**Hey y'all! I'm actually on time with this chapter. Wow... ^_~;; However, the next chapter will probably be delivered on next WEDNESDAY rather than Monday. I have to do all my make-up work first, and then (since I'm now feeling well enough to go to school everyday {long story}) I'll only have CURRENT homework, which is much easier on my writing schedule. ^_~ So, there's that heads-up. Hope y'all don't mind...and, to be honest, I have a favor to ask of y'all...PLEASE review--this is the only time I have asked for reviews (trust me, I've checked!). Reviews keep me going and make me want to write more. So please don't be mad at me for asking (gomen!), but please review if ya can. Thx. ^_^ V Without further ado...**
Genki fussed with his robes. He wasn't used to wearing such fancy clothing, with frills everywhere. It was a deep green, with sashes to match, and a rather tight, high collar surrounding his neck. It didn't matter, though, he figured. What was really making him nervous was standing in front of the priest, wondering what was taking Lady Mariana so long...
"And the Lady arrives," the priest said quietly, so as to reassure Genki. Genki let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding and turned his head to watch her come up the flight of stairs.
She wore not a dress of white, but of a pale green that complimented Genki's own dark green robes. Layer upon layer covered her, and the train dragged behind her at least 8 feet. Light green lace outlined every hem on her dress. Her brown hair sat piled on top of her head in a simple bun, not a strand straying from it. Her eyes were calm, but they betrayed her real feelings.
I never thought, since I got here... She took step after step, coming quickly closer to Genki. ...anything like this, at the orphanage...they all hated me. Her feet finally halted straight across from him. A soft wind blew through the scene, lightly moving Mariana's veil across her nose. She wanted to sneeze, but stopped herself just before the priest started to speak.
"Today, we have come together to unite these two people, a summoner and her guardian, in an even deeper way. These two have..." Mariana didn't hear much else that the priest had to say, and instead focused on Genki's brown eyes. His hair had fallen into them again, making him look even more handsome than before. She resisted the urge to reach out her hand and push his hair back, but only barely.
Together forever. The wind picked up again, and her dress fluttered across the carpet that led up the staircase. Together in everything. Genki smiled nervously at her, and she tried to calm him by simply smiling back. Neither of them were even listening to the priest now. It was as if they were the only two there, just them and no one else.
Just us...only us... The priest, seeming to sense the couple's impatience, finished up the ceremony, pronouncing the two married under the law of Yevon for as long as they would live.
"You may...kiss your bride," he said finally. Genki swallowed hard and stepped forward to lift Mariana's veil from her face. The wind assisted him in doing so, and he leaned forward slowly, too slowly for Mariana's taste, and finally kissed his new wife.
Just us...husband and wife. Forever.
*-*-*-*-*
Arashi was humming to herself what Yueh presumed was once again the frog's song. It was getting to the point where Yueh herself could probably sing it with little trouble, despite the fact that the song was in Japanese.
They had gotten across the Moonflow with little trouble after the sending, along with their wagon, and were now on their way on the short trip to Guadosalam. Niet was driving once again, but this time, someone else was sitting next to her: the half Al Bhed girl, Katy.
She had been almost inconsolable after the sending, feeling that it was all her fault that all those people had died. She was angry with them and herself, and had tossed her flamethrower in the Moonflow on the shoopuf ride over. The driver had chided her for littering, which only made Katy cry harder. Yueh had had to stop her from diving from the shoopuf herself at one point, barely catching the girl by the back of her tank-top. She had stopped crying finally after that, but was still dark and moody on the wagon ride until Arashi had done something rather...unexpected.
Niet had seen her do it once, and Yueh had never known about it, but Arashi had done the trick so many times at school that she was used to the reaction it received. She had tossed her long hair in front of her face, all of it, and removed her glasses, only to replace them on top of her hair-covered face. The joke was that it was cousin It from The Addams Family, but regardless of whether you had seen the show or not, it was a ridiculous look on any person. Katy had taken once glance and couldn't help but smile. In fact, she broke out laughing--as did Yueh and Niet. The laughter was contagious, and Arashi giggled from behind her shield of hair, making her look even more outrageous.
That had broken the ice, and considerably lightened the mood on the wagon. Arashi had put her hair back to normal, of course, but was still bright and cheery, simply humming to herself as she had the crocheted blanket wrapped around her. Yueh had borrowed Niet's book and was reading the section on upper-level magic spells and how to properly use her flute when the wagon came to a sudden halt with a thump.
Yueh rocketed to the front of the wagon, smacking her head against the divider, while Arashi simply slid across the bottom of the wagon. Yueh looked up to Niet and asked, "What just happened?"
Niet didn't turn around but spoke urgently.
"I think...we just ran over O'aka."
Arashi threw herself out of the wagon, and Yueh did about the same, shouting, "WHAT?!?"
"I didn't mean to! I think he fell asleep on the road, and I tried to stop the chocobos, but they stomped on him, and now--" Niet's voice finally halted as all four girls hopped off the wagon, Katy tumbling to a halt underneath the wagon.
"Owie..." She scrambled forward to where Yueh and Arashi were now kneeling next to a lump in the road, which was presumably O'aka. Yueh dusted the lump off to reveal a bright green coat and winced.
"I've killed O'aka!" Niet shouted. Yueh and Arashi prodded the body, which responded with a loud, somehow still accented, groan.
"Wha...where did I..." He rolled himself over onto his back and coughed up dust. "I was walkin', and dropped me bag, and I..." More dust came from his mouth. "I..."
