Chapter 25
Unforgettable Ceremony
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When the door opened, and a slow tune danced through the speaker, filling the ceremonial hall, a big sweat fell from Natsume's temple.
He wore a black double breasted suit, yellow and silver lines on the lapel, yellow and pink roses in his breast pocket. His hair slicked back and he looked a few years older. Not only because of the three layers of foundations and two powders Misaki poured on his face, but because he looked like he was waiting to walk into his death row.
"What the hell am I doing here?" he said to his best man over the excited chatter of the seated guests.
Luca grabbed Natsume's arm.
"What are you doing?"
"Holding you so you won't run."
"Why would I run NOW?"
"Exactly. I'm holding you, so you can't bolt."
Natsume glared. "Get your hand off me."
Luca grimaced. "Not until the bride's here."
Five minutes of tugging and pushing back and forth later, another tune changed the slow rhythm in the hall, this one happy and hopeful. Luca released Natsume's hand the same time he saw his bride at the door.
His breath caught.
The angel beamed at him. Her hair up in a bun, a tiara on the crown of her head, with long transparent train covered her face, down to the back of her knee-length gown. The gown itself had a long train on the back after what looked like a massive yellow ribbon. She held a pink and yellow bouquet with silver ribbons. On her glass heels, she slid, not walked, through the carpet. The guests stood, all turned towards her, smiles and envious eyes followed the angels' march to the altar.
She looked amazing.
Behind the bride, Aoi and Hotaru dressed themselves in the strangest yellow-mango colored knee-length dresses and mango colored heels. The dresses were simple with zero decoration. Their dresses were hideous compared to the angel's pure white dress. The maids obediently held the end of the long train, another of their hands holding yellow maid bouquets. He heard Luca chuckle at the maid. Aoi grimaced back to his best man.
"You're beautiful," he said to his angel when she arrived in front of him.
She smiled. "You look pale."
He cringed. His bride motioned for him to do something. He frowned.
She sighed and said, "Uncover my face."
"Oh." The groom bent forward, and raised the waist-length transparent chiffon in front of her face to the back of her tiara. She grinned at her groom as he stood back.
Then she dropped her smile and looked around her.
"Let me say one thing first," whispered the bride. "Anyone trying to mess with this wedding? They're dead."
Hotaru gave a slow clap over her bouquet. Luca froze. Sumire nodded, as if sharing the same agreement.
"Okay…" said Aoi. "But why are you threatening us?"
"Because the troublemakers are all here, standing with me in this stage." Mikan stared everyone down, including her husband-to-be. "Anyone want to say something?"
Natsume shrugged. Aoi looked to the side. Luca sighed. Hotaru raised her hand.
"You're dead."
The maid of honor lowered her hand.
"Is everyone seated?" asked Luca.
"Yeah." Sumire stood near the stage, not on it, but close enough to see the guests and the ceremony in her position. "Go."
Luca walked to the podium. Under the wedding arch, Mikan glanced at Natsume.
"You're the minister?" said Natsume as the best man checked all the papers on the podium.
"Okay, so… umm…" Luca searched for words in the small note he placed on top of the wedding registration.
"Seriously?" said Natsume.
"Luca, what are you looking for?" asked Mikan.
"Well… I don't… the vow. Wait, here we go." Luca coughed to clear his throat, and reached for the microphone.
"Ladies and Gentleman," he said. "We are here today to celebrate the holy union of two individuals, Mikan Sakura and Natsume Hyuuga. This young couple, with this ceremony, had declared themselves fit to wed one another. I, Luca Nogi, am the ordained minister of the—" he coughed and murmured, "Life Church of America…" with a very small whisper. "I will wed them."
Koko looked confused. Anna tilted her head.
"Which church?" she said. "Luca, weren't you a zoologist-turned-atheist and a proponent of animal soul believer?"
"Yeah, which church administrated your license?" asked Koko. "Can you repeat?"
Natsume looked unsure. "We're not in America, you know. And I don't know you lived that long in America that you can get a license to wed people."
"Is this legal?" said Mikan. "Luca, I clearly remember you having some choice words to the church due to them declaring animals have no souls."
"Quit it!" said Sumire behind the groom. "Continue! This isn't the time to ask your minister about mundane things!"
Natsume glanced to his back and turned when he saw Sumire lifting her long red nails and made a clawing motion to his face.
