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So far it had been a normal day for Kouga. He had already killed the horror of the day- A horror that went from television to television, dragging people into the television. He had found the horror in mid-meal and quickly got rid of the horror. Then he returned home and after having a nice meal with Kaoru, he retired to his room to do some light reading. He was currently laying down in his large comfy reading chair he had gotten and started relaxing with a thick novel Kaoru had recommended. Usually he didn't pay much attention to the book Kaoru read (especially since they were mostly romance novels)

So here he was reading. Zaruba was tucked away in his box resting and his sword right next to him in case of an emergency.

Kouga rolled his shoulders and kept reading. The story was actually interesting. The plot so far was about a woman losing her memories and going on a journey to find them, while meeting a young artist who couldn't paint a face due to an accident. Kouga didn't really care for the characters, even though the artist reminded him of Kaoru. He was more interested in the journey the woman was going on.

He, for some reason, felt like he could relate to the woman. Somewhere in his line of being a Makai Knight, he felt like he had lost his purpose, his strength in fighting. Sure in the beginning he had fallen in love with Kaoru and she had been his complete world for him but something in him changed. Maybe it was the fact that he had changed. He had defeated Barago and Sigma. He had proven that he earned the title of Garo.

He sighed. Kaoru was a wonderful person, but Kouga had to be delicate with her. His rough personality had hurt her many times and yet she kept coming back. Kouga honestly didn't know what had changed but Kaoru was no longer his world. She wasn't that missing void in his heart. She wasn't part of the Makai world and maybe that was the difference. She couldn't evolve and see the world like he did.

He saw the horrors and fears she didn't. He was able to manage living a life where all he did was fight to protect and all she could do was paint. The Makai world was such a big part of his life and she wasn't there.

Kouga snapped the book shut and put it on the dresser next to him. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He was giving himself such a headache that he didn't even notice the other person in his room.

“Don't think so hard, you'll have steam coming out of your ears.”

Kouga snapped his head to the voice and made a face.

“Rei what are you doing here?”

Rei shrugged his shoulders and picked up the book Kouga was reading. He skimmed the pages and read a line.

“ 'And so Jessica and Robert held hands and looked at the sunset together, they knew that maybe this could last.' “

Rei raised an eyebrow at Kouga.

“You read this kind of stuff? I didn't peg you as a romantic.”

Kouga plucked the book out of his hands and put it back on his dresser.

“Kaoru recommended it to me and since all my other books aren't really for relaxing, I took her book.”

Rei chuckled and sat down on Kouga's bed, spreading himself out. He looked at Kouga, who was eyeing him carefully.

“You have a comfy bed, how do you get out of this bed in the morning? I can barely get out of mine.”

Kouga shrugged and sat down next to Rei.

“I get up and that's it.”

“You don't stay in?”

Kouga shook his head.

“We have our duties.”

Rei rolled his eyes and stared at Kouga's ceiling. Time seemed to crawl by slowly until Kouga spoke.

“Did you want something?”

Rei shook his head.

“Nah I wasn't sleepy and took a walk. My feet brought me here. Silva is in my pocket, taking a little rest.”

Kouga smiled grimly.

“Your feet brought you into my bedroom at midnight?”

Rei smiled brightly,

“That's right. I seem to spend more time here that I do at my place.”

Kouga snorted and got up from the bed. He took the book and put it inside his dresser. Rei watched Kouga and yawned. Kouga's bed really was soft and he didn't feel like moving at all. He watched Kouga taking off his leather shirt, only to reveal a soft black shirt. Kouga looked at Rei.

“If you're going to stay the night you should take a shower and change into some clean clothes.”

Rei sat up.

“But I don't have any clean clothes with me.”

Kouga threw at him a black shirt and pajama bottoms. Rei eyed them curiously and looked back up at Kouga.

“They're clean and not my size anymore.”

Rei made a face.

“Not your size?”

Kouga nodded,

“My shoulders are too broad for the shirt and the bottoms are too hot for me.”

Rei nodded and got up. He was about to ask when the bathroom was when Kouga pushed him into his private bathroom.

