"He's a laugh, Junior is. I just hope you know how much he looks like you."

A soft breeze of wind passed by, and Misaki swore that she heard Takumi Usui's voice saying, "Of course I do!"

Her back flinched when she heard that familiar heart-aching voice once again. Misaki looked around the cemetery, a small flicker of hope in her heart saying that he was there.

Still there.

"But he's not..." she muttered softly, amber eyes looking down on his white marble tombstone again.

On the smooth, flat surface of the cold marble, Misaki felt the embossed letters of his name under her fingertips.

Usui Takumi.

It was just a name and it already inflicted so much pain. Memories when they were together used to flash through her mind when she saw or heard his name. Now that fifteen years had already past, just a pang of pain went through her heart, but it didn't mean it wasn't painful.

Every single day was painful... since she heard that name every single day – because her son was his namesake.

Smiling slightly at the tombstone, she turned around and headed back home, when another breeze went by.

It seemed to stop so suddenly beside her ear, and yet again Misaki heard his voice whisper.

"I'll always be with you and our son, don't forget that, Prez."

A smile graced her lips as she felt her teardrop trail down her cheek. "Of course I will, you perverted outer-space alien," she said.

Heaven's Embrace

by aesylthryth

Kaichou wa Maid-sama © Hiro Fujiwara

Sequel to 'I Once Had the Best' - link in my profile

Dedicated to Bernice-senpai. She's an upperclassman in my school; she died through suicide just this March. This is a reminder to everyone out there who is going through a lot of problems. Bernice-senpai, even if you might have already forgotten about me, or if you don't even know anything about this anime, this is for you, and I hope you'll be happy up there.

Bye.

Misaki Ayuzawa paled upon the sight of a rapidly changing landscape outside the window she was looking through. She couldn't hide her nervousness, not from him. But she couldn't hide anything from him though; she was never good at hiding things.

'And she still looks cute,' Usui Takumi thought, making sure that his chuckle was low enough so his girlfriend wouldn't give him a lecture – inside a plane of all places.

"Scared, pres?" he asked teasingly.

Misaki jerked slightly from her seat and quickly puffed her chest and crossed her arms. She looked away from him stiffly with dignity. "Of course not!"

Takumi just smiled wearily at her response. It was very... Misaki-ish... and he absolutely loved it.

The plane started taxing on the runway, and he saw Misaki jerk up, shattering her composure into bits. He saw her gaze through the window again, a smile lighting up her face as her eyes looked at the rapidly shrinking landscape below them.

Without even thinking, he put his hand over hers and squeezed it lightly in assurance. She blushed, 'as usual,' as she hesitantly turned her head to look at him.

Takumi smiled at her, not with that perverted smirk, but with a genuine smile.

It was bliss.

Takumi reminisced his first plane trip with his girlfriend as he sat in the Heathrow Airport's departure area. He was currently waiting for his plane to New York. His half-brother, Gerrard Walker, said that their grandfather was having his vacation there. Takumi didn't want to wait for him to come back to England – he had to tell him that he was going to marry Misaki, even if he will consider her status as a mere commoner. Takumi didn't want to elope; he knew that if Misaki were to find out about it someday, it would hurt her. And heck, he'd rather die than hurt her.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard that his plane was ready. He pulled his bag on his shoulder and went through the busy crowd in the area.

'Here goes.'

Takumi knew that there was something terribly wrong when he finally sat on his seat in the plane. There was this sick feeling in his stomach, but it was wrong to call it a stomachache. There was also this tingling feeling inside him, like something bad was going to happen.

"... and be sure to fasten your seatbelts. Thank you and we hope you enjoy your flight," the stewardess was saying on the microphone.

He looked out through the window. The weather was fine, the sky was blue, nothing bad could possibly happen.

Or so he thought.

Takumi frowned. The sickly feeling was getting stronger and stronger with each passing second. He tried to distract himself by watching the blue ocean below. It had been a while since they flew over land, so they must be over the Atlantic Ocean right now.

Sighing and telling himself that he was just being paranoid, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

"PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND–"

He woke up at the sound of people thrashing about, and there was something wrong on how they were flying. Mothers were comforting their crying children, men started putting on safety-jackets and the others panicked around.

"What's wrong?" Takumi asked the man sitting beside him, who was transferring important things from his travelling bag to his jacket.

"The right wing's burning up. Got to prepare yourself, lad," the man said in a thick British accent, shoving things hastily down his pockets.

"EVERYONE, PLEASE DON'T PANIC AND–"

BOOM!

The plane angled sideways to the left, and people started to run to their side of the plane.

'Please... don't...' Takumi thought.

