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Chapter Text

"I'm close...aaaaah..."

"Miko, I... I'm going to..."

Green eyed man woke up abruptly at the exact same moment as his dream self was about to reach his finish. He sat on the bed and moved his hand down his face. "It's already third time this week..." he groaned.

It's been few months since he first met the pink-haired beauty from Inazuma during the Beast Tamer Tournament. She impressed him from the beginning; she wasn't typical nerd from Akademiya who kept her nose in the books. She was smart yet powerful. He had seen her joking around with the Traveller, as well as confidently dealing with some dangerous obstacles on her way. At first he was observing her from a distance-as her beauty caught even his eye-but it wasn't long before she approached him on her own.

"May I?" those innocent words spoken in the Sumeru City's tavern were the beginning of everything. If only back then he didn't look up at her to see her expectant gaze. If only he said no or straight up ignored her. If only...

He sighed as he lightly shook his head to get rid of last traces of his dream still lingering in his mind. It wasn't the best time to think about the sounds she was making in his dreams, he had to get ready to face another day in Sumeru Akademiya.

***

Third dream turned out to be the worst. No matter how hard he tried to forget about it, the vivid moments from his dreams kept on coming back to him at least expected moments. He kept on seeing them in his head whenever he allowed his mind to relax instead of working hard. Being left alone-no matter how much he loved it-made him focus on his dream even more, up to the point that he decided to go to the library despite knowing how many students will be there at this hour. He managed to find quiet spot where he sat down with the intention to read in peace.

"You seriously had that sex dream with her again?" the words he suddenly heard made him drop the book he was holding; he was lucky enough to catch it before it fell to the ground and brought unwanted attention.

"Why are you laughing?? It's not my fault!" the second voice answered. "Trust me, I want to get to the bottom of this too!"

"You meant you want to get that bottom, huh?" the silence after those words made AlHaitham wonder what kind of expression the other person could have, if it managed to shut down his companion.

"That was low even for you."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." the first voice said. "How many times was it until now? Like ten? Or more?"

"I don't know." Second voice answered. "But it keeps on coming back almost every night."

AlHaitham couldn't help getting a bit closer to the source of those voices. Their conversation sounded way too similar to what he was experiencing. Maybe if he'll hear enough, he will be able to tell why the hell he's getting those dreams lately.

"Hmmm... you're either desperate to sleep with someone or deeply in love with her. Or both." the answer from first guy almost made the Acting Grand Sage drop his book again. Desperate? Deeply in love?? What kind of deduction was that??

"... definitely not desperate!" he woke up from his thoughts just in time to hear second guy's answer. "As for the second part... I already told you that I really have feelings for her...."

"Then just man up and tell her that!" first guy obviously lost the patience towards his friend. "Would you rather have her in a dream or real life? Just think about it."

"Of course in real life! But... it's not that easy..." that was enough for the eavesdropping. After everything he just heard, AlHaitham finally decided to get out of the library. He quietly walked behind the bookshelves hoping that his favourite spot behind the Lambad's Tavern in Sumeru City won't have any surprises awaiting for him.

***

Oh how wrong he was.
It wasn't long after he took a sit behind the tavern and opened his book when he heard the voice that made him jump on the spot.

"Hiding from work and responsibilities, mister Acting Grand Sage?" The playful tone of her voice was enough to bring back the memory of her moaning his name in his dream. He shook his head to get rid of that vision before he finally turned to look at her.

"I could ask you the same question, lady Guuji. Isn't Grand Narukami Shrine busy around this time of the year? And yet you're here in Sumeru instead of welcoming visitors in Inazuma."

She looked just as beautiful as he remembered. Her long pink hair were tied up in high ponytail. She was wearing light, pink shirt that was covering her arms from the intense Sumeru's sun, but at the same time her legs were perfectly exposed in her white shorts. Trying not to stare at her turned out to be very hard battle, he had to use all of his willpower to turn back to look at his book again. Did he already mention that she looked beautiful?

He could hear the sound of her amused chuckle behind him. "Of course it is busy time, however I'm not the only shrine maiden working in Grand Narukami Shrine." she took a sit next to him. "I have helpers there, you know?"

"That doesn't explain why you kept on visiting Sumeru lately. Are you avoiding work and use travels as an argument?"

"Hmm... what if..." she leaned closer to him. "... I have a good reason to keep on coming back?" He made a mistake of looking at her. She was too close, he could see tiny freckles on her pale nose. He could bet that Sumeru's sun was reaponsible for their existance. He glanced down at her lips and gulped hard before returning his sight to his book.

"And what kind of reason could that be?" The indifferent tone of his voice made her chuckle again as she slightly moved away from him. He didn't know why, but suddenly he didn't like the distance between them. He prefered having her closer to him. Wait, what was he thinking about?

She stood up to get closer to the fence surrounding the tavern. "Sometimes the distance makes us miss the things we left behind and our hearts yearn to see them again... Wouldn't you agree?" She looked back at him over her shoulder.

It was at this moment that he realized; he knew what she was talking about. As much as it was hard to accept the fact that he didn't notice his own feelings, he had to admit: he missed her. All those moments when she was away in Inazuma, when he couldn't see her, even those freaking dreams with her... how could he be that stupid to not even notice until now?

"Miko..." he started but at the same moment someone interrupted him.

"Acting Grand Sage, we need your assistance!" It took all of his strength to not groan in irritation as he slowly turned to see the person behind him. For the very first time he wanted to hit someone for something just as small as interrupting him. "Few of the students started a fight, we need help with..."

"I'll be there in a minute." He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "You can leave now." Without sparing even a glance at his companion he turned back to the one he wanted to see the most but was instantly met with disappointment as she was nowhere to be seen.

A long sigh escaped him and after a short moment he said "Take me to those students. Let's get it done..."

***

It was already late at night when Miko was done with her bath. The nights in Sumeru were so hot that her black silky night dress felt like a cold gift from the archons themselves. Well, maybe not from Ei, that girl definitely didn't get the point of wearing sexy pyjama. Miko couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of what kind of face her friend would make if she mentioned that. She tied up her still wet hair in a bun to keep her neck uncovered; she still couldn't get used to the temperature here.

Taking the silky robe with her, she put it on as she decided to go outside her hotel room and stay in the fresh night air. She streched out her arms, letting her thougths wander freely. What was he doing? Was he thinking about her?

She sighed as she realized that she was thinking about him again. She didn't know when exactly she became so emotionally attached to him; all she knows was that she already spent countless of nights thinking about him instead of sleeping. If her face will look tired after this, she'll definitely know who to blame.

Taking a step back and turning around with the intention of going back to her hotel room, she almost bumped into someone she didn't expect to see there at that time.

Standing in front of her was the reason behind her sleepless nights. Judging by his widened eyes, it definitely wasn't planned meeting. He was just as surprised to see her, as she was to see him. Seeing his eyes moving down her body she suddenly remembered how little she was wearing and how short her night dress was. She made sure to cover herself with the silky robe, as she slightly looked down to avoid staring into his eyes.

"I didn't expect to see you here at this hour." She said in a quiet voice, still avoiding looking at him even though she couldn't help but wonder what kind of expression he currently had.

"I could say the exact same thing." He said in equally quiet tone. She didn't know what to say, as she felt her heart racing. Calm down Miko, you're not a teenager to lose your mind in front of your crush. Wait, what?

Her eyes widened slightly and just as she was about to look up, she noticed dark spot on his chest. Taking a step towards him she saw the hole in the material covering his upper body that definitely looked like it was made with a knife.

"What's this?" She pointed at his chest as she looked up at him.

"That's... nothing."

She sighed. "Did you suggest to escalate verbal exchange to a physical one... again?"

He looked to the side trying to avoid looking into her eyes. She crossed her arms on her chest and said "Follow me." then moved towards the door to her rented room. She didn't have to look back to know that he was following her; strangely enough, she knew he would do that.

Reaching out for the doorknob she entered her room and moved to the bathroom to get the first-aid kit. "Sit on the bed and take your shirt off." Her own words made her froze on the spot. Take off your shirt? What the hell is she talking about?? Is she seriously ready to see him without it??

His eyes widened at first, but after few seconds he did as she asked and took a seat on her bed while taking off his shirt. Miko brought the first-aid kit with her and sat on the bed next to him.

Archons... despite the blood coming out of the wound on his chest, he still looked better than she could ever imagine. Miko didn't exactly want to stare, but... it was quite hard not to. AlHaitham was definitely far from the 'feeble scholar' that he tends to call himself. His upper body was perfectly toned and Miko couldn't help but want to touch those muscles badly. No, no, she couldn't! She shook her head lightly. He's bleeding, she needs to take care of that first!

Carefully trying to avoid any contact of her fingers with his skin, she began to use antiseptic to clean his wound. She knew he was watching her; she could feel his eyes focused entirely on her. She tried to be as fast as possible, even despite the slight tremble of her hands. Deep breath Miko, deep breath... she managed to relax a bit as she reached for a bandaid. Then she delicately placed it on his wound, pressing on it lightly to make sure that it will stay in place.

Her job was done, but she didn't feel like retracting her hand. Instead, she decided to move a bit further.

"What if I told you..." she placed her hand on his chest. "...That I..." she slowly slid her hand down. "... have feelings for you...?" She looked up at his lips, then into his eyes.

His eyes widened in pure shock. "What...?" was all he was able to say while staring at her. She couldn't help feeling disappointed with his reaction. So he didn't feel the same about her, huh? She retracted her hand fast and stood up from the bed.

"I was just teasing you." She chuckled as she turned her back to him. "Haha, you should see your face... now..." as much as she tried to keep on speaking in cheerful voice, she couldn't help but roll her hands into fists on her sides. She made an idiot out of herself. What was she even thinking?

"What if I told you..." she almost jumped when she felt the warmth of his hands on her waist. "... that I also have feelings for you?" He almost perfectly quoted her, making her heart skip few beats from the shock she just felt.

"What did you just say??" was all she managed to say when she turned around and immediately felt his lips on hers. Her mind went entirely blank for a second, before she regained control over herself. She broke the kiss only to see the disappointed look in his eyes, which soon changed to pure lust as she pushed him down to sit on the bed again. She sat on his lap and without asking for permission proceeded to kiss him passionately.

His hands grabbed her thighs for a second, only to soon travel up her waist. She could feel him removing her silky robe, but she didn't really care about it. If anything she was growing more and more impatient.

His lips left hers as he begun to move lower, leaving traces of kisses on her neck. Just as his lips reached her clavicle she pushed him away again. This time she didn't give him a chance to express his disappointment as she swiftly removed her night dress and allowed him to explore her chest area again.

Her hands burried in his hair, as his lips continue to leave kisses on her skin that set her entire self on fire. She could feel his excitement, and just as she decided to move further and reach her hands to his belt, it was his time to stop her.

He grabbed her hand and after bringing it to his lips he left a soft kiss on her knuckles. The light, flirty gesture made her so distracted that she barely noticed him switching their position. She registered what was going on only when her back lightly hit the bed and he retracted to work on his belt with his shaking hands.

"Feeling nervous, mister Acting Grand Sage?" she giggled as she watched him struggle with the zipper of his pants.

"Are you having fun right now, lady Guuji?" he lightly snapped back while continuing his fight.

"You have no idea how much." she wholeheartedly laughed. "But I would rather have some fun with this." She pointed at his pants. This time it was his time to laugh.

It wasn't one of his short smirks that she got used to hearing; it was a genuine laughter that she never heard before. One that definitely made her fall in love with him even more.

"As you wish..." he said getting closer to her. His next move made her gasp, as she desperately pulled him closer. Her left hand burried in his hair, while her right hand clutched under his shoulder; she couldn't help but lightly dig up her nails in his shoulderblade. "Al...Haitham..."

"Miko..." he whispered into her ear as he continued to move and left more kisses on her cheek, ear and moved down her neck again. He was... surprisingly gentle. As if she was the most precious treasure he ever held in his arms. His gentle touch, his light kisses... they were so delicate, almost as if she was made of glass and yet they had the power to set her on fire.

Her back arched in an answer to the overwhelming pleasure she felt at that moment and her breaths continued to quicken. She pulled on his arms bringing him even closer to her, earning another dose of light but at the same time passionate kisses.

All that mattered was there and then. Soon enough she gave in to the feeling of pleasure, as she felt his movements coming to a complete stop. He moved up to leave a tender kiss on her forhead and whispered "I love you."

She looked him in the eyes and the amount of tenderness and love she saw in them made her quietly respond "I... love you too..."

***

"Focus Miko!" tall lady with short white hair said impatiently. "You need to remember those lines to become good Guuji."

"But I don't want to be a Guuji!" small pink-haired girl pouted. "It's booooring!"

"Being the Guuji of Grand Narukami Shrine is an honor, Miko. And I want you to take that role one day." the woman kneeled down to the girl's level. "You're a kitsune from the Hakushin lineage. You were born to take greater role on this world."

"But what if I don't want to?" little girl crossed her arms as she continued to pout.

"As a kitsune your life will be longer than the one of a human. However bonding your life with Grand Narukami Shrine and Sacred Sakura Tree will give you a lifespan similar to eternity. Wouldn't it be nice to live forever?"

"I guess... I could read all the books on the world then..."

"That's the spirit!" white-haired woman chuckled. "But, well, there is one condition..."

"What condition?" little girl's eyes widen in curiosity. "Can you tell me? Pretty pleaseeee, Saiguu-sama!"

"In order to remain a Guuji linked with Sacred Sakura Tree and maintain the eternal life you have to live in a purity. Otherwise your lifespan will remain same as the one of a human."

"A purity? So if I skip a shower I would be too dirty to live forever?" the child's question made lady Saiguu laugh wholeheartedly.

She pat her pink hair and said "I wasn't talking about that kind of purity, but... I guess you'll understand when you'll grow older "

Adult Miko slowly opened her eyes, mentally remaining in her dream. A scene from 500 years ago still played in her head as her eyes got used to the darkness and she noticed sleeping figure in front of her. His arm was holding her close to him, as he continued to let out calm breaths. She moved her hand to move his hair from his eyes and lightly tucked it behind his ear. Well Saiguu-she thought as she lovingly stroke his cheek with the back of her hand-looks like I willingly lost the purity you were talking about...

***

AlHaitham woke up in the morning not understanding what was going on. Was it just another dream with her? He opened his eyes to see completely unknown room, which made him abruptly sit up and look at the other side of the bed. It definitely wasn't a dream, but she... wasn't there.

