Adila paced anxiously beside the car as they waited in the pickup lane in the airport. She glanced occasionally at Teru who smiled at her to give her moral support. How would her parents react to him? Would they be upset with her? Would they be happy? So many questions, but no answers yet.

"Beti*! Beti!" a familiar female voice yelled.

"Maa*! Baap*!" she hollered back, missing her boyfriend cringing in the rental car from their loud greeting.

Teru was accustomed to her being quiet and composed even when delivering her blatant sarcasm. He had the feeling he was about to see a different side of her. Getting out of the car to assist with the suitcases, he was shocked to see a woman that looked like an older, darker version of his girlfriend and a man roughly the size of a small barn. Adila had warned him that her father had been a football player while attending university and would have had a professional career had he not sustained a neck injury from an overzealous tackle. He was almost a foot taller than Teru and twice as wide with blonde hair and icy blue eyes. Her mother had black hair, black eyes, and dark brown skin. They seemed friendly enough and greeted him warmly. Her mother even hugged him. So far things were off to a great start.

"These are my parents, Cam and Kalyani Rester*," she introduced them. "Mom, Dad, this is Teru Mikami, my boyfriend."

Teru looked at her questioningly. Why was her last name different? He would be sure to ask her later.

"I figured we'd drop you guys off at the hotel. I'm sure you would to get some sleep to recover from the long flight. Oh, the car stays with you by the way. We're accustomed to walking or taking the trains or subway, but we rented it for you. Here's the address and directions to our apartment. It's not hard to find," she chattered nervously, handing them the long piece of paper. "We can walk to the festival from there. I'm so excited you are here. I've missed you so much. If you need anything just – "

"Sweetheart, breathe please," her father said, interrupting her. He loved his daughter but he was getting a headache from her incessant prattle. "We'll be fine. You're mother and I have travelled to foreign countries before. It is how I met her, remember?"

"Yes, sir," she answered, hanging her head to hide her chagrin.

Teru reached over to hold her hand, squeezing it lightly to reassure her. "Stop worrying so much. I'm sure they will enjoy their trip. They came to be with you anyway," he reminded her.

"So Teru, you're studying to be a prosecuting attorney," her father began to start a dialogue between them. He wanted to get to know this man better since Teru could possibly be the one who takes his daughter away from him.

...

"That seemed to go well," Teru said when they entered their apartment.

"Yes, it did," Adila replied, sitting down on the couch and sighing loudly.

Teru stood in front of her, staring down at her. "Why is your last name different?"

"Sharvani is my middle name. I've been using it since I started high school. I didn't want any special privileges or treatment because of who my parents are," she explained, taking his hand that he held out to her. "I just never switched back to using my real last name."

"Well, you're my goddess. You're special to me, no matter what," he told her, pulling her to a standing position.

Adila slid her arms around his neck as his lips met hers. She looked at her watch checking to see how much time they had before her parents were due to arrive. They had four hours which would be plenty of time for a long, luxurious lovemaking session, and it will still allow her enough time to get dinner ready. She smiled as he pulled her to the bedroom.

"Get undressed," Teru ordered her, lying down on the bed to watch her as she took off her clothes.

"What are you up to?" she asked suspiciously, doing as he asked.

Teru watched her with covetous eyes, concentrating on her every movement. Once she was naked, he beckoned her to him with a wave of his hand. With a command to undress him, he lay back as she took her time unbuttoning his shirt and removing it before she moved to his pants.

"How badly do you want it?" he inquired, placing her hand around his hardened member.

"What?" she queried in disbelief. He never played games like this. Maybe there was still quite a few things left to learn about him.

"How badly do you want it?" he repeated slowly, thrusting himself into her hand.

"You know I always want you," she murmured, leaning forward to press her lips against his.

"Then take it," he told her, putting his hand on her hip and pulling her toward him.

Adila carefully mounted him, closing her eyes to allow the pleasure and power to wash over. She was in charge of him now. This was the first time he had let her take control. Her hips moved up and down slowly so she could feel every inch of him inside of her. She yelped when he pulled her down and pushed up at the same time, reaching depths he had not before. It caused a mild, jolting pain at the deepest part of her body, but at the same time it felt good to have him buried so deeply within her. She moaned and rocked her hips when he held her tightly against him. A smile tilted her lips when he gave her a shaky sigh of blissful approval. Lying down on top of him, she kissed him while moving her hips gently bringing them both incomprehensible pleasures.

