It was getting late when Hikaru finally headed home to wait for Kiri. She felt oddly nervous about his return. She adjusted things in the new shelves and had rice waiting in the cooker. 

She sat at the little table and tried to work on the last of her weekend homework, but it was difficult to concentrate on. Finally, the door opened. 

Kiri grinned at her tiredly, set down his luggage and declared, "I'm home." 

For a moment his face seemed strange and unfamiliar. He was so beautiful, and she felt shy.

"Hikaru?" he asked.

Instead of replying, Hikaru suddenly leapt to her feet and ran the few paces to him. 

Kiri laughed with surprise and opened his arms to catch her. His familiar warmth and the sound of his voice as he said quietly against her ear, "I love you, I missed you like crazy," melted the brief strangeness away. 

She hugged him tightly, and replied tremulously, "Me too. Kiri, me too!" 

He nuzzled against her cheek and then pulled back enough to kiss her.

…

"Should I take the desk job after all?" he asked softly some time later.

Hikaru stopped tracing wandering patterns across his shoulder with her fingertips. "After all? You had decided to take the Field Manager half?" she asked.

Kiri tucked his hand behind his head and said, "I was leaning that way. Not that I didn't miss you like crazy, but apart from being apart, I still like the traveling."

Hikaru looked at him soberly and answered, "Then you shouldn't take the desk job." 

"I don't know, I feel like I was gone so long you seemed almost like a stranger until we kissed," Kiri complained. 

A giggle escaped her. She confessed to his inquiring eyebrow, "I thought you seemed strange to me too, for a moment when you were at the door." She blushed and continued, "I'm a little glad it wasn't just me." 

Kiri hugged her tightly. 

Hikaru smiled contentedly and he touched her earring, then caressed her cheek.  

"Tell me everything?" he asked. 

Hikaru sighed and tried to sort the last couple of weeks into a coherent story in her head.

"You don't have to," he said after watching her for a moment.  

"I will, there's just a lot, even though we talked while you were gone. I had to think where to start. She sat up and pointed to the new shelf on the wall at the end of the bed. "Do you like it? Is it OK? I had to move your hangings." 

"I love it," he replied. He looked at her collection of paper fans and said, "If I'd known you liked them I'd have gotten you one as a souvenir." He turned back to her and asked, "What else have you done with the house? I feel like we only talked about Mirage." 

Hikaru laughed and said wryly, "Mostly I guess." She climbed off the bed and pulled on her clothes. Kiri pouted at her. She stuck out her tongue at him and said, "Come to your office." She walked out of the bedroom and Kiri leapt out of bed behind her and pulled a yukata out of the closet. 

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She was standing at his desk and he didn't see anything different immediately. Then he looked up at the poster above it and his expression went a little strange. Hikaru asked hesitantly, "Do you not like having it up?" 

"Hitoshi Hikaru," Kiri said.

Hikaru replied, "Yes?"

Kiri was silent for a minute and then asked, "Akira of Night Dreams was your father?"

"Yes," Hikaru answered again a little nervously.  

Kiri covered his face for a moment and then he looked at her and asked, "Why aren't you rich?"

"What?" asked Hikaru with surprise.  

Kiri said, "I don't understand, if Akira was your father, his songs are still making money now. Why are you and your family struggling with things like tuition?" 

Hikaru looked at him blankly and said hesitantly, "I don't know. We're not poor. I know we own our house, I mean, my mother does." When Kiri didn't reply immediately she asked, "Do you want me to ask my mom?" 

He shook his head and smiled at her. "No, I can ask her myself sometime." 

Hikaru looked at him uncertainly and he grinned at her and said cheerfully, "I don't mind having posters of half naked women up in my office if you are the one putting them up." He walked over and hugged her when she blushed and added, "I was just surprised, but at the same time, it's really so obvious. I don't know why it never occurred to me."

Hikaru shrugged and said, "I found a roll of old posters and put up two." 

Kiri looked around and saw the new round shelf with it's sturdy cabinet base against the living room wall behind him. "Wow," he said. He looked at the poster beside it and laughed. "Of course you'd pick that one. Now we just need one of Mirage!"

Hikaru looked at the poster of Edge and asked suddenly, "Do you have Edge's music too?"

Kiri nodded and said, "All of it, why?" 

"I don't know if I've ever heard it," she replied.

He looked at her in surprise. 

Hikaru shrugged.

He turned and looked at the shelves. "What is with that Pikachu's expression?" he asked.

She laughed and asked teasingly, "You don't like my Pikachu?" 

He looked at its little yellow face seriously and replied, "It's the most expressionless Pikachu I've ever seen." 

Hikaru grinned at him and said cheerfully, "I like it, it's never happy when I'm sad, it's never sad when I'm happy. It's not so much expressionless, it just reflects." 

Kiri hugged her against him and said quietly, "I won't be happy when you're sad or sad when you're happy either Hikaru. I hope you'll always tell me when you're happy and when you're sad." 

She leaned into him and replied, "I'm really happy your home Kiri." They kissed for a little while. 

Then she told him more about the past weeks. After she mentioned Kazuha, Kiri suddenly bit his lip and asked, "Would you mind if I go spend the afternoon with him tomorrow?" 

Hikaru looked at him with surprise and asked, "Why would I mind?" 

Kiri said hesitantly, "I told you I'd spend my first day off at home with you. And you don't have work tomorrow." 

She kissed him and said reassuringly, "Kiri, I know he probably needs you, he was a mess." She added honestly, "I do want to spend more time with you, but I don't expect you to abandon your friends or family."

--

The next morning while getting dressed for school Hikaru told Kiri seriously, "I have to ask you about this, if I don't, I'm going to think about it all the time and I can't stand it. It makes me feel embarrassed and jealous." 

He looked at her with alarm and asked, "What does?" 

She pointed at the drawer she'd opened the other day when looking for blankets. "That," she said, with her cheeks heating up. 

He gave her a blank look and then leaned over and pulled the drawer open. Kiri stared into the drawer of sex toys, and blushed. Then he pulled the drawer out and emptied it into the garbage.

Hikaru said quietly, "I didn't mean you had to throw them out." 

Kiri replied, without meeting her eyes, "I'm not sure it's sanitary to share them between partners. I'd forgotten about them, they were put in that drawer in my old apartment. I was dating a woman far less sensitive than you then, she needed more to um," he shrugged helplessly before looking up at her.

Hikaru just looked back at him wordlessly. 

He offered her a smile and said, "If you want to play with toys, we can get new ones."

She shook her head quickly and blushed harder.

He laughed.