*hiding behind a brick wall* Hey guys, I'm back! :D *looks around cautiously* Did you miss me?

Eh-hem. Sorry for the long, long, long, long wait. I honestly didn't mean for the space between updates to go for- what has a been now, a year? I know, that's so horrible of me, and again, I'm sorry. I hope this chapter makes up for it! And I will try to update more often. I'm determined to see this story through to its end! So enjoy!

I reached the corner of Yamamoto and Sakura, and turned right. Glancing back down at the crumpled sheet of paper I had already looked at fifty times in the course of my drive, I read the address of the bakery one last time. If I couldn't find it in the next five minutes, I was going to scream.

'It's this adorable pastel plaster building with white awnings, you can't miss it,' she had said.

"Pft- can't miss it; can't miss it my butt…" I muttered to myself, annoyed. I made one last turn onto Kasuki lane, and finally spotted the building from Amu's description. Pulling the car to a stop at the curb, I parked in the street and got out. The door shut loudly behind me, and I made my way to the bakery's entrance.

First thing I was gonna do when I walked into that bakery: state a well thought-out complaint to Amu about how horrible she was at giving directions. I pushed the door open and a little bell sounded over my head. I spotted Amu as she heard it and turned to face me, a winning smile on her face.

First thing I did do when I walked into that bakery: smiled right back at her and gave her a hug when she ran to greet me. Yup, I think I made my point.

"Kukai! I'm so glad you finally made it!" Amu said, and I cringed inwardly as she did. "Come on, our tasting's about to start!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a booth where a burly man was sitting. At first glance, he looked pretty intimidating; but as I got closer I noticed his warm smile and the jolly vibe he gave off. Like Santa Claus, or Manny the wooly mammoth.

When we finally came to the table, Amu introduced us. "Kukai, this is Stewart-san. Yaya suggested him to me the last time we had a meeting, and he's going to be making our wedding cake." I looked from her, to Stewart-san and bowed.

"It's nice to meet you, Stewart-san," I said. When I stood back up, he held his hand out. I looked at it for a moment.

"Ah, sorry," he said with an accent. "American traditions; I'm from California, over in the U.S." He was about to pull his hand away, but I grasped it and gave a hearty shake, finally recognizing its meaning. He looked at our hands, and then back at me smiling. "Oh, I like you. You've got heart, Mr. Souma. I'll be happy to make a cake for your wedding."

I gladly smiled back, and all three of us moved to sit down at the booth. Amu was grinning profusely, probably excited that the meeting had started off so well. Stewart-san pulled out a pad of paper, a few colored pencils and some sort of pamphlet. He set them all down on the table. "So, let's start with flavors. What all do you like?"

Amu answered immediately with a question of her own. "What types of chocolate cakes do you have?" she looked ecstatic, like a kid in a candy shop. I guess, in a way, she kinda was. Stewart-san rubbed his chin.

"We have a few different types of chocolate cakes; standard, german chocolate, chocolate spice cake, chocolate rum…" He paused as if trying to think of more, like he had forgotten something. "Oh, and then there's our newest cake, a sort of chocolate carrot cake. We haven't put it up for sale yet, but if you'd like, I could let you two be the first to try it." He said this with a happy edge to his voice, like this was a one-time deal he was reserving just for us. I looked at him and he winked at me.

Next to me, Amu was all but exploding in her seat. "You would let us do that? Really?" she asked, barely containing her excitement. Stewart-san nodded. Amu's chin tilted down slowly; like she was trying to nod too, but her joy was getting in the way. Slowly, she tilted it back up. The process repeated, getting faster and faster until she was shaking her head up and down so fast, her features blurred. "Yes! Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely, positively yes!"

Stewart-san laughed at her reaction. "Alright, alright. I'll be right back with the sample." He got up and walked through a door behind the store's counter. While he was in back, Amu turned to talk to me.

"This is so cool! We get to be the first to try this cake! It'll be amazing if we actually have it for our wedding!" She jittered in her seat for a couple of seconds before throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me tightly. "Our wedding is going to be the best!"

After I got over my shock at the sudden contact, I wrapped my arms around her back and patted it lightly, smiling at her elation over it all. "I'm glad that you're happy, Amu." She pulled away and kissed me on the cheek. Then Stewart-san walked back into the room and she was jumping up and down all over again. He was carrying two small plates, each with a slice of light brown cake on them, two forks, and a little container. The forks and plates he set down in front of Amu and me. He popped the lid off of the container before setting it down too.

