Chapter 9- Time Spent Together
"So . . . Keiko, what do you want to do?" Yusuke's face was now refreshed and relieved to be out in the fresh air. His hand was squeezing mine so tightly.
"There are so many possibilities for us . . ." I answered. I leaned on his shoulder. I felt so light . . . so happy . . . so liberated. We walked toward the market, having really no clue as to where we really wanted to go. We slowed down as we approached our sudden destination. As we approached one of the stands, I started laughing.
"What's so funny, Keiko?" asked Yusuke.
"Yusuke, we've got two hours together and we don't know where we're going, what we're going to do . . ." Yusuke laughed at my remark. We stopped and he turned me toward him. He placed his hand on my face. His hand was so warm on my skin.
"We'll find something to do . . . I promise . . ." he said with such a warming smile. I grinned. He was so close to me . . . and we were in public where everyone could see us. I was so happy. I grabbed his face and kissed him. When I pulled away, he seemed shocked by my sudden act of affection. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the stands.
"Let's look around," I suggested. We stopped at the fruit stand first. I pointed out some bananas sitting on the stand. "Those look good!"
"What . . .? They're just bananas," Yusuke replied, unimpressed. He continued looking at the selection of fruits that laid before us. "Hey sir?" Yusuke tapped the clerk on the shoulder. "Can you give me two bananas?" Yusuke reached into his pocket and brought out a 1000 yen piece. The clerk handed him two bananas and took his money. Yusuke ripped the bananas apart and gave one to me.
"You didn't have to buy anything," I said, taking my banana from him.
"Now when I think about it, I haven't had a banana in a while," Yusuke announced, biting into his yellow snack. He took up my hand and started looking for another stand. We found a trash can and threw our banana peels in as we searched for a place that interested us. We found a stand that had little trinkets of baby animals. We stopped to look.
"Foxes, rabbits, bears, chipmunks . . . they're so cute." Yusuke got really close to get a better look. Yusuke wasn't interested, but he stood there as I admired the trinkets. I directed my attention back to Yusuke. "Okay, let's move on . . .!" We continued to walk down the street looking for anything that caught our eyes. I looked down at my watch; it read 7:05. Yes! There's still so much time left. We stopped at a place that sold bread. Yusuke picked up a loaf as we stopped there. "What's that for?" I asked as we walked
"Now that I'm living on my own, I'm going to have to eat!" he said. I laughed.
"You should pick up other things too! You'll need more besides bread."
"I have peanut butter at home. That should last me about two weeks."
"No one should have to live on bread and peanut butter!" I was laughing really hard now. "Until you get on your feet, you can eat with me and my family. It'll be fun!" Yusuke looked at me strangely. His face relaxed into a smile.
"I'll be fine . . ." he responded. "But . . . thanks for worrying about me." I looked up at him. His eyes were so sincere and loving. He leaned in as though to kiss me . . . but we were interrupted.
"Yusuke . . . Keiko-chan!" A familiar voice came from behind us.
"Kura . . . I mean Suiichi . . . and Botan. Hey!" Yusuke said.
"Hey . . . What you two love birds doing here?" asked Kurama as I looked at him and Botan standing there together.
"We're just looking around right now," Yusuke answered.
"What are you two doing out here?" I asked.
"Well . . . there isn't much going on in the spirit world today, so when I came down here, I just happened to run into Kurama in the market," replied Botan. "Could we join you guys for a while?" she asked.
"Sure," Yusuke and I answered at the same time. All four of us walked in our little group down the street. Yusuke and Kurama walked in front of us while I and Botan-san walked behind.
"Keiko-chan?" Botan-san said. "I heard recently about you and Yusuke's falling out. But then I come out here and here you two are, together on the sidewalk." She started giggling and I grinned at her enthusiasm. "You two make such an adorable couple. An extraordinary couple! It's so wonderful!" I smiled at her comment as we stopped to look at some porcelain figurines at a stand. "You two are practically inseparable."
"That's not technically true, Botan-san." I replied. "This is our first time being together in public in about a month"
"A month?" Botan-san asked widening her eyes. "Why a month?"
"We . . . well we had a fight on Christmas . . ." I said.
