Chapter Eleven: November

Haruhi and Nekozawa had intended to tell their parents about their engagement months ago. However, both were afraid of how their parents would react, and as such, that fear kept them from explaining the situation. Eventually, when it was time to send out the invitations, they just decided to do it that way, since it would reduce unnecessary confrontation. "My mom will get over it," Nekozawa said. "And this way I won't have to listen to her yell at me for hours on end. She'll find out through the invitation, and that will be that."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Haruhi had asked, not completely convinced. "I know my dad will overreact no matter what we do, but he might be even more upset if he finds out through the mail." Nekozawa shuddered.

"There's a reason I haven't introduced you to my parents," he explained. "My dad won't care- trust me, the only thing he cares about are guns and what's on television on any given night. But my mother is a different story. She's... ah... she likes to be in control, and she's going to be pissed that we didn't let her know about this. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she had a completely different girl picked out for me. It's not really anything against you, it's just that she expects to be the one in charge of everything. Even when I was a child she was always discussing things with the mothers of other kids- 'Maybe my Umehito will marry your little Madoka, what do you think, Uematsu-san?' Never mind that Madoka Uematsu hated my guts, even when we were children- my mom thought she was doing the right thing and wasn't about to take no for an answer."

"But... I thought your parents married against the wishes of your father's parents?" Haruhi queried. "I remember you told me about them a few years ago,"

"It doesn't matter," Nekozawa replied. "To my mom, it doesn't matter if she and my father went against tradition by marrying. She wasn't me- she's always expected that her children would follow exactly what she wants."

"You really think she'll be that opposed to our wedding?" Haruhi asked.

"I honestly don't know," Nekozawa answered. "I'd be willing to guess that yes, she would be extremely angry with me, but she could surprise me. That's why I think I'm just going to let her find out through the invitation. By then it will be too late for her to do anything, even if she does want to."

Nekozawa's words weren't exactly reassuring to Haruhi, but she decided to trust him. Obviously he knew his mother better than she did, seeing as they'd never even met. But still, Haruhi was slightly uncomfortable with the idea of not telling her father until he got the envelope in the mail. She fully intended to call him as soon as the invitation had been dropped in the mailbox.

Unfortunately, life happened, and she never got the chance.


That had been almost a month before, and neither of the soon-to-be-married couple heard back from their families, until one night, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it, it's probably Mei," Haruhi said, seeing as the other woman was supposed to show up that day for a final fitting on Haruhi's dress. But instead, Haruhi found a well-dressed, older man standing on the welcome mat, looking rather nervous. "Can I help you?" she asked politely, not sure who the man was or what she wanted. He looked at her.

"Is my son at home?" he asked. "Umehito Nekozawa- is he here? I need to speak with him."

"Um, sure," Haruhi replied, stepping to the side. The man walked into the apartment, just as Nekozawa came into the main living area.

"What's going on- DAD!" he exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"What were you thinking, getting married without telling your mother?" Hyobe Nekozawa yelled. "She's been furious ever since she got that invitation a few weeks ago! She's got some plan to stop your wedding- and before I ask, I don't know anything about it, except that she's ordered a background check on your fiancee. By the way, Ms. Fujioka, it's nice to meet you. I'm just sorry we couldn't meet under less awkward circumstances."

"Uh... yeah. Likewise," Haruhi replied faintly,

"Well, if she's running a background check, she won't find anything," Nekozawa replied. "Haruhi's never been arrested, or gone to jail- I don't even think she's even gotten a traffic ticket!" Then he frowned slightly. "By the way, how did you know where I lived, dad? I'm unlisted."

"I knew approximately where you lived, and I asked Kirimi for the exact address," the older man replied. "Sorry. You know I value your privacy, but I thought I should warn you in person, or your mother might find out. When she's in a state like this, it's best to try to avoid making her angrier."

"Yeah..." Nekozawa shuddered, unbidden memories of times past that he had upset his mother floating to the forefront of his mind. Mr. Nekozawa leaned forward to awkwardly embrace his son.

"By the way, I never said 'congratulations' yet. It would be hypocritical of me to be upset about you not telling us sooner, considering the circumstances under which I married your mother." And with that, he left through the front door, leaving both his son and his son's fiancee blinking after him.

"You weren't kidding when you said all that about your mom," Haruhi finally said.

"I told you I wasn't exaggerating," Nekozawa mumbled.


"Mr. Fujioka, I seriously think you've gone off the deep end," Mei said bluntly, watching as her friend's father fussed with his makeup and hair in the mirror. "And I really don't have time to wait around for your to get ready to go. I told Haruhi that I'd be there almost an hour ago. And what are you even doing, anyway? Even my father doesn't wear that much makeup for a special event..."

"You don't understand," Ranka replied heatedly, still applying cosmetics to his face. "I'm not doing this to look good, I'm doing this to make sure that the guy marrying my daughter actually deserves her! If he sees me like this, and if I act as obnoxious as I possibly can, and he still wants to marry her, then he's the right guy." Mei snorted.

"You're wasting your time," she said. "And besides, haven't you already met him?"

"Yes, but that was several years ago," Ranka replied. "Who knows if he's changed or not? He-"

"I can assure that other than wearing his cloak less, he's still the same guy that he was in high school," Mei interrupted before Ranka could continue. "Honestly, you could be Godzilla and he'd still want to marry Haruhi. He's just that type of person."

"We'll see about that," Ranka muttered, more to himself than to Mei.


Nekozawa and Haruhi both sat on the sofa, blankly staring at the television, not really watching the news. The sudden, random arrival of Nekozawa's father with that rather odd news had shaken them both up badly. "You don't think your mother will do anything, do you?" Haruhi asked.

