Chapter 7 Untangling herself from her sleeping lover’s embrace, Ami slipped out of bed and pulled a robe over her nightgown. It was nearing two o’clock in the morning according to the alarm clock sitting on the nightstand beside Akira’s bed, but Ami was far too happy to sleep, her body still tingling with the memory of the sensations she had felt earlier that evening as they made love. Quietly, careful not to wake Akira or the dog sleeping on the floor beside the bed, Ami made her way to the living room and onto the small balcony outside Akira’s apartment. The night air as she stepped outside was cool against the exposed areas of her skin, and, instinctively, Ami drew the short kimono-style robe she wore closer against her body as she leaned against the cast iron railing surrounding the balcony. “What a beautiful night,” she murmured to herself, her eyes lifted upwards toward the heavens. Not a single cloud was in sight, providing a spectacular view of the night sky. Stars shimmered like glitter on black velvet, and the regal moon, currently in its crescent phase, shone luminously, its reflection dancing upon the water mirror of the building’s outdoor swimming pool. Closing her eyes, Ami made a wish on Polaris, the North Star, hoping the happiness she felt at that moment would last forever. Over two months had passed since that fateful night when she and Akira had first made love, and never once had she regretted her decision to keep seeing him, in spite of the fact that he was still her professor. It was difficult at times to keep their relationship a secret, especially from her friends, but, in her heart, Ami knew, in the end, it would be worth it. Akira made her feel like no other man had had made her feel before. She was startled from her thoughts when she heard the glass door leading out onto the balcony slide open, disturbing the peaceful quiet of the night. “There you are,” a husky male voice said, yawning. “I was wondering where you had run off to.” Looking over her shoulder, Ami smiled. “Oh, Akira, did I wake you?” she asked. “Gomen nasai. I tried to be quiet--” Akira, dressed only in a pair of flannel pajama bottoms, shook his head, a soft breeze gently tousling his messy, dark hair. “No, I had to get up to take a leak and noticed you were gone,” he said, rubbing his arms in response to the late autumn coolness. “What are you doing out here, anyway? You do realize it’s nearly two o’clock in the morning?” “I was just thinking.” Smiling, Akira came up behind Ami and wrapped his arms around her waist. “About what?” he murmured in her ear. “About…” Her face flushed, Ami stared down at the swimming pool, wondering what he would think if she told him the truth. Did Akira ever think of her as she did him? She suspected he did, but due to her inexperience in the relationship department, she couldn’t be certain. They always had a wonderful time together, but what if he only thought of her as a fling? No, she wouldn’t pressure him. Not now. She couldn’t take that risk. “I was just thinking how nice it would be to go for a swim,” she lied instead. “Well, why don’t we?” he suggested, causing Ami’s eyes to go wide. She never thought he would take her comment seriously! “Akira, it’s the middle of the night!” she admonished. “Not to mention that it’s early December. That water is probably near freezing!” “So? Haven’t you ever heard of the Polar Bear Club? It’s supposed to be very invigorating.” As Sailor Mercury, Ami might have been accustomed to the cold of her attacks, but even she had her limits. Just the thought of jumping into a pool of freezing water brought chills down her spine. “The pool’s probably not even open,” she pointed out. “Besides, I didn’t bring a swimsuit.” “Who says we need them?” Before she could even find the voice to object to what he was suggesting, Akira was heading down the building’s fire escape. “Akira, what are you doing?” Ami asked, her voice dropping to a loud whisper as she leaned over the rail. “Are you insane?” “What does it look like I’m doing?” he said, climbing back up a couple of rungs. “Come on. Live a little, Ami.” “B-But --” “You’re the one who wanted to go swimming, right?” “Yes, but…” “Ami, don’t worry,” he assured her. “Nobody will see us, I promise. The entire building’s asleep.” “Are you sure?” “Yes. Now, come on.” He once again started down the fire escape as Ami debated whether or not to go with him. The entire idea was beyond crazy, but she couldn’t deny a part of her felt like doing something a little wild for once. Against her better judgment, Ami finally decided to throw caution to the wind and followed Akira down the ladder, her heart pounding in a combination of anticipation and anxiety. About a third of the way down, Ami heard a low whistle coming from below her. Fearing they had been caught, she looked down and saw Akira had paused to look up her nightgown, which was flapping slightly in the wind. “Man, what a view!” he whispered loudly, causing Ami to blush when she remembered she wasn’t wearing any underwear. In her normal voice, she exclaimed “Akira!” while trying her best to hold down the nightgown, a near impossible feat when she needed at least one hand on the ladder at all times. Akira snickered at her modesty, but then, suddenly remembering where they were, brought a finger to his lips, shushing her. “Shh… Do you want somebody to hear us?” Ami shook her head, definitely not wanting that to happen, and they continued their way down the fire escape, keeping quiet the rest of the way. When Akira made it to the ground, he reached up and placed his hands on her hips, helping her hop down from the ladder. “I can’t believe you talked me into this!” Ami exclaimed as Akira set her safely on the ground. “Oh, don’t worry. It’ll be fun, Ami,” he promised. Taking her hand, Akira led her to the gate of the fence surrounding the pool, which, as Ami had suspected, was locked, a closed sign hanging from the latch. “See? I told you it was closed,” she said, letting out a small sigh of relief. “Let’s go back upstairs.” Ami turned to go back inside, but Akira refused to give up just yet. He reached for her wrist and pulled her back. “And miss out on a romantic moonlit swim? I don’t think so,” he replied, grabbing the padlock of the chain holding the gate close. With a swift yank, he easily managed to unlock it. “I’ve heard rumors that this lock has been broken for a couple of days,” he explained when Ami gave him a surprised look. “The building’s manager just makes it appear locked so the parents won’t complain.” “That’s horrible! What if some kid snuck out here and managed to open it? It’s dangerous!” “I’ll tell you what, if you agree to stay, first thing tomorrow morning, I’ll file a formal complaint with the tenants’ association,” he promised. Ami rolled her eyes. “Great, you’re forcing me to choose between skinny-dipping and endangering a child’s life?” “You make me sound so heartless,” he complained, though smiling as he lifted the latch and opened the gate. “You know I’m going to do it anyway, Ami, so please stay. We’ve already gotten this far. Might as well go all the way.” “Well…” Ami hesitated, but seeing that Akira had no intention of leaving without his swim, she sighed and followed Akira inside. "Fine, I‘ll go.” “You made the right choice,” he grinned. Once they were both on the other side of the fence, Akira made sure to close the gate and “relock” it so that it appeared as if nobody had broken in. He then walked to the edge of the pool, and as Ami watched, peeled off his pajama pants and boxers. Akira tossed the discarded clothes onto one of the lounge chairs that surrounded the pool, and, with a playful wink in Ami’s direction, he gracefully dived in, surfacing a few seconds later. “Come on, Ami!” Akira called, pushing the wet hair back from his face. “What are you waiting for? The water’s great.” “I still don’t know about this, Akira,” Ami confessed, taking a seat on another one of the lounge chairs and self-consciously crossing her legs. “Why don’t you stay in there, and I’ll serve as lookout?” “Because it’s not as much fun without you.” Swimming over to the edge, Akira folded his arms and propped himself half-out of the water. “You can’t tell me you aren’t at least a bit tempted. You never would have followed me down the fire escape if you weren’t.” “Yes, well…” “Ami, we aren’t going to get caught, if that is what you are so worried about,” he assured her for what seemed like the thousandth time, pointing back at the building. “Look, the only lights on are in my apartment. Everybody else is asleep.” It was true. Ami glanced behind her and found the entire building dark, the sole light coming from a room on the fifth floor which she knew was Akira’s. The fact made her feel a little bit better, and she stood up, walking over to the pool. “I guess you’re right,” she admitted, her hand reaching for the belt of her robe, though she didn’t immediately untie it. “Umm…could you turn around, Akira?” Akira chucked. “Why? It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.” “I know,” she said sheepishly, “but I’ll feel better if you don’t watch.” “Sure, whatever you want.” Once Akira