36
4 years later…
Mira hummed happily to herself as she twirled around in her wedding gown. This was it, her big day! She was really getting married to Takashi Morinozuka. The thought sent her heart fluttering. She heard a knock on her door and she turned around, "Who is it?"
"It's me." Haruhi's voice said from the other side.
"And me!" Kaori said.
"Me too!" Isabella said, "Can we come in?"
"Yeah, come on in." Mira said, the three girls with Isabella and Haruhi in light blue bridesmaid dresses and Kaori in the nicest dress she owned, came in.
"Mira-sempai, you look beautiful." Haruhi said.
"We're not in school, anymore, Haruhi." Mira said, "You can drop the honorifics."
Haruhi shrugged, "I'm still getting used to it."
"Okay, bride-ready check!" Isabella sang, Mira rolled her eyes, but smiled at her sister's enthusiasm, "Okay, what is your something borrowed?"
"The hair clip in Ranka-san's." Mira said, pointing to the white barrette in her hair.
"Your something new?" Isabella asked.
"The veil." Mira said, pointing to it as Kaori picked it up.
"Your something old?" Isabella asked, they both knew the answer to that.
"Mom's dress." Mira said, smoothing out the wrinkles in her wedding dress.
"And your something blue?" Isabella asked.
"That would be the necklace." Mira said, pointing to the aquamarine teardrop jewel hanging from the golden chain around her neck.
"Okay, now we just have to make sure you don't see Mori." Isabella said, Mira groaned.
"Seriously?" She asked, "Isn't it enough that you dragged me from my bedroom last night to sleep on the air mattress in your room?"
"It's bad luck!" Isabella scolded.
"Want some help putting this on?" Kaori asked, changing the subject and holding up the veil.
"Yes, thank you." Mira said. Kaori carefully positioned the white veil on her head.
"You must be so excited." Kaori said, bringing the front of the veil over her eyes.
"Excited?" Mira repeated, "I feel like I'm about to have a heart attack!"
"Well, don't!" Isabella said, "Calm down. We don't want you dying before you say 'I do'."
"Yeah, I know." Mira said, she took in a deep breath, "I'm just so nervous."
"Don't be." Haruhi said, "This is your big day. You should be loving it."
"Yeah…" Mira murmured, looking at herself in the mirror, "I should but… I'm so nervous…"
"This is so exciting!" Honey said, swinging his feet back and forth as he sat in the chair near the mirror Mori was looking at.
"Mm-hmm." He said, straightening his tuxedo jacket.
"You and Mira-chan are finally getting married!" Honey said.
"Mm-hmm." Mori said. Although he was excited that the wedding day had finally come, he couldn't shake his feeling of anxiousness. He loved Mira, but his heart pounded at the thought of the wedding. He wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing, all he knew was that he was unbelievably nervous. What if she changed her mind? What if he forgot his vows? There were so many elements that could turn disastrous in a single moment. Their attention was turned to the door as someone knocked on it.
"Hello, Mori-sempai." Kaoru said, poking his head into the room with a wide grin.
"May we come in?" Hikaru asked, doing the same as his brother. Mori nodded and the twins came in, as well as Tamaki and Kyoya.
"Congratulations!" Tamaki cheered, "Mori-sempai and Mira-sempai will be together at last!"
"Congratulations are most certainly in order." Kyoya said, he held up a bottle of wine, "Here's a little something for the honeymoon." Mori took it from him and looked at the bottle, seeing that it was a very expensive brand of wine, and considering the year, very high quality, "It should loosen you two up a bit."
"And we got these!" The twins said, holding up a very skimpy set of lingerie, "For Mira-sempai to wear!" Mori's eyes widened at the sight of it. He awkwardly coughed out a 'thanks' and the twins went to go hide it with their luggage for the honeymoon.
"By the way, have you seen Mira-sempai yet?" Tamaki asked. Mori shook his head, "Why not?"
"Because it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding." Kyoya said, "Apparently the Marinos are very strict followers of that particular tradition."
"I've never heard of it." Honey said.
"That's probably because it originated in Europe, not Japan." Kyoya said, "That tradition carried on to America, apparently."
"That's because the first Americans were Europeans." A voice said from behind them, they looked to see Kenneth and Alfonso standing in the doorway, "We left Europe to be free from the rule of a king who wanted to change our ancestor's way of religion. It was a couple hundred years of peace between us and them before the 1700's, when we decided we didn't need them, and war broke out. Which incidentally caused the-"
"Dude, shut up." Alfonso said, Kenneth shot his brother a look, but said nothing. Alfonso looked back to the host club, "Just thought we'd drop in on our future brother-in-law."
