This Is Forever

A/N: Just finished first year exams, and it feels like I got out of jail or something. I promise, there will be more graphic scenes in the very near future (eg. Next Chapter), but only if I get a few more reviews! Hehe, think of it as the carrot before the stick method :)

As it is, I'd really like to thank the people who reviewed the first chapter. And to those leeches who didn't...ahh, well, I understand, I admit to being one too. Still, I hope you will deign to write a few words for me this time round. I really would like to hear what you think about the progression and any advice or plot twists you'd like to see.

Special Thanks to:

Bunni16: Love your name, love bunnies to death.

4nim3BBfr34k: Enjoy!

monkey kix ass: So glad you decided to stick with me! I was so happy so see an old reader reviewing.

Meli: I hope I can keep your attention with this chapter.

anitsirhc: Yes, they're more...ahem...mature. Sort of. Well, there'll be more mature scenes soon. Tell me how you think I'm doing with the progression.

"Tadaima"

Those simple words embodied their relationship. Sunako wasn't like Noi, she didn't know how to say affectionate greetings and neither did she feel comfortable accepting them. Takano was much the same. But he was the only one who could bring out the full smile she currently sported. They stayed like that, her back against him, his arms around her, for a couple of minutes. Then.

"I'm hungry, did you make the ebi yet?" His breath caressed her neck again. Sunako felt the brush of lips running down her chin to her collarbone. She told herself to get a grip. She really couldn't afford to have a nosebleed every single freaking time her boyfriend started kissing her; she'd become anemic. But it had seemed like forever since Christmas and she felt a lot more sensitive to every touch.

Sunako brought her hand to rest on Kyohei's forearms, absently tracing the corded muscle there. "I can't start on them unless you let me go. Or you can starve a little longer."

"Don't wanna." A heavy weight settled on her left shoulder and Kyohei pressed his cheek to her neck. Sunako twisted slightly to look into soft violet eyes. She lifted one hand and fingered his straight light mocha hair, brushing at the strands that flopped over one eye. They were so close. A couple of years ago she would've drugged, strangled and dissected anyone who even joked about her being so intimate with another human, much less one so beautiful. A couple of years ago she would've killed herself before ever letting such a thing happen. Yet, here she was, sharing her second favorite room in the house (after her attic) with possibly her most favorite living person in the world. Someone so bright, he blinded even normal people. It was a telling experience for sure.

Sunako sighed, content now that everything was as it should be. "Well, I'm hungry. I've been working all day cleaning and cooking for you guys. The least you could do is let me sit down and eat." She got a non-committal grunt in reply. Sunako brought both hands up to cup his face, determined to give him a piece of her mind. He couldn't just stroll in and monopolize her like this, damn it! There were other people around, people who could walk in that instant and be witness to this absolutely uncharacteristic, disgustingly sappy…mush, that she'd become.

"Suunako-chan, where are you?" Yuuki's voice travelled through the doorway an instant before his body rounded the corner, "I saw Kyohei's bike in th—AHH! What are you doing! This isn't a bedroom?!"

"So." Ranmaru stared intently at Yuki. The other man gently rubbed the growing lump on his forehead. They had all heard his outburst from the dining room. "What did you see?"

Now that everyone was here, Sunako had gone back to the kitchen for the hot pot. Kyohei had gone up to drop his bags in his room. Ranmaru took the opportunity to lean in beside Yuki and give him his best "we-can-do-this-the-easy-or-hard-way-but-I'll-get-it-out-of-you-eventually-so-spill" look. Takenaga had a hand on Noi's back, trying to restrain her from jumping on Yuuki and demanding the details. The poor doll-like boy was cornered from all sides; if he told them now, Sunako might kill him in his sleep tonight; if he didn't tell them, Ranmaru might throttle him right now. The question here was, did he want to die now or later? He chose to take his chance with Sunako.

"I walked in on them making out and fell into the granite counter." Yuki whispered it at super speed, hoping the devil girl in the other room hadn't heard. He glared at the laughter Ranmaru and Takenaga were so obviously trying unsuccessfully to hold in. "You would've been scarred to if you saw it. I mean, can you even imagine…"

"Oh, our poor beautiful flower is growing up and getting molested by an oaf." Ranmaru sniffed sentimentally, still chuckling at Yuki's clumsiness.

"Suck it up Yuki, you've got a girlfriend. This kind of thing can't be all that shocking." Noi piped up. "Now I want a blow by blow recount of what you saw. Where were their hands, what was their body position. Everything!"

Takenaga stopped his girlfriend short of reaching over and strangling the other man in anticipation. "Noi, Yuki probably didn't look too closely. Why don't you just ask Sunako later, you have all night since your staying over, right?"

"Yes but I had other plans tonight," Noi told him. Plans involving you, she privately added. They had been together for almost three years and still hadn't gone further than making out. She was probably the only girl in university who'd never seen their boyfriend completely naked before. Sunako and Kyohei didn't count because they were both socially stunted and couldn't care less about things like that, although Noi clearly remembered a few instances in high school where the two had gotten into very compromising, intimate situations. Arg! Noi tugged at her shoulder length locks, either way she looked at it, Sunako had still gone farther than she. That was depressing.

