“I have. Ever heard of a little thing called ‘wife’s privilege’?” She grins, leaning herself against the doorway and allowing her gaze to roam across her husband’s body.
A smile was forced onto the Doctor’s visage from over his shoulder; a cigarette hovering just inside his lips.
“Wife’s privilege, huh? Alright; I’ll bite. What is it you want?”
“Well, considering that you are my husband, what do you think I’d want by walking in on you naked?” She raises an eyebrow, head tilting to the side.
So that was what she was after. A night of intimacy.
“I haven’t got time to give you what you want, well, not like that anyways,” The sound of bare feet padding across a carpet filled the room.
“However, I can give you a kiss.”
The barest of brushes of chapped, nicotine-tasting lips against candy-sweet ones was given.
{Such a demanding woman.)
Even as she asked the question, she leaned in to return that kiss, before she slid her arms around the bare form of her husband and tilted her head curiously to the side.
“Why not more than just a kiss? I am your wife. You never seem to have enough time to pay any attention.”
A face was made at the question. Why? Well, maybe she should try being the only son of the prestigious elder Doctor Ozaki who had a ridiculously large amount of responsibility to live up to.
Not that he would really ever live up to his nagging Mother’s, or the Village’s expectations.
That, toppled with the growing rift between himself and his only remaining High school friend; aside from Mikiyasu, as well as the concerning death toll that seemed to have came to the little Mountain village as of late…
Instead of wasting the breath to explain these things to his wife, Toshio kept it sweet and simple.
“Because I’m a busy man.”
“Busy man or not, your wife deserves some attention from you as well. Unless you’re trying to tell me that I mean less to you than your beloved clinic?” She pulled away from her husband and gave him a look of annoyance. “If you love your damn clinic so much, maybe you should have married it instead of me.” With that, she turned and began to stomp away.
The words spoken made his eye begin to twitch. His jaw clenched around the unlit cigarette resting between his front and bottom row of teeth.
“Well maybe if you didn’t make such sporadic visits to this village I would have more time to spend with you; instead of you showing up unannounced and during the most hectic of times!”
The discarded clothing was hurried jerked onto his body as he jogged after his obviously upset wife.
“Ever think of calling before showing up here?! It would make things a hell of a lot easier for the both of us!”
“I’m your wife! I shouldn’t need to call to expect some love from my husband, Toshio! You married me, not your damn clinic, and yet you pay more attention to your clinic than me! I hope you rot, Toshio Ozaki!”
Ignoring the fact that he was following after her, she continues to stomp away, planning on leaving and not coming back.
A red hue threatened to obscure his peripheral vision once more at the words spilling so rudely from those lips.
Positively seething with rage, the Doctor stopped, watched his wife stomp farther, and farther away, stuck his hands into the pockets of his lab coat and allowed his eyes to close.
(What a pain. She always does this; showing up at unexpected times, or when I’m too busy to keep her entertained. Then she gets mad whenever I tell her that.)
“Fine. Go on. Leave Sotoba! That’s what you always do anyhow, Kyoko! Why should now be any different, huh?!”
This was an active problem. They always argued over the smallest, most insignificant things whenever she came to the village.
Both were at fault.
But, being the kind man that he was, Ozaki would shoulder the blame. After all, he had told her he hadn’t had enough time to spend with her.
The next time she comes to the village; he makes a promise to himself, to treat her better—as best he could.
If he couldn’t stop the death’s from eliminating the population, then the least he could do was be a better spouse to his wife.
“Now should have been different since you’re not even busy, Toshio!”
Oh, one could tell just how pissed off the blonde woman was by the fact that she hadn’t used the infamous nickname she’d given to her husband; Toshi.
She wouldn’t use that with him until he finally showed her the love that she deserved and had never before been shown; at least, not since before the damn wedding.
“I’ll leave, and I won’t return! If your clinic means oh so much more than I do, then you won’t miss me at all!”
She was done dealing with that bullshit. It was all Toshio’s fault that she’d be leaving and probably never returning. She completely blamed him.
“I hate you, Toshio Ozaki!”
Everything stopped seconds after those words were shrieked from a pair of lips he knew all too well.
The shock must not have even registered on his face. There was no way she could really mean that. In the span of the three years that they’d been wed, neither had so much as uttered the words I hate you, even during the worst of their petty arguments.
Moving from the Clinic’s porch and into the yard, he stopped just behind the woman who had been known as his wife for just too long for any true collateral damage to really destroy what they had. A hand outstretched to clasp onto the woman’s wrist, and turn her round toward his.
“There’s just no way for you to mean that. Not really. We’ve been together for just too long for any feelings of hatred to suddenly spring up just because something doesn’t go the way you’d like it!” In an act of desperate self-preservation, and the desire to make sure those words never came from her mouth ever again, Toshio took either side of Kyoko’s pale face into his hands and melded their lips together.
“You can say whatever the hell you’d like, Toshio Ozaki. I hate you. You never have any time for me, and I’m your wife!”
An annoyed glint was noticeable in her gaze as she was forcefully turned around, her gaze never once leaving his the second their gazes clashed. Oh, she was pissed. She hated being treated like second best to a damn clinic.
“You’re my husband, Toshio, and yet you have to go and treat me like I don’t mean anything to you! Like you’d much rather be working in your clinic than–!!”
The second those lips covered her own and kept her from speaking, she gave an indignant huff, trying to pull her wrist free as her other hand pushed at her husband’s chest.
She was not going to deal with this shit!
He’d better let her go before he got kneed where the sun doesn’t shine~.
Ignoring the threat of experiencing the discomfort of a knee heading to a rather unhappy area on his anatomy, Toshio took hold of the hand pushing at his chest—threading their fingers together—even with Kyoko making such a fuss.
He did the same with her right hand as well. She could scream and rant and rave all she wanted about her hatred towards him, but there was no way in hell he’d let he go back to the city angry.
That was something he just could not allow to happen; no matter how tired he was of the same reoccurring argument between them.
The steely glare sent his way, as he finally turned his attention to her eyes and general body language, was not frightening in the least.
(Now or never….)
“Kyoko, wait. Just wait for two seconds. I don’t want you to go back to the city angry. Please don’t go back mad. I’m sorry, alright? Sorry that I never have time for you when you come to the Village; sorry that I can’t keep you entertained, sorry that I probably seem like a huge failure as your husband at the moment,”
(Apologizing almost never works with her. But what’s the harm in trying to win her over this way? The only thing she can do is stay angry.)
“Please. Stay in Sotoba with me; at least for a little while. Let me make it up to you. Let me be a better husband.”
Kyoko couldn’t believe him. He expected her to just drop everything and stay there with him, after he had hardly spent any time with her? After he had made her believe that she meant less than his clinic? …The idea of him attempting to be a better husband did sound nice though. “…You have a week to treat me the way a husband should. If you fail to do that, I’m leaving and not returning.”
Relief flooded his veins at Kyoko’s agreement to stay in Sotoba with him. Thank God. She hadn’t been able to leave the village angry.
That was the last thing Toshio wanted.
The prospect of Kyoko doing so has made him feel ill. Sick with regret; sick with realizing that he had gotten angry over nothing—save for the fact that he rarely had time for her, and that that was all she wanted.
Now the young Doctor felt ill with relief.
Relief at the idea of her giving him a second chance so easily.
It frightened the Doctor a tiny bit. What if he screwed up and she really did leave Sotoba with the plans of never returning?
…He needed a cigarette. Or two. Or maybe five…
“Thank you… Thank you so much.”