"Teru," she gasped when the climax built with a sudden fury and released with surprising intensity.

"Oooh, my goddess, want to do it again?" he asked, holding her down by her thighs as he pushed up into her.

"Oh, yes," she moaned, feeling another orgasm coming as he ground his body into hers.

"Adila," he groaned, pushing her over the edge again at the same time he climaxed. They had gotten pretty good at having simultaneous orgasms which gave them an even deeper sense of unity in their entire relationship. "My beautiful goddess, I love you."

"What?" she asked, pushing against his chest to sit up.

"What?"

"Say it again."

"I love you," he repeated, pushing a stray curl behind her ear. He could not take his eyes from hers as she held his gaze.

"I love you too," she replied, tears filling her eyes.

For the first time in her life, a man had told her those three fateful words and meant them.

...

"Well, since your parents are here, I might as well share my good news," Teru announced during dessert.

Adila was thrilled how he had loosened up around her parents and how they seemed to have taken to him. This was going even better than she could have wished for. She sat forward kissing her boyfriend on the cheek.

"Okay. So tell us," she prompted him, holding his hand.

"You know that internship, the paralegal position I applied for at Okibashi group?" he asked, seeing by her jubilant gaze that she already understood.

"Oooh, honey, congratulations! I'm so proud of you. That's really impressive considering you've just finished your second year," she said, kissing him on the lips this time. She ignored her mother's snort of disapproval. How dare her mother of all people suddenly be so concerned about propriety and proper manners.

"I plan to keep going during the summer semesters for the next few years so we can graduate at the same time. Otherwise I'd have another year to go after you graduate. I want to start my own firm and I want you to be with me," he said, kissing the back of her hand.

"You could talk to your Uncle Anthony at Christmas about getting you an internship at the Tokyo FBI office. He was so proud when we told him what you were studying for. He said he would help you any way he could," her father assured her.

"That would be great!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Are you ready to go?"

"Go where?" her mother inquired with curiosity.

"They're having a lantern festival tonight by the river. You can see the river from here. I thought we'd go light a lantern for grandmother and grandfather," Adila said, giving her mother a shaky smile. She was refering to her maternal grandparents.

"I think that would be a good idea."

...

By nightfall, the waterfront was lined with food booths and merchandisers of all kinds. They stopped by one booth to buy lanterns to light and set afloat in the night sky. Teru pointed out a lantern with the Japanese symbol for reconciliation and another one painted with the symbol for healing after Adila had explained the fractured relationship between her mother and her parents. Usually the lanterns were lit for the dead but for all basic intents and purposes, her mother's parents had proclaimed themselves dead to her. Teru bought one to send off for his mother but not for his father. He never knew him so he figured why bother. He had hated his mother right at the end before her death because she did not support his ideas about punishing bullies. She had wanted him to take a more pacifistic approach or forget the thing entirely. But he could not forget because of what had been done to him and what he had seen others endure.

The vendor lit the candles for them and they held on to their lanterns as the warm air filled the paper balloons. They all walked down to the riverfront to say a quick prayer before releasing the lantern into the night sky to join the rest. They stood for a long time without saying a word to just watch the constant parade of soft twinkling lights in the dark sky.

"It's so beautiful," her mother whispered with tears streaming down her face.

"Oh, Mama," Adila sighed, hugging her mother. She knew her mother missed her parents, however, she also made it clear she never regretted her decision to marry Cam and stay in the United States.

"I will never ask you to make the decision my parents gave me," she assured her daughter, holding her tightly.

Both men shuffled their feet uncomfortably waiting for the poignant emotional moment to end between the mother and daughter. Cam and Teru had found common ground in that they were both ill at ease with displays of deep sentiment and strong emotion particularly in public. Each man was completely comfortable with holding their woman's hand though as they walked past each booth to look at each vendor's wares. They ate Dango and Shaved Ices as they perused the selection at a jeweler's tent.

