Nippon no Kekkonshiki

Rima turned her head this way and that, admiring the work the hairstylist had done; her long blonde curls were pulled into an intricate up do, baby's breath woven into the golden locks. A single free ringlet fell elegantly over her shoulder, curling around the side of her left breast.

"Sufficient," Rima stated, keeping a cool outer demeanor because her insides here hectic enough, all fluttery and choking. She glanced at her best friend, Hinamori Amu, who had a shaking hand to her mouth and tears in her eyes. She would be the one to cry, Rima though dryly.

"You're so beautiful!" the pinkette wailed, putting a shaking hand to her own less extravagant up do nervously.

Utau rolled her eyes, spinning the chair she was sitting in to face the young bride and crossed her legs at her knees. Her hair was the same as Amu's, done up so that a single Nadeshiko flower peeked out from the loose curls. "So dramatic," Utau reprimanded, waving her hand lazily. But there was a small smile on her face, as though she was remembering her own wedding day, when Amu had fawned over her the same way- or maybe it was just a genuine happiness for one of her best friends on such a special day.

"Yaya wants to get married, too," Yaya pouted, turning the page of the magazine she was looking in, eyes roving hungrily over the photos of dozens of wedding days. Rima rolled her eyes and jumped off her chair, watching silently as her mother paid. She didn't trust herself to talk. Didn't even know if she could.

Swallowing, Rima bowed politely to the woman who had worked magick on her hair, who smiled warmly in response despite Rima's earlier cold compliment. The knot stayed lodged in the young Mashiro's throat, who growled in frustration. She had promised herself she wouldn't be one of those brides, and yet here she was, a ball of nerves.

Amu stopped panicking long enough to smile reassuringly at her best friend. Her own engagement and wedding ring glinted as she gently touched Rima's bare arm. "It's okay, Rima. Just take deep breathes, and if you feel the need to cry, it's okay, alright?"

Rima swallowed reflexively, refusing that course of action despite Amu's assurances. However, she nodded to show she had heard her and followed her bridesmaids and mother out of the salon. Their nails and makeup had already been done; they just needed to get to the hotel the ceremony was being held at and get changed. The limo they took was courtesy of Soma Utau, which would also take Rima and her new husband to the airport after the celebrations.

They were late, but not so late that the guests had started arriving. Entering the room that been assigned to the bride and her bridesmaids, Rima's gaze immediately alighted upon the dark bag that protected her dress. Despite the nervousness that had plagued her since she woke up that morning (at two am, after which she couldn't fall back asleep), the reality of the situation hadn't truly set in until just that moment. In less than an hour she would be married. She would no longer be Mashiro Rima…. She'd be-

"There's no time to be standing there dumbly," Mrs. Mashiro snapped, yanking Rima from her thoughts. Rima scoffed, but slowly moved over to her dress, as though in a daze. Her fingers went up and trailed over the water resistant bag covering it, her long nails scratching slightly.

The next minutes went by in a haze, a blur of motion as the girls dressed, careful not to ruin their hair. The bridesmaids had on floor length, sleeveless gray gowns, with a long white ribbon tied into a bow on the side. Mrs. Mashiro wore a black gown, which cinched up between her breasts so that folds radiated out from the black crystal out around her slim waist. But Rima, Rima outshone them all in her brilliant white wedding dress.

The gown was also sleeveless, the bodice pulled tight from the crisscrossing ribbons on the back. Lengths of cloth pulled tight from the pearls bordering the laced up V, curving up to cup her breasts. The folds of cloth below her bust made her look both slimmer and fuller, proving that despite her short stature, she was indeed very much an adult. The skirt of her gown pulled tight over her legs, yet again accentuating her curves, but flared out in the back at her knees, giving her a short train. As a finishing touch, Mrs. Mashiro helped her daughter with her veil, a simple thing but for the delicate tiara that drew attention to the young bride's flushed face.

"Are you ready?" Mrs. Mashiro asked sternly. When Rima nodded uncertainly, her mother's expression softened. She curved her fingers around her daughter's cheek tenderly. "You look beautiful. I'm so proud of you." With that, she lowered the veil over Rima's face, the final act she would do for her daughter before she was joined to her husband through her vows.

They had opted not to do a rehearsal so that when her fiancé first saw her in her wedding dress, his reaction would be seen by all their guests. Rima took great pleasure in the fact that all their family and friends would see him so flustered. So when Rima stood before her father, his normal hard expression softening just as his wife's had, she also felt the full impact of what was about to happen.

