Binding

When they were back in their room dressing for dinner, Mizuki asked Shizune incredulously, "You asked me how I could do it with a man I'd just met, but then you go and do it in the ocean where anyone can see you?"

Shizune turned scarlet as she replied, "You were right though, it wasn't weird, it was amazing."

"Am I a bad influence on you?" Mizuki asked her sister worriedly.

Shizune hugged her and insisted reassuringly, "No Mizuki! I can be much braver with you here, but that's a good thing."

--

Mizuki was a little scandalized when she discovered how much Shinichi had paid to join them in the casual dinner provided by their hotel.

He was amused by her reaction, and insisted, "You obviously haven't visited one of the nicer island restaurants yet. I'll take you both to one before you leave."

Sora slid into place beside Mizuki and said blandly, "Don't forget to include me."

Mizuki gazed up at him incredulously, but her intended offer to at least pay her own way was silenced by Shinichi's casual, "Sure, it'll be fun to watch the girls try some of the foods they've probably never even had an opportunity to see before."

Sora raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't argue the somewhat judgemental proposition. When he met Mizuki's eyes he grinned and leaned down to murmur, "Sometimes it's worth tasting things you thought you wouldn't like."

She eyed his expression and wondered if he were even talking about food, and then blinked in surprise when he offered her a bite from his own plate.

Sora watched her intently as she chewed, but she realized that he was actually watching her hopefully when she saw his smile after she asked with interest, "What was that?"

--

Shinichi had talked Shizune into deciding to spend the night with him at his place, before they had all finished eating.

As Mizuki settled on the bed beside Sora, she thought that it was ironic that she and her sister were paying for a beautiful room with an ocean view that they were hardly using, but she wasn't going to complain. Sora responded to the demand of her open arms with a satisfactorily warm response. But a while later when she cuddled up to him again, she couldn't restrain the tears that sprang to her eyes, and he looked at her with shock as she started to cry.

"Mizuki? What's wrong!?", he demanded.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "Please don't mind it? I just realized that there are only three more nights after this."

Sora nodded after a moment, and whispered, "Yeah."

He held her tightly until she stopped crying, and when he asked for more, she responded willingly.

--

The next day the girls got to wear fins while they practiced swimming with the masks again, and Mizuki was surprised by how awkward they were at first, and then delighted with the extra power they gave her. By the time Sora took them all to lunch she was exhausted.

Mizuki was reluctant to tell Sora that she'd rather nap than do anything after they ate, and he was puzzled by her laughter when he suggested they start the afternoon by resting for a couple of hours.

--

That night Shizune let Shinichi tie her to the bed, but asked dubiously, "Why is this supposed to be fun?"

Shinichi grinned at her as he explained, "Because I can do anything to you, touch you anywhere, and you can't touch me."

"You don't want me to touch you?" she asked with surprise.

"I do, but this time I just want to make you cry," he confessed. She just looked at him with wide eyes, and he finished tying her ankle before he asked, "Why aren't you more scared?"

"Do you want me to be scared?" she asked nervously.

"I just want you to be restrained," he informed her honestly. "But I'm curious?"

She wordlessly tilted her hand and tugged at the ribbon until the knot released.

"Oh, you realized," he said with surprise. He took her hand and tied it back up in the same way before kissing her again, and then instructed, "But don't escape until I let you go."

Shizune watched him with more curiosity than she showed. Eventually Shinichi did make her cry, and beg, and even scream a little.

At first she didn't understand his apparent desire to see her at her most vulnerable, but afterwards he cried in his sleep beside her. She cuddled him until he calmed and never mentioned it in the morning.

--

The remaining days of their vacation dissolved like mist under the sun. Shizune and Mizuki packed up in a rush, and Sora drove the car that carried them to the airport, while Shinichi rode along.

Mizuki complained on the way, "How can a week be so short? And I only went swimming eight times."

Shizune pointed out with amusement, "You went twice a day some of the time."

The two men even followed them into the terminal and waited while they got checked in and submitted their cases to the luggage inspections. At the gate, Mizuki turned and asked Sora, "Can I call you tomorrow?"

After a moment Sora told her unhappily, "Don't call. I don't want you to wait for me or hope for more, and I think if I let you call me, you will."

He hugged her tightly and tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes. She'd known that this was when they'd part, but she'd hoped. She pulled away for a moment, rubbed at them, and complained, "I told myself I wouldn't cry! I didn't want to let you see me cry Sora. Just ignore these tears! These are greedy tears, not sad tears."

"Mizuki," he replied helplessly.

She glared up at him and declared, "I loved it all, I'm so glad I got to spend this week with you. I won't ever regret it."

"Okay," he agreed softly, and hugged her again.

Behind them Shizune wailed, "I can't!" She turned and fled through the automated gate, immediately dashing up the inspection passage without waiting.

Mizuki looked after her sister and then back up at Sora. "I'd better go," she told him unhappily.

Sora nodded, then bent and kissed her quickly one last time before letting her go.

--

A few minutes after they'd gone, Shinichi asked miserably, "Why couldn't she just stay with me!? Why do I have to let her go?"

Sora shrugged as he replied unhappily, "I don't know, but I already knew I couldn't keep her."

After another few minutes Shinichi asked, "Want to go get drunk."

After a long silence Sora admitted, "I do, but I won't."

After a moment Shinichi asked, "One drink?"

Sora nodded.

--

On the plane Mizuki finally caught up with her sobbing sister, slid into her own seat, and then asked, "What did he ask you to do?"

It took her awhile to gather enough breath to answer, but when she did, Shizune sobbed, "To stay here, and marry him!"

Mizuki didn't know what to say, so she waited silently while her sister cried through the take off. But a while later, as she handed over the last of her tissues, she asked, "If saying no is making you this unhappy, why didn't you?"