Chaos in Kadoma Ward – Chapter 25

My new plan is to get laid as completely and quickly as possible. At three in the morning and two rum punches later, I’m ready to take Rin up on his offer. He wants to lay me in his bed? Let’s do it.

We fumble into his apartment, tripping over shoes we both forgot to put away. I collapse into a fit of giggles as Rin swears and kicks his boots across the room.

“Lights up,” he says.

“Lights off,” I counter immediately as the lights brighten and blink off.

“Yumi, I can’t see you.” He holds out his hands, feeling through the dark air for me. I pull off my tank top and slip up into his reach. He hums as his fingers trail down my shoulders and along my bra strap to my bare back and around to my stomach.

“Let your eyes adjust to the dark. You don’t need the lights.”

I grasp the bottom of his shirt and tug, freeing the hem from his pants and up over his head. His lips duck to my clavicle, kissing across the length of my shoulder and up to my neck. I crave the skin-on-skin contact, something I haven’t had in such a long time, I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be this close to someone else. He’s warm, and his skin is smooth, and he smells like Rin, like pine needles and smoke.

Now’s the time to explore with my own hands those muscles I’ve gazed at, those scars I’ve inventoried in my head. His lips on my neck and up to my ear distract me, but I still manage to run the tips of my fingers over the long scar that cuts diagonally across his back. Having this kind of access to someone is strange. The only people I’ve touched in years are my family for a hug, or Kazuo for migraine relief, or the business-only contact of medical professionals

“How did you get this one?” My breath is caught in my throat.

“The scar?” He sucks on my ear lobe, and I hum with pleasure. “I just got that one about six months ago. Another android battle.”

“And this one?” I run my fingers along a scar that dips into the band of his underwear.

He disengages from my neck and brings his hands to my face, looking into my eyes.

“I don’t want to talk about scars.” His eyes flit to my chest, and I gulp down the guilt.

Dipping down, he wraps his arms around my waist and picks me up, shuttling me down the hall to his room. In the many weeks I’ve lived here, I’ve never spent time in his room. I know he has pictures on his dresser, but I’ve not seen them for myself. Never been in his drawers or closet. Never even been more than a step inside the door.

This is new territory for me.

But the moment he sets me on his bed, my curious gaze is drawn away from the room and to his eyes as he hovers over me.

“This.” His finger traces the long line across my chest. The scar is almost faded now, but we both remember how it got there. “You have no idea how much I regret this.”

“Think of it as your brand,” I say, joking.

He’s not amused. “No.” His finger jerks to my lips, trying to quiet me, but I kiss it and sit up.

Pulling my hair from the bun, I let it loose around my shoulders. My scalp is numb now, reminding me I’ve had plenty to drink tonight, but that won’t stop me. My reasoning isn’t impaired. I needed a few drinks to let go of my issues.

I lift my elbow up to show him the scars there. “This is where I had to have surgery when I broke my arm as a kid.”

I unbutton my pants, and he stares down at me.

“Help?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at him. He grasps my pants and underwear and takes it all off in one swift movement. Okay then. I thought maybe I’d keep the underwear on for a while, but it’s not like he hasn’t (accidentally) seen me naked before. “Then there’s this.” I run my finger along the healed gash in my left leg. I’ll admit that it’s ugly, one of the worst scars I’ve ever seen. Even all of Rin’s are clean and straight. “I’m lucky to be alive here with you. This” — I point to the scar he gave me — “is nothing.”

My hands shake as I reach for his buckle, ready to move on from scars to the main event. His hands clasp mine, stopping me. Wait. Are we stopping?

But no. He slips from the bed, unbuckles his pants, drops them and his underwear and gives me a full view of himself as he crosses to the bedside table.

Fuck. I wasn’t expecting that. My body trembles at the sight of him, long, dark, and ready. I had forgotten what men look like from the waist down, and I don’t want to remember anyone but him, but this moment, the moment I see him naked for the first time. He leans over the table, tapping into his tablet waiting there.

Stars burst onto the ceiling, and soft music plays. A beautiful evening spent in the heavens. Nothing is more perfect than this. I love that he’s giving so much thought to the mood and memories of our first time together. It’s another thing I didn’t expect from him. He continues to surprise me.

Reaching for the covers, I pull them over and get underneath, removing my bra and throwing it to the side. He slips under the covers with me, pulling me under him, pressing his weight upon me. It’s delicious, a moment to savor as he rests against my pelvis, holds me to him, and kisses me deep, down so deep that I lose myself.

“Mmmm, so, do you trust me now?” he asks, his lips above mine.

“Yes.”

“No more drowning dreams?”

I shake my head.

“Good. You’ll always be safe with me. I promise. You’re my first priority. No matter what.”

“Okay.” I smile and lift my lips to his. This feeling of warmth and happiness is so alien, but I like it.

I like it. I trust it. I want it to last forever.

My brain disengages, and my heart leaps. The stars on the ceiling merge and lengthen, running together as I grab onto him.

“Yes, yes, yes,” I repeat over and over. Yes, you can take that. Yes, you can have me. Yes, this is what I want.

He finishes, wrapping his legs around me, trying to keep us close. I rest my head on his shoulder, panting heavy breaths, endeavoring to form coherent words from the sheer gibberish flowing from my brain to my mouth.

“Shhh,” Rin breathes over me, kissing my cheek, my lips, my forehead, and smoothing out my hair before pulling the covers tightly around me. “Do you want to sleep?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Then sleep here with me from now on. No more separate rooms, separate beds.”

“Okay. I like your bed better, anyway. I want my pillow though.”

He slips from the bed and returns with my pillow. Wrapping his arms and legs around me again, he pulls me tight to his chest. “You know, I believe you came across the stars to find me. That this was meant to be.”

I peel open my eyes and look up at the stars projected above us. I left my home and traveled far away for a purpose that had nothing to do with Rin, yet… something of this situation does feel fated. A meter or two off from our descent in the life pod, and I may have never met him. May never have even survived our landing.

It’s too scary, too real to believe we’ve been thrown together for a purpose. But this is also my family legacy. My father sailed across the stars to be with my mother. He didn’t know it at the time, but that’s what was fated for them as well. I stay silent, not acknowledging his heartfelt confession.

He chuckles, burying his lips against the back of my neck. “Go to sleep, Yumi.”