Chapter Thirteen:
Takashi looked at the bright silver paper with red and green bobbles. There were gold shimmering images of garland that ran around the bobbles. The design was festive and simple, but called to a level of classiness that Rae would appreciate. He smiled a little to himself when he thought about the colorful cartoonish paper that Mitsukuni had been adamant about buying for Akira's present. It pointed to how exactly different Rae and Akira were when it came to the type of personalities they drew in.
Sitting in his car, he had to take a couple of deep relaxing breaths. He was about to enter Rae's home for a lunch and small Christmas Eve celebration. Actual Christmas was going to be with his family and their own gift exchange was sure to be the quiet affair that it always was. They would exchange gifts, and then spend the day together, cooking, meditating, and just enjoying the holiday cheer. He wondered for a moment if Rae's family did the same. He also wondered if next year he would be able to bring Rae to Christmas. Perhaps the entire Miyagi family would want to come to the Morinozuka compound.
A knock on his car window pulled him from his thoughts and he looked to find Rae, blue fringe and all smiling at him. She was bundled up in a wool duffle coat and a grey knitted scarf. She waved and stepped back so that Takashi could open the door. He grabbed Rae's gift from the front seat and then pushed open his door. He popped the trunk before he stepped out into the cold winter air.
Rae quickly stepped up and kissed him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas," she said smiling as she looped her arm around his. Takashi walked to the trunk and pulled out a bag of additional gifts.
"Merry Christmas," Takashi said with a smile as he handed Rae the gift. He couldn't exactly place why he wanted Rae's gift separate from her family's gift, but it just seemed to put him more at ease knowing it was on the passenger seat instead of in the trunk.
"I know that you have a dinner with the Host Club so I hope not to keep you too long," Rae said.
Takashi remained silent only mentally telling himself that Rae could keep his attention for as long as she liked. The Host Club was only getting together tonight to exchange gifts and talk about the Hitachiin New Years Party that would be taking place. Apparently the twins wanted to actively prepare them in what was about to happen in their world. Finally, Takashi was going to get some answers about the Twin's Legal work with Rae. He was interested, but truth be told, he would have preferred to just stay with Rae knowing that her family wasn't as… shall we say flamboyant as some of the Host club members.
"I do have to warn you," Rae started. "Ren is unusally excited about something. Not sure what, but I guess he got some good news that he's unwilling to share with the family just yet. I'm curious and wish I could interrogate him, but Dad won't let me. He's so unfair like that."
Takashi smiled and looked down at the bag of gifts. He had one for every member of Rae's family. He knew that he wasn't as familiar with their likes and dislikes, but if there was one thing Takashi was particularly proud of, it was how observant he was. He was confident that he had gotten the right beginner gift for each family member. Rae on the other hand… Well that was trippy ground for him. As much as he wanted to admit he knew Rae well, he found her hard to shop for. Maybe it was because she never seemed to want anything. She just wanted time with him or with her friends. He only hoped that she would enjoy the gift he got her.
Rae opened the front door of her parents house and stepped in, pulling away from Takashi so that she could take her boots off and slip into a pair of warm slippers. She held out a pair for Takashi that appeared to be brand new.
"I got them in your size. Just for you," she smiled.
Takashi only continued to smile at her, finding the gesture kind and full of the care that Rae put into everything. He slipped on the slippers and walked into the living room to find Shinji lounging on the couch. He spotted Ren in the dinning room talking on the phone speaking quietly. The oldest of the Miyagi siblings was smiling and waving a hand around enthusiastically.
"He's talking to a friend from his high school days," Rae said. She looked at her watch and frowned. "With the time difference, it must be the middle of the night. How odd?" she mused.
"Ren, get off the phone, Takashi is here." Rae's mother called from the kitchen.
An audible groan came from Ren as he quickly muttered a goodbye into the cell phone and hung up.
"Don't international phone calls cost money?" Shinji asked looking over his shoulder at his older brother.
"Not when you do it over the internet little brother," Ren said rolling his eyes. "God Bless the woman who revolutionized the very technology I take advantage of."
"I thought a guy created the internet," Shinji said.
"Shows how much you know," Rae laughed. "The frequency hopping signals that are used in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth were created by Hedy Lamarr and actress and scientist. You should look her up if you're going to go into programming."
Shinji let out a contemplative hum as Rae let go of Takashi to hug her father as he came out of his office. "Takashi's here," Rae said.
Hayato smiled and nodded at the tall heir. "I'm happy you could join us for lunch. Rae says that you have a dinner to get to tonight, so we won't keep you too long, I hope."
Takashi smiled as he shook his head. "There's no rush," he said as if to placate Rae's father. Try as he might, he could not get used to the challenging stare that always seemed to be pointed his way by Hayato. He chalked it up to the man's younger days in America amidst rebellion and the call for social change. Takashi had to wonder though if Hayato Miyagi would ever grow to like him enough not to challenge his loyalty to Rae, or was this simply a stance he took for all of Rae's suitors, almost as if he was gauging how they would react.
