July 6, 1991
3:14 PM

His eyes taking in the crowd of people staring at him, Hoshi began his slow walk down the red carpet aisle, balancing two mahogany jewelry boxes on a white satin pillow. He wore a black tuxedo, his black hair slicked back with gel. On his lapel was pinned a white rosebud and a single sprig of green hydrangea, intended to match his mother’s bouquet. As he reached the foot of the ramp, he saw several of his Auntie Ranko’s friends from cheerleading seated in the back row. He didn’t recognize most of them, but he remembered Shiori from Ranko’s birthday parties. The other side of the back row was full of women Hoshi didn’t know. Maybe some of Miss Akane’s friends? On the other side of the back row, the man who he’d seen holding hands with Miss Kasumi was seated, as were Hitomi and Emi, both in glittery jewel-tone dresses.

As Here Comes the Bride rained from the speakers overhead, Hoshi passed the second row of chairs. On his right, he recognized Ken sitting with a tall young man with blue hair that Hoshi didn’t know. One of the empty seats was probably for Jacob, who was standing off to the side playing the wedding march on his synthesizer on a folding metal stand. On his left, Shinji and Ariel were seated, as well as two women he didn’t know. One of them had bright green hair, and she was moving her hands strangely in the face of the brown-haired girl sitting next to her as if she was trying to tell her something without using any words.

He passed the front row, smiling brightly to his stepfather on his right. Next to him was his Uncle Kage, and Miss Sakura in a bright blue dress, and the two seats closest to the aisle were empty. Hoshi knew one of them was for him; he was supposed to sit down next to his dad once Auntie Ranko and Miss... Auntie Akane, he reminded himself, had taken the rings off of his pillow. On the other side, Auntie Ranko’s friend Kumiko sat in a light pink floral skater dress, next to Crash and Miss Ukyo. The last two seats were empty, reserved for Auntie Akane’s dad and Auntie Ranko’s other mom.

Hoshi finally made it to the top of the ramp and disembarked onto the wooden stage, stepping close to his grandmother. Hana squeezed him tight around the shoulders, whispering down to him. “Great job, little man.” Behind her stood a small wooden podium with a huge empty glass vase on it, and a microphone stand was set at the very front left corner of the stage, out of the way of the walking path.

Every head in the audience turned as Kasumi walked down the aisle behind him in her lavender gown, a bouquet of fragrant freesia cradled in her arms. Crash and Dr. Tofu both snapped pictures as fast as their little disposable film cameras could click, and just as Kasumi passed the front row of seats on her ascent, her sister Nabiki emerged from the curtain Kaito had hung around the bar area in a matching dress of vibrant orange. Leaving two meters of space between them, Kasumi took a position to Hana’s right, waving to the good doctor in the third row from the stage. She beamed down at Nabiki as the younger girl ascended the ramp, cradling a bundle of orange calla lilies. Nabiki took a position to her right, and Kasumi only stopped smiling at her when the chorus of gasps from the assembled guests alerted her to the arrival of her other sister.

Every person in the bar room chairs stood and turned to face the back bar, as Soun Tendo emerged from behind the curtain in his white tuxedo. Holding his right elbow in her left hand, with a huge bundle of flowers crooked in her right, the first of the wedding’s two brides simply radiated excitement. What a day it had already been for her and Ranko, and forever was but a few heartbeats away now.

Akane’s dress came to the middle of her calves, supported by a single layer of puffy lace underneath. The whole of it was done in a shimmering white satin, with large puffy round sleeves bunched around both of her forearms. The dress had a keyhole neckline exposing a bit of her upper chest, clasped at her throat with a sparkling white faux jewel that matched the ones in the silver tiara she wore. A walking slit made its way up her right leg to her knees, itself trimmed in white lace to help close the gap as she moved. The apron-style dress was cinched about her waist with a wide silvery-white sash, tied in a large bow at the small of her back. She wore a pair of diamond stud earrings and her mother’s pearls, which peeked out through the keyhole on her chest.

The bouquet she carried consisted of twelve long-stemmed white roses surrounding four purple freesia and four orange calla lilies, representing her two sisters. It was stuffed liberally with sprigs of white baby’s breath, and tied together with a simple white satin ribbon.

