disclaimer: I do not own Skip Beat! Quit saying I do! People will start to talk!

AN: I know this is usually where I put something long-winded, but I'm just gonna shut up and let you get to the smutty goodness I promised. Enjoy!

Do You Swear? (Part 2, Final)

He kept his arm around her as they left the lounge, but did nothing more.

He let his fingers trail her arm as he handed her into the passenger side of his car, but did nothing more.

He held her hand for most of the drive to his apartment, and even as she caressed the lines of his palm with her fingertips and playfully predicted his future in a honeyed voice, he did nothing more.

He planted a fleeting kiss on her forehead when she stumbled into him as he handed her out of his car, but did nothing more.

He whispered things in the elevator that made her knees shake, but did nothing more.

It was only when they had made it into his apartment and gotten their shoes off that he found himself standing closer than he should have. They wandered into the living room, his shadow engulfing her as he trailed behind. She spun to face him, her eyes wide and expectant and brimming with an anxious desire he could almost taste, he was so close.

She cracked a tiny smile as a bead of sweat dotted her hairline. She craned her neck to look him in the eye, the copper strands of her tousled twist falling back to graze the hood of her dress.

"This isn't going to work, Kuon."

Every fiber of him strained with the effort it took to keep a straight face. "... It isn't?"

"No, it isn't. This vantage point is giving me a crick in my neck," she joked nervously.

You pick a time like this to tell jokes. I love you anyway, you little brat. "How rude of me," he said, shaking his head.

He dropped to his knees, putting him at eye level with her chest. She stumbled back a bit, startled, until he wrapped his arms around her hips and drew her into him. She grasped him without hesitation. "I've missed you so much," he whispered, embarrassed by the force of his own need, and she said, "I know, Kuon. I know." She slid her arms around his neck and held him tight.

"Why did you leave that day? And the way you did?"

She took a deep breath, her exhale ruffling his hair. "A lot of reasons. A lot of exhausting reasons."

He looked up curiously and found genuine weariness on her face. "How so?"

"It was like ... giving myself whiplash. I had my reasons, I assure you, but they just kept changing. I wasn't stalling for time, I just ... There was always something stopping me. As soon I had one resolved, another would come in its place. And there was work, of course. A lot more than I anticipated. It didn't seem like I'd ever get to see you again."

Her arms slid away as she straightened. Her fingertips and her gaze caressed his face, searching out the details her mind could never erase.

"I wanted to come back," she said softly, "the moment I shut that door shut behind me."

"Why didn't you?"

The light in her eyes died a little. "Shoutaro."

Kuon's face clouded. The name conjured a mental image of the singer, his face sporting an arrogant smirk that just begged for a squarely planted fist. "What did he do this time?" If he laid so much as a finger on her -

"Oh, no, no, he didn't do anything! I haven't seen him in a while. A very long while," she added, sounding quite happy about it.

He exhaled, relieved. "Then how did he make it into this discussion?"

"Believe me, I find no joy in mentioning him either. But ... when you told me everything ... All I could think was that I was getting a repeat of what happened with him."

Her fingers flew to his lips, but it was that look which stopped his protest dead in its tracks.

"Please, let me finish. Please."

Every fiber of his being wanted that arrogant prick out of this conversation. Fast. But that bleak, vaguely haunted look in her eyes cut him to his core.

He was hard pressed to settle on one thing he loved the most in a purely physical sense, but her eyes would win if you twisted his arm enough. He appreciated them more than even the most seasoned cameraman could. They could convey worlds of meaning or precious little, yet they were always, always compelling. A man could get tangled and lost in the golden web of those eyes. Happily.

But he saw the anguish churning behind them, the hurt turning their beauty into something tragic to see and impossible to deny. He promptly shut his mouth, and she began to explain, that horrible look gradually melting away:

"It's awful, I know, but it was a knee-jerk reaction. I couldn't help it, it was as though my brain just ... shut off, and I was running on autopilot. All of a sudden I was back in that corridor in my fast food uniform, holding the meal I'd brought him. Listening to him cast me aside. Admitting shamelessly that he had lied to me the whole time, that he wasn't the man I'd been led to believe he was."

She stopped and shut her eyes, breathing deep as the recollection picked at the scab of this betrayal. He felt the old anger rolling off of her like heat from an open oven. He pressed his cheek to her stomach and wrapped his arms tighter around her hips. She draped her arms around his shoulders and lowered her mouth to the top of his head, inhaling the scent of his hair.

In a few moments Kyoko began to speak again. He felt the anger ebbing with each word.

"The situations were nothing alike. Obviously," she continued, lifting her head. "And I knew it even then. But I just ... couldn't. I couldn't see past it, and I needed to get away from you before I said something terrible. Even feeling the way I did in that moment, I knew you didn't deserve that. And that I didn't want to sink so low. So I ran."

"Then I shut the door behind me and ... just the sound of it shutting ... the thought of never coming back ... and that look on your face when I left ... It was the worst kind of wake-up call."

