After a quick series of messages to confirm meeting times, Rei found himself walking down the hallways of the Blooming Nightshades once more. How many times had he been here in the last two weeks? Enough that its elegant opulence was beginning to feel familiar to his trained eyes. Not that this made it any less beautiful, but he was no longer quite so dazzled by it as he'd once been.

Or maybe he was just tired.

He'd kept his word to Yuria, bringing by a box of her things, staying with her as long as they both could handle. He'd left emotionally drained. Would it get easier, with time? He suspected not.

Sighing, Rei brushed a hand through his hair; carefully of course, as he'd spent some time making sure it looked good. Rei was not the sort to slack on effort in a relationship, especially not a fresh one like this. He was showered and shaved, and dressed in his fine dress greys, wearing just a hint of a pleasantly masculine scent, citrus and spice. After all, Mariko deserved the effort. She deserved the best.

So did he, didn't he?

Smiling, Rei pushed the negative thoughts away as he once again reached the door to her room. Shifting the little case he once again carried to the other hand, he reached up, activating the door chime.

There was a small pause after he pushed the door chime before the door would open. The interior of Mariko's room was the same as his last finish, although Rei might have noticed that all of the rolling suitcases that Mariko had brought of her were seemingly organized with a few packed and ready to be left. There was a stillness in the room and the lighting was noticeable warm but dim, perhaps intimate in the mood. After Rei would enter the room, the door would quietly slide behind him. Was the trap set or it was merely an automatic feature of the room?

Mariko would wordlessly appear at the doorway of the bathroom, dressed in a dark night robe that was tied around her waist and only trailed just above her knees. Despite her choice of outfit, she still had stockings on and there was most certainly more underneath. There was a curious look given to Rei with a tilt of her head, wondering what he thought about the outfit.

Rei's alert gaze noticed the packed up suitcases, but if there was anything suspicious about them, it didn't occur to him. Both physically and emotionally drained, he was pleased to finally get a chance to spend some time with this woman he cared deeply for.

Stepping fully into the room, the door slid shut behind him. A memory of that first trick she'd played on him came to mind, making him smile. As terrible as he'd felt before, it led to something wonderful.

And then she stepped out.

Rei looked at her, his eyes bright. He let the case fall from his hands onto the floor. "Mariko..." He took a step towards her, smiling, beginning to close the distance between them. "You look lovely." He murmured, eyes tracing her form. His eyes shifted back to hers as he took a second step towards her, anticipation growing.

Mariko gingerly stepped out from the threshold with a cool air about her expression as she made her way over to meet Rei as he walked toward her. She would stop in front of him and place a hand on his shoulder at first before sliding down his arm. The other hand went to the pockets of her short robe. "Well, good evening to you too, Rei...It's been a while and happy that you could join me. I know it's not exactly my most impressive outfit, I admit, considering I'm not wearing all that much. But, I guess I'm glad that's enough that have your attention?"

She smirked at him as she raised a hand up to slide her fingers under his chin, as if to direct his eyes toward her face more than anywhere else at the moment. "And I know, I'm always lovely."

"That's the part that has my attention." Rei murmured, tilting his head to regard her with a playful smirk. "And you're right, you are always lovely.

The touch of her hand on his arm relaxed some of the tension in his muscles, his arms sliding around her waist in response, eyes meeting hers, guided away from her form, and from her other hand. "It has been a while. Too long. I meant what I said last night." Rei said, smiling wryly. "I'm sorry. If I had my way, we'd spend more time together, not less. I'll make that happen."

His smile turned more playful again. "In the meantime... let me make it up to you?" One hand came up to take hers, as it touched under his chin. Eyes still on hers, he planted feathery kisses along her wrist, gently teasing.

"Oooh..." Mariko murmured and tittered under her breath when he put his arms around her waist. She would lean back slightly, perhaps putting a bit of distance from each other and making him support her at the same time. The sensation of lace embroidery and straps could be potentially felt through the soft material of her silken robes. She did notably wear perfume of a fresh floral scent with notes of orange blossom. "Here, I was very much hoping that you were just the type to get into a relationship with a girl and just leave her. That's fine, I've been a little busy too. There are only so many times you can feign food poisoning before your handler catches on...I guess I need to get a bit more creative on my excuses and analogies now. Maybe I can say I got lost in the woods, or something."

