Disclaimer: Do Not Own…

A/N: Twenty-first chapter. Thanks for still being with me…! X3

21. After the Wedding

Everyone was seated. Everyone was present. Everyone was ready. Everyone was waiting. The groom, Shuichi Seimaru, was a graceful man and he looked quite a lot like Mr. Seimaru. Mr. Seimaru had six other siblings — five brothers and a sister. All of them owned this certain grace — a gracefulness that ran in the blood, more like. And Shuichi Seimaru definitely looked like he could make their ex-class teacher happy.

Speaking of their ex-class teacher, Miss Hana Miyamori — about-to-be Mrs. Hana Seimaru soon — was very beautiful herself. When she came out, everyone was sort of stunned — her dark, wavy brown hair was decorated with this and that, and the veil that fell over her face added an elegant look that only a bride could achieve. She walked slowly, escorted by her father, towards Shuichi Seimaru, her eyes fixed onto the ground and a soft smile was playing on her lips.

Hikari, of course, had all these recorded.

She finally reached the man she had chosen to be with, and there, they stood, waiting for that moment — that moment where they would finally be man and wife…

Hikari heard a sob, and turned to look behind her, where Daisuke sat with his eyes watering. Hikari grinned, and made sure she had that recorded. Kumiko's younger siblings seemed to be petrified by that beautiful moment — their young eyes were fixed at the happy couple and their mouths hung open a bit.

She moved her attention to the benches on the other side of the garden, when Takeru was. He had his eyes fixed on the couple too, but he was in his Expressionless Mode, so it was hard to tell what he was feeling of thinking at the moment. Hikari zoomed on the blonde's face and recorded that moment for a few minutes.

Then suddenly, his eyes turned to meet the screen of her digital camera. Both of them were surprised — perhaps he, Takeru, felt as if someone was watching him and was surprised to find that he was correct, and she, Hikari, had not expected the blonde to feel any connections was surprised to find that he did feel something.

The sides of his mouth sort of moved into a small smile, and she waved a bit, and then both of them turned their attention to the wedding scene…

"…I now pronounce you man and wife…"

(A/N: Lazy author. X3)

And everyone clapped and cheered. Akseru the Bus Driver went into berserk mode and threw flowers all over people's head, yelling, "Say No To Xemnas! Say No To Xemnas! YEAAAH!"

Even though no one obviously knew who Xemnas was, everyone cheered along with him. Everyone stood and the girls and ladies sort of shoved each other to be in the front line to wait for Mrs. Hana Seimaru to throw her bouquet of flowers. Hikari stood away from the shoving crowd to record this happy (and wacky — thanks to Akseru) moment. She watched as Miharu playfully shoved one of Kumiko's little sister, just to make the little girl much more determined to get the bouquet of flowers. Both Takeru and Daisuke were on tiptoes, their long hands raised into the air, holding their very own cameras over the people's head to try to take a few photos.

Hikari focused onto Mrs. Seimaru's hand in the air, and was ready to follow it wherever it went, only to have covered her head and ducked with her eyes tightly shut as that bouquet of flowers zoomed right towards her. It hit her head softly.

Someone at the back caught it — one of Mrs. Seimaru's friends — and people cheered and that lady blushed, but looked pleased all the same.

And then the guests were led to another garden, where tables were set and there was space for the new married couple to dance and such. There was even a band there, too. The band began to play and everyone was invited to eat. Miharu Kumiko and Harukichi conquered one huge table and placed all their things there to indicate that the table was 'taken', and then they ran off to congratulate their teacher. Hikari joined them.

Mrs. Seimaru looked very happy to see that almost all of her senior students had managed to turn up. They piled up their presents on a huge table.

"Miss Yagami, you're here too!" Mrs. Seimaru said happily.

"Yeah, she managed to come, Miss Miyamo — I mean—" Kumiko grinned and everyone laughed. "Sorry, sorry. I meant Mrs. Seimaru of course!"

"So how're things over there, Hikari?" the teacher asked.

"Very fine, thanks," she lied, and then said, "hey everyone! Strike a pose, come on, I'll take a picture or two!"