He looked up to find her staring straight ahead, straight into the past. Her face was still, but her eyes gleamed with unshed tears.

"I've never felt so stupid and mean in all my life." Her head dipped in shame, resting against his as she tried to blink back her tears and only succeeded in squeezing them out, drenching his face as they fell. "I'm so sorry, Kuon-kun. So sorry ..."

She slowly but deliberately began to slide down the length of his body, and he froze in shock. What on earth could she be contemplating by way of apology that would call for this kind of maneuver ... ?

Kuon heaved a silent sigh of relief when he realized that she had dropped down into a familiar dogeza at his knees. He leaned down and stroked her hair, whispering to her as she sniffled, "You're here now. And you would never abandon me, you said so yourself. That's all that matters to me."

"But I - " she began, turning her head just enough to show one side of her tear-streaked face.

"Hush. You had your reasons, and you've apologized. That's more than enough."

She sat up a little. "Still - !"

"It's enough." His tone was as firm as his hands were gentle.

She sniffled and drew herself up, shaking a bit as he brushed away her tears. "Okay ..."

"Then what happened?" he asked, his thumb catching a stray droplet on her jaw. "What stopped you from coming back?"

Kyoko's lips twitched, and her still-watery eyes darted away from his face. "U-um, from there the reason became, ah ... something else entirely ..."

Her face flushed visibly as she said this, and he sat up a little, intrigued. I swear, that blush is like a dermal Viagra ...

He tugged her up from the ground and folded his legs, settling her side-saddle on his lap. He did it so quickly she only had time to let out a small squeak before she was seated. "Go on," he prompted.

"I came back to your door, thinking of that look on your face when I left." She leaned into him, glancing up at him from under her wet lashes. "I wanted to wipe that look away and never put it back. But I knew if I went back inside and tried to, neither of us would make it to work on time."

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"The thought of just leaving you there hurt so much I just wanted to turn back around and ... Well ..."

"Well ... ?"

"Well, let's just say that if I had," she said quietly, unable to look at him as she spoke, "there would have been an, uh ... inconvenience nine months later, Kuon."

He grimaced. "Why come back at all if you didn't trust me not to - ?"

"It wasn't you I didn't trust," she said emphatically.

He blinked, failing to comprehend. And then it dawned on him.

"... Oh."

She ducked her head against his chest. "I was ... out of control. It was all I could do to make it to the elevator ..." Her face flushed a deeper shade of red. Even the very recollection of her desire filled her with heat. He picked it up as surely as if it were his own and tightened his grip around her as she began to move restlessly beneath the weight of his stare.

"I didn't want to throw myself at you, even with protection. It wouldn't have been right, and it certainly wouldn't have helped anything. But I just lost it and I wanted you so much and I would have said anything to convince you, feeling the way I did then. It would have humiliated us both and ... Heaven help us, if you had given in ... before I could ..."

"Before you could what?"

She cleared her throat and forged on. "Get myself ... situated."

It took him a few moments to comprehend what she was talking about. And even when he did, he couldn't wrap his mind around the reality of it.

"So ... you're saying that now ... you're ... ?"

She rolled up the sleeve of her dress to show a bandage on her upper arm. He reached up and gently traced it with his fingers, trying to shake off the surreal feeling that seeing it gave him. He had seen this same kind of bandage, in the same kind of spot, on women in the past. He had known what it meant. He knew what it meant now. But that didn't make it any less of a shock to see.

Contraception. She was on birth control. Kyoko Mogami was on birth control.

His silence unnerved her, and she figured she was supposed to keep talking. "Moko-san helped me decide on a method. She took me to the clinic."

Kuon nodded, still trying to wrap his mind around this new development.

Why isn't he saying anything? Am I supposed to keep talking? "W-we decided against condoms on the outset. And taking a pill everyday at the exact same time would be too much of a hassle."

How much of this does he want to hear? How much does he need to hear ... ?

She was just winding down from why an IUD would have been painful and required a week or so of recovery, and she wasn't about to miss work for it. "... so I just go in once a month for this shot and, uh ... let nature take its course. I needed more of that time away to adjust to the hormones."

He was still silent. Still staring at the bandage on her arm. That's when she leapt out of his lap and basically shoved him onto his back, pinning him by the shoulders to the carpet.

"Please, say something! Anything! Make words!" she shrieked.

Sufficiently jolted out of his daze, he said the first words his mind could seize on: "... Why are you opposed to condoms?"

"I don't want a layer of latex between us!" she blurted out, too relieved that he was speaking to really give much thought to what she was saying either. Her hand clapped over her mouth as soon as the words were out, echoing in the room.

His brows rose even higher, and he felt his blood lurch. What an odd similarity to share.

She swallowed, her blush deepening as his appraising silence stretched on. She dropped her head onto his chest, evoking Setsu in gesture if nothing else. "I knew I was over thinking this!"

"I'm glad you did. I really wouldn't have minded them, but ... it's good that you took the initiative."

Kyoko looked up and squinted at him. "But you wouldn't have preferred to use them either, would you?"

