Ares Long Lost Love

Rice Cakes and Wedding Rings

Many months had passed since the dinner at kimiko's parents house. Ares had been looking in town square for something elegant and yet simple for Kimiko, but what was it he was searching for? A necklace perhaps, maybe a pet... no my dear reader.. It was a ring. A ring to symbolize marriage, thats right our humble God was going to propose. For months and months he had been searching with little to no success. Each time Ares entered the shop to look for a ring someone would recognize him and immediately fetch the finest rings and the most elegant and ostentatious rings you'd ever see. He didn't want a showy ring, not even one with millions of tiny diamonds, he wanted a ring that showed he would love kimiko forever. He also didn't want to go to Hephaestus to forge the ring he was going to wait until he found a suitable ring set before having him engrave something in the metal. For months he searched, he even looked through the stores of foreign nations while at battle. Until one day... he went inside a small shop in the country of England and he saw hundreds of wedding bands. Perfect, this was just what he was searching for. "How can i help you sir?" The young store clerk said to him with a gentle smile. "Im trying to find a simple ring to propose to my girlfriend with.. I want one diamond on it and i was hoping to have it symbolize eternity" Wow.. I said to Ares as i set the notepad down for a brief moment. What? He asked puzzled by my expression. I smiled at him and just giggled slightly while saying. You walk into a jewelry store with that big request at this time period... Im wondering if she thought you were mentally unstable. Ares chuckled and nodded his head. He told me that when he peered into her thoughts, she was wondering if I had a giant collection of rings at home and was planning on melting them down. Or something along the lines of that, he told me it was over half a millennia ago so it was a little foggy. I was just thinking if he had the ability to come to the future I'm sure he could find the exact ring he wanted on Ebay or Amazon. But i digress again, sorry so back to the story. I picked up the notepad and began writing again as i urged him on. The lady was actually very helpful and showed him a selection of single diamond wedding bands, some where gold but most of them were silver. Ares had run into a new problem... he wasn't sure whether kimiko liked gold or silver better. She never liked flashy jewelry and the only thing of silver or gold color she owned was the locket around her neck. Perhaps she liked the silver better and as he gazed over the selection... he found it. A simple pairing that had a smaller silver band with a diamond heart. The bigger ring had engraved endless love with a heart cut out, the smaller ring fit perfectly inside the larger ring and it was just the ring he had been looking for. Ares chuckled and then rubbed his temple in his hands, he told me that he had different money than the currency they took in England so he had to sit there in the shop for over four hours trying to give her the gold while she asked for paper as money. Eventually she accepted it and he went back home to Kimiko and waited for her arrival. He sat on the chair inside the house for an hour or so before he wondered if he should make some sort of presentation for the ring.. He had seen many mortals make fancy dinners and hide the ring within the food and he thought that seemed easy to do. So he went into the kitchen and began cooking. I should probably tell you that according to Ares, this was the first time he ever cooked for himself. Or cooked in general. I felt a deep sense of dread as i sighed and looked at him asking the question that i felt i already knew the answer to, but i still had to ask. Did you burn the food? The answer was yes, as well as cause the kitchen to fill with black smoke. Poor Kimiko i thought to myself as he continued on. Kimiko had gone out shopping in the local market for food, and when she entered the house she began coughing and waving her hand in front of her face through the smoke. Ares was trying to get the smoke to stop as well as trying to put the meat he lit on fire in the pan out. Kimiko entered the kitchen and coughed asking Ares what on earth he was trying to do. Ares felt mortified in embarrassment as Kimiko took the pan from him and ran out of the house. Ares followed her and watched as she fanned it with a small towel on the stone pathway until the fire finally died and the smoke ceased to emit. Ares had his face smudged with black smoke with a small apron around his waist. Kimiko giggled seeing Ares in the doorway, it was adorable to see him try and cook but she told him he better leave the cooking to her until she taught him how. She moved past him and then went back to the kitchen to begin cooking.. The ring!! That was what screamed out in his mind as he went out of the doorway and into the kitchen in an attempt to locate the ring that was hidden away in a small rice cake he prepared. "This is adorable Ares.." Kimiko said as she held the cake in her hands. It was in the shape of a small shamisen, again the banjo guitar, and she went to take a bite. "WAIT!!!" Ares shouted as he snatched the cake from her hands. Normally she cut the rice cakes with her chopsticks before eating it, and the fact she just went to bite it terrified him. "What's wrong Ares? The cake looks very well prepared, I'm sure it taste delicious." She smiled and held her hand out asking for the cake. "b..but you should eat with your chopsticks.. you know.. so you don't choke." Ares muttered and stammered as he fumbled the cake in his hands, which of course was his folly for during the fumbling the cake broke and the small ring fell to the floor with a clink. Kimiko knelt down and picked up the ring in her hands with widened eyes. "Ares.. is this.." Ares had nodded and then went down upon his knee taking her hand in his. He held the ring in his hand while looking at her with all the love in his heart as he said to her. "Kimiko... I've lived hundreds of years.. met thousands of women but none of them could ever come close to the way you make me feel.. In the heat of battle i see your smile, when i sleep apart from you i watch you from my home and pretend that I'm holding you to me. Your father once asked me what my intentions where to you.. and i told him that i wanted to marry you.. so here i am.. the God of War.. making a mess in the kitchen.. wearing this.. ridiculous apron and holding the hand of the most beautiful girl in the world.. Im asking you Kimiko Matuyami.. will you marry me?" I had to put my notepad down and wipe a small tear from my eyes after hearing his proposal to her. It was so beautiful.. Naturally i assumed she said yes and she did with a big smile and a plethora of kisses. Oh how I wish i could have been at the wedding itself. To see Kimiko dressed in her kimono, with the flowers adorning her hair. The cherry blossoms falling from the tree as the minister sanctified their marriage. To see the love in their eyes as they whispered i do to each other. It just made my heart flutter imagining the wedding of the loving couple. Ares told me his father Zeus and his uncles Hades and Poseidon even came down from Olympus to witness the wedding, which caused quite a stir amongst the mortals. But for Kimiko and Ares, all they needed was each other. Together they had everything they ever wanted, and with a kiss they sealed their marriage in front of her family, his family and the patron clan of the Minamoto.