November Rain a Persona 5 fanfiction
Rating: M
Pairing: Sadayo Kawakami/Protagonist

Summary:
Akira Kurusu and Sadayo Kawakami take a trip to Sadayo's hometown to tell her parents the good news. The problem is her parents have never warmed to Akira and this disapproval finally leads Sadayo and her parents butting heads.

Notes:
This story is set six years after the game and two months after my Fic "Reunions, Rewards, and Roads".

These are just my own speculations about how this particular version of the relationship might go. It's all ideas in my head and how I feel my version of the protagonist would react. I know it's not the canon name but I use the name I chose because it helps me remain connected to the character and work through the relationship. I will be using some adult language, most of it by Sadayo, and there will also be the discussion of mental and physical on the characters. I feel that even though it was in a cognitive world there would be physical and mental effects. To them in the moment the injuries were real and so I figured some of it would translate over to the real world. Also these characters saw hell...and that...that always has an effect.

Altus owns all in game characters and the plot. I own nothing nor profit!

Chapter 3:

The next few days passed with mild anxiety as test after test was run. Akira had been given permission to stay with Sadayo during this period and, with Sadayo's permission, contacted Sora to see if he could get their luggage to them. Sora agreed and arrived the morning after Sadayo had been admitted. Reika, according to her husband, couldn't bring herself to come and Sadayo barely hinted at her disappointment which bothered the man.

"Sadayo can you please talk to her?" Sora was trying to keep his mind focused but was growing agitated at Akira's constant investigating to make sure he'd brought everything.

"I'm willing to talk when she's willing to listen to me." Sadayo set down her bowl of oatmeal and crossed her arms. "I don't blame her for my being in the hospital, but I'm not ready to forgive her for everything else just yet. I came in hopes to make peace but she wants to keep pushing the topic."

"She wants to understand." Sora put a large hand on top of his daughter's head and ruffled her hair. "You two didn't make this easy on us. She's doing her best to understand."

"She has a funny way of showing it." Sadayo bit into a grape and fumed for a moment. Akira felt her eyes fall to him and he looked up from his freshly set up laptop and shrugged.

"I don't really have anything to say on the matter." He looked at Sora, who scoffed, and Sadayo who looked upset with him. Swallowing the rock in his throat, Akira gave her an apologetic look and added, "What I mean is that I rarely talk to Reika so I don't know where her head is at. Truthfully, I think she is trying and that you should talk to her at some point, but when is up to you."

The looks on both their faces forced him to retreat back into his work while they continued their discussion; ending with Sadayo agreeing to contact her mother at some point and ignoring Akira for part of the afternoon.

For the remainder of their time, Akira spent much of his time working as much as he could on some contracts, doing phone calls to clients, and coordinating projects with Futaba. They'd barely met a deadline due to a shipping issue and Akira was worried that the client would try and short them on the bill until he saw the payment follow through in full and breathed a huge sigh of relief since the payment was the amount they had promised if they decided to go with their company. When he'd told Sadayo this, she set her book down and pulled him into a deep kiss that had to get interrupted by the nurse and doctor with the portable ultrasound.

Neither of them got tired of these. The first time Akira had seen one his heart had stopped when the doctor showed him the small being growing inside his fiancé. He'd always thought he'd be prepared to see it, but when the doctor turned on the audio and he heard the beating of the baby's heart he nearly lost all composure. Since then he'd asked for pictures after each ultrasound and took over making a baby book which Sadayo teased him relentlessly for.

Though she was constantly poked and prodded, Sadayo remained in high spirits. She had her fiancé by her side, her test results were looking good, and she was slowly healing the rift between her and her father. It was difficult, she could see the discomfort on her father's face when he came to visit her after his shift, but she could see he was trying.

By her fourth day in the hospital, she still hadn't called her mother. She didn't know what to say but she knew she needed to since her mother sent meals with her father to make sure she wasn't stuck eating only hospital food. It was a welcome break from the bland food they'd been giving her. Despite her appreciation, Sadayo noticed that the food sent was just enough to feed her, leading her to share it with him and order cafeteria fare regardless.