He looked around and noticed his clothes still remaining on the floor. The black silky night dress disappeared, just like its owner. He sighed and hid his face in his hand. So it was just a one night stand after all? Did she hear about his reputation as "Akademiya's weirdo"? Or maybe, as much as he didn't want to accept THAT option, maybe he was just a bad lover?

He groaned and laid back on the bed. So the things she said last night, the confession... it was all nothing but a lie. Was he really that stupid to follow his heart and ignore any of the negative possibilities?

Before he could drown in the sea of depressing thoughts, he heard the sound of the doorknob moving. The moment he saw the person coming into the room he sat on the bed again and looked at her in pure shock.

"You look like you just saw a ghost " she chuckled as she moved to the small table and placed a tray with food there. She moved to sit on the bed next to him. "What happened?"

"I... thought that you left." He admitted openly, while looking into her purple eyes.

"This is my hotel room, remember?" she laughed lightly. "How could I leave if all of my stuff are still here?"

"You can laugh all you want, I don't care." he looked to the side, slightly embarassed.

"Oooh? Mister Acting Grand Sage was scared that I left him here alone?" she laughed again, then moved to sit on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lightly. "You won't get rid of me that easily, you know?"

"I was hoping to hear that." he kissed her back as he grabbed her waist. "And by the way... I'm not an Acting Grand Sage anymore. I resigned and asked for the possibility to go back to being a scribe."

"And I'm not Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine anymore." she smiled at him. "I'm just a chief-editor in Yae Publishing House now. But you know what?" she leaned in closer and whispered into his ear "A Guuji cannot get physical with anyone..."

"Miko?" his tone made her look at him again. "I don't want this to be a one night stand."

"Oooh? Is that your way to ask me to be your girlfriend?"

"Hmmm..." he pulled her closer and left a gentle kiss on her nose. "What if I said yes?"

"You need to try a bit harder to convince me..." she sent him a flirty wink.

"In this case..." he pushed her down on the bed. "I think I might have an idea how to convince you."

"I can't wait to see you trying." she said as she pulled him in for a kiss.

Chapter Text

"AHHHHHH...."

Trying hard to keep her voice lower Miko felt the overwhelming pleasure taking over her once again. She could feel him finishing literally seconds after her, as she desperately tried to calm her breaths. With her mind getting clearer now that he stopped moving, she suddenly thought about something that made her freeze on the spot.

"Wait..." she lightly pushed at his arms, forcing him to retract and look at her. "Did you just... finish inside?"

At first he seemed to not get what she meant, but soon enough a visible shock took over his expression.

Two times. They already had sex two times and none of them thought about using any protection. As much as their first time was purely spontaneous and they had no chance to be prepared, second time definitely wasn't. Not that it would help after first... incident, but still.

"What are you waiting for?? Pull out!" she pushed him away and when he finally did what she asked for, she moved fast to get out of the bed. Without a word she took her clothes from the floor.

"Miko..." he started but she stopped him immediately "Not now!" she said before escaping to the bathroom and closing the door behind her. She wasn't sure why exactly she run away from him; she just wanted a moment alone to collect her thoughts.

Theoretically she should be safe; after all it wasn't her time of the month to expect something like that to happen. But just because she spent last six months on travelling back and forth between Inazuma and Sumeru, her cycle wasn't exactly 100% accurate to calculated dates.

The thought about becoming a mother never even crossed her mind. For the past 500 years she protected her own purity just for the sake of achieving almost immortal life. Her archon and best friend needed her by her side. But then that man happened. And suddenly she was ready to give up on her long life just for him.

She knew she fell for him hard, she couldn't deny it. She didn't even want to, she was happy that it was him who managed to get her heart. But starting a family literally a moment after they officially became a couple? Their first time-HER first time-couldn't end up like that. She let out a defeated sigh and started to get dressed. She knew she should go back to the room and talk to him after she run away like that. She wasn't really mad at him; if anything she was terrified of what might have happened.

She opened the door slowly only to see him leaning against the wall close to the bathroom. He was fully dressed and had his arms crossed, while his expression remained on the serious side.

"Can we talk now?" He asked.

"About what?"

"About what we did and the possible consequences of that."

"That 'what we did' part sounds unnecessarily serious to describe having sex, unless you didn't find it pleasant then we really do have to talk."

"What the...? Are you serious right now? Of course it was amazing, how can you even suggest that it wasn't?" He looked at her in disbelief. "There are other things we have to discuss like the fact that no matter how good it was, we still had unprotected sex."

"I know..." she hid her face in her hands for a moment, but soon enough took a deep breath and looked at him. "There's nothing we can do right now aside from making sure that we didn't cross the line. There are methods to assure that, in case if you didn't know."

"Miko..." he relaxed his arms then came closer to her. "No matter what is going to happen, I will be here for you. I'm ready to take full responsibility for...

"Whoah, stop it right there." She put her hand on his chest to stop him from getting closer to her. "Didn't you hear me saying that there are methods to assure that nothing unplanned will happen?"

"What exactly are you planning to do? Getting rid of our possible kid?"

"What the hell, AlHaitham? There is no kid!"

"Not yet. But what if..."

"I'm not even going to let that happen!" She interrupted him. "There are medicines to take up to 72h after, so don't you dare to even think about that possibility!"

"But what if..."

"There is no 'what if', I won't let anything like that to happen!"

"Can you let me finish?"

"Oh you already did. Inside of me."

"Miko!" AlHaitham finally lost his control. "I'm trying to tell you that no matter what's going to happen, I'll be here for you and our kid!"

"And I'm trying to tell you that I don't want to be a mother!" Miko raised her voice. "Our relationship started literally 1h ago! I don't even want to consider starting family with you now, it's way too early to even think about that!" she took her hand away from his chest and crossed her arms. "Besides it's my body and my decision to make."

"Yes it is, but right now there is my DNA inside of it and I think I have the right to say that..."

"Enough!" she interrupted him again. "Your DNA? Your DNA is currently at most TRYING to get closer to mine, don't make it sound like I was already pregnant!"

"I'm only trying to tell you that I'm a mature man who's ready to take full responsibility for any possible consequences!" He raised his voice for the very first time since they met. "Is it that hard for your selfish nature to accept that someone might want to be by your side during such hard time?"

She didn't answer to that. Instead, she walked towards the door and opened them. "Leave." she said without even looking at him.

"Fine. If that's what you want." he approached her and tried to leave a goodbye kiss on her cheek, but she moved away from him. He drew back and sent her the coldest look possible before going out and slamming the door behind him.

...

After AlHaitham left Miko took a long and relaxing bath, then fixed her make up and left her hotel room to get to the Sumeru City as fast as possible. After asking some locals for directions she finally reached the Bimarstan hospital and managed to find the main doctor in front of the building.

"Are you sure about that, miss?" doctor Zakariya asked when she told him about her situation.

"Yes I am. This isn't the best time to let the fate decide about something like that." she answered. "Are you able to help me?"

The doctor sighed before saying "... wait here for a moment." He disappered inside the building for few minutes before coming out with a small package in his hand. "Here. This is the medicine that you asked for."

She took the package from his hand. "How should I take it? Does it require any specific actions?"

"You said that the intercourse happened last night, right?" He asked and when she nodded slightly, he continued: "make sure to take it today before 24h will pass. Remember to drink an entire cup of water right after. Also... if you don't mind me asking..."

"Go ahead."

"You're not a human, is that right?"

"Why does it matter?" She tensed a bit after hearing the question. "And no... I'm not."

"Unfortunately non-human beings experience more intense side effects after taking the medicine. Make sure to go home first, get ready for bed and then take it. For the first 24h you will experience intense headache, nausea, sometimes even vomiting, huge discomfort in stomach area, possible insomnia, back pain, breast pain... and that state will last for couple of days. That's why I asked if you're really sure that..."

"I'd rather go through few days of hell than bring unwanted child to this world and change both mine and its life forever." she interrupted the doctor.

"W-well, I guess you're right. Will your partner be able to take care of you during this time?"

She avoided looking at the doctor. "He... had to leave the city for few days..."

"Oh... I hope you'll manage to go through that then. Good luck."

"Thank you. How long do I have to wait before you'll be able to check if the medicine worked or not?"

"3 months."

"3 months??" She has to wait 3 freaking months to find out? 3 months of living in this amount of stress??

"Unfortunately that's the earliest I can do an examination to confirm whether a woman is pregnant or not."

"Oh... understood. Anyway... thank you for your help." She left the Bimarstan fast only to bump into someone she didn't expect to see there. "General Mahamatra, what are you doing here?"

"Lady Yae!" Cyno's eyes widen a bit when he saw her. "Good afternoon, I was just patrolling the street here. What brings you back to Sumeru again? I've seen you here couple of times already after the Beast Tamer Tournament."

"I... uh... I had something to take care of here." She sent him one of her confident smiles.

"In Akademiya's hospital...?" He asked while glancing at the small package in her hand, then at the building behind them.

"It's just... some vitamins." She let out a short laugh. "Sumeru has the best resources when it comes to making different medicines, but... did you just say 'Akademiya's hospital'...?"

"Yes. This hospital belongs to Sumeru Akademiya. Doctor Zakariya graduated from Akademiya few years ago, but some of the interns here are still students."

"Are they... reporting to Akademiya...?" Miko tried to keep a neutral tone of voice.

"Usually Zakariya brings short daily report to the Grand Sage." Cyno was too busy watching mentioned doctor to notice how fast Miko became pale on her face. "However our current Acting Grand Sage resigned from this position, so I guess there won't be any report today. Are you ok?" He asked when he finally looked at her and noticed her almost white looking face.

"Y-yes, haha." she laughed to cover how relieved she suddenly felt. "Thank you for sparing me a moment, but I won't take any more of your precious time. Until the next time, General."

"Yes, see you next time lady Yae."

***

This definitely wasn't the best time for AlHaitham. He and Miko split up yesterday and ever since then he could barely focus on anything else. Once he left her hotel room, he went back home only to take a shower and put on clean set of clothes before he had to go to work.

His day in Akademiya was pure hell, as most of newly appointed sages couldn't accept the fact that he didn't want to remain Acting Grand Sage until they'll find someone to take that position from him. His decision brought chaos to the Akademiya and even forced him to have a conversation about it with Dendro archon herself. Luckily for him, as the goddess of wisdom Lesser Lord Kusanali seemed to understand his choice and accepted it.

After his day at work was over, he went back home and took off his anger on his roommate Kaveh-who's only fault was just asking what's wrong-then closed himself in his bedroom where he couldn't fall asleep because he kept on thinking about her.

When he finally managed to fall asleep it was already early morning and he had to wake up again. Feeling highly irritated after only 2h of sleep, he dragged himself back to Akademiya.

His patience was tested once again when he was asked to assist the sages, despite giving up on the position of Acting Grand Sage. If it wasn't for the fact, that Lesser Lord Kusanali decided to join their meeting, he would probably start a fight. However seeing the young goddess made him think about the possibility of becoming a father soon and somehow that effectively stopped him from acting on an impulse.

After surviving the meeting he felt the need to disappear from the eyes of everyone; he needed some time for himself to collect his thoughts. Of course the fate didn't want to agree with him and on his way out of the Akademiya he bumped into General Mahamatra.

"Running away from work that early?" Cyno crossed his arms while looking at taller man.

"None of your business." AlHaitham said, trying to move away but Cyno stopped him.

"I don't give a damn about your business, but after what we went through while rescuing our god together, I thought that you'd stop acting like a dick."

"What did you just call me?" he slowly turned back to look at shorter man.

"A dick, since you keep on acting like one for no reason." Cyno looked at him in a definitely too provocative way for his liking.

That was it for AlHaitham. He swiftly summoned his sword and rushed towards his companion who managed to summon his polearm in time to block his attack. However that didn't stop the Scribe from trying to attack the Mahamatra again.

He raised his sword with definitely murderous intent, but his blade was met with another one, way much bigger than his. The owner of the claymore parried the hit and stood up between him and Cyno.

"What the hell do you think you're doing??" Dehya raised her hands to keep both of them on a distance. "You testosterone fueled idiots."

"I was acting in self-defence." Cyno said while still holding his polearm in a position suggesting being ready to attack any time.

"Drop your weapons or I'm going to hit both of you hard." She looked between the taller man and his shorter opponent. Both of them glared at each other for a while before they finally hid their weapons. "Good. Now, can I get any explanation of what the hell is happening here?" She crossed her arms waiting for the answer.

"He attacked me when I only asked if he's leaving work that early." Cyno said while crossing his arms.

"He called me a dick." AlHaitham admitted repeating shorter man's gesture.

Dehya sighed as she looked at them. "And you call yourself grown up men? Look at yourself! Sulking because you had a tiny misunderstanding. Stop acting like freaking kids!"

"I will if he'll stop provoking me." AlHaitham turned his back to Cyno.

"What the hell is your problem?" Cyno moved from his spot but Dehya stopped him.

"Ok, now I get it why he called you a dick." She said to taller man and when she saw him opening his mouth, she quickly said: "you better explain yourself or just shut the fuck up!"

"I... had a bad day." AlHaitham looked to the side. Dehya and Cyno exchanged glances.

"And that's the only one reason?" She asked and when she saw that he didn't bother to answer, she decided to press him further. "Is it because... of a woman...?"

AlHaitham's eyes widened when he looked back at her. "How did you...?"

Dehya didn't answer right away. Instead she raised her hand towards Cyno, who swore quietly before placing small bag on her hand. She opened it to count the amount of Mora inside, then closed it before hiding the bag in her pocket.

"What the hell was that?" AlHaitham looked at both of them.

"Oh we had a small bet. I said that it's definitely because of a woman, while Cyno insisted that you're not capable of feeling that way." Dehya shrugged her arms.

"What the...? How did you even know that something was wrong?"

"Kaveh." Cyno said. "We met him in a tavern last evening."

"Of course." was all that AlHaitham said suddenly remembering his verbal fight with his roommate.

"So? What happened with that woman that put you in such a state?" Dehya could barely hide her interest.

AlHaitham thought about it for a second. He didn't want to admit it to anyone, but at the same time... they were his friends. They went through hell together when they were trying to rescue their god. They stood up next to each other to fight previous corrupted sages and they managed to free Sumeru and its archon. He definitely could trust both of them.

"We got into a fight... yesterday in the morning." He finally said while leaning against the wall.

"That explains your pleasant mood since yester..." Cyno stopped himself when he noticed Dehya's murderous stare.

"Why did you fight?" she asked in a calm voice, as if she was talking to crying kid.

"We were fighting over the possible... outcome of our..." he made sure to avoid looking at them. "... spontaneous intimate moment."

