"I'm so, fucking proud of you."

Nick said these words very quietly, though he wanted to shout them from the rooftops. He knew that Sumire wouldn't want him to make a big deal about it, so he didn't. Even the way she told him, casually mentioning the details of the filming as they were being driven home, clued him that she didn't want it discussed and examined, so he treated it as she did.

They were stopped at a red light, and she reached across to grasp his hand and mentioned while looking out the window that she'd gone off script and done a serious improv during a cold filming, and that it had gone "really well."

He'd already gotten the details from Miki, her on set assistant, who spoke a little English, so he knew what had happened, but he acted ignorant until she talked to him.

"Is that all you want to tell me?" he continued, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. He looked over at her as she looked out the window.

She didn't look at him, but she nodded as she squeezed his fingers, and he could see her tiny smile, reflected in the glass.

"Okay," he murmured, and left it at that.

"You know, Christmas is coming up," he began a few minutes later.

"I know, but we don't really have time to shop or anything," she responded, looking over at him for the first time. "Why, did you have something in mind? It's not a big deal over here, anyway, people just eat cake and stuff. New Year's is the big spiritual holiday in Japan, when everything shuts down and people go to the temples and shrines and pray and everything?"

"I know that," he assured her. "But like you say, our schedule's insane right now. It's amazing we managed to ride home together today, if you think about it. So shopping for gifts is out of the question, I think. For me, anyway."

He tugged on Sumire's hand, and pulled her into the curve of his arm, cuddling her so she could steal some of his body warmth and he could enjoy the fragrance of her hair.

"So I thought we could share a Christmas gift with each other after shooting is over, at the end of January, what do you say?" He nuzzled into her hair, kissing her ear and moving down her neck.

Sumire smiled, looking to make sure Mino-chan wasn't looking.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked, tilting her head and closing her eyes.

"Well, you don't have to get back to class until March, and I don't have anything planned until summer, so I thought we could take our time getting back to LA?" he suggested. "Like maybe by way of Bali? or even Tahiti?" He pulled away to see how his words had gone over. "How does that sound? A few weeks of sleep, sun, swimming, beach, really good food? Hm?"

"Sounds marvelous," Sumire admitted, nodding her head. "But I have a question."

"Ask away."

"How is any of that a gift from me to you? I mean, I can't afford anything close to that, Nick-san, and you know it." She pulled his hands around her waist, wrapping them tightly around her. "What exactly would I be giving you, hm?"

"The pleasure of your company?" Nick suggested.

Sumire snorted, a sound that Nick thought was absolutely charming. "You did not just say that, did you?" she asked rhetorically. "That would make me, like, the most overpriced sex worker in the history of sex workers, I think."

Now it was Nick's turn to snort and laugh, and they pretty much snarfed and laughed for the five minutes left of their ride back to the ryokan.

"We have invitations from three different people to go to their houses for New Year's," Sumire told Nick as they relaxed in the pool while their evening meal was being put away and their beds being laid out. "Including from Murakami-sensei, just this afternoon."

"Really?"

Sumire nodded. "It's an incredible honor," she informed him. "It's like being invited to someone's home for Christmas. It's a huge deal, very intimate, usually family only. I think they're worried about us being over here without our family."

Nick straddled Sumire in the position she usually took with him, so he could see her face close up, and enjoy seeing her all steamy. They usually didn't bother with clothes in the pool anymore, merely taking the precaution of closing the sliding doors between them and the other rooms first.

"So, do you want to go, then? Is that why you're telling me?" he asked, smoothing her damp hair off her face. He cupped her face and kissed her.

She shook her head. "No, not unless you want to. I know it must seem like I've made a lot of progress, what with all the nude bathing and the nymphomania and everything--" she smiled and kissed Nick back, moaning comfortably, "--but the truth is that I still like having my space, and being by myself. By the end of the day sometimes, after spending hours being dressed and made-up and pushed and prodded and touched by everyone on the set? All I really want to do is be alone." She stroked Nick's face, her soft hand making a scratchy sound against his stubbly jaw. "With you. Is that okay?"

He nodded.

"Oyasuminasai," the women called from the next room, their signal that they were finished laying the beds and were leaving.

"Domo," Nick and Sumire called, "thank you."

"Well, let's get our exhausted selves to bed, shall we?" Sumire suggested

"Sounds like a plan, Cucumber."

❣️💜❣️💜❣️💜❣️💜❣️

Hours later, during the darkest, coldest part of the night, Nick woke up, freezing, to find no blankets and no Sumire. He could see from where he lay that both bathroom doors were open, the rooms themselves empty.

Oh god.

He jumped up and ran first to the door to the suite, but it was locked, the deadbolt thrown. Next he ran to the hot pool, his heart beating like a triphammer in his chest. He'd heard stories about people drowning in shallow water while sleepwalking, even people who could swim; the door to the room was shut, however, and when he slid it open, the water was still, serene, and thankfully empty.

"Mimi-chan?" he called as he turned back to their suite. "Mimi-chan? Sumire?" He turned on the lights to the main room where they slept, but it was devoid of life. The empty futons where they slept seemed to mock him.

He stepped into the other room, the room where she used to sleep, but it was as empty as the larger room, and he didn't see her anywhere. He went back to the entry and looked in the closet, and found their comforters in a messy pile, as if someone had quickly tossed them in, but no Sumire.

