Photograph

Tsukushi's eyes widened and once again, she did not know what to do. She was afraid to meet Tsukasa's eyes, so she closed them in order to escape. Her mind and her heart overflowed with thoughts and emotions. She thought of all the things that he has done for her. Every little thing he did was to make her life better, for her to live. Everything was for her.

Tsukasa couldn't look at Tsukushi for a second longer. He tried to look away but Tsukushi always brought him back to her somehow. The few seconds seemed to last a lifetime. He was waiting for an answer and in his head preparing for the worst answer. His heart was beating, so fast it seemed that it would pop out of his chest. With each Tsukasa felt his heart grow bigger and bigger, it seemed to him that it would burst soon, and then he saw it. Tsukushi slowly nodded her head with a faint smile on her face. Tsukasa's eyes widened and he felt himself turn completely red. And out of complete happiness, he just hugged her as tightly as he could. Tsukushi hugged him back and thought:

"I know I made the right choice, I owe my life to him."

Tsukasa slowly let go of her and quietly said:

"Let's go."

They packed everything up and went off to the van, holding each other's hand. Neither did anything else. As soon as the car began to roll, Tsukushi fell asleep. This made Tsukasa calm down. They slowly made their way home with Tsubaki waiting in the room waiting for the news.

Tsukasa carried Tsukushi into the house, and as he saw Tsubaki, he just nodded his head and she understood. Both siblings smiled at each other. Tsukasa carried Tsukushi into her bedroom and tucked her in. Gently he kissed her forehead and whispered:

"I promise I won't let you down."

Rui looked at the clock on his clock it read 10:55. His phone rang. He gently touched it and found a new picture. He slowly took his eyes off the computer screen and looked at it. It was Umi, in a white dress. The floor length dress fit perfectly to her small figure. She looked mesmerizing, even Rui had to admit she was a beautiful woman.

"How does this dress look? Busy soon to be groom?" Umi wrote.

"Very good" he wrote back and closed the phone. He started to get back to work when the phone rang again, indicating a new picture.

"How about this one?"

"Not bad." Rui wrote once again.

Umi was smiling all throughout the day until this moment.

"Why can't he be a little more concerned?" Umi thought to herself. "But it's ok. I can be excited and happy for both of us. He's just too busy with his work." Umi dismissed that and just wrote, "Don't forget that the Engagement Party is tomorrow. Make sure to be there a 6 pm."

Rui looked at the phone and as soon as he read the message, he shut it off and put it in his pocket.

"Marrying Umi… is it the right decision?" Rui thought finally. He never concerned himself with his personal life or the future of it too much, thus thoughts like these were occasionally rare. "But why am I hesitating?"

He turned around looked at the view outside. The fake city lights outshined the stars.

"Unless" the thought again "in my heart I'm still waiting. I'm still waiting for her. The girl from thirteen years ago. I should not be thinking of this, so much. It's not important." He brushed away the lingering thoughts again, and worked until his body couldn't take anymore.

In the morning, Tsukushi woke up in her soft and warm bed. She just stared at the white ceiling. Her mind was flashing back too many memories at once, and she had to gather her thoughts. She thought about her childhood her mom and her dad. She thought about Tsukasa and Tsubaki. Then she thought about the mysterious Martian – Rui. Everything about him was etched in her mind. She remembered every single detail of their meeting. What he wore, what he said, and what kind of face expressions did he had. Her mind drifted from time to time. Finally, she remembered yesterday. It was like something taken out from a fairy tale; they were the only words she could describe yesterday. She lifted her hand and saw a brilliant ring shining on her finger. Tsukushi took a closer to it. She saw a ruby in it.

"He must have spent so much money on this" she thought "he did it all for me. Again. Tsukasa is like a prince. A prince on a white horse, except he doesn't have one."

Tsukushi smiled at herself. She got up and hurried off to Tokyo to get some food for her little business. Tsukasa and Tsubaki were still asleep, thus they left them a note saying of her plans for today.

FEW HOURS LATER

"Thank you for your business" a sales clerk told Tsukushi and she just gestured "thank you." The owner understood and went off with his business. Tsukushi was walking back to her truck when a man ran into her.

"I'm sorry. Are you ok?" he asked and stopped only for a moment but it was enough for Tsukushi to recognize him.

It was the same doctor. The doctor who helped her thirteen years ago – Doctor Kin-San. She lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

Doctor Kin-san, it's I Tsukushi.

