"I'm not pregnant," Mizuki announced when she arrived on Wednesday night. Her period had started, and she felt tired.

Sora looked at her face for a minute before replying questioningly, "I'm glad, but you don't look glad, which makes me feel like me being glad is a bad thing?"

She looked up at him and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry Sora, it's fine," she insisted. "It's not that I'm sad or anything, I'm just kind of tired, I think."

"Okay," he replied with a relieved smile, then bent to kiss her gently for a moment.

"I'm kind of relieved too. It would have made finishing school more difficult," she assured him when he released her.

He smiled and took her hand as they started walking. He was warm, so she leaned into him a little as they walked.

"Want me to carry you?" Sora offered teasingly.

"It's tempting," she replied.

He gave her a startled look and then scooped her up. She opened her mouth to argue, but then shut it and just cuddled against him, enjoying his warmth. He would make a good father, she thought as he carried her.

His relieved expression wrote itself on the back of her eyelids, and she found herself asking, "Do you actually ever want to have kids?"

He didn't reply right away, but she didn't maneuver so that she could see his expression, she just waited. When he finally replied, his words were reassuring, but not exactly an answer, "I'm glad that we can wait, but I don't mind having one or two later."

She tried to imagine life with their children, and decided that it sounded tiring. Part of her wanted to claim that was only because she already felt tired out right now, but for the first time she wondered if she ever really wanted to have children herself.

She loved her nephews, but she was usually glad when they were taken home again. Sora had seemed a bit scared of the baby at first, but he had learned quickly. His own family had been awful to him, but he seemed to be looking forward to his friend Takumi's child.

It was something they needed to discuss more if they were really going to get married this spring, she decided. She didn't object to having Sora's child at all, but she wasn't certain that either of them actually wanted to raise one.

After a couple of blocks Sora admitted, "You're heavy to carry this far."

"Put me down," Mizuki instructed promptly.

"I don't want to," he objected without loosening his hold on her.

"You need to save a little bit of energy Sora," she assured him coaxingly.

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"Why?" Sora asked with a teasing grin. "You already admitted that you're too tired."

"I didn't say that, I just said I'm tired, not too tired," she objected.

He kissed her.

Mizuki opened her mouth to him demandingly, and he stopped walking and just concentrated on kissing her more deeply.

After a minute she complained, "I don't want to do this on the street Sora, put me down and let's hurry."

He let her down a little reluctantly, and she grinned up at him as she slid down his body slowly, rubbing against him in a very intimate fashion.

They both hurried the rest of the way to his tiny apartment.

--

Kissing became undressing, and Mizuki's tired feeling was forgotten for a while. The sturdy shower washed everything away when they reached it, and they did it slower the second time. Despite the currently unlikely chances of starting a pregnancy, they were still careful.

Mizuki felt like she passed out from exhaustion, as much as fell asleep, when Sora tucked her into the curve of his arm.

He murmured, "I missed you so much, and it has only been three days."

--

When Sora's alarm went off, he groaned. It got persistently louder and he reluctantly sat up. He shut it off, and looked at Mizuki.

She opened one eye and asked plaintively, "Can I sleep in?"

He smiled at her affectionately and replied gently, "Of course you can."

Mizuki's eye closed and her breathing deepened almost instantly. Sora scrubbed at his face and sighed deeply, before reluctantly climbing to his feet and getting ready for work.

Mizuki was still completely asleep when he knelt to kiss her a while later, and whispered, "I love you to death Mizuki."

He gently tucked her in more securely, and then left, locking the door behind him.

--

When Sora got home from work Mizuki was playing the maze game again on his old console.

He asked with amusement, "Did you play this all day."

Guiltily she admitted, "I only got up a few hours ago, I slept until afternoon."

When she reached the save, he scooped her up and kissed her thoroughly.

Instead of removing her clothes, after a minute Sora asked, "Want to go out to dinner?"

She hesitated and he watched her face a little anxiously. He wondered if the Police Department in her home town would even answer an inquiry about the man who had evaded them after the assault. Surely they had caught him by now. Even if they hadn't, the chances of him managing to wind up here were nearly infinitesimal.

She looked up, and watched him watching her for a moment, before asking, "Why do you look so worried?"

He bit his lip and explained, "I don't want you to be afraid to go out with me, but I might be a little afraid to take you out again?"

"We should go out then," she replied decisively.

"Okay," he agreed after only a moment's hesitation.

Mizuki got dressed up without any trace of hesitation. Sora actually found himself laughing when he saw which dress she'd brought, and she grinned at him boldly.

"We should also go shopping together sometime, because I only have one dress that affects you this way," she informed him, while reaching out to touch the area where the effect was visible.

"Lies," he protested. "You affect me this way in all kinds of outfits."

Mizuki smirked up at him and then whispered, "I haven't put on my underwear yet."

--

They got cleaned up again and went out to eat a while later.