-Holy Matrimony – A Kingdom Hearts Fanfic-
-Starring my OC Tora Altona and the lone wolf Cloud Strife-
-Part One: The Engagement-
"For crying out loud Tora, we're going to the Land of Dragons, not your mother's house!"
"I'm fully aware of that! I can't find my black heels!" Cloud rolled his glowing blue eyes and stomped to the back of the house to find his girlfriend in the tangle of clothes in their bedroom. He'd only moved in with the Twin of Touch four months ago, on their eighteen-month anniversary. Now they were celebrating two years; how the hell had he come this far without injuring himself? Opening the door to the room, he spied the wardrobe door wide open and a red-clad butt wiggling outside of it. The heater must be stuck again; the temperature just suddenly skyrocketed.
"Tora, what are you doing?" he asked, a little strained. The Twin of Touch straightened up and turned to face her boyfriend, a pair of strappy black heels in her hand. Cloud nearly did a double take at the red Chinese dress on her body. She'd wound her hair into a bun and pinned it in place with a pair of black hair sticks, stray strands tickling her olive neck. There was a slick of red lip gloss on her scarred lips, while her eyes popped with black eyeliner and silver glitter. More silver glitter had been sprinkled and brushed into her hair, scattered all over her dress as proof.
"I told you, I couldn't find my shoes." She sat down on the end of their bed and quickly put the shoes on. The shoes gave her an extra two inches of height, which always proved useful to the swordsman. He didn't really like bending down to kiss his girlfriend, but he didn't exactly mind it, either. Tora stood up and examined herself in the full-length mirror.
"Do you like it, Cloud?" she asked. He shook himself out of his trance and crossed the floor, winding his arms around her waist.
"No." he said.
"Too bad, I'm not-"
"I love it." Tora grinned and kissed his cheek, running her hand over his blue silk-clad arm. He'd gone for a traditional male Chinese look, complete with his sword strapped to his back (only because it was way too big to fit anywhere else). Her elbow blades were held discreetly under her dress.
"Thank you." she murmured.
"You're welcome," They shared another kiss, and Cloud steered her out of the room, "Now come on. Sora's not going to wait forever."
"I still don't believe you bought him for tonight for one thousand munny. Wait...yes I do." Keybearer the young brunet may be, intelligent at the best of times he was not. The couple walked out of the house and toward the Gummi hangar, where said Keybearer was leaning on the door, his arms folded over his chest. He jumped up the minute he spotted the two arriving.
"Tora, Cloud, hey! Wow, you guys look good!" he said.
"Thanks Sora." the Twin of Touch said. Cloud cleared his throat impatiently. Sora was screwing up his night already, and they hadn't even left Radiant Garden! Tonight was really important (in more ways than one for him) and he didn't need the saviour of the worlds to worsen his mood. Sora led the couple to the Gummi Ship and they all boarded, the all-clear given for them to take off.
"I hate that taking-off feeling." Tora commented as soon as they were en route to the Land of Dragons.
"Why?" Sora asked from the driver's seat.
"It makes my stomach drop right out of me. Figuratively!" The last word was added hastily the minute the Twin of Touch caught the look on her boyfriend's face.
"That was a mental image I'm never going to get rid of..." Cloud groaned quietly, covering his eyes with his hands. They were quickly removed by calloused female hands, and he found himself staring into kohl-rimmed gold eyes.
"I didn't mean to do that to you, but I was only describing the feeling." Tora leaned in to press her forehead against the blond's, a soft smile on her glossed lips. He reached up and brushed his fingertips along her cheekbones and around her jaw, returning the soft smile. Leaning in, they traded gentle kiss for gentle kiss for a while until Sora (quite rudely, Tora reflected later) announced that they'd touched down in the Land of Dragons.
"Thanks again, Sora!" she called as she got off the ship.
"Bye Tora!" the teen waved, smiling, "Cloud?"
"Hm?" The swordsman turned around and flinched. On Sora's face was the most serious look he'd ever seen there. It just didn't suit him.
"Tifa, Aerith and Yuffie will be pretty annoyed if they don't see it on Tora's finger, whatever it is, when you guys come home tomorrow," the teen said, "Don't annoy them." Cloud flinched again. How did those three manage to scare the living daylights out of him, even from worlds away?
"Alright Sora. Tell the girls they've got nothing to worry about." he said.
"Cloud! One of the Emperor's guards said we have a good spot to watch the fireworks because we helped him out several times! Hurry up!" came the loud yell from outside.
"We'll see you tomorrow." With a wave for the road, the blond leaped out of the Gummi Ship.
-
The Emperor greeted the magician and the warrior warmly, one of his guards leading them to their designated spot so they could watch the fireworks. Cloud could practically see Tora jumping out of her skin with all her excitement. Her eyes had lit up like a torch and the smile in her face could probably be seen all the way in Atlantica. Keeping his grip on her waist, he led her to their small table and sat down, encouraging her to do the same.
"How did you do all this, Cloud?" she asked, looking at him for the first time since they'd left the Gummi Ship. He shrugged.
"I just...pulled a few strings." he replied vaguely.
"More like cut a few..." came his girlfriend's mumble. She looked up at the mock-hurt glint in his blue eyes.
"What did you say?" he growled playfully, leaning closer.
