AN: Thank you for anyone who has stuck with this story after all of these years. There should be more updates through next year. Hope you all enjoy the chapter. Happy New Year and Happy Reading.

Chapter One Hundred: Take a Cup O' Kindness

By the time New Year's Eve rolled around, the house was fully furnished and the fridge was fully stocked. We turned one of the bedrooms into a study. Dark wooden bookshelves lined two of the walls and what didn't fit in our new library filled the shelves of her closet. So that we'd have the space for a variety of books, most of her romance novels were placed in her closet. The study also contained a full dual monitor computer setup with a router and modem on a corner desk that matched the bookshelves and an ergonomic office chair. It was probably my favorite room in the house. The only thing I would have changed was the color, but we were renting the house.

We turned another room into a closet. Between all of her romance novels and all the things we stored in my closet, it was simpler to turn one of the spare rooms into a walk-in closet. It was more for her than for me. We got a bookshelf to display her shoes, as well as an armoire for her jewelry, a few matching dressers, and a couple of wardrobes. Eventually she would have more clothes to fill everything. I'd be able to send her some things while I was away. I'm sure Sumi, Kimi, and Reiko could give me some ideas of places to shop online.

For the spare room in the attic space, we turned it into a guest suite with a sitting room just in case we had any visitors, which was more than likely. The sitting area had two couches, a small tv with a dvd player while the bedroom contained a full size bed, a wardrobe, and a couple of nightstands. There was always room if we needed to add anything else later.

The basement was turned into a home theater. It had a projector and screen instead of a TV. We also added a game room to the space and put all of the movies we had collected so far and all of the board games we picked up on display. Eventually we'd add a pool table, but we had a dart board, a poker set, and a board game table for now. Neither of us were really into video games so we didn't end up buying any gaming systems.

Family room was attached to the kitchen due to the open floor plan. It was one would normally expect from the two rooms. The family room was where we ended up putting the TV, which only had streaming and a bluray player. We didn't see the point in getting cable no matter how much it was pushed on us by the internet provider. Yuki ended up having to finish that deal with him, she had more patience than I did. Ten dollars was not enough for me to care about obtaining tv channels I was never going to watch. We also got another few beds for Rocket, setting one in the basement, one in the study, and the other in the family room. The one he currently owned would be placed in the master bedroom. Having three more as at Yuki's insistence, she wanted to make sure he had a place in each room she thought we'd occupy the most. At the point we were buying the dog beds, I was saying yes to whatever to get out of the store quicker. That didn't help as well as I hoped, but it did hasten things a little.

Currently, we were sitting on the couch in the family room with When Harry Met Sally on and plates of multiple different appetizers. Her plan for the day was watching movies and eating different appetizers and small plates. We didn't want to cook and this sounded like a fun option. We picked up some samosas, spinach and artichoke dip, mini tacos, potstickers, egg rolls, and a charcuterie board. If needed, we would probably order a pizza later but we were content for now.

As the movie played, we discussed our plans for the deck and backyard for when I came back in the spring. Neither of us had much of a green thumb so a garden was out of the question. Since we were only renting, we couldn't invest in a swimming pool. The only thing we could agree on so far was a porch swing, which for this house was really all we needed. When we were able to buy a house, we would do more with the backyard. We were fine for now. It was just the two of us.

"What do you want to watch now?" Yuki asked as the movie ended.

"I don't care." I answered, fine with whatever she decided to put on. "You pick."

"I picked the last movie."

"I'll pick one later."

"You cool with Zorro?" She asked, pulling Mask of Zorro up on Hulu.

"Yeah." I agreed. She always had good taste in films, this was no exception. It happened to be one of the few movies with Antonio Banderas that I liked. I had only seen the movie a handful of times, Takashi had been a fan of the film and would choose it for movie nights from time to time.

As she put on the movie, she asked when I was coming back to Massachusetts. I had to leave in a couple of days and neither of us were really looking forward to it. We had been avoiding the topic almost the entire time I had been here. We wanted to focus the time we had on each other.

"The moment the Ouran fair ends, I will be on a plane to come back to you." I answered, "I already have the tickets. I'm not going to leave you for any longer than I have to." Kissing her forehead, I added, "I wouldn't leave now if I didn't have to."

"I know." She responded, "I just wish you didn't have to go."

"I do too…" I told her softly before adding, "I rather focus on the time we do have left."

"Okay, Kyo." She agreed softly.

Trying to get her mind off my impending departure, I asked her about the movie. Yuki was typically a cornucopia of knowledge when it came to film and literature. Excited by my interest, she started to rattle off random behind the scene facts about the movie. She told me about how the actor who played Gomez in the Addams family films was supposed to play Anthony Hopkins' character, but died before he could take the role as well as other things as the movie continued. For the majority of the film, I paid more attention to her than I did the movie.

