Moment of Change
Five Years Later
"You'll never believe what I got in the mail yesterday," Naru told Kitsune as the two sat down to breakfast in their small apartment.
"Oh yeah?" Kitsune asked, mildly curious. It wasn't like Naru to play guessing games so this would probably be interesting. Especially considering the mischievous little grin that was playing around the corners of Naru's mouth. For a moment Kitsune wondered if that was what she looked like when she was playing one of her jokes before Naru spoke again.
"A letter from Kanako."
"WHAT!" Kitsune exclaimed, spraying miso soup down the front of her blouse. Naru snickered at Kitsune's response.
"Yep! She wrote to me from America. She's married, can you believe it?"
"No," Kitsune replied instinctively, too shocked to edit her response.
"Yes," Naru contradicted, now grinning openly at her friend's disbelief. "She even sent me a photo. They look happy."
"They look . . . Kanako's MARRIED!?"
"I told you that already," said Naru, still grinning.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait - this is a setup, isn't it? You're trying to convince me that the queen of crazy wrote to tell you she's getting married and just when you've got me believing you you're going to tell everyone how you made a fool of me!"
Wordlessly, Naru passed a sheaf of papers and several polaroid photographs across the table to Kitsune.
"What are these . . . by the kami!"
"I told you she was married."
"Sheesh. He looks almost normal. I wonder if he knows what he's getting into?"
"Don't be mean. It sounds like Kanako's really turned her life around."
"Huh," said Kitsune, her expression of exaggerated disbelief fading. Any mention of Kanako brought out mixed feelings in all of them. Naru was the only one who really considered her a friend.
"So what's she doing now?"
For some reason Kitsune's question was enough to get Naru smiling again.
"She works in the movies now."
"What!? What does she do?"
"Costumes and makeup," Naru said with a smirk. In spite of everything Kitsune couldn't stop herself from grinning.
"That's appropriate. Hey, wait a minute, how did she know where you were?" Kitsune asked, just a trace of nervousness leaking into her voice. Kanako had always been a little strange, but in the time immediately after Keitaro's . . . disappearance . . . her behaviour had become downright erratic - and occasionally disturbing.
"Relax, Kitsune, she seems pretty stable now. Besides, she doesn't know where we're living. She sent the letter care of Hinata Inn and Haruka passed it on to me. She said it gave her a bit of a shock."
"Yeah, I'll bet," Kitsune snickered. "What with the wedding coming up and everything she probably thought it was a bad omen."
"Actually, that's more or less what she said when she gave me the letter," Naru replied, before joining in with Kitsune's laughter.
A few days later Kitsune found herself regarding the Hinata Inn with mixed feelings as she finished climbing the stairs that led to the former boarding house. When you lived in the same place for long enough it became much more than just a place of residence. You left your mark on it - and it left its mark on you. Kitsune thought of the Hinata Inn not so much as a place but as a series of events - events that had gone a long way to shaping her life, not that she'd realised it at the time.
And now here I am again she thought. Kitsune couldn't avoid feeling just a little nostalgic as she opened the front door and stepped inside, not bothering to announce her presence. Haruka and Seta had planned a small, private ceremony with just a few guests attending the small wedding and reception being held at the Hinata Inn. Caterers had already come and gone, leaving a buffet lunch behind, and all of the girls had pitched in to smarten up the inn a little prior to the wedding. Kitsune sighed as she wandered past the buffet set up in the dining room and down the hall towards the grounds behind the inn, where the actual ceremony would take place. Hinata was empty now, devoid of the energy and bustle that had been such an integral part of it when Kitsune and the others had stayed there, and she couldn't help but feel a little melancholy because of it. She and Naru had shared an apartment since Naru graduated from Toudai, while Shinobu had moved back in with her mother and Su was old enough to live on her own. The fox-girl smiled as she stepped out onto the back porch and regarded the scene in front of her.
Mutsumi was accepting with equanimity Naru's tense, last-minute instructions regarding the decoration of the Inn's grounds while Su declared that one of her modified 'civilian' mecha-tamas could do the job and Shinobu fretted in the background. It was a reminder that the personalities and relationships which had made Hinata special still existed and were as strong as they'd ever been. The thought allowed her to shake off her wistful reflections of a moment ago.
Even though not all of the old gang are here a little voice in the back of Kitsune's mind reminded her - but she quashed the thought with practiced ease. There would be no regrets today.