had turned completely around in the water, humming loudly to himself, Ami inhaled deeply and untied the belt with shaking hands. She shrugged out of the robe, shivering slightly as the crisp, late-fall breeze hit her until-then-unexposed skin, and tossed it on the chair with Akira’s clothes. She then pulled down the thin spaghetti straps of her nightgown and closed her eyes as the satiny fabric slid off her body and onto the ground in a pool around her feet. That wasn’t so bad, Ami thought, kicking the nightgown aside and wrapping her arms around herself. Already, she noticed goosebumps appearing on her flesh, and her nipples were so hard and erect that she barely managed to keep from gasping when her hand brushed against one of them. Who would have thought this would be so…arousing? “Ami, you haven’t changed you mind again, have you?” Akira, still acting the gentleman, asked when a couple of minutes had passed and she had yet to jump into the pool. “You know, if you really don’t want to do this, I won’t force you. I just thought it would be fun.” “N-No, I’m doing it,” Ami declared. “Just give me a minute.” Coming to the edge of the pool, she took a couple of deep breaths to soothe her nerves before finally diving into the calm, blue waters. Contrary to what Akira claimed, the water was near freezing, but oddly exhilarating in a way. Ami swam to where she could see her lover’s legs and surfaced in front of him, making sure to splash a little water in his direction once she had caught her breath. “You big liar!” she playfully accused. “You said that it wasn’t cold!” “Did I?” he asked, a mischievous glint in his eye. “I recall saying that the water felt great, but I never said anything about it not being cold.” “Yes, well…” Ami made a face. He had gotten her there. Technically, Akira never mentioned anything about the temperature, but he had certainly led her to believe the water was at least a little warm. “Still!” Laughing, Akira swam up next to her, his arms enveloping her in an embrace. “Good thing we have each other to keep us warm, huh?” he murmured, leaving a trail of kisses down her face. “Mmm…” Their lips eventually found their way to each other, and all thoughts of the icy water around Ami melted away as she fervently responded to the heat sparking between them. His kisses felt like fire in her mouth, sending warm feelings all throughout her body -- most noticeably to a certain private spot between her legs. Longing to feel him inside her, Ami started to wrap her legs around his waist, but, much to her disappointment, just as he was about to enter, Akira decided to pull away, smirking at the crestfallen look Ami was almost positive she was wearing on her face. “Hey, how about a race?” he suggested as casually as if they were two friends who had happened to run into each other at the gym pool. “A r-race?” Ami repeated, dumbfounded. What had happened to the romantic moonlit swim they were supposed to be having? “Sure.” Akira jerked his thumb in the direction of the opposite end of the pool. “What do you say? Hundred meter freestyle?” “I-I guess…” Ami followed Akira to the end of the pool, wondering what in the world had gotten into him. Certainly he would much rather be with her than swimming some race. Maybe it was because he hadn’t brought a condom down with him from the apartment, but it would have been okay with her. Soon after their first night together, she had gone to her gynecologist to get on birth control pills, and Akira had insisted he get tested for STDs, all tests coming back clean. Even without the condom, they were still fairly safe from their main concern, so she had no idea why he had pushed her away. Needless to say, Ami was feeling rather rejected from the brush-off, but she should have known better. Once they reached their starting places at the far end of the pool, Akira swam over to Ami’s side. Instantly, she noticed a familiar look in his eyes, and, even though he had yet to say a word, Ami’s cheeks reddened. “Let’s make this thing interesting,” Akira said. “Loser has to...” The rest he whispered in her ear, and, if it was possible, Ami felt her entire body blush as Akira described, in great detail, exactly what the loser would have to do to the winner. “Akira!” she exclaimed when he had finished his X-rated tale. Akira grinned, obviously quite proud of himself. “Got any better ideas?” “No, not really…” “Then my wager it is,” he declared, heading back to his side of the pool. “Ready…set…go!” Akira took the early lead, but Ami quickly caught up to him, her body still in great shape, though it seemed like forever since she had last gotten the chance to practice. They were nearly neck and neck all the way to the turnaround when Ami pulled ahead. After that, it was Akira’s turn to play catch up, but, though he was an above-average swimmer, he never could quite bridge the gap between them. Ami won the race by half a length. “How did you do that, Ami?” Akira asked, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. “That was amazing!” Embarrassed by the compliment, Ami looked down. “I’m not that great,” she modestly insisted. “Not that great? I’m wondering how the Toudai swim team managed to leave you off their roster.” “They asked me to join last year, but I don’t really have time for that kind of thing anymore,” she confessed. “Well, in any case, I do believe congratulations are in order,” Akira said, swimming back over to her side of the pool. “And as the loser, I am *fully* prepared to pay my bet.” “Here?” Ami’s voice squeaked as her eyes widened in surprise. “Why not?” “I can think of a thousand reasons not…” “I told you, Ami, nobody will see us,” he reminded her, lifting her up to sit on the edge of the pool and spreading her legs apart. “ Just relax and enjoy yourself.” Ami began to protest, but the words died on her lips as Akira worked his magic. ***** Yui couldn’t sleep. She was spending the night at Hideki’s apartment, laying wide awake in his bed as her boyfriend lightly snored beside her. It wasn’t his snoring that was preventing her from sleeping, though, as Yui had learned to drown out the noise long ago. No, her mind was focused on the calculus problem from Professor Azuma’s class that she had been unable to solve before Hideki had insisted she take a “break” from her homework, and it was driving her crazy that she couldn’t figure it out. *Since the variable is being raised to a variable power, I can’t use the ordinary rules of differentiation. I need to revise it first by applying the natural logarithm to both sides of the equation and using the algebraic properties of logarithms. Then I differentiate both sides of the equation by using the chain rule…* That was it! Yui sat up and grabbed the notebook sitting on the nightstand beside the bed, along with a small reading light from the drawer that she could wear on her head. She turned the light on and excitedly began calculating the new figures, not even noticing when the snoring stopped and Hideki rolled over on his side. “Yui, what are you doing? Do you have any idea what time it is?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “I just have to finish this problem,” she explained, not even looking up from the paper. Hideki groaned. “What have I told you about doing your homework in bed?” “I’m sorry, but I just figured out what I was doing wrong in this problem, and, if I don’t write it down, I’ll probably forget in the morning.” “Well, would you mind going to the other room?” he asked, squinting as Yui finally glanced over at him, accidentally shining the light in his eyes. “I can’t sleep when you’re wearing that thing.” “Fine,” she sighed, climbing out of bed. “I need to get my calculator from my bag, anyway.” “Thanks, Yui. I appreciate it.” As Hideki flipped over and tried to go back to sleep, Yui pulled a robe over the long T-shirt she had borrowed from Hideki and headed to the kitchen with notebook in hand. She fixed herself a healthy midnight snack of cheese and crackers, then went out onto the balcony, grabbing her calculator from the living room along the way. On the balcony, Hideki had recently brought out a small, rickety, second-hand table and a couple of lawn chairs to serve as patio furniture. Yui took a seat in one of the chairs and got to work on her problem, almost finished when she heard a faint scream in the distance. Her concentration broken and annoyed by the interruption, Yui set down her pencil and went over to the rail to see what the commotion was about. “What the…” Her eyes could barely comprehend the sight that greeted her when she looked down at the apartment building’s outdoor swimming pool. Despite the fact that it was early December, there were two swimmers in the pool -- though swimming was obviously the last thing on their mind. A dark-haired girl, as naked as the day she was born, sat on the edge of the pool, propped up on her elbows and her legs spread apart, and between those legs was the head of her lover, gender unknown since his or her body was mostly underwater. Yui narrowed her eyes in disapproval at the exhibitionists, then headed back inside, leaving her things behind. She immediately went back