Hey de ho. I'm baaack, like after a year and a half. I apologise sincerely. Not making any promises here but I will hopefully pit out a chapter, maybe two, per month. Depending on my schedule. Anyway, I'd like to thank anyone who reviewed, alerted and/or favourited this story even after this long. You don't understand how much I appreciate you guys. Also, I have started another Naruto fanfiction but inside the ninja world with Naruto and his shinobros.
Anyway, enough rambling. Enjoy, my friends.
The last time Miyuki was standing on a pedestal having a random stranger poke pins in all sorts of places was almost ten years ago for her aunt's wedding. For some reason her memory of it seemed a much more enjoyable, rather than uncomfortable, experience back then compared to now. The dressmaker insisted she stayed as still as a marionette doll once translated into nicer, articulate words while she measured, adjusted and fitted for her ice blue satin dress while muttering darkly at Miyuki's disproportional figure. And to top it all off, Loki, now more of a cat and less of a kitten, was having the time of his life playing with the black studded hem of her dress.
"Are you done yet?" Misaki was next to her having the same dress fitted but with white studs rather than black. It seemed that she had finished with the final fitting before the wedding.
"I wish," she mumbled before the dressmaker had a fit and yelled at the tuxedo cat before she left the room to consult her associates. "This wedding is doing my head in," she complained as she went into the changing room to get out of the suffocating but magnificent dress. Loki slipped under the door to her and rubbed is head against her bare calf. "Out, Loki, Mummy's getting changed."
"Tell me about it. I mean I am happy for my sister and everything but this is getting too much. Mum and Dad are over the moon about it and every second all you here is, "Wedding this, wedding that." It's enough to drive someone to insanity. I don't get people who do this for a living."
"Me neither," Miyuki responded as she got up and stretched. "Well I have to take Mr. Naughty Kittens to the vet. Poor baby isn't feeling well. Isn't that right?" she asked in a baby voice as she rubbed her face into his fur.
"You are going to die alone as an old cat lady," Misaki explained in a manner of all that was wise as she slipped off her chair. "With like twenty cats and they'll devour your dead body."
"You need psychiatric help, kid," she laughed as she got her jacket and scooped Loki up into her arms. "You are coming?" Misaki nodded and followed her out. As they were about to leave, they heard a bellow that caused both girls to jump.
"No way! No freaking way!" Both girls turned to see Misaki's older brother storming out of a doorway followed by Tsukasa. "I should have never agreed to this wedding."
"But you promised," His sister reminded him." Come, Renbow-"
"Don't you Renbow me." Miyuki looked at Misaki and mouthed 'Renbow' to her but only got a hushed hand movement from the young girl. "I dyed and cut my hair for your stupid wedding. I faced brutal wedding planners all giving me their 'opinion' like I care or something. I went through suit after suit for you not only did you make me wear white but you go on ahead and change it to this disturbing thing and still expect me to go with it." Ren was breathing heavily after his little rant and his older sister just stared at him, it seemed that this was the most the boy ever spoke. He growled one more time and left the room, followed by a very angry Misaki.
"Ren, stop it!" For a young girl, Misaki had a lot of responsibility radiating out of her as she went to resolve the problem of her brother's stubbornness. There was not much time left before the wedding, tomorrow evening was when everyone had to fly out to the venue, a fancy island beach resort which Tsukasa and Itachi went to once before and the wedding was the next day. They did the dress rehearsal yesterday minus a few guests and the venue was supposedly ready but Tsukasa didn't trust anyone else's judgement except hers and Itachi thought it was best to let her take charge this time. She would have liked a little more time to mentally prepare herself but with stress levels at an all time high, Miyuki found it best at times like these, she should keep her opinions inside.
"It's sucky how we have to fly out tomorrow for the wedding," Sasuke said as he walked with her away from the marital madness. "I mean the wedding isn't even for another week-"
"Three days, actually. And stop being a sour puss. Think of it this way, we get to have fun at a resort hotel with pools and fancy tropical drinks. While everyone else spends summer here being bored, we are living the life."
"I really don't care. I'll be happy just as long as I don't sit near some screaming kid on the plane."
"Okay, Mr Grumpy Pants," she said in a baby voice and pinched his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow." She waved goodbye and went their separate ways.
