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Silenced briefly by Sayuri's obvious upset, Oz's mind scrambled to find an easy mid-way point to meet her. He didn't want to see her upset, but it wasn't really his place to take her 'circle' first. Had that stopped him before though? Not really. So what about the tail? Well...Oz was technically now 'one of them', so maybe it wouldn't be so weird...

His mind went on like this for many moments, whirring at a mile a minute, whilst trying to get words to come from his mouth.

"No no, you have't done anything...ugh..." he began, quite obviously flustered.

He hated talking with girls sometimes, they always managed to turn the bravest of men into puddles of jelly. His body slumped slightly, and he hung his head. Gently, he pulled himself closer to Sayuri once more. And then it hit, a smile returning to that chiselled face.

"Of course I like you, and I am quite honoured that you have let me get this close," he said with all seriousness, despite the grin. "I think...you need to finish our lessons first."

Her words only just penetrated Oz's skull, but her quiet voice made it easy to pretend he hadn't heard her. Love? She couldn't possibly love him, not so soon...or did she just crave affection and protection? Oz could certainly offer up both, as the delicate Maiko had summoned the 'me man, me protect woman' feelings.

Feeling her form fit back into place in his lap, nestling against his chest, he fell back into the rythmic stroking of her back. Occasionally, his hand drifted across the top of her thigh and her bum, working on impulse and automatic actions. For every whimper that escaped those lips, it would only make his actions seem more automatic.

For the most part, his senses were blissfully ignorant of her fish-attributes, since her scales were hidden beneath a kimono and her tail was only apparent when she moved it. But that didn't quell the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, physically mansifesting this with the odd clumsy fumble now and then.

Did he have the courage to be bold? Well, he began to justify his actions by claiming it would make Sayuri happy. As long as she didn't get upset, what did it matter? So, as his hand began sweeping up her back, it detoured at the base of her ribcage and lightly brushed over her chest.

"Don't you think its time you start doing what makes you happy?" he asked her, with a blunt honesty that contrasted with the tender moments exchanged between them.

Well, at least she knew her breasts to be a 'taboo' area on her body. But Oz realised he'd gone too far, and maybe he was glad of it too. It brought his testosterone levels back down again, so that maybe he could be a little more rational. Afterall, he was just feeling up someone who was half FISH!

It didn't stop him from feeling like a rat though. He too had to look away from Sayuri as she flinched, his head dipping in shame.

"Heh, I guess thats a lesson for another time..." he mumbled sheepishly, as if it was his excuse.

His progressively tighter embrace of the mermaid had slackened somewhat now, to give her some space. He wasn't some kind of sexual predator, at least not yet. At Sayuri's comments, Oz grunted in frustration.

"But you shouldn't be UNhappy as a result of pleasing others," he said reasonably, trapped by his lack of knowledge of her culture.

Oz didn't know what to feel. Sadness for this apparent rejection, despite a mutual fondness. Frustration at her indecisiveness. Impatience at the lack of speed in getting further than kissing. His body felt so cold without her closeness now, and he seemed somewhat dumb-struck.

"Alright Sayuri," he sighed heavily, looking down at his feet for a moment. He wrapped his robe about him as he stood up, maybe as a stop-gap solution to the loss of her bodily warmth.

Using the cane, he hobbled over to Sayuri's side, stealing one last little kiss on her cheek.

"Take your time Sayuri, you know where to find me," he said with a gentle, if forced, smile.

The returned kiss was a surprise, but a welcome one. Had it not been for the poor girl's previous hesitation and confusion over this liasion, he might pushed himself a little into her.

But he didn't want to scare her further away.

The genuine smile on his face spoke words that he might have felt uncomfortable to say. He gave a playful nudge and walked beside her to the door, actually being the steadier of the two despite his bad knee.

Sayuri's touch seemed to tingle over his heart, her words lingering in the space between his ears long after she'd descended the stairs. Deep inside, his guts twisted and turned, possibly still from his transformation the day prior.

Or because he felt so conflicted about his mermaid.

Slumping against the door, he sighed heavily and rather his mind to the task of gathering blood-spattered sheets and any semblance of courage to ask the labs for some new clothing. But his eyes could not help wandering over that spot on the bed where they almost had their forbidden tryst.