to Hideki’s bedroom and rather roughly began shaking him awake. “Hideki! Hideki! Wake up!” Groaning, her boyfriend rolled onto his back and blinked. “Yui?” “Hideki, somebody’s in the pool.” “What?” Alarmed, Hideki tossed his blanket aside and half-sat up. “Are they in trouble? Is somebody drowning?” “No, not exactly…” she admitted, rather sheepishly. Hideki laid back down and sighed. “I can’t believe you woke me up just to inform me of some idiot who decided it would be fun to take a midnight dip in December,” he groused, flipping back over onto his side and pulling the blanket over his head. “Goodnight, Yui.” Before he could go back to sleep, though, Yui grabbed the blanket and threw it off of him. She then took Hideki’s arm, dragging him out of the warm bed. “What now?” he asked, visibly annoyed as Yui continued pulling him toward the door. “I want you to see what they’re doing,” she said. “Come on!” “Can’t I at least pull some pants on?” he pleaded, indicating his current sleepwear. Hideki was clad only in a pair of boxers and an undershirt. “It’ll only be for a moment.” “Fine.” Hideki allowed himself to be dragged onto the balcony, rubbing his arms and dancing around as soon as they stepped outside. “Geez, it’s freezing out here, Yui!” he complained. Yui ignored him, walking to the rail and pointing to the couple in the pool. They were still going at it, and if Yui blocked out Hideki’s whining about the cold, she could almost hear the dark-haired girl’s moans of pleasure. “Look!” she ordered. Ceasing his ranting, Hideki came up beside Yui. His hazel eyes widened as he looked downwards at the pool. “Are they doing what I think they’re doing?” he asked. “Disgusting, isn’t it?” Yui narrowed her eyes. “Whatever happened to common decency? People swim in that pool!” “To be fair, other than those two nuts, nobody is crazy enough to go swimming this late in the year…” “It doesn’t matter!” she spat, surprised Hideki wasn’t as upset as she was about what the two skinny-dippers were doing in his building’s pool. “They’re trespassing and engaging in a lewd sexual act right where everybody can see them. It’s wrong!” A small smile crossed Hideki’s lips. “Oh, Yui, loosen up,” he said. “Haven’t you ever fantasized about doing something like that before?” “Absolutely not!” Yui exclaimed, horrified her boyfriend would even suggest such a thing. “And if you think I’m the type of girl who would ever have sex with you in public, I’m sorry to disappoint you. It’s never going to happen.” “Heck, I would be happy with more plain, old, private sex,” he muttered, earning him a slap on the arm. “Be grateful you get anything at all, ecchi!” Turning his attention back to the pool, Hideki wisely dropped the subject and brought the conversation back to the two skinny dippers. “So, who do you think they are?” he asked, leaning against the rail and squinting. As it was nighttime and the pool was poorly lit, it was difficult to make out the identities of the trespassers. “Somebody from the building?” To be honest, Yui didn’t particularly care who they were, promptly turning away from the whole dirty act. The whole shameful thing disgusted her. “I don’t know, but somebody ought to tell them to stop,” she said, propping her elbows on the rail. “What do you suggest we do?” Hideki asked, an incredulous look on his face as he turned toward her. “Go down there ourselves and tell them to go get a room?” “Don’t be ridiculous, Hideki. Just call the manager and have him take care of it.” “Fukami-san? Do you know how old that man is? He’s liable to have a heart attack coming across a scene like that!” “Does Fukami-san have a history of heart problems?” “None I’m aware of, no.” “Then call him,” Yui said with a dismissive wave of her hand toward the telephone inside. “I’m sure his heart will be fine.” “Can I go back to bed after I do?” “Of course.” “Fine, I’ll call him,” Hideki finally agreed, heading back inside. He held the glass door open. “Yui, you coming?” “Hai,” she nodded, gathering her things before taking one last final look down at the couple in the pool. “Perverts,” she muttered to herself. What was wrong with the world? ***** Back down in the pool, Akira was on the verge of making Ami scream with pleasure for the second time that night. Once she had realized that nobody was going to come across them, Ami had significantly relaxed from her tenseness of earlier, and, if her throaty moans were any indication, she was thoroughly enjoying herself. Suddenly, without warning, Ami’s entire body tensed. At first, Akira assumed she was bracing herself for an orgasm, but when he didn’t hear the scream that usually accompanied the high point, he looked up to see his lover’s eyes wide with what could only be described as terror. “Ami? What‘s wrong?” The blue-haired girl sat up, modestly using her arm to cover her exposed breasts. “Did you hear that?” she whispered. “What?” Akira couldn’t hear a thing. “Listen!” she said, bringing a finger to her lips. Akira then heard what had gotten Ami so panicked -- a low bass voice humming a Japanese folk song which sounded as if it was getting nearer instead of further away. "That,” she answered needlessly. “Oh, damn,” Akira cursed. He recognized that voice. Mr. Fukami, the octogenarian manager of his apartment building, had a habit of singing folk songs whenever he was making his rounds. The particular song he was humming at the moment was one of his favorites. “I thought you said nobody would be awake,” Ami whispered. “Who is it?” “The manager. Somebody must have called him.” “The manager?” Ami went as pale as a sheet. “What are we going to do, Akira?” Running his hand through his wet hair, Akira tried not to panic. They could still escape detection if they worked fast. He quickly came up with a plan and pointed over at the chair that held their clothes. “Ami, I want you to get our things and hide behind that chair over there,” he ordered. “Fukami-san‘s sight isn‘t as it used to be, so I don’t think he will notice you if you are careful to be quiet.” “What about you?” she asked. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,” he promised, giving her hand a light squeeze. Ami hesitated. “B-But --” “Ami, go! Before he comes. Hurry!” Hearing the urgency in his voice, Ami finally got over her frozen terror and ran over to the chair. She grabbed the clothes, ducked behind the furniture, and covered herself the best she could with her dark blue robe, virtually invisible in the darkness. Akira could only see her because he knew exactly where she had hidden and was fairly certain she would be safe from the nearly-blind manager’s sight. That just left Akira to fend for himself. It was too late for him to climb out of the pool, for the voice was getting louder and louder with every passing moment. If he tried, Mr. Fukami would surely see him, so in the pool Akira stayed, his eyes focused on the gate and waiting for the perfect opportunity. A minute later, he saw the dim light of a flashlight and the dark shadow of a small man coming up to the gate. That was the signal he had been waiting for. Exhaling deeply, Akira covered his nose, shut his eyes, and dove under the freezing cold waters. ***** From her spot behind the chair, Ami watched Akira submerge himself in the pool, feeling as if her heart was about to jump out of her chest. What in the world was he doing? If the manager decided to come inside the fence, Akira would be noticed for sure, near-blindness or not. Not to mention the fact that the water was freezing and she had no idea how long Akira would be able to hold his breath. Ami wanted to call out to him, to tell him that they might as well surrender and suffer the consequences of their actions, but, just as she was about to jump up, she noticed the singing had stopped and that somebody was at the gate, shining a flashlight over the area. Her courage gone, Ami shrunk back down, as still as an ice sculpture as the light fell over the chair she was hiding behind. “Anybody there?” the old manager called. Luckily, he seemed content to remain outside the fence. “The pool is closed. Come out now, and I’ll only give you a warning.” Again, Ami was tempted to reveal herself, if only to make sure Akira was okay, but, try as she might, she remained frozen in place, unable to move. The manager waited a couple more seconds for an answer, and, when nobody came out, he left, muttering something about “stupid prank calls in the middle of the night.” Once he was gone, Ami breathed a sigh of relief and crawled back over to the edge of the pool. “Akira, he’s gone,” she declared, looking down into the water. "It‘s safe to come up now. Akira? Akira?” Only Akira didn’t resurface. As Ami watched in horror, his body slowly floated to the top of the water, as lifeless as can be. She stifled a scream, and shrugging out of her robe, dove back into the waters toward her lover’s body. Due to the two summers she had volunteered as a lifeguard at the country club, Ami knew exactly what to do. Swimming over to his body, Ami wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled Akira out of the pool, somehow finding the strength to haul a man who was at least