When Kazuya woke up there was morning light coming through the window. His head was throbbing a bit, but he had a clear memory of what had happened last night. He was lying in a very warm, very soft bed and Elizabeth was lying next to him. Kazuya remembered kissing her and touching her, and doing all sorts of different things.

He felt ashamed.

How can I explain this to Stella?

As carefully and quietly as he could, Kazuya slipped out of the bed. Looking around the room he spotted his pants, shirt, and underwear on the floor near the bed. The rest of his clothes were neatly folded by the door. He began getting dressed. In his mind he tried to think of how to apologize to Satellizer and explain what had happened.

"Are you leaving so soon?"

The soft voice startled him. He glanced to the bed to see Elizabeth calmly sitting up. She was naked and everything above her hips was on open display.

His cheeks blushed and Kazuya looked at the floor.

Elizabeth chuckled. "It's a little late to be shy don't you think? Why don't you give me a chance to shower and get dressed and we can have breakfast together."

"No, I need to go."

"There's no reason for you to act guilty you know. It's not like you've done anything wrong Kazuya. What we did is a normal part of the Pandora / Limiter relationship. Some would even call it a Limiter's privilege."

"It was a mistake." His eyes remained lowered.

"Oh really? So are you going to pretend you didn't enjoy what happened last night? You were grabbing my breasts so hard I was afraid you were going to leave bruises. You were thrusting into me like a wild beast."

Kazuya's hands began to shake as he recalled some of what he'd done. Looking back it was easy to see that she had manipulated him, and that the alcohol had dulled his senses. But the fact was he had given into temptation of his own free will. She might have seduced him, but it didn't change the fact that he had wanted her. Her body had been amazing and last night he had stopped caring about anything else and just given into his own desires.

"You tricked me," he said. "Everything that happened yesterday was just one huge lie."

"You sound like a High School girl who just lost her virginity."

Kazuya's cheeks blushed and he couldn't bring himself to look at her.

Elizabeth tossed the blankets aside and slid out of bed. She put her hands over her head and stretched, not caring she was in her skin. "We had sex Kazuya. Maybe you were a little drunk and I was seductive, but don't act as though you weren't willing. I like you, when a woman likes a man she will do whatever she has to."

"Even when it means hurting someone else?"

"Who was I hurting?"

"Satellizer."

Elizabeth lifted a single eyebrow. "And why should I care about her? I am your partner Kazuya. I don't mind if you want to see other people, so long as you do it discreetly. Expecting me to actually help you with that is a bit much."

He hurriedly finished buttoning up his shirt. "I have to go."

He heard her sigh and then tread over to his side. "Fine, I will have one of the servants drive you to the metro station." She placed a light kiss on his cheek. "You are still coming to Paris, right?"

He appeared startled. "You still want me to come with you?"

"Well of course, we are the Golden Couple after all, not to mention lovers." She ran a finger slowly down the side of his neck and whispered in his ear. "We'll have a wonderful time together."

Kazuya was all too aware of how close she was. Even trying not to, he couldn't keep from glancing at her supple breasts. He had the urge to reach out and begin touching her again.

"I will think about it." He left her room as quickly as he could.

XXX

Elizabeth smiled as she headed to take a shower.

Kazuya was hers now. Not completely, but he was definitely hers.

XXX

As soon as he was back on campus Kazuya rushed over to the female dorms and Satellizer's room. He was still not completely sure what to say, but he knew he had to talk to her and at least try to explain his actions.

After knocking on her door it opened.

Stella was standing there in an oversized tee shirt and sweat pants. Her hair was a bit of a mess and she had a blank expression on her face. "Good morning."

"Ah, good morning Satellizer sempai." He was relieved that she did not appear angry. Kazuya noticed though that she was not inviting him in.

The uncomfortable silence stretched out as he waited for her to say something. Stella instead stood there, patiently waiting.

"Did you want something Kazuya?" She finally asked.

He bowed to her. "I wanted to apologize and tell you how sorry I am for what happened yesterday."

"You don't owe me an apology. We didn't even meet, so what could you have possibly done?"

Somehow her well-mannered tone made him flinch. "I think there has been a big misunderstanding and I wanted to clear things up."

"On the contrary, I believe the situation has become very clear to me."

"The interview was edited," Kazuya blurted out. "I never said I was in love with Elizabeth. The footage was changed to make it sound that way."

"So you're not in love with Elizabeth?"

"No. You are the one I love Stella."

Her eyes gazed at him coldly. "Then where have you been since yesterday? I waited the entire day, hoping you would call me. Where were you?"

The blunt question made him want to squirm. "I… I was drunk and sleeping it off most of the day."

"Alone?"

Kazuya had faced an S-class NOVA without hesitation, but he could not stand up to her glare. He lowered his eyes and answered in a small voice. "No."

"Your shirt is rumpled and I can smell Elizabeth's perfume all over you. At the very least you should shower and change clothes before rushing off to see the other woman."

"It's not what you think."

"I think you spent the night with Elizabeth. Am I wrong?"

It was about at this point that Kazuya really understood he hadn't thought things out very well. He had expected to apologizer and have Stella simply forgive him. While rushing over this scenario had never occurred to him.

"I did, but, I was drunk, and there were circumstances…" Even to his own ears he sounded absolutely pathetic.

"You don't need to explain. Elizabeth is very beautiful, and she is your partner. It is only natural that you would have that sort of relationship."

"No! It's not what you think. I love you Stella!"

"You seem to love a lot of people Kazuya."

"No. I, it's, I just…" His hands waved about as he tried to think of the right thing to say. "What happened with Elizabeth doesn't matter."

He was surprised when the stoic mask slipped and anger creeped into her face. "I see. So you have meaningless sex with one girl, but with me I suppose it's different?"

"Yes!"

He thought that the right answer, but seeing her cross her arms and frown made it clear it wasn't.

"I thought you were different, I really did."

"But I am telling you the truth."

"That you got drunk, had meaningless sex with another girl, and then came over here to have a little morning romp with me? Do you honestly expect me to be happy about this? Am I supposed to think you're being thoughtful?"

"I… it's not, not what you think, I didn't plan for any of this to happen."

"So you're just a victim of circumstance?"

Her tone was so cold it should have frozen him solid.

"I am sorry," he mumbled. He didn't know what else to say.

There was another long drawn out pause.

"When you told me you were partnered with Elizabeth I agreed to be your mistress. I knew, as soon as I agreed to that, this is how things would be." Her cheeks had a slight tinge to them, and there was a sudden ache in her voice. The first sign of warmth he had seen from her. "I still love you. Even though what you did hurt me, I can't stop loving you. This is just the role of the mistress I suppose, to be ignored except for those times when it is convenient for you to see me."

"It's not like that Stella! You are the one I love, not Elizabeth."

"You say that now, but I'm not your partner, and I am not the one you were with last night." She sighed. "I still love you and want to be with you, but not right now. Let's spend a little time apart. Then we can decide how things should work between us."

"Wait. I was hoping we could spend the break together."

"I'm sorry, I already have plans. My older sister has invited me to visit her on the new L Bridgette resort on Bali that she is running."

"A tropical resort? Wow, I've always wanted to stay at one."

"You should tell Elizabeth. I am sure she would be happy to take you. Goodbye."

She shut the door.

XXX

Later on that day Kazuya called Elizabeth and let her know that he would go with her to Paris.