Hana Kimi Fan Fiction ❯ Years Away From What I Need ❯ A Dance for Sakura ( Chapter 16 )

DISC: I don’t own Hana Kimi or the characters. They belong to Hisaya Nakajo. Please don’t sue. I’m not profiting from this story, other than the benefit of the joy of writing it.


The night of the dance came.

But not without a few more supplemental lessons in the form of Nakatsu, Kyoumi, and Masa going out to a nearby club (Saturday nights only, folks - so no interruption of school schedules!) and dancing in public first. The thought was that if he could handle dancing in front of total strangers, he'd be ready for the big event.

That and the fact that they seemed to have a whole lot of fun when they were all together.

Before you knew it, it was the big dance. Nakatsu helped Masa get ready - giving him last minute tips as he dressed in his tux - and then went home to sulk. As he opened the door, he sighed and flexed his hand. It still hurt when it rained, but other than that, it seemed to finally be healed. Quickly laughing at his stupidity, he went in to fix a light dinner.

He flicked the light on and entered the kitchen to see a blue iris in a blue vase, right next to a notebook. On top was a note in his favorite handwriting:

Shuichi,
I hope you know that if they weren't making me go to this stupid thing, I'd be there with you right now.
The only good thing about going is I'll get to see first hand how Masa does with Sakura - and maybe help to stop him from rambling when he first meets her. I hope you have fun imagining all his stress tonight! It's going to be hilarious.
And don't worry about the boys here. There's not a one that can hold a candle to the fire in my heart that burns whenever I think of you. You are, and have always been, my love.
I left you something to keep your mind occupied. As always, you'll be the first one to read them.
It's my Christmas Present to you.
I love you.
Kyoumi

Holding the note close his heart, he smiled dreamily, and thought, 'I bet even in whatever dress they've chosen this year, she'll look like an angel.'

Then he grabbed a pan to start cooking some dinner. The sooner he finished eating, the sooner he could settle down and read some more about his girl.

X

He was deeply snuggled into the couch - in sweat pants and a t-shirt - and about half-way through the 5th story when the doorbell rang.

He'd taken his time reading each story, then holding his place in the book, he closed his eyes and replayed what he'd just read, burning it into his memory as a part of the woman he loved and what he loved about her.

Coming Home
Ryuho gave her a grimace. It was his very first expression as she stepped off the train. He took one look at her and grimaced. Her own expression became sad for a moment and then she forced a smile in place.

"Ryuho! You came to pick me up. I thought I was going to have to take a cab." She embraced him, hoping he'd pick her up and swing her around like he used to. But deep down, she suspected that he might never do that again.

He smiled gently at her as he returned the hug loosely. "Suki, do you really think I'd let you catch a cab? You might never make it home then."

Rolling her eyes, she replied, "Ryuho, I'm a grown woman now. I think I know how to catch a cab."

Her older brother just sighed and said, "Don't remind me. And that's not what I meant."

The girl cocked her head questioningly at him and he continued as they walked out of the train station and to his car, "I hate that dress on you."

Frowning, she replied, "Oh." The back of her memory tickled a bit - like there was something she was forgetting. Something important.

"But I'm glad you're home. Finally." He held the door open for her and placed her bags in the back. Once he was seated, she smiled happily up at him.

"I'm glad you and Tsukushi are letting me stay with you instead of having to stay with mom & dad. This way I'll get to see you more. I've missed you a bunch."

"Yeah." His voice was sad. She didn't know what was going on. Her favorite sibling. Her brother - the one she'd always been closest to - was he pushing her away? She was finally home for summer, and instead of fighting and laughing with her, he was quiet and sullen.

"Um. Ryuho, there's nothing wrong with you and Tsukushi is there?"

He started, looking at her with surprise. "No. She's doing fine - three months along. Why?"

'It must be me then.' "No reason." She paused for a minute. "Are you sure you want me staying with you? You must want all the time you can have with her to yourself before your kid arrives..."

He looked at her suspiciously. "Don't you want to stay with me? With us?"

Sighing in exasperation she responded, "Of course I do! I asked, didn't I?" They drove in silence for a few minutes. Finally, she got fed up. "Okay, are you going to tell me why you're acting all weird? Or are you going to spend the whole two weeks I'm here acting like you've been taken over by the body snatchers?"

"Wha-?"

"Don't give me 'Wha?'. What is up?" The silence hung for several more minutes.

Finally, he responded softly, "You're all grown up."

"Excuse me?"

He sighed and repeated himself. "You're all grown up. Soon you're going to have a boyfriend. And then you'll get married, and I'm going to lose my little squirt entirely. And I'm not ready. I... I'll miss you too much."

