Mizuki worked through her shift in an oddly elated and yet enervated state. Sora was back. Not that he'd come with a marriage proposal like Shinichi had come for Shizune. He'd even admitted to sleeping around in the meantime. Her anger over that was entirely possessive, and that feeling embarrassed her far more than she wanted to admit.

Her hands automatically moved items to their places while her mind reviewed Sora's every movement, word, and gesture. By the time she finished she expected to be utterly exhausted, but the anticipation of meeting Sora when she finished carried her through the evening with more energy than she expected. She walked out the door with enough energy to smile and wave enthusiastically when she caught sight of him.

He grinned down at her as though he were elated to be allowed to fetch her from a completely ordinary job, at a company that had stores in every city, that would hire everyone from kids who hadn't finished school yet to elders with checkered pasts. He'd been apologetic over not wanting to leave his new job, but it was the most reasonable sounding thing to her.

"Hi," Sora greeted her with a hug that only almost lifted her from the ground.

--

Mizuki enjoyed the ride home with her arms wrapped around Sora and her body pressed against his back more than she wanted to admit. The way he hung up his jacket and placed his shoes at the end of the row along the wall as though he belonged there pleased her even more.

When they entered her bedroom, Mizuki paused and looked up at Sora. "Should we push the beds together so that there's more room to sleep?" she asked uncertainly.

Sora glanced down at her, and then looked at her bed. "We can if you want to, but I don't care. We fit on yours earlier?"

She blushed as she pointed out, "We weren't trying to sleep."

He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his hips as he kissed her. "Let's just try it tonight, we can change things tomorrow if we need to?" he suggested when they came up for air.

"Okay," she murmured agreeably.

--

Later as they were falling asleep with her tucked into his arms Sora told her ruefully, "You're so tiny, it really isn't much of a problem."

Mizuki exhaled a long sleepy sigh, and then replied a little dourly, "Don't expect me to get any bigger, only fatter."

He caressed her and then insisted softly, "You're not fat Mizuki."

"I will be someday," she muttered. "My sisters take after our father's mother, but I take after our mother, and her mother."

He objected laughingly, "Your mother isn't really fat either Mizuki, just cutely plump."

"Don't ever say I didn't warn you," she warned him.

"I won't," he agreed complacently.

--

Someone poked her in the back and Mizuki shifted uncomfortably. Someone poked her again and she complained, "Stop poking me." The third time she said, "Alright already, I'm awake, I'll get up!"

Sora asked sleepily, "What? You're already getting up?"

"You were the one poking me," she accused.

He caressed her with his hands and protested, "I just woke up because you were talking, I wasn't poking you."

Something poked her again and she looked at his hands on her chest and laughed. "Sora, you liar, you're still poking me right now," she informed him.

He blinked sleepily and finally became aware of it. "Oh, sorry." He turned onto his back and then asked softly, "Can we continue more comfortably?"

She rolled over in his arms and kissed him. "Yes please," she answered.

He pulled her against him and kissed her hard, before climbing to his knees and leaning over the edge of the bed to get something from his bag.

--

"I missed you so much," Mizuki told Sora as she snuggled against him contentedly.

"I'm sorry Mizuki," Sora apologized unhappily.

"It's okay Sora," she assured him comfortingly and completely truthfully.

"But I hurt you so much because I didn't want to be hurting you," he replied miserably. He reached out and touched her hair, it was a little shorter than it had been when they met.

"I love you, you idiot," she informed him with a grin. More seriously, she added, "And I understood that you were trying to protect me, even though I thought you were wrong." She bit her lip and took a deep breath before admitting, "I was going to call you as soon as I turned 18, but I was afraid that you'd have changed your number, and hadn't worked up the nerve yet."

"I haven't," he assured her quickly.

She surveyed his expression. "Good, but I did understand, so please stop worrying about it?" she asked hopefully.

He kissed her instead of answering with words. Her unease as she remembered the way he had been reluctant to respond with words the night after the wedding must have shown on her face, because a moment later he assured her, "I'll try not to worry you again."

Mizuki grinned. "I'm really happy now," she assured him.

"Me too," he whispered, and then got to his knees again and kissed her from head to toe, making her giggle and wriggle beneath him in a way that forced him to pin her down and make her moan again.

Her father rapped on her door and announced, "Breakfast."

Mizuki blushed and Sora kissed her before suggesting, "If it's too embarrassing with your parents around, I could still get us a room?"

She looked at him consideringly as she replied quietly, "They're my family, and it is embarrassing but I'm okay. Is it too embarrassing for you?"

He kissed her again and then admitted guiltily, "I'm less embarrassed about being judged by your family than by complete strangers who might think I'm really taking a child to my room for sex."

Mizuki gave him a look. "I'm already legally old enough," she pointed out.

His face colored as he insisted, "I know."

She kissed him before standing up. Once off the bed, she turned around and surveyed him, and the way he over filled the space she could normally sprawl across. Rather ruefully she admitted to herself that he did look like an adult laying on a child's bed. That didn't mean that she was a child though.

"I love you, you idiot," she informed him.

Sora's expression brightened so much that she laughed.

--

Mizuki detoured away from the table to answer the summons of the fat round cat that thumped on the balcony door. She slid the door open and the cat walked in and rubbed against her leg casually. She knelt and ruffled his fur and then glanced up to see Sora watching her.

"That is the roundest cat I've ever seen," Sora said with some amazement.

Mizuki looked down at the cat, then looked up at him with a teasing grin. "Sora, don't you think Tama-sama is really cute? Since you love round things so much?"

Sora glanced at her face with a startled look, but he grinned as he replied, "Sure. He's yours?"

"Kind of. We're pretty sure he owns several other families nearby as well," she explained.

"But you claim him as your own pet?" Sora asked less certainly.

"I'm usually the one that feeds him but he's not really mine," Mizuki corrected cheerfully. "He just moved in one day when okaasan left the door open while she was hanging up laundry."

"We bought him the name tag and no one has ever changed it," pointed out Minori.

"But he does disappear for days sometimes and we don't feed him that much!" Mizuki replied laughingly.

--

Sora looked at his phone while they were eating and told Mizuki's parents, "I'll do dishes or help with whatever chores you want today after I drop Mizuki off at work, but we need to leave in a few minutes."

Mizuki looked up at him in surprise and objected, "I've still got two hours until I need to be there."

Sora's cheeks colored a little as he looked at her and replied, "If we're going to carry on like this there's no point in going for testing if we don't go ahead and go in for it right away."

"Oh," she replied, giving her parents an embarrassed glance.

"You should also go on some kind of birth control until you're all done with school Mizuki," her mother told her worriedly.

"We're being careful," Mizuki objected.

Sora winced. "Takumi said he and Eri-chan were being careful when she got pregnant too, we should probably double up," he agreed a bit unhappily.

"Did she like the shirt?" Mizuki asked curiously.

Sora brightened as he nodded and actually gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah, she even laughed!"