Hana Kimi Fan Fiction ❯ Years Away From What I Need ❯ Gifts ( Chapter 8 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 8

The inspection on the house - for the most part - matched the inspector's report he'd received from the realtor. His inspector, though, noted that the roof would likely need to be replaced within five to ten years, and that there was a loose board on the back porch that needed repair. It was quite thorough. Nakatsu was pleased.

On top of that - almost like it was fate - both he and Kitayama used the same bank as the realty company. So instead of having to file a ton of paperwork for withdrawing the money, then having to carry the paperwork for the money transfer over to the realty company, who would then have to arrange for payment to Kitayama, everything was done through ONE visit of the realtor and Nakatsu to the bank. The title was transferred. The keys were handed over. One week to the day, after seeing the house for the first time, he owned it.

During that week, he'd gone on three more dates with Kyoumi. One was an afternoon visit - they went to a movie, and then got some ice cream. The second was on a Sunday and lasted all day. They took a bus to an amusement park, and rode rides all day long. On Monday, she had commitments at school that she couldn't get out of. So the third, on Tuesday, was back at Auntie O's again, followed by a walk through the park again.

It wasn't like everything they did was fabulous and outstanding. Only his buying of the house, and his planning of their second date could be described that way. But somehow, everything was just. . . better when she was there. Conversation. Comfortable silence. Giggling over silly things. Sharing food. It was truly odd: when he stopped to think about it, he couldn't really name why it was that he loved her.

Yes, she was beautiful. Yes, she was incredibly intelligent. Yes, she was creative. And nurturing. And responsible. And it was also true that she loved him. But he knew that none of these single reasons were the reason he was in love with her. In fact, it wasn't even the combination of all these reasons that formed the basis of his love.

The more time he spent with her, the more. . . solid it seemed. His love for her was immutable. Unchanging. More durable than the pyramids. It was a thing not to be questioned, because the questions couldn't touch it. It just was.

On Wednesday, he checked out of the hotel, and dropped his bags off at his new house. Then he locked the door, and made his way to the airport.

He'd told her the night before that he'd be gone for about a week. He had to pack up his apartment, transfer the papers for Kisho to officially purchase it, and arrange for a trucking company to ship all his stuff to his new house. It actually only took three days.

He didn't really own that much stuff. His packing consisted of about 20 photo albums, three scrapbooks - one for each Sano child's artwork. Plus another rather large box that he put all his random photos and artwork in - all the stuff magneted to the refrigerator, or pinned to the wall, taped to the mirror, propped up on the desk, etc. Actually, pulling those down and organizing them into the box took most of his packing time. He also had a set of dishes, glasses & silverware, some pans, his clothes, shoes. A bottle of shampoo plus conditioner in one. Toothpaste, toothbrush, shaving cream, razor, soap, deodorant - he had his travel toiletries - that he'd left at his new house, and his stay-home toiletries that he had to pack now. His entertainment system: stereo, flat-screen TV, PS2, some DVDs and some games. A few CDs. A box of trophys and awards he'd won. His laptop. The soccer ball that he scored the winning goal with for the first time on his team - the one that made the team start to think of him as a good recruit. His diploma. A box of his correspondences with Sano Izumi and Sano Mizuki.

For Kisho, he left most of the furniture - what there was of it: A desk, a dining room table and chairs, an entertainment center, a chest of drawers, a sofa, a few end tables, a nightstand, his futon. All he really wanted to take was his leather vibrating recliner. The rest of it, he'd replace with better stuff - stuff that Kyoumi might like. And Kisho could use the stuff. He was just moving out of his parents' house for the first time - he'd lived at home for the first two years he'd been with the team.

He especially wanted to get a western style bed for his new house. One he could picture Kyoumi sleeping in. Beautiful. With a soft comforter, and a fluffy pillow that supported her precious face. And a dressing table with a mirror that she could sit at and brush her hair - and he'd lie in bed just watching her. Just the thought made him smile.

When he finished packing, he realized that he had three days left before the movers would show up to pick up his boxes. Setting the boxes and his chair to one side of the entryway, he called Kisho to let him know that if he would let Nakatsu crash on the sofa, he could move in early - and he'd help him move his stuff, too.

