The Crane Wife

Chapter 1

     On this winter night, snow falling steadily and the winter breeze slowly gushing by, two people sat in their small and cozy home in front of the hearth. One is a man, and the other his wife. With his large frame, she cuddles on his right side, as he wraps his arm around her petite body and pulls her closer towards him. He shifts his gaze from the burning fire to the head full of sweet almond hair that could be mistaken for the color of gold laying on his shoulder.

     "Are you warm enough my lovely wife?" Upon hearing her husband's deep melodious voice, the woman looks up. Her hazel brown eyes are met with another pair of hazel ones-except this second pair almost looked dull. Her eyes stray from his eyes to his brown golden hair to his chiseled chin before answering him with a smile, "Why of course. How could I not when I have you by my side." With a happy giggle she stretches her thin arms around his waist and tightly hugs her one and only husband and snuggles her head closer to his neck.

     They sat in silence with only the flickering sound of burning wood surrounding them. She buries her face into his kimono. Worried he asks, "Rin, is something bothering you?" Rin shakes her head and tightens her hold on her husband's waist even more before silently asking him, "Hey, Ren, do you remember when we first met?"

     His deep and soft chuckle reverberates down to his chest as she takes in the laughter. "Why would you ask such a thing? I remember like it was yesterday. It was a snowy day like this too wasn't it? When we first met." A nostalgic smile appears on Ren's handsome face. He looks down at his beautiful wife.

     She adjusts herself to be a bit comfier in his arms. "Yes, it was a snowy day like this when I first knocked on your door asking for shelter. The snow was piling up fast and a traveling girl like me had nowhere to go." A sentimental smile also makes its way onto Rin's pink lips. She lifts her head and gazes directly into her husband's light eyes. "To think that what was a brief coincidence would blossom into today. Even right now, it's still unbelievable to me."

     Seeing her frown upon her last words, Ren lower his head and places his forehead against hers. Eye to eye and nose to nose, one, two-, and three-seconds pass by before he speaks, "Do you feel this heat coming from me?" Before she even realized it his big hands already found her dainty ones and intertwined with them. "You feel these hands? Their warmth?" Ren guides her right hand over to his heart and firmly places it on his chest. "Do you feel this heart beating? How fast it's going right now? Only for you will this heart ever beat for. Only you can make me like this."

     With his left hand still on her right one over his chest, he moves a loose strand of Rin's hair away from her face. With a gentle voice, Ren assures his troubled wife, "This moment right now, this is as real as it gets. You and me." Lingering forehead to forehead for another minute, they separate from each other just enough to clearly see the other's face. His words and assurance were all Rin needed to hear. Her lips curve upwards and softly exclaimed, "Yes, you and me!"

     Her excited laugh and face was all it took for Ren to fall in love with his wife all over again. Seizing this opportunity, he leans down towards her and seals her soft plump lips with his thin smooth ones. Caught off guard Rin takes a second before she starts to move against his lips. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulls him closer, while he envelopes her body like fragile glass and slowly guides both of their bodies down to the wooden floors. The night is only getting started for this pair of husband and wife.

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     Tonight the full moon is not only at its roundest, but also is at its highest and brightest. Even with the windows closed and the night sky bare of any stars, as Ren and Rin lay down side by side they could clearly make out the shape of the moon. The rays of moonlight seeping through the bamboo window scatters around them. Both of them are recovering from the night activities that had just occurred and both are still naked on the futon with the blankets barely up to their waist.

     Ren, propped up on his left elbow, takes in the mesmerizing sight in front of him. Even after two years of marriage he still cannot get enough of his wife. While the said wife is lying face down with her arms crisscrossed under her, supporting her head. His eyes travel up and down her bare body until finally stopping at the v-shaped scar on her lower back. Rin observes her husband, noticing the blank stare on his face she inquires, "What are you thinking so hard about my dear husband?"

     Pulled away from his thoughts he reaches his hand over and slowly traces her scar. "You still haven't told me where and how you got this scar. Even though I've asked about it many times now." Her breath slightly stops for a second. If Ren isn't so used to her rhythmical breathing he probably wouldn't have caught that small breath hiccup just now. Rin grabs onto his hand that is still tracing her scar. She brings it closer to her and held tightly onto it before giving his hand a few quick pecks. Staring at his hand, she answers him, "It's an old scar now. I got injured before meeting you. That's all there is to this injury."

     Defeated with a sigh Ren can only give up. "Fine, I will stop asking about it. But you're going to have to make me forget about it then." Not even giving the exhausted Rin a chance to answer, he wraps his arms around her and pulls her towards him. He quickly also pulls the blankets up to their chest. Hugging her tightly in his arms, he softly runs his right hand through her silky hair. They lay quietly next to each other.

     "What are you doing Ren?" He hushes her and gives a kiss on her head. "Go to sleep my lovely wife. You must be very tired." Facing Ren's chest, Rin stretches her arms out to hug him as well. "If that is what you want my dear husband. But you should sleep too." Still running his hand through her hair he quietly tells her, "I will, but only after you. I'm afraid if I sleep first you will disappear when I wake up; afraid that like a dream, when I open my eyes you will be gone."

     Rin tightens her hug and closes the already non-existent space between them. "Don't worry, no matter what, I will never disappear from you. I will always stay with you from now on to the day there is no more you and me." Her eyes and lips smiled at him as she looked up at Ren finishing her sentence. He too smiled back at her. "Okay, now go to sleep my lovely wife."

     "Yes, my dear husband." With that, they both fell into a comfortable silence and the long night soon turned into day.