"A fight . . ." said Botan-san, repeating my words. " . . . Really . . .?"
"Yeah . . . but everything is fine . . . now," I told her. She beamed with delight as she listened to me talk about Yusuke and my affairs.
"It must be kind of nice having someone special in your life! It's always good to spend quality time with the ones you love," she told me with a thoughtful look on her face. We suddenly realized how far ahead the guys had gone. "Yusuke just doesn't know how lucky he is to have you in his life . . . or, well. . . maybe he does . . ." she said cheerfully. That's what I like about her, I said to myself in admiration of Botan-san. . . If only I could be that cheerful about things. We ran and stopped right behind the guys. "Kurama?" Botan-san said while standing behind our red-haired friend. Suiichi-kun turned around as Botan-san tapped his shoulder. "I think we should leave these two to themselves. They need some time for each other." Botan-san turned around and winked at me.
"I was about to say the same thing . . ." Kurama chimed in as he patted Yusuke on the shoulder.
"Are you sure you don't want to spend more time with us . . .?" Yusuke asked.
"We really don't mind . . ." I added. Kurama shook his head and said, "I ought to be getting back to O'kaasan anyway. We'll see you guys around . . ." Botan-san gave me a hug and whispered to me, "Watch out . . . It looks like it's going to rain . . ." I looked at her, oddly. What is she talking about? I looked up briefly, wondering if the sky would give a sign to the weather, but I didn't see anything. She smiled and grabbed the arm of Kurama. We all waved good-bye to each other and went our separate ways.
After a few minutes of walking and looking around like two excited fools, we stopped in front of a stand that sold ice cream. I looked at he stand and became hungry, remembering that I had skipped out on dessert earlier. . .
"Would you like some ice cream . . .? I think I'm gonna buy some . . ." Yusuke slyly said while licking his lips.
"Sounds good . . . but what flavor?" I asked.
"Yo, vender!" Yusuke shouted. "How much for a gallon of . . . 'Cookies and Cream'?"
"That's 2500 yen," the man answered.
"I'll take it." Yusuke pulled out some money and happily paid the man. Yusuke, now holding ice cream, bread, and my hand, lead me over to a bench. "Hold on . . ." he said. " I need to adjust all of this crap!" I let go of his hand and grabbed the bread from him to cut down on all his fussing and confusion.
"That wasn't so hard now was it?" I poked fun at him. He grabbed my hand again and we continued on our way down the sidewalk. I looked at my watch; it now read 7:32. I looked down at the sidewalk as our steps began to synchronize. I felt like I was on top of the world. God, does this day really have to end!? I asked in my mind. As I watched our feet, I saw little pellets of water hit the ground. I stopped walking and looked up at the sky. The nice calm sky I had seen before had disappeared and gray clouds of enormous size had taken its place. " . . . Yusuke . . .?"
"What's wrong, Keiko?" Yusuke looked concerned.
"Is it . . . raining . . .?" Yusuke looked up at the sky. Out of nowhere, the sky . . . just started pouring rain. I could feel my clothes beginning to stick to my skin.
"Oh crap . . .! We have to get inside . . . Fast!" Still carrying the bread and ice cream, we ran, passing all of the people. A lot of people started running around, trying to get out of the rain too. The rain was so thick that it was hard to see. . . but I didn't care. Yusuke hand reached back and clutched to mine, leading me and guiding me through each and every drop that rained down on us. "My apartment is just up ahead," I heard him say, but I was too absorbed in the falling water. The rain was so refreshing on my face. Yusuke looked back at, probably sensing my happiness. We started laughing, trying to find our way through it all. Somehow, I managed to keep up with him though he dragged me the whole way.
We kept on running until we reached the door to his place, running up stairs and such to finally make it there. We walked in and he immediately closed the door behind us. We were both soaking wet and cold. He grabbed the bread from me and put it up in a nearby cupboard that was in the kitchen. Next, he walked over to his freezer and placed the ice cream securely inside. I still stood in the doorway.