There is nothing like helping a friend move to cement the friendship. Kisho was so happy, that he eagerly agreed that Nakatsu could stay at the apartment any time he wanted to visit Tokyo - even if Kisho was entertaining a girl!

Nakatsu helped him move in on his fourth day in Tokyo. A day of heavy labor, moving boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff out of Kisho's parents' house, and into the apartment, was just what he needed - he felt exhausted yet energized at the end of the day.

The mortgage company put the cost of the apartment into Nakatsu's bank account, replenishing it for his shopping needs, and Kisho would now being paying off that mortgage for 10 years - the length Nakatsu had lived there - although Nakatsu had paid it off in just 4 years.

On day five in Tokyo, Sunday, Nakatsu went shopping. The movers would be there the next day. It made sense to go shopping and look for stuff before they got there. His first stop - a furniture store. After looking at 75 different beds, he realized that he would not be able to buy one without her there. What if he bought it and she hated it. He knew she wouldn't call it quits over something like that - but why get something that she'd hate? He'd rather have her go shopping with him and pick stuff out.

As he walked out of the furniture store, feeling defeated yet excited at the prospects ahead of him, he glanced to his right and saw it. He walked into the store like a man in a trance. “May I help you?” the shop clerk inquired. He pointed to the window. The clerk smiled and glided toward the window to pull out the item from the display. She came back with a small box. Nestled within it was a beautiful princess cut diamond ring with trillion cut emerald baguettes on either side, in a brilliant platinum setting. This was it. The ring he would propose with.

“How much?”

The girl smiled at him. “So Nakatsu Shuichi is retiring to marry a girl, eh?”

He blinked at her. “No. No. That's. . . I mean, I'm retiring. And I'm going to propose - eventually. But. . . this ring is perfect.” He paused for a second. It would be better if he could get her something right away. . . It was too early to propose - he had to be smart about that - but it would be so great to give her something. . . Nakatsu looked up at the saleswoman. “Listen, do you have a bracelet or a necklace that would look right with this ring?”

Her smile grew and she directed him to a tennis bracelet that alternated emeralds and diamonds, a necklace that featured a drop pendant with a trillion-cut emerald and two small princess-cut diamonds above it so it looked like an arrow pointing down. There were matching earrings for the necklace as well.

They were all perfect. They would look so amazing on her.

“How much?”

“For all of them?” He nodded in response. “Well, the list price is 3.5M yen. But if you're going to buy it all, I'm not going to charge you list price.”

Staring at the jewelry in front of him, he knew it was perfect. He really wanted her to have it. Even if she changed her mind and dumped him tomorrow - it would look just so good on her. But would she think it was too much? Cocking an eyebrow at the woman, he asked, “If a young man were dating you, and he bought you all this, what would you think? Would you think it was too much? Or. . .”

She saw him struggling, and couldn't help herself: she patted his hand. “How long have you been dating her?”

“Officially? Almost two weeks.”

Her eyes popped out before she got them under control. `Only two weeks and he wanted to buy her all this?!?' “You've only known her two weeks, huh?”

“No. I met her 14 years ago - back when she was just a girl. But she was just a girl, then. Now, she's. . .” He paused as he struggled to explain.

“That's why I'm worried. I mean. I am going to marry her.” The salesclerk smiled at the conviction in that statement. “But. . . I don't want to make her uncomfortable. Would it be. . . gauche to. . . get it all now, but give it to her a piece at a time?”

“Personally,” she beamed at him, “I think this is one lucky woman! I wish I could meet someone who wanted to shower me with gifts. You're more interesting than the articles would have you believe. I'll tell you what. You buy all of these items together, and I'll only charge you 2M yen.”

He smiled at her broadly, and she felt her heart melt. `Oh, God - why can't I meet a FREE man like this?'

“Sold.”

She began ringing him up, and he wandered around the store. In the far counter, he saw a sterling silver fountain pen that was engraved with a dragon. He pointed at it. “This, too!” he shouted. She added it to the pile. His total came to 2,025,000 yen. He paid by debit card, and left the shop grinning from ear to ear.

Now, all he had to do was figure out when to give her each piece, and in which order. He started puzzling over it, and finally, it came to him: SAKURA! She'd know when he should give Kyoumi each piece.

