AN: -takes large gulp of air- I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'MSOOOOOOORY. Please forgive me for the horrible longwinded hiatus. Life.. well, it's crazy and this fell on the back burner longer than it should have. Thank you to all who have continued to read~ And the moment you all have been waiting for: THE FINALE. Please enjoy, and from the bottom of my heart, thanks for keeping up with this fic.
Side note: I'm now also on tumblr (Starrypuddle)for any of you who are wishing to read oneshots and what nots I do on occasion and soon will be joining AO3 with some of my fellow writers. So please stay tuned for more stories to come :)
Chapter 8: One Step At a Time
A chorus of hurrays broke out around me, and I couldn't help but raise my own voice to join in the celebration. It was finally over! Three years of humiliation, hard work, and the feeling of being smothered by a fat man composed of all my stress were finally reaching an end. My diploma was secure in my hand, sure proof that I wasn't dreaming about graduation for the fifth time this week, and the roar of the applause and shouts all around me were louder than I could have worked up in my imagination department. The kids of my class started to move off as the dean of the school allowed us to be free, and I found Mitty a few rows behind me, standing still as people wove around her with little care. Her usually blank features were transformed into a tiny smile of happiness, holding her diploma in the small space the moving crowd had let her move her arm. I returned the silly air-pump of happiness, though the smile on my face had to be ten times as great. We were free, ready to face the packed to the brim futures we had won through tears, screaming, and lots of useless applications.
We made our way through the crowd, bobbing in and out of clusters of people like we were on a television obstacle course. There were a few bumps elbows, a couple of snarls to move the heck out of the way from Mitty, and a few quickly expressed congratulations to people who were screaming at us out of euphoria along the way. Our parents and the rest of our group were waiting on one corner of the crowd, hollering at us with all the gusto they could. Mori was there as well, standing between my brother and Hani, each of which had promised weeks before that they would be in attendance for the graduation ceremony. He stood out above the rest, not only by the way he towered over almost every other person in the vicinity but the sharp collared shirt and wrinkle free trousers he manged to look breathtakingly handsome in. His dark eyes were already following me with that gentle air of importance he seemed to exude when I was in his presence, and a quiver of a smile followed suit as he noted the funny look I had been trying to keep on my face until our eyes met. I blushed, knowing I still hadn't gotten used to all the attention he gave me, and the feeling warming my heart was something I could only feel because of him.
You probably wondering if we ever started dating, right? Well, surprise surprise, we did. I could still remember that night clearly, even though it had been almost five months since that fateful event had happened. It had been raining- such an unexpected shocker for the monsoon season- and I had been sitting on the couch, listening to rain pound harshly against the window. Yui and Mohi were both placed against my body, happy that despite the rain, they had a warm body to claim as their own personal kitty sleeping bed. Their furry bodies had kept me secured to my spot for the last hour or so, and their deep sleep had made me want to curl up and waste the rest of the day in blissful laziness. The week had brought a bunch of troubles: interviews and phone calls for jobs and overseas study plans, not to mention hardcore cramming for entrance exams and finals of my final year as a high school student. I had avoided pretty much everyone, including Mitty and Mori, knowing that as stressed as I was, the last thing I needed to do was lash out at them when they had their own futures to juggle.
But when a sudden knock came at the door, I couldn't let myself sit around and leave whoever it was standing in the downpour. I got up despite the mews and grumbles from each cat, and ran towards the door as if my life depended on it. My first though was that it was one of Aki's friends, hoping to wait out the rain with a round of video games. Mitty would have just let herself in, and I doubted anyone else would brace the insane amount of rain and wind to haul themselves to our front door. So running a hand over my dropping ponytail and adjusting the baggy hoodie I hadn't changed out of since that morning, I opened the door, only to wish I had taken more than a second to really readjust my appearance.