thirty pounds heavier than her. She then rolled him on his back, preparing to perform mouth-to- mouth resuscitation. “Please, please let this work,” she prayed aloud before lowering her mouth to his. The moment their lips touched, however, something unexpected happened. Akira’s eyes popped open, and Ami felt his tongue slip into her mouth, entangling with hers. Her first instinct was to gasp, but overjoyed that he was alive, she lost herself in the passionate kiss. It was only when they finally pulled apart a few minutes later that Ami realized she had been tricked. “Akira!” The so-called “victim," who appeared perfectly healthy, grinned. "Gotcha!” he teased. “That is not funny, Akira! I thought you were dead,” she admonished, her emotions conflicting between relief that he was alive and anger that Akira had played such a cruel joke on her. Ami had honestly thought he was drowning. “Oh, I’m very much alive,” he declared, taking one of her hands and guiding it downwards. “Very much. See?” Feeling exactly how much he was alive, the blood rushed to Ami’s face, as well as to other certain places. They had been interrupted before, but now that they were safely out of danger of being caught by the manager, who probably wouldn‘t investigate another complaint, she could feel herself becoming aroused again. Her anger fading and replaced by desire, Ami straddled Akira, placing his hands on her hips. “Shall we continue where we left off?” she asked, her voice uncharacteristically husky. The answer was a unanimous yes. ***** The next morning, Akira woke up early to pack. For the next four days, he would be attending a conference in Kyoto, and he was supposed to be meeting Dr. Nakajima and his other colleagues at the train station at seven. Though he tried to be quiet as not to wake Ami up, her navy blue eyes fluttered open while he was digging through the nightstand drawer for his ticket. “Akira…” Akira brought a finger to her lips, silently shushing her. “Go back to sleep, Ami,” he whispered. “You don’t have to be in class for another two hours, so get some rest.” A soft smile on her lips, Ami shook her head. “I’m not tired,” she insisted, rolling over on her side to turn on the bedside lamp. “Even after that marathon session we had last night?” he asked, grinning at the slight blush that crossed her cheeks at the memory. “I still can’t believe we did that...” “It definitely was one heck of a goodbye, I’ll give you that.” Having found the missing ticket, he placed it in the inside pocket of his jacket for safe-keeping, then went over to his dresser to grab a couple of sweaters. “Well, since you’re up, I left the phone number of the hotel where I can be reached on the refrigerator,” he informed her as he put the sweaters in his suitcase. “Technically, it’s supposed to be for my dog- walker in case something happens to Mercury while I’m gone, but feel free to jot down a copy for yourself. My cell usually has crappy reception whenever I‘m out of Tokyo, so it would probably be better to reach me on a landline.” “Is it safe for me to call?” Ami asked, sitting up and modestly covering herself with the blanket. “You’re not sharing a room with anybody, are you?” “No, it’s just me by my lonesome,” he sighed. “That is, unless I can manage to convince a certain someone to blow off her classes and come with me...” “Akira, you know it’s too risky.” “I know.” After zipping up his overstuffed suitcase, he set it on the floor beside the bed and took a seat on the mattress. “Ami, I’m sorry. This isn’t fair to you, to us. I would love to be able to take you with me to Kyoto, but…” “…it just isn’t feasible,” she completed. “You don’t have to apologize. I understand. Besides, even if I could go, you know I couldn’t possibly skip class for two days straight.” Akira playfully pouted, breaking the serious atmosphere that had fallen between them. “Not even for me?” “Not even for you,” she laughed, swatting him on the arm as he stood back up. “Well, it’s good to know where I stand in the grand scheme of things. although I must admit my ego’s a bit bruised. What do your other professors have that I don’t?” “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” To prove it to him, Ami slid out of bed, wrapped her bare arms around his neck, and brought her lips to his own, standing on her tiptoes to reach him. Her body felt wonderfully warm against him, and Akira groaned, knowing he had to leave soon but wanting nothing more than to strip off his clothes and head back to bed. “Ami, now…this…isn’t…fair,” he said between kisses. “I have…to leave…” “Not for…another…fifteen minutes…” she pointed out, squealing when Akira pushed her back down on the bed and began to take off his belt. Fifteen minutes? He could work with that. **** By the time Hideki woke up at seven-fifteen, fifteen minutes earlier than his usual time, Yui was already dressed and having a bowl of cereal at the kitchen table. True to her multi-tasking nature, she was also reading the morning paper while pausing every couple of minutes to go over a list of vocabulary words for her English class. Quite honestly, Hideki had no idea how she managed to do it, no matter how many mornings he woke up to the same exact scene. “Ohayo,” he said cheerfully, kissing the top of her head as he walked over to pour himself a cup of coffee. Yui barely looked up from her vocabulary list. “Good morning, Hideki,” she said in perfect English. Encouraged that she hadn’t told him to leave her alone as she was wont to do occasionally during her morning study sessions, Hideki took the seat across from her and reached for the box of cereal -- one of her disgusting diet brands, he realized with a sigh -- from the middle of the table. “Big test today?” he asked Yui, who shook her head as she turned the page in her newspaper. “Just a little vocabulary quiz.” “Ah.” Deciding he would rather go hungry than actually eat Yui’s idea of a healthy breakfast, Hideki pushed the box and the bowl out of the way and grabbed the sports section of the paper, though he just skimmed the front page. He only read it because it was the sole section Yui hadn’t already claimed for herself. “So, I wonder what happened last night with the skinny-dippers,” he mused aloud, not really expecting Yui to be listening but feeling the need to make conversation anyway. “Fukami-san never called back to tell us, did he?” “Not that I’m aware, but I assume he got rid of them.” “I still wonder who they were. It’s bound to be somebody who lives in the building, though I didn’t recognize the girl. Who else would have known about the rumor that the lock on the gate surrounding the pool was broken?” “If it was, I certainly hope the manager lectured them on what is and what is not appropriate pool behavior,” Yui huffed, returning her attention back to her vocabulary. “Shameless, absolutely shameless.” Hideki still failed to see what the big deal was, but he didn’t bother arguing with her. He had learned long ago that there was no changing Yokoyama Yui’s mind on something once she had made it up, so it was better just to drop it. Instead, he changed the subject. “I’ll be leaving a bit early for the next few days, by the way,” he informed her. “I promised Kitagawa-sensei that I would walk his dog while he’s in Kyoto for some big conference. You want to come with me?” Yui immediately wrinkled her nose, just as he had known she would, and Hideki laughed. “Walk some big, smelly dog around, picking up poop? I don’t think so.” “Oh, come on, Mercury is hardly big and smelly.” “No, thank you,” she reiterated, finally putting the newspaper down and stuffing her vocabulary list in her backpack, which she had sitting beside her on the floor. “Besides, I need to leave early as well. In fact, I should probably start heading out now. I want to go to the library before class to check out a book I’ve been wanting to read. If I don’t get to it this morning, somebody else could check it out before me.” “Will you be coming over tonight?” he asked as she stood up and threw her backpack over her shoulder in preparation to leave. “Will the dog be here?” “No.” “Then I’ll see what I can do,” she promised, shooting him the first smile she had given him all morning. “I’ll see you at lunch.” “Bye.” “Goodbye!” After Yui left, Hideki cleaned up the mess she had made and forgotten to put away in her haste to get to the library for the elusive book, then headed over to his neighbor’s apartment. Professor Kitagawa had given him a key a while back so that Hideki could come over whenever he was needed to walk Mercury, but when he got to the door, he was surprised to find the knob twisted easily in his hands before he had even pulled the keychain out of his jeans pocket. “I thought Kitagawa-sensei was supposed to have left at seven. Is he still home?” he asked himself, opening the door slightly. The living room was dark, but he still knocked lightly on the door just in case. "Kitagawa-sensei? It’s me, Matsuno. I came to walk Mercury.” When there was no answer, Hideki pushed the door open wider and stepped inside, flipping on the light switch beside the door on his way in. Mercury, the professor’s Corgi, jumped off the couch