God, he missed her. He hadn't seen her in days. He'd been calling her every day since he left, but somehow, even though it made him feel better, it still made him miss her even more. He fell asleep on the couch that night after calling her, still holding the phone up to his face - like that could bring him closer to her. In his dream that night, he was married to her, and they had two kids, a boy and a girl. He was holding her close, and she looked up at him smiling and told him she was pregnant. He'd never been that happy. Kisho was surprised when he came home to find Nakatsu asleep on the couch and laughing.

Sakura had never seen Kyoumi this happy in the entire time she'd known her. Naoko and Hisa weren't talking to either of them any more. Apparently, Nyoko had been on a date in the park and had seen Kyoumi and Nakatsu dancing, and had been talking to Midori about how amazingly, wonderfully in love the two had looked - like something out of a fairy tale - and Naoko had overheard and told Hisa. Naoko seemed to take it as a personal affront that neither Kyoumi nor Sakura had immediately gone to her to tell her about Kyoumi's blooming relationship. And Hisa had become convinced that Kyoumi was some kind of football-hating vampire that was sucking the life out of Japan's brightest star.

It was kind of funny - except for how hurtful it was. At first Sakura was worried that this would hurt poor Kyoumi. She knew her roommate took things much more to heart than anyone else she knew. But Kyoumi was on cloud nine, and barely noticed. When she did notice, she just laughed and shook her head. Sakura was proud of her.

And she knew that the girl would never admit it, but she was a little glad that Nakatsu was out of town. As much as she missed him, the fact remained that she was just BOILING with creative energy, and this gave her more time to write.

Plus, Sakura had noticed that there was a sort of strained quality to her roommate every time she came home from a date with her new boyfriend. The boy just wouldn't give in - he was determined to wait until they were married. Sakura suspected that if Kyoumi had to spend every day with that boy and never got him to touch her, that her roommate might just explode. Still, it was so honorable - amazing that there could be a guy like that in all of the world. If it wasn't for the fact that she'd seen the strain in Nakatsu's face, too, she'd have thought the guy was gay and using Kyoumi just as a beard.

And of course, if that were true, she'd have to kill him. So it was a good thing that he was suffering as much as Kyoumi.

Over the past 5 days, Sakura had gotten pretty good at listening for Kyoumi's phone and managing to not be in the room for more than 5 seconds after the first ring. By the time Kyoumi said, “Moshi moshi,” she always had privacy to talk to her boyfriend. While part of Sakura kind of wished she could eavesdrop, the other part reminded her - too sweet - will cause cavities! They were sickeningly cute.

Now, it was day six. Nakatsu was due home that evening. Kyoumi wasn't sure if she'd see him, but he'd be in town and that was enough. She practically floated the whole day, and Sakura just loved seeing her best friend truly happy.

She was hanging out in the lobby - expecting Kyoumi would need private time for a phone call soon - when the person at the front desk called out for her, “I've got a call for Sakura! Can someone let her know?”

Standing up, she called, “I'm here.” As she got up to the public phone, she asked the receptionist, “Did they say who it was?”

“He said it was the flower delivery guy.”

Her brow crinkled as she took the receiver. “Hello?”

She heard a sigh of relief on the phone. “Sakura, thank god! I thought for sure the receptionist would figure out who I was and then Kyoumi would know that I called you.”

Instinctively, Sakura crossed her arms and scowled. Was this guy going to try hitting on HER now? Her fears were short lived, though.

“I. . . I need your help. I want to give Kyoumi. . . I bought her some stuff, but I'm kinda scared to give it to her, and I thought you know her so well. You'd be able to tell me what I can give to her when, so that I don't make her feel like I'm completely insane or something.”

He sounded so incredibly like a puppy - eager to please, but confused about his training. She laughed out loud. “What did you have in mind?”

“Could - could you meet me at the little coffee shop next to Auntie O's? I've got it all with me, and I could show you and. . . you'll let me know if you think she won't like it, right?”

“I'll be there in 10 minutes, Romeo. You're so funny.”

“Thanks, Sakura.”

“De nada.”

She went back to her room long enough to grab her purse and a book. “I'm heading out for some coffee. I'll try to stay out of the room so you can have some privacy when LOVERBOY calls you,” she teased. Kyoumi stopped writing long enough to turn around and stick her tongue out, and Sakura laughed as she exited.