"Go ahead and try it. I want to know what you think." I picked up my fork and sliced a chunk of the cake off. When I took the bite, I was pleasantly surprised with the flavor. There was chocolate, of course, but surprisingly, less carrot flavor than I thought there would be. I've never tried carrot cake before, because I always thought it'd be too… carrot-y. But this was nice. There was only a subtle carrot flavor, like an undertone to the cinnamon, chocolate and spices.

"It's good," I said, taking another bite, "really good. I'm not usually one for carrot cake, but this is amazing. Amu, what do you think about it?" I looked over at my fiancé to gage her reaction, only to slap a hand over my mouth to prevent from bursting out into laughter and spewing cake everywhere.

Her plate was empty, completely bare of any crumb or speck that might have hinted at the fact that there was ever a slice of cake there. Her fork tilted precariously in her open palm, as if she were too distracted to hold onto it. And the look on Amu's face, boy was it priceless. Her golden eyes were glazed over and her lips curled up into a dreamy smile, chewing over the last bit of cake. She looked like a happy little kid; or maybe a puppy, one that had just been thrown a bone the size of Tokyo Tower.

"I'll take that as a sign that you like it then," I said after recovering from nearly choking on cake and laughter. I turned to Stewart-san. "She seems a little incapable of speech right now, so I'm just gonna take a wild guess and say that that's our flavor."

The burly man chuckled and handed me the container he had brought out with him. "Here, you can take the leftovers home if you'd like." He surveyed Amu's plate. "Although, I guess you won't be needing such a big box anymore…" Amu, to her credit, finally snapped out of her cake-induced lull, and turned a faint shade of pink at his comment. Stewart-san and I both laughed at this. I patted Amu lightly on the shoulder and shrugged.

"Nah, this is fine. And thanks." I slid what was left of my slice into the contained and closed it. As I did this, Amu began to converse again.

"So, now that we've decided on the flavor, I guess we should go over decorations?" The baker nodded at her inquiry and grabbed for his pad of paper and pencils.

"If you give me some details, I can sketch a few ideas out right here. What kind of design were you two going for?"

I looked to Amu, letting her know that it was all up to her, and that she could essentially ask for whatever she wanted. I'd pretty much go along with anything so long as she was happy with it. She smiled at me and nodded before turning back to Stewart-san.

"I think we want to go for something a little more traditional," she started, spreading her hands across the table as she talked. "You know, fondant and white with tiers. But maybe with a little something special added in."

Stewart nodded. "Tiers… round or square?"

Amu thought for a moment. "Square."

The baker began scribbling on his pad. "You said white," he said, "but do you mean pure, or ivory? Or do you want something more along the lines of off-white? And we could also add in colored accents, if that piques your interest at all."

Taking in the full realization of all the options and possibilities she had, Amu looked at a loss for words. She glanced at me helplessly, as if thinking maybe it wasn't the best idea to leave everything in her hands. "Kukai…" she said in a bit of a complaining tone. I just sighed, but gave her a small smile nonetheless.

Closing my eyes for a second, I thought. What would suit Amu best? What would be good enough for her? I thought of her kindness and warmth, represented by the flavor of the cake, and her bright smile, always shining and ready to lift my spirits. "White, pure white, and…" I thought of her eyes, and the light they held, how reflective they were, and, "gold."

I opened my eyes and looked at Amu again, who was smiling, and then at Stewart-san, who was already doodling away on his pad of paper. He tilted his head up to glance at me as he drew. "There's a technique I could use, called quilting. Often times, bakers put colored edible pearls at the intersections of the pattern. Would you mind using that?"

Amu nodded enthusiastically before I could even get a word out edgewise. It seemed as if she finally knew what she wanted. "Could we add in some of those drooping ribbons," she said, pointing to a cake in the display case at the front of the shop, "and make those gold too?" Stewart nodded again as he changed his design to fit that of hers. Amu looked at me. "And flowers… soft little lilies, before they gain all of their color. Green."

