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Chapter Ten
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A/n: okay guys, like I said: final chapter! I hope I have displayed the characters well enough in this one, because they -of course- have a role to fulfill in the play, without losing their personality too much. I didn't want to go all OOC on this chapter. Especially Yaya, I think she'd be the one to still kid around even though it's important as hell XD But yeah, I tried my best at it. And I must say, I quite like Yaya as Romeo… (:

So, as for the chapter… a lot will happen. Of course, the play itself. Tsubomi's getting close to breaking down from nerves and Yaya is utterly oblivious to the feelings the pinkette is dealing with. Will they be alright in the end, after the play? I'm not spoilering too much up here though, read for yourselves!
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The Play!
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BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BE— Yaya quickly smashed the alarm clock silent, groaning in displeasure as she looked at the red digits on it. It was only eight o 'clock, and for a brief moment, the raven-haired Spican just looked at the alarm with narrowed, absent-looking eyes, trying her best to remember why the heck the thing went off so early anyway. But then the event sunk in: the play. The last few days before the play had passed so quickly that she had a little bit of trouble acknowledging the fact that it was indeed the final day.

She kicked the blankets off her roughly, the sudden move making her wake up some more. Yaya couldn't afford to sleep in another five minutes only to end up an hour later today. They (being the whole crew supporting the play) had agreed to meet up with everyone and practice it all one last time before the show actually started. This was important and she knew for a fact that Tsubomi would probably tell her off if she'd be late. No excuses whatsoever. Yaya ever so slightly grinned at the thought of Tsubomi as she swung her legs out of bed and stretched, feeling more like a cat napping in the summer sun than ever.

Gathering up the courage to actually get out of bed, she sighed dramatically and then pushed herself away from the warm hiding place under the blankets. A groggy groan escaped her lips as she pulled open the curtains and a beam of bright sunlight pained her eyes.

Yaya opened the window, not affected by the cold breeze that quickly began to fill the room. Yaya'd never really hated the cold. Though she did prefer Summer and warmth in general over almost anything, during the wintertime, it was like her body instantly turned into a heater. Her body temperature would just shoot up, making her able to wear a simple t-shirt when other people were freezing to death wearing a sweater. She wondered idly if snow would melt around her.

She staggered off to the bathroom whilst she lazily texted Tsubomi to see if she was awake and alive too. A quick reply gave way that she was on her way to Yaya right now. The latter muttered.

"Damn. I hate getting up early on Saturdays."
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"Yaya-senpai, would you be so nice to actually pay attention?" Tsubomi nearly hissed to the coal-haired girl, over-emphasizing the suffix. She gave her a poke between the ribs not all too subtly for good measure, trying to get her to focus. "It's kind of important, you know."

The two girls stood backstage, along with some other crew members, listening intently to the scenes that were now acted out— at least, Tsubomi and all the others were. But Yaya just stood there, ever so easily teasing the pinkette in front of her and having a laugh at what the other cast members were producing, making jokes like she was handing out blankets to homeless people. And the fact that Chikaru-sama was hardly paying attention to the mob of girls backstage, too, didn't help at all.

A sudden rush of anxiety washed over Tsubomi as she realized that they had less than 12 hours to practice their asses off and produce a amazing show. And the way things were going now were quite good, above expectation, but Yaya was really starting to piss her off. It wasn't like she was angry at Yaya as a person, but it was more about the situation. She was literally camping with her nerves and the way the black-haired Spican acted so carelessly made her on edge.

"But Tsu-bo-mi-chaaan, I'm so busy observing you~" came the playful reply, and not soon after Tsubomi felt Yaya's strong arm enveloping her waist. A blush rapidly made her way to her cheeks as she unsuccessfully tried to shrug the older girl off.

"Get off!" Tsubomi whispered, trying not to interrupt the practice.

"What? You want me to start without you?" Yaya said with a smirk, amused at her own wittiness once again, "Why would you to that to me?" she continued, adding feigned hurt to her voice and gluing a fake pout on her face. She could practically feel Tsubomi stiffening up underneath her arms.

"B-b-baka! That's not w-what I meant!" the pinkette smacked Yaya on the head, fuming but also feeling her heart flutter when she admittedly thought of the image it brought to her head. She felt her cheeks go impossibly redder, and from her peripheral sight she noticed a sly grin making its way onto Yaya's lips. Tsubomi's eyes quickly flashed around to see if anyone was looking at them, if anyone was weirded out, but everyone was focused on the practice.

