Mizuki's eyes flutter open as their sensual kiss ends; Ryu plants three nurturing kisses on her lips then withdraws before she has time to lure him back into a fulfilling, skin-igniting scuffle of the tongues.
Entranced by intense adoration and unwavering desire beaming from his host's amiable, blue steel gaze, Mizuki recalls the purity that shone through before Ryu could voluntarily take control; reminded of the moment Tsukiyomi freed her from the resulting agony of realizing each instinctual breath forced her to remain imprisoned in Hell on Earth, she closes her eyes.
While her mind and body was enthralled by all that Ryu did and could provide, she was never able to deny the depth in which Tsukiyomi was engraved into her heart. During a time when she was the most broken and vulnerable, it was a banished god's unconditional compassion, gentle patience, and faithful companionship that helped shattered pieces be reborn anew.
In the same moment her heart and mind syncs on Tsukiyomi and how special he made her feel until he brought the human along, she nearly scorns herself for having such an unnatural love to begin with.
Breathing deep to temper emotions behind the only unrequited love she's ever known, Mizuki's peripheral vision picks up the details of a familiar place.
The shallow cave holds a fire pit on one end, and a lofty, round bed made of furs and fabric at the other. Large enough to fit four people, shades of black and brown comforts overlook the land's naturally occurring beauty.
Scanning her surroundings without leaving the fortress of his arms, she places her hands on his smooth, hard chest to twist. Looking at what's behind her, jagged, mountain walls open to reveal a mystical, open view; hidden behind a waterfall split by rocky protrusions overhead, Mizuki is enthralled by close yet distant, rocky hot springs and a spectacle in the night's sky.
Standing between the fire pit and bed, she faces Ryu confused, "Of all the places to take us, why here?"
Tilting her head, Ryu simply nods before examining the cave through borrowed eyes. Perusing the miraculous, melding view of a one-leap-away, tiered bath under natural night-lights, from his spot, he says nothing to explain his thinking.
Watching a curiously dreamy daze fixate on ribbons of green and pink light enshrouding the stars, a tiny grin twitches across Ryu's host's lips. Filling the silence until he answers, her voice is quiet and almost unsure, "The third place I told you 'no'?"
Taking in a mind-clearing breath, she absorbs the energy of their space; releasing her pain, allowing herself to just be, the echoing sound of plummeting waters cutting air, wearing stone, and washing away her anxiety.
Chuckling quietly, "At the time. . ."
Shaking her head down, recalling the night that sparked a rift between them because of her love for Tsukiyomi, "You said I was the only living person to see this place after you two discovered it a long, long time ago."
Raking mauve claws through violet brown hair to guide strays behind her ears, "I wonder if you could say the same now."
Gently peeling the weight of his arms off her, she backs out of range from the infiltrating heat of soothing, pearlescent skin; though the powerfully masculine physique remains as unflawed as the true Tsukiyomi, she knows who's pulling the strings.
Shrugging from Ryu's hand as it lands on her shoulder to stop her, Mizuki faces the sky to stare at an array of shooting stars that dance around an aurora borealis; reading the outline of distant hills and mountains that fade into black, beyond the layered pools of hot spring and carefully placed lantern light, she pays attention to his words.
"Even a villainous fiend can keep good memories unsullied by games and impostors."
Relaxing in blissful disbelief as his truth snuggles into her heart, Ryu comes up behind her. Molding the front of his naked, upper body and trousered groin into the length of her backside like an upright bed, she loses the might to recoil.
Swooping her hair to rest down the front of her right shoulder, Ryu whispers along the buttery nape of her aphrodisiac-musk scented neck, "There were times I convinced myself that had this been my body, not His. . ."
Cupping her shoulders to run hot, firm hands down her upper arms, the light dusting of his lips tease their way up to the shell of her ear, "You would not have denied me."
Sliding his hands to her elbows, she gasps with an arch of her back when he palms and kneads down her sides. Grinding back into his solid support, she grows feverish from the radiating furnace of his heart as it pumps to fuel the growing power between his legs.
Hearing the conviction in his cool waters voice nourishing her spirit through her ear, "And a better me would have been born," a quaking gush pools into her core. Embracing her chest and stomach from behind, Mizuki grasps strong forearms to calm her thighs from rubbing together and tattling on her sparking arousal.
Barely surviving a lustful shiver, Mizuki snaps back to her senses and shakes him loose before walking just out of his reach. Painted, purple toe-claws are closer to the edge of the cave's cliff where she gets a better view of the steamy springs; hot water trickles down glistening boulders that form new pools across the space of a waterfall disappearing into white clouds of mist.
Every bouldered edge of oblong pools are surrounded by colorful plants that have somehow managed to thrive in close proximity to nature's warmest waters; bringing color to stone and water, the Seven Flowers of Autumn accentuate the continuous flow of earth and water's relationship.
A floral display of hagi (Bush Clover), suzuki (Japanese Silver Grass), kuzu (Japanese Arrowroot), nadeshiko (Pink), ominaeshi (Valerian), fujibakama (Joe Pye Weed), and kikyo (Balloon Flower) fragrances the air.
Amazed, once more, by tiny details she doesn't recall from the first time, her own deep breath surprises her out of a nostalgic haze. Eyeing the amber glow of countless lanterns filling every surface of stone left untouched by water or wildlife, she swallows hard.
Loosening her grip on inviting, magnetizing skin that is difficult to ignore, "I'm sure. . .after everything that's happened," a twinge of embarrassment is evident, "You realized I started to regret my refusal that night."
Clearing her throat of the instantaneous cotton mouth threatening to glue her lips together between honest words, "But now I. . ."
