Excerpt:

Emi made a sound of pain and pushed at me. I had been holding her too tightly.

"Sorry. I'm sorry." I loosened my grip.

"What is wrong?" she murmured groggily.

"Nothing could be wrong while I am with you."

"Then why are you trying to squeeze the life out of me?" she demanded with sleepy disbelief.

"It is nothing. Nightmares."

I felt the warm press of her lips against my cheek and wondered how many more times I would feel that. "You have to sleep to have nightmares," she insisted.

My best friend was to be taken from and a stranger would probably be sent to take her place. This was a nightmare. I told her what Suzuki and I had been talking about.

"We could try to make a baby," she suggested hesitantly.

I regretted that it was too dark for me to see her face properly. "Are you sure?" I stammered.

"Yes," she answered in a tone of voice that sounded much more like 'perhaps'. "I love you. I trust you. You would make a good father."

I felt her shift on the bed and heard the soft rustle of clothing. She reached out in the darkness and took my hand. She put my hand on her bare thigh. Her skin was smooth and firm under my fingers. I do not think that I was breathing.

"Come closer," she urged. I obeyed.

"Emi," I whispered. "Do you know how to make a baby?" Her reactions after our wedding night and the calm way she was acting now left me in doubt as to how well her family had prepared her for wifely duties.

"I know how. You need to..." She reached out and touched me between my legs. I fell off the bed.

"Kurou!"

"Hush," I hissed, grateful that the darkness kept her from seeing how badly I was blushing. "I can't. I can't." It was too strange. I wanted to keep her, but this was not us.

"It's all right..." Emi whispered soothing nonsense until she coaxed me back into bed. She put her arms around me and it was no different than before. I fell asleep listening to the sound of her heart beating.