"What are we going to do now?" I asked him, giggling. He looked at me, thinking about my question. His clothes was stuck to him, his sweater dripping in a circle around his feet as he stood there. His eyes were locked onto mine as he slowly walked over to me and took me up in his arms My wet waist was pressed against his. I could feel his heart beating just as fast as mine was. His cold, wet chest pressed up against mine. . . rising and falling against me. . . made me quiver.
"We need to get out of these clothes . . ." Yusuke told me. He slyly leaned in and kissed me. His breath was cold in my mouth. . . and his tongue was cold as well. I sucked on his mouth, desperately trying to grasp any signs of heat I could find there. He was just as cold as I was, perhaps colder. His kiss was so passionate . . . yet freezing. Our mouths were fused in a wonderful . . . yet . . . icy bond. I put my hands on his cold face . . . and our lips parted. We were both breathing heavily, our breath visibly mixing between us. His sweater was dripping endlessly on the floor and my clothes were clinging to every part of me.
Yusuke took my hand and lead me down the hallway. He went into the bathroom and grabbed two towels. I placed the towel on my head as he place the other around my shoulders. He lead me to his bedroom. As we walked into his room, he immediately closed the door. I looked at him. For some strange reason, so many thoughts filled my head at once. . . but the reason wasn't so strange. . . I knew why my mind was suddenly racing. . .
We're alone . . . in . . . his room. We can-- I shook all over, ridding myself of my fantastic thoughts.
"Yusuke, you need to get out of that sweater." I said, trying to get my mind off the subject. I walked over to him and pulled the heavy shirt up and over his head. Water was spilling all around us as the sweater hit the floor. His bare chest showed when the sweater was gone, only making matters worse instead of better. I ran the back of my hand over his chest. His skin . . . was so cold. He was dripping wet. I pulled the towel from off my head and I began drying his chest, first patting him and then allowing the towel to caress his strong body. I moved the towel over his chest carefully and slowly. He was staring down at me as I did this. I would move down and then up again, moving consciously over each nipple as if they were covered with water. He clutched onto my other hand and kissed it. It seemed that he, too, was feeling the pressure of our privacy and was perhaps trying to hide his excitement . . . like I was.
I loved being so close to him . . .being able to touch him like this, even if it was with a mere towel. But my shivering got the best of me in the situation. I so desperately wanted to get warm. I leaned onto Yusuke and I laid my head against his freezing chest as if that would help. The skin that was there only greeted the side of my face with more icy chills down my spine. His muscular arms enclosed me and I felt a little bit warmer. Even so, we knew that this wasn't going to be enough. . . so he let me go and started rummaging around in his nearby closet.
"I gotta find something for you to wear," he said while throwing clothes all over the place.
"I don't think you have . . . anything small enough . . ." I replied.
"I'll find something," he told me. He kept searching until he found a large shirt. "Here . . ." he handed it to me. "I'll leave you in here while you change . . ." He walked toward the door as if to leave me.
"Yusuke . . . Wait . . .!" Yusuke stopped and turned around. "You don't have to leave." He looked at me with question all over his face. "Just turn around. I'll be done in a flash." Yusuke looked at me with nervousness in his eyes. I smiled at him. "Go ahead . . . turn around." He didn't look too sure about my decision, but he obeyed. When his naked back faced me, I turned toward his bed and began taking off my jacket and the towel around my shoulders. I dropped it on the ground. I turned around and looked to see if he was peeking. I stepped out of my pants . . . then I took of my shirt. I looked around my shoulder to peek at him.
"Are you done yet?" he asked. I hugged myself, thinking he was trying to take a peek at me in just my underwear. . . which, knowing Yusuke, was hard to put past him.
"No . . ." I answered. "Just a moment . . ." I pulled off my panties last and then slipped on the dry shirt Yusuke gave me.
"How about now?" he asked. I was done by then, but I decided not to say anything. Quietly, I came up behind him and gently kissed his frigid back. I could feel by the way he was breathing that my kiss came to him as a surprise. Then, I ran my tongue up his back ever so slowly, making sure he felt the the trail my tongue had left. I felt him tense up and gradually relax. His muscles quivered under the feel of my tongue only making me want to continue on. But his body . . . his skin. . . was still so cold.
