Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Sorry for the wait, my family and I went away for the weekend, but here is an update!! And good news I'm almost done writing this sotry so chapters will be coming up faster!!

PS. Thank you to all of you reviewers! 6 reviews, you guys rock!!

day 1

May 3

Tea

Mai rushed outside to greet Madoka and Lin, freshly washed hair strewn behind her as she ran for the car. She didn't glance at Natsume, or who was with him, she had eyes only for Madoka and hugged her tightly before she was even halfway out of the car.

"Madoka! I haven't seen you since....your wedding." Mai said, suddenly reluctant. Madoka put a hand on her shoulder and led her away from the car.

"I know I've missed you Mai, and look at you! Your so pretty, this island rubs off well on you!" Madoka complimented.

"T-Thank you." Mai said with a blush. "I guess its all the sun I've been getting."

"Where are you taking me!" Mai heard suddenly. Madoka and herself spun around only to witness Ayako dragging Monk up the stairs by his earlobe.

"To unpack you dimwit." Ayako said calmly. "Now come on!"

Mai laughed. "Those two are good together."

Grinning Madoka glanced over at the car where Natsume had begun questioning an annoyed looking Naru. "Speaking of good together look at-"

But as soon as Madoka turned to point at Naru he had disappeared. Natsume stood by the car looking unfazed by his sudden disappearance.

"Natsume?" Mai asked, "So many people have been saying we look good together, it's making me nervous."

"Wedding jitters?" Madoka winked. "I know just what you should do."

*******

The car pulled to a stop in the driveway and Naru couldn't help but feel nostalgic. The villa....looked very familiar.

"So Narumi how do you know Mai?" Natsume asked, although he seemed amused while asking it.

"I'm a friend from high school." Naru answered calmly, exiting after Lin.

"Did you know her well?" Natsume smirked.

Naru glared at him but his glare didn't seem to affect this young man. Lin walked around Naru and towards Madoka, and Naru stood stiffly, feeling suddenly alone.

"Not really." Naru told the persistent Natsume.

"That's too bad, I was hoping for someone who could give me some more information. You know she's an orphan?" Natsume said with a flash of a smile, "I was just wondering if there was someone she'd really like to see before the wedding."

Naru looked up, happening to glance at Madoka who was talking to a young woman. His attention was suddenly stolen, this woman was taller than Mai, tanner than Mai, she had longer hair and finer features than Mai. She looked positively radiant in a way Naru couldn't describe but this couldn't be his Mai.

Then he saw Madoka begin to point and he cursed. With one last glare at Natsume he hid behind a bush at the edge of the driveway only looking back up when he was sure Madoka had gone inside.

What he witnessed then was much worse.

Madoka was hand in hand with Lin, walking back in to the villa. But Mai was.....Mai was running to Natsume a smile spread wide across her face. She reached for his arm and latched herself to his side.

He smiled and ruffled her hair and she stuck her tongue out at him. They both laughed.

Naru felt sick to his stomach, like someone had just punched him in the gut, leaving him winded and helpless.

'Don't kiss him Mai.' he thought suddenly, 'Don't you dare.'

But Mai was two steps ahead of him, she looked up and Natsume stared down at her. Their eyes never leaving each others faces, and then...Naru looked away.

He was sick of watching her through the hedges just because he was afraid. He stood up, hands clenched in to fists, and spun around, her name on his tongue.

He stood there silently for a moment before he composed himself enough to walk back towards the driveway. Mai was gone.

*******

Dinner had come and gone and had left Ayako with a migraine. Natsume had such a big family and there were so many names to learn. She sighed heavily and placed her head down on a pillow. Monk was by the window pacing back and forth.

"Would you quit it." she snapped. "I have enough of a headache without you walking back and forth and back and forth and back-"

"Fine." he said without argument. And he stood in front of the window as if he were actually planning something. "There are four more days until the wedding, Ayako, you do remember why we're here?"

Ayako sighed and got off the bed. Crossing her arms she walked over to him steadily.

"Of course I do. Yasu knows, Masako and John know, we all know. We're here to make sure Mai doesn't marry Natsume." Ayako said firmly.

"But how are we going to do that? She looks so happy Ayako, I don't know if this is such a good...." Monk led off and groaned. "What are we doing?"

Ayako put a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her confusedly. "We're helping out friend. We can't let her marry a guy she met three months ago, it doesn't matter how nice he is, she's throwing away her life!"

"I know." Monk said, looking unconvinced. "It was just pure luck Madoka snuck Naru in. It's a good thing she called to let us know. Maybe him being here will sway Mai's decision."

Ayako smiled, "That's the right attitude!" she said before walking away.

"Where are you going!" Monk demanded, "We were having a moment."

"I know." Ayako agreed, looking let down, "All of this sappy stuff is getting to me. I think I'll get some air."

*******

"I'll be right back Mai, promise." Natsume said with a gorgeous smile.

"I'll be waiting!" she nodded.

Now she wasn't quite so sure why she let him out on his own. He still barely knew the place, considering he hadn't been here in years. She heard the kettle boiling and ran in toward the kitchen.

Dutifully she put her phone down as she poured two cups of tea and then picked up hers with relish, drinking it all down in an instant. With a sigh she stared at the other cup. She'd always made two cups, never one, not since she'd met Naru.

Always two.

'Make some tea!' Madoka had said. 'That will take the edge off of the wedding.'

But she hadn't had tea since Naru and she hadn't planned to start, again, now.

She ran her hands through her hair, scolding herself for thinking about him while she should be thinking about her plan.

