***AUTHORS NOTE: Hello, everyone! This is my first fanfiction, but I've been planning to write this for a long time. This fanfiction will basically be the "third season" of Itazura na Kiss 2: Love in Tokyo (with Honoka Miki and Yuki Furukawa), so aspects and events of the story will be based off of the drama adaption. ***Because this will be the story of Kotoko's pregnancy, (which was entirely forgotten in the second season until the last episode. The final scene was adorable, but simply not satisfying enough!) I have rated it T for now. However, be aware that it may be changed to M in the future. ***SPOILER ALERT: The beginning of this story will start from the end of Episode 16, so watch it before reading if you haven't already! Comments & reviews welcome! Enjoy! :) (I will be updating this regularly)


KOTOKO'S POV

"The protective instinct of a mother is so powerful!" I exclaimed. Just thinking about Takashi's mother, and how she'd carried him all the way here... I couldn't help but smile until my cheeks hurt. Suddenly, I remembered the mother and her son who'd had an asthma attack during my date with Irie-kun, and how brave she'd been, too, despite the cute little boy not even being able to speak. My heart felt like it was going to burst.

'How amazing the love of a mother for her child is!' I smiled even more at the thought and let my head hang lazily to the side.

"It sure is," Irie-kun agreed. Even he couldn't deny the strong love between mother and child! I sighed in amazement.

Suddenly, I flinched a bit at the sound of someone running down the hall. I whipped to my left to see Nurse Yume rounding the corner.

"Irie-sensei!"

'Ah, there goes my peaceful moment with Irie-kun... but now is not the time to be discouraged!' Quickly, I jumped to my feet and smoothed my skirt. I could hear Irie-kun stand up behind me.

"I'm sorry." Nurse Yume winced apologetically. "We have another patient..."

I could feel my jaw drop open. 'Another patient! How can this be possible... is all of Tokyo sick?!'

"Taku..." Irie-kun sighed under his breath. "What a crazy night." Speechless, I nodded in agreement with my jaw still unhinged. Irie-kun turned to me, his deep brown eyes staring into mine. "Kotoko, go home," he said gently, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Another nurse is coming."

"Heh?" I squeaked. 'No! This isn't... no! I can keep working! Sure, my back hurts a little, and my feet DO ache, but... but I want to stay with Irie-kun!'

"Yes, Kotoko-san. Miss Yamamura is coming soon." Nurse Yume smiled at me.

I had to convince them, and quickly. "No, I can still work," I waved my hands frantically and dismissed them in the most reassuring voice I could muster. "Irie-kun is still working, so can I..."

As I looked up at Irie-kun, a wave of blood rushed to my head. It felt like I had stood up too quickly after sitting for too long... I felt light... like a balloon. I felt as if I would just float away, into nothingness. My legs went numb with pins and needles and Irie-kun's face swayed from side to side as my knees started to give out. His eyes kept blurring in and out of my vision, mixing with the wall. I wiggled my fingers. I couldn't feel them, either!

'What...?' My heart was pounding against my chest. I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. 'This is weird... I can't stand...' Everything was fading... the colors and lights...were mixing with one another in a haze... and... fading...

I didn't feel my legs buckle. All the fuzz and colors whirled by me and before I knew it, the slap of my body against the hospital floor echoed against the wall. I felt scared... but at the same time, I felt nothing... it was all... fading...

Above me, I could hardly make out Irie-kun's face, with Nurse Yume crouching behind him. His eyes were wide... scared... was I imagining it...? I wanted to cry out, but I couldn't...

"Kotoko!" Irie-kun's voice rang in my ears.

"Kotoko-san?!" Nurse Yume cried out.

"Kotoko!" Irie-kun called again. Even the sound of his voice... was fading...

'Help me, Irie-kun...'

Everything was melting together... the red of both of their lanyards... the white of their uniforms... the brown of Irie-kun's eyes... fading...

"...Irie... kun...?" I breathed out.

Red... white... red... brown...

Black.


