Butterflies
"Me? I'm nobody. I'm not skilled like Uchiha-san. I am not passionate like Haruno-san. I am not smart like Nara-san. I'm not as strong as Chouji-san. I'm not as collected as Aburame-san. Or as pretty as Yamanaka-san. I'm not as confident as Inuzuka-san. If anything, I'm like Hyuuga-san, socially awkward. Oh wait, no, she's just shy. The socially awkward one is me." OC! Team 7 remix!
Bonus Chapter 1 – Good Enough
Timeline: Butterfly Hurricane
A/N: Warning! Fluff overload ahead!
8-8
There are people that believe that words make a deep impact on our fate. They believe that the words you speak, the vibrations of it, create a tremor in the fabric of fate, and that you should therefore speak sparingly, if at all. That you should choose your words carefully, that you should be mindful of the impact your words, your vibrations, will have on your life.
Namiki Aya thinks that's pure crap. She'll say what she wants, when she wants, thank you very much. True, she'll only say things she'll stand behind, things that will honour her pack, her clan, but... that's as far as she'll go. After all, if that idiocy is to be believed, then her shortness would be her own fault for referring to herself as a a midget over the years. Sixteen years old, and by far the shortest of them all. The kids don't count, there's still hope for them.
Yet, even with her short stature, you'd never guess it was her height bothers her at all. Even though the love of her life, Akimichi Chouji, is two and a half heads taller than her, even though when they go out dancing she has to put on six inch heels, even though he teasingly calls her his chihuahua. She stands tall. She stands tall and she stands proud.
And her feet are killing her from dancing in those shoes!
Aya decides she can stand being short for this next dance, she really loves this song. Evanescence - Good Enough. She, she just loves this song. It fits how she feels about Chouji so well. So, even though she's now barefoot, even though she'll bury her face in his tummy as they dance, even though she knows everyone gets a kick out of watching them dance like this... she drags him out on the dance floor anyway.
Surrounded by couples from the clans. The Akimichi, the Yamanaka, the Nara, the Sarutobi, the Hatake, the Yuki, the Uzumaki, the Uchiha and even from the Namiki clan. She feels their eyes on her and Chouji.
Then his arms wrap around her. The slow, cathartic singing starts. She finds herself dancing to the rhythm he sets for her. He leads and she follows. Oh, she follows. Hearing his heartbeat, strong and steady as they dance. She decided long ago that she would follow him anywhere.
The world slowly fades away. All that matters to her is the beating of his heart. All she cares about is where he leads her. That his arms hold her just a little tighter. That he sings the words for her, off-key, scratchy, and with a slight slur showing he's had a few drinks already.
Part of her wants to wonder why he's been drinking tonight. After all, nothing stressful has happened recently, and he usually isn't one for drinking. It's the vast majority of her that doesn't care. He's holding her, guarding her from the world, even from the doubts that plague her. He's enough. That's all that matters to her.
Chouji's been taking steps right to left, no longer leading her in circles. Aya doesn't even notice; she doesn't care. The music starts to fade, the lights dim. The couples surrounding Chouji and Aya give them wide berth, all standing around and gazing lovingly at the pair. Aya doesn't even notice; she doesn't care. Three different coloured spotlights shine onto Aya and Chouji. The music has stopped entirely, the room is silent, no one making a single noise to disturb the moment. Aya doesn't even notice; she still seriously doesn't care.
She's where she wants to be. That's enough.
Then Chouji stops moving altogether. Aya stops as well, but doesn't seem to notice. His heart is still beating for her; only for her.
He pushes her back, gazes lovingly into her brown-yellow eyes. "Namiki Aya." He begins, his booming voice echoing off the walls and finally drawing her attention to the situation. She pales, her eyes widen, and she no longer has any feeling in her face.
"Ch-chou...?" She sounds uncertain, frightened. Chouji finds himself smiling, finally seeing without a doubt that he is her weakness. This woman that's faced A and S-ranked shinobi without batting an eyelash. This woman that's conquered countries. This woman that stands next to the likes of Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto and doesn't feel small. This woman that brings him to his knees with little more than a glance.
As deeply as she affects him... he affects her. He finally sees that.
With the sudden revelation, he finds his courage, and he speaks the words he's been rehearsing for months. Though sometimes it feels like he's been rehearsing his whole life for this moment.
"Today. It's been a year since we started dating. A year since we declared to to our friends and family that we mean more to each other than friends that kiss now and again." If her body would react at all, she would blush. Instead, she stands there, her hands gently held captive in his. He sees how vulnerable she is, how vulnerable he makes her. Raw fear swims in her eyes, she can't predict him. She always gets so scared when she can't predict what he'll do next. "So today, before our clans, before our allies, I want to honour our anniversary. And I want to ask you something I've been dying to ask for some time now."
He slowly drops to one knee, bowing to her like the queen she is to him. Her hands start to shake. Tears start to fall. As he slowly looks up at her, he finds her far more fragile, more vulnerable, than he's ever seen her. He clears his throat, scared but more sure of this than anything.
"Aya." He says her name again, loving how rolls off his tongue. He gazes into her eyes, offering his fear to her, his love, his devotion. Offering the words that will forever make or break him: "Will you marry me?"
Her heart skips a beat. She... she can't believe this is happening. Words fail her, breathing is almost too much for her. Not know what else to do, she glomps him. The fall, together, him landing on the floor, her landing on him. She claims him lips, breathes new life, new hope, into him. Over and over, they kiss. His hands lay flat on her back; one on the small of her back, one between her shoulder blades. He gently clutches the kimono she's wearing, telling her with the simply action that he doesn't want her to ever go anywhere, begging her wordlessly to stay with him forever.
She wants to scream at the top of her lungs, let the Elemental Nations know that her answer is yes. She can't.
She can't speak at all.
She pulls back, her glasses start slipping from her face. He sees this, he just doesn't care. He's not letting her go, not now, not ever. He... he needs her right where she is.
She grabs her glasses, leans in, rests her forehead against his.
She nods. "Nn."
8-8
Bonus Chapter 1
8-8
A/N: I'd planned and gushed over this scene ever since the chapter Sing For Me.