Title: Life After
Author: Inspired Seeker
Rating: PG-13
Number of Words: 1,525
"This" Denotes speech while
"This" Denotes thought
Chapter 1
Sunlight filled the room as morning began to set in. Kei slowly opened his eyes and saw Mizuho's bare back facing towards him. He pulled her body closer to his as he felt her stir. She turned in his embrace, gave him a peck on the lips before standing up from the futon to get dressed. Kei was treated to an excellent view of her backside.
Mizuho felt his eyes on her and immediately turned back to look at him. The young Kusanagi, anticipating this, quickly averted his eyes. This just made Mizuho smile.
"I'm going to start on breakfast, okay?"
"Alright." Mizuho blew him a kiss before she left.
Kei's eyes returned to Mizuho's retreating figure as he dressed. He remembered their "activities" last night, and he blushed at that thought of his girlfriend.
"Girlfriend? Oh, that's right; the Galaxy Federation must have erased records of our marriage." Kei thought grimly.
He was determined to change that today.
Mizuho noticed the worried look on Kei's face as they were eating breakfast. She noticed that he had his eyebrows scrounged together, as if he was thinking about something. She decided to ask about him.
"Is there a problem?" Kei looked up from his food.
"Uhh… nothing. Everything's okay." Kei gave her a small smile while scratching the back of his head. "Was I that obvious?"
"You know you can confide your problems to me, right?" Mizuho pressed on, all thw while regarding Kei with curiosity. The latter just sighed.
"Yeah." "But I can't ask you about my plan to propose to you if I'm going to make it a secret?"
"Okay…if you say so."
The young Kazami was out shopping for groceries, thus allowing Kei to prepare his plan in secret. Of course, he met a few obstacles in his "planning session" when he realized that he cannot ask for help if he was going to make it a secret. Because of this, he decided that he can only rely on himself to make it work.
Feeling determination build up inside of him, Kei immediately took his jacket, wrote a note to Mizuho that he'll be out until later, before leaving the complex.
He needed to get a ring, and quick.
Mizuho arrived at the place she and Kei shared feeling exhausted. She dropped the bags filled with groceries on the table and was about to head for the shower when she read Kei's note.
Mizuho,
I'm going out buy some review materials for the upcoming tests. See you later!
Love,
Kei
Suddenly feeling warm all over, Mizuho decided to hit the showers and take a quick nap while waiting for Kei. She decided to do something "special" for him when gets back.
Kei was elated. He managed to buy a simple Garnet ring encased in a velvet box. He decided that instead of the usual diamond ring, he'll just get a Garnet one, for it matches Mizuho's eye color. That and the fact that he, unfortunately, cannot afford a diamond one!
He was rushing to get home when he bumped into someone. Kei apologized profusely, before helping the person up. Wait a minute, she looks like…
"Koishi!"
"Hi, Kei." Koishi said, forcing a smile.
"What's wrong?" Kei asked, noticing the fact that Koishi's smile was fake.
"Nothing. Why don't we go to the park?"
"Okay." Kei began to have a bad feeling about all this.
Mizuho sighed for the umpteenth time that evening. She was still waiting for Kei, and she was getting worried.
"Its getting late… did something happen to him?"
Alarmed at the thought she quickly called for Marie.
"Marie, please teleport me to Kei's location. This is a priority one."
"I understand, Koishi. I know how it feels like. " The young Kusanagi sympathetically said. It reminded him of that time with Kozue, his older sister.
Kei tried to comfort Koishi as she cried against his chest. She had just confided to him that her favorite uncle had just died unexpectedly. In an effort to soothe the girl, Kei embraced her and moved his hand up and down his classmate's back.
Unfortunately, fate decided that Mizuho arrive at that exact same moment.
Mizuho couldn't believe what she saw. She saw Kei embracing none other than Miss Herikawa. She felt anger and jealousy course up inside her. She decided that she'd had enough.
Her eyes were brimming with tears when she met Kei's eyes. She gave a silent command to Marie to teleport her away.
Away from Kei…
Kei felt panic, fear and a lot of other negative emotions when he saw the young Kazami. He saw the tears and immediately felt disgusted about the fact that he had made her cry. He needed to find her, and quickly.
"Koishi, I'm sorry, but I have to go."
"Why, what's the problem?" Koishi's question went unanswered for he has already taken off, off to find his one true love.
Things were not going smoothly as planned.
Mizuho find herself at the beach again, her bright red hair going with the wind. She pulled her knees closer to her chest as she continued to cry silently to herself.
"Why did Kei do this? Am I not good enough for him?"
She was about to continue when she felt arms on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Kei looking down at her.
Kei felt like he was stabbed in the heart when he saw Mizuho crying. The next words she said pierced him even more.
"Review materials, huh? Why did you do it, Kei? Why did you have to lie to me?"
"Mizuho, I'm sorry, but it's not what you think!"
"Not what I think? I'm beginning to believe that you're just leading me around!" She stood up and walked away, before she was stopped from behind by Kei.
"Take your arms off me!"
"Please, listen to me! The reason I was out was…" Kei was at a loss for words.
"Was what?" Even though she was still angry at Kei, she was still interested at what he has to say. Instead of answering, Kei decided to show it instead.
She was shocked at what he did next. He kneeled before her, before taking one of her hands…
"According to the manual, this is what men on Earth do when-"
"Mizuho Kazami, will you marry me?"
The young Kazami's anger, doubts and feaes dissipated in an instant. Instead of verbally saying yes, she pulled him up before she gave him a forceful kiss. They stayed like that for a while before they parted, resting their foreheads together.
Kei took her left hand again to slip in the engagement ring on her ring finger. Mizuho wiped away the tears from her eyes when his fiancée kissed her hand.
"Its beautiful." Mizuho breathed out. The stone matched the color of her eyes perfectly. Kei smiled as the woman he loved admired the ring.
"This" Intertwining his right hand with her left, "was the real reason I was out." Kei said, somewhat relieved that he was able to "pop the question". Mizuho smiled, but was somewhat regretful about what happened earlier. This caused some tears to slip from her eyes.
"What's wrong? Are you sad because of our engagement?"
"No, its just that I am sorry for misunderstanding you and Miss Herikawa…"
"It's okay. Koishi just told me that her uncle had died, and she was feeling sad about it, so I tried to soothe her." Mizuho nodded, with a look of understanding in her eyes.
"Let's go home."
"All went well after all…"
Author's note: Finally finished this chapter. Even though it's short, it was pretty challenging to write, because I didn't have much experience in this kind of fics.
I'm pretty sure many are asking: Why a proposal? Aren't they already married? If I recall correctly, the Galaxy federation wiped the memory of those who associated with Mizuho. Because of this, there's a big chance that those in city hall that processed their marriage had their memories erased too. Along with this, the records were probably erased so as to hide Mizuho's existence. Well, that's my theory anyway.
Special thanks to:
Mizuho – Thanks!
renerio jr – Thanks! There will be more to come, as long as my muse of inspiration is around . But of course, I'm willing to take suggestions from readers ;).
Hobie – Thanks! I'll try to find a copy, assuming that shops here in the Philippines have copies of the Onegai Twins! Books…
Hey, by the way, your fic, Onegai Bounty Hunter, is very well written! I'm looking forward to reading more of it.
Just one question about it (two, actually): Will it have a good or bad ending? Or will you make both?
Ominae – I'm glad you enjoyed it! By the way, I'm still thinking of the proper time when to include the OVA of Onegai teacher!
As always suggestions and constructive criticisms are most welcome!