Disclaimer: La Corda D'Oro belongs to KOEI and friends. With the exception of a few OCs, I don't own anything of this.

Chapter 3

Azuma was exhausted when he landed home, so exhausted that he let his mind wander into feelings. He had the best sex of his life in Ireland, then, bad sex the morning after the incident, and what's worse is that he admitted it to the very person. So now Hino Kahoko had leverage over him. No, no, she didn't. She was in the same boat. She said she was involved with someone. As much as she never was a brilliant person to begin with, she had to be smart enough to be trying to prevent what happened in Ireland to be leaked out. And she has to know that an affair like that being known would be detrimental to his and his family's reputation.

There goes that word again. Reputation. The one word that will define his life until his death. Of course, all his family cared about reputation, but knowing his father and brothers, they too have problems with self-control.

As the car entered his neighborhood, he found that his breath was shallow. He never could explain it. Every time he got back from an overseas trip, he found he had a shortness of breath. It was like he was anticipating something or he was anxious. Fear, maybe? No, it couldn't be.

He returned home and opened the door, removing his shoes at the doorstep.

"I'm home!" he called to the household, hearing the door to the living room slide open. His sister, Miyabi, beamed warmly at him.

"Welcome back, Azuma," she said, giving him a hug. Azuma hugged back, his smile still broad. Another woman entered, wearing a yukata.

"Welcome back, husband," she said brightly, allowing him to gently embrace her and kiss her on the cheek.

"It's good to be back, Astuko," he said gently.

Atsuko, his wife, was a young woman of a prominent, traditional family. She was the girl his grandmother chose for him, and to him, she was the best choice of all his fiancee candidates. Even when he decided to reveal his a portion of his two-faced attitude, this woman was still very accepting of him.

She was pleasant, kind, beautiful and his father once said she had a body that could birth an entire army. Funny enough, as soon as he said that Azuma's mother promptly threw a bean paste bun at his head telling him to "stop it."

There was some truth to what his father had said. Atsuko's body was the textbook example of a great childbearing body, a kind of body the kings of ancient civilizations thirsted for. She had large breasts, thick hips, and pleasant and soft curves. So, yes, Atsuko was built for motherhood, which would be practical to bring forth more Yunoki offspring.

They had not been married for very long, so none had come yet, but Azuma was sure someone in his family would soon start to pressure him into having children.

"How was Ireland?" Atsuko asked.

"Wonderful," he answered with as much enthusiasm he could muster. Well…it was true for one particular reason. "The concert was very well received."

"Well, that's good," Miyabi said. "Might I ask how much was raised?"

"You can, but I can't really give you an accurate estimate yet."

"Why don't you relax, Azuma, and I'll get you some tea," Atsuko said before leaving for the kitchen.

He didn't move and watched her go. He pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes as his thoughts jerked back to Ireland.

"Are you alright?" Miyabi asked, noticing his discomfort.

He sighed and shook his head, "Yes, I'm just tired from the trip."

Then he drew closer, lowering his voice, "There was no incident when I was gone, was there?"

Miyabi shook her head, "No, she was perfectly fine. She was in very good spirits."

"Good."

As much as Atsuko looked to be pretty put together physically and mentally, she had a very weak constitution. Her immune system was the bane of her existence and she had frequent visits to the hospital. As sickly as Atsuko was, for reasons unknown to him, she wasn't sour about it.

As for Azuma, when he first realized her delicate condition, he tried to coldly say to himself that he was given a faulty product, but he couldn't bring himself to be such a heartless person. But it did make things difficult for him when he had to leave on business trips.

"Thank you for caring for her, again," he said to his sister, "You shouldn't have to keep coming here-"

"Don't be silly," Miyabi laughed. "I don't mind. Really, I don't."

Azuma wet his suddenly dry lips and stared down at the floor. Miyabi rubbed his shoulder, "Are you sure you are okay?"

He nodded, inhaling sharply, "Yes. I am."

She hesitantly nodded, "I'll go help Atsuko with the tea. You can go get changed."

