Dragonfly

Chapter Fourteen: See You Again

Setting up an arranged marriage wasn't difficult at all-in fact, it was a little scary how simple it was. The two families exchanged signed contracts, which were dictated by clan laws and also had the Okay from the current clan head, and the deal would hold up until the wedding date decided by the families of both parties involved-which was both of my parents and Shisui-who decided that that day would be on my sixteenth birthday and Shisui's seventeenth birthday, respectively. Pretty convenient choice for an anniversary, if I do say so myself.

Only, that day would never actually come.

It was a quiet affair; an official occurrence at the Nakano shrine, sanctioned by Fugaku himself with no others in attendance except for the ones involved, and, thankfully, it wasn't a topic of gossip that spread like wildfire around the entire neighborhood. No one else knew. Well, Itachi probably did, but that was a given since he was Itachi.

The whole thing was...weird. Unreal. I'd always dreamed of getting married someday, back in my first lifetime-mainly just for the pretty, grand dress, even though that was a horrible reason-but the fact that I was engaged and due for marriage was almost...unbelievable.

But, hell, it was another strikeout on my bucket list.

Said list was getting shorter and shorter by the day, in fact. I'd done about all I wanted to in Konoha, stirring up all kinds of trouble and causing problems for pretty much everyone, and by now, the whole clan knew my name. I knew I wouldn't be remembered-maybe by Itachi, if anyone, if he cared to, but at least I'd done my best to leave my mark.

Now, all that was left to do was to wait out the final days of my life, because I didn't have a single regret.

The Fated Day was a little more than a year away.

And, because of it, Shisui's death was fast approaching.

"I can't believe it. You're getting married in two years?" Junichi repeated exactly what I'd told him, eyes wide with curiosity and a bit of doubt as he spun his office chair around to face me-and nearly toppled right out of it in his haste.

It was another boring day and we were looking after the nurse's station on the second floor together, like we usually did. He forgave me for the whole cow-tipping incident after a while, mainly because we saw each other at work pretty much constantly every day and it was too hard for him to avoid me and stay upset over something like that. Still refused to ever hang out with me again outside of work, though.

"To who?"

"Shisui." I thought it would be difficult to talk about to an outsider, or just difficult period, but the name rolled off my tongue with surprising ease. It was fact, more than anything. Cold, hard fact without feeling.

"Your cousin? Weren't you the one who told me it wasn't like that between you two? I mean, I saw the way he looked at you, but you always have that cold shell up so I thought you rejected him too, and-"

"We're a little further related than cousins, actually. Our parents were only half siblings." I shrugged. "And hey, whaddya mean 'cold shell?' Am I an egg?"

"Ah, no! Nothing, nothing." He held up his hands to fend off potential retaliation for the comment, throwing in an exaggerated wince for effect. When I didn't make a move, he relaxed and folded his hands behind his head, staring out across the room in thought. "I mean, at least you have a legit excuse to turn down any of your admirers now. If you even have any more."

I grinned and held up my index finger proudly. "Just got one earlier today, actually. But it's not really...well, it's kinda weird to go around and say 'sorry, I can't date you, I'm gettin' married.'"