-laughs- Please don't hate me, this isn't the last chapter either. The next one should be, though. ;; (I know, I know, I keep saying that. lol)
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The next morning dawned the same as the last, but with the most wonderful prospect of a new beginning. Hotaru dressed, and went down to the kitchen, where she found Serenity and Bulma.
"Good morning minna-chan." Hotaru greeted them with a smile. Bulma smiled, and waved her cooking flat but Serenity just looked up at her, and Hotaru noticed her eyes glistening with tears.
"Would you like some french toast?" Bulma asked cheerily.
"Sure." Hotaru replied, sitting next to Serenity, who was heartily eating two pieces of the french toast Bulma had made already. Bulma sat down a plate in front of her and Hotaru began to help herself to the fresh stack of french toast Bulma had placed on the table.
"Milady?" Hotaru asked mildly, hoping to get some kind of response from Serenity.
"The baby kicked. It's not supposed to be able to kick." Serenity frowned, some tears running down her cheeks.
"Well..." Hotaru started, but stopped at the accusatory look on Serenity's face.
"Did you do this?" Serenity asked quietly.
"I, uh, would you-"
"It's a yes or no question, Hotaru." Serenity cut her off curtly.
"Yes, yes I did." Hotaru lifted her chin in defiance, and stuffed her mouth full of syrup-y french toast pieces.
"Thank you." Serenity's face slid into a slow smile, and several more tears escaped the confines of her eyes. Hotaru swallowed her food quickly, forming a pain in her throat that would dissipate quickly.
"Anything for you, my queen. After all, wasn't it you who gave me a chance to be with my father again?" Hotaru gave Serenity a warm smile, and when she had finished her food, Serenity cleared her plate. She hugged Hotaru and left the room.
"Well, that went a little better than I thought it would." Hotaru said, smiling. Soon after the rest of the group decided to join them and the kitchen became cozy with morning talk and grumbling about it being to early to be out of bed. After finishing her breakfast, Hotaru gave Trunks a quick kiss, and then headed up to her room to wait for Rini, who she was going to give the grand tour. Then they were going to order the bridesmaids dresses and the wedding gown.
"Wow, Ms. Bulma is such a good cook!" Rini said, entering the room. Hotaru smiled at her.
"Well, let's start your grand tour, whaddaya say?" Hotaru grinned. Rini's eyes got real wide, and her face spread into a huge smile.
"Yes yes yes!" She was just like the little sister Hotaru had never had. Hotaru and Rini set off, Rini a tad bit behind Hotaru, as they went into a tour of the grand mansion that Bulma, Vegeta, and Trunks lived in.
"This floor, the third, is where all of the bedrooms are located, except the master suite. My room, Trunk's room, and the "honey moon suite" as Bulma likes to call it, are located on this floor, along with many of the other guest rooms. About 10 total, not including the suite." Hotaru said. They wandered into the suite, which Hotaru and Trunks had already begun to repaint and decorate as their own.
"As you can see, Trunks and I are going to move in here once we're married." Hotaru smiled.
"I do see. And it looks like it'll be wonderful." Rini agreed with a grin.
"Moving down to the second floor, this is where the master suite is located, as well as the excercise room, a spare bathroom, a wash room, and a game room den sort of thing." Hotaru showed Rini each of these rooms briefly, and they went downstairs again.
"This first floor is for the family room, formal living and dining rooms, the den, and the kitchen. There's a powder room down here, too." Hotaru told Rini. But Rini was already looking to the hallway marked "Eastern Wing".
"What's down there?" Rini asked before Hotaru could tell her.
"That's Bulma's company, Capsule Corp." Hotaru said. "Unfortunately, I don't believe I'm authorized to give you a tour of that, however, I'm sure if you asked Bulma really nicely, she'd give you one, and maybe a free capsule." Hotaru smiled lightly.
"Nice. Is there anything else?" Rini asked innocently.
"No, I believe that's it." Hotaru said thoughtfully, then nodded. "That's it, yes. Now, to go and order those gowns.." and the two of them headed hastily back up the stairs toward the master suite to meet the rest of the wedding posse.
Bulma, Serenity, Michiru, and Setsuna were sitting on the master bed when they got back upstairs.
"Setsuna!" Hotaru exclaimed when they saw her.
