They took a shower together, as usual, as though nothing had changed.

Mizuki found herself afraid to speak, afraid that Sora might withdraw.

Sora washed Mizuki gently with a worried expression. When her tears finally stopped he kissed her softly, and then turned off the shower. He wordlessly dried them both off, and carried her to the bed, where he laid her down and began kissing her. He started by covering her face in little kisses and then worked his way down her body.

After a little while she asked, "What are you doing Sora?"

He pushed up so he could look into her face, and told her seriously, "What you did to me after I told you I'd been sleeping around. It doesn't matter who has touched you Mizuki, you're mine."

She started to cry again as he resumed kissing her, and told him achingly, "I really love you Sora."

He stopped his kisses long enough to tell her, "I love you too, always, no matter what."

She didn't want to acknowledge the moment of hesitation that she thought she detected when he lifted himself up and met her eyes. A moment later she found herself asking, "Will you come inside me tonight?"

The possibly imagined hesitation turned into startled silence. "Why?" he finally asked.

Her answer spilled out miserably, "I don't think he came inside of me, but if I wind up pregnant later, I want to be able to think it's yours?"

When Sora took a deep breath and sat up, Mizuki's hands covered her face as though she could hide from his reaction.

He spoke her name, "Mizuki."

When she didn't react, his fingers caressed her hair gently. After a moment she lowered her hands, and met his eyes. He bent over her and kissed her gently on the mouth.

When she started to tremble he pulled back and told her firmly, "Any baby you have will be ours. You don't have to try to get pregnant right now."

"I can't… Please Sora?" she begged tearfully, without being able to explain why she needed to be able to deceive herself.

He gazed into her eyes helplessly, as though he could read everything that she couldn't put into words somehow, and finally agreed, "Okay."

--

Mizuki couldn't quite find the words to describe how relieved she felt by how ordinary the pleasure he gave her was. Afterward, they soaked in the tub for awhile together.

Mizuki sighed and told Sora a little unhappily, "This is so nice."

He eyed her doubtfully. "You don't have to try to pretend that you're not hurt. I should have been gentler…"

"I'm okay!" she assured him. "I just wish we were here for a happier reason."

Sora petted her. "We are here because we love each other, and needed some time alone Mizuki. The awful part before we got here doesn't change that," he assured her.

Mizuki looked up into his face and told him again, "I really love you Sora."

"I really love you too," he assured her. After a while, he let his hands wander.

A little while later Mizuki demanded, "Stop teasing me Sora and do it."

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He was more gentle with her this time. She cried out when she came, and it triggered his release. He grinned at her a little smugly after he recovered his breath.

Mizuki looked at the water around them, which now appeared to have been sprinkled with something translucent, and asked, "What is that?"

"Sperm?" Sora suggested dryly.

"You came inside of me," she objected.

He laughed helplessly and asked, "Do you understand what you've asked me for tonight now?" He kissed her and added a little anxiously, "I've already filled you with thousands of chances to have a baby, so many that they are overflowing into our bath water."

Mizuki smiled happily at him and reached up to caress his face. "Thank you Sora," she told him seriously. "I know you're not ready to have a baby, so thank you, I know you only did it for me."

Sora laughed and insisted, "Stop thanking me for doing you Mizuki. I always want to do you."

She wrapped her arms around him and nestled closer, reluctant to climb out of the water, even if it seemed a little dirty.

He petted her and asked, "How are you feeling physically?"

"Like I want to do it again already" she suggested a bit wantonly.

"I mean are you hurting anywhere?" Sora asked as he lifted her face so that he could see her expression.

She shook her head but then paused and admitted, "My nose hurts a little, and I think my wrists will bruise."

"I'll get you some ice," he promised as he lifted her out of the water.

Mizuki repressed her instinctive protest, and Sora rubbed her dry with a couple of fluffy towels. She felt a little guilty about letting him baby her, as he tucked her into the bed, before pulling on his pants. She grabbed his sleeve after he pulled on a shirt, but after a moment she forced herself to let go.

"I'll be right back, it's only down by the elevators," he assured her as she looked up at him anxiously. He bent to kiss her deeply, and then asked, "Okay?"

"Okay," she agreed.

It only took him a couple of minutes, but she heaved a sigh of relief when he returned.

--

Mizuki fell asleep after a few minutes under the ice packs Sora rigged up for her.

He felt a bit guilty about having waited so long to tend her actual wounds, and stayed awake to exchange the ice for a warm towel every twenty minutes, for a couple of hours.

--

Mizuki's alarm went off too soon and she woke up disoriented and confused. If Sora hadn't been wrapped around her she thought she might have panicked.

He woke up a moment later and caressed her as she moved to turn off her alarm.

She told him, "Get up Sora, I need to go home for work clothes."

After a moment he replied reluctantly, "Okay."

Mizuki's father called him while he was half dressed. Sora answered it with surprise, without bothering with a shirt first.

Jushiro looked at his image for a moment before snapping coldly, "The police called and asked which hospital or clinic you've taken Mizuki to."

"I haven't taken her to one," Sora admitted numbly.

After a startled moment that was followed by a heavy feeling of resignation, Mizuki pushed into the view, and insisted defensively, "I asked Sora to bring me to a hotel instead."

"Why haven't you gone?" her father demanded.

"No one even suggested it," she objected uncertainly.

Sora covered his face for a moment and then replied to Junshiro, "I'm sorry, all I can say is I don't think I was thinking clearly either. It didn't even occur to me."

Junshiro sighed after a moment, looked his youngest daughter over worriedly, and replied, "Your face is bruised enough to show up even on this tiny screen Mizuki, go to the hospital."

She stiffened and replied, "There's not enough time, I need to go to work, and I need clothes."

Sora overrode her by asking, "Which hospital should I take her to, and can you bring her work clothes there?"

"Just call in sick," Junshiro advised, before recommending the place his wife took the children to for emergencies.

"I don't need to call in sick," Mizuki protested.

Sora looked down at her and told her seriously, "I should have taken you in last night, and I'm not going to say you can't go in to work after the examination Mizuki, but you should still go."

Her father protested, "Let her take the day off work."

Mizuki objected, "I don't need to!"

When Junshiro began to argue, Sora snapped, "Let her do what makes her feel normal!"

Her father admitted reluctantly, "I didn't think about it that way. Okay, I'll bring her work clothes."

"Thank you," Mizuki said with relief.

Junshiro told her unhappily, "I'm the only one who knows yet Mizuki, but you'd better plan on telling your mother later, or I will."