So here's the Valentine's Day story...I am a bit nervous about this one, and all I can say is I now have a small dislike for these songs.

"She's got A Way" and "For the longest time" By Billy Joel

"Tonight's the night" by Rod Stewart

and the worst offender of all,

"Total Eclipse of the heart" by Bonnie Tyler.

That last one...oh that last one I've listened to about 60 times over the past couple of weeks...it just fits them ya know? Seriously that one is probably the one that affected me the most while writing this. And I recommend giving it a listen.

Damn earworms wouldn't leave my brain.

Plus this story ended up WAY longer than I originally planned so...yay

*hides under blankets and peeks out* please don't hurt me and I apologize for the length...I tried to keep it short...but I just couldn't so I had to turn into a multi-chapter story

Also if you will be attending Geek-Girl con in Seattle on=September 30th, I'm gonna be on a panel at 10 Am in the Uhura room. It's gonna be great.

The game is owned by Atlus and not me!

P.S. this story does contain consensual sex between a grown woman and a seventeen-year-old boy so...just fair warning. Please comment as I enjoy reading your...constructive comments and enjoy a dialogue with all of you. I know Japan's laws are different but I live in the USA so...I was covering my butt.

I also want to thank Hugofthunder, Lonely Support, and Emerald_Treasure for listening to my ramblings over the past couple of weeks. I'm sorry for doing that to you three, but it is much appreciated!

Bittersweet Valentine's

To say Sadayo was disappointed at his reaction would have been an understatement.

Ever since she'd heard that he was out, she'd been itching to come over, but thanks to some last minute work Sadayo had been forced to wait an extra day. As they sat there talking, she'd been hoping that he would understand the urgency behind her words, about what she needed and wanted from him. But instead of jumping at the opportunity, he kept his usual calm demeanor.

So instead of immediately heading upstairs, Sadayo was content to lay there with her head on his shoulder, inhaling his scent until he was ready.

She'd missed how he smelled; that ever-present aroma of coffee and curry.

He'd only been back a day, and the smell of the restaurant clung to him like dust on furniture. As her head rested on his shoulder, she slowly crept her hand over to his and squeezed it and felt a small flutter in her chest when she felt him return it. She knew that their time together was limited and the thought of him leaving made her even more anxious about tonight. Despite her sincerity in saying she wanted to spend the night with him, the feeling of trepidation at what it could result in refused to leave.

The past two months had been a nightmare, and she'd lost track of how many times she'd cried. She'd spent weeks trying to get the teachers on board to help get his sentence appealed, and she wondered if he even knew about it, or what his friends had done for him. She was sure he knew, but she didn't want to bring up her part in it. If she did, she didn't know if she'd be able to keep her emotions in check.

As her head found the familiar spot on his shoulder, she felt his arm slowly begin to move. His forearm brushed against the small of her back, making her face flush as his hand found its way to her waist, his hand shaking as it rested on her side.

Before he had been sent away, their physical contact had been minimum. Even after they became a couple it took a long time for them to get comfortable enough to begin touching each other regularly; even with all the free massages. But once they were a couple both of them became painfully aware of how quickly things could escalate. When they were finally able to touch each other, it usually took the form of handholding or him laying his head in her lap while they watched a DVD. But over time, they gradually grew relaxed enough to move onto other avenues like him wrapping his arms around her and eventually kissing. His time away was having an effect, and she noticed Akira was having difficulty settling back in.

After a few moments, his hand stopped shaking, and she let out a sigh of contentment before kissing his neck. She chuckled when she heard his familiar growl and gave him several more before staring up into his eyes and blushed at his wistful gaze.

"What," she asked nervously. He'd never given her such a look, and it was making her self-conscious.

"I missed you," he whispered pulling her close.

His grip grew tighter, but not enough to hurt her. She could tell by his voice and touch that he just wanted her nearby and she felt some of her unease dissipate. "I missed you too," she said after a moment, her hand resting on his knee.

"I'm sorry I made you cry."

Sadayo shook her head and gripped his knee before staring up at him again. Somehow in the time, it took for him to say that the light in created a sort of glare on his glasses making it hard to gauge his mood. Lifting her hands, she removed the black-framed spectacles and set them down on the table and locked onto his deep grey orbs. He had a forlorn look, and she could tell he regretted his actions.

