Genya raised his head and looked at her.
There was something warm in his eyes, something that softened her heart like melting sugar.
"Konan."
Konan turned her face away, refusing to look at him, but she neither withdrew her hand nor pulled back her foot.
Genya's hand slowly moved up from Konan's ankle, his fingertips brushing the cool, smooth skin of her calf.
Konan's breathing quickened, and the muscles in her calf tensed.
Genya's hand continued upward, his fingers tracing her knee and stroking the outside of her thigh before stopping at the hem of her yukata.
"Konan, it's time to rest."
Konan's body trembled slightly.
An indescribable shiver rose from deep within her, leaving her legs weak.
She wanted to say, "We're in someone else's home," wanted to say, "This isn't appropriate," wanted to say, "This is too fast," but when she opened her mouth, not a single word came out.
Genya stood and bent down, slipping one arm around her waist and the other beneath her knees, then lifted her into his arms.
Konan instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck.
Carrying her, Genya crossed the living room. Kurenai's bedroom door was closed, with no light beneath it. She was probably asleep.
Or perhaps she wasn't. The breathing behind the door was a little faster than it would have been in sleep.
Genya paused outside the guest room, pushed the door open, stepped inside, and nudged it shut with his foot.
Genya laid Konan on the bed. She sank into the soft bedding, her long blue hair spilling across the pillow, silver as a river beneath the moonlight.
Her yukata's sash had loosened while he carried her, leaving the collar open and her collarbones gleaming in the moonlight.
Genya stood beside the bed, looking at Konan as she