Finally on the morning of her sixth day, Sadayo was being released and she could barely contain her excitement as Akira helped her get dressed. She had bruises on her arms from where they'd drawn her blood so using her arms was more difficult than usual. When she was dressed the doctor came in, ready to discuss the changes to Sadayo's regiment.

"So what do we do?" Sadayo asked from the bed as she began putting her shoes on. She looked over her shoulder to find him sitting there, his pen moving and eyes focused on the notepad in front of him.

"Well, we're going to make a few changes to your diet. Nothing too massive, just a few changes to salt intake and sweets." Sadayo whined at this, but agreed reluctantly. "I know it's not fun but we're going to have to. It'll help with your blood pressure and we're going to put you on some mild medications to help control it. Dr. Takemi and Dr. Furuya are going to be keeping a closer eye on you. That means more visits and a few extra ultrasounds and blood tests."

"Akira are you listening?" Sadayo had checked to see if he was listening again and found him still focused on his notepad and was getting annoyed. When he looked up, he held up the notepad and pointed at everything the doctor had mentioned in regards to her diet. She felt flustered at her "Are you going to be able to come to these new appointments?"

"We may have to bring in the contingency plan." He flipped through his schedule and saw he had at least five meetings in the next two weeks. "I'll make a few calls on the way home. If Ryuji can't make it I'll check with the others to see if they can spare the time."

The two women nodded and then went back to discussing a mild exercise regimen and other things while he continued to jot down notes.

When they were done, Sadayo asked if he could go and get them some food from a nearby bakery. It took almost an hour since many people were on their way to work, but finally he had acquired the necessary coffee, tea, and three doctor approved breakfast sandwiches. As he made his way to the room he waved hello to the nurses at the desk only to have one of them stop him before entering the room.

"What's the matter," he asked the young lady who was watching the front desk.

"She asked that you call her if her visitor was still in the room." The nurse gave him a nervous look before going back to her work.

Akira raised an eyebrow and asked what the problem was, but she just repeated Sadayo's request. Taking out his headphones, he dialed her number and waited. He heard the phone connect and then a clattering as Reika asked, "Who was that?"

"It was Akira. I'll call him back if we aren't done before he gets here." Sadayo sounded flustered but Akira kept quiet to the staff since he knew they were still monitoring Sadayo's vitals.

"I see." Reika sounded both impressed and mildly disappointed that he hadn't returned. "I wanted to talk to him."

"About what, mother?" Sadayo huffed and he heard what sounded like a glass of water being poured. "You've already made it clear. You're never going to approve of us being together. You're never going to accept the fact that I was the one who..."

"Sadayo, please I don't need the guilt trip" Reika was clearly disturbed by the fact that they were having this conversation, but he could tell she wasn't trying to avoid it. "I want to listen to your side, but I don't need to hear how you..."

"You don't need to hear what mother?" Akira noticed that the nurses looked at the door concernedly but didn't make any looks in his direction which told him they couldn't hear anything clearly. He was grateful for that because he knew they would have stopped working when he heard her say rather loudly, "You don't want to hear the fact that I screwed him when he was seventeen?"

He could hear Reika's chair squeak before she coughed out, "There is no need for such vulgarity, Sadayo."

"No my being vulgar would be I fucked his brains out."

Akira's face flushed bright red at these words and Reika gasped.

"Don't act like that mother, it's the truth. I fucked him when he was underage and I'm owning up to it. I promised myself and him that I wouldn't lie if confronted with our relationship and I'm staying true to my promise." Sadayo sounded calm and he noticed by the lack of a reaction from the nurses that there wasn't any reason to worry. "I will not lie and say that what we did wasn't a crime, because it was. I slept with someone, who at the time, was a minor. I made the conscious decision to do it and I don't regret it." Sadayo took a deep breath before adding, "I wasn't lying when I said I tried to turn him down. I did, Mother. I tried in order to protect him and myself. But," he heard scraping before a dull thud and heavy sigh, "I couldn't and...it caused us so much stress and pain. And then he got sent to the reformatory after doing so many good things for people."

