That must have hurt, Manami thinks, eyes tracing over the colorful arm of a woman sunbathing on a lounge chair a few ways away from where Manami herself sat, shielded under a beach umbrella. The woman's arm was a canvas for the blooms of sakura that decorated her skin, wisps of dark waves and smoke weaving in between and under the pinks and reds. When the woman raised her arm to fix her hat, Manami caught a glimpse of sparrows perched delicately on golden branches on the inside of her arm, the overall entirety of her tattoo covering the woman's arm and shoulder. Is that what they call a full sleeve?

As she wondered if a similar design occupied the woman's other arm, a sudden presence smelling of sea salt dropped beside her just as a damp arm curled around her back.

"Hey," came Karma's warm whisper against her ear, water dripping from his hair to her skin and wresting her attention away. "I was calling you from the water. Didn't you hear me?"

"Ah, I'm sorry, I was distracted!"

Karma hummed thoughtfully as his fingers toyed with the straps of her modest two-piece. "Clearly. By whom, too, from the looks of it. Are you bored of me now?" he teased, smiling at the high rise of color on her cheeks when his finger slipped under one strap, and Manami swatted his hand from slipping down her bikini top any further as Karma pressed his laughing mouth against her neck.

"I'm not!"

"Who were you looking at in the first place?"

Manami cupped his face and turned his head to the woman still lounging on the chair. Oh, she'd turned on her back now, head pillowed on her arms, and to Manami's delight, her other arm was inked, too! A jade dragon twisting around her bicep with eyes like rubies among rolling clouds while orange koi swam after it in azure waters. Manami found she liked the previous sleeve better.

"What am I looking at?"

"Do you see her?"

"Sweetheart," Karma started, disbelief and playful condescension dripping from his drawl as he wrapped both arms around her midsection, "in case you haven't noticed… there's a lot of her here on the beach. And why on earth would you want me to look at another woman? Are you crazy?" Manami rolled her eyes at his theatrics.

"There," she pointed, quick and swift (because pointing is rude) with a hushed, "the one with the tattooed arm!"

"I see her… What about her?"

"Nothing, really." Manami pinched his arm at his unimpressed snort. "I was just admiring her arms."

"You've got nice arms, too. Very nice arms."

"Not like that. Get your head out of the gutter."

"It's kind of hard—" His smirk only widened at the chastising slap she gave his mouth, her stern expression intensifying. "Okay, duly noted. Now, what about her?"

"Her arm… it's pretty, right? Her other arm looks nice too."

Karma hummed consideringly. "I guess it is kinda sick… If it were me, though, I'd have picked a different design." He paused. "Why? You thinking of getting one?"

"No…" Manami put a finger to her chin. "I don't think I'd survive a full sleeve…"

"Haaah, my sweet wife is becoming a thug," Karma bemoaned against her shoulder. "First were the piercings, now she's considering getting tattoos, too."

"Don't stereotype!"

"Maybe I should get a full sleeve for your viewing pleasure. Or maybe my back?"

Manami turned around, her eyes sparkling. "Really? You want to?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm going to look so badass, so that's a plus."

"Oh, but… you won't be able to go to the beach or the public baths back at home if you do, though…"

"Well, sweetheart," Karma purred, his mind already buzzing with ideas and schemes. Anything to assuage his lovely wife's disheartened pout. "I think it's time for me to start ousting those geezers once this vacation is over, yeah?"