I woke up to the sunlight sliding through the open blinds, knocking on my eyelids harshly. I opened my eyes and blinked my awareness back, and my senses reminded me of my location. Cool, spongy blankets covered my lithe body sinking fit into the memory foam mattress below me. My thoughts could vaguely recognize the familiar arms tucked protectively around me, and I smiled when my hand grazed the cold band on one of the fingers.

It was Saturday morning; neither of us had work, but we both had stomachs. Days off typically deemed me as the housewife for the sake of hilarious satire and something to eat in the morning. Carefully, I unlinked Karma's fingers and shuffled out of his arms.

Five years, I mused. Five years since we tied the knot and I moved in with Karma. Seven years since we started dating. Neither of us meant for the relationship to move so fast, but neither of us felt it was rushed. It just...happened.

I recounted a handful of moments that lead us there, just enough to keep my mind occupied while I made a small batch of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Just as I was making a plate for each of us, I heard Karma's groggy steps slamming down the steps.

"Mornin', sleepy-head," I sang, receiving a drowsy wave in return.

"Mail," he said bluntly, directing a lazy finger to the front door. I laughed and dismissed him with a nod. By the time I had finished making our plates and putting them on our dining table, Karma had woken up and returned with a stack of mail in his hands.

"Anything worthwhile?" I asked. I watched his unamused stare read each envelope and his hands put them aside. Suddenly, his eyes widened and his eyebrow quirked in the rare and adorable way it did when he got confused.

"Yeah, I guess so," he stated while he handed me the white envelope, freeing his hands to eat. I looked at the return name and address and gasped.

"I-It's from Mito!" Karma nodded, continuing to pick at his eggs with an angry stare. "Don't be so bitter-looking, Cakie. It's been seven years, I'm sure he's over me. Look, I'll read it. Just don't break the plate, those are expensive."

He shrugged and ate more delicately, but his classic life-breaking stare was still directed at the innocent plate of bacon. I laughed and neatly opened the envelope.

"It's a wedding invitation!" I exclaimed, making Karma choke on his food. He assured me he was fine ("You don't need to freak out, Nagi'." "You could have died!" "After the shit I've been through, I'm not going to be done in by a short stack of pancakes.")

"'Dear Mr. Shiota Nagisa and Mr. Akabane Karma,'" I read the invitation. "'Hello, teacher! It's been a long while, I know. I heard you got hitched. Congratulations! First and foremost, I'm sorry about freaking you out or whatever all those years ago. As you can see, I've moved on!'"

"Yeah, you better, little bitch," I barely heard Karma mumble under his breath. I shot him a glare of disapproval, and he feigned ignorance.

"'I met this lovely girl a little after I graduated, one thing led to another, and she said yes! I included a picture of us if you want to see.'" I fished inside the envelope and took out a laminated picture of a young man and a pretty young lady under his arm. "Wow! He's changed a lot! And she's really pretty!"

"Yeah, he seems to be doing pretty well for himself," Karma commented bitterly, peering over my shoulder at the picture. "He doesn't look that different, though. I mean, he's smiling…"

"Oh yeah! You only saw him during our second semester," I put down the invitation momentarily. Karma raised an eyebrow, ushering me to go on. "He was much worse when I first started teaching him. He had tattoos all over his shoulders and arms; I could only see them because he always wore this baggy tank top and basketball shorts. One day, he showed up with a mohawk and weird beads on each point. I think he was screwing with me at that point."

"Ah, so your typical gangster," Karma rolled his eyes and chuckled. I could see his eyes fog over as he reminisced about his more violent days.

"He was always trying to show off his knife skills of whatever, but I have a feeling you would laugh at his display."

"Oh, I bet."

"I guess when he started liking me, he started cleaning up a bit," I continued. "He shaved his head and grew his hair out normally, and he gelled it every morning. I could tell because the crap he'd put in his hair could be smelled from miles away. He still wore basketball shorts, but he had better T-shirts to cover most of his tattoos."

"Ah. So, in a way, you helped him get this girl?"

"I wouldn't say that," I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head and laughing nervously. "I didn't even know I was making him do that. I just...thought he was getting his life together on his own."

"Hey," Karma got up from his seat with his plate in hand, walked over to grab mine, and kissed my cheek gingerly. "You did a good job, teacher. Don't sell yourself short, muffin."

"Thanks," I smiled and waited patiently for him to come back to the table. "You are the sweetest husband."

"Don't say that…" I heard him mumble, and I looked up to see his blushing face. So cute, I thought. I realized we had gotten off topic, and I picked up the invitation again.

"Well, the point is...he looks like he's gone into business. He's all grown up and groomed..."

"Oh, ho! Looks like I might have a new guinea pig." I shot him another disapproving glare, and he just stuck his tongue out at me and winked. "I'm just saying."

"His fiance is pretty, too," I handed Karma the photo.

The girl had long, black hair that looked smooth as silk pulled into a loose ponytail. She had fair skin and crystal blue eyes, a perfect contrast to her deep peach dress. She was gleefully clutching Mito's tuxedoed forearm, her pearly whites shining through her lips coated in crimson lipstick. Mito was looking at her with the same longing eyes Karma gave to me, and a smile did look a lot better on his pale cheeks than the threatening scowl he wore in the past. His hair was short and combed neatly; I would never have known his gang-style past by looking into his far softer eyes.

"Woah, he seems to be doing pretty alright for himself," Karma lifted the photo, tilting the gloss paper curiously. We locked eyes for a moment, and he laughed at scowl. "What? You jelly?"

"Speak for yourself. You almost shattered your breakfast plate with your death glare earlier just because we got a letter from Mito."

Karma didn't answer and instead decided to disregard the comment completely. He flipped the picture around in his fingers, apparently inspecting it closely before giving it back to me.

"Is that all the letter said?"

"Mostly," I took the beautifully cut craft paper (Mito's fiance must have done it; no matter how much he changed, there's no way he could've done it) with the handwritten message back under my investigation. "He apologized, talks about his fiance-Akemi's her name-how he really wants me to meet her, more apologizing, and why he wants you to come with."

"And why's that?"

I inspected the note more closely and smiled. "He wants to apologize to you personally. I really think he's changed, Karma. He's even getting married. Come with me, okay?"

He remained unamused, bitter even. Smiling, I slid closer to him and put his head on my shoulder. In the seven years we'd been together, I'd formulated a routine to calm the rowdy redhead. With one hand I gently caressed his cheek with my thumb, and the other gently twisted the tiny hairs at the nape of his neck. His body relaxed when I started murmuring comforting words only for him.

"You coming with me?"

"...Yeah." Karma straightened and kissed the side of my nose, a spot that always sends me into a fit of giggles.

"I love you, Karma."

I love you, too, Nagisa."