"I'm not saying he's a horrible person." Reika sounded genuine in this and Akira felt a small amount of gratitude toward her.

"But you treat him like one, regardless of everything he's done."

"What has he done, Sadayo?" Reika sounded like she was finally beginning to lose her cool. "I understand that he helped you get over something horrible in your life but do you think that was worth risking your career and your life for a second time?

"He didn't just save me, Mother." Sadayo sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "He saved so many people that nobody will ever know what he and our friends did. They still think he's a criminal. He still occasionally gets hassled by the police when he hasn't done anything illegal. I've seen it happen when he was simply buying us coffee; cops will stop him outside the shop and he has to waste his time explaining that they have no cause to."

"Then why do you stay if he's never going to be free of suspicion?"

"Because of reasoning like yours." He heard Sadayo blow her nose before continuing. "Because I love him and because I want to be happy with him. We make each other happy despite the drama in our lives. We take care of each other and we trust each other. We make each other want to be better people."

There was the scraping of glass across what was possibly a table and then a dull thud finally by silence. Akira didn't dare enter the room at this moment. He figured it wise to give them a moment and what followed proved his hypothesis correct.

"I just think you should have thought this out more. For you and for your…."

"Don't you dare bring our child into this." Akira could tell she was speaking through gritted teeth. "You have no right to even..."

"I at least have enough of a right as your mother to voice my concern." Reika's voice had risen slightly. "You even admitted yourself that you committed. What do you think would have happened if you'd gotten pregnant back then and his parents had decided to sue you or you were sent away to prison?"

"Then I would have served my sentence and we would have figured it out; and the same goes for him." Sadayo sounded strained but he could sense her honest, he could also sense her aggravation knowing that playing into her mother's fears was the only way to get her to listen. He knew the laws, and so did Sadayo. But despite Sadayo having spent hours trying to talk to Reika about what could have happened, the woman had shut herself out to all reason even after all these years. "I said I wouldn't deny it and I won't. I know what I did and if I'm to go to prison for what I did then so be it. If you want to report me I won't stop you. If you don't want to and are willing to move past it then I will move past it. If you cannot then….we don't have any reason to continue speaking."

"Sadayo," there was pleading in Reika's voice but he couldn't hear anything in Sadayo's.

"I do love you and I am grateful that you are concerned but this is my life and our child. If you're willing to forgive us and be there for us without the presence of the baby then I'm willing to talk. If you aren't and are only here to get in our good graces merely because of the baby you can go. We are a package deal, you don't get us if you don't want him."

There was moment of silence, the sound of the scraping of a chair and then the door open from the corner of his eye. Unplugging his headphones he stuck everything in his pocket and watched as Reika exited the room. Tears stung her face and she squeaked when she saw him standing there. He felt a pang of guilt at the sight of her. Her eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and her normally crisp appearance was disheveled and he wanted to do something to comfort her. He may not have liked her much, but he was engaged to her daughter and he didn't want her to leave like this. Bending down he took his coffee from the small tray it was in and handed it to her. She jumped a bit and stared at the coffee. After a moment she took it, sipped, and then smiled gratefully.

"I'm going to try." She said this more to the cup than to Akira. She looked up and gave him a half smirk. "Take care of them, please?"

"Always." He bowed slightly and she returned it before walking off down the hall.

Entering the room, he handed over the food which Sadayo wolfed down with an almost animalistic fervor.

"Did you get yourself anything," she asked after swallowing the third sandwich.

"You just ate it." He laughed at her blush and wiped away the mess of egg and bread. "I also gave your mother my coffee."

"I'm sorry." She sipped her tea and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Did you hear everything?"

