No warnings...only a hint of a hint of a HINT of man love... Sorry! XD
[a/n] Yo...!! This is a drabble written out of boredom using the prompt 'Aisle,' provided by Kami-chan...ORIGINALLY POSTED IN MY DRABBLE SERIES.
Enjoy.
"Thank you, Kei..." A warm summer wind wrapped around her, twisting the bottom of her dress around her legs. "For everything." She stood on the edge of the cliff for a long time, letting her tears fall down further and further, until they smashed against the rocks far, far below, mixing with the salt of the sea. She closed her eyes, letting herself gain control of her emotions.
"Hana!" She turned around to see her best friend and fiancee both looking at her. Her friend walked up to her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Is everything alright? You look kind of pale."
"I, I'm fine...Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine."
"Pre-wedding jitters, hm?" her friend laughed, putting an arm over her shoulder.
"Um, something like that."
"Not having second thoughts, are you?" The joking tone didn't leave her friend's voice.
"Of course not! I just need a couple minutes to calm down is all."
"Alright." As her friend walked away, Hana turned back to look at the horizon. She wiped away the remainder of her tears, reflecting over her life, and how it would change forever more on this very day.
Her life with Kei had been surprisingly pleasant. She had ridden the bus to and from school, because Kei worked the graveyard shift and slept almost all day. Every night, he would get up 'early' to make dinner and ask her how her day had been.
Although Kei was incredibly smart, it had been a while since he had needed some of the subjects that Hana was learning in school. Every time she looked stuck, however, he would sit down beside her and do his best to help her make sense of her homework packets. Hana smiled, remembering how sometimes Kei would sit beside her, staring at he notes for five minutes at a time, set it down, look at her, and--go get a beer. In his defense, it was not likely that they taught German, or Polish for that matter, where he went to school.
As she grew older, she would sometimes hear him leave in the middle of the night muttering things like "Well, THAT must be genetic," or "Why couldn't she be like her mother? Nooo, she had to end up with Sho's mouth..."
Every once in a while, she would get up the nerve to ask him something about her father or mother. Every time she did, he would answer all her questions with the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face; especially so when he would talk about Sho.
Sometimes, when she had meant to only ask him things about her mother, Yi-Che, she would get so wrapped up in his glorious grin that she would keep asking him questions about her father just to keep that special spark in his eyes.
When she hit puberty, he would often make midnight runs to the local 24 hour supermarket to find parenting books, usually bringing back three to thirty home at a time. Eventually, he realized it was better to just open up a tab.
As she started getting boyfriends and going on dates, he started enlisting the help of his female neighbors to explain things to not only her, but to him as well.
She had to stifle a giggle at all of the memories that came flooding back to her then. Because Kei was so young, and he slept all day, he was always incredibly alert whenever her dates came to pick her up and drop her off. The unlucky ones had the pleasure of meeting a Kei who had just woken up. One of them had even been stupid enough to confuse him for a monster!
Needless to say, there wasn't a second date.
The sound of waves crashing violently below her forced her back to the present. She briefly glanced around, her eyes scanning the horizon. She realized that she was waiting for something that wouldn't happen, someone who wouldn't come--but she couldn't help hoping that Kei would be there to walk her down the aisle in the place of her father.
Hana could barely remember her real parents--she knew that she loved them, and was happy, but the memories were few. She had sent a letter to Kei while she was studying abroad, telling him that she had gotten engaged, and was planning to come home to have the wedding there, by the sea. She never recieved a reply, and when she returned to her childhood home, it looked abandoned--all of the furniture was still there, as were his clothes and some canned foods--but it looked as if no one had been there since the night she had left. The air, to her, seemed empty, empty of the smell of cooking foods, of the special brand of cigarettes Kei always had lit, devoid of the light bit of cologne he wore on special occasions, what he wore when she felt lonely and missed her father. It never registered in her mind that he wore Sho's cologne to remind himself of her father too, but she was comforted by it none the less. The air was even devoid of the slight tinge of pizza that seemed to have been absorbed by the walls and floor.
As soon as she walked in, she knew that he was gone, and would be forever. Much to her fiance's confusion, she criedfor a long, long while. Even Hana herself didn't seem to understand why; she wasn't sad, but she was far from crying tears of joy--they were the kind of tears that only fall when someone realizes that they've lost someone dear to them, but know that regardless of how cliche it sounds, they finally found their true happines.
She was crying those tears again now, right as the wedding march began to play.
"Hana!" Her bridesmaid signaled her that it was time to walk. She turned, smiling as she rubbed her eyes with her knuckle. Lifting the hem of her cream colored dress, she walked behind her friends, silently wishing Kei happiness wherever he may be. She reached the alter, letting go of her dress to hold both of her groom's hands.
After the "I-do's;" and their first kiss as a married couple, they turned to look out at their friends, and the groom's family. As Hana scanned the crowd, her eyes fell on a wide vertical window on a side wall. There were people, two cupping their eyes to see through the glass, and three just standing, smiling at her. One of the two squinting said something to the others that looked like 'I can't see!' The one wearing a hat smacked him on the back of his head. The man that got hit turned and shouted at the person who hit him, before taking off his slitted sunglasses, embarassed. The other four laughed, and one tapped on the glass, motioning to someone standing by the refreshment table. The man looked up, his face half buried in his styrofoam plate of shrank back from their glares, before lookin to where they were pointing, and giving a sheepish wave to Hana. He was by far the tallest of them, and something about his crystalline eyes so familiar...She laughed, waving back as he walked to the window. He walked through it, joining his 'family.'
As they walked down the aisle, the group moved from the window one by one. Her husband opened the door, and they walked into the sunlight. Their friends and family stepped out to line the walkway and throw rice above their heads. Hana smiled, throwing her bouquet over her shoulder, and turning to see who caught it. She almost laughed herself to tears upon seeing Kei catch it, and promptly get kissed on the cheek by her father.
Her husband gave her an odd look, not able to see who she saw. He tugged at her hand and they got into the car. She waved goodbye to her father, mother, uncles and the man who raised her. Tears fell, yet this time, they were tears of acceptance.
[a/n] I see Kei being the dad waiting in a La-Z-boy with a shot gun on his lap when the dating starts...bwahaha...I'm thinking of doing a one-shot about that, with Kei following them on the date. XD Did you find the hint of a hint of a hint of man love in there? Pretty hard to spot, wasn't it? XD I HAD TO PUT THE KEI AND SHO KISS!! I'M SORRY, BUT IT HAD TO BE IN THERE!! It's such an over-done theme that I felt I'd be letting all of you down if I didn't put the throwing of the bouquet in there! XD Also, sorry for the sappy ending. I got lazy and wanted to kill this fic...THANK YOU FOR READING, I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!