"Will you accept?"

The young adult girl gazed thoughtfully back in to the cold, blackened eyes of the man she had only recently become reacquainted with. The ivory ceiling fan gleamed lightly as the headlights from vehicles far beyond the motel window occasionally reflected upon it mid-whirl. Her pale fingers were entwined in the sweaty, alabaster sheets as she considered his offer.

"I guess I should have known better than to think that after five years on hiatus, you would contact me just for a spontaneous romp in the sack," she chuckled softly as the very corners of her lips upturned.

She drew the pad of her right, index finger to her bottom lip and tapped it slowly, rhythmically, as she wholly absorbed the sight of his long, ebony strands of hair scattered wildly about the pillow case.

An abrupt sigh escaped her.

"I accept, I suppose… but to be clear, I don't much appreciate being invited here under false pretenses," she explained firmly, despite the dreamy glint in her amber eyes.

"You assumed the purpose of my proposal," Illumi replied, his tone devoid of any traceable emotion. "I only stated on the phone that I wished to meet with you; I never said the reason."

The girl rolled lazily on to her back, petting down the many disheveled strands of deep plum shaded hair as she did so. As much effort and energy as she routinely placed in to her strict composure, it seemed that even after borrowing years to ignore her completely the Zoldyck still knew how to handle her almost too well..

Her eyes danced from the scattered assortment of clothing across the floor (that created a littered path up to the bed) over to the digital alarm clock on the night stand that stated "3:05" in bold red. Was it past three already?

'Time flies when you're having fun, they say,' she mused.

"You win," she grinned sheepishly as she repositioned herself on top of him with her knees slightly parted. "There are a couple of conditions, though."

"…And they are?"

"One: this counts as the favor I owe you… and two…"

Her purple hair tipped forward as she did, the ends scarcely touching his chin while her face hovered inches from his.

"…You can't just disappear for another handful of years without giving me my fix," she teased with an arched brow.

"Deal," he agreed with a shrug.

Misaki hadn't changed at all since the last he had met with her, Illumi realized, and fortunately she was still fairly easy for him to manipulate. While he had indeed requested to meet with her to discuss the job he wanted her to do for him, it was definitely far less unanticipated than he'd let on when it came to the sex. If there was anything he had learned about managing her in the past, it was that she was quite stoic and stubborn generally. However, her apparent fondness for him could always be exploited between the sheets, and so long as he played his cards right he knew that she would bend to his will without further encouraging.

Give a little, get a lot.

"Well, since that's settled…" Misaki responded in a husky whisper.

Her nails slowly raked down his bare chest as she retreated below the shelter of the covers. The heat of her breath trailed across his skin and he let out a nearly inaudible gurgle and closed his eyes once she'd reached her destination.

He supposed even the "giving" was hardly a burden sometimes...