Argh. You know that final scene in Finding Nemo? The remaining underwater creatures in the tank wreak the filter and dirty the tank, so the dentist is forced to clean it manually, right? So, he puts them fishes in plastic bags, then the fishes escape by rolling their water bubbles towards the marina, in spite of the traffic they passed through. The fishes are triumphant, they were free…only problem is that their still inside plastic bags. The blowfish says, 'Now what?', and the movie is over.

For days I have felt like the fishes, bobbing around the sea in their self-imposed cages. I was so hurried to get to that proposal scene, and now I am still staring blankly at space, the phrase 'Now what?' floating around my head.

I sincerely hope that this chapter doesn't bore you. And sorry for being a stupid fish.

Disclaimer: I do not own UFO Baby/ Daa Daa Daa. If I had, there would have been a kissing scene somewhere in the middle.

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"WHAT!"

All heads turned towards the front door. Even though everyone made the startled outburst, 5 voices from the open doorway almost drowned them out.

There, framed by the doorway, were Aya, Nanami, Nazomu, Santa and Mikan, all gaping like beached fish.

Miyu heard a groan from behind her; from Kanata, she supposed. From the corner of her eye she saw Wannya, mercifully in his man transformation (she made a mental note to buy him some dumplings for his quick thinking), his mouth wide open. Even Ruu looked perplexed.

A light squeezing of her hand brought her eyes back to Andre. He looked confident, almost smug, as though all this was meant to be.

A prince? Miyu though dizzily. But…but-

"Yes, it's true." a heavy, scratchy baritone came from the black mass of bodyguards. They parted, revealing a wizened old man within their midst. He was small, back hunched as he leaned heavily on a gnarled cane. Tufts of thick, white eyebrows prevented them from seeing his eyes. He looked like an old warlock.

He shuffled towards them. Miyu was taken aback by the serious look in his eyes.

"Yes. She will do fine. She will be well suited to be the new queen of Montclaire."

A faint gasp came, once again, from the doorway.

All heads turned to see Akira standing there. Holding her hand was an equally perplexed Momoka.

"Momo!" greeted Ruu.

"Hello, my darling Ruu! Why are there so many men here? And you," Momoka said as she pointed to André. "Why are you holding Madam's hand?"

"Yeah, what's going on here, Kanata?" this came from Nanami.

"Yeah, man, who's that guy?" asked Santa.

"Oh my! A scoop!" Mikan excitedly exclaimed.

"Are you replacing me, my Miyu?" Nazomu said dramatically.

Miyu heard Wannya desperately try to diffuse the situation. She didn't even hear the inquiries volleyed by their friends; she was too engrossed at the emotions on Akira's face. Shock, confusion, and then, when her gaze dropped to Andre and Miyu's joined hands: devastation. There was no other word for it.

The pain apparent on the other girl's face made Miyu yank her hand away, but to no avail. Andre just gripped it harder.

"Is it true?" Akira said faintly.

She almost wasn't heard from the racket their friends were making. Wannya was still trying to answer questions Santa threw at him, Nanami and Aya were listening, then making their own conclusions about the whole scenario. Mikan was shouting at the top of her lungs that the drama was just what her story needed. Nazomu was spouting poetry about broken hearts. Even the passive bodyguards were mired in the confusion. The old man was nowhere in sight.

For the four of them (Akira, Andre, Kanata and Miyu), time seemed to have stood still. They were all waiting, barely breathing, for the answer to Akira's faint question.

A strange smile stretched Andre's tight lips. Miyu almost winced; that smile looked so painful.

"Yes." Andre replied.

"Wait!" Miyu cried out as she wrenched her hand away from Andre's painful grip. "I don't want to marry you!"

Ruu chose that moment to let out a loud cry. All commotion stopped.

"Are you all done?" the old man's voice came from the kitchen. He stood by the kitchen's entrance, holding a cup of tea.

"I think it would be better if we all had some tea. Come, all of you." he said as he went back into the kitchen, beckoning for them to follow.

With a nod from Andre and a wave of a hand from Kanata, the guards, Mikan, Santa, Nazomu, Aya and Nanami filed towards the kitchen. Wannya took a squalling Ruu to his bedroom, trying to calm him down with some help from Momoka.

The four stood on the entrance hall, the silence almost deafening in it's intensity.

"That's good." Akira said. She still stood by the doorway, her head bobbing in a nod, her eyes fixed on the floor. "That's...really great."

"Yeah." Andre said tightly.

"Akira," Kanata said as he took a step towards his childhood friend. "What are doing here?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed as her head shot up. "I-I was just going to remind you about our walk later..."

Miyu saw Andre look sharply at Kanata. She also saw that Kanata wasn't oblivious to the glare the prince was giving him.

"Yeah, I remember." Kanata said gently.

They stood once again in tense silence after that. Miyu saw Andre's hands were curled into tight fists.

"I'll be-"

"Would you like to-"

"Akira, I-"

Kanata, Akira and Andre stopped. After a pause, Kanata laughed tensely.

"I'd...better get going." Akira said shortly.

"Are you sure, Akira?" Miyu asked, concerned. "You look pale. Maybe you should have some tea with-"

"No!" Akira said swiftly. "I...I think it would be best if I go for now."

"Are you sure?" Miyu pressed. Akira did look awfully pale.

"Yes, I'm sure. Goodbye Kanata, Miyu...Andre." she reassured as she turned to go.

"Are you joining us?" the old man's voice came from the kitchen.

Andre did a full turn, then strode straight for the kitchen, leaving Kanata and Miyu with puzzled expressions on their faces on the entrance hall.

"What happened?" Miyu asked softly as she moved close to Kanata.

"I don't know." Kanata said just as softly. She saw him looking outside. She followed his gaze; he was looking at Akira. The dark haired girl was standing stiffly a few paces from the stone steps.

Miyu started to walk towards her, but Kanata stopped her by holding her hand.

"Do you think she's okay?" Miyu queried.

"I...I don't know."

Kanata had a weird look on his face, as though he had reached a conclusion but just wasn't ready to believe it yet. His hand tightened on her hand. He turned towards her, and Miyu almost gasped. She was taken aback at the fierce emotions swirling in Kanata's brown eyes.

His face suddenly softened. "Did he hurt you?" he asked softly, holding up their clasped hands.

"No." Miyu said, the word accompanied by a rush of air.

Miyu's face was red, her heart was beating double time. Kanata was still looking at her tenderly.

"Are you going to marry him, Miyu?"

"No! No, of course not..."

Kanata smiled. "Good."

With that, Kanata led her to the kitchen.

Their hands were still clasped together.