Hello! Hello! Sorry for the late update again. But since the story's called, "Late," I'm really just advertising my update speed, right? =D Okay, that was a really bad joke, but it's kind of true... (;-_-)

Life (and the stupid Million People of Corda game that half runs my life that I'd quit if I weren't so much of a sucker for Kazuki's stories) has been busy, and this chapter is pretty important (and uncooperative), so it took a lot longer than I had expected for it to come out.

Somewhat shameless plug, but one of the things that kept me busy was that I had recently been upgraded to an admin for a La Corda writing community called Scribe's Faction. I just finished setting up a forum on FFN, so please check it out to learn more. =)

Thank you again to people who sent me PMs and reviews. (^_^) Since I was so buried, your feedback helped remind me that this still needed updating. =D I hope you'll enjoy the newest installment of "Late"!

"…What…?" His voice was hoarse with disbelief.

She flinched as his face just froze. The mixture of shock, anger, and confusion swirling together in his eyes ripped her to shreds. "I didn't agree to marry him because I was madly in love with him," she repeated quietly.

"Then why-?" The words stilled on his lips as she lifted her hand for silence.

"That competition in high school was one of the happiest times of my life," she murmured. "If I didn't have Yuji, I'd wish time could have just stopped there."

He raised his eyebrows in confusion at the random subject change, but kept his mouth shut. Knowing her, she'd eventually bring it around to tie back—at least, she usually did.

"Over the course of that time, I became close to all of the participants: Fuyuumi-chan, Tsuchiura-kun, Tsukimori-kun, Shimizu-kun, Yunoki-senpai," she turned her luminous eyes on him, "and you, Hihara-senpai." Biting her lip, she continued, "On our graduation day, Tsuchiura-kun confessed his feelings for me."

Kazuki's eyes widened. He hadn't known that.

"He said I didn't have to give him an answer then, that he could wait. So I didn't…and to my shame, I never did," she continued sadly. "Tsuchiura-kun was like a male best friend or older brother figure to me, and…it completely threw me for a loop. I had no idea he felt that way about me. In retrospect, as I mulled over his confession, it was obvious though." She looked unbearably sad. "The way he'd protect me and watch out for me, how he'd try and reassure me in that clumsy, gruff way of his…. He even went back to playing the piano in front of others for my sake." She looked down at her clasped hands. "It was obvious, but I was completely oblivious."

She stared blankly out the window behind him not really seeing anything. "Then, a little before Shimizu-kun left to study abroad, he sent me a written confession."

On the internal timeline in his head, Kazuki pinned that down as being the summer after her graduation.

"He wrote that he understood if I didn't and might never love him that way; he just wanted to tell me because love is something you give without expectation of something in return."

"The kid always had his deep moments," Kazuki murmured.

Her eyes flicked warmly over to him. "Yes, he did." In a stronger voice, she continued, "When I talked to him before his flight, I thanked him for the letter, and I gave him a kiss on the cheek and a promise that even if I didn't know how I felt, he'd always have a special place in my heart."

"Lucky," Kazuki thought jealously. If he had known he'd get a kiss from Kaho-chan (even if it was sort of a pity kiss), he'd have confessed twelve years ago.

"That first year and a half of college, Yunoki-senpai would call at least once a week and drop in to see me whenever he was in town."

Kazuki was stunned. Just how had he managed to miss these going-ons between his two (supposedly) best friends?

"He even proposed to me and said he'd be willing give up his luxurious life and cut off ties with his family so we could be together."

His lower jaw headed for Antarctica.

"But I couldn't accept his proposal," her voice broke slightly as emotion choked it. "I just couldn't. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had married him. He was willing to give up absolutely everything for me…and…and I knew that if our places had been reversed, I wouldn't have been able to do the same." She sighed. "He said that he didn't care about money or luxury as long as we could be together, and I'm sure he meant what he said, but…while I loved him, I didn't know if I loved him enough to make up for his sacrifice. In the end, I decided it wouldn't be fair to him, so I turned him down. It took awhile to make him understand, but eventually he accepted my decision."

"Oh…." Now he knew why there was a period of time that both of his friends had seemed really depressed. He wished he had been more persistent/smarter about getting them to open up back then.

She gave him a small smile. "Yeah. As for the rest…."

He nodded briefly. "Right." Not too long afterward, Yunoki had gotten engaged to a rich heiress that his family had chosen. Now that he thought about it, things had been kind of awkward between his friends for a while, but eventually they'd gotten over it. He was glad.

"I almost dated Tsukimori-kun. He was my first kiss," she murmured.

"What?!"

"Shh!" she hissed, indicating the bedroom where Yuji slept. He had already proved that he could sleep like the dead—something she was extremely grateful for in retrospect—but there was no point in continuing to tempt fate.

"Sorry," he whispered loudly.

"You should be," she deadpanned. "It was your fault it didn't happen."

"Hah?" Now he was really confused.

A small giggle escaped. "Prague isn't that far from Vienna in the grand scheme of things, so we'd hang out sometimes on long weekends my first year away."

