Old Memories

As if entirely unaware of Kaimu's utter destroyed state, Lakshmi began to hum as her arms raised up to start the undressing process. One should wear a bathing yukata to the bathhouse nearby! It was only proper~

She reached up to her stomach, pretending to not feel Kaimu's tightened hold on her hanfu nor his pathetic final breaths while undoing the silk wrap around her waist. That allowed the obi-like item to come off next, falling onto Kaimu and down her butt to the floor in back. Now she just had to work on the other sections~

Bathing awaited her after all, it would be nice to soak her feet after all that walking even if she couldn't get in the baths themselves.

"Lak...sh...miiii...." She was undressing!? He felt a piece of fabric fall to his head, but he made no move to shake it off, too weak to do so...

She couldn't just leave him! He would die...he really would die! Left here...left here to rot on the cold floor amongst the shredded corpse of his ego... How cruel could she be!?

"Lak...shmi... Don't...." He sounded broken, completely so...

Lakshmi merely hummed and undressed more, allowing pieces to just fall off of her as best it could with Kaimu still on her lap. His whining of her name seemed to have no effect, her arms slipping out of the sleeves of the upper half finally.

"Why? If I give in, it won't do me any good will it? Your ego will be restored and I will have overconfidence and burnt food once more." Her voice was rather amusement filled as she continued, now down the white underpart as she untied that. "On the other hand, I could get my bathing Yukata on and go get a nice soak of my tired legs and feet and potentially pick up some piping hot curry buns on the way home..."

He only had to admit he was wrong~ That he had been overconfident and wrong~

His whining came out at a higher pitch, his hold becoming shaky as she spoke such cruel words to him. She planned on leaving him here! She planned on abandoning him on the cold floor to die a lonely death!

"Weeh...uu...Who am...I without...my...ego though...Lakshmi...iiii....think about it..." Truly! Who was he without that ego of his! His beloved ego! While she had a desire to break him, she had to love that side of him, didn't she!?

It was a part of him! A part of his very being!

"Who are you without your ego...? Why a man who admits mistakes and owns up to his own such problems. Though...if you really are so unsure about it, I suppose now would be the best time to find out!" Lakshmi snickered, rolling her eyes and trying not to actually show how amused she was by now. Kaimu's confidence was overwhelming at times... He really had needed a bit of a reality check of sorts, but this badly?

Maybe she shouldn't have fed his ego that much up until now.

Yawning as if tired, she finished untying the lower layer of her garments before sliding them off of her shoulder and then unhooking her bra. Lakshmi followed that up with a movement as if to stand up and shed all the clothes that were almost flower petal like around her. "Well, it will get dark out if I am not careful. I should really go bathe now~"

"Lakshmiii!!!" Kaimu exclaimed, his voice still that high pitched whine it almost sounded as if it hadn't come from him...but it had...he was truly this broken as he attempted to hold onto her to prevent her from leaving.

Something that...owned up... He owned up sometimes! Why...Why was the food so important! He had wanted to warm up their dinner! That was what he'd wanted! He'd wanted Lakshmi to have a warm or even hot meal!

Lakshmi froze, her eyes wide for a brief moment as Kaimu practically gave a death screech of her name, staring down at the man with his arms firmly clinging to her through the many layers. She hadn't gotten to move far, but she could easily slip from his grasp due to how much was between them.

Crossing her arms under her bare chest, she raised one eyebrow once more as she spoke in a firm tone. "Admit it! Admit you were overconfident and you burnt the udon and I will not go bathe alone. Otherwise... You can lay here in my clothing and mope alone."

His options were clear... She would definitely leave after this if he did not admit it...

Weh!

His whining continued, unable to help it as Lakshmi bluntly laid out his options. She couldn't just leave, but...but...He'd just... He'd just wanted to warm up her food! He'd wanted her to have a nice hot dinner!

"I just wanted Lak-tan to have a nice...hot dinner! I got...proud because I thought I could do it! It was something as simple as giving you a meal! I was sure! Lakshmiiiii...." He admitted he'd been proud...but...but... He looked up to her then, his expression absolutely pathetic, like a kicked and beaten baby fox that had been chained up in the cold of a dead winter...

He was still whining so strongly... How come this was such a huge problem? What a ridiculous man... Especially as he tried to explain, the face he made at the end causing a mild jolt of her heart but...

"But then you blatantly lied and tried to pretend you didn't mess up~" Lakshmi smiled brightly, reached down and booped Kaimu's nose before she squirmed out of his grasp. Hopping back a few feet just in case he reached for her more, she turned to look for the yukata.

It seemed she was bathing alooone. How utterly annoying~

"I thought I could do it! I wanted to make dinner for Lak-tan...make you happy...uuu..." Kaimu could only slump to the floor, arms reaching out and grasping nothing now that Lakshmi had moved away from him.

He wanted her to be happy with a hot meal! He hadn't thought it would be such of a problem!

"Lak-taaaaan..." He almost looked as if he were ready to burst into tears... "I couldn't admit such a mistake when hot food was being waited on so expectantly!" He had taken up the challenge and...had failed at such a trivial thing!

