Chapter 95
During the time of his life when Hibiki Senju answered to a different name, spoke a different language, and walked a different continent, he'd never really given much thought to the prospect of marriage. He'd considered the idea of course, everyone had, but he'd never really thought much on how it would apply to him. He'd always just thought that, one day, eventually, he'd just find someone that would put up with him and they'd stick together. The faintest shadow of an idea was all that he'd ever had, growing up, dying, and then growing up again - just that it would all, hopefully, be simple. Find someone, fall in love, and put a ring on it. He'd never even really thought he'd go hog-wild and have a wedding, but rather he'd just go to court and sign some papers - though once he'd learned that there were drive-through weddings in Las Vegas, he'd often entertained the thought of doing one of those just to see how they worked, and if they were legal in the first place.
In this new life, however, he realized that a lot of his earlier thoughts and considerations had, as Dai and others had pointed out, been products of the time and world in which he lived. He'd never wanted a big extravagant wedding because they were ridiculously expensive, and he was a firefighter - he wasn't exactly rolling in cash, especially with college debt hounding him. So instead he'd wanted a courthouse wedding, such that the money from a wedding could be better put towards paying off college debt. Instead of a big party with all of their friends and family and everyone their friends and family knew, they'd just invite a few of their closest friends, their parents, and siblings, and have dinner. Instead of an extravagant honeymoon, he'd take his prospective wife and they'd just have a nice dinner, or maybe take a couple days off and drive somewhere, maybe take a road trip. One could cover a lot of ground in forty eight hours, even in a cheap 90's car.
Now though, the times were different. The world was different. In this new world, the planet had largely recovered from the damage done to it by its indigenous life, money was a non-issue due to the sheer amounts that he had been born into and that he made every time he went to work, and he was in a position of political power. A wedding was no longer something he shied away from out of pragmatism, it was itself the pragmatic option - and more than that, it was something that Hibiki found himself looking forward to more and more as the days came closer and they sent out their formal invitations.
Interestingly was the how of the wedding. As he and Dai began planning it, Hibiki had been interested to learn how a wedding would go down in a world that had taken a great many of its cues from the Japanese land it occupied, but what Hibiki failed to consider was the fact that everyone alive now, while they had indeed occupied and adopted many Japanese traditions and lands, had themselves descended from the survivors of World War 3 - all of the people from all over the world who had fled the war and continued to flee it until Hagoromo and Hamura did their deed at the end. This meant that everyone in the Elemental Nations descended from people of all walks of life, of all geographic heritages, and all beliefs and cultures, so while the languages spoken boiled down to an offshoot of Japanese for reasons Hibiki couldn't even begin to understand, the cultural aspects had turned into a melting pot the world had never seen before, and he wondered if this wasn't part of the reason the Warring States era had begun in the first place: Everyone had flocked to tribes and cultures they recognized, and then as Humans do, started fighting the ones they didn't like, until Hashirama instituted the Hidden Village system and they really started to glue themselves together.
The result was that the wedding Hibiki and Dai planned looked less like some foreign mess that he didn't know what to do with, and more like one he recognized from Back Home. More entertaining - and further proof of his point - was the fact that Dai didn't pick up on this, explaining that the framework she laid out was just what she knew from Aburame weddings she'd seen and read about. She was just as amused as he was when he explained to her that the weddings she described sounded an awful lot like western weddings from his time, but not nearly as amused as he was when he realized, and pointed out, that this meant the normally stoic and reserved clans, well known for how little skin they showed on a daily basis, had big extravagant weddings, dressed down to the nines and held great, gaudy celebrations. He was able to tease her for all of two seconds before she shot him down and showed him a book on Senju weddings, and then one on Hyuga weddings, and dropped the hammer: During the Warring States era, they didn't. The mere concept of marriage hadn't even existed to the Aburame before Konoha - they had simply just joined hives and started living together. They only adopted it because everyone else did have weddings and by and large did have some concept of marriage, and this wasn't the first time someone from their clan joined another - so when the time had come, they simply did what the others did. Even having been shot down like that, it still reinforced his 'melting pot' theory, so Hibiki took what he could get.
From there, they planned the proceedings, sent out invitations, got some help from Chouza in planning the dinner spread, and on and on they went, with Hibiki joking that planning the logistics for this wedding was more difficult than coordinating the army of shadow clones fighting on Cloud's border.
By the time they were finished, and once two weeks passed, Dai, her squad, Tsume, and Kushina, acting as her bridesmaids, plucked her away from Hibiki the night before the wedding, with Kushina citing 'Uzumaki tradition, you know!' as her best excuse for splitting them up, while Hibiki's grromsmen and Best Man didn't come until the next day.
On the big day, Hibiki found himself tasked with something he'd never actually had to do before, since he'd returned to life: Clean up and get all 'formal.' It had never, not once, been an issue or a concern for him in Konoha, and furthermore it hadn't even been something he was particularly versed in back home! He'd only ever worn a suit and tie twice in his first life, and the most formal clothes he'd owned were some slacks and a polo he'd worn for his job interview. So, for the first time in sixteen years, Hibiki cleaned up, using his various bloodlines to get himself a nice, hot, steamy shower, and then air-drying once he was finished. He brushed, and then combed, his usually unkempt hair back behind is ears and then slicked it down with enough gel to make Clark Kent jealous. He shaved until his face was buttery smooth, and, taking a few cues from Dante, used some mint-scented cologne after he put on a suit and tie. The end result was that, when Hibiki was looking at himself in the mirror, the rugged and rough fighter that he'd been molded into during his second life was hidden under the clothes and appearance of a formal man. One would actually have to look closely to see the iron in his eyes or the sharpness to his jaw, underneath the slicked hair and shaven face. One may not even see his dense arms underneath the dark suit jacket, or the fuinjutsu 'tattoos' on his body.
