Free Bound Together by Corinn Heathers Page B

in my arms, but relaxed almost instantly, seeming to physically melt in the embrace. Slowly, her breathing evened out.
    A thought formed in my mind. “Hey, I know it's late now, but how about we go out for a few hours tomorrow? Get out in the world for a bit?”
    Misaki's head tilted up and she looked at me. I smiled at her.
    “O-okay,” she murmured.
    “It'll be too cold for you to wear that out of the house. You're close enough to my size that I'm sure I've got something you can borrow. We can go do a little shopping tomorrow, get you a few outfits to wear.”
    Misaki didn't say anything right away, but I could just barely see the faint curving of her lips as a smile threatened to form. I plowed ahead. “And after that we could go spend some time just walking around together. Have a nice long talk, get to know each other better, since we're going to be living together and everything. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in?”
    “I-I'd like that,” she murmured.

small wishes
     
    We got up early the next morning and headed out around eleven. There was a nice little shopping mall reasonably close to my apartment. I figured it'd be as good a place as any to find Misaki some clothes. Traffic ended up being a little heavier than I expected for a Sunday, but it wasn't too bad.
    I opened the car door and stepped out onto the weathered, stained concrete of the parking deck. The passenger side door opened a moment later and Misaki pulled herself out of the car. Her expression was one of a person trying very hard not to show how overwhelmed they were.
    “Come on, let's go take a look,” I said, beckoning for her to walk beside me. My clothes were a little long for her, but with dresses that wasn't such a big deal. The weather was as nice as we could expect for the middle of winter, but it was still cold.
    I'd lent her a simple black sweater dress and a pair of winter-weight purple tights. The contrasting colors set the red-tinged gold of her hair off in a way that was really quite fetching. Misaki's more unique physical attributes were nowhere to be found, hidden beneath some sort of magic that she maintained.
    “How long can you keep your ears and tail hidden?”
    Misaki turned to face me as we walked. “As long as I don't need to use mana for anything else. It's such a minor illusion that I can maintain it almost indefinitely.”
    “So that means we don't have to be back home by the stroke of midnight?”
    She gave me a curious look. “What do you mean?”
    “I... it's nothing, never mind.” I instantly regretted the reference; there was no possible way she would have gotten it. With more than a little effort I managed to tamp down my steadily-rising anger. As furious as I was at the bullshit she'd endured, I didn't want to make her feel any worse.
    I reached out and opened the door leading into the mall and motioned for her to head on inside. The cold was already starting to get to me a little.
    Once inside the mall, Misaki's eyes grew as big and round as saucers. I wasn't all that surprised. I didn't really need much imagination to figure she'd probably never been outside the Tsukimura compounds for any reason other than to hunt specters.
    “I've never been to a place like this before.” Misaki glanced at me. Without being able to see her ears it was harder to gauge her emotional state. It was pretty wild how expressive they were and how much I missed them when they were gone. An unfortunate compromise made so that she could blend in with us humans.
    “Yeah, it's pretty obvious. I've never seen anyone this excited about going to the mall, and I like shopping.” I reached out and took her hand in mine, tugging her along through the clusters of other shoppers. “I think there's a place over here you'd like.”
    “O-okay, Mistr—”
    “Karin,” I corrected. My voice dropped to a low not-quite-whisper. “I'm Karin. Not 'Mistress' or 'Master.' Just forget titles entirely. Just Karin,