Mori was hunched against the doorway, his tall frame dripping with fat droplets of rainwater. His breathing was hitched, as if he had been sprinting for his life, and he looked a little worse for wear. All I could do was gape at him for a moment, unsure of what he was doing at my doorstep in the middle of a freaking monsoon, but as I gazed at him more closely after ushering him hastily inside, I noted the soggy bouquet of flowers secured tightly in one of his hands. My heart did a flip-flop in my chest; flowers, at a time like this? We had barely talked, and I couldn't understand what in the world was his reasoning for manning the storm to wind up in front of me without so much as a word of warning.
"Please tell me the last part of senior year hasn't killed all your brain cells." I waggled my eyebrows at him, hoping it would relieve some of the awkwardness stacking up between us.
He shrugged gently, holding out the flowers. "Congratulations on finishing your interviews."
I gaped, looking at the dripping roses with a sense of utter loss. THAT was the reason he had trekked from his house, down through the gushing torrent of hell the city had become to hand me flowers for a job well done? The laughter bubbled in my laugh, and I hunched over, unable to control the utterly idiotic reaction. My sides started to hurt as the laughter turned into hiccuping snorts, but I realized Mori was probably backing away by now, thinking I was the biggest freak that he had ever been graced with meeting. But as I stood to my full height to wipe my eyes and apologize, the gentle smile on his face made me stop.
"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at my furrowed look.
I crossed my arms against my torso defensively. "I should be asking you the same question." I pouted. "Stop looking at me like that. You shouldn't defend the crazy people, remember? If you do, I'll get to do whatever I want when I around you."
His eyes glinted in humor. "I don't mind."
"You say that now." I quipped back before realizing what his words meant. I stopped, turning my head slowly to give him a speculative inspection, but the expression on his face didn't change. "Hold on a minute." I changed paced, pointing a finger out at him. "You're being too honest, Mori. That isn't like you. Hmm.. Something's not adding up. You show up to my house, in the middle of a huge storm, with flowers huffing like a madman, and saying you like my craziness? This must be a dream."
He shook his head in confusion, only to have the movement shower me with the propelled raindrops flying off his ebony hair. I grimaced, wiping at my face, and that was when he struck. His arms- soggy as they were long- came to cup my face, and he leaned his forehead against mine. I could only blink, looking into his eyes which were less than an inch from my own. Part of me wanted to melt into a puddle of gloopy girliness at how close he was, but truth to high heaven, any feelings like it for this supposed-to-be romantic moment was seriously ruined by the water, now dripping off his face and hair, all over my own.
"Uh, Mori?"
He sucked in a quiet breath, but with the distance between us almost zero, it sounded as loud as the violent winds still whipping around outside. "Hm?"
"Let me get you a towel." I saw his cheeks flush, and my body was shaking from how badly I wanted to laugh at his change in demeanor. "I'd rather not be responsible for you walking around like a freshly bathed puppy dog and catching a nasty cold because of it."
He moved away from me with a snort, and I took the moment to shoot up the stairs. While my main priority had been to find a large enough towel to pat Mori dry, I couldn't help but freak out like the half-sane- or mostly insane, I'll leave that judgment up to you- person I was. Sweet steamed bean buns. Something big was going on, and I, like usual, was too slow to figure it out. What if Mori was here to build on something we had left unsaid before? Ugh, why of all days did I choose to look like a slightly classy hobo?! I had to relax, but goodness, I was more anxious then a mother hen watching her chickadees roam around the yard for the first time. The more awkward I made things, the more awkward it would be for both of us in the end. Well mostly me seeing as Mori rarely tripped his own tongue, so yeah, saving some face for the guy who had robbed me of a very precious organ seemed the golden route.
