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Michiru woke up first, or rather, had been awake all along, as was her way. And so she watched her love sleep. Watched the light shift over her, watched the light illuminate the tiny wrinkles around her eyes, the lines around her mouth, the start of grey tinging her dusky blonde hair, the first signs of middle age making their mark upon her. In the dark Michiru could almost imagine that she was still sixteen, and lying next to her first true love, still unsure of what life would bring them. In the light though, Michiru knew they were older. Not old, yet, but older than she had ever expected to be, older than she ever felt she had the right to be, when they were merely fifteen and already had blood on their hands.
And for that, she was grateful.
She waited and watched, for a long time. It was peaceful, these quiet hours of the morning, and Haruka deserved her sleep. It was only when Haruka stirred that she nuzzled against her, gently letting her know with her touch that it was time to wake. Haruka’s eyes opened slowly, and reluctantly, against the morning sun. As was almost ritual now, she groaned, and turned away, burying her head in the warmth of Michiru’s breasts. “Love, it is time to wake.”
“Love, it is Valentine’s Day, and remember? We have some time to just to ourselves today.”
Haruka buried her head in deeper, and Michiru felt soft kisses over her heart. “Haru’s still sleepy.”
Michiru let her hands run across the back of Haruka’s shoulders, felt the muscles in her arms, and felt a pang of desire jolt through her. Was it strange, that this woman, who she had loved for over 25 years, could still make her feel this way? Her fourteen year old self would have scoffed at her, would have laughed at the very notion. But she had been different back then. Haruka had changed everything, had changed her.
She placed a light kiss on Haruka’s head, and nudged her head, ever so gently, to her nipple. She felt Haruka smile against her skin and then, her lips enclosed her nipple, and as her tongue moved, the pang of desire Michiru had felt, felt like it was swallowing her whole. “Haruka,” She whispered, as Haruka drew herself up, and kissed her gently, ever so gently, but ever so greedily too. Michiru closed her eyes as Haruka’s knee began to move against her, a move she knew so well and loved so well, and she moaned as –
“MAMA!!!! PAPA!!!!!”
They pulled away from each other, panting, and Michiru automatically looked towards the door, and saw, with relief, that it was locked.
That didn’t stop their youngest, only three, from pounding at the door though, and sighing, Haruka got up and opened the door. “PAPA!!!” Emiko cried, as she bounded into her father’s arms. She wrapped her chubby little arms around Haruka. Haruka noticed that there were tears falling down her cheeks and she gently rubbed them away. “What happened sweetie?”
Behind them, Setsuna came running up the stairs. “I’m so sorry. Come on Emi, we were just about to have a very delicious breakfast! Michiru mama and Haruka papa are having a quiet day today.”
“NO!” Emiko shouted again, turning away from Setsuna and hiding her head against Haruka’s shoulder.
“What’s the matter sweetheart? You can tell your Papa.”
Emiko started sobbing. “Kiyomi said –said –said you were making another baby today!! That’s not fair. I’m the baby!!! No more babies!!!!”
Haruka grinned. “Aww sweetheart, you are the baby. Kiyomi made a mistake, there’s not going to be any more babies after you darling.”
“Come on Emi, we can watch teletubbies after breakfast!” Setsuna said, reaching to take her from her papa.
She refused to even look at her Setsuna Mama. “No!! I want to say with Haruka Papa and Michiru Mama!!!”
Michiru came to the door, dressed in a pale pink silk robe. She took Emiko from Haruka’s hands. “It’s fine, Setsuna, she can stay with us.”
“Are you sure? I know you wanted today-”
“It’s fine,” Michiru said again, smiling at Setsuna. “Now, little Emi, how about you snuggle in with Haruka papa and Michiru mama, hmmm?”
Emiko smiled happily, and Michiru tucked her into bed between the two of them. Haruka and Emiko had just drifted off when there was yet another loud bang on their door. This person didn’t wait for anyone to open the door, just swung it wide and let herself in. It was, as Michiru knew it would be, their eldest after Hotaru, a dark haired girl –a teenager, though barely –who had a small frown on her face, and a thick book in her hands. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at Emiko. “If Emiko can come here, I should be able to as well. I can’t stand being downstairs with Saki. She won’t shut up about her stupid bicycle.”