NAOKI'S POV

"Kotoko!" I shouted, shaking her shoulders just a little too hard. Her eyes were slightly open, but her head shook limply. My heart was pounding against my ribcage, and my hands were tingling with fear. But I had to remain calm... just calm down...

"Kotoko!" I called out to her again, but her eyelids were fluttering. I desperately prayed it was just a dizzy spell... that her eyes would pop open and she'd groan and pout like the fool she was. But I knew better than that. My eyes frantically searched her face for signs of injury from the fall. Her usually bright brown eyes, now dull, kept disappearing and flashing at me from under her drooping eyelashes, opening and closing. It was like a cruel tease, and it pulled at my pounding heart.

"Irie...kun...?" she croaked out. Her brittle voice, so annoying most times, yet it managed to paralyze me with her fear, confusion, and pain just by uttering my name. My head was pounding... my heart beginning to race faster as soon as her eyelids softly fell shut. Her skin was so pale... her tiny hands fell limp in the finality of her loss of consciousness.

Before I could think of what to do, I shoved my hands under the small of her back and scooped her up, roughly pulling into my arms as I quickly stood to my feet.

"Nurse Yume, find another doctor to attend to the patient. Funatsu-san should be on night duty," I ordered. My nerves were shot by Kotoko's crumpled form, hopelessly limp in my arms.

"B-but... Irie-sensei..." she hesitated.

"Please," I stared at Kotoko's nervous colleague, hoping she'd see the plea in my eyes. I had to do something as soon as possible, but I knew she'd realize that hesitation could be fatal.

"H-... Hai..." Nurse Yume responded. "I'll find your medical adviser and tell him you've gone off duty for tonight."

"Arigato gozaimasu," I said quickly, and bowed my head. Nurse Yume's concerned stare flicked from Kotoko to me, then to the floor. She bowed, turned, and jogged through the corridor.

As fast as I could, I ran down the hallway in the opposite direction to my office, thanking God it was just a few doors away. It was the only one unlocked besides Office B-9, where I'd just removed glass from the young boy, Takashi's, injury. But it was the first thing that came to mind in my desperate slurry of thoughts.

'How can someone so full of energy just collapse on a whim?'

I grasped for an answer as Kotoko's limp hand slapped against my thigh. 'She's fainted before...but never without reason like this...' The fact that a medical answer wasn't coming to me immediately scared me almost more than her unconsciousness. As I stopped at my office I shifted Kotoko's tiny frame into my left arm and ripped the sliding door open. Gently but as quickly as possible, I laid her onto the medical bench in the back left corner. I took her pale, cold wrist into my hand and pressed to the left of her bone.

She had a pulse. That much was clear. The reassuring nudge of a heartbeat against my fingers was as strong as her determination. I felt a punch of relief in my stomach, thankful at least for the indication that Kotoko was alive. Now, I needed to know if she was well enough to stay that way.

As I timed her blood pressure with my watch and then felt her forehead for a fever, the tsunami of thoughts in my head died down, buried by my concentration. Whenever I was doing my job, everything became clear for me. I was thankful for the clarity it provided. My heartbeat calmed down as well.

'Finally, thank God. I need to be efficient as possible'

For her sake.

I stared at her chest, and concentrated on how her white nurse's uniform tightened and crinkled against her breathing chest. Up, down, up, down.

'No erratic breathing.'

My gaze flicked to Kotoko's face. Her skin was so pale, yet there was still a hint of rosiness in her cheeks. I felt a pang in my heart as I watched her delicately rounded nostrils flare and relax with her breathing that echoed throughout the room. It was so loud that it bordered on being a snore. The corner of my mouth turned up.

"Taku," I sighed out loud. I reached over and grabbed the chair from my desk to sit by her side. It was a miracle I was still standing, that my legs hadn't given out like hers had.

"Even when you're unconscious, you're still so loud..." I said to her. She remained still, her full lips slightly parted and her big innocent eyes shut. Her long lashes dipped down onto her cheeks. Despite the fact that she nearly looked like a corpse, I felt immense relief in my chest. To see her like this... so relaxed, even after the fear and confusion she must have felt just a little while ago... I was truly grateful.