All her friends neatly arranged themselves around the married couple, and Hikari was ready to take a picture when Mrs. Seimaru suddenly waved at someone and said:

"Takaishi! Takaishi, come! You too, Motomiya!"

Daisuke hopped along and stood next to Kumiko, while Takeru, who was just about to place his present on the huge table, looked uncertain of what to do.

"Err — no thanks, I'll just…" He trailed off, pointing uncertainly at the buffet table and made an attempt to go away, but everyone there waved their hands and said, "Oh, come on, Takeru!"

When he said 'no thanks' again, Hikari rolled her eyes and went to drag him towards the others. "Come on, it's not like I'll be able to see you again after this!" she said, and Takeru gave her a look that said, "What was that supposed to mean?" Hikari dismissed that look by forcing him to stand near Miharu.

"Okay, pose for the camera now…!" she said. "One, two, three — say cheese!"

Snap! Perfect…

"Yoohoo — come, come, let me do the honour of snapping the next picture!" said Akseru the Bus Driver (there was a sakura petal tangled in his wild red hair, and he looked as if he were 'drunk'), waving at Hikari. "Come, the camera…that's it… Now go, go, shoo — I'm taking this picture!"

Hikari repaired her hair a bit and stood next to Takeru…

…Who placed his arm around her shoulder.

"Right! Smiiile, people! Say 'Saïx'!"

"Saïx (whatever that is)!" they said, and Akseru took a picture of them.

"Perfect! Now where's the food?"

People laughed at this, but joined him to eat all the same. They lined up, chatting again, for there was indeed a lot of things to chat about, and chose their food before returning to their seats, eating, and chatting yet again, as the band switched from the 'grand music band' to a rock band. The dude with the sitar (who looked like a broomstick, in Hikari's opinion — the hair, the hair) was the one who made things fascinating. He even danced with Mrs. Seimaru while playing his sitar, and Shuichi Seimaru merely laughed as the dude apologised for 'stealing' the bride and hoped that Shuichi wouldn't kill him in his sleep.

Takeru had joined in their table, and he had hesitantly invited Catherine along. The pale girl — who smiled less often ever since the bus ride — quickly accepted that invitation, although she kept quiet while the others joked about old times.

"…And then that one part when you guys had to be in one group for history!" Mr. Shao Seimaru was saying (he went from table to table to chat with students and had reached theirs) to Hikari, Takeru, Daisuke and Kumiko. "Actually I wanted to see how Takeru would cooperate with you, Hikari."

"Ehh? What? Why set us up?" Hikari asked, surprised.

"Well, because you needed to fit in, and you needed friends!" Mr. Seimaru said, and people grinned.

"And I did fit in," said Hikari.

"And I made friends," said Takeru.

"And we fought!" said Daisuke. "Like, a LOT!"

"And you always lose," said Kumiko.

"Hey!"

"Well, it's true…"

When the band started to play ORANGE RANGE'S Onegai Seniorita, Kumiko dragged Daisuke to dance, and Hikari laughed as her two friends joined the crowd in a wacky dance that had no specific name. Everyone was swaying this way and that, and it made things looked a lot happier.

Hikari then stood up, and looking directly into Catherine's eyes, she asked, "You don't mind, do you?" Without waiting for her reply, she took Takeru's hand and gently pulled him onto his feet. "C'mon, you offered me to dance with you earlier on, right?"

Takeru smiled — a wide smile — and nodded, "Yeah."

There was this huge satisfied feeling. Serves her right!

When they reached the dancing spot, they held each other's hands and looked around before looking at each other.

"Well, uh, what do we do now?" Hikari asked loudly over the music and the cheers from the dancing couples and the guests watching.

"I don't know!" Takeru replied, grinning as he saw Daisuke twirled Kumiko before continuing their wacky dance. "Let's just dance!" he suggested.

"Okay, sounds good!"

They, too, began to dance in a wacky, wacky way, and then began to realise that none of these couples actually knew which dance to perform. Takeru had randomly twirled her for a few times, and they had switched partners for a couple of times before switching back.

The sight of a smiling Takeru Takaishi…was simply…

…Fascinating…

When the song ended, the loudest cheer erupted and everyone clapped. They went to get drinks after that (cheering along with the crowd and dancing a crazy, unknown dance sure did make her thirsty) and sat on a nearby bench. Both of them had forgotten Catherine completely.

