Uh, I dunno how to tell you guys this, but this chapter kinda has a lemon. Probably. Let me know if it's too much and I'll bump up the rating.

Majestic brass trumpeted throughout the mansion, three times in succession, then again, and onward in multiplied ascension, rising against the ear-splitting burst of an entire live orchestra ripping into a lively rendition of the "Wedding March". Gasping awake, Ryuuko gripped her bed covers and—as cymbals clashed and a drumming timpani rumbled her walls—she covered her head with her pillow and unintelligibly cursed Nonon with the rawest terms of abuse she knew. Despite her efforts, Nonon's band continued their extra-early morning practice.

"AGH come on, it's still dark out!" Ryuuko cried, sitting upright and ripping her covers off. "Senketsu, are you still asleep after all this—" a tall, dark figure stood beside her bed, terrorizing her with its unexpectedness, "—HWAAAA!" She kicked it away, dropped to the ground, and then lifted her entire nightstand overhead, readying to clobber the room invader.

"Ryuuko, calm down, it's me!" Senketsu exclaimed. The dark figure fell over with a plunk.

"Huh?" Reaching up, she clicked the nighstand's lamp on and saw, at her feet, a dark and faceless store mannequin. This wasn't any more assuring—and she was about to yell and smash it accordingly—until she noticed Senketsu's eye on its muscular abdomen. "What the," she said, returning her nightstand to its proper place. "Senketsu, what are you doing?" She crawled to his figure and checked him in confusion.

"I was practicing." He winced his eye, noticeably distraught over having been caught. "I didn't want you to see me like this. Not yet. Not until I figured out how to arrange myself a proper face." He gulped as she stared at his helpless new form. "Or move..."

Perturbed, she touched the stomach around his eye, his artificial abs, and then his stiff, jointless arms. Despite this human-like form, his skin still felt the same as before—that indescribable texture between canvas and skin. This relieved her. "W-what's with this all of sudden?" she asked, laughing rigidly at his ridiculous, big-eyed stomach. "Do you think you have to be human now or something?"

"Yes, I think it will be necessary for certain things," Senketsu answered, concerned by her defensive tone. "Am I wrong?"

"Necessary? Oh, I see. Do you think I don't like you enough as is? That I find your appearance inconvenient? Unattractive?!"

"No! That's not—"

"—So! You're confident enough to decide my preferences huh?! "

Senketsu gave her a long pause. "I never knew how much you enjoyed wearing me. Until now."

"Yeah, you never did." She brought her knees under her chin. "D-don't get me wrong." She jerked askew and held her head high. "I just don't want you to take yourself for granted! Between humans, true closeness is impossible. Being one... It's a metaphor humans use for their fake illusion of intimacy!" She flailed her arms as she got really into explaining herself. "Being one! In reality, we're the only ones in this world who can do it for real. I mean it! I wouldn't trade it for an illusion. Why would you?"

"I am not. Like all my other forms, this one is temporary."

"I know that! Listen you, that's not what I was saying..."

"I understand what you are saying, regardless of whether I agree or not. This form looks bad now, but there will be improvements."

"Yeah yeah! Like more pointless muscles?"

"If that is your preference."

"Idiot!" She crossed her arms and turned away. "When did you start worrying about this, anyway?" A blush crept across her nose.

Senketsu combusted in a cloud of red smoke, returning to his default form. "The other day, during my second fitting." He stopped and reconsidered what he was saying. "Never mind. It's not important."

"Not important?!" Ryuuko spun to face him. "Now I'm really curious!"

"No, I simply had a few hours to think about things. Nothing remarkable happened." He didn't have the heart to tell her; he overheard the fitters making crude jokes about their hypothetical married life.

"You're a terrible liar." Ryuuko stretched out and yawned, relaxed now that the music downstairs was in its calmer parts. "What if... I was the one who could change forms? And I decided to become a sailor uniform for you?"

Senketsu considered her improbable question. "I do not know. But maybe, you would find it went against your interests."

"There you go again! You think you do, but you don't know my interests at all." She stood on her knees and grabbed his sleeves. "If you did, you would've done something like this..." She forced him down and glared at him. "What's the matter? It's been forever since we've done it." She slid a finger down her pajama top and unbuttoned it. "Don't you want to?"

Senketsu's eye dilated and his every fiber began to burn. "T...this isn't something I remember doing," he stammered, twisting under her hold. "If that's what you meant, of course—I am not yet sure what to do, exactly, but I have a general idea—though you might want to give me a little more time to prepare!"

"What are you blabbering about?" Her top fell to the floor. "You want to be worn by me, right?" She slid her hands into his shirt. "Because I want to wear you."

"Ryuuko..." He shivered as she dragged her nails into his seams. "Very well then." His eye gleamed. "I'll do my best."

"That's the spirit!" She slipped him on. Standing, she raised her arms and then called out: "Life Fiber Synchronize!"

