Special thanks to Amy-McClair for all her advice on this chapter, and to Jay-man
for generiously lending me his laptop computer.
Chapter 20: Preperations
Haruka stood still as Reed tried to tie the white bow tie and failed yet again. The tall
blonde was too focused on her inner thoughts to notice how her co-worker growled at the cloth and
gave in. Reed glanced up and noticed how Haruka's teal eyes seemed to be dazed and shook her
head. She walked to the door, braide swinging lightly about the black back of her own tux, and
opened the door. Glancing left and right she found the browned haired man she was looking for.
"Hey there Tom." Reed waved over the man she met a week before. "I think she could
use her best man right now, and I can't get the tie."
"Damn I should have placed a bet when you two disappeared in there." Tom smiled at her
and pointed to the next door. "The other ushers are desent so I think you can go in now Anna."
"Thanks, good luck." With that Anna stepped out and watched as Tom shut the door
behind himself. She grinned and turned to the next door only to find two red eyes looking sternly
into her own brown ones. "Hello Setsuna-san."
"Reed-san." Setsuna looked over the woman before her, her own pale purple dress
constrating with the black suit the other woman wore. "You weren't about to cause problems
for a certain usher were you?"
"I wouldn't dream of it." Reed said as she hid her crossed fingers behind her back.
"Well, in that case we needed some one to run to pick up the bride." Setsuna smiled as
Reed looked completely confused. Reed eyed the maid of honor for long moments in silence
before speaking.
"How exactly did you get here, Setsuna-san?"
"I had to come early to take care of something, Michiru wouldn't trust anyone else."
"Ah." Reed nodded and cocked a grin at the woman before her. She pulled a set of keys
from her pocket, spinning the keyring around one finger before bowing deeply. "In that case, I'd be
honored to play taxi."
Inside the groom's dressing room Thomas patted a dazed Haruka on the shoulder. He
grinned as she turned and teal eyes watched distractedly as he started to fix her tie.
"Hey there Raider, how are you holding up?"
"Thomas." Haruka waited until their eyes met again before speaking. "This is real right?"
"Yeah, its real." Thomas laughed as Haruka got a sort of half grin and nodded herself.
"You nervous?"
"I'd be lieing if I said no." Teal eyes looked toward the ceiling and Haruka sighed a bit. "But
I'd also be lieing if I didn't say I was excited."
A knock on the door interupted the two and Taka poked his head inside. He smiled at them
with the expression of a kid caught in school play.
"I thought you should know that they just sent Reed-san to pick up the bride and her
bride's maids."
"Thank you, Taka-san." Haruka watched as the man nodded and left, then turned back
to Thomas who had a confused look. It took a moment for her to realize that they'd spoken
Japanese and her friend had no clue what was said. "They sent Anna to get Michiru."
"Oh, guess it's almost time then." Thomas finished up with her tie and stepped back to look
her over one last time. After a pause the man nodded and went to open the door. "I think you're as
ready as we can make you."
"Yeah, let's go." Haruka said as they walked out and were greeted by two of the three
ushers. The four tux clad figures walked off toward the door leading outside.
A short distance away a knock sounded lightly on a hotel room door. Inside Michiru glanced
up at her reflection while her cousin's friend Makoto and Jill were carefully arranging her hair.
Makoto's forest green eyes looked up from her work for a moment to met those of a shorter girl
across the room. The gentle figure in a pale purpule dress lowered a book and looked through her
glasses back at her taller friend. She gently set the book down upon a near by table and smiled at
Makoto as she stood.
"I'll see who it is." She spoke lightly.
"Thanks Ames." Makoto said in english with her somewhat New York accent. Michiru
smiled as she watched the two through the mirror. She'd called her younger cousin when she'd
found out the girl was going to school in the US and was releived when she'd said she had a friend
who could fill in the last bride's maid spot. The two seemed very oppisite at first glance but she
noticed that the cooking major was very protective of the future doctor. Michiru would have shook
her head but she didn't want to interupt the work Jill and Makoto were doing.
"Yes?" Ami asked kindly as she opened the door and found a woman in a black tux. A pair
of clear glasses were pushed up toward brown eyes and a brown braid was slong over one shoulder
as the figure smiled.
"Reed's taxi at your service, miss." Reed bowed toward the other bespecticled figure and
smiled at the slightly shy look the girl gave her. "Setsuna-san sent me to be your transportation
when you're all ready to go."
"We're nearly done, Miss Reed." Jill said and laughed as she glance up to catch the
annoyed look of the other woman. "Sorry, Reed."
"Okay, will I can wait in the car if you four still have any make up to do or something."
Reed said and Jill shot her a dangerous look. The pregnant woman glared playfully at her and
Reed just grinned back. "What, did I say something?"
"Sit, be quiet and maybe we wont put make-up on you." Jill growled in a voice which made
Reed jump and the others laugh.
"Yes ma'am!" Reed exclaimed and did a horrible salute with the wrong hand, this only
served to cause a bit more laughter.
"They had to send the comidian." Makoto joked and Jill raised a brow at her.
"Oh no, we'd be far wrose if they sent my husband." This was said with a grin.