"I'm done now . . ." I replied as I slopped my wet clothes and towels over his shoulder. He turned around; the clothes fell off his shoulder. I smiled at him as I ran my hand down his chest.
"You're still cold . . ." he said, putting one hand on my waist.
"You need to get out of your clothes too," I told him. I moved my hands around his waist and felt that the rim of his pants were soaked. "Now . . . you can change your clothes . . ." I let go of him and walked toward the door. "I'll stand here," I said and I turned my back to him. I stared at the door. God . . . why am I so cold? Why is it so cold in here? Yusuke was right behind me . . . changing his clothes. I closed my eyes, imagining what Yusuke would look like naked. I've seen him before, I told myself. I saw most of him on Christmas . . . and . . . then I saw basically all of him on my birthday . . . I started giggling to myself.
"You're not looking, are you?"
"No . . ." I continued to giggle. I wonder what he's doing right now . . .? I straightened back up. It's still so cold in here though, I said to myself, starting over in my cycle of thoughts. It didn't take long before I felt the familiar arms wrap around my shoulders. They were so comforting but they were just as cold as I was.
"We have to find a way to warm you up . . ." he whispered into my ear. He turned me around and pulled me close. He was now wearing a t-shirt along with some cotton, white shorts. I looked up at my love as he leaned in to kiss me. I closed my eyes, waiting for his lips to meet mine. His lips lightly pressed in. . . just like I had expected. We were both so cold. I opened my mouth and started sucking on his, trying to take away the warmth in him that I couldn't find earlier. My efforts were pointless. My arms encircled him as his strong arms continued to pull me closer. I'm freezing . . . but I want to stay here forever, I thought. Our lips departed from our kiss.
"Is there something . . . I can put on my legs . . .?" I looked at him mischievously. I could just guess what he was thinking. "I don't have . . . anything . . .on . . . under this . . ."
"Say no more . . . I'll try to find something," he volunteered nervously. Our chilled embrace ended as he broke away from me. I relunctantly let him go. He went back to his closet and started looking. I laughed at him quietly. He went to a dresser and continued looking for something. He pulled some bikers shorts out and handed them to me. "These are the smallest ones I can find. I can always find you some sweat pants." I took the shorts from him looked at them.
"Thanks," I told him. I bent down to put them on. As I did this, I looked up at Yusuke. He was blushing. "Maybe you should turn around . . ." I smiled at him.
"Yes ma'am," he said. I smiled at him as he willingly rotated away from me. I slipped the shorts up and over my hips.
"You can turn around now." He did so and started picking up our wet clothes from the floor.
"I'm going to throw these into the dryer." He went to the door and opened it. He allowed me to walk in front of him as we went toward the living room. "It shouldn't take me too long . . . I'll be right back." He went to the front door and left me. I stood there as my shorts began to fall down my hips. I looked at my watch. It now read 8:27. I pulled the shorts up again and I laid down in the couch, curling up into a ball. I'm still cold. Does he have a heater? He'll find a way to keep me warm, I told myself. I'm going to be here for awhile. Since we're here . . . alone . . . What are we going to do . . . with all of this free time . . .? I giggled to myself for asking that question. Turning my thoughts away from that, I rubbed on my arms, trying to keep warm. I couldn't stop shivering. I sneezed. What's taking him so long? I asked myself, sneezing again moments later. I hope nothing is wrong out there. He should be fine, I reassured myself as I sneezed again. Oh. . . I better not be coming down with something, I said to myself, forbidding any illness from coming. I heard the front door close. He's back, I told myself. I closed my eyes, relieved that he was back in the apartment with me. When I opened them up again, Yusuke was in my face, staring at me.
"Why is it so cold?" I looked at him. His hand caressed my cheek.
"I don't know . . ." He stood up and walked out of the room. Where is he going? He returned with a blanket. "Here." He covered me and sat back down on the floor. "I don't know how I'm gonna get you home on time. It's still raining pretty hard . . ." He looked so beautiful when he was concerned. "I promised them that I'd get you home . . . on time."
"Don't worry . . . If I call them . . . they'll understand." I smiled. Yusuke leaned in and kissed me. I wanted to pull him under the blanket with me, but I shook off the urge. I was too cold. I pulled away from him and closed my eyes. "Do you have a heater?" I asked.
