Disclaimer still in effect. I own no characters, but rather the plot of the divergence.

Also. I wanted to thank the readers that left comments. It was cool to hear so many of you praise the story. I also wanted to address some concerns people may have had.

A few readers noted that in the scene where Keitaro and Tsuruko were in the baths, it seems like I had two scenes back to back in the springs and didn't know which I liked better. What really happened was that I had a small scene there that I took out after my pre-reader suggested it. It is meant to read the way it is. Also, someone noticed that I made the first chapter about 11k words. It seems really long, but it flowed right, in my opinion. The rest will be shorter, because I am still writing the story. Also, if anyone is willing and able to preread this, I am still looking because my pre-reader has some things that are more important to deal with than reading this thing. You can IM me at k3v1nash3r if you want to preread it.

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The meal was quite a muted affair, as everyone had a sense that things had turned on their respective heads from this thing. It was a scary fact for Kitsune that Tsuruko was dead serious about the wedding, or else she'd be teasing Motoko and Keitaro about the whole thing. Something in the sly girl's mind told her that Tsuruko liked the dim manager enough to cover his back when the words got hurtful. And Kitsune was feeling miserable about the situation. It seemed, rightly so, that the day before, Keitaro was slobbering about her best friend who she stood aside for, and now, at the first sign that she didn't want to discuss it immediately, he finds someone else to be with. It was infuriating that Kitsune tried to find out why her friend had blown off the one guy that gave her everything she could ever want, and the guy didn't so much as thank her, when she wanted him for herself all along. But, she had herself to blame for that as well, at least partially. She knew that Keitaro was unreliable when it came to knowing what a girl was thinking, but it didn't make her any happier about the situation.

Shinobu was appalled that Keitaro was going to be married to Motoko. She wept for him, and for herself, and Naru, because they all were losing their chances at happiness. Sure Keitaro had a clue that he shouldn't have lied to Tsuruko, but marriage was forever. And Shinobu felt that she had a chance with Keitaro as long as he didn't marry anyone before she could marry him. But now, she lost her chance. Keitaro was gone for good. Nothing she could do would ever change how easily he slipped through her finger. She wanted to cry all her tears, but something within her told her to be happy for him, that he would need her support to live though this at all. So, she'd put on a false smile and a cheery act as best she could for as long as she could.

Motoko felt completely angry. She realized that to some degree, it wasn't Keitaro's fault, but she couldn't believe it. She wanted to feel completely happy knowing that it was her manager's meddling that ended her life. Sadly, the few ounces of feeling she harbored for him blamed it on herself, knowing that her sister couldn't be blamed for it either. And so Motoko was mad at everyone and everything, because being mad at herself would only mean she was wrong, and she strove for perfection. Sure she assumed that eventually she would get married mainly because Tsuruko proved to be unable to yield children, and sure she assumed that it would be a traditional wedding at a shrine, but she expected to have some choices in the matter of when and to whom she would be married. Keitaro, she figured, was the one that stripped her of those basic choices. So she had every right to express her frustration upon him until he either died or got a divorce, or something. And as much as she wanted to beat the hell out of her sister for making her make good on this engagement thing, she did like living at the Sou as a kendoka and future clan leader to one of the most famous Japanese sword dojos.

Keitaro was quite pleased that he was being so praised. For the moment, he forgot that Naru had left him hanging, and he was sure that not only was he going to be happy with this marriage, but so would Motoko. He had assumed that everything would change for the better now that he was about to become a married man running a girls' dorm, and he assumed that Motoko might ease up on him too. Things were looking up, as far as Keitaro could imagine. He never did realize how much of a drastic change this would make, and never figured that it would cause major schisms in the social dynamics of the dorm. But, as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss.

The day would be filled with finding a suitable lawyer that could smooth over the concerns of Motoko's age in the matrimonial process, but also be diplomatic in working with the families pressing concerns about the status of Motoko as a member in which family and the holdings Aoyama would be forfeiting for the right to be the clan of the couple's first child, and the concessions that Urashima would give to the couple for their future. As it stood now, Keitaro was the only full-blood Urashima that might have a child, and assuming that Haruka were not to have any children at any point in the future, the clan would dissolve in the event that Keitaro could only have one heir. Hina would not be pleased to see her and her husband's legacies fall apart for something as silly as Keitaro signing his first child away to the Aoyama. She did understand that Tsuruko hadn't been successful in bearing a child for her own clan and could understand the concern the Aoyama held for the exact same reason she had, but she didn't have to like that they would try to have rights to her first great-grandchild. It would be something of a migraine for any lawyer involved in the proceedings, but the payoff was undeniably sizable from either side, or potentially, both.

