Chapter 4
Yukio had gone to the funeral with me. I had asked him to leave his pager behind and he had done so. He held me throughout the funeral while the tears danced down my cheeks. Yukio had kept saying how it was going to be okay, that I was going to be okay but I felt like it was going to be quite the opposite.
We had a fair amount of people at the funeral, people from Dad's work, people I've never met from the family, family members I had me, all who were somehow connected to my father was there to grant their final goodbyes. Sad faces surrounded the casket that was slowly being lowered into the ground while I cried into my boyfriend's shoulder.
I heard a sudden wail, louder then the cries coming from the other, and turned to see my mother swiftly turn away walk away as the priest says his last words. I had looked around me, to see the reactions everyone else was carrying at the event of my fathers death and I saw many tear streaked faces but the one I had expected it from most was my brother but…
My brother stood watching the whole ceremony with a neutrality in which I thought was not natural. His eyes were hardened and were cold to the world, his back was tense, his fists were clenched but there were not visible emotion except that.
It was so different for him to be like this. I can't remember a day in my life in which a shimmer of hope hadn't flickered in his eyes but now there wasn't even that.
I had tried to talk to him after the funeral but I'm not even sure if he had heard me. He just stared ahead with that same vacant look and I knew inside he was crying, he was dying. I didn't like this but I didn't know what to do. Yukio said he just needed time to except this but I wasn't sure. He just seemed so dead. I didn't want to loose another family member.
Takeru had been in University that year. It was his final year… he dropped out. He had been training to be a veterinarian but he gave up on that dream, I suppose. I didn't know he dropped out till it was too late, neither did anyone else? My mom wanted to send him to a psychiatrist after that but he was of-age and didn't need to go if he didn't want to.
He spoke seldom and wrote a lot. He had locked himself in his room at my mother's house for months on end. He had a computer there and he just sat at the computer writing story after story then soon moved onto novels.
Mom said it was good he was getting his anguish out some how and was actually starting to worry about me. Mom always worried about everyone except herself. I never thought this was right for her to do so, so I always told her I was fine to appease her worry.
As for how I handled my father's death, work became hectic. I nearly cut my fingers off many times and nearly got fired when I almost dropped boiling water on someone because I hadn't shouted hot when I was passing someone.
Ivan had suggested I take a vacation but I refused since work was the one thing I could do to keep my mind off my family problems… and when I was not working at the restaurant or at home, I would play my guitar and write lyrics as I did when I was in high school.
Slowly, more slowly then I would ever wish upon my worst enemy, the pain I held inside started to decrease as Taichi's promise turned out true.
It took six months for this to be and I was turning twenty five soon. I didn't care much for birthdays and I was not looking forward to this one. I was going to be one quarter of a century old and that seemed too old for me. It would be nice, though, to get a small cake and a bottle of wine and celebrate with my boyfriend alone but I doubted he'd be able to get out of work for the day. By the way, I wasn't about to ask him to ditch a paycheck for a day I cared little for.
The snow outside was a few inches deep but when I headed out one day. I wanted to go visit my father's grave since I hadn't gone back since the funeral six months before and I felt as if I was finally starting to heal from his death. By the way, he needed a seasons greeting too.
I had taken a taxi to the graveyard down on Yield Street. I had found the name of the street a bit ironic but never gave it much thought and still would like not too.
I wore a heavy brown coat as I walked down the shoveled walk into the graveyard. It was cold and I bet my ears, cheeks, and nose were turning red from the nipping winds. The sky was covered in deep grey clouds and a light wind blew through the yard and ruffled my hair a bit. I turned off the path towards the head stone I knew was my father's. My black boots kicked through the deep snow as I walked.
I came to a halt in front of my father and looked down at the engravings on the stone:
'Ishida Masaharu.
Beloved Father and Cherished son.'
I kneeled in the snow and raised my hand to trace the letters with my slender index finger. "Dad, I miss you," I whispered. The snow melted under my knees and dampened my black slacks. The cold the snow caused had made me shiver but I ignored that as I let my mind return to the times when I was a child to the time I had went out with my father to find a tux for prom.
"Hello." I turned my head to see a tanned face I knew.
"Hello Taichi." I had greeted back as I stood up onto my feet.
"How are you doing?" Sympathy covered his voice as he stood no more then five feet from me in a deep blue winter coat and a suit. His coat was open though he tugged it closed when he started feeling how cold it was.
