The Gunslinger & the Salaryman: A Love Story for the Ages

Chapter 31: Honeymoon in Tokyo, Part 2 - The Okajima Home

"So, this is where you grew up?" Revy asked as she and Rock got to the front door of his family home. It was a decent sized house in what was clearly a nice neighborhood.
     "Yup, the very same," Rock said with a bit of nervousness in his voice. Last time he saw his home was when he and Revy last visited Japan nearly 5 years ago. He hadn't stepped foot inside this house in nearly 8 years.
     "Feeling nervous, Rokuro?" Michiko asked her son with a warm smile on her face.
     "I mean... maybe just a little," he chuckled nervously.

     Akira unlocked the front door and they all walked in. It was a nicely furnished place, nothing overly fancy, but still clearly high-quality furniture. There were various family photos on the walls and on tables, Revy was glad to see some of these included Rock. A big smile came across her face when she saw a picture of Rock as a little kid, she guessed around 10 years old.
     "Is Toshiro here?" Rock asked, randomly looking around the living room.
     "No," replied Michiko. "He will be joining us later this evening. You can unpack your things in your room in the meantime."
     "Your room, eh?" Revy said with a devious smile.
     "What?" Rock asked suspiciously.
     "Finally get more of a peek into your pre Roanapur life," she chuckled, grabbing Rock's hand and running up the stairs.
     When the made it upstairs, Rock took over leading Revy to his bedroom, which had his name on the door written in Kanji.

     He let out a little sigh as he turned the handle and opened the door. Inside was a typical bedroom, nothing Revy wasn't expecting. It was minimally furnished, bed, desk, dresser, and a book shelf, no real personalized items like anime or game posters. On the dresser were some trophies for various academic activities, Revy chuckled looking at them.
     "I knew you were a fuckin' nerd." She didn't feel as nervous with her language with it being just the two of them.
     "Yes, because I've kept it such a well-kept secret," Rock replied dryly with a deadpan expression.
     "So, I guess you doing so well in high school but failing your college entrance exams on the first go round are why your folks treated you so coldly?" Revy asked bluntly.
     "You're not wrong," Rock answered somberly.
     "That shit common here?" she asked.
     "There's a lot of pressure for kids to achieve great things," he answered.
     "Did you enjoy any of this stuff?" she asked.
     "Some of it wasn't bad," he answered. "It was nice to see my parents smile at my achievements. But, I also enjoyed some of the competition." There was a brief bit of silence, before Rock decided to ask his wife something personal. "Did you...ever win anything in school?" He wasn't sure how'd she react, he didn't ask her about her past often.
     "I won a spelling bee when I was 8," she answered with no malice in her voice. "Got a little blue ribbon. One of the few times my old man smiled at me for something positive. Guessing you didn't expect me to be good at anything besides killing motherfuckers and drinking heavily, eh?" She saw a few more pics of Rock at various ages. "You were a cute kid. What the fuck happened?" She chuckled at her own joke.
     "Bet you were a cute kid, too," Rock commented with a warm smile.
     "Fuckin' a right, I was!" she exclaimed with a big smile.
     She then pulled out her wallet and showed Rock a worn-out photo of herself from when she was maybe 4 or 5. Her hair was messy, she was smiling big, and missing one of her front teeth. Rock let out a big chuckle, smiling happily at the old photo of his beloved wife.
     "Wish we'd known each other as little kids," Rock said quietly, though loud enough for Revy to hear him. Her heart began to thump loudly in her chest as she turned red. Rock noticed her beginning to tear up a little. "Are you ok?"  
     Revy flung herself at Rock, embracing him, and they both toppled onto his bed. She had her face in his chest and he could hear some whimpering. "Revy?"
     "God damnit, Rock!" she exclaimed, although muffled by his shirt. "I didn't think I'd start feeling all this shit on our fuckin' honeymoon! I'm so fucking sorry!" She then felt rock stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head.
     "Revy, you have nothing to be sorry about," he replied. "I know you've had a tough life. Besides, I'm the one who started asking questions about your past. I'm the one who should be apologizing."
     "No!" she yelled, sticking her head up to look into his eyes, her own still filled with tears. "I'm glad you asked, I'm glad we could share this moment, and I'm glad I came here and got to see all this." She hugged Rock tighter and he hugged her tighter too. "I love you, Rock."
     "I love you, Revy," he smiled warmly as they shared a tender kiss.
     "Any idea when your brother gets here?" she asked.
     "I wasn't really given a time," he replied. "But, I bet we have a couple hours or so to just relax."
     "Good," she sighed. "I just wanna have this moment for a while."
     Once she said this, her eyes gave out and closed. Rock smiled warmly at his sleeping bride, gave her another kiss on the head, and fell asleep too.