"But I did make you think of it, didn't I?

"… Idiot."

Yaya hummed and proceeded to tighten her grip on the smaller girl, her head now resting on Tsubomi's shoulder. She could feel her struggle, trying her best to get loose from her vice-tight grip, but the coal-haired Spican knew that she was way stronger. Yaya grinned like a lion as she bowed her head and breathed into Tsubomi's ear before proceeding to plant several kisses in her neck.

On instant, the rose-haired girl shivered, the feeling of Yaya's wet lips against her skin almost ecstatic. Her body went from rigid to melting into the other girls' arms in less than a second, and she cursed herself for letting Yaya take advantage. She knew she'd been practically keeping Yaya on a leash for the past few days, but only to feel herself desire for the older girl more and more, she just couldn't gather up the courage to finally let her emotions flow and tell Yaya the truth.

"Y-Yaya, stop!" she managed to whisper just feebly, trying to peel Yaya's arms off, but her limbs had gone numb, being about as strong as jelly.

But the raven-haired girl went on, gently yet with pressure biting down on the skin on Tsubomi's neck, causing a low moan to escape from her lips. Deep inside, Yaya knew that the pinkette really didn't want her to stop; it was just her principle and morale to say 'no', but she had feelings and emotions, and she was sure that they screamed 'yes'.

"S-stop it!"

A sudden shove pushed Yaya away roughly, a frown almost instantly knitting together above her expressionless brown eyes. She felt Tsubomi's enraged eyes piercing through her own, and for a second she felt seriously intimidated, wanting to apologize quickly, but she needed to listen to what the other Spican had to say first.

"What's wrong with you?" Tsubomi hissed, her pose viciously defensive, hands balled into fists and her amber eyes darting around nervously, not wanting to attract unnecessary attention, "What part of stop don't you understand?" she spat.

"I could ask you the same," Yaya shrugged as a matter-of-factly, "when will you stop wrapping me around your finger and leading me on? I was only trying to push you away from that."

Tsubomi raised her eyebrows, feeling a bit offended. Yes, she knew she was leading Yaya on. But that didn't mean she did it on purpose. Like she was just doing that for fun. She was involuntarily leading her on because she couldn't do anything else. She couldn't allow herself to do anything else, because she'd made mistakes before by going too fast, which made her live more in her shell nowadays. Tsubomi couldn't risk to do the same to Yaya. And even if she could allow herself to do just so, this was not the right time. Yaya needed to understand that.

"I'm trying to figure out what I feel and all I ask of you is to leave me alone in that. Yet, you don't listen. You never listen. Is it really so much to ask for?" the small Spican said in a low whisper.

"Well, it is when you ask me to stay away, but another when your body language says otherwise. You don't need more time, Tsubomi-chan. You know damn well how you feel. We both know. Why are you so scared to accept it? I won't hurt you." Yaya replied, grabbing Tsubomi's shoulders and squeezing them gently, but the pinkette swatted her hands away, her posture now offensive, arms flailed up into the air in a exasperated gesture, though she knew Yaya was right somewhere.

"How would you know what I feel? Who are you to say how I feel anyway, Yaya-chan? You did that once before, and that didn't end well either." Tsubomi instantly regretted her words when she saw Yaya's eyes go blank, hearing her heart shatter all over again.

The black-haired Spican swallowed away the feeling of immense guilt and pain as she tried to not show her hurt, but that was a futile attempt. In the back corner of her mind, the part that still made sense, she wondered how Tsubomi could think it was okay to say that right in her face."So… you want to play it that way, huh…" a low, humorless chuckle, "Let's not, okay? I don't want to do that to you, really. All I'm trying to say to you is that you should make a choice, Tsubomi-chan. Because I am not ready for a second let-down."

"You know what? I don't even care if you're ready for it or not. What about me,Yaya-chan? Can the world for once not revolve around how YOU are feeling? You think you're so sad, having to wait for me to decide, while I am the one having to figure out the feelings, the options and crossing the line AND having to do this stupid play!" Tsubomi bursted, throwing her script on the ground, unshed tears of frustration swimming in her eyes as she looked up to an astounded Yaya. It felt like everything that had bothered her came crashing down at once.