For the first time in his new life, Hibiki actually had a passing resemblance to what he'd looked like before all this, and he thought it poetic, in a way.
Looking into the eyes and at the face he had finally grown used to seeing in the mirror, Hibiki thought back on everything he'd seen, done, and learned so far, that had led him here. All the things, some intentional - a blistering few intentional - and most - a titanic amount - unintentional. How, by means of chaos theory, everything from the tiniest variable to the most important choices had put him here, today. It made him smile.
"You guys watching?" He asked, "I'm living proof that there's a place to watch from, after all." A beat, as he looked himself in the onyx eyes, "can't say jack squat as to what actually goes on there... But I like to think it's just because we don't have a nervous system to impart the experience onto." He added, with a content sigh. "I did it... I made it. Killed Space-Napolli-Hitler, tossed..." Well, he guessed he couldn't call her 'Satan's Mother' anymore, considering what he now knew. "Baron Von Evilsatan's spawn into orbit... Got a working plan to end what technically counts as World War Six... And I'm gettin' hitched. Can you believe it?" He snorted, shaking his head and then looking up at the ceiling. "Same girl I... Kinda told you about. Wished you could'a met her. She's the world to me, and I'm the world to her... Hell of a ride, and I'm only sixteen." He gave the sky beyond the ceiling a casual salute, "love you, guys."
Immediately after finishing what, depending on how one wanted to interpret it, could have been counted as either an aside or a prayer, he was interrupted by a bright yellow flash, and Minato appearing right behind him.
"Is this the bathroom?" Minato gasped, before turning to Hibiki, "oh thank Kami, you're dressed!" He breathed a sigh of relief.
Looking at Minato through the reflection in the mirror, one of Hibiki's eyebrows curled up. "Minato." He said, cordially. "Why are you in my bathroom?"
"Because you're here." Minato sniped back, a grin on his face.
"Why did you teleport to me?" Hibiki didn't bother hiding his grin.
"Well, I knocked, but you never heard me, and I wasn't going to let you be late for your own wedding, so I thought I'd come in, give you a kick in the pants."
Hibiki rolled his eyes, then pushed the door to the bathroom open, gesturing outside and following Minato out into the hallway. "You clean up well, dude." He said, in awe at how Minato had managed to tame his gravity-defying hair and slick it back for the day's proceedings. Underneath that was a tux and a black tie, and after a brief glance, Hibiki saw that Minato had even managed to clean out the fuinjutsu ink on his fingers. At first glance, one may even mistake him for a civilian.
Minato grinned over his shoulder, "not every day your best friend gets married, man!" He said, "I couldn't not put some effort into it." He and Hibiki entered the main area of the house and while Hibiki pulled on his dress shoes, Minato waited at the door. "So this is it!" His grin grew wider, revealing teeth. "Head of the Senju clan, about to take your wife... You excited?" He ribbed.
"Oh, god no, I'm dreading it." Hibiki responded, purposefully looking away from Minato as he said, "the only person I think might have more stamina than her is Kushina. If I didn't have a healing factor, I'd be worried it would fall off by the morning!" He said, choosing that moment to look up, meeting Minato's wide blue eyes with a manic look of his own.
Minato burst out laughing, "I -" He laughed, "I wouldn't doubt it. Also, maybe consider some privacy seals?" He leaned in, "she says she can hear you guys, sometimes!" He whispered, conspiratorially.
Not missing a beat, Hibiki stood up, responding with, "oh, I know. I tried to lay them down once but she told me to remove them. She wants folks to hear."
"I meant you."
"So did I."
The two held each other's gaze a moment, before Hibiki broke first and snorted, making the two break out into snorts and laughter, the Namikaze shaking his head and reflexively wipe his hand through hair that, for once, wasn't their. With a yellow flash, he vanished, and with a ripple of light, Hibiki did too, appearing right beside him, on a hilltop overlooking the recreation center he'd appropriated for the day.
"I'm surprised you didn't pick one of the arenas." Minato murmured, stuffing his hands in his pockets and examining the low-built, boxy building.
"My choice. I wanted flat ground for everyone to be sitting on... You'll see why." He said, eyes bleeding to red as his Sharingan spun to life and he watched people entering the building, and was greeted with a rather unexpected surprise: Dante. His presence wasn't as much of a surprise as was his appearance: Freshly bathed, hair brushed, face shaven, wearing formal Uchiha raiments underneath the hat and cape of the office of the Hokage, the Fifth Hokage looked like a different man entirely, so much so that once Hibiki had realized who it was, he'd almost been tempted to go down and test his identity, if he hadn't seen the formerly Unclean Jonin flanked by Fugaku and Mikoto, both of them wearing Uchiha formal wear and exchanging idle words with the Kage.
"Is that Dante-sensei?" Minato asked, leaning forward and squinting his eyes. "Whoa!" He said, giving words to Hibiki's thoughts.
"Suddenly I'm assaulted with the possibility that, if Dante ever wanted to go to ground, all he'd have to do would be take a bath and do his hair." Hibiki chuckled, vision fading as the Sharingan eyes bled away. "Alright, before we go in, do me a favor."
Minato turned to him, a curious expression on his face.
"If the universe realizes I'm having a good day, and does its best to ruin it, just shoot me." Hibiki grunted, with a grin.
