Rivalitas
Epilogue: It's a nice day to start again.
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"Do you, Shinji Ikari, take this woman, Asuka Soryu, to be your lawfully wedded wife?" said the priest.
The church was not exactly one of the biggest in Japan. Therefore it was also not one of the biggest in the world. It was certainly not the place you would expect two of the world's saviors to be wed.
It was planned, at Shinji's pushing, to be a small ceremony. He'd originally wanted to have it be only their closest friends, but he'd given in to Asuka when she'd asked for a few others.
None gathered here would be described as enemies, although not all where exactly friends. One perfect example was the soon to be married couple's fathers.
They sat near the back, both quiet and apparently lost in thought. It had come as a shock to both of them, when their children had told them they were being married. Neither had expected their child to marry, let alone to one another. Neither parent regarded one another. They both sat, starring forward across the empty rows of seats. Their thoughts where complex, both of them being of Einsteinian minds. Not one person in the whole church could've read them. Fortunately, no one wasted their time trying to.
"I do," came across loud and clear from Shinji. There had been hesitation. Almost before the priest finished speaking Shinji had begun.
After the pair of fathers there were a great many rows of empty seats. No one knew why, nor cared why, the fathers of the too be wedded were sitting in the back. Everyone else continued to not waste their time trying to figure it out.
Besides the fathers in the back, only the front three rows were full. Jam packed full, but only those three rows. Only Shinji and Asuka's closest friends, and some relatives, had been invited. Rei and her boyfriend, Gregory, were sitting in the third row from the front, on the left side from the back of the church.
Rei was near crying, despite the fact that she did not know why. She always had hoped to be able to understand what made women cry at funerals, and now she did. She clutched Gregory close, thoughts spanning numerous topics.
'Is this what they will call the happiest day in their lives?' she thought. Rei searched for her happiest day and found it. The day she'd met Gregory. She clutched him closer.
Gregory let Rei grab on to him harder. If she needed it, he'd give it to her. Right now, all his attention was on Rei. She was the main reason he was there, despite the fact that he was now good friends with Shinji.
Shinji and Gregory had met over a year ago now, doing a double date with their respective girlfriends. The event had been rather enjoyable for Gregory, meeting the other two saviors of the world. It had been refreshing to see a couple in that much love, a love that Gregory now believed he felt for Rei. He'd have to ask her sometime if she felt it as well.
Rei and Gregory were not the only people in the third row, but they were the only people who were very close to Shinji and Asuka as friends. That is, if Rei could be said to be Asuka's friend…
"And do you, Asuka Soryu, take this man, Shinji Ikari, to be your lawfully wedded husband?" the priest said, turning to face Asuka.
In the second row, near the center of the right row of seats, Touji, Hikari, and Kensuke sat. They had all grown. None of them where the same as when Shinji and Asuka had first seen them. Multiple years of growing would do that to anyone.
Still, they were easily recognizable people to Shinji and Asuka. It wasn't as if they hadn't seen those changes happen gradually, rather then suddenly. Even people who hadn't seen them for a while could guess at who they were.
Hikari was crying into Touji's arms. 'Good thing I wore deodorant,' he thought, trying to keep his mind off of the ceremony as much as possible. Hikari had been right after all, he was the empathetic type. If he paid attention to the ceremony too much he'd end up crying with Hikari.
Not that she would've cared. She could feel, pressed up against Touji as she was, him twitching slightly. 'He can barely resist the sobs,' she thought. It brought a little more happiness to her heart. If she hadn't already been past normal levels of happiness she would've smiled. As it was, past those levels, she cried in happiness all the harder.
No, it wasn't Hikari that Touji was afraid to cry in front of. It was Kensuke. Well, mostly Kensuke. He wouldn't have been able to survive it himself if he'd cried at Asuka's wedding. That was plenty of reason not to cry.
Kensuke had the advantage of glasses. He could let a few tears shed without anyone even noticing. Although, like Touji, he would not let himself cry at Asuka's wedding. It was just one of those things that a man had to do.
Although it was only half Asuka's wedding…
No hesitation here either. Six years of dating had ironed out any sort of flaws when it came to this sort of a thing. "I do," Asuka said happily.
Directly in front of the pair of stooges and Hikari sat Misato. Unlike everyone else she didn't have the problem of being overcrowded. The tears gushing from her eyes kept everyone seated near her far enough away.
Misato had long since decided that the ceremony was beautiful. The church was perfect for the occasion. It was large enough for Asuka's preferences and obscure enough for Shinji's preference for the quiet.
The number of people invited also seemed perfect to Misato. She had no idea how many there were at the wedding, but it was the perfect number no matter what.
'It's been six years,' Misato reminisced through her tears, 'since they met. Time's moved so fast. It feels like just yesterday they were both dumped into my home.' And now they were being married in the perfect way.
"Then I pronounce you husband and wife," the priest announced happily.
The remaining guests where people of lesser importance in Shinji and Asuka's life. They were Shinji's teacher, and Ritsuku, and random relatives for the most part. Most were crying in different forms. All were happy in some way, even the two in the way back.
"You may kiss the bride," the priest said, stepping backwards and beaming happily. If this had been his favorite part, he wouldn't have been a priest.
The priest was a good man, someone Asuka and Shinji had known and trusted for some time. After dating for two years they'd agreed that they wanted religion in their life. One Sunday they'd just entered and begun learning the faith. Now, they were to be bound by it eternally.
Asuka and Shinji both moved into each other's embrace. The kiss begun like thousands of others had, but it quickly became something more meaningful. It was their wedding kiss after all.
'I will never forget this,' they both thought. If synch training had made their actions and words the same, loving each other for six years had made their thoughts the same. Now, connected in the kiss, they were one being. Neither wanted it to end, ever.
And it never would. After all, they were married now. They were now eternally in each other's presence, their souls never to be separated. And they liked it.
The kiss ended after both Asuka and Shinji opened their eyes. They saw in each other's eyes that it was time to move forward, past the physical part of the ceremony. They both knew it to be true.
They broke the kiss and turned to look at their friend's and family. 'There is one hell of a reception coming up,' they both thought happily. Neither could help but think of Gendo dancing. Giggling took them both as they exited the church. Pursued by their friends and family, it was all great.
And it was just the beginning of their life together, married at last.
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Anyone heard of anyone writing an actual wedding before? I know there have been fics with the kids married, and a few where marriage comes up, but I don't think I've ever actually read a wedding. Let me know if there are any, I'd like to read them, just to make sure I did this right.
Well, this marks the end of this fic. Two down and I don't even know how many more in the future. I think the best part of both of them is that I've done over 90,000 words in five months. If nothing else, I'm fast with updates.
I'm happy with the number of reviews on this. I think I got a little group who looked forward to this and liked it. At the very least it had more reviews then Reign of the Tabri.
I know I said it after my first fic but I'm seriously going to take a break now. Nothing for at least a week or two, I have to get back into school. As for the next fic…
It will be something original, and hopefully with as interesting a plot as the last two, at the very least. It's gonna sort of mix the genres of the two of them, for the better or worse. If you liked either Reign of the Tabri or Rivalitas then please keep an eye out for it.
Now I reveal the name. Rivalitas is Latin. It translates into "rivalry (in love)". I think that is a lot of what AxS is all about. Their rivals in the anime, yet they begin to fall in love during this rivalry.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed this. I would give thanks to everyone who liked it, but no thanks to anyone who liked it but didn't let me know. I still have people who have alerts on this but haven't reviewed it. Thanks to everyone again, for what is surely the millionth time.
