Thanks for all the reviews~
Disclaimers: I do not own Romeo and Juliet, nor do I own Gakuen Alice. They are owned by William Shakespeare and Tachibana Higuchi respectively.
Recap of Chapter 6:
Hayate reaches into his pocket to pull a jewellery box out; popping it open to reveal a beautiful diamond ring, yet I was unfazed by this.
To me, the diamond looked like a polished piece of coal.
However, for the best of both families – Romeo & I – I drew up my courage to take the ring in my hand. In a sorrow voice, I whisper my response.
"Yes, the day after tomorrow."
The Third Scene of the Fourth Act has finished.
Chapter 7:
A day has passed since the ball concluded. Here I was, sitting near my desk on stage. Misaki was combing my hair.
"My lady, it's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Misaki tries to start a conversation.
I look into the crowd pretending it was a window. I could picture a bird flying freely just beyond those vintage windows. "Perhaps,"
Without knocking on the wooden floors to signal her appearance, Luna struts in as if she was barging into my room. Luna was wearing a maid's uniform, head held high. As she near my desk, she threw a book down harshly. In her annoying and sneering voice, she says, "Pick your dress."
I glare at her through her reflection in the mirror and look down at the thick book. It was a catalogue of wedding dresses of the season. I look back at Luna. "Should your tone be so harsh when talking to your master?" I inquire.
"Tch. It's not like it matters. In the end, I win. I win you – Juliet. You are to be married and once that happens, Romeo is all mine." She smiles wickedly. For those who didn't know, she may have appeared to be like a witch, since she's been smiling that through the entire play.
I bit down on my lower lips. Uncaringly, I flip through several pages. Jenny Packham, Vera Wang, Pronovias… my eyes landing on the big getaway vacation advertisement. I smile to myself, before randomly picking a Pronovias wedding dress.
"This one will do," I pointed at a tightly, fitted white dress with layers of laces. At the back, there was a ribbon to emphasis the waist. I paused for a minute, waiting for Luna to take the catalogue out; however, she was too busy looking at her nails.
"I think water marble nail polish would look so good on me, don't you think Nurse?" Luna happily chirps with Misaki, who was still tending to my hair. Misaki smiles politely back. "Maybe I should stick with dark and velvet red – crimson red."
I cleared my throat. "Luna, take this and tell Lord Paris about the dress that I want."
Luna looks at me with a baffle look. "Why do I have to? Here we have a perfect dispensable maid," she reasons and points to Misaki.
"She is my Nurse. And you are my maid." I look at her with piercing eyes. "Maids are not supposed to question their master what they are asked to do, they just do them."
"Oh ho ho ho. Who do you think you are?" Luna laughs evilly.
"I am Lady Capulet, and I am your master." I coldly responded and place the catalogue into her hands.
Luna finally takes the cursed and horrifying books off the stage with her. One person down; another one to go. I turn to face Misaki. "Great Nurse, would you be so kind to write up the invitations?"
"Hmm… isn't Lord Capulet doing it himself?" She questions. I wanted to slap myself on the face. Right, how can I forget that? My parents were too happy that their fourteen year old daughter is getting married that they have been fighting the servants to write the invitation cards.
"Then, would you please help me buy some – " I pause to think of some outrageous demands.
As she closes the door, I breathed out a sigh. Quickly, I lock my bedroom doors, before climbing over the balcony to land on the rose garden below. The sprinklers turn on due to my presence.
"Who's there?" I can hear Capulet kinsmen shouting in the distance. Gathering the hems of the dress, I sprint as fast as I could to an abandon water fountain – which was deep within the Capulet's garden. There lies an ancient-looking wood shelter, surrounded by tall trees. Just past the trees, you could see an endless field of flowers. I sat down on one of the marble stone chairs and waited for my prince charming.
I waited.
And waited.
And waited till I lost track of time. The overhead sun had moved west, covered by dark menacing clouds. I look around in disappointment. Where was Romeo?