Minato rolled his eyes, but didn't get a chance to speak, as the two sensed, and then heard, two more approaching. Turning to look over their shoulders, they saw the rest of Team Dante approaching their rears. Noboru, typically the very picture of a well-kept shinobi, didn't look much different except for the exchange of his normal combat robes with thicker, stuffier-looking formal ones. Suboro, on the other hand, had gone an extra mile to clean up - no longer buzz-cut, his head had been clean-shaven, reflecting the sun above with a waxy shine, and covering him was a strange set of robes Hibiki couldn't quite describe, while Kurenai, in his arms, was wearing a baby-sized flower dress and was pre-occupied with chewing on a rubber kunai.
Hibiki arced his eyebrow at the Kurama, to which Suboro shrugged. "Kurama formal wear."
Hibiki nodded to the side, "and the little'un doesn't have to wear it?"
Suboro grinned, "technically she's a Senju, so she can wear whatever she wants." He held her up, "isn't that right?" He asked in a baby voice.
The red-eyed infant stared at him blankly, slobbering over the rubber toy.
Hibiki snorted, " 'what do you want, tou-san? I'm busy!'..."
The smiling Kurama rolled his eyes, and lowered the infant back into his arms.
"So this is Kurenai?" Minato asked, approaching the two. "She has your..." He blinked, "uh..." This kid looked nothing like her father. She had a much rounder face, softer cheekbones, eyes a deeper shade of red than Hibiki's sharingan, and though he knew it was by Suboro's choice he was bald, there was still the fact that she actually had hair.
"She took waaaay more from her mother, than me." Suboro rescued him.
"I sincerely hope I am not the first to congratulate you today." Noboru said, nodding to the Senju head, and prompting Minato's eyes to go wide and his spine straight as he realized he hadn't done anything the sort, the fact of which made the corner of Noboru's mouth twitch. "I am glad you two are finally joining together... And I can only hope your wife will forgive you for how long you took."
Hibiki rolled his eyes, "sure you want to keep talking, friend?" He asked, "'cause you're kind of outnumbered, right now." He indicated himself, "about to be married." He pointed at Minato, "about to be married." Then Suboro, "already multiplied."
"I've finally found something I've beaten you two in." Suboro said with a smile, shifting Kurenai in his arms.
Noboru simply smiled, "all in due time, Hibiki-san."
Hibiki nodded over his shoulder, and started guiding the four of them to the recreation center. "Just you wait until you see Sensei. You won't fuckin' believe it."
"I don't believe it." Said Suboro, aghast.
"Confirm yourself." Said Noboru, a half-serious, half humorous expression on his face.
Dante, for the first time since his team had met him appearing like a functional adult and an actual human being, rolled his eyes underneath the wide brim of his Kage's hat, said, "I like pepper mints, and I'm disappointed that of the three of my best shinobi, only one thought to call me out after such a drastic change." He shook his head, clicking his tongue. "I'm going to have to withhold promotions, it seems."
"He says, until he realizes how much paperwork he'll have to fill out to do such a thing." Hibiki sniped.
"Never mind, you're field promoted. The lot of you." Dante said, shuddering, before dropping the pretenses and letting a warm smile play his unusually clean face, and then he nodded to Minato. "Good to see you, too."
The only one present not to have such a casual relationship with the Hokage, Minato bowed and responded with, "thank you, Hokage-sama."
Hibiki would have swatted Minato on the back of his head, but he reconsidered when the thought occurred to him that any change in the integrity of the hair gel keeping the blonde's hair in place could send it all back skyward.
Minato perked back up, "I'm going to go see if I can find Kushina-hime." He said, nodding to Hibiki, before backing away.
Hibiki grinned, then turned back to Dante, who had leaned down smile at Kurenai. "I've heard quite a story about this child, Suboro-san." He said, knowingly. "She looks healthy."
Suboro laughed nervously, and nodded. "Thank you, sensei. She's finally letting me sleep through the night."
Dante leaned back up and turned to Hibiki, "you know there's actually a betting pool about today, in the office?"
"The office?" Hibiki parroted back.
"Considering your reputation, we've started taking bets as to how things will go wrong, today."
"With who?!" Hibiki asked.
"The leading bet is that Katsuo himself will come back to life and try to fight you again."
"You're not answering my questions."
"Because my bet was that nothing will happen, and I get to use ANBU to make sure of it." Dante grinned.
Noboru scoffed, Suboro laughed, and Hibiki sighed, after rolling his eyes. "Ah you cheater." He pulled out fifty Ryo, "put me down for the Sage of Six Paths gate-crashing us."
To his surprise, or perhaps just to call his bluff, Dante actually took the money. "I am happy for you, you know." He finally said, done with the humor. "I won't be able to give you much time, but you will at least have a few days before I need you to deploy."
Hibiki nodded, but before he could say anything, suddenly he was enveloped from behind by a pair of big, strong arms.
"It only took you seven years!" Chouza's booming voice bellowed out, as he picked Hibiki up and tried his best to break the Senju head's spine.
Hibiki would have laughed, if all of the air in his lungs hadn't been pushed out by the Akimichi's deceptively monstrous strength. When the head of the clan finally dropped him, Hibiki was able to turn around, being greeted by the wide, closed-eyed smile of the rotund giant, flanked on both sides by the future heads of the Yamanaka and Naara clans, the former of whom simply nodded respectfully, and the latter appeared to be looking forward to the reception, such that he could surreptitiously fall asleep. All of them wore dark, formal clothing, though Hibiki got a small laugh out of Chouza's - to the clan of chefs and fighters, apparently a part of their formal wear was an apron that had their family crest emblazoned on its stomach, which Chouza wore with pride.