It was actually rather mindboggling at the quickness that the Aoyama legal retainer, Miamoto Saito managed. Hina had sent her own clan's legal councilor over the night before to work with a third party to smooth the details over. Haruka lent him her spare bedroom in the Tea House for the evening and he was exchanging pleasantries with Miamoto only moments after his arrival. The two agreed on a sufficiently unbiased third party lawyer from the Kanagawa prefecture after only a few minutes of deliberation, and within the hour, Akari Shinji was greeting the two councilors, the wedding party and Tsuruko. Before his arrival, however, Miamoto mentioned to Tsuruko that Motoko would have to have parental approval for the wedding as she was underage. Tsuruko thought about that fact for a moment and asked him whether she could stand in as a parental proxy as she was one of the few clan elders, knowing that it would still be met with a no.

"Tsuruko-sama, you know that legally, you are not her guardian, even as one of the Aoyama elders. The Ministry of Family Relations will only require the paperwork to be fixed, and as you made it clear that you wanted no hiccups with the wedding, it would be a necessity to have your parents' approval. I apologize for that, but I am unable to change that fact."

"So be it. I rather expected such. I hope your trip to Kyoto was not too long, as we will have to go back. Mother and father will not approve of a wedding for Motoko without meeting the groom. I assume that the only other concern would be the nature of Motoko-chan's place in either Aoyama or Urashima, yes?"

"Yes, madam. Also, the marriage license requires her signature, as well as that of the groom."

"I will return to the family home after the wedding ceremony with a signed license. When we arrive, you are released from having to return here for the proceedings. Make certain, however, to have an original copy of the concessions between our two clans."

"I will not fail to do so, Tsuruko-sama."

"Thank you, Saito-san. Now, I have some things to discuss with Motoko and my parents before we leave. Please inform the rest of the party they are to prepare to travel to Kyoto."

"Yes, madam."

With that, Tsuruko pulled aside Motoko from the living room and very pointedly, presented her the situation before her.

"Motoko-han, as you may or may not be aware, to be married, you will need Mother and Father's approval. As you can assume, we will be leaving shortly, as there are many things to be done before dusk. So, you have a choice before you. You can find within yourself the trust for your manager you gave him yesterday and convince Mother and Father that you do want this marriage. Or, I can force you to marry him with Mother and Father's approval, and punish you by also naming you the dojo's mistress. As you can guess, I will take pleasure in pushing you until you are an acceptable mistress for the clan's skills. Or, you may choose to tell them that you lied to me about marrying Keitaro-san to give you time before you were named swordmistress, and that as a punishment, I expect you to marry him and that you are seeking their council. But know that in the event that they approve of the wedding and you choose not to go through with it or they fail to grant you permission, you will be faced with a most displeasing future. So, for which shall I inform Mother and Father to prepare?"

Motoko thought about the option before her. Tsuruko would make good on the threats before her, and something told her that she could be every bit as unpleasant as marrying Keitaro. But at least she knew that her parents would approve of the wedding in any case, beliving that any man that offered to marry her would be good for her. And they were quite good judges of character. Plus they would be willing to offer advice as to how to keep happy in the arrangement. Still, it wasn't much of a choice presented her, but seeking her parents' council was the best of the three evils.

"I will trust Mother and Father will guide my path better than I could alone."

"Wise choice, Motoko-han. Would you like to tell Mother you are going to be married?" Tsuruko was beaming, a taunting smirk playing on her face.

"Hmmph." Motoko knew that Tsuruko was goading her, but she was no longer in a position to fight her. Instead, she turned on her heels and strode away from the phone, hoping she could ignore her Mother's squeals of delight that would inevitably spew from the phone in the kitchen.

