Umeko forwent sleep entirely the next two days. With her nerves as fried as they were, there was no way she could get her troubled mind to quiet enough to sleep.
Munakata's words ran through her mind on a constant loop. Mikoto had been looking for her this entire time, had wanted her this whole time. Her stomach twisted. Well, he was looking for her, but that still didn't mean he wanted her.
Her sneakers barely made a sound on the pavement as she hurried across a crosswalk. It was Sunday, the café's regular closing day, and Umeko was on her way to the market to pick up some baking materials.
When Tadashi had first asked her to try her hand at baking, she'd laughed and asked him if he was crazy. He'd proceeded to level her with a look that clearly said he didn't find her funny, before pulling her over to the kitchen island and explaining to her the basics.
"Normally mother is in charge of deserts," he'd said as he started kneading a pile of dough, "but she's been slowing down recently and I can't cover food and deserts by myself. And frankly I trust you more in the kitchen than I do Yumiko."
Umeko could understand that, considering Yumiko could literally set water on fire.
Now, about a month into her new position, Umeko found that not only was she half decent at baking, but she enjoyed it too. It was tedious, exact work that was perfect for keeping her traitorous mind from wondering to unpleasant topics.
She'd wanted to try her hand at baking a pie since she'd pulled off her first successful cake, and wanted to get some fresh berries for the filling she was going to make. The whole thing might blow up in her face, but at least she wouldn't have any witnesses today.
It was early, the sun having only risen a couple of hours ago, and the streets were practically deserted compared to the foot traffic they'd get in the next few hours. She greeted the old woman who owned the market warmly as she stepped inside, making a beeline for the produce. She picked up a few different kinds of berries, as well as some extra butter since she knew they were running low at the café. In just a few minutes she was on her way back, her paper bag full of fruit tucked securely under her elbow.
She figured kneading dough would keep her mind and hands busy for a few hours, long enough that she could hopefully forget about the fact the one man who had been at the center of her thoughts for the last ten months was arriving tomorrow.
God, what was she even supposed to say to him- 'Hey, sorry about losing our baby and taking off like that, but I hear you're still pretty into me so what do you say?'
She shuddered. Definitely not going with that.
She rounded the last corner to the café, mind still in the clouds as her body took her along the familiar route. Her mind was so far off the ground in fact, she didn't feel the presence coming up behind her, not until a hand clasped her shoulder and spun her around.
"Hey what are you- oh."
Her eyes went wide, her throat tightening as golden amber eyes bore down into her. Her name slipped past his lips, but Umeko was past the point of thinking, let alone replying.
"Mikoto," she breathed, her grip slipping slightly on her groceries.
Large hands picked the paper bag carefully up out of her arms, putting it down on the pavement next to them. Those same hands, rough with callouses and so achingly familiar on her skin, carefully brushed over her arms, sliding down to her wrists before tightening gently.
He looked just like she remembered, better even. His hair looked a little longer maybe, and he had a few new stress lines between his brows. But the warmth he'd always radiated was the same, and his frame was as tall and strong as ever. His thumbs started rubbing slow circles on the inside of her wrists, drawing her attention to him.
"M-Munakata-san said you'd be here tomorrow," she managed to say, and Mikoto merely hummed in response.
"I couldn't wait that long."
Heat bloomed across her cheeks, and Umeko looked to the side. Her tongue felt heavy, and she struggled to think of something to say. God she wasn't ready for this, she'd been banking on having tonight to figure out what she wanted to say to him. She bit her lip, frustrated with her own inability to articulate her thoughts.
"I can make us tea," she finally blurted, pointing over her shoulder to the café not thirty feet behind them, "I live just there."
Mikoto nodded at her words, letting her pull out of his grip and collect her groceries despite every nerve in his body screaming at him to pull her back. She met his eyes briefly, and his chest constricted painfully as she adverted her eyes just after. Like it pained her to look at him.
He followed her to the small restaurant behind them, watching as she unlocked the door with shaky hands and pushed it open. The restaurant inside was small but clean, full of personal touches that marked it as a much-loved, family run business.
