It had been several weeks since the o-mia. At first they had wondered how they could spread the word about their 'new' relationship, but they had quickly discovered (and appreciated) how fast word traveled among the rich and elite via Madam Tamane. Soon, students she had never spoken to were congratulating her on her match to an up-and-coming Ministry servant. Kurosaki, too, was being treated with a lot more respect by the students and staff since word of his being associated with the elite Tamane house and the Ministry got out. Some of them even believed that he had been undercover (which wasn't that far off) and were further impressed by his talents.

But even though everyone now knew and they were able to be together, they hadn't gotten to see much of each other. Teru, having passed her National Center test back in January, still had to take the specific test for her two university picks. They were both happening the same weekend, so she had been doing nothing but study in all her free time. The rare bits of respite she got were during lunch breaks at school with her friends.

And even those weren't that restful.

"What do you mean you haven't done it yet!? What's wrong with you two?"

Teru nearly choked on her lunch. She glanced around the classroom, but no one had heard them. Yet. "Haruka! Shh!"

Rena didn't even look up from her cram book. "We're you even listening before? She told us that Kurosaki promised he wasn't going to touch her until after she graduated."

"Ugh. Like there aren't a thousand ways to mess around without actually going all the way." Haruka griped as she rolled her eyes. She snatched Teru's drink, holding it hostage just out of reach.

"Hey!"

"What is the point," she said in a voice full of disgust. "of having a marriage interview and becoming an official, non-creepy, sanctified couple if you're not going to take advantage of the benefits? You turn 18 in a couple of weeks. Please, please tell me that he'll stop being a moron once you're officially an adult."

"What's the big deal," Teru whispered while she reached for her drink. "We graduate the week after that."

"Which is exactly my point. Wait." Haruka stopped and narrowed her eyes at Teru. "Have you guys even kissed?"

"Yes! I told you that already! Gimme...fine," Teru could feel the blush to the tips of her ears. "We kiss a lot." Haruka made another sound of derision and pulled the drink she was about to hand over away once more. "I mean a lot! And he shows me different ways to kiss and he, um," she covered her face with her hands and wished for less curious friends. "he left a mark on my neck one night."

That got Rena's attention and she and Haruka leaned forward. "I don't see anything."

"It went away," Teru explained defensively from between her fingers.

Haruka rolled her eyes, but gave her back her drink. "Lame. You are so lame! Why am I the only one at this table without a boyfriend?" She threw her hands dramatically in the air. "And yet you two each have one, but don't use them to their full potential. It's sad!"
she complained loudly.

People were finally starting to look their way, so Teru leaned forward. "Can we please not talk about this here!" She hissed.

"Hmmph." Haruka sat back and crossed her arms. "Fine."

"Thank you." Teru let out a breath. "Now," She gestured towards the unopened books in front of her agitated friend. "Isn't your test next week?"

"Um," Haruka and Rena looked at each other and then back at Teru. Both raised an eyebrow. "Aren't both of yours this weekend?"

"Yes!" She covered her hands once more and groaned. "But I asked you first. How do you feel about university?"

"Eh," Haruka shrugged. "It's okay, I guess. My parents are more into the idea of it than I am. I mean, I already know I'm taking over the family business one day. Why do I need more schooling for that? Now our president here," she threw a napkin at Rena, smiling when she caught it and tossed it back. "might take over an entire multinational company. I can see why she'd need to go to college."

Rena tossed her hair, looking haughtier than ever. "Well Father's not going to just give me the company, is he?" She sniffed. "Of course, they'd probably give to my husband...if he were the right kind of man."

Haruka leaned forward, placing her chin in her hand. "Oh, reeeeally?" She drawled. "Now tell us again, what area of study did Kiyoshi decide on?"

Teru bit her lip to keep from smiling as Rena's cheeks turned rosy.

"That has nothing to do with it," Rena said regally. "It's only natural, with his skill set, to be interested in business technology."

"Uh huh," Haruka said, tongue-in-cheek and turned back to Teru. "What about you? You're trying for Tokyo University, right? For pyschology?"

"Yep. And Chukyo. Just in case." She looked up from her lunch as both Rena and Haruka snorted. "What?"

"Well, let's see," Haruka starting counting on her fingers. "You have a personal recommendation from the headmaster. You have a letter of recommendation from the school psychologist - who just happens to be a graduate from one of those schools." She turned to Rena. "Oh, and you know, that other little thing."

"Oh, you mean the letter of commendation from the Ministry of Japan for her 'little part'," she used air quotes. "As Teru puts it, in the fiasco a few months ago?"