I returned downstairs to the kitchen to grab a hot pad, some tea and the other necessities before trekking into the family room where Mori had placed himself. Despite his wet appearance, both cats had magnetized to him, and he seemed all the merrier. Mohi was making small mews of delight between his purrs, and Mori had dipped his head, making some small meows in return. Yui was already asleep, too old and probably too senile to care for the odd little conversation going on between the warm giant and the tiny invader of his precious territory, but me, I was in a state of ecstasy. Mori's kindness and cute little quips never seemed to warm my heart like fresh soup on a chilly day, and now, I could only stand in the corner of the room, watching with a stupid grin cracking at my face.
That lasted for a moment until he noticed me, and I winked, knowing it was something he caught me doing more often than not. After turning the heat pad on and setting the kettle full of water on it, I sat in front of Mori, gesturing for him to move closer towards me so I could clean him off with the towel. He bent over at the waist as carefully as he could at his tall stature, mindful of both the curled kitties on either side of him, and I did my best to dry him off with a few good ruffles of the towel.
"So," I drawled into the silence as I worked, smiling a little as he remained in such a vulnerable position. "It sounded like you and Mohi were having a nice chat. Any secrets you want to fill me in on?"
"Mm." Was all he said for a moment, and I thought he was racking his brain for a stupid answer to appease me. But what he said next surprised me out of my fuzzy socks. "I was just asking him if it would be okay to take you out on a date once the monsoon weakens."
I paused in my ruffling to sit in absolute stupor. Wait, wait- WHAT? Okay, okay, I knew the day was going to come eventually, but NOW? In the middle of a stupidly weird question I asked, he decides to be serious?! Oh Mori. The sweet, straightforward man that he was had probably been bursting to say this since the moment he walked through the door, but I, like the scatterbrain I was, had failed to realize his true intent. But I was happy. No, beyond happy. Like so splendidly incandescent I thought rainbows and sunshine drops were going to burst from my finger tips and fill the room like some strange childhood cartoon character. The hammering heartbeat was so loud and fast I was literally shaking with joy and adrenaline, but I realized Mori was still waiting on me to actually answer his question.
I started ruffling his hair again, trying to distract myself as my brain attempted to process a complete sentence to reply with that wouldn't a) give away how utterly incandescent I felt or b) make me sound like an even bigger idiot that he knew I was. "Well, as long as Mohi has no problems with it, I think that would be dandier than dandelions."
He threw his head up to look at me, his thin lips now curled into a joyful smirk. I shook my head lightly, rolling my eyes at his uncanny ability to make me feel like I was walking on clouds. Mori was still watching me, and after a moment, the look in his eyes changed. It was still warm and happy, but something more. My breath caught in my throat as I realized he was looking at me- yeah, me the crazy girl he had decided to ask out- that way, and before long, the gap between us had broken and we shared our first kiss.
There were a lot of firsts that followed after that for the two of us. The first time we had hold hands, the first time we had said "I love you," the first time I had called him by his first name, but alongside that came the first time we had fought and the first time Mori ended up making me cry. Hey, we were both human, so we knew we'd have to take the goods alongside those bad moments the way they came. It had been hard at first, letting everyone else in and going to that next step together, but those who were really apart of our lives had been alongside us from the start. Which was odd when it came to my brother Aki giving his okay, or the fact that Mitty was actually looking forward to hearing about my stories about Mori without getting entirely peeved at my newly existent love life.
But it didn't mean we were so lovey dovey that we didn't think about our own futures. Mori was going to college in Tokyo to study business to take over when his family approved, and me? Well, I was heading to America. Yeah, that's right, that country across the big lake from us. When I initially applied for the opportunity to study medicine over there, it had been more of a joke at a last minute attempt to show myself how far I could push my luck. But when it had actually pulled through, and Boston university had actually wanted me, I couldn't really say no. Mori had been quiet when he had first heard, but like usual, he engulfed me in his arms and told me he was so proud of me.