Umeko passed right through the seating area, ducking into a doorway that he realized led to the kitchen. She put her groceries on the counter, immediately busying her hands with pulling out the kettle and tea bags. When the kettle was on the burner and there was nothing left to distract her, Umeko turned slowly towards him, her eyes wide and vulnerable as she looked up at him.
He had so much he wanted to say, but words had never been his strong suit and this was no exception. So instead he walked forward till he was standing as close to her as he could without touching her. Her back was pressed into the edge of the counter, her hands clutching the granite in a white knuckled grip.
Her eyes, that beautiful mix of brown and gold and red he'd missed so much, looked up at him. They were swimming with nervousness and, he wanted to let himself believe, no small amount of longing.
"Munakata-san said you've been looking for me," she murmured.
"Of course I have," he answered immediately, finally giving in to the urge to touch her again. He slipped his hand under her chin, bumping her chin up lightly, "I told you I'd never let you go."
Umeko sucked in a breath, hope starting to fill her gaze, "You're not still angry with me then?"
Mikoto shook his head, "No. No, I just want you to come home."
Umeko blinked rapidly against the building heat behind her eyes, her stomach clenching and twisting unpleasantly.
"I didn't-," she cut herself off again, her mind only just comprehending the feeling of Mikoto's hand moving from her chin to cup the back of her neck.
"I never wanted to leave," she finally burst, a tear finally slipping out and running down her cheek, "but-but I knew you didn't want me and I just couldn't bare the idea of being there and you not-"
"Umeko," he cut her off, and her eyes looked up at him shakily, "I'll never not want you."
Her eyes clenched shut, whispering only just loud enough for him to hear, "Then why would you hurt me like that?"
His heart clenched in his chest, the tears slipping down her cheeks like knives in his heart. He knew he'd hurt her, had known it was why she'd go as far as leaving in the first place, but to hear her say it to his face made him feel absolutely rotten.
He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers, "I'm sorry Umeko."
The only response he got was a sniffle, but then he felt small hands fist in his shirt and pull him closer, and he wasted no time in wrapping her up in his arms. Her frame shook lightly, and he held her together as best he could when he felt like he was ripping apart himself.
Her hand thumped lightly against his chest, then again with more force, until she was shoving against him.
"I know I fucked up, I know and I'm sorry," she cried, pushing futilely against the iron lock his arms had on her, "but so did you! You left me when I needed you and I had no idea what to do-"
She buried her face in his chest to muffle the sobs coming out of her, her hands giving up on trying to push him away.
"I know," he sighed into her hair, tightening his grip, "I know and I'm sorry."
She quieted her sobs after just a few seconds, but kept her face pressed into his chest. She pushed back as far as she could, the counter cutting into her lower back again. She wiped her cheeks, collecting herself before she looked up at Mikoto.
"I'd never hurt you like that," she said firmly, "never on purpose."
Mikoto's gaze turned soft, his eyes full of so much warmth Umeko felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest.
"I know you wouldn't," he said, his hand sliding up and weaving into her hair. He reveled in the silky texture after so long without it.
"You're a good person, too good to do something like that," his hand returned to the back of her neck, his fingertips pressing pleasurably against the tense muscles there, "I was an idiot and forgot that for a minute."
Umeko couldn't stop the corner of her mouth from going up a little at that.
"It's stupid, but to me," his mouth twisted down slightly, and his eyes drifted off to the side, "it made more sense that someone good like you wouldn't want to have a child with someone like me."
She was quiet for a second, but her next words brought his gaze back to her, "You really are an idiot."
He gave her a dry look, and suddenly Umeko smiled, and the sight of it after so long made his knees go weak. He'd thought of her, of her smile and her laugh and her presence, for so long but it was nothing compared to being with her again.
"I can't promise I won't fuck up again," he said honestly, cupping her cheek gently, "but I'll spend however long I've got left making it up to you."
Her breath hitched, and she brought her hands to his shoulders to pull herself closer, "I'll take that."
In the years since he'd met her, the idea of growing tired of kissing Umeko had never crossed his mind. But now, as he pressed his lips to hers for the first time in almost a year, he knew there would never be a day when he stopped needing to kiss her.