He didn't answer. The reply that came to mind wasn't something he was willing to speak aloud. How was he supposed to explain that he would rather feel nothing but her around his cock without sounding like a complete barbarian?

She slid further up the length of his body, her thigh brushing between his legs. Even through his jeans he felt her. He felt her with every part of him.

"Would you?" she insisted.

"... No," he conceded with a sigh, wrapping his arms around her waist as he sat back up.

"You're shivering like I was that night," she noted. She kissed his cheek, feeling rather sorry for him all of a sudden.

"And yet I'm a lot warmer than you were then."

She bit her lip guiltily even as an unbidden smirk came to her face. "I don't know about that."

"About what?" he asked.

"I sort of, um, faked being cold. So I could cover my nerves."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "How do you fake being cold to the touch? I felt you, remember? Your skin was like ice."

"Eh?! It was that convincing? Wow, I really did have you fooled!"

"But ... how?"

"I learned biofeedback. I knew it would come in handy, but I hadn't expected it to work so well!"

"Biofeedback?"

"Do you remember the script for Beyond Fortune's End? The term came up around the final act, and I didn't know what it meant. I did some reading and decided to try it."

"So you can manipulate your body temperature?" he asked, his benign envy obvious in his wide eyes and fascinated tone.

She nodded, beaming brightly. "It took me months to get the hang of it, but yes. I've only just started working on my pain tolerance."

He chuckled, marveling at her. "Unbelievable. What other tricks have you got up your sleeve?"

Kyoko giggled, too busy basking in the glow of his admiration to give much thought to what she said next. "Oh, you'd be surprised what I can do with my ... body ... Um ... That is ..."

Why did I say that? There was no reason to say that. The phrasing is so wrong. Maybe he didn't notice?

His fingers curled around the back of her neck. His thumbs tilted her chin up until they were nose-to-nose. His lips curved into a smile she hadn't been able to shake loose from her dreams for weeks. The now-familiar delirium took hold of her, her thoughts scrambling. Every sense went into overdrive, and time itself was of no consequence. There was only his hands on her skin. That gleam in his eye.

... He definitely noticed.

"I love surprises," he whispered so close to her mouth, his low pitch vibrated through her.

"You do?" she asked feebly.

Kuon nodded, the tip of his nose rubbing against hers. His lips descended on hers, and Kyoko fell into that kiss like a woman happily drowning. Her hands came up to grasp his wrists as she kissed him back with everything she had. He pulled back ever so slightly, and she felt the loss of him like an affront, like a pinch in a place that was raw with hurt, a place made of lonely nights spent wishing he were there. She pressed in, closing the gap between them again, and bit his bottom lip, letting go in almost the same instant she had latched on.

Hello, he thought, watching Kyoko turn crimson yet again as his tongue ran across his lower lip.

The girl flung herself away, putting about a foot and a half too many between them. "I ... I didn't mean to - !" she began.

"I liked that," he said. Then he leaned in close, chin tilted forward, his lips close once again. "Do it again."

She swallowed. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." When she hesitated, he licked his lip again, enjoying the way her eyes couldn't help but follow the path of his tongue. "You didn't hurt me. Do it again, Kyoko-chan."

He didn't move. She leaned in, and he still didn't move. Kyoko leaned close, unnerved by the wanting in his eyes at odds with his impassive face. She moved a little nearer. He shifted back ever so slightly, cracking a tiny grin. Was he goading her? Because she felt goaded.

That's when Kuon saw it. The look she got when she accepted a challenge. The determined glint in her eye that made him thrill at the sight, that made his blood rise. Yes.

She placed her hands on his chest, her eyes drifting shut. You want to be seduced ... I'll seduce you, she thought, the words springing from that place inside where Natsu had been born years ago, where the impulse to toy with prey resided.

Kyoko's hands slid up to his shoulders, from his shoulders to his neck and from his neck to his hair, her fingers twisting slightly in the strands.

She brushed his lips with hers, felt him shiver. The caress was gentle, almost too gentle, a teasing touch. The tip of her tongue came into play, the touch still so light it drove him crazy. And at long last, she took his bottom lip between her teeth, drawing him into a kiss. Just as he began to kiss back, she pulled away, nibbling at her own lip with a mischievous smile.

"Like that?" she asked innocently. Mockingly.

All at once the room swung before her eyes as she was pulled up to her feet, then off her feet entirely and flung rather unceremoniously over the Kuon's broad shoulder.

"Caveman," she griped as he walked briskly in the direction of his bedroom.

"Cavewoman," he said back, squeezing her thigh with the large hand that anchored her. He nudged the bedroom door open with his foot and walked into the darkness. He plunked her down onto the mattress, then moved away from her. Gradually, the light grew at the beside table until they could see one another through the amber haze.

Kyoko drew her arms into her dress, leaving the fabric of the sleeves limp at her side. She peered over at the man towering before her, noting the interest with which he watched her do this. "It's too warm for this material," she offered by way of explanation. It wasn't a lie. The heat of their closeness had made the dress very stuffy. "May I?"

