A/N: I haven't written about mangas in years, one of the reasons being that mangas are something I followed sporadically. But one of the few things that I used to read when I was waaay younger (read: a teenager) was Marmalade Boy. And yes, I still read it sometimes. And all right, I am well over 30 and I couldn't resist the temptation of reading and writing about Marmalade Boy Little, aka Miki and Yuu's half siblings (totally un-related to each other, btw).
So... yeah. here it is.
That their family (well, technically, it was families, as in plural) was strange, Miki and Yuu had always knew it, with how they had gotten together (every time) and broken up and gotten back together. Frankly, even if they were, well, crazy and weird and had a certain sense of soap-opera to them, they appreciated, and even liked, their families- after all, wasn't just because of how crazy and weird that they were that Miki and Yuu had met?
(Miki, though, still doubted their parental abilities. She guessed it was why sometimes she and Yuu felt more like parents than siblings to Saku and Ritsuka.)
But… there was just enough drama she and Yuu could handle. That was why, instead of having some fancy ceremony, she and her boyfriend of almost fifteen years/step-brother had decided to simply enter their names in the public registers, and, with two signatures and in less than five minutes, no word spoken or whatsoever, they had become man and wife. They knew their family would have turned their eloping into a drama worth of a Shakespearian tragedy, but they felt it couldn't be helped; as much as part of them wanted to have at least Saku and Ritsuka with them, both Miki and Yuu still remembered when they had talked about getting married many years before, two teenagers in love who feared being separated for events and situations bigger than them.
(Just for the record: back then, their parents had tried to get them to marry in Hawaii, a sweet reminder of the trip that had changed their lives forever.)
Yuu, practical and controlled, when their parents had just smiled and congratulated them, had kept drinking his tea, without batting an eyelash, while Miki had gone hot and cold everywhere; their parents were too happy and cheerful for someone who had planned that wedding in their minds for over a decade. She didn't need to be told that they were planning something, but Yuu had dismissed the whole thing, telling her it was all in her mind and keep calm and go on and etc. and etc.
Couple of weeks later, when, at Ritsuka's birthday, she was proven right, she didn't know if she was supposed to feel bad or good about having been proven once again right concerning their parents' craziness.
Because, when she and Yuu walked through the door, they were greeted by many well-known and friendly faces, faces that had nothing to do with Ritsuka and everything to do with Miki and Yuu.
Satoshi and his wife and their baby daughter; Ginta and Arimi, now back together, Meiko, with her husband and their Son, Aoi; all people she and Yuu had known for at least half of their lives, for as long as they had known each other.
"M…m….mom?" Miki asked, getting paler and paler as her mother and Chiyako walked in her direction, cheerful and ecstatic as never before.
"Surprise, sweetie! We've arranged your wedding! Aren't' you happy? There's even a minister who should be here any minute!" Rumi said, taking her daughter for an hand and bringing her into what used to be Miki's room as she grew up, the same room that now belonged to Ritsuka.
"But… But… I can't get married! I mean, we are already married and…!" She tried to say. It wasn't like she didn't want to get married with her friends. She just feared that their parents would have embarrassed them, and that something crazy and world-ending would happen, because if her situation had been crazy, now it was even worse: Saku was in love with her, and she didn't love him back (at least, she thought so), but had fallen for Aoi, who loved another girl and who knew that Ritsuka loved him and that Saku was in love with Ritsuka.
(Yes, it was complicated. And besides, nothing good could came out from that wedding. Not with her father still lecturing Yuu downstairs about you better be a good husband for my child or else…)
"I know we did many mistakes, Miki." Chiyako said, as sweet and controlled and beautiful as the first day Miki had met her many years before. "And I still remember when Yuu asked for our blessing to marry you, when you were just out of high school. We haven't always been good parents, and we did many mistakes with the two of you, with our secrets and lies… so please, allow us to give you two at least this."
Then, as Miki's mother was crying, Chiyako had smiled, taking Miki's hands in her own, and poor Miki had simply nodded her head; not even a "yes", simply… simply a nod, allowing her mother and step-mother to dress her up with a wedding dress, stark white, simply perfect and beautiful, and do her hair and her make-up; then, the young woman had looked into the mirror, unable to recognize herself, scared of not being as nearly as beautiful as what Yuu had imagined his bride to look like when they were growing up. But once descended the stairs, all her fears had been dissipated, as she had met her husband's eyes, and saw the surprise, the tenderness and the love in them; she had felt like crying, and had sworn to spend every damn day of her life making him happy, because… because it was Yuu, and it was them, and she wanted to spend the rest of her life seeing that look on his face. Every. Damn. Day.
So, here she was now. Throwing at her half-sister her bouquet like in an American Romance Comedy, hoping that it would help her out, that either Saku or Aoi would make a move and help her to decide what was better for her heart (frankly, both Miki, Yuu and their parents were hoping to get a revival of their firstborns' love affair).
"Uhm…" Ritsuka simply said as she firmly held the flowers, blushing, hiding behind the white roses and the green ivy; Aoi, as oblivious as always, was simply smiling, cheerful, still at his mother's side (and even Meiko felt like rolling her eyes, wondering why her son, born from a child prodigy like herself and an extremely talented professor such as her husband was, could be so… dumb sometimes) while, as everyone was congratulating the happy couple (like Miki and Yuu hadn't been married already, in the eyes of the law), Saku, controlled and causal, just walked in front of the girl who kept considering him her brother- or at least, said so.
The girl he had never considered a sister. The one he had decided to marry when he was… he didn't even remember, as the thought of being with her, in the same way Miki and Yuu were, in the same way their parents were, had always been with him.
(No. he wasn't talking about sex. A three years old didn't know about sex, just about the romantic notion of love, and that was exactly what he had always wanted to have with Ritsuka, even if, all right, now that he was a teenager, he wouldn't mind few make-out sessions every now and then.)
"Saku…" she whispered, blushing, shaking her head, trying to forget about that kiss her step-brother had tried to give her few months before; her eyes fell, once again, on the figure in the corner, the boy with the blonde hair, Aoi, the one her heart belonged to, but Aoi didn't love her back… and not only that: he had been honest with her right from the start, telling her she was just scared and confused, and that, deep down, she had to know that she belonged with Saku.
Saku, tall, handsome, deep, intelligent and good Saku didn't say a word; he simply looked at her, and, lowering with an hand the flowers, the other in his pocket, he kissed her, slow and sweet and full of potential and just plain old love.
(Miki, who was seeing the whole thing, smiling happy for her little half-sister, found both ironic and fitting that it was the same kind of kiss that, many years before, she and Yuu exchanged, bot at the school's infirmary, when he believed her to be unconscious, and later on a seaside.)
"I've never seen you as my sister." Saku repeated, for what felt like the hundredth time, clenching his teeth and his fists, and in his eyes, Ritsuka could see how resolute he was, and how deep he felt for her; yes, she had known for some times that he was in love with her, that he had always wanted to marry her, but this was different.
Because… because… because this kiss had done something… to her, her insides. She felt like… burning. And happy. And… and it was such a good feeling… that she didn't want for it to end. Never, ever.
(Was it how Miki and Yuu had always felt for each other when they were younger, how they still felt?)
She kissed Saku on the cheek, something she hadn't done in a long time, and then she run away, back to the party; Saku stood there, and while he massaged his cheek, the skin still burning, hot to his touch where her lips had skimmed over the tissue, he knew that something had changed between them, he felt like they were finally on the same page- maybe family, but definitely not brother and sister.
He smiled a little secret smile as no one was looking at him: Watch me, Ritsuka, he thought, grinning, I'm gonna marry you, one day.