None of them answered for a while. When he finally found the courage to look at them he saw Dehya looking at Cyno.

"You should pay me double for that one."

"Unplanned pregnancy wasn't part of the bet!" He snapped back at her.

"I'm glad I gave you a topic for conversation but I'm still here." AlHaitham stopped their banter.

"Wait a minute, because I can't understand one thing..." Dehya moved closer to him. "That poor girl is currently left alone with her thoughts, after you possibly got her pregnant... and you're here sulking at the entire world instead of being with her?"

"I have work and responsibilities to take care of." He said. "And she was the one who told me to leave."

"..." Dehya didn't say anything; she just slapped him hard.

AlHaitham couldn't believe in what just happened. He touched his cheek while looking at her in pure shock.

"As a friend I'm going to say: get your shit together!" she rolled her hands into fists. "But as a woman who knows that my fellow woman is suffering alone..." she grabbed him by his shirt. "... you better move your so called intelligent ass and go to her! Man up for fuck's sake!"

"Who is she? Do we know her?" Cyno asked mostly to stop Dehya from attacking him again even though he enjoyed every second of the show.

"She's... not from Sumeru." AlHaitham said in a quiet voice. "She's from Inazuma..."

"How did you even meet her?" Dehya's curiosity made her release his shirt.

"She took part in Beast Tamer Tournament and kept on frequently visiting Sumeru for the past six months..."

"Wait a minute." Cyno suddenly remembered something. "The only one person from Inazuma's team who participated in the Tournament and kept on coming back here after that is lady Guuji from the Grand Narukami Shrine. Don't tell me..."

"You know Miko?" The taller man looked at his shorter companion. "Besides she's not a Guuji anymore, she resigned."

"You got Yae Miko pregnant??"

"We don't know that yet! And she insisted that she won't let that happen!"

"And I bet she already did. I met her in front of Bimarstan yesterday. She kept a small package in her hand that she got from Zakariya." Cyno crossed his arms. "If she did what I think she did... you better take few days off and be with her now."

"Listen." Dehya brought his attention back to her. " Women are complicated. But I can reassure you that she didn't really want you to leave her alone; she knew she was about to suffer and she didn't want you to see her in that state."

"What should I do?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Do as Cyno said. Take few days off and spend them with her. We'll make sure to cover for you here."

"I... thank you. Really."

"No need to thank us. Just go and don't you even dare to come back here before everything will get better." Cyno stood by Dehya's side. "We'll be waiting for positive news from you."

Chapter Text

After splitting up with Dehya and Cyno, AlHaitham went back to his home to pack some of his things. He didn't bother with letting anyone in Akademiya know about his departure-he was sure that Mahamatra will pass his message.

He definitely planned to stay for some time with Miko, whether she liked that idea or not. This time he wasn't about to back off. He grabbed some clean clothes and other necessities before putting everything in an old backpack.

Getting ready to leave he opened the door and saw Dehya standing in front of him.

"Dehya...?"

"Now's not the time. Here." She handed him a bag. Looking inside he saw some fruits and vegetables. "I bet she didn't even bother to eat in her state. Take it and hurry!"

"Thank you." Was all he said before the mercenary disappeared.

Travelling to Port Ormos took him less time than expected and he reached the hotel before the evening. Standing in front of Miko's apartment, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Few minutes passed before he finally heard a faint sound. Soon after the door opened and he saw the one he wanted to see the most.

Miko definitely didn't look like her usual confident and energetic self. She looked weak and fragile, as if she could faint any time. Loose shorts and definitely too big for her shirt made her look even more sick. He wanted to take her into his arms badly but at the same time he was scared that he might hurt her.

"Disappointed with the view?" She asked in a barely audible voice.

"Feeling bad doesn't make you less beautiful in my eyes." He answered quietly.

She didn't answer to that. Instead, after few seconds she cupped her hand over her mouth and run fast towards the bathroom.

He swiftly closed the door behind him and rushed after her. The moment he got to the bathroom he saw her sitting on the floor next to the toilet.

"Don't... look at me..." she made an attempt to get up but failed and instead leaned against the bathtub behind her.

"I didn't ask you to be with me to share only the good moments together." He said when he moved closer to her. "I want to be here for you when things are bad too."

"W-what are you doing...?" She asked seeing him wrap his arms around her.

He made sure that she's safe in his arms before he got up from the floor and said: "I'm carrying you."

He carried her straight to the bed and lower her down on it, making sure that he didn't cause her any pain in the process. She curled her knees closer to her chest and before he covered her with the blanket, he noticed her hands grabbing the lower part of her stomach, followed by painful grimace on her face.

He leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "I've heard about your visit in Bimarstan." he said to her while using his fingers to brush her hair away from her face. "Out of all of the side effects... which ones are you experiencing?"

She was quiet for a while. He thought that maybe she fell asleep, but then she said in a quiet voice: "well... I don't have a headache..."

Archons. She was suffering with all of the possible side effects and yet still managed to answer in a joking way. "Miko... I'm sorry for leaving you like that."

"It's not... your fault..." her face showed the signs of pain again. "Damned cramps..."

"Can I help you somehow?"

"No..." she lightly shook her head. "But... can you lay down... a bit?" she looked up at him. Her painful expression made it hard for him to swallow. He did what she asked for and wrapped his arm around her.

"Did you eat anything?"

"Do I look like I did...?" She whispered in an answer. "Ever since... last night... I keep on staying in bed or running to the toilet to throw up... there is no between..."

"Did you at least drink?" He asked when he noticed half-empty bottle of water on her nightstand.

"I did... when I had the strength to actually reach for it..." her voice getting weaker, he noticed her starting to tremble again.

"Are you cold?" He saw her lightly shake her head in an answer.

"Oh shit..." she suddenly said as she sat up and got up from the bed fast. She ran to the bathroom without looking back at him. He waited for few minutes before he decided to check on her again. Just like before, she was sitting on the floor, too weak to even try to get up. This time she didn't protest when he picked her up in his arms; she nuzzled into him instead.

"You don't have to pick me up every time I go there... I survived last night on my own..." her voice grew even weaker than before. He put her down on the bed again.

"I know... but I want to help you." He took his place next to her and lightly pulled her closer to him. After a few minutes passed without any answer from her, he moved a bit further and noticed that she finally lost the battle with her exhaustion and had fallen asleep. "Sweet dreams Miko." was all he said before lightly kissing her forehead and getting closer to her again.

***

AlHaitham opened his eyes to find himself in an unknown room. Everything around him was white: the walls, the floor, even the furniture and the fluffy carpet in the middle of the room. He noticed that he wasn't alone, as a small child was sitting on the carpet, playing with a teddy bear. The child was wearing green pyjamas and its hair was the exact same color as his; for a moment he thought that he was looking at his past self but then he noticed two tiny pigtails with pink ribbons, which made him realize that it was a girl. A relative, maybe?

"What are you doing, my child?" He heard a voice that he didn't hear for a very long time. Turning around he saw the person who left his life few years ago, leaving him completely alone.

"Grandma..." he moved to hug her as fast as possible. "What is this place?"

"It's just your dream, my boy. I only used this opportunity to visit you." Older woman pulled away from his embrace and looked up at him. "I've been watching you from above... and as much as I love you I have to say that I don't like what you do."

"What do you mean?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"You and that woman." His grandma continued. "Why are you doing this?"

AlHaitham tensed up. "You don't like Miko?"

"I never said that." The lady in front of him lightly shook her head. "What I meant is... why are you fighting with your destiny?"

He looked at her with visibly confused look on his face. "My... destiny?"

"Yes, exactly."

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

Older woman chuckled shortly before she became serious again. "You were always the type to chase after facts only and never believed in things that couldn't be logically explained. You might not believe in something like destiny, but... what if I told you that some things are destined to happen in your life, no matter how hard you try to avoid them?"

"If you know that I won't believe it, then why and what are you trying to tell me?"

"I just want you to understand that you can't run away from your fate. Even if that woman will win this battle... it doesn't mean that it won't happen in the future."

He could feel his pulse quicken. "Wait... you mean... that Miko and I..."

His grandma only smiled. "That's for you to find out, my child. If you know what I mean, you'll be ready to embrace your fate when the right time will come. However if you don't... then don't try to fight it next time. I've seen your future. And I'm glad for what the fate has in store for you, my boy."

"Grandma, I..." before he managed to say more, he could hear quiet sob behind him. He turned around and saw the little girl crying because she couldn't reach the bottle of milk standing on the table. He could feel his grandma's presence next to him when he asked: "Who is that kid?"

"You don't recognize her?" The woman looked up at him with a soft smile before slightly pushing him towards the little girl. "Go on."

He glanced at his grandma before moving closer to the middle of the room. He kneeled next to the child and when she looked up at him with teary eyes, his own eyes widened as he saw the exact same shade of purple that he came to love so much.

***

AlHaitham opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was a pair of purple eyes staring at him. For a moment he thought he was still dreaming but soon enough he realized that this time they belonged to their original owner, not his possible future daughter.

"Good morning." Miko said in a light voice as she continued to look up at him.

"Good morning." He kissed the top of her head. "How are you feeling?"

"I slept and I don't want to vomit anymore, so I guess it's ok?" she lowered her head onto his chest. "But I still have those cramps and my breasts hurt as hell..."

"Can I help you somehow?" He asked while lightly tracing her arm with his fingers.

"Oooh? I didn't expect such a bold proposal from you, but you'll have to wait until they'll be less sore."

"Wait what?" he blinked and looked down at her. "I didn't mean it like that!"

She smirked in an answer. "I know. I just wanted to see your reaction."

"I'm not a 12 years old boy going through the puberty, you know." He huffed and he felt her giggling again.

"Were you like that?" She lifted her head from his chest only to look up at him again. The curiosity was way too visibly written on her face. "Were you going through that... phaze as a teenager?"

"I don't know." He thought for a moment. "I always prefered books over any kind of interactions with other people."

"So... how many girlfriends did you have before me?" Her curiosity was rising and she couldn't help it. He was too hot to make her believe in that excuse about books. If she fell for him then other women had to as well, right?

Instead of answering he just looked to the side avoiding her eyes. "There... weren't... many."

"Okay... so... like two? Three of them?"

"Why is it so important? I'm yours now."

"But I'm curious! I want to know you better." She sent him the sweetest smile possible. "Come on..." she moved a bit up to lightly kiss his lips. "Tell me..."

He sighed in defeat. "Before you, I... didn't really care about women. They were all just..."

"... just...?" she nudged him to continue.

"... walking vaginas looking for someone to fill them in." He said and looked to the side again. Despite feeling bad Miko started to laugh out loud. "Why are you laughing??"

"I can't help it, that 'walking vaginas' part was a killer." She wiped the tears from her eyes. "But were you ever tempted to...?"

"I was, exactly once. But it didn't end that way." He let her rest her head on his chest again before he continued. "We were both influenced by the alcohol, both young and stupid. But before the desire could take over the control over us, she said something like 'I can't believe that I can finally do that with you! Oooh they're going to be so jealous!' and that completely turned me off. I told her to get out."

"That's definitely straightforward." Miko chuckled again. "But wait... are you trying to make me believe that you're a virgin? You? With that alpha male aura of yours?"

"I'm not a virgin!" He snapped back. "Definitely not anymore. And what the heck is that alpha male aura??"

"Hihi, nothing, nothing. But I'm glad to say that it's thanks to me that you don't have to suffer anymore, mister alpha male." she said with a bright smile.

"So? Since we're already on that topic, what about you?"

"Couldn't you already tell?" She lifted her eyebrow. "A Guuji of Grand Narukami Shrine  couldn't be in a relationship, it's simply forbidden. That and also... after my life was linked to the Sacred Sakura Tree I had to live in purity in order to maintain almost eternal life."

"And you gave up on that... for me?" AlHaitham looked down at the woman he loved only to notice her lift her head up and look at him with pure adoration in her purple eyes. "What if I don't deserve that kind of sacrifice?" He added in a quiet voice.

"I fell in love with you. And I would rather spend shorter life with you than live forever wondering how could it be if I made a different choice." she moved her hand to lightly comb his hair behind his ear. "And I don't regret it in the slightest."

"You have no idea how lucky I feel after you told me that." He lightly smiled as he kissed her and pulled her back into his arms.

"However... there is something... I want to share with you." The tone of Miko's voice suddenly changed. She didn't sound as amused anymore; her mood definitely became a serious one. "There was a time..  when I almost got raped."

AlHaitham could hear deafening ringing in his ears. "What?" was all he managed to say as he continued to listen to her.

"Last year there was a festival held in Inazuma City, first one after the borders were opened to the visitors again. It's called Irodori Festival and it was all about light novels, etc. Grand Narukami Shrine always teams up with Yashiro Commission to organize all of the events. So this time, just like many other times, I had to work with the commissioner himself."

"What exactly did he do to you...?" As much as he wanted to sound calm, he knew he was failing. How dare he even try to lay a finger on his Miko?? Yes, he knew they didn't even know each other when it happened but he still couldn't just ignore it.

"On the last day of the festival he asked me to visit him in Komore Teahouse..."

Yae Miko entered the Komore Teahouse only to see one of the people working for the Kamisatos, Nobumori.

"Lady Guuji! Please, come in! Commissioner is waiting for you." He showed her the way to the room where Ayato was already waiting for her.

"Thank you." She said as she registered the state of the man sitting on the thick futon. His hair was a mess and he was lazily shaking half empty bottle that he held in his hand.

"Leave." he said towards Nobumori; the man bowed politely before leaving the room. Soon enough Miko could hear him slamming the door to the Teahouse. Commissioner's attention was now fully focused on the woman in front of him. "So you came."

"We still have to discuss the ceremony closing the festival, don't we?" fully aware of his drunken state, Miko decided to keep her distance from him.

"Are you too scared to come closer to me?" he smirked.

"I don't see a reason why would I. We're here to discuss business matters, not personal ones." she took a defensive stance, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Haha..." he laughed as he slowly got up from his seat. "Business matters?" he closed their distance by moving in front of her. "What makes you think that I want to discuss business with you?"

"You said it yourself when you asked me to come here." she circled him in an attempt to distance herself. "So? I don't have that much free time so you had better get straight to the point."

"I asked you to come... because I want you."

"Excuse me?" she looked over her shoulder only to see him walking closer towards her again. Her instincts were telling her to run away from him, but she didn't want to show any sign of fear.

"You think... that I just want to discuss the festival with you?" he stood in front of her. "After watching you walking around in that short dress for entire day? You think I wanted to see you... just to talk?"  he started to laugh. It was a cold, ruthless laugh that definitely didn't reach his eyes.