That evening, Miyabi stayed for dinner, but left soon afterwards, leaving Azuma and Atsuko to unpack. Azuma was exhausted from the trip and Atsuko never stayed up very late, so they both went to bed at a relatively decent hour.

"I think your sister is seeing someone," Atsuko said as her husband crawled into bed next to her.

Azuma paused, "What makes you say that?"

"Oh it's just the little things, I can't be a hundred percent sure, but she sure seems to be very upbeat lately."

Azuma shook his head, "And then I have to be the bad guy and tell her that she has to be aware of an arranged marriage."

"You don't have to be that guy."

"But I do. I rather it be me to tell her than my grandmother. But Miyabi should know this already."

"I'm sure she does," she said laying her head on the pillow. "But why not let her live a fantasy for the time being."

She said that so casually turning on her side, leaving Azuma to stare at her.

A fantasy…we could all use a diversion I suppose.

Azuma laid his head down, staring up at the ceiling. As much as he was tired, he couldn't fall asleep. He tried to concentrate on his wife's even breathing, hoping that would lull him to sleep. Furrowing his brow he turned to Atsuko, propping himself on his elbow. He rested his hand gently on the curve of her hip.

"Atsuko," he called softly.

"Hmmm?"

"Are you awake?"

The woman turned on her back to face him. He could see the concern on her face, illuminated by the moonlight, "Is there something wrong, dear?"

"No, I just…" he paused, staring down at her expectantly, "I was just wondering if you are up to…"

He left his sentence unanswered but he pulled himself closer to her body, letting his hand travel up her rounded hip to her side. Her sharp intake of breath indicated she understood what he wanted. With a nod, she received him.

Not much else was said as Azuma crawled on top of his wife, hand cupping her large breast, kissing her on the lips, then chin, then neck. Moving clothing aside, he slid inside her slowly. It was like clockwork when it came to lovemaking with his wife. Same pace, same routine. Not that it wasn't pleasurable. He got it up just fine. It was just that with his wife's delicate situation, Azuma couldn't diverge from the slow stagnant thrusts.

It didn't much matter, as his wife seemed to enjoy herself, whispering his name in his ear. Azuma bit his lip, his mind thinking back to the way Kahoko cried out his name. She had said it with such fierce passion that he remembered he struggled not to come then. When Atsuko said his name, it was a whisper, a gasp and always, Azuma staggered from pleasure but mostly fear that he was being too rough or hurting her. His mind had to be aware of at least two things when having sex with Atsuko, but with everyone else, he only needed to focus on his own power, his own pleasure. He could just let loose.

His mind quickly came back to the present as, quite suddenly, he came inside Atsuko. He swallowed and breathed, giving a few more thrusts for good measure, before moving off of his wife. She responded with a sigh that he wasn't sure what it meant. Atsuko reached over and squeezed his hand. He didn't squeeze back and just remained on his side of the bed.

Kahoko opened the door to her refrigerator and pulled out some Brie cheese and placed it on her kitchenette bar, next to her small platter of crackers. She checked her clock. It was almost 10 at night. With everything set up, she headed towards her large living room and reached for her phone on the coffee table. She checked to see if she had any messages.

None.

Put off, she sat in her leather chair and turned on some soft music on her stereo with her remote. She was desperate for anything to keep her mind off of what happened in Ireland. A total and utter mistake. What in the world was she thinking? Having sex with the demon boy Yunoki, no less. That guy was probably laughing his ass off at having another notch in his belt.

Gross. Even as she thought that, she had a very vivid image of Yunoki Azuma undoing his belt with tight flicks of his wrists, pulling his pants down and...

Oh, fuck you, brain. Fuck you.

She knew she couldn't ignore what had occurred and she had a really bad feeling that Yunoki wasn't going make her forget either. He sounded way too passionate, way too thrilled when he slept with her. It's like he found a priceless discovery. It was weird seeing him so excited. He was sort of…childish.

All that aside, there was the very big problem of sleeping with him when she was…

There was a buzz at her door.

Speaking of which…

She pressed the intercom button, "Yes?"

"Kahoko, it's me…" a male's voice responded.

"Come on up," she said.