Inhaling sharply, shaking her head to throw out every thought challenging her from getting this off her chest, "Regret."
She huffs, knowing her tears have run dry, "Going back on my decision because everything would've been so different if I–."
Finding it difficult to admit her heart, knowing all that she says and does is displayed to the only two men she's ever loved, "We could've been together. And it would've been like it was when you were with your queen, wouldn't it?"
Attempting to glance at him a couple times from over her shoulder, she looks up to follow a shooting star instead, "If I didn't tell you to stop getting your hopes up, and wasting my time, none of these other bitches would've been part of the equation."
Rolling her tongue dissatisfied around the inside of her mouth, "You waited a year between each refusal before trying again. . . Until that night."
Biting her bottom lip, shutting out the constant stream of self-loathing thoughts her mind screams at her, "I didn't believe you when you said you would've waited until I was ready. . ."
Violet eyes gloss over and shake, "I shouldn't have been such an ass about it."
Going rigid, "Literally, the next day you found Nala and your filthy, fucking harem was born," her fists shake at her sides.
Taking a deep breath then relaxing a little, "I told you I was done with all the romantic bullshit that could never be more than stolen, fake memories of a good time."
Looking off into space, thinking over the events of that night, "You're a fun dragon-spirit, and I like you. But, I love Tsukiyomi."
Trying to numb herself to the memory that she, in hindsight, recognizes to have been unnecessarily mean, "Thanks for looking out for me when he couldn't, but I'd never choose some parasitic ghost over Him. A nobody that needs to borrow someone else's skin shouldn't even exist. Be grateful for the time you've gotten to wear flesh and stop subjecting him to things that go against everything he stands for."
Sighing melancholic and sorry, "I didn't have to be like that. The only way I knew to keep from giving in to how bad I wanted to feel his body against mine. . .was to push you far away. I couldn't get over knowing something that was trying to consume him from the inside out was getting stronger. Telling me your plans to overthrow higher level prey instead of staying in the shadows as pariahs and outcasts? He was everything good. You only cared about power and control."
Gasping to keep from having a fit, "And I was so fed up with anyone that would bring me danger or pain because they wanted control!"
Glancing at him cowardly from over her shoulder, unable to look higher than his perfectly chiseled, ivory chest, she whips her head forward. "I said what I said to protect myself. And my friend."
Dragging her teeth over her bottom lip, "You made it hard, too. After all the nights we talked while he slept and Sane was off feeding. Your bizarre stories of eras gone from history, and knowledge beyond my wildest dreams I–."
Clearing her throat then shrugging and standing up straight, "I knew you were a big boy and could handle a slap in the sack."
Hearing no utterance fall from his lips, leaving her with silence and the cleansing whoosh of air that tousles stray locks, she buries her face in her hands, "You know the place you found me in!"
Hunching while dragging her fingers down her cheeks, "Everything I had to relearn about how to be around people like some sort of idiot child."
Palming her cheeks in dismay, "And all the ridiculous shit we kept finding ourselves in everywhere," she clutches her head, "After that!"
Aggressively raking her hair back, "Everything's so fucked up no matter where you look and even when I think I'm making the right choice. . .the longer I live. . .I fucking regret it."
Her bangs fluff back into place, curtaining her forehead. Groaning, her head falls and she stares at her toes nearly touching the cliff's edge, "How in the fuck was I supposed to choose some dragon spirit with tricks up his sleeve over my best friend?!"
Hearing her voice echo out, she maintains her inside voice, "Sane was like my brother. But Tsuki he. . ."
Sighing dreamily, unintentionally, Mizuki remembers the moment she opened finally unblinded eyes to him; free of her chains, covered in blood, sweat, and sex, Tsukiyomi wrapped her in his jacket. Cradled without the intent of sex for the first time since she could remember, the calming thump of his heartbeat collected her sanity.
Staring into eyes unlike any she had ever seen, the broken woman felt well-handled and safe; feeling something she never thought she'd live to experience again, miraculously boomed tenfold by the saving stranger of her dreams, Mizuki recalls the first restful sleep she had since she got there.
Coming back to the present cave with a Ryu-possessed-Tsukiyomi standing behind her, silently waiting, "He knew the worst that I'd been through, and still his clean hands touched me. Even when I awoke, and fought, and ran. . . Still He found and cared for me, without asking for a thing in return. Of all the people we met that recognized me from that place and wanted to start shit along the way," she growls low.
"He never treated me as less than a lady or a prize. He never made a pass at me, or touched me inappropriately," Mizuki clenches her jaw shut, wanting to know if Ryu knew the ways he handled her led her to be easily coerced because he wore Tsukiyomi– the first object of her heart's desire.
"He was the entire world to me and I was just this spec that got to live off him for a little while."
Going silent, nodding as she repeats her own words in her head, her mind questions in passing thought if confessing this to Ryu is even a good idea. Clearing the frog giving birth in her throat, her voice cracks, "How was I supposed to know You'd grow into powers that could beat the son of this domain's creator? Now you've got a harem, legions of minions, and some praiseworthy players under your rule."
Shrugging with her hands up, "Meanwhile, I've been stuck in the back as everyone's joke, wondering how I spit on the chance to be with someone like You and it got thrown in my face everywhere I went in what was supposed to be 'our' sanctuary."
Rushing to her side, Ryu guides her to look up at him while wistfully leading her more inside. Drying a loose tear with his thumb, "There's always time to make new memories. The past is behind us where it belongs."
Pulling her into a gentle embrace as she remains still, Ryu plants a tender kiss on her forehead. Stunned by his ability to melt her so quickly with a casual gesture, his words bring another surge of life to her loins, "If you remember one thing between us, may it be this."