"I'm not going to say it's all right because it wasn't." Sadayo squeezed her hands together but kept her eyes locked on his as she spoke. "That was one of the worst experiences of my life and considering what I've been through that's saying a lot."

She waited for him to say something but, he didn't even bother to contradict her.

"I tried calling, texting, email, and it wasn't until I got a call from the school shortly after Christmas that I…..." She wiped her eyes and turned to him, a deep frown set into her face. "Why didn't you just tell me the truth? I would have understood. You don't pull something like that on the people you care about."

Akira's hand gripped her side tighter, and she could feel his hand shaking again as he spoke.

"I didn't want you to be worried or put in danger." His chin found its way to her head, and he rested it there, his arms wrapping around her. "They recorded everything I told her and they knew you were connected to us somehow." He buried his nose in her hair and kissed it. "I couldn't take the risk of you or the others getting caught. I didn't tell you because I figured that maybe it'd get you to forget about me for a little while and keep Shido's people away from you."

Sadayo pushed away from him slightly; eyes narrowed as she asked, "After everything we went through you'd want me to forget about you? What the hell kind of logic is that?!"

"I didn't mean it like that," grumbled Akira, eyes lowered as he spoke. "I just…," his hand moved to his neck, and he began scratching it nervously. "I was scared to tell you the truth, and I don't know why I didn't tell you. I wanted to be honest, but something inside told me to just keep it to myself, that if I told you the truth you'd be even more worried and that'd make you start asking questions which might cause a snowball effect and...ow!"

A sharp pain spread throughout his forehead and Akira clutched at where his girlfriend had flicked him. He'd forgotten how strong he was and he could swear a welt was beginning to form.

"You're an idiot."

Akira was so caught off guard by this statement that he completely forgot about the pain in his forehead and dropped his hands. He could see on her face that she was struggling. There were tears in her eyes, but at the same time, he could see that she was trying to keep from yelling at him.

"Can I ask you something?" Sadayo was crinkling up her skirt in her hands after calming down some. Her hands were wringing the fabric so violently that she thought she'd rip the fabric.

"You know you can ask me pretty much anything." Akira didn't bother to hide the embarrassment in his voice. He knew he screwed up and despite her flirtations earlier figured she wasn't about to let him off the hook.

Sadayo moved a couple of inches closer to him and took his hand, squeezed it and asked, "I know I asked you this before, but do you regret falling in love with me?

"I don't." The words were out of his mouth before he could think, but he didn't care. He wanted her to know the truth, and if that meant answering any question she could come up with, then he'd bite the bullet for her sake.

"Then why did you treat me like a burden on Christmas?" Sadayo sniffed, reached across the table, and took a sip of her lukewarm coffee. It had lost some its flavor, but it was better than doing nothing.

"You aren't a burden on me." Akira took a sip of his coffee and grimaced at the loss of flavor. "But, I'm not going to act like I don't still worry about people finding out about us. Yeah, I'm moving home in a bit, but a lot can still happen. They could break the agreement they made with Sae, and something could happen to you at work or home."

"I appreciate your concern," replied Sadayo, sounded more agitated than appreciative, "but if something happens I'm going to have to deal with it whether you want me to or not."

"I know." Akira swallowed a large lump in his throat. "It's just a lot of what Sae said got to me and," he swallowed the lump and shook his head, "I don't want you to have to live through any of that again; not because of me. You don't deserve it."

"Akira." Sadayo shook her head and leaned in, her hand finding his chin. She gave it a slight push turning his face to hers. She saw a redness in his eyes, whether from tired or sadness she didn't know, but she could see he was hurting.

"I made a decision," she said softly but pointedly. "I am responsible for that decision, not you. If I am to be punished for it then so be it. It's not something either of us can stop, okay?"

"Okay," he whispered with a slight nod, but she could tell some of the meaning was lost on him and couldn't help but chuckle to herself at his innocence.

"Besides if you're so concerned about us getting caught, you wouldn't have asked me out in the first place." Sadayo huffed and drained her coffee.