"That was fun — we should do that often in the future," Takeru said before drinking his fruit juice.

"Yeah…but when?" Hikari asked, trying to sound casual but knew that she had failed to do so.

"When we managed to run to Spain and get engaged there," Takeru joked. But when she said nothing, he observed her unsmiling face as she drank from her glass, and sat closer to her. "Hey…you know we'll meet again after this…right?"

She didn't lift her face, nor did she reply. Takeru watched her quietly, observing the expression she had on her face and quietly tried to interpret them. Before he could say anything, the second song started, and couples got onto their feet and walked towards the dancing spot.

"You know," said Takeru, "I always love Utada Hikaru…"

The band was playing one of Utada Hikaru's. Hikari didn't realise that there was a female vocalist there.

He stood, her hand in his, and he gently tugged her hand and she stood up.

"Oh, I never knew that. You sure this isn't April Fool?" Hikari joked quietly. He sort of shrugged and then grinned. "Hey I didn't know you could grin…"

"Not funny," he replied back as the dancing couples started to sway in slow-mo…hey, it was a sad song (A/N: If any of you have this song, play it now! It's Hikki's 'Final Distance')… Takeru silently pulled her closer into a hug and they, too, swayed along with the others, and moved according to the slow rhythm…

He could smell her hair conditioner as she rested her head against his left shoulder. Being taller than any other swaying heads there at the moment, he could spot Catherine's figure sitting at the table (she was one of the few who didn't dance) but he really, really didn't care about his fiancé and the moment. Hikari had been…well, he wasn't really sure, but…she seemed a bit sad. Of course she was sad, seeing Catherine right here and all, but she seemed a bit sadder than that — she avoided certain subjects and…well…

Takeru hugged her closer, tighter, and for no reason at all he whispered to her, "It's okay…it's okay…"

He felt her respond — she held him tighter.

He ran a hand softly through her hair and said, "…Is anything the matter…?"

Takeru didn't expect to hear a sob. A sob! She was happy a moment ago when they were dancing — what on earth…? She sure was good in hiding whatever she was feeling right now. He tried to look at her but she seemed to be hiding her face. Soon, he felt something wet on his shoulder… She was positively crying now.

"…I don't want her to die," she said in a low voice. Of course when he heard this, the first person he imagined was Catherine, but why wouldn't Hikari want her to die? Even he, Takeru, had secretly wished for Catherine to die — like, go cross the road and hello! There are a few cement trucks there to hit her as she crossed!

"I-I can't lose her, I…I love her…" she sobbed quietly.

Okay, now something's not right. She couldn't be talking about Catherine.

"…And if she dies, I… I don't know what to…what to do," she continued, her voice getting a bit louder. "Taichi won't know what to do either, a-and…and Dad…what'll…what'll happen to Dad…?"

Takeru was frowning now, and he was pretty sure that she was talking about her mother. This must be something quite serious — she didn't say anything to him about this, or to Kumiko or Daisuke (Takeru would've known if she had told these two, for these two would sooner or later tell him), and she was crying very hard right now, moaning a low, "What am I gonna do…?" on his shoulder.

Slowly, Takeru released her from the hug, but held her close. "C'mon, let's just….calm down and…just — just calm down, kay…?" He looked up and saw that they weren't that far away from the bench they had sat earlier on, and so he made his way towards that bench, holding Hikari close to him.

They moved between swaying couples and finally reached the spot. Hikari sat down and immediately covered her face, crying. Worried sick but knew not of what to do, Takeru kneeled down on the grassy ground to try to get a view of her face.

"…Is this about your mother…?" he asked gently over the soft music. She nodded violently and tried to wipe away tears at the same time. "Why didn't you tell me—?"

"B-because you'd…y-you'd think I… You'd think I'm a… I'm trying to g-get your at-attention or…or some…thing…" she sobbed heavily through her hands. He frowned. "I don't…I don't need y-your sympathy, I — you — you have Catherine to…to take care of a-and I'd…I'd just…"

But Hikari lost it after that. She totally, completely broke down. She leaned forth and Takeru hastily rose up a bit to embrace her. Being a person who was not so good in comforting other people, Takeru quietly patted her on the back and made hushing sounds — the music wasn't that helpful either, for Final Distance was a very stressful song (in his opinion).

