[ Her breath comes out, soft and surprised. It strikes her that he's probably holding her much the same way in reality too and the realization gives her the strangest sense of deja-vu, or something like it. The itching, oozing pain in her stomach doesn't vanish, not quite, but it gradually eases into something tolerable she can more easily dismiss as the anxious reaction of her body it truly is.

Well, if she's already being this pathetic, she might as well really indulge.

She pulls her feet up - was she ever wearing shoes when she got here? she doesn't remember - and settles them onto the seat so she can tuck herself more tightly into him. For as clingy and needy for her touch as he'd been, Ai knows she's just as bad. ]

I don't think it was a mistake. [ Still in that low, airy voice. ] I'm glad that I tried. It meant I knew how to do it properly when the time finally came.