"Kitsune, thank god you're here!" Naru exclaimed as she saw her friend had arrived. "The cleaning crew were supposed to pick up the decorations and set things up in the garden but they were late and half the things-"
"Hey, hey, hey, slow down a little," Kitsune admonished. "What's the problem?"
"Naru-chan's worried because we're running a little late setting up the decorations," Mutsumi chimed in, gesturing around herself as she spoke, "but I'm sure we'll be fine." Mutsumi had taken a week's holiday from her teaching job on her home island to attend the wedding, and her easy optimism got a wry smile out of Kitsune.
"So," she asked "what do you need me to do?"
"Well we still need to put the streamers up and chairs have to be put out . . ." Naru went on listing problems, real and imagined, as Kitsune went to help her friends. The time passed quickly and they were just finishing up when Mutsumi's exclamation broke through her concentration.
"They're here!"
Kitsune turned around to see Haruka standing on the porch, looking out at them all.
"Huh," she said in mild surprise, surveying the decorations "it actually looks . . . nice."
Kitsune had to laugh at Naru's put out expression. Her friend should have known that Haruka wouldn't conform to the stereotype of the gushing bride. Kitsune was willing to bet that Haruka had come out of the womb with her laconic attitude - and the dog-end that invariably hung from her mouth (but was absent today) - already in place.
"Nice!?" Naru squawked. "It looks nice!?"
"Yes" Haruka replied evenly. "It looks nice."
I wonder if Naru realises she's being teased Kitsune thought, noticing the flash of amusement in Haruka's eyes.
"But we worked for hours-" Naru halted, noticing the same thing that Kitsune already had.
"Wow!" Seta exclaimed as he stepped out onto the back porch "the old place looks great! In fact, I don't remember it ever looking this good!"
"Thank you Seta-san, I'm glad you think so," Naru replied, adopting an excessively formal tone while glancing at Haruka out of the corner of her eye. The older woman just gazed back implacably, unruffled by the byplay. Kitsune laughed again, but she had to admit that Seta was right. Somehow they'd managed to get everything set up in the space of an hour or so - Su's mecha-tama actually had been useful for setting up the small marquee. They might have been done even more quickly, Kitsune suspected, if they hadn't all been getting in each other's way. After all, everyone who would be attending was already there - including Sara, who was growing up into an attractive young woman and as such had become an even bigger terror than she had been as a child.
"Now the registrar just has to get here and we'll be set," Naru continued. "I hope she's not going to be late."
"The registrar's here," they heard Sara call from inside a moment later, where she was helping Shinobu and Su with some last minute additions to the food the caterers had prepared.
"That answers that question," Kitsune observed. "Now on with the show!"
"I now pronounce you man and wife," the registrar declared. "You may-" the woman broke off as Haruka wrapped her arms around Seta's neck and began to kiss him very thoroughly indeed, to a chorus of cheers and wolf-whistles from the assembled spectators.
"Well I guess I didn't have to say that part," the business suit clad woman murmured wryly.
"Congratulations!"
"Hooray!"
"Go Dad! Get some!"
"Sara!"
"Sorry Shinobu. But seriously, look at them!"
Sara had a point, Kitsune reflected. Seta and Haruka certainly weren't trying to hide their feelings and the truth was . . . they looked pretty damned good together. It was no surprise to her that Seta looked good in a suit, but the brief, light blue, strapless sundress Haruka was wearing revealed that she'd kept herself in remarkably good shape. That, combined with an unusually happy demeanour - by her standards at least – meant that Haruka looked at least a decade younger than her actual age.
I hope I look that good when I'm her age Kitsune thought enviously, before reaching down to pick up a mixed handful of rice and confetti.
A moment later the happy couple was swamped by a hail of rice and coloured paper as their guests simultaneously showered them with the tiny projectiles.
Haruka looked out the carriage window at the receding platform with an odd feeling of wistfulness. Naru, Kitsune, Shinobu, Mutsumi and Su were all waving, while Sara was standing on a bench waving a banner that had the words 'HAPPY HONERMOON' printed on it. Well, she told herself, life is about change. Everyone moves on girl - get used to it. Besides, this is what you wanted. And it was, too. That much Haruka had known for some time. In the past it had been the same old story - compatible people, incompatible lives - that had kept them apart. As Sara grew up, however, Seta had begun to spend more time in Japan even as Haruka had begun to think about spending more time travelling, as she had when she was younger. Between them they'd reached a compromise: Seta would spend more time at home and Haruka would go with him when he did travel. It worked.
She looked at the man sitting next to her in their private compartment and they traded knowing smiles. They had plenty of living to do.
Life was good.