Luca brought the note close to his face to avoid Koko's stare. "Do you, Natsume Hyuuga, promise to protect and love Mikan Sakura, as your best friend, lover and family, from this moment until your last breath?"
He glanced at his bride, and smiled.
"I do."
"Do you, Mikan Sakura, promise to love and respect Natsume Hyuuga, as your best friend, lover and family, from this moment, until the last moment of your breath?"
A slow smile bloomed on her face.
"I do."
"Now, if there is anyone in the audience," said the minister, "that has an objection to this holy union, anyone, speak now or forever hold your peace."
Sumire turned to see the guest, anger in her eyes. Koko lowered his hand and pretended not to see the face of the wedding organizer.
"Anyone?"
"If I object, will I get to eat the cake?" Hayate piped from his chair. Yuri covered her face.
"Well… if you stop the wedding the cake won't be eaten," said Luca. "Do you object? For what reason?"
"Nah, just asking when you cut the cake. I don't really care one way or another. It's not Cool Blue Sky he's marrying."
Next to Mikan, Hotaru growled in frustration.
Mikan looked up to the ceiling and turned back to glare at her wedding team. "Who invited him?"
Luca avoided the bride's scrutinizing look.
"Not me," said Natsume. "I'm not against you killing him right now if you want to."
Hayate shrugged. "You got too silent too long, you know—" Yuri slapped her palm over Hayate's mouth.
"Ignore him," said Yuri. "Continue."
Natsume opened his palm in front of Luca. The minister drew a black velvet box from the inside of his coat pocket, and opened the box. Two simple gold rings greeted the groom. Natsume took the smaller ring in his gloved hand, and took his bride's hand in another hand. He slid the wedding ring into Mikan's left ring finger.
She looked up from the ring at him, eyes in tears. Natsume smiled at her and clasped her hands into his. She took the bigger ring from the box, and slid it into her husband's ring finger.
Luca turned the papers in the podium to face the groom and the bride. Natsume signed in first, his hand steady. Mikan's sign was slightly shaky on her side.
Luca studied the signs, and nodded, turning the papers back to face him and drew himself straight to face the new family, and the audience who had blessed them in their holy union.
"Now I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride. "
Applause from the guests accompanied the very first kiss of Natsume Hyuuga, the principal of Alice Academy, and his wife, Mikan Sakura-(Hyuuga?).
"Congratulations," said a voice from the chairs. Luca looked straight to Koko, who stood up and began to walk towards the stage. "Now can I check the papers?"
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Sumire jumped in front of Koko and said, "WHY? I mean… uh, why?"
The groom frowned and looked at the man walking towards them. "What is this?"
"I have a feeling this ceremony is illegal," said Koko. "Now can you give me the papers so I can check it? And Luca Nogi…. Your license, please."
"My…" Luca whispered, face pale, "license?"
"You don't think you can marry two Japanese residents without any religious or official license, don't you?"
The bride looked to the minister. "Luca?"
"Uuuhhhh… Natsume," said Luca to his best friend, as Koko headed their way. "I have something to tell you."
Natsume frowned. "Now?"
"It's important."
"Get out of my way, Sumire," said Koko.
"Why? I mean… why all of a sudden you want to check on his license? Come on, Koko," said Sumire, stepped to the left and blocked Koko's body from the podium where the paper rested. "This is a joyous day for Natsume and Mikan. Can't you just clap your hands, say something stupid like the rest of the lambs and be done with it? It's not even your work hour."
"They're leaving this country, and whether or not they're leaving as a couple has everything to do with the paper. I am a family registrar. I need to check the paper they just signed."
"You just saw the wedding and now you're going to make a noise about them not officially a family?" said Sumire. "How low can that be? You. Low."
Koko narrowed his eyes. "Call me whatever you want, but I happen to know that Nogi has no teachings or lessons, or any kind of license that allows him to wed a couple of whales, let alone humans."
Luca looked at Koko. "Actually, I am licensed to marry whales."
Sumire glared at him.
"But that's not the point," Luca mumbled and turned back to Natsume, who had folded his arms and tapped his right feet in impatience. "I need to admit something."
Natsume's eyes shot to the paper they had just signed. Hotaru looked up to the ceiling as Aoi sighed and buried her face on her bridesmaid bouquet.
"I…" Luca looked to Aoi, turned back to the paper, and his gaze ended at Koko. The man had just opened his wallet and showed his government ID to Sumire, who continued to block his way.
