Author's note: Guess this one kinda coincides with Shuannweek 2024's day 3 prompt, summer/winter. After all, this chapter is about a rainy summer day.

Rain

The summer heat waves that would hit Tokyo could be extremely unforgiving. It was commonplace for many of the residents to stay in their air conditioned homes in order to beat the heat. Those who were unfortunate enough to have tasks or chores to run would have to brave the heat, praying for any kind of relief from it. Today those prayers would be answered by a rainstorm that seemingly manifested out of nowhere. While many celebrated this relief, one stared out the window, a trace of bitter annoyance sprawled across her face.

Ann pouted as she stared out the window, her usual summer attire swapped out for a loose fitting black crop top with a pink heart in the middle, a shoulder strap hanging off, and matching shorts that reached the top of her thighs, pink hearts adorned across them. Her hair undone from its usual twintail do and just flowed out, slightly damp and reaching as far as the mid of her back. She sighed, walking away from the window she plopped herself onto the Living Room couch. Laying her head on the shoulder of the other occupant she sighed again, louder this time, looking up at him, seeing him smile as his eyes shifted to her.

"You know, sighing isn't going to make the rain go away." Ren said.

"Yeah but I wish it did." She pouted, puffing her cheeks.

Ann had planned out a date for them to go to Seaside Park, unfortunately for her the weather had other plans, the sudden storm had canceled all of their plans. Luckily for the two they had happened to be close by to Ann's home and weren't left stranded at the station. They weren't fortunate enough to beat the rain and entered her home completely drenched from head to toe.

"Being cooped up inside is lame. I wanna go out and do something fun!"

Ren chuckled, he looked away from her as he felt his cheeks start to warm up. "Well, I mean, I had fun in the shower together… Did you…-"

Ann's body tingled, her face turned red as she tried to suppress her smile. No one was home when they got here and with both of them drenched and cold Ann offered the idea that they take a hot shower together, saves water and warms them up. She hadn't realized the intimate implications until she saw him step into the bathroom, one thing led to another and what would have been a ten minute shower led to an hour long intimate bath.

"No- I mean yes! No, I mean, I liked it…" She was twirling her hair, opting to focus her gaze on that. She bit her lip, recalling their shared bath. "I wouldn't mind doing that again…" She shook her head, now wasn't the time to get distracted, there was a point she was making. "But what I mean is I was really looking forward to our date and this dumb rain ruined it."

"You don't like the rain?"

She moved from his shoulder, now laying her head on his lap, turning her body upward to look at him, lazily moving her legs into the hair.

"Not really. I mean, I can't really wear what I want without it getting all wet. And you can't really do anything outside so you're forced to stay inside all day. It gets a little boring after a while. Not to mention if it's raining hard enough-" The sound of thunder cut her off causing her to flinch slightly. "That."

"I get what you mean." Ren looked down at her, gently stroking her hair. "But I like rainy days. They're relaxing." Ann looked at him, puzzled, gesturing towards the window, referencing the crack of thunder that just sounded. He chuckled. "Yes, that's relaxing. The rain just has this lull to it and when the thunder doesn't sound close it's a nice touch. It makes you want to sleep the day away."

"Have you always liked the rain?"

"Kind of, I've come to appreciate it more as of late."

"Why's that?"

A ting of pink spread across his cheeks. "Promise you won't laugh?" She nodded. "Well… if it wasn't for the rain I wouldn't have met you." A quiet 'oh' left her lips as she looked up at him. She remembered hoping that the rain would clear soon, and how miserable she felt being in Kamoshida's car that day. But what stood out most was meeting him for the first time. He looked so mystified looking at her, like he'd never seen a girl before. She couldn't help but chuckle a little, reminiscing on it. "Hey, you promised…" He pouted, feigning hurt as he puffed his cheeks.

"Sorry." She playfully poked his cheek. "I'm just remembering how you looked at me that day, you were, like, in awe or something. It was really cute."

"I mean, I kinda was. You were able to put all your hair under your hood and when you took it off, 'poof', like a magic trick."

She giggled. "Is that why you were looking at me for so long?"

"Well that," He stopped stroking her hair, looking at her lovingly. "and I've never seen a woman so beautiful before."

Now it was her turn to look at him mystified, the sound of rain filled the room as they stared into each other's eyes. Her face grew more red as an idea came to her, she smirked and sat up. She jumped onto him, her legs straddling his lap, her chest gently pressing into his as her arms locked behind his neck, returning Ren's loving gaze with one of her own.

"Well~, that beautiful woman is right on top of you." She emphasized this statement by gently moving her hips. "Maybe you and I could 'relax' while this rain passes?"

"'Relax', huh?" He gently wrapped his arms around her waist. "You mean like how we 'relaxed' in the bath together?"

She giggled. "You did say rainy days are relaxing, and this is how I want to do that." Her voice lowered, sounding more sultry. "You know, sleep the day away…" She leaned into him. "With you…" Capturing his lips with hers, she pulled away for a second just for Ren to seek out hers, making her giggle as their lip lock continued. They would end the day content in each other's arms, sharing her bed and sheets as the rain continued to pour, gently.

Maybe there was something that Ann could appreciate the rain for.