"Something's wrong."

"Hm? What? What?"

"Something's wrong." Sumire's voice finally cut through the kaleidoscope of sensations that Nick was feeling and registered with his brain, forcing him to stop doing what he was doing. Reluctantly, he removed his hands from her waist. and lifted his lips from her collarbone. He let his breath out in a long, deep sigh, a whoosh that seemed to come from his toes and work its way all the way up his body.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was small. "I'm so sorry, Nick."

"No." He shook his head to clear it, and took a breath of air. "No, it's okay, it's okay. What is it? What's wrong?"

The ride home from the karaoke restaurant had been frustrating and fun in equal measure, of holding each other in the darkness of the back of the car, of feeling warm breath and soft touches while trying to keep hands in safe places and not alert Mino-chan that anything untoward was going on.

After they got to their suite, Sumire had disappeared into her room, and Nick had heard her shower. He'd grabbed a quick shower himself, laughing at himself when he realized he was going to step in with his socks on in his haste to get in and out and get out to the couch.

"You're such a fucking idiot," he said to his reflection as he yanked his socks off.

He waited in the darkness, his yukata loosely belted, wondering how far things were going to go tonight.

She'd come out and surprised him by walking to the other end of the couch and lying down on it, so her feet were close to where he was sitting. Nick rose and sat so he could look down at her face where she lay, and she pulled his head down so she could kiss him, and he'd lifted his legs so he was lying next to her on the couch.

From there, he felt like he'd just come untethered from reality as he got lost in the physical sensations of being so close to the woman he loved so much. It was almost like the couch was adrift on a sea, a body of water that buoyed the two of them along as they got lost in each other.

Then, suddenly,

Something's wrong.

He sat up. He could see Sumire on the couch, her yukata nearly completely unbelted. Her torso was exposed, and it was hard to not stare at her and focus instead on what she'd said. He looked at her worried face, forcing himself to ignore how beautiful she was in the bluish shadows of the room, her slim form smooth and simple as she breathed.

"Do you feel sick?" He cupped her cheek. "My sweet girl, do you feel like you're going be sick or something?"

She shook her head and sat up herself. Nick could see that her breasts were so small and perfectly formed that they hardly moved at all, that gravity had almost no effect on them.

"It feels like I got my period or something," she explained, shifting her legs a little bit. Nick could tell she was a little embarrassed to say this.

He blinked, confused, and rubbed her arm, trying to put her at ease.

"Well, maybe you did," he said, his voice gentle. "That's okay, isn't it?"

She shook her head. "If I'm on the pill, it's very specific, it happens every fourth Tuesday, in the morning. It should be next Tuesday, not tonight." She looked at Nick as she pulled her yukata tightly closed, and Nick was glad it was dark so she couldn't see how much this action bothered him.

"I should go check what's going on," she said, her voice small.

"Okay, go," he said, nodding with encouragement. "I'm sure everything's fine, and if something's wrong, we can go to the hospital, it's not a problem, Mimi-chan, don't worry."

She nodded and slipped off the couch, walking quickly to the bathroom.

Nick walked around the hot pool to the outdoor deck, trying to cool off. He was still really fired up and very turned on, so we walked on the deck without his slippers, taking deep breaths, leaving his yukata open, relishing the cold, autumn air.

After a couple minutes, he went back inside and went to her bathroom. The door was still closed, the light still on inside.

"You all right?" he called.

He heard a reassuring noise from inside, so he went back to the couch and sat to wait for her. He turned on the lamp to its lowest setting so he wasn't sitting in the dark.

He finally heard the door open, and she came out, obi belted tightly closed, holding it at the throat, looking embarrassed. He wished he could help her somehow, so she felt better. She looked like she wanted to run away.

She stood next to the shoji that separated her room from Nick's, as if unsure what to do. He patted the couch next to where he sat, hoping she'd just come and sit so they could talk about it.

"I'm sorry," she said again.

"For what?" he asked, perplexed.

"It can't be pleasant to be a grown man, going all hot and heavy like that, then to have to stop because your partner says 'something's wrong!' like some pitiful little kid," she said, mocking herself in a high-pitched voice. "You probably haven't experienced anything this frustrating since you were, like a teenager," she continued. "Maybe not even then, who knows?"

She leaned against Nick and let out a breath with an embarrassed laugh. "I was reading about something called, uh, blue balls--"

Nick interrupted her with a laugh.

"Don't laugh at me," she begged, hitting his leg. "Is that how you feel, Nick? You feel like you have blue balls?"

