April 30, 2096

12:45 Shiba siblings house

"Onii-sama, this is the dress I'm wearing to the wedding. How does it look?" (*blush*)

(a knee-length criss-cross spaghetti strap summer wedding dress)

"It looks lovely on you, so lovely that I would want to marry you."

As Onii-sama smiled at me with his charming gentle eyes, my heart began beating rapidly and my face was turning bright red. In hope of hiding my bright red face from Onii-sama, I moved my head down. Unfortunately, my plan failed because I still felt Onii-sama staring at me which made me feel even more embarrassed than I already was. Luckily, before anything else could be done or said, well, more like, before things could get more awkward, the phone rang.

As Onii-sama picked up the phone, I slowly walked upstairs and changed out of my wedding dress. I changed into a sky blue knee length dress and wore light blue two inch heels.

I went to the bathroom and buried my face in my cool towel. I slowly moved my face upwards and stared at myself in the mirror.

(*teeth grits, fist clenches, eyes shut tightly*)

Looking at my reflection, I felt disgusted. The truth is that I have been lying to my brother. I have an illness that might not be curable and I don't want him to know about it.

That is why I made a deal with Oba-sama. Oba-sama said she would not tell Onii-sama about my sickness and provide everything I will need for the surgery as long as I marry the Crimson Prince, Ichijou Masaki. She also told me that she would relieve Onii-sama from his job as my guardian and allow me to remove the seal.

Although I am glad to be the one to unlock my brother's chains, I feel ashamed for deceiving Onii-sama.

But I can't let him find out about my secret, even if I have to endure being with another man besides Onii-sama. The wedding is today.

I can't believe I will be separated from Onii-sama. I don't want to leave him. I want to always be by his side, even if I don't deserve to be. As soon as I had these selfish thoughts, tears slowly started flowing down my pale face.

I quickly wiped away my tears. I couldn't let Onii-sama see me like this. As I slowly walked downstairs to the living room, I heard Onii-sama call out my name.

"Miyuki." "Hmm?" "I just got a phone call from Major Kazama. I have to run an errand for him, so I would be a bit late to the wedding. But if you want, I can walk you to the church first." "No, it's okay. I could go by myself." "Are you sure?" "Yes." "Alright."

As I walked Onii-sama out of the living room, I suddenly saw Onii-sama turn around. I was so surprised when Onii-sama pulled me closer to him that I gasped, "Ah". I soon felt Onii-sama's warm arms wrapped gently around me and felt his soft lips on my forehead. His left arm was around my back, and he was stroking my hair with his right hand. We were so close that I could hear and feel his deep breath on my face. I was so shocked that my eyes widened and my face was turning red again. My heart skipped a beat and for some reason, it seemed like my heart was going to burst. I was overwhelmed with both shock and joy that I couldn't say or do anything. But strangely, I automatically put my arms around my brother. As his muscular but gentle arms were around my waist, I slowly closed my eyes and stepped even closer to Onii-sama. I felt like I was in the right place. I never felt safer. My breathing evened out after awhile, but my heart was beating fast. After a few minutes, I felt my brother's lips leave my forehead.

Then I heard Onii-sama softly whisper, "I'll always be here for you".

As he said those words in his deep yet sweet voice, I embraced my brother tighter, but not tight enough to suffocate him. His soft voice traveled throughout my whole body which made it even harder to leave his loving arms.

But when his strong arms left me, I smiled my best smile once more to Onii-sama and said, "Thank you, Onii-sama."

Before Onii-sama left, I ran up to him and quickly embraced him one more time. I wanted to feel Onii-sama's strong and warm arms again, even if it was just a second. I quickly let go of Onii-sama so he wouldn't suspect that something was wrong, even though it pained me to do -sama slowly stroked my long hair one last time and left. After I couldn't hear or feel my brother's presence anymore, I spun around and silently squealed.

