As you guys could probably tell, I had trouble writing this chapter, but I promised myself and you guys that I would finish this story, and finish it I will. Please enjoy the continuation of Grind!

Chapter 7

Ryuuji tightly gripped Otohime's hand, not wanting her to get lost amongst the bustling crowds of Tokyo's Narita International Airport. With his free hand, he kept a handle on the large suitcase where the majority of their luggage had been stored.

By the time they had arrived, night had already fallen over the Japanese city, enshrouding it in deep blackness that was amplified by a thin bout of fog that only added to the darkness outside. Luckily for them, the bright shining letters of Narita illuminated the terminal, lights fizzling out into darkness, but providing just enough so that Ryuuji could see the mess of traffic in front of the terminal.

Tokyo wasn't anything like the quiet and peaceful town Ryuuji had known while growing up. Instead, it was loud and impersonal, with the various drivers unafraid to honk and yell at each other as they all edged each other out for valuable road. Giving Ami control over their suitcase, Ryuuji attempted to wave down a taxi with his newly freed arm.

He lifted his arm up in the air to summon someone, but received no reply, despite his efforts.

"Don't worry, I've got this." Ami reassured, thrusting the handle of the suitcase back towards Ryuuji before she set out on her task.

With the confidence and practiced motions of a pro, Ami stepped forward and waved down a taxi easily, giving Ryuuji a triumphant smirk at her success. The yellow car pulled to the curb and stopped long enough so that Ryuuji could scuttle to the trunk and place their bags inside. Slamming the trunk shut, he climbed into the passenger's seat to find him sitting opposite of the friendly looking man driving the taxi.

"Where will you go?" The taxi driver asked cheerfully in a warm tone of Japanese, despite the fact that it was already in the middle of the night. Ryuuji noted the empty cup of coffee in his cup holder and immediately made the connection, the odd phenomena explained.

"Take us to Azabu." Ami spoke up from the back, easily switching back to her native tongue, speaking in the stead of Ryuuji, who honestly had no idea where to go.

"Got it. I'll get on that right away." The taxi driver replied, pushing down on the gas pedal and pulling out into the quagmire that was the traffic at Narita International Airport.

"So, are you guys here on vacation?" The taxi driver asked, to which Ryuuji shrugged his shoulders.

"You could say that." He replied, placing an elbow up against the window, which was slightly damp with condensed water.

"We're here to meet my parents." Ami explained from the back seat, where she was sitting next to Otohime, helping the little girl to buckle her seatbelt, hearing a click as she forced the metal prong into its desired hole.

"Oh, it's that kind of trip." The taxi driver chuckled knowingly, shooting Ryuuji a sly glance that was both a mixture of entertainment and understanding.

As the taxi pulled to a stop, Ryuuji tossed the driver his money and climbed out to open the door for Otohime as Ami headed to the trunk and grabbed their bags. As she slammed the metal hatch closed, the taxi zoomed off to find more customers before the night ended.

"Well, we're here." Ami sighed, nodding towards a gigantic apartment building that seemed to stretch to the heavens with endless rows windows that reached up into the darkness of night. Ryuuji gulped slightly and Otohime's eyes widened at the sight of such a monolithic structure.

"Wow, is this where we're going to stay, Daddy?" She exclaimed, to which Ryuuji dumbly nodded, still in awe at the building.

"Hey, Earth to Ryuuji." Ami said in her best impression of an alien's voice, waving a hand in front of his face and causing Ryuuji to step back in surprise, snapping him out of his daze.

Inside, the lobby wasn't any less impressive than the exterior. The brightly lit room was decorated with several large and expensive looking paintings that gave the whole room a sense of class and affluence that frankly intimidated Ryuuji. Here he was, the son of a waitress standing in the lobby of an apartment building that was likely used by celebrities or something of the sort.

"My parents live on one of the higher floors." Ami explained as they clambered into the elevator and she pressed the button for the fiftieth floor.

The elevator slid open and their small group walked out to the only door on the floor, as far as Ryuuji could see. Without any sort of hesitation, Ami gently rapped on the door a few times and patiently awaited a response.

"Don't worry Anna, I've got the door!" A gruff male voice shouted as the door swung open to reveal a middle aged man with a neatly groomed head of black hair, with some slivers of gray creeping in on the sides. He had a sophisticated air about him, and he was dressed in a pair of nice slacks and a dark blue collared shirt hidden underneath a red sweater.

"Ami!" He cried out as he stepped forward to embrace his daughter, who happily obliged her father, just as a woman who looked startlingly similar to Ami, with the sole difference being a few wrinkles on her nearly flawless face, walked up to the two and joined in on the hug, leaving Otohime and Ryuuji standing off to the side awkwardly.

