Hey guys! Sorry for not posting a new chapter for a while. The letter M was kinda hard and I've restarted on this chapter like three times, but hey I've managed to finish! I really hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 13: M is for Marriage

Ages: Ash: 6 Iris: 6

"Is there anything for me, mommy?" Amber eyes stared anxiously up at the letters that had just been retrieved from the mailbox.

"No, I'm afraid not." Delia answered as she started back towards the house with her six year old son trailing behind.

"Aw, no fair." Ash puffed out his z marked cheeks with frustration. "How come you always get all the mail and I don't get any? Do you think the mailman still be mad at me, mommy?"

At this the mother laughed as she thought back to when an angry mailman had a rather lengthy talk with her after Ash's game of mud pie wars with his friend had left the mailman with a rather muddy mail truck and a ruined uniform.

"Oh, mommy you dropped one." Ash said as reached down to pick up the dropped envelope, only to gasp with surprise. "Wow! This one's super pretty!"

Delia blinked down at what Ash held. It was a card donning a creamy white color, a fancy golden trim and a pair of bells and doves printed in the middle. However it was the words that caught the mother off guard.

"Mommy, what's it say?" The raven haired boy asked as he made faces at the words, unable to read the cursive they were written in.

"You're invited to witness the marriage of..." Delia's voice trailed off. She didn't recognize the names of the bride and groom. Flipping the card over she sighed and realized what had happened. "Looks like Mr. Mailman delivered this to our house by mistake." The address on the back belonged to their next door neighbor.

Deciding it would be best to return the wedding invitation to the owner, Delia told Ash to head inside and that she'd be back in a moment. But as he sat inside the house the little six year old couldn't help but think to himself.

"Marriage." Ash said slowly, trying to get used to the foreign word. "I wonder what that is."

He had never heard of the word before and it bugged him that he couldn't figure out it's meaning. So after mulling over it for what seemed like forever, the little raven haired boy did the logical thing and hurried over to the video phone. Once he had dialed the number and waited for a moment the image of his best friend appeared on the screen.

"Hiya, Ash!" Iris, with her large mass of purple hair in a pigtail style and big dark brown eyes, exclaimed happily.

As six year olds tend to do, Ash didn't bother to return her greeting and cut right to the chase. "Iris, do you know what marriage is?"

"Marriage?" Iris repeated and then giggled. "What kind of silly question is that, Ash?"

"It's not a silly question!" Ash insisted, "You're just saying that 'cause you don't know the answer!"

"I do to know the answer, and you should to!"

"I should?"

"Yeah, don't you remember, last week?"

The week before, Iris had been over Ash's house and after lunch they ate lunch, becoming bored with being outside and playing with their toys the two friends wanted to watch TV. However, it was 2:30 meaning that their mothers' favorite show wasn't had just begun. This being true the two six year olds poked their heads into the living room and for the next hour viewed the show for themselves, but of course from their super-secret hiding spot so they wouldn't get caught by their mothers. The show wasn't very interesting until all the characters took part in something the two children could only assume was marriage.

"That boring show we watched was about marriage?" Ash questioned with a confused look.

"Yeah, weren't you paying attention?" Iris responded, but when she got a sweatdrop and a sheepish laugh as an answer she could tell that Ash must have found anything more interesting than watching the show. "Don't you remember anything about it?"

"A little." The raven haired boy admitted but then asked in a skeptical tone, "but do you Iris?"

"Of course I do! Besides I was the one who pay attention, ya little kid." Iris teased with a smile, even though the boy she spoke with was the same age as she. "In fact I'm an expert at marriage!" She declared with determination.

"Oh, really?" Ash asked, arching eyebrow suspiciously. "That's the same thing you said when we made cookies that one time."

"The cookie thing was totally different!" Iris protested.

"It was more like a total disaster if you ask me!" Ash said laughing.

"Ash!" The purple haired girl cried, her face reddening with embarrassment and frustration. Even though she didn't like to admit it, letting their cookies burn to a crisp was her fault and so was ruining Mrs. Ketchum's kitchen, even if it wasn't her intention. "Quit laughing, or I won't tell you anything about marriage!"

