vows. Then she remembered.

 

It was cheaper than a Japanese one.

 

Plus, her parents had been so excited about using elements from an `exotic' foreign culture. It was so romantic.

 

She loved her parents - who was she to disabuse them of the notion?

 

For herself, she didn't care overly much. It was the man a bride was being married to that mattered, not the superficial trappings that came with the wedding. After all, an expensive wedding didn't mean that wedded life would be any happier.

 

Feeling those butterflies lurching in her stomach again - Kami-sama, she hoped she wasn't going to be sick! - she was shaken out of her pessimistic thoughts by a knock on the door.

 

“Keiko?” a woman called as she entered. “Are you ready?”

 

She turned with a smile. “Mom!”

 

“Oh! Oh, my baby.” Happy eyes turned watery. “Look at you. So beautiful. Why it seems like only yesterday when you were still wiggling in my belly and giving me cravings for pickles and peanut butter ice cream.”

 

“Mo-ooom!” She grimaced at the giggles of her bridesmaids. “I'm already feeling slightly nauseous as it is without any help.”

 

She chuckled. “Well, buckle up. It's time now and everyone's here.”

 

“Everyone?”

 

At her daughter's tone, her smile faded. “Well…no, not quite.” Her expression was sympathetic. “I'm sorry, dear. I know how much he means to you, but I don't think he's coming.”

 

“I see.”

 

Though she couldn't quite quash the disappointment that welled within her, she did her best to hide it from everyone else. It wouldn't do to be thinking so much of another man besides her groom on the day of the wedding.

 

And she'd half-expected this outcome, after all.

 

Forcing away her conflicting emotions, she took a deep breath and smiled as brightly as she could at her fellow wedding assistants. She knew she was successful when their worried looks faded to be replaced by smiles of their own. In the words of her mother, she buckled up.

 

“Okay, everyone. Let's go get married!”

 

oOoOoOo

 

Despite her bravado during the final wedding preparations, Keiko walked down the aisle nervously, a state of mind that was not helped by all the eyes she could feel upon her in unrelenting scrutinization. She clung to her father's arm and stared straight ahead, unable to prevent the events of last night from playing through her mind, even as she was on the verge of pledging herself in matrimony. She hadn't told anyone about how she'd spent her last night as an unmarried woman, saw no reason for anyone to know the real reason behind the blushing bride's blush.

 

It was their secret.

 

It was a night she knew she'd never forget; she'd cherish that moment forever.

 

Kurama…

 

The wistful thought whispered through her mind, even as the groom was taking her hand in his. She saw him through her veil - a splash of red silk and twinkling emerald eyes that proclaimed she'd never be able to get away from him again after this was all over and done. Her soon-to-be-husband leaned in, his words a mere whisper shared only between the two of them.

 

With a smile, he told her simply, “I'm one lucky demon.”

 

Yes, and she was one lucky girl.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

~ owari ~