"You know this ID? This means I am licensed, at any time," said Koko, forcing the ID to Sumire's face in hope that she backed away. She didn't, although her eyes crossed to read the tiny font in laminated card glued to her forehead. "I am licensed to check the legality of a formal joint of a family or any kind of claim that a process of legality when someone enters another family. I am allowed to make any inquiry about it."
"Now you're making me mad!" Sumire shoved the ID away. "You're not a cop!"
"We are," supplied Yuri a few chairs behind Koko. "But we're looking to see if there's any need to show off our handcuffs. So far, this is getting very intrigu—get off me," she said, shoving a woman that climbed onto her lap. "Whatever you want to do, Koko, do it fast. There's too much ladies in here. I'm going to leave soon."
"Really?" said Hayate next to her. "I haven't even tasted the cake yet."
Luca turned back to Natsume's face. He grimaced and mumbled, "I've been sleeping with your sister."
Natsume blinked.
Mikan gaped. "What?"
"You didn't hear that?" Luca said. "Oh, great. Insanity or jail… not sure which one is better. So—forget it, It's not—" his words cut off as a fist landed on his face. Hotaru took a step back as Natsume launched himself at his best friend. Both crashed against the podium and the side of the arch. Mikan groaned and stepped away from the arch. It toppled down over the boys as they rolled on top of the podium in a very uncomfortable angle and dumped their bodies on the floor next to it. Natsume's fist landed on Luca's shoulder, a missed hit. Luca yelled and raised his fist, managed to uppercut Natsume's jaw as he struggled to get away from the enraged man. The guests shouted and stepped back as both bodies rolled together and attacked the guest chairs, the carpets and the ribbons, tangling them into one giant roll of ribbons, flesh and twisted metal.
"Aoi isn't underage, right?" said Hayate. "So he's just sleeping with Natsume sister? There's no crime in that."
"I think we are obligated to arrest both of them as they are disrupting the public peace and ruining the wedding event," said Yuri over the yells and claps of the guest.
"Ruining the wedding? The groom's the instigator," Hayate said. "Although I have to say, look at the guests. This is much more entertaining than anything they've done earlier."
"Wait!" yelled Koko. "The paper! You guys are crushing the paper… aah!"
"This paper?" Sumire said as she grabbed the scattered papers on the floor in haste. "Don't worry, I'll save it!" she said to Mikan, who were just gaping, and ran straight to the door.
"Wait! Sumire! Wait, let me check it first! Don't go!" Koko chased the wedding organizer and left the hall.
Nobody was looking at the baby carriage parked in the corner of the room, including the baby's mother, who was busy trying to talk the incensed guests down with her husband. The baby opened his eyes, listening to the yells and shouts, and started to sob.
"What are you saying earlier?" said Hotaru, who have leaned on the curtained wall away from the arch. "Something about, 'I'm not going to let anyone mess with this!' thing?"
Mikan glared at her maid. She whirled back to turn the glare to Aoi, who was hiding her face in the bouquet. "You're sleeping with Luca?"
"Aoi's not here," mumbled the maid over the bouquet. "Leave the message after a beep. Beeeeeepp."
"You still have a chance to run," said Hotaru. "Look at that ring he just gave you. Now see the Bahamas, the beach, all that surfer boys. All you need to do is walk away. Your wedding ring will pay for it all."
Mikan grimaced. "What exactly are you doing?"
"Making it more interesting," Hotaru replied. "Why not? This is over as far as I see it." She motioned, with her bouquet, towards the massive pile of rolled up chairs, carpet, broken up arch and ribbons in the center of the room, that's still moving and fighting despite looking more like disaster aftermath trash than two humans punching each other's soul out.
"Help!" yelped Luca inside the bump.
"Go for it! Go for it!" yelled the heavily pregnant, yet jumping in place Misaki, hand fisted up in joy. "Punch! Punch!"
Inside the lone carriage, a burst of flame erupted from the little baby's chest, and the blanket wrapping it tightly tried to contain the heat. It didn't burn, however, the top of the baby carriage started to catch intense flame from the baby's face.
Nobody was leaving the hall, despite the bumpy roll moving back and forth, slithering on the floor with a thump-thump-whack sound effects emanating from it. Instead, the guests circled the bump and started taking out their money clip, and whispered to one another. Mikan saw Hayate moving between the crowds, showing them notes and taking their money.
"Hayate!" she shouted. "Stop making bets on my husband!"