"You may," he said, his eyes never leaving her.

She struggled out of the dress and pulled it over her head to reveal a white camisole, the fabric of it so spare he could see the outline of her lace bra and so short it left part of her midsection bare above the waist of her leggings. Kuon rounded the bed slowly, watching her shake out the dress and fold it with shaking hands. The folded bundle in hand, she crawled over to the opposite side table and placed it there, still avoiding his gaze.

Kuon closed in, spellbound. This was the closest to nude he had ever seen her. In person, anyway. Some of her more daring roles had put her in revealing clothes, yes, but this was different: there was no screen between them to blunt the effect of that pale, taut flesh. She was built rather like a jungle cat, her body a masterpiece of gentle curves and lithe muscle.

Those muscles tensed as he slid onto the mattress, his fingers finding her calf. She lay back, glancing up at him briefly only to look away again. His fingers moved up her leg, his touch as reverent as his stare. He took in every inch, as though he would never have this chance again.

Suddenly this heavenly view was thrown into darkness. He chuckled.

"Your weapon of choice," he said through the pillow she was holding to his face, "leaves much to be desired."

"Well, do you have to stare like that? It's like you're memorizing me or something!"

Kuon sat up and away without touching the pillow. She clutched it to her chest, cradling it like a stuffed animal. "I am.," he admitted. "Just in case this really is a dream like I think it is."

She held the pillow a bit higher as he hovered over her, part of it covering the lower half of her face. Her eyes were wide and luminescent above the cushion, shyly blinking at his comment and darting away. The corners crinkled with a flattered smile he couldn't actually see. Finding this too adorable to resist, he pulled her up into a sitting position and moved her until she was seated between his outstretched legs, her back pressed to his chest and the pillow still clutched to hers.

"You've done that before, you know," he whispered, his hands sliding under the pillow to find her stomach. "Slipped into my dreams and then left me wound up. Just as things were starting to get interesting, I might add."

"I-I'm sorry?" It seemed rather silly to apologize for something a dream version of her had done, but as she herself had been subject to a few nightly visits of her own, she couldn't help but sympathize.

She was just about to point this out when one of his hands slipped into the front of her tights, his fingertips quickly finding the dampened crotch of her panties. She gasped, her grip on the large pillow going slack as he rubbed her through the flimsy fabric. Her eyes drifted shut, and she felt his legs shift around her. His feet hooked around her ankles, drawing her legs further open, giving his fingers more room to maneuver between her thighs.

"You don't look sorry. Sometimes I wonder if you like tormenting me."

She shook her head, eyes still shut. "N-no, I - " she began, only to gasp again when his fingers slipped into her panties, the touch so warm and insistent and right it made her head light. Kyoko leaned back, letting go of the pillow with one hand and clutching the thigh pressing against her hip. What had she been saying? "No, I ... Ooh ..."

"No?" he teased. "Perhaps I should sto -"

"Don't," she said breathlessly, her other hand covering his as he started pulling it away. The pillow slipped down onto her lap, forgotten.

"Don't? So I should stop?" He deliberately slowed his touch, easing up so that she could barely feel him.

"No!" she wailed, loving him and wanting to kill him at the same time. Can't kill him, not until he makes it happen, make it happen already, please, please, I can't take this, sobbed a very base part of her brain.

He redoubled his efforts with a grin she felt rather than saw, the warm breath of his satisfied chuckle curling down the back of her neck as he tossed the pillow aside. "Somehow I thought so."

Her arousal coated his fingers, she could hear how wet she was as they worked their magic. So could he, if that smoky chuckle in her ear was any indication. She felt nearer to that glorious eruption, her vulva throbbing in response, and yet still too far away. How did he do that? Was he even doing it on purpose?

"Kuon ..." she sighed, in awe of this power he held over her at this moment, not wanting to say anything in particular, merely to speak his name aloud in wonder.

"No."

No? No? He's saying no to his own name? "R-Ren ... ?" she tried again.

"Guess again," he said, that teasing note back in his voice.

What else is there, how many names do you have? she thought wildly. The effort it took to think, much less talk, was weakening her hold on sanity, bringing her that much closer to that elusive satisfaction.

She went out on a limb with her next guess: "... Ts-Tsuru - ?"

He swiftly, but gently bit her neck before soothing the nip with another mind-scrambling kiss. Those long fingers never let up. "Not even close, Kyoko-chan."

"If you say Cain or BJ, I'll scream," she sniped, wriggling against him, her hips circling languidly against his erection. She could feel it against her back, even through her tights and his jeans, evidence of his own need plain despite the calm, toying attitude he displayed.

"You might just scream regardless," he said in a voice made of sin, the tips of his fingers rolling her clit as it lengthened out of its hood, "and the name we're looking for is Emperor."

