Disclaimer: i'm so sick of repaeting this, Maki-san please refer to page one!
Chapter two: Friendship.
Yuki looked over at the brooding Shuichi. "What are you feeling so down for baka? She agreed and in a few months you're going to get your beloved child!"
"I feel bad for her Yuki. She's just too young for her to be going through this though she seems to be coping well. She's nice, and I'd like to be friends with her…you know. I don't want her to just go away after the child is born…" Shuichi looked over at Yuki who was concentrating on the road.
"I know Shuichi. But we'll have to see how it goes later. These ninth months things will be fine, but it will hurt her later when she has to let go of the kid. But for now I think its ok. Cheer up!" Yuki smiled at Shuichi.
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A few weeks later:
They were all gathered in the doctor's room. He smiled at them. "It's done. Ok, Yamakawa-san you're pregnant. Every thing went well."
Shuichi went wild hugging everyone happily. Yuki smiled at him affectionately, before looking over at the mother of his child…it felt odd to look at Aiko that way. She looked happy too, but he wondered what she was feeling under it all…
"We have to throw a party for the family!" Shuichi yelled. "We can call Mika, Tohma, Tatsuha and even Nittle Grasper! They're almost family! And Aiko must come!"
"Um…I don't know about that Shind…Shuichi. I'm busy…" Aiko smiled a little uncomfortably, but Shuichi was oblivious to that.
"I'm not hearing of that. You will be there Aiko-san. Meet us at this restaurant…" he gave her the details and the address to Tohma's frequented place. "And don't forget to wear something cool!"
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Aiko stood under the shower, trying to calm herself, stop her legs from shaking. She didn't fit well in high society parties…she was scared. She wondered why she hadn't accepted Yuki's offer. Her pride always got in the way! And well the other reason was that she had wanted to do something for that couple…they'd make good parents…and it might as well be them rather than some other crappy couple.
She stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself. And now she was stuck going to a high society party…she felt small. She looked at the photograph of Tim on her table and smiled. "Bet you never thought I'd be hobnobbing with the upper class! I'm worried Tim, I wont fit in, I'm just a surrogate mother…I'm supposed to disappear after my child is born!" she shook her head and looked into her wardrobe. She had a rack of party clothes from when she and Tim used to attend.
She picked a pretty salmon colored dress. It wasn't very formal nor was it too informal. It was the dress Tim had first fallen for her in. it had thin straps and came up to her knees. A pretty silver chain with a salmon pink stone and matching earrings and she looked like a million dollars. The dress revealed everything just a bit, looking decent and sexy. She put on a bit of gloss and mascara. Then she took a deep breath and stepped out.
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Tatsuha sat on a couch in the room, staring gloomily at the rest of the group. After his break up with Ryuichi, this was the first time he had come face to face with him. He felt like an emotional wreck. Great so his Aniki and Shuichi were going to have a child…he wondered which woman was stupid enough to agree to have Aniki's child.
Suddenly he heard Shuichi scream and run up to the door. He looked up to see a beautiful woman step in. he took in a deep breath…she suddenly caught his eye and returned the stare, making him look away.
He sauntered up and joined the group to listen to Shuichi. "This is Aiko! She was sweet enough to have our child!" Tatsuha saw Aiko blush a little embarrassed. Yuki overrode Shuichi quickly. "Aiko…this is Tohma, Mika, Ryuichi…yeah the great Sakuma Ryuichi…"he paused as Ryuichi grabbed Aiko in a hug. "Noriko and my little brother Tatsuha."
Tatsuha smiled at her wishing Ryuichi would back of her! "Hey." She smiled back, before Mika grabbed her arm and yanked her off to one corner with Noriko. He watched the ladies conference for a while and smirked that Mika actually approved at the girl, it was clear by the way she was smiling genuinely. At last he saw her get away from them.
Then she came towards the couch he was sitting on and settled down on an armchair next to it. She leaned back and closed her eyes. It was such a tiring day.
"So what do you do?" Tatsuha asked her trying to make conversation.
"I study psychology at Tokyo University." She smiled at him, but it was a tired smile.
"Hey! I study there too! Automobile engineering. I knew you looked familiar! I'm in my last year." Tatsuha brightened up a bit.
"Oh that great. So do you stay on campus?" she looked at him with interest. Suddenly she saw Tatsuha's face crease with pain for a moment and turned to see him looking at Sakuma-san.
"Of late I do." He saw he gaze. "I used to live with Sakuma-san for two years. But we separated this year." She smiled understandingly.
"So you're still not over him huh? I know the feeling. It's been a year since my husband Tim died but I can't seem to get over it either."
"You were married? You're too young to be married!" Tatsuha looked at her in surprise. She nodded. "For two years, but he died in a air crash. So now it's just me."
She looked at him. "Is there any simple food around here? I mean I saw lots of yummy rich stuff but I'm in the mood for a nice peanut butter sandwich right now."
Tatsuha grinned. "You share my feelings. I'm heading back to the university so how about me giving you a lift and we can pick up one of Mr. Tanaka's peanut butter sandwiches at the cafeteria?"
She smiled. "Alright. Let me tell Shuichi and say goodbye to your sister."
Yuki took the seat she had emptied. "Tatsuha…don't play around with her ok? No molesting. She's the mother of our child to be."
Tatsuha looked at Yuki. "Hey…she wants a peanut butter sandwich I'm getting her one. Aniki I do not molest people, what happened with Shuichi was different. I've changed."
"I'm just warning you." Yuki got up as Aiko walked up and bade her goodbye.
Tatsuha and Aiko walked out. When they got to Tatsuha's bike Aiko almost squealed in delight. "I love your bike…I would have bought one if I had the cash!" she got on behind him and they roared off into the night.
They reached the cafeteria pretty late, but in time to grab two peanut butter sandwiches. Then they walked up to Aiko's dorm. Aiko made small sound of immense satisfaction as she ate the sandwich, Tatsuha stared at her puzzled.
"Gosh I never knew people could find so much satisfaction in a sandwich!"
Aiko laughed. "No, it's just that I don't know how much I'll be enjoying these things if I have morning sickness later. So I've made up my mind to enjoy what I have now, so I can throw it up later." Tatsuha grinned and nodded his head at the logic of this.
It was pretty cold and Aiko shivered mentally berating herself for not bringing a jacket along, when suddenly she felt Tatsuha's jacket envelope her. She turned to see him smile. "Stupid you are really, to wear something like that and not bring something warm along. It's almost end of autumn…winters close you know."
"Yeah I guess I can be stupid sometimes. Tim…used to always yell and give me his jacket too." She seemed to be looking far away. Then she turned to Tatsuha, as they reached her dorm. "We're here…so I'll see you tomorrow then?"
Tatsuha nodded. "I live right there," he pointed to a building on the other side of the lake. "Yeah so we'll be seeing a lot of each other…we can hang together you know…"
Aiko studied Tatsuha's face wondering if it was a genuine request…she had seen the loneliness in his eyes before, but she wondered if she was the right person for him to hang with. Then she saw him look at her hopefully and smiled. "Yeah we could…I have an afternoon class tomorrow, so if you're looking for me I'll be at the badminton courts in the morning around nine."
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A/N: I'm really starting to like writing this fic. If I've gone wrong anywhere please enlighten me! Wow Tat-chan does make good writing, I've never written about him before!
Taka.