"Don't you get it?" the pinkette said, her voice dropping to a whisper again, "Don't you see how hard this is, for me? Not everyone is born as awesome as you, instantly knowing what you want and how to keep it there." she rolled her eyes.

Tsubomi felt tired all of the sudden, and she adverted her gaze from Yaya, feeling new tears prickling in the corners of her eyes. She sniffed and turned back to the other Spican. "We're up." she said dryly, staggering off to the stage with Yaya in pursuit.

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Yaya stared intently at Tsubomi, who sat all the way on the other end of the table at dinner. The lilac-haired girl was purposely avoiding her again, her eyes ever so quickly darting her way. Though she was still around in some radius, Yaya didn't really understand why she wasn't talking to her, it just had no point. The play was in less than a few hours and they had play the parts of lovers, for God's sake. And it wasn't that Yaya didn't understand her feelings, she was just wanting the girl so much at this point that she needed to confirm Tsubomi's emotions.

She sighed as she mutilated her food with her fork, too anxious to really eat anything. She normally wasn't the one for nerves, and she knew that her role was going to be near flawless since she knew the script by heart and the practice went perfect. But still, something inside her kept gnawing. She figured it had to do with Tsubomi. She couldn't get the look she had on her face out of her head, like it was somehow burned onto her retina.

"Yaya-chan, you feeling good for tonight?"

The girl in question turned to see Chikaru slip into the seat next to her, an ever present smile playing on her lips. Yaya grinned; she in fact was pretty excited, even though things had shaken up a little just now. "Hell yeah!"

"Good, I want you fully concentrated and ready in a few hours," the Shadow Empress of Lu Rim carefully said, eyes glinting knowingly, "so I hope for you there's nothing on your mind that can distract you in any way. Wouldn't want my star player to fail."

"Haha, really Chikaru-san, do you have that little faith in me?" Yaya joked back, grinning. But to be honest, a slow shiver ran down her spine. She hated it when Chikaru looked at her like that, and for a moment she felt as if she was going to blab about Tsubomi and everything right there. But Yaya contained herself and just smiled. She didn't need Chikaru's consolation. If anything, she was used to fixing things on her own, and in her own way. She'd manage.

"I'm just hoping for a perfect show. I've put a lot of work in this, not to mention you and all the other students. I would be devastated if something were to go wrong and you all would feel bad. There are thousands of little things racing through my head that need to be fixed, and I just wanted to check if my two main roles were feeling well."

Involuntarily, Yaya's eyes ever so slightly moved to Tsubomi's direction at the mention of her, catching just a flash of amber eyes before the pinkette had quickly adverted her gaze.

"I see. Well, don't you worry! I feel good." the raven-haired Spican replied, feeling a pang of guilt for lying to Chikaru. But she just couldn't give the poor woman more stuff to deal with, since she already looked so busy. The Lu Rim president hopped off again, skidding around the corner of the dining hall, probably on her way to the theatre already, preparing.

As the soft chatter and laughs at the table went on, Yaya sighed. Why was she letting this feeling she had ruin this night? She was supposed to be excited, and to worry about her text and not about some girl who didn't see that she was also having a hard time. The brown-eyed girl really believed that Tsubomi didn't understand how important she'd grown to her, and that it hurt to see her wait and wait with each day passing bringing another chance of rejection. Though she could judge by the pinkette's reaction that she was still interested, heartbreak scared her none the less.

In fact, it scared her to no end. Tsubomi didn't know, but she'd lay awake at night, thinking about several scenarios, how they would end up and how their friendship would eventually grow into something more. She hated to admit that fact but she could not stop to think about it. And now she loathed herself for pissing Tsubomi off yet again, hurting her and letting her down again. Yaya frowned. All she'd intended to do was to win the smaller girl over.

Yaya promptly stuck her fork in her steak and decided to go to her room to just relax for a while before the play. Just to rehearse her lines, perhaps do something to get her mind off Tsubomi. She knew she owned the pinkette an apology, and if she could she'd be on her knees already, but Yaya figured it'd be best to do it after the play. They'd only get caught up if anything were to happen before the show.