"Hm...I don't remember." she replied. Just as they were about to get closer...
"Heartless!"
"Shit..." Pulling her elbow blades from underneath her dress, Tora stood up and ran toward the guards trying to slash at the black shadows in front of them. Grabbing First Tsurugi, Cloud tore after the Twin of Touch, swinging his sword at any Heartless that dared to get in his way.
"Venom!" The green-spotted Shadow Heartless appeared by his mistress's feet and looked up at her with big gold eyes.
"Go find Mulan. She knows who you are and she can warn the Emperor." Tora ordered. Venom nodded once and disappeared into the ground. Throwing a Firaga at a large group of Neo-Shadows, the Twin of Touch growled and swung her elbow blades around to protect her own body. A shadow suddenly descended over her, and she looked up. A Large Body was about to crush her like a bug! Oh hell no...
"Tora!" There was a flash of metal, and the Heartless disappeared.
"My soldier!" She threw herself into Cloud's free arm, which was slightly bloody, and hugged him. Cloud went as red as her dress and returned the gesture, his face nuzzling into her hair. Even with the sweat of battle adorning her skin, she smelt wonderful to him. They quickly jumped apart to fend off more Heartless, but it seemed they were not going to give up their attack any time soon. The couple found themselves back to back in a ring of the black creatures that were slowly advancing in on them. Cloud sighed and drew in a breath. Now or never, his mind argued.
"Tora, can you listen to me while you're trying to fend for your life?" he asked.
"I'm female, Cloud; you'll be surprised what I can do simultaneously." she replied. Closing his eyes at the images that ran through his mind, the swordsman summoned his courage and opened his mouth.
"We've been together for two years, and you've been there for me longer than I can possibly think to imagine..." A Neo-Shadow decided to have a go at him here, but he quickly destroyed it, "You're beautiful, temperamental, determined, stubborn..." He watched her throw a sludge bomb into the crowd, "And above all, mine. But I want to make that official."
"Cloud..." Tora had forgotten how to breathe.
"Marry me, Tora?" The Heartless were soon defeated, and the Twin of Touch turned around. Her boyfriend was now kneeling in front of her, a beautiful ring glinting in front of him. He stared at her expectantly with blue eyes, hoping for the one answer he wanted. Not able to contain her emotion, she knelt down on both her knees and kissed him.
"What made you think I was going to say no?" she whispered as they slowly parted. The blond slipped the ring onto her finger and smiled, standing up.
BANG!
"Fireworks!" Tora stood up and hugged Cloud as he led her back to their spot to watch the coloured explosions. The blond looked down at the gold-eyed woman in his arms, and at the ring around her finger. Fleeting beauty was alright, the beauty with him forever was permanent.
-
"Flaunt Tora, flaunt!" The Twin of Touch grinned and held out her left hand again.
"It feels weird because I'm predominantly left-handed, but I can get used to it." she said as Yuffie yanked at her arm, "Ow! I need that, you know!"
"It's pretty...kind of like my materia." the ninja mused, staring at the single diamond in the centre of the band. It swirled with synthesis energy that only a Moogle could use, the pearl-white clouds hypnotising a lot of people who stared at them too long. Like Yuffie, for example. Tora took her hand back and stretched her arms above her head.
"Did Cid say whether or not he wanted those blueprints finished today or not?" she asked the brunet at the computer. Leon shrugged and continued to type away.
"You're no help." Poking her tongue out at the Gunblade wielder, she rolled up the blueprints she'd finished and stacked them neatly in a corner of the room; somewhere she knew the pilot would see them. She stretched again, feeling her drawing muscles lengthen gratefully after six hours of tracing and copying. Aerith entered the room at that point, carrying a tray with several glasses on it.
"Cold water, anyone?" she offered.
"Lifesaver you are." Yuffie said, taking two of the glasses and handing one to the Twin of Touch.
"Someone said cold." Cloud walked into Merlin's looking as if he'd just been fastened to an Olympus chariot and led through the arena three times. In truth he'd been helping Tifa set up some scaffolding outside her bar so someone could fix the second storey windows. Apparently someone thought it'd be funny to throw things out of them in a drunken rage. The martial artist was still waiting for her compensation munny.
"So how long do we have to wait before you two finally say 'I do'?" Leon asked as he turned around. Tora and Cloud shared a look and nodded.
"About six months." they said in unison.
"WHAT?!" the ninja squawked.
"We've decided not to rush things," Tora explained, "Besides, I still need to get my family here from Twilight Town, and I'm so close to finishing that spell, too..." Everyone looked down at the floor. They all knew what spell she was talking about; ever since the defeat of Organisation XIII the Twin of Touch's poison magic had begun to decrease. Merlin, being the all-knowing magician he was, confirmed that it had to do with the thirteen Nobodies whom she spent time with. Tora had also confirmed she'd made friends with quite a few of them.
"Sorry, Tora." Yuffie mumbled. Cloud gestured to his fiancé, who walked over to him and sat in his lap, her head on his shoulder.
"Six months it is." The leader of the Restoration Committee turned back to the computer and began to type again. Gold and blue eyes widened. Since when did Leon finish his glass of water?
DISCLAIMER: The disclaimer belongs to the characters and settings of 'Kingdom Hearts' – SquareEnix and Disney – and Tora, her family and her 'Twin of Touch' persona – me.