Situation

Chapter 53: Meanings

         A whimper escapes me as I nuzzle closer to Kanda. Tightening his arms on me, he whispers, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just frustrated," I tell his shoulder. No matter how much I try, I can't think of a present for him! Another book won't work, I can't draw, I can't sing, and I can't think of anything else! Why did I fall in love with someone so stoic?

"About what?" he asked. Smiling devilishly, I say, "It's a secret."

"And when will I find out what it is?"

"Tomorrow," I mutter unhappily, not sure how I was going to meet that deadline.

Yes, thank you! "Hey, Kanda, what do you want for your birthday?"

Chuckling, he answers, "For the baby to be born and being babysat while you and I destroy the bed."

"But...I...you...seriously?!" I stammer, blushing furiously.

"You asked. Besides, anything else I want you to put some thought into, not just pick it up from the store," he continues, massaging my lower back. The weight of the bump on my stomach finally caught up to me yesterday in the cafeteria when my back started to ache horribly, and Kanda gave me the best massage I'd ever had when we got back. Err, it was the first massage, too, so maybe that didn't count. Nodding, I say, "Okay."

As he begins to stroke my hair with his other hand, I feel the cord of my necklace move ever so slightly when his hand rubs it momentarily. Whether it was an accident or not I may never know, but one thing's for sure. Ideas began flowing through my mind like water falling over a cliff and plummeting down hundreds of feet, and my thought stopped over one word in particular.

June.

"What are you going to do today?" I ask innocently, pulling away to sit up with my back against the wall and stretch. Propping his head against the pillow, Kanda puts his hands above his head leisurely, "Don't know. I'll eat breakfast, train, eat lunch, meditate, eat dinner, take a shower, and sleep. That's about the extent of it."

Smiling, I say, "Great, you can do none of those things in here."

"And why is that?"

"Nope, that's a secret, too."

"Right, then I shall do the first thing," he says, moving out of the blankets and standing. Following him, I giggle, "You are planning on getting dressed, right?"

Glancing at me, he sarcastically says, "No, I'm going to strut around the Order in my boxers, moron."

Looking through our dresser, I say, "I like the idea!"

"Not when I'm attacked by fangirls," he said, catching his jeans and t-shirt as I toss them to him. With the crib, changing station, and playpen now in the area where my old dresser is, I had to move my clothes into Kanda's dresser so the baby's clothes, blankets, and such could be in the other. Construction was going on in the area beside us to make a small room that would be Something Mana Walker's when she was born, and all her things would be moved into there. A door was going to be installed next to the bed, too.

Pouting, I pull on my jeans, followed by a black turtleneck, "So mean."

Silently, Kanda walks over to me and runs his hands lightly over my arms, seeming to be deep in thought, but before I could ask what was wrong, he whispers, "How are we going to explain your scars?"

The atmosphere in the room became heavy as I thought about it. We can't really tell her when she's young. I mean, she wouldn't understand at all, and something told me nothing good would come of it. Staring at his chest, I say, "When she turns sixteen. I'll hide them until then, and we'll tell her the day after she turns sixteen."