He let her cried in his arms. He didn't even say a word, and the band began to play a new song (The Beatles' 'I'm Happy Just to Dance with You'). Some people might've noticed her crying by now, but none came to ask what the matter was. So he held her as she cried, and she cried all the way.

It did seem like forever when her sobs finally stopped, but she remained that way with her head still resting on his shoulder. He gently kissed her on the forehead before letting her go. Her brown eyes were red; her beautiful face was stained with tears and even her nose was a bit red. He carefully wiped away a tear and gently lifted her face so that her eyes met his.

"Hey, hey…it's all right to tell me anything…" He wiped yet another tear and said, "And you did such a great job with the make-up…"

She laughed hoarsely and he smiled before pulling her into a hug again.

"…You know I don't mind, right? I mean…you can tell me anything… Friends share, you know…they share jokes, problems, tears…candies…"

Again, he heard Hikari laughed a bit.

"Besides, you've helped me a lot back then, remember? Give me a chance to help you back…"

Hikari took a deep breath, and wiped away the remaining tears. Takeru watched her, just in case she would cry again or something but she didn't. She leaned sideways against him and he did the same.

"She's pregnant," she said suddenly. "Isn't that wonderful…?"

Takeru didn't reply.

"But she's…too old for it… She can die if she insists on having the baby."

"…I see."

Hikari sighed heavily. "I was looking forward to it, you know. Like, I'd finally have a friend! Someone to talk to, at least…"

Takeru didn't quite understand this. "What d'you mean? Surely you, O' Queen of All Desks and Chairs, have friends at school, right?"

The silence that she gave told him that something was horribly, horribly wrong. It wasn't just about her mother, it was more. Slowly, she began talking. She told him about a classmate of hers who told people the wrong story. She told him about the whole school calling her names. She told her how she, for the first time in her whole life, had no friends at all. She even told him about her parents quarrelling — her mother wanted the baby, but obviously her father didn't want that because she could actually die if she had the baby. She said she had never seen her father shout that loud before, and it made her feel horrible that she blamed herself for her parents' fight. Takeru understood how it felt — he used to blame himself for everything that happened: the divorce, Yamato's departure to another town…

And she slowly spoke about him and Catherine. How she thought she'd be nothing but trouble to them if she started crying and all, and how she thought he, Takeru, would not have any time to listen to any of her troubles since she was not worth listening to.

Takeru suddenly hit her head (but not too hard).

"Ouch…whaa—?"

"I can listen to you even if you kept on talking for a thousand years," he said sternly. "You should've told me earlier…."

She rubbed her head. "…Sorry…"

Takeru exhaled deeply before wrapping an arm around her shoulder, saying, "Hikari, you silly fool… I know we haven't seen each other for a year and I know this Catherine issue is messy, but hey…I wouldn't go and think of you as a pathetic person. Anyway, you don't have to win my sympathy. I care for you and just in case you don't know yet, I love you."

"…Sorry," she said again. He gave her a gentle smile (and he was sure that before he met her, he couldn't produce this kind of smile at all). She smiled back. "Now if you'd excuse me," she said in a happy voice, "I need to go and put on some make-up." She went back to their table and (ignoring Catherine who had been watching since forever) grabbed her hand bag. She walked past Takeru and gave him a wave and mouthed, "Be right back". He nodded and so she went into the rest room.

—X—

Catherine watched her fiancé lining up to get another glass of fruit juice, and when she was sure that he was not looking, she stood up, and quietly made her way towards the rest room nearby. She also kept an eye on their bratty little friends and none of them seemed to realise that she had made a move. She dashed into the women's rest room as quickly as she could when she was sure that no one was watching.

There she was, Hikari Yagami (they were not alone, though. There was a blonde woman there, too). She was staring at her reflection, her face wet. She then wiped her face and slapped it gently several times before rummaging her hand bag. That was when she realised Catherine's presence.

