Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of characters used. All are licensed to their respective owners. I am not making any money through authorship of this fic.
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Chapter Twelve- Shiznat: The wedding.
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Thank you all very much for sticking with this fic… hopefully it's been as fun a ride for you as it has been for me. –Phantom.
--
Natsuki Kuga woke up in a rather bad mood. Her body ached, there was a marching band wandering around in her head and it was morning…
'What the hell am I doing awake? This really has to stop happening to me,' she thought as she blinked her eyes at her surroundings.
A second later… she wished she hadn't. She was suddenly bombarded with flashbacks of the previous night's adventures and really, they were not what she needed first thing in the morning… or… ever.
--
The night before…Flashback- Kuga PartyNatsuki, Chie, Aoi and Mai sat at a popular club surrounded in glasses.
There were just glasses everywhere, full glasses, empty glasses, glasses attached to their hands, glasses that were tipped over, glasses precariously piled on top of one another as part of Chie and Aoi's 'glass tower'…
Nao was on the floor, Chie's cell phone memory card was completely full… and a silent, traumatised looking Natsuki was handcuffed to her chair while wearing cat-ears on her head and a t-shirt with 'bride-to-be' on it. Said white t-shirt also happened to be covered in lipstick marks.
Just how many young women kissed her that night, Natsuki had no idea.
Chie, the young mastermind of it all hung onto the bar that was in front of her and leant ever so slowly backward to take a look at her redhead friend. She did so very carefully as any sudden movements would have of course resulted in bad things happening… her balance wasn't quite right and she had a feeling it was due to her brain floating in alcohol.
But that was just a theory.
--
"Should we pick her up?," Chie asked, motioning to Nao.
Aoi looked the redhead over and nodded.
"We probably should."
… minutes pass…
"Are we going to?," Aoi asked as she continued her staring.
Chie thought for a moment before finally nodding. Nodding slowly.
"Alright alright let's pick her up…"
After trying to take a step off the stool she was sitting on, she quickly decided otherwise.
"Ok, ok, floor turns into liquid when I try to step onto it… not good. Forget this… let's just call in re-enforcement's."
Taking her ever-handy cell phone out, Chie dialed an emergency number.
--
"Hello?," the person on the other line asked cheerfully.
"Tomoe! Come quickly… Nao's on the floor," Chie said as vaguely as possible with absolutely no reason offered.
"She's what?! Why? … Haruka please get off me I'm on the phone!"
Chie shrugged, completely disregarding the fact that she was actually on the phone.
"Don't know, but just hurry up ok? And please… never leave your girlfriend alone ever again…"
"Oh, we aren't officially… Haruka! Don't touch me there! Shizuru, Yukino… why are you just watching?! Stop giggling dammit, this is not right!"
Chie frowned and gave a pout causing Aoi to reach over and stroke her head.
"Tomoe! Hurrrrry up! Because for some reason… the floor here turns into liquid at various times and… just hurry up."
Half an hour later, when Nao was safely off the liquid-turning floor and in the care of her 'not yet girlfriend', Chie and Aoi turned their attentions to another aspect of the matter while each adding another glass to the tower.
"Damn Tate and Mai. Damn them! As Nao's surrogate parents and as members of the Nao Kuga safety foundation, they should be taking care of her!," Chie said with her head attached to the table.
At the mention of the karaoke addict, Aoi looked over to where Mai was sitting, or where she thought she was sitting… unfortunately for all concerned, she was off in the private karaoke corner.
The private karaoke corner which was currently in use…
--
"Hey you! That's enough bad singing out of you!," Mai said as she tried to snatch the mic away from it's current user.
The sight of the kind of people Mai was 'speaking' to seemed to drain all the alcohol from Chie, Aoi and Natsuki's heads… unfortunately the quick drain also came with the rather painful side-effect of their brains smacking straight into their skulls with no fluid for cushioning…
The glass-tower collapsed.
Aoi quickly looked at the anxious bartender and pointed at Natsuki.
"Uh, she'll pay for that…"
Chie meanwhile jumped off the stool and immediately set to trying to free her handcuffed friend… as Mai decided to 'speak' some more.
"Heeey! I ssaid gimme that mic! Give me it mic now. Didn't you hear me be-beff… words won't work.. beffffore?! I said you ssuckk!"
--
"Oh my God what the hell is that idiot doing?!," Natsuki asked, finding her words again… her angry slash annoyed slash panicked words. Otherwise known as the words usually reserved for Nao…
She wriggled around trying to give Chie better access to the handcuffs.
"Dammit Chie get me out get me out! Oh my God… Why do you look like you're looking for the key? Where's the damn key?! Chie find the key Aoi… go get the Mai!"
Chie gave Natsuki a look.
"Are you out of your freaking mind?! Aoi's not committing suicide! And umm as for the key… hey I found the key!"
Natsuki hung her head and mumbled to herself…
"So she did lose it…"
Aoi cleared her throat and looked over at Mai and the literal gang she was 'hanging-out' with.
"Umm… going over there right at this point in time might be a little risky I'd say."
--
"I mean geez. Who taught you how to sing? The pack of stray dogs on the street? … hahaha… that was funny. Did everyone hear that? Or should I repeat it? Ooh! Someone write it down!"
"Mai! Shut up!!," her friends screamed.
Mai smiled and waved.
"Hiiii guys! Yeah see… my friends over there… they want you to shut up too. Now give me the mic… it's my turn now."
Natsuki, who was finally free ran as fast as she could to the rescue of yet another one of her idiot friends.
"Mai, let's go. And for the love of all that is Holy… don't let any other words out of your mouth!"
"But Naaatsssukiii, these guys suck!"
"Unless you want them to suck the marrow from our bones… shut up!"
The man holding the mic… who, was at least double the size of bodyguard no. 1 with an obvious Katana sheathed at his waist gave Natsuki a smirk.
"You don't really think we're actually just going to let this one walk away do you?"
Natsuki sighed.
"I don't think you really have a choice. She came here with me and I'm not leaving without her," she said.
All the while, what she was actually thinking was: 'Oh crap, oh crap, gonna die, oh crap, I love you Shizuru!, oh crap, oh crap!'
"Well then, you're not leaving at all."
"I don't think you're understanding me," Natsuki said slowly while holding the gaze of the (many, large) men before her.
"There is no way I'm leaving my friend here with the likes of you. Now let's end this now. Unsheathe that katana of yours if you want to. All of you, go ahead… I'll do what I have to do as well." … 'Like freaking get skewered on the end of them and oh, I don't know… die! Mai you idiot… Shizzuuurruu… I'll miss you.'
"Ahem," someone said from directly behind her.
The men turned their attention to the stranger as well…
"Miss… my partner Chidori and I couldn't help but notice you were having a little argument with these… unsavoury men. Would you like me to alert our troops?"
'Troops?,' the men thought. 'She has troops? … This might be why they were acting so tough with us…'
'Chie! What in the hell are you doing?," Natsuki thought. 'We don't have troops!… Unless you count Nina… And where did you and Aoi get those dark glasses from? … And why have you gelled your hair back so tightly? My God, I'm not even gonna ask about the suit and tie…'
Natsuki inwardly sighed before letting her sore head come up with something to say.
"No Sagara I don't think alerting the troops is entirely necessary. The uh… tanks rolling down the street might panic the general population and uh… that would be detrimental to our cause."