I couldn't help but think about the way Onii-sama whispered those words to me. He said it in his usual sweet and kind tone, but coming to think of it, I was so close to his chest that I could feel his heart beat. It seemed like Onii-sama's heart was beating a bit slower than mine, but still fast. I didn't notice it at first because I was distracted by his tight embrace.

"Does he also..." More and more questions popped in my head, but was suddenly interrupted (*cough*).

I knew what was coming…I quickly covered my hands over my mouth and sprinted to the bathroom. I saw red blood on my trembling hands and slowly washed it away. I was afraid how the amount of blood I coughed up was more than before. But I couldn't let my mind stray away from the task at hand.

After I cleaned up, I headed downstairs with the bag that contained my wedding dress. Before I was about to head out, I saw my white glass cup on the living room table that I forgot to put away. As I put my bag on the floor and picked up my cup, I headed to the kitchen.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my heart. It felt like a thousand needles were stabbing my heart all at once. I never felt such pain before. It was so unbearable that I wrapped my arms around myself and dug my fingernails into my pale flesh to try and lessen the pain. I was overwhelmed with pain that I fell to the ground.

*glass shatters*

When the glass cup shattered, the pain in my heart immediately stopped. I looked at the glass cup shattered before me. I tried to ignore the fact that my whole body was shaking, but I couldn't. I crouched down on the floor and covered my hands over my ears hoping to stop hearing the sounds that echoed through my ears. As the sounds continued echoing and the images of my glass cup shattering constantly replayed in my mind, fear engulfed my whole body. Every part of me wished that Onii-sama was here. Just knowing that he's here, was all I need to feel protected. I was fully aware of how Onii-sama was always subconsciously watching over me, but I want him to be here with me.

"I need you, Onii-sama, more than anyone."

I told myself that I would be more independent the day I learned that I had an illness. I held in all my tears ever since that day, and today was the first day I cried. But this time, all my tears didn't stop and I couldn't control it. I wiped them away, but tears continued dripping down my face. I knew I was going to be late for my wedding if I didn't stop crying, but I couldn't move my body. I covered my mouth to muffle the sounds of my cries. After taking many deep breaths, I was able to silence my cries to sobs.

I gingerly picked up all the scattered pieces of glass. On every shard, I could see my reflection. I spotted the biggest shard of glass and picked it up. As I held it up to my face, I leaned forward causing my hair to fall to my cheeks. I looked deeply at the shard of glass and saw my face. It was worse than before. Instead of looking pale, I looked anemic and a bit malnourished.

Although I was terrified, I couldn't help but focus my attention on my jet-black hair. I stroked my own hair slowly like how Onii-sama did. I remembered the way Onii-sama's hand ran through my hair gently. I smiled at that thought, but my smile quickly faded. I knew that today was the last time Onii-sama would stroke my hair.

The minute I had these sad thoughts, I didn't think twice about what I was doing. I grabbed all my hair and ran the shard of glass through my hair. The glass was big and sharp enough that it had no problem cutting my hair. My hair always reached my back, but now it was shoulder-length. I didn't want anyone to comment on my short hair, so I tied my hair to a bun while leaving a few strands of hair hanging on each side of my face. I wrapped the shard of glass around the hair I cut off and threw it away. I quickly got ready to go, before sad thoughts could revolve around my head again.

As I was about to open the front door, I unconsciously clenched my hand on the door knob and my body froze. I couldn't bring myself to walk out of this house, the house where I had so many wonderful memories with Onii-sama.

"I don't want to leave yet", I thought.

I slightly smiled and maybe chuckled at how my mind tells me one thing, but my heart tells me another. I leisurely closed my eyes and thought about how foolish I was. I had confidence that I would be able to handle this all alone, but I can't. I opened back my eyes to blink back tears that I was struggling to keep hidden. When I managed to hold in most of my tears, I glanced at the clock. It was 1:25 and the wedding began at 2:20, but I had to be there by 1:45. Since the church wasn't too far away, I ran to a destination that I would usually go with Onii-sama.