Hikaru's POV

"What time do you want to leave to go to Tamaki's tomorrow?" I asked Kimi, playing with her long black hair. It had been a bit since I had seen it completely down. Normally she'd keep it up or at least away from her face since she spent a lot of time in the kitchen.

"I don't know." She answered, "I don't want to leave too early. I want a chance for us to eat and to wake up."

"Okay." I agreed, "What do you want to do with the rest of the night? Do you want to stay up to bring in the new year?"

Kimi had won our Christmas competition, I was at her disposal the entire holiday weekend and enjoying every minute of it. We walked along the deserted beach, challenging each other to go into the ice cold water with her eventually dragging me into the water with her. We explored the few open shops along the boardwalk, getting a few snacks here and there and playing arcade games. And then after having a picnic on the beach, we came back to the villa to shower and warm up. We had been spending the entire time warming each other up ever since.

"I was thinking we could stay in bed, and if we fall asleep before midnight, we fall asleep." She answered.

"Sounds like a plan to me." I kissed her.

Hunny's POV

After picking up a pizza from down the street, we walked back to our hotel. This vacation was just what we needed. It was just the two of us to do whatever we wanted for the rest of the year. We could talk about anything pressing or anything that had been recently on our minds. Like children and setting firm boundaries with my mother. We established that I would talk to my mother about her meddling in our relationship and trying to push her own agenda for us. We also decided Reiko would let me know when she was ready to discuss having children and that the subject wouldn't be broached again until she brings it up. We knew we both wanted to have one or two, but it was her body. She was the one who had to decide when she was physically and mentally ready to have children. If it was going to be another decade, fine by me. It was time we could be together as a couple. I wasn't in any rush to have a bigger family than we already had nor was I going to pressure her into doing something she was freaked out about. Pregnancy and labor from everything I knew about it sounded kind of scary and extremely painful. After we talked about it though, it seemed to put her mind more at ease and let her enjoy the time we've had. Noticing her silence when we got back into the room, I asked her what was on her mind.

"Just thinking about the last time we were here around this time of year." She answered. I paused for a moment trying to think of when we were last here this time of year. We didn't come here a lot, we had only been a handful of times after we first came here when we were dating. The only time I remember coming here in the winter was that first time when we- She was right, that was this hotel. I was amazed she remembered the specific place.

"Hopefully, it's a good memory." I responded, feeling a little bashful upon remembering our first time and it's awkwardness and not knowing what to do.

"I don't have any bad memories when it comes to you."

Takashi's POV

As Auld Lang Syne started to play on Sumi's laptop for the New Year countdown she had on, I gently pulled her up to dance. It was just the two of us. Hana had fallen asleep and had been put to bed hours ago. She rested her head against my chest as we swayed back and forth.

"Happy New Year." I told her, "I love you."

"I love you too." She kissed me softly, "Happy New Year."

"Any resolutions this year?"

"Other than spending as much time as I can with you and our kids, no." She answered, "Your happiness is all I need."

"I was wishing for the same thing."

After a few moments, she asked, "How do you feel about getting a pet?"

"Is that something you want or something Hana wants?" I asked for clarification, looking down at her.

"A little of both." She answered, "She brought it up before the holidays. She mentioned wanting a pet and a little sister. While we can't guarantee she'll have a sister, a pet might be nice to have around. We could get like a cat, they seem pretty easy to take care of."

"We can look at a shelter or two when Hana goes back to school." I agreed.

"You've got to go back to school too." She reminded, "I can look at a shelter or two."

"Just don't come back with the entire shelter." I kissed her head, knowing the chances of her bringing back a shelter full of cats and dogs was plausible. "Try to limit it to five at the most, two or three would be preferable."

"I promise I won't adopt every animal I see and bring it home."

"That's all I ask."

"I might adopt some and give them to other people."

"I figured."

"I'll bring Reiko with me so I don't go overboard."

That didn't quite make me feel better. They were both compassionate kind souls, who didn't not seem like the types to be alright with animals being in cages. I certainly knew my wife wasn't, which was one of the many reasons why I loved her. If I ended up with a house full of cats because of it, I'd deal.

"Let's go to bed." She suggested.

I nodded, "I'm sure you're tired, it's been a long day."

"I actually wasn't thinking about sleeping, but if you're tired-"

"I'm not." I told her, "I'm more interested in what's on your mind."

Without hesitation, she kissed me ardently. Carefully, I pressed her close to me, deepening the kiss. After leading her into the bedroom, I reluctantly broke the kiss, letting her know that I was going to make sure the doors were locked, the interior lights were off, and the exterior lights were on. As much as I hated to do it now, I knew I wouldn't remember to do it later.