Her jaw dropped open, and what little blood that was still flowing to her upper extremities promptly changed course at those words, pumping south for all it was worth. She writhed in his grasp, her back arching enough that she veered sideways in his lap. It wasn't enough to throw off the pagan rhythm of his fingers, they were far too skilled, too insistent to dislodge. Only her no would stop this, and she was far past no, perhaps too far to even remember what no was. Her vision swam, and the little starbursts between her thighs became so acute they were almost but not quite painful.

"Oh, my god," she moaned, kissing more of her rational mind goodbye.

He chuckled, holding her steady with one hand as the other continued its wicked work. "Close enough."

Against all odds, she scraped together enough wherewithal to reach up and across with her right hand, fully intending to flick his forehead for this blasphemous comment. He caught her by the wrist easily before she could even lift it that high, brought her fingers to his lips in a kiss far too gallant and then held her limb hostage. His fingertips rolled the nub of her clit mercilessly, applying pressure she could feel all over. Her body twitched, her breathing labored. She was close, closer, that familiar spring loading tighter and tighter, then -

Kyoko stiffened in his arms, and he smiled down at her, his fingers fast and hard against her. "There she is ..." he whispered.

The release was so sudden it shocked her, erupting sharply and radiating out until her whole body was bathed in a hot tingle that ran from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes. She throbbed against his fingers, the rhythm - push, pull, push, pull - drowning out what little conscious thought she was still capable of. Darts of white light played over her eyes as she tried to catch her breath.

His words rang out, clear enough to penetrate the blissful daze she had fallen into. "Are you ever going to tell me the origin of that nickname?"

Her head lolled uselessly against his chest, still reeling from the climax.

"I'll take that as a no, then."

She opened her eyes and saw him licking the fingers that had just been stroking her. "Your table manners are appalling," she said without thinking. Her eyes widened, then squeezed shut as he began to laugh. "And by that I mean ... thank you. That was ... wow."

Kokyo rolled over in his lap, her hip nudging at the bulge that had prodded her in the back. She glanced down, her brows lifted and eyes gleaming with blatant interest that curled his toes.

Her front teeth snagged her lower lip, worrying it as her glance darted from the bulge to his face and back again. She sat up slowly, her heavy-lidded eyes still fixed on him. He swallowed nervously. She couldn't really be thinking what he thought she was thinking. She just couldn't.

Her hand touched his knee, and he realized he was wrong. It slid up his thigh, and he realized just how wrong he was. The wanting sharpened swift inside him, so strong it made him panic. Kuon caught her by the wrist, stopping that small hand on its path.

"Don't you want me to?" she asked, pulling a rather sad-eyed pout on him that made his arousal that much more difficult to ignore. He let her wrist go. She instantly reached up to touch his face, caressing his jaw with her palm as she sought out an explanation in his eyes.

Dear God, yes. "That's not important. I mean ... you're not obligated to -"

"Neither were you," she pointed out, sitting back on her heels.

"Yes, well ..." His words trailed off into nothing.

"It felt so good, what you did to me," she admitted, hardly able to believe her own audacity, but too determined to back down now. She felt him shiver against her hand, clearly anticipating what he was trying and failing to protest. "I don't know if I could ... make you feel that way, too, but ... I want to try. It shouldn't just be me."

Kuon searched for words, his mouth working impotently, not even sure what it was he wanted to say. She slid in so close there was no room for even the thought of escape, those golden eyes pleading with him. Her soft hands slid down to his chest as she pressed her body to his, pushing until his back met the mattress. He let his head drop back after a moment, which she took as a sign of surrender. She hesitated a moment more, chewing her lip indecisively, then she began to move.

I should a put a stop to this, he thought as she faced away and straddled his midsection. She shouldn't do this just because she thinks she has to. It shouldn't be like that. I don't want us to be like that.

It sounded good in his head - very enlightened, very fair, very true, it wasn't a lie by any stretch of the imagination - but his body wasn't cooperating at all.

"And I admit I'm a bit," she continued, the tips of her fingers right at his belt buckle, "curious."

Any second now, I will put a stop to this, he thought, not moving an inch.

"What's there to be curious about? Didn't you get an eyeful that time in the shower?" he said, sounding far more gruff and lofty than he felt. He was a mess inside already. What she was doing, and what she seemed about to do, were just wrecking all the more havoc within.

"Actually, no, I didn't," she said, the pout clear in her voice. "I kept my eyes on your face because I panicked. It's a mistake I've regretted since."

Because of her legs' position, the waist of her tights had slid down enough to show the dimples just above her butt; he cursed himself for not stripping them off when he had the chance. She leaned forward a bit, lifting her pert bottom higher, and he cursed himself again, too distracted by the sight to even care that she could plainly see how her actions were affecting him, even through these infernal jeans.

"Is there a reason you have to face that direction?" Other than to torment me with this view, he added silently.

"I can't ... that is, I don't think I'm bold enough," she said, "to look you in the eye while I do this."

Any second now, his mind screamed at him. Shut the fuck up, was his body's reply.

She sighed. He wasn't saying anything. How could he be lost in thought at a time like this? "If you don't want me to - "

"Y- You shouldn't feel like you have to - " he said rather weakly.

