I'm not sure how long I want this story to actually be, I was thinking 8-10 chapters, but we'll see. Anyways, thanks for all the feedback! I was surprised that all you guys actually wanted to read something like this.
As I mentioned, Momma Yagami shows up to tell Natsuko what is what. Also, about Koushiro...that was a throwaway line last chapter that I decided just to shrug and go with. Haha, in light of that he will be ooc, so be prepared for that.
Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon.
"For the last time, Koushiro," Miyako rubbed her temples in frustration, "Hikari doesn't need to show that much cleavage."
"Are you kidding me?" said Koushiro protested as he motioned at the dressed up Hikari who was standing in front of them, "Look at her! She looks like a librarian!"
Miyako scoffed, not liking her choice of Hikari's dress being criticized. "Better a librarian than a hooker. This is a wedding, and not one of your pornos!"
Immediately Koushiro pointed his finger accusingly at Miyako. "That wasn't a porno!" he argued, "That was a work of art!"
The lavender haired woman simply laughed at the absurdity of it all. "Just because you filmed it in black and white while you dressed up as Hitler, and put a voice over of some guy talking about the Vietnam War doesn't make it 'art'." Miyako proceeded to make quote signs with her fingers.
Koushiro clutched his hands to his chest and looked off into the distance, or whatever counted for 'distance' in the bridal boutique that they were in, anyways. "Why are us artists always so scorned in the world?"
Miyako rolled her eyes. "For a genius, you're kind of an idiot."
Hikari just watched on in bewilderment as the two of her friends continued arguing over the correct amount of cleavage she should show off in her wedding dress, and for the moment she was glad that the only people in the boutique at the moment were herself and her party, thanks to Sora promising the boutique the privilege of showcasing her very next design in exchange for the privacy.
She sent an apologetic look over to a saleswoman who was hovering nearby in the boutique, before Hikari glanced over to the other two women in their company, her mother and Natsuko. Yuuko was staring at the arguing pair in amusement as she sipped her water bottle that contained her own delicious invention of a carne asada milkshake, and even Natsuko also couldn't take her eyes off of Koushiro and Miyako, apparently finding them fascinating.
"Guys," she quietly piped up, before Koushiro and Miyako's argument became even more animated.
"How dare you!" Koushiro stood up as if he had just been told by Miyako that she had kidnapped his only child, "That was my masterpiece! My magnum opus!"
Following his lead, Miyako stood up and jabbed her finger into Koushiro's chest with each word that she spoke. "Your magnum opus? That was a black and white video of you eating cereal for six hours!"
The fashion designing actor only scoffed as he turned his head and flipped his scarf. "Like you would understand, Ichijouji, you don't have the soul of a visionary."
She only continued jabbing harder. "At least that 'movie' of yours of you filming the Empire State building overnight was interesting because of that mugging that happened. Other than that? Trash! I can't believe you went all the way to America just to film that. You're not a visionary, you're a lunatic!"
Again, Koushiro clutched his chest dramatically. "I am the music maker. I am the dreamer of dreams."
"Guys," Hikari tried to intervene again while motioning at the very expensive dress she was wearing, "do you remember why we're here?"
Koushiro had opened his mouth to further protest Miyako's claims, as she did the same in response, before they both remembered where they were and looked over at Hikari. Koushiro looked away and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, and Miyako only crossed her arms. After about a minute though the two of them apologized for the scene and sat back down in their respective chairs.
Glad that things had calmed down, Hikari smiled and prepared to finally get their opinions on her dress. "So, what do you guys think aside from the neckline?"
Miyako and Koushiro were both watching her contemplatively, Momma Yagami was sipping on her milkshake as she thought, and Natsuko, which didn't surprise Hikari, only looked at her with a disapproving frown. She felt a bit nervous standing in front of them wearing one of the dresses that Sora had designed, especially since her would be sister-in-law had a day full errands so she couldn't be there to properly help her into whatever dress it came time to put on, but she hoped that she looked okay in what she was wearing. Most Japanese women, except those that glamorized themselves as one of those wispy starlets who always passed herself off as 'eccentric', only ever got one wedding in their entire lifetime. The least Hikari thought that she could do was look perfect in her dress.
She had heard other old classmates of hers saying that they had found the perfect dress to look amazing to their fiances, and while looking good to Takeru was a plus, this wedding dress was more than just that. She knew that some people thought of her as the innocent perfect little amazing doll that was there to look cute while hanging off Takeru's arm, but damn it this was supposed to be about her looking awesome! As silly as it sounded to Hikari, and indeed it did sound silly whenever she thought about it, this was her way of telling the world that she was woman, and she was strong.
Though, a little bit of that confidence went out the window as Natsuko frowned and then grimaced. "Are you sure," Natsuko began asking, "you want that particular dress? On a woman like you it might just come off as tacky."
Before Hikari could say anything, Yuuko stopped slurping her carne asada milkshake and turned to Natsuko. She wasn't sure where the woman was going, and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What do you mean by that?"
Takeru's mother only shrugged innocently. "I mean that it's a very lovely dress, very sparkly, but can Hikari really pull it off? It does have a sort of...allure of glamour to it, but our dear girl has always come across as more a sweatpants woman than a diamond one."
