She sat neatly, quietly, with her hands folded delicately in her lap. Her eyes gazed dreamily out the window, and she seemed to be an image of calm and reverence. But for all her peace, she was not at rest. Her mind thought two words over and over in her head. Marry me. Marry me. Marry me.

Earlier that day, she was much more lively and unburdened. It was, after all, the day when she would finally be able to return home after five long years. Five. Education in America wasn't that bad. She was at the airport. Her lone suitcase was at her side. Her eyes looked back from time to time in disbelief at the ticket clutched in her hand.

Home. Finally. She had spent nearly ten years in sunny California taking a special abroad learning program for Japanese students. Ten had been accepted into the program. 'Ironic isn't it?' she said to herself. Ten years, ten people, but only one of them had really mattered. The one who reminded her of her time of rediscovery.

"Sounds cheesy, doesn't it?" She chided herself. But it was true.

Ten years ago, she, and five other kids had gone through an ordeal that both changed themselves, and changed the world. Or, rather, prevented the world from being changed into a dark prison. Since then, she had made friends easier, forgave people easier, and looked at the world in a different way, but today, her world had been changed in a way she didn't want it to change.

'Why Takuya?' She thought; closing her eyes. 'Why did you have to…?'

She hoped that the situation would not make her seem distant to her family. It had to happen. She told herself firmly. How could she be twenty-one-years-old and still not think that marriage was a possibility? It was always there. Still, she was still rather young. They had just finished college a couple weeks ago, and Takuya was working on his admissions for grad school, thus making him unable to accompany her back to Japan.

Ten years of close contact and three years of dating had made them almost inseparable. Some people believed that the second they graduated, they would get married. She had thought so too for longer than she could remember, but why was it that when the moment came, she hesitated?

She was at the gate, just ready to board the airplane. Excited, and completely unaware of what was going to happen. Just as she handed the ticket to the flight attendant, Takuya had stopped her and just plain stated his proposal without so much as a kneeling or anything dramatic. He had been expecting her to accept without delay. How wrong both of them were. She paused, thought, looked around nervously, and when the flight attendant ushered her on, she told him to wait until she got back. Bewildered, unnerved, and absolutely stunned, they had gone their separate ways; so here she was on the plane thinking of what had suddenly happened, and Takuya was likely thinking the same.

What if she was just jittery? What if she realized that she should've just downright accepted, and when she got back, Takuya would never talk to her again? But why had she hesitated? Likely the first thing any right minded guy would ask would be, 'is there someone else?' No, why would there be? The program was full of computer nerds, corporate jerks, and rich preps. She and Takuya were the only "normal" people there. True, she had dated one or two of the weird guys at one point or another, but not with any real enthusiasm. Takuya was the one. Or was he really?

Maybe there wasn't a guy right now, but, then?

"Please return to your seats, we will be descending shortly."

She was broken from thought for a few moments, but when she remembered again what she was thinking about, she was suddenly struck with a resolution.