A cool breeze swept through, blowing my hair. I tuck the bangs behind my ears. Just then, far away in the field I saw a figure. A male figure. He was wearing a trench coat. Black hair and crimson red eyes – My Romeo!
I met him halfway, grabbing his hands. "Romeo! Where were thee?" I exclaimed as I brought his hands to my lips. "Your hands are cold,"
I led him to sit down on the marble chairs. He looks into my eyes desperately, not answering my question. His hand grasps mine tightly and we stayed like that until the clock stuck 5 o'clock.
I jerk from our peaceful state – my head on his shoulder and let out a gasp. Quickly, I stood up and began to descend the steps of the wooden shelter. "I have to go, there's another party tonight!"
His hand continues to clasp mine. "Wait!" He utters his first word since we met in this hideout.
"I already waited for you for 4 hours!" I turn back to yell at him.
"What do you mean 4 hours?" He replies bluntly.
"I wrote 'Meet you at our secret hideout at XI' meaning 11 o'clock in the morning!'"
He reaches into his pocket to pull out the piece of paper. "No," He shows the paper to me. On his paper, in black ink it wrote 'Meet you at our secret hideout at XV', thus that would be 3 o'clock – exactly four hours from our meeting time. I look stupidly at the paper. It seems the ink blurred and smudges the 'I' into a 'V'.
I look down. My bangs covering my eyes. Fate showed that we shouldn't be together. It even destined for us to not meet at the original time. There was nothing left to do, then to accept our fate. Suddenly, the water began to pour down from above.
I look back up with sad eyes. "Mo~, it's over between us Romeo. We can never be together." The water poured harder onto the stage. Thanks to that, I was able to blend the tears with the water, so it didn't look like I was crying.
"It wasn't over," He takes two strides to close the distance between us. "Still isn't."
He pulls me into a kiss. A deep, passionate and desperate kiss – one that was able to convey the hardships of our relationship. I rest my hands on his chest, pulling him closer. As we parted, I lay my head on his chest. Natsume rests his head on top of mine.
"Marry me." He whispers quietly next to my ear.
"Mmm." I responded, as I continue to enjoy the moment leaning on his chest. I could hear his heart beat.
He took out a ring and began to slip it on my ring finger. It had two dragonflies circling one another made of ruby and diamonds. I admire the ring, as I drew it close to my heart. "It's so pretty,"
I was too captivated by the shimmering ring to notice where Natsume lead me. By the time I snapped back to reality, we were sitting in the drawing room with both my parents eyeing the ring upon my finger.
"Umm…" I began to think of a way to waltz Natsume out the door without drawing too much attention. My eyes wander between the door and the window. Suddenly a knock interrupts my thought.
Knock.
"A Lord Montague. A Lady Montague. And a young Benvolio." Yuu walks in to introduce our guest.
Me and Natsume rise to give a bow. Aoi, in return gave us a curtsy. While Benvolio and Youichi gave a slight nod in our direction.
"Montagues," Sumire sneers hatefully. She continues to sip on her tea, before placing it on the coffee table in front. She pulls a sword from underneath the coffee table and whips the katana to Aoi's face. "Why art thou here?"
I could feel Natsume tense up beside me. Youichi steps in front of Aoi, to shield her from the katana as his ghost pushes the sword from Sumire's grip. Aoi peeks around Youichi's shoulders. "We're here to talk about the marriage between Romeo and Juliet," she says quietly.
"So you want us to consent to letting our betroth daughter marry you – our arch enemy, who we despise since the beginning of time…" Koko blabs again. "Since the beginning of mankind…"
The door flew open, revealing Luna. "My Romeo! Have you come to take me away?" She clings onto Natsume's arm.
"A Ms. Scuttle – " Yuu comes in to address another visitor. "- butt."