"Puu!" Rini yelled, launching herself into the older woman's arms.
"Now, now. I know you haven't seen me for a while, but that's no reason to attack me." Setsuna smiled.
"It's been a long time since I've seen you." Hotaru smiled warmly at her surrogate mother.
"You have a lot to do. Why don't we get started?" Setsuna suggested.
"Of course." Hotaru and Rini sat down on the huge, plush bed, and they all opened the magazine.
"This is what I picked out for you guys. I hope you like it." Hotaru blushed a little. The dresses she gestured to were gorgeous; they started out silver, with 3 inch wide sleeves that held to the arms at the very edge of the shoulders. They were form fitting, up until the mid-thigh, which was where they opened up ever so slightly. They faded to gold, and where they opened up, the design became pleats that spun out when they twirled. All of the girls gasped when they saw them—they were beautiful dresses. Hotaru had chosen very well.
"What does your wedding gown look like, Hotaru?" Rini asked. Everyone laughed a little bit, because Rini was still such a small lady.
"It looks exactly like your bridesmaid's gowns, only it's white. And it has roses embroidered at the waist, in white thread. The satin is bunched a little, on my shoulders and chest, too, and instead of a full back, like you guys have, I have a lace-up back that starts about mid-lower back." Hotaru said, smiling.
"Wow, that sounds amazing!" Rini said, her voice sounded like she was off in her own world, imagining Hotaru in that dress.
"Thank you." Hotaru said, blushing; she was imagining the way Trunks would look at her in that dress. The girls sat there, talking and giggling for a while. Finally, Serenity was the one to end the fun.
"I must retire to my room. I need my rest." she smiled warmly at Hotaru.
"Just remember to be ready to leave around eight tomorrow morning." Michiru reminded the queen.
"Eight tomorrow morning?" Serenity questioned.
"Yes, that's when the dress fittings are going to be. Don't worry, you'll still look beautiful, even pregnant. And when your pregnancy is over, we can have the dress re-fitted so that you can still wear it." Hotaru informed her. Serenity smiled broadly.
"What would I do without you girls?" she asked, laughing a little bit.
"You'd go insane." Bulma said seriously. They all started laughing at that, and then they left for their separate rooms.
The next morning, at 7:30, they all gathered in the living room of the mansion. They all looked relatively tired, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Their faces were all glowing. Rini, Setsuna, Michiru, Bulma, and Serenity greeted Hotaru, who was the last to get to the living room. Trunks hadn't wanted her to get out of bed. Hotaru blushed.
"Are you all ready to leave?" she asked, embarrassed.
"What kept you, Hotaru-chan?" Bulma prodded.
"N-nothing!" she answered quickly, her face growing more red.
"Sure it was nothing." Bulma answered spinning around. "Alright ladies, it's out to the van for us!" she said excitedly, and headed out the front door. They all followed suit, and piled into the van. They got to the dress shop a little bit before eight. "Since I'm the last to have my dress fitted, why don't I swing by the corner store and get us all muffins and tea for breakfast?" Bulma offered.
"That would be wonderful!" Serenity smiled. Setsuna and Michiru nodded their agreement, simply murmuring "Arigatou."
"Awesome!" Rini exclaimed, grinning.
"Yes, thank you. But I'm actually the last fitting." Hotaru laughed.
"You knew what I meant." Bulma laughed, as well, and got back into the van to get muffins and tea for the girls. The rest of them entered the dress shop, and sat down in the seats near the front of the store while Hotaru approached the front desk.
"Hello, and welcome to Belle's Dress Emporium. How may I help you this morning?" the lady behind the counter asked.
"I actually have a fitting scheduled for my five bridesmaids and myself. It's scheduled for eight?" Hotaru asked. The lady flipped through her appointment book, nodded, and looked up.
"You're the one who chose 'Midnight Sky' for your bridesmaids dresses. You have impeccable tastes, that was my first ever publicized design. I shall be right back with those. My name's Belle, if you need anything else, please feel free to ask me, or my assistant." the woman gestured to a man, sitting behind a desk filling out paper work. His name tag read Aubrey.
"Thank you." Hotaru replied, bowing. She returned and sat with her friends, who were tiredly discussing what kind of sleep they'd gotten, with the exception of Rini, who was fidgeting with her hands, having too much energy to know what to do so early in the morning.
