Chapter 5: The final chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Nope.
Isuzu Sohma hoped that she wouldn't start drooling. The ice cream sundae looked so good, and now that damn Haru was eating it all!
"Do you want the cherry?" He asked politely, smiling at her from across the table.
"Damn you." She muttered, and finally gave in. She snatched up her spoon, scooped up a large chunk of the ice cream, and stuffed it in her mouth. It was good. Damn it all.
Haru looked at her, amused, as she shoved the cherry into her mouth.
She glared back at him.
"Wow." He said, not even trying to hold back a smile, "Maybe you could have finished it by yourself, after all."
"Shut…up." She mumbled, helping herself to another spoonful of her ice cream sundae.
A tall, skinny figure appeared in front of them: the waiter, "Hello sir, madam. I have a little Champaign here for the both of you. On the house."
"We're underage." They both said in unison.
The waiter feigned an extremely loud and extremely long coughing fit. After he finished, he flashed a smile at the skeptical couple, "I hope you enjoy it. Call me if you need anything." He dashed off before they could say another word.
Haru and Rin turned to look at the Champaign bottle before them.
"What the hell are we supposed to do with this?" Rin asked, forgetting her act of hate in her confusion.
Haru shrugged, "Oh, well. When life gives you lemons…" He leaned over to pour some Champaign in her glass.
"I don't want any." Rin replied stoutly, remembering that she was supposed to hate him.
"But that's rude." Haru said innocently.
"Okay, fine!" She said. The kid was killing her! How was she supposed to act as if she didn't care about him if he kept looking at her like that? And if he kept treating her as if she'd never broken his heart…?
The ox grinned cheekily at her, and then proceeded to fill her glass with Champaign. Then he filled his own.
To Rin's slight annoyance, another figure appeared in front of them. It wasn't her waiter and it wasn't that funny Mister P. It was a new guy entirely. He held a violin in one hand and his bow in the other. To Rin and Haru's stares, the violinist bowed low, positioned his violin on his shoulder, and started playing a slow, sweet melody.
Rin blushed, "What the hell is this?" She asked roughly, trying to sound outraged.
Haru shrugged, also completely baffled. What was going on? First that waiter guy had given them free Champaign regardless of their age, and now this violin-playing dude just suddenly walked up to them and serenading them! Haru stopped the violinist in the middle of his song, "Excuse me. Sorry, sir, but…what are you doing?"
The violinist grinned, "I'm serenading you, of course." He stated simply.
"Dammit, Haru. This better not be some idiotic thing you planned."
"I – I didn't. I've never seen this guy before."
"Sure." She was still unconvinced.
The violinist turned to Rin and inclined his head, "He's right. The cutest little girl ever walked up to me and requested that I come over here and play for you."
Haru stared, astonished, "You couldn't be talking about –"
" –Kisa?" Rin finished, also looking wide-eyed.
The violinist cocked his head, "Well, I'm not sure as to what her name was, but she was wearing an adorable yellow dress–"
" –With yellow sandals–?" Rin interrupted, narrowing her eyes.
" –And a flower in her hair?" Haru finished, beginning to be amused by the situation they were in.
The man nodded, grinning, "She asked me to play for you. Is that a problem?"
Haru immediately shook his head, "Not at all." He answered quickly. If Kisa had gone through all the trouble, then her efforts should not be in vain. "You can stay, I guess." Haru felt a surge of affection for the shy tiger. He turned to Rin to get her opinion.
"Yeah. Whatever." She said gruffly. She was sure Hiro had something to do with all this. He probably put his little girlfriend up to it.
The violinist looked pleased, "Very well. Then please enjoy your Champaign, sir, madam…" He took up his instrument and his bow and started playing the song again from the beginning.
Haru watched him play for a few seconds before turning back to Rin and picking up his glass of Champaign, holding it out to her.
Rin rolled her eyes. 'He can be so corny sometimes,' she thought to herself, but she picked up her own glass nonetheless, "What are we toasting to, anyway?"
Haru thought, "I guess…to Kisa and Hiro."
Rin couldn't hold back a smile, "Kisa and Hiro." She repeated, clinking her glass against Haru's and taking a sip.
"Rin, would you like to dance?"
She nearly choked. "W – What?!" she spluttered.
Haru smiled, "Would you like to dance with me?"
"Er…" She blushed harder than ever. She stubbornly blamed the Champaign. "What makes you think I'd want to dance with you?" She asked, trying her hardest to sound as rude as possible.
Haru shrugged and took a second sip from his glass, "I was just wondering." He shifted his gaze to Kisa and Hiro who had taken up the dance floor again and were smiling as if they shared some sort of secret.
Rin clenched her fists, her body rigid as stone. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to say? He was sitting across from her right now, and they were eating. Almost as if they were together again… 'No…' Rin thought bitterly, 'It would have been much different.' If everything really were all right, she would not be trying so hard to try to hate him. She would have accepted his invitation to dance…
She stole a quick glance in his direction and saw that he was still looking at Hiro and Kisa gliding across the dance floor, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. The silence between them was almost too much for her to bear. How could he have treated her rude question in such a calm manner? Was he really just wondering? Did he really wish he could dance with her? Or did he just want to watch the kids having fun? The silence really was too much for her. He didn't even ask her again.