"Tanks??"
The men took a large step backwards and one of them pushed Mai into Natsuki before they all ran off.
"You can have her!," one of them called behind his back. "Must be some damn dirty politicians or something…"
Chie laughed at his statement.
"Close but no… we're worse than politicians," she said.
"We're the heirs to corporate royalty," Aoi finished with a nod.
"We are going home immediately to figure out which one of you I should murder first," Natsuki said.
She held Mai by the collar as she ushered her friends out of the bar… but not before handing her credit card to the table.
Destroyed glass towers were expensive.
"I hope Shizuru's party is going a lot better…"
--
The night before… Flashback- Fujino Mansion.
Shizuru and Yukino were currently trying to stop Haruka from literally bouncing off the walls. The plan was originally to send Tomoe after the blonde but the green-haired girl had been called in to assist in another crisis elsewhere.
Shizuru giggled slightly at the sight of her friend.
"I apologise Yukino, I shouldn't have taken her up on the offer."
The mousy girl sighed as she tried to grab hold of her wandering, not to mention completely inebriated wife.
"No, she was the one who challenged you to the drinking competition, I think she must have forgotten that Fujino's don't really know how to lose," she said with a slight laugh.
Shizuru smiled at Yukino.
Her old friend used to be a very shy girl who really didn't communicate well with anyone she wasn't completely familiar with. But after spending some time with the somewhat… 'out-there' Kuga's, Shizuru had noticed a slight change in her, she was much more open now, more comfortable. She thought Haruka appreciated it too.
… Turning her attention back to Haruka, Shizuru had to make a quick dive to catch a falling vase. Of course she did so with the class and elegance only a Fujino could have possessed.
Yukino wondered at her friends' athletic ability.
'How could she do that without a hair moving out of place?'
Shizuru replaced the diving vase and wrapped her arm around Haruka's waist.
"A dance? Yes let's dance! Hey… do those Kuga's know how to dance?"
Even though Haruka released this sentence in parts… between hiccups, it seemed the blonde general was still operating even under the current circumstances.
"Yuki! Yukinooo… write that down would you please? Kuga dance. Teach Kuga's dancing!"
--
In another mansion somewhere…Nina was trying to fend off the usual advancing Arika when suddenly a chill went down her spine.
'Something very bad is being planned out for me. I must prepare myself,' she thought. 'I wonder exactly how inappropriate it is to bring weaponry to the ceremony…'
"Ninaaa! I just want a hug! Mikoto gave me one!"
The girl in question sat huddled in the corner.
"Arika… scary."
Nina sighed and felt the urge to gave Mikoto an apologetic look, though she didn't know why.
'This idiot isn't exactly my responsibility,' she thought as Arika came closer.
"By God Arika… for your own sake, stop trying to make me kill you!"
--
"Quiet down girls," a very motherly Tate said from in from in front of the tv. Reito next to him just sent over a smile.
"Quiet down? Would you men make more noise from over there?! Geez. And stop bonding over those J-dramas, what are you thinking?! Arika! Stop trying to hug me!"
An amused Tate managed to tear his eyes off the screen for a moment.
"Just give her a hug Nina, a few snuggles here and there aren't too bad."
"How the hell did hugs turn to snuggles? Don't give her ideas!"
"Niiinaaa… snuggle?"
Nina sighed.
"There's just too many stupid people around here… do I even have enough bullets to destroy them all? Someone as crazy as Arika probably won't die with only one… Maybe I should just shoot myself," she mused.
Mikoto from the corner raised her arm. "Me too please," she said while shooting scared looks at the ever-smiling Arika.
--
Back to Natsuki's present morning…Natsuki lay her sore head back on the bed and stretched her tired muscles.
'Damn parties. Damn Mai… I can't believe we got into a bar fight. Luckily Chie saved us with her… tanks.'
Natsuki buried her head under a pillow, over thinking that previous thought would just lead to unnecessary injury.
Turning on her side, she expected to come into contact with the warm form of her fiancée. Instead she was met with only her hugging pillow and a tiny wolf soft-toy. The sight of it made Natsuki smile before she realised that something more important was missing.
'Hey, where's Shizuru? Ugh my head… Why do people always insist on throwing these damn parties the night before people's… OH MY GOD!!'
The door suddenly swung open with three frantic young women rushing in. The young man being dragged along with them was less frantic and more still asleep on his feet… with an all new, visible bruise forming on his forehead.
"Natsuki you idiot, get up, get up! We're gonna be late!," Mai yelled as she pulled at the girl's arm.
"Late?! I can't be late! Late for my own…"
"She's not up yet? Get her up! Oh my God, Haruka's gonna kill us! She's gonna kill us all!," Chie said. "Nao! Get the girls up! We gotta make sure Arika didn't do anything weird during the night… and that Nina didn't kill her in her sleep. Oh my God poor Mikoto…"
"Me? Why me? I'm not gonna try and wake Nina! Make Tate do it!," the redhead proclaimed defiantly. "Tate hey go wake… Tate you idiot how can you be sleeping while standing up?!"
"People stop arguing or we're all gonna suffer death by Haruka!," Aoi said while throwing jackets at everyone. "Come on we all have to get to the venue to get ready! Tate start the… oh my God wake up you idiot!"
Natsuki quickly donned her jacket and grabbed her bike helmet.
"What the hell are you doing? Going on your bike? Don't worry about that, we have horses there!"
"We're riding off on it… Shizuru's idea," Natsuki admitted with a blush.
The girls paused in their panic and 'awwed' at her.
--
"Hey! What's with the yelling? And the more recent 'awwing'?," Nina demanded to know as she walked into the already crowded room with Mikoto in tow.
Mai quickly checked her little sister over for any signs of trauma.
"Late! We're gonna be late!," Arika said as she ran in screaming and quickly attached herself to Nina. Mikoto took a large step in the direction of away and glomped her sister.
"Not this Kuga!," a newly determined Natsuki said. "Not today! Everyone pile into Nao's S.U.V, you're driving this morning cousin of mine. Except Nina, Nina suit up, you're on the bike with me. And Mai for the love of God pick Tate up!"
"Wait wait does he have the rings? Where are the rings? Where are the damn rings?!," Chie asked as she gave Tate a pat down.
"Relax, relax, I've got the rings," Nina said as she fiddled with Natsuki's spare helmet.
The group all looked at her.
"What? Tate is the best man… of course I have the damn rings. Do you people wanna find them stuck in his last box of Hello Panda? Or in the dvd player along with his favourite J-drama disc? I think not. Now hurry up you idiots! We should have already been traumatising all the other road users by now, all of you… get in the damn truck!"
Natsuki laughed and messed up the girl's hair.
"And they wonder why you're my favourite."
Nao 'hmphed' at the little exchange before piling everyone into her truck.
"Favourites aside… I'm still cooler!," the redhead said before starting the engine.
"Just drive you moron!"
--
Half an hour later…As they all arrived at their destination the group looked on in complete awe. Nao had followed Haruka's directions to a T and delivered them all safely to the Country's most exclusive club. They saw that to the east of the entrance there were many massive white gazebo tents put up looking like castles sitting up on the hill.
"This is gonna be the world's most beautiful garden wedding," Tate breathed.
The girls all shook their heads while Nao looked embarrassed for her cousin.
"Tate, we've had this conversation before… if you must say effeminate things like that, do it in your head!," the redhead suggested.