To the clicking of half a dozen disposable cameras and the rhythm of Here Comes the Bride, Akane stepped forward with her left leg, bringing her right forward to match with each step. Her father did the same. It took her nearly a minute for Akane to pass through the gap in the three rows of her family and friends, wishing she had a free hand to wave to them. As it was, she could only smile in response, but she made sure every single person in the audience got a smile of their very own.

She felt like she could fly.

Akane’s father escorted her onto the stage, and she took a position to Hana’s immediate right. Soun lifted her left hand in his own, kissing the back of it. He flashed her a fawning smile before descending the stairs to stage left and taking a seat in the first row as the assembled guests took their seats again as well.

Hana leaned down to Akane with a giddy smile, whispering to her. “You look amazing, honey.”

Akane blushed, fidgeting with her feet a bit. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Hi, Auntie Akane!” Hoshi waved to her with his free hand, still supporting the pillow.

As Hana shushed him, Akane waved back with a loving grin. “Hey there, Hoshi. You’re so handsome,” she whispered excitedly.

The speakers fell silent, and every head turned back to the gap between the two black curtains that had been draped around the bar counters from the ceiling.

As the first notes of his piano re-arrangement of You’re My Song began to flow from Jacob’s fingertips, Ayako emerged from behind the bar in her striking red dress. It, like Kasumi and Nabiki’s before it, had a square neckline and sheer sleeves running the length of her arms to the wrists. Her jet-black hair was curled in bouncy waves, draped mostly over her right shoulder. The corset-style waist tapered into a puffy organza skirt in a slightly lighter red that just reached her knees, and a cluster of three silk pink flowers rested above her left breast. She held a dozen bright red tulips in her hands. She took the walk down the aisle a bit more quickly than Akane’s sisters had. Leaving two meters of space to Hana’s left, Ayako stood on that side next to her mother.

Behind her came Yui, in an extremely bright yellow dress in the same style, a bundle of twelve daisies in her arms. She wore a long silver necklace with a gold heart dangling from it, an anniversary gift from Sakura, and a pair of gold stud earrings. Under her sleeves, she wore a pair of beige arm warmers that Izumi had made for her, obscuring the scars up her forearms from view under the sheer sleeves. The wraps themselves were camouflaged against her skin under the sleeves, making it nearly impossible to notice them. She wore a pair of yellow five-centimeter heels.

As Yui took her place to Ayako’s left, Izumi appeared from behind the curtain in her mint-colored gown, green-tinged hydrangea overflowing her left arm. Radiant as ever, she blew a kiss to her husband in the first row before she reached the top of the ramp, and gave her son a slight wave and a toothy smile of pride as she passed his spot in front of Hana and joined her sisters.

That left Mei, who bounced gleefully out of the space between the two bar counters in her deep blue dress. The cerulean organza flounced around her legs as she moved on her ten-centimeter chunky heels. She bore a bundle of long, straight shoots of delphinium in a brilliant blue. Her hair, for once not in her trademark twin pigtails, was instead in two large buns behind her ears, each pinned in place with a jade chopstick.

Again, everyone that was seated stood and turned to face the corner of the main bar. On any other night, a raucous crowd would have been lined up four deep there to order their Dragonfires and pizzas.

It was not any other night.

Ranko looked up at her mother behind the black curtain Kaito had hung around the bar counter, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly through her mouth. “Here we go.”

She stepped forward, first the left leg, then joining it with the right. Her flowing satin dress, puffing out around her waist supported by her slip and two layers of tulle petticoats, came just a centimeter from the floor, permitting only the slightest glimpse of her short white heels when she walked. The stiff shell of faux pearls encasing her torso caught every beam of light and reflected it, as did the shimmery bits of glitter and silver thread in her skirt, so she sparkled just a little differently with every step. Both of her hands were wrapped around a bouquet of twenty flowers that she held at her waist, with Nodoka clinging onto her left elbow.

Like Akane’s, her bouquet had twelve white roses in it, but instead of four flowers representing each of her sisters, there were two each of Izumi’s green hydrangea, Mei’s blue delphinium, Yui’s yellow daisies and Ayako’s red tulips, the whole thing tied with a long white ribbon.