So the raven-haired girl doubted for a while but then stood up and left the dining room, practically feeling Tsubomi's eyes bore themselves in her back as she left. Little did Yaya know that the pinkette wasn't staring angrily at her. In fact, her amber eyes glinted with worry as she followed every move the raven-haired Spican made. Tsubomi felt horrible for accusing Yaya of things she wasn't even sure about, for speaking her mind before she'd actually thought it through. She had to admit that Yaya had made a point, but how would she let her know?

Tsubomi's eyebrows knitted together above her eyes. After confessing to Yaya and their little date in town, she'd hoped that these sort of things wouldn't happen anymore. She thought they'd settled things until she was to take it further down the road.

"Tsubomi-chan?"

Looking up, the girl in question saw a worried Hikari staring at her. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, but a-aren't you supposed to be practicing o-or getting ready? It's just two hours till the play starts, so…" the blonde said, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt, innocent blue eyes gazing.

"…Uhm, no offense, but since when is that your business? " Tsubomi snarled back, her reply harsher than she had intended. She saw Hikari shrinking back visibly and the former sighed, closing her eyes for a brief moment and massaging her temples. "Look, Hikari, I'm sorry, I'm just a little bit on edge. Thanks for your concern but I'll be fine. "

"Are you nervous? "

"No, not particularly. I'm just... I'm a bit jumbled up. There's a lot going on in my mind, but I need to focus on the play for now. I can't let myself be distracted." the pinkette replied, not bothering to give Hikari any other explanation. It wasn't that the blonde couldn't know of her troubles, Tsubomi just didn't want to confine herself with Hikari. Though the girl seemed reliable, Tsubomi had gotten some kind of dismay towards the innocent angel. Maybe because she was the one that had first broken Yaya's precious heart. Tsubomi wouldn't know.

But in any case, the pinkette knew that if she'd talk to her, she couldn't help. Maybe with other troubles, yes, but these things concerning Yaya, Tsubomi figured that the blonde would just emotionally collapse or so. Just because of what happened between them.

"Well... good luck then. But if you want to talk about it I'm here you know." Hikari said after a while, the air of awkwardness getting thicker and thicker. She just stood there a little helplessly, her big blue eyes making Tsubomi feel exposed.

So the pinkette slowly nodded and stood up from her dinner. "Yeah. Thanks. Hey, if you see Yaya, tell her I'm on my way to the auditorium already, okay?"

Tsubomi waltzed into the theatre, hoping she'd not directly bump into Yaya if she were here already, having absolutely no clue what to do if she did. But her worried thoughts were washed away as soon as she had closed the doors. The moment the pinkette set one foot in the room, she was overcome with noise and bustling people moving about in the theatre. Students ran about with costumes and stage lights, their yells and laughter drowning out their echoing footsteps.

Letting out an inaudible gasp, Tsubomi searched for a way to get to the stage, having to go right through the mob of busy girls. Her amber eyes darted around, looking for a route that disturbed as little people in their work or routine as possible.

"Tsubomi-chan!" an awfully familiar voice shouted her name, and said girl turned to the sound of the voice in record speed, only to find Yaya standing in front of her. Before Tsubomi could do anything, the raven-haired girl grabbed her hand and dragged her along. "I've been looking all over the place for you! We were really getting worried you know? I'd almost risked the wrath of Chikaru upon me by going out to search for you."

Yaya looked over her shoulder for a brief moment with a smirk on her face, confusing poor Tsubomi even more. The latter couldn't understand why Yaya started to talk to her like nothing had happened. Like they hadn't had that arguement a few hours ago.

"I-I-I don't understand, the play is still one hour away," Tsubomi stammered, "It's not like I'm late or anything... am I?"

"You, late? Of course not, kiddo, but Chikaru has made a few last-minute changes to the play. God knows how she'd come up with the nerve to change a Shakespeare, and especially thislast-minute, but she's done it alright. It's nothing major but you're gonna have to want to see this."

Dragging Tsubomi all the way backstage, Yaya finally let go of the pinkette's hand and grinned at her mysteriously as Chikaru just sat there behind a desk, basking in all her director's glory, the script in her hands. The moment the Queen of Lu Rim saw Tsubomi, her eyes sparkled knowingly and she jumped up, seemingly overjoyed.