"Better." He nodded as I turned back to the grave stone. "What are you doing here?"
"I was going home. Work just finished, you know. Anyways, I saw you head in here so I pulled over the car over to see how you were doing." I nodded. "He never made it?" Taichi whispered.
"No… he didn't."
I heard his feet crunch through the snow as he took the steps needed to stand next to me. A solemn silence cast upon us. Nothing was needed to be said and neither of us wanted to say anything but I suppose it was an eventuality that the silence was going to be broken.
"You want to come with me? We can go to this coffee shop I know."
"… Okay." I had said. I stood but continued to stare at the tomb stone for a moment longer before I felt Tai's hand gently cup my arm and softly pull my away.
It wasn't long before Taichi pulled into a parking lot of a coffee shop. The place was fairly small in size and the parking lot was near empty. The building was also a little far from any main roads so the place probably didn't get many customers. I had wondered then and I wonder now how such a place could run on such low profits but the food was good and the drinks as well, though a bit expensive, and over all the place did look nice.
In fact, when we walked through the doors I was surprised at how nice the place did looked. The tables were reasonably small but black with black chairs, red cushions and the lights were rich looking and light music played. The walls and floors were wood but gave the place a 'nineteenth century' look to it and the counter was also made from oak and painted black as well. The employees wore classy things and pictures hung on the wall, paintings done by Van Gou and Monet.
Taichi led the way to a booth by a window and sat down on one side while I occupied the other. Neither one of us spoke. I didn't because I hadn't wanted to. Talking seemed like such a tiresome thing to do and he didn't because… well, I wasn't sure as to why. I guess he just knew I wasn't up for it so remained quiet at the time.
The silence was broken when a waitress addressed us and I ordered an espresso while he ordered a simple coffee. Silence again resided as we sipped our drinks. I stared out of the window at the slow paced street and, though I pretended not to notice, I could feel Taichi's eyes upon me, taking in every little detail.
After a while he broke the silence. "So… how are you and Yukio?"
I shrugged and looked down at my drink. "Okay, I guess." He grunted in response. My hair fell over my eyes and I looked up, through my bangs, to the brunet who was now looking deep into his half drunk coffee. "May I ask you something?" He raised his eyes at my question and waited for me to continue. "Did you know I wasn't going to buy the car couple months ago?"
A small smile played on his lips as he nodded. "Yeah. Well, not at first, I had my suspicions but it was later when I saw how upset you were when I knew I had been right."
"If you thought I wasn't going to at first then why'd you let me drive in the first place? What if you lost your job?" He shrugged and looked down, away from my scrutinizing eyes.
"First of all, I'd be fired anyways if I didn't comply with a potential costumer's needs…"
"But you said…"
"And second, you looked as if you needed it. Driving is a good way, I find, to let off steam or help sort out my thought. Also, if I had been sure at that time, if you were only pretending to want to buy a car, I mean, for the right reasons, I would have let you drive mine.
I smiled softly at him. "Yeah, it did." He smiled too and we held each other's gaze for a moment before both of us realized we had been staring into each other's eyes too long and both looked down, both of us slightly embarrassed. It was now that I was starting to rethink what I had thought of him when we were younger. Maybe he wasn't a rude, arrogant, prick but a nice, carring person and i had just looked over this in my anger. At that moment I regretted ever hating him, ever fighting with him, ever wanting to see him upset because he was a person who seemed to deserve it least. "I'm sorry." I said. The words surprised even me as they slipped past my lips and I know I surprised him for his head shot up and he studied me again.
"For what?"
I gave a bitter laugh and shook my head. "For everything. For all the fighting from when we were younger, for calling you things you weren't, for…" I blushed. "For saying your ex cut off your…" My blush deepened and I saw a smile cross his face as I looked at him through my bangs, again. "I'm just sorry." I finished, blush fading from my cheeks.
"Well… it looks like this ship goes two ways 'cause I'm sorry too. I had thought so many things about you. Apparently they were wrong."
I looked at him, curiously. "What did you think of me?"
Tai chuckled. "Well, no offence, but I thought you were stuck up... among other things." My eyes widened as I looked right at him.
"Really? Is that what people think when they first see me?"
Taichi laughed. "No. No, it was just because, well, when we met you had called me a slob for some reason or another and I just thought you were stuck up because of that. I can't even remember why you called me that."