About a minute later, there was a knock at her door. Kahoko opened the door to her apartment. Ousaki Shinobu was on the other side, holding his sleeping five-year-old son.

"Hey," he whispered, a little breathless, "Sorry I'm late."

"Not a problem," she whispered back, trying not to wake the little boy as she closed the door behind Shinobu.

"I had to pick Nobuo up from his mother's and I thought I'd drive him around until he fell asleep. Do think I could…?"

"Oh, yes," Kahoko responded, "You can put him in the spare room, as usual."

Shinobu gently placed his son on the guest bed, brushing his hand through the boy's auburn hair.

"Good night, little man," Shinobu whispered gently.

Kahoko smiled at her boyfriend's actions toward his son. Kahoko had heard that after he left college, Shinobu went to Vienna for a while, but then returned home. Shortly afterwards, he became involved with a young woman, but, apparently, one night Shinobu and his girlfriend lost control and as a result Nobuo was conceived. As hard it was to believe that sweet, gentlemanly Shinobu could make that mistake, it was true. Shinobu wanted to marry the woman for the sake of propriety, but they figured that it wouldn't work out at that moment in time, since the two had very different goals.

Not that having a child was a problem for him. Kahoko knew that Shinobu would be a good father, and he was. Sweet, patient, and attentive, she couldn't think of a better man to have children with. She, on the other hand, was nowhere near ready for kids, or marriage for that matter. Regardless, Kahoko tried to be pleasant and affectionate towards Nobuo, but the boy was painfully shy around her and wasn't quite comfortable staying the night at her apartment when Shinobu stayed over.

The bespectacled man softly shut the door to the guest bedroom and turned to her with a relieved sigh.

"Thank you for being so patient," he said, running a hand through his red hair.

Kahoko took his hand and squeezed it.

"I was just worried that something happened."

"I should have called," Shinobu said guiltily.

"Don't worry about it," Kahoko said as she went into the kitchenette and opened the kitchen cabinet and placed two wine glasses on the bar and poured red wine in the glasses.

"Help yourself to some Brie and crackers."

Shinobu smiled, "Cheese, crackers, and wine. I can't think of a better choice for a nice quiet night."

"Don't jinx it," Kahoko said handing him a glass, "You never know when Mr. Gibbs will come barging in that door."

He laughed and took a sip. Kahoko took the tray of cheese and crackers and her wine and walked towards the living area, placing the small amount of food on the coffee table. Shinobu sat next to her on her couch.

"How was Ireland?"

"Fantastic," she answered, trying to hide any sort of discomfort by drinking her wine. "I wish you were able to play with us."

She really did. That way Yunoki would have thought twice about attempting to do…whatever he did.

Shinobu shook his head, "I do too, but I was very happy to participate in the symphony for the children's concerts."

"I guess we both did our service for the world."

Shinobu nodded.

"I suppose if Gibbs was your partner, he was exceedingly excited to be playing his style in his homeland."

"Indeed, Shinobu," Kahoko said laughing. "I'm not going to lie, he's one of the most exciting people I've done a duet with. Not that I don't enjoy playing with you."

"Mr. Gibbs has an energy that I do not have, and some days I envy it."

Shinobu took a deep swig of his wine. Concerned, Kahoko reached over and squeezed his thigh.

"You'll never guess who'll be his roommate in a few weeks," she said trying to change the subject.

"Who?"

"You remember Shimizu Keiichi?"

Shinobu gave her a bewildered look, "That weird little boy that kept staring at me strangely? He's living with Gibbs?"

Kahoko nodded, a grin on her face.

"Wow," Shinobu poured himself another glass of wine. "I wonder how that's going to turn out. Two geniuses living together? I mean when you were in school, Tsukimori and Tsuchiura fought constantly and they were in separate sections of the school."

Kahoko shrugged, "Shimizu is non-confrontational, and Gibbs can't stay angry at anyone for very long. Especially after you give him some brandy."

"A match made in heaven."

Kahoko nearly snorted in her glass as she could see Shinobu couldn't even comprehend. She couldn't resist at making one more fact known.

"You haven't seen Gibbs' duck."

"Are we talking about an actual duck?"

