Author's Note: Judging from the reviews, it seems like people would like just a bit more of this to tie up the remaining loose ends. Sorry it took so long to get here, but here you go. I hope you all enjoy it!
Tomorrow Today
Epilogue
It was always pleasant being woken up with a kiss. Usually when it happened to Shizuru, it was a slow, sweet kiss that gently roused her from her dreams. This morning though, it was a quick, firm, joyful kiss that suddenly work Shizuru up. Shizuru reflexively tried to kiss back, but the lips that had awakened her had withdrawn too quickly. Shizuru's eyes opened, quickly focusing in on the source of that kiss: The smirking face of her adorable wife, Kuga Natsuki.
"Good morning, Zuru," Natsuki said, her smile slowly widening even as she said these few words. "Or can I maybe say 'Merry Christmas'? Please?" In an instant, Natsuki lips pouted slightly and her eyes widened, giving what Shizuru liked to call her "cute puppy" expression.
"Ara… I suppose you can, Natsuki," Shizuru said. Her mind was still a bit behind figuring out what was happening right now, but there was simply no way she could resist Natsuki when she made that expression. Natsuki knew this full well, in fact, but thankfully she didn't abuse this power.
It only took one second for Natsuki's lips to split into a grin again. She leaned down to give Shizuru's lips another quick kiss, just as joyfully as before. Chuckling a bit as she pulled back up, she said, "Thank you, Zuru. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a puppy to say good morning to."
Before Shizuru could think of anything to say in reply, Natsuki had rolled off of the bed and dashed out the door. While the sudden lack of Natsuki was disappointing, it did give Shizuru a chance to sort out her thoughts.
They'd gone to sleep cuddled up together in bed last night. Even though Natsuki's memories hadn't returned, she'd been convinced enough of her relationship with Shizuru that she was willing to cuddle up in bed for the night. Although if Shizuru ended up having to remind Natsuki of what had happened, that "willing to" was going to change to "insisted upon." Which perhaps wasn't far from the truth after all, as Natsuki's manner of insisting was usually quite subtextual.
It wasn't clear quite yet what was going on with Natsuki today. If Shizuru's suspicions were correct, then she'd just lost her memories for one day and had now regained them (and was in quite a giddy mood now as well). But it was also possible that Natsuki had actually swapped places with her past self for a day, in which case perhaps her experience in the past had made her be happy to be back in the present.
Although… would it have really been so bad for her then? She could have seen Duran again (rather than just hearing his howl), and perhaps even gone and surprised the past Shizuru with a confession of love. Of course, Shizuru would certainly remember now if that had happened, and she certainly didn't remember anything like that, so that made it more likely Natsuki had just laid low for the day. Or perhaps it was something more complicated than that… Perhaps if Shizuru had read more time-travel fiction, she would have had a better idea of the possibilities.
In any case, the squeaky sounds of an excited puppy coming from the study were telling Shizuru that right now wasn't the time to lie in bed asking questions: She had some cuteness to be witness to. Shizuru pushed herself out of bed and took just a minute to use the bathroom before she headed off to trace down the sounds of excitement. The sounds of excited puppy whimpers lead Shizuru to the living room, where she nearly whimpered herself at the sight of Natsuki lying down in the middle of the room, holding a lock of hair in her hand as she waved it at Kiyoran and he playfully pawed at it.
"Ara ara," Shizuru said, feeling a broad smile cross her face. "I don't think I've ever seen Natsuki let Kiyo-chan play with her hair before. Whatever could have brought about this change of heart?"
Letting out a laugh, Natsuki glanced up at Shizuru for just a second before returning her gaze to the little dog who was now rolling over and starting to get tangled up in her hair. "What do you think, Kiyo-chan? I think Shizuru is just pretending not to know so that she can make me tell her why I'm so happy this morning." Natsuki reached her hand out and placed it on Kiyo's chest, giving it a quick rub as she spoke. "Oh? Is that right, Kiyo?" Natsuki said, pretending to listen to something the dog was saying. She then looked back at Shizuru and said, "Kiyo thinks your question is just rhetorical and you know the answer quite well. He's a very smart boy, so I'm inclined to agree with him."
"Is that so?" Shizuru said. She approached Natsuki and the puppy and sat down beside them. She reached over to gently pat Kiyo's head as she said, "That's quite smart indeed. I didn't even know you knew the word 'rhetorical,' Kiyo-chan. But this is one case where I do want to hear the answer from Natsuki." Shizuru looked over at her love and waited until Natsuki met her gaze before continuing. "So, Natsuki-suki. Would you mind telling your dear, loving wife just why you're in such a good mood this morning?" she said, giving Natsuki her best puppy-dog eyes.