"You…dance?" She finally asked, after what seemed like ages of silence.
Haru finally looked back at her, and his smile grew a little bit wider. "Only on special occasions." He said simply, gazing at her deeply in the eyes. They looked at each other for a long time in a sort of challenge until Rin finally ended the staring match and sharply looked away.
She couldn't believe it! He – He was teasing her!
And – she would never admit this to anyone – he was actually getting his desired results! She didn't think she was showing it, but he was making her all the more flustered. She didn't even want to know how red her face was getting, but she could always blame it on the Champaign, right?
As a matter of fact, maybe she was getting a bit tipsy. Would she have normally felt this way?
She saw him from the corner of her eye watching Hiro and Kisa again and humming along to the violinist's song. 'Oh, I get it…' Rin thought suddenly, as if a light had come on, 'He's purposely ignoring me so that I'll snap from the lack of attention and end up asking him to dance.'
He was now spooning some pieces of the ice cream sundae in his mouth, neither looking at her nor acknowledging her. 'Dammit!' Rin screamed in her head. It was working! It was actually working!
"I don't know how to dance." Rin spoke, resigned.
Finally, Haru looked at her. Rin mentally slapped herself for feeling relieved. But he still didn't speak; he just looked at her with his signature blank expression.
"I don't know how to dance." She repeated, getting a little desperate.
More silence. And that blank expression was still on his face.
"W – Will you – teach me?" Rin finally managed to stammer.
Ever so slowly, Haru's smile spread across his face. He reached out his hand and placed it on hers, squeezing softly. "Of course," he whispered, sending a pleasant chill running through her body.
Rin's heart pounded hard in her breast as he gently helped her up from her chair, thanked the violinist kindly, and led her tenderly across the room, their hands still entwined. Together, they stepped across the boundary onto the wooden ballroom floor.
Breathlessly, Rin let Haru arrange her arm around his neck and put his own hand on her waist. He took her right hand and squeezed it again.
Haru smiled at her, "Ready?" he asked. Rin, nodded, her cheeks tinted pink. Then, he led her easily into the dance.
---
Hiro looked on from his table, a small smile forming on his face. For some reason, a funny, warm feeling was settling in his stomach as he watched his two older cousins together again, even if only for a short time. "They look great together, don't they Kisa?" He asked, turning around to face his date.
Kisa watched them dreamily, her head resting on her hand, "Yeah…" she said quietly. "I'm so happy for them."
Hiro gave her a kind smile before turning around again. He hadn't seen Rin this happy since…well, since ever! Hiro chuckled under his breath. Hatsuharu Sohma knew how to ballroom dance? Who knew?
Suddenly, a large figure hovered over the two kids, which greatly bothered Hiro, "Hey! What's the big deal?" He whirled around to mouth off the person who had interrupted them. He shut up abruptly when he saw De la Mer's maitre d' standing next to Kisa, also watching the couple on the dance floor contentedly.
"They look so happy." The man said, his eyes glittering, "And to think that I made their evening so wonderful."
"What are you talking about?" Hiro scowled, "It was all me and Kisa."
The maitre d' person laughed at him, "Don't be silly." He said, ruffling the boy's hair, "Do you even know them?"
Hiro brushed off his hand and fixed his hair, "Course I do." He answered haughtily, "They're my cousins." He glanced at the man's nametag. 'What the hell?' Hiro thought, recoiling at the long, complicated name, "Look," He snarled, "Just go away and leave us alone…er…Mister P."
Mister P laughed again, "If you must know, I served them the whole night."
"We helped them notice each other." Hiro retorted.
"I supplied the Champaign."
"We asked for the violinist!"
"Hiro-chan…" Kisa's timid voice caused both of them to stop their arguing and turn her way. Kisa hesitated, a bit taken aback by the sudden attention, "Um… I think it was thanks to all of us. I mean…we all helped a little bit…" She blushed under both their stares.
Hiro scowled grudgingly, but gave in, "Yeah…I guess…" He muttered.
Mister P ruffled his hair again, "You see, little boy? Your little girlfriend is right."
Hiro ducked under the man's grasp and stuck his tongue out at him. "Whatever."
"What are you two doing just sitting here, anyway?"
Both Hiro and Kisa stared at him, knowing what was coming and feeling somewhat embarrassed. "Well, we're watching them. Isn't it obvious to you? What? Are you half-blind or something? Or are you just ignorant? Maybe you think –"
"Hiro-chan."
"Yes, Kisa?"
"Come dance with me."
"Okay."
Kisa got up from her chair, grabbed Hiro's hands, and pulled him to the dance floor.
Mister P chuckled, "Whipped already."
Hiro turned around, shooting poisonous glares at the maitre d' behind Kisa's back.
Amused, Mister P waved back at him and then went back to do his job. Oh, yes. He definitely deserved a pay raise.
The End
And that marks the end of my first chapter story! Review please!
Thank you to everyone who read and everyone who reviewed! Thank you for sticking by my story the whole way through!
I hope you enjoyed it!