"So how did you sleep Hotaru?" Serenity turned to her, as she sat.
"I slept alright... Trunks was tossing and turning all night, as though he was having a rough time sleeping, so he kept waking me up on accident. But don't tell him, he'll get upset and start apologizing over and over and over." Hotaru smiled tiredly.
"Aw, you two are so cute." Michiru nudged Hotaru.
"Which of you lovely ladies is first to be fitted?" Aubrey asked, approaching them. Rini hopped up immediately.
"I'll go first." she answered without hesitation. She followed Aubrey as he lead her to the mirrored dais, where he would pin her dress accordingly. She put on the dress and shoes in the changing room just behind the dais and mirrors, and came out. Michiru gasped, Rini's hair had been let down.
"She does look beautiful, Serenity. She's growing into a fine young lady." Setsuna commented.
"She had three wonderful people raise her when I was gone." Serenity smiled wistfully.
"Nonsense, you were a wonderful mother." Michiru assured her, reading into the guilt she knew her queen felt at not always being around for her own child.
"Really?" Serenity asked, watching as her daughter spun around, admiring herself in the mirrors.
"Of course." Setsuna agreed easily.
"She's stealing my thunder." Hotaru laughed, a good-natured smile resting easily on her face. Bulma walked in a few moments later with everyone's food.
"Did someone order muffins and tea?" Bulma asked cheerfully.
"Mmm, yummy, thanks!" Serenity replied taking the muffin and tea that Bulma handed her.
"No problem." Bulma waved off the thanks. She passed out food to the rest of them, and when Rini returned, she handed her food as well. Serenity went up to fit her dress next. And so it went on. Each of the women looked wonderful in their dresses. Even pregnant Serenity looked wonderful. Then, Belle brought out Hotaru's dress.
"I believe it's your turn. I'll be fitting you while Aubrey records all of the alterations necessary to your bridesmaids gowns." Belle informed her.
"That's fine. I should be out of the dressing room shortly." Hotaru smiled. When she came back out of the dressing room, there was a collective gasp from the women in the front.
"Wow Hotaru, you look so beautiful!" Rini was the first to comment. Followed by, "You look gorgeous!" and "Oh, how pretty!" by the rest of the group.
It took a few short moments for Belle to fit the dress properly to Hotaru. Afterwards, Belle totaled the costs and time frame.
"It shouldn't take me more than a week to do all of these dresses for you. That will cost you 10,000 yen per dress." she told them.
"Whoa, that's a great price." Bulma said, surprised.
"Any discount for someone who has such good taste, and looks so beautiful in their gown." Belle smiled. Hotaru blushed.
"Thank you everyone. We really need to get back now, though. I have a lesson today." Hotaru said, and they thanked the lady, and left. They arrived back at the mansion shortly after, and Hotaru changed for her lesson with Vegeta.
After that day, a week went by pretty fast. And after they picked up the dresses, the next week went by even faster. The rehearsal dinner was that Friday night.
"Can you believe it? You're getting married tomorrow." Hotaru looked at Bulma, who'd just reminded her of the obvious.
"Yeah, it seems so unreal." Hotaru replied, watching as everyone ate. "But at the same time, I'm really excited."
"I can see why." she smiled knowingly, glancing at Vegeta. When he saw her smiling at him, he blushed and looked away.
"Baka." he mumbled. Just then, Michiru started to clank on her glass with her spoon.
"I'd like to make a toast." she said, rising. Everyone was now looking at her. Michiru smiled at Hotaru, who was looking at her confused.
"Michiru?" she asked. But the girl ignored her.
"I've known Hotaru for ages. When she went missing, we were all worried. We love her so much. I finally find her, only to realize we're all losing her again, this time to Trunks." Michiru paused, gathering her bearings. "There's nothing more precious to me than Hotaru's happiness, and I'm glad she finally found someone who feels the same way." Michiru smiled down at Hotaru, whose eyes had begun to pool with tears. "Cheers." Everyone began to clap, and Hotaru blushed, embarrassed at such caring words. Her wedding was tomorrow. She would be surrounded by those that she loved. For once, she was the happiest she'd ever been.