A Calming Effect

"You look exhausted, Zen," Shirayuki had pointed out when she had seen him.

Indeed, it had been a difficult day. There had been so many tasks to attend to. His mind was tired and he had been planning to go straight to bed when he had seen the lights in the garden. From afar, he knew there was only one person in the castle who would be tending to the plants at this time. He was correct, for when he turned the corner into the familiar array of plants, there was Shirayuki tending to a row of flowers. Hearing him enter, she turned her head and looked at him. A look of slight confusion decorated her expression.

It was the dead of night and not much else shed light on them aside from the few lamps and the night sky. Shirayuki preferred it this way, she liked the silence, and she liked to work with the plants this way. She hadn't even realized how late it was until Zen stepped in, and she wondered, why was he still up?

He grinned at her and started to walk towards her. She noticed the tired way he moved, the way his smile didn't have that much energy in it. Shirayuki hadn't seen him in days, though Mitsuhide had told her about how much work the prince had to do recently.

"Not too exhausted… rather, stressed would be a better word. It's nothing to worry about, though," Zen said in reply.

"You should go rest then…"

He shook his head. The prince let his hands trail over the pink heart-shaped flowers that Shirayuki had been attending to. "Shouldn't you be heading to bed as well?"

"It's these flowers, they only bloom at night," she said in a gentle voice as she looked at the flowers that Zen was observing as well. "My logs predicted they would be blooming tonight, and I was right. When they bloom, I can harvest them and make them into a nice tea… a tea that relieves and calms a person's tensions. I just thought it would be helpful."

The prince blinked. "Has something been troubling you these days?"

The light blush that crept over her cheeks didn't escape his notice.

"Well, no, but Mitsuhide told me that you're quite stressed these days, so I thought of making you some tea. Oh, since you are still up, would you like me to prepare some tea for you? It would help you sleep better."

He was silent for a while and that all too familiar feeling of warmth welled up within him. This selfless girl so often did this sort of thing. She went out of her way for others—for him. The prince held up a hand and covered his eyes, and his lips slowly spread to a slight smile.

Shirayuki seemed puzzled. She asked, "Are you upset with me?"

"No, I'm grateful," he said softly. "Very grateful."

"Do you like it?"

A pot of freshly brewed tea rested on the table near his bedside, and a sweet, floral scent enveloped the room. Zen sat at the edge of his bed with a cup in his hands, and Shirayuki stood close by. She appeared edgy, as if being alone with him in his room was unfamiliar. It wasn't, for she had been here before, usually to check on him when he was feeling unwell.

It was different when it was the dead of night and the entire castle was asleep.

"It's great. Thank you, Shirayuki," said the prince. He grinned at her and placed the cup on the table. "Let me walk you back to your room."

Shirayuki shook her head in disagreement. She smiled back and a warm chuckle escaped as well as she walked towards the door. "There's no need. Good night, Zen," she said. He followed her, seemingly to accompany her to the door at least.

"Good night," he muttered as he reached for her cheek with a warm hand. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead—and he lingered there, lips resting on her soft skin. "Thank you…" he whispered against her forehead.

"Zen, uhm…" she said meekly.

Her face was bright red. It wasn't as crimson as her hair, but that didn't make her cheeks any less unnoticeable. She wasn't one to blush. The red-haired girl didn't remember blushing this much before she met Zen.

"Ah, sorry," said Zen, his own voice a mixture of both embarrassment and something else—Shirayuki couldn't quite place a finger on what else was in there, nor could she focus on it at the moment. He pulled away and looked at her, at her surprised expression, flushed cheeks, and her slightly agape lips. And his hand was still resting on her cheek, a fact that he had forgotten.

"N-no, don't worry about it…" she said in a shaky and embarrassed voice. Zen watched her lips move as she spoke, and it simply stirred something within him, just as it did so many times before.

And even if he had just apologized, he leaned forward again and kissed her on the lips.

He loved how she tasted, and he longed for it all the time. There had been numerous stolen kisses before, and he couldn't help thinking about each one. He couldn't help himself; he just adored her too much. He loved to press his lips against hers, loved how she was always caught off-guard, but how she always lightly kissed him back.

Perhaps it was because he had just missed her so much these past few days, or perhaps it was because he had wanted this for too long and couldn't hold back completely anymore. Perhaps the exhaustion was clouding his mind, but Zen didn't stop kissing her. He felt her grasp the front of his shirt, something which she did so often to support herself from buckling at the knees.

The prince wasn't stopping. He always stopped with a light kiss and nothing more. But this time, he continued. In the midst of it all, he felt his own knees starting to grow weak as well.

"Zen… I… you should go rest…" Shirayuki said, her hands still holding the front of his shirt tightly.

"Forgive me for this," was his only reply as he pulled her in again for more longing kisses. Each kiss became more desperate, and she welcomed them. It started with a light one, and then they became more urgent, more longing. It led to his knees giving out completely and it ended up with him slumping against the post of his bed, slowly falling to a sitting position on the floor as he pulled Shirayuki with him the whole time.

"Zen…" she whimpered as he started to trail kissed on her ear and down to her neck. His breath was warm against her skin, and one of his hands trailed soothing circles against the small of her back.

"I want you so much, Shirayuki," he said against her neck. And because she wasn't pushing him away, he continued. As he kissed her bare neck, she brought her hands up from the front of his shirt and grasped his light-colored hair.

He wanted her so badly—and it happened so unexpectedly, during the dead of night and a chance encounter in the gardens.

End.