"Dad, stop with the staring. He's not going anywhere any time soon." Rae said before she stood on her tiptoes to kiss her father on the cheek. She turned and gestured for Takashi to follow her. She playfully shoved Ren as he talked on the phone with his friend. As Takashi walked by he heard Ren speaking English and he caught the phrase "party pooper". He smiled as Rae took the stairs up to the second floor.
Rae was sitting on a twin-sized bed, he knees folded and tucked to the side. She smiled as she grabbed her pillow and put it behind her back so that she could lean against the wall. "How's your family? I'm sorry to take you away from them today."
Takashi smiled and shook his head sitting next to Rae. "No. Tomorrow would have been a problem," he said quietly. He watched as Rae took his hand and cradled it in her lap. She started tracing the creases in his palm. He looked away from his hand and her long, thin fingers and took a moment to peak into Rae's past.
Her room was covered in framed photos of places she had been. There was a family photo in front of the Golden Gate Bridge where Rae looked to be a young teenager. Another photo had her hugging Akira and Sora in front of the Tower Bridge in London. As he took stock of the photos, he looked back to Rae. "You went to England?"
Rae nodded. "Ren went to a music school in London," she pointed to a photo where Rae and Akira were making faces at a palace guard. "This was just after Akira's mother died. She left money for Akira to go to London with a friend. She brought Sora along. We had so much fun running around with Ren and the family that hosted him while he was there."
"Kyoya's roommate is from London."
Rae nodded. She looked ahead and pulled her hand away so she could crack her knuckles. Takashi only ever realized that she did this when she was nervous. "I'm so glad you could come today. It means a lot to me."
Takashi smiled at her. He pulled her hands towards him to stop the popping of knuckles. While he knew that it wasn't actually all that bad for her to do such a thing, he wanted to comfort her in some way and holding her hand seemed like the best option. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas."
0o0
As lunch came to an end, Takashi found himself sitting on the floor next to Rae. They were sitting on large comfortable pillows. Takashi handed Rae the gift he got her and avoided eye contact with her father. He was giving Takashi that sort of assessing look that Takashi always grew aware of in his Kendo assessments. However this look was geared more towards the gift he got Rae.
Rae opened the package after Ren opened a gift of brand new and very expensive headphones for his radio personality job. The gift was from a friend with the nickname "Spitfire".
Rae pulled a large tea pot from the box and lifted it up to examine it. "Is this…" she started as the wheels started to spin in her head. "Wait. This is the teapot from that tea ceremony lesson your mother gave me?"
Takashi nodded. "You told my mother that you found it exquisite," he said with a smile. "I asked if I could give it to you."
The teapot was a painted jade green with a long straight handle so she could have more control when pouring with one hand. White paint had been used to create a garden scene of blossoming trees and zen rock gardens. Rae fully extended her arms and held the teapot as she turned it in her hands. She paused after a moment and looked at Takashi. "But now your mother has an incomplete set."
Takashi shook his head, enjoying the confused look. "It's yours."
"The set?" Rae asked. "The small cups, the . . ." she stopped talking as Takashi just nodded. She smiled and brought the teapot to rest in her lap as she leaned over and kissed Takashi on the cheek.
Takashi only blushed slightly as Rae's mother walked over and picked up the teapot to look at it. She moved back to the couch to sit with her husband. "Takashi, this is a wonderful gift. Rae's always been interested in traditional Japanese pursuits. I believe she may have met her match with you."
"Mom!" Rae whispered covering her cheeks.
After a minute of laughter Rae dropped two gifts into Takashi's lap. "One is kind of a joke, but I saw it and thought of you after I bought your real gift. So open the small one first because it's meant to make you smile."
Takashi methodically removed the paper of the small gift and smiled when he saw a samurai sword letter opener. He smiled when he saw that it was resting on a miniature stand that was used to display swords.
"I recommend putting it on your desk, but I don't really know how often you open letters," Rae said with a shrug. "I know, it's a cheeky gift, but it's a cute one."
Takashi put the sword letter opener on the ground next to him as he picked up the other. As he held the gift in his hands, he could tell that it was a hard cover book. Again, careful not to rip the paper too quickly and ruin the anticipation.
As the paper fell away he looked at a leather bound book. The Tales of Genji was pressed into the leather with gold. He opened the book and sighed happily. The book wasn't in the original Japanese Court language that made it a little confusing to modern readers. He saw that there was another book under him.
"It's a first edition," Rae said. "The edition that Yosano Akiki translated. I asked a friend to help track it down. I figured that it would be a nice gift because he's like the Eastern Don Juan, and it's speculated to be the first real novel. If anyone would read it, it would be you. The second book is a standard paper back of Tales from the Past. Each story starts with Once Upon a Time, so it has a certain level of whimsy I think."
Takashi smiled. He hadn't read the whole story, but he had read some of it when he was in high school. "Thank you," he whispered before he pressed a kiss to Rae's temple.
"Gross," Shinji muttered.
"You too are so cute together. Traditional gifts. Perfect," Ren muttered as he stood up and started texting someone.
0o0o0o0
Author's Note: Sorry for any delays. I've moved into a new place, my hard drive had to be replaced, and school started but I've had chapters just sitting in my document folder. I have a chapter for every story done, but am working on edits. I hope you enjoyed this little bit, and if you did, leave a review if you can, favorite the story if you can't.
Spirit