"I did." He sat back and folded his hands on his stomach. "Are you okay with that decision?"

"As much as I can be." She took another deep sip and exhaled. "Dad is willing to move past everything but she's not. I'm not asking she fully accept us, given what I admitted but," she rubbed her stomach, "you shouldn't do things just because of a baby. You do them because you genuinely care about all parties involved, not just one."

"If it makes you feel better," he said after a moment and placed his hand on her stomach. "She did say she'd try. I acted like I didn't know what she meant but she asked me to take care of you two before leaving."

Sadayo smiled and then squeezed his hand before downing her tea and asking, "Where the hell is that doctor with my discharge paperwork?"

The trip to the station was quiet. Sora had shown up to drive him but Reika had decided to take public transit home allowing them to have a stress free trip to the train station. Sora even gave Akira a handshake and a clap on the shoulder before hugging his daughter gently and saying he'd call about a visit soon.

"I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too." He waved them off and soon they were speeding home.

The snow had let up and what little had fallen in Tokyo had melted with the torrential downpour that had appeared out of nowhere. When they exited the station, they had to scramble for a cab and were soaked before they even reached the front door.

"Well at least I don't need to shower," Akira laughed in the entry way as he began pulling out some dry clothes.

"I do," Sadayo replied after sniffing herself. "Can you hand me my nightgown please?" He rummaged for a minute and handed over a nightgown covered in small bluebirds.

She thanked him and gave him a kiss before asking, "Would you mind making some tea and maybe ordering some food? I'm not going to be too long."

"Pizza sound good?"

She kissed him and moaned happily before separating. "Pizza sounds lovely. And I'm going to soak in a bath not shower. I'll yell if I need you."

When she disappeared, he made sure to order a pizza with approved ingredients and stared around the living room to try and figure out a way to put their failed weekend behind them. With Mona gone, there wasn't the usual remains of a late night mess from the cat's midnight movie fests and he wanted to do something for her after the hell of the last few days. Taking a moment to think it over, he growled in frustration and was about to give up when Ryuji's face popped up on his screen.

"What's the matter, Ryuji?" There were only two reasons Ryuji had to call him lately and he was hoping for the positive answer.

"Hey, Joker!" Ryuji sounded out of breath but excited. "Before I get into my shit, how're you holding up brother? I've been trying to call you for like three hours."

"We must have lost our signal." Akira stopped in the hallway and ran his finger along a picture of him and Sadayo at an amusement park. "We just got home and Sadayo's upstairs taking a bath right now."

"How'd it go with her parents?" Ryuji was one of the few people who knew the extent of the issues that Sadayo's parents had with their relationship.

"Well," Akira ran a hand through his hair and looked at the ceiling where he heard Sadayo's footsteps, "her dad shaking hand was the highlight of the weekend."

"Shit man," Ryuji's voice hid a small laugh, "sounds like a good weekend, despite the hospital visit."
"Yeah that,"Akira headed to the kitchen and poured himself some juice, "I don't want to have to do something like that ever again."

"I hear you." Ryuji yawned loudly and smacked his lips. "Hey man, I know I promised to be the first to tell you, but since I couldn't get ahold of you I kind of had to tell everyone else."

"You're shitting me." Akira nearly dropped his glass at what Ryuji was hinting at. "Jun had the baby?"

"Babies brother!" Ryuji seemed to regain some of his trademarked energy.

"Wait?!" Akira's brains rattled through the possibilities and asked, "You mean you two have been lying to us about having twins?!"

"Sorry, man." There was a bit of a chuckle in Ryuji's voice. "That's why we told you guys to just get us things like the stroller and stuff. Figured freaking you all out would be hysterical."

"I hate you, both of you."Akira was smiling and he knew Ryuji could hear it in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He heard someone shout for Ryuji and said he'd be a couple of minutes.

"What names did you decide to go with?" He knew they had at least three names for either gender and was curious at what they'd decided to go with.