Oh, I am so excited!" Misaki had been bouncing up and down the whole as they stood in line at the airport. The one problem with international flights was the wait. The approximately three hour long wait to get checked in and baggage taken then wait for the flight, board the flight, then wait for everyone to board the flight, followed by the annoying aeroplane safety while the flight attendant doing it had a facial expression that screamed kill me now, then the plane decided to move. Unfortunately, Sasuke's wish didn't come true. Behind him was the grubbiest and loudest five year old to be allowed on a plane. Miyuki tried so hard to no indulge in his misfortune but when the child leaned in and his little grubby hands, sticky with who knows what, grabbed Sasuke's face that something broke inside him. He turned around with a dead pan expression on his face and said monotonously, "The Tooth Fairy isn't real. It's your parents leaving you coins." The little boy's happiness was drained from his face and he started bawling his eyes out which finally got his parent's attention. Sasuke sat down and gave Miyuki a smile of satisfaction.
"You are pure evil. As in crush anyone in your path, take over the world evil."
"Thank you."
"I feel so sorry for Itachi's future kids if this is how you treat children."
"I won't be there to deal with them."
"Meaning..?"
"Too... er... busy with, you know, university stuff." She was about to ask what he had planned for the future but Sasuke ended saying he was tired and slept on her shoulder for the remaining three hours of the plane ride.
"Well ain't this fancy?" Misaki laughed happily as she ran up to the front of the hotel. "It has like everything. A pool, beaches, food, and other fancy stuff." She excitedly giggled and handed her luggage to the bell boy as everyone else followed suit. Itachi passed around their room keys and Miyuki was with Misaki and Sasuke with Ren.
"It's getting late so why don't all of you get some sleep and have fun tomorrow?" Itachi pointed out but everyone was already on their way to their rooms. She picked up her luggage and made her way to her room when Sasuke grabbed her wrist.
"What?" She couldn't take her eyes off his cheerful smile as he leaned close and whispered in her ear.
"Meet me here at 5am. Okay?"
"Um... sure. But why?"
"It's a surprise and bring something warm." He gave her a wink and went to his hotel rooms.
"What was that about?" Miyuki jumped and turned around to see Misaki grinning at her.
"I dunno. He wants to show me something."
"Are you going to go?"
"I guess." Misaki squeaked in response. "What is wrong with you?"
"You two are so adorkable, it is unbelievable."
"Adorkable?"
"Ya know, dorky and adorable. Get with the times."
"I just learnt what SMH was; I will get with your strange language at my own pace."
"And this is why Sasuke hasn't asked you out yet."
"What?" She opened the door to their room and Misaki sat on a bed.
"You're too clueless. He is so crushing on you."
"I highly doubt that."
"As an unbiased third party observer-" Miyuki scoffed but she ignored her and continued. "You and Sasuke are perfect for each other. If you were characters I'd ship you."
"You'd ship us?"
Misaki sighed. "Ship is-"
"I know what ships are. In all contexts," she added as the young girl opened her mouth. "Sasuke can't like me. It'll be awkward and weird."
"No. Because you like him too." She raised her brow in disbelief. "You are crushing hard on him and he is to you. You know every detail about each other that it could make others sick and he actually smiles in your company."
"He smiles all the time."
"Only for you. He only ever smiles for you. Come on, you two are like perfect. It's killing me!" She rolled about dramatically and groaned like she was dying.
"I dunno."
"You've probably always like him. Have you ever thought about him in a romantic kind of sense?" The answer was yes. Hands down, yes. On several occasions actually. She blamed Itachi and Naruto. Those two fed her the ideas.
"Okay... say, hypothetically obviously, that what you say is true, what's that got to do with me?"
"He will most likely ask you out tomorrow morning and then you'll hook up at the wedding and BAM! couple magic." Before she could question the multiple flaws in Misaki's idea, the girl pushed her into bed. "Now get some sleep, you have a super early start tomorrow." She couldn't even argue as her face was covered with a blanket and all lights switched off.
