I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi or Steve Jackson Games.
Fair warning, the second half of the chapter is high-citrus, Not Safe For Work!
Toshiko smiled wistfully as she looked at herself in the mirror. The modest one-piece swimsuit, blue with yellow side panels, was almost exactly like one she had worn a few times for trips to the beach during her stay in Nerima—though it didn't have "boy" plastered on it. She had to chuckle at the thought of how her ... how the Tomboy would have taken the suggestion of joining the swim club. She'd have been in there trying, and giving the lifeguard a workout when she sank like a rock. That girl was ... is too competitive for her own good sometimes. Though she had to admit, to herself at least, that there was a good dose of 'pot and kettle' in that thought.
In spite of how things had turned out, in spite of how her life was actually turning around, she missed the Tendo sisters. Even Nabiki, as hard as that was to believe after the way she'd betrayed them; the snarky middle Tendo had become a part of the background that said 'home'.
"You look good." Mercedes, wearing her own fairly modest emerald-green one-piece—if rather higher cut on the hips than Toshiko's—stepped up behind her and ran appreciative eyes along the mirrored view of her friend's form. Toshiko had noticed that Mercedes was careful to keep her eyes off of everyone else in the locker room while they'd all been changing, but apparently that courtesy only applied to girls that were naked, however temporarily.
Or, considering the smirks and giggles from some of the other girls still changing, it was just more teasing. It certainly fit in with the innuendos and comments that weeknights were for studying after Toshiko's stammered excuse to Mr. Barnes for why her history homework wasn't finished, that had had Toshiko's face turning as red as her hair.
Just like she was blushing now, in spite of the warm feeling blossoming in the pit of her stomach. The same warm feeling she had begun to feel when her husband's eyes lit up at the sight of her (though that was usually when she'd let him know they were getting to sleep a little late by walking out of the bathroom bare ass naked, as he'd put it). And in spite of the fact that it wasn't true, she didn't exactly look good—the massive bruise on her cheek from Joshua's punch was already fading (thank you, ki-enhanced healing rate!), but that just meant it was already a very un-pretty spectacular yellow-green. She'd been getting sympathetic looks from girls all day—mixed with a good deal of anger in many cases, probably those that already knew about her encounter with Joshua. The high school rumor mill was as active as ever.
Then the heat in Mercedes' eyes faded and her arms circled Toshiko, one arm around her waist as the other hand lifted to stroke the bruise spread across Toshiko's cheek. "Thank you," she whispered, for the third or fourth time that day.
Toshiko found herself snuggling back against her friend for just a moment, before she pushed herself away, turning to face Mercedes as she laughingly broke the one-armed hug. "Now, now, even if I'm your knight in shining armor I'm a married woman! The traditional reward isn't happening."
Mercedes' sudden blush matched Toshiko's, and around them the smirks and giggles turned into outright laughter. "I should never have pointed you at Le Mort d'Arthur," she muttered. "Why would you want to be Galahad?"
Now it was Toshiko's turn to add her own laughter to the chorus. "Believe me, I'm no Galahad, but I'm no Lancelot, either!" She grinned at Mercedes' deepening blush as the laughter grew louder.
"I'd say the point goes to Toshiko." At the unfamiliar voice, everyone turned to look at the young woman standing in the open doorway that led to the swimming pool. "You are Toshiko, right? I'm Ms. Davis, the phys ed teacher assigned to the swim club."
"Yes, I am Toshiko." She found herself automatically bowing, and blushed again. The woman seemed open and friendly, but exuded the aura that said 'sensei' and all the other girls had instantly become 'students' when she announced herself—the 'leader of the pack' had entered the room. Toshiko was regretting testing out of phys ed now—it would have been pointless, but with this teacher it might have been fun.
Ms. Davis smiled at Toshiko's embarrassment. "So I assume Mercedes told you about the club. Did she ask about your time of month?"
"Did she ask about what?"
Mercedes slapped her forehead. "D'oh! No, I forgot, sorry, Toshiko. No swimming in the pool when you're having your period, or when it might start while swimming. Are you safe?"
"Oh, sure, no problem!" Toshiko asserted, though her blush intensified. Her period had become irregular while she'd been on the run—stopped entirely toward the end—but had recovered as quickly as her health under Win's care. "It's only been ..." Her voice trailed off as she thought back to the last time she had gone through those horrible cramps, and her face went blank. She started counting on her fingers. "One, two, three, four ... five ... it's been seven weeks!"