"You do owe me that, and a bit more..." She smiled at the kiss. "I was going to say that you can only see and not touch earlier but you're really doing a good job of making me forget my own rules."

Rei was more than happy to support her, arm strong around her waist. "If you need help coming up with something, I'm happy to help. Although if you're going to get lost, why don't we get lost on the beach sometime? Just the two of us? There's a lot of beach, I bet we could get lost overnight."

His lips moved a little further up her arm, his other hand stroking her back... feeling more than just skin beneath. Rei took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling as he began to recognize what that might mean, taking in her floral scent.

"I'm very happy to look, but I hope the touch prohibition is negotiable." His hand brushed down over the curve of her hip. "If I'm not mistaken, there's more you have to show me, hmmm?"

"I get the feeling the beach would be one of the first places where they might be looking for me if anything were to happen. However, hiding out at one of the artificial islands would be rather fun, if just for a day." She smirked with a shrug.

She smiled softly at Rei as her gaze followed where his lips would touch her, her fingers brushing against his arm slightly. "I'd say that you're already breaking the rules here but I'll allow it, only because you look so good doing it. I could show you more but I don't want you to get too carried away and potentially think about breaking furniture. It seems only fair that you should earn the treat for your eyes. Maybe we could consider a bit of show and tell?"

Her gaze flitted up to meet his eyes with a sly smile on her face. "Tell me, I recall you said something about an escapade...with radiant blasts? Care to share?"

Well. This was a game that Rei was more than willing to play. Especially as he'd already wanted to tell her something. Preparing to talk, he took a deep breath, taking in more of her lovely scent as he did so.

"It was a shootout with a nasty ronin group." Rei said, his expression turning slightly pensive. "A friend of a friend asked for some help checking them out, and I'm glad she did, because they were into some bad stuff. We ended up trailing them into the Desolation - all legal, I should add, and taking them down. Good riddance; like I said, they were a nasty bunch." It was a bit of a risk sharing this info... but Rei trusted Mariko.

His hand slid back her arm, finding her hand, even as his eyes stayed on hers. "They winged me twice. Once on the arm. And once here..." Gently, he guided her hand low on his chest on the right side, the bandage just tangible, below his shirt but above his ribs.

Tilting his head, he matched her sly smile with one of his own. "I'll show you... but I think it's your turn to do the showing. Mariko." He breathed her name.

Mariko raised her brows at the story, perhaps not sure exactly how to take it initially. For a moment, she thought that he was just pulling her leg and trying to talk a big story into impressing her. Then again, stranger things have happened in the city. She was almost sure that the rumours were going to conjure up a bigger shooter with a bigger stake in the near future...or some other celebrity who supposedly suffered from bigger back problems, one of the two.

Her fingers traced the bandage curiously as she looked at him a bit more seriously, speaking out of concern. "It sounds like you've had an interesting time. I'm glad you didn't end up in some infirmary or worse. You know, you didn't have to get hurt just to impress me to get me to play nurse. Despite knowing some first aid, I can't exactly do much if you have some broken bones or anything of that sort."

Her hand would brush up and down pensively, letting out a sigh as she put aside that matter. She would slowly look up to meet his eyes with a small smirk on her lips. "I don't know, Rei. It seems that you've made this tell this pretty fun. I'm starting to think that maybe it'll be better if I told you instead..."

Rei tilted his head, smiling at her. "I bandaged it myself. If you'd like to check my handiwork, I'd be pleased to let you." Then his expression turned more serious as well. "Sometimes my job involves that sort of thing. But I'm careful, I promise. Besides..." He smiled again. "I kinda like impressing you."

He took a deep breath as her hand stroked up and down. "Tease." He murmured playfully, his hands sliding around her again, stroking gently up and down her back. "I won't deny, I had some fun with telling. It's a pretty good story, after all."