"Since I just moved in . . . I don't have any heat yet. Not for another week anyway . . . Dammit!" He looked at me with an uneasy expression. I brought my hand from the blanket and placed it on his face.
"It's okay, Yusuke. We'll make due with what we have." I smiled at him, trying to ease his worries. He moved in again and kissed me. His tongue came into my mouth so slowly despite the angle that our mouths mingled in. I moved my hand along his face as he moved his tongue around gently in my mouth. Even though his tongue was cold, it was still comfort to me. I wanted to hold him in my arms . . .but I was laying down . . . so that wouldn't of worked out. He pulled away and looked at me, his eyes so caring. I brought my hand off of his cheek. "Now . . . let's call my parents and tell them that we'll be late because of the rain . . ." I stood up, still covered in my blanket, and we walked back to his room. I walked to his dresser and picked up the phone while Yusuke waited. I dialed the number quickly. As I waited for one of my parents to answer the phone, I looked at Yusuke, who was standing in the doorway.
"Hello?" I heard a deep voice on the other side.
"Daddy? Hey . . ." I said.
"Keiko, dear. Is there a problem . . .?"
"No, Daddy. I needed to tell you that . . . we got caught in the rain." I stopped talking to think of a good place that we could be.
"Are you guys alright? Where are you guys?" my father asked.
"We're fine." I reassured him. "We're at . . . at . . . at Yusuke's . . . house," I couldn't bring myself to lie to him. "We had to get out of the rain . . . and this was the closest place." There was silence on the other end of the line. "Daddy . . .?" Still more silence. My mind began racing as I tried to think of what else I could add to make the story sound better. "Daddy . . . we're going to get there as soon as we can. We can't leave until the rain lifts up. It's so hard to see out there, you know?" There was still quiet on the other end. "Just pray that it lifts up soon!" I tried to sound enthusiastic.
"Thanks for telling me, dear. Could I talk to . . .Yusuke . . .?" I looked at Yusuke and motioned for him to come near me. He walked up to me and I handed him the phone.
"Hello . . .? Yukimura-sama . . . We . . . Oh? Oh . . ." Yusuke was having trouble getting any words in. He looked at me and gave me a reassuring smile. I looked at him as he listened to whatever my father was saying. It seemed to take forever for them to finish talking. "I'll remember that, sir. I'll take care of her. I promise . . ." I smiled at him as he said this. "Keiko . . . He wants to say something to you." I grabbed the phone from him.
"Daddy . . . ?"
"Keiko," he said. "Be careful . . . over there. Just try to get home as soon as you can."
"Really, Daddy," I smiled. "Don't worry about me."
"Well . . . could I get the number so we can check on you?" I turned to Yusuke.
"What's your number . . .?" I asked Yusuke. Yusuke mouthed out the number for me. "Daddy . . . are you still there?"
"Yes, Keiko." I recited the number that I read from Yusuke's lips.
"Did you get that, Daddy?"
"Yes . . . Well, I'll talk . . . to you later, Keiko, dear . . ."
"Okay, Daddy . . . Bye-bye . . ."
"Bye, Keiko." I heard a click and the phone gave a dial tone. I placed the phone back on the receiver. I looked at Yusuke once more.
"What did he say to you . . .?" I asked.
"Nothing new, really . . ." he told me. He came a bit closer and allowed his hand brush my face. "You're still so cold."
"I'll manage . . ." I told him. I dropped my blanket and went to him. I pressed against him as I wrapped my arms around him again, relieved to have gotten the phone call out of the way. "I love you . . ." I said, the words just flowing out of my mouth.
"I love you too, Keiko . . . so much." His arms squeezed me.
" . . . I'm so cold . . ." I looked up at him, my chin on his chest.
"What . . . can I do for you . . .?" he asked me. I thought about his question. I studied his face. He looked so concerned, so handsome.
"I need to get warm. This is the warmest place in your house . . ." Yusuke looked at me. "Let's stay in here." He looked a little worried about my decision. He walked me over to his bed and sat me down.
