Chapter 8: The Confession

After eating some…cakes/crabs, Hotaru pulled Ruka with her.

"Uhh…where are we going..?" Ruka asked.

"To dance, baka. This is the Last Dance, after all."

"…ohh…"

After awhile, the soft sound of music began to play as the students danced with the rhythm.

While Hotaru and Ruka were dancing, they saw Mikan forcing Natsume to dance with her.

"Natsume…please!" Mikan said with wide puppy eyes. Still, Natsume just ignores her. But after some time, Natsume stood up (from his chair, he was seated a while ago…) and went to the dance floor.

"You're gonna dance or not?" Natsume said, turning his head to her direction.

"So you finally agreed?" Mikan playfully and happily said while walking towards him.

"Tch…"

Natsume was feeling a little doubtful about dancing with this little idiot. He has never danced with a girl before during the Last Dance yet.

Then they started to dance.

Natsume put his hand on Mikan's, while the other (hand) held her waist.

Mikan was surprised, yet happy that someone finally asked her to be his/her Last Dance.

Meanwhile, Ruka and Hotaru were watching the two dance when Hotaru suddenly dragged Ruka with her to the fountain (let's just imagine there's one…). But Natsume and Mikan noticed both of them go somewhere else, so they decided to sneak on them…

'I wonder where they're going…', Mikan thought. Both of them followed until they saw their best friends talking, so they watched by the bushes.

Hotaru sat down by the fountain edge with Ruka (who was standing), wondering why she dragged him there.

"Uhh…Imai…why are we here..?" Ruka asked.

"You told me you'll tell me the one you liked in some private place." Hotaru replied.

"Umm…yeah…" Ruka nervously said. 'Of all the place! Wait—why does she even want to know..?'

"So, who is it?"

"It's…"

Ruka can't really tell her that he really likes her. 'You can do it, Ruka! This is your only chance!', he thought to himself.

Meanwhile…

"I wonder what they're talking about…" Mikan said. "Ne, Nat--" Natsume quickly covered her mouth.

"Don't be too loud, baka! They might hear us!" Natsume scolded, but making sure no one sees or hears them there. Mikan was struggling for air, but he held her tight.

"It's…" Ruka said, blushing real hard this time

'You can do it, Ruka!', Natsume thought.

"IT'S…" 'C'mon, Ruka, say it! You've already asked her to be you Last Dance!', Ruka nervously thought.

"IT'S YOU!", Ruka said with all his strength piled up. What he just said made his sit on the fountain edge beside Hotaru, looking helpless, as if he couldn't stand up ever again.

Hotaru felt the slightest shock on her nerves. But this time, she really showed Ruka the sweet, rare smile that made Ruka like her that much, completely different from her cold-hearted kind of personality.

Ruka was shocked, REALLY shocked, but the level of his happiness for seeing Hotaru smile so sweetly at what he just said would be incomparable. Just seeing her smile made Ruka's face all red, completely red.

Natsume smiled a little. He then let go of Mikan so she could at least breathe in some air. Mikan was breathing fast, like some animal started chasing her while she tries to run away from it (…).

"Wow! Ruka-pyon finally admitted his true feelings! But I never thought that he'd confess to Hotaru…" Mikan whispered.

"Yeah…" Natsume replied.

Back to the other couple…

Hotaru was still smiling at Ruka when she said,

"Thanks for telling the truth, Ruka-kun. Because you told your secret, I'll tell you mine…"

"WHAT SECRET???" Mikan said.

"Shut up if you want to hear it!" Natsume replied.

"But Hotaru told me all her secrets already! Why is she keeping this one from me?"

"Shut up and just listen!"

"You know, I have feelings for someone, too…" Hotaru told Ruka.

Upon hearing this, Ruka was a little disappointed and replied with a small "Oh…okay, sure…".

He also thought, 'Imai likes someone?'

Both of them were quiet until Ruka asked, "Who is it?"

Hotaru turned to him (she turned her back a while ago) and replied in a small, soft voice, "It's the one person who's sitting in front of me at this very moment."

All was silent. All you could probably hear the people dancing and the music.

"R-R-Really..?" Ruka asked, trembling with shock.

"Now I say what's only true, right?"

"Uh…yeah, I guess so…"

In the bushes, Mikan was like O.o .

Ruka likes Hotaru. Hotaru likes him back. They both like each other. And they kept it from their own best friends.

"No way! How could she do this!?" Mikan complained.

Natsume quickly covered her mouth with his hand and threatened herby saying, "Talk and I burn your hair."

After a little argument, they resumed watching Hotaru and Ruka, who were watching the fireflies.

"Only a few more minutes till they aanounce the partners for the Last Dance…" Hotaru said after a while.

"Yeah…" Ruka replied. "You're going to say your partner for the dance on stage like the others…right?"

"I suppose…"

A few moments of silence passed. Then after a while, Hotaru said something.

"Hey, Ruka-kun…"

"Huh?"

"Thanks…for tonight, I mean. You told me how you felt about me. Thanks a lot." Then she smiled at him.

"Imai…" he said.

"Hm?"

"Ummm…aishiteru na…" he whispered, blushing tomato red.

"I know…I do too…" she replied.

The two of them looked at each other, smiling. Both of them were happy to be with each other. Then, both of them slowly moved closer and closer to each other. Ruka's hand was already touching the chin of Hotaru, while she was holding his other hand really tight. Her other hand was tugging his sleeve.

And they kissed.

They were sitting on the edge of the fountain. Fireworks suddenly appeared in the clear night sky. There was a beautiful full moon shining above them, accompanied by a wonderful shower of shooting stars.

A/N: aishiteru na: "I love you very much."

Eh…its so hard to write the sentence before the last paragraph…anyway, read and review…give some suggestions since our brains aren't functioning well…we don't know what to do so help us…we just might put YOU in the credits…hehehehe…(ahem)