Just so you all know, the reason this story exists at all was because I wanted to write this chapter. I originally wanted to put it in my other story (the "Hatsukoi", "Advice", "Sacrifice" trilogy), but it just didn't seem to fit as well, so I had to leave it out. But I really regretted not writing this scene, so I created "Hyourinmaru" just so that I would have the opportunity to write this. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Matsumoto was still sleeping. Her wounds were much better, but Unohana didn't know how long she would be in her coma. The antidote however, seemed to be working, and there was a sense of hope in the air that she would indeed make a full recovery.

Hitsugaya entered her room silently. He walked up to the edge of her bed.

"You're going to have the shock of your life when you wake up," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "You didn't even know there was anything between Karin and I, and when you wake up, I'm going to be married. The surprise might just put you back in a coma." He paused and looked at her longingly. "I wish you were here today," he almost pleaded.

Today was the big day. It was his wedding day. He had come to see Matsumoto before he left for the human world. He and Karin had both agreed that that was where they wanted to get married. Karin wanted her sister, father (she doesn't know he's a shinigami), and friends to be able to come, and Hitsugaya was more than happy to get married far away from the gossiping tongues of the other shinigami. The marriage of a taicho was a major event, something at which every shinigami was likely to attend. But Hitsugaya didn't want that, he hated the thought of everyone in Seireitai watching him at such a personal moment, so he jumped at Karin's suggestion that they have the wedding in Karakura. The only person coming with him was Hinamori, who refused point blank to be left out of the festivities. Hitsugaya was glad that Hinamori was attending, but he wished Matsumoto could be there too, although he would probably never have admitted that to her if she had been awake.

"Hitsugaya-kun," Hinamori said timidly, appearing in the doorway. "Are you ready?"

"Just a second," he replied. He reached out and took Matsumoto's hand in his own, giving it a light squeeze. "Wish me luck," he whispered, then turned and followed Hinamori.

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The Kurosaki household was utter chaos. Clothing was flying everywhere, people raced back and forth, bows were tied wrong, makeup was smudged, and everyone was screaming. It was amazing that four people could make such a racket.

"I'm glad we're having a small wedding," Karin said to herself as she saw Ichigo run past her room with his pants on backwards. "This family causes enough excitement for 100 people." She was interrupted by Yuzu, who was attacking her with lipstick.

"I said I don't want any!" she insisted angrily. She had never worn makeup before and was not planning to start now.

"But Karin-chan!" Yuzu whined. "Don't you want Toushiro-kun to think you look beautiful! It is your wedding after all."

"I don't…" Karin started, but was forced to stop by Isshin who grabbed her from behind and held her head firmly in place with his hands.

"Go for it Yuzu!" he cried excitedly.

"Otousan!" Yuzu moaned, "now you messed up Karin-chan's hair! I'll just have to do it again!" she said brightly, and Karin knew that if she continued to struggle, she would never make it out of the house in time.

"Fine, Yuzu, do whatever you want, I don't care anymore. And oyaji, go shave. You look like a goat!"

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Somehow, the Kurosakis managed to leave to house, pile into the car, and make it to the Shinto shrine where the wedding was to be held, on time. Everyone was wearing their clothing correctly and Karin was sporting her fourth makeover, Yuzu having been dissatisfied with the first three.

Karin greeted the guests. There weren't many of them. Urahara had come, with Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta. The mod souls, Ririn, Cloud, and Nova were their too, but thankfully in their gigais and not in their stuffed animal forms. Karin had become close with all of them over the years. Kentaro, Shinta, and Ryoga were there, the latter two sporting ridiculous flowers in their suit pockets, which Karin promptly removed.

"You look like clowns!" she chastised. "And I thought I told you to wear traditional dress!"

"We thought these looked cooler!" Ryoga insisted pointing at his suit with pride.

"You look incredible Karin," Kentaro said nervously, trying not to stare at her. She was wearing a traditional white kimono, but it was embroidered all over with dragons and phoenixes outlined in a soft blue thread. It had been a gift from Hinamori, who had become a close friend of hers during the time she had spent in Soul Society, and Karin was overjoyed with it. The symbolism of a dragon and phoenix was obvious to everyone, but only those who knew about her and Hitsugaya's zanpaktos' could fully appreciate how meaningful the kimono really was.

"Thank you," she said, trying not to make eye contact him. She knew how much effort it was costing him to be here, and she was exceedingly grateful.

"So where's the man of the hour?" Shinta asked eagerly. "I want to finally meet him!"

