Chibi-Kari: Well, here is the chapter before the very last one! I hope you all enjoy this and the next. Two hours and counting until I leave for Amsterdam, and I still need to pack! Sorry about the shortness, but thank you for all the wonderful reviews I've gotten so far!
Halfway Down the Block
Houses, Bears, and Men
There was only so much that Ryoma could do. Sakuno was driving him mad at the moment. Ann had said something about nesting. She had to have everything done before the baby came. But this was ridiculous, she still had two more months and here she was driving him ragged.
They had just bought a house the last month and started to buy furniture for the baby's room, when Ryoma got the biggest surprise of his life. He learned that his wife opted not to know the sex of the baby before birth. So now they were stuck not knowing exactly what to buy. Luckily he got stuck painting the room blue with little white clouds. Luckily, because he didn't have to go baby shopping with her and he didn't have to catch her trying to paint and inhaling fumes that could be dangerous to her and the baby.
He was just lucky that Oishi and Eiji decided to bring her to the store to buy the crib and some clothes. Eiji was the perfect person to go with her, Oishi was there as more of an insurance policy. Ryoma didn't really want to go broke before the baby arrived because Eiji and Sakuno got excited. Well at least Eiji was better than Ann and Tomoka. Those two were awful; he could still picture the baby shower in his mind.
Flashback
He had never seen so many women in his life and was more than sure that Sakuno didn't know half of them, but there they were. Sitting in the living room, most of them drunk, how they got over fifty women in the small apartment he wasn't even sure. And worse, were there were presents falling out of the kitchen and into other rooms. But what really made him furious was the fact that there in the middle of his living room and in front of his wife, was a male stripper.
"Get out!" He boomed as he waved his hand over the crowd and pointed directly at the half dressed man in front of his blushing wife.
The room became a frenzy of women as they ran out of the room, the male stripper among them. Ryoma reached into the passing crowd and pulled out two women who immediately landed on their bottoms. "What did you think you were doing?" His voice was calm for a moment, and he was glad it wasn't betraying what he was feeling.
"Well, it was Ann's idea. And I agreed, we should have some fun at the baby shower, and I mean what's the harm? Men are allowed to go to strip clubs anytime they want. So based on the feminist movement we should be able-"
Ryoma raised a hand as he glared at both Ann and Tomoka. "I don't go to strip clubs, thus your logic falls through. If I don't go I don't want my wife staring at men. There is only one man she'll be staring at."
"Fuji?" Ann's voice came out light with a giggle which was quickly stifled when Ryoma turned on her. She was positive right there and then she wouldn't live to see her wedding day.
"Out. Now." Both women didn't hesitate.
End of Flashback
Well, now Sakuno couldn't get in that kind of trouble. She had two grown men with her, and they were some of his closest friends. He could trust them not bring her to some place with a half naked man.
With Sakuno, Eiji, and Oishi
"It's a little strange that there was a half dressed man dancing in the middle of the mall." Oishi commented as they walked into the baby store.
"Well, the ladies seem to be enjoying it." Eiji said as he gestured over his shoulder towards the door of the store.
"Oh! Look, Eiji! It's a big teddy! Don't you think the baby would love that?" Sakuno started bouncing on her toes.
Eiji looked up and his eyes widened as they filled with tears, "It's perfect to start chibi-Ochibi's teddy collection!"
"I don't think that's sensible. I mean, that will practically take up the whole room. Where will you put the crib?"
Sakuno glared over her shoulder at him as she shrugged.
"You can put it in your living room!" Eiji shouted.
"Perfect! Then we'll get it!" Sakuno announced as she flagged a sales associate over to help her.
"Fine." Oishi muttered as he looked down at the list Ryoma gave to him with the instructions of not letting her stray too far from the list. Well, in his defense it did say small stuffed animal. And this bear was at least smaller than some of the others.
After what seemed like hours of shopping, they had to call Momo and Tezuka to bring their cars to help them bring all the things back to the Echizen household. And out of spite, Oishi set it up so that Tezuka would have to drive with Teddy, the giant bear, in his passenger seat. Normally Oishi would never have even thought of doing something like that, but that bear was not going in his car, Sakuno was already in Eiji's car, and Momo had taken enough beatings from Ryoma that everyone pitied him.
Ryoma had just finished painting when he heard car doors slam in front of the house. He walked to the front door and almost burst out laughing, if he didn't have such good control over his emotions he would have, at the sight of his static old captain sitting with a giant bear next to him in the car.
He glanced at the rest of the cars. He wondered slightly why the shopping excursion started with two empty cars and ended with four cars about to burst.
Sakuno skipped up to him happily, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Look, we finished all the shopping! And look at that teddy, isn't it perfect?"
Ryoma smirked at his old captain, "It really is." He glanced at the rest of the group. "How about helping put it all away!"
Ryoma glanced backwards as he heard Oishi relaying a story to Momo, "And you wouldn't believe. There was this half naked guy stripping in the mall!" He blanched slightly as he pulled Sakuno a little closer to him. Well, now he knew he couldn't even trust his friends to keep her away from half naked men.
TBC
Chibi-Kari: The next one will be funnier, I promise, as it will be the last…and our last victim will be…Tezuka with a little fun poking at our hero Ryoma! Please Review!