"I'm glad you guys made it." Hibiki said, nodding to his old academy friends, as he sensed Team Dante retreating.
Shikaku shrugged, "ah, Kami knows I want to sleep, but I wouldn't miss it." He grunted.
"Not for the world!" Said the round shinobi, "this is a happy day, for you, for the village, for everyone!"
Hibiki grinned, "because there's food?"
"Because there's a lot of food!" Chouza laughed from the pit of his gut, his naturally deep voice carrying through the entire room and attracting a few eyes. "You create a family, you throw a wedding, and you feed us all so much food!" And to prove his words, his stomach rumbled. "Which I think I shall help myself to." He bowed to Hibiki, "good day, Hibiki-san, and congratulations!"
Chouza soon retreated, stepping through the entrance hall and making his way towards the snack tables. Shikaku, suppressing a grin, said, "I'll go make sure the lug doesn't take all of it." He said, nodding to Hibiki.
Soon it was just Inoichi and Hibiki, and after a few moments' silence, Inoichi spoke up, "feeling better?"
Hibiki nodded, "more than I thought I would." He admitted. "Between you and me, I'd done it mostly to humor Kushina and Dai. I hadn't really thought there was anything wrong with me..." He shook his head. "Damn glad to have been wrong."
"Well..." Inoichi nodded, "I'm glad to have helped." He said, before bidding Hibiki farewell, and finding his way to the rest of his team.
Hibiki counted down from five, and was surprised that he'd run out the countdown without anyone else surprising him. With freedom he hadn't predicted he would have, Hibiki wandered through the entrance hall, eyes flicking up to the large clock on the far end, noting how much time there was until everything would start. He took in the sights and sounds of everyone speaking in the large, high-ceiling'ed room with a light, idle smile. Others came and offered him congratulations, some being short and simple well-wishes, like from the typically laconic Uchiha and Hyuga clans, while others launched full-blown conversations, like some of the Civilian Council representatives he'd had to invite, and his old Academy Sensei, who had spent equal amounts of time catching up with Hibiki and regaling him of how his name had become something of a fixture to modern students.
It wasn't long until the three Sannin found him, with Orochimaru being the first, and the first thing Hibiki pointed out was, "left the kid at home?"
The Snake Sannin nodded in his usual, slow, smooth way. "I do not think Hidan-kun would do well around crowds, just yet." He drawled in his slithery tone. "Congratulations, Hibiki-kun." He added, "I am glad to see you forming such a connection to this world."
Hibiki smirked, and nodded to the Snake Sannin, and before he could say anything, the Sannin in question was lifted off of his feet by the collar of his jacket, and a familiar voice spoke up behind him.
"You're about to tell me you actually hired someone and didn't leave that kid with a shadow clone, Orochimaru!" Tsunade said, her voice completely calm and pleasant, but her actions lacing it with the kind of tranquil fury that only she could claim to be a master of.
Orochimaru, however, was not Jiraiya, who came up to Hibiki's side and watched the display with his arms crossed and a grin on his face, and thus wasn't even remotely as intimidated as the Toad Sage may have been. The Snake Sannin's neck twisted around a full one hundred and eighty degrees, and his response was an equally calm, "put me down." With the most dull expression painting his face.
Tsunade rolled her eyes, huffed as though to say he was no fun, and dropped him, then stepped around him, presenting Hibiki with the first look he'd gotten at a cleaned-up Slug Sannin in his entire second life. She wore a regal, ancient-looking kimono with the Senju clan symbol on the sash tied around her stomach, while Jiraiya and Orochimaru both had on suits like her adopted son.
Hibiki, never one to miss an opportunity, responded with, "Suboro brought his kid with him."
"Then I'll ensure he doesn't breed again later." Tsunade snapped back, before grabbing Hibiki and pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. "Let me tell you something, gaki." She began, only letting Hibiki go after she was certain she'd fractured a few ribs. "I'd been fully intending on just leaving the village and spending some time in Tanzaku. I only took care of you as a favor to Saturobi-sensei..." She held him at arms length, hands gripping his shoulders, and a grin on her face appearing to hide a well of emotion in her brown eyes. "I never thought I'd be good at the 'mom' thing... And I'm glad I was wrong. Even with..." She nodded, "all things considered... You turned out great, and it's killing me to give you off like this."
"Hime you're going to make him think you fell off the wagon." Jiraiya grunted, with a wide grin.
Tsunade rolled her eyes, pulled Hibiki in and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I'm very happy for you, now turn around so you're not a witness to a murder." She said, letting go of Hibiki and rolling up one of her sleeves as she rounded on Jiraiya.
Hibiki watched the two verbally spar with a wide smile, and after letting him sweat a little, spared Jiraiya's life with, "thanks, Mom." The words causing Tsunade to twitch, and, when she turned around, Jiraiya's expression to melt to one of unbridled relief. "But I have to admit - that's a strange way of saying 'Now someone else gets to deal with you."..." His smile turned to a sneer, and Tsunade gave him an 'Oh really?' look, while Jiraiya took his chance to escape - mouthing a simple 'congratulations!' and a thumbs up before he vanished.
Hibiki and Tsunade continued speaking for a few minutes before Orochimaru separated the two so they could make sure Jiraiya wasn't trying to break into the changing rooms, and soon Hibiki found himself alone again. Just as he checked the clock hung up on the wall and considered rounding up his team and Minato to get ready for the ceremony though, one of the final arrivals made their muted entrance, and through coincidence or design, managed to make eye contact with Hibiki immediately upon entry.
