Hikaru changed her clothes and worked on homework for awhile before making food. She ate the result a little ruefully, glad in a way that no one else was there to taste it.

Outside it had begun to rain and she turned up the lights and made tea. She was fighting a particularly tangled chapter of history when someone pounded on the door.

Before she made it to the door she heard a woman cry, "Damnit Kiri, open up and take responsibility! This is all your fault!"

Hikaru took a deep breath and opened the door.

A pretty, small, very pregnant woman threw herself into Hikaru's arms before looking up and saying with shock, "You're not Kiri!" She shoved Hikaru away from her. Tears ran down her face and she was soaking wet.

Hikaru looked at her for a moment and then asked, "Do you want to come in?"

"Where is Kiri?!" the pregnant woman demanded.

"Korea," Hikaru replied, sounding strangely calm to her own ears. "Come in and warm up, getting soaked and chilled can't be good for your baby."

The woman reluctantly entered the house and Hikaru grabbed another tea cup from the kitchen and a couple of towels from the bathroom. She set the cup on the table and wrapped the towels around the woman. Then she pulled a folded blanket off the couch and offered it.

The woman stared up at her while she dried her hair and asked, "Who are you?"

Hikaru blushed but replied steadily, "Kiri's fiancé."

"You're lying," she said flatly.

Hikaru raised an eyebrow at her. "Kiri will call about seven, you can ask him," she said.

"I will!" she replied.

Hesitantly Hikaru asked the thing that was bothering her most, "Is it Kiri's baby?"

"It's none of your business!" she snapped.

"Yes, it is," Hikaru protested gently. "If it's Kiri's, then I'll be it's step-mother."

"You're not even wearing an engagement ring," she protested. "Kiri would definitely have given you a ring!" she insisted stubbornly.

Hikaru tapped her earring and replied wryly, "You're just not looking for the right kind of ring."

The woman gave her a disbelieving stare.

Hikaru watched her, a little concerned and poured the last of the tea for her then got up again to heat more water. "Do you want anything to eat?" she asked.

"Chocolate," was the reply.

"I don't know if we have any," Hikaru said a little helplessly. "There's some ice cream, but I'm not sure I should give you something cold yet."

"Kiri always has chocolate," the woman declared, and she clambered to her feet and walked into the kitchen. She opened the pantry cupboard and rummaged behind several bottles of vinegar, to produce a handful of different chocolate bars.

"I wouldn't have looked behind vinegar for it," Hikaru offered ruefully.

The woman stalked back to the table with her spoils and opened a candy bar. Hikaru filled the teapot again and falsely casually asked, "Chi-chan, do you want sugar or lemon or anything?"

"No, who are you really? One of his cousins?" Chi-chan asked. "Does Kiri know you're here?"

Hikaru offered her a wry smile and said, "Hitoshi Hikaru, I'm living here, despite not knowing of Kiri's chocolate stash. I'm really his fiancé."

"Why did you let me in then?" Chi-chan demanded.

"If that," Hikaru pointed at her belly, "was really Kiri's fault, I could hardly leave you out in the rain could I? What would I say to the kid later, 'yes, I did leave your other mother crying alone in the rain'?"

Chi-chan teared up again and she wailed, "It is Kiri's fault!"

Hikaru froze, and asked very quietly, "Oh?"

Chi-chan sniffled and said between sobs, "My husband is cheating on me!"

"How is that Kiri's fault?" Hikaru asked cautiously.

"He introduced us," Chi-chan explained.

"Oh," Hikaru said with relief. She leaned over and tucked the blanket up around Chi-chan.

"You're not wearing a ring and you don't look like someone Kiri would date," Chi-chan said defiantly. "I don't see any of your stuff either."

Hikaru laughed and Chi-chan stared at her. Hikaru grinned and said, "Kiri's mother is the only person who hasn't said I don't look like Kiri's type. And my things are in the bedroom and the office."

Chi-chan leapt to her feet and ran over to the office. She stared at the new shelves and asked with some shock, "You've met Kiri's mother?"

Hikaru nodded.

Chi-chan returned to the table and pulled the blanket back up around her shoulders as she sat. Then she asked, "Isn't she dreadfully scary?"

Hikaru blinked and replied, "I thought she was really elegant."

"She is," agreed Chi-chan, "and scary. Did you only meet briefly?"

"She stayed with us for a week," Hikaru replied. "What is your name actually, I've only heard Kiri and Kazuha-san say Chi-chan?"

"How did you guess that that was me?" Chi-chan countered.

"Kiri said no other woman has lived in this house with him, but you still knew right where he had his chocolate stored. Kazuha-san said you were together for years. Kiri also mentioned that you were pregnant and still friends. He said you make better friends than you did lovers," Hikaru added the last with a blush.

Chi-chan dropped the piece of chocolate she'd been holding and stared at Hikaru for a little bit. "Yes," she agreed faintly.

Hikaru smiled at her a little.

"You're really Kiri's fiancé?" she asked.

"Yes," Hikaru agreed.

Kiri called, and Hikaru let him talk to Chi-chan, whose name was Chiharu. Chiharu explained to Kiri that her husband had been working late more and more often, and finally this evening he'd come home reeking of perfume and alcohol and she'd run away.

Kiri was reluctant to believe his friend would do such a thing and wanted to call and talk to him, but Chiharu made him promise not to. "If you call he'll know where I am," she sniffled.

Kiri refrained from saying that he'd probably know where she'd gone anyway. He asked to talk to Hikaru again and Chiharu returned her phone. "Are you OK with Chi-chan staying over?" he asked.

"Yeah," Hikaru replied.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"It's OK," she replied.

"Really?" He asked wryly.

