Fortune Smiled

So Kenji spent a week with Itsuke and another week with Risa and me. He was like me in a sense. He was continuing with the family business which he took on out of obligation and a sense of responsibility to the family. Basically just treading water, continuing to run the family's existing operations.

Through Itsuke's questioning Kenji began to look inward to see if he was able to take more of a personal ownership in the enterprise. It lead to a dramatic change in his attitude toward the business. No longer was it a job that he was obligated to do, but it quickly became a personal challenge to see what else he could do for the benefit of the family as well as the farmers in the region, and the town that they lived in, Hirosaki.

Several weeks after we had been married, Risa began to feel unwell in the mornings. She initially thought that it might have been something she ate the night before. However the second morning it happened, she suddenly smiled and gave me a huge kiss. "I think I might have our child inside of me."

She confirmed that later that day after a quick visit to her doctor. "Is early however doctor say that I am pregnant." To say that she was happy would have been an understatement. Others could have probably said the same thing of me. I know that Burt made that remark several days later that something had gotten into me. I laughed as I informed him and Kara that we were expecting. When we returned to Golden the following week, it was to constant ribbing from the gang about old guys making young girls pregnant. Hell, I could care less. I was going to be a father! And my wife loved me.

If anything, Risa's pregnancy made her even more horny. We were constantly finding any excuse to make love. I think we changed our bedding every day for about a week until we figured out that a large towel under us would catch whatever dripped out of Risa.

In her seventh month of her pregnancy Risa asked that we ask obaachan about a meaningful name for our child to be born. So we unrolled the scroll to her message which began to appear almost immediately.

"Your child will be a person of intelligence and moral courage. She shall be known as Nara; the oak tree of the family."

"Nara," Risa repeated. "We will have a daughter." She smiled.

And I smiled in return and hugged her. "If she is to be a person of intelligence and moral courage, we must be prepared to teach her as well."

"It takes a village to raise a person." Obaachan said through the scroll.

"A village to raise a person," Risa repeated. "We must ask everyone to help raise our child."

I nodded my head in agreement.