Hibiki pursed his lips, sighing as he and Shibi eyed each other down, the latter managing to put an Aburame spin on his formal wear - his collar popped up and, while not hiding nearly as much of his face as his usual getup, still getting the point across. After the moment passed, Hibiki shook his head and approached the Aburame head. To anyone else, the man would have appeared completely nonplussed by the action, but to Hibiki, who had great experience reading Aburame and learning their tells, was able to determine that the man was mildly surprised that Hibiki appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be seeking out what would inevitably turn into a conflict between the two, considering their previous interaction. Hibiki didn't blame him, of course, it wasn't exactly a secret that he'd invited the guy as a move in the political game Hibiki loathed to play, but that wasn't why he wanted to talk to him.
No, he had two reasons he wanted to speak to the Aburame head, chief among them being why he'd arrived alone, and where Dai's parents were. Unfortunately, as much as Hibiki didn't like to play the game, that didn't equate to him being unable to play it - a lifetime spent navigating the corporate culture that had evolved in the United States made him good enough to be passable - and as such, he knew he couldn't just walk up to this guy and go, 'So where are her parents?' He had to lead up to it, and that led him to the second reason he wanted to speak to the man.
Reaching him, Hibiki nodded in greeting, "Shibi."
"Senju-san." The stoic Aburame nodded. "I thank you for the invitation and congratulate you on the occasion. I wish only for your happiness."
Wow, could've put out the sun with that ice. Hibiki nodded, "listen, man. We got off on the wrong foot, last time." He began, causing Shibi to blink. "We're obviously not going to be friends, considering." He nodded to the side, "but before that day in the hospital we'd never even met each other." He decided to be honest with him, "Dai never told me about you and her... Did you know that?"
Shibi regarded him a moment, before saying, "not for certain... But it was not hard to assume."
Hibiki nodded, having predicted that answer. "I..." He hesitated, searching for the right words. "I can't presume to know how I would have acted and how things would have played out if she'd told me ahead of time." He said, avoiding mentioning whether or not he actually agreed with what she'd done in the first place. "But the fact of the matter is what's done is done. We made our choices, and now we're here." He made a small gesture to the recreation center he'd rented. "For any number of reasons, we can't take 'em back. I'm not asking to be your friend - after the stunt you pulled back there, and my... Admittedly severe response to it, I'm not under any delusion that such a thing is possible. We're not very fond of each other." He extended his hand, which Shibi looked down at, before raising his hidden eyes back to Hibiki's. "But I do at least want to bury the hatchet. Make peace."
Shibi was silent for several long seconds, shifting his gaze from Hibiki, down to his callused hand, then back up to Hibiki.
He accepted his hand, "I do not like you, Hibiki Senju... But I am not angry at you." He said, plainly. "As I said... I suspected from the start that Dai-san had not told you everything. As such I do not hold her affections and your actions against you. Thus: I am not angry at you, as much as I am at her, for robbing myself and the clan we used to share of a powerful heir, all on the basis of a lie of omission." He said, shaking the hand. "That day was my last attempt. All or nothing, as it were." He explained, tone neutral and face a steel mask. "I lost. I accept that, and just as you apologized, so shall I." He nodded, letting go of Hibiki's hand. "But as you said... I do not seek to be your 'friend.' If I am correct in your goals, then I agree with them. After today, we shall not associate with each other unless necessary."
Hibiki let out a long, relieved sigh. Willing to let Shibi's sly jabs at Dai's expense to slide, he honestly hadn't expected this to work. He'd genuinely expected this to go nowhere and for he and Shibi, and through them the Senju and Aburame clans, to have a cold feud going on for the foreseeable future. This entire thing had just been him going through the motions just so he could at least say he tried, and here it had worked!
Hibiki nodded, "yeah, that's what I'd hoped for." He admitted, sliding his hand into his pocket. This entire thing had been twofold: To try and end things, both in the sense of the feud between them, Dai and, now, Hibiki, and to end their association with each other, preferably by at least partially mending the burnt bridge. After today, unless it was absolutely necessary, Shibi, Dai, and Hibiki, would have nothing to do with each other.
"So, uh..." He nodded to the door. "Where are her folks?" He asked, teeth gritted nervously, as he considered how Dai might react if they didn't come.
"Held up." Said Shibi, "but coming." A beat, "I made them."
Hibiki almost frowned, at the implication Shibi was leaving that they wouldn't have come otherwise, and at the possibility that he was lying, not sure which he liked less, but instead nodded. "Thanks, Shibi." He said again, "it'll mean the world to her."
Shibi nodded in understanding, then finished with, "after today... It is goodbye, Senju-san. I hope you understand that."
To which, Hibiki nodded as well, agreeing with the sentiment. Soon after, the two broke apart, and when he noticed the time, Hibiki rounded up Minato and his team, and they began ushering everyone in to the main hall, where they began to take their seats. It wasn't anything like a church, or the courthouse he would have preferred, from Back Home, but rather more akin to a small auditorium. Unfortunately, it also lacked lacked a pianist or any kind of sound system, leaving the entire ordeal eerily quiet, so just as there wouldn't be any nice, soothing music to break the silence and get everyone in the right frame of mind, no one would have to resist Hibiki's bribing them to play Freebird on the keyboard. He didn't care if no one would get it, the mere fact that it would have been so alien to the New Hotness would mean that he could have gotten away with it and it would have been amazing.