Laughing, she replied, "You're an idiot. Don't you know I'll always be your baby sister?" She smiled softly at him and put her hand on his arm. "Always."

His face softened and he gave her a glowing smile. "I still hate that dress on you, though."

It was good to be home.

It warmed his heart how important her family was to her. He felt the same way about his mom and dad - even though he rarely saw them.

OH, and soon he'd have to introduce her to them. He had told his mother he was dating, but nothing about it being just one girl yet – much less the engagement ring.

And there was still the fact that he had to meet her parents. He wanted to meet them BEFORE he proposed. Maybe at the graduation. Maybe. Would that give him enough time before the trip to Io's?

Dammit. He needed to talk to Umeda about setting that up. But not yet. There was no need to endure the kind of teasing that would induce for 3 whole months!

He settled in to the fifth story, and drank in all things Kyoumi. Until the doorbell rang.

At first he didn't really hear it. But whoever was at the door was persistent. Finally, it broke through the story to his consciousness. "What? It's.." He looked at his watch and saw the time as 12:47am. "It's almost one in the morning. Who the hell?"

Looking through the peephole, he saw one severely pissed looking Sakura, arms crossed tightly, one foot tapping as she waited. 'Uh oh. This can't be good.'

He unlocked and opened the door. "Sakura-imouto, what on earth brings-"

"Don't you DARE Sakura-imouto me! Not after what YOU did!"

Blinking at her he couldn't have looked more dumbfounded if he'd tried. "What *I* did? What did I do?"

"I can't believe you! You're acting like you don't know?!" She stormed past him into the house, and he quickly rushed in after her, leaving the door open wide. She quickly found her way into the kitchen and pointed to the vase. "She even left you a FLOWER?"

"Sakura, what are you talking about? What's going on? Is Kyoumi-"

"Is Kyoumi, WHAT?!" She spun to face him and pointed her finger so it was stabbing him in the chest. She saw the terror in his face but was relentless. Outrage clearly defined on her face, she poked him in the chest with each shouted word for emphasis: "STANDING BEHIND YOU WITH HER ROOMMATE'S NEW BOYFRIEND?!"

She kept up the charade until the words' meaning began to sink in. Then she raised one eyebrow and smiled at him for a second and as his expression grew more puzzled, she threw her arms around him, hugging him and laughing as he turned to see Kyoumi and Masa giggling behind him. "New... boyfriend?"

Sakura smiled and nodded at him, grinning from ear to ear and softly said, "And Kyoumi says you have something to do with me having the best dancer at the whole dance all to myself. Remind me to thank you later, Niisan."

"Okay, guys," Kyoumi stopped giggling long enough to say, "you agreed to walk me here, but I think that's enough torment for one night. You'll have plenty of time to taunt him later."

Masa gave a thumbs up and agreed, "Yeah - like when we start coming over for dinners on Thursday nights together."

"Wha- WHAT?" Nakatsu stuttered his confusion.

They all laughed. "See, he's SO easy to torment!" Sakura grabbed Masa by the hand and said, "See you back at the room, Kyoumi. Don't stay out too late. You still have to pack for the train ride home."

And with that, the new couple left the older couple alone.

Kyoumi immediately embraced her man, smiling fondly. He held her tightly, tucking her head under his chin. "So I take it the dance was a success for our boy?"

Kyoumi nodded, pulling back slightly so she could look up into his eyes. "You wouldn't believe it. They were named best couple. And Kayashima-san and Midori were hoping for that title for themselves. But even Kayashima-san said that they were glowing too brightly for them to have NOT gotten it."

Nakatsu gave her a soft smile. "That's nice."

Running her hand along his chin, she said, "Hmmm. Is that why you wanted to go to the dance so badly? Were you hoping for that title for us?"

His fiery eyes burned with sincerity as he said, "I don't need a stupid title to know that we're fated to be happily together forever." Then he kissed her forehead and said, "But it's nice that Sakura-imouto can have that, too."

She nodded. "And don't worry, I only danced with one boy - because I was forced to. The rest of the time, I worked at the punch stand." She winked at him and he grinned.

"Well, I didn't mean for you to not enjoy yourself."

"What? You think watching Masa with Sakura wasn't fun? He didn't even bother to say anything to her at first except, 'May I have the pleasure of a dance?' Then, as they were dancing, he told her that she was the most beautiful woman in the room."

"How do you know this if you were working the punch stand?"

