Christmas Balloons

The keys sent a frozen tingle through Amu's fingers as she fetched them out of the front pocket of her jacket. She sniffed loudly and buried her chin deeper into her fluffy scarf as she pushed open her front door.

Setting the keys into a bowl, she closed the door softly, shutting out the bitterness of the winter wind. There was still a leftover ringing in her ears from the long walk home, but Amu ignored it as she hung up her outerwear and kicked off her boots.

The cozy warmth of the house greeted her eagerly. The colorful indoor Christmas lights were freshly strung while ornaments for the tree lay sprawled about the living room floor, leaving the tree in front of the fireplace bare.

There was tinsel hugging the banister of the staircase, a recently drawn picture of Santa Claus resting on the floor beside Amu's feet, and soft Christmas music playing from the living room.

Amu tip-toed further into the house, passing by the living room undetected. She hurried down the hallway and into the washroom, closing the door silently behind her.

Making sure the door was locked, the small cardboard box was removed from underneath her shirt. Normally she'd cringed as soon as her skin touched the cold toilet seat, but today all she was concentrating on was peeing on the white stick.

"Of course they have to make these things as small as possible," She complained quietly to herself, hoping not to get pee on her fingers like the last time she went through this experience. The last time this happened was almost three years ago. Then, seven months later – they had their youngest, Emi.

A jolt of excitement ran through her body at the thought of being pregnant again. It was an exciting experience. Painful, yes, but exciting. At just twenty three years old, she could very well be expecting her third child.

Their eldest, Yoru, had just turned five in October. Amu got pregnant with him in her senior year at high school and feared that'd be the end of the world. But, it was just the beginning. It was amazing how her boyfriend who impregnated her actually stuck around and was now her husband.

Amu set the test on the counter of the washroom and pulled her jeans up before flushing the toilet and washing her hands. It seemed to take forever for the stupid test to spit out an answer.

Before she got to know the verdict, two different set of hands started banging against the door impatiently.

"Mummy, come see the decorations!" Yoru exclaimed cheerfully.

"Mum, mum," Emi added in. Being only two years old, she didn't have a very large vocabulary.

Amu smiled in secret before unlocking the door. As soon as they saw her, she was trampled. The two kids grabbed onto her hands and dragged her out of the washroom. They lead her into the living room, where all sorts of oddly-placed decorations clung to the walls.

"Emi threw the holly into the fire... so... it's dead," Yoru announced sullenly while pointing to the fireplace. "But, everything else is pretty, right?"

"It's very pretty!" Amu commented, "You guys did awesome!" She leaned down and gave both her kids a quick kiss on the head.

Emi tugged at her plaid dress while attempting to twirl in circles to the beat of the music. Her soft, pink curls danced along with her.

Yoru watched his younger sister then shook his head, "Girls are weird," he commented before dumping more decorations out of a box and onto the floor.

Scanning the room for any sign of her husband, Amu slowly stood up and waltzed up the stairs to their bedroom. She threw off her jeans and long-sleeved shirt and tugged on a pair of her husband's boxers and one of his shirts.

She usually only did this when she either wanted to have a frisky night or if she was breaking the news about her pregnancy to him.

Her golden eyes widened once realizing she had left the test in the washroom. She attempted to put on a pair of socks as she hopped down the stairs. Stumbling into the bathroom, the pinkette's heart nearly stopped beating. The test was gone. Had Emi or Yoru taken it? Or had... he gotten a hold of it?

She instantly dropped onto her hands and knees and peered under the cupboards, hoping it had just rolled onto the floor. It was nowhere to be seen. She tied her hair into a messy pony tail and continued her investigation. She was just crawling over to the toilet when she heard someone clear his throat.

With wide eyes and messy hair, Amu's head snapped in the direction of the door behind her, where her husband stood, leaning against the doorway.

He smirked at her with raised eyebrows, "Looking for something or is this just one of your hobbies?"

Amu wiped her hands off and sat on her knees in the middle of the bathroom with a beat red blush resting on her cheekbones, "I-I was just looking for.. you know, the usual," She said as casually as she could.

Ikuto slowly walked forwards and knelt in front of her. He was close enough for her to smell the clean, soapy scent he often carried.

If something didn't happen soon, Amu had her suspicions that they might have ended up doing the naughty on the floor in a matter of minutes. Her hormones were driving her crazy.

Thankfully, he finally moved. He slowly reached behind him and pulled something out of his back pocket. Something white. That was a stick. Three guesses what it was.

Amu's eyes widened as she lunged for it, toppling onto Ikuto and pushing him to the ground. He still held the test firmly in his grasp as he shuffled to his feet, outstretching his arm upwards as far as it could go.

Amu didn't find this fair at all. He already towered over her profile by nearly a foot. Having him reach up as far as he could was just cheating.

She glared at him while pursing her lips together.

"Ikuto," She said in her warning tone, "please give it back."

His midnight blue eyes danced in amusement. Amu had never told him this, but she envied his eyes. They were capable of taking anyone's breath away. Emi was lucky to have inherited them.