"Yeaaah, that's the one." She flicked off Teru, laughing as she slapped her hand away. "Seriously, though. Why are you even taking the test? Any one of those things would probably just get you in."

Teru fought not to squirm as her friends raised their eyebrows in question. "Those aren't guarantees," she argued. It was true that oftentimes a recommendation from a higher-up could get you into the university without taking the test, but still... "Plus, the test will show that I did it on my own. Without any handouts."

Her friends laughed right in her face.

"Right. Handouts." Haruka wiped a tear from her eye and thought of all the years Teru had spent living alone and fending for herself (with the virtual support of Daisy), bullied, poor, lonely, and still managing to be the leader of their group and #1 in the class. "Well, at least if you bomb the test your 'handout' will still be there for you. Sucker."

This time Teru laughed along with them. "Will you shut up? Maybe we should go back to talking about boys."

Rena poked her in the shoulder. "Don't you mean men? Kurosaki's what, eight years older than you?"

"Oooh, perfect!" Haruka clapped her hands. "Not old enough to be creepy, but old enough to know what he's doing with a girl. You could be having so much fun! Why don't you guys fool around at all here at school while he still works here?" She wiggled her eyebrows. "He has keys to all the rooms. You'd never be caught!"

Teru shook her head and it wasn't as vehement a reaction as Haruka had expected. "We don't see each other much at school lately. I've been busy studying and he's got two jobs right now. Technically." In fact, she'd already gotten an earful by Rena for all of 'her' efforts being 'wasted' if they weren't going to hang out more. She looked wistfully around the classroom, noting the janitorial things she knew he'd done like a love-sick moron. "He's trying to finish a lot of projects before he has to leave."

"You mean," Rena leaned forward. "When you graduate and he moves on to his new job and you start college."

"No." Haruka leaned forward also, nudging Rena aside with her elbows. "You mean when you graduate and he traps you in the bedroom for a week...before he moves on to his new job and you start college."

Teru wanted to hide under the desk, if only in case her friends could tell how close Haruka was to the truth. She did think about him all the time. She also thought about him in that way more and more. How did they go from where they were now to full, skin-on-skin intimacy?

The images in her mind had her putting her head on the desk as as she got dizzy.

"I know what you're thinking about," Haruka sing-songed as Teru crossed her arms over her head.

"Shut up," came the muffled reply.

Rena took pity on her. "So, your birthday...what do you want to do?" She swatted at Haruka who elbowed her in the ribs and snickered. "With us. What do want to do with us for your birthday?"

Teru lifted her head, her face still rosy with her blush, and rested her chin on her hand. "I have no idea. We could go eat somewhere."

"You should probably check with Kurosaki first," Rena pointed out. "After all, he did highjack you for the entire day on your last birthday."

"That was different," Teru sighed, remembering the day. "That was the day he first told me he loved me, that he kissed me for the first time, and that we first started going out."

"Oh my god!" Haruka squealed and grabbed Teru's hand. "That means it's your first anniversary! You totally have to check with Kurosaki first. I know." She put her arm around Rena. "We'll just plan it for the day after, okay?"

"Okay," Teru agreed dazedly. With all of the craziness lately, she hadn't given any thought to her birthday, let alone that she and Kurosaki had been together for a year.

She'd only ever thought of anniversaries in terms of marriage. Were they supposed to get each other gifts? Was this a normal thing that other couples did?

Rena's casual 'are you going to get him a gift?' drew a wailing, "I don't know!" that definitely drew all eyes.

Haruka shushed her while glaring at the gawkers. "Sorry! Sorry. You're right, we shouldn't talk about this now. You have a test tomorrow," she said in a soothing voice. "Think about that instead."

When Teru just groaned and buried her head once again, Rena glared at their friend and hit her with her cram book.

"Oops." Haruka winced and shrugged. "Sorry."

Teru went to find Kurosaki as soon as her classes ended. She found him in the janitors office fixing something at his desk.

He looked up as she closed the door. "Hey!" He smiled at her and motioned her over with a jerk of his chin since his hands were full and covered in oil. "I thought you'd be knee deep in textbooks right now."

She put her hands together behind her back (mainly to stop herself from touching his hair) and walked over to lean against his desk. "Believe me, that's what I'm doing next," she assure him, shifting to avoid the grease. "Um, but first..."

Kurosaki heard the note in her voice and put down his tools. "What's the matter? Is it about your tests this weekend?"

"Nothing's the matter. And it's not about tests," she replied breezily. "But, um, I was just wondering if we're supposed to cmbrt our fmpht amvsy," she finished in an embarrassed mumble.

