Tsuki! - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

     Toshihiro thought about their future the whole way back to Japan, and he finally realized something important. Hannah was living her life her way, and sharing it with him. Her father told him that he should pretty much just accept it, and he was right.

     If Toshihiro did the same thing, lived his life his way, and shared it with Hannah, they were likely to have fewer problems than if he tried to make Hannah live his way, or she make him live her way. By this, he meant that he would never be comfortable in a huge mansion, and she would probably be happier in a house, no matter how small, than she was in his tiny apartment. Maybe it was time they started to compromise.

     They arrived home with four days left to enjoy before he had to go back to school, and Toshihiro immediately scoured the nearby realty market to see if there was a house that was comfortable, but not expensive. Once he found one that met his requirements, he brought Hannah to the realtor for a tour.

     Hannah looked around the house. It was small, but still much bigger than their apartment. It was in good shape, had a small yard with a privacy fence, and would be a good place to live while Toshihiro finished college.

     She approved of the house, but she gave her husband a confused look. She drew a picture of a school, and arrow to a stick figure in a business suit, and then an arrow to a house on the chalkboard.

     Toshihiro erased the picture, sketched a quick picture of her father and him talking, and then twirled a finger around his temple to indicate that he had changed his mind based on what her father had said.

     Toshihiro pointed to the yard, and drew a picture of a toddler playing with a dog or a cat. Hannah sensed that part of him had finally accepted that she could take care of him. She had always known that he was uncomfortable with her buying all of their food and other possessions, but sheer practicality had forced him to accept it.

     Now… He seemed to be… more at peace.

     Hannah waved her hand around to indicate the house, and nodded. She then searched around in her purse for something she rarely needed to use, her checkbook. She’d had her bank print her some checks in both languages for those times when she needed to write a check rather than use her credit card.

     Meanwhile, Toshihiro informed the realtor that they’d like to buy the house. The realtor immediately tried to get Toshihiro to fill out paperwork for loan applications, explaining his options, and was startled when Hannah interrupted them.

     Hannah pointed to the amount box on the check, and Toshihiro wrote the amount in Romanized numbers and Japanese characters. Hannah mentally calculated the conversion to American dollars, and was impressed that Toshihiro had managed to find such a good buy. Well, it was a good buy in America; she had no idea what houses were supposed to cost in Japan.

     Hannah signed the check, tore it out of the book, and handed it to the realtor. The realtor took the check, and stared at it in disbelief. Two thoughts occurred to him; the first was that this check could not be real. Anybody who could afford to just pay for a house up front like this would not buy a house in this poor neighborhood. His second thought was that if it was real, he wished he had known they had money before they made their decision, that way he could have steered them to a house that would have made him a better profit.

     He immediately called his own bank to have them verify the check, which he needed to do before he could fill out the paperwork transferring ownership to them. The bank put him on hold for just a few moments, and informed him that the check was genuine. In fact, the gossipy bank employee told him all about the American heiress who had married a poor Japanese college student.

This made the realtor recall reading all about it in the paper, and he stared at the couple in shock. Definitely should have directed their attention to a more profitable house!

     The realtor filled out all of the necessary paperwork, had them fill out another check for all of the miscellaneous fees that weren’t included in the list price, and handed them the keys to their new house. “The deed to the house will be mailed to you as soon as it’s processed. In the meantime, here’s the temporary deed. You can feel free to move in right away.”

     Toshihiro thanked the realtor, who thanked Toshihiro for his business, and left them so he could go to a bar and drink while he mentally kicked himself for not making a better profit off the couple!

     Toshihiro smiled at Hannah, and swept his arms around to indicate their new house. What now?

     Hannah kissed him, then stroked her chin as she walked around the house. They didn’t own enough stuff to furnish it properly, but what they did own would start them off nicely. Hannah made a few hand gestures that indicated she thought they should go home and pack. Then she pointed to her husband, made her hand resemble a phone, and pretended to talk. We should go pack, and get our friends to help us move.

     Toshihiro nodded in understanding, grateful that it would not take long to move. In fact, aside from the table and bookshelf, all of their possessions could be moved here in about two hours with just the two of them. With help, they should be completely moved in by tonight!

     Toshihiro and Hannah practically ran all the way to their apartment - which Toshihiro had to give notice to his landlord that they were moving - and the moment they burst through their door, they began to make love.

     Of course, their friends were waiting for them, having seen Hannah shopping for food while Toshihiro was browsing houses at the realtors. Sakura squeaked in dismay that she was interrupting, but Kyo had no problem teasing the newlyweds. “So, is it our turn, or is Yuki the only one who gets to enjoy your new wife?”

     Toshihiro and Hannah suddenly noticed their guests. Toshihiro blushed, but Hannah grinned. She had understood most of that, but even if she hadn’t, she probably could have guessed based on his tone of voice.

     Toshihiro cleared his throat, “Uh hi guys, ironically, we were just about to call you over.”

     “Sure you were,” Keichi said as he rolled his eyes.

     “No really, we were. Hana and I need your help packing up our stuff. We’re moving,” Toshihiro announced.

     “What???” His friends demanded. “Where? Are you quitting college?”

     “We’re moving,” Toshihiro answered the questions in order. “Not far, and no.”

     “Oh!” His friends replied in relief, and promptly agreed to help them out.

Hannah repacked all of the food she had bought that morning into her basket, and contemplated how to pack her cookware up. In fact, it suddenly occurred to her to wonder how they were going to pack anything up without boxes. She drew a box on the chalkboard, the number 10 to indicate that she thought they’d need about that many medium sized boxes, and a yen sign.

     Toshihiro tilted his head side to side as he gave this some thought, then he wrote an amount in numbers rather than characters. He shrugged to indicate that that was his best guess. Hannah pulled a slightly larger amount of yen out of her purse, and handed it to her husband.

     “Do any of you want to volunteer to go get boxes?” Toshihiro asked.

     Sakura volunteered, and Toshihiro handed her the money. Meanwhile, Hannah decided to make use of the empty small laundry basket to hold her cookware. She waited until Toshihiro was looking at her again, and signed that she wanted to walk this over to their new house first so that she could start their dinner cooking while they worked.

     Toshihiro nodded in agreement, and Yuki volunteered to accompany her. Hannah smiled, and led Yuki to their new house. Yuki glanced at Hannah every couple of minutes as they walked, and blushed, and Hannah figured that she must be remembering that night. Hannah smiled at Yuki, and took hold of her hand.

     “You guys bought a house?!” Yuki stated incredulously once they arrived, and Hannah nodded.

     Yuki waited mostly patiently as Hannah started dinner, and once the pot roast and vegetables were in the oven, she pulled Hannah close and kissed her.

     Yuki hadn’t really intended to kiss Hannah. She had hoped to try to talk to her like Toshihiro did, and ask Hannah why she kept remembering that night and wanting more. It had been her first time, and it had been with Hannah. Every time Yuki relived it in her mind, she visualized Hannah just as much as she did Toshihiro.

     Thankfully, Yuki didn’t seem to love Hannah as she did Toshihiro, but she did desire her, and that confused her.

     Hannah backed Yuki into a wall, deepened their kiss, and pulled one of Yuki’s legs up over her hip. This gave Hannah’s hand access to wander up Yuki’s skirt.

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