Nick shook his head. "No, I told you, I jerk off whenever the urge gets strong, I'm good, honestly."

"Jesus, this is so stupid," Sumire said with a sigh.

After a few moments of silence, Nick asked, "So?"

"So what?"

"What was the issue?" Nick gestured toward the bathroom.

Sumire shrugged. "I'm not sure."

"But it's not your period?"

Sumire shook her head. "Not. It's some kind of discharge, but it's not blood. It's--" she sat up so she could look at Nick's face. "Do you want to hear about this? I thought men found this kind of talk gross?"

Nick shrugged. "I have three sisters and and a boatload of cousins and nieces, I know all about this stuff, Mimi-chan." He turned a little on the couch. "Can I ask something?"

Sumire nodded.

"Is it clear? Like totally?"

Sumire bit her lips together, then nodded again.

Nick took her hands in his.

"So, is it possible that you're just, uh, feeling excited? That you're, you know, wet? Sexually?" Nick looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"But, I told you, that doesn't happen for me, I told you that."

"Not before, but maybe now it does," Nick said. "The doctor said she didn't see anything wrong with you, physically, so maybe you just needed to be woken up, kind of like priming a well or whatever, if you don't mind being compared to a well--"

Sumire took a deep breath, like she was going to pick up a heavy load. "Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you tell? I mean, if you, uh, saw it, or felt it?" Sumire swallowed, unable to believe she'd just asked that.

Nick considered. "Probably. But I don't think you'd be comfortable with either of those things, would you? And I don't think I need to, I think that's what it sounds like."

"I was prepared to come back here and have sex with you tonight, so I think I'd be okay with you looking at me or touching me, don't you?" she retorted, and Nick was heartened to hear the little bit of fire in her voice.

"Really? You wanted to have sex with me tonight?" Nick couldn't keep his voice from going up to his upper registers.

Sumire scooted closer and nodded. "Any guy who sings One Direction to me, I'm putty in his hands, what can I say?" She smiled at Nick, a smile that liquefied his spine in the mellow lamplight.

"And now? How do you feel now?" he asked, his voice growing soft. "Has all this talk about discharge and stuff put you off the thought of sex with me? Of losing your virginity?"

"First of all, if discharge talk hasn't put you off the thought of sex with me, then hell no," Sumire answered, kissing him and smiling again. "And you know I'm not a virgin, Nick-san."

"Well, I've been thinking about that," Nick said, putting his arms around Sumire. "And I believe that if you've never willingly given yourself to any man, especially if you've never done it since you've been a woman, then you're a virgin, Mimi-chan."

He kissed her forehead, then each cheek, then her beautiful mouth.

"Oh really?"

He nodded.

"If you get to define the terms of my virginity, Nick-san, then I get to define the terms of yours," Sumire declared. "And I believe that, if you've never been with a woman you love, then you're a virgin too." She kissed Nick's forehead, then each cheek, then his mouth. "So what do you think of that?"

Nick tightened his arms around her body, which was so slight he could grasp his own shoulders with his arms around her body. "I think that I want to lose my virginity tonight," he murmured, nodding his head against her forehead, his smile huge.

Sumire put her lips next to his ear."So, before we do anything, please touch me, Nick, and make sure that I'm just excited, okay?" Sumire whispered. "Touch me? Nick?"

Nick closed his eyes and let out a breath, swallowing, trying to calm the hammering of his heart.

"Jesus, is it really that exciting?" Sumire asked. "Just having me ask you about it? Just thinking about it? I can feel your heart, it's racing."

Nick nodded against her shoulder.

"I've been dying to touch you there," he admitted, his voice husky. "And I know it's off the table for today, but I can't wait until I can put my mouth on it."

Sumire tried to move back so she could look at him, but he wouldn't loosen his grip on her. "Are you serious?" she finally asked.

He nodded. "But today I'll settle for touching," he assured her.

"Okay," she whispered. "Okay."

"Can we leave the lamp on?" he asked. "I'd like to see you, but I understand if you'd be more comfortable in the dark."

Sumire kissed his neck, making him close his eyes at the sensation. "On is fine with me," she murmured. "I'm curious, too, you know?"

So Nick picked her up and carried her to where his futon was already out and waiting for him.

He carefully laid her down on it after flipping the top comforter out of the way.

"You look beautiful," he told her.

"So do you," she said.

They both laughed.

"You sure you want to do this?" he asked.

She nodded.

"And you know we can stop whenever you want."

She nodded.

"You too," she said.

He laughed and nodded.

"I love you, Mimi-chan."

"I love you, Nick-san."