Sweet Burden (37 page)

“Uh, alright. You were
that
nervous to tell me
that
?” she replied suspecting that’s not what he wanted to say.

“I just wanted you to be prepared.”

“Okay.” She smiled and tightened her grip on him.

The following morning Hitomi woke up to the most exquisite feeling of Obi’s arms wrapped around her. She felt so warm she barely even needed covers despite the cool air in the room. His breath was hot against the back of her neck causing goose bumps to immediately spread over her body. She wanted nothing more than to turn around and see his face, but she didn’t want to disturb him. He had tossed and turned most of the night finally calming once he caught her in his embrace.

Her stomach, however, protested the idea of not moving. It let out a low grumble as she swore she smelled bacon and toast in the air. Her toes curled and she gave a slight stretch as she slowly twisted in his arms. A hum murmured from his throat as she settled facing him. Obi adjusted his grip on her as his eyes remained closed. She couldn’t keep herself from staring at his utter perfection. His dark eyebrows perfectly arched led down to his symmetrical nose. His thick black eyelashes rested just above his high cheekbones and his strong angular jaw brought her eyes to his full mouth. She licked her own lips just thinking about kissing him again.

Obi’s eyes fluttered open and his mouth crept up at the right corner. “What are you doing?” he mumbled.

“Nothing,” Hitomi replied somewhat embarrassed she had been caught staring at him. “Just seeing if you were awake.”

He let out another hum and rolled over on his back taking her with him. She rested her head underneath his chin and laid her arm across his abdomen. Her head rose and fell slightly with each of his breaths. Obi relaxed his left hand on her back and placed his other hand over top her arm. He began tracing shapes onto her arm with his fingertips sending another wave of goose bumps across her skin.

“Are you cold?” he whispered.

“No.”

“You have little bumps all over.”

“Yah. I get them a lot. You seem to cause them.” Another low hum came from his throat as her eyes scanned down his chest to the scar in his stomach. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why hasn’t this wound healed like the ones on your back?” She traced her finger along the still raised line of pink skin. His muscles immediately went rigid and he grabbed her hand.

“I don’t know,” Obi replied flatly.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly her hand balling into a fist. He smoothed her hand out and intertwined her fingers with his.

“It just still hurts a bit.” He let out a sigh and brought her hand up to his mouth placing a light kiss on her palm.

“How can it still hurt? Maybe I can try to heal it more.”

“It will be alright.” He kissed her palm again as her stomach let out another groan. “Sounds like you’re hungry and apparently Guri is up cooking.”

“Can’t we just stay here all day?” Hitomi whined.

“As much as I would like to, there’s a lot of work I have to do today.”

“Fine,” she grumbled and started to get out of bed. Her feet had barely hit the floor when Obi was already up and dressing in jeans and a t-shirt. His back was to her as he pulled the t-shirt down. She noticed the tears in the back of his shirt exposing each slit on his shoulder blade. Hitomi quickly turned away as he turned. She knelt down digging through one of her bags as he approached her.

“I’ll let you get dressed.”

She gave a nod as he left the room. She got some clothes together and slipped out of her pajamas quickly changing into a pair of faded corduroys and a plaid button down shirt. Grabbing her cardigan sweater, she left the room and stepped out into the main room. The scent of bacon was even stronger and her stomach rumbled.

Hitomi stood there for a second watching Guri maneuver around the kitchen cooking. A smile spread across her mouth as she made her way over.

“Good morning,” he beamed glancing up from the sizzling pan on the stove.

“Good morning,” she returned. “What is all this?” She peered at all the pans cooking a wide array of foods. There were pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon and sausage.

“I just thought everyone needed a good meal. We have a lot of stuff to do in a few days before your birthday. I went shopping early this morning. I hope you are hungry.”

“Famished.”

He gave her a peculiar look, but then returned to flipping pancakes over.

“Where did Obi go?” she asked glancing around.

“Outside. He said he’d be back in a minute. Sit down and I’ll get you a plate.”

She moved over to the table and sat down facing the front door. Spread across the table was butter, syrup, a huge bowl of fruit, whip cream, jars of jams, and new salt and pepper shakers. Within seconds Guri set down a glass of orange juice and a huge plate of food. The plate was most likely a serving platter.

Her eyes widened. “I can’t eat all this.”

“Eat what you can,” he replied with a shrug.

“Guri, you’re going to spoil me.”

