We finally come to the end! There were two chapters posted yesterday, so don't miss the previous one! I hope everyone enjoys it. If I have missed anything, please let me know so that I can correct it. Thank you all for sticking with me. And now….
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!.
The next morning, Catherine had found that Lory had made an appointment, a week ago, at the Japanese consulate to have her affidavit signed so that she could get married. When that was done, Julie and Kuu immediately took her over to the municipal government office to meet with Ren, Kyoko and Yashiro so that they could add Catherine to Yashiro's family registry. Once the paper work was signed and copies were made, Julie whisked Catherine and Kyoko away so that Kuu and Ren could take Yashiro away for the bachelor party Lory had set up.
Lory had arranged for the girls of the bridal party to spend the rest of the day at a spa. Julie, Kyoko, and Catherine met up with Kanae and Chiori for a nice relaxing evening. Nothing was over looked; the girls were given massages followed by manicures, pedicures, facial, and everything else that would help the women relax before the big day tomorrow. Catherine had spent most of the day trying to keep her blood pressure down. She should have known that something was up. Lory and Julie had asked her so many questions about Kyoko's wedding. They wanted her opinion on everything, and it had been Julie's insisting that made Catherine go against her doctor's suggestions and go on the trip. Of course, it had not taken much to convince her to come; she did really want to see Yashiro again. The shanghaied woman listened to the other women in the room with her as they relaxed.
"Did you at least pick out a nice dress for me?" The girls giggled and assured her they had. She sighed. They were all in on it. Catherine relaxed back and let the women's excitement carry her away.
The next day started early when Jelly came over to do the girl's hair and makeup. Catherine had not corrected the color of her hair from where she had dyed it on the run and the red had faded to a much softer strawberry blonde so the makeup artist skillfully changed Catherine's hair back to the original color. Kyoko had opted to keep the color that she was best known for and Jelly styled her short loose hair so that it framed her face. Not much of her hair would be seen once Julie had attached the tiara and vale to her head. The styling of Catherine's hair would have to wait until she had put her dress on. There was no way to get the garment up over her growing girth.
Most of the preparation was spent in getting Kyoko into the elaborate dress that Julie had come up with. They were all glad for the additional hands of the bride's maids while they worked with the massive amounts of material. Kyoko was amazed at the multiple layers that the dress contained. It kind of reminded her of the fair dress that Catherine had gotten her into when they had taken care of the woman. It fact, it was very similar. There was a chemise of cotton that Kyoko slipped on under everything. The sleeves of this garment were made of a transparent white gossamer material. It clung close around her upper arm and fell away in long folds to an opening at the wrist that hung to the girls knees. When she held her arms out, the sleeves formed large flowing triangles. The main skirt was made with a white beaded pintuck dupioni silk. The back was covered over from hip to hip with the same gossamer material of the sleeves. Kyoko marveled at the little glass beads that could be seen in the center of each of the diamonds of the skirt. The bottom edge of the outer layer of the skirt and the lower half of the sleeves were embroidered with a scattering of delicate cherry blossoms, faintly pink in color. Kyoko was glad for the long chemise when Julie pulled out the vast amounts of crinoline that was needed to give the skirt the proper fullness. The entire thing was held in place by a Victorian style corseted made of a white silk. The cherry blossom motif was pulled over into this fabric too. The front of the corset came to a point in the center and rose high over Kyoko's hips to create an elegant princes cut to the dress that made Kyoko giddy. Kyoko grumbled about the metal stays as Catherine helped Julie tighten the top correctly. All of the women laughed at her as Catherine pulled the last knot tight and tucked the ends of the stings into the lacing on Kyoko's back. It was going to take very skilled fingers to get the knots that Catherine tied loose. Catherine chuckled as she thought of Ren's frustrations as he tried to get his love out of the garment tonight. Coupling the unyielding corset with the thigh high stocking Kyoko wore ensured that they lovers would have a very interesting night indeed.
When all of the finessing of Kyoko's dress was done, Kyoko turned to look at herself in the mirror. Tears formed in her eyes, she looked as if she had stepped from a fairytale. The dress could have easily been worn by any number of princesses that Kyoko could name. It was all she could do to hold back the tears as Jelly placed the girl in her chair and settled the silver and diamond tiara on the young woma's head. The teardrop shaped crystal dangling in the center could have been Princess Rose's twin, except it was sky blue. Ren had picked this jewel out and requested it be added to the crown for the young woman. He knew it would make her unspeakably happy, and it did. The final finishing touched were the vale, embroidered with still more cherry blossoms, and a pair of white satin slippers. They had opted out of the heels that would raise her closer to Ren's height due to the soft surface that she would be walking on. Now that Kyoko was ready, Jelly and Julie turned to the other girls.
