Naegiri Week 2017 is here! I still love Naegiri with all my heart and soul, and I'm SUPER glad for the chance to be writing for this again, and seeing all the lovely content that my fellow shippers will be putting out this week. I hope you all enjoy my fics, and remember, Naegiri is canon.

Relax

Some people had trouble finding the time to relax, others had trouble allowing themselves to relax. Kyoko Kirigiri was one of those profoundly unfortunate people who had difficulty with both.

It was to be expected, of course. She had spent most her childhood training to be a detective, most of her teenage years balancing detective work and school, the early half of her adult life helping to fix a ruined world, and she currently spent her time running a school and taking the occasional case in her off time. Kyoko had learned many things throughout her life, but "slowing down" had never been a priority in her lesson plan. It was a mixed bag; as proud as she was of her work ethic and productivity, there were definitely times when her workaholic tendencies caught up to her.

Like now for instance, as she sat in front of her coffee table at three in the morning pouring over a case file while a stack of paperwork sat on the side of the table, unfinished. She hadn't meant to stay up so late, but time had gotten away from her. After eating dinner, her husband cleaned the kitchen while she went back to her work, approaching her once he was finished.

"Try not to stay up too late, okay? You haven't been getting enough sleep lately, and we don't have work tomorrow, so you should take the chance to get some rest," he'd said before giving her a kiss on the cheek and heading to their room.

She smiled, and responded with a quick peck on his forehead. "Don't worry, I won't be too long. I just have some minor details to look over."

He'd smiled at her, and then headed off to sleep, while she finished her work. And hours later, while he was sound asleep in their bed, she was still wide awake and nowhere close to finishing up.

Kirigiri let out a loud yawn, one that she was too tired to stifle or cover up, and then rubbed her eyes.

Okay maybeshe wasn't wide awake, but she was still working late into the night instead of sleeping soundly in her soft, comfortable, bed next to her warm, adoring, husband. She groaned in frustration, and refocused her attention on the work in front of her.

An old man found dead and buried in the floorboards of his apartment. His young caretaker missing, and splatters of blood all throughout the apartment. Police were unable to identify a murder weapon, motive, or suspects for who would want to kill the old man and his caretaker. As they were completely stumped, they'd reached out to private detectives for help, and she'd picked up the case after hearing about it through the grapevine. Kyoko could already tell that the "missing" caretaker was probably the culprit and was currently on the run, and might even be out of the country by now. Since the police hadn't even considered him as a suspect, there was a stunning lack of information on him and no leads to go on. But Kyoko was a Kirigiri detective, and if she had let the incompetence of others hold her back, she would've been dead many, many, many times over. So she poured over the files, re-reading them over and over again, looking for that one detail that the police had missed which would be the key to cracking the case wide open.

She had been at it for hours now, with limited success.

"Kyoko?" came a groggy voice from the shadows of the living room.

Kyoko put her face in her palm as she sighed in frustration. "Hello, dear. Don't worry, I'm almost done."

Makoto crossed his arms and stared at her. Even through his half-lidded eyes, messy bed-hair, and the fact that he was clearly still half-asleep, he exuded an aura of disappointment. It was like being stared at by a puppy that had caught you with your hand in a cookie jar, and try as she might, she could not meet his gaze.

"Kyoko…"

She sighed. Wasn't the wife supposed to be the nagging one in the relationship? "I know, I'm sorry. I'll be right there, just go back to bed."

Makoto sighed, but said nothing, and then walked away. Kyoko blinked once, twice, and then went back to her work. That… hadn't been what she was expecting. She'd been prepared for a lecture, or some sort of reprimand, but that silent stare of disappointment was infinitely worse. She returned to her work, and tried her best to ignore the pit in her stomach as she scanned the files.

"Here you go."

Kyoko looked up in surprise to see her husband offering her a warm mug, with a small smile on his face.

She took it carefully, and looked at him quizzically. "What are you doing?"