"Seven— You're pregnant?" one of the girls gasped.
"Well, you and your husband have certainly been trying hard enough," Mercedes snarked, grinning.
"Well, yes, but ..." Toshiko's cheeks were heating up again, even hotter than before, and some of the girls (the ones not squealing with excitement) were laughing again. "The, uh ... the school nurse has pregnancy tests, right? I'll just drop in in the morning. Don't anyone go spreading this around! Please?"
One of the other, taller girls ... Pudge? ... draped an arm across Toshiko's shoulders. "No worries, we won't spoil the surprise for your hubbie. Right, girls?" Toshiko couldn't see her face but her tone at the end hadn't exactly been friendly, and the rest of the club hastily agreed.
Ms. Davis ruefully shook her head, sighing. "Paige, no threatening to inflict bodily harm on your fellow students. If I hear it again, I'll have to pass it on to Luke and he might have to reconsider your leadership position in the Martial Arts club. Toshiko, with your period this late I'm afraid I can't let you swim without that positive pregnancy test, I'm sorry."
Toshiko moved out from under Paige's arm and shrugged. "That's all right, maybe next time." She turned back toward her locker. "No, Mercedes, you stay and have your fun, I'll see you in the morning."
"If you're sure?" At Toshiko's firm nod her friend followed the rest of the club out of the locker room, and Toshiko started stripping down again.
/oOo\
Nabiki stood on a box at the back of a crowd watching yet another Martial Arts duel in yet another empty lot, holding the incredibly high-quality video camera disguised as a phone over her head. She hadn't had any real expectations for how the Neriman Martial Arts community would react to her warning, but she certainly hadn't expected the sheer number of participants.
This pair she didn't recognize, a woman with a pair of kitchen tongs in one hand and a colander in the other versus a burly man wielding a roaring jack hammer. The woman was dodging the jackhammer's pounding tip as easily as the man was swinging it, but Nabiki expected her to ditch the colander at any moment—it would have been completely useless even if it didn't have a pair of screwdrivers stuck in it clearly throwing off her timing (a few seconds ago she had almost hit herself in the head with it). As the woman flipped away and toward her bag of weapons sitting against the wall of one of the businesses that flanked the empty lot, Nabiki reflected that much of the training for her Art must be in using those tools for cooking even after they'd been modified into weapons—and that she was doing rather well away from her natural environment. In a kitchen, where all those tools would be scattered around her in drawers, sinks, and on counters, instead of all in a single bag, she would be deadly.
Not that the middle Tendo couldn't tell that both fighters were sandbagging, she just hoped that when her masters reviewed the video they'd ordered her to collect they'd miss that. They presumably hadn't grown up surrounded by practicing Martial Artists, so were unlikely to recognize how much those duelists were pulling their punches, especially given how over-the-top those duels were. Especially since she'd chosen an angle that would have the recording mostly washed out by the setting sun ... she figured she could get away with that a few times, claiming that all her experience with photography had been indoors, and she hadn't been able to see what the camera was recording due to how high she'd had to hold it. It was even mostly true.
She just wished that she could figure out whether the Martial Artists sandbagging was a good thing or a bad thing. It would all depend on how ambitious her masters were feeling, and how much they were expecting to risk. And how public they were willing to be about it—the duels were already beginning to show up on news shows clips, though in the personal interest segments, with speculation on how the special effects were created. It was online that people were dissecting the clips and pointing out how difficult—even impossible—those moves would be with living actors, and how expensive—even impossible—they would be to create through computer animation. Nerima's Martial Artists were already putting themselves in the public eye like never before, the question Nabiki was asking herself over and over was whether her masters would be willing to join them in that spotlight.
She still didn't have an answer to that question, and doubted she would until it was all over.
/oOo\
Toshiko finished mixing in the last of the spices and locked the lid of the instant pot, pushing the button to get it started. Thirty minutes to cook and another ten to cool a bit before releasing the pressure valve, and they'd find out if those spices would add the Oriental flavoring to Win's favorite beef stew she was looking for. Hopefully, he'd be home by then. He'd been late yesterday evening and exhausted when he arrived and she'd been fine with that, less chance of him noticing her nerves. But now she'd had an entire day to stew while she'd had her pregnancy test and check-up and all, and had gotten wound up to the point that she hadn't been able to focus on her school work—and she had a load, the last two days' worth that she hadn't completed thanks to all the excitement, and now all of today's that Mercedes had been nice enough to collect and drop off for her when she'd skipped school.