“I enjoy doing human things.” He gave her a smirk and then held a fork out to her.

“Thanks.” She took the fork and eyed the front door. “Guri?”

“Yah?”

“Why doesn’t Obi ever smile? You smile all the time. I think I’ve seen him smile once.”

“I don’t think he’s had much to smile about before now. Don’t take it personally.”

Hitomi let out a little huff as the front door opened. Obi came walking in as Guri returned to cooking. Obi walked around the table behind her and leaned down planting a kiss on the top of her head.

“I guess you were hungry,” he commented referring to her heaping platter.

“Oh no. Guri forced this all on me.”

“Did not,” Guri countered.

“Where were you?” she asked Obi as she looked up at him.

“I took the weapons outside. I didn’t want them to make you sick again.”

An ‘O’ shape formed on her lips as Guri came over with another piled up platter. He set it down next to Hitomi and nudged Obi.

“Sit down.” He pushed Obi down into the chair, gave him a fork, and went back to prepare another plate.

Obi leaned over whispering in her ear. “What’s going on?” She gave a shrug in response and reached over for the syrup. She poured a generous helping over the pancakes and French toast as Guri sat down across from them.

“See. Isn’t this nice? A relaxing family meal. It’s just like in the movies,” Guri commented with a huge grin across his face.

“Guri…what the…” Obi started in a mocking tone. Hitomi quickly jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

“This is great Guri. Thank you,” she interrupted Obi. She shot Obi a little glare and pushed the syrup to him. Obi gave her a quizzical look back but she returned her eyes to her plate wondering where to start.

They ate most of their meal in silence. Hitomi didn’t realize how hungry she was until she polished off about half the platter. After everyone was done, they cleared the table and she started doing the dishes. Obi came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.

“We’re going to go outside and clean up those weapons.”

She nodded her head focusing on scrubbing off the sticky syrup from one of the plates.

“We’ll just be right out front.”

“I’m going to get stuff cleaned up around here. I’ll be out after the weapons are cleaned. I just can’t handle the smell.”

“I know.” He squeezed her shoulders and ran his hands down along her arms. The heat of his touch even through the fabric of her shirt practically made her drop the soapy plate. Her body slightly trembled and her knees felt weak. “Come outside when you’re ready.” And just as quickly as his touch warmed her, as soon as he removed his hands she felt cold again. She listened to the front door close behind him and she gasped not realizing she had forgotten to breathe. Hitomi wondered if she’d ever not be completely entranced by his touch.

****

Guri was already wiping down the weapons when Obi walked outside. He stepped off the porch and looked up at the grey sky and then returned his gaze to Guri. He had the weapons all neatly laid out on the grass and was whistling while he cleaned off one of the daggers.

“What is wrong with you?” Obi asked kneeling down across from him.

“What do you mean?” Guri barely glanced up and he laid the dagger down next to one of the guns.

“Can’t you take any of this seriously?”

“I think you take this seriously enough for the both of us.”

“Guri,” Obi snapped.

His head snapped up and his red eyes squinted at Obi. “What?”

“You’re acting like we are up here on some vacation.”

“What do you want me to do? Skulk around all irritated and worried? It’s not going to help anything. We might as well make the best of it while we’re here. And trying to keep things more pleasant is better for Hitomi anyway. Didn’t you see the way her eyes lit up having a normal breakfast together?”

Obi relaxed back on the ground and crossed his legs. “I guess I hadn’t thought of that.”

Guri picked up a small gun and started wiping it with the cloth. “You could use a little less worrying too, because your emotions are going to trickle down to her. Have you told her yet?”

“Told her what?”

Guri looked up at him as if he were crazy, shook his head, and returned to the gun.

“Oh. Not yet.”

“What’s the hold up?”

“I don’t know.” Obi shrugged and grabbed another rag starting to clean the gun he had picked out for himself. He really didn’t know why he hadn’t told Hitomi that he loved her yet. He had ample opportunity, but he just didn’t seem to know how to put the words together in a sentence. He should have told her last night, or this morning, or maybe when he first laid eyes on her. He knew he was a coward for not being able to say three simple little words. But to him, the words were not simple. They were words he never understood before her. Obi had easily scoffed at love. It was viewed as a human weakness. Although now, he didn’t see it as a weakness. His love for Hitomi, he decided, was his only redeeming quality. “I will. Soon.”