Kurosaki smirked as she hid behind her hair and talked to the floor. He reached out a hand to pull her towards him, but stopped when he realized his hands were covered in oil. Instead, he rolled his chair around the side of the desk. Teru was so busy inspecting her feet that she didn't realize he'd effectively trapped her until he set his legs on either side of hers.

"There," he smiled again at her 'eep!' of surprise. "Come again now?"

God, she'd missed him lately. The thought popped into her mind as he sat there grinning up at her from the chair. She'd missed that raffish grin. And, oh god, she could practically feel the heat of him. Especially when his legs brushed hers. "Uh..."

"Are we supposed to...what?" He asked, enjoying her flustered state.

He literally laughed out loud when she put her hands over her eyes. "Are we going to celebrate our first anniversary?" She asked in a rush.

That shut him up.

"I mean, we don't have to," she continued nervously. "I just didn't know if that was something people normally do or if we were supposed to or..." Teru peeked through her fingers when he didn't respond and found that he had reached out for a cloth and was busily wiping his hands. "Kurosaki?"

He cursed when the cloth just smeared the muck around. He threw it down and held his hands up out of the way. "Come here."

"What?"

"Come here," he repeated, scooting the chair back and nodding down at his lap. "Sit."

She glanced nervously at the door. "But what if..."

"Screw 'em. Anyway, we're an approved of, official item now. Remember?"

She nodded, blushing as she sat gingerly and primly on the edge of his knee.

"Oh, for the love of..." Kurosaki moved suddenly, raising one leg up to cross his knees. She squeaked as this effectively lifted her feet off the floor and dumped her solidly in his lap and up against his chest.

He raised his hands higher to keep her from getting dirty as her hands grabbed onto him for balance. "There," he said smugly. "Now, put your arms around me." He closed his eyes for a moment as she haltingly complied, enjoying the feel of her pressed up against him. He dropped a kiss to the top of her head. "Now, look at me."

Teru snuggled closer for a moment, her cheek just the right height to rub against his shirt through the v opening of his jumpsuit. She waited another moment for her erratic breathing to even out, then looked up. She found him tracing her features with a tender gaze before meeting her eyes.

"So, you want to know if we should celebrate our first anniversary as boyfriend and girlfriend?" Kurosaki asked quietly. He leaned down and her eyes fluttered shut as he placed a soft kiss on her brow. "If it were up to me," he kissed one eye, then the other. "I'd have celebrated the number of days we've been together." A lingering kiss on her cheek as her breath started to come faster. "But years will work, too," he murmur against her lips.

Their lips met in slow, sipping kisses. Teru's arms tightened around him and Kurosaki's hands jerked as he fought the instinct to hold her. He would often cup her chin or tangle a hand in her hair when they kissed. He'd started doing that when they'd first started dating as gentle encouragement for when she'd get nervous and start to pull away. He'd never trapped her. He'd just held her close, breathing her in and accustoming her to the heat and the closeness; the intimacy that was making out. Now it was second nature to touch her and not doing so made his muscles ache as the kiss deepened.

She had (mostly) gotten over her shyness at simply kissing, as she demonstrated now.

Teru wished hazily that she were on her feet so that she could rise on her toes to better reach his mouth. To make do, she changed her grip, raising one arm to wrap around his neck and pulling herself up a little higher to press her lips more firmly against his. It also, she realized at his groan, had shifted her higher up his lap.

The way he sat, with one foot resting in the opposite knee, created a V that hid nothing as her butt settled solidly against the apex of his thighs. Her movements had also caused her skirt to ride up, which meant that the heat and the hardness of him had one less barrier through which to batter her senses.

She quelled her first reaction (which was to scramble off of his lap and dash for the door) and instead just held him tighter as he continued to let her lead in is intimate, momentary dance.

This was what he'd taught her the past year. That every touch wasn't a race to the finish. That kissing was about transmitting your feelings through the meeting of lips. Or tongues, she thought fleetingly as the kiss turned from a long press of lips to a tasting, dueling foray. Kurosaki's kiss told her that he wanted her, loved her, and would protect her. She could only hope that she was good enough at kissing that could tell what she felt for him.

Oh, god. Thank you god. Were the only thoughts left in Kurosaki's head as Teru effectively blew his mind. There was nothing hotter on this earth than a woman who wanted you. And Teru...she might not have been fully aware of it, but he could feel her nails, even through his jumpsuit. Her legs, which were draped over his thigh, kept moving restlessly and clenching together whenever he licked his tongue against hers. Her perfect, perfect breasts were pressed into his chest and her breath hitched in a tiny moan whenever she shifted positions; her hardened nipples (which her school shirt could do nothing about, thank god) rasping against the firm material or his jumpsuit.

