Readers POV

After your day at the art museum Kiku took you out to dinner. The restaurant looked to you like a traditional Japanese type place, but due to your lack of knowledge of things Japanese you weren’t entirely sure. (A/N Ok, since I have no idea whatsoever about how Japanese restaurants are owned I am just going to pretend it’s pretty much like American ones.)

When you got menus you were extremely pleased to see that many of the dishes had pictures next to them. “Oh good!” you exclaimed.

“What is it?”

“There are pictures on this menu! So I don’t have to ask you for translations of everything. Not that I have a problem with that.”

He smiled. “I’ve been here several times and I remembered that there were pictures on the menu. I thought that you might like to not feel entirely helpless.”

He was pretty quick to figure you out it seemed. “Thank you, for everything.” You smiled your best smile.

He blushed and looked down. “It was nothing really.”

You became distracted when a waiter arrived to take your order. Kiku said something or another to him, but you didn’t hear what since you were frantically searching for something you wanted to eat before it was your turn to order. The man turned to face you with a questioning look and you pointed to the first thing you saw. He smiled and nodded, wrote something down and then walked off. You then nervously looked down at what you had pointed at. To your relief it looked like plain sushi. You could do that.

Kiku was giving you an amused smile so you gave him a mock scowl. “What’s so funny?”

His expression quickly changed to confused and a tad bit upset. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” He bowed his head slightly.

You were astonished for a moment then giggled a little "No, no, I was just kidding around. I wasn't actually upset."

He looked relieved. You were tempted to giggle again.


Japan's POV


When our food arrived things started like normal. Kiku opened his chopsticks and began eating his rice. After a few moments he noticed _____ looking at him, almost as if she was in awe.

He cocked his head to the side "Is anything wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh no! Not at all... It's just, you know, I could never figure out how you guys can eat with chopsticks like that."

He went ahead and assumed that she meant Japanese, or possibly just Asian overall, by "you guys."

"It's really not hard." he said, holding up his chopsticks which currently had rice held in them.

"Ok." she said dubiously. She then opened hers and began attempting to pick up  one of her pieces of sushi with them. After struggling for a minute she managed to pick it up.

He watched, doing his best not to be amused while she quickly moved her hand over the small bowl of soy sauce. She went to dip it in and promptly dropped it into the bowl. 

Kiku bit his lip to hold in a laugh, but couldn't stop his smile. _____ frowned down at the soy soaked sushi roll. "This is hopeless. I'm never going to be able to figure this out!"

"Look at how I'm holding it." Kiku suggested, holding his hand out for her to see.

After studying it for a moment she tried it again, with even less success than the previous time. She dropped the chopsticks and slumped back into her chair. 

"Here, let me show you." Kiku said leaning forward and picking up _____'s hand. He then picked up the chopsticks and placed them in her hand. "Hold it steady. Be sure to put pressure on it but not too much." he said.

His eyes came up to meet hers. They were wide and staring right at him. He stared back for a minute until he realized he was holding her hand between his.

Instantly he blushed and withdrew his hand. She smiled, a slight pink color evident in her cheeks as well.


Readers POV


After dinner Kiku began walking me to my temporary home again. Looking back over this day it was probably the best one you had had in Tokyo yet!

"Um, _____?" Kiku asked you quietly.

"Yes?" you asked turning to him. You could have been imagining it, but it kind of looked like he was blushing again.

"Would... Would you mind if I held your hand?"

You almost gasped in surprise and pleasure. "Yes." you managed to squeak out.

His warm hand slowly worked its way into yours, and within a few moments your fingers intertwined. You walked all the way back to your hotel like that. Neither of you said more than a few words the entire time, but you didn't need to. This was definitely the best day you'd had in a long time.