Chapter 7

Kotoko woke up feeling much better than she had the previous day. She stretched her arms above her head and wiggled her toes, feeling the delicious pull of muscle through her body. Now even more relaxed, she turned to her side to see if Naoki was up. She yelped with a jolt of surprise when she found him not only conscious but wide awake and staring at her.

Naoki suddenly laughed as her expression warred between irritated and amused.

"Mou," she finally said with a pout and slapped him on the arm. "Don't scare me like that!"

Naoki rubbed his arm where she had hit him. "I'm sorry but I couldn't resist!" But he did not look repentant at all. Naoki inched toward her and tapped her playfully on the nose. "You are too adorable." His statement elicited a bloom of color on Kotoko's cheeks but her forehead crinkled in confusion.

"What's so funny?" She asked, now mildly irritated that he seemed to be extremely amused over some private joke.

"Nothing." He hedged. Then he stretched, mirroring her earlier action and tucking his arms behind his head. "It's a lovely morning, don't you think?"

Kotoko wondered at his uncharacteristic cheerfulness and got up to get ready for the day. Naoki smiled at her retreating back. He had a slight headache from lack of sleep but overall he felt great—elated, happy, giddy even.

He was in love with his wife.

He wanted to tell her, to explore how this could change the dynamic of their relationship for the better. But he needed to know if she felt the same. He was sure she liked him at least. But did she love him? His heart sank a little. What if she didn't? He gave himself a mental shake and got out of bed with purpose. His campaign for Kotoko's love begins today.

The gnawing unease he had been feeling didn't disappear because it now had a name and it was better described as butterflies.

~o~o~o~

Kotoko had been sneaking sideway glances at him since they left home that morning and throughout the commute to the University. He had ignored her curious eyes, basking in the overwhelming emotions that immersed him in their heart-warming embrace. Then she had stared wide-eyed at him when he tucked her in against his side on the crowded train, shielding her from the crush of students and salarymen. Not that he hadn't given her similar protection on the train before, but this was the first time he had kept his arm around her even after the crowds had thinned. He reveled in the sensation of her slight form against his throughout the ride.

He had reluctantly parted with her at her classroom, feeling her gaze on his back as he walked to his own class.

~o~o~o~

Upon entering the cafeteria after his class, Naoki easily found Kotoko. He had already discovered that the fastest way to find her was to look for the liveliest spot in the room and there she would be.

A small smile touched the corner of his mouth as he watched her for a minute from across the room as she sat with her friends. From that distance he couldn't hear what they were talking about, but Kotoko was in her element, her face bright and her motions expressive. Marina, Tomoko, Motoki, and Keita seemed to be finding her story hilarious because they were laughing. Then Naoki noticed something which had him narrowing his eyes.

Kamogari Keita sat two seats away from Kotoko and was taking surreptitious glances at her which unsurprisingly, Kotoko didn't even seem to notice. So Keita had a thing for Kotoko. If he had given himself another minute to mull over this discovery, Naoki may have forgiven the other man this grave error in judgment considering this was Kotoko and she was near damn perfect.

But, she was also his.

Naoki strode forward, his hand clenching into a fist. Despite his and Kotoko's unconventional marriage arrangement, Kotoko was married and Kamogari better watch himself.

~o~o~o~

"Naoki-kun!" Kotoko smiled as Naoki placed a chair next to hers. She turned to the side and reached into her lunch bag. "I have your lunch."

She fished it out and gave him the bento. "Thank you" he said simply.

Then Naoki did something he had never done before.

He kissed her cheek.

The table fell silent as the nursing students gawked at him.

"Itadakimasu." he said as if nothing had happened.

He glanced at Keita but the other man had his eyes glued to the table.

Good. Naoki felt rather smug.

~o~o~o~

"Naoki-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you…?"

"Do what?"

"Earlier, in the cafeteria…"

"Oh that?" He turned the page on his textbook and shrugged. "That was to thank you for bringing my lunch."

"But you've never—"

He stood and squeezed her shoulder. "I was really, really hungry."

~o~o~o~

Her clumsiness became an opportunity to hold her. Her attempts in the kitchen a chance to compliment her at the smallest improvements. Her intense bouts of studying an excuse to stare at her unhindered—her concentration so evident on her face.

At some prior point, he had already recognized that he was attracted to her. But now with the realization of the truth of the matter brought difficult consequences. Once he had allowed the truth of his feelings for her settle in, acceptance had followed and frankly, he had no inclination to fight it.

Once that was established, the emotion rose in him in steady degrees.

He wanted her.

She slept next to him each night, sometimes unconsciously ending up in his arms but those innocent touches were no longer enough.

He wanted her in every sense of the word. She was already his wife. They were friends. They were partners. He wanted to be her lover.

He needed to step up his campaign.

~o~o~o~

"Please, Yoshida-san, this is good for you!" Kotoko shifted from foot to foot, trying to get he crotchety old lady to drink the bitter syrup that was her medicine.