Parking close to the great tents, the group exiting the S.U.V was swiftly greeted by a surprisingly calm Haruka…
"Welcome Kugas! … And Arika who refused to leave Kuga mansion because of some unexplained weirdness… I trust you all slept well. How very thoughtful of you all to arrive ahead of schedule."
"Ahead of… Haruka are you out of your mind?! We're late!," a frantic Tate said as he looked around for a livid Shizuru who he expected to come in charging at them at any moment.
"Uh actually…" Mr. Kuga offered sheepishly, coming in from behind Haruka.
"Father? Damn you father, what have you done? Who's side are you on?!" Tate, who was now holding an ice-pack to his head, asked. Yukino, still as thoughtful as ever brought the ice over a moment earlier. An excited Nao decided to pull Tate out of bed that morning a little violently resulting in his skull breaking his fall.
Mr. Kuga threw his son an apologetic look.
"I merely adjusted all the clocks in the house," he said. "But it wasn't my idea I assure you!," he added hurriedly. "Your sister's maid of honour is very convincing."
Nao nodded as Tate merely glared. Haruka looked nonplussed.
"Yeah. She is pretty scary."
--
A minute later, Natsuki's bike came growling up the hill with it's driver and passenger leaping off simultaneously as soon as their destination was reached.
"Right… someone get me in a white dress and we're all go!," Natsuki yelled.
The group on the hill stared awkwardly.
Nina felt like violently shaking the silent members of the wedding party.
"Hello? People? Throw someone white on her! We've got a wedding to get to!," Nina said directly after. "What's with the staring? We're late aren't we? Fine, just keep staring then. But nobody better blame me if Shizuru starts the wedding without us…"
The panicked mayo-pup almost fainted at the thought.
The group refused to meet Natsuki's eyes… Nao just pointed at Haruka.
The blonde rolled her eyes and looked sincerely confused at the group's reaction to her little ploy.
"What? Aren't you people happy you get to start your morning in a nice relaxing fashion? Now come on, the staff to help you all get ready aren't going to arrive in another hour so why don't you all follow me. We'll sit down and…"
"If she says have a cup of tea I'm gonna kill her. Really I'm just gonna kill her," Natsuki said.
"I'll help," Tate quipped. "In fact, I'll do it right now. Somebody hold me back because I swear I'll do it!"
The rest of the group who were a lot more worried about Nina, Nao and Natsuki rather than their male cohort, ignored Tate and eyed the girls wearily.
Haruka cleared her throat and judged the distance between herself and the female Kuga's who looked like assassins eyeing up their mark.
"Uh ok, anyway what I was saying was… I think we should all sit down and have a nice… mayonnaise slathered croissant?"
The group all look at Natsuki who momentarily forgot her anger and was already salivating at the thought.
"Haruka gets to live," she said. "For now."
--
After a… not quite so relaxed breakfast due to the many death threats a certain blonde was getting, the wedding party was prepared enough to start getting ready for the ceremony.
The girls of course were left to fuss over Natsuki. Well, all except for Yukino and those considered to be from the Fujino side of the family as they were sent off to help Shizuru.
Haruka as was expected, took it upon herself to scare the living daylights out of any staff members who weren't trying to over-work themselves to death.
--
"Hey! What are you people doing?! We're setting up for the wedding of the year here let's just have a little more energy and a lot less being morons!"
"I'm sorry… did she just say setting up for a wedding? Because I was under the impression that we were planning a large scale military operation," one of the staff members dared to mumble.
"Hey! Don't make me court marshal you! You know I can make it happen!"
"Can she really…"
"Yes I can!"
--
As their older counterparts were busy helping the brides, Nina, Arika and Mikoto were left to their own devices inside one of the tents. Although tents were what they looked like on the outside, on the inside they were nothing less than what should be expected from the world's most expensive Hotel suites.
"Hey Nina?," Arika asked as she watched her two counterparts ready their dresses.
"Hmm?"
"What do you think of marriage?"
Nina wore her 'deer in headlights' expression. 'What the hell kind of question was that?,' she thought.
"Arika… what the hell kind of question is that?," she said, actually wanting an answer to her previously unasked question.
At the lack of answer to her own, Arika continued…
"Do you want to get married?"
'Is she… proposing?!,' Nina thought in a panic. 'Oh my God, she's proposing…'
"Do you think you'll be happy with an arranged marriage? Do you think the brides are today? Do you think a church wedding would have been better or do you like the garden theme? Do you think when we grow up we'll have our very own 'Haruka' friend or will we have to organise everything ourselves? …"
'Thank God… not proposing,' Nina thought as she ignored the still questioning Arika. 'I'm too young to die of a heart-attack…'
"Do you like the horses? What do you think Tate's gonna say in his speech later? Shall we go and practice throwing flowers around?"
Nina sighed and tried to ignore the twitch that had decided to settle on her right eye.
--
"It's Natsuki's wedding and Natsuki is happy," she said, deciding that if she didn't answer Arika would just carry on with the ridiculous question barrage. "So I really don't need to have any sort of opinion on the matter."
"But Nina," Arika said while getting a weird look on her face. "We are the world. And we are the children. We are the ones to make a brighter day. So let's start… thinking about being really opinionated now!"
Nina, and Mikoto who was also in the room but was really willing herself not to be, just stared at Arika before giving each other their patented 'what the hell' looks.
As Natsuki's cousin and Mai's sister, relatives of those who spent large amounts of time with Nao, the 'what the hell' look was a necessary part of the young women's facial expression artillery. It would most likely be passed on to the younger generations… after all, now they both knew Arika. This fact could not be denied.
Arika sighed and continued being as weird as she felt like.
"Mikoto… did you recognise those lines she just said?," Nina asked.
The younger girl nodded.
"Yes, but it was getting scary so I tried not to…"
Her friend merely nodded.
At the point a bristling Haruka, who was in such a state because of all the stress she was feeding off, threw the door open, practically ran towards Nina and dragged the girl out of the room with her.
Arika smiled and turned her attention to Mikoto… who was trying to sneak away.
"So Mikoto, what do you think about…"
"Love is good! … Don't really wanna get married right now… Gotta go, bye!"
--
"Haruka! You're gonna break my freaking arm!," Nina yelled as she and the blonde breezed past others in the bridal party. For some reason, all the girls and Tate had now re-gathered together and were suspiciously without either of the brides…
"Does anyone else find it a little weird that Haruka's just taken Nina off somewhere?," Aoi asked.
The rest of the group shook their heads.
"I wouldn't worry about it," said Chie. "She's just gonna give her a speech about not ruining the wedding with any excessive flash photography. Apparently we've already hired people for that."
"No Chie, that's the speech she gave you. I got the 'during the ceremony, please keep Nao within reach of a taser gun at all times," said Mai while using her patented 'Haruka voice.'
Tomoe laughed. "So basically good old Haruka got you guys here three hours early… just so she could give you speeches? That's cruel even for the ex-executive director herself. No offence Yukino," she added.
Yukino shrugged. "None taken, I'm just sorry I couldn't save you guys from such an early wake-up… Haruka was rather drunk last night so I spent most of it taking care of her.
"Drunk huh?," Mai asked. "She doesn't seem hung-over now… maybe she's still drunk!"
Chie and Aoi rolled their eyes at their friend.
"Like you can talk little Miss Karaoke-crazy, wanna-be Yakuza," Chie said with a laugh.