It did not take long for the bride's maids to get into their dresses. The strapless princess cut bodices and full skirts were a soft pink in color and missed the ground by about a foot. They had silk slippers like Kyoko's and matching half coats to cover their shoulders in the cool spring air. It took Jelly no time to style the girl's hair loosely and painted on their makeup. The only person left was the pregnant woman who they had saved for last.
Catherine's dress slipped on easily over her head and the beaded top clung across her chest supported by the very short petal like sleeves. The high waistline sat above her belly so that it would not bind her uncomfortably. Julie had chosen a style that the pregnant woman could wear even if she had been much larger in the middle. The multiple layers of thin iridescent pearl material hung in folds down her body to just short of the floor. The back was longer and trailed behind the woman as she walked. Julie had this dress embroidered with more cherry blossoms of a pink that was darker than the ones on Kyoko's dress, but not quite as deep in shade as the dresses of the bride's maids. Julie finished her look off with the silver calla lilies that Catherine had worn when Lory had arranged her and Yashiro's first 'date'. She also wore the silver anklet that the man had given her. It was a little tight on her pregnancy swollen ankles, but she had not taken it off since well before Kyoko was moved to the villa. She also wore soft silk slippers of a pink that matched the petals on her dress. Jelly set Catherine's blonde hair in a neat French twist held into place with pins and live cherry blossoms.
"What's with all the petals?" Catherine asked as she noticed the continuing theme throughout the bridal party. Catherine had been subject to most of the details about the wedding, but she could not pull out why they had included these flowers over everything from her memories. Kyoko and Julie giggled. They had kept the location of the wedding a secret to surprise their friend.
"You'll see." Julie said in a sing-song voice. Kanae rolled her eyes at the odd woman while Kyoko and Chiori giggled again. Catherine decided that it was just best for her blood pressure to let the girls have their fun and sweep her along for the ride.
Yashiro woke up with a groan as he rolled out of the chair that he had passed out in. The party that Lory and Kuu had put together for the grooms had been vicious. It had started out fairly tame, but quickly spiraled out of control as only something backed by Lory could. The geisha that kept plying the men with sake had been a nice touch at the beginning, but things got a bit fuzzier when midnight hit and the Brazilian strippers came out. Yashiro lay on the floor and pressed his memory to see if he could pull anything else out from the pain and only got snatches of Con dancing with what could only be an anaconda and Kuu and Ren singing karaoke. He was sure that he had put in a few songs too, but he could not remember them. He just prayed that there were no cameras around, but being that this was set up by Lory, that prayer was not likely to come true.
Yashiro ventured to crack an eye into the blinding morning light to see if there were any other survivors around. His eye fell on a larger form on the floor a few feet away from him. It took Yashiro a few minutes to puzzle out that it was Ren on his back in front of the couch that he had indubitably fallen asleep on then fallen off of. The man had one leg bent up resting on the furniture and the large snake from last night curled up on top of him. Yashiro closed his eyes again and waited for his life to end. He fell asleep again only to be woken up to someone petting through his hair. His mind turned to the woman that he loved only to come to the conclusion that it could not be her. He was still face down on the floor at one of Lory's mansion. He rolled over and pushed his glasses back into place before opening his eyes to meet dark face of Lory's young orangutan. The scream that issued from the man startled the creature as it bolted away from him screaming in return. This din woke the rest of the hung-over occupants of the room.
Groans issued from both Ren and Con as they sat up. The snake hissed at Ren as he pushed her off his chest. Con woke up with a little more dignity. He had at least stayed on the chair that he had fallen asleep on, but he was curled up in it with one leg over the arm and his head on the other. The sailor waved away the camel that was trying to eat his hair. The three men sat up and looked around at the chaos left from last night. The only part of Lory's menagerie that was not here was the tiger, but Ren vaguely remembered Lory putting him away before the singing started. Much to the chagrin of the hung-over men, Kuu and Lory chose that moment to make a very noisy entrance.
"Good morning gentlemen!" All three groaned at the cheer in Lory's voice. "It is time to get started! Breakfast is on the table and if we don't get moving, you boys will not make your wedding." Lory stood back and watched the guys move from where they had passed out. Kuu stood back with a big bowl of oatmeal and watched. Ren and Yashiro wondered how they could be so chipper after last night. The men dragged themselves up from the floor and staggered after their host to a breakfast filled with coffee, eggs, bacon, toast, B12, and lots of aspirin. After they had put something into their stomachs, mostly coffee and toast, the men went to get showers and changed for the wedding. The ceremony was set for early afternoon and they had about 2 hours till they needed to be on the road there.