I brought my chair forward a little bit and placed my hand at the top of her head. I ran my hand down along the side of her face, resting my thumb on her soft cheek and cupping her ear.

"You fool," I said, searching her soft expression. "You're always going and worrying me..."

I swear I could see her eyebrows twitch inward, just the slightest of movements. I tried stroking her hair to evoke another response, but she remained dead to me and my teasing.

"...I guess it's a good thing that I love you.' I continued, my voice nearly at a whisper.

"My wife."

Her eyebrows pulled inwards. A motion barely noticeable enough yet it tugged at my heart. All signs indicated that she would be fine. I sighed, releasing all of my fear with a single breath. But just as soon as you try to push all the air out of your lungs, there's always some that stays behind. It picked at me like a festering sore.

"I didn't even try to catch you..." I said, rubbing her cheek with my thumb. "To think I should've mastered it by now..." I continued. A smile tugged at my lips.

"That and a triple back-flip landing."

There was nothing left to be done. No medicine I could give her, and no injuries on her body for me to bandage up. I had to trust in her strength to recover, and she needed to be at home, in our own bed. She needed to rest somewhere other than my flourescently lit office on a hard patient's bench. I looked at my watch, which was resting just below her cheek.

It was 20 minutes past midnight.

'There'll be no trains running at this hour... and we certainly won't be catching a taxi...'

I sighed and was forced to surrender my hopes for bringing her home in a nice, heated train or car. I stood up from my chair and pushed it back into my desk. After shrugging my lab coat off of my shoulders, I placed it by her feet and picked her up from underneath her cold body. Once I had shifted her so that she was comfortably in my arms, I picked up my coat and draped it over her, tucking one side in against my stomach so that it wouldn't fall off.

After turning out the light and locking the door with one free hand, I took the elevator down to the reception lobby, preparing myself for the long walk home that awaited Kotoko and I. A shiver ran down my spine when I stepped out into the night. I wasted no time in turning towards the direction of home.

The events of the night kept playing through my head as I stared down at Kotoko, her head limply bobbing with my strides. The way the fatigue had come over her like a flipped switch, how she'd swayed from side to side.

How she'd inexplicably collapsed.

But as I looked down to her slightly rosy cheeks, I was reminded of a possibility that had come to mind not only when she fainted, but that I thought could explain her slightly out-of-character behavior as of recently as well.

Maybe not so inexplicably, after all.


NAOKI'S POV

I'd managed to make it home with Kotoko, unharmed.

Despite how alone I'd felt the entire walk home without her constantly talking my ear off, I still felt motivated by her. I could feel her cheering me on as I'd kept walking, shoving through the pain of my aching feet, back, and my numb arms.

I didn't even announce that I was home when I finally made it through the door with Kotoko hanging from my arms. The only thing that fueled me was my determination to get her in our warm bed, and finally see her smiling face as she slept. That little reassurance that everything would be alright.

"Welcome home!" Mom's voice echoed from the kitchen, cheery as ever. I could hear her shuffling in her slippers to greet who she expected to be me and a happy, conscious Kotoko.

'That's right, I didn't even call home. Whatever. There's no time for this now.'

I pressed forward, towards the family room. Before I could even reach the entrance, Mom shuffled out from the kitchen and stopped in her tracks. Her smile fell to a grave expression when she laid her eyes on Kotoko. In that moment she'd aged about 10 years with fear.

But it wasn't enough to stop me. Kotoko needed rest as soon as possible. She was depending on me.

"Onii-chan!" Mom exclaimed, gasping for breath. "What happened?!"

I shifted my gaze down to Kotoko, ignoring my mother's pressing concern. I shoved past her and into the living room, where my father and Yuuki both sat reading on the couch.

"Onii-chan!" Mom called out again. As I carried Kotoko quickly through the room and to the hallway, I could see father and Yuuki stand up.