"Oh. Catherine…"

She automatically gave a smile, though it was not a sweet smile. When she said nothing, Hikari began to look uncomfortable.

"You okay?" she asked hesitantly. "You're pale."

"I'm always pale," she said softly. Hikari nodded and gave a low, "Right…" before returning to her task. She began to powder her face lightly, and Catherine had to admit that she was good at it — it looked natural, not overdone or anything. She then applied a little lipstick on her lips and sighed for no reason.

"So was the dancing fun?" Catherine asked, breaking the silence. She was hoping that the silence would make Hikari feel guilty or something, but she didn't. Hikari seemed calm — cool, even.

"Oh yes," smiled the browned haired girl, now repairing her hair. "It's great, you know — seeing your friends again. Especially when you've—"

And then Catherine collapsed, right there and then, and went perfectly still on the floor. Hikari screamed (and the blonde woman went, "Oh my God!") and rushed quickly towards her. The blonde lady did the same.

"Catherine? Catherine? Catherine! Hey, Catherine!"

"Is your friend all right?" the woman asked.

"I don't know!" Hikari replied, panicked.

"What? What happened?" came a voice as one of the cubicle doors swung opened. There stood Nakamura Miharu, and she, too, went pale as she saw Catherine's unconscious figure.

"Miharu! Thank God you're here!"

"Man, I was eavesdropping — what happened?" Miharu asked, kneeling down.

"I don't know, she just — passed out."

"She's going to be okay," the woman said firmly.

"Heh, I was waiting for her to spill the beans," Miharu said, "I mean, c'mon, get real. She wanted so much to just strangle you there and then jus now—"

"Miharu! We have to help her!" Hikari said.

"Oh. Do we really have to—?"

"Miharu!"

"Okay, okay!"

The blonde woman went out and called for help. She managed to get one of the teachers who came along with them, and people carried Catherine out of the rest room. Takeru stood waiting outside, too, and quickly went towards Hikari as she came out.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know, she just…fainted," Hikari said, and Miharu nodded. "That woman over there helped us," she added, nodding at the woman who was now with her friends.

"Ya," said Miharu. "Anyway, what did you think Catherine was about to tell you? 'Lay off my fiancé', bitch?"

"What? She said that?" Takeru asked quickly and sharply.

"No!" Hikari said at once, and glared at Miharu who smiled innocently back at her. "She just…asked about the dance, that's all."

But Takeru still looked unconvinced.

"Oh, come on! If you don't trust me you can ask the blonde lady," Hikari said. And then Mr. Seimaru made his way towards them.

"Takeru, your friend there is very pale and is still unconscious, so we've called ambulance."

"Right…thanks, sir," said Takeru. Mr. Seimaru went away.

"You should call her parents," Hikari said. Once more, Takeru looked a bit; well, uncertain of what to do. "Takeru — Catherine is not well! She is ill, just call her parents okay?"

His blue eyes met hers. "Yeah. Okay."

His long fingers dialled several numbers on his cell phone, and he spoke in a quiet voice. He hung up after a while.

"Let's just…sit by Catherine," Hikari said gently, and led the way to the bench where Catherine was laid (A/N: Laid to rest! MUHAHAHA…ok, I was kidding. You guys know I was kidding, right?). They sat there and shared no words together, but Hikari felt very calm being beside Takeru. She honestly was not bothered about Catherine (even though she knew she should be worried). She honestly wasn't bothered at all…

The ambulance arrived and Takeru had to go. Hikari said she'd come along, and Miharu, Kumiko, Daisuke, the Blonde Lady and Mr. Seimaru said they would come later that day.

They played 'paper, scissor, stone' in the ambulance in hushed voices, and Takeru owed her a cake and three bottles of fizzy drinks, while she had to treat him dinner tonight if he could come and meet her at the hotel.

Honestly now, Catherine was unconscious and is being submitted to the hospital, and Takeru and Hikari were planning a date?

Well…sounds fine to me! XD

A/N: There! Honestly, your reviews sure did encourage me! I'm working on the 23rd chapter now! Find out what Catherine's up to…!

Right now, the hits to this story is 16471 — I thank you guys for reading this story! Till next time ya…! (View my profile please...! X3)