The smile of my face must have been sad as I thought back on it, knowing that now, it really was becoming a reality. One more month, and we would be thousands of miles away from each other. Mori made a small indication that he had noticed my trip down memory lane, and I squeezed his hand in one of mine to tell him I was fine. I knew I would, though it would have been awesome if he would have come to America with me. As nice as it was to have him near me now, I would have to get use to the idea that communicating by phone would be the only way we would be able to communicate. So as cheesy as it sounded, I made sure Mori knew how much I loved him every moment I got when we were together. I mean, he had done so much for me, it was only fair right?
So after all the congratulations had been done, and everyone was off to do their own partying, the two of us took Mori's private car down into the city for our own little celebration. And no, before you get the wrong idea, we were going out to dinner. I was thinking it would be a nice little cafe where we could sit and chat, but like usual Mori was always one-upping the game to make me feel like a princess out of a story book. The restaurant that the car stopped in front of was fancier than all get out, and all I could do was stumble incoherent words at how shocked I was. He had always been full of surprises, but this, this topped them all.
A nicely dressed man in a starch straight suit and pristine white gloves helped me out of the car, and all I could do was gape like the look I was at the sheer fancy swagger this whole get up had. Mori was right beside me, chuckling under his breath as I tried to ram my elbow into his stomach for tricking me into thinking this was going to be a calm evening for the two of us, but stopped short when I realized what kind of place we were in. After having a waiter bow to me- yeah, what now?- and have another fancy butler guy pull my chair out for me, Mori and I were alone at a beautiful table, staring at each other over the candles floating in a glass shoot filled with water.
"You're such a jerk." I whispered, afraid that if I spoke any louder, the rich people around us would get whiff that I obviously didn't belong here. "Comfortable dinner, my ass."
"It could be worse." He replied simply, moving to encompass both of my hands across the table.
The rest of the night was nothing short of magical. Sure, Mori had treated me to some pretty extravagant stuff in the past, but this dinner topped the charts on anything he had whipped out of that romantic heart of his beforehand. A guy with a violin came to serenade us while we waiting for our meals, the food was something straight out of some crazy realm in terms of deliciousness and presentation. But more than anything, the way Mori watched me and continued to hold my hand across the table despite the various interruptions of our waiter and various other workers made me so giddy I could have cared less about all the upscale stuff going on all around me.
But the biggest surprise was still to come.
We had been waiting for dessert, and I was amazed as the Chantilly cream and handpicked berry compote was placed in front of me. It was so beautifully plated, until I noticed the one thing out of place. A ring. I had to do a very obvious double take before dropping my spoon to the table with a loud clatter. My eyes were about to burst out of my skull as I looked at Mori, and after a moment, he broke out into an uncontainable laugh. The rumbling noise broke out into the silence all around us, and for a moment, all I could do was watch in shock.
"Please tell me this is a joke." I squeaked, flushing like one of strawberries on my plate. "Takashi, you can't seriously be-"
"I am." The humor from just a moment before was all gone. "But listen, Hoshi, we can't get married now. But I have to make sure you're all mine. Forever."
I blinked, taking in his serious words like an incompetent simpleton. Wait, so he was asking me to marry him, but not now? I mean, heck yeah I was excited, but Mori was a piece of work. I already knew that neither of us wanted to get married until we had graduated from college and Mori's family could truly approve of me. Not that they hated me or anything, but they wanted to be absolutely sure that I could carry my weight as the wife to the next head of the Morinozuka family. I had never doubted that Mori knew I could do it, but now, seeing him actually want me despite what anyone else said filled me with something so unspeakable I remained silent for a full few minutes.
A joke was shaking out of my lips as I managed a tiny smile."Afraid some American hottie was going to sweep me off my feet?"
He met my smile with one of my own. "You are quite the catch."
A blush leapt to my cheeks as I squeaked, unused to this sexy side of Mori. No matter what, this meant that we would only be separated for a little while. This ring meant more than anything else I could have imagined: that in the end, someone as sweet and caring at him actually looked forward to spending the rest of his life with me. And hey, you can't really ask for more, can you?
FINIS