Michiru smiled and patted the space on her side. “Come here, Kiyomi. You can sit next to me and tell me about what you’re reading.”
Kiyomi jumped up on the bed next to her Mama. “In history we were learning about medieval Japan and I thought I would do some extra reading on some of the influential families from that era.”
“That looks very interesting, darling. What have you found out?”
Kiyomi was going through, in detail, her summary of the book she was reading, when there was yet another loud knock on the door. This knock woke Haruka and she jumped up, startled. Michiru reached over and placed a hand gently against her. “Come in,” She called out.
This time, at the door was their eight year old, their little tomboy with her wild aqua hair. She had a big grin on her face, and was holding tightly onto the hand of her eldest sister.
Hotaru looked apologetic. “Saki was working on her bicycle and got stuck, and I tried to tell her that today was your special day and that we should leave it until later but-”
“That’s boring! I want to fix it now!” Saki ran over and almost bounded onto the bed –
“Saki! Not in those clothes!”
Saki glared at her mother. “Nothing’s wrong with these clothes!”
Saki’s t-shirt was stained with grime, and her shorts had patches of something unknown on them. Even if Hotaru hadn’t said anything, it was clear that the girl had been messing about with her bicycle –a broken bicycle she had found by the side of the road about a week ago. For reasons unknown to her, Saki and Haruka had decided to work on putting the bicycle back together. It made no sense whatsoever. They could have easily afforded to buy her the best bicycle on the market. There was no need to put that piece of trash back together, but nonetheless, Saki and Haruka devoted an entirely unnecessary amount of time to the activity. “Darling, your t-shirt and shorts –”
“Oh, it’s fine,” Haruka said with a grin, interrupting her wife. “Come here, sweetie.”
Michiru pursed her lips but she said nothing further, as Saki gave her a victorious little grin and jumped into bed on top of her papa. “Papa, can we work on the bike? Please?? I’m so bored!!”
“Not now Saki, Papa is very busy being used as a body pillow. But let’s do it this afternoon, yeah?”
Saki snuggled in close to her Papa. “Ok, it’s snuggle time now then!”
“I should go and do some homework,” Hotaru said with a sigh. “My Master’s isn’t going to write itself.”
Michiru smiled at her eldest daughter. Hotaru was only months away from completing her Masters in Medical Science and she couldn’t be more proud. Hotaru stood up to go, but then a little aqua ball jumped up and grabbed her. “Stay for a while,” Saki pleaded. “Snuggle time!!”
Hotaru laughed and squeezed her little sister. “Do I have to?”
“Of course!! It’s Snuggle time!!!”
“If I must then,” Hotaru said, seating herself on the end of bed and tickling Saki’s feet. Saki giggled, and kicked around, laughing. Emiko was awake by this stage too, and joined in by tickling her Haruka papa. Haruka was soon laughing and rolling around too, trying to capture her daughters with more tickles.
“Everyone is so loud,” Kiyomi grumbled, leaning against her Michiru mama and closing her book. “I can’t concentrate with this noise.”
“That’s cause you’re no fun!”
“Saki.”
“Come here you!” Hotaru leaned over and grabbed Kiyomi’s feet too, and tickled, and Kiyomi, despite herself, couldn’t help but giggle and kick back.
“It looks like everyone is having a lot of fun in here,” At the door, stood Setsuna, and holding her hand was their quietest child, Saki’s twin, Yasu. Yasu watched a little uncertainly from outside the door, not coming in even when Setsuna tugged his hand gently.
“Oh do I need to pull you in too?” Hotaru asked with a cheeky grin on her face. She smiled at Saki and the two of them ran towards Yasu, pulling him in, tickling him, and throwing him on the now crowded bed. Setsuna and Michiru shared a smile as all of their children –and Haruka- fought a vicious and loud tickle fight across the bed.
No, this was not the life she had expected. And it was not the life she deserved. But Haruka deserved this. She deserved to be surrounded by love after a childhood in which she had never been given enough. And Setsuna deserved this. She deserved to be surrounded by family after a life spent too long alone. And Hotaru deserved this. She deserved to be surrounded by joy after the trauma she had been through as a mere child. And their children deserved this –each of them deserved a life rich with both laughter and material goods, a life rich with love, family and joy.
And so, through them, she somehow got her share of this life too.
And for that, she was grateful.