Con, Lory, and Kuu were sitting in the main room when Ren finally made his way down from getting dressed. The hot water had done a fair job reviving him, but he was thankful for the sports drink that Lory had placed in the bedroom while he showered. He sat down with the other men and waited for his manager to make his appearance, but Yashiro never came out. They gave the man as much time as they could afford before going and looking for him. What they found alarmed them greatly.
Ren opened the door to the bedroom that Yashiro had been given to find his manager asleep, face down on the bed, wrapped in a towel. It was obvious that the man had tried to revive himself in the shower, but it had not worked well. Since it was really Yashiro's wedding, Kuu and Lory had gotten the man to drink more than his fair share the night before and he was feeling it now. Ren chuckled as he walked over to his unmoving manager and tapped him. Yashiro only groaned in response.
"Come on, it's time to get moving." Ren tapped him again.
"Just tell them I have died and would like white lilies at the funeral." Yashiro moaned into the bed.
"Nope." Ren answered and the four men descended on the manager. In no time they had stripped him of his towel and were pouring him into his tuxedo. Once dressed, they practically carried the limp man to the waiting limo.
Lory had been all over the Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens looking for the perfect place for the backdrop to the wedding, and the light pink cherry trees that he had chosen were in full bloom. The sky was just overcast with no sign of rain, and it gave an almost ethereal quality to the area. It was the perfect setting for the public wedding of Japan's top actor. They had tried to keep the location on the wedding a secret, but it was hard to hide the preparations in such a public place, so there were many onlookers, but not knowing it was the actor's wedding, they kept their distance out of respect for the couple to be.
When the girls arrived via limo, everything was ready for them. Somehow Lory and Kuu had managed to get the grooms into a presentable state by pressing them with sports drinks, B12, and in Yashiro's case a plastic bag filled with crushed ice. Julie, Jelly, and the bridesmaids got out and went to the gathering to make the final preparations for the arrival of the brides. Kyoko and Catherine sat in the limo and watched the growing crowd.
"I did not think there would be so many people here." Kyoko remarked as she looked at the chairs slowly filling up.
"I suspect that most of those people are either other actors that know you and Ren or paparazzi and reporters covering the wedding." Catherine answered as she looked at the number of cameras in the audience. "Lory probably expected the wedding to be mobbed and supplied seating so it would not get out of hand."
"But, he said that he was not going to announce where we were holding the wedding." Kyoko tried to work it out.
"True, but a good reporter can smell something like this from miles away." Catherine laughed. "Like sharks can smell a drop of blood in the water." Kyoko laughed as she imagined all of the camera carrying people as sharks. The two girls joked and laughed for a few minutes longer until everything was settled and Kuu and Lory came to escort the brides to the part.
"Are you ladies ready?" Kuu asked when he opened to the door. Kyoko and Catherine nodded as they made sure nothing has slipped during the car ride over. Lory held out his hand for Catherine to take and pulled her first from the limo. She was blinded by the flash of cameras as she was handed her bouquet and took Lory's arm. The flashed were even more dazzling as Kyoko stepped from the car and took the arm of her adopted father for the walk down the aisle. Ren and Yashiro looked at their beautiful brides in amazement. Just seeing the girls walking towards them did more for their hangovers then any amount of B12 and aspirin could. It only took a few minutes before the brides stood at the alter next to their grooms with their matching bouquets of white roses and cherry blossoms. Catherine looked up into Yashiro's slightly blood shot eyes and smiled at him.
"Did you have a good time at your party?" She asked softly. Yashiro blushed lightly and rubbed the back of his neck, but did not answer. The preacher had started into the standard wedding ceremony. Near the end of the ceremony, Catherine flinched slightly then pulled the hand she was hold down and laid it on her stomach. Yashiro's eyes widened as he felt the baby kicking for the first time. He was no longer paying attention to the man speaking in front of him and Kyoko nudged him in the back when he missed the most important question. Yashiro turned back to the man as he asked Yashiro for the second time if he took Catherine to be his wife. Catherine giggled at the stammered "I do" and gave the same answer when asked of her.
"I now pronounce you man and wife. Gentlemen, you may now kiss your brides." The preacher announced and the two couples turned to each other. Ren wrapped Kyoko up in his arms tightly for a long kiss, but Yashiro took a little more care with his delicate bundle as he held Catherine gently for their kiss. The wind picked that moment to gust through the trees and loose hundreds of petals to rain softly down on the couples. Lory wiped a tear from his eye; he could have not asked more a more perfect beginning to the rest of their lives.
Author's note: I did not think anyone would notice that chapter 3 was missing this far into the story.. you caught my Autumn Amber... I lumped chapter 2 and 3 together after I posted them becasue they were so much shorter then the rest of the sections. I was trying to make the begining less tedious to read. As soon as I can' I will go back and renumber the chapters... Thanks.