"Am not," replied the off-duty cop. "I'm making bets against Luca. How long can he survive without an ambulance in that? The current one is eight minutes. You wanna bet? I'm also accepting diamonds."
"You're a cop!"
"If betting is against the law, we would've closed down the pachinko decades ago," replied the cop.
"Yeah, that." Yuri shoved one girl who started to climb onto her lap. "It has nothing to do with pachinkos and other gambling places being owned by the mafia. Nothing to do with that at all."
The top and sides of the carriage started burning. The baby's wail drowned by the cheering guests.
"This is better than a boring wedding!" shouted one of the guests. Mikan remembered him as one of the former Prime Minister's assistants, the only one escaped Natsume's home arson series years ago. "You can't see this every day!" He smacked five thousand yen into Hayate's hand and grinned. "Six minutes!"
Mikan gritted her teeth and turned to Hotaru. She handed her bouquet to her best maid, and glared when she saw Hotaru holding two thousand yen.
"Oh," said Hotaru, money quickly slipped inside her bouquet as she took Mikan's bouquet. "Well, you know… when in Rome…"
"Beat up Italians?" snapped Mikan. She whirled and stepped into the heart of the scene. The bride stopped in front of the slithering pile. "Stop this! Natsume!" She looked behind her, at Aoi, who was peeking between her bouquets in her hands. "Do something!"
"I'm not really compelled to break this up right now," said Aoi. "I mean… heavy gown and everything. I can't run that fast in case my brother gets to me."
"He's your boyfriend!"
"Um. Yeah, but we've long ago had this conversation about survival. He taught me not to go into things if I know I can't get out of it without missing my limbs. I think this is one of the cases he meant."
Parked in the corner, the flaming carriage sat next to the ceiling-high curtains. It was flammable curtains that had shown its burning integrity by catching the flame and burst up from the carriage all the way to the ceilings. The ribbons connecting the top of the curtains and the chandelier in the center started to accept the heat transfer and the fire rolled onto the chandeliers.
Sighing, the bride said to the pile, "Natsume, aren't you forgetting something?"
"A bit busy here, Wife," replied her husband from the roll. Another whack and a pained groan. "Can we talk later?"
"Help! SOS!" said Luca.
"Shut up! How could you! I trusted you!"
"Why can't I? She's not my sister!"
"You're supposed to say 'because I love her!'" shouted Aoi. "Are you sleeping with anyone not your sister?"
Mikan turned and pointed her pink nail at her maid. "Shush." She growled to the wildly moving pile, "in case you're not clear about what we should be doing, we're having a wedding today. Had that concept somehow eluded you? You know, peaceful event, me queen of the day and everything?"
"I thought we're only doing that at night, My Empress," replied the man, a bit too loudly. Mikan closed her eyes as the guests snickered. "Anyhow, your slave'll be finishing up our wedding as soon as the humble me kill my former best friend. Could you—" whack "wait?"
The chains on the chandeliers, the curtains on the side of the burned curtains and the ribbons on the ceiling started to melt and smoked.
"Does anyone have a knife?" asked Mikan to the guests. Yuri, who was struggling to remove two girls hanging over her shoulders and moaning, handed her a blunt plastic cake knife. The bride inspected the round edge and rolled it in her palm. "Right. Can you spare me a gun instead?"
"Safth mme!" shouted Luca again, this time he sounded like his mouth were full of swollen gums instead of working teeth. "Hellllbb…"
The baby couldn't stand the solitude anymore. He opened his mouth wide and wailed on top of his lungs. A shot of flame catapulted from the carriage onto another corner, quickly bursting three sets of wide curtains on fire.
"Three minutes?" said Hayate to a big breasted brunette he was standing next to. "Wow. And you bet how much?"
"Does anyone feel hot in here?" said Yuu. "It's…" he looked behind him and noticed something all others didn't. "Fire… Akira!"
The guests looked around and screamed when they realized the curtains in the room have started, or have been, up in flames, all the way to the curtains next to the altar. The chandelier took that moment to drop right on top of the fighting carpet, already half-burned and melting.
"Agh!" screamed the pile.
"Out!" yelled Yuri, heaving the five women hanging onto her and ran to the exit. "I'm only saying this once: RUN!"
"Mikan!" screamed Nonoko. "Akira!"
"Got it!" yelled the bride. "Go!"
The mother hesitated, but fled as her husband pulled her.
