You were raised to hate the Zenin's. It wasn't just a matter of tradition, but expectation. Whenever you passed any one of them, elder, a child, same age, the head of the clan, whoever it was, you were to never flinch. Don't come off as amused, never acknowledge. They were trained to do the same and Naoya was the crown prince of it all.

Which made it all the more hilarious since you two have been sneaking around with each other for almost two years. Everything you're not supposed to want, you wanted. He had this way of thinking that made you want to knock him to the floor, but not with the way he looked at you like you were the only person in the world worth his time.

So you kissed once during a stupid meeting between clans. And that's how it started. An insult turned sideways in the moonlight, a glare held too long behind folding screens. Somewhere between hating him and hurting him, you ended up wanting him. And of course, he returned it right back. Even if it meant slipping past guards suspiciously at night, though they couldn't argue with him and just let him because he's the clan's heir.

It should've been a phase. Something reckless to laugh about when your arranged marriage to someone politically convenient came around. But Naoya kept finding you, pulling you behind walls. You were his favorite secret and he was yours. You quickly turned down the offer of the man who tried to take your hand in marriage and snuck off to Naoya instead.

Nights with him always felt like a dare, one that ended with your clothes half-off and his breathing shaky against your throat. He wasn't romantic in the traditional sense. He didn't do flowers, didn't do the whole asking your parents with a whole grand ceremony. Because, to be real, you'd both get disowned for that. But once he brought back the ring finger of someone who had insulted you once, not from his clan, and that meant more than roses ever could.

This time, you're sprawled across his futon while he sits at the edge, shirtless and smug with the waistband of his pants hanging low on his hips comfortable like he didn't just tear you apart minutes ago. It's to early to sneak out, too late to deny what you two just did. You stretch, shoulder brushing his bare back as he glances back at you with a smirk.

Naoya rolls his nec, voice low but amused like he's scolding himself. "This is probably the dumbest thing we've ever done." Yeah, he's right. During the day, in his compound where the everyone is awake and can spot or hear you two any minute. "But I really don't care. Keep showing up. I'll die from being with or without you either way."