Mizuki climbed the stairs to the door of her home with tired steps. When she reached the top, she opened the door and called out, "I'm…" The word home died on her lips as she stared at Sora, who was sitting at the table with a teacup in front of him.

She was only peripherally aware of her father's greeting as she dropped her bag. She stumbled toward Sora, and reached out toward him, but before she actually touched him she pulled her hands back.

"Sora," she spoke his name achingly while he watched her without moving. "What are you, I mean why are you here Sora?" Her hands sketched his outline in the air about six inches from his body. "You didn't come just to get your T-shirts did you?" she asked fearfully, confused by his searching expression and stillness.

Sora shook his head and drew a shuddering breath. "Is it too late Mizuki?" he asked uncertainly.

Mizuki's heart lurched. Their eyes were locked as she finally moved closer to him and touched his shoulders. Her hands lifted to trace his face like a blind person, lightly, searchingly, familiarly. "Did you change your mind Sora?" she asked desperately. "If you leave me like that again, I'll die," she warned him as his mouth opened.

Sora suddenly reached out, pulled her all the way into his lap, and then squeezed her so hard she couldn't breathe for a moment. "I really want to date you," he told her a bit anxiously. "I don't know how well I'll deal with dating a seventeen year old, but I won't ever leave you like that again Mizuki. I swear it," he added quickly.

She laughed painfully as she told him, "You're too late, Sora, you idiot!" He loosened his grip on her, and stared at her with such a pained expression that she couldn't help reaching up again to caress his face. "You don't need to worry about how well you'll do at dating a kid anymore," she informed him a little angrily. "I'm already eighteen!"

He looked confused for a moment, as he blinked at her. She could almost see a dozen different thoughts hit him before he asked contritely, "I'm sorry, did you want anything for your birthday that I can give you?"

She hit him in the chest and exclaimed, "You, you idiot! I wanted you to be there!"

"I'm sorry," he apologized simply but sincerely.

"Promise you'll be there for the next one," she demanded.

"I promise," he acceded easily.

"And the one after that!" she insisted.

"Okay," he agreed again.

She buried her face in his chest as she added in a muffled voice, "And the next one too."

He laughed, then hugged her tightly and assured her, "I won't leave you again Mizuki, I promise." She looked up at him and he gazed into her eyes for a long moment, before adding more anxiously, "But I can't move here right away."

"Why?" she asked without letting go of the hope that his embrace was giving her.

He explained in a rush, "I did what you said, and applied for an entry level position at a company that uses software engineers. The interviewer looked at my CV and asked why I was applying for an entry level position with my history. And so I explained everything. And he said it was a good plan and hired me right there. Two weeks later they moved me to an engineer's slot. And it's a really good job Mizuki, better than the one I had before even, and if I quit it it'll be really hard to get anything as good for a long time."

"Okay," she replied simply when he finished.

He kissed her as though she'd just assured him that he'd done exactly the right thing. After a few minutes he stopped kissing her and told her, "I've been thinking about getting a bike again. I'm borrowing Takumi's right now, but if you'd rather I get a car I won't yet. I can't afford both for a while, but the winters are enough milder at home than where I lived before, that I can ride a motorcycle on all but a few of the worst days."

She stared at him blankly for a long moment. "I have no idea?"

"Have you ever ridden?" he asked.

"Not on a motorcycle?" she admitted uncertainly.

"Do you want to try?" he asked more hesitantly.

"Sure," she agreed, then pulled his head back down to kiss him again.

They kissed for a little while, before he pulled back suddenly and admitted abruptly, "I did a bunch of other women after I left you." She stared at him incredulously. His skin flushed with colour as he admitted with painful embarrassment, "I was trying to forget about you. It didn't work at all."

"No more Sora," she instructed him quite firmly. He looked at her uncertainly so she clarified her demand, "If you're having me you can't have anyone else but me."

"I don't need anyone but you Mizuki," he assured her quickly. "Only you, I'll only ever have you," he promised.

She nodded and kissed him again, but after a moment she withdrew again and told him seriously, "We should go for STD testing."

"What?" he asked with a shocked look and a quick glance at her father.

Mizuki had honestly forgotten that he was sitting at the table watching them until Sora checked for his reaction, but she ignored the dry amusement on her father's face as she demanded challengingly, "You won't?"

"Whatever you want," Sora promised quickly.

"Good," she said calmly, and reached up and pulled his head down into her kiss again without even another glance at her father. When the kiss ended she crawled out of his lap, held out her hand, and demanded, "Come."

He glanced at her father, who shrugged. When he stood, she led him into her room and shut the door behind him.

Mizuki turned around and asked Sora, "Do you have a condom?"

"Yes," he admitted wryly. "I came prepared to see you."

She grinned at him. "Good."

She stepped forward and blinked when he stopped her with both hands on her shoulders. "But you said you want to go for testing?" he questioned.

She hesitated a moment and asked, "Were you careful?" He nodded. "Then shouldn't it be okay if we're careful too?" He nodded again and bent to kiss her.

A few minutes later Mizuki pushed him toward her bed and demanded, "Strip Sora."

Sora stared at her in surprise, and repeated, "Strip?"

She looked up at him defiantly and insisted, "You let all those other women touch you, so I'm going to touch you all over! You're mine Sora."

He stripped.