"I don't know," Nekozawa replied, worry clear in his voice. "She's not a violent person, if that's what you're asking, but she does have a good amount of influence and could make things complicated until we actually get married. I'm not worried about her doing research on you, since you have nothing that's messed up your record, but still... I'm more worried about what she could do to me. She's never really forgiven me for not working at the family company, anyway- she might try to cause problems for me at work."

"I'm sorry," Haruhi apologized. Nekozawa blinked.

"What for? You didn't do anything."

"Maybe if you had married someone who was a better match for you- from the same social level- she wouldn't be doing this," Haruhi sighed. "I guess this just caused a lot of problems for you, huh?"

"Shut up!" Nekozawa exclaimed, surprising Haruhi. "You haven't done anything wrong, and it wouldn't matter what social class you were from- I'd still want to marry you. And my mom is just being hypocritical, anyway- she definitely wasn't from any upper tier of society when she married my father. No, this is her being angry because I didn't let her micromanage this part of my life. And soon enough my dad will get her calmed down, anyway." The two of them sat in silence for a little while, thinking about the future and what possible problems could be caused by their decision to marry, when for the second time that night, the doorbell rang.

"That's probably Mei," Haruhi said. "I'll get it." She opened the door, and indeed, Mei was there, but standing next to her friend was her father. Dressed up even more than he did for special events at his work."

"Um... hello, dad," she said. "What... what are you doing here?"

"HAURHI!" he squealed, rushing forward and giving her a gigantic hug. "Papa came to see you and meet your fiance! You're getting married next month, and I thought I'd give you hair and makeup tips, while Mei finishes up measuring you for your dress!" Haruhi shot a glance at Mei, who shrugged.

"I couldn't keep him from coming," she whispered. "He just kind of got in my car and wouldn't get out. Said he absolutely had to see you."

"Dad, if this is about you being upset because I didn't tell you I was engaged sooner, I'm sorry, it seriously just slipped my mind," Haruhi said quickly. "And you look like you just came from work- is everything alright?"

"What, I can't come visit my daughter?" Ranka asked. "I just wanted to help you plan your wedding!"

"Haruhi?" Nekozawa called. "What's going on? Is Mei here?"

"Yeah, Mei's here," Haruhi yelled back. "And so is my dad." Nekozawa muttered something incomprehensible, and walked into the main area.

"Hi, Mei. Hello, Mr.- woah- Fujioka." He took a step back upon seeing Haruhi's father. He'd known about his hobbies and lifestyle, having met him before, but nothing could have prepared him for this. Ranka Fujioka was standing in the entryway, decked out in a full-on European style wedding dress, complete with veil and boquet, and was wearing an entire Shiseido counter on his face, or at least that's what it seemed like to Nekozawa. He had what looked like chandeliers dangling from his ears, and seemed to be rather drunk, seeing as he had a bottle of wine poking out of his handbag.

"Um, you look very... festive," he said, trying to say something without seeming rude. Ranka just grinned widely.

"Why, yes I do! Thank you very much!"

"Dad, Mei... why don't you come in?" Haruhi said, ushering them into the apartment. "Have a seat... I'll get some snacks or something." As soon as the two guests were comfortably seated on the sofa, Haruhi disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Nekozawa with the two of them.

"Oh, I just love what you've done with the place!" Ranka exaggeratedly exclaimed, gushing over everything from the carpet to the curtains to, bizzarely, the ceiling. Then, he took the wine bottle out of his handbag and drank a large slug from it. "So, have you been physically intimate with my daughter? I need to know before I can allow you to marry her."

"Gaaaack!" Nekozawa choked on his own saliva at that question, while Mei looked horrified.

"Mr. Fujioka! Seriously!"

"What? It's a legitimate question! I just wanted to know why you two felt the need to hide the engagement from me! Oh my god, is Haruhi pregnant?"

"DAD!" Haruhi yelled, coming into the room. "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you drunk?"

"Haruhi, sweetie, has this man done anything to you? How do you know he's not just using you? What if he really doesn't love you? What if it's all just a trick? I just want you to be as happy as your mother and I were."

"Mr. Fujioka." Nekozawa stood up and bowed deeply, causing the older man to immediately shut up. "I understand if you do not support the two of us being together. My mother does not support this union either. But I promise to you that I truly love Haruhi, and that I will do my best to make sure that she is happy and safe with me. And quite honestly, no one, not my mother, and not you, will be able to do anything to change what I feel for your daughter." Ranka burst out laughing, leaving Haruhi hanging her head, and Nekozawa confused and upset.

"You pass," he finally said, once he managed to stop laughing. "You pass. You obviously care about my daughter and are willing to accept her even if her father doesn't approve, which means that you have my blessing. And sorry about the way I acted. I'm not actually drunk- there's just grape juice in that bottle." Then, he took the veil off of his head and laid it on the table. "Damn, that thing is itchy."

"Uh..." was all that the three young people were able to say. Ranka clapped his hands.

"Now that we're all sorted out, how about you and Mei get started on that fitting, and I'll speak to Mr. Nekozawa here," he said. "Come on, chop chop, let's get going!"

To Be Completed

Author's Comments:

Holy crap this chapter is a lot longer than I thought it would be, and the next one (the final one) is even longer. Oh well. Honestly, with everything that's been going on here around lately (check my profile for the details if you're curious), I'm surprised I was able to write this as long as it is and get it posted on schedule.

I really don't have a whole lot else to say, other than that this was fun to write, especially Ranka's "test." He just wanted to make sure that Nekozawa really cared about Haruhi, and was willing to act as obnoxious as possible to make sure that was the case.

Oh, and by the way, the next chapter is the last one- the resolution, the wedding, and Sevastiana coming to terms with the fact that her baby got married to someone she didn't choose.

Hope you had a great Halloween, if you celebrate it!

-Kaboom