when he saw who it was and barked happily in greeting. “Hey, boy,” Hideki said, reaching for the leash which Professor Kitagawa had left hanging from the doorknob to be easy to find. “Ready for your walk?” In answer, the dog walked over to Hideki, allowing him to attach the leash to his collar with little fuss. They were just about ready to leave when Hideki heard what sounded like a door closing somewhere else in the apartment. Though, logically, he knew it had to be his neighbor, as Mercury didn’t seem the least bit agitated by the noise, his grip on the leash tightened. “Kitagawa-sensei?” Instead of the professor, however, a pretty woman stepped out of what he assumed to be the bedroom, since his apartment had about the same general layout. She had evidently just taken a shower, for her short, dark hair was wet, and she was bundled up in a light blue terry cloth robe, which she modestly held close with her left hand. Hideki couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen her before -- rather recently, in fact -- but the moment of recognition passed before he could place her face. “W-Who are you?” the girl asked. As she stepped closer forward, he saw that she was holding a wooden bat in her other hand. “What are you doing in here?” To show her that he bore no ill will toward her, Hideki pulled out his key to the apartment and held it up for her to see. “I’m Kitagawa-sensei’s dog-walker,” he explained. “See? He gave me his key so I could walk Mercury while he‘s away.” With a relieved sigh, she leaned the bat against the wall. “Gomen nasai,” she apologized. “I didn’t know you would be coming so early. I was in the shower, and when I heard Mercury barking--” Hideki shook his head. “It’s my fault. I should have known somebody was still here when I found the door unlocked. It’s just that Kitagawa-sensei told me he was leaving for the station before seven, so I didn’t think anybody would be here. I didn’t realize you lived here, too.” The girl blushed. “I don’t. I just…spent the night.” “Oh, I see.” She must have been a new girlfriend of the professor’s, although Hideki thought she looked a little on the young side. The girl couldn’t be any older than he was, about the age of one of Professor Kitagawa‘s students. “Well, I’m sorry for frightening you. Next time I find the door unlocked, I’ll be more considerate.” “Thank you.” After a brief moment of awkward silence, which was broken by an impatient Mercury, Hideki tugged the leash in the direction of the door. “I guess I’ll take Mercury on his walk now, unless you would rather…” “No, you can take him. I need to get ready for cl-- the day,” she said, indicating her less-than-fashionable apparel. “I probably won’t even be here when you get back, so there’s some cans of dog food in the cabinet above the sink if Mercury’s hungry, and Akira left the phone number where he can be reached in case of an emergency on the fridge.” Yeah, definitely a girlfriend, Hideki thought, noticing the lack of an honorific when she said the professor’s name. Lucky guy. She’s cute. “Thanks,” he said, opening the door. “Come on, Mercury. Let’s go.” ***** Ami let out a huge sigh of relief as soon as the dog-walker closed the door behind him. That had been close. Too close. She had vaguely recognized the young man from around campus, but, fortunately, he didn’t seem to know her. She wasn’t about to tempt fate, though. Going back to Akira’s bedroom, she quickly changed out of the robe and ran a brush through her damp hair. Ami would have liked to blow-dry it as well before going out into the cool, late autumn weather, but there wasn’t time if she wanted to be gone by the time the dog-walker came back with Mercury, so she grabbed one of Akira’s beat-up baseball caps from out of the closet and tucked the wet strands underneath as best as she could. After stopping in the kitchen for a quick breakfast of granola bars and to jot down Akira’s hotel information, Ami headed off to class. The rest of her day was mercifully uneventful, other than the fact that she found herself missing Akira more than she expected, especially when five o‘clock came along and she headed back home instead of the laboratory like she usually did. He was only going to be gone for four days, but Sunday night, when he was scheduled to return, seemed an eternity away. Was that how Usagi felt whenever Mamoru was too busy with his classes or his job at the hospital to take her out? Ami had always thought that the short funks Usagi fell into when she wasn’t able to see Mamoru were a bit silly and immature -- after all, he never ignored her for long -- but she had a newfound sympathy for her princess. At home in her room, Ami pulled out the slip of paper on which she had written Akira’s phone number at the hotel and debated whether or not it was too early for her to call. More than likely, he was attending a seminar or lecture at the moment, so he probably wasn’t even in his room. With a sigh, Ami set the piece of paper beside her phone for later and was about to go fix a snack before she started her studies when the phone began to ring. “Moshi moshi. Mizuno Ami speaking.” Ami thought it might be her mother, who she hadn’t spoken to in a while, but a huge smile crossed her lips when she heard her lover’s voice on the other end. “Hello, sexy.” “Akira! I was just about to call you, but I didn’t think you would be in your room,” Ami confessed, picking up the phone and bringing it over to her bed, where she sat down cross-legged. “I’ve missed you.” “I’ve missed you, too,” he admitted. “I’m afraid I can’t talk long, though. I skipped out early on this mind-numbingly dull seminar, but Nakajima-sensei and the others are expecting me to meet them for dinner at six.” “How are things going there?” “You mean, other than the most boring seminar speaker known to man?” Akira chuckled. “Actually, other than him, things have been going great down here. It’s only the first day, but there have already been a couple of ground-breaking presentations. I can’t wait to get back home and try to apply what I’ve learned so far to my own experiments.” “Like what? Tell me,” Ami prodded, moving to a more comfortable position on the bed. “Well, a group of scientists from Kyoto University have been developing this amazing new test to detect for…” For the next ten minutes, Akira filled Ami in on the happenings at the convention, and the passion in his voice as he talked about science and research reminded her once again what had attracted him to her in the first place. If she managed to have even half his zeal when she started practicing medicine, she would consider herself lucky. “But enough about me and my day,” he finally said, much to Ami’s disappointment. She could listen to him talk about his work for hours and never tire of it. “I’m probably boring you half to death with all this shop talk.” Ami shook her head though she knew he couldn’t see it. “Not at all. Quite the opposite, actually. Compared to yours, my day was positively lackluster.” “I’m sure that’s not true.” “Well, there was a little excitement this morning…” Ami said hesitantly, unsure if she should tell Akira about what happened with the dog-walker or not. After all, it wasn’t as if he had recognized her. To tell Akira about it would probably be making a big deal out of nothing. However, the statement had already piqued Akira’s interest. “What happened, Ami?” “Well, I was getting ready for school and taking a shower when I heard Mercury barking,” Ami began, deciding she might as well tell him. “At first, I thought you might have come back for something you had forgotten, but when you didn’t call out that it was you, I started to worry, so I got out of the shower and grabbed your bat from the closet.” On the other end of the line, she could hear Akira take in a sharp breath. “There was an intruder?” he asked. “Oh, my g-- Ami, are you alright? He didn‘t hurt you, did he?” “I’m fine,” she assured him. “As it turned out, it was only your dog-walker, coming to take Mercury for his morning walk. He didn’t think anybody was home, so he came in without knocking. Other than a little embarrassment on both our parts, nothing happened.” Akira breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. If anything had happened to you, I don‘t know what I would have done.” “It didn’t seem like he recognized me either,” Ami continued, “though I’ve seen him before around campus. I think he sometimes waits outside your class for Yokoyama Yui-san.” “They’re dating, yes,” he informed her. “I probably should have told you sooner.” Ami frowned upon hearing that piece of information, a bit upset Akira had failed to tell her something so important. When they had first started dating, he mentioned they needed to be careful because a university student lived nearby, but he never said anything about that student dating one of her classmates in his class. “Why didn’t you? We were lucky this time that it was only her boyfriend, but if Yokoyama-san sees me leaving or entering your place…” “We’re always careful, Ami. She hasn’t caught us yet, has she? She’s not going to find out.” “But what if she does, Akira? You can say she won‘t all you