Short chapter. I apologize.
Lauren's POV
Slowly the beat started up, violin and flutes flowing through the speakers and into the hall. I trailed my eyes over to Itachi and Taylor, who were now holding each other close, and smiled. The drums started to come in at this point, and I shifted my attention to the rest of the wedding party.
All of the Konoha shinobi looked surprised to see me on stage, about to sing the song to their first dance, and I had to hold back a grin. I'd never sung in front of any of them before, but it was still funny to see their reactions compared to that of the rest of the Akatsuki, who were looking calm and expectant.
And then I snapped my attention back to the music, realizing it was about time for me to come in.
Taking one deep breath, I started.
"Koko ni aru hitotsu no…hakarai maiougi…gawa no nai kono ougi ni adoru ka no inochi yo…"
The song was beautiful, and fitting for the occasion. It told the story of a man and how his life played out, all tied together by wonderful lyrics and words. It was…not quite a happy or sad song, but had lots of emotion and meaning.
'Dancing Fan of The Kamogawa River Cherry Blossom'.
Yes, the title was a mouthful, but the song was worth it.
And suddenly I was at the first chorus, swaying along with the beat as the Japanese lyrics slipped off my tongue.
"Koyoi anata e no sureru ai o…kono mani ni no se utau…"
'Tonight love invites you to sing this dance,' I translated in the back of my mind, smiling slightly. I was suddenly glad Taylor invited me to sing, because I felt this song fit perfectly for the occasion.
And sure enough, when I chanced a look at the newlywed couple, I found the first stream of tears beginning to roll down Taylor's face as she smiled up at Itachi, looking utterly happy. Itachi smirked back, knocking their foreheads together gently.
Yep, definitely the perfect song.
When the music ended Taylor and Itachi shared a kiss, and everyone clapped. Itachi quickly handed Taylor a handkerchief when they pulled back and, laughing, Taylor took it from him, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
I grinned at the sight and joined in with the clapping before it died down. Once it had I turned to get my iPod and remove it from the stand, and when I turned to hop off the stage I nearly fell in shock. Taylor was standing in front of the mic, grinning at me happily.
"I would personally like to thank Lauren for agreeing to sing the previous song. It was great, don't you think?!" she posed, looking out to the guests expectantly. There was immediately an uproar from the crowd, Kiba wolf whistling and other shouting. I blushed, completely embarrassed and honored, and stepped up beside Taylor.
"Don't make me cry too," I warned them, leaning down to the mic. Everyone then laughed again and started shuffling out to the dance floor when the music started up once more—this time more upbeat and dance-like.
Taylor shared a hug with me before carefully maneuvering off the slightly raised stage, shuffling back to Itachi who was awaiting her return. I smiled at the two before jumping down myself. I quickly tried to sneak past all the dancing couples, making a B-line for the tables, but Deidara intercepted me half way. Grinning deviously he placed a hand on my waist and then promptly lead me back out to the dance floor. I rolled my eyes at his antics, but started dancing when "We Come Together" by the Goldfish started playing.
I briefly wondered as I danced alongside Deidara if the guest Shinobi were weirded out by the fact that a majority of the music playing was in English—a language they'd never heard before—but soon figured no one cared because dancing continued without question.
I snickered when I spotted Naruto in the middle of the dance floor, waving his arms around like a mad man. If this had been any other day he would've earned weird looks, but today was a day of celebration, and now the moment to party, so no one really gave a shit. No one here was a professional at dancing anyway…well, except for Taylor—but she was toning it down for the sake of Itachi and everyone else.
Finally, three songs later Sasori slid up behind me, placed his hand on my waist, and whisked me away. I laughed as Deidara rolled his eyes at us, intent on dancing for a while longer.
"Thank you," I told the puppet master as we stopped in front of the punch table, and he grinned at me.
"No problem—it looked like you needed it," he said teasingly, and I smacked him in the shoulder lightly.
Together the two of us shared a drink, resting peacefully on the sidelines and watching people dance crazily, before Hidan and Tess approached us a few minutes later. Hidan flashed a grin to Sasori and I, opening his mouth to speak, but in that moment the song changed—switching to "Ray of Light" by Shoko Nakagawa.
Individuals who had been dancing immediately started to pair up for the slow(er) song, and I was tempted to laugh at some of the pairs: Kakashi and Kurenai, Asuma and Tsunade, Gai and Tsunade, Kiba and Tenten, Neji and Sakura—the list goes on. But they were all smiling, having a good time, so I guess it really didn't matter.
