Sakura was more impressed with Saizou the more she watched, after he returned to them. He was very smooth about turning attention aside. Today he was egging Juubei and Toshiki on with a laugh to a contest of who could strike most accurately at the greatest distance. It was hard to even spot the moment when he eased himself out of the competition and stood back.

No wonder he had hidden his troubles from them so well for so long.

That wouldn’t do now, though. The Kokuchouin no longer held his heartbeat and will hostage. There was no reason for this any more, and it would do him no good to continue the habit. She expected Saizou would deny he was doing it if the others confronted him directly, though, especially if it was Kazuki.

That left her. Just as well, perhaps; they had unfinished business, he and she.

Sakura slipped up beside her quarry on soft feet until she was close enough to be heard by no one else when she asked, “Why do you hold yourself apart from us, Saizou?”

He stilled, laughter dying, eyes turning dark and distant though he didn’t look at her. “Is shame so hard to understand?”

“No harder than forgiveness,” she pointed out. She sat down beside him on the broken wall he’d been watching Juubei and Toshiki from, hands folded in her lap, and waited. Saizou couldn’t hide from her after what they’d been through, and eventually he would realize the sense of that.

“It isn’t that I don’t want to believe it,” he finally said, quietly. “I just don’t understand. I stole your bodies and bound your wills. Your very hearts! I set you against your allies. And you forgive me for that, just this easily?”

Sakura was quiet too for a little, marshaling the words she needed. “It’s true. You did that. But you didn’t do it for ambition or hatred. You did it to save all our lives.” She looked up at his hard profile. “Toshiki thinks it was only justice, considering he did much the same to Kazuki; he’s almost grateful to you. And you healed Juubei’s eyes, which no other technique could have done. And above all,” she laid a hand on the one he had clenched, “you didn’t bind our hearts. You held them safe, inside your own.” He ducked his head a little and she smiled. “Yes. How else could we have seen what was in your heart? I knew; that was why I spoke, and told Kazuki why you had done all that.”

“But that doesn’t make up for…” he started softly, and she cut him off, brisk.

“No. It doesn’t. Nothing could. But we forgive you anyway.” When he finally turned to look at her, eyes wide and defenseless behind his glasses, she let her smile turn teasing. “There’s only one thing I haven’t forgiven you for, out of all that. And that’s the uniform.”

He turned red, and she smacked him on the shoulder with the backs of her fingers.

“I thought so! It was your idea!” She’d had her suspicions when she realized the thing left her bare from hips to the bottom of her breasts.

He turned redder and looked everywhere except at her. “So, I, um, I guess now you’re going to tell Juubei and I’d better get ready to be a pincushion, huh?” he asked, meekly.

Sakura sniffed. “I don’t need my little brother to look after my honor or avenge my slights. I can do that myself.” Now he looked genuinely alarmed, and Sakura made a thoughtful sound, head tilted as if considering the appropriate retribution. He slid off the wall onto his knees, hands clasped entreatingly.

“I’m so very sorry, I honestly am, I don’t know what I was thinking. The curse seal must have been affecting my brain or I’d have never done it, I swear,” he said with becoming earnestness.

Sakura gave him a cool look, ignoring the fact that her brother and Toshiki had both stopped their little game and were staring. “Well. I suppose I might let you make it up to me.”

“Anything you say; anything at all,” he assured her.

“Very well, then.” She couldn’t entirely stifle the smile that crimped the corners of her mouth. “Kiss me.”

Saizou stared up at her with his mouth open.

“You did say anything,” she pointed out.

“You… but… Sakura,” he murmured, hushed.

She smiled softly and held out a hand to him. “I’m waiting.”

He took her hand slowly, wondering eyes never leaving her face. “Yes, ma’am,” he finally said, husky, and leaned up on his knees. Long fingers touched her cheek softly and she bent her head to meet him. The kiss was soft and reverent, and he ducked his head after, pressing another to her hand. She stroked his hair gently and gave her brother a steely look over his bent head.

Juubei blinked and turned back promptly to his contest with Toshiki, and Sakura relaxed, pleased.

That was that taken care of, then. She’d certainly waited long enough.