Dai would probably have suspected something and bit him with a beetle on principle, but it would have been worth it.
As everyone found their seats and sat down, as Hibiki stood on the stage and was flanked to his left by Minato, Noboru, and Suboro, as Kushina, Akane, Tsume, and Kuromaru assembled on the right side of the stage, he felt the slightest flutter in his chest, as he was again presented with the reality that this was happening.
On cue, when the clock struck the hour and the bell rang, everyone on stage about-faced, and everyone in the crowd turned around in their seats. Aoi and Kyo heralded Dai's arrival, pushing open the great doors and stepping aside, the Inuzuka holding one door and the ninken the other, revealing -
Damn. Hibiki thought, mind skidding to a halt, suddenly slapped across the face with something he'd never realized before:
As long as he'd known her, as long as he'd lived with her, for all of her in all states of dress and equipment he'd seen of her, just as he himself had never done so, he'd never once seen his fiance all dolled up. Covered in blood, fresh from the shower, wearing flak jackets and combat attire, forgoing her usual hoodie, all of those and more, he'd seen a time or two, but never - in his entire second life - had he seen her in any kind of makeup at all, never mind the surprisingly thorough layer covering her face, nor had he ever seen her in what looked like a bleached-white kimono done up to look like a dress, or had he ever seen her in public showing any skin above her throat. She'd never bared her arms to the world before, never brazenly let all lay eyes on her porous skin. He'd seen her hair let out of its usual pony-tail, and he had seen it brushed, but had never seen it flow like it did now, like water over her shoulders and down her back. Finally, while he'd seen her let her amber eyes free of her usual sunglasses, they'd never appeared to glow like they did now, and he'd never seen them ringed by expertly applied eye shadow before.
Here, he was seeing all of those things, and like many in the audience, he was seeing them for the first time. It was enough to cause his mind to grind to a halt, for all of his thoughts - be they his own, or the memories that came in from any number of clones running around - to slow down and fade away, as though caught in tar and unable to continue moving. It was enough to make him first wonder if he hadn't cleaned himself up well enough, and then to make him secondly wonder how in the ever-loving fuck he had managed to get this beautiful woman to take his hand.
It was only through almost sixteen years of discipline as a shinobi that the mind-numbed head of the Senju clan managed to keep his jaw from hitting the ground, though his eyes still widened of their own accord - and when he saw the slightest upward quirk of her lips on approach, he knew that Dai had caught it, and he probably wouldn't hear the end of it. But, when he cast a quick glance to Minato next to him, he briefly doubted that it was he she was smirking at - as the Namikaze either didn't have any of his self control, or simply wasn't using it, as his jaw was hanging and his eyes were wide. Next to Minato, Noboru - as he was wont to do - was completely stone faced save for a respectful smile appropriate to the occasion, and Suboro had an upward curve to one of his eyebrows, his dark eyes taking in Dai's appearance as he bounced Kurenai in his arms.
Hibiki coughed, quiet enough that no one more than a meter away could have seen or heard it, but just loud enough to get Minato's attention. Minato cleared his throat and snapped his jaw shut, looking at Hibiki with a sheepish grin, knowing he'd been caught.
"Don't be giving her the wrong idea, now." Hibiki muttered, just loud enough for Minato to hear him. "She's convinced you want to sleep with me, not her."
Seeing Minato rapidly steel his expression, trying desperately to replace his fluster with one more neutral, he failed miserably and cracked a wide grin, snorting as Dai reached the stage, stepped up, and they turned to the officiant. Most people in Konoha, Hibiki had learned, either used one of their clan elders, or one of Konoha's legal representatives, as priests weren't exactly common these days, but Hibiki and Dai? They had friends in high places.
The highest, in fact - and the Hokage, garbed in Uchiha raiments and smiling from underneath the wide brim of the hat of his office, clasped his hands together.
"Forgive me..." Began the fifth Hokage, "for injecting a little Uchiha tradition into this, but I've never officiated a wedding before, and they didn't say they wanted me to do anything specific." He bowed his head, before continuing. "Now, many people know these two." He said, his voice carrying through the auditorium. "Be it personally..." He nodded to one side of the room, where sat the Sannin, Hibiki's old academy friends, and even some of Dai's, though Hibiki didn't recognize a one of them. "Or through reputation." He nodded to the other half of the room, where were sat the folks Hibiki had invited purely because of Tsunade and Dai's insistence that this was a political function as much as a personal celebration - clan elders, civilian conclave members, and Hibiki and Dai's academy sensei. "But no matter how you know them, what you all share is the knowledge that this should have happened years ago." He deadpanned, causing smirks and muted laughter to ripple through the audience.
The Hokage grinned, and continued, "I was there when these two met, before the Suna chunin exams. Dai was twelve, and Hibiki was... Eight, if I recall correctly." He said, hands folded together. "They seemed to hit it off well, but I won't lie - I didn't really think anything would come of it. I thought it would just be business between the two... But clearly, this incredibly patient woman -" He indicated the Senju to be, who had closed her eyes with a thin smile and was just letting it happen, "thought otherwise, and promptly waited years for this dullard - and I can say that because I was his sensei before I was his Kage -" He interrupted himself while indicating the Senju, "- to pick up on what she was putting down. Anyone who knows Hibiki knows he probably had that look when the shoe finally dropped." He continued, eliciting further laughter and smiles from the audience, and a roll of the eyes from Hibiki.
"If only you knew, sensei." Hibiki sniped back, earning a nip on his neck from a beetle and a wave of the hand from Dante as the crowd openly laughed, many clearly not having expected such candor out of this.