She stood in the lobby with a blanket over her shoulders. Hardly anyone was awake except for the staff and it was still pitch black outside. She shivered and jogged on the spot to keep warm. She couldn't sleep for the past couple of hours because she couldn't get what Misaki said out of her head. What if Sasuke liked her? Knowing him, he would have said something by now. Actually, now she doubted that idea. He wouldn't want to jeopardise their friendship, years and years of friendship. That's saying if he had feelings for her. And that was a big if.
"Nah, it's ridiculous," she said to herself.
"What's ridiculous?" She jumped and turned around to see Sasuke standing behind her.
"Oh, nothing. This wedding is a bit ridiculous. So extravagant and..." she trailed off and glared at him. "You're late."
"I know, I'm sorry. It took me a little longer than I anticipated getting out of bed."
"I was freezing out here."
"I told you to get something warm. Come on." Before she could protest, he grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the hotel. She tried to ask him questions but he just shut her down, telling her to be patient. She bit her lip and followed as they got further away from the hotel and ended up on a-
"Tada!"
"A beach?" She turned around and gave him a condescending look. "I have been to these, you know."
"It's not the beach, it what's next." He pulled her close and sat on the sand, wrapping the blanket around the both of them.
"Sasuke... this is not exactly comfortable." He sighed impatiently and pulled her onto his lap.
"There, now you're fine." No, she wasn't fine. She was nestled in his lap with his arm around her waist while his other hand was on her thigh.
"Sasuke..."
"Shh." He pressed his hand against her face and squeezed. "Watch." She turned to where he was pointing and saw the warm hazy glow of the rising sun. She sucked her breath in as she watched the sky change from blue to purple to red orange and the sunlight dance along the crashing wave. She unintentionally wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest, enjoying the warmth of the sunrise. Sasuke smiled and stroked her hair as Miyuki held him close.
"This is amazing."
"Yeah. The reason Itachi picked this place was because it was the last place we were with our parents before..."
"Oh," she mumbled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you for showing me." He smiled and kissed her cheek causing her to turn pink.
"No problem." He turned his head back to the sunrise. "When I first saw it, I thought that I wanted you to see it with you. And it looks pretty great at night." She couldn't help but shiver under his gentle touch. "You cold?" She nodded and he wrapped both his arms and the blanket tightly around them. "You should get some sleep; you look like you had a rough night."
"You don't even know..." she mumbled and nestled her head against his chest, taking the all too familiar smell of mint and just plain Sasuke.
The wedding ceremony started late afternoon and everything that happened was like a blur to Miyuki. She remembered biting her lip to stop herself from crying to the point it started to bleed and spent the rest of the ceremony with her face behind a bouquet of white roses, much to her dismay. Halfway through, she felt Sasuke's hand brush hers twice then he held it gently behind their backs, along with a reassuring smile. Not that it reassured her in any way as all she remembered was Misaki's words.
Stupid big mouth kid, she thought as she clapped along with everyone else as Itachi kissed his bride. They followed the newly married couple out to the reception and she took the corner of the hall, watching everybody congratulate them. She clapped politely as the newlywed couple finished their first dance and went up to Itachi, grinning broadly.
"You looked so adorable with Tsukasa. I think I'm going to cry again."
Itachi laughed and gave her a hug, "Thank you, Miyuki. Would you like this dance?"
"Ooohh, I never danced with a freshly married man."
"Only you can make me sound like orange juice." She laughed and they continued to dance.
"Miyuki, when you get married-"
"What makes you so sure? I'm not even 17 yet and according to Sasuke I am 20 cats away from becoming a crazy cat lady." He gave her a quizzical expression. "Loki knocked up some random stray and they have like 5 kittens living under my garage."
"As long as you don't take these cats as your babies, you will find someone I know that you would have guys lining up for such a pretty girl like you. As I was saying, can I walk you down the aisle? I would like to be the one who gives you to a good husband." She bit her lip again and nodded vigorously, afraid that if she spoke she would start to cry uncontrollably and hugged him tight. The song finished and Itachi got dragged away by Tsukasa's mother. Her eyes wandered around the room and Miyuki noticed Sasuke leaving the reception hall, so she followed him out. She found him sitting on a bench which faced the beach, staring blankly ahead.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Be my guest," he said and she sat down next to him.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm just tired and if I have to get dragged about by one more cousin, I'll-"
"Calm down. It's kinda your fault for looking so hot." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. She was extremely thankful for the dark because she could feel her face heating up. "You know, guys in a suit look nice." Sasuke let out a grunt and continued to stare ahead. "At least Itachi is happy. He looked so adorable with Tsukasa. And probably in the next year or so you'll be an uncle. Isn't that exciting?"
