The Year Between: Chapter 2 - Come Back to Bed

The sunlight frolicked on her closed eyelids. The smell of the ocean came in waves as they filled her nostrils. She refused to open her eyes until she remembered what was happening. Where was she? Morocco. When did she get here? Well…that's a good question. How did she get here? All she remembered was boarding the plane aka a wedding gift from F3. Who was she? Makino Tsukushi. The last question she asked herself was maybe the most important question: What was she? Because if her memory served her correctly the last thing she did was become the wife of Domyoji Tsukasa. Honestly, that was the one fact she didn't have to remember. She just had a hard time believing it.

Speaking of husbands, where was hers? Her eyes sprung open. She lay in a bed of white sheets while the wood bed made of the richest mahogany was veiled in billowing netting. She had hoped to see something……or someone sitting beside her in this cloudlike bed but when she turned her head there was no such luck. She quickly moved past her disappointment and navigated her way through the large bed and the canopy curtains to be introduced to the balcony that overlooked unending miles of cerulean water and white sand. While they complemented the white stone walls of the abode she found herself in at the present she looked past them to see the edge of a wicker table that was filled to the brim with breakfast food on that same balcony. She walked closer to get a better view and was soon greeted with the edge of a folded newspaper that was held by a sturdy hand that she knew all too well and, finally, being looked at by a figure she knew better than her own.

He looked up almost unsurprised to know she was standing there. Even when he is still in his pajamas and robe he still looked like he was ready for the world and whatever it would throw his…or her way.

"You're up?" he asked as he placed his newspaper on the table and looked at her with the stone face he wore so well. Although, when he looked at her she detected a type of amusement that shined in his eyes. But that may just be the beautiful, shining sun. She slightly grinned as she stood there, not sure if she should sit down and start eating the way she wanted to or wait for an invitation.

"I had them make everything they had in the kitchen. I wasn't sure what you would want for breakfast. I just knew you'd be hungry. If you want somethi-

He stopped and stared at her.

"What are you doing?"

"What?" she asked after being pulled out her stupor at the amount of food that was there.

"Are you going to sit or are you going to watch the food sit for you?!"

"If you wanted me to sit that's all you had to say!" She responded while making a beeline for the seat set up next to him.

"When have you ever needed an invitation to do anything?!"

She wasn't sure where she wanted to begin but when you're as hungry as she was, knowing where to begin is never the point. She reached out for the bowl of scrambled eggs, grabbed the handle of the spoon that sat in them, prepared to scoop out a mountain of eggs…..and then stopped. She looked over her shoulder and saw those eyes, those piercing eyes staring back at her. The last thing she needed was for her new husband to start giving her the nickname of "Pig Wife" when they were behind closed doors. While he had matured in many ways over the past few years the immaturity he tried so hard to grow out of still showed at the most inopportune times.

She shook most of the eggs off the spoon and pulled back a small portion of the eggs to arrive on her plate. She then pulled her hands back to evaluate her options. As she contemplated taking two strips of bacon instead of six pieces of French toast, Domyuji's patience had now been spent.

He picked up her plate, piled on the mountain sized amount of eggs Makino skimmed back earlier and dumped them on her plate. He gave her endless amounts of bacon, toast, French toast, and every other kind of breakfast food that was, as he stated earlier, all that the kitchen offered. By the time he was done she had 4 plates sitting in front of her while a look of amazement covered her face.

"You're hungry. When you're hungry, you eat. You understood this before what don't you understand now?!" he exclaimed as he took to his seat again.

"I can't finish all of this! What do you think I am? A pig?"

"Yes. You like to eat. A lot. Even when you haven't slept for two days straight!"

"I don't like to eat all that – I've been asleep for two days?!"

"Mmm. I had to carry you off the plane. Eat."

"So we've been here….3 days?" After she took in this information she realized if she was that tired then he must have been exhausted. They went through so much before the wedding…..

"Are you ok? Did you sleep?" she asked with a sense of worry in her voice.

"Why wouldn't I be? The great Domyuji only needs a few hours of sleep to recover from anything."

"Everyone needs to sleep after what we went through. Even you."

She then realized something.

"Where….did you sleep?"

"In our room." He answered matter of factly already engrossed in his newspaper again.

"Our room? You mean, this room?" she pointed back to the bed she found herself in earlier to make sure they were talking about the same place. The fact that he completely ignored the question told her they were talking about the same place.

Her world stopped for a moment. While they had shared many things together they had never shared a marital bed before. They hadn't even lived together yet. All of this was new to her and while he would try to act like this wasn't a big deal that doesn't mean that it is not a big deal. She tried to discover what she was feeling. It wasn't fear or nervousness it was….

"I slept on the couch in the living room." He suddenly said.

Makino suddenly felt disappointment.

"I wanted to give you the whole bed. I wasn't expecting you to sleep so long though." He followed with a not so hidden teasing to his voice.

She wasn't sure why she felt this disappointment but it soon was forgotten as she smiled to herself reveling the sweetness of it all.

"Did you eat?" she inquired.

"I had coffee."

"That's not food." She scolded.

She picked up food from the table and began placing it on the empty plate the staff had placed in front of him. Once he noticed this he pushed her hands away and began transferring the food she just placed on his plate onto the plates he made for her. She also began pushing him away.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed.

"I told you I was fine so just leave it! You've been awake for less than an hour and already you're annoying me!"

"Yeah, well you've been annoying me from the day I met you but I'm still here!"

"What kind of husband would I be if I if my wife didn't have all of her strength because I let her go without food after sleeping for two days?!"

"And what kind of wife would I be to know my husband, who has been waiting patiently for his wife to wake up for two days and slept on an uncomfortable couch just so she can sleep in a more than adequate bed with more than enough room for two people, was unnecessarily skipping breakfast because of his ridiculous fear she wouldn't have enough to eat?"

They bored into each other for what seemed like forever until she broke the silence.

"It's as much my job to take care of you as it is for you to take care of me." she explained in a calmer voice.

He continued to stare at her. A glimmer of delight dancing in his eye that was anything but the Moroccan sunlight.

"And", she continued, "if anyone takes that away from me, no Domyuji name can save them."

His face softened, he sat back in his chair, picked up his newspaper, and continued reading. She took that as his abnegation and began placing food back on his once emptied plate. When she finished, his newspaper continued to cover his face and she dare not try to see the almost guaranteed smirk he wore behind it. She continued to watch him when, finally a hand appeared to take a piece - no! - two pieces of toast and disappeared behind the newspaper. Once she heard an almost upbeat crunching she smiled feeling very proud of herself.

She was so happy she didn't notice that his face had come from behind his reading. She stopped her internal gloating to look back at him. He looked at her, at her plates, and at her again.

"Eat." he growled.

She had no other choice but to obey. Albeit, ecstatically obey.