"I first want to see what it says," Ikuto bargained.

Amu pretended to take this into thought. She waited just long enough for Ikuto to lower his arm just slightly. His defenses were down. Now was the time.

She jumped off the floor, lunging for the test. She curled her right arm around Ikuto's neck and wrapped her legs around his waist while reaching up with her left hand in an attempt to get the stick.

It was still too high up to reach.

"Honey, just give up," Ikuto snickered.

"Ahh but you underestimate me, my dear," Amu replied with a sinister smile, "The word 'give up' is not in my dictionary."

"That's two words, darling."

"Sh-shut up," Amu snapped in a strained voice, still reaching for the test. Finally, another idea came to mind. Boys were weak when it came to their loved ones.

The pinkette cackled under her breath. Pretending to sigh in defeat, Amu dropped her arm and wrapped it around Ikuto's neck along with the other one. She hugged him tightly, burying her face into the crook of his neck. He smelt so damn good.

She softly left a trail of kisses starting from his neck, ending at his ear. His ears were his sensitive spot. The joys of being a wife was that you knew exactly how to trigger your husband's desires.

Amu softly nibbled on Ikuto's earlobe, feeling his breathing quicken.

"Cheater," He accused softly.

Amu smiled against his cheek, where she planted another kiss. She made sure the kisses were soft, so they tempted him and made him want more.

"Amu..." Ikuto groaned, turning his head to look at his evil genius of a wife.

She smiled innocently at him, "Yes?"

He leaned in to kiss her, but before he could, Amu snatched the test out of his hand and slid off him before booking it down the hall.

Yoru and Emi were now dancing together to Frosty The Snowman, clueless to what their parents were up to.

Amu lunged herself into the living room, knowing Ikuto was right behind her. Heart thumping against her ribcage, the pinkette hurried behind the large tree. Just when she thought she was safe, Ikuto cut her off on the other side of the tree, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to his chest. They were both out of breath by now.

She jumped up on him for the second time, loving the feeling of her legs around his body. Yes, she knew that sounded creepy, but right now she didn't care. She wanted him. Now, if she could, but she didn't feel like permanently scarring her kids.

Amu gazed deeply into Ikuto's eyes and quickly came up with something to keep the kids occupied. "Y-Yoru could you get the vacuum out of the closet? I need to clean up this tinsel," She said out of breath without looking away from her husband.

"Okay, mom," Yoru replied, holding onto Emi's hand and walking away with her.

Just seconds after they were out of sight, Amu pressed her lips against Ikuto's. He smelt and tasted good. Bonus. Her pulse pounded. You'd think she'd be used to this, but even after all these years, he still had such an effect on her. She crushed her mouth to his, loving the feeling of his hands on her and how their lips moved in sync.

Before she knew it, Ikuto pulled away and smirked triumphantly. It was then that she realized the pregnancy test was in his hand.

She gasped and lowered herself to the floor, "You cheated!"

He stuck his tongue out at her, "You started it!"

His eyes then darted over to the test in his hand. He left his expression blank so he wouldn't ruin the surprise for Amu.

Amu waited impatiently for him to tell her the verdict. Finally, she ended up snatching it away and curled into a ball on the floor to look at it in secret.

There was a plus sign.

The corners of Amu's lips slowly tugged upwards and soon she broke out in a grin. She stood back up and jumped into Ikuto's arms, hugging him tightly and letting her feet dangle inches off the floor.

He smiled down at her before kissing her softly, "Congratulations, Mrs. Tsukiyomi."

"Mom! I couldn't find the vacuum," Yoru began, emerging back into the room with Emi, "but I did find these balloons!" He then lifted a 'balloon' up proudly and started to blow it up.

Amu and Ikuto instantly looked over at their son with wide eyes. Yoru went to the wrong closet. Those weren't balloons.

Amu detached herself from her husband and slowly walked over to Yoru and Emi, who were happily attempting to blow up the 'balloons'.

"Yoru, those aren't balloons," She said cautiously.

Yoru glanced down at the condom he had just taken out of its wrapper and frowned, "What are they?"

Amu opened her mouth to reply but closed it when Ikuto came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"They're special Christmas balloons," He replied with a mischievous grin, "go ahead, fill the whole house with them!"

Amu shoved her elbow into Ikuto's gut, "Ikuto, don't say that!"

Her husband spun her around and rested his arms on her shoulders, "Why not? It's not like we'll be needing them anytime soon," he pointed out before kissing the pinkette's forehead.

Special Christmas balloons... she liked the sound of that. Plus, they could always dispose of them the next morning. It's not like they were expecting company.

"Surprise! We've come to have a movie night!" Utau bellowed from the front door. The distant chattering of all their close friends could be heard as well.

The married couple's eyes widened as they turned to see their daughter running to her uncle Kukai with a 'balloon' in her hand.

"Oh, nice! ...Wait a minute... is this a condom?"

Amu groaned and buried her face into Ikuto's chest.

Merry Christmas, indeed.