Nodoka accompanied her step-for-step in an unadorned white silk formal kimono tied with a wide silvery obi printed with a pattern of little white flowers. Her long auburn hair was back in a tight bun supported by two silver chopsticks, as the comb she would have normally used for such an occasion now crowned her daughter’s hair half a meter to her right.

“Who the hell is that,” Kumiko asked the blond man in the black suit sitting to her right in a whisper.

“It’s Ranko’s mom. Her rea… her birth mom.” Crash beamed. He knew, perhaps more than anyone outside of Ranko’s family, just how much the failed attempts at connection with Nodoka had hurt his friend. “They must’ve worked their shit out, I guess.”

Kumi grinned with joy for her best friend. “I’m glad.” She winced, remembering the video camera in her hand. She’d borrowed it from her dad for the weekend, and she’d not considered that it was picking up her conversation as it recorded the bridal procession.

“Holy shit, Mom.” Akane’s eyes were like saucers as the vision that was her bride appeared around the corner.

Hana chuckled, remembering the conversation they’d had when Akane first saw Ranko as a bridesmaid at Izumi’s wedding. “I know, right? And just look how happy she is. Have you ever seen her glow like that before?”

Indeed, as every person waiting in the three rows of chairs got their own moment of eye contact, their own smile, and the opportunity to snap a picture, Ranko positively radiated excitement. And contentment. And hope. But once everyone standing in front of their seats had gotten their moment, the true focus of Ranko’s heart became clear.

Ranko took the last twelve steps without breaking eye contact with Akane, willing herself not to even blink. She wanted to experience every nanosecond of the moment she could get, beaming absolute devotion and infatuation through her eyes at her stunning bride. Damn, Izumi, you really brought it on her dress, too. She’s amazing. Gods, Akane. We made it. We’re here. It’s been a hell of a day, but nobody can stop us. Nobody. You and me, we’re invincible. We’re destiny. We’re forever, silly girl.

Nodoka released her daughter’s arm at the top of the ramp, descending it and walking around the group of chairs to take her seat beside Soun.

Ranko couldn’t help but giggle as she found herself alone at the top of the carpeted ramp, taking one final step closer to Akane to land on the stage proper. She had stood on this stage hundreds, maybe thousands, of times, but never, never had it felt like this.

Akane blushed as she followed Ranko’s eyes taking in every centimeter of her, giving her a little wave without moving her elbows. “Hey there, princess.”

Ranko’s blush had not stopped since she exited the curtain, but it found a deeper shade still at Akane’s greeting, which somehow felt even more appropriate today than it had when she’d portrayed Ariel at Disneyland. Maybe it was because this time, Akane meant her, and not a character she was playing. “Hey there yourself, beautiful.” Ranko took her place to her mother’s left, within arm’s reach of her bride, reaching across Hana’s body to give Akane’s hand a quick squeeze. To hell with the traditions, she wanted to kiss that girl so damn bad. Just a few more minutes, Ranko. A few more minutes until eternity.

Once Ranko was in her position, Mei slid out from her spot at the back of the line her sisters made. She picked up the microphone stand, walking behind the line of her four sisters to place it just behind Hana, and switched it on. The stand projected the boom out between Ranko and Hana’s shoulders, so it could pick up all three women’s voices. This done, Mei resumed her place to Izumi’s left.

“Friends, family… welcome,” Hana began, already fighting back tears. “We’re here today because these two incredible young women did an amazing thing. Something that many of us only dream of doing, and the luckiest of us only get once in our lifetimes. Something that everyone outside this room told them was impossible. But, if there is anything I know about Akane and Ranko, it’s that impossible is not in either of their vocabularies. And so, with the whole world telling them no, they followed their hearts, and they were led to this place, on this day, with all of us. We who love them have gathered here with them to celebrate Akane and Ranko having conquered the impossible together, and fallen in love.”

“Wow,” Kaito whispered to Kage. “That was… strong. Ma really put herself into this, huh?”