"That's true," Akira chuckled as he reached for the box of chocolate and began to open it.

"If you don't mind my asking," started Sadayo as she watched him break apart the off-shaped heart she'd made him, "why did you ask me out?"

Akira stopped halfway through moving the chocolate to his mouth and set it back in the box, a small smile on his lips.

"You sure you want to know?"

"I think I've earned that right after you ditched me for two months trying to play the noble hero." Sadayo rested her chin on the palm of her hand and stared at him. "It's going to be a while before I completely forgive you for leaving like that, not to mention how you scared the hell out of me back when you decided to fake your death."

He felt a sharp pain in his shin and laughed away the pain. Leaning in, he gave her a small kiss which she returned, though less lovingly than he expected. When he pulled away her face had softened, but the glare remained, and he heard her foot tapping beneath the table.

"I'm waiting," she said, as he began fiddling with the chocolate he'd broken off.

Taking a quick bite and was pleasantly surprised by the taste. It was quite good, but he found it just a bit too rich for his tastes.

Swallowing his bite, he smiled at her and said, "It's good."

"I'm glad," she said trying to remain stone-faced, but a twitch of a smirk in the corner of her mouth showed a break in her defense. "But flattery will get you nowhere Aki-kun."

"The nickname? Really?" Akira groaned at the sound of her using his nickname. It'd been a long time since she'd last used it but he smiled at the gentle lilt she used when she said it. She'd given it to him one night after he'd dropped her off at the Buchiko statue. It was one of the first times they'd been able to get a meal together. Granted it'd only been at a standing soba cart, but it had been a nice change of pace, and after he'd dropped her off, she'd called him her "sweet Aki-kun," before kissing him and heading home.

"Yes the nickname," she teased poking his cheek. "I know you like it when I use it." She scooted closer and nudged his side with her elbow. "I also know that it's an easy way for you to get you to do what I want. So, spill it." She poked his cheek again. "Why'd you ask me out?"

"Okay, okay." Akira chuckled and ate another small bite as he pondered over how best to explain why he'd asked her out.

"The truth is I don't really know why." Akira gave her a peripheral glance and saw that her eyes had widened a bit. "I don't mean it like that."

"Then what do you mean?" She picked up a piece of chocolate and chewed it slowly giving him a cool stare.

"I mean that I don't have just one reason for why I did it." Akira squeezed her hand as he continued. "I got used to having you around and even when you were tired and worn out I just felt happy having you next to me. I mean things weren't that ideal for either of us at the time, but you made a lot of stuff bearable. I know our arrangement was mostly for mutual benefit. But the night when I asked you out, all I could think about was that night when I found out you were in the hospital, how tired you were, and how the Takase's had treated you even though you'd spent all that time paying a debt that wasn't yours." His eyes were burning, and he rubbed them and felt something akin to tears on his palms.

He dropped his hands, frustrated that he was trying to keep himself in control.

"So the night after we got them off your case the only thing I could think about was the smile on your face at finally not having to continue paying them, and it just made me so happy, and for the next couple of days you were all I could think about." He chuckled and gave her a shy look. "I guess that's kind of when I realized I cared about you more than a student or student should and when you came over to talk to me about it I just couldn't keep it to myself." He watched her face turn a dark red as he spoke. "But instead of returning my feelings you said 'no.'" He gave another massive shrug and stared back down at his coffee, "It hurt, a lot, but it was a huge relief to tell you, and I figured that even if we couldn't be together, you'd know I'd be around for you."

"You're such a kid," she whispered as the seat squeaked beneath her. Her arm slipped into his, and once again she rested her head comfortably against his shoulder. "But, I won't say I'm ungrateful to you and the others because without them I wouldn't have you." Soon both arms were squeezing him as he rested his cheek on top of her head.

"Since you asked me," he asked after about ten minutes of strained, but relaxing silence, "can I ask you why you said 'yes'?" He felt her chest heave at the question and thinking he'd done something wrong he added, "It's fine you don't have to tell me."

"It's not that I don't want to," she replied, relaxing her grip slightly. "I just don't know how to say this without sounding like a complete fool."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that." Akira patted her hand and kissed the top of her head. "I got think I've got that covered for the both of us."