"Akemi and Kaito." Ryuji's pride beamed through the phone.

"Good choices." Akira felt himself smiling at the sound of the names. "Congratulations man and give Jun my love."

"I will, man." Ryuji's laughter echoed in his voice. "We'll invite everyone over soon to meet the kids. I'll talk to you later my mom just showed up."
"Have a good night and again congratulations."He hung up and chuckled at himself as he sipped his juice.

He couldn't believe Ryuji was actually a father. In the years since he'd met Jun, Ryuji had matured rather quickly. The woman had a calmly influence over him and the rest of the group was thankful for it since without it Ryuji would have flunked out of college if it wasn't for her.

Jun was brought over on a soccer scholarship from the United States and was third generation Japanese-American. She met Ryuji at college out of mere chance while running track. She noticed Ryuji's limp and offered to help him since she was also studying sports medicine and they ended up engaged within a year of meeting, then married within six months in Hawaii.

Setting his juice down, an idea struck him like a lightning bolt. Picking up the phone he began flipping through the files until he found what he was looking for and slowly an idea began to form.

As she wiped away the fog on the mirror Sadayo let out a relaxed grunt and sighed happily at feeling like her old self. The hospital didn't have a shower for her and the bath wipes they gave her barely made her feel clean. She dressed in the bluebird night gown and smiled as she combed her hair. Despite the events of the past week, Sadayo felt safe in the shelter of their home. She was still recovering from the scare, but with the regimen she, Akira , and the doctors had agreed on she was feeling better, but still disappointed.

She wished things had gone differently with her mother, that was one of the thing she'd wanted to go well, but at the end of the day her mother had still left her. Rubbing her stomach she wished her mother could offer her love and advice, but it wasn't meant to be, at least right now. Despite this, Sadayo couldn't help but feel warm as she turned and lifted her night gown to look at the small bump.

"I can't wait to meet you." She kissed her hand and gave her stomach a gentle pat before heading downstairs. She could smell the pizza and felt her stomach grumble and wished she could feel the baby move; they were both waiting for that.

Akira had taken to playing around her stomach in hopes of catching the first feel. She found it adorable but he had this habit of accidentally tickling her and she'd taken to tightly wrapping a blanket around her stomach to keep it from happening. She didn't enjoy keeping him from touching her. She enjoyed his touch, how he instinctively found his way to his stomach in his sleep, but she didn't enjoy the distraction when she was trying to work.

When she entered the kitchen she found the pizza spread out on a thin butcher's block along with some chopped fruit and what appeared to be smoothies in margarita glasses. Picking up a small piece of pizza she looked around to ask him what was going on and nearly dropped her food when she saw the living room.

In the forty-five minutes it'd taken her to bathe, Akira had moved several of the fake plants they'd scattered around the house into the living room, thrown a few flowery blankets over the couch and had a tropical background showing on the television. But that all paled in comparison to the Hawaiian shirt and shorts combination he was wearing.

"What is going on," Sadayo asked after licking the remnants of her pizza of her hand.

"Aloha," he exclaimed, a bright smile on his face and arms wide as if showing off an impressive project. "Welcome to our own private beach."

Sadayo couldn't contain it and burst out laughing at the declaration.

"What's so funny?" He approached her, his smile faltering a bit at her laughter. "You don't like it."

She took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply. "I adore it," she smiled, her chin resting on his chest. "You were just so cute when you were showing off." Looking at the table, she noticed a bit of mango and pulled him over and fed him a slice.

He took it, and licked her fingers in the process, before gesturing at the table and the living room. "I know it looks weird."

"It does," chuckled Sadayo, "but I love it because you put so much effort into it and besides," she took a sip of the smoothie and her eyes raised at how good it tasted, "with a spread like this who could be mad."

Picking up his own slice of pizza, he took a small bite and a sip of his own drink, "Of course you'd be happy when there's food involved."

