Chapter 13

Blink. Nope. Still there. Her mind was beginning to catch up to her body and she was starting to register that she was standing in her doorway, with her hair tangled, in her old ratty pajamas, with sleep in her eyes and drool dried to the side of her face, her teeth were not brushed and she was facing "the world sexiest bachelor." I mean not that it mattered right? She had Tora. Wait. Her mind went back through that list. Who cared who was standing in front of her! She was a mess. Her face grew bright red.

Takumi suppressing a small laugh but couldn't help the big smile on his face. She was so cute. "May I come in," he asked as he stepped past her into the apartment. Clearly, she had lost track of time and he had to be a bit pushy. If she had just woken up she would try to come up with an excuse to get rid of him. Now that he had made it inside, she couldn't just turn him away.

Misaki looked confused. He'd asked if he could come in and now he was in and she didn't remember answering his question. "Why are you here?" She asked.

"It's 11:45. You said I could drop off your luggage." He held up her bags then set them down near the door.

"But how are you here?" she tried to clarify.

"Well, they have these new things called cars. They are really helpful getting people around." He was teasing her. He knew what she wanted to know but he was going to make her ask properly.

"How did you know my address?" She tried again.

"Oh," Takumi acted like he just now understood her confusion. She was just so fun to tease. "Luggage tags."

Misaki nodded. That must have been where he had gotten her phone number too. She hadn't thought about that at 6:30 in the morning, but now that she was more alert it seemed the only explanation. She stopped to assess her current situation. A visitor was in her house and she'd feel better if she could clean up a little. "Will you excuse me for a minute while I get changed?" She asked closing the front door. "Feel free to make yourself at home."

She hurried off to the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth, wash her face and put on a little lipstick. Then she'd go to the bedroom to put on more appropriate clothing.

Takumi took her suggestion to 'make himself at home' to heart and walked over to her fridge. He called out to her after she'd left the room, "so they gave you the day off because you were traveling overnight for work, huh?"

Misaki could hear him talking but couldn't make out what he was saying behind the closed door. After she was done with the hair and had washed her face, she opened the door, "pardon?" She asked.

"Oh, it was nothing. I was just saying it looks like you have the day off. Sorry. I forgot you had the door closed and couldn't really hear me." He said still digging through the fridge. It was all take out boxes. There was literally nothing in here that he could use to make breakfast for her. She'd always been a bad cook but he loved anything she made him, just because it came from her. Apparently her sorry excuse for a 'boyfriend' couldn't cook either. God! She didn't even have eggs.

Misaki closed the door again and finished brushing her teeth and applying light makeup. Why would he think that she would leave the bathroom door open? He was acting like he was her husband or something. Somehow, though it didn't seem creepy to her. It felt almost familiar. She exited the bathroom and hurried to the bedroom door. She glanced over at him as she went to close the door. Was he digging through her fridge?

"Hey," Takumi said before she'd closed the bedroom door, "mind if I throw out some of these left overs? Some of them are well past their prime."

So not only was he digging through her fridge, he was cleaning out her fridge. Was this normal behavior for a guest? "Uh… I guess." She replied and closed the door and threw on some clothes.

She came back out and he had a full garbage bag in hand. "Great!" he said, "You're dressed. We'll throw this bag of trash away on our way out to the store." She looked a bit confused. She'd only been awake for about 10 minutes. Was she actually still in some sort of dream? But next thing she knew he had grabbed her hand and pulled her from her own apartment.

"Store?" She asked, searching her purse for the keys to lock up.

"Yep. I need to grab just a few things to make you breakfast. If you want, we can also pick up a few things so we can get dinner ready for when Tora gets back from work."

Misaki was trying to process what he was saying. "Aren't you just dropping off my luggage?" She asked.

"I was dropping off your luggage. Now I'm making sure my tour guide is well feed and rested so that she has the energy to take me all over the city tomorrow." He had that twinkle in his eyes, the kind she had expected to see in her dream. The mirth that she intuitively knew was his natural tendency. It was so odd because she had seen interviews of him on t.v. and this look wasn't something that he'd ever shown publicly. "You haven't forgotten about our wager have you?" He asked.

"Oh. No. I guess I can show you around tomorrow. I was going to spend the day with Tora but I saw a text from him while I was getting changed. It looks like he will be working late tonight and all of tomorrow, and I normally get every other Friday off, so I am free." Tora had encouraged her to try to spend time with Takumi. Plus, she had lost the bet. It sounded like a more productive day than sleeping and reading which is what she normally did on her days off.

