Wedding Dress | Epilogue
The wedding dress was palest purple, flowing softly around her knees, emphasizing her wide pale eyes. There was no other word to describe her but beautiful. She caught sight of Shino and smiled, her facing lighting up even more.
"Shino-kun!" Hinata stood up and walked over, infinitely graceful even on impossibly high heels. She reached up on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms delicately around his neck in a quick but affectionate hug, her lips lightly brushing his cheek. Shino caught a whiff of strawberry shampoo as she drew back.
"You look nice. Beautiful." The word was unfamiliar on his lips. "But I thought you wanted a long white one, with a train." Yeah, he knew what trains were now.
Hinata blinked in surprise, her brows furrowing in confusion. "No, I don't think I really thought about it before. Kiba and I picked this out together. He likes the colour so much," she said with a giggle, her lips curving in a smile. "Anyway, a long dress would be inconvenient."
"I see." But Shino didn't see. He knows he remembered, word for word, what she wanted. I think a white one would be nice, just brushing the floor, with a train. That's how he'd always pictured her on her wedding day. It had been a surprise to see her in her current dress—not an unpleasant surprise, but a surprise all the same.
Just another sign of how she wasn't his.
"What's wrong?" Hinata asked quietly. She could hardly see his face, but she'd known him long enough to know that something was bothering him.
Shino shrugged. "I'm happy for you, you know." He said it firmly, as if he had someone to convince. Then he quickly left to find Kiba before the ceremony started.
Everyone close to Team 8 was there. Hinata's father, puffed up with pride; her little sister, wide-eyed with excitement. Ino and Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura, Neji and Tenten. Even the Kazekage had sent his siblings as representatives. Kurenai was teary-eyed but preoccupied, trying to keep her daughter from climbing onto one of the Inuzuka's huge dogs. The feral Inuzukas were rowdy bunch, and the excessive number of dogs didn't help in maintaining a quiet atmosphere either.
After the customary kiss, it was time for Shino to give the best man speech. Not that he had willingly volunteered to do it—forced, cajoled, bribed, these seemed to describe his situation more accurately. He did give the speech though, a painfully short one where each passing second seemed like an hour to him, but it was a speech all the same. Kiba looked delighted at the heartfelt words, and Shino couldn't help but think, anything for a best friend.
Then the bride and groom had paraded out of the building to the lunch reception, their friends and family thronging after them. Hinata had looked back, catching Shino's eye, and given him his reward. Her beaming smile remained etched in his mind even as he watched her retreat further and further from him. Her happiness, that was all he'd ever wanted.
Yet even after all these years, Aburame Shino was still jealous of Inuzuka Kiba.
Shino took a step after the procession, hands in pockets, then stopped at the feel of cold metal. The ring he'd bought, still without an owner. He took it out, studied it for a moment, and dropped it on the floor emotionlessly. He didn't hear the klink as it hit the ground and rolled away.
He was already walking, leaving the abandoned remains of his love behind.