"What do you want?" she asked carefully taking a step back.

"You. Didn't I already say that?"

"You're out of your mind! I'm leaving." Miko tried to move away but he caught her by the arm.

"Did I allow you to leave?" his grip on her upper arm became stronger. "You... you're a fox, aren't you? Hahaha... you're a pet! And pets should be obedient of their owners."

"I'm not a pet and you're NOT my owner!" she tried to tear her arm away but then he forcefully pushed her onto the futon. "What do you think you're doing??"  she tried to sit up only to be stopped by his hands reaching for her knees. Forcing her legs to open he stationed himself between them as he leaned in to whisper into her ear while his right hand moved up to reach for her breast.

"I'm taking what's mine..." slightly moving away he looked down at her with pure disgust followed by the words "you should be grateful that someone like me wants to fuck an animal like you. The entire population of Inazuma would kill to be in your shoes right now."

"Stay away from me!" she pushed his hand away from her chest and tried to apply some distance between them.

"As if you had the right to tell me so!" his hands caught both her legs as he forced them to open more while pulling her closer to grind against her.

Her heart was beating fast in pure fear. She always knew that man was dangerous, but she never expected him to get that far. She had no intentions to let him proceed. Even though she knew the Vision that granted her powers should never be used against a human, it took all she had to stop herself from using it.

"Heh... you're not that brave huh?" his cold laugh sent shivers down her spine. "Well then... let's see how loud you will scream when I make you mine."

Watching him lowering his pants and pull himself out, Miko spat "Fuck it." and released the entirety of her Electro power, electrocutting the man who was about to rape her.

He caught the end of her dress and as it ripped apart in his hand, he said "You're going to pay me for that, you useless bitch" and fell to the floor, completely losing consciousnes.

Trying her best to not fall with the shaking of her legs, she stood up and spat on the man on the floor, then ran away from the Komore Teahouse as fast as possible.

"AlHaitham...?"

"That man..." AlHaitham could feel the rage taking over him. "If I'll ever see him... I'm going to kill him."

"... Haitham!" he finally registered that she tried to get his attention. "You're hurting me..."

Noticing that his hand was squeezing her arm, he let it go fast as he said "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"I know..." she said lifting her head from his chest. She moved to sit up on the bed and looked down at him. "I didn't tell you this to make you mad... I only wanted to share something I've never told anyone."

"Why?" He also moved to sit up and looked into her eyes. "You should have told someone! Someone who could..."

"Tell who? He's the Yashiro commissioner and nobody would go against him!" she admitted bitterly. "And even though I'm a friend of Inazuma's god... she was isolated for so long that I doubt that she even knows what sex is, not to mention a rape!" Miko pulled her knees close to her chest as she embraced her legs. "I was scared... and alone... but I had to deal with it. However, ever since that night I was avoiding him and if I had to, I would only see him if I was with someone unconnected to the Yashiro commission."

"Miko..." he reached for her and pulled her into his arms. "I will never... ever let ANYONE touch you ever again." he slightly pulled away to touch his forehead to hers. "And that... piece of absolute garbage better never show up in front of me."

"Thank you..." she said quietly. "Now that I shared that with you I feel like I freed myself from giant burden. I know in the end he did nothing to me, but... knowing how close it was..."

"I know... but you're safe here, with me. And I'll never let anyone to even lay a finger on you."

"I know." she smiled lightly. "Ugh... now that I talked about it I definitely feel like vomiting again, but I'm pretty sure it's not because of the pill."

"To change the topic... when can we visit Bimarstan to check if the emergency contraception worked or not?" AlHaitham asked while moving away from her to have better view of her entire figure.

"He said he needs 3 months to be able to confirm the pregnancy."

"3 months??" how the hell Akademiya could sponsor this guy if he needed that long to confirm something that important?? "Wouldn't you notice it faster?"

"Not every pregnancy is the same. Some women still have their periods for few months... and that's usually the first symptom that is taken into consideration when someone suspects being pregnant." She said as she moved to lay down again.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah... just feeling a little weak, I guess. Never expected that sitting could be so tiring but it's probably due to my general state." she smiled while closing her eyes.

"You should definitely try to eat something. I could prepare..."

"Yeah..." she disrupted him. "... after I'll wake up..." after those words she fell asleep again.

AlHaitham kept on staring at her sleeping face; no matter how weak or tired, she was still beautiful. Lightly smiling to himself he bent over to kiss her forehead then moved out of the bed to prepare some light meal with the ingredients he got from Dehya.

***

AlHaitham was seated on the bed reading while his thoughts were centered on the slumbering beauty at his side. He had to admit; he found listening to her calm breaths pretty relaxing. Trying to fight a tender smile from taking form he shifted his attention back to the book when he heard someone knocking on the door. Sending one last glance towards Miko he moved to open the door, while making sure that her figure remains hidden from whoever decided to visit.

"May I help you?" He looked at the unknown man in front of him. His features pointed towards Inazuman origins; a detail that made him way too aware of the stranger in front of him.

"Oh! Uh..." the man looked troubled but decided to move forward with whatever he wanted to achieve. "I was looking for someone but... uh..."

"Who exactly were you looking for?" AlHaitham closed the door behind him and crossed his arms; something in that man's eyes told him to keep him away from sleeping Miko.

The stranger cleared his throat before he spoke again. "I'm from Yae Publishing House and I'm looking for Lady Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine. She told me to come to Sumeru before she left few days ago."

Hearing his words AlHaitham noticed something that rised his suspicions. Didn't Miko say that she gave up on her position as a Guuji? If that man really works for Yae Publishing House he should be aware of that as well. And yet he was here claiming that she was the one who asked him to come to Sumeru without telling him that?

"I'm afraid I don't know the person you're looking for." He said looking at Inazuman man. "I'm spending my honeymoon here with my wife." The lie he said made the man in front of him go pale.

"A-are you sure you don't know her? Maybe if you let me take a look..."

"You're not expecting me to let you go inside and look at my sleeping wife, are you?" AlHaitham interrupted the man in the middle of his sentence. "I can reassure you, the person you're looking for is not inside my bedroom. You can go now."

"Oh, yes... you're right, thank you for help..." the man turned his back to him and proceeded to walk away. After a while he looked over his shoulder but when he noticed AlHaitham still standing there he turned away again and disappeared behind the wall.

Making sure that it's impossible to open the door from the outside without the key, AlHaitham made up his mind and quietly went after the suspicious man who already left the hotel. It wasn't long before he jumped into someone. "...Cyno?"

"AlHaitham? What are you..." general mahamatra looked at the building behind them. "Oh... is this where she's staying?"

"As much as I would like to stay and talk I have something to do now." AlHaitham tried to leave, but shorter man stopped him.

"We both know that you don't really mean it and don't worry, the mahamatra are already following that guy." His words made the taller man stop in his tracks and look at him. Cyno let out a long breath before he spoke again. "We've been watching him for at least a week now. He came to Sumeru around the same time as lady Yae. There is a possibility that..."

"...he's following her." AlHaitham finished the sentence for him. "But why? Who is he?"

"Before we jump into the topic, let me ask something. How is she?" Cyno's words gained the attention of the feeble scholar.

"She experienced almost every single possible side effect." AlHaitham looked down; he couldn't help but feel guilty for being responsible for her current state. If only the thought of using any protection crossed his mind before they...

"But did it work?" Cyno's question brought him back to reality again. "The emergency contraception?"

"Hard to say..." AlHaitham crossed his arms. "Zakariya told her that he needs 3 months to be able to confirm whether she's pregnant or not."

"You should take her to Mondstadt then." General mahamatra also crossed his arms. "I made a friend there when I visited the city for Windblume Festival. He's the chief alchemist of Knights of Favonius and along with his assistant they created pregnancy test. He said he's able to confirm both pregnancy and baby's gender after only 2 weeks since possible insemination. Just ask for Albedo and you'll be good."

AlHaitham looked at him in a surprise before he managed to say: "Thank you. I'll tell her once she'll wake up."

"You're welcome, I guess." Cyno relaxed his arms. "Now going back to the topic..." he looked around then pointed towards the bushes behind the hotel. When both of them got there and made sure that no one is watching them, Cyno continued. "I was tailing that guy for few days before he arrived in Port Ormos. Last night he made a contact with another man, who was captured right after that."

"You captured an innocent man? Isn't it against the law?" Slightly mocking tone of AlHaitham's voice somehow failed to provoke Cyno.

"A member of secret intellingence organization from another country is forbidden to work in Sumeru after the Fatui and their god making incident." Cyno said in an obvious tone.

"Secret intelligence organization? Sounds like you already forced him to speak."

"I have my ways." Cyno's sadistic smile didn't escape AlHaitham's attention. "Anyway... what I found out is that both of them are part of the Shuumatsuban, a secret organization of skilled ninja. He didn't want to say more, but I did my own research. Apparently all Shuumatsuban members were orphans who were taken in and raised by the organization from a very young age. That would explain their incredibly high loyalty."

"So Miko has been followed by secret ninja organization? But why? Who would want to go to such lengths just to find her?" For some reason he felt unexplained anxiety starting to rise. He didn't like the thought that begun to form in his head.

"The Shuumatsuban are led by the Yashiro Commissioner and head of the Kamisato clan. And currently that person is..."

"Kamisato Ayato." AlHaitham interrupted in the middle of his sentence. He rolled his fists on his sides. So it's him. The man who tried to rape Miko is now after her trying to fullfill whatever sick wish he formed in his head. If he already knows that she is in Sumeru it won't take long for them to find Miko. He needs to do something to protect her especially now, when she's in such vulnerable state.

"Do me a favour..." AlHaitham said trying to sound calm. "And contact your friend in Mondstadt. Tell him that we'll visit him within a week."

"Of course. But... is something...?"

"Let me tell you something, Cyno." AlHaitham relaxed his fists as he looked at general mahamatra. "If any of them... Shuumatsuban or their leader... DARE to appear in front of her... I'll make sure to dispose of them as I see fit. Is that clear?" 

Chapter Text

"What do you mean by 'dispose of them as you see fit'??" The mahamatra couldn't believe his own ears.

"Exactly what you think it means." AlHaitham answered as he tried to walk past Cyno, but he stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"You can't just kill an important figure from Inazuma!"

AlHaitham freed his arm from Cyno's hold as he spat "That man tried to hurt her! He deserves to die."

"Hurt her? How? Aren't you a little bit blinded by your feelings now? What could possibly be so bad to make anyone want to kill..."

"He tried to hurt her in the worst way a man can hurt a woman." AlHaitham interrupted him as he rolled his hands into fists before looking back at his companion and noticing Cyno's eyes widening as he realized what he meant.

"He tried to...?"

AlHaitham nodded slightly. "That's why I'll never forgive him. And you won't be able to stop me from beating the shit out of him." he said as he turned to leave the stunned mahamatra behind.

"Wait! I'm not done with you yet!" Cyno tried to stop the scribe, but he only waved his hand at him without even looking back. "...asshole." was the last thing the mahamatra said before walking the opposite way.

***

On his way back to the hotel AlHaitham decided to stop by the grocery stall nearby. He still had the vegetables and fruits that Dehya gave him, but also wanted to make sure that he has other options in case if Miko woke up feeling nauseous again.

"Can I help you?" the owner of the stall noticed his hesitation.

"I'm looking for something safe to eat after waking up... something that won't cause stomach problems."

"Oooh you mean morning sickness?" the lady's bright laugh made him lift his eyes from the food just to look at her.

"Huh? No, I didn't mean..."

"It's ok, I understand." the lady said in a reassuring tone. "When I was pregnant with my twins I could barely survive first few months."

"But I really didn't..." AlHaitham tried to interrupt the shopkeeper, but failed.

"In my case almonds and camomile tea did wonders. I can pack some for you."

"I... yes, please." He let out a defeated sigh.

"Make sure that your partner drinks a lot of water, she needs it during this time." The lady gave him small bag with almonds and camomile tea inside, before smiling at him again. "Anyway congratulations!"

"... thank you." He said as he paid for the goods. Luckily for him another customer appeared and shopkeeper's attention was now directed at them instead, allowing him to take his leave and finally go back to the hotel.

Even though he knew that Miko didn't move during that short time he was away, he couldn't help feeling relieved seeing her sleeping in bed, safe and sound.

He filled a glass with water and placed it on the nightstand next to the bed, making sure that she won't have problems reaching for it after waking up. He then moved to the small kitchen to leave the shopping bag there, before he came back to sit next to her and took his book again.

Miko was sleeping for almost 20 hours. At some point AlHaitham fell asleep next to her; he woke up in the morning with his book lying on his chest. He moved out of the bed and went to take a fast shower before moving on to prepare some breakfast.

Keeping in mind the shopkeeper's words he made sure to prepare something light; he also placed some almonds on the plate, just in case. As he was getting ready to put the kettle on the stove, he suddenly felt someone's arms embracing him from behind.

"Good morning!" the light tone of Miko's voice made him turn around to pull her in a hug.

"Good morning." he lightly kissed her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Way better." she smiled as she put her arms around his neck. "Almost as if I was born again but in better state than I was before."

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that." he touched his forehead to hers. His hands still placed on her waist, his thumbs lightly traced circles on her sides, as he asked "are you hungry? I made some light breakfast."

"Maybe in a moment. After few days of drinking only water and not eating at all I don't feel that hungry yet." Her words made him tilt his head back to look at her. She still looked weak, but her face wasn't as pale as before and a hint of smile was playing on her lips. "You know..." she started as her smile lightly grew. "...our relationship just started. In all of the romance novels that's when all couples act cute towards each other."

"You want us to act cute? Okay."

"You agree?" She seemed to be surprised by his answer, almost as if she expected him to refuse.

"As long as it's with you..." he lightly kissed her lips "... I don't mind being cute."

"Reeeally?" She giggled as she kissed him back in the same light way.

"Really." He smiled at her and bent down to kiss her again, but at this exact moment someone decided to interrupt them by knocking at the door of their hotel room.

The couple exchanged glances. "Are you expecting someone?"

"No. I made sure to ask hotel staff to not interrupt and nobody knows about me staying here."

"Stay here and let me answer." He kissed her lips again and moved to open the door. "Cyno?"

"Can I? I'd rather talk inside."

AlHaitham opened the door a bit wider to let him in before closing it again.

"General mahamatra?" Miko's surprised voice caught Cyno's attention.

"Good morning lady Yae. How are you feeling?"

"I'm good, thank you. What brings you here?" She gestured at him to sit by the kitchen table before she sat on the opposite side.