Every hair on his body stood as up as her mouth moved against his, and he almost groaned at the feeling of pure fire filling his body. He felt Umeko arch up into him, but instead of pressing her any harder against the counter he bent down and slipped his hands under her thighs. The gasp Umeko let out as he put her on the counter was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard.
Umeko's mind was gone. She couldn't comprehend anything outside Mikoto's mouth on hers and his arms around her waist. It'd been so long. She felt like her body was coming alive under him, every nerve on overdrive as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her hands in his hair. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him as close to herself as she could, savoring every brush of his lips and stroke of his fingers.
When they pulled apart it was only far enough to suck in a breath. Mikoto cupped her face in his hands as he looked down at her, still not believing she was there. But every second longer he held her against him and just breathed her in, the more he believed it and the more the headache that had been pounding behind his temples the last few months began to fade.
"You'll come home?"
Umeko's grip on him tightened, "Yes."
Umeko groaned at the sound of her phone ringing, lifting her head groggily from the pillow. The arm wrapped around her waist tightened, keeping her in place as she started to shift.
"Leave it," Mikoto rumbled into the back of her neck, and Umeko shivered at the feeling.
"What if it's important?" she replied, wiggling forward to reach for her nightstand.
"What if it's not," he grumbled back as she rolled onto her stomach to reach her phone. He followed her over, his sleep addled mind waking up at the sight of her torso stretched out beneath him with only a thin cotton t-shirt between his eyes and her skin.
"Hello?" Umeko rasped, clearing the sleep from her throat.
"Don't tell me you're asleep in the middle of the day Umeko! I know you only sleep like two hours a day but you should at least try to sleep when the sun is down!"
"Yumiko," Umeko sighed, "can we have this conversation in like four hours?"
"No, no, no," Yumiko cut her off, "I'm coming over right now and we're going to dinner. It's your only day off, you should go out."
"Umm," Umeko shivered as she felt the heat of Mikoto's torso settle over her back, and moments later felt her t-shirt get pushed up to her shoulder blades as a hot mouth made contact with her spine, "I can't today Yumiko, I'm sorry."
"Come on Umeko we talked about this! You can't spend all your time moping around over some ex-boyfriend when there are so many other fish in the sea!" Yumiko replied firmly.
"Well," Umeko trailed off, looking over her shoulder. Mikoto met her gaze from his spot against her hip with a wicked smirk. She knew he could hear every word, Yumiko's voice tended to carry even over phone lines.
"'Well' is not an appropriate answer, and just for that we're going to a bar after dinner and I will make you talk to a boy."
Any response Umeko could give was cut off by her PDA being plucked from her hands.
"Hey-" she started, but was cut off as Mikoto dropped his full weight across her back. The air in her lungs left in a whoosh as Mikoto settled his chin on her shoulder, nose brushing against her hair.
"Yo, I'm the ex-boyfriend. Umeko can't go out tonight."
Silence reined for a few seconds before all hell broke loose.
"The fuck?" Yumiko screeched, "Put Umeko on right now! I'm not okay with this at all! Umeko! Umeko I'm coming over right now! I'll be there in-"
Mikoto ended the call before Yumiko could finish her rant, and Umeko huffed in amusement as he put her phone back on the nightstand.
"Your friends are noisy," Mikoto rumbled as he nuzzled into her neck, his blood singing as Umeko practically purred under him.
"Yumiko is sweet," she giggled.
Mikoto only grunted a response, slipping his arms under her waist. He rolled over onto his side, Umeko's back pressed firmly to his chest as he buried his nose in the crown of her head.
"You know she's actually on her way, right?" Umeko teased, and even though he couldn't see her face from this angle he knew she was smiling.
"Don't care, I'm going back to sleep," he mumbled back, already sounding half asleep.
"We've got like ten minutes, tops."
"Then I'm sleeping for ten minutes."
Umeko rolled her eyes, but didn't pull against his hold on her as she felt his breathing even out. Seriously this man could sleep anywhere.
True to her word, barely ten minutes had passed before what sounded like a battering ram hit the restaurant door downstairs.
"Shimada Umeko get down here!"
Umeko sighed, but pushed Mikoto's arm off of her and sat up. Mikoto mumbled something behind her but otherwise didn't move, and Umeko stood with a huff of amusement.