“So, here’s the thing about marriage, girls,” Hana continued, her eyes alternating between the two brides as she spoke. “It’s tough, but not as tough as you are. It’s sweet, but not as sweet as the love you have for each other is. It’s fragile, but as long as you both protect and cherish it, it will last forever. It’s a long road, but every step of it is easier with the person you love by your side, cheering you on, helping you up when you fall, and keeping a song in your heart the whole way. It’s a quest, but the reward is the journey, not the destination. It’s putting your partner first, but knowing you’ll have everything you need because they’re putting you first, too. It’s a partnership, an unbreakable team that meets every challenge, celebrates every victory and mourns every defeat as one. It is the greatest, hardest, most exciting and fulfilling adventure either of you will ever undertake, and it’s the only one that never ends. Because this isn’t a movie, and today isn’t the end of your love story. It’s just the beginning. So, Akane, Ranko… are you ready for that adventure?”

Akane beamed, her hands shaking around her bouquet. “I am.”

Ranko giggled as she gazed into Akane’s eyes, her excitement palpable in every breath. “Me, too!” She could barely stand still.

Akane swiveled at the waist, handing her bouquet off to Kasumi, who held it in the hand opposite her own flowers. Ranko did the same, passing her flowers off to Ayako, and then both brides reached across Hana’s body in the little white floral archway and joined hands.

“Akane,” Hana said, turning her head to the right and smiling warmly at the newest addition to her haphazard, unorthodox little family. “Do you take Ranko to be your wife? To be your partner in the good times and the bad times? To be your confidante and your best friend, no matter what comes? Do you promise to love, cherish, and protect her, and only her, for the rest of your days?”

Akane beamed up into her radiant lover’s eyes, not letting go of Ranko’s hands with either of hers, and thus letting the tear trickling down her right cheek flow unabated to her chin. She gave an emphatic nod. “I do. Oh, gods, I do.”

Ranko’s mother nodded with a wide grin. “Good. You’d better, or you’re in trouble, girl.” A smattering of laughter arose from the wedding guests, and from the positively electrified redhead whose gaze Hana now met. Ranko bounced on the balls of her feet, her hands jittering in Akane’s palms. It had already been the best day of her young life, and it was seconds away from becoming so, so much better.

Hana smiled lovingly down at her youngest daughter. How good it felt to see such bliss in those blue eyes that Hana had seen carry so much sorrow. “Ranko, do you take Akane…”

“Yes.”

The officiant laughed. “I think you should probably let me get through the whole thing, Ranko.”

The ebullient bride positively glowed as her eyes returned to Akane’s. “Does it have the word wife in it somewhere? ‘Cause if so, yes.”

Akane giggled brightly, as did several of their guests and more than one of their bridesmaids. “Let her finish, silly girl.”

Ranko nodded, still bouncing in place with nervous energy and exhilaration as her mother spoke. “As I was saying,” Hana said as the guests laughed again. “Ranko, do you take Akane to be your wife? To be your partner in the good times and the bad times? To be your confidante and your best friend, no matter what comes? Do you promise to love, cherish, and protect her, and only her, for the rest of your days?”

Ranko’s eyes sparkled as she stood silent, holding Akane’s hands gently. My gods, it’s really happening. Please don’t pinch me. I don’t ever want to wake up from this dream. I want to stay right here in this moment with you until the end of time.

“Ranko?” Hana waved her hand in front of her daughter’s eyes.

“What, now you’re in a hurry?” Ranko giggled, and she was joined by most of the people in attendance. She released Akane’s right hand with her left, raising it to her fiancee’s cheek in the last moment she could use that word to describe her, feeling a tear drip onto her fingertips.

“I do. I really, really do.”

Hana reached forward, squeezing her daughter’s right wrist in wordless celebration. “Akane, you said you had some things you wanted to say to Ranko?”

Ranko blinked. Wait a damn minute, Akane! We didn’t rehearse this…

Akane flashed a wide smile up at her partner, pulling a slip of paper out from some unseen cranny of her dress and unfolding it, beginning to read aloud. Her voice was a little stilted for the first few words until she settled into the lines she had written the day before.

“Ranko, gods, where do I even start? The things we’ve been through, you and me. For the longest time, I never thought we’d actually make it here, even though it was all I could think about. But now, through whatever series of magic and miracles it took to get us here, we’re here. Getting to explore everyday life with you for the last two years has been the most amazing experience I could have ever dreamed of, and now, I get to do it for a whole lifetime. Everything we do, from a new album drop to a trip to the grocery store, is an adventure that I get to take with you, a chance to know you more, get closer to you, and to feel your love fill me up inside.

