I have made some revisions, but the overall story is still mine. Rachel Noelle really helped with this one, for which, I thank by giving her all my best wishes with her future fics and chapters
Kensei Muguruma pulled at his kimono and wished for the millionth that his hands weren't sweating so much. He looked at himself in the mirror and Shinji appeared behind him. Shinji had on his brown coat and his usual messenger boy hat.
"You OK, Kensei?" Shinji asked his best friend. Kensei turned around to look Shinji in the face.
"Nervous as hell," Kensei said blankly to his best man. Shinji laughed and smiled showing his upper teeth. Kensei smacked Shinji upside the head when his immaturity had escalated into disrespect.
"Well that is what comes with getting married," Shinji advised his friend. Kensei agreed with him and continued to make sure his suit was aligned. Shinji patted Kensei on the back and congratulated him on finally getting hitched with one of finest female shinigami ever.
"Shinji, I don't want to bring back painful memories or anything. But how was your life with Narumi before the accident?" Kensei asked. He could feel Shinji didn't want to talk about it and he didn't blame him. Such a terrible thing that befell such a wonderful woman. Shinji knocked some lint off Kensei's black kimono and stood against the wall. Arms folded and face completely serious.
"It was wonderful. It was the happiest 300 years of my near eternal life. I wish I would have spent more time with her and Hoshiko before......," Shinji began, but couldn't finish. The emotional stress was taking too much of a toll even for the Vizard leader. Kensei sighed and apologized about bring up such a terrible memory. "I'm sorry. This is your happy day and I'm ruining it with old memories." Kensei watched his friend exit the room and slowly close the door. An hour passed before the door was re-opened. This time it was Love Aikawa.
"Kensei, it's time," was all he said. Kensei looked at himself in the mirror again and left the room, followed by Rose Otoribashi, Love Aikawa and Shinji Hirako. He arrived at the altar which was decorated with a dozen black candles. Six in each row down the aisle. A single red candle sat on the altar with Hachi behind it. Incense, a large gong was off to the side and a silver chalice on a table next to Hachi. A small dagger and a crystal ball sit off to Hachi's left side. And a cord and both wedding rings were in his hands. Rose, Hiyori Sarugaki, Mashiro Kuna, Ichigo Kurosaki, Inoue Orihime and anyone else they met or trained was in the crowd to witness the joining of Kensei Muguruma and his girlfriend. Kensei wanted to make sure that his wedding went perfectly. Shinji whispered in Kensei ear and the two began to have a silent conversation.
"Take care of him, Shinji, please," Kensei pleaded. Shunji nodded and got off the altar. Apparently, Mashiro Kuna had tried going to get some alcohol and Kensei refused to let that happen at his wedding. Half an hour later, Shinji returned with Mashiro and told Hiyori to watch her.
"Why should I have to watch her, dickhead?" Hiyori yelled at Shinji. They both looked up at the altar and noticed the severe death glare's that Kensei was giving them both. Shinji left Hiyori alone and returned to the altar. Hiyori shut her mouth and kept her eye on Mashiro, much to the female Vizard's despise. Kensei sighed as he knew his wedding wasn't going to go as planned, nothing for him did. Kensei's zanpakuto was speaking him trying to mess with him.
"So you finally got the guts to propose to her, have you?" Kensei's zanpakuto mocked him. Kensei told the blade to shut up and continued to wait for his future wife. Another fifteen minutes passed before Lisa Yadomaru appeared in a beautiful black kimono cut to look like a skirt which was something Kensei found very arousing. She was being led to the altar by Love who was her best friend, mostly from they getting to know each other over the period of 100 years through reading hentai manga. A bright smile lit up Kensei's face as she arrived at the altar and Hachi, who happened to be a justice of the peace, was going to be the one to join them in unholy matromony and was the only justice of the peace that would be happy to marry two Vizards. Shinji struck the gong three times to issue the beginning of the ceremony
"In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi! In the name of Satan, I call upon the forces of Darkness and the infernal power within! Consecrate this place with the power, love and light of Lucifer. Join with us, we say in the binding of these two who shall be as one. They desire to make their union a matter of record, so that their friends and the society in which they live may bear witness and lend support." Hachi said loudly.