"Well," he answered as he sat down with a mug of his own. "Since you're not going to sleep until you finish your work, I figured I'd just have to help you finish so you can get to bed," he beamed at her and then sipped hot cocoa from his mug. "So," he said, more seriously. "What do you need me to do?"

Kyoko smiled as she felt her heart flutter. "Makoto, you don't have to-"

"But I want to," he whispered, cutting her off and placing his hand on hers.

Kyoko closed her eyes and brushed a strand of hair aside, smiling even wider. "Ok then. Here's what I need you to help me with,"

As she filled him in on the case, she took a sip from her mug, and sighed in contentment as she felt the taste of Luwak. He'd really gotten better at brewing coffee over the years. A part of her felt bad for keeping him awake, but another part of her realized that two heads were better than one, and perhaps working together they could find something she had overlooked.

(A smaller part of her, the part of her that is still a teenage girl in love, is jumping up and down gleefully, but she doesn't pay attention to that part. Well, not too much attention, anyway.)

After she filled him in on the details, the two of them got to work, splitting up the files and looking through different sections. It had been a while since the two of them had worked together to solve a mystery, but their record spoke for itself, and with the help of her husband, Kyoko was confident that they'd be able to solve this.

(They were both Kirigiris after all)

"Hey, Kyoko, can I ask you for a favor?"

Kyoko looked up in curiosity. "What is it?"

"I want you to promise me something," he said, taking her hand in his and staring into her eyes. "Tomorrow, I want you to focus on resting okay? I'll understand if you want to get some work done, but please, try to spend some time relaxing, okay?"

"That…" she hesitated for a moment, "...sounds lovely," she said, with a warm smile.

Her husband grinned from ear-to-ear. "Okay then! Tomorrow, we'll spend the whole day just relaxing, together. Promise?"

He offered her a pinky, and with a chuckle, she accepted it, wrapping her own finger around his.

"Promise," she whispered, before leaning in to kiss him.

Later, as the two of them looked over the files, she found herself having to stifle a yawn.

"Tired?" Makoto asked.

"I'm fine," she answered groggily, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm just resting my eyes for a second."

The next thing she knew, she was lying in her bed, under her blankets. She probably should've expected that to happen.

Stretching her arms with a yawn, Kyoko sat up in her bed and looked at her clock. It was still morning, and with how late she had stayed up, she could probably afford to stay in bed a while longer. But her husband was nowhere to be found, and she heard some sounds coming from the kitchen.

Kyoko got out of bed and walked out into the kitchen, and was met with a very appetizing smell.

"Kyoko! What are you doing out of bed?"

She turned to see her husband, wearing an apron and holding a frying pan. "I woke up and you weren't there, so I went looking for you."

"Aww," he pouted. "I wanted to get you breakfast in bed. I even made your favorite!"

She giggled. "Well, I appreciate the sentiment," she said as she walked towards the kitchen and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Remember," he said as he finished cooking and picked up the plates. "You promised to spend today on relaxing."

She smiled as she poured herself a fresh mug of Luwak coffee and grabbed the cup of orange juice on the counter. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten."

"I haven't cooked this in a long time," he said nervously. "I hope it's good."

"It's delicious Makoto, like always." There were times when Kyoko was very glad to have fallen in love with a man who was good at cooking. She leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek, and rested her head on his shoulder, letting out a happy sigh. "Thank you," she whispered.

He turned to her, raising his eyebrows. "Um, sure, I'm glad you like it."

She chuckled. "Not for the breakfast. Just… thank you. For everything."

He looked surprised for a moment, but his gaze softened, and he placed a kiss on her head. "You're welcome. I love you."

It's good to take some time to relax, every now and again.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! I have a couple of announcements. First of all, I've been dealing with a lot of personal problems recently, as well being busy with college, so expect the rest of my Naegiri Week stories to be very short this year, even shorter than last year, I hope that they still come out well. Also, for those of you who read Moving Forward, there haven't been updates in a long time because I've been working on another project, but I still fully intend to complete it, and I'll be returning to it (hopefully) soon. Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy my writing.