"Tsubomi! You're here, good." she began, unwrapping the script from her hands and showing it to the rose-haired girl, pointing out the changes, "You see, I just thought up the most wonderful extra bit! It's right before the end, at the balcony scene. Instead of the planned intimate hug you're gonna share, you two lovelies are going to share a petit kiss." Chikaru smiled as if she'd just revealed the most awesome of plans ever.

Yaya chuckled in the background as Tsubomi went stiff and just stood there for a brief moment, utterly speechless. She stared at Chikaru like she'd gone mad. Kiss Yaya? In front of the rest of the school? What is she thinking?

"I beg your pardon?"

"Oh, you heard the woman Tsubomi-chan! You're gonna have to kiss me, aren't you excited~?" Yaya chimed in, her trademark smirk once again plastered on her face.

"You're really serious, Chikaru-sama?" the pinkette cautiously asked, her face going white as the latter nodded , "Huh. And you really think I'm going to kiss Yaya-chan in front of the entiredamn school? No offense on your ideas but, that's just unacceptable."

"But why not? It's nothing personal between you two, right? You're actors, it should be fine. But if you really insist, I'll scrap the idea. I'd just like you to consider."

Tsubomi nodded and politely waited for Chikaru to go back to her little desk and scribble around in the script again. She then grabbed Yaya's wrist and pulled the grinning girl along, away from Chikaru. Once they were out of hearing reach, Tsubomi leaned in closely to the raven-haired girl, pointing an angry finger at the Lu Rim president. "How the hell could you say yes to that?"

"It seemed fun." Yaya shrugged.

"Fun? I don't understand your humor then, Yaya-chan. Why would you even think I was going to agree with that?"

"I didn't. I said yes on my behalf because I don't have any problems with it at all. Are you okay with that, or are you against me having my own opinion now too?" came the agitated reply, shutting Tsubomi up for a bit. Yaya could not believe Tsubomi's unintended selfishness sometimes. But then again, that's what made the brat the brat. Yaya could laugh about it.

"Now, don't be mad, okay? If you don't want to do it, we won't. Don't make such a big deal about it, Tsubomi-chan. It's all way less worse than you always think." Yaya continued, grinning as the smaller Spican bowed her head a little in embarrassment. The latter really did felt a bit ashamed. She'd have to break that awful habit of instantly going into defense mode.

Yaya sighed as Tsubomi nervously shifted around a bit, looking at her feet and not knowing what to do. She looked up at Yaya a little helplessly, her eyes searching for some kind of confirmation in her own, and the black-haired girl suppressed a chuckle.

"Anyway, now that you're here, how about one final practice?"
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"Oh, you were the angel with the wings! May I ask you to show them again?" Yaya asked to Tsubomi, lifting one of her hands in mid-air towards Tsubomi and placing her other hand upon her chest, the two spotlights focused on her and the pinkette.

Tsubomi, who was standing on the stage balcony, leaned forward. "Romeo, o Romeo! Wherefore are thou Romeo?" she said with as much passion and love in her voice as she could muster, without actually going overboard. Her bright amber eyes were shining.

"If I could I would show them, but I cannot get down or else the maid will miss me and think I am gone, gentle Romeo"' she continued.

"Then fair lady, I will climb up to you." Yaya-Romeo said after a small pause.

The audience was utterly silent as the play moved on, gasping or laughing on all the right moments in the play. Something like fifty minutes had passed already, and both Yaya and Tsubomi had lost their nerves after their first few minutes on stage. Everything had gone like planned so far. Chikaru was nearly glowing with pride behind the curtains, wordlessly coaching the students who were on stage from the safe sidelines. Even Miyuki had dared to show up and watch.

Yaya and Tsubomi were both fully dressed in hand sewn costumes, made by no other than the Lu Rim Queen. The Spicans were accordingly dressed: Yaya wore a blue and yellow striped tunic and white leggings underneath. Her long hair was up in a bun to simulate the short boyish hair like Romeo. Tsubomi was completely different: she was wearing a simple yet nicely fitting yellow dress, and her hair remained unchanged.

The spot on Yaya moved a bit, the play went on.

"But the orchard walls are hard to climb and very high. You will certainly fall down!" Tsubomi said, putting her hands on her face in a worried manner.

"With love's light wings I can over perch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out, and what love can do, that dares love attempt." Yaya replied, amazingly relieved that the sentence came out without faults. She'd found it a rather annoying text to learn.