Rolling her eyes, "Duh. Girls always go to the bathroom in pairs for a reason. Anyway, she confessed to me that if he hadn't been dancing so well, that kind of 'line' would have gotten him a sock in the jaw. By their second dance though, he told her that he'd seen her kick that guy's butt a year ago and that he was impressed."

By this time, the couple was snuggled on the couch, Kyoumi on his lap, Nakatsu just stroking his hand up and down her arm.

"Well, you know how Sakura is, she made some sort of smart alec remark about it taking him a year to get up his nerve to talk to her and what kind of man did he think he was - purely defense mechanism, I think. Their dancing was so beautiful, I think she felt way too vulnerable.

"Anyway, without missing a beat, Masa said, 'I'm the kind of man who takes the time to make sure he's ready, so that when he goes after a woman as intelligent and beautiful as you, he can give her all that she deserves.' And then he spun her, pulled her back to him, and dipped her almost to the floor. Everyone watching was frozen, it looked like he was about to lean in for a kiss. But he said, 'I would never presume to kiss a woman unless I could be certain it would be welcomed.' And then he brought her upright, bowed over her hand and said, 'I'd like to continue dancing with you this evening.'

"He was pretty smooth. A few girls came up and tried to get him to dance with them, and he said that he would only dance with Sakura, and if she didn't dance with him, he wouldn't dance at all. Said he just wasn't interested. They were standing right by the punch stand by then. I had a hard time not laughing."

"So, I take it she agreed to dance with him again?"

"Only after he sat down with her and talked with her for about half an hour. She said she wanted to know him first - dancing doesn't tell you the whole story.

"Next thing I know, they're talking, and he's rambling 1,000 miles a minute, but she's laughing and hanging on his every word."

"You're kidding?"

Eyes wide, she shook her head no. "They just really seemed to work."

"You know, that rarely happens in situations like this."

"I know."

The two just sat cuddled for a few more moments, thinking about how sweet it was that the two kids found each other like this.

Then Kyoumi sighed. "I... leave tomorrow you know."

"I know. And apparently you haven't packed yet."

She sighed in response. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I... wanted to spend Christmas with you, but Mom and Dad..."

Smiling, he placed a finger on her lips. "We've been over this before. It's okay. You should go home and spend the holidays with your family. And I'm going to do the same. But next year, I'm keeping you all to myself!" he declared, and she laughed.

"It's a deal." She laid her head against his chest and breathed in his scent.

"Hey, you know what? It's after midnight, so it's officially Christmas Eve Day." He lifted her as he stood, then set her back on the couch. "Wait right here." He ran toward the bedroom, while she wondered what was going on.

He came back with his hands behind his back. "Because it's officially Christmas, I can give you THIS!" He pulled out a rectangular box fand handed it to her.

Eyes widened as she looked at the burgundy box with a gold bow on it. This was... something expensive. She could tell. Tentatively she took the proffered box, and slowly she opened it.

His eyes were glued to her face and he was chewing his lower lip nervously as the box opened and she gasped. "Do- do you like it?"

"My god, Shuichi! It's beautiful!" He beamed.

"It's not nearly as beautiful as you." She was too stunned to do anything but smile up at him dazedly. "Here, let me put it on for you."

She handed him the box, and he pulled the bracelet out and with shaking hands, managed to get the clasp to secure it around her wrist.

Looking down, "You... shouldn't have. It's... too much."

Pulling her to him, he replied, "No. It's not enough. Merry Christmas, Kyoumi-ai."

"Merry Christmas, Shuichi-ai."

They kissed tenderly, and then he stood up, holding her hands and pulling her up with him. "Well, I better walk you to your dorm. I believe you still have some packing to do."

Looking down sheepishly, she nodded. They put on their coats and shoes, and headed toward St. Blossom's, his arm around her shoulder the whole way.

Outside the gates, he pulled another package out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"Shuichi! You already gave me a Christmas present-"

"This is for the New Year. Open it as the sun rises on the new year, and think of me." He held her tightly, and she began to cry.

"I don't want to be away from you." Her tears fell onto his shoulder, and he stroked her back.

"Well, you could always blow off your family and come spend the holidays with me." She looked up at him in shock. Was he serious? It looked like he was. "But my mom's a handful. I was kinda hoping to delay that kind of trauma for you."

She laughed. He was serious and joking at the same time. But she couldn't take him up on it. She needed to spend one last holiday with her family as a girl, because soon she would be leaving them to live her own, adult life. "No. I do need to go home to my family."

"Yeah. I know." He lifted her chin and kissed her tenderly. "Be safe while we're apart."

"You, too," she replied. Neither of them said any more. They just kissed one more time, and then separated. She disappeared inside the gate, and he walked home, alone.

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