A still sleepy Tate lifted his head from the table, since Haruka had also hired staff to help them get ready for the wedding, hair, clothes and all… they rest of the group decided they could ignore the muffin that was currently attached to his head.
"Huh? Laughter… what are we talking about?"
"Speeches, Haruka's cruelty, tasers and … your Yakuza girlfriend," Aoi said with a grin.
"Hmm," Tate began as he raised the said taser gun. "Right. Speeches… cruel. I got the 'keep taser gun on hand at all times' speech. Haruka really goes all out on these things… it felt like I was getting a talking to from my father."
--
Mr. Kuga took that moment to poke his head through the door and make a beeline for Tate.
"Son, can I speak with you for a moment please?," he asked seriously.
Tate groaned.
"Dad, come on, you're wearing that speech look on your face… it's not even my wedding!"
'Damn, he saw right through me, I shouldn't have gone straight for the serious tone,' Mr. Kuga thought as he shot his son a sheepish grin.
"I know, but… Natsuki ran away before I could finish giving her the speech," he said.
Tate sighed.
"Father, do you really want to ruin our 'father-son' moment by jumping the gun? I really think we should save this for my actual wedding day. But look there's Nao! Give her the speech," Tate said while pushing his father in the redhead's direction.
Nao's eyes narrowed as she saw her uncle smiling proudly at her.
'Uh, oh. What's going on? This cannot be good. Uncle looking proud, Tate sighing with relief… something odd is happening here.'
Tate gave Tomoe the 'save-yourself' sign and the green-haired girl subtly disengaged herself from the redhead.
'Sorry Nao,' Tomoe thought with a guilty smile. 'It's a self-preservation thing.'
At that moment Tate was collected by Reito to check on the horses they were all going to ride in on, it really did help that it was an insanely well planned out garden wedding in the most beautiful setting imaginable…
Tate followed his friend out to the stables with minimum fuss. Horses didn't like to give boring speeches.
Nao groaned inwardly as she heard her uncle mumble something about a 'more peaceful setting' and drag her off. Unfortunately for her, Mr. Kuga had one such boring speech ready for her, many in fact. He was a man who liked to be prepared.
The girls all sat around giggling at Nao's little predicament when suddenly Mai remembered something important…
"Hey, aren't there brides we should all be attending to right now?"
--
Nearby, Natsuki was sitting decked out in white awaiting her friends return… as she had been for the past twenty minutes.
"Where are those people?," she asked aloud. "How am I supposed to make my 'thanks for being the bridesmaids' speech when I can't find my bridesmaids? …. Stupid clothes… I'm stranded. Maybe if I roll… no that's a stupid idea. Then I'd just look like a dirty marshmallow."
Natsuki looked around the room once more and sighed, happy that no one was there to hear her borderline ridiculous statement.
"Where's Nao? She's the one supposed to be saying weird and stupid stuff like…"
--
"U-uncle, why are you looking at me like that? Why are you holding my hand? Why have we suddenly found ourselves sitting in the back garden? … and why are you threading flowers in my hair?!"
Nao got a panicked look on her face as soon as realisation dawned on her.
"Oh my God… uncle, you're in speech mode?! But, I'm your niece! Your niece who isn't getting married today! Damn that Tate… no wonder he threw his father at me. I will make him pay!"
Nao wore her determined look and shot a fist into the air. Well she tried to and failed miserably. As it turned out she was still attached to her uncle who was calmly sitting down, so no fists shooting into the air could be allowed.
Mr. Kuga who was completely oblivious on the subject of the redhead's annoyed, inner ranting launched directly into his speech.
"Nao, marriage is one of the most important times in a person's life. When you've found your one true love there really isn't anything that can rival the feelings you two will feel for each other. As time goes on…"
The colour from Nao's face drained immediately and she felt her eyes glazing over.
"Must… kill… Tate…"
--
Meanwhile in Haruka world…"Listen here little Kuga," Haruka began.
"Little Kuga?," Nina mouthed with a confused look.
Haruka read the girl's lips and rolled her eyes.
"I call Natsuki 'Kuga' so you can be 'little-Kuga' to avoid confusion."
"Why can't you just call me Nina? That would make sense… because Nina is my name."
"Stop asking questions!"Nina scratched her head. 'In any case,' she thought. 'I suppose this is a little better than trying to fend off Arika.'
"Right, good. Questions have stopped," Haruka said. "Anyway as I was saying before I was so rudely…"
"What do you call Nao?"
"… interrupted. What? What do you mean what do I call Nao?"
"You call Natsuki 'Kuga' and me… something stupid, so what do you call Nao?"
Haruka ran a hand through her hair and took her first pause of the day to contemplate the question.
"Shut up." … was the only answer she could come up with.
"Geez I was only asking," Nina replied with a frown. "No need to huff at me."
"No I… I think I mostly call her shut-up."
Nina laughed.
'Oh well, as crazy as they are… at least I don't have to go around thinking that Shizuru's people are prissy. 'Crazy maybe, but prissy they are not,' she thought.
At Haruka's questioning look, brought on by her silence, Nina decided to give the blonde a reply.
"Oh. Well, I think I get that," she said. "Anyway, so what was it you actually wanted to tell me?"
"Well it's on the subject of that little ant-girl Arika…"
--
At this point Natsuki was getting so tired of waiting that she had actually written quite a considerable part of her wedding vows. Yes, it seemed her bridesmaids really did leave her there for rather a long time.
"Natsuki! We're back," Mai said happily a second after Natsuki had deducted that all her bridesmaids had been abducted by aliens and were currently being brought to an alternate universe.
"Oh, good. Well sorry to tell you this but you're too late. I've married myself," the raven haired girl said with a smile and an eye-roll.
Mai laughed and gave her friend a hit on the shoulder.
"Hey! Don't dirty the marshmallowness!"
Her bridesmaids and some other unnamed people gave her questioning looks which she quickly shrugged off.
"Ok, I'm sorry we're late. But look we brought staff! They're Haruka's. Isn't it great? We get to have our hair done!"
"Ah yes. Hair… thrilling," Natsuki said not-so-excitedly as Chie, Aoi and Mai all sat in chairs next to her.
'Guess my speech can wait. There's no way I'm gonna make in with an audience… hey oww! What in the hell is this person doing to my head?'
"Miss, please stay still…"
"You're pulling at my hair!"
"Natsuki, it's her job…"
"She's gonna pull my head off!"
"She's not gonna…"
"I can feel it coming off!"
Mai and the staff member shared small awkward smiles as Natsuki went through every pained facial expression she knew she had… and even invented some new ones.
--
Around the grounds…Bodyguard no.1, while being under strict orders from Haruka, who could somehow order around anyone at all if she felt like it, was wandering the grounds looking for suspicious characters.
While halfway through his rounds, he got a radio transmission from a member of his team. It seemed that they were all under Haruka's orders too.
"Sir, we've found one of those 'suspicious' characters the blonde general was so weary of."
"Where are you?," bodyguard no.1 asked.
"Two hundred meters from the south gate."
"I'll be there immediately."
--
As he arrived, bodyguard no.1 quickly made his way over to the suspicious character.
"You, odd looking person, what do you think you're doing here?"