I narrowed my eyes. "I can. You made me knock over all my books right after you knocked me down and you didn't even apologize."
He tried to look sorry for it but apparently found it funny that I still seemed to be angry for such insignificant things after all this time. "Well, if it means anything, I'll apologize now. Sorry." I nodded though found the situation slightly amusing as well but I tried to hide my smile by dipping my head to sip at my espresso.
We had talked long after that, for hours, about how life was now and our jobs and Taichi told me how he had dated a few girls and, a few months ago, a guy. That surprised me some and he said he found it was quite nice dating both sexes and had decided he was bi. I hadn't known what to do with the information at first before figuring there wasn't anything needed to be done with it, so I decided not to fret.
It was hours later in which he had driven me home. He had walked me to my door in order to allow are conversation to finish. He concluded his sentence and I chuckled at the announced experience of his while he just smiled at me, a gleam to his eyes I had never seen in them before.
I stopped laughing and smiled too, feeling not quite as lonely as I felt only hours before and I marveled at the swing of my mood it had taken while talking to Taichi. But the positive feeling I felt just then faded as I realized something, as Taichi and I stood staring at each other, and the realization made me worry. It felt so much like the end of a date.
"Well," I said as I looked away and squirmed while trying to find something to say. "I better go in and start on supper for Yukio and I, you know, for when he gets home."
He nodded but seemed confused at the sudden change of atmosphere. "Okay. Yeah. I'll see you around." I nodded and gave him a smile as I pulled out the key and pushed open the door to let myself in. I turned around and watched as Taichi started walking back to his car, which was parked on the side of the street.
As i watched him walk across my lawn I remembered that feeling i felt when i was walking out of the dealership after Taichi had helped sooth my sorrows six months ago. The feeling was with me again, the feeling in which tells me that something that is unsaid needs to be spoken and it's me who needs to speak it. My thoughts circled around this for less then a minute before the realization came to me that this could very well be the last time I ever see the brunette.
This thought troubled me, troubled me so much that I found myself unintentionally shout out, "Taichi!" He froze as he was getting into his car and looked at me in wait. Surprised by my own actions I stammered a moment, trying to find the words I needed. "Um... I... Uh... Well..." I knew Taichi was growing impatient so I quickly, and a bit loudly, said, "You want to… um… do something, sometime?"
Taichi smiled, "Yeah, sure. I gave you my number right?"
I smiled. "Yeah. Good. I'll see you then!"
"Alright. Bye!" He then got into his car, started it up before waving his last good bye and left.
"…Goodbye..."
Yukio hadn't come home till sometime early next morning. I was surprised, at first, when I hadn't woken up with him laying beside me, so I had gotten up to see if he was even home yet. I had been slightly worried when he wasn't there and, though I was a bit relieved when I found him fully clothed and asleep on the coach, I was still worried but now for a different reason.
To be truthful, I was really starting to wonder if Yukio had been only stayed with me because he felt he had to. It didn't seem like he wanted to be around me much and I soon found myself nit picking my appearance. Looking in the mirror and searching for every little thing that was wrong with me and seeing if I could possibly change it.
I went on a diet one day. Deciding that maybe he didn't find me attractive and that my diet was what I could change to make him attracted to me again. It was a vegetable diet I went on, green salads mostly, but I also had fruit every now and then. I don't know if I actually needed to even go on a diet at all but what I did know was that it hadn't been months since Yukio and I had eaten together and longer since he had even looked at me as if he actually wanted me.
The diet had seemed to have worked, too, after only two and a half weeks because one day, so close to my birthday, he came home early. I don't think he ever came home early before… well, maybe he had, but it would have had to have been a long time before.
I had been working in the kitchen when he had called for me, surprising me greatly. I answered by saying where he could find me then listened as he walked across the house towards this room. I had been about to cut an onion and was bracing myself for the tears when I felt his arms wrap around my waist while he rested his chin on my shoulder.
"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" He asked. I had felt myself blush but pushed it back.
"You're in a good mood." I stated.
"Hm." He agreed. "I am." He reached forward with a hand and grabbed the onion before I could start on it. "Why don't we go out tonight? Your birthday's tomorrow, isn't it?"
"It's in two days." I said, liking where this conversation was going.
"Well, I'm free tonight. Why don't we celebrate it now? We can go out to eat if you want. We'll go to that new Italian place that just opened, what's it called?"
"La Notte il cielo?!" I asked, surprised.
"Yeah, there."