Hikari frowned and then looked down at the dress she was wearing. Natsuko was right that it maybe did have a bit too much pizzazz on it, and maybe it was a tad gaudy, but she thought that she looked fine in it. She looked over at Koushiro and Miyako for confirmation, and felt a little put out when she saw that they were awkwardly looking around the room, apparently not wanting to say anything about what Natsuko had pointed out. She glanced over at her mother, and saw that Yuuko was silent as she thought on what Natsuko had stated.
A moment later, Yuuko held her head up proudly. "Hikari can pull off anything. On her wedding day it isn't her dress that's going to be shining."
Natsuko stared back at the other glaring woman who was perhaps a bit ticked at any insinuations that she had made, before she turned her head away. "But can she pull off the color white? Maybe that's the more serious question."
Hikari held her breath at that one, hoping that Natsuko wasn't going where it sounded like she was going. It wasn't as if it was a big secret that she and Takeru lived together and shared a bed with one another with all that that entails, and even Susumu himself had reluctantly come to terms with the fact that his daughter wasn't the little girl with pigtails and skinned knees anymore about a year and a half after she had moved in with her then boyfriend and now fiance. The only person who really thought of her as still that young and innocent girl was Taichi, who would forever proclaim that his sister remained untouched even unto the day where would first give birth to her and Takeru's first child. Even so, a bridal boutique where she was trying on her wedding dress wasn't the place to bring this up.
Yuuko narrowed her eyes at Natsuko, pretty sure what the woman had implied, and crossed her arms after she had set down her water bottle. "And what exactly are you getting at, Takaishi?"
Natsuko glanced over at the Yagami matriarch who was glaring at her with accusing eyes, before once again looking over at Hikari. "Oh, forget I said anything." Natsuko announced in her famous sing-song voice after a moment of thought, "It's okay for you to wear a white dress, Hikari dear. We can just pretend that you're a virgin!"
Hikari just sighed and looked down, not surprised that Natsuko would go for a low blow just like that, although what did surprise her was her own mother who, after a moment of sitting quietly, stood up. She didn't know what it was about her mother, there was a look in her eye that Hikari never actually recalled ever seeing before, but something inside of her was telling her that she was going to love her mommy now even more then she ever thought would be possible.
Yuuko's arms were still crossed as she eyed Natsuko up and down, before she snorted, not caring what Takeru was going to think. She loved the young man to death, he did indeed make her Hikari very happy, but the only thing that was going through her mind at that moment was defending her daughter. "I think you should leave, Natsuko."
The other woman only blinked, not expecting that sort of reaction out of Yuuko. "Excuse me?"
"I said leave," the woman repeated before making a shooing motion with one of her hands, "you're not welcome here."
Natsuko pursed her lips for a moment, unsure of how to proceed from there. She glanced over at Hikari who looked on in dread and anticipation, and then at the arguing duo from before who just looked around and pretended as if nothing at all was happening, before she straightened up in her spot and spoke again. "Well, I never-"
Immediately, Yuuko just interrupted her. "Well, you should."
Natsuko grabbed onto her purse and considered just leaving without making more of a fuss, before deciding to make one last effort to stay. "This is about my son's wedding."
Momma Yagami just shrugged, feeling that Takaishi Natsuko wasn't used to being told off. "And it's also about my daughter's. I might not have some fancy university degree like you do, or a series of best-selling books, but I know full well when someone is insulting my daughter. If Hikari wants you around to help plan with other parts of her wedding that's on her, but I'll be helping pick out her dress."
Natsuko was about to protest, but then shut her mouth and just stood up, preparing to walk out of the boutique. She stared Yuuko right in her eyes, perhaps to gauge the woman out, before she sighed and looked over at Hikari. "I'll put your dinner in the microwave for you for whenever you come home."
With that, Natsuko walked out of the boutqiue, and Momma Yagami sat down with a satisfied smirk on her face as she went back to slurping her carne asada milkshake. Everyone else however was silent for the moment, letting all the drama settle in. Hikari breathed a sigh of relief and she was grateful that her mother had stood up for her, but she would have preferred it if the situation was perhaps handled in a different way. Still, she smiled at Yuuko, thankful that Momma Yagami had always been this protective whenever it came to one of her bear cubs, so to speak.
Koushiro though, he saw his own opportunity come up in the midst of all the trouble, and that he, like a Phoenix in Arizona, would rise up. He adjusted his scarf and beret, and stood up and walked over to Hikari.
"So, Hikari," Koushiro began as he sleazily wrapped an arm around the bride to be, "about those breasts of yours?"
In her seat Miyako only facepalmed.
This was a bit too dramatic for my taste, I felt this chapter was weaker than the first two, but the next chapter (which I've already started working on) is my favorite so far. This time Natsuko takes center stage, and I debut one character in particular who I find to be very dear to me.
Off topic rambling time!
A little more than half an hour from now the series finale of Breaking Bad will premiere. For those who don't know me, Breaking Bad is indeed my favorite television show, so I've been having butterflies in my stomach all week about...this. If none of you have seen Breaking Bad, watch it on Netflix.
The show is about Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston who played Hal from Malcolm in the Middle), and his evolution from Mr. Chips to Scarface. Walter White is a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher who has spent his life as a doormat to other people who, after being diagnosed with cancer and teaming up with a former student of his, takes up the pseudonym of Heisenberg to use his chemistry skills to create and sell crystal meth, and through a series of improbable but not impossible events, becomes the most ruthless drug kingpin in the American southwest as he leaves a massive trail of bodies in his wake.
