Standard disclaimer applies here

Shuffle
By MikazukiDreams

Chapter 1— Like a golden sunrise

Summary: We're all winners in our own way.

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I loved her first.

Even though I was young and a bit silly, living a life of confusion and uncertainty, I always knew I loved her.

She was everything. She was the fresh summer breeze, the light smell of vanilla, the first ray of sunshine after a cold, long winter. She was the beacon of light in my time of darkness. She was the twinkling laughter that was music to my ears, the anchor that kept me from losing my mind in loneliness. She was my best friend, the girl who was always there, always watching, always caring.

I had this fantasy long before I received their mail today. That she would belong to me one day, and I to her. Somewhere deep inside, maybe I had this little knowledge that she wasn't ever going to be mine, but I refused to believe that. After all, for five years she'd been mine, and mine only.

I should've known better.

After all, everyone always liked him more.

-x-

He wasn't bad. He wasn't my enemy or anything. In fact, he was the complete opposite— he was my best friend. He was also my boss, the head of the company I work for. And he'd been gone overseas for those five precious years she'd been mine (or so desperately I wanted to believe).

He surprised me when he told me he liked her; after all, he was a man of picky tastes, always proclaiming unworthiness on females whom he'd never even had a chance to meet. And so I smiled and patted him on the back and promised to set up a date for them both, because they were my best friends and it would be selfish of me to only want happiness for myself, right?

I can't say they were smitten after their first meeting— perhaps even the opposite. It was like watching one of Jane Austen's novels, Pride and Prejudice, come to life right before my very eyes. At first, they were hostile, and in ways I was relieved. But over time, I saw it; changes impossible to ignore. Gradually, she drifted away from me. Gradually, she slipped through my fingers, like fine sand.

Gradually, she became his.

-x-

Now as I glance at the expensive invitation in my hand, decorated with fine gold script, I wait for feelings of bitterness.

Surprisingly, I don't feel a thing.

And maybe now I realize that sometimes storybooks lie and that your first love may not be your last and that sometimes (if you're lucky) you'll find someone who loves you unconditionally and when you do, you hold onto those people forever.

So I hold the card in my hand with pride, because I've helped create a perfect love for my two best friends, and I smile as I feel hands creep up and wrap around my chest and a soft head lays on my back.

"Sakura-chan and Sasuke are getting married?" Hinata asks softly, peeking over my shoulder.

I turn around and place a kiss on her forehead. "It's about damn time, don't you think?" I say, and Hinata blushes and smiles.

And I grin because she makes me grin and I laugh because she makes me laugh and I love because she makes me love and I know, in the end, I haven't lost after all.

I may have not gotten Sakura Haruno, but I am happy.

Fin.

Note: just because i had a flash of inspiration. if you got any prompts, feel free to inbox me on tumblr! i don't usually reply to PMs on this site.

-A

PS: oh and if any of you know any super great Dramione fanfics, holla at me! i'm a little bit obsessed. :)