Natsuki was able to hold Shizuru's gaze for just a second before she broke. Letting out a laugh and looking away, she said, "Fine, fine, you win, Zuru." Natsuki rolled onto her side and resumed giving Kiyo a tummy rub as she spoke. "Maybe I'm just a bit overwhelmed. After everything yesterday… seeing my life here for the first time again… falling in love with you and Kiyo-chan all over… and then suddenly having all my memories back of all the great, lovely, sweet, funny moments we've had together…" Natsuki closed her eyes for a moment. "I truly don't think I could be any happier than I am right now. Thank you, Shizuru. I couldn't possibly ask for a more wonderful wife."
There were no words Shizuru could speak in response to this that would get across just what it meant to her to hear these words. A weak smile weakly at her lips, her eyelids fluttered as they tried in vain to hold back tears, and the warmth in her heart was nearly overwhelming. Eventually, she gave in, closing her eyes and breathing slowly until she managed to regain some semblance of control over her body.
When Shizuru finally opened her eyes again, she found that Natsuki had done the same. Her love's emerald eyes sparkled slightly as they looked up at Shizuru, and a small rise of her eyebrows welcomed Shizuru to move in and act on her impulses. The edges of Shizuru's lips curled up as she complied, leaning down slowly until her lips pressed gently against Natsuki's. The familiar taste of her wife's mouth reached her senses, and she took her time slowly moving her lips across Natsuki's, sliding her tongue across those delicious lips, and simply letting herself absorb as much of Natsuki's love as she could handle.
When at last she could take no more, Shizuru reluctantly pulled herself back. "...Natsuki is far too sweet to me…" she whispered, the words not even passing through her mind before they left her lips.
"Mmm… Just wait till tonight," Natsuki said, her eyebrows tilting just slightly inward, "and I'll show you all the sweetness you deserve and more."
Shizuru's cheeks filled with warmth, and she shyly broke eye contact with Natsuki. The tone of her love's voice made Shizuru's heart flutter in her chest. "I-ikezu…" she said softly. "Natsuki is going to say that now and make me wait all day? Wherever did she learn to be such a horrible tease?"
A warm chuckle left Natsuki's lips. She leaned up and planted a quick kiss on Shizuru's blushing cheek. "I learned from the best," she said. "Trust me. The wait will be worth it. And in the meantime, we get to celebrate Christmas all over again."
"Ara… I think I'd like that very much," Shizuru said. She looked back up at Natsuki and gave her love a smile. She reached a hand up to the side of Natsuki's face and slowly stroked her fingers through her love's hair, getting in just one more tender moment before they had to get up from this position. She held Natsuki's gaze as she twirled a lock of Natsuki's hair around her finger. Finally though, some shuffling off to the side drew Shizuru's gaze away from her love and to their sweet dog who'd also managed to get himself tangled up in Natsuki's hair.
Natsuki let out a chuckle as she glanced back over at Kiyoran. "Tell you what, Zuru. If you can get him untangled without damaging my hair, I'll make my gift to you tonight just a tiny bit sweeter."
"Ara, now how could I say no to a proposal such as that?" Shizuru said. After leaning in to plant one more quick kiss on Natsuki's cheek, Shizuru went to work at carefully extracting Kiyoran from Natsuki's gorgeous raven-colored hair.
"There we go," Shizuru said, watching as Kiyoran settled down with his bonus Christmas present: a rawhide bone that Natsuki had stashed away for a special occasion. Once he'd been safely extracted from Natsuki's hair after having somehow avoided causing so much as a single split-end's worth of damage, Shizuru and Natsuki had tended to his morning needs and then settled in for their bonus Christmas celebration. "I think he'll be fine on his own for a bit. Now, does Natsuki think she can tell me just what she does and doesn't remember from the last couple of days?"
Natsuki reached out her arm to wrap around Shizuru's shoulders as her wife joined her on the couch. "Right," she said. She knew this would be coming up sooner or later, and she'd been mulling over how best to explain things to Shizuru. She wasn't clear on exactly what had happened herself, but she thought she had at least a good enough grasp of it to try explaining it to her. "Well, do you remember what happened after that mugging the day before yesterday?"
Shizuru nodded. "After Natsuki stopped the mugger, I phoned the police, and then stayed with him until they arrived, while Natsuki returned the purse and made sure that woman was alright."
"Yeah," Natsuki said. "She was pretty grateful, which I guess shouldn't have been surprising, but it was a bit much for me. I really had to struggle to convince her that I didn't need money, or any other reward. It wouldn't feel right taking money from her after I'd gone to so much trouble to retrieve it for her. But she really wanted to do something for me, and she said… what was the word? I think it was a 'blessing' she offered me."
Shizuru furrowed her brow. "That sounds to me like she wanted to pray for your good fortune."
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Natsuki said. She let out a brief chuckle at this, realizing now just how wrong she was. "I figured that would be a good way to let her show her thanks without taking anything from her, so I agreed. Then, she asked me some questions, seemingly trying to figure out if there was any aspect of my life that particularly needed this 'blessing.' I, well… I guess you can imagine how I responded to that."
