As the orchestra started up, the sea of guests parted the expansive halls leaving a long, straight path from his majesty Shibuya Yuri (Harajuku Furi) the 27th Maoh of Shin Makoku's suite as he proceeded toward the courtyard. As he walked through the halls with countless whistling and waves of soldiers, maids, and dignitaries representing the closest members of the ten noble families inner circles, Yuri progressed, feeling rather bashful in his austere attire. Even during his coronation ceremony he never wore anything quite like this.

Yuri came to a halt at the stony overpass that overlooked the courtyard as he gazed at the carriage set before them. It had been especially commissioned, ornate leaves of cast-iron making window coverings on the work of pure craftsmanship, the dark cedar wood polished to a shine, the large spokes held the festive decoration one would presume stained glass would have, twelve pitch black horses were harnessed to the heavy looking carriage, even they were in full regalia, it was out of a fairytale, though of gothic design, as far as Yuri was concerned.

He fluffed his fur hood upward, allowing for more coverage as he ventured out into the snow, approaching the carriage.

Several guards were present, each donning their ceremonial uniforms as they saluted their maoh on this historic, proud day. Gisela made sure, by her presence alone, that those salutes were at the fullest of attention, the way the spine actually seemed to make a straight line indication of this.

Wolfram bowed at the side of the carriage, offering his hand to help Yuri climb into the raised cab. Yuri smiled, "Thanks, Wolfram."

The blond merely bowed his head while still assisting Yuri in his entrance. Once he was loaded into the cab, Wolfram, Yozak, Gunter, Gisela, and Greta entered as well, each wearing intricate dresses or military garb, Gunter being the only one not in a dress, beside Yuri. Though, the white-haired man didn't seem as happy about it as Yuri would have expected him to be.

Anissina and Cheri approached the cabin, "Heika, when you arrive back from Shinou's Temple, after he gives the blessing, the bridal party and the two espoused will ride through Shin Makoku, then upon your return to the castle we will perform the public ceremony and begin with the festivities."

Yuri smiled and bowed once, "Cheri-sama, are you sure you don't want to come with us in this carriage? Anissina?" Yuri looked back and forth between the two.

"No, we'll be just fine, we have to help the other members of the groomsman party get their acts together. We'll ride along with them. Besides, I'm sure Cheri-sama would like to impart wisdom to her son on the day he's to wed." Anissina said, smiling knowingly.

Yuri's smiled faltered, somewhere in the back of his mind hoping she wouldn't bring up eating his flesh to keep Conrad eternally youthful… really, Murata was too much. "I see, well then, we'll be off."

Cheri smiled, "Heika, you look very handsome. I'm glad such a fine man has chosen to marry my beloved son Conrad."



Yuri blushed, he wasn't sure how to stand on ceremony at such an event. It didn't help that even his own family would be in attendance, just this once! Of course, they were still back at home waiting to come over once his party left, his parents and brother would be escorted by Conrad's troop, who could 'better guard' them, and more specifically not make Yuri change into a dress last minute.

His breath hung in the air in wispy clouds of white in the early morning light. Even in the fur cloak and gloves, Yuri found it hard to keep warm. He blew into his hands trying to warm up. "You aren't cold are you, Greta?" Yuri smiled at his adorable daughter, her own fur cloak made her look like an absolute gem, her straight-cut dress making her look like an angelic doll out of a Victorian novel, the way it hung.

"Nn!" She said in order to express how fine she felt, "I'm so excited I get to be in your wedding!"

"That's right, the flower girl is an ancient tradition in Western culture, they carry the flowers in to signal when the bride is to enter." Yuri smiled as he explained, still not happy that he got to be the 'bride' though, without the stigma of the gaudy white dress and veil, he was much happier to just deal with it.

Yuri looked down at his outfit, the grays, whites, blues and browns all complimented each other with their weaver pattern and cuts. Slate gray slacks hung close to his body in a tapered suit pants, pulled into the rest of the outfit by the slightly darker gray silky vest which covered his white long-sleeve button-down shirt, the collar fixed closed adorning his blue amulet, matching stones were used as cufflinks, at the ends of his sleeves extended fine white suede gloves with soft gray undertones brushed in to make his grey shoes match, even his blue-and-grey socks and underwear pulled in the color scheme. His garnet colored crown the one bit of red, and yet with the fur hooded cloak that housed what he thought had to be fox-fur had so many blond and brown tones that it didn't even chance clashing. Even he admitted, today he felt handsome, very handsome. Well, if ever there was a day to feel his best, this would be it, wouldn't it?