"Diana and Adonis, Ishtar and Tammuz, Freya and Odin… by these and other names are divine lovers known. I invite the Gods to come bless this union as we invoke the infernal names: Amon, Astaroth, Ishtar, Bast, Lilith, Pan, Asmodeus, Thoth." As each name was spoken by Hachi, the congregation followed suit. Hachi picked up the red candle and faced it to the south.
"We call upon the element of fire to come serve us, for we are Satan! Flame the passion of Risa and Kensei and fill them with all consuming ardor and lust for each other!" Hachi picked up the incense and faced it to the east and once again he began to speak another passage.
"We call upon the element of the air to come serve us, for we are Lucifer! Consciousness flows, one to the other, so this couple may share a mutual wisdom and unified vision." Kensei sighed as he knew there were two more passages to go before the ceremony was half done. He loved Lisa, but this was taking too long. Hachi continued with the ceremony by picking up the crystal ball and facing it to north and he recited yet another passage. Shinji kept his head down and didn't speak a word as the ceremony was taking place. Hachi picked up the chalice and faced it to the west. He recited the last passage and Kensei and Lisa looked up at Hachi who put the chalice down. Shinji coughed lightly and put his head back down. Ichigo and Orihime were happy for Lisa and Kensei, but were slighly frightened at the ceremony they were going through.
"Hear me, you Watchers who lurk in the darkness. Be mindful of lovers such as these and provide them a bastion of solace and protection. Bride and groom, up until this moment you have been separate in thought, word and action. As this cord binds together your hands, so do your lives become joined." Hachi said as he tied Lisa's right hand to Kensei's left hand. Orihime whispered to Ichigo as the ceremony was paused as Hachi tied the lovers hands. Hachi picked up the dagger and chalice.
"Yadomaru Risa, you bring the energy of SAT; boundless, dark, intuitive, and soft. I bid you blend these energies with Muguruma Kensei to make your lives together whole. Take this cup as a symbol of your love." Hachi said kindly as he handed Lisa the chalice. Lisa held it in both hands and looked at the blood red wine in the cup.
"Muguruma Kensei, you bring the energy of TAN; expansive, bright, logical and hard. I bid you blend these energies with Yadomaru Risa to make your lives together whole. Wield this blade as a symbol of your love." Hachi handed Kensei the dagger and he held it with pride.
"I pledge my blade, as I pledge my soul, ever to your service. Like this blade my love for you will be strong and enduring, so that our lives together will always be protected. Accept it, my beloved, and with it all that is mine becomes yours. Even if our paths should later diverge, yet I will always be your true friend, to love you and lend you aid and protection. By seed and root, by bud and stem, by leaf and flower and fruit, by life and love, in the name of Satan, I, Muguruma Kensei, take you, Yadomaru Risa, to my hand, my heart, and my spirit." Kensei was transfixed by Lisa's beautiful eyes as he said his vows. Lisa repeated what Kensei said, but with her name is his names' place. Kensei dripped the blade into the chalice
"SAT and TAN, female and male, dark and light… neither has meaning without the other, but through their eternal interplay the universe is born." Hachi said, his voice full of emotion and happiness. Hachi took the chalice from Lisa and gently placed it on the altar.
"This bond I draw between you; when you are parted in mind or body, there will be a call in the core of you, one to the other, to which nothing and no one else will answer. By the secrets of the earth and water is this bond woven, unbreakable, irrevocable. By the law that created fire and wind is this bond written in your souls." Hachi untied the cords that held Lisa and Kensei's hands together and placed it on the altar. He picked up their rings and gave Lisa's to Kensei and Kensei's to Lisa.
"Your vows have been made before your friends, the forces of Darkness and all the Gods of the Pit. These rings, like your vows, are without beginning or end. They are the physical representation of your promises to each other's spirits." Kensei and Lisa faced each other and slid each other's ring onto the other's finger.
"Above you are the stars, below you are the stones. As time passes, remember – like a star should your love be constant, like the earth should your love be firm. Have no fear and let not the ways or words of the unenlightened give you unease, for Satan is with you, now and always! I now pronounce you husband and wife. The work of joy is done and yet begun!" Kensei bought Lisa into a kiss showing true love to their witnesses, loved ones, and friends. They broke apart and Shinji rang the gong one last time, showing that he ceremony was complete and that Kensei and Lisa's lives had been joined, in spirit, body, and action. They left the altar with hands joined going to enjoy their honeymoon and the rest of their lives together.
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A.N. Just for the record, Narumi and Hoshiko are my own made up characters for Shinji's wife and daughter.