The young man stood up defiantly.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? You people can't just force someone to get married you know! Natsuki doesn't love whoever the guy is that you're trying to marry her to! And you can't just call me an odd person, my name is Takeda…"
"Shut up fool, I do not care what your name is. But who is this Natsuki? This is a Fujino wedding, don't think you can just walk in! You've made a mistake you punk. How would you like me to throw you out?"
"Really now… is this how all our guests are being treated?," a nearing melodic voice said.
Bodyguard no.1 gulped audibly.
"Miss Fujino, I was just taking care of this intruder, please do not worry about him let me…"
"I don't think that will be necessary, you know I like to deal with these things personally. I thank you and your team for your hard work. Please continue your rounds as usual."
"Yes of course Miss Fujino. Thank you."
--
As the group of men left, the young one left behind eyed the smiling woman in front of him.
"Look thanks for rescuing me from that weird guy and all, but I have to go complete my mission."
"Mission?," Shizuru asked curiously. "You sound rather determined, it's an important one I assume."
"Of course! I've got to stop the girl that I lust after… I mean, uh, love from making the biggest mistake of my… I mean her life!"
Shizuru, being the romantic that she is at heart is actually rather taken with this statement.
For some odd reason, which probably had something to do with all the romantic Natsuki related notions swimming around in her head, she missed Takeda's little slips of the tongue. Smiling at the younger man before her, the Fujino heir gave him a pat on the back.
"Would you like to tell me about it? You really should humour me… it is my wedding day," she added at the first sign of Takeda's reluctance.
"Wedding day? Geez… what's with everyone getting married today? You're getting married… I have to stop a wedding… it's a pretty stupid pattern. I don't know there's not really much to say about it. Do what you gotta do you know?" … 'And all the money that's sure to come with Natsuki's last name isn't gonna hurt me either, this is great! I get to be her knight in shining armor. Kuga's gonna be so grateful!"
"For love you must do what you must do. I of course do not approve of stopping someone's wedding… whoever that someone may be, but if you believe that the couple do not love each other then you must say so. Declare it from rooftops! I wish you luck."
"Thank you. It's luck I need. I'm going to find her, stop her farce of a wedding from ever taking place and propose to her myself."
--
At that moment, Tate decided to accidentally wander into the clearing where Shizuru and Takeda were sitting. The young man had taken to wandering around the grounds… avoiding the white tents as he still feared 'speech-attacks' from his father.
"Kuga senpai!," Takeda exclaimed as soon as he saw Tate. "What are you doing here?"
"Takeda? Hey, I should be the one asking you that! In fact I will…what are you doing here? At Natsuki's wedding… with a suspicious box shaped object clutched in your hand? Sitting with Shizuru… who is Natsuki's fiancée.
At Tate's revelation any sense of camaraderie that once existed between the Shizuru and Takeda vanished into thin air.
"Y-you're Natsuki's fiancée?"
"You came here to stop… our wedding?"
Tate sweat-dropped at the sight of Takeda and Shizuru breaking out into their 'battle poses'.
'Ok ok, I don't know what happened, or how but… where the hell did that wooden Naginata and Katana come from? This is a wedding! It's that stupid Haruka… I bet she planned on punishing anyone who screwed up!,' Tate thought as he looked around for any other weaponry Haruka might have hidden in the vicinity.
Takeda and Shizuru held their weapons and circled each other with nothing but malice written in their expressions.
"You think you can just keep her from me?," Takeda yelled as he tried not to trip over his own feet.
"You think you can steal her away? You with your ugly face and ridiculously spiked up hair? Who in their right mind would go for you?," Shizuru replied, her calm tone only serving to further disconcert the young man. "Natsuki is my puppy and I am forever hers. You weren't even invited to the wedding."
"Who would go for you?! With your… damn annoying calm composure and looks that… y'know… suck and… all the money in the world and… just shut up you! Natsuki doesn't like girls! And did you just call my precious Natsuki a puppy? How dare you?!"
Crimson eyes blazed and Shizuru's whole aura changed.
"Your Natsuki?! You must be joking! … Prepare to DIE!," she screamed as she took out Takeda's legs from under him.
"Die? Now you want me to die? What about all that 'proclaim from rooftops? I wish you luck'? God! I hate people who take back their words!," the young man retorted as he rolled away to avoid her angry wooden 'blade' that was about to skewer him.
Shizuru let out a Natsuki-esque growl she learnt from her fiancée and narrowed her eyes at Takeda once more before launching into another attack.
--
"Hmm, isn't that cute," Tate mused to himself. "She's picked up quirks from Natsuki already… hey I wonder if I should warn Takeda against making Shizuru…"
"I'm not taking my words back!," Shizuru said. "Go ahead, proclaim from rooftops! Just don't forget to throw yourself off afterwards!"
"… mad," Tate finished. "Ok, too late for that. Farewell my friend, rest in peace."
The two Natsuki crazed fighters exchanged a few more pleasantries before launching into their next battle motions.
Meanwhile… Tate hummed the theme song to Titanic.
'This is the most non-romantic pre-wedding scene there ever has been and ever will be. Not even Celine Dion can save us now,' the young man thought as he hummed. 'Still… good song.'
--
Nina and Haruka, who saw the scene while walking back from their little talk, meandered over. Haruka sat down and watched her friend show off her killer Naginata skills as Nina hit Tate on the head.
"Stop humming odd songs! And tell us why Natsuki's creepy stalker guy is fighting Natsuk's fiancée. Where'd he come from anyway?"
"Yeah… how did he get past the stationed guard wolves? And the sharks?," Haruka asked.
Tate gave her a blank look. "Haruka, don't you think guard dogs would have sufficed? And please tell me there are no actual sharks swimming around somewhere? Are we surrounded by a moat?"
"Look, nevermind," Nina said as she stood and watched her cousin suspiciously look around for a shark filled moat. Haruka just ignored him. "Anyway aren't you gonna save that idiot?, that guy might have been the Kendo Club captain but…"
"Shizuru is a Fujino so… don't let her kill him too much," the blonde finished.
"Kill him… too much?," Tate repeated.
'Have these two been off bonding somewhere?,' he added in his head as he saw Nina and Haruka seemed to have gotten rid of the violent air that usually hung between them and replaced it with some sort of comfortable understanding.
"You know, don't let him bleed everywhere," Haruka clarified.
"Wooden sword," Tate pointed out.
The blonde shrugged and pointed at the scene before her while saving a mental note in her head. 'Acquire fiercer sharks.'
Takeda was now standing on a large rock that had apparently appeared from nowhere (when really Haruka had it ordered it brought down from some symbolic mountain top), while pointing the point of his Katana towards his enemy.
Shizuru was crouched low, completely prepared to counter his imminent attack.
"Wooden sword yes, wooden Naginata too," Haruka confirmed. "But always remember, while a Kuga is probably familiar with and can kill with numerous types of weaponry… a Fujino can kill with a toothpick."
Tate felt the blood drain from his face.
"Uh… point taken," he said as he watched the angry Fujino swing her Naginata like a seasoned warrior. Takeda once again ended up flat on his back with the number of promised bruises on his body rising by the second.
'Takeda's screwed. That Naginata thing is probably made of… a million freaking toothpicks.'
Nina and Haruka who decided that it was a good time to think about getting themselves ready, waved at the glazed over Tate before departing with the blonde calling last instructions over her shoulder.
"Don't let her be late for the wedding!"
"Uh right," the young man said. "We're here for a … wedding."