He glanced around the bridal party, Wolfram, Yozak and Gisela each wore a similar cut dress, the mature form of Greta's juvenile dress, theirs didn't taper so close to their bodies, so much as they flipped out to give a bit more width, which he supposed would be better for dancing in, anyways. Instead of heels, they wore formal winter boots with slight lifts, the boots going up just past their calves, the colors of the dresses were reflections of the same palette, soft to bright to rich shades of blues and browns, their boots and their furs matching perfect though each color was unique to the person. Gisela wore the darkest blue dress, almost navy-blue, with the lightest color blond furs and boots with the most lift. Her father wore a medium-dark blue outfit familiar to a Chinese slit-garb, light blue slacks underneath, he wore tan suede boots and tan furs. Gunter wore a brighter blue that went well with his eyes, though because of it, he wore fairly dark furs, a smoky grey-brown shade in order to tone down the outfit. Wolfram wore a powder blue dress and brown second in darkness only to Yuri's, though Yuri's furs held fibers of each of the colors of the members of his party.

Yuri smiled when he imagined what the others would look like in their outfits. In the groomsmen's party, they each would wear long flowing blue jackets matching the dress of their opposite, then the browns in a formal military-style uniform, Yuri remembered laying out the outfits with Conrad to look at them, in awe of how well they would go together, though neither was allowed to see the other's outfit. The 

one thing Yuri could get out of Conrad about it was that he would NOT be in a dress, nor would Yuri, and with that he was able to let the subject drop.

Yuri was glad they managed to have a young boy who could pair up with Greta, though borrowing the Wincotts' heir for such a thing was a bit strange to Yuri, Conrad had assured him it would be alright.

The carriage slowed to a halt, "We're here, heika." Gunter informed before opening the door to climb out, he assisted Gisela from the cab, then Greta, lifting her in the air to keep the princess from dragging her dress in the snow, Yozak hopped down in seeming ease, then Wolfram dismounted before bowing yet again and lending his hand to help Yuri out of the cabin.

"You're going above and beyond." Yuri commented toward the blond.

"Well, I am the maid of honor." The fiery blond flipped his hair up striking his typical bishounen pose that was known to make the maids faint upon sighting it.

Yuri rolled his eyes playfully, "Yeah, yeah I know. I'm just glad in your version that the maid of honor doesn't pair with the best man like on Earth, it would be weird making you and Gwendel wear something complimentary, that and Gunter and Murata would cry." Pausing for a moment, he had to think, "Come to think of it, I'm not going to hear the end of this from Shori for not picking him to be Conrad's best man." He shuddered just imagining the catastrophe it would be in letting Shori deliver that speech as to Conrad's character.

He was sure the phrases 'complete pervert', 'lecher', and 'takes advantage of my poor, innocent Yuu-chan' would be involved in close proximity to each other.

"Are you cold? You're shivering Yuri." Wolfram asked.

"Ahahaha, nothing, it's nothing. I'm just excited." He smoothed, "So, when should the others arrive?"

"Conrad's party will arrive in another ten minutes, so you need to get inside and to your chambers, otherwise you're going to ruin the captain's surprise."

Yuri smiled, "Right. Alright, let's go!" He pointed in an excited fashion, he spotted the shrine maidens as they fawned at him while straightening and setting up different lanterns to provide ambience befitting a wedding ceremony.

Entering the shrine-room, Yuri spotted Ulrich and Shinou before the shrine maidens could divert him to his 'bridal' suite.

"Congratulations, Yuri-heika." Ulrich bowed her head, Yuri smiled at them both.

"Thank you. Oh, they're signaling I have to go, Conrad will probably be here soon."

"So will geika, we'll proceed with the ceremony shortly after, Shinou's loyal guards will escort you to his chamber as soon as everything is ready, Greta will be fetched first, then Conrad, and then your parties, 

and then lastly, your royal person will be escorted by a handful of our best guards once everyone else is here."

Yuri nodded. "Alright."

-.-.-