Being a schoolday, Motoko would be forced to miss her perfect attendance record, but everyone else would be attending their appropriate schools. Kitsune would regrettably be in charge of making sure that anything needed doing would be done, or that things needing Keitaro's attention would be set aside until he returned. Haruka might find time in her day to check on the dorm, but Keitaro felt that it would be unfair to impose on his aunt, and Kitsune was awake as it was. Nothing was likely to come up, but he felt confident that Kitsune would be okay keeping it running all the same. Motoko sunk her head, knowing her sister had told her mother that she found a boyfriend and that she was considering marrying the man. She could hear the pleased squealing of her mother, and was sure that Tsuruko had informed her of the older sister's view of the situation, but her mother would not be disheartened unless her daughter was planning on marrying a Yakuza or a drug addict, neither of which was even remotely likely. Keitaro was on the secondary line with Hina put in exclusively for her to tell him what to do.

Hina was smiling over the phone, Keitaro could tell. "Motoko isn't your promise girl, you know. How do you plan on explaining to your promise girl that you married another girl? You don't plan on telling her that you had to be your wife's knight in shining armor, do you?"

Keitaro blanched. It hadn't occurred to him that he still didn't know who his promise girl was, or whether she still knew him, or anything about her at all. "Err… Granny, who is my promise girl?"

"That is for me to know, and you to find out in time. I hope she forgives you. It'd be a shame to find you married a girl in your dorm only to find out your promise girl was under your nose all along."

"Hmmm. So, you're not going to tell me?"

"Grandson, you have more than just one promise girl nowadays, do you not? Maybe you ought to be more specific."

He knew she was toying with him. It was her game, goading him and making him look foolish. But he still loved the old woman. It wouldn't be that tragic.

"I mean, who's the girl I promised to go to Tokyo U with from 17 years ago."

"Oh, well, I know who. It's almost a shame you don't remember. I also know you know them also."

"Well, will she understand that I am sorry?"

"You will see in a short time, Grandson. But, you need not worry about that right now. I would venture a guess that Motoko isn't quite pleased. What about you?"

"I can be happy knowing Motoko's going to be happy."

Something told him that his grandmother was rolling her eyes, because he heard her say "typical Keitaro" under her breath.

"So, how do you propose to resolve the issues that will come up with the lawyers?"

"What do you mean, Granny?"

"Well, for one, Motoko's going to need someone that has money to support her. And you need to have a plan for keeping you all supported when you have children. And, then you have to work out which of the two clans will lay claim to which of your children. You know that I expect you will have at least one child in our clan. And I would venture a guess that the Aoyama will expect you to concede your firstborn to them as an Aoyama."

"Uhh. I didn't think about all that. I guess I thought we'd deal with it when it came up."

"I'm sure you did."

"Well… Um… If it really is that big of a concern of which clan gets what, uh, couldn't we just combine our clans?"

"That is an interesting idea. But I have some things I need to take care of, Grandson. I love you and we will talk later."

"I love you too, Granny. Goodbye." Keitaro paused, and then realized he hadn't gotten a reply from Granny. "Wait… What do you think of us just becoming a big clan?"

And Hina was gone.

Keitaro was at a loss. But he had to go rejoin the group. He was told they were going to Kyoto. For what, he didn't know, but it had to be important, he reasoned. It's not everyday that you take three lawyers with you and your bride to be and her sister to your bride's family's hometown. It was then that Keitaro realized he was meeting Motoko's parents, and he was dressed in a t-shirt and pair of broken in khakis, and wanted to change. He had to make a good impression.

"I'll be right back. I need to change."

"I apologize, Keitaro-san, but we need to leave to make the tram to make the train to Kyoto." He didn't know that Tsuruko had been off the phone, but he did now.

"Uhh… I guess, I'll go as I am then."

"You look fine, Keitaro-san. You look like a real person, rather than a living god. Well, farewell, Konno-san. Please be sure to call Keitaro with the number I have provided you in the event that something catastrophic arises."

"Err… See ya, Kitsune. Have fun."

"Mitsune-san, we shall be back by dinner. Please inform Shinobu of such. Good day."

With that, the party of 6 left the dorm and walked to the tram stop and began their day-long excursion to Kyoto and back.