The soft buzzing sound of Christmas carols plays gently on the radio as shoppers hurry from store to store. Children laugh and point noting loudly the gifts they want. Men and women dress so tightly in their warmest clothes look more like frumpy snowmen the then high class of Japanese society. I had never cared for this holiday. Had never so much as given it another thought. Today, just one day until the event I stand in line behind frantic shoppers holding the gift. Not any gift, not something to make her smile, not something to have her arms tossed around me in joy and surprised. No, this is the gift of my heart. A small token to show her I care. A small, sparkly something to remind her how she's changed me. How she has given me a life, a home, a world. A something to thank her for the years she has spent with me, fighting next to me. How she's melted my heart from the ice I had it encased. The sales man smiles gently at me as he wraps my gift in a small box, placing a perfectly tied bow on the top. She'll know I didn't wrap it, but she wont care. Her face will light with wonderment as she peals the layers of paper away. She'll smile that smile that breaks my heart and reminds me why I love her. I thank the salesman and head for the door, battling with the traffic of people still searching for that perfect something. My perfect something is home, waiting ever so patiently for my return. Used to the late nights, accepting of my random absences. Knowing I'd never stray from her in our bed, never look at another woman as I do her. She knows my affair is with my work and she has resigned herself to that. This year I make a change, this year I give her everything. This year I show her what she means to me, what's she's truly done for me. This year is about her. I pull finally into the driveway and cut the engine, watching the curtains of our bedroom slowly flow closed. She'd been waiting. I take the stairs two at a time and once in our room I pull her tight against me and kiss her as if I would never kiss her again. She flushes red and pushes me gently away, giggling. 'And where were you on Christmas eve?' she asks me, half heartedly accusing me.
'Shopping.' I answer.
'If you're going to lie Haruka, make it believable.' she laughs. I pull her tight against me slipping the box from my pocket to place before her.
'I can't lie to you Michiru, you know that.' I say gently as I place the box on her lap. She gasps a little as she slowly pulls away the bow, tugging softly at the paper then finally revealing the small velvet box. Her breath is caught in her throat, her hands shaking ever so slightly.
'Haruka.' she whispers. I take the box from her and open it, inside is the necklace I have chosen. Something that could accent her neck, the one I love to kiss. Something that could rest against her chest, next to her heart. I place my lips against the flesh below her ear, smelling that sea side scent that could be no one but my love. I lift her hair sweeping it aside as I place the chain around her clasping it, letting the jewel fall to her breast. I kiss her neck sweetly where the chair lay gently murmuring how much I love her. She turns to face me, our lips collide. 'Merry Christmas.' I say.
'Merry Christmas.' she replies.