"Don't talk, O'aka," Arashi commanded. She looked to Yueh and gave a look from the other two girls and to the chocobos.
"Ah, Niet, Katy, unhitch the chocobos and move them out of the way," Yueh said, still focusing her attention to the dusty bump on the road that was O'aka. Niet nodded assent and began instructing Katy on how to get the chocobos out of their harnesses and out of the way.
"O'aka, don't move now, okay? You just got trampled on by some chocobos, and I don't know if anything's broken," Arashi explained. O'aka coughed up dirt again and nodded slowly.
Arashi placed her hands over his chest and the familiar white glow of healing magic surrounded both of them. The glow became faint and Arashi allowed O'aka to sit up. He did, albeit slowly, and winced. His dirt-caked hat fell off his head, making him seem now all of his probably twenty years or so. Well, he is the O'aka's son, after all, I guess he can't be that old...
He had finally stopped coughing up dust, but he still coughed. "Thank ye kindly, Lady. I've been walkin' for days now, ye see. Go' a bi' tired, I s'pose, on th' way here..."
"O'aka...you must've fallen over from exhaustion!" Arashi pronounced, shaking her head. Yueh scrambled around for his bag and finally found it lying just off the road, untouched by chocobo feet. She grabbed it and handed it to him.
"Thank ye...I 'ad to, m'lady, I 'ave to restock in B'velle, and wi'out me wares, I go' nothin' to do, ye see." He accepted the bag with a small nod. "I ran ou' o' food, m'lady, and..."
"Fell on the road, almost seriously injured by jogging chocobo," Arashi reprimanded. She wagged a finger at him, like a mother telling her child not to eat cookies before dinner.
"That really wasn't a smart move, O'aka," Yueh agreed. Niet re-entered the scene, taking a quick glance at O'aka before talking to Arashi.
"Katy's taking care of the chocobos. Are we almost ready to get going again? Oh," she added as an afterthought, "sorry for running you over, O'aka." Niet blushed horribly. "I didn't mean to. I tried to stop the chocobos, but they were so insistent..."
O'aka stood himself up shakily, grimacing all the way. "S'okay. Stubborn creatures, that they are. I used t'drive a wagon meself, b'fore me dad 'ad me help in the fam'ly business." He stumbled backwards and hit the wagon. The three girls jumped to help him, but he shook his head. "I'll be fine. I...ah..."
"No. You're riding with us, at least to Guadosalam," Arashi said finally. O'aka began to protest, but Arashi simply went on. "No way. You've got to rest, but you can't be out on the road all night walking again without food."
Yueh nodded. "Right. We've got food on board the wagon, so...hop on board!" she said, gesturing to the wagon. O'aka stumbled back again and this time Yueh caught him. His arm was quite cold, and this close up, he didn't look well at all.
"In the wagon you go!" Niet agreed, still apparently feeling guilty for not stopping the chocobos soon enough. Yueh and Niet dragged O'aka to the back of the wagon and loaded him in while Arashi and Katy rehitched the chocobos to the wagon. It took a bit of finagling, but Niet and Yueh did manage to help O'aka up and into the wagon, where he sat down with a thump on the blanket that had been wrapped around Arashi only moments earlier.
"Thanks," he mumbled quietly. He sat in the front left corner of the wagon, staring around the inside of it in a sort of wonder.
"Beau'iful wagon, m'lady," he said finally. Arashi leaned in from the front and grinned.
"Thanks, O'aka. A gift from the Besaid villagers." She hopped in through the front and Katy jumped onto the front driver's seat. Niet crawled through the back, as did Yueh, and the two got into their previous positions with much jumbling through the wagon. When all five people were finally in place, Niet started up the chocobos again and set off down the road to Guadosalam.
O'aka dug hungrily into their food supplies, eating everything that Arashi or Yueh handed to him. Yueh could only watch stunned as the still dust-encrusted young man gobbled everything down, but did giggle when she finally realized whom he reminded her of.
Its like watching Niet back at the stadium... She laughed again and leaned back against the cloth wall of the wagon. How fun that was...
"We're here!" Niet announced from the front. She disappeared from the front as she hopped off the wagon, Katy following as well. Arashi and Niet helped O'aka out of the wagon, and he stumbled forward as he pulled his backpack on once more.
"Thank ye, m'lady, thank ye much. I'll...get some rest 'ere for th' night, and see y'later." He gave the Yevon bow and wandered off.
"I think we should've made him pay for all the food he ate," Yueh muttered under her breath, holding the now empty food stores bag up to Arashi. "He's worse than Niet."
"I heard that!" an indignant Niet shouted from the front.
Before Yueh could retort, a tall, long fingered, pointy-haired being stepped out from the shadows and spoke. "Hello, Lady Summoner Arashi, Guardians Yueh and Niet." He frowned and took a quick look at Katy, who bowed her head even though her tinted goggles were on. "And another guardian I do not know about?"
"She's a companion on this trip for now. Something happened just today and...she was rather shaken by it," Arashi explained, stepping forward. "I decided it would be for the best if she came along with us for now."
"I...see," the Guado said finally. He gestured for the group of girls to walk in and enter Guadosalam with a sweeping motion. "Come, come in and rest for a while, my Lady." He went in ahead of them, and Arashi spoke in an undertone to the other three.
"We're only staying long enough to eat. We have to be on our way." With that, she strode forward and caught up quickly to the Guado.
Good. Yueh suppressed a shudder as she followed everyone else. These Guado guys totally creep me out...