--
"That was really a weird scene wasn't it?," Nina asked.
Haruka merely shrugged.
"I guess somebody thought it was a good idea to balance things out… Shizuru had a stalker, now Natsuki has one. Balance out the plot you know?"
"The what?"
Haruka yelled out to a hired staff member as soon as one caught her eye.
"Hey you! Where do you think you're going with that giant vase? There are only two others like it in the world and I do not think either the Pope or the President of the United States would be willing to let us borrow theirs so put the damn thing down before I hurt you!," the blonde said before quickly wandering off.
Nina looked around and shook her head in a rather violent manner.
"Ok, that little conversation clip was a little too surreal for my liking."
--
Suddenly a familiar voice reached Nina's ears and she felt the urge to quickly run away.
"Nina, Nina! Come quick!," Arika said as she ran up to the girl.
Nina sighed and decided to listen to the girl in case there was something actually going wrong somewhere. She didn't want Natsuki throwing some sort of an incensed fit later… the earlier scene with Shizuru was violent enough even for the young Kuga. She figured that then was the time to think a little defensively.
"What? Is it some emergency? Do we need any defensive weaponry? Should I go grab a wooden katana or anything? Because there seem to be some lying around…"
Arika shot her an odd look.
"Ok, ok nevermind. Come on where do we need to go?"
Arika wordlessly grabbed her hand and dragged her off and into one of the larger quiet tents. In it sat a disturbed looking Mikoto and an ever cheerful looking Reito.
"Ariiiikaa, I don't know what you're thinking but stop it before one of us kisses the other!," Nina said loudly.
The other inhabitants of the room raised their eyebrows at her and Arika took a step forward in Nina's direction.
"Kills! I mean to say kills the other! … My God I don't work well in stressful situations," Nina said as she held a hand up. "Back off lover-girl it was just a slip of the tongue! … Uh, much like that one was. Arika stop looking at me like that dammit!"
A sweat-dropping Mikoto looked on at the scene.
"Sorry Nina, I was going to warn you to, you know, run for your life but I couldn't find you," she said, wanting to very quickly change the subject and tone of the conversation.
Nina gave her a forgiving nod while still keeping one eye on the oddly smiling Arika.
"Anyway, it looks like she caught you too."
Arika clapped her hands.
"Yep! I did good huh?," she said after being broken out of reverie.
"Yes yes, very good Arika," said Tomoe as she walked in.
--
Nina's eyes narrowed at the sight of the green-haired girl.
"Tomoe? Trapping us here was your idea?," she asked.
"Don't go shooting at me Nina, I'm under orders from that scary blonde general. She wanted to give us at least a couple of song's practice. She doesn't want us all looking stupid in public, she said we all did that enough..."
"Charming isn't she, our Haruka?," Reito offered with a gentlemanly grin. "Either way, I'd be happy to offer my services for this practice."
"Practice? Practice what?!"
"Dancing," he replied while taking Mikoto by the hand and messing her hair up with his other one. "I always wanted to teach a little sister! … Girls get a little scary when they grow up."
'I don't blame him for thinking that,' Nina thought to herself. 'He grew up with Haruka.'
She giggled at her own little joke until Reito's statement finally registered on her brain.
"Hey wait… dancing?! Hell no!," Nina yelled as she searched for the nearest exit. The poor girl really did exhibit tendencies that truly painted her as Natsuki's heir.
"Haruka's orders," Tomoe repeated matter-of-factly.
"Didn't you hear me? I said hell no! Haruka doesn't scare me! Well alright she scares everyone just a little bit, but dancing? Come on!"
"Just a couple of songs," Tomoe promised. "Besides we have to look good taking to the floor… Tate's making the best man speech, great dancing can be our apology to the happy couple."
Nina heaved a sigh but relented in the end.
"Aaargh! Damn weddings! Damn Natsuki for volunteering to be in one! Fine, but why just us? I want others to suffer also! And anyway you shouldn't worry about Tate's speech, he promised not to break into song. He had to, Natsuki was threatening to shoot him. "
"You're the youngest, everyone else has already been tortured to death on their sixteenth birthdays," Tomoe said while successfully ignoring Nina's information on the Kuga siblings heart-to-heart… or more accurately, gun-to-head. "It's Kuga/Fujino wedding remember?"
Nina thought back to the scene with Takeda and Shizuru… and Haruka's little tidbit about wolves and sharks.
"Of course, weirdness abounds… how could I forget who's wedding this actually is. So everyone can dance but us? Perfect."
"Well everyone else has had lessons except…"
--
A flustered Nao suddenly rushed in and closed the door behind her, pushing the largest chair she could find against it.
"Freedom! Just you try and speech me now uncle! Mwaahahahahah!!," she said, breathing like a mad woman.
The redhead then took the opportunity to collapse against the door, well …chair against the door and finally notice the other people in the room with her.
"Gah, my head is spinning. So many life lessons crammed into such a tight schedule. He must have practiced…"
"Nao, how nice of you to join us," Tomoe began with a smile, making Nao jump and hit her head on the chair.
"Tomoe, I don't like that smile of yours. It looks much like the smile I use when I'm about to torture Natsuki. I demand you take it off your face immediately!"
Nao looked around frantically until her eyes settled on Mikoto and Reito already in ballroom dancing position. And at Nina who was trying to prevent Arika from grabbing at her.
"Just freaking hold still Arika, do you want to look like an idiot when we dance?"
"Nina?," Nao asked as a last hope. "Dance…"
"Nao… don't ask, just… dance now. Pain will end soon."
--
Midway through the first song, Nao was surprised to find out that Nina was right, the pain did end rather soon.
She found herself looking in the eyes of a very happy looking Tomoe while Nina (who would never ever admit it), was getting used to the steps Arika was teaching her and was actually starting to get used to it.
A minute later, Tate walked in as he was interested in the soothing music flowing from it… Nao apparently, had forgotten to block off all exits.
Nina raised an eyebrow at him and Tate smiled and shrugged.
"Takeda? Consider him successfully dealt with."
Nina shared his smile.
"She destroyed him didn't she?"
"Absolutely. I had to call an ambulance."
"And Shizuru?"
"Didn't even break a sweat."
A sweet laugh came in from the same entrance Tate had used.
"Come now Tate, it wasn't like that at all, I did sweat a little… as one would after taking a nice stroll under the sun."
The dancing couples lifted their heads to see a smiling Shizuru standing before them, flanked by Yukino and Haruka.
"You're all dressed?!," Nina asked in a panic. "Even Shizuru? No that's impossible."
Tate nodded.
"Shizuru… how can you be? Didn't you just come out of an intense battle?"
'Intense battle?,' Nao thought. 'Drama-boy is into sci-fi now? When will it end?!'
The rest of the group thought about Tate's question for a moment until they all came to one simple explanation.
"Fujino," they all said at once before breaking out into easy laughter even Haruka joined in… until she remembered that the ceremony was to be taking place in forty minutes… and the majority of the wedding party still wasn't ready.
"Hey! What the hell have you people been doing? Change now!"
--
The tent was quickly emptied until it was only Shizuru, Yukino, and Haruka left. Along with Reito who of course got himself ready well in advance as a gentleman should and Arika who decided to get changed into her outfit when Nina was dragged off by Haruka and Mikoto ran away.
The group smiled at each other and Reito bowed and offered his hand to Shizuru as Arika sat at the conveniently situated piano in the tent.