"Iie! Mix it in something sweet to mask the terrible taste!"

Some time later, Kotoko left the old lady's room, her shoulders drooping with defeat as soon as the door closed behind her. But true to form, not a moment later she threw a fist in the air accompanied by a silent cheer to herself. Yosh! I can do this!

She had been assigned to the elderly Yoshida, the grandma known to give nurses a tough time by being obstinate in her own plan of care. She would eventually concede but not until after digging her heels in and giving push back.

"Naoki-kun!" Kotoko said in surprise when she saw him leaning against the wall in the hallway. He wasn't scheduled to be at the hospital today. He held a bottle of iced tea out to her and fell into step beside her as Kotoko continued down the hall.

"I'm here to accompany Papa for his medical check up." He explained. "The grandma giving you a hard time?" He asked, sipping from his own bottle.

Kotoko shook her head no. "You heard that, huh? That's Grandma Yoshida. She always does that—but I'm getting used to it."

"You handled it really well." Surprised, Kotoko stumbled mid-stride and Naoki steadied her with a hand on her arm. "Careful." Kotoko only stared at him. He waved a hand and went down the hall in the opposite direction.

Half an hour later, Kotoko walked back toward Yoshida-san's room to re-assess her pain. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion at the voices coming from within the room. Aside from Yoshida-san's voice, the other one was very familiar. She drew open the door and gaped.

"Naoki-kun?"

"Hi, Kotoko. Obaasan here is glad to learn that you're my wife. She's excited to happily spend more time with you." Naoki smiled and stood. He patted the elderly woman's hand. "Take good care of Kotoko, Obaasan! I'm counting on you!" Then he squeezed Kotoko's shoulder on his way out. Kotoko stared at his back, dumbfounded.

"Kotoko-chan!" Yoshida-san gestured to Kotoko to come closer, a kindly smile on her face. "Quick, let me have my medication so you can tell me about that handsome Naoki-kun!"

Kotoko spent the rest of the day free from any more trouble coming from Yoshida-san.

~o~o~o~

Kotoko wondered what was going on with Naoki. He was acting so differently since he recovered from the bug they had both caught a week ago (despite his boast that he did not get sick).

He had always been kind to and considerate of her but now he was more something. She couldn't quite place it.

Maybe there was an added cheerfulness to his manner? She frowned. 'Cheerful' didn't seem to be an appropriate term for Naoki but if his ready smile and that constant gleam in his eye wasn't 'cheerful', she didn't know what was. He was more deliberate too. There was a certain earnestness to him that hadn't been evident before.

After a few more days of this, she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Naoki-kun?"

"Hmmm?"

"Has something happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just... What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?" He repeated

"Are you still sick?" She felt his forehead but he wasn't overly warm.

He grasped her wrist and laced his fingers with hers. Her face suddenly felt hot.

"Iie, I'm not sick."

Not in that sense anyway.

"Then what's all this!" She waved her hand at the picnic spread before them. He had told her that morning to keep lunch period open for him. When she went on break from her clinical shift at Tonan Hospital, she had been greeted by a grinning Naoki with a picnic basket slung on his arm.

She didn't miss the fact that the women in the vicinity had blushed and tittered as they walked by. "What's the occasion?"

Naoki shrugged. "Nothing. The weather was nice this morning so I thought it would be perfect for a picnic." Kotoko frowned, unsure of the veracity of his statement.

"I brought some of your favorites," Naoki pointed out, changing Kotoko's train of thought, at least for the moment.

Aside from his cheerfulness and unexpected surprises, there was also more touching. Kotoko warmed at the memory of the last instance. She had been soaping dishes the other night when Naoki joined her at the sink and proceeded to rinse the dishes she had completed.

"Naoki-kun?"

"You said you had a lot of homework. It's faster this way." He bumped her arm with his and shot her a smile that made her knees feel weak. She nodded in thanks and handed him the next dish. Without removing his gaze from her face, he grasped the dish, his hand unnecessarily closing over hers and kept it there for a few beats before pulling the dish from her suddenly slack fingers, proceeding with his task as if nothing extraordinary had happened.

~o~o~o~

If she wasn't already in love with him, she was positive she would be by now. She wondered if it was possible for Naoki to be in love with her. She shook her head. Theirs was a business agreement that had bloomed into friendship, nothing more.

She had read the marriage contract. Essentially Aihara Corp. had transferred the bulk of its monies to Pandai, Inc. as her dowry of sorts and in trust for any future children. There were some sections on Kotoko's "happiness and wellbeing," and so on.

It was a lot of legalese but even she could understand that as long as she was happy with the Iries, the Aihara fortune was theirs.

A/N: Oh my goodness! LOVED the reviews I got for the last chapter! Had a tough shift at the hospital yesterday but a quick reread of your lovely words of praise and encouragement was a surefire pick me up. Thank you!