AN: Only a few chapters and an epilogue left, okay?

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Shikoku got its first dusting of snow in early December that year, and they were able to begin shooting their outdoor battle scenes a few days after, when they knew it was cold enough to for the snow to stick around.

Unfortunately, it meant that Nick and Sumire really didn't get to spend much time together, because he spent his days out in the fields with the horses and soldiers filming the fighting, while Sumire had to be shuttled back and forth between two different manor houses to shoot her outdoor scenes in the yards, with the houses as as backdrops.

"I'll be so glad when this shoot is over," he texted to Sumire during a break. He was having to spend the day falling from a horse in the freezing snow onto the freezing ground, over and over.

"Really? I thought you were enjoying being here with me?"

"Silly purple girl, I am! I just meant with that bitchy Sachiko and that pervy old man living in the same hotel as us, I'll be glad to be on another continent from them, that's all."

Sumire sent back a thumbs up.

"Speaking of after the shoot," Nick's next text continued, "I wanted to ask you about what your plans were?"

"I have a couple of classes left to take, is that what you mean?"

"Bitchy girl lol, you know that's not what I meant."

"Hahaha"

"I hate my huge, impersonal Bel Air mansion, Mimi-chan"

"What a coincidence, me too! Condoms and bongs and orgies all over the place--"

"ANYWAY--I want to sell it and live somewhere else, somewhere smaller and cozier, you know? Maybe with a really cute half-Japanese girl? Over a garage somewhere, in the old part of Beverly Hills? With windows on two sides to catch a nice breeze? You know of a place like that?"

"I do, yeah, but I don't know if you could afford it."

"I'm really rich, though, Mimi-chan. I'm a bazillionaire!"

"The girl, though? That you'd be living with? She's really picky, I've heard."

"About what?"

"You know, cleanliness, stuff like that?"

"I can be really clean!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"And you might have to get her a puppy or something."

"Done!"

"Hahaha gotta go, talk to you tonight."

"Love you, Mimi-chan"

"💜"

Thus fortified emotionally, Nick mentally girded his loins and prepared himself for more falling off his horse, this time into a ditch.

Sumire, meantime, spent the afternoon discussing her plans for escape with her numerous ladies-in-waiting, while the snow fell steadily, beautifully, silently, making small mountains of white powder on the equipment and the heads and shoulders of the crew. Sumire heard everyone talking between takes about how it was magic snow, perfect snow, of a kind rarely seen, that would look perfect on film, the perfect texture and density. Everyone worked quickly, trying to shoot as much as possible before they lost the snow, lost the light. They shot until full dark, until continuity became an issue, before they released the actors, and Sumire got into the car completely chilled, even though she was wearing every layer of street clothes she'd brought in the morning.

"Mino-chan, please, more heat in the back!" she begged with a laugh in Japanese.

"Ryo-kai," he answered with a salute and a grin, which roughly translated to "Roger that," as though he were a pilot or something.

This made Sumire laugh even harder, and she shook her head.

There was a tapping on the back window just as he put the car in drive, and Sumire lowered it, unable to see who it was. Maybe it was more pages for tomorrow or something.

"Thank goodness I caught you, Sumire-chan," she heard out of the cold, wet darkness. It was Kondo-san.

Eww.

"My driver hasn't yet arrived, and it's so extremely cold," he said in his snake-like voice. "Could we possibly share a ride back to the ryokan?" He was already opening the door as he asked. "It would help me so much..."

"Of course." Sumire couldn't make her voice enthusiastic, no matter how hard she tried, the best she could do was polite.  She moved over to the other side to make room. "Though I'm afraid the car isn't very warm yet."

"That's fine, that's fine," Kondo-san assured her. "It's much warmer than outside, isn't it?" He spoke to Mino-chan next. "Minoguchi-san, this is no way to treat our young lady, is it?" He admonished. "You need to pay attention to when we actors are going to be released and start the car immediately so it will be warm for her, don't you know that?"

Kondo-san leaned over and rubbed Sumire's arm, and Sumire leaned away from his hand in the semi-darkness of the car.

Mino-chan made eye contact with her in the rearview mirror.

"Yes, Kondo-san, I'm so very sorry," he apologized, giving a half-nod, half-bow of contrition. "In fact, I was just telling her when you tapped on the window that she should get in the front seat because it's so much warmer. I don't want her to be cold either, Kondo-san, and I wish she'd ride up here where it's not so cold."

He turned to look at Sumire and spoke again. "Please, Sumire-san, come up here where it's warmer?" He nodded at her.

Sumire looked at him and nodded as she opened her door, got out and went around to the passenger side up front. She got in and buckled up, noting in passing that it was, indeed, much warmer than the back.

"This is so much better, Mino-chan," she said. "Thank you for suggesting this."

"I don't know," Kondo-san's voice came from the back. "It's unseemly for the passenger to ride up front with the driver, I think."

"Oh no," Sumire disagreed, rubbing Mino-chan's arm in a manner similar to how Kondo-san had rubbed hers moments before. "Mino-chan is almost like family to Nick and me by now, aren't you?" She smiled at their fun and funny driver. "He's the best driver, so dependable."

She and Mino-chan kept up a constant stream of friendly chatter all the way back to their inn. They were interrupted a couple of times by Kondo-san, who wanted to know when Nick would be back, and if Sumire was ready to shoot their big scene, but she answered him quickly and went back to talking to Mino-chan, and he was soon quiet.