Then I slyly glanced over to Hidan, a smirk coming to my face. Why not add one more awkward pair into the mix?
Quickly I grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards the dance floor, and he blinked in surprise. I simply laughed and continued to pull him along, grinning again when I saw Sasori and Tess roll their eyes at me in the background. Sasori did, however, then offer his arm to Tess, who dipped her head and latched onto it with her own, the two following after Hidan and I towards the floor.
"What's this about?"Hidan questioned once we were mingled in between the other couples, his hands firmly placed on my waist. I shrugged, swinging my arms up to his broad shoulders.
"Why not?—and don't you dare slide your hands any lower, mister," I told him when I felt his hands start to brush down my sides ever so slightly. He had only moved his hand an inch, but even so.
Hidan grinned in reply, looking amused at my reaction.
"Don't worry about it," he said, and I blinked when his grin fondly widened. "I'm taken, after all."
And then I blinked again, staring at him in surprise. Hidan stared back, looking a bit creeped out when I started to grin deviously.
"What…?" he questioned hesitantly after a moment, and I shrugged again, still beaming.
"You just seemed truly happy when you said you were taken is all."
Hidan then froze briefly, seeming to process my words, before he turned his head to the side, cheeks reddening. I was tempted to laugh at his obvious embarrassment, but knew if I did he'd get angry. So instead I smiled at him again.
"Have you ever thought about marrying her?"
If possible, Hidan got redder, and I rolled my eyes at him. It was just a question that had popped into my head. Tess had confided in me before anyway—that neither Hidan nor she had brought up the topic. I figured I'd break the ice.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Hidan finally mumbled, glancing back at me with his violet eyes. I sighed.
"Well, Tess loves you, and you love her, so I figured I see how it's going, you know?" I said, raising an eyebrow teasingly. Hidan continued to pout, and I was tempted to laugh again.
"Of course I've thought about it," he grumbled after a moment, and I blinked in confusion. He rolled his eyes at me.
"Of course I've thought about marrying her," he clarified, and if he wasn't dancing with me I was sure he'd of raised and hand and ran it through his hair. "There's just…complications."
I paused for a moment. "Like…commitment complications?" I squeaked in a guess, and he scoff, looking slightly annoyed.
"If I had commitment issues I wouldn't have waited a fuckin' year while you guys were pissin' about in your world."
I shrugged at that.
"Fair enough. I just took a guess." I paused for a minute, almost forgetting that we were dancing while having this conversation. "Is it, like, Jashinism complications?"
Hidan dipped his head ever so slightly. "Yeah…"
"Well, I won't pry then," I resigned, shooting him a small smile. "Just thought I'd put the topic out there. I'm sure you two will handle it when the time comes."
"Fuckin' sure we will," Hidan said with an eyeroll, and then suddenly leaned forward, making me blink. "But if I'm gonna be a married man any day soon I better do this while I can…"
And then suddenly Hidan's hands were gone from my waist, and I felt a pressure on my butt. I flushed instantly, but couldn't help but smirk. At least Hidan seemed a bit more like himself now.
"Shithead," I said, punching him in the chest lightly. Hidan laughed and stepped back. In that moment the song ended and I rolled my eyes at the Jashinist before he disappeared into the crowd, likely either heading towards Tess, booze, or both.
Sighing, I started back towards the table, ready to sit down and rest for a little while. I got my butt in the chair and breathed in peacefully, but not even two minutes later I felt a hand placed on my head.
"I just wanna rest~!" I whined looking behind me. Kisame stood there in his fancy suit and blue tie, grinning widely.
"What? C'mon, I was gonna ask if you felt like singing some more," he spoke and I raised an eyebrow in surprise. Little known to others, Kisame was actually a pretty good singer.
"What song did you have in mind?"
His grin and deviousness was tempting me, and he could tell.
"C'mon," he said simply and walked around to face me, pulling me up from the chair. I laughed and allowed him to pull me around the dance floor to the stage, where we quickly hijacked the iPod there, looking for the song Kisame had in mind.
Normal POV
Taylor blinked in surprise when the music suddenly stopped. It'd been in the middle of a really good pop song, and she was quite enjoying it.
Frowning, she turned and looked towards the stage, trying to find the source of the small annoyance. Her frown, however, faded the instant she found both Lauren and Kisame atop the stage, grinning at each other brightly.