"Cute." He heard a hint of laughter in her voice rested her head on his shoulder. "But the truth is my reasoning is very similar to yours. I was tired of my life being what it was. All I cared about was my survival and making sure that I made my payments. I didn't care about you or the others. I even began to hate the career I'd been working for since I was five years old; I just cared about not getting caught."

"Yeah, that'd have been bad." His jape earned him a painful poke in the side.

"But," Sadayo continued, but instead of humored she sounded somewhat distraught, " through your slightly supernatural persuasion skills you gave me a reason to go on and try to make my life better." She kissed his shoulder and squeezed his hand. "You reminded me of what I was worth and when you said how you felt I, for lack of a better term, was scared shitless so I panicked and like I'd done once before when confronted with a similar situation, I ran away and hurt someone I cared about."

"Sadayo," he began but was stopped by her raising her hand.

"I said a 'similar situation' not the same." She tapped him on the nose and shook her head. "I was afraid of hurting you as I'd hurt him. I cared about him, and when I got home that night, I spent a long time thinking about both of you."

"In what way," he asked, taking her hand in his.

"Well," she sighed and squeezed back, "when it came to him, I just ended up feeling pain and regret because I ran away and didn't stand up for him. About how much of a failure I was as a teacher and for lack of a better word, as a friend." She wiped at a tear and moved just a little closer and moved her hand to his arm, joining them. "But when I thought about you I realized that you gave me hope and love and everything I thought I'd lost over the past few years and I realized I felt the same. I wanted to tell you how I felt right away, but I said no because I didn't want you to risk your future for someone like me," she sniffled as she squeezed his arm. "I also said no because I didn't want you to lose what you'd gained and I didn't want to lose what you'd given me if things didn't work out. I didn't want to end up feeling like I couldn't be loved again. But in the end, I just couldn't deny what I felt and decided that even a short time of happiness with you was worth the risk."

She wiped her face on her sleeve and gave him a broken smile. "I'm sorry for rambling."

"I'm glad you told me." Akira kissed her tear-stained cheek and sat up. "Thank you for giving me a chance." Akira felt her relax, her head resting once again on his shoulder, her cheek nuzzling it, which lifted a huge weight off his chest. She said nothing, but with how she was beginning to meld into him he could tell she was finally starting to get comfortable again.

"I love you," she whispered hoping that he heard the regret in her voice at being so cold toward him.

"I love you too." Akira kissed the top of her head for the umpteenth time and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of her. "I'm happy you texted me."

"You can thank Niijima-san for that." Sadayo reached out for the chocolate and began breaking off small pieces. "She's the one who called the school, and they alerted me to get ready for you to come back."

"I'll make sure to send her a thank you card," Akira smirked and kissed her on the cheek.

Chuckling, she picked up a piece of chocolate and nibbled. She smiled at the taste and took another bite.

"This is good," she giggled as she chewed on another piece.

"What?" Akira looked around, shaken from his quiet stupor as Sadayo reached for another small piece.

"The chocolate," Sadayo fed him a little bite and chuckled as he ate it lazily. "I think I did a pretty good job."

"You did," replied Akira after swallowing the bite. He smirked at the look of delight on her face as she helped herself to more chocolate. She hummed quietly between bites, and as he watched, a somewhat silly idea came to Akira's mind. While she was busy enjoying her most recent piece he reached quietly into the box and grabbed a small brick of chocolate. Placing the bit of chocolate between his teeth he tapped her shoulder as she was stuffing another piece in her mouth and waited.

After swallowing her latest bite, she turned and gave him an odd look upon seeing the brown piece of candy sticking out of his mouth.

"What are you doing," she asked as he gave her an oddly shaped smile.

He said nothing and instead touched her lips with his finger and then at the piece of chocolate

"I don't get it." Sadayo reached for another piece, eyeing him suspiciously.

As she chewed, Akira remained still, waiting to see if she understood his meaning. His jaw was beginning to grow tired, but he powered through it, and his perseverance was soon rewarded by her suddenly stopping mid-chew; her face and neck turning a bright red, just as Akira's jaw gave out.