"I don't," she insisted. "Just ... say when. If ... If I do something wrong, say when. Alright? Please?"

She's serious. Who am I to stop her if she's serious? his mind conceded. Fucking finally, roared the need within.

"... Alright."

Her shaky fingers made quick work of his buckle. The button to his jeans slipped free of its hole after a few missed tries. Then came the achingly slow jerk of his zipper going down and down until it could go no further, exposing his brief-clad bulge to her gaze.

Kyoko leaned forward curiously, giving him an even better view. An overwhelming sense of hypocrisy came over him. Some gentleman he was, staring so wantonly at her ass after going on about her eyes. True, he couldn't really help it, she was half-sitting, half-kneeling on top of him and the fabric of those tights clung to every sleek, feline curve of her and ... and ... What is she doing?

He watched her head tilt to one side and then the other, but otherwise she remained still. Then he felt one of her hands move gently over the fabric covering him, her fingers slipping into his jeans as she sought a firmer grasp, and he let out a groan.

I've had this dream before, his mind raced over the pounding of his heart. He gripped her calves as she clasped him through that thin layer of cotton, her touch tentative yet relentless. I'm imagining all of this, I know it. If I wake up too soon, I'm going to be mad as -

Her hand slid back and then forward again, burrowing under the fabric to touch him.

- hell.

"You're so ... warm," she whispered more to herself than to him. He opened his mouth to say something, he wasn't sure what, but it didn't matter, there was no sound coming out.

He was smooth and warm and hard under her fingers, and it made her mind wander places. He could barely fit in her hand, though she had no real way to gauge his size without pulling ... it out entirely. She leaned forward, shoring up her courage; it would have to come out some time, she couldn't be squeamish, not after coming so far. He gave another shuddering groan, and a feminine smugness stole through her. She did it again, sliding her fingers fully around his shaft and stroking with more conviction.

She couldn't tell the length, but he felt rather... wide in her palm. She flushed at the thought of being filled with that turgid girth, her still-tingling womanhood flexing absently, hungrily. She wondered at her body's greed, its continued response. How much more pleasure could it produce? How much could his?

Kyoko's fingers found the tip of his member, so smooth it had a curiously polished feel against her skin. A drop of moisture clung to it. She rubbed at that drop with her thumb, the rest of her fingers still stroking, cradling what she could. He throbbed hard under her touch, just like she had before, and she let out a surprised laugh. "Oh, my ..."

Without warning, he sat up, nearly toppling her over completely. He caught her in his arms, holding her tight enough to knock the wind out of her, her cheek

"Did I not do it right?" she asked. He didn't answer. She looked up. Then almost, almost wished she hadn't. Because he was looking right back at her, and what she saw on his face was the culmination of every thought suppressed, every touch withdrawn, every dream thwarted.

He was the Emperor and the Demon Lord fused together as one, sensuous and hard and so wracked with need it she felt like a fool for believing the calm façade he had put on. Those emerald eyes blazed as he pulled her into a kiss so full of possessive zeal she couldn't help but surrender to it, his hands everywhere at once, fisting in her hair, clutching the back of her camisole, squeezing and kneading every supple curve he could grasp.

Kuon broke the kiss right as she was remembering that it was probably necessary to breath. "I need you," he panted, pulling away from her, "now. Right now."

"Yes," was all she could say.

He pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside. His hands flew to his hips, his thumbs hooking both his jeans and his underwear.

She rolled over onto her side instinctively to give him privacy, then realized how silly that was, but didn't try to turn back. She felt his fingers playing at the waist of her leggings and shivered as he rolled it down just enough to bare her hip bones.

"Cold?" he teased, his voice a seductive rumble.

"Hardly," she grumbled.

What were his fingers doing? It didn't seem to matter that they had been ... well acquainted with her just a few minutes ago. This was different. She would be naked soon. It had been one thing - a difficult enough thing - being in his shirt and nothing else. And even then, he hadn't been the one doing the undressing!

In a single move, he pulled her leggings and her panties off, lifting her just enough off of the mattress to ease this maneuver. He chucked them in the direction of his discarded pants and slid in behind her, his skin hot against hers as he spooned her. She felt his hard length against her bare behind, and This is happening, this is really about to happen, was all she could think.

He kissed her right cheek and placed a hand on her right hip. It slid forward and down until he had a grip on the front of her right thigh. He lifted it, exposing her wet sex to the air.

"Do you need me," he asked, the tip of his member poised at her entrance, so close she could feel that polished hardness nudging just barely at her sopping folds, "like I need you?"

She nodded vigorously, wanting him to hurry, wanting him to slow down, wanting him ... just him.

"Do you?" he demanded, needing to hear it.

"Yes," she begged, "yes, please, I do, I -"

She lost her words - whatever they had been - as he thrust into her, her body yielding to his in one firm stroke. He nearly lost himself entirely, her flesh parting, twitching and soft and so resilient around his cock that holy shit, steady, steady were the only words he could seize on to keep himself tethered.