Her eyes became unfocused again. "After a concert one time, he asked if I'd be his girlfriend. I almost said yes." She let out a slow, even breath. "But just as I was about to agree, all those times with you back in high school and college popped up. All those times people teased us about being far too close to be 'just friends' sprung up in my head, and…and suddenly I was terrified that they were right: that you were in love with me just as the others had been."

She turned anguished eyes on him. "And I was so afraid that if I started dating Tsukimori-kun, you'd hate me and the others would hate me too, and I just couldn't, couldn't have you all hate me. You especially were too important, Hihara-senpai; you were my best friend. I just couldn't risk it."

Kazuki felt sick. She had given up her happiness back in her junior year of college because she'd been worried about him. "If…if that was all that was holding you back, you should have dated him, Kaho-chan." He looked at her guiltily. "I mean…some friend I turned out to be, huh? Dropping you out of the blue like that, even if it was like four years later."

She shook her head. "Looking back on it now, it was all for the best. Tsukimori-kun and I…we were living in two different worlds, just like Yunoki-senpai and I were. Like Yunoki-senpai, he would have reached out to me and tried to draw me into his circle, but it just wouldn't be the same. I would always be aware of just how inadequate my playing is in comparison to his, and I'm sorry to say that I'm small enough of a person that those feelings of inferiority would have cast a shadow over our relationship." She sighed. "When I really think about it, I'm not sure we really had much in common other than our love for our violins. And that might've been fine for a while, but it wouldn't have been enough long term, and that wouldn't have been fair to either of us."

She grimaced and closed her eyes painfully. "In hindsight, I think I just didn't want to be alone anymore." She clenched her fists in her skirt. "I just wanted it to be done with. I wanted the choice to be made." Her shoulders drooped as she stared at the floor. "I knew that Tsuchiura-kun and Shimizu-kun were still waiting for me—even Yunoki-senpai was waiting in a way—and I felt so guilty. So many people were missing out on making meaningful connections with others because I was unable to make a clear choice."

She looked back at him with that look that he knew signaled she was about to make the conversation come full circle. How she managed to keep all these things in her head was a mystery to him.

"Near the end of my first year in Prague, Takeshi-san and I met. He was just starting out as a salesman for the instrument company he worked for and had come around to the music store I was working at part-time to talk about their products." She smiled softly. "He was the first person who wasn't one of you guys to take an interest in me." Her eyes went unfocused for a second as she remembered that time. "It was…so liberating to have someone who was interested in me that wasn't so closely connected to my other friends—no toes to worry about stepping on, no concerns that I'd breed bad blood between you guys for choosing one over the others, no past history to keep in mind. I went on a date with him solely because of that, I think." She looked apologetically at him. "I'm sorry for not telling you about him before you came to visit."

"Why didn't you?" The instant the words flew out of his mouth, he wanted to take them back.

Pain and sorrow dimmed her eyes. "After I told Tsukimori-kun about Takeshi-san…he became impossibly cold. He was still disappointed that I hadn't been able to answer him, and having Takeshi-san there made it even worse. He probably felt like I was flaunting Takeshi-san in his face as my answer when he came for a surprise visit. And explaining my reasons for dating him just made him become even colder." Her face became bitter. "I almost completely ruined my friendship with Tsukimori-kun over Takeshi-san. He distanced himself from me because he thought it was what I wanted: to not be bothered by all of you and the feelings you had for me."

"Was it?"

"No," she shook her head vehemently and blew out a frustrated breath. "It was just nice, you know? Not having that kind of pressure."

No, he didn't know, but he just mutely nodded, figuring it was the right thing to do.

"I cared for all of you and didn't want to hurt anyone by choosing from among you." She sighed guiltily. "But at the same time, I was lonely…I wanted to be with someone, and, well, being with Takeshi-san…it took care of those problems."

"…I see."

She sighed. "I considered breaking things off with Takeshi-san in hopes that I could bring that act to Tsukimori-kun as a kind of peace offering, but in the end, I didn't go through with it." She chuckled darkly. "What would I have told Tsukimori-kun if I had stopped seeing Takeshi-san? I broke things off with the guy I've been dating for you, but I can't date you because I'm afraid it would make everyone else from back in high school, especially my best friend, hate me?" She eyed Kazuki thoughtfully. "But…you wouldn't have hated me, would you?"

"No," he shook his head. "Well…" he cocked his head as he thought more about it, "I would have probably been pretty bitter at first, though maybe not too surprised. I mean you kind of idolized his music, and everyone had been like Violin Romance this and Violin Romance that." He made a face. "It seems to me he had an unfair advantage." When she chuckled, he looked at her more seriously. "I don't think I could ever truly hate you though, Kaho-chan. Believe me," he winced, "back when I was freezing you out, I tried to make myself hate you. I failed pretty miserably at it."

She nodded in understanding. "So I stayed with Takeshi-san and prayed that Tsukimori-kun would get over it, sort of like Takeshi-san had." At Kazuki's questioning look, she explained, "Takeshi-san…he knew that I didn't love him as much as I loved all of you, but he chose to stand by me anyway. He understood my confusion and didn't ask me to give up any of you. He was kind and thoughtful and unselfishly happy with what love and affection I could give him; he just wanted to try and make me happy." She wiped her eyes. "And for those reasons, I agreed to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him."

