Well, second to last chapter. Next is the epilogue. Sorry if it sucks. I wrote this when I was still a freshman and now that I'm a junior, it's hard to believe I wrote this. That, or AP English has made me a jaded prick. C'est la vie.

Song- Stolen by Dashboard Confessional

Ch.11: Stolen

Megumi sat at the bar of Delilah. She wasn't drinking. Of course not, at least…not with all these parents around. (She was still cursing from her last round of drunken behavior.)

She scanned the dimly lit room, the floor covered with parents congratulating their children (which explained why she was the only one at the bar besides Kyo), and Megumi smiled at the smiling faces out there before sighing and looking down at her lap.

Really, she didn't know why she was even dressed up for this. Oh right, graduations were formal events which was why she was wearing the red dress. It was long, seeing how the ruffled hem went down to her ankles at the back, the front stopping a few inches below her knees, but that wasn't her favorite part. She loved the sleeves. They were off the shoulder with a sash that acted as another strap.

Smiling to herself, she turned out and saw the couples out on the floor before sighing in depression and stroking the photo in her wallet.

"Whatcha got there?"

Megumi nearly jumped out of her seat and she stashed the photo under the counter where he couldn't see. "Oh nothing, Kyo," she said dismissively. Kyo looked at her skeptically before walking away and she let out a sigh of relief before looking at the photo once more.

Really, after she let out the identity of her new crush in a drunken bender, the girls wouldn't stop pestering her for weeks. Luckily, Ino was too preoccupied with her steady relationship with Sai to care or else Megumi would have had to kill herself from pure necessity…or find a nice place in Antarctica and live under an assumed name among the penguins.

But Megumi had to smile about one thing. She hadn't told them that her new crush was also her old crush. Yup, that photo was of none other than Hatake Kakashi. She hadn't exactly fallen head-over-heels for him when he kissed her. It had a little after when he made her remember everything she had fallen in love with the first time and the new things she had fallen for; the fact that he cared enough to stay with her, the fact he had stopped her from making the worst mistakes of her life, and the fact that he had innocently kissed her when all the other times she'd been kissed, she had nearly suffocated in the lust that radiated off them. Fairytale princes still existed. Ironically, it was someone who was her best friend and someone who would never reciprocate her feelings. That, and the fact she still believed in fairytale romances being the cynical realist that she was.

"Congratulations, Megumi-chan."

Megumi looked up. "Oh, thank you, Mikoto-san."

"Oh please, call me Mikoto-chan," she giggled before grabbing Megumi's hand. "So, Megumi-chan, who's the lucky guy who got your heart? You can tell me. I promise not to tell. My son wouldn't tell me anymore after he let it slip out."

Megumi's face flushed a deep red. "W-w-what?!"

Mikoto chuckled at her outburst and Megumi tried her best to calm herself down. "Gomen, Mikoto-chan, but I can't tell you. Besides," she chuckled, tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear, "I don't think he'd even feel the same way."

"You have no idea," she muttered to herself.

"What?" Megumi asked looking up.

Mikoto smiled and waved it off. "Nothing. Nothing. Come on, Fugaku. I think I see Sakura over there." The two nodded and Megumi returned it before they walked away from the bar.

"Do you think she knows?" Fugaku asked sneaking a glance back at the girl.

Mikoto smiled to herself. "She doesn't have a clue."

Kyo wiped the glass in his hand with his towel as he watched Megumi talk to yet another person who was trying to cheer her up. He couldn't believe the girl was so blind. If they weren't trying to cheer her up, they were trying to get some sort of information out of her.

Just as the person talking to her left, he walked over, watching her try to tie her hair into a bun. Satisfied with her work, she dropped the pair of chopsticks into her hair and turned to him. "How does it look?"

He plucked the chopsticks form her hair and set them on the counter. "Bit out of place with the dress. Better the way before."

Megumi nodded and began to take apart the bun and combed her hair with her fingers. "Ne, Kyo…"

"Hm?" he asked, looking up from his glass.

"Did…did you ever think of getting married after Delilah died?" she asked quietly, her fingers still as they rested her lap.

"Why? You offering?" he asked laughingly.

"No! I was just wondering…" she said quietly.

Kyo sighed and leaned over to rest his arms on the counter. "No. I tried, but it didn't work. I just couldn't love another woman after Delilah. She was my everything and I couldn't find another like her. She was my only one." She looked up and he flicked her forehead and chuckled as she rubbed her forehead. "But I'm old. You're still young. You have your whole life in front of you. Just because you had one bad relationship doesn't mean you should stop. Keep trying; look some more until you can't stand the heartbreak or you find that person. Then you can stop."

"But it hurts a lot," she murmured and he ruffled her hair.

"Which is why it feels more rewarding when you do find that person," he smiled. "Now stop moping and get a drink. My treat."

"Yay!" she exclaimed and smiled at the dark amber liquid that was placed in front of her. She sipped the liquid when she heard a person call her name. "Megumi?"

She turned around. "Oh, hi Naruto."

The blonde smiled. He was wearing what all her guy friends had worn: black pants, white shirt, a tie, and a black suit jacket. And like all the guys, he had ditched the jacket and popped open a few buttons of his shirt, the tie hanging undone under the collar.

He shifted his legs, bracing the weight on his right leg as he kept his hands in his pockets. "You feeling okay?"

Megumi's smile plummeted. He'd just reminded her of her depression. She smiled slightly, the sight probably pitiful seeing how false it was. She gave up.

"Not really."

"Wanna talk about it?"

She sighed and looked out at the dance floor. "Everyone has someone but me. You have Hinata, Sasuke has Sakura, Neji has Tenten, Shikamaru has Temari, Sai has Ino, Lee has Shiori, and Chieko and Shino are engaged. I just feel a little left out," she said spinning her glass. Now she didn't want the drink anymore.