“I don’t know how you do it, but even though you’re the celebrity in the family, somehow, you make me feel like I’m the most special thing in the room. You are not just a star, Ranko. You’re my star - the thing my whole world orbits around. The source of all the light and warmth in my life. I love you so much, Ranko Tendo.”

Ranko blushed, mouthing I love you silently back to her. Hana’s eyes turned to her youngest daughter. In the front row, Akane’s father wiped a tear from his eye as he looked up at his three - now four - daughters beaming with love and pride. I made the right choice in blessing this. I’m sorry it took me so long to see how good she was for you, Akane.

Ranko swallowed hard. “Well, crap, now I’m gonna look like a huge jerk if I don’t say something.” Yui laughed off to Ranko’s left, and many of their guests joined her.

“I didn’t know we were doing our own vows; somebody decided to surprise me with that...” Ranko glared in mock anger at her bride. “... so I’m doing this live and it isn’t gonna be as pretty, I guess. Sorry if I ramble a little.” Her face was visibly crimson even through the untold layers of makeup her elder sister had applied.

She reached out for Akane’s hands again, and Akane could feel Ranko’s fingers trembling as they took hold.

“Akane, you… you… you really suck for putting me on the spot like this.”

The guests laughed loudly as Ranko sniffled, searching for a place to begin.

“It wasn’t too long ago that I was just… broken. Not like, a little messed up and not working quite right, but so far shattered that I didn’t even recognize myself anymore. I ran away from you, so you couldn’t hurt yourself on the sharp pieces. But you wouldn’t let me go. You came and you found me, and one by one you swept up all those little pieces of me and put me back together again. But not the way I was. You put parts of you in there, too, and built a better version of me. A softer one. A kinder one. One where I could be happy and have a little pride in myself, ‘cause even on the days where I was a complete disaster and the world was crumbling all around me and I hated everything about myself, I could look in the mirror and say, I can’t be all bad, ‘cause Akane loves me.”

She fidgeted slightly on her uncomfortable heels. “Every single part of my life - every single part of my heart - has your fingerprints on it. No song I write and no stage I step on is ever gonna make me as proud as I am of being yours. People tell me all the time how I’m getting better every day, but it’s not for me. Every day, I want to be better because you deserve it. Because I want you to be as proud of me as I am of you. You make me feel safe and warm. You make me feel whole, for the first time in my life.”

Ranko squeezed Akane’s hands even more tightly in her own. “People use the word love a lot. They say they love a song, a sports team, or their favorite sweater. But you? You taught me what the word love means, Akane. It means walking through hell and not being scared because you’re holding someone’s hand. It means being excited about the little things just as much as the big ones, just ‘cause you get to share ‘em. It means knowin’ you’ve got somebody who believes in you, even when you can’t find a way to believe in yourself. It means trust and devotion and desire and wonder and… ya know, lots of good stuff like that.”

Akane blushed, giggling slightly. And you said you weren’t good with words…

Ranko trembled, thinking about the events of that morning. What her father had tried to do to prevent this moment, and how stunned and mystified she still was by the fact that it hadn’t worked. That here, now, on her wedding day, she had been finally freed of the last, and most terrifying, element of her past that could come back to haunt her and threaten to get between them. The one guest she’d not invited had given her the best wedding present of all in the end. Her skin still burned from the experience, and she had far more questions than answers about how it had come to pass, but the soaring feeling in her heart drowned it out entirely. She never had to be anything else except a woman, and Akane’s wife, ever again.

“Akane, thank you for making me the girl I am. Thank you for making me the girl of your dreams, so I could get to stand here today and hold your hand. Thank you for letting me spend the rest of my life feeling like this. Thank you, Akane, for letting me love you. It’s the biggest, greatest thing I will ever do in my whole life.”

The last few words she spoke were punctuated by loud sobs coming from the front row, and Soun had to reach out to his left, putting his arm around Nodoka’s shoulders supportively as she cried.

Hana gave her daughter the proudest smile she could summon, before turning back to her duties at hand. “Akane and Ranko have decided to exchange rings, as symbols of their love and commitment to one another. Hoshi, honey?”