“Be quick. I want to go to bed.”

Rei was about to make a retort when he noticed how nice the bathroom was. It was simple, clean and full of silver. Rei would have thought Kouga would have chosen to accent everything with a gold color but instead everything was silver.

Rei stripped down and entered Kouga's shower, which made him feel light headed. He set Silva down softly on his clothes. He shook his head and started the shower. He noticed that Kouga used a simple vanilla shampoo and conditioner. He smirked, at home he changed shampoos as much as he ate sweets. Right now he had peach shampoo.

He quickly lathered and rinsed his hair and rinsed his body of the day's sweat. He grabbed the towel (which was a simple grey) and dried off. He got dressed and went back inside Kouga's room. He sat down on the bed and waited for Kouga to shower so he could ask where he was going to sleep. He put Silva on his neck, smiling at her.

He looked around the room and smiled. It felt lived in. Kouga's duties didn't stop him from having a life. He smiled at all the pictures before sighing sadly. He missed his family everyday. He was glad Barago was dead, because if he wasn't, Rei wouldn't have gotten closure. He felt like he could move on with his life.

Moving away from the pictures, he examined the dozens of magical books Kouga had on his bookshelf. There were so many that he couldn't even read the titles for. He switched his vision to the sword next to Kouga's chair. Garo's sword. It looked so innocent, but he knew it was powerful.

Rei heard the door being opened and he turned only to see a half naked Kouga, only wearing a towel very low on his hips. Rei swallowed dryly and eyed Kouga's toned muscles before moving his eyes away as Kouga got dressed. When Kouga was finished, Rei moved his eyes back.

“So where am I sleeping?”

Kouga pointed to a door next to the bookcase and opened it. It was an adjoining bedroom. Kouga pushed Rei inside and waited for to look around. Rei scanned the room. It was really nice, the bed looked inviting and the colors decorating the room were subtly done. There was a dresser and a weapon stand for his twin swords. Rei raised an eyebrow at the weapon stand. It was like Kouga had planned for him to stay the night. He turned to Kouga, who was leaning against the door frame and chuckled.

“It's a nice room. Where you anticipating that I would eventually spend the night here?”

Kouga shrugged his shoulders. Rei shook his head and sat down on the bed. Man, it was so soft that he almost dozed off in front of Kouga. He smiled at Kouga.

“I may end up sleeping here more often. This bed is so fucking soft~!”

Kouga nodded as he knew Rei would say that and coughed.

“Do you need anything else or can I go sleep?”

Rei snorted,

“I think I'll be fine as long as they don't call us in work duty very early in the morning.”

Kouga hummed and turned off the lights of the room. He left the room and Rei snuggled into the covers, almost in the realm of dreamland.

“Good night Kouga”

Kouga climbed into his bed and shook off the feelings of anticipation he had. He laid down and tried to clam his beating heart. Where did this come from? He hadn't had this tension in his body since he stopped liking Kaoru. Could he be reacting to the fact Rei was just sleeping a small distance away? He shook his head, he couldn't be. He wasn't gay, well to be more specific, he didn't care for gender much. But Rei was so different from Kaoru.

Rei spoke his mind more often than Kouga liked and he got it in way a bit too often. But other than that, he didn't have any negative points did he? Rei was a strong fighter, a good friend and Kouga could relate to him better than he could with Kaoru.

Kouga thought back to all the fights they had and shivered. The strength Rei showed was definitely appealing to Kouga and so was the determination he had. Fighting side by side was an even more pile of emotions. Having his back and he Kouga's, the trust went very deep, even back then. Kouga gripped his chest, remembering the seal of destruction he and Rei had. At the time he had pushed his feelings of panic to the side, but now as he was laying in bed, the feeling became more distinct. It was the fact Rei had gotten the seal that made him panic and the time going away from him.

Kouga's realization hit kinda hard. Maybe he did like Rei. He certainly went to a lot of effort for 'just a friend'. Kouga sighed, this was a lot of emotions for right now and decided to think this through in the morning. He rolled over and whispered.

“Good night Rei”