From the other side of the closed doors, Rima heard the priest begin to speak. Blanking out her expression, Rima took a deep breath, waiting for the priest to announce her entrance….

"-we gather here today for the joining of Fujisaki Nagihiko and Mashiro Rima," his gravelly announced after a short welcoming speech to the guests. "Please, face the entrance."

Rima took a deep breath, grabbed her fathers arm, and together they walked down the aisle. Rima almost couldn't bring herself to look at Nagihiko. Everything was too real, and she was already losing her cool. But she did, knowing there would come a day when she would regret not doing it. Her breath caught. He stood there, in his black tux, his long purple hair fanned out around him, his eyes wide, face flushed, mouth parted. Flowers littered the ground, Amu's four-year-old daughter having wreaked havoc as flower girl. Yaya's younger brother, Tsubasa, stood awkwardly by Kairi, not happy he had been forced into being the ring-bearer, as he was "ten-years old, darn it" (his words). Beautiful music, a slow love song Utau had written for the wedding, as she had for Amu's and would one day for Yaya, flowed over the guests, the vocals absent until after the moment the two were officially married.

Once they reached the end of the aisle, Nagihiko bowed to Mr. Mashiro, relief evident in his expression when the older man bowed in return, the stern male entrusting his daughter to his soon-to-be-son-in-law.

Rima swallowed convulsively, fighting against tears. She wasn't going to cry. Mashiro soon-to-be-Fujisaki Rima does not cry, especially at her own wedding. Looking into her groom's eyes, Rima smiled shakily, just a little comforted that he seemed as nervous as she was.

She didn't listen very closely to the prayers the priest read out- both she and Nagihiko were in their own world, resolve settling in Rima's heart. This was the man she loved- whom she had loved for years, and who she would proudly promise to love for the many years to come. For her… no one else would ever do.

"When I first met… you hated me," Nagihiko announced dryly when the priest announced they had written their own vows. The guests chuckled. "But you know, I think I loved you even then, I just didn't know it yet. And when I finally realized what it was I felt, I felt… more complete. But I didn't feel whole until the day you first told me you loved me." Tears pricked at Rima's eyes. As though attuned to her emotions, a soft rain began to fall outside the window. "Rima, I hope to spend the rest of our lives together- even though you still bully me," he added with a lopsided grin.

Rima snorted, surreptitiously wiping at her tears with her free hand. Laughter yet again rang out from their gathered friends and family. "When I first met you- I did hate you," she stated with a small smile. "But over time, you became my confident, the one person I came to trust above all else and… I fell in love," she added hesitantly. "I want us to spend the rest of our lives together."

They, having already retrieved their rings from a disgruntled Tsubasa, exchanged their rings and signed the shomeisho.

"I present to you, for the first time, Fujisaki Nagihiko and Fujisaki Rima," the priest boomed gravelly.

Nagihiko smiled at his wife -wow- and lifted her veil, kissing her longer than was probably necessary. They were, of course, embarrassed afterwards, but it was a small price to pay. They were now husband and wife, and had their whole life ahead of them.

What do you think? Was Rima too OOC, even for her wedding day? I was inspired because my step-sister was just married this past weekend. While Rima's wedding doesn't resemble hers at all, that is the reason behind it. In case you couldn't tell, or didn't know, their wedding was a Western-style Japanese wedding, the information for which I got from Seiyaku dot com/seiyaku/en/western-wedding. If its at all inaccurate, I'd appreciated being corrected. I think, when I'm done with "What You Don't Know" I might redo this, because there are points I liked for a wedding in that AU. Nadeshiko doesn't exist at all right now in this one-shot, which is why the bridesmaids had Nadeshiko flowers, so that's at least one thing that would need to change along with some other things that "What You Don't Know" readers… don't know. But that is something I'm strongly considering, if people really don't like how this came out.

Another point. Does "Nippon no Kekkonshiki" mean Japanese wedding? I Google Translated, because my Japanese is… non-existent. My Korean is better (and only because I can actually read that, even if I don't know what it means), so even though I wanted the title to be Japanese for "Japanese Wedding" I didn't really know how to do that. So correct me if its wrong so I can fix it. And if I was wrong, what does nippon no kekkonshiki mean?

And lastly (yes, I'll stop talking soon), I tried drawing Rima's dress because I wasn't sure if I was clear enough, so I'll be putting it on my profile. I think it came out pretty, but… I'm not sure if Rima looks like Rima, even ten years later. What do you think?