I knew they were concerned, but they would have to wait.

As I finally reached our bedroom door, I pulled it open and stepped inside as quickly as I could in spite of Kotoko weighing me down. Father and Yuuki's uproar sounded from the living room as I could hear mother tell them what she'd seen.

I walked over to our bed and laid Kotoko down with a sigh. My shoulders and legs were practically screaming with pain.

But seeing Kotoko lying there, in our own bed, was relief enough to dull all my agony.

I sighed and sat on the edge of the bed next to her, and stroked her cheek. She wasn't as cold as she had been in my office, thanks to my makeshift lab coat blanket. But something was still off.

"Eh," I exclaimed as the realization hit me. She couldn't go to sleep in her nurse's uniform.

Carefully, I pulled Kotoko up from under her back until she was sitting upright, and I leaned her head against my chest for support.

"Do you think she's alright?!" I could hear Mom exclaim from the living room. I sighed again, and rubbed Kotoko's back in thought.

'Can she not be so overbearing for once? It's no help to me when I already have to deal with my unconscious wife.'

I was almost shocked by the inconsiderateness of my inner thoughts. It should've been no surprise to me, as being hurtful was the shield I put up when angry or exhausted. Weak.

'But still... she has a right to be concerned.'

I cupped Kotoko's shoulders in my hands and turned her around to give myself access to the back of her uniform. The bow she'd tied for herself in the back was so horribly knotted, I couldn't help but smirk. After fumbling with it for a minute or so, it came undone. After that, I unbuttoned the entirety of the white dress down to the bottom, and pulled it off with ease. Kotoko's loud breathing echoed against the bedroom ceiling, and I could feel it's vibrations along her spine as I rubbed her back again. Gently, I turned her and laid her back down. I left her on the bed for a moment and got up to grab a pair of clean pajamas from the dresser.

Of course, nothing was folded. It took me longer than I would've liked just to find a matching yellow top and bottom.

And something else.

An untouched bright pink package of pads caught my eye. I wouldn't even have noticed it if I hadn't been rummaging through every unmatched pajama top or bottom in the drawer. It had been shoved to the very back.

A stark realization pierced me in the chest as I struggled to remember why I'd immediately recognized them.

'Didn't I buy those...?' I questioned. For more than once tonight, I was unsure of myself. When I thought back, a certain memory suddenly came to mind.

"The bright pink ones, Irie-kun. With flowers on the package, please!" Kotoko had nagged me over the phone. When I'd asked her for the brand, she'd sighed and admitted: "I dont remember what they're called..."

'Typical Kotoko.' I thought.

That had been a week or two before her birthday.

And they were still unopened.

For a moment, I fell silent, and I could feel my mouth fall open a bit. My mind was empty, and I couldn't even think of anything to say to this realization. The flowery plastic package, flashing at me from its spot at the back of the drawer, said it all.

I unfolded myself and stood up from my position on the floor, with the yellow pajamas in my hand. I looked over at Kotoko on the bed. Her paleness was even more shocking to me than before, now that she was wearing nothing more than her underwear.

But her cheeks, they were still slightly flushed.

I walked over and sat back down by her side. Once more, I pulled her up against my body. Kotoko, usually so strong and determined, entirely depended on me. A feeling of pain like a knife plunged into my heart to see her like this, so weak and frail. My love for her, the warm feeling I'd come to know twisted the knife, adding insult to the stab wound I felt in my chest.

As I focused on gently lifting and pulling each pale, limp arm and her head through the shirt holes, I regained my thoughts. The realization I'd had by seeing what I'd found in Kotoko's drawer wasn't really a surprise to me, like I imagined figuring something like that out would've been.

Actually, it'd just been a confirmation. A confirmation about what had been playing on my mind ever since we'd made love on her birthday, and the possibility I'd considered but quickly pushed away to focus on getting Kotoko home on my walk through Tokyo's cold night.

The possibility that quickly flashed through my thoughts when Kotoko first fainted.