As they finally pulled away, both of Ami's parents shifted their attention to Ryuuji. Her father stared him down with a disapproving glare while her mother seemed to be elated more than anything else to see him.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Kawashima. I'm Takasu Ryuuji." He introduced himself, "And this is my daughter, Otohime."

At this, a silence settled over the group as no one knew exactly what to say.

"Say, you must be tired from your trip. Why I don't I show you to the guest room?" Ami's mother suggested, to which Ryuuji gratefully nodded.

Ami watched her boyfriend and their daughter disappear into the back of the apartment, where the bedrooms were located, and stepped forward to follow them when she was stopped by the sound of the front door slamming closed.

She gulped, knowing exactly what was coming next.

Bracing herself for a massive tirade, Ami was surprised when she realized no words had left her father's mouth. Instead, she was met with a suffocating silence that was even more uncomfortable than the one that she had suffered through earlier.

Finally, he spoke.

"Ami, I'm disappointed." He said softly, running a hang through his hair.

"Dad." She started, but he stopped her.

"Just tell me. Why did you choose him?" He asked sternly, with an unforgiving tone to his voice, "You know you could have done much better than a single father with some dead end job!"

Ami paused. Was he right? It was true that she could be dating some actor or big shot producer right now, but could she have done better? Was there really any way to do better than the man that she had loved since high school and had grown to love even more over the course of the last few months?

Ryuuji bit his lip in nervousness as he found himself standing alone with Ami's mother inside of the guest room, Otohime already passed out cold from exhaustion. While she did seem to be a bit more amicable than her husband, there was still the fact that he was dating her daughter, something that he imagined that neither of them were particularly happy with.

"Mrs. Kawashima…" Ryuuji began, searching for the words he needed to say.

"Anna. Call me Anna." She replied.

Clearing his throat, he started over, "Right. Anna, I know that you must be suspicious of me."

"Don't." Anna interrupted, "I'm not suspicious of you. Really. All I want is for my daughter to be happy. And if she's happy being with you, then so be it. I know exactly how she feels right now."

"Really?" Ryuuji asked, surprised but elated nonetheless at Anna's words.

She nodded, "Yes. Being an actress as well, I spent my fair share of time around other actors who wanted to date me. But I ended up choosing Ami's father, even though he was just an ordinary guy like yourself. I loved him, and that's all that mattered to me."

However, before their conversation could continue any more, the door swung open to reveal Ami's father, with a visible red mark on his cheek.

"What happened?" Anna asked concernedly, rushing over to inspect the wound.

"This is all your fault!" He growled, stabbing an accusatory finger at Ryuuji.

"Don't say that." Anna protested, but to no avail. There was no way that she could calm the now livid man storming towards Ryuuji.

He grabbed Ryuuji by the collar and pulled him close, "Because of you, my daughter has gone insane and has run off!"

"Wait, Ami's gone?" Ryuuji exclaimed.

Despite knowing that he was in a delicate situation, he felt no emotion but panic and concern for Ami. Quickly, he wrested Mr. Kawashima's hands away from his shirt and ducked underneath the larger man before taking off on a full sprint.

"Where are you going?" Mr. Kawashima screamed.

"I'm going to find the woman I love!" Ryuuji shouted back in response.

As he exited the elevator and dashed out into the lobby, Ryuuji suddenly realized that he had no idea what direction Ami had even gone in, much less where she intended to go.

"Think Ryuuji, where would she go?" He muttered to himself, doing his best to think of where she could have possibly decided to go. Even with all of the thoughts swirling around in his head, he found that there was one that immediately jumped to the forefront of his mind.

Ami hugged her knees close to her body as she silently sat in between the two vending machines that were down the street from her parent's apartment building. The night air was cool and served its part to assuage the fire that was currently burning inside of her as she thought back to the way that her father had talked about Ryuuji earlier.

At the thoughts that sprung up, Ami could feel the rage come to her again, and she anxiously squirmed around in what little space she had currently jammed herself into. She sighed. Normally, she hid in this spot to feel peaceful, not to get worked up about something. But of course, this time, the situation was different. Normally, the things that got her angry were normal problems, like a bad day on set or something. But this time, it was different because it concerned Ryuuji.

"Hey, I figured that I would find you here."

Ami looked up to see Ryuuji standing right in front of her with an apologetic expression on his face and his hands shoved deeply into his pockets. For a moment, the two of them stared at each other silently before he decided to speak up.