Sadayo shot him an amused scowl and stuck out her tongue. "You're just as culpable as me in regards to my current condition, Kurusu. Keep this up and I can keep you in the dog house for the next four and half months."

"Now let's not get too crazy." Akira set the crust from his slice down and went for a bit of orange. "You know I'm happy with simple manual labor and dictation for the duration of your pregnancy."

"I'd like to see that." Sadayo had to stop eating her second slice out of fear of choking. "Maybe Mona can give you tips on how to dictate to yourself since you've already mastered the manual labor portion."

Akira nearly choked from laughter and had to wipe his mouth free of smoothie while Sadayo continued to laugh at the imagery. When he was cleaned up, he pulled her close and gave her a kiss.

"You're a twisted lady, Kawakami." His left hand rested on her lower back and his right rubbed her face gently.

"I just know what buttons of yours to press." Her arms wrapped around his back and she rested her hands on the small of his back. She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a soft kiss. He returned it with his own, a gentle kiss that sent warm waves of contentment through her. When they separated she rested her head on his chest. "So why did you do all this?" She stepped away briefly and grabbed another slice of pizza and shared it with him.

"Ryuji called," he said through a mouthful of pizza. "Jun had the babies."

"Babies?" The pizza fell to the floor with a small splat. "What do you mean 'babies'?"

"Apparently," he bent down and cleaned up the pizza, "they've been hiding the fact that she was having twins."

"Those little…," Sadayo bit into a piece of fruit and tapped her foot angrily. "We spent all that time stressing about what to buy them and they were laughing behind our backs."

"Do you want to know?" Akira took a bite of the fruit and pulled her close. "The sex I mean?"

"I honestly don't know." Sadayo drained her smoothie and took another bite of pizza. "I know we can find out soon and I want to know, but at the same time I want to be surprised." She handed him the slice and asked, "What about you?"

"I kind of want to know." He finished the slice and shrugged at the look she gave him. "I mean I'm not obsessing but at the same time it'd just be easier when people ask me what we're having."

She hummed at this and nibbled on a piece of fruit, her attention turned to living room again. "So what made you want to do this to living room?"

"Glad you asked." His face lit up again at the question. "Well I was thinking that since this week didn't go as planned."

"It sucked," she stated after taking her own bite. "I think that describes it rather succinctly."

"It does," Akira agreed with a shrug and wrapped his arms around her waist. "But I was thinking of a way to help you feel better. So after talking with Ryuji I remembered something on my phone and found this playlist I made back during their wedding."

"A playlist made you want to turn our living room into a fake tropical getaway?" Sadayo rolled her eyes in disbelief and turned around gave him a kiss. "You find inspiration in weird places my love."

"It wasn't just the playlist." he set down the slice and pulled her into the living room.

"I see," replied Sadayo, following him willfully. "So what else was it?"

"You do remember what happened during Ryuji's wedding, right?"

Sadayo stopped and her smile covered her entire face at the memory. Though she'd voiced her concerns about Ryuji getting married so young, she had to admit her former student had done right by his wife.

Since he'd left Shujin, Ryuji's life took a massive turn. He worked hard, got into college, and managed to graduate even though his grades weren't top of the class. He'd met Jun his wife at school and she'd been able to calm him down and get him to focus enough on his goals and given the fact that she was American born, she was able to teach him English. She'd even passed on a love of American music to him that had filtered its way into their life and that's when a small flicker of what he hinted at crept into her mind.

Ryuji's wedding had happened in Hawaii. It was the second time most of them had been there, Futaba and Sojiro not having gone the first time, but his and Sadayo's first time as a couple. It was on that trip that they'd put the rings she'd bought both of them on. There were night time strolls on the beach, days swimming and lounging by the pool. Nights where they'd exhausted themselves to the point that they didn't wake until well past noon. But the night of Ryuji's wedding held a special place for them, not only was it the night they'd exchanged their rings, but it was the night they shared something else for the first time.