He went for a more thorough check of the bathrooms, even looking inside the tub, but of course she wasn't there. Next, he looked in the huge oshi-ire, the closets where their bedding was stored during the day, but they were empty as well, except for their empty suitcases, which were kept inside, off to one side.

He stood in the middle of the room, trying not to panic, wondering if he should call the front desk. There was literally nowhere else she could be. He went back to the front door to check the lock again, wondering if there were some way she could possibly have bolted it from the outside.

He'd just decided that there was no way when he heard a small noise from the front closet. He opened the door and looked at the pile of comforters, nearly jumping out of his skin when it moved.

"Mimi-chan?" he called cautiously. He reached out and moved the closest comforter aside, and saw the top of her head. As soon as he let go of the comforter, however, her hand snaked out and pulled it back, sliding it until she was completely hidden from view again.

This action would've been cute if it hadn't been so pitiful and meek.

Nick quietly stepped into the closet, moving some shoes aside, and sat down next to the pile of blankets. He pulled the door shut behind him so they were in relative darkness. He wondered how long she'd been in there.

"Mimi-chan?" he whispered. "I'm kind of cold, can we share the blankets, please? It's Nick."

No response.

"Mimi-chan? Please?"

One end of the blankets lifted up, and Nick scooted under. He could feel her slight body next to his, thrumming like a tightly wound top, like the last time this had happened, at the Plaza. He felt like she'd just disappear in a crackle of electricity and smoke if he startled her.

"What happened?"

She answered him in a stream of whispered, weeping, terrified Japanese. The only words he understood were "Totto-san," her name for her father, and "onegai, tasukete," which meant "help me, please," or even "rescue me," depending on the circumstances.

Jesus.

Nick covered his eyes with his hand and took a deep breath, willing himself not to cry. It wouldn't help her at all.

The problem was, he didn't know what would help her. Should he wake her up? Try to hold her? Let her ride it out?

She took matters out of his hands by pushing most of the blankets out of the way and climbing right into his lap, again, whispering something in Japanese, a quick and babbled murmur which ended in "Totto-san, onegai, tasukete chodai, Totto-san, I want you to help me, please!"

Nick took a quavering breath and let it out as he put his arms around the poor, quaking woman in his lap. "Shh, shh," he soothed, stroking her hair and back, tucking her head under his chin. "Anshin shite, have peace of mind, Mimi-chan, anshin shite. You're safe now, you're safe, you're safe." It was a line he knew from the film, and he said it to her over and over as he tried to quiet her.

In addition to begging her father to help her, she said other things as she babbled in her native tongue on the long night that they spent in the closet, but Nick didn't understand them. He did the best he could to comfort her and calm her. He was just grateful that she didn't try to hurt herself.

Eventually she seemed to tire, melting into his body bit by bit, as her mindless murmurings quieted, and she finally fell into exhausted sleep, her hands releasing their grip on his arms and falling away to lie, fingers curled loosely, in her lap.

Nick drifted in and out of light sleep himself, never releasing his hold on her body, even when slumber overtook him.

He would protect her.

Always.

Sumire awoke with a jump, her body jerking as her eyes opened.

This action caused Nick to rouse out of the deepest sleep he'd been in all night.

"Are you okay? Hm?" he asked, rubbing her back and shoulders before cautiously releasing her. A sliver of daylight could be seen under the door.

Sumire nodded, rubbing her eyes. "Are we in the closet?" she asked, her voice blurry with sleep.

Nick nodded, blinking as he smiled at her. "You don't remember?"

Sumire smiled somberly. "I kind of do, unfortunately. I dreamt that Marcus was mad at me for yesterday's filming. He felt like I'd 'tattled,' 'told' on him, you know? Like it was a secret? And he was coming to get me. In my dream, he was this huge monster, like the hulk--" her voice broke, and she reached for Nick without seeming to be aware of what she was doing, "--and he was swimming across the Pacific Ocean to get over here to Japan to get me." She shivered uncontrollably.

Nick rubbed her back and held her some more as she talked. He also leaned forward and opened the closet door a little to let in some light and let their eyes acclimate slowly.

"Nick, he was coming for me, he was coming! God, it was scary! And I wanted my father to help me and keep me safe, but he wasn't here! He wasn't here!" And now she collapsed into Nick, curling into a ball. "He didn't come, he didn't come, because he couldn't! He couldn't, Nick, no one came to rescue me!"

"But you didn't need anyone, did you, Mimi-chan?" Nick reminded her. He dropped a kiss on top of her head. "You handled yesterday's filming like the giant, strong woman you are. You rescued yourself, because you're just amazing that way." He hugged her closer, rocking her as she sat in the blankets.

Somehow, miraculously, he heard the sound of her laughter.

"Yeah, I guess I did, didn't I?"

"You did."

He opened the door, letting in more light. The weather had let up in the night, it seemed, for sunlight was streaming into the closet.

"Now, Mimi-chan, let's get out of this dark closet and get showered before they show up with our breakfast and find us in here. They're going to think we're crazy."

Sumire laughed against his chest.

"Sounds good. You want to hear something crazy, Nick-san?"

"Always, Mimi-chan."

"I'm so hungry I could eat these shoes."