She was just wondering what to do with herself when she heard her husband's key in the lock, he wasn't late after all. Taking a deep breath, she plastered a smile on her face and walked into the living room just as Win came through the door.
He took one look at her as he shucked off his coat and sighed. "What happened this time?"
"What makes you think something happened?"
He gave her a deadpan look. "You're wearing a skirt, you tend to do that when you're trying to distract me. And your smile looks like it did just before you explained how—and why—you broke the base commander's jaw."
"Oh, no, nothin' like that," she hastened to assure him, then blushed as his eyebrow went up and she realized that she'd not only dropped back into Japanese, but into her old speaking habits. She took a deep breath and switched back to English. "It's just that I had a shock after school yesterday, and had it confirmed this morning. I'm pregnant."
Win froze. "Pregnant?"
"Yes." When her husband didn't move, Toshiko walked over to take his coat out of his hands and hang it up. "It was bound to happen sooner or later, as often as you've had me screaming at the ceiling."
"Hey, you're the one hopping into bed without a stitch on!"
"I know, I know!" Toshiko agreed, waving off his outrage as she giggled. "I'm not screaming because I'm in pain!"
Win's outraged expression turned into chuckles. "Yeah, appeal to my pride."
"Naw, the neighbors' complaints did that."
Win chuckled, shaking his head with a rueful grin. Then, his expression tightening with worry, he ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, we need to set up a doctor's appointment right away—"
"Already done."
"Oh, good. When is it?"
"No, I mean, I went straight to the doctor from the school nurse's office, they did an ultrasound. It isn't a tubal pregnancy."
"You ... it's not ..."
"No, it isn't. I have the photo if you want to see it, though there's not much to see yet. It's only been a couple months." I'm not going to die like Mandy did.
Toshiko could see him relax bit by bit as the unspoken subtext sank in, the worry leave his face. to be replaced by wonder. "I'm going to be a father! We're—" He focused on her again and the wonder vanished, to be replaced by worry again. "Toshiko ... are you okay with this? Really okay?"
In spite of her own hopefully hidden worries, finding herself—what was that phrase she'd heard in the school lunch room one day, after one of the kitchen crew's less successful experiments?—squicked out at the thought of a baby growing inside her, she'd had some hours to come to grips with something she'd thought she'd already dealt with. Now Toshiko was able to giggle again, convincingly. "It's a little late to be asking that, you should have the second or third time I wouldn't let you wear a condom, instead of just the first. Yes, I'm fine. And we're gonna be a lot better parents than mine were!"
"Oh, come on, you can set the bar higher than that!" Now Win was laughing, for a few moments, before his eyes softened, and Toshiko's eyes widened when his hands rose to cup her cheeks and he leaned down to kiss her for the first time. He's ... he's ... I ... Then, when he broke the kiss and started to pull back, another thought occurred to her: He's finally treating me like his wife. She grabbed the back of his head and pulled him back down.
It wasn't her first kiss, or even her first kiss as a girl, but it was her first kiss as a girl that she was serious about—and as they bumped noses and her teeth pushed against the inside of her lips, she suspected that thanks to her lack of practice her technique sucked. Well, there's only one way ta get better. She shifted, looking for a more comfortable position ... like one where she wasn't mashing her nose against his.
She felt her husband's chuckle through their joined lips, and her mind seized up for the second time that night as one of his hands slid down from her cheek to cover a breast. While she was still clothed! When she hadn't made it crystal clear that he had permission by hopping into bed with him without a stitch on! Not even two night ago, the first time he'd hinted that he wanted the bed for more than sleep, had he touched her sexually until she was naked. Oh, sure, she knew that if she backed off he wouldn't insist, if for no other reason than there was no way in hell he could force the issue—but for the first time since their marriage he wasn't accepting, he wasn't hinting, he was assuming ... as if she really was his wife, not just the girl he took pity on and helped out the only way he could see.
Mind, there was still a hesitancy to that touch, soft as a butterfly, a pressure more imagined than felt through her t-shirt and the sports bra she wore. She reciprocated and gave her unspoken permission to his unspoken request at the same time by shifting her own hands to the buttons of his shirt, slowly popping one free after another up his stomach toward his chest, taking advantage of the space between them mandated by her large breasts.