Naruto flashed her a smile. "Oh, you'll find someone. Who knows? You might find them tonight."

If it was any other time, Megumi would have just smiled and nodded, but Naruto's smile was too knowing for her to let it go. "What do you mean by that?"

Just then, Sasuke came up behind him. "Come on, dobe. You can't stay away from Hinata forever." And they left before Megumi could get an answer.

Megumi sighed as she sat in her barstool, absentmindedly stirring the liquid with the straw Kyo gave her and she stared into the liquid. It wasn't like she hated being single, but it was lonely and she clung to people because they were all she had. Money offered nothing, but a distraction from the ultimate goal: to love and be loved.

Megumi sighed. Somehow, the dreamer from her childhood had survived and as much as she wanted to believe that someone was out there just for her, she was a realist first. The odds of her finding the person in her lifetime was very slim and the person actually existing even slimmer, and she sank onto the counter and started to stir her drink again.

From the stage, she could hear the band starting up again and turned to the stage.

"Well, our next song was supposed to be starting right now," started the lead singer and murmurs could be heard in the crowd and Megumi looked up, surprised. "Huh?"

"Instead, may I introduce the band, Sharingan!" The lead singer stepped aside and clapped as the guys appeared onstage. Sasuke stood with his red guitar wearing dark blue jeans and a dark grey T-shirt with a black print on it. Naruto wore a black vest and leather pants with a red choker around his neck and black chokers around his wrists. Neji wore black jeans and a white T-shirt, a red and black guitar in his hands, a silver chain around his neck. Shikamaru wore a pair of black jeans and a black T-shirt as he held his beige-colored bass and Kakashi wore a striped button-down shirt, the white T-shirt underneath peaking through, and a pair of faded jeans, a guitar in his hand. Sakura was there too with her violin. She had a microphone in front of her and she was still in the dress she wore for graduation: a short-sleeved white dress with ruffled layers that made her look like a doll.

Kakashi looked up from his spot onstage, staring out across the club to see Megumi staring curiously back at him. Kakashi smirked to himself from under his mask and sent a glance over his shoulder before dancing his fingers on the strings of his acoustic guitar.

We watch the season pull up its own stakes,
And catch the last weekend of the last week,
Before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced.
Another sun soaked season fades away.

You have stolen my heart.
You have stolen my heart.

Invitation only

Grand farewells.
Crash the best one, of the best ones.
Clear liquor and cloudy eyed, too early to say goodnight.

You have stolen my heart.
You have stolen my heart.

And from the ballroom floor we are in celebration.
One good stretch before our hibernation.
Our dreams assured and we all will sleep well, sleep well.
Sleep well, sleep well, sleep well.

Megumi watched as Kakashi looked out over the crowd. He was looking at the bar; more correctly, he was looking at her. She turned to face him and felt her heart skip a few beats as they locked eyes.

You have stolen, (my)
You have stolen, (my)
You have stolen my heart.

He was still looking at her. From here, she could just barely see the small commas in his left eye. His eyes were so dark. Strange how he wouldn't detach his gaze from hers.

Watch you spin around in your highest heels.
You are the best one, of the best ones.
And we all look like we feel.

Kakashi began to walk offstage, his guitar abandoned, his eyes never leaving hers as his lips moved to the words that poured from his mouth like rain. He watched her turn to face him completely, her hands in her lap.

Another step.

She edged to the end of barstool.

Another step.

She slowly stood up, the deep red fabric of her dress sliding off the chair after her.

You have stolen my,
You have stolen my,
You have stolen my heart.

The two now stood in the middle of the room between the stage and the bar. Around them, the quiet whisperings and the breathing of people seemed a mile away. Megumi looked up at Kakashi who leaned down slowly.

"You've stolen my heart; will you keep it?"

Megumi's eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. Her hands reached up slowly as if they were heading to her neck to help clear the lump in her throat, but they began to move elsewhere.

Fingers tugged hesitantly on his mask and he closed his eyes and felt the fabric peel away only to be replaced by fingers tentatively sliding along his jaw line like butterfly kisses. The fingers ventured further and held him there as lips captured his own and two tears fell from her eyes. He felt her pull away from him and let out a small murmur that his ears missed.

"What?"

She looked up and he watched the lights dance off the tears in her eyes. She smiled and she let her head rest over his heart as her hands gripped the fabric of his shirt. "Yes." She felt fingers hold her chin and her face was tilted upwards as he covered her lips with his own, kissing her. Idly, she realized the crowd was screaming, but the sound seemed light-years away.

Sakura watched the two kiss and fondly smiled as she noticed from the corner of her eye that Mikoto was screaming loudly and hugging Itachi while jumping up and down, the male torn between smiling at his friend and making an uneasy expression at his mother's sudden attention. Neji smirked. "Hn. I knew it."

Naruto grinned foxily. "Alright, Megumi!"

"You do realize that if they get married, she'll be your mom, right?" Sasuke pointed out.

"And that you'll be older than your mom," Shikamaru added and Naruto's face was unusually pale as he suddenly became very still.

Megumi smiled to herself as they finally separated to greet the ecstatic crowd before them. It was amazing. She had managed to get a fairytale ending. She had found her prince and he had returned her feelings. Sure, there had been no ring, but they never had rings in fairytale proposals anyway.

As she felt a squeeze on her hand, she turned and looked up at Kakashi who smiled and buried his fingers into her hair and she slid her hands to cup his face as he kissed her. She really liked the song he played for her. It was very appropriate for him to sing it and for him to ask her that question.

After all, it was only fair that she'd steal his heart since he had stolen hers.