...Uuu...uu...uu....

Lakshmi paused in her search for the yukatas, her head turning a bit so she could look over her shoulder at the pile of Kaimu there on the floor. Was he going to admit his wrongs?

Possibly... Though he was right in that it had been an attempt to make her happy. With a sigh, she moved back to the floor and knelt just out of reach but near him and obviously not going anywhere just yet. "I realized once you offered that it had been too long since ninth, you were too powerful and your energy would just burst out a bit at such a fine tuned working. I honestly expected that outcome, though the fire was something amusing. How did you set something wet on fire? That was quite a feat."

The amusement in her voice faded though and she blinked, a carefully blank expression on her face as she spoke more. "But you lied so badly, bluffed so hard... And refused to even admit a mistake had been made no matter what intentions you had. I was hungry, yes... but not enough to wish to be lied to so blatantly to my face~"

"Uuu... I can't...fail...can't...not at something so simple when I'm trying to please you!" Kaimu blurted out, his tone still as it had been the past while. "It was just dinner! Just food! I should be able...uuu...I couldn't let Lak-tan know I failed that miserably!"

He couldn't! That's why the lies, that's why the bluffs!

Even if his failure had been obvious, he couldn't have! It was food! He should have been able to do it no problem!

"Lak...shmiiii....uuu..."

...

Ah... She understood now. Maybe all her compliments and praise had really...gotten to him? Lakshmi felt a bit guilty over her teasing now because really, this was all her fault. Sighing softly, she moved closer to the man laying in the pile and reached her hand out to gently caress his head. "You can too fail. You can fail and fail and fail, you aren't perfect, no matter how badly you think you should be sometimes."

"It is way less simple than you think it is, to heat up food when you have as much power as we do. What is something simple and easy for those with less energy, it is a torrent to us. You just let far too much energy out, because you were used to doing such a thing with less energy." She chuckled softly, shaking her head... "It is possible your excitement to make me happy had something to do with it as well..."

"You do please me. You please me all of the time, Kaimu. I was perfectly happy to see you even try to heat the food up, it just... was upsetting to be lied to over this. I do not like that at all..." She already had enough insecurities over things without adding blatant lies... It was something that caused her to worry over the not so blatant ones...

"Uuu..." Kaimu had yet to move, but there was some movement as he felt her hand on his head, another whine coming out as she attempted soothing. Fail, and fail, and fail...it had seemed so simple though...

He couldn't fail at...at things as simple as home and family care! Those things especially!

Despite that feeling, he was listening to what she said, listening as she explained why his heating attempts had gone wrong and ended in disaster, along with the assumption his excitement likely played into it as well.

"Lakshmi...." His hand reached up as if to grab her sleeve, but there was no sleeve there to grab and his hand simply hit the floor with a thump, followed by another whine; "I never lie about important things..." He muttered, she...at least had to know that...

Was it possible her words were getting through to him? Lakshmi felt it was possible since now he was moving a bit, instead of laying there like a rock and moping. The whines were still in effect though...

She watched as his hand came up, wondering what the problem was before it fell to the floor and caused her to scoot even closer. The Captain stopped petting Kaimu long enough to reach for his hand, her other hand taking up the job of playing with his hair while the one twined her fingers between his.

"It still does not make me happy to be lied to even on such a small thing. I would rather you admit it turned out badly and then we could have worked together to figure out what was wrong and why it didn't work." She had known what was wrong in this case but others...? She'd want to be told something was messed up. "I was right there... I saw what happened and you still kept insisting I was wrong. Of course I would get upset and worried over it. I am sorry I took my teasing this far though... I should have just outright said I was upset."

Instead...she had reverted to what she did before they were together... Using playfulness to push others away from her and keep them at a distance...

"...I won't lie..." He muttered weakly...but he meant it... He didn't want to lie to her, it was mostly...just a matter of facing his own failures... "Family and home stuff...I can't...don't...wanna fail at any of it..."

Those were things he needed to be good at... He knew how to cook, how could he not warm up something so simple!? Lakshmi had explained it, but...

Uuu...

He'd just wanted to warm up food...instead this had all happened...

With his promise, Lakshmi gave a short nod that he probably couldn't see. But it was all she trusted herself to do as the man continued on.

He wanted to not fail at family things... he wanted... to be a good...

She couldn't help it, Lakshmi giggled a bit at that and leaned down to kiss the back of Kaimu's head. It was a bit awkward, her legs had to to spread to make room for her minor stomach, but she wanted to nonetheless. "But you can and will? Failing is not a bad thing, sometimes failures happen and you are not perfect, as I just told you a bit ago."

"One little mess up does not disregard all the other things you have done, and you'll definitely learn from this..." Her voice was soft, trying to reassure the man that all was well. He did not need to be so damned hard on himself when it was something silly! "You do an amazing job already of making my mansion my home instead, how come this minor setback is something that utterly destroys you, Kaimu?"