Then her hands' journey up her husband's muscled frame was blocked by those breasts. Win broke their kiss and stepped back, his hands quickly finishing the job and pulling his shirt free from his trousers. As he took care of that Toshiko grasped the bottom of her t-shirt and pulled it off over her head, her braid dropping free to slap against her bare back, and threw it to one side. But when she reached for her bra Win's hands were there first, sliding the straps off her shoulders and down her arms. The cups followed, and when her mounds popped free of their confinement his hands brushed across her wedding band on its chain then gently captured the breasts it dangled between.
Toshiko gasped at the now-familiar sensation of that soft grip, gentle massage, thumbs flicking across nipples crinkling tight, and again as one of Win's hands dropped to push up under her skirt, to rub across her clit through her panties. She struggled to pull her arms free of her bra straps. Out here? But we've never ... No, they hadn't 'never' outside of the bedroom, except the shower that first time. But Stacy's gift book had spoken of the pleasures of spontaneity—and the dangers of getting caught, when a couple had trouble keeping their hands off each other. And this wasn't about making a baby, it was about a man wanting to fuck the mother of his baby ... his woman.
And there was something else they'd never done, or rather that she'd never done. She'd read about it in Stacy's book, even practiced a little when she'd picked up some bananas, but had never really seriously considered. But if she was his woman, he was her man, and deserved to be treated as he treated her.
She pushed Win away to give herself a little room, then dropped to her knees and reached for his belt buckle.
"Toshiko, what are— Oh. You know ... you know you don't have to ..."
Buckle undone and zipper pulled down over the large bulge, she pulled down trousers and boxers at once, and his already stiff cock sprang free. She gazed at it from a few inches away for a few moments—the closest she'd ever actually been. She suspected her husband was actually a little small for a Westerner, seeing he was actually 'a little small for a Westerner'—you didn't put men big enough to take on a bear head-on in fighter cockpits, after all. Just as well, since she wasn't all that big for Japan, much less the United States; he stretched her out enough as it was, any bigger and he might not fit at all. Well, my cunt isn't the only opening that he needs to fit in. Grasping the base of the long inches in front of her with one hand, she leaned forward and opened her mouth wide.
As she'd expected, the tip of Win's cock hit the back of her throat well before her nose reached his pubic hair, and there was no way she was going to try deep-throating him, not for her first time. But that didn't mean she couldn't make use of her lips, tongue, and suction. From the way he groaned and gently grasped her bobbing head she was doing something right. An even stronger hint was the way his hips began to thrust, his cock popping free for a moment before she reclaimed it and limited her own action to lips and tongue, holding her head still as he fucked her mouth. There was an odd, tart flavor on her tongue that must be his pre-cum. She steeled herself for the inevitable explosion—
Then Win shuddered and stopped. Taking a deep breath, he drew back, his cock again popping free. "And that's enough of that, I think."
"What?" Toshiko looked up from where she knelt. "But you haven't come yet!"
"And are you really ready for that?"
"I ... I ..." Her eyes dropped to stare at his pants on the floor around his ankles.
"I thought so." He dropped to his knees in front of her and one hand cupped her chin to lift her gaze so she could see his soft smile. "I appreciate the gesture, but like I said when we started, you're the one that sets the pace, not me."
"But ... with everything you've done for me, I want to make you happy."
"Oh, you have." His smile broadened into a grin, and he pointed over her shoulder with his chin, toward the couch. "Sit up there and I'll prove it." Oooh, she knew what that meant. She quickly scrambled up to sit on the couch, her hips at the edge and her legs spread, the front of her skirt bunched up at her waist to reveal the growing wet spot on her panties.
Only it turned out she hadn't known what he meant—he knelt farther back than she'd expected, leaving himself room to lean forward as his fingers pulled her panties to the side to reveal the damp folds of her cleft. His lips fastened on that cleft, and she moaned as his experienced tongue and fingers went to work on increasingly wet folds and protruding clit, penetrated her sheath to probe for those spots he'd found made it impossible for her to hold still. This time was no different, he quickly had her writhing on the couch with his arms wrapped around her thighs to hold her in place. Her hands massaging her breasts, the bra she still wore pushed down below her ribs, as she gasped and moaned her pleasure until the rising pressure exploded to rip a strangled shout from her throat. As she lay gasping on the couch, she really hoped the neighbors weren't home at the moment. She'd gotten better at keeping her voice down after the third complaint (and the first from the neighbors that they didn't share a bedroom wall with), but Win was outdoing himself tonight and she was pretty sure they were only now getting to the main event.