"I do," she hummed as she began stroking his arms. "I remember the wedding where all the guys were dressed in shirts and shorts exactly like yours. And all of us ladies wore flowered dresses, leis, and had these small lovely bouquets."

Akira locked his fingers with hers and pulled her close his nose brushing against hers. "What else do you remember?"

"I remember," she paused in fake concentration, wanting to draw this out. "I remember us having a small luau where Yusuke nearly fell into the pit they'd been cooking the pig in and Ann getting poi in her hair thanks to Futaba's prank going wrong." They both shared a long laugh at the memory of Ann freaking out at the sticky substance working its way into her hair.

"Is that all," he asked after they calmed down.

"I remember a long night time walk on the beach." She moved in closer and kissed him softly. "I remember us spreading out the large towels we brought beneath a pier and us exchanging our rings." She leaned in and gave him a deep kiss which sucked the air from his lungs.

"What else?" He felt that familiar need begin to worm its way into his mind but he willed himself to keep control.

"I also remember," her fingernails scratched his chest beneath his shirt before whispering, "sand in places I never want there to be sand again."

Akira nearly collapsed on the floor from laughing so hard while Sadayo stepped back to give him breathing room. When he calmed down he held her close and kissed her saying, "I think we both learned a valuable lesson that night."

"I think so too." Sadayo kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "But seriously, what kind of playlist got you to think of this my love?"

Grabbing the remote off the coffee table, he kept her close and hit play before saying, "This."

Sadayo gasped when she heard a familiar bass line and blushed deeply. "You seriously made a playlist of the songs we danced to that night?"

"I asked the D.J. to download them for me." His right hand wrapped around her lower back and his left took her right and began gently leading her to the music as the singing started. "We said we'd go dancing and things have been so hectic the past couple of years I thought tonight we can make up for that."

Sadayo rested against his chest and let him lead her. Neither of them were excellent dancers, both of them were conscious of where their feet were, but she felt happy resting against him. She tried to translate the words as best as she could. She could make out the words of mountains falling, and not crying as the world crumbling around them so long as they remained at one another's side. She always loved the fact that Ryuji and Jun brought this music into their lives. It was slow, melodic, and made their first dance more special than most of the loud thumping music they'd heard in the bars during their trip.

As they swayed together, their feet occasionally stepping on one another's making them chuckle, her mind drifted back to when they found the bar Ryuji had rented out for the evening. There were plenty of other people there, but the owners had set aside a place just for them since there was only twelve of them. The drinks were discounted along with the bar food since the majority of the group had recently turned twenty-one. He, Yusuke, and Makoto kept their usual composure but still had fun playing bar games and practicing their English with some of the locals while Sadayo, Sojiro, and Sae kept an eye on their younger counterparts.

Though she'd occasionally let him have a glass of wine at home, Akira indulged as much as the others when it came to the cocktails the bar supplied. He handled himself fairly well, but the flush to his cheeks and his constant need to kiss her and touch her had Sadayo blushing most of the night. She'd kept him supplied with snacks and water, and even let him use her as a resting post for a couple hours until he sobered up. When he did, Ryuji had asked if the D.J. could play some songs his new wife's family always played at weddings and that was when he asked her to dance for the first time.

The feeling of her feet being lifted from the floor pulled her from the memory, the sound of the strings crescendo echoing in her ears as he spun them gently across the living room she gazed down into his eyes, saw his smile and smiled back. When she landed she allowed him to twirl her to the music and pull her back in, returning to their gentle swaying as the next song began.

Her mind slipped back into the memories of their trip, when the others had disappeared back to their rooms, they grabbed a few of the beach towels the hotel provided and found a secluded pier that they'd disappeared under. The tide was low so they didn't have to worry about getting drenched, and the moon was bright, giving them just enough light to see each other. They'd brought a bottle of wine with them and shared it, sipping quietly, stealing kisses, and talking over the gentle crashing of the evening waves.