Both me and Aoi glared at the intruder, who was happily giggling besides Natsume. I cling tighter around Natsume's other arm, pouting my lips at Luna. Sumire rolls her eyes. "Yes, we can see that."
"Then the proposal…" Ruka tries to change the topic.
"No can do. Both families are pitted against one another." Koko pauses and begins to think deeply. "Why were we enemies in the first place?"
Silence.
No one answers. "Was it because I didn't buy you Howalon? Or was it the other way around? Was it even with Howalon that we hate each other?" Koko answers his own question.
"Does it matter why the two household hold a grudge against one another," Luna smiles slyly, pulling Natsume's arm closer to her side. "What matters is when me and Romeo can marry."
"Romeo's mine," I glare at Luna.
"But you're to be married to Lord Paris." She reasons and then pulls an invitation card from her dress pocket. "I even got the invitation to beautiful occasion; surely you aren't backing out now."
She flips the card to let me have a look. I had to blink several times to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong, but sure enough, the words were clearly written in black ink on snow white paper.
You are cordially invited to the wedding of Lord Romeo Montague and Lady Juliet Capulet to celebrate with their families tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Gakuen Alice Academy.
"Momma," I cried, as joyful tears began to fall. I let go of Natsume's arms and gave Sumire a big hug. "Thank you!"
"It was your father's idea," Sumire whispers in my ear. "We can't stand our daughter marrying someone she doesn't like."
Aoi hugs Youichi when she too realizes the words on the invitation. "This is so great," She smiles happily, wrapping her arms around Youichi's shoulders. He blushes from the contact.
I walk over to Koko and gave him a hug too, causing Natsume to glare at Koko. "Thank you so much, papa!"
"Now, let's have some Hawalon co-father-in-law!" Koko happily sling his arm over Youichi's shoulders and guides him off the stage.
"Shall we have some tea in the greenhouse, co-mother-in-law?" Sumire politely ask Aoi.
"Yes, we shall. We have lots to catch up." Both ladies walk off the stage as well, leaving me, Natsume, Ruka and Luna.
"Co-father-in-law?" Natsume looks at me, then at Ruka.
"Co-mother-in-law?" Luna joins in. She looks from Natsume's puzzle face to the invitation. She points from Natsume to me, and then she realizes the names of the groom and bride. "Say WHAT?"
The audience laughs at Luna's outburst. Seconds later, the curtain came down. We could hear the audience clapping on the other side.
'THE END'.
I stop typing and looked away from the computer screen. Satisfied, I save the file and began uploading to the school's blog. I hum 'Love Story' by Taylor Swift, when I heard a knock on the door.
Knock.
"Mikan, you coming?" Hotaru opens the door, chewing on her crab brain meat.
"Ah~ I'm coming," I stood up from my seat and turned my computer off. As I passed the mirrors, I adjust my pigtails and skirt. "Wait for me~ Hotaaarrruuuu~" I yell down the hall, as I ran to catch up to my best friend.
'The painful moments of learning female etiquettes; the laughable moments of Mochiage singing 'Can you feel the love tonight' will forever be embedded in our memories. And though the class had indifferent opinions of the play at first, we definitely have a consensus answer by the end of the play.
Shakespeare Appreciation Week: The best event at Gakuen Alice
– Written by: Mikan Sakura 3.'
Thanks for all the support for Alice SS. This is the last chapter; hope you all enjoy. xD
As quoted from Sakura-tan "Reviews are motivation!"
I would like to take this time to give my thank you to Sakura-tan for editing the entire story and motivating me during writer blocks. Without her, this story would have gone down the drain. THANK YOU! –bows -
Also KidTantei for finding the out of place keyboard spam. (Orz, I don't remember how it got there...)
And since this story has come to a conclusion, we would love your input for our next projects, so please head over to our profile and take a vote. -bows- Thanks again! Til next time.
-Kyoko-tan signs off.
[January 31st, 2012 - 8:31p.m.]