One day, I was going to get my sleep issues looked at. I grumbled as I threw on a shirt and quickly brushed my hair, ready to rush out the door and book it to work. if I was lucky, I’d only be late by ten minutes or so. I closed the door behind me as I accidentally kicked something with my shoe.

“Hm? What’s this?”

I picked up a small package on my doorstep. Examining it briefly, there didn’t seem to be a label on it or any mention of where it came from. I shrugged and opened the door again to throw it on the countertop before rushing back out.

All throughout the day I found my thoughts wandering back to the small unmarked package. A white box. No details, nothing about where it came from, nothing about who sent it. In the span of a few hours my thoughts went from curiosity and confusion to apprehension. What if it was a dangerous package? It was certainly suspicious. What was it, say something see something? The chances of it being actually harmful were slim, but my mind jumped to the worst conclusions as always. Driving home, I tried to reassure myself that maybe it was a local delivery, or meant for the apartment next door. That didn’t stop me from speeding just a bit to get back home even a little sooner. I fiddled with my keys as I unlocked the door.

“I’m home,” I called out. I slipped my shoes off and stretched, setting down my bag. No response. Was Saya not home ye–

“Welcome back!” I heard the tap, tap, tap of her running towards the door growing louder as she turned around the corner and flew into my arms.

“Oof!” I stepped backwards and hugged Saya tightly. “This is cute in theory, but also a little terrifying?” She laughed as she wormed out of my embrace.

“I was just happy to see you!” She started walking back towards the kitchen. “I’ve got dinner almost ready! Besides, it’s not like that wall hasn’t withstood ah, more forceful impacts?”

I blushed as I hung my coat up, following after her. “Hey you.” I hugged her from behind as she stirred the pot, glad she couldn’t see my reddening face.

“Hey!” She grinned and turned her head, pecking me on the cheek. “Go get changed?”

God, I loved my life.

I had only just pulled my shirt off before I heard a knock on my open door. I turned around to see Saya in her apron. Just her apron.

“I mean…” I started walking towards her. “That’s hot and all, but also how did you do that before I even took my shirt off?”

“Maybe you’re just slow.” She bit her lip teasingly.

“Hey now…” I took her hands in mine slowly before yanking them upwards and grabbing her wrists. I pushed her back into the hallway, her back pressed against the wall.

“Hey now…this is hot in theory but…yeah, just hot,” she gasped. “I’m worried for the wall though.” Her breath came out in soft, nervous titters, catching in her throat every once in a while.

“I’m just testing level of forceful impacts, you know…”

Saya giggled. “Would you like…a bath? Dinner? Or would you like…” She wiggled her chest at me.

“My god, you’re such a dork. Stop breaking me out of top spa–” I saw a white box out of the corner of my eye. It was on the coffee table, now.

“Hey, is that box for you?” I loosened my grip on her wrists. How did I not think of that?

“Oh! I was actually going to open it and see! Why don’t you go ahead?” She put her hands in her apron pockets.

Later. I’d get her later. I turned towards the coffee table. Turning my back on her was a mistake.

“Ouch!” I felt a sharp mark against the back of my neck. I instinctively brought a hand up to it. “What the?”

I turned around to see Saya in her apron, and on her right hand…metal…claws?

“Surprise!” She grinned.

Where the hell were those? I looked at her apron pockets suspiciously. “You’re not secretly carrying any more weird weapons to surprise me with, are you?”

“Hey, they’re not that sharp.” She idly ran her clawed hand against her left arm. “They’re dull enough, but they still make red lines! See!”

“Okay, but why did you bu–” Saya grabbed me by the arms, her claws digging into my right arm, and turned me around, pushing me back into my bedroom with an unfamiliar strength. She threw me against my bed and leapt on top of me.

“Haha, ha…I mean, this is hot in theory, but also uh…a little terrifying?” I tried to squirm, but her legs were pinning me down. I mean, I wasn’t getting hot by having my girlfriend on top of me. But if I was, could you blame me?

She smiled, all teeth, a strange predatory glint in her eyes.

Okay, now it was getting hot.

“I kind of bought them on a whim, they were cheap and they looked fun, and I could…draw…on you with them…” She ran a clawed finger down my chest as I shivered. “But they’re kind of fun. Too fun.”

“Like, fun for you, or fun for me?” I tried to joke.

“They’re intoxicating! Like, I just love how it looks on my hands. And I love how it feels. And I love how you look, when I scratch you with them.” She bit her lip. “That’s not weird, is it? I mean…” She started rolling her hips against me. “It’s kind of hot.”

That wasn’t making me any less hot and bothered. A moan slipped out.

“See! See you like it too, I knew you would, I just knew it…” The words tumbled out of her breathlessly as she trailed the claws down my stomach, delighting in my light gasps and hisses. “And they make the prettiest marks, and…and…”

“…And?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted her to stop or continue.

She was panting, her eyes-half lidded, her nose flaring. She swallowed and smiled. “You know…” Her voice lowered.

A shiver went up the back of my neck. I knew what that voice meant. I started feeling light-headed. The sound of blood roaring in my ears and her low, soft, smooth voice washing over me was all I could focus on. My vision of the world began to blur, but she was still crystal clear, her, her and those claws…

“…And you’ll be able to focus on me so well, yes that’s right, just like that.” She traced my cheek with a claw, and I shivered at the cold touch of it. The cold feeling, her trace on my cheek, the dull throbbing of her scratches and my body starting to beat in rhythm. “You’re doing so well for me.”

“Thank…you…” I whispered, my voice airy and light, my head nodding subconsciously, weakly. She traced lines down my chest once more, over my stomach, until her fingers stopped at my pants.

“Well well, something’s in the way, isn’t it?”

I scrambled to take them off.

Hours later, we both lay in my bed, panting and gasping for breath.

“I’m…sorry…I don’t know what came over me…” Saya mumbled as she snuggled against me. “It just felt so…good…and powerful…and… …”

In her exhaustion, she passed out mid-sentence. I still gasped for breath, covered in scratches, red lines, her bites, her marks, our fluids combined. I felt my eyes start to droop from exhaustion as I began to think about those scratches, the feeling of red-hot lines trailing all over my body, my focus on those wonderfully tight sensations, my vision tunneling on those claws…

I shook my head and cleared the cobwebs in my mind. I needed to get those off of her. Softly, I took each of her dainty fingers in hand, gently pulling the claws off of her. Wherever she got them from…

Wherever?

…Wherever she got them from, we needed to order more.

But at least we had these claws still, in the meantime. I pulled them over my own fingers to inspect them. They did feel quite nice against my skin. Something within me longed to see how it would feel against somebody else’s.