"Ami, I'm sorry for not being someone good enough for your parents." He whispered softly, the shame he felt evident in his shaky words.

Ami frowned and shimmied up to her feet, before she eased her way out of the narrow space she had just been squeezed into, standing directly before Ryuuji. She didn't reply, instead reaching her hand back and bringing it across Ryuuji's face in a resounding slap.

"Didn't I tell you to stop apologizing for that?" She muttered, wrapping herself around Ryuuji in a tight embrace, "Honestly, you're too nice sometimes."

"But…" Ryuuji began, but Ami silenced him with a quick kiss.

"But nothing. I always get what I want. And right now, all I want is to be with you." Ami said stubbornly, refusing to let go of Ryuuji.

"Ami, there you are! Your father and I were so worried!" Anna sighed as she saw Ryuuji and Ami enter the apartment, hand in hand.

"Dad, I have something I want to tell you." Ami said decisively, ignoring her mother's words.

"Listen to me, if you think…" Mr. Kawashima began, but he was powerless to stop Ami as she cut him off.

"No! You listen to me! Ryuuji is my boyfriend, and I chose him for a reason!" She insisted, eliciting a covert smile from Anna.

"I chose him because he understands me more than anyone else. He's the only one who has even tried to get to know the real me, and he accepted me, as disgusting as I truly am. I…" Ami felt tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to articulate the feelings that were threatening to spill over, "I love him. And he loves me."

Mr. Kawashima was speechless as the words he searched for instantly dissipated as he heard his daughter's impassioned argument.

"Ryuuji, a word." He snapped, walking out of the room, with Ryuuji reluctantly following behind. As soon as they stepped out of the apartment, Mr. Kawashima slammed the door closed for the second time today.

He stared down the man that his daughter had just so vehemently defended, and shook his head.

"Look, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. And you're going to answer them truthfully, or I will throw you out of this building, no matter what Ami says. Do we understand each other?" He asked.

Ryuuji nodded, "Perfectly."

Sighing, Mr. Kawashima crossed his arms over his chest and carefully scrutinized Ryuuji's face, "Tell me, do you love my daughter Ami?"

"Of course. " He replied immediately, without any trace of doubt or hesitation.

Keeping a straight face, Mr. Kawashima plowed on, "What does she mean to you?"

Ryuuji kept a straight face of his own, replying with ease, "She's the most important thing in my life, next to my daughter, and she will continue to be, regardless of what you decide. She's the woman of my dreams, and the only mother my daughter will ever have from now on."

"Do you intend to marry her?" He asked sternly, making it clear that only one answer would suffice.

"Not only do I intend to marry her, but I also intend to spend every waking moment I have left on this Earth with her." Ryuuji fired back immediately.

Mr. Kawashima uncrossed his arms, "You understand why I have to know, right? She's my only daughter, and I want the best for her."

Ryuuji smiled, "I get it. I would do the same for Otohime."

Mr. Kawashima chuckled slightly, "Maybe you aren't as bad as I thought you were."

"Same." Ryuuji replied.

Mr. Kawashima begrudgingly nodded, "All right then. I give you permission to marry my daughter."

Well, I know that was sappy, but that's what you get when you've been working on a story for a while. Anyways, I really do apologize for the long time in between updates, but like I said above, I had some trouble writing this and I really became busy with an internship that I was really lucky to get in the first place.

Of course, I've been really lucky to have so much support for this story so far, and I really do want to thank anyone who has read up to this point. It really means a lot to me to know that at least some people are willing to put up with my thoughts. But seriously, because of all of your support, Grind has made it to its current spot as the fifth most reviewed story in the Toradora category.

And now, I would like to ask for your support once more as I look to begin another chapter in the Ami x Ryuuji tradition that I'm hoping to start in the Toradora category. As of right now, I've posted the first chapter of my new Ami x Ryuuji story, Covers. It's a story set in the timeline of the anime, that is to say, it takes place in high school and is told from Ryuuji's perspective as I've found that writing in a first person perspective makes writing much easier for me and allows for more character development. I would really appreciate any support I can get for that story, so if you guys have any extra time, please check out Covers!

Finally, I encourage you all to leave your ideas and thoughts, either in the form of a review or a PM. I plan on writing an epilogue, and if you guys had any suggestions for what you would want to see, then please, leave them in a review or PM. Right now, I'm leaning towards portraying the inevitable wedding that is coming for Ami and Ryuuji, but of course, if you guys would like to see something else, I am always open to ideas.

Thank you so much for all of your support and I hope you guys enjoyed reading Grind as much as I enjoyed writing it!