As I fumbled with buttoning up her shirt, my brain was elsewhere.

Twice, I'd tried to ask her.

We'd been in the living room. The entire family had been sprawled among the couches, covered in blankets and ice packs. After I told them the diagnosis: influenza, Mom of course immediately asked Kotoko if she was alright despite her own ridiculous cough.

"I'm fine!" Kotoko exclaimed. "For some reason, I feel really good lately!"

"Kotoko..." I had started, not quite sure how to approach my suspicion. "You..."

"Hm?" She stared up at me. As expected, she was totally clueless. The pout on her face said it all. Looking at her, I remembered we were in the presence of the entire family and Mom, regardless of how close to unconscious they all nearly were. It'd be a fatal mistake to even tell her not to overwork herself. Mom would jump to conclusions, and what if I was wrong?

"No..." I'd quickly dismissed her, looking away.

Then, the question resurfaced in my mind earlier tonight, before she'd fainted. I'd found her, on night duty, in the break room. She'd been sighing and swooning, so excited that our shifts were overlapping. I was thankful, too, but not for the same reason as she was. After I poured my coffee, I watched her twist from side to side in her own bliss, with her hands clasped. Sure enough, as I watched her face, my gaze was met with a telltale flush in her cheeks.

"What?"

"I've been wanting to ask you..."I had started, being as gentle as possible. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Huh? Uh... mm." She'd nodded. That smile I loved fell in concentration. "I'm a little tired," she'd continued, "Maybe a little feverish..."I could barely hear her, as she'd uttered it under her breath. Even when I'd directly asked her how she'd been feeling, she didn't want to bother me. "But I'm fine."

"Are you eating?" I immediately demanded. I may have been getting ahead of myself, but if she was really pregnant, I wanted assurance that she'd been taking care of herself. Especially with all of the sick patients we'd been seeing all day.

"I don't have much of an appetite. We've been so busy."

Quickly snapping back to reality, I buttoned the last button.

'No appetite, yet she loves eating.' I thought blankly. I looked down to her face, resting against my shoulder. But I was especially focusing on the flush in her cheeks.

'She's so pale, but her cheeks are still flushed.' I noted, again.

Still unsure of what to do with my thoughts, I picked up the yellow pajama pants beside me. Suddenly, Kotoko sighed. My heart nearly slammed to a stop. Quickly, I looked at her, but she looked the same as just a few seconds ago. Her eyes were still shut. I let out my own sigh and held the soft underside of her leg, shoving it into one of the pant holes of the pajama pants. I didn't even check to see if they were backwards.

"Irie... kun..." I felt Kotoko's breath against my neck. When I looked down at her, she had the tiniest smile. Something inside me ached.

"You're such a big help," I said in her ear. I tried to sound as reserved as possible, in case she could hear me. But really, I couldn't help the stupid grin on my face.

Even when she was unconscious, her feelings for me remained as strong as ever.

Despite the voice in the back of my mind that wanted to deny it, I loved it that way.

After I successfully got both legs into her flannel pajama pants, I placed a hand under Kotoko's back and laid her onto the bed. She groaned as I pulled the covers out from under her with barely any force. I was still grinning like an idiot as I dragged them over her limp body and tucked her in as much as possible.

Once I was satisfied with how cozy she looked, I laid myself down on top of the covers beside her. I propped my head up with my arm and stared down at her. Her breathing was almost louder than when I had brought her into my office.

I was smiling, but inside I became angry. Disappointed. Kotoko, who I loved, who depended on me. I had failed to break her fall, again. I had failed as her husband. Yet I knew when she gained consciousness, she would be all but thrilled just to see my face again, and not even think twice about the fact that she'd fallen.

That's right, she definitely wouldn't even know why she'd passed out so suddenly. But I did.

Was Kotoko pregnant?

I was confident the answer would be yes.


KOTOKO'S POV

Okaa-san, Yuuki, Dad, Otou-san. Familiar faces were hovering over me.

Okaa-san gasped with a smile of relief, and I could see Yuuki's mouth drop open.

