"What is your problem?" It was like the old days when she had to fight him off at night.

"You're my problem," he answered breathily, standing behind her. "Don't tell me you're not enjoying this."

"Why are you acting like this now?"

"I'm inspired." Exactly why he was inspired would remain his secret though. The project just dripped with power and money, and Yui didn't even seem to care.

Naturally Fuyutsuki hadn't been happy to see him, but he had very few options. Gendo's influence over Yui was too powerful for the professor to fight.

"It's exciting, isn't it? Now that you know."

"Very exciting." He tried to steer Yui to the bedroom, but she resisted.

"Not this! The project! Don't you want to..."

"No, Yui. There's only one thing I want right now."

"Rokubungi..." She pulled away and turned around. The words to scold him were on her lips, but before she could speak, he kissed her. For a bare second, she considered fighting him off, but then, arriving home from work had never been quite so exciting before.

The mystery had been intriguing, but the things Yui had told him about the group behind it... That had really interested him.

The work itself looked to be... fairly tedious, but nothing he couldn't handle. And the money had been far better than he had anticipated. Yui really could have supported them both easily.

But now they could move someplace nice. Gendo's mind just kept taking that monetary figure and working at it, analyzing it and all the things he could do with it. It was like the whole world had been thrust into his hands.

And all for a little number crunching for something he wasn't even sure was possible. Instrumentality... whatever the hell that meant. Yet, Yui took it all very seriously, so he would try not to be too skeptical.

Just like that, easier than Gendo would have ever imagined, his life, their lives, were looking up. The ceremony, a constant thorn ever since Yui had accepted his proposal, was now a non-issue. Just what would his mother have to say now? Not that he really cared.

"Gen-chan, stop," murmured Yui, trying to find a comfortable spot next to him.

Realizing he had been tossing and turning a bit, Gendo rolled to his back and stared at the ceiling. There was something about it that made his mind contemplate, whether he wanted to or not. He simply didn't have any choice.

Invariably, his thoughts turned to Yui and what he could do to ensure her happiness, to keep her with him. If she ever got wind of the things he thought about at night, especially about keeping her with him, she'd yell and hit him for it.

Yui understood a little, that he loved her and always wanted to be with her, but she didn't understand it all. He didn't understand it all either, but he realized he couldn't remember much from the point before he started spending serious time with Yui.

Maybe she believed, or maybe she didn't, in fate, destiny, horoscopes or whatever, but he didn't. He didn't really believe it was all "meant to be," but that it was merely a lucky coincidence. The luckiest in his life that he had met her, but luck nonetheless.

However, there would be no luck involved in the success of their relationship. Anything necessary, anything he had to do to keep them together...

For Gendo Rokubungi, there would never be a step too far, a line to cross. There would never be enough. How could there be when it came to his very life?

That was one thing Fuyutsuki would never understand, or possibly even care about. Yui was untouchable; she wasn't under his protection or anything, but separating them would be like taking away the atmosphere from the planet: only an immense catastrophe could manage to do it.

Gendo was confident no man could ever do that. The only thing that could stop them was... themselves.