"Are you ... alright? Kyoko-chan?" he asked. She hadn't made any sounds of pain, she shouldn't even be in pain, she was so wet and ready and focus, god damn it, this isn't about you!

"I need you to say something. You're scaring me."

"Go," she said, her voice clear and raw with a need to rival even his own, "go on. Please, Kuon ..."

Well, alright then, he thought, his ego inflating to proportions he wasn't quite comfortable admitting to. He began to move, tentatively, feeling her out and trying to find the right rhythm. She clutched at the arm he had wrapped around her midsection as he moved, shaking with this newfound awareness, this fullness she had imagined before. Imagined relentlessly, yet she had no idea it would be this way.

He nudged her legs further apart with his knee, just wide enough to allow his fingers to find her clit. She hooked her leg over his, craving more contact. He glanced down to find her biting hard into her lower lip, stifling the beautiful noise his ears craved. That wouldn't do.

"Uh-uh. Open up."

"Make me," she whisper-snarled, and after a moment of stunned silence, he whispered back, "... If you insist."

Shouldn't have said that, she thought feverishly. What is he - ?

She felt his hips shift against her behind. He withdrew almost entirely from her heat; the slow slide of his member wracked her body with delicious tremors. He plunged back inside from a different angle, sliding firmly against a bundle of nerves that -

"Uuuuh ... !"

The sound she made was like orchestral music to his ears, a stirring wail. He did it again, but especially slow, just to hear her call out, to feel her claw desperately at his arm and his hip as he moved. Then he kept doing it, rocking his pelvis until her body picked up his rhythm and rocked back. Kyoko was only vaguely aware that she had made a sound at all, consumed as she was by the feel of him churning thick inside her, of that volatile spot inside wrecking sublime havoc throughout her body.

"God, I love the sounds you make," he rasped into her ear, too far gone to even pretend to gloat or tease, one hand between her legs, one arm around her waist, holding this willing captive for dear life. He throbbed once but hard and slowed his pace for fear of losing himself inside her, he wasn't about to disappoint her, not for anything in the world.

Not yet, not yet, dear god, not yet ...

All at once she felt that now-familiar tightening inside her, the coil loading, but not close enough to springing. She couldn't fight it if she tried, and she was well past trying, with his fingertips rubbing in delicious circles against her. There was no going back, and she didn't want to go back, she might explode, and not in a good way, if she went back.

There are seven days in a week, she thought for no reason at all, the observation - if you could even call it that - dawning with perfect clarity, as though it were the key to some grand mystery. Then the moment was there, right there, so close it wasn't possible it hadn't arrived yet, maybe time had stopped, but then she felt that telltale twitch from deep within, rebounding off of his cock and back again as he moved at that hard pace inside and out, and it was here. Here and now.

He felt that same twitch as she did, but it wasn't nearly enough of a warning. One moment passed, tense. Another, then another, and suddenly she was seizing around his cock tight enough to wring him dry, bringing him over the edge right after her. A rushing sensation filled his head as though he were being flung from a high, high place; he felt his seed emptying into her, filling her until he had nothing more to give and the powerful spasms released their grip on him. She shuddered as he slipped free of her.

Minutes passed like centuries as their breathing slowed and slowed.

"Are you alright?" he asked, suddenly nervous despite the pleasure-drugged drowsiness that tugged at his bones. "How ... was it?"

Sagging limp and sated against his arm, she could find only one word as her mind clouded.

"Sovereign." The next thing out of her mouth was a gentle snore.

It took a moment to process through the fog of his mind. Then he realized.

Like an emperor, was his last coherent thought before he succumbed to the same afterglow that had Kyoko down for the count.

. . .

Several hours later, in the pale light of a barely cracked dawn, Kuon Hizuri found himself at the mercy of a creature he hadn't expected to find in his apartment. He had experienced much in his young life. But he had never had a tigress curled up in his lap.

Until now, of course.

"I mean it, Kuon -!" Kyoko said with adorable menace, fingers clinging clawlike to the front of his rumpled shirt. She leaned against him, her slight weight pressing him back against the couch cushion he was propped up against. Her copper hair was a spiked, charming mess. The sunrise filtering through the gap in the curtains set her eyes ablaze, evoking a tiger's gaze.

"I know." He tried to sound put out, but he could only grin lazily at the pretty pout that pursed her lips.

"If, during the course of this commercial," she reiterated, "you make so much as a passing reference to that blasted hammer, I'll throttle you where you sit!" As if to make good on her words, she brought her hands up to his throat, her wrists cradling the sides of his neck as her fingers played rather willfully in his hair. If she had any idea of how damned tempting she was at that moment, she didn't let on.

"So domineering ... This bodes well for later." He chucked her under the chin with his knuckle and nearly lost it when, blushing indignantly at his words, she tried to bite his finger.

"Oh, hush, and press play already!" she demanded as she struggled out of his reach, lowering her head onto the opposite armrest and propping her legs up onto his lap. He scooped up the remote from the floor, flipped to the channel they wanted and waited. Then, the Kyuara commercial rolled in its deranged entirety:

A city square at night, the people bustling even at this hour, a Jumbotron playing the old Kyuara commercial of the two girls frolicking and splashing one another in a field. This was cut short by an absolutely terrified news anchor.