The spot widened as Yaya stood up and proceeded to climb the 'orchard walls', what in fact wasn't more than a thick wooden decor. A green-coloured rope hung from the decor, and in the wall itself were small openings for her feet. So the coal-haired girl grabbed the rope, stuck one of her foot in an opening and began to climb up, under a loud gasp of the audience. Yaya couldn't prevent a small smirk from appearing on her face as she felt like the star of the play.

She pulled herself up with her arms, shoved up the rope and placed her feet in a new opening, coming higher bit by bit. When she was as high as the balcony, she swung herself onto the damned thing with one agile leap, landing neatly next to Tsubomi-Juliet.

As the original script said, they were supposed to lock in an intimate embrace now. But just on the last moment, Tsubomi gently grabbed Yaya's head on either side and guided it to her own until their lips were touching. Yaya was as surprised as the audience: a wave of 'ooooh' floated through the auditorium, followed by whispers and squeals.

Tsubomi pulled away after a brief moment , not knowing what had just gotten over her, and trying her very best not to let her voice quake as she spoke again.
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"No! My- my Juliet. My dear Juliet..." Yaya's voice creaked through the dead-silent theatre as she sunk down on her knees next to what was supposed to be Juliet's deathbed. One single spotlight was focused on them. Tsubomi lay there unmoved, an emptied bottle of poison in her hands.

Yaya-Romeo's hands found their way to the bottle and took it, examining it gravely. Then she threw it away with a raw scream, draping herself over Tsubomi's body, pulling off the best pair of fake cries she could possibly muster. The black-haired Spican sniffed as she got up again, letting her eyes roam across the body of Tsubomi, furiously hoping her expression was sad enough.

"Juliet." she whispered, taking her hands, "How- how do you expect me to live on without thee? It is impossible that thou would want this fate alone, therefore... I will follow."

Slowly, almost agonizingly slow, Yaya drew her sword from her costume. With shaky hands, she brought it up in front of her face, letting her gaze linger upon the fake metal, enjoying the gasps that drifted her way from the audience. Then she suddenly thrusted the sword through her body.

At least, it seemed that way. Yaya had only held it next to her, so that the illusion was there that the sword went all the way through her upper body. Her eyes widened for second before she let herself fall slowly onto the deathbed, next to Tsubomi-Juliet.

The spot went out for a brief moment.

"R-Romeo?" Tsubomi's voice resounded through the darkness, frightened and alone. Then the clatter of metal and a sob. The spot slowly faded in, showing the audience a weeping Juliet, bowing over the fake corpse, hands tightening around the clothing. Tsubomi furiously hoped she'd pull this part off, because she was lousy at acting sad and heartbroken. She had trouble practicing this.

"My sweet Romeo... why? I was merely sleeping, intoxicated by both thee love and poison, yet I would never enter death without my Romeo. Why did thou go without me?"

She let her gaze go over the audience for a while, a far-away look in her eyes. She then focused back on Yaya, proceeding to draw a fake dagger from her dress. Tsubomi held it up in the air, for all the students in the theatre to see. With one sad, heart-wrenching sob she pretended to stab it through her neck-region, yet she pulled of the same trick as Yaya. Tsubomi plopped down as a mess, sprawled all over Yaya-Romeo, who did her best to not burst out in nervous laughter.

The spotlight slowly faded out. The audience remained silent, all caught up in the play until the curtains closed. Realization dawned and one student then started clapping, followed by hundreds of others, ending in a deafening applause.

Behind the curtains, Tsubomi and Yaya quickly scrambled away before the big red drapes would be pulled up again. They landed into the arms of Chikaru, who gave them a brief hug, a smile of immense joy on her face. "Great job!" she whispered. Yaya grinned at Tsubomi, who in her turn couldn't really help but to widely smile back, feeling her heart race in her chest.

The applause went on and on as the curtain rose again, revealing a now empty stage. Chikaru ushered Yaya and Tsubomi to run on for their round of applause first. Yaya grabbed Tsubomi's hand with a smirk and dragged her onto stage, under the loud appreciation of the crowd. Students squealed and yelled. The raven-haired Spican nodded at Tsubomi and they bowed a few times before disappearing backstage again. The other actors and students who helped followed quickly, and Chikaru went on as last but not least, mouthing the words 'thank you' over and over.