But then he leaned closer, tilting his head, bringing his lips mere inches from hers. "But showing will be even more fun. Believe me." His breath mingled pleasantly with hers. A shift of the head, and they would be kissing; Rei felt the draw of it, despite it being his tease. But the game of anticipation was a fun one, and he very much enjoyed playing it with her.

Mariko placed a hand on his cheek with her fingers brushing near the back of his scalp and smirked. "I have to admit, I never said I didn't find it impressive at all. But if you're feeling like an action movie, maybe we're just better off watching one instead next time."

Well, so long they weren't one of her action movies and most certainly not Prettiest of the Them All.

When he neared, she would easily lean in and give him a few soft kisses at first, seemingly not too concerned about keeping that part a mystery. Her last kiss linger a bit longer than the others and perhaps when she seemed to tease something deeper, she would break away from the kiss and take a small breath. "Well, I think you've been such a pretty good boy and have been very patient."

She smirked as she gently pushed away from her and undid the ties around the waist of her shortened robe, dropping it on the ground. It seemed she wore something that was plenty lacy, black and sheer. The elaborate floral patterns and bits of rhinestone could potentially hint that it was something from a Kachiko's Secret collection or a similar line. She asked him as her hands rested on her hips. "...Now, are you impressed? Do I look plenty wholesome to you?"

Well, Rei wasn't so concerned with the tease that he was going to pull away, smiling as their lips met for a few soft kisses. His passion started to stir noticeably as the last kiss lengthened, his lips briefly chasing after hers as she pulled back. He straightened, eyes bright, lips curled up into a playful smile as she stepped back.

And then she dropped her robe.

The effect on Rei was obvious. His gaze, already intent, grew moreso, the pale brown eyes hot with intensity. Lips parted for an intake of breath, almost like a gasp. So often before, one of them would look the other up and down. Now Rei did so in earnest, drinking in the sight of the gorgeous Mariko. "Impressed doesn't begin to cover it." Rei murmured, his voice rough. His well-muscled chest continued to visibly rise and fall as he thoroughly appreciated the sight.

It was good that the rule on touching was negotiable. Rei stepped forward, arms encircling her, lips finding hers for a rough kiss, his passion growing unrestrained. And then another, Rei growling softly, his hands roaming, exploring the garment, her curves, the feel of her against him.

Dexterously, Rei opened his own shirt, then found her hand. He brought it to his chest, now bared. The thump of his heart was strong, beating faster with his excitement. "Can you feel what you do to me, Mariko?" Rei whispered hotly against her lips, only just able to part to speak. "How you make me feel when we're together? Or even when we just talk?" It wasn't just the passion either; exchanging texts with her the night before had brightened his day so much.

Mariko murmured a happy noise under her breath with Rei put himself close to her again and her arms found their way around his shoulders. She accepted the kiss with the same sort of emotion, kissing back deeply as her hands played with his hair. It seemed like a far walk to the bed all of a sudden and when the kiss broke, her eyes were intent on him as she caught her breath. Certainly, after all of the teasing she did, she was the hungry one now.

Taking a moment to take a step back, her gaze looked curious as she had her hand placed on his chest. Her hand curiously felt this sensation, perhaps finding a vague connection with her own pulse as her own heart was beating from the passion he coaxed out of her. She did slip her hand from its place over her heart and curiously placed itself on his bandages now that his shirt was open. Those seemed very real, now that she had a chance to look at them. "That's a condition..." she joked partially, regarding her theatrical medical background. "You're hooked on me...should do something about that..."

With that, she leaned close to him again and locked him into a passionate kiss.

"Damn right-" Whatever else Rei had been going to say was cut off as Mariko pulled him into another passionate kiss. Well, he was done talking, anyway.

It was hard to say which of them needed the other more, but fortunately they could both be satisfied at the same time. Even as they kissed, Rei's hands confidently guided the two of them the all too far walk to the bed. There, Rei demonstrated that he didn't need the adrenaline of thinking she'd just died to give her his passionate all. Just being with her was enough to generate more than enough of a thrill for him, and more than enough satisfaction for both of them.

/ftb