When they entered the shop it took a few minutes for someone to come out and see what they wanted. Hikaru indicated the grey kimono in the window with cranes on a silver lake shore.
The shopkeeper replied hesitantly, "That one would be far too short for you."
Kiri asked, "Can you make one like it in her size?"
The shopkeeper nodded in surprise but then warned, "It's all done by hand, it won't be exactly the same."
Hikaru said suddenly, "If it won't be exactly the same anyway, could we add things to the design?"
The shopkeeper nodded warily.
Kiri asked, "What are you thinking?"
Hikaru looked at him and blushed, then said, pointing to another display, "What if we did something like that, using the pattern off the window display. If we get a pair, only with yours in black and white and mine in grey and silver, with red flower petals like those flowing from one kimono to the next?"
Kiri said quietly, "I'd love it." He kissed her and asked the shopkeeper, "Can you do it?"
The man nodded and then gave them a shockingly high estimate. Kiri didn't bat an eye, but Hikaru gasped.
Kiri glanced at her amused and murmured, "It's fine Hikaru, I'm only going to marry you once you know."
Hikaru frowned and replied, "I know Kiri, but I kind of wanted to be able to do half on this, and it's too much for me right now."
Kiri hesitantly asked, "Can't I just do it?"
Hikaru didn't reply immediately but then she nodded. Relieved, he finished the order.
--
Outside the shop, she squeezed his hand and asked, "Kiri, are you ever going to let me pay for things?"
He stopped walking and asked seriously, "Hikaru, are we going to have to keep separate bank accounts even after we're married?" He looked her in the eye and said, "I'll live that way if you want to, but I'd rather just have everything be ours."
She didn't move and he looked at her unhappily. Finally she answered, "I don't know Kiri, there are things I'm paying for that I don't feel like should be your problem."
"Like what?" he challenged.
"Like my brother's tuition," she replied promptly.
"How is that different from my mother's roof, and things like that," he countered.
She stared at him open mouthed and then laughed. "I guess it's not," she admitted.
He hugged her tightly and after a moment she whispered into his ear, "OK, we can share it all."
He picked her up and twirled her happily and she asked with a grin, "So when are we combining our bank accounts?"
He laughed and replied, "On Monday."
"Kiri!" She protested, he looked at her and she laughed and said, "You idiot."
He squeezed her hand and asked, "I'm going too fast again?"
She nodded and whispered, "Just a little."
He took a deep breath and then said, "OK Hikaru. Then please tell me when you're ready."
"OK," she agreed.
--
They returned to Kiri's grandparents' place late into the afternoon.
Hikaru liked how Tae and Sora would silently hand each other things sometimes without needing words, though they weren't a silent pair. They teased each other and shared little stories of the day or happenings in their large family. Tae was rarely still, and she and Sora both smiled often.
Tae suggested Kiri take Hikaru out onto the porch to watch the sunset, after they had summarized their day in town. Kiri agreeably led her out onto a traditional porch, that overlooked a small garden. Beyond the fence, the fields sloped away, and houses dotted the edges of the road that passed in the distance.
Hikaru said as she knelt and cuddled against him, "I want this."
Kiri looked at her.
"Not this place, or this view," she explained, waving an encompassing hand, "what they have," she gestured back toward the house where Kiri's grandparents were. "A comfortable old love stuffed full of memories."
Kiri reached for her hand, and said, "I'm ten years older, I'll likely be gone by the time you're 88 Hikaru. My mother has never said she regrets it, but the age dif..."
She withdrew her hand, rose to her knees, put her hands on his shoulders and said a little angrily, "You could die tomorrow! Or I could!"
He looked up into her face, shocked by her sudden vehemence, and she continued, "I know Kiri, I know better than anyone that there may not be enough time. But if you are so worried about being older, then just take care of yourself, eat well, exercise, live as long as you can..."
He nodded but she continued after a deep breath, "Because Kiri, I want to have it all! Every year, every day, every minute that I can have with you!"
"Yes," he replied. Unsteadily, in almost a whisper he added, "I'm already yours."
He pulled her closer, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and they kissed. A while later, when he laid her down and slid his fingers under her shirt, she said, "People can see us here."
He said while caressing her, "Only if they're looking, and I don't care. Do you want me to stop?"
"No," Hikaru replied.
His lips burned against her skin when he kissed her neck, her ears, and her jaw. And when he kissed her mouth it felt like he wanted to devour her and she moaned.
The sunset stained her scars red when he pulled her shirt off, and he wasn't wearing a condom when he came inside her.
--
Later in their futon, after a dinner that Hikaru had blushed through like a sputtering firework, he whispered apologies.
Finally Hikaru laughed and put her hands against either side of his face. "Kiri," she said firmly, "I told you I didn't want you to stop. It will probably be fine, please stop trying to hog all of the responsibility."
He buried his face on the crook of her shoulder and whispered, "But I said I'd be careful with you."
Hikaru asked wryly, "Didn't you tell me before it would be OK if I was already pregnant?"
He pushed himself up and looked down at her and replied seriously, "Yes, but Hikaru, you just told me this afternoon that I'm pushing you too fast."
She nodded seriously and said, "Kiri, if it will make you stop feeling like you have to apologize, we can combine our bank accounts on Monday."
She laughed again as his face lit up and he kissed her enthusiastically. "I love you," he said again.
"I love you too, you idiot," she replied still laughing.
He froze and she put on a serious expression and said, "Kiri, you really are acting like an idiot, do we need to set a new safe phrase?"
He laughed and relaxed against her. "No," he mumbled against her skin, "I don't want you to make calling me an idiot a habit."
"OK," she agreed, and then she reached over him and pulled out a condom. "Want to go faster?" she asked.