"Yeah." She hesitated but then added honestly, "I was kind of freaked out when a strange pregnant woman showed up yelling that you should take responsibility."

"Sorry," Chiharu said.

Kiri sighed and said again, "Sorry. I can't even claim that it would be completely impossible, but it's really really unlikely Hikaru."

"I know," she replied.

"I have to go," he said regretfully.

"OK," she said quietly. "Love you." She blushed.

"Love you too," he replied and disconnected.

Hikaru sighed.

Chiharu said, "Kiri's job sucks."

Hikaru laughed and said, "No, it's OK. He's happy doing it, so it's a really good job. But he has to choose which half he's going to keep when he gets back."

"But his schedule is awful," Chiharu protested.

"Mine is nearly as bad," Hikaru replied.

"What do you do?" Chiharu asked.

"Music, and I'm in a band that just started recording, so our schedule is even crazier than normal," Hikaru explained.

Chiharu stared. Hikaru raised an eyebrow at her incredulous expression.

"Kiri always says he won't date musicians," Chiharu said dubiously.

Hikaru shrugged and pulled her discarded homework onto the table and Chiharu stared open mouthed.

After a minute she asked, "Are you still in high school?"

Hikaru nodded.

"What the hell?!" Chiharu gasped.

"Sorry?" Hikaru offered without much sincerity.

Chiharu asked, "Can I borrow your phone?"

Hikaru nodded and Chiharu put in a number. When the person on the other end answered, she demanded, "Kazu, did you know Kiri is living with a high-school girl who's a musician?!"

She was disappointed at his affirmative reply. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

They talked for a little while and Hikaru finished her history homework. When Chiharu finished, Hikaru looked at her wryly.

"Sorry," Chiharu said with some embarrassment.

"It's OK," Hikaru replied.

"So do you have any recordings of your band finished that I could listen to?" Chiharu asked after a bit.

"The rough of our first music video is on my phone and there's demo songs on our website but only for fanclub members. Fans have posted videos from lives other places sometimes," Hikaru told her.

Chiharu insisted on watching the rough. When it finished she looked at Hikaru and said, "Wow, your band is really good."

"Thanks," Hikaru said with a grin.

"Did you meet Kiri through his job?" Chiharu asked.

Hikaru shook her head. "No, he didn't realize I was a musician until we'd started dating, and he didn't explain what his company produced right away either."

"That's too weird, it's too big of a coincidence!" Chiharu declared.

Hikaru shrugged. She finished the rest of her homework slowly, and they talked a little more. Then she helped set up the couch as a bed.

"Sorry, if there are more blankets, I don't know where yet," Hikaru said with some embarrassment.

Chiharu suggested a little diffidently, "He used to keep all the bedding under his bed."

Hikaru nodded and replied, "That's where the sheets are, I'll go look in the other drawers."

She located another blanket, as well as a drawer with several sex toys that she slammed shut with a great deal of embarrassment. She carried the blanket and a set of her own pajamas out to Chiharu, feeling certain that her face was scarlet.

Chiharu eyed the pajamas and her expanding belly dubiously.

"That set is pretty stretchy," Hikaru offered hopefully.

Chiharu had to ask for Hikaru's help in turning on the shower. Hikaru showed her how the controls worked.

"You look smug," Chiharu commented.

"Sorry," Hikaru replied a little shyly. "I feel a little happy that you've never taken a bath here."

Ruefully Chiharu replied, "I'm the one who should be apologizing. I've made you worry a lot this evening."

"It's OK," Hikaru replied and left her to bathe. When Chiharu was finished and settled, Hikaru took a quick shower as well and crawled into bed.

She was almost asleep when Chiharu knocked on the bedroom door.

Chiharu asked hesitantly if they could sleep together. "It seems like I've forgotten how to sleep alone," she explained.

Hikaru was feeling very tired and agreed, though when Chiharu curled up beside her and immediately began snoring lightly, she regretted it.

Eventually she managed to fall back to sleep, only to be woken what felt like moments later by someone pounding on the door. Chiharu was still snoring and Hikaru reluctantly rose and answered the door.

A tired looking man holding an umbrella stood in the porch light and asked with shock, "Who are you?"

Hikaru sighed and replied, "Hitoshi Hikaru, Kiri's fiancé." She looked him over and asked, "Why did you cheat on your wife?"

"I've never cheated on her!" he protested.

Hikaru just looked at him and he asked miserably, "Is that why she left?" He looked at her defiantly and said again, "I would never cheat on Chiharu." Then he asked anxiously, "She's here, isn't she?"

"She's sleeping," Hikaru replied. She felt too tired to keep up with another stranger's changing emotions.

He sagged with relief. "I was so worried. She left without her phone. I should have guessed that she'd come here, but I wasted time looking other places."

Hikaru sighed tiredly and invited him in. He looked at the empty couch and then toward the bedroom and asked frantically, "She's sleeping with Kiri?"

"Kiri's in Korea, she said she couldn't sleep alone and asked if she could sleep with me," Hikaru replied.

Chiharu's husband flushed and apologized. He explained that he'd been working late trying to get a promotion and that when his boss had invited some of them out drinking that afternoon, he hadn't felt like he could refuse.

Hikaru listened to him rattle on and then said bluntly, "It seems like you should have talked to your wife more, and you should be telling all this to her. Do you really need that promotion? Right now it seems like she needs you."

He apologized again but added defensively, "With the baby coming, I really do."

She waved it away and asked, "Do you want me to wake her up?"

He hesitated and then refused. "No. She gets so tired lately."

Hikaru sighed and said, "Let me get my clothes for tomorrow and I'll sleep on the couch and you can stay with your wife. Apologize and explain properly though?"

"I will!" he insisted. He thanked her again a few minutes later as she closed the hall door between them.