La Notte il cielo was a nice restaurant on the far side of the city. I had heard great things about it lately and had been dying to try it out sometime. I was so excited that I'd get to go there that an important thought had nearly escaped me. "What if we need a registration?"
"I've got one." He stated simply.
"Really?" I had asked, even further surprised.
"Yeah. Someone I know was going to cancel there registrations but I said that we'd take their place. What do you think?"
I gaped as I turned around in his arms. "This is great." I threw my arms around him to show my gratitude and hugged tightly, smiling further as I felt him hug me back.
"Good. Go get ready. We need to be there in an hour." I nodded, was granted a kiss, and took off towards our room.
An hour later and we were there, walking through the doors of La Notte il Cielo and marveling at the elegance of the place. The buildings exterior was something to marvel at but the interior was indescribable. I couldn't even begin to tell you how beautiful it all looked. I could tell you the carpeting was black and the colour of the wallpapered but this doesn't even start to describe the beauty of it and I don't think anyone's capable of giving the place the description it deserves.
A waiter took us to our seats with a dim light above it and a small flower ornament was in the center of the table, candle was in the center which made the petals seem to glow. The flame was above the flowers and the wax was a lovely purple color which was the same colour as the flowers.
The waiter set menus on the table before walking off and I gave the place another look over.
"Wow. This place is impressive?" I looked around the room again and at each of the black tables filling the room and could only image how the room looked like from above. "It's beautiful…"
My boyfriend took a quick glance around. "It is something, isn't it? I knew you'd like it." He looked at me, straight in the eyes and gave me a smile. I returned the smile as I gazed into his eyes. I was shocked, though I didn't let it show, when I saw an emotion in the depth of his eyes in which I hadn't expected. Guilt. I wondered on it, for a few, as to what he had to feel guilty for. Maybe it was because he had to work so much?
Satisfied that this was the reason I gave him a wider smile to show how grateful I was for what he was doing for me that night. Maybe he'd understand that it made up for some of the time we had apart.
For a moment I thought he understood what I was trying to say but then he turned his eyes away from me, looked down at the menu in front of him and opened it, avoiding my eyes. "What's wrong?" I asked, surprised by his behavior towards me. I even, for a moment, thought that maybe the diet hadn't worked like I wanted it too or something but had shook off the feeling and waited for his response.
"Hm… nothing, why?" He asked, still not looking at me. "Wow. Look at all the pasta's."
I frowned at the change of subject but didn't try to press for answers as for why. Slightly loosing my cheerful demeanor, I reached for my menu and opened it as well. "Yeah."
Moments later the waiter came by and took our order. When he left, a silence was left as well and, with him not looking at me and me feeling as if, maybe, I shouldn't look at him either, it left the atmosphere awkward.
Finally, desperate for some kind of interactions, I spoke. "So, I ran into Taichi the other day."
Now he looked at me. I met his eyes and numerous emotions past through them. Anger, worry, jealousy, fear… eventually they subsided and he said. "Oh. When was this?" He said it so calmly, so naturally, that I started doubting what I thought I saw pass through him a moment before.
"Two/three days ago. I saw him a couple weeks back, as well. We're becoming friends now and talk sometimes on the phone."
"Really?" He asked though I could tell, now, that the calmness was forced. I nodded. "How are you two becoming such good friends all of a sudden? At the reunion you almost seemed to hate him."
"I know… I did. I feel bad, though, because he's nothing like I thought he was… or maybe he changed, I don't know. It's weird." I looked down at the water on the table as I remembered our arguments from high school and how I had gotten so angry when anything happened in his favor… maybe it was me that changed though. Either way, I was happy with this change.
"What's weird?"
I had looked up, confused for a moment then I remembered. "Oh, uh. Just how different the two of us are from when we were younger. That's all." I gave him a smile but all he did was frown.
"When did this all start?" He asked, no longer trying to sound calm.
"What start?" He sighed, sounding exasperated, and I suddenly felt very stupid for not understanding what he was asking.
"Your and Taichi's new found friendship."
I shrugged and looked down. "I don't know. Maybe two weeks ago, maybe even the week my… my father had been in the ho-hospital." I stuttered. I didn't like talking about that event and I did not want to even think about it right now.
His frown deepened. "Why didn't you tell me you had seen him then?"
I looked back up at him and gave him a quizzical look. "Are you jealous?"
He narrowed his eyes. "Should I be?"
