There I was walking down the aisle towards the woman of my dreams. It's always a rare sight to see Lily in a dress but she'd probably look even more out of place if she weren't.

"Do you, Cam, take her to be your lawful wedded wife?" I gave a small smile, looked her straight in the eyes and said I do. I see the tears well up as she agrees to the same question I was just asked.

"You may now kiss the bride." Nathan closes his book and smiles at us. We kissed, it felt just like every other time I wondered if it was different for Lily.

Back then I just thought maybe all the fairy tales embellished a little too much.


Married life didn't feel much different from when we were dating, sure we lived together and had sex but it's not some amazing satisfaction I thought it would be. Maybe this is why the stories always end after the wedding because there's nothing to tell after the fact.

On the first of the month Lily is always unbelievably busy, I never understood where she got all that energy. Anyway, I was closing up shop when Ash stopped by leaning on my stand and toying with a pack of flower seeds.

"Hey buddy it's been awhile since we hung out y'know wanna go by the river?" He handed me the seed packet and waited for my reply.

"I don't see why not" Since Lily wouldn't be waiting for me today I nothing better to do.

We walked and Ash asked all kinds of questions about marriage.

"What's it like? Is Lily different at home? Is it weird sharing a bed?"

I answered generically "Like a whole new life, a little bit and yeah" I stared out into the lake watching the lucky fish that lived on instinct and didn't search for deeper meaning in life.

Suddenly Ash jumped into the river pulling me in with him "You just got married be happy" he took my hat and tried to run through the water while wildly waving my hat in the air. I ran after him as best I could until we made it to dry land. We used to race when we were kids Kana was always first and Hiro was always last, but Ash and I were interchangeable for second and third place. I easily caught up to him, unfortunately I caught up too fast and sent us both face first into the grass. We straightened ourselves out and laughed as I snatched my hat back and brushed off the dirt.

"See that's the Cam I know!" Ash smacked by back a few times. I chuckled a bit and thanked him for bringing me back to earth. "No problem man that's what friends are for."


I went home feeling glad Ash decided to drag me in the river however inconvenient it was. I watched Lily make dinner and found myself wondering if friends are for fun then what are lovers for. She turned informing me dinner was ready and flashed her signature smile. I love her I don't doubt that but was it supposed to feel this plain. We ate, talked about our day, washed the dishes together then got into bed. I laid there trying to fall asleep when she turned to me and began toying with my hair. "Hey Cam?"

"Yeah?"

"How come you never come on to me?"

I paused before answering looking for the right words "I'm sorry, I can't tell when you want to so I just wait for you to tell me" I responded, lying through my teeth. Sure she was pretty and it felt good when we did, but I've never looked at her and thought anything like 'Man I want her so bad'.

She gave me an exasperated smile "Oh Cam you don't have to hold back for me"

"Ok I'm sorry" I kissed her forehead "Good night I love you"

"Love you too" She curled up so her face was buried into my chest and it wasn't long before she fell asleep.


Ash was tending his cows as I leaned against the edge of the barn watching Cheryl feed the chickens.

"Hey Cam, what's my flower today?" Cheryl happily ran up to me and I stooped down to hug her.

"I've got a daisy for you" I handed her the flower and tousled her hair a bit "Mind if I borrow your brother today?"

She playfully swatted my hand away and shook her head "Sure I was going to hang out with Ying and Rahi anyway."

Ash decided to join us in the doorway "It must be great to finally have friends your age, Lily's amazing! I can't believe I forgot how much I liked hanging out with everyone in Konoha."

"Yeah I can't even remember when we stopped talking to each other it's pretty sad" I shifted my weight as Cheryl left since she obviously couldn't relate to our conversation. "So what are we doing today?"

"Honestly I got nothing you wanna watch T.V. or something?" Ash put his thumb to his chin as he thought of something more interesting to do.

I let him think for a few moments before telling him that his first suggestion was fine. We sat on his bed eating chips and channel surfing before settling on some mecha anime. At some point in the show Ash turned to me to comment on it and I turned to give him my attention. I didn't realize how close we were because when we both turned our lips brushed. We immediately jumped back and spoke nothing of it, Ash commented on how cool it must be to be an anime character and continued watching the show. All I could focus on was how my heart had skipped a beat. Was it just that I was surprised or had the fairy tales been telling the truth.

After a few episodes I decided I should go home since it was getting late. Ash looked out the window and agreed. He walked me to the door and waved as I stepped out. Before my thoughts could catch up with my actions I stepped back in and kissed him.