With that said Ash ceased his laughing, allowing Iris to proceed in answering his question. And to Ash's surprise, his friend did seem to know quite a bit about marriage. She explained that marriage was like a big birthday party with lots of people who come dressed up in fancy clothes.

"Why fancy clothes?" Ash questioned as he wrinkled up his nose in distaste. He hated to dress up, it took too long, the clothes were uncomfortable but worst of all while wearing said fancy clothes his mother was always saying he couldn't run around and play!

"If you don't wear fancy clothes you'll be breaking the rules, Ash." Iris said in a matter of fact tone. "Besides it'll hurt the bride and groom's feelings!" When Ash made a face of confusion at the new words Iris had used, she went on to explain. "The bride and groom is just a fancy way of saying birthday girl and birthday boy, but instead of being their birthday it's their marriage day!"

"What's the difference between a marriage day and a birthday?" Asked the boy with z mark cheeks

The little purple haired girl paused for a moment and then admitted that she really didn't know. A marriage and a birthday party had all the same elements fun, dancing, singing, presents, and best of all cake!

"This marriage thing sounds fun!" Ash said and then a wide smile appeared on his face as a wonderful idea popped into his head. "Hey, Iris we should have a marriage to!"

"What?! We can't do that!"

"And why not?"

"Because, the bride and groom on TV are always grownups!"

"So? We'll just be pretending so it won't matter."

"Well..." Iris tapped her chin. Ash did have a point, playing pretend was fun and if playing marriage meant cake and dancing then why not? "Okay! Why don't you ask your mommy if you come over my house so we can plan everything out?"

After agreeing and saying a hasty goodbye Ash hung up the phone and hurried to find his mother. Thankfully she was just coming back from their next door neighbor, so the little boy quickly asked for permission to go across the street to the Dragonlight's residences.

"Of course you can, sweetheart." Delia answered, ruffling her son's untamed raven hair, but then added firmly. "As long as you two don't play mud pie wars again, understand?"

"Yes, mommy!" Ash responded before heading out to his best friend's house.

"Okay first thing we have to do is find a place for the marriage." Iris said. Taking Ash by the hand she lead him outside and underneath the large tree in her backyard. "I was thinking we could have it here! It is our favorite tree in the world!"

There was no objection from the boy. The large tree looming over them was an apple tree, the same one they spent many warm days playing under. They would climb up high in it's branches and play explores, use it as home base when playing freeze tag and on occasion would make attempts to hide in the tree's green leaves whenever trouble came their way and their mothers were searching for them. Ash and Iris, with their mother's supervision, also enjoyed the thrill of climbing up high into the branches to pick the shiny red apples that would appear during the tree's harvest time. The apples were always the best and the two six year olds were looking forwards to picking the red fruits again soon, since the tree's branches were already covered with pink and white flower blossoms, causing a sweet smelling fragrance to drift through the air. After all the memories the two friends shared with their favorite tree it almost seemed wrong to not include the apple tree in their game of marriage.

"Now, that we picked a spot, what's next Iris?" Ash asked his friend.

Using her fingers to keep track of everything, the little girl with purple hair went on to say, "Next we've got to send out invitations, decorate, and get dressed and-"

"Ugh, that sounds like a lot of work." Ash complained with a pout.

"I know, but that's just how the rules of the marriage game works." Iris responded as the two friends headed back towards her house.

"And are you sure we have to follow all the rules?"

"Yup, if we don't follow the rules the marriage won't be fun!"

"Who told ya that?"

"Well…no one, but when the people on TV follow all the rules the bride, groom and everyone else there had tons of fun!"

"Well...okay. I guess it wouldn't hurt to be extra careful about the rules." Ash said with a shrug, besides it Iris saw it on TV it must be right.

"You two are coming back inside already?" Iris's mother questioned with an arched eyebrow as the two reentered the house. Rosa Dragonlight knew the two kids would spend hours outside whenever they would be at either of their houses, especially on a warm day like today. "What about the game you two said you were going to play?"