want, but that doesn‘t make it true. Even if we are careful, there‘s always the possibility that it could happen.” “I don’t know,” he replied after a long pause. “I just don’t know.” His words did nothing to reassure her. Laying back against the stack of fluffy pillows behind her, Ami closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down. For the first time since their affair started, she began to understand the true enormity of what they were doing and what might happen if they were discovered. She had always known on a superficial level that it wasn’t a good idea to keep seeing Akira, of course, but she supposed the relative ease they had in keeping their secret so far had made things seem less riskier than they really were. “Ami, are you still there?” Akira asked when she didn’t say anything. “Ami?” His voice bringing her back to the present, Ami reopened her eyes and sat back up. “Yes, I’m still here,” she said, running her hand through her hair. “I’m just trying to process this new information, that’s all. It‘s a lot to take in.” “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,“ he apologized. “I just didn’t think about it. Believe me, if I had any concerns she might be a problem, I would have told you right away, but I rarely see Yokoyama-san outside of classes. I didn’t even know she and Matsuno-kun were an item until around the time I hired you as my assistant, and I’ve only seen her a couple of times since then in the building. I don‘t think she comes over that often, to be honest.” “Still…” Ami bit her lip, unable to stop thinking “what if.” As if he could sense her doubts, Akira sighed. “Ami, I would very much like to continue seeing you, but if you’re having second thoughts, we can stop this right now. I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position if this is too much for you.” Stop? Despite her fear of being caught, the thought of losing him altogether felt even worse, like a knife stabbed right through her heart. “I knew what I was getting into when this began,” she reminded him. “In fact, I was the one who wanted to keep seeing you despite what was at stake. Maybe I was going through a belated adolescent rebellious phase, and I didn’t quite understand the risk we were taking at the time, but, no matter what, I do believe it was worth that risk.” Before she continued, she paused for a moment to build up her courage. It seemed it was finally time to be honest with him about her true feelings. Ami felt her hand start to shake as she tightened her grip on the receiver, and her voice stuttered as she struggled to find the words to express what she felt. “I-I don’t want to stop seeing you, Akira. These last couple of months have been among the happiest of my life. Even if it means we have to be even more careful than we were before, I want to be with you, and only you.” “Are you sure?” “Yes.” Ami was surprised by the sudden conviction in her voice, her hesitation from before gone, but she knew in her heart it was true. “Good. I was hoping you would say that,” Akira said with a chuckle that made Ami smile. “We’ll just have to try to be more careful from now on when we‘re together, that’s all. It‘ll be fine. You‘ll see.” He sounded so confident, Ami couldn‘t help but believe him. “Right.” They talked for a few more minutes, mostly about her otherwise uneventful day at school, before Akira regrettably had to excuse himself to get ready for dinner with his colleagues. Ami wished they could have talked longer, but Akira promised to call her again later that night. After saying their goodbyes, Ami hung up the phone and brought it back over to her desk, where she then began her studies, determined to have all her homework done before he called back. ***** For Akira, the next couple of days were a flurry of seminars, lectures, and demonstrations, broken only by the occasional meal and phone calls with Ami whenever he could find the time. By the time Saturday night came along, he was looking forward to heading back to Tokyo the following evening. As much as he had enjoyed the conference, it had been an exhausting weekend. And it wasn’t over yet. His group had yet to give their presentation, which would be one of the last of the conference. To prepare, the five members holed themselves in Akira’s hotel room for pizza and a last-minute read-through that inevitably turned into a last-minute rewrite as everybody found something they felt needed to be changed.. “I still don’t think we need to focus so heavily on that section,” Dr. Nakajima argued, reaching for his third slice of pizza of the night. "It’s full of information that was already presented by other groups earlier during the conference, and it drags down the entire paper. I say we cut these three paragraphs and move onto the meat of our presentation.” Dr. Kamina Ichiro, who had never gotten along with Dr. Nakajima, huffed. “And I’m sure it’s just pure coincidence that it’s one of *my* sections you want to shorten, Nakajima-sensei. If you ask me, it’s the section on genetics that needs trimming. It’s almost twice as long as any of the other parts.” “Well, nobody was asking you, Kamina-sensei.” “Nakajima-sensei, it wouldn’t kill you to edit a few things out of the genetics section,” Dr. Kumada Naoko, the lone woman in the group, suggested. “I agree it is a bit on the long side.” “But Ryo-san also has a point about the introduction. There’s too much regurgitation of facts already presented by other groups,” Dr. Naegino Kentaro pointed out, agreeing with his longtime friend and colleague. "Also, may I suggest we combine the third and fifth paragraphs of the conclusion? There’s no reason they need to be divided by…” Akira just shook his head from his spot in front of the computer and returned back to work on their PowerPoint presentation, deciding it best not to get involved in the petty squabbles of his older, and supposedly more mature, colleagues. It was hard to believe that the four other people in his room were supposed to be well-respected professors and researchers. He thought they were acting more like schoolchildren. In fact, an argument between Dr. Naegino and Dr. Kumada became so heated that he barely heard the phone ringing right beside him. Apparently, neither did they, for the argument kept going even after Akira tried to tell them to quiet down. With a roll of his eyes, he reached for the phone and brought it to his ear. “Moshi moshi. You’ve reached the Kitagawa Nursery School for the Brilliant and Insane. Kitagawa speaking.” “Akira?” a confused, but familiar, voice answered. “Ah, Ami!” Remembering that he wasn’t the only one in the room, Akira lowered his voice and covered his mouth with his hand. “I’m happy you called, Ami, but I’m afraid this really isn’t a good time,” he said, his eyes darting around the room to make sure nobody had heard him. It looked like everybody was too caught up in the argument to pay much attention to him, though. “We’re in the middle of preparing for our presentation tomorrow afternoon.” “Oh, I didn’t mean to interrupt your work. Gomen nasai,” she apologized. “It’s fine. To be honest, we’re not getting much work done,” he admitted with a chuckle. “We’ve been in here for at least an hour already, and more than half of that time was spent engaging in petty arguments. As much as our culture encourages conformity and the good of the whole, I‘m afraid my team is full of individualists who all want the biggest parts of the presentation. Even Nakajima-sensei is taking part in it. They‘re like children!” Ami giggled. “What about you?” “Oh, I’m just staying out of it. That seems to be the smartest move. By the time they cut down everybody else’s part in spite, I’ll probably end up with the biggest role anyway.” “You deserve it. After all, your discovery is the basis of the entire paper.” “Our discovery, you mean,” he corrected, smiling at the memory of that night in the lab where they shared their first kiss. “I never would have done it without you.” “All I did was assist you; you deserve all the credit,” she said, as modest as ever. “Anyway, I suppose I should let you get back to your work before somebody starts to get suspicious.” “Right. I’ll call you back once everybody leaves. Will you still be up?” “I will be if you call.” He smiled. “Good.” After saying their goodbyes, Akira hung up the phone and turned his attention back toward his colleagues, who were still in the middle of an argument. Only Dr. Nakajima stayed out of it, his mentor raising an eyebrow in Akira’s direction. “Who was that on the phone, Akira-kun?” he asked. “Oh, nobody. Just somebody I met at one of today’s seminars. We were thinking of getting together later to talk about a collaboration,” he lied, quickly coming up with a cover story. Not giving Dr. Nakajima the chance to ask any more questions about the mystery caller, Akira decided it was the perfect time to take charge. He stood up from his chair and whistled loudly to get everybody else’s attention. “Hey, guys, I think it’s high time to stop this bickering. It’s getting us nowhere. Can’t we just try to get along, at least until the end of our presentation?” Appearing embarrassed by their