A/N: I was this (puts forefinger and thumb one inch apart) close to ending Close Distance. Which would mean the conclusion of the series. (Even though I still have to finish Sano and Megumi's love story which is about halfway done.) The AU series that I've written is very dear to me…and I'd hate to see it end. For some STRANGE reason, I wanted to explore Saitou and Tokio's characters and relationship more.
(I had to change the age of their kids which I'll fix in my already existing stories later…)
As for when this takes place…it could pretty much be anytime after Matchmaker Misao.
Prologue
"I'll be back Friday night," his wife announced.
"Do you hafta go, Mom?" a young voice in the backseat piped up.
"Tsuyoshi, you'll have so much fun with your cousins you won't even notice I'm gone," Tokio Takagi remarked cheerfully before sending her husband an amused look.
Hajime Saitou glanced in the rearview mirror to see his three sons, one currently occupied by his handheld system, one leaning forward in his chair, and the last one's attention out the window, watching the cars and scenery.
"What's Safraciso like?" Tsuyoshi asked.
"Boy, you sure have a lot of questions today," Tokio declared.
"Takes after your side of the family," Saitou stated dryly.
"Hm." Tokio grinned before turning to face their sons in the backseat. "Tsutomu, you don't get dizzy playing that?"
The eldest son, just seven years old, shook his head and continued his button pushing.
After raising a skeptical brow, Tokio then turned to Tsuyoshi, who eagerly leaned forward to listen to his mother. "Well, San Francisco is very cold. You have to wear a jacket all the time."
"Or you get sick," Tsuyoshi added firmly, nodding his head once.
Tokio laughed.
"Not according to germ theory," Saitou stated.
"Don't make it complicated," Tokio chided gently. "Anyway…it's windy and cold. In the winter, sometimes ice covers cars and streets. But in the summer, it never gets hot."
"Never?"
"No, never."
"Sounds no fun," Tsutomu announced as he played.
"Well, it is for adults. Your father and I went on vacation there once," Tokio recalled.
"You bringing back presents?" Tsuyoshi asked.
"Of course!"
While his wife continued to talk about San Francisco, Saitou followed the signs to Honolulu Airport, and within a few minutes, had pulled over to the curb of a major airline flying to the mainland. As his wife said her goodbyes to their children, he popped the trunk and retrieved her carry-on rollaway.
She was only going to be at the medical conference in California for four days. It seemed like she packed enough to last her a week and a half.
Women.
He closed the trunk and lifted the handle up of her luggage.
"Bye, Tatsuo. You be good." She playfully tweaked the nose of the youngest one before saying firmly, "All of you be good for Dad, okay?"
"We will," Tsutomu's voice carried through the open window.
Tokio rose to her full height before giving her husband a smile. "If you need anything, you know where I'm staying."
"You're acting as if you've never gone away before," Saitou said.
"It has been a while," she agreed.
"I'll try not to burn the house down," he smirked.
She laughed softly before rising on tiptoes to kiss him on the lips.
"Oh yuck!" Tsutomu exclaimed from the car.
Saitou shook his head, transferring the luggage handle to her.
"I'll call you when I get there," she promised, giving him a quick hug.
One hand moved to her back, holding her to him for one brief moment before letting her go. He watched her enter the terminal before getting in the car and driving back towards Mililani.
000
"So Auntie made her flight?" Mari asked from across the table of the family café restaurant. She took a sip of her orange juice before handing her sister, Rin, a red crayon to color her kids' menu with.
Saitou took a drink from his coffee before answering, "She was at the airport two hours early." He glanced to his left side of the booth they sat in, frowning. "Tsutomu, turn that down."
His oldest, after a few seconds, pushed the pause button of his game system and adjusted the speaker volume.
"He's had that on since we left," Saitou muttered.
The girls couldn't help but grin at the concentrated face of their cousin as he played his game.
Mari and Rin were Tokio's nieces. Tokio and her sister were very close, and the nieces would often spend a part of their summer vacation visiting. Mari, the oldest, was thirteen, and Rin was eight. They were nice girls – and very self-sufficient. With Mari around, it seemed that he and Tokio hardly had to do anything when it came to the boys. Mari would easily play sports or fix them meals. She did those without ever asking. Her way of thanking the family to allow her to visit, she said.
Earlier this morning, the two girls had decided to sleep in while Saitou dropped off Tokio to the airport.
"Auntie doesn't travel a lot for work…Doesn't it seem weird when she's not around?" Mari asked the boys.
"Sometimes," Tsutomu said before Tsuyoshi could answer. "She fixes SPAM better than Dad."
"Do you know what you want to eat?" Saitou asked, deliberately ignoring his son's comment. How could anyone mess up SPAM, anyway? It wasn't as if it was real food.
Tsuyoshi pointed at a picture on his kid's menu. A chocolate chip pancake with a face on it made of whip cream and cherries. "I want this."
Tsutomu, who preferred things simple, settled for toast, bacon, and eggs.
A waitress came to take their orders before promptly delivering the information to the chef.
Mari helped her sister with a crossword puzzle before turning to him.
"Uncle?"
"Yes?"
"How did you and Auntie meet? Mom said she was always working a lot."
"Lots and lots," Rin echoed.
Mari giggled at her sister's statement before saying, "If she was always working…how'd she have time to meet people?"
Now that was something that had never been brought up during all the times Mari and Rin had visited. Saitou took a sip of his coffee again.
He and Tokio had been married what? A little over ten years? Had it been that long?
Rin had put her crayon down and, like her sister, stared at him with rapt attention. Even Tsutomu, who had been focused on his games for the last two or three hours, had managed to turn his eyes away from the small screen.
Instantly, he recalled the circumstances around their first meeting. It had been almost eleven years ago…just when Tokio had finished medical school…
(And this is all my muse will allow me to write for now because I have work tomorrow! Whee!)