Title: Under the Stars
Author: A Paper Moon
Pairing: Narumi Ayumu/Yuizaki Hiyono
Fandom: Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna
Theme: #12—in a good mood
Rating: G
Disclaimer: All characters of Spiral are the property of Kyou Shirodaira; I allege no possession of said characters. I only request to take them to over-rowdy soccer games and force them to play at gunpoint. Inspired Helen Jane Long's piano piece entitled, "Expression."
[[You should seriously listen to it while you read this.]]
Summary: He always had a way to surprise her.

Once again, you all amaze me :) Anywho, another future-fic coming your way. Um, let's go late twenties, beginning years of marriage. Yeah, that sounds good :D

-.-.-

Though the afterglow of the honeymoon had faded a few years ago, there were still a few times every once and a while, when Narumi Hiyono's husband managed to sweep her off her feet and into a strange, parallel dimension of premarital bliss when the largest fight they ever had was whether or not to forward their mail when the hopped a mode of transportation to their next destination.

Towards the end of their "dating stage" and into the merger known as their engagement, the duo had decided to drop their ties to Japan and travel, their minds set on the idea of seeing as much of the world as they could before the possibility of children came into the picture.

So they did.

And when they came back from their first two years of whirlwind romance—odd a sentiment for Narumi Ayumu but hey, he could be romantic if the mood was right (insert an awkward yet seductive wink here)—they returned to Japan and bought themselves a cozy, one bedroom home on a quiet street lined with finely aged willows and aspens.

Their neighbors were the Yamanakas, an elderly couple straight from an Anne of Green Gables picture with the stooped backs and tendencies to feed the "cute, fuzzy things" known as squirrels.

With their lives picture-perfect, Ayumu and Hiyono felt they could conquer the world. So why was it, that on that particular summer's night, her heart was racing and she was dreading the return of her husband?

Hiyono waited by front door, her eyes set out the large bay windows, over their swooping, front yard toward the cobbled streets. When she saw the silver Volvo take the familiar turn past the Yamanakas, her lungs constricted and her palms began to sweat. She closed the sheer curtains before tucking a piece of hair behind her ear and moving toward the French doors.

The slight crunching of the stones beneath the car's tires let her know that Ayumu had pulled into the drive and when the soft rumbling died, she realized he'd turned off the car's engine.

All was eerily silent.

And then she heard his shoes tapping against the walk to the door.

The moon was bright, illuminating the petunias out front and the towering, weeping willow's branches were dancing in the slight breeze. It was a warm night.

Narumi Ayumu was smiling, something he didn't do that often, but often enough for his wife. He had news that he had to share. Yeah, it was that important.

When he approached the door, he could have sworn he saw the silhouette of his wife in the front window. Puzzled, he paused in his steps to watch her pace across the floor once before disappearing.

Interesting.

His hand slid over the cool, copper doorknob of the right door and with a quick twist of his wrist, he had it open.

"You home?" Of course, he knew the answer to that, but he didn't want her to know that. Besides the glow from the one small lamp, the entire house seemed vacant and dark.

He heard a rustle nearby and he wife's shadow alerted him to her presence. Turning to give a welcome to his wife, he opened his mouth and was stunned. When he spotted her wide, worried eyes, he dropped his bag on the floor and turned to completely face her.

"Hey," he urged, "what's wrong?"

She wrung her hands together, refusing to make eye contact and Ayumu was at her side in seconds.

"Seriously, what's the matter?"

Her throat worked to swallow the large lump keeping her from answering. Finally she got it down, and yet, when words did eventually leave her lips, they were quiet and only slightly discernable.

"What was that?" Ayumu placed on hand on her opposing shoulder and lent downward so as to be eye-level with her.

"I know you wanted to wait and all, but…"

Now, concern easily etched its way onto his features, his mouth in a grim line, his brows furrowed over darkened eyes.

His voice was low and calm when he said her name and it made her heart stop for all but a second. "Hiyono, just tell me what's wrong."

Feeling her face heat and her throat constrict, she blurted, "I'm pregnant." She knew there was no tact in her telling him but she felt that if she didn't get it off her chest, she might implode into nothingness.

He was silent; not really the reaction she had hoped or predicted.

Ayumu's hand fell from her arm and dangled at his side, his mouth now open in awe. Eyes wide and brows tilted toward his hairline, Ayumu was the defined picture of shock. Hiyono lowered her gaze, tears brimming and millimeters from flowing over dark lashes. She pivoted on her back foot and angled herself away from her husband as to avoid the brunt of his response.