"Lay down, Keiko." I did as he said and he covered me with the blanket I had dropped before. He sat down next to me in the bed and he ran his hand down my face. "Is that better?" I nodded. His hand was still cold.
" . . .Yusuke . . . You're cold too." He looked at me and smiled.
"I'll be fine . . ." He's trying to act tough . . . I laughed to myself. It was quiet for a while. I shifted to look at my watch. It read 8:56. Wow! Did that call take that long? I looked at Yusuke who was now looking at the window.
"It's still raining, huh?" I asked him.
"Yeah . . . we're going to be here for a while." he said.
" . . .Yusuke . . . you make it sound like that's a bad thing." I reached out of the blanket and touched his beautiful back. I sat up shortly after. I wanted to hold him. He looked so beautiful to me at that moment. "Yusuke . . . is something the matter?"
"No . . . it's just cold . . . and . . . now your parents are worried about you."
"Oh, Yusuke." I said. I wrapped my arms around him from behind him; I was still half-covered in the blanket. "All that matters is that we're both okay and my parents know where we are . . ." Yusuke turned around and looked at me. I still had him in my arms as he tried to smile.
" . . . Your father doesn't trust me . . ." he laughed. "He told me to keep my hands off of you. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though . . ."
"Is that all . . .?" Don't touch me . . . huh? I took my arms off around him. I picked up his hand and kissed the tip of each finger, his strong hand tensing as each kiss landed. I put his hand down and moved his hand underneath the blanket, slowly and carefully. I could sense his uneasiness and his excitement, packed into the energy that surrounded him. I guided his hand toward me, the blanket moving as I brought his hand closer and closer. Then I put it down. . . making sure that it was touching my waist. Yusuke looked at me, still confused by my actions. "Daddy can't stop what's already been done." I smiled. Yusuke, now seeming a little bit more relaxed, touched my face and leaned in.. His kiss came so gently. . .again. Unable to stop him, I received his lips. His tongue gently nudged its way into my mouth. I tasted his mouth as he did mine. Just as the kiss began to deepen, he laid me down. So sweet . . . so passionate this kiss was. . .that I was powerless to stop him. We were both laying on our sides now, facing each other. His hand traveled up my covered side, the blanket wrinkling under his moving hand. I began to tingle all over.
I wish he were laying on top of me . . . I said to myself. This is our chance to . . . Ahh! What am I thinking?! I asked myself while laughing all the while at the same time. I tried to dispose of the thoughts running around in my head. Our lips separated and we stared at each other.
"What are we going to do until the rain lifts?" he asked. He looked at me, waiting for a suggestion.
"For starters, you could get under this blanket with me . . ." I opened the blanket so he could join me. He stared at the place I had opened for him. I could feel his hesitation, my father's words probably still haunting him. "Come on . . ." In complete and utter obedience, he got inside with me and closed the blanket behind him.
"You're freezing . . ." he told me. He cautiously moved in closer.
"If we stay close, our body heat should be enough to warm us," I informed him, perhaps a sad attempt to make sure that he wasn't nervous. But it didn't really work. Instead, I got closer to him and hugged him. He, of course, squeezed me back. Then he kissed me again. We were both still cold but I could feel more heat within him now. I pulled away and ran my finger along the outline of his face.
"I'm sorry about this, Keiko . . . If the heater were running, we would both be warm."
"I forgive you." I touched his cheek and kissed him briefly. I turned away from him and stared at the wall. I just wanted to lay there with him.
"Keiko . . ." I turned my head slightly to show that I was still listening. "Is there anything else . . . I can do for you?"
"Just . . . hold me . . ." I told him. That's all that I really wanted. . . his body near mine. I felt him come up behind me; his strong and loving arms came around me slowly. I melted in his warming embrae and allowed my eyes to close. I could feel him breathing in my ear. His cool breath constantly reminding me that I wasn't alone. How can I love someone so much? I asked myself, his cool embrace surrounding me under the blanket. I was wrapped up in his cool embrace. We were both quiet for a long time. He was so still behind me. . . and so close. Can't this moment just last. . . forever? How long will I be able to stay here with him? I listened to the rain as it tapped at the window. I'm still here only because its raining. I could feel my eyes watering as I thought. It can't rain forever . . .