I narrowed my eyes right back. "He's my friend, Yukio. My only friend, in fact, since I lost all my old friends when we moved into that house you picked and now you're jealous of my friend. What do you want? Do you want me to just give him up because you're irrationally jealous? Do you want me to give up the only one I can talk to since you're always at work?"
"I'm at work all the time so I can save away in order to retire early, so I can spend all my time with you when I get older." He defended.
"Maybe it's not the future you should be worrying about."
He paused for a moment and again I saw that fear pass through his eyes. I thought, then, that maybe he was afraid of loosing me and that that was the reason he was jealous of Taichi. I also thought that maybe I had went overboard with that last statement. "What are you implying?" He asked, forcing that calmness again.
I looked away. "Well, I wonder if you even want to be with me anymore. I… well I'm always alone and have no one to talk to and I'm lucky to see you when you're awake…" I look down at my drink and say, though sounding quite unsure, "… I just wonder, sometimes, if it would be better… for both of us… if I… left…"
I looked up through my bangs and watched as his eyes opened wide. "No, no, no." He said in a rushing voice, hands crossing the table and gripping mine, his arms on either side of the flowers. "Baby, I do want you. It's just that I'm a lawyer and I need to do my work and I have a lot of it. I was lucky to get off today for this. I have this Matsuchita case where he's being blamed for plagiarizing and another case where this guy, who I'm sure is guilty, is saying he had nothing to do with the burglary at the record store and I'm behind on all this paper work I got only two days ago. I only have one secretary and she's still checking over the paper work I finished just before I got this knew load. I'm really busy."
I gaped at him, trying to imagine what it would be like to have so much to have to be done. "What do you do all day when you're at work? You're down at the firm for more then sixteen hours a day."
He shook his head and squeezed my hands. "There're just not enough hours in a day. I try to do it all but… there's a lot. "
I thought this over a bit as I watched him then slowly nodded. "Okay." I start. "I understand. I'm sorry."
He smiled and lifted my left hand. "Thanks, babe." He pressed his lips to my knuckles and the small gesture comforted any other worries scampering through my mind. I offered him a fairly weak smile as I took my hands back. "So…" He asked, getting our conversation to more friendly grounds. "When have you become a vegetarian?" He had said and I knew he was referring to my choice of meal.
I shrugged trying to sound casual. "Few weeks. Thought I'd start to eat healthy. By the way, working in that restaurant was really making me put on the pounds."
He laughed. "I doubt that. With your metabolism, I'm surprised you haven't starved yet." I lightly glared at him, though I wasn't really offended. In fact, in a sort of twisted why, I was flattered and instantly relieved to know that, maybe, he wasn't loosing interest in me.
We talked lightly for an hour or more until the food came and when it did I was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted. With being a chef I had learnt to distinguish certain taste from one an other and I remember I had sat there, figuring and remembering what spices were in what and what vegetable where in it. I was also thinking up ways to make it better and change it to give it a new taste… make it spicy or give it a 'zangy' kind of taste.
My boyfriend and I had exchanged a bite of each other's food and I had started explaining to him how I assumed his meal was made and with what ingredients. He listened with interest and amazement as I told him how I would add onions to it, minced since I only wanted the smallest about of taste from it to be added and what else could be changed to be more to his liking.
"You really are good at what you do. I'm impressed." Yukio said, seemingly out of no where. None the less a large smile spread across my face as I took another bite of my meal, while hoping the light blush across my cheeks wasn't as noticeable as I thought it'd be.
"I hope so or all that money I spent at University was for nothing."
He chuckled. "I guess so."
When we had finished, he had insisted that he paid for it all, course who am I to disagree, and, after he paid, we left. Moments later we were getting into his black BMW and, like usual, he drove.
I looked out of the vehicle's windows and watched at the dark, lamp lit streets we were driving by. My eyes roamed from car to car as I wondered what the reason these people had to be out as well, if maybe they had the night shift at where ever they worked, or if they were driving to meet family, or something.
I then looked up at the night sky and gazed at the full moon, surrounded by some twinkling stars, knowing that I'd be able to see me if I left the city grounds. I tried to picture in my mind just how many stars I would see by leaving the city. I was brought out of my thoughts as a warm hand was placed just above my knee and I looked over at my boyfriend who smiled back lovingly to me.
