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Becoming a doctor is something Shinobu knows she'll never regret, and she doesn't, though sometimes... Sometimes, she does. She'll never regret seeing the smiles on her patient's faces when they hear the good news she has to present them, 'The surgery went well!' and 'Everything's well,' or anything along the lines remotely positive, being able to save lives and help make sure at least one person isn't suffering is enough for her at the end of the day. But no matter how many things she'll never regret about becoming one she'll always regret not being able to help save someone when she could, telling the family unfortunate news, and having to come home late.
Today is one of those nights where she had to work an overnight shift, barely running on a few hours of sleep and a cup of coffee or two, making minor mistakes that meant nothing but she knows she'd beat herself over in the morning after. But she's too tired to think about that, she's surprised she even made the drive home, she should have called her husband to come to pick her up but stubbornly, she persisted and drove herself.
Tomorrow she won't have to worry about it, tomorrow she'll have a day off.
Tomorrow she plans to spend the entire morning in bed in her partner's embrace with legs interwoven, pressing soft chaste kisses against each other lips between soft mutters of 'I love you,' as they waste away the morning until it becomes the afternoon. She softly smiles to herself as she pulls into the driveway and parks the car. She slings her bag around her shoulder, twisting her keys out of the car, and exits out of it, locking the door behind her.
The doctor glances towards the house, a bright light radiating from both the living room and the kitchen making her smile grow even softer. He waited for me, she lovingly thinks.
Making her towards her house and up the steps, the keys jangling in her hands, she twiddles through her keychain, dropping it a few times before she finally managed to get it in the lock, twisting it a few times until it finally opens, a bright light consuming her figure as she steps inside the house.
She closes the door behind, locking it with the turn of a knob or two, and looks toward, as expected a figure who was in the living room is already making its way out of it, but for now, she settles for ridding herself of her shoes by the door. She hangs up her coat, along with her bag, and turns towards the hallway to see her husband with slightly muffled hair stand there with a tilted head.
Giyuu, her husband, it's still a strange thing to think of say but she likes it. Giyuu takes few strides towards her and brings her into his arms. She almost collapses into them, but doesn't, not yet.
She leans against his chest with a sigh, all her weight falling into him as he wraps his arms around her, a hand carding into her thick jet and purple locks. His fingers tracing circles into her back as she feels some of the tension leave her shoulders. Shinobu buries her face into his chest, she missed this, she missed him most importantly.
He's already changed into the clothes he wears to bed, letting his hair down, it seems as if he's ready to go to bed. She was almost late, he almost went to bed without her but thankfully he didn't. It's one of the many reasons she loves him, his patience, he waited for her but everyone has their limits, even him, but she appreciates his patience with her even if her job is demanding.
"I should probably go take a shower," She mumbles, he lays his chin on her head. "You should," But they stay like that a little bit longer, neither of them are ready to let go of the other.
But Giyuu lets go of her for her, if he hadn't she'd probably have stayed there with him all night. He nudges her in the direction of the bathroom as he passes by her. "I'll go fix you a plate for dinner,"
"You already ate?"
"You said not to wait for you,"
"Well I would have appreciated it if you did," He hums walking away from her and towards the kitchen. "Hey- Don't ignore me!" She doesn't have the usual energy to wave her fist at him, huh, she really is tired then.
"Dinner will be on the table, put your dishes in the dishwasher, then start it, I'll be in the bedroom," He states and she catches his wrist, pulling him to look her in the eyes.
"Stay up for me, alright? If you're not too tired," Her husband nods and she swears before he turns around and walks towards the kitchen his lips curl up into a not so rare, but still, soft smile that makes her melt every time she sees it. Another good thing about coming home, whether it be late or early, she gets to see him smile and there's nothing she'd rather be welcomed home with. She walks towards the bathroom with a smile on her face as well.
Shinobu steps out of the shower with a sigh of relief, rolling her shoulders as she hears a bone pop as she stretches her limbs. She had been needing that, more than she realized but at least she's out of those dirtied scrubs. It'll feel nice to not have to wear them for the next 2 days until she'll have to go back to work again. She sighs, she loved her job but sometimes she hated it, she'd need to take a day off sooner or later.
Shuffling out of the bathroom, not without slipping on nighttime wear and her slippers, she makes her way towards the kitchen, the light is left on so she can make her way through the dark. Not that she doesn't already have the layout of the place memorized, she knows it like the back of her palm.
