Disclaimer: Uraboku and all its characters belong to Hotaru Odagiri.

Once again, I am dissatisfied with my writing. However, I will share anyway. If you enjoy it, even a little, I will be happy.

Meditations on a Sleeping Face

You don't scare me, you know. Do you remember asking me that, that day? That day as we drove in the car, your voice steady, but with an undercurrent of apprehension. I could hear it, I could feel it. It wasn't a flippant question for you – you were waiting for my answer, as if so much depended upon it.

You don't scare me, but you do awe me.

Power so great that you wield the most complex of spells without effort, rain down vengeance with mere words from your lips, a flick of your hand. Other demons flee from you, envy you, thirst for your blood, but are never allowed to triumph. You reduce them to dust that glitters and scatters on the wind. Born to the highest class of Duras, member of the betrayer clan, bonded to the Demon Lord himself. Brand Zess. Your title, your curse. An existence I can't even fathom.

I've seen you in battle, stalking your quarry like a large cat, teeth bared and long-nailed hands poised to strike, like claws. Or better yet, a steely-eyed bird of prey, your billowing coat spreading like black wings behind you. You swoop down on your foes from on high and never miss, your aim always deadly accurate.

But you do not scare me.

For you are the dark sentinel that watches over me, the strong arms that catch me when I collapse, the gentle hand that wipes tears from my cheek. You are watching over me now, protecting me, even as you sleep. My devoted, silent guardian, draped in the chair by my bed, breathing softly.

You fascinate me.

With your otherworldly beauty – porcelain skin framed by night-dark hair, and eyes that look like there are storms held within them. I can picture them now, the way they follow me, hold me, even when closed in sleep.

You draw me to you.

With that strange feeling of nostalgia I've felt from the beginning. The twinges of longing that pull at feelings buried deep inside me. You plague me with unknowns, taunt me with flashes of memory, fleeting glimpses of a past that remains just beyond reach. My past. Our past. You frustrate me.

You tempt me.

With stirs of emotion, forgotten sensations. The trust that you place in me, the devotion you offer me, the smallest of smiles on your stoic face, only for me. You overwhelm me.

And so I now crawl to you, reach out my hand to you, curl up right next to you...

And your arms, they welcome me.