2

The Morning After

"Miia, wake up."

"Just five more degrees," she whispers with a sleepy smile. "I mean, just five more minutes."

Her grip around me tightens and not in a sleepy manner.

"Miia, I can't…"

Her grip knocks the air out of me.

"…breathe!" I squeak.

She mumbles.

"Don't tell me…"

She's gone to sleep again!

I writhe in her fatal embrace, feeling my bones give way to her steely grip. Unable to breathe, feeling myself going into a daze, something soft comes in my hand.

"Darling!" Miia yelps. "Why are you being so rough!"

The tip of her tail.

I start stroking her tail. Her moans grow louder, her grip loosening.

As I draw in fresh breaths, I sigh with relief.

Her tail wraps around my neck and I feel like someone being hanged. I'm sure I look the part too.

"Sheesh, Darling," Miia says, changing into her regular clothes. "So savage, and just in the morning. Are you waking up or not?"

"Yeah," I manage to whisper. "Just five more minutes."

Miia sits humming to herself on the table, munching on her meat.

"More coffee, please."

I turn, hearing the familiar voice, though not remembering whose voice it is.

Seeing the Government clad-in-black agent, I scream, almost spilling the coffee in my hand.

"Smith-san! When did you get here!"

"Oh." She giggles. "Stealth is my job, you know."

Somehow, I get the feeling that she was sleeping in the bed that was supposed to be Miia's. Her hair is unkempt, her shirt tucked out on one side, her socks empty at the toes, meaning they were worn in a half-awake state.

Still, that's no reason to deny coffee to a beauty like her.

"Oh, thank you." She takes the full cup from my hands. Her fingers graze my hand.

"What do you think you're doing!" Miia's explosive voice makes us both jump with a scream.

"Miia." I turn to her. "What happened?"

"Darling, you playboy," she says with tears in her eyes. "You're flirting with Smith-san now. What about this morning?"

"This morning?" Smith's interest is piqued.

"He was so rough." Miia sniffles, her head on Smith's shoulder. "Is one girl not enough for him?"

"What is she saying, Darling-kun?" Ms. Smith's aura changes from peaceful lazy to devilish scary.

"Oh." I shake my head, its speed matching the speed of my flinging hands. "When she woke up in my bed…"

"Oh." Smith adjusts her sunglasses. "You're sleeping together? Just after meeting?"

"No! You're getting the-"

"That explains why the bed was empty. Darling-kun, was I not clear enough when I said that there would be no sex?"

A jolt hits my brain.

"Two things, Smith-san." I scoff with a triumphant smile. "One, we're not having sex. I just warm Miia up. Second, how did you know the bed was empty?"

"Urk." Her confident aura vanishes. "I was… you know… just checking on her in secret."

"Is that why you're so shabby?" My confidence grows. "You sure you didn't just sleep on her bed while at work?"

Her mouth falls open, her hand paused on the leg of her glasses.

"Now, now." She offers a faltering smile. "Let's not get into the details. I'm sure we can work something out. You see, Darling-kun, the relationships between human beings and extra-species are not…"

"Don't worry, Smith-san." I smile. "The person who gives you the most trouble is your own self."

"Can't argue with that," she whispers, looking downcast.

Miia looks at me and her, like an innocent daughter watching a lovers' spat between her parents.

"Well, anyway." Smith grabs at her confident, cheerful demeanor. "The coffee was delicious. I'll be going now. Lots of work waiting for me."

"Okay. Take care."

"Take care, Smith-san." Miia bows to her at the door with a smile.

"Yeah!" Smith attempts to run out of my house, loses her footing, unaware that she has only one shoe on. The other is lying where she took it off.

"Ah!" She screams as she falls.

"Are you all right, Smith-san!" Miia rushes to her.

"Yeah," Smith replies like a collapsed drunkard. "Just a scratch."

"Darling!" Miia turns to me, her eyes and voice frantic. "We must do something!"

"I know, Miia." I smirk. "I have the preparations done. Let's get her up first."

"Whoa there." Together, we lift Smith up from her arms and make her sit on the floor.

There is a bleeding scratch on her chin. She hisses while touching it gingerly with her fingers.

"You're lucky this is only a scratch." I dab her wound with a ball of cotton dipped in tincture.

"Ow!" She hisses, her stockinged foot touching my knee.

"There, there." I pat her head. "You're a big girl, aren't you?"

"Big girls can't cry?" she asks with a pout.

"They can. It just hurts me to see you cry."

"Why would that be?" She is curious.

"The tears of a beautiful woman hurt a man more than her." I put a bandage on her chin. "That should take care of it. Just take care of yourself now."

"Ah, okay." She nods like an obedient daughter.

"Good girl." I pat her head. After a pause, I hug her.

"Huh, what?" She places her confused hands on my shoulders.

"Take care of yourself, Smith." I place my forehead against hers, gazing into her widened eyes. "Not being married at twenty-six is not the worst that can happen."

"Huh." She exhaled, with the same confused look. "Okay."

Miia slunk behind her. "I got the towel, Darling!"

"Good girl, Miia." I smile at her. "Use it to wipe your sweat. Catch your breath."

"Stupid Darling!" She gives an angry huff. "You sent me away to flirt with Smith-san, didn't you?"

"Catch your breath, Miia." The smile stays plastered to my face. "Then we'll talk."

"I'll just leave the two of you to it." Smith tries to stand up.

I keep her sitting from her shoulders. "Just a moment."

Picking up her shoe with one hand and catching her foot from the heel in the other, I slide it onto her foot, eyeing her toes.

She stares at me dumbfounded, Miia annoyed.

"Don't want you to get hurt again," I said sliding her other foot into her shoe. "There."

"Th… thank you, Darl…" She stands up.

I cover her lips with my finger.

"Don't call me Darling-kun. Only Darling is fine." I smile at the two beauties in front of me. "But as Miia is the only one who can call me Darling, you can call me Yamato."

"I see, Yamata… Yamato," Smith replies with a red, downcast face.

"That's a good girl." I pat her head a third time. "Now, take care"

"I will, Yamato." She smiles as she looks up at me.

I give her another hug, one she returns without being awkward