Haruka stood next to the alter and Thomas stood grinning to one side. Next to him were
the two ushers not off on important missions. Haruka took the quiet time to apprecireat her
surroundings. They'd decided on an open air wedding of sorts. Setsuna had found a beautiful lake
in California, Lake Tahoe, and the two had picked a place where they could over look the lake and
the brezze seemed to always whisper through the grass. The sky was clear blue and Haruka was
again reminded of the ceiling Michiru had painted for her, teal eyes now watching real clouds
gently float across the blue back drop.
The alter itself had been set up with the lake behind it, four poles stood about it and
supported a light white cloth which filtered the sun from it. White chairs were arrayed in neat lines
and the few close were already milling about or sitting quietly. Haruka's consisted primarily of her
former mechanics, a few old friends from the track and old Howard. The man had laughed a bit
when the blonde called to invite him, saying he'd thought something would happen eventually.
On Michiru's side was her aunt, a doctor it seemed, who'd flown out from Tokyo. There were also
a few people they worked with for concerts and a few friends of her younger cousin. Haruka took
a deep breath as she watched the guests talking quietly among themselves.
Just when the blonde felt an eternity had passed a figure in a tux appeared from around a
temporary barrier meant to keep anyone from spotting the bride's arrival. Reed waved shortly and the
other ushers helped her to show the guests still standing to their seats. It took only a few moments,
Haruka's heart seeming to speed up with each forced calm breath, before the ushers were again
arranged in a line beside her. Thomas patted her shoulder and shot her a reassuring smile as music
struck up from a keyboard which sat just off to the side. The man presiding over the cerimony stood
straight but still held a sort of kind authority to him.
"There she is, Raider." Thomas whispered and Haruka's teal eyes swept down the isle and
past the guests. First of course she spotted Setsuna followed by the three bride's maids, but finally
came Michiru herself. Haruka's heart stopped as she laid eyes on the vision wrapped in a white gown
and the blue eyes which gazed from behind a white vail. Everyone else faded into the background as
Michiru reached her side and the two smiled at each other. They turned to the man behind the alter
as the cerimony began.
Author's note:
I am sorry for three things in this order: First, I broke my promise about the posting date of
this chapter. In that respect though I must thank my friend Jay-man for allowing me to burrow his
laptop to type and post this. Second, please let me know about spelling errors.. This computer only
has wordpad which does not have spell check (unless I missed it). And finally, I'm sorry to leave it
where it is. There is one last chapter I want to put up, but I'd like to think it out a bit more carefully first.
Review responces:
Jem: Thank you for your encouraging review.
Moonjava: Thanks for the continued support. Hope things are okay.
YuLinG: Moving has always had an odd effect on me.. As for Anna Reed's coment on "Cute women"
it was just a reference to a recent joke. Anna, though I wont get into her character, is a bi. Honestly
I have an interesting amount of detail on some of the side characters. Needless to say, Reed is a
push over for certain women and Setsuna's on the list. B-)
Rachel: Thank you, I try to get some stuff in here that's real. My high school was interesting, for
some random reason about half the student body was homosexual or bi. The upside of this is I
heard both the posistive reactions and the negative. Of course the only flaw with my stories is
that so far I haven't had a really bad homosexual chacter... What I mean is I had Ryu for an
example of poor behavior by a straight man, Jill got into a little bit of poor choices... But I want
to sometime get a story with an example of all the types of personalities I've seen. That
proably made no sense, sorry.
Tonker: Sad to say that this is pretty much the end. I am writing one last chapter but I don't
want to follow them through out their whole lives, it would be over kill... Though I've enjoyed
working on this more than I ever thought I would.
I doubt Cartoon Network will ever show season five, though I wish they would. I do know
a fair amount about it and I think the Three Lights/Sailor Stars are the whole reason it wont
make US TV. But than I am not to fond of how we over edit everything here...
We sound a like in respect to talkativeness. My friends have commented on the fact that
when I first meet them I seem to never speak, and I lose contact very easily due to not
picking up a phone. On the other hand I write like crazy on these responces and in
email... Odd. Oh, and my college is moving... Now I am going to try to transfer to the
one I work at. On the upside I'd get a discount on books and such.
Riva van Dyk: At least the couch thing sounds better than my old roommates floor cleaning
logic. Try to picture an army barracks room, roughly the size of a small bedroom with three
bunks. Two bunks are on top of each other and one is on the obisite wall. Under our bunks
we have to line up our footware (Run shoes, combat boots than dress shoes). Now we spend
countless hours cleaning dress shoes and polishing combat boots, in fact my friends here
at home think it's obsessive. My roommate takes a squirt bottle of floor wax, doesn't move any
of the shoes, than takes an electric buffer to the floor. Liquid floor wax all over three pairs of
dress shoes, three pairs of combat boots and my jungle boots... Don't give mechanics cleaning
duties, we do weird things... or maybe just weird in my mind.
Amy McClair: Thanks for pointing out the error, I'll change it as soon as I get a chance. Also
thank you for all the advice about the wedding... I feel like I skipped over a lot saddly.
jubilee77: Thanks for the review. I guess I just worry a bit about length, feeling like I am not
being detailed enough.
Kuro no Kaze: Thank you for the review, and for not minding the chapter length. I promise
the last chapter will have a bit more interaction between the two... Part of that was that I
wanted to show parts of things going on that I felt worked better with them in different
places... And also I wanted to use a few of those nice little suporting characters that
often get lost after one chapter.
Thats tonight's update.