How long have you been waiting for this?

Chapter 7

As soon as the door opened Collin ran inside and straight into the kitchen. The dog was a wedding present from her mother and Amu had grown very attached to the animal. Even Tadase seemed to get along well with him. The only person that the dog disliked was Ikuto.

"I have returned." Amu called as she rounded the corner. Speak of the devil...

Their living room was filled with tools and piles of wood. In the far corner Amu could see Ikuto putting up new wallpaper. She had asked him to tare down one wall and make it into one big room. That way it wouldn't be crowded when they had guest over. He even promised to build them some new furniture for their new house. Amu had happily accepted.

"Welcome back." Ikuto greeted her. "How was the walk?"

"Very refreshing." She took a step towards the stairs. "Is Tadase upstairs?"

Ikuto shook his head. "He is out on the balcony."

With all of the stuff on the floor, it left little room to walk. Amu had to keep on hand on the wall for support. Once she had made it to the other side of the room, she stepped into the second hallway and made her way towards the double doors.

Tadase was leaning back in his chair while patting Collin on the head and holding an empty tea cup in his other hand. Amu snuck up behind him and surprised him with a peck on the cheek. Ever since they bought that house both of them had grown a lot closer.

Amu was distracted for a while when she heard giggling coming from below them. She looked down and saw a couple of streetwalkers glaring at her. Amu paid them no notice as she made her way towards the other chair, however she did notice one of them casting a dreaming look towards Tadasde and felt anger bubbling up inside her.

"Do you think that we should have a gathering when all of this work is finished?" Tadase wondered as he set the tea cup down. "We could invite some family and friends to view at our new home."

"I think that would be a great idea." She took a quick sideways glanced and noticed that the streetwalkers were gone.

"I have a surprise for you." A smile spread over his face. He gently took her hand between his. "My grandmother is giving us her antique dinning table."

That got her attention. "The one that I love? The one with the birds carved onto the top?"

"The one and only." His hearty filled with warmth at the sight of her happy face.

"Excuse me?"

Both of them jumped when they heard the third voice and Amu guiltily pulled her hand back. She was filled with shame when she realized that she had been leaning forward over the table while she was talking to Tadase. She only wondered how long Ikuto had been standing there.

"Is something the matter?" Amu stood up as she addressed him.

"My sister and her husband stopped by. I hope that you don't mind but I let them in." The dog who had just noticed Ikuto started barking uncontrollably. Several people on the street below had stopped and were staring.

"Stop it!" Amu took the dog by the collar and led him inside. Tadase had done noting to stop the dog from attacking Ikuto and if Amu looked really closely, she could swear that she saw him smilling.

"Utau. Kairi. Welcome." She greeted their guest. "What brings you hear?"

"I'll tell the maid to make some more tea." Tadase said and was about to leave the room.

Utau stopped him. "Don't bother. We shall not be staying. I just wanted to let my brother know that me and my husband will not be home for dinner and I thought that it would be rude to leave without greeting you as well."

"My colleague is having a small gathering to celebrate this case he had just won." Kairi was a lawyer and worked in a law firm. His colleagues family lived here and he had invited his closest friends to share his victory with him.

Tadase insists one more time that they stay for the but they declined and insisted that they must leave.

After they left Ikuto went back to work and Amu went up to the addict were she kept all of her paintings. She had really gotten better at drawing but she still couldn't get the feeling inside the art like Kuukai could.


Night had begun to fall and Ikuto cleaned up a little so that people that people could cross the room in the morning. This time he decided that he would go home and take a small break. Usually he slept on the couch out in the hallway but he decided that he didn't want to see the newlyweds first thing in the morning.

He saw how she had kissed his cheek and held his hand earlier and it made hi heart ache. But he also saw how she immediately pulled her hand back and put distance between her and her husband when she knew that Ikuto was watching. It could just be that she didn't want to show affection in front of other people but a small part of Ikuto was hoping that it was something else.

When he got home he noticed that his sister and he husband were already home.

"What are you doing back so early?" Ikuto wondered and looked the door behind him.

"She got into a fight with one of the other wives." Kairi answered.

"What about?" Ikuto asked his baby sister.

She just glared at him. "Nothing that you have to be bothered about."

"I think that it would be best if we called it a day." Kairi put his hands on his wife's shoulders and led her to the bedroom.

Ikuto had allowed them to sleep in his room while they were here and he would take the couch. It was way to small for him and his feet dangled off the end, but he didn't complain. He spent an hour or two thinking about Amu before drifted of to sleep.

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