She opened her bedroom door and barely made it to the stairs before Yumiko was in front of her, her brown eyes seething.
"Where is he?"
"Yumiko-chan-"
"No! I need to give this bastard a piece of my mind! You've been miserable since you moved here and it's all his fault!"
Umeko winced.
"Yumiko-chan just let me explain, please."
Yumiko's features softened just slightly, but she still put a hand on Umeko's shoulder and moved her to the side.
"Fine, but I still get to tell him to fuck off first."
Umeko's mouth dropped open in surprise, scrambling to say something to dissuade the brunette when Yumiko froze. Umeko looked over her shoulder and there in all his shirtless, half-awake glory was Mikoto. His face was blank as he looked at Yumiko, and Umeko worried the two were about to get into a pissing match when Yumiko whirled back to her. Umeko blinked in surprise at the girl's wide-eyed look.
"You never said he was this hot!"
Mikoto's brows went up in surprise, and Umeko couldn't help but throw her head back and laugh.
"You're such a ditz Yumiko-chan," she teased.
"I am not!" Yumiko yelped, seeming to remember her anger as her brow slowly furrowed once more. Before she could go back to ranting and raving, Umeko slipped her arm through the brunette's and pulled her forward.
"Yumiko-chan, this is Suoh Mikoto. Mikoto, this is Watanabe Yumiko."
Mikoto grunted out a greeting, dipping his head in acknowledgement.
"Hey," Yumiko said lamely, her eyes dropping to look over his body but Umeko's pinch to her side brought her attention back with a yelp.
Umeko clicked her tongue, "No ogling my boyfriend."
Her comment seemed to remind Yumiko of why she was there in the first place, and her lips went down in displeasure.
"Suoh Mikoto, huh? Well just so you know, you might be hot and all but you're still an asshole."
"Yumiko!" Umeko pulled on her arm.
"No, I need to say this," Yumiko cut her off firmly, leveling Mikoto with a hard stare.
"I don't know why you and Umeko broke it off, it isn't my business so I never asked. But I do know that she's been depressed since she got here, and it's because you chased her away."
Yumiko's eyes narrowed into a vicious glare, "Umeko's the nicest person I've ever met, so frankly I'm not surprised she's forgiven you already. I on the other hand have no intentions of forgiving you, because you hurt her like you can't even imagine and someone needs to be angry for her!"
"Yumiko," Umeko trailed off in surprise, staring wide-eyed at her friend.
"You're right."
Both girls jumped in surprise at his words.
"She shouldn't have forgiven me," Mikoto gave her a look that made Umeko's chest hurt and all she wanted to do was tell him that it wasn't his fault, that he shouldn't say something like that.
"But she did, and I'm going to prove to her she didn't make a mistake."
That was just about the most heartfelt thing she'd ever heard him say, and Umeko bit her lip as her heart filled with love for the man in front of her.
"Well, I think that's a good answer," Yumiko sniffed, the anger leaving her frame as she looked at the red-head.
"Now," she clapped her hands, and Umeko jumped at her sudden mood swing, "both of you get dressed, we're still going to dinner."
"Y-Yumiko-"
"No buts! You two can cuddle fuck later, but right now I'm starving."
Umeko's face went beat red in mortification, but any defense she wanted to mount was cut off by Mikoto's chuckle and his arm wrapping around her shoulders. He pulled her forward back towards her room.
"We'll be down in a minute," Mikoto called over his shoulder as he pulled her into her room, and Umeko just caught Yumiko's smile before she disappeared from sight.
Reunited at last! Ugh I was so happy when I wrote this. As much as I think this arch was important to the story, I never want Umeko and Mikoto to be apart. My favorite thing is writing them together! So there's one more chapter after this that wraps up the 'Umeko in Tokyo arch', then I'll get back into their Shizume city shenanigans. Honestly I was planning on ending this story after next chapter, but I just don't want to lol. I love this story, and by introducing JUNGLE a few chapters ago I really think I can come up with some great story lines for the characters.
Please leave reviews! I'd really appreciate some feedback on this chapter and on the direction I'm going to be taking this fic going forward. All the best!
Gally