My fiancé had taken on another dreamy look, but this one seemed less… silly. More focused, in a way, but still in a bit of a daze as she continued to look at me. I grabbed Amu's hand and she smiled, slowly coming out of her second lull of the morning. Just in time for Stewart-san to finish sketching.

"What do you think?" he said with his accent, turning the drawing pad to face us. I lifted it up with my other hand to get a better look, holding it out so Amu could see too.

The cake had five square layers, each smaller than the one before it. The quilting pattern mentioned before covered the whole cake, and little gold dots sat at each intersection. I guess those were supposed to be the pearls. The 'drooping ribbons' Amu had mentioned, fell in an interesting way across the tiers of the cake, connecting them in a way, without looking sloppy. And the last touch, the small green lilies, was added in at random points, clustering in the corners and spreading out tastefully. I followed the spread of flowers to the top of the cake, where my gaze stopped. Sitting on the smallest top layer nestled in a bunch of those gold pearls, were two lilies, significantly larger than the rest.

I brushed my thumb over that part of the drawing, staring at it for awhile. This was undoubtedly my favorite part of the design. I turned to face Stewart-san, smiling slightly. "It looks good. You did a nice job, man."

The baker looked like he was about to reply, but Amu's squealing abruptly cut him off. "I love it! It's fantastic!" She faced me. "Kukai, isn't this so great? I think we have our cake!"

I smiled at her. "Yeah," I said, more to Stewart-san than anyone else, "I'd say we do."

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

After we left the bakery, I was surprised to find that I still had some of my manhood left.

That was before we went to flower shop.

It was like someone had taken Yaya's office, Stewart-san's bakery and Princess Peach's castle and molded them all into one big, pink, feminine monstrosity. That was the flower shop Amu was currently trying to drag me into. At that point, the only manly thought I could manage to conjure up was run.

Sad, right?

"Kukai, why are you fighting this so much?" Amu complained as she tugged forcefully at my arm. I rolled my eyes and leaned farther back, trying desperately to get away.

"Gee, I don't know," I said sarcastically. Maybe it's because it's pink. Why does everything always have to be pink? I mean, I like pink, but this is just ridiculous… "Why do I even have to go? Can't you pick the flowers out by yourself?"

Amu huffed, but continued to pull at my arm. "Kukai, I want you to be a part of the planning. I don't wanna be the crazy Bridezilla who does everything her way, by herself! Now come on!" And with one final tug, she managed to pull me through the doors of doom and into my flowery death.

The inside of the store was so pastel, neon would've hurt my eyes less. I put my hand over my eyes, covering them to ward off the oncoming migraine. I could feel it creeping up on me with the help of the rainbow that had exploded on the walls.

Amu continued to drag me, right up to the front desk of the store, and I watched the back of her head as she did. Her hair seemed to blend into and clash with the colors of the store all at the same time. The effect of it all was starting to make me dizzy.

We stopped at the desk and waited for a few moments, not even bothering to touch the bell after the incident at Yaya's. When a man came out of the door behind the receptionist table, I wasn't sure whether to be pleasantly surprised or mildly horrified. I strangled back a hysterical laugh, coughing behind my hand to cover it up.

The man, who had auburn hair and glasses and wore a beige suit, was about to say something when I cut him off. "Excuse me, um, do you- do you actually, you know- work… here? Please tell me you don't work here." I was having a hard time comprehending how any man could work here.

Glasses guy looked taken aback, and again seemed like he wanted to say something, but Amu cut him off this time. "Kukai! That was rude," she gave the man an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for my fiancé's behavior. I don't think he always realizes that stupidity is an unattractive trait."

"Hey!" I yelled indignantly. "What's that supposed to mean?" Amu shook her head with a smile.

"I rest my case."

Before I could make a retort, this time the man cut me off. He was laughing, taking his glasses off to wipe at his eyes and clean the lenses with a cloth he pulled from his suit pocket. "Ah, I'm sorry…" he got out between chuckles. "To answer your question, yes, I do work here. My name is Nekaidou, and I'll be helping you pick out your flower arrangements today."

He stepped from behind the desk and ushered the two of us over to a small sitting table in the corner of the room. Once again, Amu latched onto my arm and pulled me with her, and I just groaned in defeat. This was going to be one long appointment, and I was permanently strapped in for the ride.