"Hush." He said, "fortunately, when he finally picked up on it, what came of what came after was just as beautiful as everyone who'd contributed to the betting pool thought it would be."
"This asshole is roasting us on our wedding day." Hibiki whispered to Dai in English - and with Dante right in front of them, to boot. The Kage's cheek twitched, he knew the two of them were talking in code and probably about him, but he let it slide.
"You did not much read about Uchiha weddings, did you, Hibiki?" Was Dai's response.
I'd thought something like this would be more of an Inuzuka thing, actually. Hibiki thought, as Dante kept going.
"I cannot tell you of a greater couple I've seen than these two. The honesty, the faith -"
"The passion!" Tsume jeered from Dai's side of the stage, even making Dante almost lose his composure.
"The snide." Minato shuddered, though with a grin that was hidden to all save Hibiki and Noboru, the latter of whom merely dipped his head and sighed with a smile, the former of whom knew Minato had spoken up because the Namikaze knew Hibiki wouldn't try and hit him.
At least, not in public.
"The friendship." Dante took back the reigns, indicating Minato and Tsume with a nod, as though they were proof of his word. "They've seen a lot, been through more, and through it all their trust in each other only grew, and their love became ever more painfully obvious. So of course, when our new Senju head started dragging his feet about proposing after he turned twelve, we started another betting pool." And on cue, Anbu Ghost dropped from the ceiling, landing next to Dante, dropping a bag of what Hibiki just knew was money, and then vanished again in a plume of smoke.
"How much of this did you fucking plan ahead of time, sensei?" Hibiki whispered, just loud enough for Dante to hear him.
Dante merely grinned, and kept going, not missing a beat. "One I don't need to mention how many people here were a part of." He added, to the murmurs, nods, and nervous shifts of much of the audience - even, though Hibiki didn't see it, all three of the Sannin. "The saying goes, 'better late than never,' and better yet that they chose now. I've got quite a few public projects I can fund with that pool." The civilian conclave appeared to be the target of this one, as they were the ones who laughed the most. "That brings us to today... Today Hibiki and Dai will be joining together, in bond, in law, in name, and in love." He said, his eyes turning red as their Sharingan spun to life - he clearly never wanted to forget a single detail of this, and Hibiki couldn't say he disagreed, but it was out of respect for Dai's wishes that he wasn't doing the same, as much as he wanted to. "Out of tradition, I must ask anyone who has reason for them not to join to speak now..." He said, before he cast a sly look over to Tsume in particular, whose wide, wild eyes were locked onto him, and whose hand was hovering over Kuromaru's neck, the wild Alpha of the Inuzuka clearly having been waiting for this moment in particular to have her ninken make a point to the crowd, and both surprised and delighted that not only had she been caught, but Dante had predicted this. "But I also do not want to risk lives." He deadpanned, causing a brief wave of laughter to wash over the guests, and Tsume to draw blood as she bit her lip to not join them.
"So... Hibiki Senju." He nodded to Hibiki, who wiped his own smirk off of his face. "Dai, of the Leaf." He nodded to her, and she opened her eyes, smile remaining. "Treat each other well, prove me right, and stay by each others' sides through the good times and bad." He made a clapping motion with his hands, "now get to it."
As Hibiki turned, Dai struck. "I will, but not in public, Hokage-sama."
Dante wasn't fast enough to bite back his snort - and while the guests didn't hear Dai's words, they did see their Kage's face screw up as he tried to control himself, and that was what made them laugh. This laughter turned to cheers, whistles, and applauds when Hibiki and Dai turned to each other and embraced, their lips pressing together, the both of them smiling into it - Hibiki because of how much the ever-laconic woman always managed to entertain him, Dai because of how she'd succeeded in doing so.
The world melted away for the both of them, until it was just them and no one else. Until it was just them and this perfect, unmarred moment of pure, blissful happiness, as two became one, and Dai took Hibiki's name.
The rest of the day, though great beyond measure, failed to live up to that one moment. Many of their friends stepped up to the stage during dinner and told stories of one or the both of them. They ate the downright gorgeous spread the Akimichi head had, according to him, helped prepare personally, they danced - with the civilian on the sitar not playing Lynyrd Skynyrd, unintentionally presenting Hibiki with the fact that modern sheet music and that from Back Home weren't the same - they celebrated, with Hibiki being conned into sparring Hiashi, of all people, and they laughed. They laughed and they smiled until their cheeks hurt, at the end of the night, with the moon high in the sky and the stars bright above, as everyone gave them their well-wishes and bade them their farewells, some gracefully, some - like Tsume - a little less so, having to lean on others due to the amount of alcohol they'd ingested over the course of the night.
At some point after everything had begun winding down, Hibiki realized that Shibi had simply left - but that didn't surprise him.
What did surprise him, however, were the two Aburame that didn't leave.
They waited until the very end - until each and every single guest had traded their final words and left - before they approached the two, silent as the night. Hibiki realized that he'd seen both of them before - yes, he knew he'd already sort of met Dai's father once, but he hadn't realized he'd seen him, and even her mother before, and recently at that. They were the very Aburame he'd almost literally run into after being discharged at the hospital, and he hadn't even recognized the former!
That aside though, he was just glad they were here in the first place. Much like Shibi, he may not have liked them very much, but he also didn't have anything against them personally - and more than that they were her parents. It was important to him that they came, because it was important to her. Dai's father was dressed like much like Shibi, but he'd covered the lower half of his face in a thick scarf, whereas her mother had, like Dai, done herself up in a kimono, but unlike her daughter, had chosen a darker-colored one, and hadn't folded up the sleeves, resulting in much of her skin being covered by it, so unlike Dai, much of her porous skin remained shrouded.
