Miri sniffled and said, "I do trust Hikaru, but I don't want her to live alone." She looked at her daughter who lifted her chin at this statement. "Can't you at least live with Takeshi-kun?" Miri asked her.

Hikaru covered her face and laughed.

Miri said, "I'm serious."

Kiri replied, "That's just what we were discussing."

Miri looked up at him hopefully. Hikaru and Kiri sat down at the table. Hikaru blushed.

Kiri continued, "It turns out that a legal contract for such a situation is what Hikaru requested from my lawyer. But we'd need your approval. And we need to go over it together."

"A legal contract?" Kaoru asked dubiously.

"A certain type of prenuptial agreement," Hikaru explained.

Yuki frowned. "Isn't it a little early to get married?" he asked his little sister.

Hikaru looked at Kiri uncertainly and said, "It doesn't mean we have to get married, only that we're considering it?"

Kiri looked at her expressionlessly for a moment and then said, "Let's read through it then."

Hikaru cuddled up against him, and Miri came around the table and sat beside her daughter. Kiri placed the "Hitoshi lives with Takeshi" marked contract in front of Hikaru.

Within the first few paragraphs Hikaru exclaimed, "That's ridiculous!"

Kiri hugged her and said, "I don't mind it, but finish reading the whole thing before we argue about it?"

On the next page Hikaru commented, "I don't like that."

This time Kiri wasn't sure what she was talking about, when he asked, Hikaru pointed to the section dealing with children. "What don't you like about it?" he asked.

She replied, "I think that it's just selfishness. Splitting custody, it's like the parents are afraid of not having an even share, it's not helpful to the kid. I know lots of kids whose parents aren't together anymore and too many of the ones with shared custody act like they don't really have a home."

Kiri looked at her soberly, then said, "This says in the event that we can't agree, if you take that out, what do you want to put in its place?"

Hikaru looked at him for a minute and then replied, "I think if we can't agree, you should probably have custody."

Kiri looked at her in surprise. "Why? Isn't it more traditional for the mother?"

Hikaru said unhappily, "But you are already financially able to provide for a child, and you cook, and... I just think that you might do better. But I don't plan to have kids so soon anyway."

Kiri hesitated, then nodded. "OK," he agreed.

They read the last bit.

Miri asked, "What was wrong on the first page?"

Hikaru replied, "It's ridiculous that Kiri should have to pay me if he decides not to marry me before the contract ends. It doesn't say I'd have to pay him. And that's a ridiculous amount!"

"It's not ridiculous, I have no problem with it," Kiri said tiredly.

Hikaru looked at him and opened her mouth to argue.

"Hikaru I am older. It can matter." He put a finger against her lips. "If you look at history, older men do take advantage of young women. That's why it's not equal. This clause is for your protection. It's not that much, enough to live on for 2 or 3 years, not that long if you're in college," Kiri said.

"What if you wound up having to pay it?" Hikaru protested. "If it goes into an escrow thingy you do have to pay it."

Kiri laughed and hugged her against him. "Then my savings account will look a little thin," he replied with a grin.

Hikaru gaped at him.

"Hikaru, I don't mind it, though honestly I don't intend to pay it in the end, because I do want to marry you," he told her wryly. "And if you decide you don't want to marry me, there's no penalty," he added quietly.

Hikaru nodded reluctantly.

"I doubt that figure is random either," Kiri told her. "I think it's probably a year of my income, averaged over the last few?"

Kaoru asked to see the contract, he read it and whistled. "How much do you make?" he asked, passing the contract on to Yuki.

Kiri said wryly, "60k base, plus extra contract bonuses. And the last few years I've barely had time to take any vacation, and been working 60 hour plus weeks regularly. The owner and I have been discussing it a lot lately, we've reached a point where we need to either expand or cut back."

Izumi stared at him.

Kiri said to him, "I told you I could afford a wife if I wanted to."

Izumi sneered and said, "So money makes it all OK?"

Hikaru glared at him and said, "I don't care how much Kiri makes."

Kiri said quietly, "Hikaru doesn't actually need me to take care of her, even though I want to." To Hikaru he added, "I've been thinking, that part of the problem is the secrets you're keeping. He can't understand you, because he has no idea Hikaru."

Hikaru looked at Kiri. Kaoru looked at them both with surprise.

Kiri said uncomfortably, "I don't think it's fair to your brother either, I don't think you should keep it secret anymore."

Yuki asked, "Keep what secret?"

Hikaru looked at her uncle, who nodded and said, "I think we should confess."

Hikaru said reluctantly, "I've been paying half of Yuki-ni's tuition."

Kaoru said, "And I've been paying the other half."

Izumi, Miri and Yuki stared at them disbelievingly.

"With what?" demanded Izumi.

Hikaru stared at him, then said, "With the money I make from my jobs?"

Yuki asked, "For how long? I thought mom was paying it and then Kao-ji-chan took it over at Christmas?"

Miri said reluctantly, "Even when I was paying it, Hikaru was paying most of our household expenses."

Yuki and Izumi stared at her.

Hikaru explained, "Mom didn't make enough to pay everything alone. And Kao-ji-chan is still paying off his restaurant."

Yuki nodded. "I'll start paying it again myself," he said.

"No!" Hikaru protested. "You're doing great like this, your grades are good and you're already paying your own living expenses."

Yuki told her, "I can't let my little sister put me through college."

"Why not? If you were younger wouldn't you still want to help put me through college?" Hikaru demanded.

Yuki hesitated, but asked, "What about your own tuition, how will you go to college?"

Hikaru said, "I don't want to go to college," and before everyone could protest added, "and even if I do go anyway, I'm not as stubborn as you are. Taka-ji and Yukito-san both offered to give or lend you enough for college and medical school. And they both would do the same for me."

Kiri added, "And so would I."

Izumi interrupted, "How are you making enough money to even have this argument? You're limited to 20 hours a week!"

Hikaru glared at him and said, "I usually average about 50 an hour. And even before I switched to only music, I had that night stocking job, at 25 an hour."

Izumi stared at her.

Kaoru asked, "What did you think she was doing with her money anyway? Even if you didn't realize she wasn't working at minimum wage?"

Izumi said dubiously, "Well, I know that clothes and makeup and stuff for girls are expensive..."

Everyone rolled their eyes at him.

In the end, Yuki agreed to let the current arrangement with his tuition stand, though reluctantly. 

The contract for Hikaru to live with Kiri was agreed to, with the changes about children's custody. Kiri felt that Miri was actually more enthusiastic about signing it than Hikaru was, but he still signed it without hesitation and promised to get the contract registered in the morning.