"Oh yes," Shizuru said, knowing quite well how hard it was to get Natsuki to open up. Even now, if she wanted to know if there were any part of Natsuki's life she were unsatisfied with, it would take quite a lot of effort to get to anything more substantial than annoyances at school. She did know of a few things that might fit that bill - Natsuki's continually-strained relationship with her father, or worries about ever being able to have a child with Shizuru - but those were certainly nothing she'd divulge to a stranger. "So what did you tell her?"
"Well, I told her that everything was fine," Natsuki said. She let out a sigh and leaned back. "I asked if maybe she could just pray for my general good fortune or something, but that didn't seem to be what she had in mind. Instead, she asked to look into my eyes for a moment, which seemed to satisfy her that I was telling the truth. She thought about that for a moment, and then… I think she said something like, 'Fine can always be better. If it's fine for too long, you might forget just how good it is. It's always possible to appreciate it more.' More or less… those weren't her exact words.
"So, then she asked if I'd like a blessing to help me appreciate things more. I… really should have asked for some more details, in retrospect," Natsuki said, grimacing now and shaking her head. "But I kind of just wanted to satisfy her, so I said okay. Then, she did… something." Natsuki trailed off and looked away, trying to remember exactly what happened after that point. Why couldn't she remember? Natsuki shook her head. "Sorry, I can't really… remember much from that point on. I guess that must have been when whatever she did started to affect me."
"That's alright," Shizuru said. Out of the corner of her eye, Natsuki caught sight of Shizuru nodding slowly, and she turned back to face her wife. "I think that's probably enough to piece together what happened. This was her doing, and she felt that if she… let's say 'rewound' Natsuki back to how she was years ago, Natsuki could better appreciate everything she has now. I suppose I can accept that, although I really do wish she had done a bit more to ensure nothing bad would happen. I certainly would have appreciated some warning myself."
Natsuki let out a brief chuckle at this. "Warning or not, you handled everything wonderfully, my love." Natsuki brought her hand up to Shizuru's cheek, gently cupping it as she met Shizuru's gaze. "And the fact that you could do so without even being warned in advance just proves how amazing you are. You practically made me fall in love with you again in the space of one day. How many people do you think would be capable of that?"
A soft blush filled Shizuru's cheeks at this. For a long moment, she simply held Natsuki's gaze. Eventually, she reached up to grasp the hand that was on her cheek, and she brought it to her lips, placing a soft kiss on Natsuki's knuckles. She gave the hand a squeeze as she looked back into Natsuki's eyes and said, "So, is Natsuki not mad at that woman for this?"
"Hmm… a bit frustrated that she didn't go into details about what she was planning," Natsuki said. "If I see her again, I'll certainly be complaining about that. I wouldn't say I'm mad though. It did accomplish what she intended, after all." Natsuki allowed a grin to cross her face as she thought back on this. "Life with you has been my normal for so long, that I'd nearly forgotten just how impossible it would have seemed back then.
"I have the family I always wished I could have. Parents that truly care about me, without just seeing me as a burden or a means to an end. A lovely, sweet dog, who brings me a smile with every silly new thing I see him doing." Natsuki's eyes widened at this comment. "Oh! Speaking of silly things, I forgot to tell you before we went out a couple days ago. As we were getting ready, I caught sight of Kiyo-chan in the bedroom. He was pacing back and forth at the foot of the bed, letting the bedsheets stroke across his head and back as he did so. I think he was in the mood for pats, but we were both busy, so he took it upon himself and found a way."
Shizuru broke out into a laugh at this. "Ara ara…" she said. Turning over to look at the dog, who had put down his bone when he'd heard his name and looked up at them. "Kiyo-chan, you truly are the best sometimes." Shizuru patted her lap briefly, and Kiyoran took the cue and eagerly ran over to join his masters on the couch. He spend a brief moment crawling up both of their chests to sniff their faces and make eye contact for a moment before he settled down, lying across both of their laps.
Natsuki reached out and stroked her hand gently along Kiyoran's back, smiling at him for a moment, before she looked back up at Shizuru. "And let's not forget the best part of all. I have a wife who's amazing beyond my wildest dreams. Someone strong enough to take care of me when I'm lost without my memories, able to reassure me that everything is alright, and give me a wonderful Christmas despite all of that. The only person I want to come home to everyday, go to bed with every night, and the only person who's ever made me want to someday become a mother with."
Unsurprisingly, Shizuru had gone completely silent at this, the subtle blush on her cheeks and the hint of tears in her eyes giving away her reaction instead. But Natsuki wasn't done just yet.
"Fujino Shizuru… I've promised it before, but I'll promise it again. I will be yours entirely until the day I die," Natsuki said, looking deeply into Shizuru's eyes. "Fujino Shizuru… I love you."
Author's Note: I'm not sure what I'll work on next. It might even be something original, and not fanfic. If you want to be sure to catch any updates from me, the best idea is to follow me on Tumblr - I'm drleebot there (I can't give a direct link due to filters here, sorry, so just do a search for that and you should find me).