Hibiki felt Dai's grip tighten around his arm, though her face remained neutral as they approached, and he had to suppress a sigh. The conflict between her and Shibi, and her and her parents, he knew, was much different for her. He could do his best to work something out with Shibi and get the both of them to agree to just let bygones be bygones and not associate with each other, but not only was that not an option here, but that wasn't an option to begin with, for her. Today was her 'victory,' but it was at the cost of her old clan name and her relationship with her parents - one Hibiki wasn't sure he could do anything about, due to being so new to the ordeal.
"Hibiki." Dai began, before indicating her father. "Ken." Then her mother, "and Ryoko Aburame. My parents." She greeted, her voice and words slow, and quiet.
She had settled into her normal tone, Hibiki had noticed, not the one she reserved for her friends. Her father had half a foot on her mother, who was noticeably thinner than him and even Dai, and like him her eyes were hidden behind thick sunglasses, though unlike him, her face was left uncovered, and Hibiki was able to pick up a subtle air of disapproval in her guarded, stereotypically Aburame expression.
"Hibiki Senju." He said, bowing his head to them, not really sure how to approach this. "I'm ah... Well, I suppose we've run into each other before." He grinned, but the effect was lost on them.
They both eyed him down, and despite it all, made Hibiki feel tiny. Like they were these two giants looming over him. There was silence, broken only by the cleaning staff picking up after the wedding.
After a minor eternity, Ken, his expression masked behind a neutral frown that Hibiki could only just pick up from the creases in the exposed parts of his face, bowed his head in return. "Senju-sama." And his wife did the same, with the same greeting. Ken spoke with a voice rather like Hibiki's own, deep and rumbly, but also holding within it the air of someone thoroughly exhausted, and who had just woken up, whereas Ryoko's voice was completely unlike her daughter's - very light and high, almost sounding like ringing metal, but in both voices Hibiki could hear the pieces that, when mixed together, resulted in Dai's low, smooth tones.
"I'm really glad you two came." Hibiki said, his grin turning to as warm a smile as he could make. "I was hoping you would." With what he knew now, he knew they'd missed a lot in Dai's life, and even if she wouldn't say it outright, he knew it was important to her that they hadn't missed this. For all their differences, they were still her parents, and he knew she still loved them, as did they, her.
They again fell to silence, and Hibiki wondered if this was how Aburame households were normally, or if it was just a result of all the goings on.
Dai saved him, speaking up with, "he insisted." She said, "I did not think you would come." And he noticed a twitch in the muscles in her cheeks - not nearly strong enough to reach her lips, but just enough that Hibiki realized she was trying not to smile. "And I am overjoyed I was wrong." Though even Hibiki had trouble telling if she was being honest, with all of the ice in her voice.
Ken and Ryoko were silent a moment, considering their response, before her mother said, "Shibi insisted."
Jesus! Hibiki thought, clenching his jaw. That's your daughter!
Were Dai channeling chakra, she could have broken skin with how hard she tightened her hand around his arm. "I see." She whispered, slowly. "I will have to thank him." The strength in her voice was still there, but it sounded hollow - the life in it was gone.
Hibiki gulped, turning back to them, but Ken spoke first. "Treat her well, Hibiki Senju." He said, giving Hibiki pause. "But hear me, Dead One."
"Father -"
"If you hurt her... If she dies because of you... You will not ever be safe again in this village." Ken continued, hatred boiling in his voice.
Hibiki sighed, "listen, you don't like me, I get it, but -" He didn't even get to try, they simply turned to the exit and started walking in the middle of his sentence, leaving Hibiki with an astonished expression.
He was tempted to let them leave with a 'well fuck you then!' but a second hand joining the first, and then the feeling of Dai pressing her head to his shoulder stole his attention. He turned, looking at her, and saw her expression was still as calm and as neutral as it always was in public, but there was one difference - and that was a single tear leaking out of her eye, running down the side of her nose, and into Hibiki's suit.
"Don't." She whispered, taking in a deep breath. "That..." She exhaled, and then took in another breath before saying. "That was goodbye." She let it out again, this time faster, a twitch to her breath as she took in another one. "That is not something that can be fixed... Nor will it." She said, before looking up, revealing the runny line of the once immaculately applied makeup, her amber orbs meeting his onyx eyes as she shook her head. "They know... On some level, they know." She said, "that you were touched by the world beyond. That you came from there. The Aburame are a scavenger clan... Death is, in ways, sacred, and you scare them. They believe you are having an arcane effect on the world." She explained, and Hibiki knew what she was trying to do - beyond simply explaining why they were acting this way, she was trying to absolve him before he felt any guilt over the fact that, in choosing him, she had abandoned her clan and her parents.
Hibiki sighed, turned to face her fully and took her in his arms. "And what do you think?"
"I think you are proof that what we know about the universe pales in comparison to what we don't... In more ways than just one."
Holding her tight, he asked. "Are you okay?"
And she shook her head, before letting him go, his hands in hers as she said, "no..." And the melancholy expression turned to one of contentment, as she said, "but I will be... Mister Senju." The last bit in their shared, mostly dead language.
His smile joined hers, and he said, "let's go home, Missus Senju." He said.
"Can we take the long way?" Dai asked, "walk?"
Hibiki nodded to his wife, "of course."
And, with a bittersweet ending to an otherwise perfect day, the husband and wife, Hibiki and Dai Senju, went home.