Nakatsu was holding a burgundy bag and pacing next to a booth as Sakura entered the coffee shop. On the table, there was a cup of black coffee, and a mocha latte. He saw her, smiled, gestured her over and sat in the booth by the coffee. That meant the mocha latte was for her.

“How did you know that mocha latte was my favorite?”

He paled and then tried to look nonchalant, “Kyoumi told me.”

“I take it she told you indirectly, eh? So how many stories has she written about me?”

He bit his lip then said, “I refuse to answer on the grounds that Kyoumi would never forgive me if I did.”

“That many, huh?”

He looked at her intently. “You're as important to her as if you were her sister by blood.”

Sakura was surprised to find that she was blushing, so she changed the subject. “So bring out the prizes, loverboy!” she commanded before taking a sip of mocha latte. He'd even already added one packet of natural sugar for her. `What is that girl writing about?'

He set the bag on the table and began bringing out burgundy velvet jewelry boxes. Sakura's eyes got wide. She'd been expecting trinkets. This stuff was REAL! Two boxes were small and square, one was a thin long rectangle, one was a thin medium length rectangle, and the other was a long wide rectangle. He opened the long rectangles first.

She gaped at the tennis bracelet and pendant. They were absolutely perfect for Kyoumi. The green of the emeralds would look even more brilliant against her pale skin. And he'd picked out jewelry in white gold, not yellow gold. Kyoumi always looked better in the cool white metal than in the warm yellow. “These are amazing.” She looked up at him. “You've got really good taste. These will look amazing on her.”

Then he opened the medium rectangle. A dragon pen was there. It was a fancy fountain pen with two ink cartridges. Perfect for her to write in her journal.

Next, he took one of the smaller boxes opened it, then snapped it back shut before she could see. Setting that one down, he picked up the other square and opened it, revealing a pair of earrings that perfectly matched the necklace.

She caught his eyes and said, “You're right, though. You won't be able to give these to her all at once.” Slowly, her hand began moving toward that last unopened box. Keeping his eyes, she gestured with her other hand. “In fact, for a first gift, any of these might be too much. Even the pen.”

Her hand reached the target, and she quickly pulled it back to her. By the time he realized, he would have been forced to come over the table at her to prevent her from opening it. She popped the lid and gasped. He really and truly WAS going to marry her. She turned the open box back to him and said one word: “When?”

He shook his head. “When what?”

“When do you intend to propose?” He blushed and she said, “If you want me to come up with a timeline for the rest of these gifts, you need to tell me when.”

He sighed. “After graduation, I'm going to invite her for a vacation to the place where we first met.”

“End of March. Okay.” Thinking, she began counting off on her fingers: “It's September now. Ring for proposal end of March. Necklace for White Day. Earrings for Valentine's Day - yeah, I know that's when she's supposed to give you stuff, but you can still give her something then, too. Tennis bracelet for Christmas. I'd do the pen for New Years. Either that or as a present for the wedding. But I'm betting you'll want to get her something else by then. So then definitely New Years.” She nodded. “Yeah. That's what I'd do.”

He thought it over. What she said made sense. Each item matched the occasion. And because it was all special days, she wouldn't have to feel uncomfortable about the gifts. “But I want to give her something NOW,” he whined.

She shook her head and smirked. Standing up and grabbing her cup of latte, she said, “Grab your coffee, and let's go.” He closed all the boxes and put them back in the burgundy bag.

“Go where?” he asked as he grabbed the coffee and followed her out of the store.

“To go find a present that's more suitable for you to buy your girlfriend of two weeks. Not two decades. Not two years. Two weeks.” She kept walking at a fast pace, and he followed along.

“See, you're a guy, so you don't understand women & jewelry. But that's probably a good thing. Anyway, There's two types of jewelry: Everyday & Fancy. Now, there's ALL kinds of variations on the two of these - we're not going to get into all the subcategories. Neither of us have that much time.” She jumped over a crack in the sidewalk. Then took a deep chug of her latte, finishing with a “Mmmm.”

She spun to face him. “Now, good sir, the jewelry that you have purchased, that belongs in the fancy category. In fact, it's in the fan-CEEY subsection of the fancy category. Which means that a woman will NOT wear it more than a few times a year - on special fancy occasions.