"I don't know if AlHaitham already told you..." he looked at the taller male.

"She just woke up, I didn't have a chance."

"Okay then. I got an answer from Albedo. He'll be waiting for you by the end of this week to proceed with the test."

"The test?" Slightly confused Miko looked at AlHaitham who took a sit next to her.

"Pregnancy test. That Albedo guy can confirm it only after 2 weeks, but we have to go to Mondstadt."

"I don't mind the trip if that means shortening the stressful time to only 2 weeks instead of 3 months."

"I'm glad you agree with the idea." AlHaitham took her hand and brought it to his lips to softly kiss her knuckles, before he looked at the mahamatra again. "But how did you get the answer that fast? We talked about it literally yesterday."

"Don't underestimate the possibilities of the goddess of wisdom."

"You asked Lesser Lord Kusanali for help?"

"She noticed something was on my mind and offered her help." Cyno shrug his arms. "I could swear she looks like she's gotten bigger lately..."

"Archons power come from their people. Maybe the Dendro archon is gaining her people's trust more than ever and that causes her to grow in every possible meaning." Miko answered to Cyno's last comment.

"You might be right." Cyno seemed to be deep in thoughts, before he spoke again. "There is one more thing I came here to tell you. Since you were sleeping until now, AlHaitham didn't have a chance to tell you, but 2 of the Shuumatsuban members came to Sumeru around the same time as you."

"Shuumatsuban are following me?" Miko's eyes widened; AlHaitham noticed her hand slightly squeezing his own hand. He squeezed it back gaining her attention.

"We made sure to keep them away from you. You are safe, I promise." He moved his attention from her face back to Cyno, who was currently busy looking at their intertwined hands. "Any news about the case?"

Cyno's eyes moved to look at his face. "We caught the other guy. He refused to speak at first, but when he realized that his companion already sold him, he started to talk. Apparently the head of Kamisato clan became obsessed with trying to discover the destination of your current trips, lady Yae. Unfortunately both of them claim to not know the reason behind it."

"He's looking for me?"

"Seems like it. If I may..." Cyno looked at her and seeing Miko silently nodding giving him the permission to continue, he then said: "I would advise you to go to Mondstadt as soon as possible. That will mislead them a bit. Theoretically we caught both spies, but we need to make sure there weren't more. Spend there few days and come back. I can reassure you that we'll be done with them by that time."

"I can agree with that idea, but..." she looked at AlHaitham. "What about your work? You already spent 2 days here, can you leave Sumeru now?"

"Actually Lesser Lord Kusanali allowed him to take two week off from work. She knows the situation and asked me to tell you about her permission to go." Cyno's words made AlHaitham look at him with a doubt.

"Where's the catch?"

"I'm glad you asked." General mahamatra smiled. "In exchange for letting you leave the work for two weeks she wants you to get back to the position of acting grand sage for one more month."

"Of course." AlHaitham didn't seem impressed with what he heard.

"The choice is yours."

"I can go on my own. It's not like I never travelled alone." Miko said before AlHaitham managed to answer.

"No... I'll do it. It's just one more month acting like a leader even if I hate being one." His eyes moved from Miko's face to Cyno. "Tell Lesser Lord Kusanali that I agree to her proposal. But only for one month, no longer than that."

"Yeah, yeah, as you wish." Cyno got up from the chair and walked to the door. "Make sure to stay safe while travelling. And protect her at all cost."

"I will."

***

After Cyno left their hotel room AlHaitham finally had the chance to serve the breakfast.

"Mmm it tastes good!" Miko smiled at him when he took a sit opposite to her. "I didn't know you were that talented."

"Nothing special, I learned how to cook from books. Everyone can do that."

"You're not good with accepting compliments, are you?" She giggled as she noticed slight blush taking form on his cheeks.

"I'm sorry..."

"No need to be. But you definitely need to learn how to handle good words, especially now." She noticed his confused expression and said "I always say what I really think, whether it's good or bad."

"I can accept compliments if they are coming from you."

"And that makes me happy to hear it." They focused on eating in peace for some time until Miko spoke again. "Did you ever have sex dreams?"

Her innocent question made AlHaitham choke on his food. He started to cough violently before he managed to ask "Where did that come from?"

"Just answer." She shrug her arms.

"What about you?" He asked desperately trying to dodge the question.

"I didn't." Her answer didn't really help him calm down as he suddenly remembered about his dreams with her. "However I was fantasizing about someone."

"And who was that lucky person?" Trying to act natural he avoided looking at her and pretended to be busy with the food.

"I can show you." She got up from the chair to move towards the bed.

"Wait, what do you mean 'show me'?" He lifted up his eyes only to see her rumaging through the small bag sitting on top of the nightstand. She came back to the table just a moment later with a small square object in her hand. "You keep his picture in your bag...?"

"Open it and see it for yourself." Her charming smile made him do exactly as she wanted. He opened the object only to notice that...

"It's a mirror." He looked back at her face.

"Exactly."

"You were fantasizing about... me?"

"Surprised?"

"Quite a lot to be honest..." he admitted which earned him another giggle from her.

"So! About those sex dreams you obviously had." This time she fully grinned at him. "Were they about me?" Her question once again made him cough a lot before he finally calmed down.

"What if I'll admit?" He answered without looking at her.

"That will make me happy to hear that I wasn't the only one with those thoughts."

"You..." he bent over the table to get his face closer to hers "... are exceptionally good at provoking me."

"I'll take that as a compliment." She said before giving him light kiss.

"I may have lost my mind with you." He whispered against her lips.

"If that's the case.." her lips lightly brushed his. "I hope you'll never find it."

"Actually... there is something I hope you can help me with." He said before kissing her last time.

"What exactly is it?" She asked as he stood up to grab her hand and pulled her back to the bed area. When she sat down he stood in front of her and lifted the end of his shirt. Her eyes widened when she saw already healed big wound on his right hip. "What happened??"

"It's a... long story that's better left for another time." He almost jumped when her fingers lightly traced the length of his wound. "As you can see it's already healed and I have that stitches removing set but it's quite difficult to do on my own..."

"Give it to me." She said while trying hard to suppress the smile.

He did as she said before mentioning "I was told to cut it just below the knot and then pull it out. And apparently you need to use those weird looking scissors for that."

"So you got the instruction on how to do that on your own and you still want me to do it?" She lifted her brow at him, which caused him to slightly look to the side. "Ok, I get it." she giggled happily as she started to work on his stitches.

Ignoring the odd sensation of the cold steel agains his skin and the feeling of the stitches being pulled out he focused entirely on Miko's face. Her extremely serious expression got his full attention before he noticed the tip of her tongue sticking out of her mouth. He got so lost observing that cute detail that he didn't even notice her finishing the job.

"Done!" The happy tone of her voice brought him back to earth. He sat down on bed next to her and kissed her cheek with simple "Thank you."

"Did it hurt?"

"What exactly?"

"Are you seriously asking?" She handed him back the tools she was using to tend to his healed wound.

"I... was focused on something else." The all knowing look on her face made him feel oddly shy. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you know exactly that I was watching you the entire time." He moved to hide the tools in his bag, partially because he wanted to hide his face from her. He could hear her laugh behind him before she spoke again.

"What do you think Mondstadt will be like? Outside of the fact that it's the City of Freedom of course." He looked over his shoulder to see the curiosity taking over her pretty face.

"I've never been there myself, but I've heard that people there are quite... laid back."

"Might be nice to experience... can you imagine that? Just walking around, holding hands and all those things... in Inazuma everyone would stare at you as if you commited some serious crime."

"Is it forbidden to hold hands in Inazuma?" He asked as he went back to bed to sit next to her.

"No, but people in Inazuma are... how to put it..." she grabbed her chin being deep in thoughts. "... conservative? Theoretically nobody is against it, but in reality public display of affection is frowned upon."

"Then I'm glad we're going to Mondstadt first." He kissed her cheek again. "I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to behave well in Inazuma."

"Being a bad boy, are we?" She smiled lightly at him.

He chuckled before answering "something along those lines."

***

Later that night.

"Yo, I thought you'll never come!" Dehya waved at Cyno who just entered the tavern.

Taking a sit next to her mahamatra answered "I just came back from Port Ormos after delivering Lesser Lord Kusanali's message to AlHaitham." He looked behind his back shouting "hey boss, same as always!"

"Coming in a second!" the owner of the tavern answered before moving to work on his drink and the snacks.

"So? How did it go?" Dehya couldn't hide her curiosity. "Did you see her?"

"I already know her." Cyno answered when the bartender appeared by their table to give him his order. "So it wasn't the first time for me. What was more surprising was AlHaitham's behaviour."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Cyno snickered as he set his drink back on the table. "It felt like he was a totally different person. He kept on looking at her, reacted to every shift in her tone, even kissed her hand with me still being there."

"It's not like kissing someone's hand is an extremely intimate gesture..." Dehya noticed while stealing his snacks.

"Of course it's not. However seeing someone as serious as AlHaitham being reduced to a puddle is indeed an interesting experience."

"As if you didn't act the same with Tighnari."

"It's different!"

"How so?" Dehya lifted an eyebrow at him.

"I don't act as if I had a stick in my ass like he does."

"You don't really have to ACT like it..."

"My point is..." he stopped her in the middle of her sentence "... he's never been the type to fall stupidly in love."

"You really make me want to see it for myself." She comfortably sat back on her chair. After thinking for a moment she lifted her drink and pointed it at Cyno asking: "Wanna make another bet?"

"What bet this time?"

"I bet she's gonna move in with him soon."

"There's no way in hell. Not with Kaveh still being there."

"It's AlHaitham's place. He doesn't have to care about him at all."

"Oh please, as if he was the type to tie the knot." Cyno snorted.

"Ten thousand mora and new TCG special edition cards." Dehya said in an innocent tone.

"I'm in."

Chapter Text

"My lord." Young man dressed entirely in black bowed his head in front of a blue haired man who just said goodbye to his guests.

"Any news?" The other one asked without stealing a glance at his new companion.

"We've got an information that her room reservation ends tomorrow."

"So she'll be back soon..." blue haired man got deep in thoughts before speaking again "Make sure to inform me if you'll find out more about her escapades."

"Yes sir. We'll make sure to..." the man in black went silent as his employer raised his hand to warn him. He lifted his head to see the young lady of the house walking towards the other room, then disappearing into the dark corridor.

After his companion managed to leave unnoticed, blue haired man spoke "Good evening, Ayaka."

Young lady stopped on her tracks before she answered without looking in the direction of the voice "... brother."

"Come on, you can't be mad at me forever." The man approached her. "Can you just look at me this one time?" There was a silence between them as the young lady tightened her grip on the doorknob. "Ayaka... you can't avoid me for eternity."

"I lost Thoma because of you..." Ayaka answered in low voice.

"It wasn't because of me. It was because of the lady Guuji you adore so much that he fled to Mondstadt."

"Stop putting the blame on her! It was you and your sick plan! Nothing else!" Ayaka yelled as she finally looked at her brother's face. "And I will never ever forgive you that!"

The man looked at her silently before saying "You know we have to do everything we can to have that boy by our side. No matter what cost."

"Oh really?" Ayaka rolled her fists while trying hard to keep her tears under control. "Then next time you want to keep someone by your side use your own body not mine!" She opened the door to her bedroom and shut them in front of her brother's face, without even giving him a chance to answer.

***

"So... how exactly are we going to get to Mondstadt?" Miko asked as she was watching AlHaitham checking if they packed all their stuff.

"I was considering the ship, since we are in Port Ormos but travelling to Dornman Port would take few weeks however only if the weather would be good." He held his chin, deep in thought. "Going through the Chasm is way too dangerous, I can confirm that..." he continued babbling to himself, totally unaware of Miko's asking eyes. "... I think the only option left is going to Sumeru City and then travel through Lumberpick Valley and Tianqiu Valley..."

"I might have a bit faster idea." Miko's voice managed to gain his attention.

"How much faster to be exact?"

"Few minutes kind of fast." She shrug her arms.

"How is that even possible?"

"I can show you, but..." she got up from her place on the bed and put her arms around his neck. "... I need you to trust me."

"I trust you." He said as his lips lightly brushed against hers. "More than you could ever imagine." His words created the most beautiful smile on her lips as she moved away from him.

"Then... Follow me." She winked at him.

"Where?"

"I need to check out first. I can't leave the hotel without letting the owners know about it."

***

"So... how long are we going to walk?" AlHaitham asked while being pulled by his hand by Miko who walked ahead of him.

"I'm trying to find a good spot..."

"Good spot for what?"

"To disappear without raising any questions."

"Disappear...?" Was all he managed to ask before she stopped in the middle of completely empty area.

She turned around to face him and asked again "Do you trust me?"

"I do."

"Close your eyes and focus on me, ok?" He did as she said and felt her arms embracing his waist. The next thing he registered was a feeling as if something was strongly pulling on his insides, which calmed down after few seconds. Too scared to open his eyes due to a sudden nausea, he could feel Miko removing her arms from around him.

"How are you..." was the only thing she said before he fell down on his knees and started to empty the contents of his stomach. "...feeling?"

He wasn't exactly able to respond, as he was occupied with his reaction to teleportation. Miko kneeled next to him to lightly pat his back. "It's ok... let it all go..."

"What... was that...?"

"This..." she pointed at weirdly looking statue that he kept on seeing everywhere but never knew their purpose. "...is a Teleport Waypoint. As far as I know only archons and some... other creatures are able to use them. And since I myself am an ancient creature I was able to learn how to use it."

"So we... teleported?" He weakly lifted his head to see where they were.

"Yes.... here." She gave him a handkerchief and readied a bottle of water. "I should've told you about the side effects it might cause, I'm sorry."

"It's ok..." he accepted the bottle of water from her hands. "I just wish you didn't have to see me like this..."

"You were by my side when I was in similar state, remember?" she lightly smiled as she combed her fingers through his hair. "I'm not here only for good moments, you know?"

"I know... thank you." He took her hand to leave a kiss on its back. "Can we wait a bit before we go to the city?"

"Of course. You should rest for some time before trying to walk." She said as she fully sat on the grass next to him. Within the next couple of minutes his face started to get back to its original color and he seemed to finally be able to relax as he leaned his back against a big stone. He closed his eyes, only drinking water from time to time. Watching him like that gave Miko certain idea.

She looked around to notice some Sweet Flowers growing near to their location; she got up from her spot and moved to pick them up before going back to where he was still sitting.

"What are you doing?" He asked with easy to hear curiosity in his voice.

"You will see." She smiled at him before going back to working on the flowers. Few minutes later her job was done. "Here!" she said and put a flower crown on his head.