When they were nearly done with the wine, Sadayo finally mustered enough courage to present him with the rings she'd ordered before their arrival. He accepted it without question, the unspoken agreement of what they symbolized not lost on him. Once they were on, they wasted no time reveling in the She opened her eyes as he spun her, the small glint of gold on his fingers catching her attention and making her blush.

"Why are you blushing?" He pulled her back and they continued gliding cautiously along the carpeted floor.

"The fact you're okay with wearing these." She rolled the two small rings on his left ring finger.

"I told you I don't care what anyone thinks about them." He gave her a soft kiss as the song ended and led into the next one, this one a bit faster leading to the occasional trampling of toes and dealing with a man asking his love to always save a dance for him. "I know you asked me first, but if we're going to get married I figured we should wear rings both of us picked out."

"So I'm going to have to wear three rings?" She looked down at her swollen finger, missing the feeling of her rings.

"I was thinking we could get them joined." He had to stop to avoid hitting her foot with his heel as the song ended. "Iwai's friend does good work so I figured before the wedding we could ask her to work on them." He looked at is finger and said, "I think we could just get them crossed over."

She moved in closer, her face flushed red at his consideration. She felt her rings press into her chest as another song, another slow one that reminded her of the night beneath the pier. "You think a lot about these things?"

"Of course," he moved his hand up her back, dipped her cautiously and gave her a deep kiss. "I'm never going to not think about you."
They continued dancing long after the playlist ended. They didn't want to leave their fake tropical get away, locked against each other, swaying gently to the soft pattering of the rain.

As they danced, the memories of the weekend slowly began to fade from her mind as she listened to his heart, the rain seemingly falling in time with the beats. She sighed happily into his chest and gazed up at him smiling lovingly. His eyes were closed in quiet satisfaction and as she watched him an idea struck her as she listened to the rain.

"Hey, Akira?"

"Yeah?" He opened his eyes and looked down at her contentedly.

"Have you thought of names for the baby yet?" They'd discussed it briefly, but they hadn't settled on anything concrete.

A low rumble of thunder echoed outside as he shook his head.

"I've taken a look at a few but nothing has stuck." He spun her again and had her return to him with her back against her chest, their legs moving slowly to the beat of the rain. "I figured we'd discuss it when we were at your parents but given the circumstances," he gave her strained look, "things didn't turn out as planned."

"We're home though," she gave him a kiss and let his hands rub her stomach. "I'm safe and the baby is safe as well. I'm just going to have to be a bit more careful."

"I know," his breath was hot against her neck, but his voice shook. "Still doesn't mean that I'm not scared shitless."

She turned around, removed his glasses, and pressed her forehead to his, locking eyes with him. "Aki-kun, I'm not going anywhere and neither is the baby."

"I'm sorry." He sniffed loudly and rubbed his forehead against hers.

"Nothing to apologize for." She gave him a gentle pat on the cheek. "Just remember that you don't have to carry everything yourself. I'm here to support you."

"I know." He kissed her and pulled her close, his hands resting on her back. They swayed slowly for a few more minutes before he asked, "Did you have some good names in mind?"

"I think so." She looked outside, the light from the porch lighting up the rain on the sliding door.

"I'm all ears." His chin rested on her head and he could feel her shaking.

"Well I was thinking" she took a shaky breath as the rain picked back up and a gentle roll of thunder echoed outside. "I was thinking if it's a girl we can name her Nariko?"

"Feeling inspired by the weather?" Akira couldn't help but laugh a bit at the name.

She blushed and buried her face deeper into his chest. "Maybe a bit. It seems fitting given...given the kind of stormy life our relationship has had."

"I can't argue with that." He kissed her and rubbed his nose against hers. "What name did you have in mind for a boy?"

Sadayo took a deep breath and said, "Maybe Hiro or Kenta?"
She watched his eyes close and saw the slimmest smile appear on his face. "I like them."

She exhaled loudly and returned her face to his chest, laughing in relief as he held her close while the early November rain played softly in their ears.