immature behavior, especially when called out on it by the youngest of their group by a good ten years, the other professors nodded and mumbled apologies before getting back to work. Things moved much quicker after that, and, by eleven, they had finally finished revising the paper to everyone’s satisfaction. As Akira looked over the changes they had made, everyone else started to head back to their own rooms to get some sleep before their big day. “Ryo-san, are you coming?” Dr. Naegino asked, stopping at the door when he realized Dr. Nakajima wasn’t behind him. “In a minute, Kentaro-san. I’d like to speak to Akira-kun about something. Go on ahead.” Akira looked up from the revised copy of the paper in surprise, but didn’t say anything until after Dr. Naegino and the others had left for their own rooms for the night. “What did you want to speak to me about, Nakajima-sensei?” he asked, turning around in his computer desk chair as the older man closed the door. “If you’re going to try to convince me to cut more of Kamina- sensei’s section, you might as well save your breath. I know you‘re not fond of him, but--” Dr. Nakajima shook his head and took a seat at the foot of Akira’s bed. “This has nothing to do with the paper,” he said. “It has to do with that phone call you received earlier. Who called you?” “I told you, it was somebody I met here at the conference.” “Somebody who just happens to share a name with your very attractive lab assistant?” he inquired, the question making Akira’s blood run cold in realization that Dr. Nakajima had heard him talking to Ami. "Akira-kun, I’m going to ask you again, and I want you to tell me the truth this time -- who called you? Was it Mizuno-san?” Unsure of what to say, Akira kept quiet, his silence on the matter apparently more than enough proof to confirm Dr. Nakajima’s suspicions. His mentor sighed and hung his head. “I knew this would happen,” Dr. Nakajima said. “I *knew* you wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation, especially after you had that dream. I tried to warn you, Akira-kun, but you just wouldn‘t listen to me, would you?” “Gomen nasai.” It was the only thing Akira could think to say. “How long has this thing between you two been going on?” “A couple of months,” Akira admitted, “since around the time I had that breakthrough.” “A couple of months, huh?” Dr. Nakajima raised his head back up, revealing the frown on his face. “Do you realize what you’re doing?” he asked. “If anybody finds out about this, your entire career could be ruined.” “Do you plan to report us?” Akira wouldn’t blame him if he did. After everything Dr. Nakajima did to warn him of the risks of dating a student, he had every right to turn them in. Surprisingly, however, the genetics professor shook his head. “I should, but that would make me very much the hypocrite, wouldn’t it?” he said with another sigh. “I have to say I’m very disappointed in you, though, Akira-kun. After what I told you about my own misguided affair with a student, I had hoped you wouldn’t make the same mistakes I made.” “Ami isn’t a mistake, Nakajima-sensei,” Akira declared, his hands involuntarily curling into fists. Even if their relationship was not acceptable in the eyes of the school, he refused to label it a “mistake,” as if it was something he regretted. “But she’s your student!” “I know, I know…” Akira jumped up from his chair and started pacing the small hotel room, feeling the need to walk off his nervous energy. “How can you even begin to justify this kind of relationship?” “I can’t. I know in my head it’s wrong, and I know I shouldn’t be dating her, but…” “You really do like her, don’t you?” Dr. Nakajima guessed, his stern face softening somewhat. “Yes. Yes, I do,” Akira said, his lips curling into a small smile at the realization. It was the first time he had admitted even to himself that Ami was more than just a fun fling. “I think this relationship has real possibilities.” The older man looked at him in disbelief. “Possibilities? You can’t even have a public relationship, Akira-kun!” “It’s only for a couple more years. Once Ami finishes her undergraduate studies and enters med school…” “Do you think the relationship can last that long under that kind of pressure?” he asked. “Do you honestly believe you can keep this relationship secret for that long? It’s only been a couple of months and already I know about it. How long do you think it will take for somebody else to discover your affair?” Dr. Nakajima’s questions, as much as Akira hated to admit it, brought up some very valid points, which carried even greater weight in wake of the close call Ami had a few days ago with Matsuno Hideki at his apartment. No matter how careful they were, one little slip-up in front of the wrong person had the potential to expose their relationship to the world. It was a miracle that Dr. Nakajima had agreed to keep silent, but there was no guarantee that somebody else who learned the secret would be so understanding. “I don’t know, Nakajima-sensei,” Akira said, finally coming to a stop back at his desk and taking a seat. “The only thing I do know is that I want to continue seeing her.” “You’re flirting with disaster.” “You managed to keep your affair a secret.” “My very *brief* affair,” Dr. Nakajima pointedly reminded him. “We broke up before the school ever had a chance to discover our relationship.” “I’m not going to break up with Ami.” “I never asked you to,” he said. “All I’m saying is that maybe you two ought to reconsider your situation. If you truly think this relationship has possibilities, then wait until she’s in medical school to pursue it properly. I’d hate to see you lose your job over this, Akira-kun. You’re a great teacher.” “Thank you. I’ll take your advice into consideration,” Akira said, not meaning it at all. Dr. Nakajima looked at Akira. “You have no intention of following my advice, do you?” he asked. When Akira remained silent, the older man sighed and stood up to leave. “Well, then, all I can tell you is be careful and good luck. I’ll see you tomorrow, Akira-kun.” Akira let out a curse after his mentor left, banging his fist on the computer desk in frustration. He couldn’t believe that after all the precautions they had taken, all it took was his one little mistake for Dr. Nakajima to find out about his relationship with Ami. Why did she have to call him while he was in the middle of a meeting with his colleagues? No, he couldn’t blame Ami. She had no way of knowing he wasn’t alone. The blame rested solely on his shoulders. If he had been smarter, he would have used another name when he realized who it was instead of stupidly blurting her name where anybody in earshot could hear. Though he had promised to call Ami back once the meeting had ended, Akira decided to take a shower and go straight to bed. They would be heading back to Tokyo tomorrow evening. He would tell her then, in person, about what had happened. She deserved that much. ***** Ami waited up until one o’clock in the morning for Akira’s call, but he never called her back. Though disappointed, she was too tired to stay up any longer, so she went to bed, dreaming of their impending reunion. He didn’t call her back the next day, either. By then, Ami was a bit concerned, assuming he would have contacted her in the morning with an excuse as to why he hadn’t called her back the night before, but she told herself that he was probably busy getting ready for the big presentation. Besides, Akira would be home by that evening, and being able to talk to him in person was a hundred times better than over the phone. Ami already had the whole night planned. She would sneak over to his apartment around five with a bag of groceries. There, she was going to cook one of Makoto’s simpler recipes and surprise him with a homemade dinner when he came home. Then, after dinner… Well, that would be dessert, but Ami had no intention of baking anything, though she did add a can of whipped cream to her list of groceries to pick up, blushing as she did so. Unfortunately, the day seemed to be going by as slow as molasses. She had already finished all her necessary studying for the week, and Makoto was off at another one of Asanuma’s baseball games. All the other girls were busy as well, and her mother was at work, so Ami passed the time by grabbing one of Makoto’s old fashion magazines from the top of the recycle bin and trying out some of the beauty tips inside. She couldn’t believe how much work it took to be beautiful. Waxing, exfoliating, moisturizing…and that was only for her legs! She also plucked her eyebrows into a more pronounced arch, mixed together a homemade facial mask, and even tried a few of the more subtle make-up tricks. Ami had to admit she liked the results, though. Her skin had never felt so soft and silky, and the make-up made her look at least five years older. She would never waste so much time on a daily basis, but she tore out the relevant pages from the magazine for future reference before tossing it back in the bin. By that time, it was almost five o‘clock, so Ami bought her groceries and headed to Akira’s apartment building, remembering to disguise herself