Swallowing her chocolate, Sadayo turned to face her boyfriend who was in the process of massaging his stiff jaw.

Taking the chocolate from him, she held it up to his mouth and waited for him to finish recovering. With an embarrassed smirk, Akira took the chocolate back between his teeth and resumed his waiting.

With the chocolate back where it belonged, she straightened up and leaned in, one hand on the table for support, while the other rested on his shoulder. Her eyes closed and her mouth partially open as she leaned in. He closed his eyes and waited, his heart pounding and soon he felt a small tug on the chocolate and finally the sensation of it breaking. He swallowed his piece quickly and waited for her to finish chewing before planting a firm kiss on her lips.

Sadayo whimpered quietly at the sudden contact; small jolts of electricity ran through her body at the sensation of their first real kiss in months. His lips were soft, and she could taste the remnants of the coffee and chocolate drove her to suck on his lower lip while he slipped his right hand around her back and pulled her tighter to him, his left hand stroking her hair.

She followed suit, her tongue pressing against his while one hand stroked his cheek, getting lost in the feel of him. All she could feel was him felt her body shiver as one hand caressed the small of her back while the other cupped the curve of her ass. She whimpered and broke the kiss when he gave her right cheek a gentle squeeze. She rested her chin on his shoulder, kissing his jaw and cheek, her breath heavy in his ear as she felt his hand slip just beneath her shirt, massaging the base of her spine.

"Someone's getting bold," she panted as she kissed just below his ear, her hips grinding against his thigh.

"I thought you loved that about me?" Akira returned her affections, kissing her collarbone, nipping it carefully.

"Stop that," she panted at the sensation of pain in her neck. "You know what happens when you get carried away."

"Please," he begged as he continued to bite different parts of her neck. "We've still got a few days before we have to go back to school, that's more than enough time to recover."

"I said 'no.'" Sadayo giggled as he moved on to kissing her neck and jaw. "Remember what happened last time?"

"I remember." Akira removed his lips from her neck and stroked one of the red marks he'd left. "You had to cover it up with a bunch of make-up for a week."

"You looked like you were about to throw up," giggled Sadayo while Akira frowned.

"That's because you didn't tell me you had it on!" Akira snorted at the memory of the taste of the makeup. "It was disgusting."

"It was to teach you a lesson." Sadayo placed her hands on his shoulders and began massaging them softly.

"Oh, really?" Akira rested his forehead against hers. "And what lesson is that?"

"That you need to control yourself." Sadayo rubbed their noses together and wrapped her arms around his neck. "And that you need to learn how to pay attention to what you're doing, Aki-kun."

"I pay attention." Huffed Akira as his hands began rubbing her stomach. "If I didn't pay attention then I wouldn't know the best place to tickle you is right here."

Without warning, Akira tickled her sides, smiling as she began squirming in protest.

"Stop," she snorted as he continued his assault, his fingers brushing lightly against her skin. She bit her lower lip and tried to keep from laughing, but she couldn't help it. Her laugh echoed throughout the restaurant, and she could hear Akira laughing along with her, his hands moving up and down her sides until she was finally able to get some amount of control back, grab his hands, and shove them into her lap.

She stared up at him, barely keeping a straight face as she growled, "That was a dirty trick."

"Says the woman who texted me, and I quote," he coughed and spoke in an unusually high-pitched and chipper voice, "It's Becky, the maid who.."

"Okay! Okay!" Sadayo's face flared up at her boyfriend's words her hands pressing against his mouth, heart racing with embarrassment, even though there was no one else in the restaurant. "You've made your point."

Akira chuckled as she felt her hands slowly fall away from his mouth. Her cheeks were a bright red as she glared up at him, lips pursed. He felt a small tinge of embarrassment at doing it, but the look on her face was worth it.

"You know I was teasing right?"

Sadayo huffed and stuffed her hands between her legs again and nodded, but refused to say anything.

Knowing he'd need to do more than apologize, Akira wrapped his arm around her waist and whispered, "How can I make it up to you?"

"Come upstairs with me," she mumbled making her cheeks burn. "I want you to hold me, but I don't want anyone we know to walk by and see us." She pointed at the windowed door, and Akira nodded.