“Every woman loves fancy jewelry. But we all know it's impractical. It's so beautiful - we couldn't possibly wear it every day. We might damage it. Or lose it. So most of the time, it sits in a jewelry box, and we dream of the occasion when we might possibly get the chance to wear it.

“So when a guy gives a girl fancy jewelry, he's promising that he'll give her lots of occasions to wear it - fancy dinners out, trips to the opera, things like that. Now I've seen your dating habits so far. I'm betting you'll start off your relationship doing about one fancy date a week. But after a couple months, it'll taper off to once a month. And after half a year, you'll be down to one fancy date every two or three months. You - you'll probably keep it at that rate for the rest of your lives - even after you're married and have kids.”

She saw him about to protest and held up her hands to forestall him, “What? Women like fancy dates, but we really only want them every couple of months - just to break up the routine. But unless the girl is a total golddigger, she's going to prefer to spend quiet casual time - just doing things she enjoys with her man. And you know Kyoumi would prefer an evening alone with you - away from the rest of the world -“ her tone INFLECTED the innuendo there, “to anything else.

“SO! That means that you need to get her everyday jewelry. Ah! Here we are!” She opened the door to the shop, and he entered. It was a jewelry store that sold mostly costume jewelry and some yellow gold and sterling silver. No platinum. No white gold. There were a few items with real gemstones, but they were small and imperfect stones - ones anyone could afford.

Entering the store behind him, she said, “Now, I know what you're thinking: Do I want to only get her jewelry as gifts? Is this setting a bad precedent? For any other girl, I'd say - get her something else! But Kyoumi. . . Did you know that every piece of jewelry she's worn on her dates with you has been borrowed? She never paid any real attention to that kind of stuff. When she was younger, her mom kept trying to buy her stuff to show off how pretty she was - but she was always afraid that people would focus in on her looks and then she wouldn't know if they really liked her for her.”

“Now THAT I knew!” Nakatsu held one finger up to emphasize it.

“Ah! Here we are!” She'd stopped in front of a row of sterling silver lockets. “THIS! Is a perfect gift for a girlfriend of two weeks - or of two months. It's something she can wear every day. And if you take her to a photo booth, she can get a picture of the two of you to put in it.” She took a saccharine-sweet tone to her voice and clasped her hands in front of her chest. “So that she can carry you close to her heart - every day!” she dramatized.

Nakatsu rolled his eyes. “You know, there's a reason why she puts you in so many of her stories, “ he teased. She stuck out her tongue at him. “I think if I'd had a little sister, she'd probably have turned out like you. When you come to the wedding, I'm going to introduce you to my mom. I think she'll probably adopt you.” He began to look through the lockets.

`WHEN I come to the wedding. There is not a shred of doubt in his mind. He's decided and he really means to do it. . . Man. No wonder we won so many football tournaments with him on the team. . . OH! And no wonder Hisa's so pissed. He doesn't even realize that his confidence is probably what made them win.' She chuckled to herself. `Yeah. . . I think he's good enough for my Kyoumi.'

“I wouldn't mind having you as brother, if it came to it, I suppose. . . I don't have any siblings, either.”

He smiled slyly at her, “Whatever would Kyoumi think if I started calling you Sakura-imouto?” (AN: Imouto = younger sister)

She laughed. “Why, I couldn't tell you, Shuichi-aniki.” (AN: aniki = older brother. Yea, I know. So does niisan - but with the san, it seemed a bit more formal, so I went with aniki.)

He pulled a locket off the rack and held it up for her to inspect. The locket was about 1 inch tall and three-quarters of an inch wide - and only about one-eighth inch thick. It was in the shape of a book, and it had a cherry blossom engraved into the front of it. “This one, I think.”

She smiled at him. “Aniki, it's perfect!” He reached out and hugged her.

He walked Sakura back to the coffee shop, and there they parted ways. “Thank you so much for your help, Imouto.” He smiled at her fondly.

“If you want to pay me back, Aniki. . . could you PLEASE try to talk her into letting me read some of her stories??? It's not fair that I just know she's a great author - but I have no real proof!”

He smiled. “Ah, but if you read them, then you wouldn't have faith in her just because it was her, now would you?”

She nodded her head in acquiescence and sighed. Then she turned around to head back to the school. “Be good to my girl, Aniki! Or I'll kick your ass!”

He laughed all the way back to his house.