Mikan jumped onto the burning chandelier, amidst the fire, and rummaged underneath the pile. Hotaru and Aoi chased each other onto the exit, following the guests who cleared out the hall in less than half a minute. Ignoring the flames lapping her body, Mikan pulled the carpet up.
"What the hell was that?" said Natsume from his position above Luca, hands over his best friend's neck. Luca gasped and writhed, eyes swollen. Natsume's head was bleeding, red trails falling onto his forehead. The wound started from the top of his head. "What just hit me?"
"Let Luca go!" shouted Mikan. "You and I, we'll be fine! It's Akira's flame! You have to let Luca go!"
Natsume blinked when the bride pulled the cover off the men. He looked around the ocean of flames. The flame from the curtains had started to eat the chairs near the wall. "…Seriously?"
Mikan wrenched Natsume's hands from Luca and kicked the best man from underneath the groom. "Out! Now!"
Natsume held on to Luca's arm when the man stood. "This isn't over!" he yelled between the melting sounds of wood and cloth. "You owe me an explanation!"
Luca glared at Natsume, or tried to, between his swollen eyelids. "I lofth her. Dere's no esplanadion for wandin' do bee width the onnn you lofth." His intelligible speech said, he pulled his arm away from the groom and ran straight to the exit. The moment he left the room, the door melted and fell apart.
"Great." Natsume stood and looked at the burning room with principal's eyes. "There's gonna be a lot of money for reparation. The PR nightmare. I have to let outsiders come in to fix this. The guests… Damn it, I don't even have a secretary anymore!"
"That's what you're going to say?" Mikan stomped towards the baby carriage, sea of flames around her. "How about, 'sorry I ruined this wedding for us'? How about an apology? This is supposed to be the happiest day in my life!"
"Isn't it?"
Mikan took Akira out of the carriage and held him. The baby's wail started to recede. The bride looked to her groom, who was walking to her. "And what do you mean by that?"
"Isn't it the happiest day of our lives? Despite all this," said the groom, patting the blood from his suit and shaking his head when the blood didn't go away. "It's still the happiest day for me."
"Your standard for a happy day is seriously low."
"Aren't you happy now?"
The bride stood still for a minute, and when the groom raised his brow, she said, "Yes, dammit, my standard for happy day is even lower than you. I'm happy. Now put this flame away and let me kick your happy ass for making this baby demon and return him to his unhappy parents outside. Thank goodness Sumire took away the papers out before all this happened. I don't want to do this all over again."
"I agree, Wife. Wedding is only once in a lifetime for me." Natsume sighed when the pile he was fighting in earlier exploded in flames behind him. His suits torn in both shoulder lines and the flower pinned to his pocket only had one petal left. His white dress shirt and black butterfly tie marred in red and brown colours of blood, his pants torn apart on the left knee. He only wore one shoe, his left feet bare on top of the floor heated by the cooked room. His white gloves had only the thumb covered in the end. Other fingers were long gone for both gloves. There was a slight drop of dark red on the right side of his lips, his nose bleeding; his hair just survived a tidal wave of rough carpets. Blood from his wound started to pool in his eyelashes. "Once for many reasons."
And they were man and wife, amongst the sea of fire. If Mikan was a bit poetic, she would wail an epic about the heat of passion and the hot flame of desire that consumed them both, spiraling into a realistic dimension of heat, igniting their eternal vow towards each other for the rest of their lives.
But real-life Mikan Sakura-Hyuuga leaned down to glare at the teary-eyed Akira, who was pinching her breast and pulling at her like she was supposed to whip something out. "There's no milk in there."
The baby sighed and babbled. The piled-up remains of the door beside the bride and baby chose that moment to shatter. A group of yellow uniforms appeared and sprayed the new wife in white.
Mikan coughed and spit out the fire extinguisher liquid out of her mouth.
Akira, surprised at the white monster holding him instead of the bride whose breast he just pinched, wailed again. Both engulfed in flames. The six firemen shouted and circled the new phenomenon, unsure on how to spray their mighty fire extinguishers on a flame ball.
"You all right?" called Natsume.
"A happy day, indeed," said his wife from inside the red hot ball. "I said there's no milk in there! Stop it!"
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To be continued…
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For reviewers:
I thank you, all the kind reviewers, to keep writing to me and giving me energy even to this chapter, this late in the game. To the kind guest reviewers, too, I really want to reply to you but it's against the rule to write review reply in fic now, but I really want to do that. Thank you guest reviewers!