When they pulled up in front of the ryokan, Kondo-san hopped out and got Sumire's door open before Mino-chan could get to it. The snow had worsened, and Sumire had a fleeting worry for Nick and hoped that he would make it back okay.

Mino-chan, too, had gotten out of the car, and was walking up to the entrance with Sumire, though he'd never done such a thing before. Usually, when she was alone, he just watched until she entered, waving to her when she got inside the door, then drove away. Tonight, though, he came all the way inside with her, sticking so close that Kondo-san was surprised into asking, "Hey, where are you going?" in a voice made blunt by shock.

"Me? Oh, when Sumire-san is alone, I always walk her right to her door," Mino-chan explained as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "You never know where a pervert or kidnapper might be lurking, just waiting to hurt someone, right?"

Kondo-san stared at Mino-chan as they walked up to Sumire-and Nick's suite. "And you think you're going to protect her? You?"

"He's kept me safe so far, haven't you?" Sumire asked Mino-chan with a sunny smile as she opened the door.

He grinned back at her and nodded.

"Oyasuminasai," he called as she shut the door. "And don't forget to lock it!"

"Thank you," she answered through the closed door.

Both Mino-chan and Kondo-san clearly heard the sound of the dead bolt being thrown from the inside.

"Oyasuminasai", she answered cheerfully.

Mino-chan gave Kondo-san a little bow and headed back out the door. He started the car and began whistling a little tune as he drove away.

Inside the safety of her suite, Sumire took a quick shower, put on her yukata and went to the hot pool. She opened up the roof and let the light snow fall directly onto the water, her head and shoulders, enjoying the contrast of the hot water and cold snow as the steam rose.

After about half an hour, she heard the key in the door, and a few minutes later Nick joined her with two bottles of hot sake.

He slid into the water next to her and poured them both a steaming drink.

Ahh, heaven.

Sumire turned and sat on his lap, straddling him, taking a long drink over his shoulder and setting her cup on the stones of the deck.

"God I missed you today," he murmured.

"I missed you, too," she answered, smoothing his damp hair from his forehead.

He wrapped his arms around her smooth back, letting his fingers slid into the grooves between the slight dips between her ribs. He dipped his head so he could kiss her warm, moist neck, loving the taste of her skin. He slowly moved up, kissing her up behind her ear, as she bent her head and closed her eyes, leaning into him.

She kissed him, too, under his ear, where she knew it drove him crazy, slowly moving down his jaw to land on his mouth, letting out a comfortable sound when his open mouth found hers.

His hands moved down her back to cup her bottom, squeezing as he nipped at her lips, moaning at the sizzle he felt between his legs.

She reached between them and grasped him with her slim fingers, kneading him gently, and even in the warm water she could feel his prerelease from the top of him, and she rubbed it all around his tip, causing him to give a little gasp of pleasure.

"Maybe we should go to bed?" he suggested breathlessly.

"Or maybe we could just stay here," she countered with a little laugh.

Nick opened his eyes to look at Sumire, just to see if she was serious. She wasn't normally very adventurous, but she seemed to mean what she said, so he smiled at her, eyebrow raised. He squeezed her bottom again, and moved his hands to her front, grasping first one breast, then the other, loving how pliant she was in the hot water.

"Oh god, Nick, that feels so good," she whispered, biting her lip and arching her back until her hair touched the water.

Seeing her thus displayed made Nick harden even more under her hands, and she smiled at the sensation. She pulled him back as she rose, flexing her thighs, and moved him back and forth along her opening. Again, even with the water, he could feel her heat, her wetness, which was more slippery than the warmth of the pool.

"God," he groaned, thrusting with his hips. "Stop teasing me," he begged.

Sumire inserted the tip of him, then released him. "Fill me up, Nick," she murmured into his ear, kissing it after, and he pushed into her as she lowered herself onto him.

"Nn, god, you feel so good, so good," he rumbled into her neck, squeezing her body so hard she could barely breathe.

Like Sumire, the feeling of the cold snow on the exposed parts of his body was an exquisite counterpoint for Nick, making him feel everything under the water even more, and the tight heat of being inside the woman he loved was making him feel faint.

"Jesus, oh shit, I'm going to come so fast, I'm sorry, sorry--" He began to pump inside her, nearly rising off the bench, holding her slender body against him as he pushed himself as deeply into her as he could.

"It's okay, I'm too far away today, anyway, come, Nick, come hard, come hard," Sumire encouraged.

"I'll--I'll go down on you, promise--promise--promise--" Nick chanted as he fucked up into her harder and harder.

Sumire laughed softly as she hung on with all her strength. The waves from their motion lapped softly over the sides of the pool.

"Okay, okay, Nick. Come, come hard, come on--" and she pulled his head down to her breasts to encourage him even further, and he crashed down on the other side, half standing as he reached his finish, pushing her nearly completely out of the water for long, silent moments, grunting with each hard thrust.

Then, finally spent, they remained in the water for a few more minutes, just relaxing.

"Oh, fuck, thank you, thank you for that," Nick whispered, stroking her face as he kissed her. "You want me to-- you know-- right here?"

Sumire shook her head. "Too cold," she answered. "Let's go to bed and take our time."

Nick smiled a relaxed smile at her. "Sounds like a plan, cucumber."

They rose and went to their futons, hand in hand.