"Have we met before?" he asked. He was very puzzled but in a rush and wanted to get out of this predicament as soon as possible.

Tsukushi thought of an idea and pulled out a little notepad she carried with her and wrote.

Makino Tsukushi.

Kin-san looked at the piece of paper, and murmured to himself "Makino." Then a sudden flood of memories came back to him. Thirteen years ago, he just started out his doctor's career and a horrible bus accident couple of days after he has started working in the hospital. The hospital tried to rescue as many people as possible, and one of the survivors was Tsukushi. But she paid her price. No matter how many test he ran, how many medicine he prescribed the girl couldn't talk. And if her worries were not enough, after a couple of days her mother died in an accident. This girl was all alone in the world and then she met his other patient. The stubborn rich boy, who refused to be polite, soon he noticed that the two of them starting meeting each other. Even though they were young, barely stepping over their teenage years Kin-san always looked at them as a little couple. He even helped the two meet a few times. It was probably one of the most exciting weeks in his career. Working in a country hospital didn't bring any adventures.

"You're Makino. Makino Tsukushi!" he laughed.

Tsukushi nodded her head, glad that the doctor remembered whom she was, and she wrote on the piece of paper.

Do you need a ride? You seem to be in a rush.

"Please, and thank you I am already late for the train."

You're welcome.

"That's right, your little boyfriend" the doctor started but Tsukushi just waved her hands to say "not anymore."

The doctor understood her signs and just said:

"That's right, people say that the feeling of first love is always the best. The best memories"

Rui was sitting at his desk at home, when he caught staring at a picture of him and Umi. He gazed at that picture for a bit, while his hand moved to a table drawer and picked up another photo from such a long time ago. It was a picture of him and a mysterious girl. He took it right after they went to the carnival. This photograph was the only evidence of her existence.

He looked at a photograph slowly; he treasured it so much for no reason. It was so precious to him he didn't show it to anyone.

"I have to move on," he thought. "Perhaps, returning to the place where we first met will help me forget."

"Tsukasa" Tsubaki approached her younger brother sitting on the couch.

"Yeah" he answered slowly. He was deep in thought about everything.

"Are you sure you want to marry Tsukushi?" she asked forwardly.

This question brought Tsukasa's rage out:

"Of course I do!" he yelled, "I love her! Of course, I want to marry her! What's your problem?"

Tsubaki looked straight into Tsukasa:

"I don't want her to get hurt." She calmly said, "She has become more like a little sister to me and I have to take care of her. Of course, I know that you love her, and she loves you, too. I just want you both to be happy."

Tsukasa looked down at the floor below him he felt a little bit ashamed of himself. His sister has gone through, so much.

Tsubaki was married, once. Her husband was a wonderful man to Tsubaki; he loved her and helped her as much as he could. Tsubaki and Tsukasa's parents died shortly after Tsubaki's marriage. His father died of an untreated heart attack and his mother just collapsed completely after her husband's death. Tsubaki and her husband took Tsukasa in. Tsukasa rebelled in every way possible against them both in order to release his sadness of his parents' deaths. Tsubaki's husband traveled to Hokkaido, when an Earthquake hit. It didn't cause a lot of damage or many victims. However, it killed a few people and one of them was he. From that day on Tsubaki was always strong and supportive of her brother. Even though she was still young and very beautiful, her first priority was her brother's happiness. She had many offers of marriage, but she refused every single one of them. He was grateful to her.

"Don't hurt Tsukushi" Tsubaki said, "I know you will say you won't. But the smallest things can break someone's heart. So, be careful Tsukasa."

"I know sister. I won't let you down."

"You better not because otherwise I'll kick your ass," she smiled, and Tsukasa smiled back not knowing that his road of happiness was getting to a close. As two cars headed the same direction, with different lives but same familiar memories.

Author's Note:

Thanks for your reviews and thank you for reading. The last chapter I really intended them to be very different proposals. I really hated Umi and the character she is representing now in the drama as you can clearly see that. But it was almost a replica of a drama because it kind of reflected the persona I'm giving Umi, she basically forced Rui into proposing. The fragments and run-ons in most cases are made on purpose sometimes (I still make those mistakes but I try not to) as a stylistic element. So sorry. If you want longer chapters or shorter chapters please tell and I can make them very long or very short makes no difference to me. Thank you so much for reading.