"Oh, were still playing mommy," Iris reassured her mother with a smile as she and Ash went into the living room.

"Yeah, we just finished rule number one and now were moving on to the second rule." Ash added as he went to go grab a few sheets of copy paper while Iris went to get her basket of markers, crayons and colored pencils.

"Oh, really?" Mrs. Dragonlight asked with a small smile. "I didn't know a game could have steps."

"Me neither, and this one has a gazillion of 'em," Ash responded, causing the mother to laugh a bit.

"And what's the name of this game you two are playing?"

"Mar-"

"Nothing!" Iris interrupted as she abruptly slapped her hands over the little boy's mouth. Her mother gave a suspicious look, one that Iris sweatdropped at but quickly went on to explain. "It's a surprise, we can't tell you yet!"

"A surprise?" Rose asked in a skeptical tone.

"This game has to be a surprise?" Ash asked removing the girl's hands from his mouth.

"Uh-huh."

"Are you sure?"

"Ash, of course I'm sure! It's one of the rules."

"Yeah right, you're probably making this up as you go, Iris!"

"No I'm not! I'm the expert after all!"

"Hey, you two goofballs, no fighting, okay?" Mrs. Dragonlight said playfully, with the addition of a smile at the six year olds cute antics.

"Yes ma'am."

"Okay, mommy."

"Good, now make sure to use your inside voices," The mother turned to leave the room. "I've gotta make a quick phone call."

"The last thing we want is another cookie disaster." Delia said with a laugh as the woman with the long purple braid invited her inside her house after being informed about a certain surprise Ash and Iris were planning.

"Exactly. Besides, when it comes to those two a "surprise" could mean just about anything." Rosa led her friend over to the living room where their children were. But before they approached the room the sounds of Ash and Iris's voices could be heard. Poking their heads into the room Rosa and Delia could see the two children standing by the stairs and talking.

"How come you get to do the decorating? That's the fun part!" Iris's tone sounded displeased and her crossed arms and unhappy facial expression mirrored this fact.

"But if you help me decorate, you won't have time to get all dressed up." Ash countered and then pointed his finger at the girl. "And besides isn't getting dressed up one of the rules?"

"Well...yes. But I'll go really fast!"

"You can't go fast! If you do, you won't look pretty Iris."

"Pretty?" Iris stared at her friend blankly for a moment. "Why...why do I have to look pretty?"

Ash paused, and for a moment felt his face grow warm and his heart beat a little faster in his chest, it was odd feeling but it was one he didn't mind. Amber eyes darted to the floor as the next words came from his slips. "Um...because o-on the show the lady looked really pretty...and I w-want you to look just as pretty as she did. And y-you can't do that if you get dressed really fast I-Iris."

"Oh." Was all the little girl could say as she realized that Ash had been paying attention to the show just enough to remember how pretty the bride was. And to think that he wanted her to look just as pretty made her heart flutter and her face get warm. It was odd feeling but it was one she didn't mind. "Well, okay then. I'll get dressed slow. A-And I'll do my b-best to look extra pretty," Iris started up the stairs, but paused to add, "but only because you asked so nicely, Ash!" she then darted up the rest of the stairs, refusing to look back at her friend.

Over by the doorway, the two mothers were holding back giggles from the adorable encounter the two had just had. However, their presence was quickly discovered as the little raven haired boy turned from the stairs and spotted them. Ash looked rather startled to see them standing there, but quickly hid his slightly red face as he hurried over and held out two pieces of copy paper, both neatly folded into an envelope shape.

"These are for you," Ash's words were rushed and so was his exit as he rushed past the two women.

Without anything but exchanged looks of curiosity Delia and Rosa unfolded the pieces of paper. For Delia it was almost like a wave of Deja vu had hit her, there was a fancy yellow trim, bells and doves drawn on the paper and to accompany the pictures were words, written the best hand writing they had ever seen from either of their children, that were so surprising they had to be read twice.

