Title:
Surprise!
Theme: #5 Trickery
Disclaimer: All these Characters
belong to CLAMP
Rika sighed as she walked up the path to the home she shared with Yoshiyuki. After telling him she had to work late she had hoped he would meet her when her shift ended. She had to admit to feeling a pang of disappointment when he hadn't been there after she had turned off the lights and locked up. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind she removed the door key from her bag and inserted it into the lock. The house was dark when she opened the door, Yoshi must have gone to bed already she thought, turning on the hallway light and removing her coat. Picking up her bag she headed towards the kitchen, she had pastries in there that she wanted to put away before she too headed upstairs. As she passed the living room the light suddenly came on and a huge cry of 'Happy Birthday' emerged from the room. Standing in the doorway, Rika looked around, from what she could see it looked like everybody she knew was in there, complete with brightly coloured party hats. Moving forward from the crowd Yoshiyuki smiled at her;
"Surprise" he said softly before the music started and people began to mill around
"How long have you had this planned?" Rika asked in wonder
"A few weeks" Yoshi replied
"Should I be worried or impressed that you managed it?" she said, knowing how bad he was at keeping things from her, usually
"Never worried" he said, placing his arms around her waist, "I could only keep it from you because I knew you'd like it. You do like it don't you?"
Smiling up at him she said, "I love it" before raising herself on tiptoe to share a deep kiss.
A soft cough drew them apart and as Yoshi moved to the side of her, one arm still firmly wrapped around her waist, Rika gasped.
It was the first time she had seen her parents since the night she had told them about Yoshi and their engagement. The night they had thrown her out. Well, technically she had chosen to leave but only because the alternative was to 'stop this silliness' and leave Yoshi. Her parents had told her that if she insisted on continuing the relationship she could do it elsewhere, that it would not be tolerated under their roof. So, of course, Rika had left with Yoshi that night and they hadn't tried to contact her since, Rika couldn't help but wonder why they were here now. As if reading her mind her mother stepped forward,
"Terada-san invited us" she began, "We heard that you plan on holding the ceremony in the autumn and that this will be your last birthday before you're a married woman"
"That's right" Rika replied, smiling tightly, "We did send you an invite"
Her mother blushed and shot a quick look at Rika's father, who still remained silent. Rika didn't need to be a genius to figure out what had happened to the invitation.
"I'm sorry we haven't been in touch but your father has been so busy with work and everything." her mother smiled apologetically, "But I do hope you'll let me help you with the planning. After all a wedding is such a big thing to organise on your own, I'm sure you'll need some support"
"It is a lot to do but I'm quite looking forward to it. And thank you but I have all the support I need" Rika answered quickly, feeling Yoshi's arm tighten around her momentarily, she sighed inwardly, "I have my first dress fitting next week, if you're not doing anything you could stop by."
"That would be wonderful. I'm sure you'll look beautiful"
Rika's father chose that moment to discreetly tell his wife it was time to leave, flushing she looked at Rika
"Well we'd better leave you young people to it" she said, hesitantly moving forward to kiss Rika's cheek, and with a quick smile at Yoshi she stepped back as her husband took her arm. "I'll call you on Monday to get the details for the fitting" she said as they walked towards the door.
Rika nodded absently as they left. She hadn't meant to be cold towards them but after the way they had treated her and Yoshi, it made it extremely hard to forgive them and act as though nothing was wrong. Sensing she was troubled Yoshi wrapped his other arm around her once again and pulled her into a comforting embrace.
"I'm sorry" he whispered against her hair, "I shouldn't have brought them here"
She shook her head, "It's fine," she said, her words muffled against his chest
"It upset you" he replied, pulling back to look down at her
"I'm fine. I just…" she sighed heavily, "I know they're my parents and I do love them but I can't forget how they treated us. I can't allow them back into our lives so easily. Does that make me a bad person?"
"Of course not" Yoshi replied, "It makes you human. And I want you to know that it's entirely up to you how you want to handle them."
"I know. But right now I don't want to handle them at all. I want to enjoy this party that my tricky fiancé planned for me" she said shooting him a look, "I want to talk and dance and drink. And then later I want to show you how very much I love you" she finished with a seductive smile.
Yoshiyuki smiled in return as he leaned down to kiss her; pulling back he held out his hand and asked, "May I have this dance?"
Rika smiled warmly as she put her hand in his, and as they moved together to the music, she knew that no matter what happened in the future, as long as Yoshi was always there, she could handle anything.