"So," Kotone said with a sigh, "Tomorrow is the day."
She wore a long white dress picked out by her parents and her hair was tied behind her head. As she sat down on her bed, a terrible pain gripped her chest.
A lot of things had ended. She had graduated highschool with her best friends, she moved back to her parent's house, and now her freedom was fleeting. It wasn't like she hadn't fought the marriage, however, and she nearly succeeded in her goal.
"Don't be so selfish, and put a smile on you face. He's a nice man and he comes from a wealthy family," her father had said.
Kotone stood again and paced around her room. There was absolutely no way out of this, yet she felt that there would be hope. After all, there was always hope, wasn't there?
Her phone buzzed, snapping her out of her thoughts. She had missed a lot of messages. All of her friends had been texting and calling her, asking if she was excited. There was a jarring absence from the screen, and a tear formed in the corner of her eye.
"Why hasn't Shizuku called yet?" she asked herself, "I've been worried sick for her."
Kotone fidgeted with a stray strand of hair. She never was one to worry, and always faced life with the optimistic flair of a child. Before she noticed, her hand was on the window, while the other was prying it open.
The night sky lay before her. Tall trees crowned the faces of hills covered in flowers. The lights and sounds of a far away city were only faint from the manor. Her mother used to read her stories about princesses, trapped in tall towers in forgotten forests. A wandering prince, returning from vanquishing a formidable dragon, would hear their pleas for help and come to their rescue.
Interestingly, she had only met her arranged prince once only a year before to plan the wedding. He was kind, indeed, but was conceited and spoiled by his parents. The prince she really wanted was, in fact, a princess. A shy and polite young girl with beautiful hair and eyes.
Their first kiss was nothing really special. At the bottom of a stairwell in school. It was more or less an apology for a misunderstanding. Something did spark from that moment, which seemed to last longer than the few seconds it took place.
She stuck one foot out of the window, and then the other. Within an instant she had landed in a hedge. A few minor scrapes and a torn dress wouldn't stop her now. It would be a brief journey across the town. Besides, it was the dead of night, and nobody would notice her being gone until the morning.
No lights illuminated her path, but she knew the way like the back of her hand. She slowly opened the gate and dove behind the bushes. Crickets and moths scattered from the foliage as the tall girl trudged through mud and plants. Kotone hugged the wall of the manor as she moved to the edge of the forest.
Trees marked the edge of the property like an army of guards. By day, it was so kind and full of pretty flowers and birds. By night, it was unforgiving and pitch-black. Kotone used to tease her younger sister, Shinobu, with stories of the ghost of a woman who was murdered in the forest.
Granted, the story was not true, but each sound of leaves rustling or a branch cracking made her heart nearly stop.
Kotone shut her eyes and ran through the forest. The ground dove beneath her and water came up to her ankles. Thick mud slowed her down, but only for a moment. The thought of frogs and bugs climbing in the new white heels made her skin crawl in disgust.
An hour had passed, longer than she had anticipated. She had been forced to ditch her shoes after they had gotten caught in the mud. Her dress and skin were filthy and covered in scratches and tears. A light drew near which Kotone knew all too well.
She had finally reached the house and climbed over the fence. The back door had a key kept underneath a potted plant. She turned it over, retrieved the key, and put it back in its place. She opened the door and entered the house with a sigh. How odd that this small cottage felt more like home than the giant manor.
"Minami-san? Shizuku-chan? Are you home?" she called out.
The elder Minami woman responded, "Sorry Kotone, Shizuku isn't home right now but I'll tell her that you were here."
"Oh, okay," Kotone sighed, "Thanks a lot anyway."
Kotone became more frantic than ever as she left the house. Her journey resumed across the town during the night. The sun began to rise as she finally stopped at her final destination. The old high school.
It was empty with graying walls. Everything had been moved out of it and half of the building had already been torn down. Kotone entered the abandoned school without a second thought. Empty and dark halls stretched across the structure in contrast to the formerly bright and vibrant colors.
She sat down in a hallway with her head in her hands. The end was drawing near and she hadn't even said goodbye to the person she cared about the most.
"I knew you'd be here," came a voice from behind, "You should be at home, getting ready."
Kotone nearly leapt on the smaller girl for a hug. It took her a while to compose herself through tears and she finally spoke.
"I've been looking for you all night, Shizuku! Where have you been?"
Shizuku showed a slight smile on her face, "I've been looking for you all night!"
The two hugged yet again before sitting down on the floor. Shizuku frowned with a sigh. It wasn't right to be here. Kotone had a wedding to be at. A rich girl with a fiance had no business chasing a dream long since thought of for the first time.
"Please run away with me. I-I just can't go through with this!" Kotone wept.
"You know I can't do that, Kotone. Just forget about me and live your life."
"B-but.."
"I'm so sorry, but we can't. We knew that this would happen eventually, and we were doomed from the start."
"So, what are you saying?" Kotone cried.
Shizuku pulled Kotone into a long kiss to silence her. Stronger and more passionate than what they had done before. Each passing second was marked by their slowing heartbeats. As they each pulled away, Shizuku spoke again;
"'Nature's first green is gold,'"
"'Her hardest hue to hold,'" Kotone remembered.
"'Her early leaf's a flower,'"
"'But only so an hour.'"
"'Then leaf subsides to leaf.'"
"'So Eden sank to grief,'"
"'So dawn goes down to day.'"
"'Nothing gold can stay.'"
Deafening silence filled the hallways. Kotone knew the answer, but refused to accept it. More than ever, the situation was desperate. Sunlight crept across the floor through open windows.
"I shall persist," she said, "This may sound strange, but will you marry me?"
Shizuku smiled, "Of course! Why, may I ask, are you asking now?"
"I have a plan. If I'm already married, then I can't get married without divorcing you and we can assure that that will not happen."
"You do realize that asking for marriage isn't the same as actually being married, right?"
"I know," Kotone smiled, "But just you wait and see. When the time comes, or something happens, then we will know that nothing gold truly can stay."