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Rihito still has secrets he keeps from Mei-sama. They are getting fewer and fewer these days, but there are still things he does not dare to tell her, things he still wants to protect her from.
And then there are some things that he holds so closely because they are precious and fragile; he could not bear it if they broke.
*
One of Rihito's secrets is that he still watches over her every night. The chances of anyone attacking her here are almost non-existant, but one has to prepare for every possibility if he is to protect his lady, espeically one as important as Mei-sama. This is the story he will give her or anyone else who comes across him in his nightly vigil, even if it is not really the reason he is here.
Mei-sama shifts in her sleep, flopping over to sprawl out across the large bed, still barely taking up any room in it. Rihito knows she doesn't care for it, knows she has been sneaking cautious glances at him when he's turned away as she prepares for sleep. Rihito knows she wants someone else to help her full up the empty space, that she wants him there for reasons that have nothing to do with his job.
Rihito has also seen her gaze slide away as soon as he moves back to her after turning down her bed covers for the night. She's not ready yet, he knows. Someday she will be, though, and he knows that she will pull him in with her and he will never leave again. But that it is not right now.
So instead he keeps those glances as little secrets.
Instead he slides back into her room as silent as a shadow to watch her sleep and keeps this treasured secret to himself as well. He is the only one to see her like this, one arm flung wide like she's reaching for something, one leg dangled over the edge of teh bed like she's trying to escape. It is completely undignified and improper for a lady of her status and so very like Mei-sama that Rihito knows he is smiling at her.
Mei-sama shifts in her sleep again and murmurs something even he cannot make out, stretching her arms wider still and her night shirt (still a soft yellow thing that she refuses to get rid of no matter how Rihito pleads with her) hitches up. It's only a few centimeters of soft, delicate skin that are showing and it's not as if there's anyone here to see, but Rihito gently smoothes her shirt down anyway.
He has a terrible feeling that he is doting on Mei-sama and she would tease him about it if she were awake. Or maybe a blush would stain her smooth cheeks as she looked away, not sure how to respond to the way his fingers linger over the edges of her shirt, not quite letting go of her.
He doesn't know which response he would hope for; he tries not to think about it too much right now. He's not ready to give up these little secrets just yet.
So he pulls the blankets back around Mei-sama and gives the room one more sweep to make sure everything is in its proper place and ghosts out as quietly as he came in, taking all his secrets with him.