"I like the sound of that." Akira hoped he looked calm, but inside he felt like he could throw up at any moment. "Will you be okay for a few minutes? If I don't clean up this mess, Sojiro will kill me."

"Do you want help?" Sadayo looked around at the few remaining dishes. He could tell she was just as nervous as him by the way her shoulders were hanging.

"It won't take too long." He hoped he sounded reassuring, but the look of disappointment on her face hit him like a punch in the kidney.

"Okay," Sadayo said rather downcast at his rejection of spending more time with her. Standing up, she gathered up her bag along with his glasses and the chocolate before heading to the stairs.

"Sadayo."

She turned at the sound of his voice and saw him approach, his hands casually stuffed in his pockets. When he reached her, Akira pulled a hand out and took her by the forearm and pulled her into a soft kiss. She returned it, albeit somewhat reluctantly, and when she separated she could see that he knew what was on her mind.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll be up soon, okay?"

"I know." Despite her knowing he was telling the truth, Sadayo still couldn't shake the sense of dread in her stomach. "Take however long you need."

He nodded and watched as she turned back to the stairs and headed up. It took a few moments, but soon he heard the sound of the old tube television followed by her chuckling at something. Sighing loudly, Akira gathered up all the dishes and headed toward the sink and began his nightly chores. It was a bit annoying to have to go back to work so shortly after getting released, the sense of normalcy and actual control over whether or not he'd actually have to do the dishes was a welcomed change from the spartan structure of juvenile hall.

As he began drying them, his thoughts turned to his girlfriend, a smile spreading across his lips. He had planned on calling her that night to let her know he was okay and to schedule a meet-up, but thanks to the release process she'd made the first move. While he was happy to see her, his happiness had been momentarily eclipsed by Sojiro being present for her arrival.

But the old man had surprised both of them when he left, and Akira was sure Morgana was happily curled up on Futaba's head eating some high-end food Sojiro kept stashed in the house. With the final dish put away, Akira began rummaging through the fridge for some of the leftovers from his welcome back party. He let out a small internal cheer when he found some leftover fruit, sushi, rice, and even some curry Sojiro had made. Taking his time, Akira heated up what he could and began plating the cold food on the some of the leftover disposable plates. While he waited for the microwave to finish, his phone buzzed, and he picked it up and was a little surprised to see it was a text from his caretaker.

Opening the text, he nearly dropped his phone when he read:

I told everyone that you and I needed some rest after the past couple of days so you shouldn't worry about being bothered until the afternoon. I'm not entirely comfortable with all this, but I won't stop you. Just make sure you clean up the restaurant, and for the love of God be safe.

Akira sent back a message of thanks just as the microwave went off. Before getting the food, Akira walked over to the door and flipped the sign As he set the deadbolt, he stopped and began thinking about what Sadayo had said when she'd sat down next to him and told him about how he'd be listening to her needs. He hadn't given it too much thought, thinking it was her trying to be cute, but when he added that in conjunction with what Sojiro had just texted him, Akira was beginning to feel like a world-class idiot.

His stomach knotted, and he had to take a few deep breaths to focus himself. As he thought about the possibility of something like that happening he suddenly realized that he didn't have anything in his room if things went that far. While his brain began going through all the ways he could talk to her about getting some protection, Sadayo called down to him.

"What's the matter," he asked when he reached the bottom of the stairs, hoping she didn't pick up on his nervousness.

"Are you coming up?" She was smiling at him, her legs covered by her skirt, but he could see she'd already made herself comfortable. She'd taken off her shoes, jacket, her face flushed thanks to the warmth of the heater, and the look of adoration in her eyes had his stomach doing backflips.

"I'll be up in a minute." He pointed to the kitchen and gave her a nervous grin. "I'm just finishing up a few things."

"Okay." She stood up and shot him another smile, making his heart flutter. "I'll be keeping the couch warm."

Akira felt his ears burn at the sound of her voice and took a moment to shake the cobwebs from his head. Knowing that he could always talk about this with her, Akira headed into the kitchen and began putting away the unused food before picking up the two food-laden plates.

Taking a deep breath, Akira made his way up the stairs, praying he wouldn't make a fool out of himself.