Disclaimer: No I don't own this. This is purely for fun.
Warnings: this is about as non-warning as i have ever been. other than Non-Massacre AU

A Midnight Proposal

Just as the moon was at the apex of the night sky, there was a stirring in the long grasses on either side of a lone apple tree. After several moments, two people appeared in the darkness. Both were fair skinned, their pale skin nearly glowing in the bright light of the full moon. The girl flushed ever so slightly as she stepped under the branches of the tree, reaching one hand up to touch the bark. Etched into the dark wood was a heart circling two letters SH. Touching the carving was all she needed to do to have that summer day flash before her eyes.

Warm sunlight, cool breezes and the golden light was echoed in the fiery colors of the leaves. Her lover's studious frown as he took kunai to tree trunk and painstakingly carved into the wood. Earlier that week she had expressed the deepness of her devotion. She had asked him, if he was comfortable to, to declare the depth of his.

He had carved into the tree and then pointed to it and said, "If I could carve your name into my own heart, I would."

She smiled in the moonlight. He never said the words, "I love you," but neither had she. Why bother with such a common phrase when there were dozens more that meant so much?

He met her under the boughs of the barren tree. He reached one hand up and cupped her cheek. Leaning in, he kissed her lips lightly and then her forehead. She smiled kindly up at him and stepped closer, resting her head against his chest, her hands folded between their chests, one palm to her own heart and the other pressed over his. He put his arms around her and closed his eyes.

Some nights were just like this one- silent embraces into the darkness, physical comfort, with the simple knowledge that there was another who's heart beat in time with your own. Other nights they spoke endlessly, holding hands under the tree and laughing and confessing and wondering aloud. And then there were other nights that the two burned with such need that words were unintelligible and embraces had no barriers between bodies.

This chilly winter night, the two clung to each other in a way they knew they could not during the day. Only here did they feel free from the images they wore during the day. Only here did they feel perfectly understood, and perfectly adequate.

After long minutes in silence, she looked up as he pulled away. He was smiling, a tiny nervous thing that struggled to survive amid his furrowed brows and dark eyes. He put his hands on her shoulders and then said, "I couldn't think of any way to say this except bluntly." She blinked in surprise as he descended to one knee, drawing from his pocket not a ring box but a feather attached to a hair clip and a string of beads. "Please, do me the honor…"

She touched the silken black feather and whispered, "You remembered." She ran her fingertips over the soft feather and the red beads. Her smile grew broader than it had ever been before, "You really remembered!"

He looked up at her, frowning. Of course he did. When she had spoken, her voice trembling, as she confessed a fear of rings. That a ring on her finger could get caught, that it could get tightened, stuck in place on her precious hands. She had shook like a leaf in a storm, until he had pulled her into a tight embrace. He had asked her what she was going to do about wedding rings.

Her shaky breath had become a shaky chuckle as she whispered that she would prefer a feather in her hair, the color of her love's hair with beads attached to match the man's eyes. How could he forget a thing like that, he wondered, when it was something said by the girl who consumed his every thoughts?

Helping her clip the feather into her hair, he gave her a slight smile. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him in excitement. He laughed, hugging her close and spinning her around.

"Thank you," she said with her silver eyes bright and her cheeks pink.

He gave her his cocky smirk and said, "Of course."

She knew the excitement of this would burst out of her the moment she saw another person. That she would not be able to contain herself in the morning. But even the thought of presenting herself as an engaged woman to her family paled in comparison to the joy that this show of commitment gave to her. She knew her heart, that she had entrusted to him long ago, was in the safest of hands.

She could hardly wait until dawn. It was fitting that the first morning she would wake up with a fiance would be Valentine's Day.

fin.

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