Straightening, Win sat back and pulled her legs together, then grabbed the sides of her panties and pulled. Toshiko lifted her hips so he could slide them down and off, then eagerly spread her legs again to make room. Win shifted into position with the tip of his cock rubbing between the folds framing the entrance to her sheath, and Toshiko gusted a long breathy moan as he slowly pushed forward until his pubic hair rubbed against her protruding clit.
As Toshiko crossed her legs across his back and began to lose herself in the familiar rhythm she looked up at her husband's face, and the familiar wet shine of her juices on his cheeks and chin. He kissed me. She hesitated for moment, then reached a hand up behind his head and pulled him down into another kiss. The taste of his lips was like nothing she'd ever tasted before, and her tongue flicked out to sweep across his chin and cheeks. When she finished she let him straighten up and returned his smile, only to realize that he'd stopped and smacked his butt-cheeks with her heels. "Giddy-up!"
He laughed, braced himself with his hands on the back of the couch on each side of her head, and resumed thrusting. She gasped as a small orgasm raced through her—a taste of what she knew was coming—and closed her eyes, grasped hold of her bouncing breasts, and lost herself in the rising tide of pleasure—
An alarm sounded from the kitchen.
Toshiko groaned as Win froze, looking up toward the kitchen doorway. She shouted, "It's the instant pot, it's gone to the warming setting, everything's fine, don't you dare stop now!" He laughed and and resumed thrusting, and Toshiko sank back into the pleasure flashing through her with every thrust of his pistoning hips, higher and higher ... the eagerly awaited explosion that had her biting down on her shriek as she convulsed on the couch was as much a surprise as always. It was Win's turn to groan as her sheath tightened around his cock, and Toshiko felt his seed spray deep inside her—only this time, without the ... worry? concern? awareness? ... that this might be the time that gave her a child. She was able to simply luxuriate deep in a sea of pleasure for a timeless moment that ended all too soon.
She opened her eyes as her husband's softening sword slipped out of her sheath and he fell back on his heels and pants still bunched around his ankles. Their eyes met, and she found herself smiling when she noticed that the rise and fall of his chest and her breasts as they sucked in air had synchronized. Finally, as their breathing eased, she pushed herself upright. "As fun as that was, dinner ... isn't getting cold, but it's waiting, and—" She glanced down, at the white oozing from her cleft and down between her still-spread thighs to stain her skirt ... and, she feared, the couch beneath her. "—we need to get cleaned up and changed."
Win sighed but nodded. Rising to his feet, he pulled up his pants and boxers and offered her a hand. "Let's both get in the shower."
Accepting the unneeded hand up, Toshiko laughed. "Do you really think that'll be faster?"
It wasn't, and when they ran out of hot water Toshiko's legs were unsteady enough after that when they made it to the kitchen in their bathrobes her husband insisted she sit while he served them both. Then a little studying before heading to bed. (But nowhere near enough and the teachers were unlikely to accept 'we found out I'm pregnant and spent the evening celebrating' as an excuse—well, most maybe, but not all.)
She ended up in even worse shape after a goodnight kiss led to wandering hands that led to a third romp—actually on their bed that time—followed by a second shared shower that actually was faster than the first even though Win had to prop her up against the wall at first while he washed off and soaped up her front while she recovered.
Toshiko lay in the dark spooned up against her sleeping husband with his arm draped across her and a hand lightly cupping one nightshirt-covered breast. She could feel his warm breath on the nape of her neck as he lightly snored. While she'd learned to relax while in bed with Win after the second time she'd insisted they have sex, she usually slept on her back—certainly Win had never draped himself over her. But tonight, after they'd changed the sheets and they'd hopped in bed for good, Win had pulled her up against him without hesitation and fallen asleep within minutes. Toshiko didn't know how long ago that had been, but she was going to be absolutely wrecked in the morning. Mercedes is going to tease me so much...
The errant thought made Toshiko smile for a moment, before returning to the rut her circling thoughts had been carving: All this because of a baby? Could he be thinking of me as his wife instead of a charity case? Are we actually a family?
It was well over an hour before she finally faded off into happy if vague dreams of her and Win playing with a tiny girl with reddish-brown hair.
Author's Note: The chapter title comes from the song (my personal favorite cover is by Bryan James & Diana Krall)—"Toshiko" isn't quite to the point of the song, but she's getting there.