Eri felt more normal in the morning. She smiled at Chisa when she talked excitedly about her club activities scheduled for the afternoon. And Chisa teased her when she admitted that she was going out to dinner with Takumi.

At home, she finished her few assignments, and dressed. When Takumi picked her up after he finished work, the first thing he did was kiss her as though he hadn't seen her in a week.

After the kiss ended, she asked nervously, "Is this okay for the place we're going?"

"What?" Takumi asked blankly.

"My clothes," Eri explained, she felt a little upset even if his confusion was reasonable.

He laughed and slid his hands around her hips as he told her belatedly, "You look beautiful."

She gave him a dubious look and he reached up and let his finger slide along one of her curls, down her throat and along the low neckline of her shirt, and told her seriously, "I mean it Eri. You look so sexy that I'd rather take you home than out to dinner. But I promised I'd feed you, and I didn't buy groceries."

She blushed and admitted shyly, "I would have worn a dress but figured we'd be riding."

He nodded. "If you want to wear a dress, just let me know the day before, and I can arrange to bring a car." He adjusted her jacket and held out the new helmet for her.

She regarded the helmet with astonishment. "I forgot. It's prettier than it looked in the picture, kind of pearly."

He grinned and helped her buckle it. "It looks good. It goes with the white better than I expected too. How does it feel?"

"More comfortable than yours," she told him with a little surprise.

"Good," he replied with a pleased smile.

--

Takumi took her to a mid range restaurant, with booths instead of tables. When Eri hesitated in front of the booth, he reached out and pulled her into the same side with him.

The food was very good, better than the restaurant's appearance suggested to her. Takumi ate one handed, the other arm he kept around her waist.

When they finished he asked, "Want to go for a walk?"

Eri leaned into his side and asked with quiet embarrassment, "Can we go to your place instead?"

He looked at her with surprise and then grinned. "Absolutely," he whispered.

They hurried out of the restaurant together, and Eri laughed as Takumi pulled her along after him. He still drove carefully and sedately there, despite the rushed feeling. Though after he'd parked the bike, he walked her to the elevator so quickly that it was almost making her run.

He unlocked his apartment with impatience, and after they were inside he kicked off his shoes, and then scooped her up and carried her to the bed.

"This is what you meant?" he asked hopefully.

Eri nodded, and Takumi laid her back against his pillows and kissed her hotly, while siding his hands under her shirt.

His mouth wasn't idle as he undressed her, but he didn't speak until he finished, and then he told her, "You're so beautiful."

Eri blushed. She didn't know how to respond with words, so she used her mouth to communicate her feeling of desperation directly to his mouth. The intensity of her own desire embarrassed her even more.

He responded to her urgency, and she helped him shed his own clothes. But when he pulled out the familiar wrapper her face twisted when she looked at it, and he stopped.

"Eri?" he asked uncertainly.

"Does it even matter if we use it?" she asked unhappily.

He kissed her softly and then told her just as unhappily, "Yes, if the pill works, it matters."

She closed her eyes and nodded. He sighed.

She opened her eyes and demanded, "Takumi, don't stop."

He kissed her gently and she closed her eyes and kissed him harder, trying to erase the cold bitter moment that had softened the urgency between them. He responded by biting her, and her eyes popped open. He kept his eyes locked on hers and he didn't hold back at all.

They were hammering the connection between them back into place. He never stopped looking into her eyes and she couldn't look away.

--

Afterward he asked uncertainly, "Eri, are you OK, did I hurt you? Am I crushing you."

"I want you to crush me," she replied quietly.

He pushed up enough that he could look into her face and she was crying silently. Horrified, he started to pull off of her, but she wrapped her legs and arms around him and held him down on top of her.

"Eri?" he asked anxiously.

"Let me feel your weight on me for a little while?" she begged.

After a moment of resistance, Takumi relaxed against her and then used his mouth to taste her tears. She relaxed under him and kissed him again. He probed her mouth with his tongue and her tears stopped.

--

Eventually they lay still again. Takumi was cuddling against Eri's side, while she stared out into the city lights and said, "I should call if I'm not going home."

He stroked her hip and murmured into her damp hair, "I don't want you to go home."

"Okay," she agreed.

He kissed her shoulder and held her. After a while she got up and called her parents, and then used his bathroom. He watched her walking carefully and winced. When she finished he took a turn, and then started the bath.

When he settled on the bed beside her he asked again, "Eri, did I hurt you?"

She looked up at him and blushed, and replied, "I'm okay."

Hesitantly he asked, "Are you sure?"

She nodded and told him, "I'm really okay, I just feel more… stretched sort of."

"Okay," he agreed and bent to kiss her.

She pulled him down against her and they kissed for a while. Then she sat up and said, "Takumi, I know I'm the one who said I don't want to talk about it, but I want to talk about it for a minute?"

"Okay," he replied calmly.

Eri lapsed into silence for a long moment, before asking, "You didn't want me to take the pill?"

He was silent for a little while, and she looked at him anxiously as the silence stretched.

"No," he agreed finally.

"You didn't say anything," she said unhappily.

He looked up at her and then reached up and caressed her face. "It's your body, and you don't want it," he explained miserably.

"You want a baby?" she asked incredulously.

His expression tightened and he shrugged. "I don't know, maybe, I never really thought about it. But I want you, and your baby. And I didn't want you to try to get rid of it. But I'm not ever going to tell you that you can't or you shouldn't," he said a little roughly.

"I'm not ready to have a baby," she whispered guiltily.

"It's okay," he insisted.

He sat up, pulled her close and kissed her for a while. They took a bath. Takumi changed his sheets. He rinsed her underwear and hung them over the sink to dry.

Eri watched him finish and said wryly, "You'll make a good wife."

He looked at her and then replied with a real smile, "Then you should snatch me up before some tall handsome fellow sweeps me off of my feet!"

She gasped and asked, "Are you bi?"

He laughed and replied, "No, but why does that matter?"

She shrugged and replied uncertainly, "I guess it doesn't?"

He cuddled up to her again and she finally smiled.

In the morning, he dropped her off at the college on his way to work.