"Yeah, I've been wondering if he even exists," Ryoga joked. "I mean, where's he been all this time?" It was true, her friends had not actually met Hitsugaya. He had only managed to slip away from Soul Society once during their engagement, and Karin thought it was more important for him to meet her family. That had been stressful enough. Adding her friends to the mix would have just been too much.

"He should be here soon," she said, looking at the sky. She felt around for his reiatsu. He was going to be late! Then, right on cue, Hitsugaya and Hinamori's reiatsus' appeared. Karin's face unconsciously lit up with joy, something that did not go unnoticed by her friends.

"What's got into you?" Shinta asked.

"Nothing," she replied mysteriously, before turning away from them to go greet the residents of the Urahara shop.

It didn't take long for Hitsugaya and Hinamori to reach the shrine. The group that was already there, who were laughing joyfully, fell silent as they approached. Ryoga, Shinta, and Kentaro poked each other. Karin turned around to face Hitsugaya as he walked up to her. They gazed at each other for a moment and grinned nervously.

"You look beautiful," he croaked, finally finding his voice. The truth was, she looked fantastic, but he couldn't possibly put his feelings into words at that precise moment. The kimono Hinamori had bought her highlighted her body and features in a very attractive, yet modest manner, one befitting a bride. Her hair was in an elegant twist on the back of her head, and a pair of pearl earrings, inherited from her mother, dangled from her ears. And her face was radiant. Behind the makeup Yuzu had forced on her, and the nervousness that had appeared upon Hitsugaya's arrival, the expression she wore was one of pure joy and excitement. As they stood there in each other's presence, the fact that they were getting married felt more real than it ever had before. Hitsugaya took her hand and their eyes locked together. They stood like that for several minutes, and even Ryoga knew not to interrupt their silent conversation.

Someone else did.

"Did you really think you could just get married without us, Hitsugaya taicho?" asked a familiar voice. Hitsugaya and Karin were torn out of each other's gaze and brought harshly back to reality.

"Kyoraku taicho?" Karin asked, shocked. But he wasn't the only one there. Kyoraku, Ukitake, Renji, Rukia, Ikkaku, and Yumichka stood there, beaming at the group.

"What are you all doing here?" Hitsugaya asked perplexed and slightly angry. "I thought I specifically said I didn't want a crowd!"

"We're hardly a crowd, Hitsugaya taicho," Ikkaku said amused. "But really, what's a wedding without friends?"

"Sorry, Hitsugaya taicho," Ukitake apologized. "I was against it since I knew you wanted a small wedding and all, but she insisted on coming and forced us all to join her."

"She?" Hitsugaya wondered.

"Taicho!" cried a voice and suddenly, Hitsugaya was being suffocated by an excessive amount of strawberry blond hair and an even more excessive amount of cleavage.

"Matsumoto…can't…breathe," Hitsugaya stuttered, his voice horribly muffled. Matsumoto pulled back and beamed at him.

"I must have woken up right after you left. Ukitake taicho explained everything to me," she said exuberantly. "I went to find him since you weren't in the office, and he told me you were here getting MARRIED! I'm so excited, I don't know what to do with myself! Isane's probably going to have a heart attack when she finds out I'm gone, but I just couldn't miss this!" Hitsugaya was still staring at her like he had never seen her before.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked concernedly.

"Yes," she looked at him affectionately. "Ukitake taicho told me. You visited me everyday didn't you?"

"You're my fukutaicho," he mumbled embarrassed, but Matsumoto understood. Hitsugaya was too proud to admit that he was genuinely concerned about her as a friend rather than a subordinate. In another situation, she may have teased him for it, but she decided that today was too special to ruin.

"Arigato taicho!" she grinned exuberantly.

"Neh, Karin," Shinta whispered. The boys had come up behind her, very curious about the sudden appearance of so many strange people. "What's with the hottie? Isn't it a little weird that she's being so friendly with your fiancé on your wedding day?" Karin laughed.

"Don't worry, there is absolutely nothing romantic between the two of them. There is no way I could possibly be jealous over that woman. But, I'm thrilled that she's here. She's a very special person to Toushiro." Karin looked at Matsumoto and Hitsugaya and felt warm all over. Now, today was perfect.

"Well, I'm not so sure about that," Ryoga continued suspiciously where Shinta had left off. "I mean, she's totally flirting with him…oof," he exhaled as Karin punched him in the stomach.

"But who are these people?" Kentaro asked confused. "And why do they all call each other taicho?" Karin thought fast.

"Well, I told you Toushiro's in the army. These are other, uh, soldiers. Toushiro is a taicho for his unit, and so are some of the others. They're all highly ranked, elite members, so don't get on their bad side or it'll be the last thing you do."