The meal is surprisingly warm, it must have been heated up. She cleans her plate and places it in the dishwasher, starting it up with a few push of the buttons, and makes her way to her final destination for the night.
The bedroom.
The walk is short, but thankfully they live in a house that isn't that big, but big enough for them that's all that matters. She opens the door with a small creak and closes it behind her. When she looks towards the bed she sees her husband sitting up on the bed, his back leaning against the pillows as the blanket is trapped over his slightly bent legs, resting on them is a book he told her he was reading when he texted her earlier.
He looked up at her and a soft smile and she felt her heart melt. She was so lucky.
Giyuu closes the book and places it at his bedside and holds out his arms. She smiles at him and easily falls into the embrace, pressing a kiss to the top of his forehead. An enthusiastic sound escaped past his lips but despite that, he pushed her away with his hand. "Other side," He says and with a dramatic sigh, she walks her way over to the other side of the bed, picking up the blanket and slipping her legs under the sheets, and crawling towards him.
She nuzzles into the crook of his neck, leaving a trail of chaste kisses up his neck to the corner of his lips, and then promptly on them, small apologizes for working overtime and not telling him. Laying her head on his chest, he combs his hand through her damp hair. Her eyes slip closed as another sigh escapes her lips as she melts into his touch.
It's a strange turn of events, back then when they both worked jobs when her salary didn't cut it he needed to work too so the positions would more often than not be switched, he often relied on her for comfort since he never did the best in social situations and being a teacher for a bunch of students and having to be apart of meetings didn't help that one bit. She learned over the years of knowing him, that social interaction tended to drain him, a few exceptions, of course, but that still didn't mean he'd like them anyway. And being a coach to a bunch of rowdy kids was probably the last thing someone like him wanted to do.
But he did it anyway, ended up getting a favorite student or two, or four really, but no one needs to know that except him. That was his secret and he was taking it to the grave even if it was kind of obvious.
Giyuu wouldn't say he regretted having that job, no, it was a learning experience at best and some of the teachers and kids were nice but it still didn't mean it was physically and mentally draining for him just like he doesn't doubt that Shinobu's job does to her sometimes. Except it always took a wider toll on him since he's not good at socializing while Shinobu is, she's a natural, he just isn't.
So after a hard day of teaching a bunch of kids who couldn't keep still he'd go home, sometime he'd stay afterward and grade something if it needed to be graded(Which most of the time it did but he brought it home with him.), but he'd go cook dinner for the two, fix his own plate and either leave it out for her to fix or leave the leftovers in the fridge, eat, shower, and collapse on the bed, unwilling to do anything else except lay there and be alone. Those weren't his worst days though, his worst days were when he'd sleep in, too bothered to set an alarm the night before and freak out thinking he's late only to see his wife (Who he loved dearly for it,) had called him in sick, knowing that being a doctor made her 10 times more convincing and then would try to get off her shift as early as possible. For the rest of the day, he'd spend it alone like how he preferred, curled up in bed only getting up if it was necessary and sleeping the day away, he'd wake up to her by his side later in the evening, having changed out of her scrubs and having made dinner for the two, then after they ate and he'd fall asleep in her embrace with her hands strewn in his hair.
Today is no different from one of those days, but this time he isn't the one who needs to be comforted but her. And he'd be more than happy to provide that for her for all the times she's helped him.
He brings Shinobu close to his chest, tightly wrapping his arms around her in the hope to ground her once more.
He presses a kiss against her forehead, "I'm here love," he softly spoke, resting his chin on her forehead.
A comfortable silence stretches out between them, speaking all the words between the two go unspoken. The same song and dance they find themself falling into, the same routine that never gets old, the same thing that works for them and always seems to.
"Thank you," Muffled words manages to escape past her lips as she grips a little more tightly at the current clothes he dons, that if she lets go she'll lose him forever.
Thankfully, life isn't that cruel, and doesn't plan to take him away from her just yet.
Giyuu gently rests his forehead against her's, a soft expression breaking onto his face as he stares at her, his brows pulling together. "I missed you," He softly says, bringing his calloused hand to gingerly cup her cheek. An ache resonates at the bottom of her heart and she sighs, pressing a kiss to his lips before starring into his deep ocean-like eyes once more.
"I know, I missed you too and I'm sorry,"
He doesn't get to see her as much as he used to now that she's a full-time doctor, but her pay raise is enough to support them both to where he doesn't need to work and can instead focus on handling everything at home. It's not as lonely as he first suspected it'd be, he's been able to read more than when he had a job, get into new hobbies like drawing, not to mention put more efforts into the meals when it's his turn to cook along with try out new recipes. Besides, if he does get lonely then he can either text Makomo or Sabito or invite the two over so they can spend the rest of the day together.
