Disclaimer: I just own Etsuko and nothing else. Also, at the end I borrowed a line from 'The Princess Bride'.
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The water beneathe the bridge rippled slightly with the wind. Kakashi watched his blurring reflection. He longed to see Etsuko's reflection next to his, but he knew it was an impossible wish.
He tore his gaze from the water and looked up at the sky. It was about noon. Had he really been standing here for an hour? He sighed and turned his attention back to the water.
Etsuko's probably married now, he thought.
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"I..." Etsuko finally made her desicion. "I don't!" Everyone's jaws dropped. Etsuko faced Gai, who looked as if someone had just hit him over the head with a club.
"Look, Gai," she said. "I can't do this. I'm sorry, but the truth is that I don't love you."
Gai got the puppy dog look on his face. "But-but why?"
"Because we're opposites," Etsuko answered. "And we weren't brought together by love, we were brought together by tradition. This isn't right!" She sighed. "I have another man in sight."
"Who?"
"Kakashi Hatake." Gai's eyes got wide. He was about to speak, but Etsuko stopped him.
"I know you don't like him," she said. "But I do. If I married you, our marrige would be a sham. A lie. If I lied to you and pretended to love you, it would just hurt more. I couldn't care less about tradition now. I got some sense knocked into me after I met Kakashi at the gala. Please Gai... let all of this go..."
Gai said nothing at first. Then, he smiled.
"Ah, get out of here, you little vixen," he said, playfully.
"You mean it?" Etsuko said, getting a hopeful spark in her eye.
"Go off and find Kakashi, he probably misses you," Gai said.
"Thank you, Gai!" Etsuko cried, joyfully. Before she ran off though, she gave Gai a quick hug and a small kiss on the cheek. She took off down the aisle, and burst through the doors, out into the streets of the Konaha.
Etsuko ran around, trying to find Kakashi, knowing she looked like a fool running around in her fancy red robe. But she didn't care.
Suddenly, Etsuko came across a bridge. She saw Kakashi leaning on the edge, gazing into the water, looking sad. Smiling, she ran towards him.
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"Kakashi!" someone's voice cried out. Kakashi looked up.
That sounded like Etsuko's voice. He turned his head to see her running towards him dressed in a bride's robe, smiling from ear to ear. She stopped inches from him and gazed up into his visible black eye.
"Miss me?" she asked.
Kakashi was unable to speak. "What-? How did you-?"
"I know I wrote you that letter, but I was in the chapel just before, and we came to the 'I do's' and I couldn't say it! I told Gai the truth about us and he let me go!" Etsuko said this all very fast. None the less, Kakashi caught every syllable.
"Are you serious?" he asked her.
"Of course!" Etsuko said. "So, even though I gave you that letter, do you still love me?"
Kakashi smiled and pulled down his mask. "Answer you're question?" he asked.
Throughout history, there had been five kisses that everyone believes deserves perfect tens. Well, this one left them all behind.
