Disclaimer. I do not own Strawberry Panic. I only wish I did.

Miyuki looked around. She hadn't seen much of Shizuma lately. She had been hiding, as always. Though Miyuki thought she would have had the decency to attend the Etoile Ceremony. She thought back to that day… They had kissed twice. And then Shizuma had disappeared. It wasn't shyness. There was never a time when Shizuma had been shy, and there was no need for her to start now.

Besides, Miyuki knew the Silver Queen had kissed many girls, and always managed to still talk to them. Truth be told, Miyuki had missed Shizuma lately.

Nagisa and Tamao were standing, clutching hands. They looked nice. Miyuki had heard rumours that Tamao had asked Nagisa out. And that Nagisa had agreed.

She was happy for them, but wondered how Shizuma was taking the news. She had been pining after Nagisa after all.

"And the winners are- Oh… Um…"

The doors opened slowly, and there she stood. The Silver Queen was panting. Had she been running?

"Miyuki!" Shizuma shouted.

Miyuki's heart was beginning to beat fast again. She would have blushed, had her character been weaker. She walked to the bottom of the alter, facing Shizuma who stood at the door.

"Miyuki!" Shizuma shouted again. She has such a musical voice. Shizuma walked towards Miyuki, but stopped halfway down the walkway.

She looked directly at Miyuki, who was stunned. What in the world was she doing?

"I love you!"

The girls in the audience were screaming. They lapped up the romance. The former Etoile, confessing her love to the President of the Student Council.

Miyuki didn't allow herself to believe it. "Shizuma." Her voice was as level as she could make it. "What are you doing?"

It wasn't until Miyuki looked at Shizuma, who took a step closer, and shook the silver fringe out of her eyes, that Miyuki saw the girl's eyes were filled with tears.

"Miyuki…" Her voice was quiet, but Miyuki could hear it. "I love you. I didn't realise it until…" She closed her eyes and smiled. A true smile.

And then even more quietly, barely audible due to the silence of the girls in the room. "Please."

The word that sparked Miyuki's body to life, that gave the signal for her to walk.

To run.

Into Shizuma's arms.

She felt those strong, protective arms surround her, and she allowed her professional façade to vanish as she clung to Shizuma.

"Shizuma… Why? After all this… After all this time…"

The silver-haired girl tilted Miyuki's chin so she could look into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Miyuki. I'm sorry for making you wait for all this time…" She smiled sadly. "I've caused you so much sorrow, my love. But you opened my heart… You tried to save me from myself…" She allowed herself to shed a tear.

"All this time you've been by my side… Supporting me."

Shizuma rested her forehead against Miyuki's. "I think I loved you all along. Ever since that night when I found you crying."

Miyuki didn't, for once in her life, care about the audience staring at them with rapt attention. All she cared about was Shizuma. "But… Kaori…"

Shizuma wrapped her left arm around the girl's waist. "I… Admit that I loved Kaori. But before her, after her, you were there. After hearing about your engagement… I never allowed myself to think of you in such a way. And then… When you kissed me."

Miyuki rested her right hand on Shizuma's stomach lightly, leaning into her.

"It made me realise… That you were the light to my darkness… I was trapped in a deep, dark hole. Kaori helped for a while, but she was only a temporary distraction."

Shizuma nuzzled her head into Miyuki's hair, hiding her face. She was so vulnerable in this moment, and Miyuki loved her.

"I love you, Miyuki… I'm sorry." She lifted her to head to look at Miyuki, tears in her eyes. "You do so much for me. What have I ever done for you?"

Miyuki lifted her hand to cup the girl's cheek. "You were my muse."

Shizuma closed her eyes shut, and held the smaller girl tightly. "Thank you for waiting for me."


This will be the last chapter. However, I have a few ideas I'd like to run past you all.

I was having trouble deciding how to continue this, and came up with two ideas.

The first is that I keep this story by itself. I will be writing more stories about this pairing, but I will come up with different backgrounds, etc. That is to say, this story will remain by itself.

The second idea is that I can continue this story with prequels based on this one. That is to say, writing more stories with this pairing, but keeping this one as the story of how they came to be.

I know this story is quite small, but that's because I was unsure of how to continue it. If it's similar style to a "Oneshot" then it being small isn't so bad. But if it was to be continued, then the next stories will be much longer.

Sorry for the long note, I just really wanted to get your opinion.

Thank you.

Ghoul.