Karen suddenly jolted up from her sleep – drenched in cold sweat – and wished that the nightmare that she had was just that, a nightmare.

She could not really remember the details, but the feelings that the nightmare left behind were dreadful. It made her feel like her skin was crawled by millions of tiny bugs and she was not able to shout or even move. 

But the worst of it all, she could remember bits and pieces of the things she did – things she didn't even want to do no matter how angry or jealous she was in real life. 

It was like her body was controlled by someone else and she was just an unwilling passenger with the full view and realization of what her body – and whoever moved it – had done.

She looked around without being able to see and found out that her surroundings were all pitch black darkness and she was obviously sleeping on the floor. She could not sense anything but the familiar cold, hard steel in her hand. 

She knew the shape immediately and threw it – the knife – away, and yet the fear in her escalated.

What had she done?

Why did she have a knife?

Where was she??

She tried to feel her surroundings and to find the door or windows or any other openings, but she could not even find the wall and she had been walking for a few minutes now.

How big was this room so that she could not touch anything at all?

No matter how big, she should be able to touch – or feel – something by now. So, when she stumbled on something and fell down, she felt relieved – and dreadful.

What was that? 

She tried to find the thing that caused her to fall – to find any clue of her whereabouts – and when she touched it, she caught her breath – and screamed.

After everything that happened, Toru felt so tired and dirty, so he took a quick hot shower in the guest bathroom. 

He took a moment to let the hot water fall on his back, and to relax his muscles. After that he took one of the fluffy white towels and wrapped his lower part with it before he walked out the bathroom and found a fresh white t-shirt and a pair of soft fleece pants in the box where his dirty clothes were supposed to be, and he smiled at the thoughtful gesture. 

Azusa even prepared a new box of boxer briefs and somehow it made Toru feel a pang of jealousy at the thought of her buying men's underwear. Then he remembered Azuma and thought that Azusa probably prepared the male stuff for her twin brother. He definitely hoped so.

He wore the clothes and finally felt very relaxed when he got out and found a pillow and a blanket on the couch – along with Azusa there, sipping a glass of whiskey and he saw that there was another glass on the table.

"Join me?" She raised the hand that held the glass at him. 

"Sure. Are you not tired yet?" Toru took a seat beside her.

"Apparently my brother already occupied the last room and locked it from the inside." She explained the situation to him and rolled her eyes in amusement. "I didn't even know that he was back here, and I didn't want to disturb his sleep. He can be cranky when he's disturbed, and you don't want him to be cranky in the morning." Azusa shuddered at the thought of her brother throwing a tantrum when he didn't have enough sleep.

"Ah." He chuckled at her rolling eyes. "So, somehow we ended up in the same situation again as last night." He took the glass and Azusa poured the golden liquid for him. "Cheers." He drank but his eyes never left her face.

"Cheers." Azusa clinked her glass at his and drank the rest of the liquid. "So, you want to take the left side or the right side?"

Toru coughed from the surprise and the strong alcohol entered the wrong pipe, causing him to almost pass out from the shock – mostly from Azusa's words.

"Excuse me?" He coughed some more and Azusa patted his back.

"I mean, we have to share the couch, obviously." She shrugged nonchalantly as if it was a usual circumstance. "So, seeing that thankfully I bought a wide enough sofa that will fit both of us… left or right?" She looked so serious that Toru couldn't help but gape at her directness. It took him a minute to even be able to form a word from his mouth.

"Uhm… why don't you pick a side seeing that I never shared a bed with anyone before?"

"Right it is." She smiled. "I'm going to take a shower first, please settle yourself and don't mind me at all."

And how would he do that?

Toru watched as Azusa entered the bathroom that he just used and suddenly a movie-like images started to play in his head – like how she teased him by sashaying and hooking her finger to invite him to take shower together, how they would laughed and teased each other, and how they moaned from the pleasure they gave each other – and he shook them all away.

Damn those perverted thoughts every time he was near her.

Unfortunately, just the very vivid thoughts of her naked inside the shower with the water rivulets down her back – and her whole body – caused him to get uncomfortable in his pants, and he wondered how he could survive the rest of the night with her by his side, on the very close proximity to each other.

He had no doubt that a certain part of his body would be very very disappointed tonight.

If their date was successful, he didn't doubt that they would somehow end up in the bedroom until tomorrow, and he would be happy to explore every inch of her body intimately, just as he dreamt about. Unfortunately, the circumstances were not the best, and they had something more important to do now.

He was debating with himself whether he should tell her the truth about Chikara, when she came out of the bathroom wearing only a t-shirt that fell on her upper thighs. Her hair was damp, and she did not wear any makeup, but Toru never saw any woman more beautiful than her.

She wore her confidence proudly, and it made her very attractive to him. 

And when she sat next to him and snuggled into the blanket and hugged him close, he felt warm and comfortable, and he fell asleep in a matter of seconds with the strangely familiar woman in his embrace – as if they were a long time lovers.