"You're invited to witness the marriage of Ash and Iris?!"

Rosa and Delia shared looks of pure shock, but then only smiled. Looks like their kids were at their cute little antics again.

"There all done," Ash said stepping back to look at his half hour minutes of hard work.

It had taken him a while, due to his refusal of help, but Ash had managed to get the chairs for the Dragonlght's kitchen out to the backyard and arranged into two neat rows of three, with each row parallel to one another. Serving as the runner was one of the white tablecloths Ash had found inside as well and had carefully placed it on the ground between the rows. This runner thing was something Iris said the bride had to walk down and was crucial part of the marriage game. Knowing how important it was Ash had decorated it with lots of flowers he had picked from the blooming apple tree.

"Wow, looks like someone's been working really hard decorating." The sound of his mother's voice turned Ash's attention away from the decorations he had set up.

"Yup! Do you like it mommy?" Ash questioned.

"Why, yes it's very nice." Delia answered, marveling at how her son had tied ribbons to the back of each of the chairs and had already settled a few of his and Iris's stuff animals, including Shocky and Tusk, onto a few of them. (Tg2012: You remember, the stuff Pichu and Axew dolls from Classroom Helper. Just thought they be and nice addition to the story). "Makes me even more excited for the marriage to start." Despite knowing the correct term was wedding, the mother didn't want to ruin any of the fun her son was having.

"Me either, it's going to be super fun!" Ash exclaimed jumping up and down, but he abruptly stopped and said with a serious tone. "But you've got to remember to follow the rules when it starts mommy."

"Rules?" Delia asked, still playing along with an added expression of confusion.

"Yeah, you and Mrs. Dragonlight are going to have to sit here," Ash pointed to the two vacant seats near the front. "And then me and Iris are going to stand under the tree," he then indicated to the area under the tree where he had arranged two small circles of flowers, one for each six year old to stand in, "and that's when the marriage starts."

"Oh, really? What are we going to be doing once the marriage starts?" The mother asked, brushing a few flower petals from her son's raven hair.

"Um, well...we'll be playing games and we're going to be eating cake," Ash answered, but then gasped. "Oh, no! We don't have any cake for the marriage!" the little boy started to make a beeline for the door to inform Iris about this catastrophe, but was stopped when his mother scooped him up from around the waist.

"Hold your Ponyta, there's no need to panic," the brunette woman said with a laugh. "Thanks to those beautiful invitations you gave to us, Rosa and I have been cooking up a bit of food for the marriage."

"Really?!"

"Yes, and if everything goes to plan all the food and the cake will be done in time for you two lovebirds to say "I do"."

"Lovebirds?" Ash made a face of confusion. "Mommy, Iris and I aren't birds, were best friends! And what's an I do? Is it something bad?"

"Oh, there's no need to worry about that, Ash." Delia answered, smiling at her son's innocent curiosity about marriage, a thing he was viewing as nothing more than a game. "As of right now, we've got to hurry home and get dressed up in our fancy clothes."

"Aw, do we really have to?" Ash whined.

"Ah, ah, ah. It's a rule remember?"

Ash pouted, he couldn't argue against the rules.

"AUGH! This isn't right either!" Iris wailed in frustration as she yanked at the hair clip that held together a random section of her purple up in a ridiculous looking fashion. Her pulling did little to fix the problem, causing the clip to become tangled in her long locks and her to give a yelp of pain.

"Is everything okay up here, Iris?" The girl's mother had just placed the wedding cake in the oven and after bidding the groom in his mother goodbye she deiced it be best to go check on the bride.

"No everything's not okay!" Iris muttered as she covered her face with her hands even though her disheveled purple hair was doing a better job than her hands could ever do. "I can't get my hair to look pretty and I haven't chosen anything to wear and I can't figure out how to use the makeup a-and…I-I don't kn-know how to l-look pretty for t-the marriage." Soft whimpers concluded Iris's statement as she pulled her knees to her chest in hopes of concealing her tear filled eyes from sight.