---

Saizou knew Sakura was getting impatient. She was too well-bred to show it openly, but they’d grown up in the same kind of houses and it was there to see in the angle of her head when he hesitated to put his arm around her, in the way she turned toward him and then looked up when he was slow to take the invitation. They both understood it.

So when he finally gathered his courage to ask, he didn’t need to explain. He’d brought some fresh strawberries to the pretty, airy apartment she kept high enough up the central building of Mugenjou to catch the breeze and see the sun. He watched her easy grace as she washed them and sliced a few, and remembered that same grace turning away countless men with such indifference few of them even managed to protest before she was out of sight, and he finally had to ask.

“Why me?”

Her knife paused against the cutting board for a moment before she made the last two slices and turned to wash the blade. “Because you see all of me.”

That wasn’t the kind of answer he’d expected and he blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

She smiled over her shoulder as she took down a plate for the strawberries. “Most men, especially here, only see that I have curves. They don’t see any more of me than that. That’s boring.”

Saizou looked away guiltily from the curve of her breast against her arm and cleared his throat. “I imagine so.”

She didn’t even seem to notice, and went on calmly. “But the men who do come close enough to know me… well. To Toshiki, I’m almost as much of a sister as I am to Juubei. And Kazuki respects my strength, he honors my council, but he doesn’t look at surfaces at all.” Her voice softened and turned low. “He sees deeper. And that’s as it should be, but… the surface is real too.” She stroked a hand down the line of her hip. “This is me, also.”

Saizou had to swallow. “It is,” he agreed.

She looked up at him and smiled. “That’s what I mean. You look at me and see both. I like that.” Her gaze fell to her fingers, which were re-arranging strawberry slices more precisely than was really necessary, and she murmured, “Do you?”

“Do I…?” Saizou’s brain finally kicked in and he blinked. “Do I like it? Of course!” He’d kind of thought the thing with the uniform made that obvious—more obvious than it should have been, but people who thought they were going to die before they could be pounded for their temerity did crazy things.

He could see the breath she took before she looked up, chin lifted, and said, “Show me.”

That hit the off-switch on his brain again for a few moments. When he spoke his voice was husky. “Show you? That I like it?”

She colored a little, but her eyes were level. “Yes.”

He crossed the kitchen quickly, catching up her hands. “I’m sorry,” he murmured ruefully against them. “I shouldn’t make you doubt yourself when it’s only me I’m doubting.”

“Do you doubt your welcome?” she asked softly. When he shook his head she stepped closer. “Then what else matters?”

He had always known that Sakura was the one with the brains. He should, he thought, rely on them more often. The thought was distant, though; most of his attention was taken up with the faint sweetness of strawberries on her fingers.

Show, hm?

Sakura’s eyes widened as he drew one of her fingers into his mouth, lapping the strawberry juice slowly off it. “Oh.” Her flush deepened.

“You’re beautiful, Sakura; all of you,” he said softly against her fingertips. “I would be honored to show you how beautiful you are in my eyes.” Conscience twitched at him and he paused. “You, ah… you really don’t mind? I mean, Kazuki…”

A spark of amusement lit her smile as she looked up at him. “Kazuki-sama has a generous heart. I’m sure he won’t mind sharing.”

This was so manifestly true that he almost forgot she hadn’t answered his actual question. “Yes, but I mean, you’re sure you won’t mind…?”

Her smile gentled and turned serene. “I’m part of Fuuga too, you know.”

Yes, and this did seem to be the pattern of their little House. Saizou gave up and smiled back. “Okay, I’ll stop asking silly questions.”

“Good.” She caught his hand and stepped backward, toward an open door and the corner of a bed that showed through it.

Saizou followed her.

---

Sakura slid out of her dress and turned her back to Saizou. “Will you undo this for me?” A glance over her shoulder showed he was blushing a little, which charmed her quite unreasonably. Saizou’s diffidence could be frustrating, but she was more than willing to put up with that when it also made his fingers, undoing her bra, so light, so careful. She leaned back against the warmth of his bare chest with a soft sigh as he slid the straps down her arms.

“Sakura,” he murmured against her shoulder, husky, arms closing around his waist.

She rested her head back against his shoulder so she could whisper in his ear, “One more thing to go.”