"Am I really the one who should wear it?" He touched the crown on his head while blushing lightly.

"You look really cute now." Her giggle made his blush a bit darker.

"You shouldn't call a man cute."

"Why not?"

"Remember when you said that I have an 'alpha male aura'? That's exactly why." His answer made her fully laugh this time. He used the opportunity to remove the flower crown from his head and put it on hers instead. "It looks great on you."

"If you insist." He had no idea if a smile could kill, but hers was definitely close to doing so. Whatever spell she put on him, he hoped it will last forever.

"So, lady Yae." He offered her his arm as they both stood up. "Would you do me an honor of being my date today?"

"I thought you'll never ask." She linked her arm with his. "To the hotel now?"

"To the hotel."

***

Time passed by quickly and before they knew it was already the end of the week and the time for their scheduled meeting with Albedo has come.

Miko couldn't sleep the entire night. She was tossing and turning in bed until the morning, desperately trying to fight the "what if..." question that tried to get her attention. There was no place for "what if". It just had to work in her favour. For five hundreds years she never, not even once considered becoming a mother. Children irritated her to an extreme point and the entire pregnancy and its effects on woman's body... no, that's definitely not her piece of cake.

Entirely focused on her own thoughts, she didn't notice AlHaitham watching her. "Miko, are you sure you're ok? You didn't even eat..."

"Yes I'm sure." She stopped him in the middle of the sentence while forcing a smile on her face. "I wasn't hungry."

Few minutes passed in silence, before he asked again: "Did you... consider what will happen if..."

"Don't." This time she sharply stopped him. Her forced smile was long gone as she stopped walking and faced him instead. "Don't go in that direction."

"But... what if the pill didn't..."

"AlHaitham stop it!" Miko barked at him causing his eyes to open wide in shock. "What are you expecting from me?? 'Oh you know, I changed my mind'? No! I never wanted to be a mother and I still don't want to! That's the end of the topic!" without the slightest care about his reactions she turned back to their original direction and started walking again.

AlHaitham remained silent until they reached the Knights of Favonius headquarters. She knew he was surprised by her earlier outburst but she didn't plan to say sorry for that. He already knew her opinion and didn't have to provoke her with questions.

After entering the building first thing they noticed was a couple of people standing near the stairs.

"... we're fine, grandmaster Jean. You don't have to keep on checking on us." Middle height man with deep blue eyes said with a smile to tall blonde woman standing in front of him.

"I know, but..."

"Besides" his smile grew a bit "I really don't want to deal with master Diluc if he'll find out that you're still trying to work..."

"Diluc doesn't have to know." Woman's tone of voice pointed towards her sulking at her colleague's answer. "Besides I still have 2 months left until..."

"Seventh month is a bit too far for you to think about work. You should focus on..." shorter man noticed the couple walking towards them. "Can I help you?"

His question made the blonde woman next to him turn around to look at them. Miko couldn't help but notice her hand moving to rest on her already big baby bump.

"We're looking for mister Albedo." AlHaitham was the first one to speak, as Miko moved her eyes away from the woman's stomach and looked at the face of the man in front of them.

"That happens to be me, but skip the 'mister' part please." Albedo smiled at them. "You must be that couple from Sumeru mentioned by Cyno, right?"

"Yes..." was all Miko could answer. She couldn't help but feel even more nervous. For some reason the pregnant girl next to her made her feel more stressed. Please, she thought, don't let it happen...

"Follow me please. My assistant already prepared second set for testing."

"Second...?"

"Yes, you are second couple that came here today. Previous one came from Liyue, but the lady is a good friend of mine as we used to work together." Albedo opened the door and gestured at them to get inside. "Sucrose, are the tests ready?"

"Y-yes they are here!" The green-haired girl jumped when she heard her name, but regained her composure quite fast as she took a tray with 2 vials and a small cup and brought it to the table next to Albedo.

"To explain how it works in a fast way: all I have to do is put the substance from the vial on the right in this cup and put a drop of your blood there. If the substance will get foggy it means the test is positive. Then I just have to mix it with the content of the vial on the left to check the baby's gender. Pink means a girl, while blue is a boy." Albedo unsealed and opened a tiny container with a needle inside. "Can I?" he reached his hand towards Miko.

Miko nodded her head as she reached her hand towards the blonde. The alchemist lightly pressed the needle to her finger then pressed near to the wound to make it release a drop of her blood. Miko swallowed hard while watching her blood falling down to the cup in Albedo's hand. He lightly shook the cup and after few seconds that felt like forever...

"The liquid stays clear." Miko said quietly. "What does it mean?"

"Looks like there is no baby this time." Albedo answered with a tiny smile. Hearing his words Miko suddenly felt like a huge weight was taken off of her shoulders. The feeling of relief made her head spin. It worked, the pill really worked.

"Thank you..." she said giving Albedo broad smile.

"I didn't do anything."

"You just helped me get my peace of mind back. And for that I'm really grateful."

***

After leaving Knights of Favonius headquarters they walked in a complete silence for a while until Miko decided to break it by taking AlHaitham's hand. He looked at her in surprise.

"I thought you were mad at me..." he said as he intertwined his fingers with hers. Miko shook her head.

"I'm not mad. I just... wasn't in the mood for that question." Her answer made him look at her. His face pointed towards him fighting an internal battle whether he should say what he's thinking about or not.

As she started to consider nudging him to spit it out, he took a deep breath and said: "Miko... there is someting I need to tell you about. That day when I joined you in the hotel, I had a dream... " and he told her about his grandma's message as well as about the little girl he was able to meet.

She didn't interrupt him when he told her about his dream; she stayed quiet for a while even after he was done.

"Do you... really think it would work if we started with a kid?" The moment they reached a little fountain between Mondstadt's stairs Miko turned to look at him. "We just started our relationship, AlHaitham."

"I know... but I didn't want to hide it from you."

"I'm glad you told me about it. But like I said, it's only the beginning. We're basically in the 'honeymoon' stage where everything seems to be bright but it won't last forever." She reached out to lightly comb her fingers through his hair. "So let's just enjoy it to the fullest while this phaze still lasts, ok? Having a kid now... it wouldn't be a good start for us."

"I know..." he grabbed her hand and lifted it up to his lips to leave a kiss on it. "And I agree. We should enjoy each other as long as we can."

"Now that's a good answer." She giggled as she put her arms around his neck. His hands automatically found their way to her waist and their lips met in a slow but passionate kiss.

Miko was the first one to break it. Her eyebrows met in a focused expression when she looked to the both sides.

"What's wrong?"

"I just had this feeling as if someone was observing us..."

Hearing her answer AlHaitham's eyes left her face and he looked up only to see two people observing them from a distance. "Looks like someone was after all."

"What?" Miko turned around to look in the same direction as him and noticed a dark blonde woman and a man with long green hair by her side. Both of them were smiling fondly and the woman was pressing her hands to her heart. "I know her... but who's that man?"

"That man happens to be my best friend." AlHaitham answered as he still kept looking in their direction. "We can't pretend we didn't see them, but we can still run away if you want to."

Miko laughed at his suggestion. "Maybe you could introduce me to your friend instead?" she asked with a smile.

"As you wish." A hint of a smirk danced on his lips when he took her hand and started to walk towards the couple.

"I thought you were about to run away." Green-haired man grinned at him the moment they got closer.

"That thought did cross my mind." AlHaitham's smirk became even more visible when he answered to his friend.

"So? Are you finally going to introduce the beautiful lady by your side?"

"Of course." AlHaitham's expression became gentle as he looked at Miko. "Miko, this is my best friend Baizhu and I believe you already know his wife Lisa. And this..." he pulled her closer to leave a gentle kiss on her forehead. "... is my girlfriend."

"A girlfriend? Did I hear that right?" Baizhu's question made both of them look at him again. "Mister 'women are walking vaginas' has a girlfriend now? Who are you and what have you done to my friend?" Green-haired man teased him while failing at trying to hide growing smile.

"Shut up." AlHaitham barked at him but soon enough his expression lightened when he heard Miko's laugh.

"I'm sorry but... it kills me every time I hear it." She said as she covered her mouth with her hand.

AlHaitham's face became slightly red as Baizhu let out a simple "Ooooh interesting." But before they could get into another part of the bitering...

"Oops..." Miko's hands reached to her grumbling stomach. "I um... didn't have breakfast yet..." she said as she shyly looked to the side.

"You let your woman go out hungry?" Baizhu asked, but then he noticed the look that Lisa gave him. "What? He can handle the joke."

"Actually..." Lisa stepped in before AlHaitham could get a chance to snap back at him. "I know a very good place. My best friend's husband just recently added breakfast to the menu in his tavern so... would the two of you like to join us?"

AlHaitham looked at Miko who responded with a bright smile and a nod.

"Show us the way."

****

Fifteen minutes later all four of them were already sitting by the table on the upper floor of the tavern known as Angel's Share. A red haired owner of the place personally escorted them to the spot after accepting their orders. It wasn't long before he was back with their breakfast along with some desserts.

"Those are on the house." The man smiled at them.

"Thank you, Diluc. What are those?" Lisa asked while looking at the dessert cups filled with orange sponge cake and whipped cream with traces of a syrup on top of it.

"It's a sponge cake made with bulle fruit. And the syrup on top of the whipped cream is a mix of apple and sunsettia." Diluc explained with growing smile. "Jean became obsessed with this dessert ever since she's pregnant so I decided to introduce it in the tavern's menu. You are my testers today, I hope you don't mind it."

"Of course not." Lisa lightly shook her head. "I've seen Jean today, she looks absolutely beautiful. But how are you?"

"I'm very impatiently counting down the days." The man admitted with warm tone of voice. "Just two more months and our baby girl will be already here."

"Time flies really fast, doesn't it?" Lisa asked, but before Diluc had a chance to answer they heard his employee Charles calling him from the lower floor.

"It really does, but now please excuse me." The man lightly bowed his head before walking away.

"Well, looks like we have a dessert to taste!" Lisa smiled at them.

Miko took a spoon and brought small piece of the cake into her mouth. "Mmmm it's delicious!" The way her face brighten up as she placed her hand on her cheek while she happily continued to eat her dessert made AlHaitham unable to take his eyes off of her. "Do you want to try it?" Miko asked when she noticed him watching her.

"I... sure." He saw her happily readying a piece of cake on her spoon and reaching it towards him for him to take it. Fully aware that his best friend and his wife were watching him, he shyly ate the dessert from Miko's spoon. "It's really good."

"I know, right?" Her smile grew even more and AlHaitham couldn't help but think that one day it will be the reason of his demise.

Their happy bubble was broken as they heard Baizhu clearing his throat. Looking his way AlHaitham noticed his best friend trying to cover his growing smile.

"I'm sorry." He said while removing his glasses to clean them with a piece of cloth.

"I have to excuse you for a moment..." Miko moved to get up. "I need to go to the bathroom."

"I'll show you the way." Lisa got up from her sit as well. "I drunk a lot so it's a good idea to take care of the bladder." She winked at Baizhu. Her gesture didn't go unnoticed by AlHaitham; he knew she wanted to give the two of them some time to talk alone.

"So..." Baizhu started which made AlHaitham jump on the spot. "Relax, I'm not going to hit you or anything."

"I know. I'm just..."

"The Alhaitham I once knew would have never in his life taken a seat next to a girl." Baizhu said with a mocking smile. "He saw them as 'walking vaginas' and nothing else."

"I admit I was wrong. Not every woman is like that."

"Ooooooh?"

"... you're pissing me of." His remark made Baizhu burst out with genuine laughter.

"I'm just happy to see you like that after you showed up in the pharmacy looking like a walking definition of a misery." His laughter changed to a gentle smile. "It's been only a month and yet a lot has changed."

"You have no idea..." AlHaitham said as he looked down at the half-finished dessert; he could barely stop the little smile forming on his lips.

"I would love to know." Baizhu offered him a gentle smile. "We might have a little time before the girls will be back, but I want to know what made you look so different."

"I look different?" AlHaitham looked up at his friend again. "Like what?"

"Haitham...you've lost the fear in your eyes...and that barrier that kept you back from really expressing yourself." Green haired man leaned back on his seat. "Ever since I met you I could see that there was something stopping you from being the real you. Almost like a wall you built around yourself." He grabbed his chin pondering how to put his thoughts into words. "Even when you came to Liyue over a month ago... you were a wreck suddenly filled up with too many emotions. And now it's all gone."

"But I don't feel any different..."

"Are you sure about it?" Baizhu looked at him as if he was trying to read his soul; something he did a lot back in their Akademiya times. "Because the man I see in front if me now looks like he had a heavy weight lifted off of his shoulders."

"I have to admit... it really feels that way, Zhu." AlHaitham carefully thought about what to say next. "In this short time together she became everything to me. She made me crave things I never knew I needed in my life."

"What things?"

"Just small ones... like her touch. The way her fingers caress my hair... her smile when she's looking at me... even something as simple as holding her in my arms became a necessity to survive." He focused on his own hand as he rolled it into a fist before he looked back at his friend again. "I can't imagine my life without her in it anymore."

"Then don't. It's that simple." Baizhu's smile grew wider. "Focus on what is your heart trying to tell you and do that. You finally met the right person and you would be an idiot if you ever let her go."

"It might sound weird but... despite feeling like I might not survive without her... it makes me feel lighter. She brought the peace into my life."

"You fell in love with her, those feelings are normal in that state. However..." Baizhu appeared to be lost in thoughts before he spoke again. "I didn't expect to see you in Mondstadt. What brought you here?"

AlHaitham suddenly felt the deep need to avoid his friend's eyes. He looked at the dessert again as he said in a quiet voice: "We came here to meet a guy called Albedo."

The silence that followed his answer made him feel even more uncomfortable. Few seconds passed before Baizhu asked: "Surely you didn't mean the chief alchemist of Knights of Favonius who created the pregnancy test, right?"

"..."

"I'll take that as a yes." Baizhu spoke in a soft tone before it changed to teasing one. "Remember when few years ago..."

"Yes, my relationship started with unprotected sex, here's your answer." AlHaitham impatiently stopped his friend before he had a chance to finish his sentence.

"No way, I'm not the only one idiot who did it??" Baizhu's grin grew wide when his friend finally lifted up his eyes to look at him.

"I want to wipe that smile off of your face, you look stupid."

The doctor laughed in an answer before his expression changed to a serious one again. "Is she..."

"No." Feeble scholar lightly shook his head. "She took the 'after pill' from Zakariya."

"Zakariya, you say."