The two couples danced as Arika played on… after a little while the rest of the wedding party began to return.
Mikoto and Nina took seats next to Arika at the piano and they were soon followed in by Tomoe, Tate and Mai and Chie and Aoi.
Tomoe went over to the piano and while smiling at Nina and Mikoto, motioned for the two young ladies to partner each other on the dance floor as she played a duet with her sister on their favourite instrument.
Of course the only two people missing were…
--
Nao sat in the chair that had been vacated by Mai only minutes before and smiled at her contemplative cousin.
"Are you alright?," she asked Natsuki with a smile, more calmly than she could ever remember asking anything in her life.
"Yes," the other girl replied softly, smiling back. "I'm getting married today."
Nao revealed what she was holding in her hands and Natsuki gave her a quizzical look. The redhead merely shrugged.
"Haruka's hair-dressing staff will probably get mad at me for this but… do you mind?"
Natsuki shook her head and Nao gently began threading small flowers through the bride's hair.
"This isn't me trying to have a sentimental moment with you, you realise," Nao said, blushing ever so slightly. "Because I'm still the cool cousin. It's just that your dad put all these up in my hair earlier and I thought today, they'd just look better on you."
Natsuki sat still until Nao finished her ministrations before meeting the girl's eyes and pulling her into a fierce hug.
"I'm not getting sentimental with you either Nao," she said softly. "I'm just saying sorry for all the times I tried to kill you…"
Nao laughed and quickly wiped a tear from her eye as Natsuki did the same.
"You're such a sap Natsuki," she said.
"Pfft. I'm not the one who came here with cute little, flowers."
"I said your dad picked them not me!"
"Sure Nao, whatever you say."
As the redhead was about to huff off mumbling something about inconsiderate people, Natsuki grabbed her cousin's hand.
"Thank you for everything Nao… and I love you too."
Nao shook her head.
"You're supposed to say that after I say I love you Natsuki, not before. It's just like you to ruin the order of conversation."
A laugh at the entrance to the tent interrupted the still verbally sparring young women.
"Ladies," Mr. Kuga said while looking in awe at how beautiful his daughter and niece looked. "I do believe you're both wanted by…"
"Haruka?," Nao and Natsuki asked with a shared laugh.
Mr. Kuga smiled.
"No… I believe that this time it's a certain Miss Fujino and Miss Marguerite that have requested your presence."
Natsuki took a few deep breaths to prepare herself and Nao lay a hand on her cousin's shoulder.
"Ready when you are Natsuki," she said.
The raven-haired girl nodded, her green pools sparkling.
"Then let's go."
--
At the garden prepared for the ceremony.
The guests were all seated and eagerly anticipating their business world's wedding of the century. The main garden built just for this event was in a large circle, it had a roof just in case of any weather… or pidgeon mishaps but the sides were completely open letting the nice cool breeze through.Of course the sides needed to be open, what was the point of the wedding party riding in on majestic white horses if no one was there to see them…
The garden setting itself was situated near the bottom of a small hill from where the wedding party was to ride down from. Shizuru would come around the garden on the left side of the circle, closest to where the Fujino guests were sitting and Natsuki would come around on the right side.
As soon as Nao and Natsuki reached their destination at the top of the hill Mr. Kuga, and surprisingly not Haruka… signaled for the ceremonies to begin and the guests watched in awe as seven white stallions carrying the wedding party, canted down the hill where they all dismounted at the beginning of the aisle.
Mr. Kuga signaled once more and the music began to play just before the first two couples were to walk the aisle.
The first dismount and walk down to the altar was Tate as the best man with Nao as one of the maid of honors on his arm, next came Haruka as the other, escorted by a shining Reito.
The four took their places as the bridesmaids dismounted and were the next to come through. One by one, Mai, Yukino, Chie, Tomoe and Aoi walked down the aisles each carrying a bouquet of different flowers… both Haruka and Natsuki took Shizuru's 'all the flowers in the world' suggestion to heart, besides it was a garden wedding after all…
Next, the flower girls came through and miraculously… Arika managed not to fall off her horse, this was a pleasant surprise for Haruka who actually had positioned people at strategic points ready to catch her if she did…
Unlike the bridesmaids, the flower girls walked together… with Nina's arm wrapped snuggly around Arika's waist. The blushing young Kuga could barely hold her head up and blushed even more when she met Haruka's approving gaze.
The blonde nodded and smiled and nodded at Nina. 'So she did listen to my advice about the ant-girl, it's not only classical music that can calm that one…'
Yukino smiled and shook her head slightly at her wife's antics. There goes another Haruka'd couple,' she thought, little did she know that Chie and Aoi who were smiling at each other were thinking along the same lines.
Mikoto walked in shortly after the two bridesmaids carrying the two rings Nina had passed over to her only a moment before, on a small, golden embroidered cushion.
Tate cocked his head to the side as he saw the two small objects.
'Hey… wasn't I supposed to be taking care of those?,' he thought to himself. The young man was equal parts confused and relieved.
On one hand, he may have unknowingly messed up one of the longest standing best man duties, on the other hand the rings were safe and Natsuki wouldn't have to kill him on her wedding day.
Tate was brought out of his reverie by the sound of the guests standing up…
Shizuru and Natsuki were ready to walk down.
--
The couple had opted to walk down together, with their fathers just a step behind them.
With their arms threaded together Shizuru and Natsuki entered the garden with bright eyes and even brighter smiles. By each other's sides and looking into the ecstatic faces of their friends and family at the front of the altar, the couple made their much-anticipated walk.
Although this was hardly conventional, Shizuru and Natsuki wanted to start their wedded life exactly in this manner… together at the beginning, as they were sure they will be together until the end.
The priest cleared his throat…
"Friends and family of Shizuru and Natsuki… we have all gathered here today…"
--
When the time came for the vows to be read, Tate and Haruka shot each other hopeful looks as if to ask 'was our coaching enough?,' then laughed at their own thoughts.
At the priest's suggestion, Natsuki cleared her throat and faced Shizuru.
"No piece of paper Natsuki?," Shizuru whispered in her bride's ear teasingly so only she could hear.
Natsuki shook her head and softly replied with a small smile; "It turns out that I've always been better at impromptu."
Taking Shizuru's hands in her own, Natsuki prepared herself with one last deep breath before beginning.
"Shizuru, on the night I proposed to you, I placed a ring on your finger. With that ring I offered you my support and my partnership… As we stand here today, I once again offer you those things, along with much more than that. Today… and everyday after it, I offer you everything I am. I offer you my, friendship, my protection, my love, I offer you these things for all my life. I love you Shizuru. You are my everything."
Nao wiped the tears flowing from her eyes and elbowed the bawling Tate standing next to her.
'That Natsuki,' the redhead thought. 'She's right, definitely much better with the impromptu…'
--
Shizuru, who's eyes were also glistening sniffed a few times but didn't let go of Natsuki's hands to wipe her tears away.
The Fujino heir understood that they were a testament to the overwhelming loving emotions she was feeling at that moment and happily let them adorn her face as she readied herself with her response to Natsuki's vows.
Even though she had something prepared on a piece of paper she had Haruka keep, she shook her head at the blondes raised eyebrows quietly saying no to the silent offer.
Instead of reading something she prepared earlier, Shizuru decided to try out Natsuki's always successful technique.
