Xelloss sighed, feeling the warm and quite physical body in his arms shift again. He hadn't been able to figure out what of Filia's movements were due to whatever she was dreaming of, and which were due to the fact that she still wasn't used to having somebody else in her bed, no less somebody else who was warm but without breath or heartbeat normally.

So far, he thought to himself, my idea's been working. I'm in a much more comfortable position than I had been in the last two times, and I had actually got to agree to having sex with Filia-chan, with her awake, too. This is as close to perfect as this could be without Filia-chan taking up talking in her sleep and telling me exactly what's wrong with her...

She shifted again, nuzzling his chest, her arms tightening around him. Damn. She's not going to... He felt her lips gently kissing his chest, getting closer, and closer to his nipples... Oh, no... She is...

Xelloss resigned himself to yet another round of being used as a sex toy. She better 'thank' me in the morning...

Filia yawned, and snuggled against Xelloss. "Good morning, namagomi," she said, the last bit almost being swallowed by a second yawn. "Sleep well?"

Xelloss moaned slightly. "My night was good, except for the two times you rode me." He paused, and decided that he might as well risk telling her, particularly after being called 'namagomi' almost first thing in the morning. "Filia-san, you're heavy..."

"What...?" Confusion blossomed, and quickly was consumed by anger. "Do you mean that I'm fat, namagomi?"

"No, Filia-san. You're a dragon." He kissed her gently, not wanting her to get too angry. "If I was a human, I'd be very badly hurt, if not dead. Could you maybe try to be a bit more gentle in your sleep?"

Filia blinked, as her mind processed that and what he had said earlier, about her riding him twice during the night. "Oh. Oh. I'm sorry, Xelloss-san! I hadn't realized..." she said, holding him close to her, but being careful as she did so not to hurt him.

"That's alright," he said with a smile. "I'm not that badly hurt, and you can make it up to me..."

Filia started to protest, but Xelloss covered her lips with his own. It was not very long until she was kissing him back very enthusiastically, her protests forgotten.

Xelloss sipped, contentedly, at his cup of tea. He had managed to settle down on the kitchen's sole chair, a high stool designed for being sat on when the cook was going to be watching a pot for long periods of time. He had chosen it for, more than anything else, the view of Filia's back as she made her own breakfast.

He was feeling rather content, and in a contemplative mood. Filia's emotions when she was willingly having sex, or at least awake during the act, tasted different from the times when she was half-asleep for it. When she was awake, her emotions were just as strong, but even more focused on him. The mix itself was different, too: one part the bitter and sour citrus flavor of love, four parts the spicy and intense wine he had decided was definitely lust. There were a few traces of negative emotions, but they were undertones, not strong enough for him to identify through the dominant mix of love and lust.

He wondered if Filia knew how she felt about him yet. He hadn't expected it, quite, until he had offered himself up to her willingly. He didn't know why she might feel that way about him, either, since she was supposed to hate him simply because he was a mazoku.

Maybe Zelas-sama was right about there being something very wrong with Filia-chan, Xelloss finally admitted to himself. "Filia-san?"

She turned, looking at the mazoku perched on her kitchen stool curiously. "Yes, Xelloss?"

"How do you feel about," he paused delibrately, "me?"

Filia blushed, her entire face going red. "I feel like I'm supposed to feel about a namagomi mazoku like you."

Xelloss smiled slightly, and wondered if she considered 'namagomi' an endearment.