The Hinata inn: Memories

"Naaaruuuuuuuuuu!"
Naru pouted a bit at hearing her name called. Since she
didn't want to leave yet, she pretended not to hear and instead
turned her head back to the building looming in front of her. It
looked like no one had lived there in a long time.. it had a
dark, abandoned look, really, but somehow it was still...
inviting. As if it were haunted, but by kind ghosts that wished
to tell her their stories.
"Naru! There you are!"
She jumped a bit, short blue hair swishing around her
face as she whirled around guiltily. Her mother walked over,
setting her hands on her hips and looking down at Naru with an
expression that attempted to be stern and didn't quite make it.
"Naru, you heard me calling you," Shinobu Maehara
scolded, shaking her head slightly. Still petite and small as she
had always been, Shinobu had still obviously grown up, holding
herself with a confidence and an unshakable air of "I'm
somebody's mother" that lent some weight to her unending
cuteness.
"Sorry, momma," little Naru Maehara pouted. She'd
inherited much of that same cuteness, but also some awareness of
it, and thus knew what she was doing when she turned wide,
pitiful-looking eyes on her mother.
Sighing, Shinobu wilted under her daughter's assault of
kawaii and bent down, gathering the five-year-old up in her arms
and hefting her with a small whuff. "You're getting big,
Naru-chan."
Giggling softly at the perceived compliment, Naru put her
arms around her mother's neck, snuggling in. After a moment,
though, she leaned back and pointed towards the building. "Momma,
is that it?!"
"Hm? Oh, yes, dear." Shinobu hefted her daughter up a bit
to get a more secure hold, letting Naru sit on one forearm.
"That's Hinata Inn."
"Same one you always tell stories 'bout?" Naru continued,
staring at the old hotel as if entranced.
"The same one, hai."
"How come no one lives there now?"
"They all grew up and went away, Naru-chan. It's sad,
sometimes, but it's the way of things." Shinobu turned her own
head to look at the inn, where she'd spent some of the happiest,
if strangest, years of her childhood. "But I think everyone who
lived there had their lives changed, and for the better, too."
"Momma, how come you left? When was the last time you saw
everyone you tell stories about?"
"Saw them all in one place?" Shinobu smiled. "Well,
there's a story that answers both of those questions."
"Oooo! Story!" Naru's eyes lit up in delight, before she
remembered to turn on a plaintive look. "Tell me the story,
mama?"
Shinobu giggled, bouncing her daughter a bit in her arms.
"Alright... I'll tell you the story. It was almost fifteen years
ago, and everyone was getting ready for a big ceremony..."

Naru Narusegawa stared at herself in the mirror, her eyes
alight, her stomach turning flipflops (though that might have
been something else). She turned from side to side slightly,
watching the way the long white dress moved around her legs, then
ran her hands along the white satin hugging her stomach and
sides.
"Would you hold still?" Mitsune Konno grumbled around a
mouthful of pins, struggling to make last-minute adjustments to
her best friend's wedding dress.
"You strain even my skill and aim," Motoko Aoyama added
with a similar speech impediment, working around the back of
Naru's dress. "Please contain your excitement,
Narusegawa-senpai."
"I'm sorry, it's just..." Naru tilted her head up, her
smile practically setting the room alight. "It's just that this
is the most special day of my life!"
"It's a good thing you picked now for the most special
day of your life," Kitsune murmured from where she worked at the
waistline of Naru's dress. "If you'd waited until next month,
they'd've had to let out the stomach on the dress. Again."
"S-shut up!" Naru yelped, her cheeks and the bridge of
her nose coloring.
Motoko merely sighed. She'd promised she wouldn't say
anything. She'd PROMISED...
Kitsune stood and shook her head, putting two fingers on
either side of the needles poking out between her lips before
releasing them. She smiled that enigmatic smile that made
everyone think she was constantly up to something. "How's
everything fit now?"
"Just great!" Naru's embarrassment and anger fled as fast
as it had never been, and her sunny smile returned.
"You look radiant, Narusegawa-senpai," Motoko sighed, the
normally cool kendoist allowing herself a small smile.
"Yeah... totally beautiful," Kitsune added, smile turning
almost... longing. After a moment, she glanced at Motoko. "Could
you give us a few minutes alone, please?"
"Of course. I have to go get ready myself." Motoko smiled
once more at Naru, then turned and left the room, sliding the
door closed behind her.
"You really do look great," Mitsune whispered as Naru
stepped off the small stand she'd been up on to make it easier to
do the alterations. "I never really expected this day to come,
y'know."
"That's so rude!" Naru replied good-naturedly, sticking
her tongue out. That set both of them to laughing, and the slight
melancholy that had building was razed away like water droplets
on grass kissed by the sun.
"I'm jealous," Kitsune confided when the laughing had
trailed off. She didn't clarify exactly what she was jealous
of... there were a lot of options.
"Kitsune," Naru whispered, smiling at her friend,
stepping forward to hug her tightly.
Mitsune couldn't help but be overly careful in hugging
Naru back, despite not wanting to be so silly. "Naru-chan... one
last kiss?"
"... Of course," Naru answered quietly, blushing softly
again, tilting her head up a bit.
Slowly, wanting to let this kiss imprint itself in her
memory, Kitsune leaned her head in, pressing her lips gently to
Naru's. For just the length of the kiss, she let herself dwell on
what she was losing, and had lost ever since Keitaro Urushima had
come into their lives: Naru's constant companionship, Naru's
confiding in her every little problem and fear, Naru's passionate
embrace and sensual touch. These things she would never have
again... but always, always, the memory of them, and of this
kiss, a kiss from Naru on her wedding day, in her wedding
dress... a kiss just for her.
"Careful there, Kitsune," came a low, almost drab voice
from the doorway. "You'll make us jealous."
Naru and Mitsune drew apart, both blushing as they turned
to look at the speaker. Haruka Urashima was standing in the
doorway, the attractive picture created by her elegant green
dress and faint hint of makeup somewhat sullied by the cigarette
hanging from her mouth. At her side was her fiance, Seta
Noriyasu, looking rather dapper in his tuxedo, hands in his
jacket pockets.
"Or perhaps you'll make Urushima-san jealous," Seta
added, grinning and adjusting his glasses.
"I can kiss the bride if I want," Kitsune contended with
a grin of her own, walking over to stand between her lovers and
folding her arms over her chest.
"Seta-san... Haruka-san," Naru greeted, smiling. "Thank
you for coming."
"You look beautiful, Narusegawa-san," Seta replied. "A
Western ceremony?"
"Keitaro's parents are paying, and they didn't have
enough money for a big Japanese ceremony," Naru said with just
the tiniest hint of annoyance. Then she smiled again, shrugging
it off. "It's okay. I'm happy having it here, at the Hinata Inn
with all my friends."
"As it should be," Haruka drawled, blowing her cigarette
smoke in a completely different direction than Naru.
"I better go get dressed too," Kitsune said after Seta
had taken his own turn at kissing the bride, though it was just a
peck on the cheek. Then, in an overly-innocent tone, added,
"Haruka, Noriyasu, would you like to help me?"
"I think we could manage that," Seta said in a cheerful
tone.
Naru giggled a bit as the trio departed, then turned back
to her mirror, swishing her dress about. "o/ Naru Urushimaaaa,
student marriage, succeeding at Tokyo U... o/"