She held her arms about her slim and untouched waist. Seconds later—though they felt like years—the sensation of skin upon skin registered in her unraveling mind and her honey-colored, red-rimmed stare shot to see a more olive-toned hand resting on her own pale fingers.

"Ayumu-kun?"

His jaw clenched, the muscles opening and closing his mouth like a gaping fish before finally setting closed. His other hand joined the first and they traced tentative, gentle patters over the backside of her hands, their lines crossing knuckles and then the cotton of her blouse. They drew a path past her wrists and to her abdomen where they rested, the pads of his fingers hovering just at her bellybutton.

Her eyes stuck on his hands, Hiyono patiently waited for any sort of verbal reaction and when she didn't receive any, she settled with watching. Her gaze traveled from his fingernails, up the bones, past his arms to his broad shoulders were they paused before ghosting over his neck and face, tracing every line and curve she saw.

The tension was so thick, Hiyono was sure she would slowly be deprived of oxygen.

At last, Ayumu cleared his voice and the sound alone made Hiyono jump, the moment long gone, into the past and filed away in a small folder of memories she would long look through.

"R-Really?" he sputtered, then coughed lightly and repeated, "You sure?"

Not quite trusting her vocal chords at the moment, she nodded.

Again, tense silence.

And then, the most wonderful sensation beyond that of the day they conceived their little one: Ayumu's joyful laugh and the feeling of being lifted and twirled through the sky.

Before she knew what was happening, her eyes slid out of focus and when they refocused themselves, it was dark and she couldn't tell where she was.

She only felt the wind rushing past her and her arms clung to, what she determined to be, her husband's neck, her fingers digging into soft flesh and silky hair.

Strong hands held her tightly against a warm chest and gentle breath ticked the column of her throat. A deep rumble near her own heart told her he was laughing, and by the low sound, he was having himself and wonderful laugh—one she hadn't heard in a while.

Small dots of light circled around her and for a moment she thought she had lost consciousness. She then realized that those pinpoints of radiance were the stars, their accumulated luminosity dancing like petite fireflies.

The warm air encircled the pair and Ayumu's laugh finally died down.

When they parted, Hiyono's words were quick in a single breath, "Aren't you mad?"

"I-I… Wha— I mean… Why would I?" he eventually settled on.

She knew that kids weren't his favorite things; beyond the screaming and diapers, Ayumu never really showed an interest and she could somewhat understand why. She'd never really thought of kids; they'd always been a "what if" in the back of her mind and, one day, she realized she would live a happy life if she never had children. And yet, now that that dream had become a reality, she was deathly worried.

"So, you're not?"

He bonked her head lightly with a opened fist and chuckled, "You did realize I just twirled you around in the front yard."

"…Yeah?"

"Where everyone could see us?"

Hiyono stared.

Sighing, Ayumu swooped down to lay and soft, heart wrenching kiss upon her stunned lips. "I would never be mad. I love you."

And then her world stopped.

Yes they loved each other and yes, they told each other every once and a while. But, for some reason, the way his voice was rough and full of emotion and the stress that had accumulated over the last fifteen minutes—it all had her heart racing and her mind a jumbled mess.

"I—"

"I know." And with that, Ayumu placed a hand on her waist drawing her close, his other going to her hand where he held it parallel to their bodies. Her petite hand automatically slid up to his shoulder and they began to dance.

It was as if they were back on their wedding night, the stars their only witnesses as it had been when they ran and eloped (all the plan of one, then called, Yuizaki Hiyono and her overly romantic mind) in the running hills of Lisbon, Portugal.

The doves cooed quietly, the music silent to everyone but them. They twirled around one another, their steps burned into their minds from the reception. Hiyono rested her head in the crook of Ayumu's shoulder and she sighed, the worries evaporating like a gentle mist on a warm, summer's eve.

She had known her husband for many years, long before marriage, and yet, he always had ways to surprise her. He had yet another, sometime the next day when he told her of his raise and that they'd be able to afford a new home with all the furnishings for their arriving little one.

However, he waited to inform her of that tid bit at a later time; his heart fine with just swaying in the summer's air with his wife and unborn child. Under the stars, their happiness was pocketed away in their own little world of perfection, where they were happy to stay undisturbed.

The end. You know the drill, please. :)