"Natsuki…many people here today, and many who aren't will always regard our marriage as arranged… and I suppose they'll be right. This marriage was arranged… by our family, our friends, by all those who mean the most to us. But most importantly it was arranged by us, by our hearts… to tell you the truth I believe that I've been in love with you from the first moment I laid eyes on you… and I've been falling deeper and deeper in love with you since that moment. I can't imagine my life without you and because of everything you've shown me and everything you've just said I just want to thank you. Thank you for making me feel that I'll never have to be without you ever again… Natsuki, I love you too."
Natsuki beamed at Shizuru and like her, refused to wipe her tears away.
The priest beamed at the couple standing before him and raised his hands above them while asking the guests if they would like to do the same. Everyone in the room held out their hands towards the couple as the priest said his closing lines.
"By the witness of all who have gathered here today, we all offer this young couple our blessing and our great hopes for the future. Shizuru Fujino and Natsuki Kuga, by the power vested in me I pronounce you…"
"The cutest, most mushy damn couple ever married under the sky!," Nao proclaimed.
The priest laughed at the animated young maid of honor.
"Well yes, in my opinion also," he said. "And now it's official."
Grinning along with all the guests, he noticed that the newly weds had managed to figure out the next step in the process and were now deeply kissing each other with vigour even without his prompting.
--
There wasn't a dry eye in the house with the wedding party being the most emotional group… surprisingly Tate was the first to stop crying and Nao, between sniffles shot her cousin her best questioning look.
The young man wiped at his eyes and looked at her worriedly.
"I know what I said to Natsuki earlier but… I'm not really the best at non-business speeches…"
--
At the reception.
The group were all sitting at the principal table with Natsuki and Shizuru still attached at the lips.
The hired photographer who also fancied himself as also having a knack for setting up perfect photographic scenes, somehow came up with the idea that having the wedding party all kiss for a shot.
The natural couples shrugged and easily complied. Even Reito laughed it off and grabbed Mikoto's hand depositing a kiss on top of it. Nina and Arika however were the slowest to react…
The photographer had already taken a close-up of each of the couples and now wanted an extended group shot but the two young girls still weren't making a move.
Surprising everyone… including herself and her lip-locking partner, Nina was the one to finally cave-in and kiss Arika.
The photographer got the exact group shot he wanted and little did he know… a large framed copy of the shot would forever be present on every lounge wall and desk that each person in the photograph would ever own.
A minute after that, a still very nervous Tate stood and gathered everyone's attention as he readied himself to give his best man speech… Inspired by the photographer, his redheaded cousin stood next to him and motioned for the rest of the wedding party to do the same. Mr. Kuga and Mr. Fujino included.
"Umm…," Tate began while looking at Nao with raised eyebrows.
"Don't worry about it Tate, it seems that lately the best things we've done, we've done together as a group," Nao replied with a wink before addressing the guests and the happy couple.
"Right, well since the wedding is over and it's now time for speeches… and since we all already know that the couple have proclaimed their undying affection for each other, we the bridal party… except Tate because we thought it was funny to watch him stress over his best man duties, have decided to deliver to you all a joint speech in which we would like to wish Shizuru and Natsuki everything we know they deserve. Are we ready?"
The wedding party shared a group nod and the guests laughed. Even bodyguard no.1 was smiling…
"I honestly think I'm going to die of cuteness," he said to himself.
"Right Mikoto, how about you start us off?," Nao suggested and the girl nodded happily.
"Natsuki and Shizuru, apart from the happiness that I know you'll already provide each other, I wish you… a never ending supply of all your favourite foods!"
Mai wrapped a loving arm around her little sister.
"And you know where to get a nice home-cooked meal if you're ever after one," she said. "As for me, I wish you guys all the karaoke in the world!"
Natsuki laughed and shook her head, silently promising to remind Mai of her drunken antics sometime during the reception.
The girl with the strawberry-blonde hair continued after the laughter had died down.
"Ok, ok just kidding… kind of… anyway, what I really wish for you guys, is for each of you to find something you absolutely love doing and are passionate about take the time to share it with each other. That way, hopefully you'll always understand what other things make each other happy. Apart from…"
"Ok our turn!," said Aoi interrupting Mai's certain leaning-toward-R rated comment.
Chie grinned and nodded. "Aoi and I, being the media freaks we are, would like to wish you guys the gift of open communication."
Aoi held Chie's hand and finished the wish for her. "Let misunderstandings never cause your relationship unnecessary strain and let talking through things solve any problems you two may happen to encounter."
Next were Yukino and Haruka …The blonde wrapped her arms around her wife as Yukino began to speak.
"As your friends, Haruka and I both know that you two are strong-willed and capable people. Because you are going to be taking control of two very powerful corporations in the future, we wish you to be able to hone the leadership and organisational skills we both know you posses."
"And if you ever need any help with that," Haruka began.
"We'll definitely know who to ask!," Natsuki finished with a grin.
"Also, as a married couple, we wish you all the relationship openness and luck that Haruka and I have been able to have through the years," Yukino added before Reito began his wish.
"Keeping with the business theme that our worlds are both blessed and burdened by, I wish for you two to have the abilities to learn from each other. The Fujino's are known for their level headed capabilities while the Kuga's are known for their passion and risky maneuvers. I wish that you both will be able to find a happy medium in which you'll be able to lead our business world."
Mr. Kuga and Mr. Fujino stood at Reito's side nodding as the young man said his wish.
"We, in turn would like to wish the happy couple all the wisdom that we know they are capable of possessing," Mr. Fujino said.
"We wish for you girls to never be without a solid decision and to never be divided in your final opinions about matters. Still, with wisdom you should also possess flexibility, for how else can you learn new tricks?," Mr. Kuga finished with a wink.
"And when you're done with all that boring stuff," Nina began with a trademark Kuga smirk, arguably learned from Nao…
"You can use our wish!," Arika said vaguely causing Nina to roll her eyes and continued.
"What she meant to say was… we…"
"Including me," Nao said with a grin.
"Including her," Nina added. "We wish for you two to never lose the fun and the spark of your relationship. Hopefully as the years go on, you'll still be able to find new quirks in each other that you can continue to fall in love with. And never give up on the games you play together… Shizuru go ahead and tease my cousin like crazy, and Natsuki… always do that tomato-thing that you do. Have fun with each other!"
As Nina said this Nao and Arika were both nodding furiously causing Nina to mess up both their hair as soon as she was done with her line.
Tate, the actual best man smiled at and accepted the incredible attempt and execution of the group to save him from his speech-freaking-out tendencies and raised his glass before delivering his wish to the couple causing the guests to also raise theirs.
"Well seeing as there isn't anything left for me to say… I'll just wish what the J-drama addict like I am would be expected to wish. Shizuru, Natsuki… What I wish for you is… a happy ending."
TBC?? – I don't know… with a cast like this there's always someone with a story to tell… and the capacity to drag in all their friends… maybe even two who are on honeymoon? XD
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AN: Yes… it is I phantom-san! I have returned with an apology for making you guys wait so long and… an update! A long update… Sorry again if the long-ness annoyed anyone. It's like fanfiction not… y'know… novel. Lol.
Takeda's appearance is due to suggestions from three very cool and very odd posters from shoujoai dot com. Go read the end posts over there under AU Shiznat: An heir's responsibility if you're after any Shiznat R rated comedy lol… warnings for general oddness.