His laugh puffed warm against her skin and he slid his hands obligingly down to her hips and eased her panties down. She liked it very much that Saizou knew how to laugh at all these little games. She liked it even more when his hands slid back up and over her stomach, up her ribs, to stroke her breasts slow and gentle. The touch sent enticing little shivers down her body to strike heat between her legs, and she made an approving sound.

Saizou released a shaky breath and she turned to twine her arms around him. “Shh,” she murmured. “It’s all right. You’re one of us, Saizou; you’ve always been one of us, even when it hurt you so much you wanted to die from it.” She held him tighter as he tensed. “We are Fuuga. Be with us.” She leaned back and smiled. “Be with me.”

He closed his eyes for a breath, smile turning fragile and soft. “Gladly.”

She backed toward her bed, hands sliding down his arms to catch his hands and pull him after her. That made him laugh, and the tension was gone from his movement as he settled onto the bed with her and drew her close. Sakura felt like purring with satisfaction as they traded slow kisses, twined together on her rumpled sheets. The reverence of his hands on her made her breath catch and the open wonder in his eyes made her press closer, torn between offering passion and offering comfort.

When his tongue slid down her collar bone to dip between her breasts she decided passion was appropriate.

“Saizou…” She gasped as his hand stroked down her stomach, muscles shivering under his palm, and long fingers slipped delicately down between her legs.

“Sakura,” he whispered against her breast, husky, fingertips easing between her folds. She moaned softly as he stroked her, light and sure, and pleasure tightened low in her stomach. He followed every shift of her body as if she’d spoken aloud, fingers now firmer, now lighter, now dipping down to tease inside her, fingers sensitive and sure.

There were definitely advantages to a lover from the Fuuchouin clan.

This lover of hers certainly knew what he was doing, and seemed determined to pleasure her. His mouth closed on her nipple and she arched, pressing up into the wet heat of his mouth. His fingers slid further into her, deep and slow, and hers flexed, digging into his back as her breath caught. She gasped out loud when he dragged his fingers back up, stroking slickly over her and rubbing slow, and her nerves tingled in response.

“Saizou.” She wound a leg around his hip and pulled him down against her, catching his low laugh in a demanding kiss. “Now.”

“Yes, my noble lady,” he teased, and gasped when she nipped his lower lip in retaliation. “Sakura…”

She rocked her hips up, smiling to feel his hardness against her. “Now.”

His agreement this time was heartfelt. She laughed softly and spread her legs wider, sighing with the pleasure of his weight over her, savoring the lean solidity of him, letting her hands wander over the line of his shoulders and down his back to feel the flex of his rear as he pressed into her. The thick, solid slide of him inside her eased the taut hunger his fingers had started and she moaned, pushing up to meet him.

He would have gone slow, but she didn’t want that right now and let her whole body flex, rocking up wantonly, taking him deeper, driving their pace faster. Saizou groaned and caught her closer, body answering hers. “Sakura!” His long, driving thrusts finally answered the heat in her and she gasped as pleasure started to build again.

“All of you,” she said against his shoulder, starting to pant for breath. “All of you, Saizou.”

He kissed her, hot and passionate, in answer, and she tightened her arms around him, kissing back just as open and hungry. She wrapped her leg around him, grinding against him, and shivered with the first crest of pleasure. Saizou thrust deeper and she bucked against him, gasping as sensation turned bright, swept out through her and clenched her body tight. Saizou’s breathless moan made her smile and she reached up to run her fingers through his hair as another wave of pleasure rippled through her. She was starting to relax when he stilled over her, gasping, shuddering, and she gathered him close again.

They lay for a while that way and she carded her fingers through the length of his hair in back, trailing down his spine.

“Thank you,” he finally said, breath tickling her throat.

“Mm. Thank you too.” She kissed his forehead. “You’re not going to be so difficult about it next time, are you?”

His shoulders shook with a laugh. “No. I promise I won’t.”

“Good,” she said firmly. “Because you belong to us, and I’m not having any more of this foolishness.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he murmured, meekly enough except that she could feel his lips curve against her shoulder.

Well, that was Saizou. And he wanted her, wanted this, after all.

His arms tightened around her and she settled against him with a pleased sigh.