Hoshi stepped forward, holding the white satin pillow up with both hands, and Akane reached down to it. She picked up the wooden box on the left, opening it to make sure she’d taken the correct one. Confident she had, she nodded to Ranko, and the redheaded bride extended her quaking left hand to Akane.

Akane withdrew the silver ring from the box, handing the empty box to Hana. She slid the combined wrap and diamond solitaire just past Ranko’s fingernail, gazing lovingly into her eyes.

The wide silver ring wrap was etched all the way around the band with more parallel lines, expanding the musical staff custom-engraved on Ranko’s engagement ring to give it a higher and lower range. Dotted around the band were a series of clusters of notes - the synthesizer chords that accompanied Ranko’s guitar when she performed You’re My Song live - effectively adding a second instrument to the melody etched around her new wife’s finger. An eternal harmony.

“With this ring, Ranko, I take you as my wife, today, tomorrow, and forever.”

Akane pushed the ring the rest of the length of Ranko’s finger, sliding it into place.

Ranko reached down with her right hand, taking the second box from Hoshi’s pillow. As her nephew made his way down the ramp to join his father in the audience, Ranko opened the box and handed the empty container to Hana. As the box was slipped into Hana’s blazer pocket along with its mate, Ranko held the silver band out toward Akane’s outstretched finger. She nearly dropped it, her hands were trembling so badly.

The band was flat all the way around, more like a men’s wedding band than a traditional women’s wrap. Akane had chosen it so that she would not have to take it off when doing chiropractic and massage work, as most of the engaged and married women in her class did. It was inlaid along its full circumference with a narrow channel filled with alternating diamond and sapphire chips, a close match for the promise rings both brides wore on their right hands. Scrollwork roses bordered the channel of gems above and below. Ranko had long regretted having never gotten Akane a second engagement ring like she had received, but Akane had insisted that she wanted to wait for her wedding band. Three proposals felt like a bit much, even for her, and they had needed every bit of their limited wedding budget for other things.

“With this ring, Akane, I take you as my wife, today, tomorrow, and forever.”

Ranko slid the ring into position on Akane’s finger, and Akane emitted a high-pitched squeal of excitement.

Hana beamed at her two youngest daughters, simply bursting with pride. “Today isn’t just about joining Akane and Ranko, but joining their families, as well. Each of their bouquets represent themselves and their sisters, and by blending them together, two families become one, inseparable in love and support of Ranko and Akane both.”

Hana stepped to the side, revealing the small podium with the empty vase. Akane reached behind her to Kasumi, retrieving her bouquet from her eldest sister. She untied the ribbon binding the flowers together, setting it atop the podium, and slid the loose flowers into the vase.

Akane stepped back, motioning to the podium, and Ranko stepped forward, having already unbound the bouquet Ayako had handed her. She let the flowers go with loose, wide fingers over the vase, letting them fall in such a way that there was not a bunch of Akane’s flowers and a bunch of Ranko’s, but that they mixed evenly throughout the arrangement.

Hana picked up the vase, now heavy with forty flowers and an assortment of baby’s breath, and carried it forward to make it easier to see and photograph. “We stand together, Ranko’s family and Akane’s, merged forever in love and acceptance of both of them as our sisters and our daughters.”

Returning the vase to the podium, Hana reached out, taking Akane and Ranko each by the hand.

Hana sniffled, a tear of her own trickling from her left eye. “Then, by the power given to me by, well, I guess, ‘cause it’s my bar and all…” Ranko laughed hard, doubling over as far as her stiff pearl-encrusted corset would allow.

“I pronounce you to be each other’s wives. You may…”

This time, it was Akane who did not wait for her to finish, releasing Hana’s hand and pulling her wife forward into her arms. Her eyes closed, and she was oblivious to the clicking of a dozen cameras and the cheering of their loved ones as her lips met Ranko’s.

“Well, okay then! Everyone?” Hana lifted her hands to be seen over the still-kissing couple. “I’d like to introduce you to Akane and Ranko Tendo, united as one for all time.”

There were only thirty chairs facing the stage of the Phoenix that afternoon, but none of them were occupied. The couple’s assembled guests rose in unison to their feet, erupting into applause and a chorus of whistles and whoops.

It was the best standing ovation Ranko had ever received.