But the two of them have lives outside of spending time with him, so sometimes they can't come over, then again the two of them are married and are trying to save up so they can move into a better house when they have kids so he can't blame them for being busy. They aren't the only ones who visit him though, his older sister, Tsutako while not busy with her kids comes to visit him though it isn't often since she lives across the city but when holidays roll around or his birthday, she, and sometimes her kids and her husband come with her too. The switch from visiting her house to visiting his but every few years his and Shinobu's families get together around wintertime, but it's probably not gonna happen again this year.
And then you have the 'pillars' who sometimes visit him as well. He's not sure if 'pillars' is the right word for it since the organization they worked for has long gone and been dispanded but it's the only way he knows to refer to them as a group, but sometimes show up, not that he isn't thankful for it.
He has people visiting him but he'd much rather be with his wife, it's his wife for god sake he married her because he wanted to be with her, but her job will not allow that; and he hates that.
"You need to stop working such long shifts," He says and Shinobu just shakes her head. "I'd love to but how else are we going to pay the bills,"
"I'll start working again," This wife simply scoffs at him, not meanly, but she still scoffs at him. "Are you sure you'll be able to handle it? You'll have to interact with people, kids even,"
He simply shrugs, "I don't mind the kids, they aren't that annoying, especially if it means I get to see you sooner," he moves his hand closer and tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear. He's always liked seeing her with her hair down, just like how she liked the same for him. She giggles at him, a light flush dusting her cheeks. "Aw, you always know the right things to say to make me blush, don't you?"
"I'm serious,"
"I know, I know, but you do know that you can call me whenever you want..." She runs a hand through his hair, "Even if you don't have a reason to, or maybe you just wanna hear my voice I promise I'll answer as soon as I can," and twirls a strand of hair around her fingers.
He sighs and leans his head against the headboard, spending their next few moments in comfortable silence.
Shinobu's hesitant to break it but she ends up breaking it despite it. "There's another way I could take more time off of work without you needing to get another job, though, in the end, it'll be a lot of work for both of us,"
He looks down at her, letting out a small noise of interest. "Mmm? What's it?"
She sits up, a devilish smirk crossing her face and he already knows what's about to come out of her mouth either is completely unlogical or not good at all. "We could have a baby?"
Almost in an instant, he splutters it being both former and the latter. His posture straightens up, face heating up as well as he stares down at her, confusion drawn on his face. "Excuse me?"
"It's an option, I'm not against it I've always wanted a kid,"
"S-shouldn't we talk about this?"
"Do you want a baby?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then let's have one," She moves to straddle his lap, tiredness long forgotten. Trailing a finger down his jaw she moved to cup his chin, eyes twinkling with mischief as he can only stare up at them in wonder what he's gotten himself into tonight.
"Shinobu we shouldn't-" She cups both of his cheeks, silencing him as she kisses him on the lips and proceeds to pepper his face in kisses. He freezes under her, tiredness slowing down his brain by a few seconds, he doesn't understand why this is all of a sudden.
Pulling back she cups his cheek with a pout crossing her face. "We both want one, why are you against this?"
"S-Shinobu, I want one but not now,"
She frowns down at him and forms a rebuttal. "Why not?"
"Let's save up first, and not have a kid because we want to spend more time with each other, that's wrong to have a kid for that reason."
"God I hate it when you're right,"
"Let's talk about this tomorrow... Alright?" Giyuu yawns, gently pushing her off of him he goes to curl up on his side, yawning making his tiredness obvious and therefore distinguishing any fight she might have had left in her. She moves towards him and wraps her arms around his back, curling around him as well.
Suddenly out of nowhere, he starts to shift where he's sleeping until he completely turns his head around to look at her. "Oh, yeah. Shinobu?"
"Yes?"
"You're cooking tomorrow and the day afterward," And he turns around and goes back to sleep. Her brain, a little rusty after a hards day she takes a little longer to process the information and for it all to click into place. But when it does...
"Wait- what," She swiftly peeks over him and finds that it's already too late, he's already fallen asleep, she frowns at him. "Damnit, could have at least told me what you wanted,"
Annoyance aside, she's quickly lulled to sleep to the sound of the crickets with a smile gracing her lips as she can only think of how lucky she is to call this place home, her home.
She's happy- no- more than happy.
Ecstatic.