O-O- 4 Years Later –O-O

“Sora! It’s been so long!” Natsumi called to her friend. Sora, a beautiful woman with long, elegant milky blue hair ran over to her best friends, Natusmi and Hazuki.

“Hey, how are you guys doing?” she smiled as she sat down at the little French-styled café.

“We’re good.” Natsumi cheeped, “Although all the boys we went to college with were plain and dull…”

“Um, Natsumi…” Hazuki poked her friend.

“Oh, right. Hazuki and her boyfriend Yori are in an adult RE-LA-TION-SHIP!” Natsumi giggled.

“N-Natusmi…!!” Hazuki blushed furiously.

“But more importantly, you are too, right?” the perky fireball grinned.

“Well, yeah…” Sora blushed. It seems after four years, she’s still blushing a lot. I’ll bet Daichi is too…

“So… You two… Have gone all the way, right…?” the akward Hazuki asked.

“Wh-What?! N-No! No!”

“Ehhh?” Natsumi booed, “That’s BORING.”

“Well… We’re taking it slow, you know…”

“But he already proposed to you, right?”

“Mm-hm…” Sora was caught up in her dream world.

“And you accepted, right?” Hazuki put her face closer, interested in the outcome.

“Y…Yeah…”

“Yay! Congrats! Congrats!” the two girls threw confetti in the air.

“Show me the ring!” Natsumi grabbed for Sora’s right hand.

“Ooh, it’s pretty… A diamond with sapphires surrounding it…” Hazuki blushed in awe.

“Stainless silver band… Yup, this is PERFECT for you. How did Negishi, the guy who’s working as a mangaka get so damn successful??”

“Now, now, Natsumi…” Hazuki giggled.

It was true. Daichi had become pretty famous in the year he had been out of college. He was authoring the series “Tiger Heart”. It was about a boy who changed into a tiger, beat up the bad guys, and even had a little love on the side. The boy and girl were roughly based off of Sora and Daichi.

“Kuga-senpai has a boyfriend too. Apparrently, he’s very sweet, a bit of a bad-boy type, and very handsome.” Natsumi dreamed, “Man… I wish I had a boyfriend who saw me and me only…”

“You will, Natsumi. You’re very cute.” Sora smiled.

“Aw, thanks Sora! You’re a real friend!”

“And what am I?” Hazuki lifted an eyebrow.

“Chopped liver…?”

“Geez!” Hazuki pouted and laughed. Sora was happy that she was with her friends again. Now, you might be asking… What was Sora doing? Well, she had just graduated Takagawa university, and was planning to become a children’s book illustrator. The couple was both working in the book industry.

“I’m home!” Sora called out in the little apartment.

“Ah, welcome home.” Daichi replied. YES. THEY ARE LIVING TOGETHER. After one year in college, they decided to be near each other all the time. They really were in love with each other.

“I’m going to an interview tomorrow for a publishing company.”

“That’s great.” He scratched his head, thinking about something, “Um, have you started looking at things for the wedding?”

“Oh, yes. Natsumi, Hazuki and I did today. Hazuki’s sewing my dress herself.”

“Who designed it?”

“Me and Natsumi.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you were into that kind of stuff.” He leaned back in his chair away from his drawings.

“Well, I gave a basic drawing of my dress, and Natsumi made it better and practical. She’s a clothes designer, you know.” She lifted her purse onto the rack.

“Ah, I see.”

“Daichi? What’s wrong?” she peeped her eyes near him.

“Y-Yeah… I’m fine…” he brushed it off.

“Oh, OK. I’ll start making dinner.” She was as dense, as usual. He gathered up his courage, walked into the kitchen, and leaned his shoulder against the white seashell wall.

“So… Sora, we’ve been together a long time, haven’t we…?” he asked, not trying to seem suspicious (he fails in my eyes, but…)

“You’re right. You’re my first boyfriend, and my last.” She smiled, “My soon-to-be-husband.” She blushed a little.

“Y-Yeah… Um…” Daichi went red, “What… Do you think about having… Chi-“

“Oh!” Sora exclaimed, “I forgot to get the laundry started! Since dinner’s almost ready, could you just turn off the fire in two minutes? Thanks!” she ran over to the pile of clothes and ran out the door to go to the apartment’s washing machine. Daichi sighed and went to his dresser.

“How to get girls in the mood… Try bringing them into the mood casually ARGH!” he ripped the weird pamphlet into shreds, “Sora fell in love with me for me, and I fell in love with Sora for her. I just… Feel a little… Insecure… I want her to know that I want all of her, and that she owns all of me… I want to be one with her, in heart and body… I mean, most guys do it ‘cause they’re perverted, and it’s not like I don’t wanna do it, but… I want her to know my devotion. If we have a child, I’d stay by her and help care for it. I’ll always stay by her side…” Daichi had been thinking about these things for a long time. He wanted to not just love her… He wanted to feel her… But Sora was delicate, sensitive. He didn’t want to hurt her, no matter what.

“OK, it’s going…” Sora turned on the washing machine and raised her finger to her lip, “Go… All the way, huh…? I do want to… I want him to know that I’m his, but… I don’t want him to see… I don’t want him to see it…” she held her hand a little bit below her chest and squeezed the cloth covering it.

Sora walked back up to the apartment to see her lovely Daichi waiting with dinner ready.

“It smells great.” He smiled.

“Thanks.” She giggled. Tonight’s dinner was curry with jasmine rice, Daichi’s favorite. They ate and talked as they usually did, cleaned up afterward, then they went to the bathroom one by one to brush their teeth and take a shower. Sora had already finished and was sitting on her bed. Now, even though they were living together, they slept on different beds. It just seemed odd to sleep together, for some reason…

Daichi washed his body thoroughly. He had to ask her tonight. They were getting married in half a year, but he was still feeling insecure… He slipped on his jeans after drying himself and slipped on his gold pendant that Sora had given him as her first present to him.

“Huh? What’s this?”

“Well, it has a cool shape, huh? Like a fang. I thought you’d like it. It’s not very clanky, and I just…” Sora fiddled with her fingers.

“I like it.” He smiled and shifted the thin gold chin around his neck. It reached down to about three inches from his neck.

Daichi walked out of the bathroom, shuffling the towel through his hair.

“Daichi, why are you just wearing your jeans? You’ll catch a cold if you walk around like that.” Sora giggled and was about to grab a shirt for him, but he held her wrist. He pulled her close to him softly and kissed her on the lips. Sora thought it was like always, and she was happy. She was so caught in the moment… Daichi stroked his hand not holding her wrist on her hair, and gently eased her into the bed. Then, Sora realized what was happening.

“D-Daichi…?” she separated from their kiss and whispered, only to be kissed gently again. He released the kiss and placed his lips tenderly down her neck, and nuzzled at her ear. She felt like she would drown in his warmth. But then, he released her wrist and started to remove her white night gown’s strap from her shoulder.

“No…!!” she cried and pushed him away. He felt… dejected, “I mean, not now…”

“Why?” he asked bluntly, “I’m sorry, I just… Feel like you could go running off with another guy.”

“That wouldn’t-!”

“I want you to know that I belong to you.” He whispered.

“Daichi…” she was touched, but she couldn’t…

“I got it. We won’t do it.” He put his shirt back on.

“Daichi…!” she pleaded.

“Forget it!” he yelled, and Sora flinched, “Sorry. I’ll go sleep in my own room.” He walked out. Sora needed to straighten out these things… Why didn’t she sleep with him? Well… That’s a story… For the next chapter.