AlHaitham suddenly remembered the fight between two doctors that took place long ago during their studies. The clash between modern medicine mixed with ancient methods versus the one based on knowledge from books only. He shook his head again to get rid of the memories of those two arguing about it. "Yes... she was suffering from side effects for few days but the medicine worked in the end."

"Side effects?" Baizhu raised his brow without changing the cold tone of voice. "There is a medicine for that which would not bring any of them to her. Unless that pathetic idiot gave her a pill made for humans while completely ignoring the fact that she's a youkai and can suffer from what's safe for other species."

"There is something like that??"

"Obviously." Baizhu snorted in disgust. "But of course it's an old Liyue receipe mixed with a bit of experimenting, something a 'proper' doctor from Akademiya would never use."

"I see you still love Zakariya as much as ever."

"Yes, my love still burns as bright as his thesis infused with Dendro back then." The doctor closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. "Anyway. I'm glad to see that both of you are ok right now."

"I'm not the one who went through hell, but yes she's fine." AlHaitham smiled lightly. "But what exactly brought you and Lisa here? It's not like I would expect to see you in Mondstadt as well."

"That's something I can't tell you without Lisa here." Baizhu's face brightened up but he remained stubborn about staying silent. Clearly wanting to change the topic he pointed at the dessert left behind by Miko and asked: "Do you want me to feed you?"

"Do you want me to break your wrist?"

"Are you pushing me away because I'm not a sexy pink haired lady?"

"Enough of that lovers' quarrel, boys." Lisa's voice interrupted them before AlHaitham had a chance to say anything. She sat down next to Baizhu and kissed his cheek.

Miko took her place next to AlHaitham and brought the unfinished dessert closer to her again, making the man by her side lightly smile at the view.

"So? What's the deal?" AlHaitham asked looking at his friend and his wife. "Why are you in Mondstadt?"

"We came to visit my friend Albedo." Lisa said with a bright smile.

"Wait..." Miko said as she furrowed her brows. "He mentioned another couple visiting him today... are you...?"

"Yes." Lisa smiled brightly as she looked at her.

Baizhu took her hand and left a kiss on it. "We came here to confirm our suspicions and they turned out to be right. We're going to have a baby."

"Congratulations." AlHaitham said slightly shocked. His best friend is going to be a father. That's not a news you could receive every day. "I'm happy for you guys."

"Thank you."

"It's a boy." Lisa said proudly before her expression changed to a confident one and she added: "And he's going to have a really big dick."

***

Miko was giggling hard at Lisa's confident confession even long after they left the tavern and both couples went their separate ways.

"I can't believe it she really said that out loud." AlHaitham was still shocked after what he heard.

"I find it quite funny." She let out a giggle again. "Lisa has quite the courage with words."

"She's completely unhinged." The man shook his head and reached to take Miko's hand. "But she changed my friend for the better and I will forever be grateful for that."

"You seem to be very close friends."

"We met back in Akademiya when we both were just mere students. He was the only one person who thought I was worth talking to."

"Oh come on, why do you think about yourself like that?" Miko lightly squeezed his hand. "I think you have a lot to offer and they don't know what they lost."

AlHaitham smiled lightly. "You flatter me too much. But as an introvert I wasn't really that happy to be around people... back then it was even worse than now."

"I can't wait to hear more stories about your time in Akademiya." Miko gave him a bright smile. "I bet you looked so good in that uniform that you broke some hearts."

"I'm not sure about that, but you'll definitely learn more about it when we'll visit them in Liyue. It's not like we can say 'no' after they basically forced us to agree to the visit."

"It won't be that bad." Miko giggled again. "It's your best friend and I want to get to know him better."

"Soon enough you'll understand how tiring those two can be with their never ending energy to talk especially about improper stuff. I already can't wait until we'll get back to Sumeru."

Miko stopped on her tracks. AlHaitham turned to look at her and noticed her serious but sad expression. "I'm... not going back to Sumeru with you."

Her words made him feel as if his heart stopped beating. Suddenly breathing became an extremely hard to do activity and he could hear the ringing in his ears. "What do you mean you're not going back... with me?"

"I have to go back to Inazuma." She said in a sad voice.

"But... why?" He could feel her hand slipping out of his. He looked down at his now empty hand and in the corner of his eyes noticed Miko moving from her spot. She walked away turning her back to him.

"My usual time to stay in Sumeru already ended." She said while still avoiding to look at him. "Not to mention I only booked that hotel room for two weeks. Even if I wanted to stay I wouldn't be able to, they are already booked for the next two months." She finally turned to look at him and noticed his shocked expression. "Don't make that face, I'll be back in two months."

"Two months..." AlHaitham repeated quietly. The scenes from the past few weeks went through his mind. Their first night together, taking care of her when she felt bad, waking up next to her every morning until now... he wasn't ready to lose all of that for two months.

He lifted his eyes to look at her. Her beautiful face changed by a sad smile as she looked at him. He suddenly felt the need to make her smile. No matter what he couldn't let her go. Not now, not in the nearest future. "Miko..."

"Yes?"

"Move in with me."

Chapter Text

"Excuse me?" Miko asked not sure if she heard him right.

"Move in with me." AlHaitham repeated while walking closer to her and taking her hand.

She was standing there looking at him and not knowing what to say. Move in with him? How long has it been since they started officially dating? Three, four weeks? Yes, they knew each other for half a year before that, but wasn't that a bit too early for such move? But then... she didn't have her eternity anymore. She gave up on it the moment she fell in love with the man in front of her. And to be completely honest with herself... was she even ready to go back to Inazuma and continue to live without him?

She noticed his expectant gaze and that only made her even more confident of her answer. She freed her hand from his hold and taking a step back to see him better, she said with a smile: "I hope your bed is big and comfortable enough for the two of us."

AlHaitham blinked. "Wait, is that a yes?"

"Seems like it." She didn't even get a chance to give him a wide smile; next thing she knew was the feeling of his lips on hers. One of his hands was caressing her cheek, while the other one made sure to pull on her waist to keep her closer to him. She grabbed his shirt allowing herself to get lost in the moment. If that's her new life now, she regrets completely nothing.

It wasn't long until AlHaitham noticed Miko starting to shake. Worried about what might have caused it he broke the kiss only to see her giggling like crazy.

"What happened?" He asked completely confused.

"Mister acting grand sage doesn't mind being caught kissing in the middle of the day?" She grinned mischievously.

"Not in the slightest." He left a quick kiss on the tip of her nose, then took her hand in his. "On the contrary, I want the entire world to see how happy I am now with you by my side."

"That's quite a confession, mister." She teased him as she squeezed his hand. "What if I'll get used to it and demand hearing that daily?"

"I'll be more than glad to make your wish come true."

***

After an eventful morning AlHaitham and Miko decided to take their time while doing some sightseeing in Mondstadt. It wasn't until evening when they finally got back to their hotel room and Miko could enjoy taking a relaxing bath.

After she was done she sat in front of the mirror to begin her evening skin care routine. Her plan for that nigh was simple; she definitely wanted to look her best. Sleeping in makeup is a crime she was nowhere near willing to commit, but she still had some tricks to enhance her natural beauty. Looking into the mirror she adjusted the straps of her light pink night dress, then put on matching silky robe and flipped her long hair back. She would lie if she said she wasn't hoping to have some fun that night.

Moving on to the bed she made sure to sit in a way to perfectly showcase her legs. She slightly exposed her right shoulder before reaching for a book to kill some time before her "victim" will get out of the shower.

After some time AlHaitham has left the bathroom with a towel in his hands, trying to dry his hair with fast movements. She noticed (with slight disappointment) that he was wearing a tank top, but it was a detail she planned to take care of later. Impatient to see his reaction to her she kept on pretending to read, only to notice him getting on the bed next to her and grabbing his own book without as much as a glance at her.

The audacity! She thought as she put her book down and looked at him being busy with the text in front of his eyes. Without giving it a second thought, she swiftly moved to sit on him and took the book out of his hands.

"Miko?" His eyes widened a bit in response.

"I'm sorry" she leaned closer to him,  putting both her hands on his chest "but I'm afraid I have different plans for you for tonight." and with a sly smile she leaned in more just to leave a kiss on his lips.

"Wait... we just... the test and... and all" he tried to protest despite his hands already reaching out to rest on her thighs. "What if..."

"There's no need to worry." she smiled sweetly at him. "This time we have those..." she reached for the nightstand and took a tiny box to wave it in front of his eyes. He finally seemed to understand her intentions as he took the box from her hand then moved his other hand to cup her cheek and pull her closer.

She let out a satisfied sigh fully focusing on the taste of his lips. She could feel his hand travelling down her back before he pulled her closer and switched their positions. Looking up at him she noticed growing lust in his eyes; she lightly nodded her head allowing him to take the lead. Feeling his lips moving down her chin, her neck and reaching her clavicle she could feel the anticipation reaching its peak.

Her hand burried in his hair on the back of his head, she closed her eyes fully giving herself in to the growing pleasure. "You don't have to be gentle with me if you want to..." she said and it was that exact sentence that put his movements to stop. She opened her eyes and saw him completely retract.

"I refuse." He said shortly before moving away to lay down on the bed next to her. "I refuse to be anything but gentle to you." was the last thing he said before moving his arm to cover his face.

Feeling dumbfounded she slowly sat back on the bed and adjusted her robe. She couldn't help but worry about his reaction. "Did I... do something wrong?"

"No." He answered without even trying to continue.

"Then what happened?" Was her hope for a heated moment between them really such a big crime?

Few minutes had passed when he finally started speaking in a quiet voice. "There were... rumors about me."

"What rumors?"

He sighed before continuing. "Back when I was a student there were some girls interested in me. They were trying to get in my bed but failed. And one of them started that rumor... according to her we slept together and I was aggressive, to say the least."

Miko couldn't help but remain quiet; she wanted to hear the rest of his story with no intentions to interrupt him.

"Chocking, slapping, using handcuffs... whatever might come to your mind she said that I did to her. And everyone believed her. Because apparently..." he let out a bitter laughter "... if you are an introvert who avoids people and likes to stay at home, it means that you are into some aggressive sex crap."

After his confession the silence fell between them. Miko couldn't help but feel slight pain in her chest. Why? Just why people are misunderstanding this man so badly? "You're not." she said and her words made him move his arm away from his face and look at her. "You're nothing like the rumors about you."

"There was even a case of someone missing. They tried to use those rumors to frame me..."

"Did you try to fight those rumors?"

"I tried... at first. Then I gave up. You know that I'm not the nicest person and some conversations ended up... getting quite heated."

"Verbal exchanges escalated into physical ones, hmm?" A light trace of smile greeted her lips.

"Something like that." He finally smiled before pulling her into his arms. "Aren't you scared?"

"Scared? Of what?" Her eyes met his expectant gaze.

"Of me." AlHaitham whispered.

She touched his cheek and saw him leaning into her hand. "Never, not even for a second. You're the most gentle man I've ever met in my entire life. I don't care about some baseless rumors; I got to know the real you and that's what matters to me. And trust me, if any of those rumors were real we wouldn't be here now."

He got closer to leave a soft kiss on her lips. "No wonder you made me fall in love with you that hard. You are the wisest woman I've ever met."

"Some would argue with that."

"What do you mean?" He furrowed his brows.

"You're not the only victim of rumors." It was Miko's time to let out a bitter laughter. "Didn't you know that being a shrine maiden is basically the same as being a prostitute? Not to mention... being the archon's pet that lures men to their doom?"

"You can't be serious right now."

"Oh but I totally am. You'd be surprised how many men claimed to have me in their bed. Or recently I've became my best friend's lover because apparently women can't bicker in a friendly way without being accused of sleeping with each other." Miko shook her head in disgust. "Sometimes I think that people will do anything but try to understand others. After all it's easier to assume things and put a label on someone, than just get to know and understand them better."

"You don't deserve that..." he pulled her into his arms again. "I don't care about the rumors about me, but whoever tries to talk shit about you will be punished for that severly, I promise."

"Are you trying to play a hero for my sake?"

"And what if I do?" She noticed a hint of smile on his lips.

"Nothing." She lightly kissed him. "But I'm warning you, being my hero might have some serious consequences. Like for example you're not allowed to leave my side ever again."

"If that's the kind of consequences that might await me I'm more than willing to take that role."

***

"Are you ok?" Miko asked. A picture of his reaction to first teleportation still vivid in her mind, she carefully studied his face for anything that could hint at incoming disaster. It was a late afternoon already and they just teleported to Liyue as an answer to the invitation received from AlHaitham's best friend.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not going to throw up again." His face lightly blushing when he heard her giggle, he took her hand in his as he started to walk ahead. "I don't want you to see me in that state again..."

"But I enjoyed taking care of you."

"And I'd rather take care of you." He answered while still avoiding looking at her. "When we'll get back to Sumeru..."

"Oooh?" the teasing tone of her voice succeeded at finally getting his attention. "Is that a threat or promise?"

"Depends what kind of treatment you have in mind."

"What if it's a naughty kind of treatment?"

Trying to fight the smile that threatened to take over his lips, he answered "then it's definitely a promise."

Her amused smile didn't falter even as they approached the building that belonged to the well known doctor. The door on the front led to the Bubu Pharmacy, which was surprisingly busy considering the time of the day. When they entered through the door a young man standing behind the counter noticed them immediately.

"Mister AlHaitham, nice to see you again!" Young man smiled at them before adding: "Doctor Baizhu already finished his job for today and is waiting for you at home." Saying this he opened the passage to let them get to the door behind the counter. The moment AlHaitham grabbed the dorknoob and opened the door they suddenly felt like they were pulled into a chaos.

Only thanks to his reflexes AlHaitham managed to avoid flying mechanical finch that would collide with his head if he didn't retreat fast enough. "What the hell..." he said before a screaming little girl with light hair put in two buns and ponytails run through the other side of the hall.

"Watch your sssteps!!" A familiar voice of a reptile, usually glued to his best friend's arms followed the light haired girl and AlHaitham noticed the snake desperately trying to stay on her head.

Somewhere inside the house his best friend was throwing around words with a speed of the best machine gun owned only by elitary Fatui soldiers, while the running kid seem to completely ignore his attempts at slowing her down.

"Welcome to the jungle." He said while looking at Miko and noticed that she could barely hold in the laughter. Before she answered anything, he felt something pulling at the hem of his shirt.

"Ah... Haihai." A familiar monotonous voice made him look down to notice purple haired little girl grabbing on his shirt. Suddenly the screams of the other girl stopped only for her to soon scream...

"Qiqi, did you just say Haihai???"