He was holding it together. Barely. But he was holding it together by reciting sutras, code, English grammar, anything but what he really wanted to do to her and with her.

Which was everything.

He was doing pretty well too, he thought, until her hand tracked up his neck and into his hair. That hand then clenched and roughly pulled his head to the side as she bit his tongue.

Kurosaki's entire body jerked against her. "Oh shit!"

It took Teru a moment to come out of Kurosaki's thrall when he pulled away, jostling her as both of his feet came down and the chair jerk forward. He'd rolled them forward until his hands could reach the desk, his arms stretched out on either side of her. They sat there speechless, panting, as his he leaned down and pressed his forehead to her shoulder.

Though she hadn't yet experienced it, Teru imagined this was what 'drunk' felt like. The hazy, ear-buzzing, euphoria lasted for about a minute before she mentally came to...then came the gut-burning shame.

She thought about how she'd kissed him, and how she hadn't moved after she'd felt his..."Oh, my god!" Her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to sit perfectly still on his lap. She thought about moving, but she was very effectively trapped between the desk, the chair...and him. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I did something wrong, didn't I? I took it too far, right?" She babbled as she kept her eyes shut, still tingling at every point where she and Kurosaki still touched. "And I interrupted your work for something stupid. Just let me up and I'll get out of your..."

"Shut up," Kurosaki rasped from her shoulder, making her eyes pop open. "Or I'll be forced to shut you up with a kiss." He raised his head until they were nose to nose. "And god help us then."

The deep gravel of his voice made her shiver and gulp as she nodded.

"Okay. Okay," he took a deep breath and dropped his head to her shoulder again and thought about baseball. "Gimme a minute."

Teru nodded again and concentrated on his office door and the faint noise of the school (that she forgot had existed for a few minutes) that lay beyond instead of him. She couldn't concentrate on how good he smelled or how hard his muscles were beneath her hands or how hot his breath was from her shoulder... She wrenched her attention back to the door.

A few minutes later Kurosaki sighed and rolled the chair back. He lifted his head up and told her 'up', then rolled his eyes when she furrowed her brows in question. A moment later he just stood up. She jumped to her feet the moment before she was dumped on her rump.

She smoothed her skirt down as he went over to the sink and began to wash his hands. Since he was turned away for a moment, she went into one of her brother's bowling meditation poses to try and clear away some of her nerves.

"Remember to do some of those before the tests this weekend, okay?"

She rose up out of the 'crane tries for a split' and found him drying his hands as he watched her. "I will. I have a couple picked out for before and after."

Reading her expression, Kurosaki raised a finger as she opened her mouth. "Don't apologize, ya twerp. 'Cause lIke hell I'm going to apologize when I make out with you. Got it?" She nodded with a blush. He slowly walked towards her as he balled up the towel and tossed it aside. "You've got, what, three minutes before your last cram class?" Another nod. "Then let's finish this."

He took her hand with one that still had oil under the nails. "Hell yeah, let's celebrate our anniversary. But it's still your birthday." He raised it for a kiss. "Your eighteenth birthday," he wiggled his eyebrows and made her giggle. "To be exact."

"Um," she swallowed past a suddenly dry throat. "Does that mean you want to...to..."

He kept his eyes down and took her other hand in his, weaving their fingers together.

When he looked up at her and she saw his eyes, she realized with a jolt that the hand holding might be a way for him not to do something he'd regret. At least for now.

"After graduation," he drawled, the gravel present in his voice once more. "I will explain to you in great and varied detail why you should not have asked me that question before graduation."

"Okay, then," she squeaked, jerking her hands back as he let them go. She backed towards the door, her eyes watching his every movement as he lazily followed her. "So, um, gifts. I-I'll get you a gift then. For our anniversary." Her shoulder rapped into the wall beside the door and she felt for the knob without looking away from the smirking Kurosaki.

"Hey." He stopped about a foot away and put his hands in his pockets. "I'm glad you stopped in." He grinned big and wide. "For a lot of reason. But mainly because of this." He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Good luck."

Teru looked at the temple charm and felt her eyes prick with tears. Literally thousands and thousands of such charms were being obtained in behalf of exam students, but this one came from Kurosaki and it was just for her.

She closed her hand around it and pressed it to her heart. "Thank you," she sniffed.

He took a step forward. "This is for luck, too." And placed a soft, achingly tender kiss on her lips before stepping back, hands in his pockets once more. "I won't see you tomorrow, but don't forget I'm picking you up from your test on Sunday, okay?"

"Okay," not thinking of the tests at all, she sniffed again and smiled as she opened the door. "I'll see you then."