"That's if I'm here."
"What do you mean?"
"I... eh... you know with uni and stuff. I don't have time to even notice let alone look after a crying, pooping machine."
"You really hate everything, don't you?" He let out a snort of amusement.
"No, I just hate when people fuss over things like puppies and babies and weddings. Look how stupid my hair looks." Instead of having his hair stick out like it normally did, Sasuke had it sleeked down at the back.
"I can fix that."
"Yes, fix it." Miyuki grinned and pulled out a small comb from the bust of her dress. "What else do you keep there?" he asked, turning away.
"Anything really. Right now I have fifteen bucks and some sour snakes. Whatever fits when I don't have a bag, not like you'd ever know," she said and stood up on her knees to fix up his hair. It felt soft and it smelts so good she wanted to bury her face in it. Then she remembered Misaki's words.
"I think you always liked him. Just take the chance."
When she finished fixing his hair, he looked up at her and he gave her a smile. "Thanks, Kitty Kat."He pointed at the beach in front of them. "Wanna go check it out?" He stood up and extended his hand for her to take.
"Um... sure. But isn't it dangerous?" She looked at his watch and it was well past midnight.
"We've been here before."
"Yeah but it wasn't this late. And the lights were still on."
"Don't worry, I'll protect you." He gave her a gentle smile which made her heart flutter as he squeezed her hand and dragged her to the beach.
"It's beautiful at night too," she whispered and rested her head against his arm. The moon was almost full and created a soft white glow that illuminated the entire scenery better than any light. The ocean was more quiet then of the morning, the dark waves occasionally crashing against the white sand. Sasuke took off his jacket, shoes and shirt. "What are you doing?"
"Having a little fun." He grinned maliciously and picked her up in his arms and ran to the water.
"Sasuke, no please don't. This dress is really expensive."
"You should have taken it off."
"But..."
"But what?" Sasuke was standing above the knee deep water and she clung harder to his chest.
"Please don't do it. I could get sick." Sasuke gave her a reassuring look and she relaxed. "Thank you
"But his arms disappeared from below her. In a final attempt to stay dry, she clung to his neck which resulted in both of them falling in. Once they resurfaced, Miyuki was ready to beat him up but his laughter distracted her. He pushed his wet hair back and smiled.
"See fun, right?"
"You're an idiot," she said through laughter.
He passed her his tuxedo jacket and turned around. Getting the idea, she shimmied out of the wet dress and covered herself with his coat. She turned back around and saw Sasuke was wearing his shirt, much to her disappointment, as he pulled her onto his lap and stared off at the dark crashing waves. "Thanks for that," she said as she put her arms around his shoulders. "Although you gave me a heart attack, it was fun."
"You are welcome, Kitty Kat. You've been looking a bit sad since this morning and I wanted to see your beautiful smile." He looked down at her with a smile, his obsidian eyes full of kindness which made her heart ache.
He only ever smiles for me. Miyuki bit her lip and leaned close. Now or never, she thought as she stroked his cheek and kissed him. She felt his hands hold onto her waist and tighten in surprise. As she deepened the kiss, she felt a tingling sensation pulse through her body but something was off. Sasuke pulled away and leaned back as possible, creating an unfamiliar distance between them. She caught on and got off his lap.
"We shouldn't have done that. Not now." He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head.
"I'm sorry." Miyuki felt her cheeks heat up as she played with the buttons of the jacket. Why would he say that? Did she just destroy years of friendship for the off chance of him maybe liking her? "It was a bet," she hastily made up, grinning stupidly. "Misaki said that I wouldn't have the guts to kiss you or her brother and since Ren kinda scares me, I chose you. Yay, I win fifty bucks." She punched the air and skipped away. The moment she found herself in some deserted hallway of the resort, Miyuki collapsed onto the ground and started to cry, muffling her sobs into his jacket.
All done. Yeah ya!
I'll hopefully see y'all in a month.
Bye!