"Haihai?" Miko lifted her eyebrow with an amused smile still playing on her lips.

"That's the nickname those girls gave me..." before he could even try to say more, the light haired girl run towards him followed by tall woman with similar hair color.

"Yaoyao stop running!"

"Mom, mom, it's mister Haihai!!" The girl looked at the man in front of her with awe. "Mister Haihai!!!!!!!"

"My apologies..." the girl's mom bowed politely.

Before any of them had a chance to answer, the owner of the house appeared in front of them. "Please, take lady Yae to your room, I'll call for you for the dinner." was all he said before his attention went to the little girl and her mom.

"Your room?" Miko asked curiously.

"Yeah... he insisted on giving me my own room in his house." He took her hand and lightly pulled her away from the chaos. As they were walking away they heard Yaoyao proudly telling her mom "When I'll grow up I'm going to marry mister Haihai" which made AlHaitham shiver and Miko let out a loud giggle.

"Finally!" closing the door to his bedroom AlHaitham finally let out a sigh of relief. Setting their bags down, he noticed Miko looking around with a curious look on her face.

"So this is your bedroom?"

"When Baizhu bought this house he invited me here and told me to pick up a room. I refused saying that a couch in the living room would be enough, but he gave me this room instead." He sat down on the bed and looked around. "When we were younger he strongly believed that one day I'll come here with a woman and that's why such big room is needed."

"And he wasn't wrong." Miko gave him a sweet smile. "I like how spacious it is... and that he made sure to give you a double sized bed."

"Oh that's... Miko?" he almost jumped when she sat on his lap.

She put her arms around his neck before letting out simple "Hmm?" and serving him slightly devilish grin.

"What are you doing?" his voice changed into a whisper and his hands moved from the bed to move up her thighs.

"I'm relaxing." her eyes narrowed in a smile that took over her features as she very lightly licked his upper lip with the tip of her tongue.

"W-wait... we shouldn't... this isn't the time..."

"But we're not doing anything bad, are we?" she gave him a sweet kiss that started to melt his senses away.

"Wait..." desperately fighting to stay focused AlHaitham tried to talk her out of her idea.

"And if I refuse?" taking her hands away from his neck she placed them on his chest instead and lightly pushed him to fall on his back. As she took the place over him and moved closer to get another kiss...

"The dinner will be ready soon... oh." the sound of Baizhu's voice made both of them look towards the door to see AlHaitham's best friend standing there with his eyes opened wide. "The condoms are in the top drawer." the doctor said as he pointed at the nightstand and disappeared fast behind the door.

Fast to cover his face with his hand AlHaitham refused to look at Miko after his friend just caught them in their heated moment. Worried that she might feel embarassed as she moved to sit on the bed instead, he decided to give her a moment before looking at her until... he heard her giggle.

Slowly removing his hand to uncover his face, he noticed Miko holding her stomach while trying hard to keep the laughter. "Why are you..." his voice stuck in his throat as he noticed what brought her so much joy to begin with.

"They really are here." She said as she took the small box out of the drawer. The moment she noticed his expression she couldn't hold it anymore and bursted out into laughter.

"Oh come on. It's not... it's not that funny, ok?" He tried to reason with her only to fail badly as he started to laugh along with her.

****

"Already?" Baizhu looked at AlHaitham with widened eyes, when the latter entered the kitchen and joined him in preparations for dinner.

"What the hell do you..." realizing what his friend meant he lightly punched him. "We didn't do anything!"

"Aww and here I thought I did a great job by leaving in the right moment." Baizhu tried to pretend being overly worried. "I even told you where the condoms are!"

"Why the hell did you even put them there??"

"To make sure that you are protected while getting some pleasant moments. And for you to not repeat your previous unprepared actions. Not gonna lie, I'm quite surprised that your calculating mind stopped working at the most crucial moment."

"I see you have quite the fun now, may I end it by hitting you even harder?"

Letting out bright laughter Baizhu lifted his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Ok, ok, I'm done teasing you, I promise." He quickly changed his amused expression to slightly worried one. "But I feel like there is someting on your mind that doesn't let you relax. What is it?"

It took a long moment of pondering before the acting grand sage finally said: "I survived."

"Congratulations." Baizhu said while looking at him. "What exactly did you survive?"

His question brought unexpected silence, as AlHaitham clearly tried to avoid answering at all cost, but at the same time he couldn't get it out of his mind. Trying hard to avoid his green-haired friend's questioning gaze, he opened his mouth as if he was ready to speak, then closed it and fell silent again. Repeating the pattern multiple times he finally managed to let it out in a barely audible voice: "... long." was all he said, while still avoiding his friend's eyes.

"You survived... long?" Baizhu couldn't help the confused question. "What exactly do you mean by... ooooooh." The realization finally kicked in and one look at his friend's weirdly shy behaviour seemed to confirm his idea. "What's so wrong about it that put you in such shy state?"

"Shouldn't it be, you know..." he cleared his throat before finishing: "shorter?"

"You either have years of solo trainings behind you or are naturally born talent. There is also your personality and the fact that you are quite a dick yourself." He noticed the disgusted face his friend made and trying hard not to laugh, continued. "I'm joking Haitham. Just enjoy the fact that your first time lasted longer than average and both of you could enjoy being intimate for a while."

"I was... focused on trying to hold in my excitement." AlHaitham admitted while stubbornly staring at the table as if it was the most interesting thing he's ever seen. "I wanted her to feel as good as possible with me."

"So you were entirely focused on surviving long instead of losing yourself in a pleasure?"

"But I did enjoy it!" He finally looked up at Baizhu and saw his gentle smile. "You're laughing at me."

"Of course I don't. But I think your worries about her feeling good above all are adorable." Noticing his friend opening his mouth, he stopped him by saying: "You did the right thing, you cared about your partner's well-being. Not many men can do that."

"Thanks, I guess?" Desperate to change the topic for more comfortable one, AlHaitham said: "There is one more thing."

"What is it?"

Losing the battle for keeping himself from smiling, he looked at him friend and confessed: "She agreed to move in."

"Now that's something worth celebrating!" Baizhu served him huge smile before moving to the small shelf and pulling out a bottle of wine. "Unfortunately Lisa won't be able to join us in toast, but maybe lady Yae will be happy to do that."

"You keep on calling her 'lady Yae'. Why?"

"Out of pure respect."

"But she literally introduced herself as Miko."

Baizhu shrugged his shoulders. "But she didn't give me a direct permission to use her name."

"Are you serious right now?" AlHaitham couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Piss off, we respect certain rules in Liyue unlike certain inviduals in Akademiya."

"Are you trying to pick up a fight with me?"

"Archons no. I would never!" Baizhu shoot at him an extremely amused version of his usual smile.

"Asshole." Was all AlHaitham was able to say before their discussion came to an end with the arrival of the lady of the house.

"Come on boys, it's not the time for fights." Lisa came to the kitchen with Miko right behind her. Both girl were holding trays with plates and glasses prepared for their dinner. "Just kiss and make up already."

"What the..."

"By the way Haitham." Baizhu said to get his friend's attention. "I was asked to give you this..." he handed him an elegant-looking file folder.

"What's this?" AlHaitham asked while accepting the item from his friend.

"Just open it."

Doing as he was told, the gray haired man opened the file folder and looked at the document inside. "It's a godparent certificate?"

"Nikolai dropped by and asked to give you this. He wants you to be his baby boy's godfather." Baizhu gave him a small smile as he accepted his wife's embrace. "Though I have to admit that he stole my own idea."

"You want me to be your baby's godfather?"

"Obviously."

"Zhu, as if I ever say no to that." AlHaitham shook his head. "To both of you actually. You're my best friend and even though I don't really know Nikolai for that long I owe him my life. It's an honor to be a godparent for both of your kids."

"Then just sign this up and wait for 2nd one in few months from now." His friend smiled gently. "But now shall we finally get to the dinner part?"

"I thought you'll never ask."

***

Later in the evening AlHaitham and Miko finally went back to their room in Baizhu's house. After spending some time in the bathroom Miko came back to the bedroom and was greeted by the view of her precious boyfriend sitting on the bed and visibly deep in thoughts.

"Is something bothering you?" She asked while combing her long hair.

"No. Just... thinking."

Miko put her hair brush on the nightstand and moved to stand in front of him. He shortly looked up at her before pulling her down to sit on his lap and burrying his face in her shoulder.

"Can you tell me what are you thinking about?" Her hand wandered to comb her fingers through the back of his hair, something she enjoyed doing a lot lately. "Maybe I'll be able to help?"

She could hear him letting out a long sigh before he finally spoke. "Last time I've been in this room I was in a rather bad state. Both physically and mentally."

Miko couldn't help but recall her conversation with Lisa from few hours ago. She mentioned him appearing in the middle of the storm, weak and bleeding, needing immediate help from her husband. However she didn't want to share the details, insisting that it should be him telling her the story behind his hip's injury.

"I went through the Chasm." AlHaitham quietly started his story. "It's not exactly the safest route but I didn't really care about it back then, I just wanted to leave Sumeru as soon as it was humanly possible. Unfortunately I ended up involved in a fight between a group of treasure hunters and Fatui agent. It was his knife that stabbed my hip and the white branches-like looking scar around it is what is left after the poison infused on his blade. And that man was Nikolai."

"Nikolai? The one who asked you to be his baby's godfather?"

"Yes. He was the one who brought me here and asked Baizhu to save my life without even knowing that he brought his best friend who was almost knocking at the death's door. Only thanks to Baizhu's connections and the access to Fatui's secret cure against their own poison I was able to survive. Obviously my friend's amazing healing skills helped a lot with patching me up."

"So you got involved into a fight and almost died?" Miko's hand stopped combing through his hair. "What happened to get you in such situation? What were you running away from?"

"You might find it pathetic, but..." he lifted his face from her shoulder and finally looked at her. "It was back then that my dreams about you got the most intense. I felt like I was suffocating the longer I was away from you and desperately needed to run away from Sumeru."

"I don't think you are pathetic." Miko's hands cupped his cheeks. "I'm sorry those dreams were such a burden to you."

"It's not that my dreams were a burden." He took one of her hands and gently kissed its inner part. "It's more like I couldn't stand being with you in a dream then forced to be so far away when I woke up."

"That's why I don't intend to disapear ever again." Her soft smile made it impossible for him to look away. "Because you weren't the only one who was desperately longing for someone's presence." Getting closer to him as she spoke, she could almost feel his lips touching her own.

"I would go crazy if I was forced to keep on living with only those dreams." His words were followed by a deep kiss, one that melted her senses away. "Stay with me Miko. Now and forever."

"As if I even wanted to back off now." Was all she managed to say before he captured her lips with his own again. "I hate to break it to you mister, but I'm not going anywhere. Besides..." she lightly licked his upper lip and started to giggle. "... I licked you so you're mine."

Unable to remain serious AlHaitham joined her with a laughter on his own. "Yes. I definitely am yours."

***

Muscular, middle aged man with an eye patch was sitting in the middle of a well hidden room inside bustling district of Inazuma City when three men entered through the iron door. One of them bowed his head as if to notify his boss about finished task, while the other one slightly pushed their companion to the middle of the room.

"Well, well." The man with an eye patch smiled widely making the scar on his face glow in the dim lamp light. "If it isn't my favourite business partner! What brings you here to my humble abode?"

"Please." The man in the middle of the room took of the hood of his coat revealing disheveled blue hair and cold eyes. "Don't act surprised after calling out for me."

"Oh? Still didn't learn proper respect, did we?" Muscular man shook his head in disappointment. "Well then... how's your job going?"

Blue haired man froze on the spot for a second before answering. "I'm working on it."

"Are you sure about it?"

"I already told you, she left Inazuma and..." he stopped in the middle of his sentence when the big man threw a piece of paper on the desk in front of him.

"If she's not in Inazuma then what is this?" He pointed at the paper with a shrine printed on it along with a slogan encouraging to participate in a meeting with the highest priestess.

"..."

"I thought we had a deal." Intimidating man took the tone of disappointed father scolding his kid. "You promised to deprive her of her authority in exchange for getting her to yourself. And yet she's happily preparing for a meeting with shrine's visitors."

"I thought she left the country." Blue haired man rolled his fists on his sides. "I told you, I need more time to..."

"Time" the other man interrupted him "is the most precious resource you can give to someone. And your time is running out. Unless you want the entire Inazuma along with your precious sister to know what kind of person the head of the Kamisato clan really is."

"Is this all about my sister? Because if you want her, I could..."

"I think you misunderstood." His companion stood up from his chair to circle the desk and sit on it in front of him. "Unlike you I don't find the joy in taking the innocent by force. And judging by her age your sister could be my daughter. Not that such age difference would ever stop YOU from reaching for someone's chastity."

"You know nothing about me." The head of the Kamisato clan spoke through his clenched teeth.

"I know more that you would expect, boy." Letting out a deep laughter the man reached for a cigar. "How's that maid... Misaki, was it? She was only 15 when late lord Kamisato hired her to help her family. I've heard you were already an adult when she appeared and yet that didn't stop you from taking what was never yours."

"How did you..." younger man's eyes opened wide before he realized that he just admitted to what was meant to be a bait.

"Didn't I already tell you that I know more about you that you might expect?" Muscular man stood up from the desk and approached him. "So let me tell you once again: I want you to keep your promise. And that promise was to remove lady Yae from her position no matter the cost. Though with your peculiar... hobby... I'd say I might have an idea how exactly you want to do that. After all..." he let out the fog of the cigar "... the title of a Guuji can only belong to a virgin, right?"

Feeling like a little child who was just called out by his parent, young lord of the oldest of clans spoke with confidence "I can reassure you that my work will be done soon."

"Very well. After all..." big man reached to his tie and adjusted it before continuing "It would be such a waste if those white suits that you seem to love so much got stained with red, don't you think?"

***

After being escorted out by the same two men who brought him inside before, the head of the Kamisato clan made sure to cover himself with his coat again. Putting the hood low enough to cover his face, he said "Takuya."

"Yes, my lord?" A man covered entirely in black kneeled down in front of him.

"Send the Shuumatsuban to the shrine. Apparently lady Guuji showed up. Make someone follows her every move."

"As you wish, my lord."

"After that send a message directly to her that the head of the Kamisato clan wants to meet her to talk about the upcoming event."

"The upcoming event, my lord?"

"Yes, Inazuma needs more fun events prepared by Yashiro commission and Grand Narukami Skrine, don't you think? But make sure that the message is delivered directly to her. After all..." his lips curved in a smile that didn't reach his cold eyes. "... we're trying to catch a sly fox here."