"Noi? You look angry." Takenaga eased her fingers from their death grip and held them loosely in his own larger hands. "You aren't sick are you?"

Noi sighed, Take was always so intuitive, so perfect, she still woke up fearing he had all been a dream of hers. "Nah, I'm just annoyed I didn't get front row seats to that scene."

"Okay you guys, break it up. I didn't come back to watch you two make bug eyes at each other." Kyohei's loud voice cut through the moment. Takenaga jerked back into his seat and Noi's irritated expression became considerably more aggravated. Stupid Takano.

Noi turned around to give him a piece of her mind. "We weren't the ones making out in the kitchen though." She thought she saw a nerve twitch in Kyohei's temple.

"Yes, yes. Do tell us Kyohei, what were you thinking. You didn't even come say Hi to everyone before mauling our poor Sunako-chan." Ranmaru's smooth as silk voice coaxed. If they didn't know better, they'd say Kyohei was blushing.

"We weren't doing anything." The man in question studiously ignored his friend's barbs and grabbed the bottle of opened red wine, intending to pour himself a glass.

"Hey, wait! We opened that to let it breathe. At least wait till the Sunako's here with the food before you get drunk." Yuki protested.

Kyohei paused, shrugged, and went right ahead and poured himself a full glass. Of course he wasn't that ill-mannered, he proceeded to pour for everyone else before folding his tall frame down into his cushioned seat. Kyohei set the bottle back on the table, next to his seat and lifted his glass to his lips. "'S okay, she doesn't drink much wine, she wont care if she doesn't get a full glass."

"Who won't care about what?" Sunako re-entered the dining room, balancing a huge tray with the bubbling hot pot and condiments. She laid the wide pot down and passed around small dishes of various sauces. That done, Sunako looked down at Kyohei with her hands on her hips. "Were you guys talking about me? Whatever Noi's plotting, I'm not doing it."

"Hey! They were well thought out, theoretically successful plans." Noi said indignantly. Every time Noi-chan came up with another one of her brilliant schemes to introduce Sunako to "normal" life, Sunako always ended up in girly clothes surrounded by seedy men. It was just like high school only, recently, the clothes had gotten skimpier and the men more lecherous.

Kyohei shot the lanky black-haired female a lazy look from half-lidded eyes, "Wine. They wanted to wait for you before pouring but I told them you didn't care. You can just sip from mine."

The room fell silent as five pairs of eyes landed on Sunako's still figure. That had been such a blatantly arrogant and male statement. Was Kyohei a masochist? Did he WANT Sunako to crack and turn into the female version of Freddy on a rampage? Yuki stopped rubbing his head and started looking for places to hide. Takenaga was assessing the probability of Sunako blowing up there and then. Ranmaru and Noi were just plain curious how the former man-hater would act.

Sunako narrowed her eyes and smacked Kyohei upside his head with a resounding 'thwack.' "Don't be so assuming. I've got my own glass and I can pour for myself." She proceeded to do just that. "And I've got some sake as back up." She muttered under her breath, thinking of the glass china cabinet against the wall of the dining room. In the bottom wooden drawers, she'd stashed some nicely aged Koshu sake just in case she got fed up with wine. Nothing beat sake with traditional Japanese cuisine.

Kyohei grinned at her as she pulled out the empty chair on his right. "Yeah, you're going to have to share later." He whispered right back and blew into her ear before leaning back into his chair.

Their audience watched the byplay warily and let out a visible sigh of relief. No unnatural, Sunako-made disaster yet. They all hoped Kyohei could keep himself in check and not provoke her tonight. Ranmaru's face took on a mischievous smile.

"So Sunako-chan what were you doing in the kitchen to make Yuki scream like a twelve-year old girl?"

"Noneofyourbusiness!" Sunako rapidly shot out; using every ounce of will she had not to flush tomato red. She picked up the remained dish on her serving tray and plunked it down in front of Kyohei. "And you! Shut up and eat before the batter gets soft." She'd waited the last minute to fry up his favorite dish and she'd be damned if that effort went to waste.

Ranmaru was the first to complain, "No fair, if you put it there, we'll never get a taste. Kyohei's going to hog the shrimp!" Kyohei made a face at his friend and proved the observation true by proceeding to scoop half the plate of golden battered shrimp into his bowl.

"Sucker!"

That triggered the mad dash, free-for-all struggle as each boy, everything else forgotten, scrambled like starving hyenas for their favorite dishes. Noi sat back, an amused, slightly disgusted look of wonderment on her face. Sunako couldn't help but agree with her female friend's unspoken thoughts. No matter how much time had passed, these grown men still acted like boys when it came to food. Right then, in that moment, it was as if nothing had ever changed for them. As if time hadn't moved on and they had never left, as if they were all once again teenagers living, unsupervised, in this big mansion.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Please, REVIEW! If you give me some love, I'll give you some too! (In the form of our favorite pairing...)