A few minutes after receiving a text that she was ready to go, Hawks returned to pick her up.
"Your boyfriend's here," Sakura said, peeking out towards the window. The feather floating towards them from underneath the door announcing the male's arrival.
"Yes he is," she said, smiling a bit as the feather swirled around her head and tickled her nose.
The brunette smiled at the scene. Never before had she seen Mari make such a gentle expression, and she was grateful to Hawks for bringing out that side of her. Standing up, she walked over to the door and opened it.
"Hey Sakura! Long time no see," he joked.
"Hi Hawks! Totally... it's been like... forever. What brings you to my neck of the woods?" she asked playfully.
"I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure you've got my fiancée holed up somewhere in there," he said.
"Your fiancée huh?" For a moment, she pretended to think about it, but her eyes widened when she realized exactly what the blonde had said. "YOUR FIANCÉE? YOU TWO ARE ENGAGED?! SINCE WHEN?" She screeched.
Keigo rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. It had been just him and Mariko for such a long time that he'd forgotten he had to be careful what he called her in public. Though he had every intention of proposing to the brunette, they weren't engaged yet, so calling her his fiancée wasn't exactly accurate and could easily give people the wrong impression like it had Sakura. "Ah not yet... it's just... it kinda feels right I guess."
Sakura groaned loudly. She was both disgusted by their cuteness and jealous she didn't have someone she could be cute with. "You guys suck," she pouted.
"You'll find a boyfriend soon enough Sakura. You're still young," Mariko said appearing in the doorway behind the female.
"Shut up, you're only like three years older than me!" she exclaimed.
"Four. And Four years is four years."
"Whatever."
Mariko chuckled and shook her head. Pulling the girl into a brief hug, she said, "Thanks for everything Sakura."
Sakura sighed and wrapped her arms around her friend. "Of course. Good luck on your mission. You guys better not come back hurt or I'll kill you," she threatened, squeezing her tightly.
"We won't."
"We'll see you around Sakura!" Hawks exclaimed, waving the brunette goodbye and pulling her onto the sidewalk.
As they walked home, Keigo slipped her purse off of her shoulder and slung it over his own, opting instead to intertwine her now free hand with his. She immediately followed through, her fingers lacing together with his and squeezing his hand slightly. The gesture was slightly disconcerting- it was something Mariko only did when one of them was stressed and needed reassurance.
Slipping his arm around her, he pulled her close and nuzzled into her hair. "You okay Chickee?" he hummed.
The brunette nodded. "I'm fine."
"You're quiet today. You sure everything's okay?" he asked.
Mariko nodded slowly. She wasn't upset or worried about anything in particular, it was just that her conversation with Sakura had made her realize that Keigo wasn't listed in any of her important paperwork. She had gone to her lawyer to put Keigo down as the beneficiary for all of her monetary assets, but with everything that had been going on, she'd forgotten about following up, not to mention she'd yet to talk to him about it.
She turned and lightly kissed the blonde's lips. "I'm okay. Just thinking."
"Oh? Penny for your thoughts then."
"Just a penny?" she asked jokingly.
"I'll pay whatever you want me to Chickee... but seriously, what's going on in that pretty little head of yours?" he asked, looking down at her concernedly.
"It's nothing bad... I was just thinking about the paperwork we're going to have to eventually fill out," she answered.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember how before the last mission, Araya told us we had to get our affairs in order?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"It's no big deal, but I was thinking about how I need to change my beneficiary, and then it just kind of snowballed into all the other documents that'll need to be changed."
Keigo tilted his head, not following what Mariko was talking about. "What do you mean?"
"Well right now, my beneficiary is Araya. He's also the one who has power of attorney over me if something happens."
The blonde remained silent as a wave of bitterness rolled over him. He knew she had made the decision before they'd ever met, much less fallen in love, but he couldn't help the uncomfortable feeling that settled in his chest when he thought about how close Mariko and Araya were.
Seeing him scowl at the pavement in front of them. Mariko rolled her eyes and squeezed his hand, pulling him out of his thoughts. "I was thinking about how I have to follow up with my lawyer to have that changed. From there it just kind of spiraled into the other paperwork we're gonna have to deal with. We've talked about getting married, but we haven't really talked about all the other stuff like how we're gonna manage financials, insurance, and everything else. We don't have to worry about it now, but we will one day."
"You're gonna remove Araya? Did he piss you off again or something?" he asked.
Mariko raised an eyebrow as though the answer should've been obvious. "No, it just makes more sense for you to be listed instead."
"Me?" he asked.
"Well, yeah. I mean, if you're not comfortable with that then I won't change anything. I get how it can be a difficult position to be in. It just seemed like the thing to do if we're gonna get married." She explained.
Keigo looked down at her thoughtful expression and knew he was an idiot. He was an idiot because something so mundane and bittersweet as being listed as her beneficiary had just made him so damn happy it was ridiculous. If anything it should have scared him that they needed to plan this sort of thing at all, but all he could be was excited. He was beaming at the fact that Mari was taking the initiative again and it was once again reaffirming that she wanted this just as much as he did.
He smiled softly at her and brought her into his chest. Pressing a kiss to her temple he said: "You're really cute y'know?"
The brunette leaned into his touch, but raised an eyebrow all the same, "Where'd that come from?"
"You. Maybe your birth parents, but it's mostly you."
Mariko hummed and slid her arm around his waist. "So, do I set up a meeting with my lawyer or should we hold off until we're ready?" she asked.
"I'm ready. Are you?"
"I wouldn't be asking you if I wasn't Kei."
He chuckled slowly and pulled her tighter against him. "Good point."