"Liar." Kenneth said, "You just want to make sure he won't get cold feet."
"That too." Alfonso said, walking over to Mori, "You're not, are you?"
Mori shook his head, "Never."
"Ah, that's too bad." Alfonso said with a sigh, "Mirabella Morinozuka is a terrible name."
"Alfonso!" Kenneth hissed.
"Just saying!" Alfonso defended.
"If that's the case, then Kaori Marino is a terrible name." Kenneth said.
"Hey, you watch what you say about my wife!" Alfonso snapped.
"Then you watch what you say about Takashi." Kenneth said, he turned to Mori, "If I may call you by your first name?"
Mori nodded, "We're going to be related, after all."
Kenneth looked back at Alfonso, "You're just upset that he asked her to marry him when they just got out of high school."
"False!" Alfonso snapped, "According to Mira, he asked her two days before graduation. So, technically, they were still in high school."
"Get over it, Al." Kenneth said, "They had over four years to change their minds and they didn't. This is Mira's decision, too."
"Yeah, I know." Alfonso grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Alfonso looked back at Mori, "I gotta tell you, I'm not ready to give her up yet." Mori smirked.
"I can share." He said, Alfonso smirked at him.
"Good to know." Alfonso said.
"Mira, I swear, if you don't stop squirming, I'm going to strap you down and put the make-up on." Isabella said.
"Sorry, but can you blame me?" She asked, "I'm about to become bound to someone for the rest of my life!"
"You're not backing out, are you?" Haruhi asked in surprise.
"Haruhi, stay still." Ranka said as he put blush on her, Mira shook her head.
"No, of course not." She said quickly, "It's just… big! You know?"
"It's just the pre-wedding jitters." Kaori said soothingly, "You were there when I had mine, weren't you? Don't you remember when I got so nervous that I had to get you guys to pop a paper bag right in front of my face just to calm down?"
"Oh, Kotoko was the same way." Ranka said, wearing a green dress as he helped Haruhi with her make-up, "I had never seen her so fidgety before that."
"You saw her before the wedding?!" Isabella asked in shock, Ranka looked over at her, slightly surprised at her reaction.
"Well, Japanese superstition doesn't have anything to do with seeing the bride before the wedding." Ranka said, "So, I gave her a little pep talk before we became husband and wife."
"Now, see, that would be so much better for me!" Mira said.
"Mira, I said hold still!" Isabella said as she brought out the lipstick.
"Sorry." Mira said.
"I'm almost finished…" Isabella said, "Open your mouth." Mira did as she ordered and she applied the cosmetic, "Okay, go like this." She rubbed her lips together and Mira did the same, "And you're done!"
"Good, now I can freak out without you pestering me about it." Mira said, Isabella rolled her eyes.
"For Pete's sake, calm down." She said, "You'll do fine. You did fine in the rehearsal wedding."
"That was the rehearsal!" Mira said, "This is the real deal!"
"Oh, brother." Isabella muttered.
"Yes?" A voice came, the girls turned and saw Alfonso poking his head through the door, "Just thought I'd see how the bride is."
"Al, I'm losing my mind." Mira said, Alfonso and Kenneth walked in, and Alfonso stopped for a moment and looked at her. Kenneth did the same, and Mira gave them both odd looks, "What?"
"Mira…" Alfonso said in awe, "You look beautiful." He came over to her and kissed her forehead.
"Completely gorgeous." Kenneth agreed, "Mom's dress looks lovely on you." Mira smiled.
"Thank you," She said, "But I'm still freaking out!"
"Okay, okay, calm down." Alfonso said.
"I'm trying!" Mira said.
"Mira, Mira, hang on." Kenneth said, putting his hands on her shoulders, "Do you remember that one summer when we went camping near the Grand Canyon, and Mom and Dad had to leave to go get something from the car, and we all thought we were going to be eaten by coyotes?"
Mira snorted in laughter at the memory, "Weren't we, like, six?"
"You were six, Izzy was four, and Al and I were thirteen." Kenneth said, "Do you remember what we did?"
"We… growled, didn't we?" Mira asked.
"Oh, right! I remember that!" Alfonso said, "That was the funny as hell."
"Yes, it was." Kenneth agreed, "Now, Mira, I want you to close your eyes." She shut her eyes, "And I want you to imagine those coyotes."