"Ah…." Now it made sense. "He was a good man," Kazuki murmured, mentally apologizing for all the ill feelings he had ever harbored for Takeshi Takashina.

"That he was," she agreed quietly.

For a while, they stood in silence. A lot of things made more sense now, but there was still one thing that bugged him. "Kaho-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"If you had made up your mind about it, then, at the airport…why did you ask me that?"

She flushed and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's…umm…it's kind of complicated."

"I'm listening."

"Yeah…" she smiled sadly to herself, "you always have…." She nervously wet her lips and blew out a breath. "Part of it was that I wanted your blessing. I didn't want what happened between Tsukimori-kun and me to happen between us." She smiled briefly at him. "You can't imagine how happy and relieved I was when you came to the wedding and kept up our correspondence. You were such a good friend. You always worked so hard to encourage and support me in what I wanted." She looked ashamed. "I guess the other part was I wanted confirmation that you only thought of me as a friend and would continue to support me in my decisions. I figured that was going to be the most golden opportunity for a confession if there ever was one."

"Oh…." Now he felt stupid. Stupid and manipulated and used.

Recognizing the self-loathing on his face, she walked over and touched his hand briefly to get his attention. "But…it backfired. After you left me standing at the gate, I realized something." She looked him straight in the eye. "I wanted you to stop me."

His eyes widened.

"I wanted you to tell me that you wanted to be more than just my friend, that-that over time, you had come to have feelings for me…" she bit her lip and stated softly, "just like I had come to have feelings for you."

He was floored. He could not have been more speechless if pixies that flashed neon colors had set up a stage and started dancing the Irish jig in front of his face.

She hung her head. "But by then it was too late. You had told me to marry him; you didn't want me." She valiantly blinked back tears. "I had already hurt so, so many people. I deserved to finally know what it was like on the other side of the fence."

"Kaho-chan." He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to raise her head. "Please, please tell me you didn't marry Takeshi-san because you felt guilty."

"No, no," she assured. "That wouldn't have been right. Once I got over the shock of it all, I very calmly and deliberately decided to stay the course. Takeshi-san was a good man, and we cared about each other. I knew I would grow to love him very much and we could be happy together." She flashed him a weak smile. "Plus, by not being with you, I'd be able to avoid choosing you over everyone else, so win-win, right?"

She quickly stifled a laugh. He was clearly not amused. To be fair, none of this was funny. She just felt a bit giddy for some reason. Maybe it was because she was finally getting all these secrets off her chest; it was kind of liberating. It seemed there was something to be said for confession being good for the soul.

"So…what about now?" he asked, breaking through her thoughts.

She cocked her head in curiosity. "What about now?"

He leaned back and crossed his arms. The words came out slowly and evenly despite the hesitance and extreme nervousness that permeated his voice. "Yunoki, Tsuchiura, Tsukimori-kun, and Shimizu-kun are all happily married or engaged, and Takeshi-san has passed away."

Pretending she didn't know where this was going, she noncommittally agreed with the truth of his statements, but she couldn't quite manage to suppress the slight flush to her cheeks or the fluttering in her stomach.

"And…" he blushed, "you know how I feel about you and Yuji."

She quietly padded over to peek in on her sleeping child. Smiling down at his slumbering form, she murmured softly, "Yes, I do."

He gulped and walked over to her. "And…and at one point, a long time ago," she turned to face him, "you had feelings for me too," he breathed.

Her muted reply belied the loud, erratic pounding in her chest. "Yes, I did."

"So…what about now?" he asked quietly, taking her slim hand in his.

"Now…" she looked solemnly up into his eyes and touched his face lightly, "there's only you," she whispered.

Next chapter earns this story its T rating. If reading about things like kissing embarrasses you, then skip it. That's mostly all it'll be next chapter because I really, really, really, really, really wanted to end this chapter on the note I did. There are a couple of things that will happen next chapter, but if you read the chapter after it, you should probably be able to deduce them, truth be told. The next chapter mostly has to exist because it is way too awkward to go from this chapter to the content of the next chapter without some sort of transition between them.

I'm sorry if anyone dislikes my portrayal of Kahoko here. While she has a lot of good points overall, I was always under the impression that love would be one of her weak points. (Keep in mind that I'm coming from an anime-only perspective.) She's got a lot of options, all of whom are important to her, and I think she'd be somewhat paralyzed because she wouldn't want to hurt anyone. The only reason she was able to definitely turn Azuma down is because she felt he'd be hurt more by her acceptance than rejection.

Man, was Kazuki late in the game for confessions. XD I mean we already knew he was ridiculously late, but everyone else beat him to the punch even before the first time. XD I'm just now sort of realizing that Late is actually a fairly apt title for this piece. I had originally thought of calling it, "Never Too Late," but I thought that would be telling too much, and after waffling around the idea of an alternate title, I just decided to call it, "Late," out of laziness. XD

Thank you again to my reviewers! It really helps me to remember to keep working on my stories! I appreciate it. =D