I was taken into a dark tunnel and then dropped off in a corner. I heard the rumbling and scraping of stone. Shigure and Homeward found me and Shigure dropped to my side with relief. Suddenly Homeward was yanked away, leaving only his dropped torch. There was another rumbling and scraping of stone, while Shigure chased after him.
A long moment later, Shigure returned. He then went on to check the other side of the tunnel without a word. From his expression, I knew something was wrong. When he came back, he gave me Homeward's torch but had turned it off in order to conserve energy. He didn't look at me. He seemed reluctant to speak.
Although my body hurt and brain hurt and Iwanted to ask him, I still decided to wait. He seemed to be thinking something and at times, listening to something.
Sitting for a long moment beside me, he seemed to stir himself and looked at me, averting his eyes before he could meet my gaze. He carefully looked at the wounds on my face and checked my arms and legs. He frowned at all the abrasions.
From one of his myriad pockets came a first aid kit, with which he continued what the others had started doing earlier, patching up my wounds without a word. Pursing his lips, he checked my legs again, as if worried they might have been injured again and sighed when besides the cuts, grazes and bruises they didn't seem like they had been broken again.
One of my shoulders had been dislocated. He helped me out it back into place and I hissed softly in pain. Working his way from my face, arms and legs to my body, he took a few deep breaths and then began cleaning and bandaging all the bite mark wounds there. He did my back first, then only my front.
His hands hesitated and lingered over the wounds around my breasts and sides over and over again. He had never been the squeamish or very embarrassed type, but I knew that right now, he was feeling something. A something I wasn't sure if I should be happy about or not. I wanted to tell him to just get it done. My chest had breasts and yes, there were wounds on my breasts from the lizards' teeth marks. But I needed help and he wouldn't let me do anything, so I couldn't even offer to do it myself.
"Do it yourself," he finally said, thrusting the cotton wool soaked with saline water and alcohol into my hands
He turned around to take a few deep breaths and then checked my scalp for injuries, clicking his tongue at what he found there. After a while, his gaze drifted and I felt his eyes on what I was doing.
"Give it to me," he said in a low and slightly dry voice. He coughed and his voice sounded a bit hoarse. "You're going to take forever."
He returned to carefully dealing with the wounds and bite marks on my chest and abdomen and hissed for me when he found a big bruise all along one side. He made the same sound at the bruise marks that had come up around my neck.
There were few hands as loving, gentle and careful as his.
I felt him examine my mental injuries and begin healing them. It felt like he was holding some strong emotions back and that he was harbouring some frustration. Much as I wanted to talk and ask, I knew better than to disturb him when he was in a pensive mood like now. When he was mulling over something, he didn't like to be pushed. If I was patient and waited a while, he would open up when he was ready.
"The tunnel we're in has been sealed on both sides. There's no way out. We can either do as we're told or wait for a rescue. Homeward says the lizard tossed him out of the tunnels and won't let him back in. The lizard spoke to Homeward through images, saying that the two of us must mate or he won't let us out," Shigure said, fumbling in one of his myriad pockets for something. "The lizard is sure that we are mates. May I ask, Uki-chan, why that is?"
I brought his mental attention back to the mess the big lizard had made to one of my memory stacks.
"He was going through those when he made his conclusion," I said. "I definitely didn't tell him that I want to have your baby or anything Iike that."
Shigure went through the stack and found the ones that had been looked at.
"I believe I can see what is going on now," Shigure sighed, highlighting certain parts of those memories to me. "He saw that we're strongly linked mentally and rely on each other for stronger offence or defence." Shigure began examining our actual mental link connection and his frown deepened. "It is possible, Uki-chan, that we have become inextricably joined. Because of the difficult times we have been through together, I don't think we'd be able to undo this bond anymore, and if we did, it would be very painful for both of us," Shigure said, and I saw how our link had become embedded into the floor of my mental abilities.
We followed the link over to his side and I saw how the link changed colour because of the way he perceived me. It was decidedly more pastel yellow and pink in colour. I wondered what feelings those colours were associated to for him.