Well...Madoka's plan really. Lin, Madoka and Natsume were quite the schemers, but Natsume's frequent disappearances were worrying his 'family.' She sat for a moment in thought before getting up and walking back in to the living room, once again playing host to the guests she barely knew.

Shivering in the door between the kitchen and the living room she frowned, unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched.

*******

Naru watched her as she poured two cups of tea, most likely for herself and 'Natsume' that fool she intended to marry.

He was hidden under the window pane and when he stood up he could see her clearly. He studied her closely as she downed her tea in an instant and placed her own cup in the sink.

She frowned, her nose wrinkled in the process, as she stared at the extra cup. With a shake of her head and a brief shiver she exited the room and closed the door behind her.

Naru couldn't believe his luck. He opened the sliding door to the kitchen and walked inside, unable to shake the feeling of nostalgia that washed over him, he made his way to the counter.

Looking back and forth as if someone could be spying on him he savored Mai's tea with every fiber of his being. He'd never drunk tea so slowly before, and he knew why. He hadn't tasted her tea in a year and a half and he'd never thought he would again.

Madoka's was alright, a little too watered down but still sweet and warm. His tea was downright pitiful and too horrible to be considered a pick-me-up. But Mai's tea was perfect. Somehow bitter and sweet at the exact same time, if was lukewarm and smooth on his throat. It relaxed him.

Suddenly the kitchen door slammed open and Naru jumped, almost dropping his tea cup, as Madoka jogged towards him. Her face was red and worried and she grabbed him by the arm, dragging him from the room through a different door and up a set of stairs.

"Madoka, let go." Naru ordered, but she didn't comply.

He wrinkled his eyebrows and pulled his hand from hers as she finally locked him inside a bedroom that looked like she and Lin were using. She placed her back up against the door and sighed as she slid to the floor.

"Madoka? What's wrong?" Naru asked her, carefully.

Madoka looked up at him with anxious eyes, as if an unseen predicament had somehow ruined her plans. She opened her lips and croaked, barely loud enough for him to understand, "Your parents are here."

*******

Mai looked from Luella to Martin Davis in confusion. They looked like they were dressed for a funeral. All in black and Luella was even wearing a black veil.

"You do know I'm getting married right? Or has someone in your family died?" Mai offered, worriedly.

Luella shook her head sadly, waving a black handkerchief in front of her face. She blew loudly in to it and then proceeded to burst in to tears.

"Mrs. Davis are you okay?" Mai asked nervously.

Martin shook his head at Mai, presumably upset.

"No, Mai, we have been...robbed. We are definitely not 'okay.'" Luella said dramatically.

"Of what?" Mai said, feeling terrible, "Did your luggage arrive okay, I can-" but Mai was cut off from her worried rant by a hand on her shoulder. Luella placed both hands on the girl's fragile frame and then looked at her straight through her veil.

"You are being robbed from us Mai. Robbed, it's a tragedy, really!" Luella insisted, "Why my foolish son didn't propose to you first is beyond me! I wanted grandchildren before I turned one hundred! That stupid boy!"

Mai, understandably, was shocked. The Davis' were this upset because Mai hadn't married...Naru?

'Well he never loved me anyway.' Mai thought with a sigh, 'He made that clear enough a year and a half ago.'

Martin smiled at Mai. "I'm really very sorry about this. She's just mad because you are like a daughter to us and without you able to join our family she's....well..."

"Well what Martin!" Luella accused, "I'm not the only one outraged by this scandal. Noll was such an idiot about his feelings! Mai I'm begging you to forgive him!"

Slowly Mai narrowed her eyes at Luella Davis. She was a woman Mai looked up to, she even considered her to be like a second mother, but she had no idea what she was talking about now. "There's nothing to forgive Mrs. Davis, I'm sorry but I love Natsume."

Mrs. Davis blew in to her handkerchief, still undeniably upset. 'They look like someone's died.' Mai thought.

Quietly she snuck away from them and made her way over to Natsume's family. In the living room she heard a familiar ring tone coming from the kitchen. Eyes widening she realized that she'd left her cell-phone on the counter.

She walked back inside the kitchen and picked up her phone, just missing whoever had called her. Stuffing her phone in to her pocket she turned around to leave when she noticed something out of place.

Quietly she walked back over to the sink where instead of her one teacup there were now two.

She picked up the other cup. 'Someone drank the tea,' she thought curiously. 'I wonder who.'

Whoever it was, she inspected, had left no tea behind. It was as if it had been meticulously drunk clean.

Reviewers:

Emi-Stella: Thanks for the amazing advice, I've been convinced my writings been missing something lately and I think you hit the nail on the head. I tend to keep things short and sweet and then dramatically explain every single emotion that comes in to play, and unfortunately I didn't have time to edit this chapter. I'll be sure to look for shorter sentences in future chapters though and take your advice!!! Thank you so much and please review again with more amazing tips !! :)

fandemanga51: Thank you so much and you such a good intuition. There is going to be somethings at the wedding but I can't tell you about it yet :P. Your English is amazing by the way, I'm in a French class and I find it very hard to learn but you make it look so easy to learn another language!!! :)

Kaydreams: Yes that condition will have to go. Thank you and keep reviewing!!

Kittie80: I updated as fast as I could and here it is. Thank you for reviewing!!

Emina105: LOL I'll still give you a Naru don't worry :) Thank you and keep reviewing!!

flamegirl5500: There is something behind that wedding...Thanks for your review and thank you for reviewing!!

PLEASE REVIEW AND I'LL UPDATE SOON!!! :)