Giving a sympathetic smile Rose came over and sat beside her daughter on her bed and gently started to smooth back her messy hair "Looks like someone's has a case of before wed-I mean marriage jitters." This didn't seem to make Iris feel better as she remained unresponsive and pulled away from her mother's touch. "But it's okay, every bride has them."

There was a small sniffle from her daughter. "Re-Really?"

"Of course! In fact it so common that it's basically one of the rules about playing marriage," Mrs. Dragonlight said, a teasing smiling on her face.

"Well, if this is a rule, I hate it," Iris uncurled herself and rubbed tears from her eyes. However this action smudged the eye liner the little girl had heavily applied around her big brown eyes, making her look like a raccoon. "What?" Iris inquired as her mother suddenly busted into laughter

"Oh, sweetheart it's nothing," Rose lied, deciding to spare Iris the embarrassment of the smudged eyeliner, the lipstick that had been sloppy applied and the foundation that painted half of her face. Taking Iris by the hand she lead her over to the bathroom, where the remains of her makeup sat in a cluttered mess, and helped the little six year old remove beauty products with a facial wipe.

"But, mommy how am I supposed to look pretty if I don't put the makeup back on?" Iris questioned as her mother lead her back to her room, without any reapplication of the products to her face.

"However said you needed makeup to look pretty?" Rose asked as she started to untangle that hair clip from her daughter long purple hair. There was no response from Iris, implying that she hadn't ever thought about this. Pushing the tangle free hair away from those large brown eyes the mother smiled down at her little girl and added. "If you were to ask me I think the only bit of makeup you need is that lovely smile of yours!"

"Mommy!" Iris whined, her face reddening with embarrassment at her mother's doting. "But, I guess you're right, I think Ash will like better if I just wear my smile. Besides he always saying how pretty it is!" The little girl flashed her best smile up at her mother.

Laughing at her daughter's sudden change of heart she poked her nose and said. "That's right, and with that smile of yours paired with your wedding dress, you'll be the prettiest bride ever!"

"Gah, I still haven't picked my dress!" Hopping off the bed, Iris hurried over to her closet and started to go through each of her garments. "The dress has to be prefect and white! The bride's white dress is a super important rule!"

Rose smiled at her daughter's determination to stick to the rules, hopping that this attitude didn't turn her into a bridzella on her real wedding day.

Ash squirmed in his spot, trying very hard to suppress the urge to wander around or do any sporadic movements that would disturb that ring of flowers that encircled his feet. The marriage game was going to start soon but for some reason all the excitement he felt stirring inside his tummy before seemed to have transformed into a swarm of Butterfree. Ash didn't like it, but according to his mother it was something all grooms feel on their big day…whatever that meant.

"Alright, the bride's almost ready," Ash looked up from his feet to see his mother emerging from iris's house, a place he had been forbidden to go into because of another rule, one stating that the groom wasn't allowed to see the bride before the marriage game began. Seeing a look of unease on her son's face Delia gave a look of confusion. "Is something wrong, sweetheart?"

"No…I mean well…do you think Iris will like the decorations?"

"I would think so-"

"But what if she thinks I look silly in my fancy clothes?"

"Ash you look very handsome and the decorations are beautiful," Delia pressed a kiss on her son's forehead. "I can't think of any reason for Iris not to like all of this."

Ash paused for a moment. He had worked really hard on all the decorations and he had even dressed himself in the crisp white button up dress shirt, light brown kayak shorts and black shoes with a matching black bow tie he had picked out himself. Sure his mother had to help him with the bowtie and insisted that he brush his messy hair into a more tamed style, but he had practically done everything a big boy, like himself, should do and he couldn't image his best friend asking anything more of him. They were just playing pretend after all.

"Well, I guess you're right, mommy." Ash admitted; realization sparkling in his amber eyes. The mother merely smiled and teasingly pinched one of the boy's z marked cheeks. "Owie! Mommy!" Ash whined, his face turning red with embarrassment, but his mother's act was quickly forgotten as the backyard door opened.