Mira giggled, "Weren't we scared out of our minds?"
"Yes, yes we were." Kenneth said, "Here, I'll start." He sucked in a breath and growled.
"Oh, that was just sad." Mira said, she sucked in a breath and growled a little louder than he did.
"No, that was sad." Alfonso said, "This is how you do it." He growled a little louder than the two of them.
Kenneth growled again, sounding more like a soft roar.
Mira roared louder.
Alfonso roared like a lion.
Mira threw her head back and let out the loudest roar she could, outmatching both of theirs. When her roar had faded into the echoes of the room, the three of them began to laugh.
When they had calmed down, Mira said, "Thanks, guys. I needed that."
"Well, that's one way to beat off the wedding day jitters." Ranka said with a laugh. Haruhi laughed with him.
Mira took a deep breath in and out, wrapping her arms around herself.
"You can do this, Mira." Alfonso said, kissing the top of her head, "I know you can."
"I thought you were against this." Mira said, Alfonso shrugged.
"Meh, I trust my sister's judgment." He said, "However flawed it may be."
"Oh, Al!" Mira said, lightly hitting his stomach.
The door opened again, showing Mira's father. He smiled at her, "Hi, honey."
"Hi dad." Mira said, coming over to him. He hugged her.
"You look beautiful, sweetheart." He said, "Your mother would be so proud." Mira smiled softly at him.
"Thanks." Mira said, hugging him.
"We need to get going." He said, "It's starting."
"Already?!" Mira exclaimed in surprise.
Mori looked at himself in the mirror, going every single part of his appearance one last time to make sure it was okay. Sleeves? Perfect. Pants? Wrinkle-free. Shoes? Worthy of being mirror replacements. Jacket? Straight and tidy.
Was he ready? Heck no. He still felt incredibly nervous about what was going to happen. So many unpredictable elements… Anything could happen.
His attention was turned to his brother as he came into the room.
"Taka-nii, you better get ready." He said, "It's time."
"Now?" He asked in shock.
"This is it, Mori-sempai!" Tamaki said, patting him on the back, "Good luck!" He and the other hosts dashed off to their seats. Mori gulped nervously.
This was it.
This was it.
Her wedding.
One of the most important days of her life that took place with one of the most important people in her life was going to happen in just a few minutes.
She just knew her hands were shaking as she waited to go out. Her father patted her arm reassuringly, smiling at her.
"You're going to be fine." He said softly. Mira nodded silently.
"Let's hope so." She said.
The music started, and Mira's heart began to pound once more. The first to go out down the aisle was Isabella and Satoshi. After them was Haruhi and Honey. Mira took in a deep breath. She was up next. This was it. She was really going to walk down the aisle. The doors opened and she and her father stepped through.
Mori was completely awestruck when he saw Mira walking down the aisle. All of his previous anxieties were forgotten as he saw her. Her father handed her off to him, and he lifted up her veil, to see her shy smile looking up at him. He smiled as he took her hand in his and she squeezed his hand gently as she smiled back. They turned to the priest, who began to speak. The entire time he was giving the speech, neither of the young couple could hear a word he was saying. They were too caught up in the fact that they were really getting married. That it was really happening, and that they couldn't be happier.
When the time came to say their vows, they repeated each word the priest said.
"I, Mirabella, take you, Takashi to be my wedded husband to have and to hold from this day forward. For better, or for worse, for richer, or for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish, 'til death do us part." She slid the ring onto his finger and smiled up at him.
"I, Takashi, take you, Mirabella to be my wedded wife to have and to hold from this day forward. For better or for worse, for richer, or for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish, 'til death do us part." He slid the ring onto her hands, which now seemed so delicate to him, smiling at her.
"Do you both swear to honor these vows you have made until your dying day?" The priest asked.
"I do." Mori said.
"I do." Mira said.
"Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife." The priest said, closing his bible, "You may kiss the bride." Mori leaned down and pressed his lips to Mira's, neither of them could hear the applause from their families and friends as they shared their first kiss as husband and wife. With that in mind, they found the kiss twice as intoxicating as it usually was. They pulled away, and turned to the crowd, "Ladies, and gentlemen, I am proud to present, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Takashi and Mirabella Morinozuka." Everyone cheered loudly as they walked back down the aisle.
"Mrs. Morinozuka…" Mira murmured, Mori looked down at her, "I really like the sound of that." Mori grinned and squeezed her hand.
"So do I." He said, he leaned down and kissed her again, "I love you."
"I love you, too." Mira said, kissing him again.