We sat down at the little table, and Nekaidou turned to pull several books and catalogs from a shelf against the wall behind him. "I have a few articles I would like you to take a look at," he said, flipping some of the books open on the table, "but I want to ask you a few questions first. How far along are you with the rest of the planning?"

At the start of his little questionnaire, I just leaned back in my seat and let Amu take the lead. "Well, we already have a wedding planner," she said, going into slight detail about Yaya and how she's helped us so far. "As of right now, we have a venue, the cake, and a color scheme more or less planned out." Now Nekaidou sat back in his chair, tapping the pen he held to his chin in thought.

"What are the colors you've chosen?" he asked. Amu turned to shuffle through her purse, pulling out two slips of paper, like paint samplers. One was a shimmery gold, and the other was a soft pea green. She slid the samplers across the table so Nekaidou could take a better look.

"We're going with gold and green," Amu said, "to compliment some of our natural… attributes." She spoke the last word in an interesting tone, as if she were testing Nekaidou and his ability to figure out its significance. By 'attributes', I knew she was referring to our eyes, the same things we based the colors for our cake off of. I guess she wanted to see how good he was at his own job; at connecting colors to flowers, and flowers to people.

Hearing the challenge in Amu's voice, Nekaidou looked up. He seemed to scan us both for a moment, taking in all of our features and details. It was a little bit… creepy. And then he stopped, seeming to finally focus on our eyes. Nekaidou smiled widely, and somehow, that just made the whole thing that much creepier.

"It's a nice color combination," the florist said in a light, happy tone. "One that I agree suits the two of you." Amu nodded; seemingly satisfied that he had passed her little test. Nekaidou smiled a little wider and tilted his head to the side slightly, as if accepting victory. I swear, it was like they were communicating through some odd connection they shared. And I wanted absolutely no part of it, whatsoever.

"O-kay then," I cut in, trying to break the awkward silence. "Flowers. Arrangements. Bouquets and girly stuff. Let's move on, shall we?" Amu blinked at me for a minute before laughing.

"I guess you're right Kukai," she said. She took one of the catalogues from the stack that Nekaidou had pulled and began flipping through it. I only got a glance at each page, but the amount of flowers they contained was overwhelming. Kinda like this store. "Nekaidou-san, do you carry green lilies?"

The man nodded. He picked up one specific book, and handed it to Amu. "That book contains a list of all the flowers we carry, their types, and what colors you can order them in," he said. Amu set aside the other catalogue and began looking through this one. After searching the index, she skipped to a section titled 'Lilies', and began scouring its contents. She came to a stop at one page and pointed her finger at a smaller picture.

"You do have green lilies," she said slowly, "but not the kind we're looking for…" Amu frowned, and I leaned over to take a better look at the picture. These flowers were green alright; bright, dyed, neon green. Not what we were looking for. Having already seen enough blinding colors for the day, I looked away from the picture to some of the ones next to it. One in particular caught my interest.

"What about these," I said, pointing to a group of tropical pink lilies. They looked like the same kind of flower, but were much more natural than the neon disasters next to them. "They have green centers, if that counts for anything. And they match your hair, Amu." I glanced at another group of pictures on the page. "Plus, we could put them with some other flowers, like these ones." The new flowers were also lilies, but much smaller, and without the green center. They were a golden-orange color, which I think matched our scheme well enough.

Amu contemplated the idea for a moment, like she was trying to imagine how it would all come together. Suddenly, her face lit up. "And we could mix them with some of those small white flowers! You know, the ones that overhang slightly? Oh, and what if we threw some gold beads in, for the bouquet and all? That would look so amazing!"

I gave my fiancé a stunned look, but laughed all the same. "Wow, leave it to you Amu to take my amateur idea and blow it up into something 'amazing.'" I leaned back in my chair, relaxing a bit. Maybe this flower stuff isn't so bad after all, I thought with a smile. I glanced over at Nekaidou, who was looking back at me with a bemused sort of expression.

"I'm impressed, Souma-kun," he said, closing one of the catalogues. "You threw that together with quite the bit of expertise. Certainly not something I would consider amateur." He gave me a smile, which could've easily been one of the evilest things I've ever seen. "Have you ever considered becoming a florist?"

Abruptly, I stood up. Not even bothering to look at Amu, I bowed and left the store.

I take it back. This is quite possibly the worst thing I've ever experienced, ever.