"Now that everyone's here, let's get this party started!" Isshin cried, bouncing up and down.

"Alright," Karin agreed as butterflies filled her stomach.

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The ceremony was short but sweet. Yuzu and Isshin cried in each other's arms. Rukia and Hinamori were also close to tears. Urahara policed Ryoga and Shinta to keep them from catcalling. Jinta kept stealing glances at Yuzu, taking advantage of her distraction to marvel at how beautiful she was, but was swiftly reprimanded by Cloud who told him to pay more attention to the wedding.

Afterwards, there was a small party in the garden behind the shrine. Due to the large number of unexpected guests, there wasn't nearly enough food. Urahara disappeared for about 20 minutes and returned with a mountain of delicious smelling treats. No one asked him where they came from; they didn't really want to know.

Everyone was enjoying themselves immensely. The day seemed magical. Suddenly, the laughter was broken as every shinigami present stiffened. They looked at each other. Renji pulled out his phone.

"Huge hollows at least, maybe menos', I can't be sure. Ten of them," he read squinting at the tiny screen. "They must have been attracted by so many powerful reiatsus in one place. They're really close by."

"Hitsugaya taicho, Karin, take the day off. We'll be fine without you," Kyoraku said standing up. Hitsugaya and Karin nodded. They really didn't mind fighting, but knew that no one wanted them to, not today, and it wasn't worth the effort to argue with them. Besides, the day was too perfect to soil with hollow blood.

Ukitake, Renji, Rukia, Ikkaku, Yumichka, Hinamori, and Matsumoto pulled gikongan pez dispensers out of their pockets. But before Matsumoto could take hers, Hitsugaya had grabbed her arm.

"You're not going either," he insisted. "You might still be injured."

"But taicho," she whined. But she knew she couldn't argue on this one. Even puppy-dog eyes wouldn't work on him now. There was no way he was going to let her fight.

"Fine," she huffed.

Kentaro, Ryoga, Shinta, and Yuzu stared at everyone else like they were out of their minds. They had no idea what was going on, or what everyone was talking about. But what occurred next was even more shocking.

Ichigo suddenly collapsed on the floor. Rukia, who had been sitting beside him, jumped on him and cooed in a baby voice,

"Oh, poor wittle-Ichigo, has no Kon to pway with!" Renji began meowing like a cat.

"I want to take a nap," he purred. Then he licked his wrists and rubbed them behind his ears before curling up in a ball. Hinamori jumped up excitedly and spoke in the same voice as Rukia,

"Ooo, Wenji's so cuddwy and cute when he's sweeping!" She ran over to him and hugged him. Ikkaku, who had been singing rudely a moment earlier, sat down and said calmly,

"I think I'll just wait here." He didn't even react to Yumichka jumping in his lap and stroking his hair. Ukitake jumped up and started dancing a bizarre jig.

"Come on everyone, dance with me!" he cried! He was joined swiftly by Kyoraku, who was the only one who seemed not to have changed at all.

Hitsugaya slapped his forehead in frustration.

"Stupid Bureau of Technological Development," he mumbled angrily as Matsumoto laughed hysterically beside him. Isshin, pretending that nothing was wrong, started to dance with Ukitake and Kyoraku. Yuzu looked downright frightened. Kentaro motioned for Karin to join him, Ryoga, and Shinta in a little huddle they had formed, trying to separate themselves from the madhouse that had just materialized in the garden. She grimaced, wondering how she was going to explain this one.

"Karin, what on earth just happened?" Shinta asked nervously. "It's like everyone just went crazy or something."

"Was it the food? I bet it was the food, I don't trust that Urahara guy." Ryoga said, his eyes darting, trying to remember how much of it he had eaten.

"Um," Karin began, but was interrupted by Hitsugaya.

"It's a tradition in my branch of the army," he explained naturally. "At weddings, we entertain the bride and groom by adopting a completely different personality for a while. Sorry if it took you by surprise."

"Oh, so that's it!" Shinta said, understanding dawning on his face.

"Sounds like fun!" Ryoga cried.

"Let's try it!" Kentaro added, and the three started mimicking their teachers from high school. In between her laughter, Karin leaned over and kissed Hitsugaya.

"Thanks for that. Nice save." She beamed at him. He grinned and kissed her again.

"You're very welcome. Come on, let's enjoy the 'entertainment!'" And they amused themselves with watching the antics of the various gikongan until the owners of the gigai returned. As Karin watched Yumichka plant a warm kiss on Ikkaku's cheek, she decided that this was the greatest wedding she could ever have imagined.

I hope you liked it! No one writes about weddings for some reason and I thought this one just sounded like too much fun not to be recorded somewhere.