Oh, this would be good.
And suddenly the music started up again, this time playing the tune of "Sly" by Rip Slyme. It was a crowd hit instantly, the slightly disco sounding rhythm drawing people to the dance floor.
Taylor laughed when Itachi suddenly scooped her up, dragging her along with the crowd as well. Now nearly everyone in the hall was boogying down as Lauren and Kisame started to sing.
"Ai ga areba subete yurusareru to omotteru desho! Noserarete wa mata odorasareteru! Mou zuruijan~!"
As she became engulfed in dancing to the cool pop song Taylor looked up to Itachi, who was grinning, glancing over to his sister and best friend who were having entirely too much fun with their performance. As Taylor stared at her new husband, she smiled.
This was one of the small moments in life where Itachi was really letting loose, not caring if anyone saw him smiling or happy—because he was. And Taylor was entirely glad that she was partially the reason for that happiness. Itachi had experienced a rough start to life, and she wanted to help him keep the last half much brighter than the first.
Subconsciously the blonde moved a hand to her stomach.
She would give him a family, just like both of them wanted, and they'd live as happy as possible.
Smiling widely, Taylor suddenly reached up and placed her hands on either side of Itachi's face. The Uchiha paused, surprised by the contact, but didn't resist when Taylor guided his lips to hers, kissing him deeply. Itachi took less than a second to respond, pressing back into her with the same want and happiness.
The two then pulled back, smiled at each other, and started dancing again.
On the sidelines Deidara stood beside Sasori, watching the dance floor and the stage with amusement. Everyone was almost having too much fun, but then again…
Deidara shifted his eyes to Lauren, who was still on stage joyfully singing along with Kisame. The two were swinging along with the beat, gazing at each other playfully as they continued singing the song.
Chuckling to himself, Deidara grinned at the sight. It was nice to see Lauren so happy—hell, it was nice to see himself and everyone else happy too. In the ninja world there were rare moments like this one where people actually got to let loose and party.
"Ahhh," Deidara sighed, downing the last of the drink in his hand. "We need more moments like these, yeah."
Sasori, who was standing beside the blonde, rolled his eyes. He agreed that having fun like this was a nice change—even if he was just sitting back and watching at the moment.
"If you wish to have more moments like this," he spoke, catching Deidara's attention, "then I suggest you hurry up and get married."
Deidara blinked, stunned by what he was saying, and Sasori laughed at him.
"Is that such an abstract notion?"
Deidara finally snapped out of it and then grinned over at his partner.
"No, it's just not something I thought I'd ever hear you say, Danna, yeah."
Sasori swirled the drink in his hand, eyes glancing over to Lauren who was still partying with Kisame. He smirked briefly at the sight and then sighed, speaking once again.
"I deeply care for both you and Lauren is all, and I know it would make you happy."
Deidara paused, eying Sasori wearily.
"You're drunk, aren't you, yeah?"
Sasori chuckled.
"Most likely."
Deidara then laughed too, and after a second he looked back over to his girlfriend. For a good minute he took in her smile, dress, voice—just everything about her. Everything he loved.
"You know what, Danna?" he finally replied, a happy grin coming to his face as he briefly flicked his eyes back over to Sasori, who was still mixing his half gone drink. "I think you're right—I need to hurry the hell up, yeah."
At that Sasori chuckled, and the two then turned their attention back to the dance floor. Kisame and Lauren had finally finished singing, and were now hopping off the stage to the clapping and cheers of others.
Setting his empty glass down, Deidara quickly scooted onto the dance floor and weaved through the crowd. He found Lauren a moment later and grabbed her by the waist, spinning her around.
"You're not getting away this time, yeah," he purred, leaning his forehead down to hers. "Danna's not here to sweep you away."
Lauren blinked, processing his words, and then grinned.
"That's fine," she spoke, taking his hand in hers as the music started up again. "Just see if you can keep up."
Deidara then grabbed her again, a large smile coming to his face.
He enjoyed a challenge—and this was one he could definitely win at.
Meehhhhhhh. I would have left this chapter out but I had it planned before hand and already had started to write it so it stays in.
Nice, short chapter, ahhh~
Ohhhhh I've been out of school for 20 days now. Break ended last Thursday but this is our fourth snow day in a row, and tomorrow we don't have school either! Which makes five! :D
I don't know what the fuck I'm learning anymore XD
Man, I'm tired.
Bai bai!
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