"Tora needs to work late tonight?" Takumi said trying to sound disappointed and surprised. "That's too bad. Hey, maybe you can come over to my place tonight for dinner and I can show you all these great pictures I found of you from back when we dated. Who knows, it might help you remember something."

"You have pictures of us?" She asked, "that's odd. I don't think I have any of you."

Takumi said nothing about her last comment. He assumed Tora must have gotten rid of any trace of him while she was in the hospital. But no worries. He had his own stash. Today she would have a stroll down memory lane. "Well, I haven't been back to Japan for many years so I never really had the time to sort through my belongings. The last time I was in Japan, we were still an item, so yeah, I still have a lot of mementos that might help you remember your past."

"So you have kept your same apartment even though you weren't living here?" She asked.

"Real estate in Tokyo is a sound investment. And now I have somewhere to stay when I come back here for business. It looks like things are changing here in Japan and that will require more of my attention. I'll need to spend more time here so I'm glad I kept it," he explained, "so where is the nearest store?"

Shopping with Takumi was more fun than just about anything Misaki did with Tora. The store carried a small selection of hats and sun glasses and Takumi made her try on every combination. When he'd find a pair that was funny or cute, he'd grab a set for himself and then he'd demand that they take silly selfies of the funniest combinations. He stopped strangers and pretended to be a tourist. His coloring and perfect English was a convincing disguise. He would ask them to take a photo of him and his girlfriend or he'd ask them for directions using broken Japanese. Mostly, he was just trying to see what it would take to get Misaki to laugh or to blush. And Misaki surprised herself by laughing more freely than she had in years. She thoroughly enjoyed Takumi's company to the point that, for a moment, she almost forgot she had an actual boyfriend.

While she wasn't remembering specific events, she was falling back into old habits. Takumi could see she was treating him and speaking to him the way she used to. He couldn't be happier. It took everything he had in him not to touch her. He knew that if he did something so bold, she'd revert to treating him like Mr. Walker rather than like Takumi.

After they'd picked up some groceries, they returned to Misaki's apartment. They were putting the food they'd purchased away and Takumi decided to tease her about all of the take out food.

"I've been away for 3 weeks. Tora had no one to cook for him," she said with a little blush.

"Oh I see." Takumi smirked, "normally you do all the cooking then?"

She could see by the look on his face that he knew one of her secretes. She was a terrible cook. The takeout wasn't just a standard when she was traveling. It was pretty much her household's way of life.

"So you must be a pretty good chef. What's your favorite thing to make," he pressed. She could hear it in his voice. He was just teasing her now.

She blushed even darker and walked over and punched him in the arm. "Shut up you space alien."

"Hummm," Takumi said grabbing her wrist to keep her from trying a second punch, "hasn't anyone ever told you it isn't nice to hit or call people names? I might need to punish you if you aren't more careful."

She jerked her hand away and excused herself to the bath room.

Fuck. What had he just done. He told himself not to touch her. Then he grabs her wrist and makes an innuendo? He'd gotten lost in the moment. It had felt like old times and he forgot she wasn't his and this wasn't their home. How could he mess this up? Why was it so easy to get lost when he was with her? He felt like a different person when he was around her. He felt like he was able to be the Takumi he had thought had died nearly five years ago. That Takumi just ignored everything and insisted she was his. It made sense. They were meant to be. Couldn't she see that? But now that bastard Tora was getting in the way. How could Tora be the obstacle? Talk about insignificant. Tora was the definition of insignificant. It just didn't make any sense.

Once in Misaki was in the bathroom she splashed cold water on her face. Why did she feel turned on when he'd threatened to punish her? Why did she remember her dream when he'd touch her? Why did everything feel so natural and right when they were together even though she knew he was acting weird as a guest? Heck. He was acting weird as a person and it still felt right. Who was this guy? What had he been to her? Why was he making her feel so much different than normal? Why was this feeling of 'different' more normal to her than her regular normal? She wanted answers and she wanted them now.

She emerged from the bathroom. "You said you live in the same place you did when we dated?" She asked very matter of fact and business like. Takumi nodded. "Did we spend much time in your apartment when you lived here?" Takumi nodded again. "Grab your stuff. We're going there now."

Takumi looked at the lovely stocked fridge, "what about your breakfast?"

"We'll eat when we get there." This time she grabbed his arm and marched him out of her apartment.