Are you ready for the good stuff?

Chapter 23

Those three little words

"Going somewhere with Shino-kun again?" Yuki chirped knowingly.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked.

It was true that Shino had asked her on another date just after she got off work that day. But when she asked him what they were going to do he had only told her it was a surprise.

Yuki preened. "I do have my ways," she boasted.

"Do you know something that I don't?"

Yuki immediately took a turn from confidence to panic. She laughed nervously.

"What- what would give you that idea?"

Sachi knew Yuki was hiding something but she decided to let it go and let her best friend have her fun.

"Shino-kun is picking me up after work. But he wouldn't tell me what we are going to do."

"So he is going to surprise you with something?" Yuki squealed. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know."

"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed. "Take a guess!"

"I really don't know, Yuki-chan," Sachi reiterated.

Yuki gasped in a lungful of air in surprise and clapped her hands to her cheeks in a sudden epiphany.

"Do you think he is going to pop the question!?" Yuki exclaimed.

"Yuki-chan!" Sachi chided with a more than gentle rap of a book over Yuki's head. "Quit fantasizing about my love life and get your own! We have been over this!"

Yuki was unfazed by her friend's gentle assault and immediately returned to her cocky attitude. "Well, I'm sure whatever it is, you will enjoy it!"

"Do you know what we will be doing?" Sachi accused.

Yuki did another 180 back to nervousness. "Who? Me? No! Of course, I don't know what you will be doing. Why would I? Oh, my! Look at that long line at the register. Gotta go!"

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"So are you going to tell me what this surprise is?" Sachi asked as they made their way to the same pond in the woods.

"Not yet," he answered.

She hummed. "You're being unusually mysterious. What's next? Do I cover my eyes so you can reveal the surprise dramatically?" His breath of amusement made her smile.

They reached the clearing and sat down.

If you wished for such theatrics I'm afraid you will be disappointed. Why? This surprise isn't dramatic. Here." He held out a book for her. She took it and ran her hands over it.

"'The Wizard's Daughter'?" she asked. "Thanks," she said reluctantly. "I've been wanting to read this but I can't." It was unfortunate that the book came highly recommended by her customers but it was neither in Braille or audio book.

"I know," he said. "That's why I plan to read it to you."

A warm fuzzy feeling encompassed her and she resisted the urge to coo over how thoughtful his surprise was.

"How did you know I wanted to read this?"

"This was the first book you recommended to me when I was only looking for an excuse to talk to you."

She could no longer hold herself back and 'aww'ed her appreciation. "Shino-kun, that's so thoughtful!" She held out the book. "Can we start with the description?"

They settled themselves comfortably with Sachi leaning back against his chest and Shino's arm propped upon his bended knee. He turned to the back cover and began to read.

"Thirteen generations of Akimoto men were cursed with misfortune. When the 13th child of the 13th man was born with hair and skin fair as the coldest snow, the fates told that only she could lift the family curse. If only she could complete the necessary trials while battling men, monsters and even her own bad luck."

"Oh!" Sachi cried while clapping her hands excitedly. "This is going to be good!"

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"Shino-kun, does it bother you at all that I'm blind?"

They had just finished the first two chapters of 'The Wizard's Daughter' before it got dark and Shino began to walk her home.

"Not at all," he answered immediately. "Thoughts of your condition go no further than a passing fact. Crickets chirp. The sky is blue. Sachi-chan is blind. My thoughts of you require more profound words and feelings. So much so that 'bothered' is as far from my mind as anything could be. When I think of you Sachi-chan, my thoughts turn to your strength of character, your compassion and kindness, the disappointment that you may never know how beautiful I find you and the unfathomable surprise that a woman so idyllic as you has chosen me."

Sachi's mouth dropped open in surprise. Her skin tingled in the summer air as if the words that touched her so deeply had caressed her every inch before settling in her heart. She was sure the flutterings in her belly were butterflies Shino had put there himself to emphasize his words.

His hand found her cheek and his nimble fingers pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head. She allowed the action without so much as a twitch. When he spoke, his low voice was quiet, striking her like a match and setting her world aflame.

"Perhaps neither of us will fully understand how adverse you are to this when I see the world in your eyes."

She threw herself into his arms, heart swelling against his broad chest. A moan sounded from between their lips as each joined in a kiss, lips fusing together with a fervent, unreserved desire for the other.

Shino's hand ran from the side of her cheek into her hair, accidentally knocking her sunglasses to the ground.

Her hands at his neck kept him from standing up straight to break the kiss but from his hand at her back, pulling her body flush against his, it was clear her had no such intentions.

Never had they kissed with such abandon or unrestrained longing. Sachi pulled her head away from his, gasping to will away the dizziness from the lack of oxygen.

It was this very moment she could define what she felt for Shino. Every moment before was a hopeful and shy 'maybe' or 'someday'. Finally, every fiber of her being agreed.

"Shino-kun," she began breathlessly, "I love you."

He took her lips again with a hungry groan and pulled her impossibly tighter to him. His lips crashed upon her, connecting their bodies deeply and repeatedly like waves of an ocean kissing the sand, slowly and deliberately.

He kissed her repeatedly as if he could ingest her words with enough of them. Or perhaps it was the repeated taste of the words upon her lips that captivated him so.

Sachi knew from his actions more than any amount of words that he felt the same. The fact he had said words so numerous and thoughtful showed even more that he cared enough to show her in every way he was capable.

Shino pulled away before things got out of hand. It hardly helped. Now he could see the flutter of Sachi's eyelids that had nothing to do with her aversion to their visibility. Her sweet breath panted out of swollen lips over his face that was no doubt as flushed as hers.

"I love you, too, Sachi-chan."

His lips kissed her forehead. His reward was a soft, breathy hum from deep in her throat.

Had a more radiant sound ever graced his ear?

He detached from her knowing if he resumed their shared passion he would only make it more difficult to stop himself. He watched her dizzy, almost sleepy smile turn from him as she walked, slightly wobbly into her house.

He watched the door shut behind her with a proud smirk upon his face.

He was the one that caused those feelings.

He had gotten that reaction out of her.

And it was he that she loved.

His gaze fell to the sunglasses at his feet. He pocketed them, hoping she wouldn't miss them and didn't have a spare.

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