Kahoko was thankful the lights were dim, else Shinobu could see the slight blush on her face.
"Yes, Caleb has an actual duck for a pet."

"What's it called?"

"Duck."

"Just-?"

"Duck."

"Hrm…"

"Yeah," Kahoko said smiling in her glass. "For someone who can be so creative with music, he has no imagination when it comes to names."

Shinobu laughed lightly, "At least it's just a duck. Imagine I named Nobuo 'boy'."

"I thought your ex named him?"

"She did. Just presenting a situation."

Shinobu noticed that her glass was empty and he lifted the bottle about the refill it, when Kahoko stopped him.
"No, no, that's enough for me, thanks."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, yes, I'm sure," she nodded, resting her glass on the table. She learned her lesson from the trip. She wanted to remember whatever happened in the morning. Which brought her to one thing…

She scooted closer to him and he instinctively draped an arm around her and pulled her to him. She rested her head against his shoulder. Placing his own glass on the table, Shinobu eased back against the couch.

They sat in silence, their breathing filling the room. Kahoko felt a pleasant thrill as his thumb gently stroked the skin on her arm. At least her boyfriend was a romantic, and way too sweet for his own good.

Finally, she broke the silence, suggesting softly, "Do you want to go to bed?"

She could feel Shinobu's body tighten, but he replied, "Yes, you know I would."

They've done this several times before. They've gone to bed and started kissing and touching and cuddling. As soon as they were in their undergarments, Shinobu removed his glasses and placed them on the bedside table. He paused from his attentions to her body to pull out a packet from the drawer of the bedside table.

Shinobu was always cautious about sex, because he had first-hand experience on what could happen when someone was careless. He slipped on the condom and returned to kissing her. His lips were soft; everything about him was gentle. At least it started gentle.

Shinobu ended their foreplay with a hesitant thrust. His movements were fluid, but tight. They kept each other close, Shinobu breathing in her ear.

"Kahoko," he breathed softly, his breath against her cheek.

Kahoko stroked his back, trying to move with him, but finding she wasn't patient enough. He was slow and way to even and she wanted to be just a tad faster, a tad more…something. They were on different paces, for the first time since they started a physical relationship.

"Shinobu," she started to ask him to go faster, but just her whispering his name was enough to bring him over the edge. He groaned in her ear, ending with soft gentle thrusts, as if it was a last ditch effort to give her ultimate satisfaction.

He rolled off her and headed to the bathroom remove his condom. Meanwhile, Kahoko propped herself against her pillow, feeling put out. She couldn't explain what happened. Shinobu nearly always satisfied her, particularly with gentle foreplay. She felt an emotional connection to him when they made love, but for some reason, tonight, it wasn't enough.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he came back into the room. He got back into bed, guilt and worry in his eyes.

"That's…I'm sorry," he said again, unable to specifically say what he was apologizing about.

Feeling guilty for several things, she leaned over and rubbed his t-shirt covered shoulder, "It's alright. It happens to everyone."

Shinobu still refused to look at her and scratched the back of his head.

"It's just I may have had too much to drink, or perhaps I was more tired than I thought or…."

He gave another defeated sigh, "…I don't know."

"It's okay," she said again, pressing on his chest to get him to lie down. "Let's just go to bed, alright?"

Shinobu eased back into the bed, relaxing as Kahoko nestled in close to him, laying her head on his chest.

As quickly as her boyfriend fell asleep, she stayed awake, feeling the expected guilt wash over her. She thought she could ignore it, call it a one-time thing, but straight down to the core, she couldn't ignore that she had an affair. An affair with Yunoki Azuma. She thought that making love with Shinobu would help her forget that but it just made it worse. She hated to compare sex between the two because it was completely different situations. One was just a bout of mistaken drunken passion, the other involved someone she was emotionally attached with.

Yunoki, why must you still make life so hard for me?

In high school, she quickly go used to his teasing to the point that it didn't bother her. But this bothered her.

Having a night freakishly great sex with Yunoki Azuma really bothered her.

A/N: That's all I got so far so...it may be a bit before a I update, but I will update...I think.