Haru Ga Kita
CappuccettoRosso
Beta: None
Universe: Manga
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Sawada Shin / Yamaguchi Kumiko
Genre(s): Romance / Fluff
Warning(s): Fluff
Disclaimer: Gokusen is the intellectual property of Kozueko Morimoto, and its publisher, Shueisha. I am only borrowing its characters for my own amusement. No profit is being made in the publishing of this story.
Author's Note: Written for the Dove_Drabbles' May prompt: "sleep late tomorrow." Also, I have a thing for Sawada singing...pretty much anything. I blame Matsumoto Jun. The lullaby mentioned in the story is Haru Ga Kita ("Spring Has Come"). I used the English translation.
Summary: It's the middle of the night and Kumiko can't sleep. Shin has just the thing to get her back to sleep.
"You should be asleep."
Kumiko sighed and sighed again when a soft blanket was draped over her shoulders. She reached up and caught the edges of the blanket, pulling it a little tighter around her. Kumiko hadn't realized just how cold she was until she was wrapped up snugly. She hummed when a warm, hard body pressed against her back and two familiar arms cradled her close.
"Tell that to your daughter," Kumiko complained tiredly. She smiled when Shin leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple.
"Keeping you up?" he asked, even as he sneaked a hand beneath the blanket and palmed her distended belly. She felt her daughter's energetic movements slow down, as if the baby recognized her father's touch and was soothed by it. Kumiko couldn't blame her—Shin's touch never failed to relax Kumiko, too.
"Yeah," she grumbled, smiling wryly. "She's been kicking up a storm in there for the last hour."
Shin's smirk was evident in his words when he said: "She's just practicing her foot work."
Kumiko rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but she could quit using my bladder as her punching bag." She had, had to get up to use the toilet three times. After the third time, she decided to stay up, wait until the baby settled, before going back to bed.
That had been an hour ago.
"She should be fine now," Shin said quietly, confident in his words. He prodded her until she turned around and faced him. Shin was standing in a thin shirt and sleep pants, his hair sleep mused and feet bare. Kumiko hissed.
"Shin, you idiot," she snapped, even as she shrugged off the blanket to wrap it around Shin. "It's March. You're going to freeze out here."
Shin raised an eyebrow. "Says the other idiot who decided to stand out here in shorts." He tried to wrap the blanket around her again, but when she resisted; he grabbed it and folded it over his arm.
"It's these hormones," she grumbled; "they make me hot."
He leered at her. The effect was ruined by his half-lidded eyes, still puffy from sleep. There was also a crease on his cheek, left there by the pillow. "Indeed."
Kumiko sighed at him, even if she was inwardly pleased. "You should go to bed. You have to get up early tomorrow."
Shin tugged her hand. "Not that early. The meeting doesn't start until 10. I can sleep in a little tomorrow. Besides, you know I sleep better with you and Mayumi-chan beside me. So shut up and come to bed."
Kumiko resisted when Shin tried to lead her back into the apartment.
"No, Shin, she's still awake," she said, rubbing her stomach. While the baby wasn't moving as enthusiastically as before, she was still very active. Kumiko knew that if she went to bed now, her daughter would only start up again.
"I'll sing her a lullaby," Shin said, pulling her gently inside.
Kumiko almost snorted. Right: a lullaby; like that was going to work.
"Lullabies never worked on me," Kumiko said instead.
Shin shot her a look. "That's because the men in your family suck at singing. They're tone deaf."
"You can't sing either."
"Still not as bad as your folk. They make ears bleed."
She grumbled as she settled back into bed as best she could. Seven months into the pregnancy, and it was difficult to find a comfortable position to sleep in. Luckily, she had invested on a body pillow and stuff it beneath her belly. Kumiko looked expectantly up at Shin, who huffed a laugh at her and slipped into bed with her.
They laid facing each other, quiet for a moment. Then Shin reached across the body pillow and began rubbing slow circles on her stomach. This time the baby didn't react to Shin's touch and continued stretching, pushing against the walls of her cozy little home.
"Spring is coming," Shin began, voice low, almost breathy, but infinitely warm. Kumiko bit her bottom lip to keep from gasping. "Spring is coming.
"Where is spring now?"
She closed her eyes and simply listened as Shin continued, moving from one verse to the next. His voice moving with an easy cadence.
"Here in the mountains...here in the village...and here in the fields..."
His voice isn't terrible, Kumiko thought hazily. A part of her was grudgingly impressed.
"Flowers bloom, flowers bloom...where do flowers bloom?"
Visions of flowers, whole fields of them, came to her mind's eye; and in the middle, her little family. Mayumi-chan ran after a butterfly, her beautiful face alight with joy. The little girl stopped and turned around, and smiled widely at her.
Kumiko suddenly there and she stretched out her arms and she laughed as Mayumi-chan ran back to her.
"Here in the mountains...here in the village...and here in the fields..."
Kumiko was asleep before she realized it. The baby was quiet, too, sleeping peacefully along with her mother. Shin smirked at Kumiko's gently snoring started, his own eyes already drooping.
"'Lullabies don't work on me', my ass."