The mental link on his side had grown into the walls as well as the floors. In fact, I was a little surprised at how much more strongly the link between us was entangled with his mind space. What did this mean?
By the link where he had his group chat with me separated, he had a few different coloured doors associated with me. They were memory storage rooms.
"When did you obtain so many memories of me that you need whole rooms to store the memories?" I asked, opening a blushing pink door, only to come face to face with a life sized model of my naked body. "Oh. Wow." On the model was marked all the areas and places I had been injured before, by whom and whether revenge had been taken on that person. Most of my assailants were marked dead. Behind my body was a drawing board of imaginatory sexy poses and even short imaginations of what it might be like to touch me in an erotic way. "Hubby," I said to Shigure in play, reading off a short story board, "please touch me. You make me so hot and wet for you. Give me your baby."
Shigure dragged me out of the room and slammed the door shut, steam rising from his tomato red face.
"Don't just go into…"
I pulled away to enter the next room that was filled with clothes designs that he had been thinking of putting on another life sized doll there. There was even makeup. There were all kinds of styles of clothes and shoes. Some were sweet. Some were sexy. Some were just plain provocative.
Shigure dragged me out of that room, slamming the door shut while I traipsed over to the next room. He slid in front of me, arms out wide to stop me.
"You-you can't go in there," Shigure stammered, his mental hair even starting to turn pink at how embarrassed he was.
And so I skipped that door and opened the next blue door. Inside, before Shigure could stop me, I saw diaries of the times I had been unwell and in hospital, and all the details of my injuries. He had on occasion even counted the number of tears I cried.
Shigure didn't stop me from going through this room. It recorded all my low and depressing moments and all the times I had cried or been upset about something. Out of shame and embarrassment, I exited the room myself, glancing at Shigure who gave me a sweaty, red faced almost smile.
Shigure had been paying very, very close attention to me. I hadn't realised just how much attention he had paid.
The next room had recorded all the times I had smiled and been happy. All my favourite things were written down here in great detail, complete with recipes, pictures and plans on how to make me happy in the future. There was a plan on how he would go about making a large stuffed toy for me and was in the process of choosing what animal I might like best.
"Definitely the lightning mouse," I told Shigure who had entered the room behind me, a smile beginning to spread across his face when he saw how happy I was that he had noticed so many things about me.
From things like how I liked to carry a leaf or something green in wet weather to the best way I liked my roast pumpkin to be cooked. There were a few ring designs in wispy forms, showing that their designs were almost constantly in flux. I tried them all on and settled with a silvery ring with two small red gemstones set beside the silver leaves of parallel plant stalks.
"This one," I told Shigure and he nodded, making a note.
I made suggestions for a necklace pendant that he was thinking of and then while he was making notes, I slipped out to go back to that black door he had been guarding earlier. The room inside was black. The memories there gave me pause.
I first found the memories of me feeding him in the prisoner of war hall while we had been imprisoned. The feeling of the deep kisses I had given him while feeding him were recorded here in great detail. There was a mention of soft lips and sweet lips over and over again. 'My favourite girl' was also scattered through a few memories, combined with the determination to grow stronger. Strong enough to protect me.
There were the memories of all the times he had needed to touch or see my naked body and how much he had secretly appreciated those opportunities. The mention of soft skin or soft breasts or some other praise regarding my body made me blush. He had so many different nice things he said about my body. How embarrassing.
I put my hands to my hot cheeks.
There was the recording of everything I had told Doc and that Doc had repeated back to Shigure and how he had been secretly delighted. There was the memory of the thrill he had experienced when I had asked him bluntly when he was going to give me his baby.
And then there were the wet dreams. It looked like there were a lot of them. The filing cabinet was stuffed to bursting with them. I picked a random one only for Shigure to skid into the room to snatch the memory record from me and toss it back into the filing cabinet.
"Do you secretly have a crush on me?" I smiled at Shigure, leaning on him. In a sweet tone, I whispered in his ear in a teasing tone, "Hubby, anata, shujinsama."
