Author's Notes: Because Kuki's family is so Japanese, Numbuh Three just has to get an arranged marriage. If this were a conventional fic, there would be something about a cute, super cool boy and Wally stressing out about the whole situation. Unfortunately, no such thing exists here.

Enjoy.

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His head is in the edge of the pond, like he's drowning himself, and I run over to pull him out. I hitch my wedding dress over with one hand and with the other, I yank out the little hair he has left. I expected his face to be covered in gruesome yellow mud, but it was clear and I let go of his head.

"I can't do this, I look horrible!" he sobs. He does, because the gray tufts of hair are sticking to his scalp in the rain, and his eyes are squinty and small.

"No you don't," I try to reassure him. Then I mentally slap myself. Bitterly, I say, "They'll just say you're wet." I had been disappointed that he wasn't covered in sticky goo 'cause maybe, just maybe, my parents would call off the wedding if the groom were unpresentable…

But he doesn't believe me and starts to run away. I follow him and catch up with him, huffing. He knows I'm there, running alongside him, but he doesn't look at me.

"Of course they'll say you're wet! It's raining on my wedding day!" I shout, trying to break through to him. He's still running and I realize that we were moving away from the pavilion. I had dreamt of this day of freedom, since the day my parents told me of my arrangement, but never had I thought… I looked at the middle-aged man running next to me and felt sorry for him.

"Do you love me? Do you really love me?"

"I love you like a sister," he says woefully. I'm glad, 'cause maybe he wasn't so agreeable to this arrangement as my parents had thought…

"Well, that's just it. It's like marrying your sister, and… you know. Never mind."

I can't remember anything after that. I know that we were still running in our matrimony habiliments through the drizzling rain. I remember being thoroughly soaked in my starchy gown, sweaty and hot beneath the bodice and freezing around my neck and shoulders. I don't remember ever being happier than on my wedding day, because neither bride nor groom wanted to say,

"I do."