with the baseball cap she had borrowed the last time she was there in case she happened to run into Yokoyama Yui or her boyfriend on her way up. Luckily, the coast had been clear, and when she got to the apartment, Ami found Mercury in the kitchen eating a can of dog food, meaning that the dog-walker had probably just left and wouldn’t be interrupting for the rest of the night. “Hey, Mercury, Akira’s coming home today,” Ami cheerfully announced as she set her bags down on the counter and placed the bouquet of daisies she had bought in a glass vase. “I bet you’ve missed him just as much as I have, haven’t you?” The Corgi looked up from his bowl and barked in reply. “I thought so,” Ami giggled, washing her hands before she started on the meal. For Akira’s special “Welcome home!” dinner, she had decided to make one of his favorites: meatloaf with corn and mashed potatoes. Though she had never cooked the meatloaf herself, Ami had watched Makoto enough times to feel confident in her ability to replicate it. She followed the recipe she had jotted down from one of her roommate’s cookbooks to the letter, and soon, the kitchen was filled with smells that made Ami’s mouth water in anticipation. Ami had just finished mashing the potatoes when she heard Akira come in through the front door. A quick glance at the stove clock revealed he was a bit earlier than she expected, but there wouldn’t be too much of a wait for dinner, so that was fine. Ami took off her apron, and after smoothing down her dress and checking her reflection in the bottom of a shiny, practically brand-new frying pan, she went to the living room to welcome him home. “Akira, you’re back!” Ami said, surprising Akira when she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Welcome home! How did your presentation go?” “Ami?” Loosening her arms, a frowning Akira turned around to face her. “Ami, what are you doing here?” “I wanted to surprise you.” “Well, you certainly did that. You nearly scared me half-to-death.” “Gomen,” she apologized, casting her eyes to the ground. Ami thought Akira would be happy that she came over to welcome him home, but, for some reason she couldn‘t understand, he sounded almost mad at her. Had she done something wrong? Was that why he hadn’t called her back the previous night as he promised? She thought back to their last conversation, but Ami couldn’t think of anything she had said that might have angered him. “No, I’m sorry, Ami,” Akira sighed, tilting her chin back up and kissing her chastely on the cheek. “I didn’t mean to jump on you. I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all. I‘m happy to see you, really.” Relieved that he wasn’t angry with her, Ami helped Akira out of his coat and folded it over the back of the armchair to be put away later. “Did something go wrong at the presentation?” she asked. “No, the presentation went fine. In fact, it was the talk of the conference.” “That’s great, Akira. I’m so proud of you.” “Yeah. Hey, isn’t that meatloaf I smell?” Ami frowned as Akira headed to the kitchen, wondering what had gotten into him. Normally, Akira never passed up the opportunity to talk about his work. Confused, she followed him into the kitchen, where she found him in front of the open oven, inhaling the aroma of the meatloaf. “Wow, that smells absolutely delicious, Ami,” he complimented, closing the oven door. “Did you make it yourself?” “I used one of Mako-chan’s recipes. It’ll be about another five minutes until it’s done,” Ami said, grabbing a couple of rarely-used plates from the cabinet and setting them and the vase of flowers at the table. "But, Akira, did something happen at the conference?” “We’ll talk about it later. For now, let’s just celebrate being together again, okay? You have no idea how much I‘ve missed you.” Ami started to object, but Akira kissed her before she could even get the words out of her mouth, pushing her up against the counter. Though she was curious as to what was bothering him, she decided it could wait until later when he was ready to talk about it. At that moment, Ami was content to be in Akira’s arms again, kissing the lips she had missed so much. “Akira…dinner will…be ready…soon,” she reminded him in between kisses. “We really…should stop…” “Forget about dinner,” he said, moving down to her neck. “We can… reheat it…later.” As tempting an idea as it was -- and it was very tempting -- Ami managed to pull away when she heard the oven timer go off. “Later,” she promised as she put on a pair of oven mitts and pulled the meatloaf out. "First, we eat.” Akira playfully pouted, but sat down at the table and started to fix his plate. “Fine, I suppose I could use the extra energy anyway. This really does look delicious, Ami.” She smiled. “Arigatou.” While they ate, Akira told Ami more about what happened at the conference, although she could tell he was carefully avoiding the subject of why he had seemed so tense when he came home. When she tried to ask him why he hadn’t called her back like he promised, he snapped at her again, just as he had done before. After that, Ami let the subject drop, at least until after they had finished eating and were doing the dishes. “Akira, tell me what happened,” Ami gently prodded as she dried off the plate he had handed her. “Something has obviously got you on edge, and I want to know what it is.” Akira, who had offered to wash the dishes to thank her for making dinner, scrubbed at the dirty pot he was currently cleaning as if hadn‘t been washed in years. “I thought I said we would talk about it later.” “It is later.” “Why ruin tonight? It can wait until tomorrow.” “I don’t think it can.” Taking the pot away from him before he scrubbed the silvery coating right off of it, Ami took his glove-covered hands and turned Akira so that he faced her. “Akira, tell me. It has to do something about us, doesn’t it? About our relationship? Do you -- do you want to break up with me?” “No, of course not, Ami,” Akira assured her, taking off his rubber gloves and cradling her face in his hands. “It’s not like that at all. How could you even think that?” “Well, you never called me back last night, and you’ve been acting so strangely ever since you got back…” Akira sighed. “Gomen nasai. I never meant to make you think that. Come on, I better tell you everything.” Ignoring the rest of the dishes, he took Ami’s hand and led her back to the living room, where they sat down together on the couch. Even though he’d told her that he had no plans to break up with her, Ami still felt her heart racing in nervousness, especially when she saw the grim look on his face. She had no idea what he was going to tell her, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. “Akira? What is it? Just tell me already,” she pleaded. “Do you remember a few days ago when we discussed the possibility of someone finding out about us?” he asked after a brief pause. She nodded. Ami remembered the conversation well. It was right after she had run into the dog-walker at Akira’s apartment. “What about it?” “Well…I’m afraid we’ve been caught.” Ami gasped. The news was even worse than she thought. “What? By whom? By the dog-walker? Did he recognize me after all?” “No, I’m afraid this is all my fault,” he confessed. “Gomen nasai. Nakajima-sensei heard us talking last night when you called during the meeting and put together the clues. Don‘t worry, though,” he added, noticing the horrified look on her face. “He‘s promised not to say anything.” Ami was relieved to hear that, at least. “Are you positive? I mean, he is a professor at the school…” “Nakajima-sensei has his own reasons for keeping our secret,” Akira said, though he didn’t elaborate on what those reasons might be. “What about the other people in your group? Did they hear?” “No, I don’t think so. Even if they did, I doubt they put the name together with a face. They don‘t know you as well as Nakajima-sensei does.” “Thank goodness.” Akira pulled Ami toward him, kissing the top of her head. “I’m really sorry about this,” he apologized again. “I can’t believe I was so stupid, especially when we just had that big discussion about being more careful.” Ami shook her head. She couldn‘t let Akira take all the blame on himself. If she hadn’t called him at the wrong time, they never would be in the situation they were in. “It’s not your fault, Akira. I shouldn’t have called you during the meeting. If anyone is to blame, it’s me.” “But you had no idea that we were holding a meeting.” “Well, at least Nakajima-sensei promised to keep our secret,” she reminded him, snuggling closer to her lover. Ami didn’t want to think about it any longer. Tonight was supposed to be Akira’s homecoming, and she wasn ’t about to let the news of their discovery by a sympathetic supporter ruin their evening. Akira evidently had the same idea, for he silently took her hand and lead her to the bedroom, where they made love until both were utterly exhausted. DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon is the property of Takeuchi Naoko. AUTHOR’S NOTES: Comments and criticisms can be sent to me at ElysionDream@aol.com. As always, thanks to my editors, Starsea and I Abibde/Samuraiter.