I remember thinking, as I smiled back, watching as Yukio's eyes darted from me to the road, how nice the night was going and the feeling of disappointment that it was coming to a close. I wondered if Yukio had been able to see what I felt in my eyes because he then turned back to the road, squeezing my leg one lightly before he pulled away and placed it on the wheel, and said, "Hey. I've got an idea. Why don't we pick up a bottle of wine? It's Friday. The wine store should still be open, shouldn't it?"
I was surprised, to say the least, and hastily replied, "Uh, yeah, yeah! It would be, I think. Let's try."
I had felt myself blush when he looked at me out of the corner of his eyes with a look that told me he thought I was 'cute' in a word he used.
Soon he had pulled into The Wine Rack which was a store that specified in selling wines, though they did sell other drinks as well, and Yukio parked the car.
We were walking into the store before I knew it and looking over the assortment of wines in which they carried. There were so many, all with different brands and different tastes, and I had suggested us asking the employee who worked there to help us find the sweetest kind since neither of us were wine experts, but Yukio insisted that he knew what he was doing and continued looking up and down the walls in which was lined with wine bottles.
Fifteen minutes of no decision, I was ready to go ask myself. He had his one arm wrapped around my waist and his hand resting on my hip while my arms were crossed over my chest and my eyes were rolling every moment he refused to ask for help.
It was then that a high pitched voice said, "Why, hi Yukio." I turned my head to my left to see a woman of, maybe twenty, walking towards us with long brown hair and smiling green eyes.
Yukio jerked his hand away from me, which had surprised me, and smiled, though, I could tell, he was nervous. "Um… Hi Claudia." He said as if trying to imply something into the words by the tone he used. He glanced at me briefly and back to her. "This is Yamato… My boyfriend… You know. The one I was telling you about" He spoke each word carefully and I watched him warily.
A look of understanding and surprise lit up her face. "Oh." She said as carefully as he had. "Well… I just came over here to say hi… Hi… and I guess I'll go, now." She said. I waited a moment for her to walk away so I could question my boyfriend on his odd behavior but, just then, a man walked up to her.
"Claudia, I think I found the…" He then seemed to have noticed us and smiled. "Hello." He said politely.
"Hello." My boyfriend said. I raised an eyebrow at him as I heard that forced calmness again. "I'm Claudia's boss, from work." He explained to the man.
"Oh." He said, understanding. "I'm her husband, Daniel."
I was surprised at this. "Husband. Aren't you guy's kind of young for that. You both only look twenty a bit over." I asked as politely as my confused mind could make me sound.
He turned his eyes to me, yet again they were confused and probably wondering who I was, but he answered anyways. "We eloped when we turned eighteen." He then grabbed her hand and squeezed it while smiling lovingly at her. She smiled back but her eyes looked worrisome.
"Well, I think we should go." She said, voice also sounding of forced calmness. She held her free hand out to me and I shook it. "It's nice meeting you."
"You to." I said pulling my hand back but was a bit grossed out when I realized how sweaty her hand was, even considering that it was relatively cool in the store.
My boyfriend shook hands with Claudia's husband before the man shook hand with me as well and they walked off but when I looked back to Yukio I noticed he seemed relieved.
He gave me a smile and took my hand as the man had taken Claudia's. "Well, what wine do you want? After all, it's your birthday." I rolled my eyes.
"I'll go ask the employee."
Though I had wanted to know why Yukio seemed so nervous around Claudia, I didn't entertain the curiosity in me. Instead I decided to enjoy the evening with my boyfriend, the evening, in which, had went well.
I do, now, wish that I had questioned him about it for reasons that I will get to later. Maybe it is quite obvious to some one sitting in the third seat or maybe not, I'm not sure, but I do know that I was quite oblivious what my future inquisitions would find out but, as I said, I'll get to that later.
That night went well. We had talked and caught up on the more recent events of each other's work lives. We had joked with each other and I think the wine had started making me giddy… Or maybe it was the look of complete adoration that he held in his eyes that made me feel so excited but, some time that night, we had found each other lip locked.
I was sinking into the cushions of our upper living room couch, with him on top hold my hips while the fire in the fire place flickered its yellow, red and blue flames.
A/N: Boy, did this chapter take a while but I'm happy with it even if it did insistently piss me off at some spots. Anyways, I think you'll like the next chapter. Taichi constantly picks on Yamato and in chapter six… Yamato gets revenge… But don't worry, there's lots of angst too…
Review if you want more! ^_^