Oh my god I don't know how I feel about this one. There's minimal editing (because I never edit) and I'm not really happy with everything... but I wrote it, and it's done, and there's not enough Anju and Kafei on here anyway. Maybe one day I'll manage to write a longfic, but I can't promise anything.
ALSO I JUST WANT TO PUT IN EXTRA SPACES BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS BUT WON'T LET ME so i gotta do some stupid line breaks.
For the sun so loved the moon, he died each night so she could breathe.
He had known her for years. She had always been a nervous child, shy and unconfident, and he made her his special Bomber project. He would break her out of her shell, and she would be happy. For some reason, it always bothered him when he saw her with her head downturned, shoulders slightly hunched as she walked.
Truth be told, Kafei had an elaborate plan written out in his Bomber's Notebook. The timing would be be a bit difficult to pull off, but he knew it would work. Firstly, he needed a rainy day: Anju would forget her umbrella and be in danger of a good soaking, but Kafei would casually pass by and offer to share his umbrella with her. Then, while they walked together, he would get a promise from her to meet again, and they would do all sorts of things together, building up Anju's confidence. He was especially looking forward to when they progressed to sneaking into the Deku's playground (which, admittedly, was more out of personal interest than anything).
A rainy day came, and Kafei was ready with his umbrella, walking all over Clock Town, looking for the surely drenched Anju. Everyone knew she was forgetful and clumsy—which was why it came as such a surprise when he found her walking in South Clock Town, perfectly dry and under her own umbrella.
He would never admit it to anyone, but he wilted a little at the sight.
Kafei's grand plan finally got its start on a clear, sunny day at the Laundry Pool. His mother sent him down to clean his own clothes that day, sick of seeing the mud and stains he inevitably covered them in.
What luck, then, that Anju was there as well! He didn't have a specific plan for this situation, but he wasn't a Bomber for nothing! He could come up with something on the fly, and the plan would proceed.
Whatever his plan was, tripping over a tree root and falling into the pool itself was not it.
His clothes went flying everywhere, some landing among Anju's pile of laundry, though most landed in the water with him. He sputtered in the water for a few moments before pulling himself out of the pool, blushing all the way to the tips of his ears. He almost didn't hear her giggling, so softly she laughed, and he could barely believe it.
It wasn't exactly what he intended, but she helped him gather up his laundry (most memorably, there was a frog hiding in one of his shirts that nearly got a good scrubbing before hopping away madly). They spent the rest of the afternoon washing clothes together, and he helped carry her things back to the Stock Pot Inn before wresting a promise to meet again from her.
Kafei merely counted it as progress in his great plan. He never realized how smitten he was from that first laugh.
Time passed, and they grew older. He learned that he was not Anju's first friend—that honor belonged to Cremia—who he liked well enough, she simply lived too far for him to really get to know. That changed as he and Anju grew closer: Cremia would be in town on a delivery or a special trip and Anju would insist on canceling their plans to meet with Cremia. Kafei would tag along, reluctant to put his great plan on hold (as his excuse to himself) and gradually the friendship between the three grew greater and greater.
He learned also that though Anju loved her mother, and her mother loved her in return, the woman broke down Anju's confidence in the most well-meaning way possible. Little things, like the blunt way her mother talked, would shake Anju and fill her with doubt—doubt which Kafei tasked himself with dispelling.
He was with her when Tortus, Anju's father, went missing. He held her hands in silence while she trembled, face pale and eyes worried.
He was there when her father was finally declared dead, and held her as she cried into his shoulder.
She offered to make him lunch one day, some time after her father died, and he agreed. She had been so sad, so detached, he was glad of anything that grounded her.
Anju handed him a bowl of stew, and he smiled at her for it, taking his first bite. Later, he would tell himself that the slight smile on her face as he finished the bowl was worth it (and he truly meant it, even as he resolved to learn to cook—and soon).
They were in their teens when they first kissed, both blushing madly under the moonlight at the Laundry Pool. It wasn't much longer afterwards when she idly told him how she had always dreamed of being married during the Carnival of Time, as though the whole of Clock Town was celebrating her marriage with her.
Almost without thinking, he said, "Let's do it." There was a split second where he registered what he had said, and then Kafei blushed fiercely, looking anywhere but Anju—but never retracting his words.
Taking a fortifying breath, he looked back at her, her eyes wide and mouth parted in surprise. He held her gaze and said again, "Let's get married. At the Carnival of Time, let's exchange masks."
Her eyes filled with tears, and one hand drifted to her mouth as she nodded. Anju threw her arms around Kafei in a tight hug, then pulled back, asking, "Do you promise? Will we really...?"
Kafei looked into her eyes, and nodded sharply. With one hand, he pulled off his pendant and held it between them.
"We'll swear on this. No matter what happens, at the Carnival of Time, we'll get married. The Four Giants themselves could forsake us, and we'll still exchange masks."
Anju nodded and put her hand on the pendant, so they both were holding it.
Together, they murmured, "I swear."
As they entered adulthood, things changed between them, and yet stayed the same. Anju could still be relied on to mix up reservations and forget little tasks (her cooking was as poor as ever, which Kafei never commented on). Kafei outgrew the Bombers, yet retained his sense of justice, and even began to learn the intricacies of mayoral duties from his father. Sometimes though, the stress of those duties would overwhelm him.
At those times, he would go to Anju, or she to him, and she would comfort him. It would be little things: she would hold him, stroke his hair and tell him everything would be alright, but he didn't know what he would do without her. He loved her—knew that he had loved her for years. If the woman he loved told him that everything would work out, that she believed in him... then how could her fail her? He kept his promises.
Where once he had lifted her up, had given her some of his confidence so she could build her own, she now comforted and supported him: Anju held him steady when he threatened to fall.
He was her sun, shining bright and beautiful. He gave her light; helped her to glow among the multitudes that would have overwhelmed her and passed her by.
Like the sun and the daytime moon, they will greet the morning together.