"We interrupt this broadcast for an emergency announcement! Hostile aliens have landed in - !"

The enormous screen ruptured suddenly in a blast of explosive light. In the center of the shattered wreck was a gaping hole spewing sparks and smoke. Following the trajectory of the missile strike, the camera panned back to reveal a large hand-held cannon. The pan continued down to the shoulder onto which it was hoisted and the goddesslike figure in black to which it belonged.

A swift cut to the people panicking in the streets, figures darting for cover and knocking into each other in their haste. Then a floating figure in a yellow cloak dominated the screen. She lifted her hands, parting the cloak to reveal sheer yellow tights and a leotard the color of the cloak which had concealed it. From her hands came jagged bolts of yellow lightning that blew up whatever they struck. The panic in the streets escalated. The sky roiled with hellish red clouds; a wicked, insane laugh rang through the air, loud enough to be heard even over the screams of the poor pedestrians.

Cut to a ruby-red clad figure with a similarly crimson braid jumping from the top of one building to the chaos in the streets, bringing down a red hammer that sent a jagged line of destruction many yards long.

Cut to an army's worth of police officers arriving on the scene as the three alien figures converged, standing as one amidst their handwork as the leader of the fleet held a bullhorn in his shaking hand.

"What are your demands?" the officer asked of them.

In reply, the three figures lifted their weapons to the sky. A beam of white-hot light descended from the clouds.

At the end of this beam ... was a six pack containing two of each new Kyuara flavor.

"You landed on this planet ... to bring us soft drinks," the policeman holding the bullhorn said, all the disbelief in the world turning his tone flat.

The three flavors exchanged glances, confused as to this underwhelmed response. "Well, yes," said Blackberry. The other two flavors nodded in confirmation.

"Y-You couldn't have done that without tearing up the city or .. ?"

"DRINK IT, MORTAL," Cherry roared, lifting her hammer with implied threat.

"Okay, okay!" the policeman snapped. "You, rookie! Get out there and taste it!"

A very young, very weak and nervous looking fellow in a uniform that didn't fit him right moved to the front of the line as his fellow officers shrunk back, handguns cocked but their legs ready to bolt at a moment's notice. The rookie approached the supernatural trio, pale and fidgety, his steps halting. He kneeled to the six pack, pulled a can of Lemon Lightning free and popped the tab, flinching back at the sound as though he expected real lightning to come out. When this didn't happen, he brought the yellow can to his lips and took a reluctant sip as every eye was fixed on him.

The young man's eyes widened. "Oh, hey, that's really good," he said, cracking a surprised smile.

"SUCCESS!" Blackberry yelled.

Cut to the trio walking away from the chaos they had wrecked at though nothing happened.

"I think that went rather well," Cherry said as the three flavors trotted towards the sunset down a deserted and crumbling street.

"Could have been worse," Lemon chimed in, giving up on dodging bits of rubble and just hovering lazily over it.

Blackberry holstered her cannon. "Yeah. Where are we going next?"

"I'm thinking Disneyland ..." Cherry said contemplatively.

The Kyuara logo appeared on the screen briefly with an accompanying thud, as though it were literally being stamped there.

Kuon laughed so hard his gut he thought he would tear a stomach muscle. Kyoko rolled her eyes.

"... May I have my dress back now?" she asked.

He grinned, his eyes lingering over the sight of her in nothing but one of his shirts.

"No. No, you may not."

She pounced on him, demanding to know where he had hidden her clothes. He tickled her mercilessly. She bit him with cunning precision. They grappled for several minutes, pinching, biting, rolling until they were out of breath but still unwilling to surrender.

"Give up?" she asked once she managed to topple him onto his back.

"Never," he said.

Kyoko leaned over him, eyes aglow with love. "Do you swear?"

And with all the solemnity of a man in love, Kuon Hizuri sat up, pulled her close and said: "You're damn right I do."

After a few more minutes of tussling, he went off in search of her dress, accepting defeat at her hands - or her thighs rather, she nearly squeezed the breath out of him with them. Besides, they couldn't laze about half-naked all day.

He smirked as he walked back from the bedroom with her dress and leggings. She was in for the surprise of her life, as he had only admitted to taking her out for breakfast.

Which was the truth, of course. Just not the whole truth.

There was ring-shopping to be done, after all.

My first ever fully Completed story! Aaaah!

We did it, you guys! And I do mean we. I couldn't have done it without y'all, without your reviews and insights and support. Thanks for being so patient. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. I know I did.

*That line went through several permutations and survived many draft edits before I realized that it was the SB equivalent of "Like A BOSS". I slightly ashamed, but not really. I regret nothing. NOTHING.

Also, that Kyuara commercial was meant to be MST3K-ish bad (meaning the kind of movies they riffed, not the show itself, it was awesome)