"Uuu..." But he didn't like messing up, especially things he should already know how to properly do! Had Lakshmi just giggled!? That caused him to look up, smaller and quieter whines still escaping him though no where near as severely.

He didn't wanna mess up...

"L...Lak-taaan...." He looked down to the floor again, trying to...do more than whine or say her name... "It should....should be simple, something I already could do... I should have known when it was too much...uu..."

If he couldn't warm food then what else couldn't he do!?

Lakshmi's hand slipped down from his hair to his cheek as he looked up before sliding under his chin. Her thumb gently rubbed his cheek, though it was a bit of a pain from this position and she had to bend more. "I am never going to think badly of you if you mess up. I might giggle and get amused, but I am definitely not thinking you are lesser or awful or stupid because you messed up on something."

"The laughter was from how much you'd been trying to hide something so obvious, only a bit was amusement at the mess up in the first place." Her smile was gentle and coaxing, trying to get Kaimu to sit up again and face her. He... was really really worried about this? Stemming from...his worry over being a good... good husband and father and homemaker it seemed... She let him look down, but kept her hand against his face and her other hand holding his.

Maybe just reassurance was all he needed... "And now you know love, when its vital, that you have to dial back your energies. It was just udon, nothing important...

And forgetting that is fine too. It does not make you an awful... Homemaker? to mess up sometimes. You will not be a failure at this, you have proven you are not already. Who cooks us dinner most of the time?"

"Who cleans our bedroom? Our bathroom? Who keeps our clothes properly put away...? Who reminds me to eat, who makes sure it is nutritious..." Lakshmi continued on, trying to remind Kaimu of all that he was good at in regards to housework and housekeeping... "Who shops for groceries and ends up remembering all the little things I love and getting them for me? I do not really think failing to heat up one udon bowl is such a major failing. Do you wish to try again? We have other food you could."

The one that...makes dinner most of the time, cleaned, worried about groceries, and...lots of other things... That was what he did...He had...failed at heating up the udon, but he was able to do all of that...

He wasn't...a failure at all of this because he couldn't heat up a bowl of udon...

Kaimu was silent for a good while, letting all of Lakshmi's words and reassurances settle and process within him before...eventually he moved to sit up. Did he want to try again? Well... Yes, he did, but he also thought them having fresh and hot food was better...

"Perhaps...but I think it'd be best to get ourselves something fresh and hot, maybe after a bath?" Lakshmi was mostly ready to go to the bathhouse, only needing to get the yukata to wear there...if they bathed they'd feel clean and refreshed, which would make the dinner more enjoyable...or so he felt.

Lakshmi nodded to herself as Kaimu sat up, sensing his mopey mood still and deciding something must be done while she herself straightened up. Her hands moved back to his face, holding his cheeks while leaning up to make sure he was looking her right in the eye. "After the bath we will get more food then."

Was he still upset? It... was hard to tell, his normally full of smiles and expressionate face making her worried. Frown lines appeared on her forehead as she attempted to figure out the problem, if it could be fixed.

"Is there more worrying you? About...yourself...?" Was...there more...? She was sure he was worried about raising a child, that was normal and they both shared that at least... But as far as what he did and how, there wasn't much he had to worry over as far as she was concerned.

They would get their bath then, and enjoy dinner for real this time...with hot food; that would be enjoyable. The...food they had now had been wasted, which...was definitely a shame, he wasn't one to waste food...but it wasn't something to...get overly worried about.

They would get hot food soon!

"Hn...?" Was there more...worrying him? "I was...mostly worried about that... Obviously there's...the worry about raising a child in general... I want to be able to handle the household things, make things easier on us..."

Being a good husband, and father... He had plenty of love to show and give, and he was working continuously on being a good homemaker for them...

"You are doing a good job! A really good job." Lakshmi punctuated her intense reassurance with a pouty frown and a squishing of his cheeks as she leaned up more. Eyes on level with his, she stared deeply into his mismatched eyes as if making sure he was telling the truth.

It took only a moment for her smile to return though as she realized that he was, in fact doing so. This meant he was allowed a kiss finally and she bridged the gap with a soft sigh before her lips found his. It wasn't important yet to take a bath or eat, Kaimu was more important...

Well that was an excuse, she just wanted to kiss him after all of that even if she was naked and prepared to bathe.

A good job, he was doing a good job...

Kaimu gave a small nod after a moments, once a small muffled sound of surprise had come up after she'd squished his cheeks. She was still looking at him though, but he made no move to pull away or get up further, letting her determine whatever she she needed.

He responded to the kiss as the gap between them was closed, almost wanting to finally give a smile against Lakshmi's lips, but that would ruin the kiss...

Lakshmi felt that sound had been cute, but really it didn't matter because she had his lips trapped~ Her hands fell from his cheeks, moving to his yukata so she could get it off in preparation for their bath, without even pausing the kissing she was enjoying.

Multitasking was her specialty, and this was something easy for her to do while distracted even like this. It wasn't as if it wasn't an almost daily occurrence by now, besides he seemed to be enjoying it too and that was good.

Kissing made him happy at least so she would keep doing so while getting him ready too.