Teru was looking over the rings when Adila came to stand beside him. He found one made of pure silver that looked like a dragon; it would coil around her finger up to her knuckle. The mouth of dragon was open and holding a pearl. The jeweler explained that it was a representation of Toyotama-hime*, a daughter of the sea god Ryujin.

"It's lovely," Adila murmured, sliding it on to her left hand ring finger. While she was busy admiring the ring, she did not notice Teru asking the merchant the price of the ring by using hand gestures.

"It's yours," Teru told her, handing money to the vendor once they agreed upon a price.

"What?" she asked, blinking at him as if she did not understand. She loved the ring but she had not intended for him to buy it. It had to be expensive.

"It's yours," he repeated, taking her hand in his. "Until I replace it with a different kind of ring."

"Oh, my how romantic," her mother gasped.

"Mom!" she hissed, but her mother's outburst did not ruin the romance of the moment. She kissed Teru, keeping the kiss short and somewhat chaste. She would thank him more passionately later in private.

At the next stall Adila found Juzu bead bracelets. She always thought they were beautiful. The exchange student from Japan that had stayed with them had left his jade bracelet with her before leaving. It was still in her jewelry box at home. She bought a rosewood bracelet for Teru because it reminded her of the maroon brown of his eyes. Feeling that she needed a new bracelet to commemorate her relationship with Teru, she chose a jade one for herself which was almost the same shade of green as her eyes. After choosing a bracelet made of sapphire blue agate for her father and one of ebony for her mother, she gave it to them explaining why she had picked them which was also for their eyes and because she wanted to give them a souvenir they could always wear to remember this moment.

...

Today they would be attending the Gion Matsuri festival in Kyoto. The highlight of this festival, and the reason they had come on this particularly day, was the Yamahoko-junko parade which is a procession of large, gorgeously, and richly decorated Yamahoko floats. It was like the lantern festival with food vendors and sellers peddling all kinds of souvenirs and goods but on a much larger, much grander scale with more pomp and circumstance. Teru took them through several of the nearby family homes who had opened their entryways to the public to display with great pride part of their precious family heritages in the form of family heirlooms and artifacts in a custom known as the Byōbu Matsuri, or Folding Screen Festival.

Adila could not be more proud of Teru who was working hard to make a good impression on her parents and so far was doing an incredible job. Her parents seemed to be having the time of their lives. They had travelled internationally before but this had been their first trip to Japan. It was made even better by having someone who took so much pride in his culture to be their tour guide. They ate and walked and talked until it was time for people to start gathering for the parade of impressive floats.

Once the procession began, oohing and aahing arose to a degree comparable to that of watching a fireworks display. The floats were tall and amazingly extravagant like nothing she had ever seen before in her life. The pride and hard work that had gone into each float was evident by their wondrous beauty.

Teru had as much fun watching her and her parents' reactions as he did watching the parade. He was captivated by their open expressions and willingness to exhibit their emotions. He wished he could be more like that instead of so reserved and always holding back. Reaching out to touch her cheek, he stared at the woman who was patiently teaching him how to feel real emotion and truly love for the first time in his life. Sometimes it frightened him how much he loved her because it was so overwhelming, almost obsessive and consuming.

Adila released a surprised but happy shriek when he grabbed her and kissed her passionately right in the middle of the crowd of people which included her parents. She slid her arms around his neck, kissing him back with conviction not caring who was watching. She loved him senselessly and devastatingly like he did her.

"I want to marry you someday!" he yelled over the crowd.

"What?" she hollered back, unable to hear.

"I want to marry you. I love you," he said right into her ear so she could hear it this time.

Adila clung to him with joyous tears running down her face. If only their relationship could have been frozen in this time, in this emotion…however, not all bumps in the road of life can be anticipated or prevented.

~\..'../~

*Author's Notes*:

Hindi translations: Beti – Daughter/Maa – Mother/Baap – Father

FYI – Adila means just or fair and Sharvani – another name for Parvati, a queen of the god Shiva (the Destroyer).

Rester – Yes, as in Anthony Rester who works with Near. Cam is his brother but an OC that I created of course.

wiki/Toyotama-hime - For more information for the curious.