Change of Fate // Kyojuro Rengoku

.042

In The Morning

The early morning sun peered down through the open windows, shining across Emi's face and causing her to groan, pressing her face deeper into the bed. Or at least, she thought it was the bed. Her fingers brushed across a smooth, toned chest and caused her eyes to flutter open. Her face grew warm as she remembered the events of last night, and looked down to see Kyojuro's half naked body beneath her.

She peered up to look at the Flame Pillar's face. He was still sleeping, his eyes closed peacefully and his lips slightly parted as he breathed in, slow and deep. Emi smiled, her leg shifting against his as they were both entwined together. She felt a breeze rush across her back, causing goosebumps to grow on her skin as she suddenly was made aware of the fact that she was...naked?

Emi gasped, pulling at the thin sheet that was already lying across her hips. She quickly swung her head around, searching for her yukata. Now that she thought about it, sleeping beside Kyojuro was incredibly warm. She must have taken her yukata off in her sleep, not even wanting to bother with a blanket.

Her quick movements and fumbling around ceased when she felt stirring beside her, and she slowly turned her head to see Kyojuro rubbing at his eyes that still had not opened. "What are you doing..." he mumbled, yawning and reaching out a hand for the girl. His eyes slowly opened, watching as Emi quickly laid down on her belly, pulling the sheet around her body and up over her head, only her face poking out of the blanket. He smiled, laughing slightly. "It's a bit early to be playing games, Emi." Kyojuro sat up on his elbows and raised an eyebrow.

He tried to reach out and pull the girl closer to him but she rolled away, taking the blanket with her. "Hey!" Kyojuro laughed.

"Kyojuro, don't look! I think I took my clothes off in the middle of the night..." Emi quickly explained, squealing when he gripped the blanket and pulled on both ends, yanking her body up to his while she was still wrapped in the fabric.

He wrapped his arms around the blanket burrito, placing a kiss on the girl's forehead. "You didn't seem to care if I saw you naked last night..." Kyojuro joked, earning a gentle head butt from the girl as their faces were still close. "Ow! Emi..." he whined.

"You saw me naked last night?" She asked, thinking back to when they were kissing. She couldn't remember the yukata coming off of her body, just that it might have fallen open a bit. But she figured he couldn't see her body in the dark.

Kyojuro shrugged, "Well, I won't lie. I saw a little bit... I'm sorry if you didn't want that." He frowned at the thought of bringing her any shame or embarrassment.

Emi thought for a moment, before suddenly sitting up and unwrapping herself from the sheet. "Hm, I guess if you already saw then it doesn't matter." Kyojuro blushed and looked away, trying not to stare as the blanket fell from her shoulders. "It's just a body anyways, right?" She giggled as he still wouldn't look at her, staring away with wide eyes and red cheeks.

The sheet gently fell down her seated body, pooling around her bare hips and blanketing her lower half. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, covering herself only so that he would look at her again. He peeked over, seeing that she had the intimate parts of her body hidden, just barely. "Your body isn't just a body to me, Emi." Kyojuro nervously chuckled. He lifted himself up more in the bed, sitting just in front of Emi's naked form. He hesitantly reached his hand forward, brushing his fingers from her hip delicately up the smooth curve of her waist.

She lightly giggled when his fingers reached her ribs, touching just to the side of her breasts. "Why not? I'm sure you've seen other woman before, probably naked. It's the same as that." She shrugged, seeming unbothered by the idea of him having multiple previous lovers. She didn't know how wrong she was.

Kyojuro was giving her a surprised look, his eyebrows raised as he looked at her like she was crazy. "Probably naked? Other women? What makes you say that?" He laughed at her casual assumption.

She tilted her head, now looking at him like he was the crazy one. "I'm not dumb, Kyo. You're really good looking, kind and strong. A Hashira. You've probably been with plenty of women-"

Her words trailed off, growing quiet when Kyojuro burst into laughter. He laughed for quite a while, Emi going through multiple different feelings. First she was confused, then embarrassed, then annoyed, her cheeks flushing as he continued to laugh, then she grew angry. "Hey, are you laughing at me?" She furrowed her brow, unfurling one hand to harshly poke at his chest as he still laughed.

"N-no!" He tried to assure her, but he was still laughing as she poked him again. Emi began to pout, turning away and scooting to the edge of the bed to try leaving. Kyojuro reached out, sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her toward him, his chuckles finally dying down. He pulled her until her back hit against his torso, his warm chest still quickly rising and falling from his laughing fit. "I'm not laughing at you, I swear. It's just...I've never been with any other woman before. I didn't realize you thought otherwise."

"You're lying." Emi pouted, trying to look away from his smiling face. He raised his hand, guiding her face to look toward him before he leaned down to press a kiss to her frowning lips.

"You know that I wouldn't lie to you, Emi. You're the only woman I've been with, the only one I want to be with." He seemed sincere, but she still narrowed her eyes to search for any signs that he was maybe avoiding the truth. There were none, he was being honest. "Well, now I feel the need to ask. Have you been with other men?" He questioned. Though he already knew the answer, he wanted to see her reaction.

It was exactly what he desired, a deep flush crossing her face as she curled up her body sheepishly, pressing herself further into him. "Of course not! You think anyone would be crazy enough to want to hang around a 'stupid forest imp' like me?" Though her words were harsh, she cracked a smile at imagining any of the village boys even trying to get close. "If they tried, I probably would've sent them home with their eyes scratched out."

Kyojuro laughed. "Oh really?" He leaned back against the wall, wrapping his arms around her to pull her to his side.

"Mhmm, natural instinct I guess."

He raised an eyebrow, "You didn't do that to me..." He pondered. Though, he did believe her words, considering she was a very different person when he first found her.

Emi sighed, fidgeting as she still held her arms around her chest to cover herself. "Right. Well, I remember I thought I was dying and you were an angel." She referred to when he came to rescue her after she was wounded. The wound became infected, so she was too weak to have better judgment, but she wondered if she wasn't sick... would she have attacked Kyojuro? She supposed she'd never know.

There was a comfortable silence, and Emi thought about everything that brought her to this moment. So much has happened, but she couldn't think of a single thing she would want to change. It had all been such an amazing, exciting journey. It scared her to think about what would've happened if she turned Kyojuro away, would he have continued to pursue her or given up?

Then, she thought about how idiotic she'd been yesterday. Why would she run away from him like that? She cared about him so much, she loved him. She had to try her best to always be around, to always be there for him the same way he was for her. There was only one way she could be sure...

"Kyojuro?" She quietly called out, looking up to see he was already looking her way, watching as she was deep in her own thoughts.

"Hmm?" He had been distracted, looking at her lips as he was only thinking about kissing her again.

"I want to talk to Ubuyashiki again..."