Shigure's body went stock still and a strong thrilling shiver ran through him. At the same time, he dragged me out of the mental space with him. His arms physically crushed me to his chest and he rested his chin on top of my head for a long moment. It was then that I realised that I had perhaps provoked him more than I should have. I could feel 'that' thing poking into my abdomen.
"Uki-chan," Shigure said through gritted teeth, "you do realise that I'm also a normal man, right? I can only take so much teasing."
"If you like and want me so much," I said, "just ask me. I don't think I'd ever say 'no' to you. You can have me whenever you want. Although I'm not as perfect as in your imagination, I would still very much like to have your baby."
"Don't talk like that to me," Shigure told me and I felt him hardening even more. "I won't be able to take it." He took several deep breaths. "It's very hard to resist when you invite me like that."
"You like me though," I pointed out. "I thought you didn't like me at all. You hid it so well. If I had known earlier, I would have suggested it earlier."
"Uki-chan, stop. Stop talking. Don't do this to me," Shigure said in a hoarse voice. "You compare your end of the link with mine. Which side do you think screams 'like' more? You don't even understand what you're getting yourself into with marriage. I can't - I can't be selfish and do anything to you until you truly understand what you are doing and why. So far, your 'like' is mostly out of respect and the fact that you think I'm the most suitable protector for you. You only want my baby because you're afraid of losing me."
"Yes, so?" I tilted my head.
"Uki-chan, I'm so much older than you. You do realise that, don't you?" asked Shigure in a pained voice. "I'd grow older than you faster. I'd probably die earlier than you and leave you behind. You'd be left alone. If I married you, what would we do if one day, you suddenly realised what love is and fell in love with another person? I don't think I'd be able to let you go. I'm a jealous and selfish person. I won't share my wife with another man."
"How much older are you?" I tilted my head to one side, feeling Shigure's go still at the question. He seemed to care about our age gap a lot. "Are you older than my biological father?"
"No," Shigure replied, sounding strained.
"Older or younger?" I pressed.
"Younger," Shigure conceded.
"Good. That's good," I nodded. Are you older or younger than Big Brother or Mr Holt?"
"Older," Shigure said, his breaths coming fast.
"Older or younger than Director Worth?" I wriggled trying to find a more comfortable position in Shigure's crushing embrace.
"Older," Shigure said, voice becoming hoarser. "Uki… Uki-chan, don't move. Please don't move. I won't be able to…"
"How much older?" I asked, trying to stay still, but this position was seriously uncomfortable. I struggled and somehow ended up straddling Shigure. He buried his face in my neck and his fast breaths tickled, making my skin there prickle.
"Just a year," Shigure said out of gritted teeth. "She's already married, you know."
"I didn't know that. So you guys are from the same generation?" I said.
"No," Shigure replied. "I'm from a much older generation. I joined the City Agents young, after my master, the previous Shigure died."
While he talked, I felt him softening and relaxing a little.
"How did he die?" I asked. "No, don't tell me if you don't want to. It's probably a painful memory."
"It's alright," Shigure said into my neck. "My master died defending the Blue Gulf during the invasion before the one they made me into a hero. He told me it was extremely important to protect our home from the overseas enemies. He made me promise to protect our city with my life. It was my master who took the brunt of the first attack and defended the city all alone, giving the City Agents and our soldiers enough time to get organised. The City Agents at that time were very strong. They and the soldiers managed to easily repel our enemies. The City Agents offered me a place when they saw me keeping watch over my master's body and knew it was him who had given the warning and laid his life down for them. There were two other young geniuses that they recruited at that time. Snake Eye and Tiger Eye. We three became a team. We were best friends."
I felt tears drop on my neck.
"I don't know how things became like this," Shigure hiccuped and then after a while, began sobbing. "How did my friends become like that?"
I comforted Shigure while he cried. All tension between us gone as he grieved for his friends and the friendships lost. It was just my feeling, but I felt it was possible that he had never grieved nor cried over his friends like this before. Like he had told me before, sometimes crying is a good thing. It can be very healing.