Misaki suddenly winced in her seat.

"You okay, Misaki-chan?" Sakura asked, spooning ice cream into her mouth.

Misaki showed a small smile at the pink haired girl across the table. "I'm okay, but there was this... weird feeling."

"What weird feeling?" asked Sakura, gently digging her spoon back to the ice cream. She leaned closer to the table.

Sakura and Shizuko stared at their friend worryingly.

Takumi never knew that intense pain caused your mind to think it was just nothing. He knew his whole body was burning. His skin began to get charred just like everyone else on the plane, but his mind blankly reacted to it.

The fire enveloped everything: the cushioned seats, the metal walls, the carpeted floors. He could already see blackened dead bodies lying everywhere through the thick tongues of fire. He could also hear the faint sounds of people crying out for help, children hopelessly yelling, and the infants' struggle for more years of existence.

Any of them couldn't do anything. And as the plane crashed into the ocean's surface, water started flooding the whole place. Deeper and deeper they went into the waters, and the fire began to vanish.

Through blurry and irritated eyes, he could see the burned bodies disintegrate in the water. Then he felt the faint sensation of water making contact with his burned skin.

Takumi took one last breath before desperately whispering out, "Misaki..."

Misaki dropped the dress she was holding.

Cold wind seemed to have speared through her when she felt that awful sensation. She was tingling all over and sweat started trickling down her neck.

Shizuko picked up the dress her friend dropped and looked at her confusingly.

"Misaki, are you all right?" Then she turned to her left. "Sakura! Come over here!"

Sakura came jogging over, and she too noticed the distant expression on Misaki's face.

"Misaki-chan? Misaki-chan? Hey, earth to Misaki-chan!" Sakura waved her hand on her friend's face, but Misaki didn't budge.

It was only then that she snapped out when she felt a teardrop escape from her eyelid.

"Misaki? Why are you crying?" Shizuko asked.

"Huh–uh–what? Crying? But I'm not–" Misaki suddenly stopped. She couldn't control her tears from flowing. "Why... am I crying?"

"–UM! MUM! MUM!" Takumi's voice grabbed her attention.

Misaki looked at her son, saw his face in him, and quickly embraced him in her fragile arms.

"Mum?" he asked quietly in her arms. His mother was sobbing and he didn't know why. In fact, tears had been trailing down her cheeks a minute ago. "Mum," he said, returning her hug, "why are you crying?"

"Great Gran! Look what I– what happened to Great Gran?" a little boy stopped by his great grandmother's side.

"Go back inside, Anthony," ordered Takumi, and the little boy headed back obediently.

Once the two were alone again, Takumi tried patting his mother's weak back. "Mum, tell me, why are you crying?"

Misaki let go of their embrace to look at his son's aging face. The two were very much alike, and she wondered if he'd look like that if he was Takumi's age.

"Mum?"

Misaki shook her head and tugged the side of her lips up. "I'm all right, Takumi. I was just having a bad dream."

"About what?"

Misaki hesitated at first, but she told him anyway. She stared at the ocean and the sky's horizon in the distance. The sun was about to dip into the waters, making beautiful orange sparkles on the crashing sea waves.

"About your father."

"Which do you mean?"

"Your biological father . . ."

Takumi looked at the distance as well, admiring its beauty.

"Not to offend you, mum, or anything, but I think... he's..."

Misaki smiled softly at the scenery. "I think so too. I'm sure you'll have a happy life with your family."

"Thanks for everything, mum. I love you."

The ocean started dissolving into white space.

"I love you too. Your father and I will always be with you, don't forget that, Takumi."

Seventeen year old Usui Takumi started fading into her sight, his hand reaching out to her.

"Of course I will, mum."

When she reached her hand out to him, she saw that her wrinkled, weak arm was replaced by a healthy one in her sight. Then she looked down on her body. She was back to being seventeen again. Familiar people began materializing before her, just around Takumi.

"Hey, President!" Yukimura shouted, grinning widely at her.

"Misa-chan~!" the Idiot Trio screamed happily.

"Misaki-chan!" the staff of Maid Latte smiled, the manager standing proud in front.

"Misaki-chan!" Sakura waved at her, Shizuko smiling beside her.

"Misaki!" Shintani grinned his brightest, waving both of his hands enthusiastically at her.

"Misaki," Tora said with a kind smile he reserved only for her.

"Misaki," her mother, Minako, smiled. She held hands with a man beside her, whom she naturally assumed was her father whom she never met.

"Misaki." But his voice stood out against the rest of the people saying her name.

Misaki Ayuzawa-Usui closed her eyes, and gave in to the warmth of Takumi Usui's embrace.

end