"Ah! She's awake!" Yuuki exclaimed. I tried to get a better look at Dad, whose eyebrows were pushed together.

"It's true!" Okaa-san squealed in relief. "Kotoko-chan is awake!"

'Where's... Irie-kun...?'

"Onii-chan! Onii-chan! Kotoko-chan is up!" Okaa-san was shouting, and a weight was lifted from my side as she rolled off the bed and stumbled to the bedroom door.

'What's happening? Everyone is so worried...'

"Kotoko-chan is...!" I could hear Okaa-san exclaim.

"Mama, calm down, calm down!" Otou-san interjected, grabbing her by the shoulders. I pulled myself up to see what was happening.

"What...?" I croaked out "I..." I looked from Yuuki to Papa's worried faces, then down at the floor.

'What happened? I don't remember getting in bed... or anything from last night...'

Quickly, Okaa-san rushed to my side. "Kotoko-chan, you collapsed at the hospital." She explained to me.

Suddenly, Yuuki piped up. "Onii-chan carried you home."

"You've been sleeping until now," Okaa-san continued in a rush.

Bits and pieces of it were coming back to me, and my heart started to pound.

'I remember... Irie-kun's blurry face... and the floor-'

"We were so worried! Thank God you're up..." Okaa-san grabbed my arm and started to shake me. Her face was wrinkled all over in concern, and although I still couldn't really remember what happened, I felt horrible that everyone was so distraught. It was all my fault...

"Gomenasai, I made you worry," I said. I was so embarrassed that I looked away.

"That's right!" Dad exclaimed. "You really had us worried...!" I could hear him start to sob, and I looked up.

'Dad...?'

Otou-san smiled and slapped him on the back.

"All Is well! Kotoko is fine," he sighed as Dad sniffed and wiped his face..

I didn't know what to do. No matter how hard I tried, I could only remember half of what happened to me last night. I let my mouth hang open and looked to Okaa-san, who was still staring at me with a pained expression. Suddenly, she grabbed both my arms and pulled me into a hug, and I could feel her sniffling against my chest.

'Oba-sama...'

"Gomenasai ne, Kotoko-chan!" She cried in my ear. My whole body shook as she squeezed me lovingly. "You caught our influenza!"

'Huh...? But I feel totally fine!'

Oba-sama pulled away from me and stared at me with shame in her eyes.

"You had to work at the hospital, and take care of us as well!" She looked sadly at Dad, Yuuki and Otou-san. I felt like I was about to cry. They'd done nothing wrong! It was me who fainted, yet she was taking all of the blame and worrying herself even more... And even if I was sick, it still wasn't their fault! They couldn't help that they'd caught the influenza. Irie-kun and I had decided to help them, so if anyone was to blame it was me. Even so, I felt fine!

"Gomenasai ne, we pushed you too hard..." Okaa-san grasped my hands in an iron grip, and rubbed my arm. I couldn't bear to see her feel so badly anymore.

"That's not it, Okaa-san!" I smiled to assure her, and squeezed her hand. "I slept well, so I feel totally fine!" She still didn't look entirely convinced.

"If I take some medicine now, I'll be totally okay tomorrow!"

'That's right, I'll beat this influenza before I even feel sick! I'll take some medicine, just in case.'

"Really, Kotoko-chan?!" Okaa-san sighed in relief.

"Hai!" I exclaimed to her, "I'm fine, I'm fine!" I was smiling so hard that my cheeks were hurting. Finally, Okaa-san's sad expression fell into a relieved smile, and I felt relieved as well that she wasn't going to worry herself over me. Especially since I felt completely fine. I giggled and crawled out from under the covers. I turned to my nightstand and opened the drawer in search for the medicine Irie-kun had bought a few weeks ago, in case we caught the flu, too. Almost immediately, I saw the white box and pulled it out.

Oba-sama reached for me and gave my arm a reassuring rub. "I'll bring you some water, then!" she announced cheerily, and sat up from the bed to walk to the kitchen. Everyone else looked a bit more relieved too. I was happy, now that it seemed me assuring Okaa-san had calmed everyone else's frayed nerves, too.

