RIN

Inside the room, An Sun was already on the floor, his face damp from a wash at the baths. Rin washed too, the water cool across her forehead.

"I'll sleep on the floor." An Sun offered.

Without saying much, Rin nodded her head. She watched him take a pillow from her bed along with a sheet to cover himself in the night. She frowned at the sight.

"Will you be cold?"

"Probably." An Sun admitted. "But it's fine. It's just for one night."

"Oh," Rin said. After that, there was nothing more to say.

She pulled back the covers and lay quietly on the bedding, already cold from the draft of the windows. Laying on the floor, An Sun's eyes were fixed on the ceiling. They lay there a moment, in that strained and living silence.

"What are we going to do?" Rin asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" An Sun shifted his gaze.

"All those people…they'll be killed. No matter what we said, nothing changed. More are just going to die." Her voice trailed near the end.

There was quiet. When he hadn't responded after a while, Rin turned to look at him. He was on his side, watching her. She had not heard him turn. He was utterly motionless, that stillness that was his alone.

"Rin, we did everything we could. Sometimes—" He paused. "No matter how much you try to save someone and show them your good intentions, they will never change."

Pursing her lips, Rin's lowered her eyes.

"When your father died…how did you feel?"

An Sun's expression hadn't changed much. He sighed.

"Surprised mostly. The man I grew up with never had a weakness. He was always strong and cold to everything around him. Never once did I think he would die someday. But…another part of me is relieved."

"Relieved?" Rin's eyes widened.

He nodded with a sigh. "All my life, he had been a shadow and reminder of who I was. Now that he's gone…I feel relieved."

"Sun…"

He looked at her and smiled. But it was not a clear smile. It was filled with pain and misery.

"Disturbing isn't it? I feel relief that my own father is dead."

"No." Rin sat up in bed and shook her head. "There's nothing wrong about it. Your feelings and emotions are validated. Whether you feel relief, anger, joy…you have every reason to feel this way."

He was watching her, his eyes as deep as the night. Rin's pulse jumped, for no reason she could name. He had looked at her a thousand times, but there was something different in this gaze—an intensity she did not know. Her mouth was dry. She could hear the sound of her throat as she swallowed.

Suddenly, he stood up from the floor and walked toward the bed. Startled, Rin glanced up. Her breath caught in her throat.

"W-What's wrong?" She said, finally.

"About what?"

"The floor…it's cold."

Rin swallowed, hesitant. "How cold?"

"Very." He said, huskily. Those restless dark eyes stared strongly into hers, embedding something deep within her.

He regarded her. It seemed that he was waiting.

The moonlight played over his skin, cooling it to white. She knew then. She felt it in the way he took her hand, the way his gaze rested on her. She felt the same. Rin shifted herself towards him. She leaned forward, and their lips landed clumsily on each other.

It was just a whisper of a kiss, but something collapsed in her mind, and she abruptly pulled back. Before she could, An Sun had grabbed the back of her head and crushed his lips against hers. Suddenly, he was kissing her harder, deeper, with a fervent need she had never known before.

His insistent mouth was parting her shaking lips, sending wild tremors along her nerves, evoking shivers. Shivers that made her whole body tremble.

"If you want me to stop, tell me now," He whispered, lips still barley parted from hers. "Otherwise...I don't know if I can."

Rin stared up at him through teary eyes. Her hands that were on his chest, touched his face, his neck, and cheek. The shivering tips of her fingers slid across his smooth, warm skin.

"Rin…" An Sun whispered painfully, his hot breath wet against her lips.

Tracing a finger on his lips, Rin's eyes stared gently. "Sun…kiss me."

Those words were all it took for him to capture her lips once more. This time, Rin opened up for him greedily. His tongue slipped inside her mouth, gentle but demanding. Her fingers gripped his hair, pulling him closer.

An Sun groaned softly, low in his throat, and then his arms circled her, gathering her against him, and they rolled over on the bed, tangled together, still kissing.

The weight of his body on top of hers was extraordinary. Rin felt him—all of him—pressed against her, and she inhaled his earthy, fresh scent. Only he could ever smell like this.

He dragged his lips up the soft skin on her neck, and gently nipped her ear lobe, sipping on the soft flesh. Rin moaned, her eyes gazing up at the ceiling, dizzy. He was breathing hard against her lips while she was sucking his. His hand slid over the quickened rise and fall of her chest.

"Rin…" An Sun nearly growled out her name. He stroked her gently, as though smoothing finest silk, and then cupped her breast.

Rin flinched, her entire body freezing from his touch. An Sun's movements also stopped as he quickly pulled back and lifted himself to the side of the bed.

"We…" He stopped. "We should go to bed."

His back was faced toward her. She could see the quick rise and fall of his heavy breath. Lifting herself from the bed, Rin nodded her head blankly.

Another silence fell upon them.

"Do you regret it?" The words were quickly out of him, a single breath.

He was watching her. His eyes were unwavering, gray, deep with question. A surety rose in Rin, lodged in her throat.

"No. I don't." She said softly.

A smile bloomed on his handsome face. "I don't either."

He reached for her hand. Their fingers found one another, etching the other in memory. His hands, so strong and rough. But when against hers, they never felt more gentle.

"I think I'm warm enough now. I'll sleep on the floor." An Sun squeezed her hand before slipping away his fingers.

A flush coated her cheeks, and she silently nodded her head. He lay back down on the floor, ink hair spread on his white pillow. Rin watched him on her side, her mind drifting.

"Go to sleep, or I'm going to sleep in bed with you." An Sun warned gruffly.

Stunned, Rin turned around with flushed cheeks, burying herself deep within the blankets, unaware of the faint pink blush on the man's face, glowing in the moonlight.