"Okay, we're ready to begin!" Mrs. Dragonlight said with a giddy smile as she placed down a small radio and with the push of a button started the Bridal Chorus song before hurrying over to her assigned seat.

"Here comes the bride, all dressed in white," The mothers sang along with the instrumental music. Mrs. Dragonlight flashed the other mother a silly expression of how cute everything was and Mrs. Ketchum pulled out her phone to record the whole event.

As the song continued to play the bride made her appearance and when she saw her groom, all dressed up in those fancy clothes, a dazzling white smile decorated her face. And like her mother said, the smile complemented the bridal outfit she wore. A bright white sundress with pink and yellow flowers lining the hem and collar of the garment, white sandals and her hair styled in one long braid, like her mother's, was adored with pink and yellow flowers braided in allowing the colors to stand out against the dark hue of her purple hair. Ash couldn't help but smile as well as he watched Iris twirl, skip and hop down the aisle, by the time she reached the end they were both giggling.

(Tg2012: Yeah I know I made Ash and Iris's outfits and wedding are rather minimalistic, but it is a game after all and I thought less would be more in this situation ;3)

"Okay, Ash," Iris said as she stepped into her ring of flowers. "The last rule the bride and groom do in marriage is say vows."

"Vows?" Ash repeated, hoping that is wasn't anything hard.

"It's when the bride and groom hold hands," the girl held out both hands in which the boy clasped tightly onto. "And then we have to say something nice to each other!"

Ash nodded, while trying his hardest to ignore the stifled laughter from their mother's. "Well...I-I like your clothes Iris…it makes you look really, really, pretty. Even prettier than the bride on TV."

Iris smile widened and big chocolatey eyes sparkled. "You really think so!" Ash nodded to confirm. Knowing that she had to think of something nice as well the purple haired girl looked around before saying. "Um, I think the way you decorated is super fantastic!"

"Thank you, Iris I worked really hard on it!" Ash said

Then there was a pause. It was a lengthy pause. And during this time amber eyes locked with dark chocolate eyes and that odd feeling, from when they were talking near the stairs, returned and danced all around them. Neither Ash nor Iris minded, it was a nice feeling, but didn't last long as it was suddenly interrupted.

"Well?" Both six year olds turned to see Mrs. Draogonlight giving a beckoning look.

"Well what?" Ash inquired.

"Those are all the rules of marriage." Iris stated

"Oh, there's still one more." The purple haired woman said. "Everyone knows the bride and groom have to kiss."

"WHAT?!"

"Rosa! Don't tease them like that," Mrs. Ketchum declared, even though she couldn't suppress a small giggle at her friend's bold comment.

"They don't have to kiss!"

"Yes they do, it's the most important rule!"

"Rosa, please."

"It's only game, Delia loosen up!"

While their mothers bickered Ash ad Iris both looked at each other. The bride and groom had to kiss? Not even Iris had known that, they had gotten caught watching the show before either of them had seen anything about kissing!

Blushing fiercely Ash looked at his friend. "W-Well…it is a su-super important r-rule."

With her face just as red as the raven haired boy, Iris added. "And we d-did say we were go-going to be ex-extra careful with following all the r-rules…"

There was nothing else to say. They had to follow the rules. So just like that, Ash and Iris kissed. It was fast. Barely a second with their lips touching. But it was enough to make their mothers burst into laughter and to send each other squealing as they ran in opposite directions. Each trying to rub their mouths clean from the disgusting cooties they had just given each other.

Despite the horrible skin crawling act of kissing both six year olds had to agree that the marriage day had gone well. They had cake, danced and played games until bed time. In all honesty it was one of the best days the two friends had ever shared together.

Well second best.

It was their real "marriage" day that took the cake.

DAAAWWW! *freak out from cuteness* I really enjoyed writing this. It was cute and fluffy and had the child like innocence I love! Anyway I hope you guys liked it (and didn't die from cuteness like I did X3) and stay tuned for the letter N! So until next time:

Lots of Virtual Hugs and Kisses: Toadettegirl2012

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