"Hai! Arigato gozaimasu," I exclaimed. I smiled down at the little box of medicine in my hand.

'It's a good thing Okaa-san mentioned this so early! Even if I'm not sick, I'm bound to be totally fine if I take this before I start to come down with anything. Great thinking, Nurse Kotoko!'

Suddenly, as Okaa-san shuffled over to the door, her voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Onii-chan, look! Kotoko-chan is up!"

I fumbled to slide the medicine out of it's cute little box, and flipped it to read the label. Just when I'd pulled it out halfway, a familiar hand closed over mine and stopped me. I looked up to find Irie-kun standing in front of me with his arm stretched out, and his deep brown eyes staring into mine from underneath his eyelids.

"Don't drink it." He said firmly.

"Heh...?" I squeaked. Slowly, he pulled it out of my hands and away from me.

"Not now."

I didn't know what to say. Although I felt relieved that Irie-kun had finally come to see me in all this confusion, he didn't seem to feel the same. His face was blank and his eyes looked restless, like something was bothering him. Suddenly, I could feel a blush heat up my cheeks after realizing he'd carried me home. Out of our entire family, he would've been the most worried, and I hadn't even realized it. The knotted feeling in my stomach that I thought went away for good returned. It felt like I'd ate too many sushi balls.

"Sorry to worry you, Irie-kun," I stared down at his striped slippers. I felt like such an idiot, having gone and fainted and worried him so much. But... I couldn't be discouraged. I felt fine! And maybe Irie-kun would feel better too, once I assured him. "But I'm totally fine now!" I waved my hands furiously and gave him my best smile. "I don't know why I totally blacked out-"

"Kotoko." Irie-kun interrupted me. I smiled up at him. His face was still expressionless, but his eyes still looked like he knew something I didn't. For a few seconds, he said nothing.

"When..." he said gently, then paused again. He looked so... serious.

"...was your last period?"

Immediately, my smile fell.

It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cold water over me, sending my thoughts in a hopeless scurry.

Hundreds of voices cried out in my head. 'What...? Period... over two months ago... what?! I'm late...?! Why does he...'

"W-.. W-.. What..?" I stuttered. I shot up onto my knees and balled the blankets up with my fists. I kept blinking, trying to search for an answer. "Why... do... you ask?"

"That's right, Onii-chan!" Okaa-san exclaimed from her spot at the end of the bed. "What are you saying?!"

But Irie-kun didn't look away from me. "Are you..." he started.

'What...?! What?!'

"I-Irie-kun...?" Was all I could muster.

The world stopped. Dad, Outou-san, Okaa-san, Yuuki... all silent.

"...pregnant?"

Irie-kun stared at me as that word slammed into me like a train. My whole body went numb, and my face fell slack. That one word, had sucked all of the energy out of my body. For a few seconds, I wondered if I was going to faint again.

'Pregnant... Me... a baby?'

A switch was flipped in my mind. Late period... no appetite... kinda feverish... And I'd been feeling so good lately, like I could do anything in the world.

My mouth dropped open, and I stared up at Irie-kun. All around us, the family fell into hysterics, but I couldn't even bring myself to focus on them. I felt that if I looked away from Irie-kun... the whole world would fall out from underneath me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Oba-sama gripping the door frame to hold herself up, and Dad and Otou-san going red in the face. Yuuki's jaw unhinged. My heart was pounding, the thoughts in my head were popping up so fast that I couldn't even understand anything I was saying in my own head. My brain was shutting down. Was I going into shock?!

As I looked up at Irie-kun, it looked like he hadn't moved an inch. But as I found myself gazing at him in my haze of disbelief, I noticed a teeny tiny smirk play across his lips. As the family's happiness surged all around me, I could only focus on Irie-kun as he set the box of medicine down on my nightstand. He didn't look away from me.

"Change into some clothes. We need to go."