"Tsubomi-chan, you were great!" Yaya said a little breathlessly, her brown eyes glimmering with adrenaline. The two Spicans were backstage, grins on their faces they could not take off.

"You too. I'd never thought you could pull of such a good Romeo."

"Pfsh, you're the one to talk, who'd thought you could be so sweet as Juliet?" Yaya countered, a smirk once again gracing her lips, much to Tsubomi's dismay. A blush quickly adorned her cheeks, but the pinkette could not get mad at her. She was feeling so great, an euphoria washing over her.

"Shut up."
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"Ne, Tsubomi-chan," Yaya's voice suddenly purred into said girl's ear, starting the poor pinkette, "come talk a walk with me for a bit?" the raven-haired girl's eyes were friendly as Tsubomi nodded and followed Yaya away from the crowd.

It was night, and the whole play crew had gathered outside the theatre, near the edge of the neighboring forest. Chikaru had permission to start a small fire, under the watchful eye of the Sisters, the ever so strict Miyuki and the Étoile herself of course. But they soon had come around too, enjoying the warmth of the fire, listening to the crackling of the wood and enjoy the smell of the smoke as the flames seemed to lick the star-crossed sky.

Remarkable was that everyone seemed to be standing around the fire in pairs. Shizuma-sama was once again obviously flirting with her redhead, Miyuki was standing shyly next to a blue-haired girl with twin tails and Chikaru was animatedly talking to a very calm looking Shion.

"What's up?" Tsubomi cautiously asked once they were out of hearing reach of most people. Yaya had a rather serious expression plastered on her face: her eyebrows were knitted together above her brown eyes and her jaw was a clenched together.

"Look, Tsubomi, I wanted to talk about last afternoon... I'm sorry for what I said. I had no reason to be mad, because, you were right. It's not always about me. But I was just so focused on getting you to like me and choose me, that I forgot. I forgot that this was all you." Yaya said, struggling to find the right words to explain what she'd been feeling like. She took Tsubomi's hands in her own and gently squeezed them, "And if you would like I'd keep my distance from now on."

Questioning eyes searched for Tsubomi's, and the latter was speechless for a moment. Slowly but surely, she felt her whole body get warm, and not because of the fire.

"You baka!'' the pinkette finally replied, feeling a laugh coming up, "Yaya-chan, you moron, don't you see that you shouldn't be apologizing? If anything, I probably made you feel way worse than you should've been. But I can't help myself, pushing people away is like my defense mechanism. I push people away, though I actually want them. I'm sorry."

"...Does that mean you want me, Tsu-bo-mi-chan?"

Tsubomi couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous remark, and before she knew it, Yaya already had her arms enveloped around said girl's waist and her lips captured in a passionate kiss. The pinkette did not resist this time, because she'd actually known all along that she'd want to be with Yaya. So she drew the taller girl closer, locking her arms around Yaya's neck.

Replying all too eagerly, the raven-haired girl dared to open her mouth and treat Tsubomi to a full kiss, but after a brief moment she pulled back, surprising Tsubomi.

"I have one last thing to say, though," Yaya said, keeping the roseate-haired girl at an arm's length, enjoying surprised her amber stare, "I can't promise you anything about me being all brave. I will tease you, like I did before. We will argue. There's no doubt about that. But I what I can promise is that I'll try to be the best girlfriend you'd ever know."
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A/n: so here it finally is! The end of this fic. I hope I did well, and I can truly say that I am in love with this chapter. I honestly spent a lot of time writing and editing, tweaking it and making sure it all the passages and words flowed, and that the play was okay (I even did some research on the original text from some scenes, like the balcony scene) and that all the characters were IC enough. But I think I did a pretty decent job! Am I rite? =D

In any case, I'd like to thank the reviewers and readers for sticking with me, because I know I'm not the most regular updater around. But most of all I'd like to say thank you to my dear friend Mikkel, who's mostly kept me writing when I had no inspiration whatsoever. So here's to you, Mikkel, I know you read this part! Tee-hee. Anyways, I don't want this to sound like some speech, but I do think you guys deserve a thank you. (:

I hope I'll be able to start working on another lovely SP! story soon! Read&Review please!
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Disclaimer: I do not own Strawberry Panic!, and the piece Romeo and Juliet solely belongs to William Shakespeare
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