Confused, Senketsu stalled. "Wait, is this all you wanted?" he asked.

"Yes? Oh, it's without the glove... but that's never stopped us before!" She was really pumped. "Come on! Life Fiber Synchronize!"

"I... see..." His hopes were dashed, but nevertheless, he fulfilled her request. Maroon stars sprang out and shimmered audibly as their combined power exploded and sped together.

"Kamui Senketsu!" Ryuuko announced dramatically, her voice echoing despite the room's cozy acoustics.

Senketsu sweated. "Is this really all you wanted of me?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Ryuuko tightened a fist. "This feels great. You're the closest against my skin like this." She closed her eyes and grinned. "Ahh, it's been so long." She ruminated a bit longer before turning her gaze to him—the bridal chorus downstairs returning to its former intensity and dampening the mood. "Hey. Have we really looked at ourselves in a mirror this way?"

"I don't think I have."

"I bet you're curious now!" she flipped the light on and stomped over to her wall mirror. With one look, she ejected a high-pressured gasp. "Ah! It's totally different in full frontal view!" She tugged her left chest strap and then turned her back to the mirror, bending over and inspecting under her skirt. "Senketsu, you really are a pervert!" She went red when she saw just how closely he fitted there. "Do you get off on this?!"

He was twice as flustered. "T-this is also my first time seeing it like this!"

"Pervert! Liar."

"You said I'm a terrible liar!"

"You are."

"I thought we were beyond this!"

"Hm." Ryuuko restrained a smirk, walking over to the bed and then sitting down on it. "We are we are." She assured him and nodded, bringing a foot up onto the sheets. "It's just that there's always these surprises with you." She tilted her head and thought about the reaction she elicited from him earlier: If it's like that, then... She ran a finger up the side of her thigh-high boot, keenly watching as he trembled under her touch. Scratching him, lightly, she trailed up to the garter strap atop her thigh and plucked it, rubbing it in her fingers.

"Ryuuko," he murmured, unable to contain himself. "I thought you said—mh." His voice slipped away, distracted by her touch.

"It doesn't matter what I said... or what you planned." Her heart throbbed and she inhaled deeply, determined to take it even further. "What matters is going with the moment."

His trembling intensified and his voice escaped again: "Ah, Ryuuko... I love you."

"Y-you." She held a hand over her heated face. "Do you think spouting things like that will make me happy?" She angrily took both garter straps and tugged away at them, just to harass him.

"A-aah!" he cried out, his trembling intensifying. "That's not a—aahh."

Continuing mercilessly, she released him only after his trembling started rattling her spine. "This is..." she emitted, baffled by the traveling vibration. "Haah... ah." Shivering against it, she crumpled on her side, his fabric teasing and numbing her body like electricity. "Sen..." Leaning inwards, she ached for more but lost the ability to speak.

"I can't... stop." His eye went out of focus, his inhibitions shutting down as he savored her blood's full flavor; it was sweet and salty, the taste of her enjoying herself thoroughly and somehow, a rare one he wanted more of—one he wanted to coerce out of her at all costs, even if they lost their minds in the exploit. "Tasting like this..." His restraint faltered. "I could devour you." He clung closer, his material stretching over her spine in hunger for input, a restriction which made her grunt and bring him back to reality. "Forgive me if I take too much." He loosened without slowing. "But I want you—no—I need you."

He was everywhere she turned, fitted around her thighs and tugging her bust taut. She gasped for breath, digging her fingers into the sheets and bending her legs as he fulfilled her ache and slowly put her on. Urged on by his single-minded rasping, and the sensation of being worn, she opened her mouth and let out a scream.

He snapped out of his fervor and released her. "Ryuuko!" he called, fearing what he'd done. "Are you OK?!"

After a few moments of recovery, she answered. "You... stopped," she said. "Tch. What do you think?" She was certain she could've kept going.

"We... Did you..." He went blank, collecting himself before speaking again. "I did it," he said at last, getting a little too carried away as her hormones flooded his circulatory system. Rewarded by their euphoric effects, he foolishly laughed himself delirious.

"What are you so damn proud about?" Ryuuko asked, self-conscious over being defeated so quickly. Pulling a pack of biscuit sticks from her nightstand, she popped one into her mouth and tried not to act too hyped. "Whatever! I hope breakfast time gets here soon." She threw herself against the pillows, folding her hands behind her head and trying to placate her still-shaking limbs.

Senketsu's laughing stopped. "Ryuuko..." he murmured.

"Hm?" She chewed to the end of the stick and gulped, ready for whatever he was about to suggest next.

"I want to cuddle," he stated, entering the right frame of mind to start making weird demands.

Ryuuko's eyes narrowed. "Fine," she sighed, concluding this was enough fooling around for the morning, anyway. Senketsu disengaged in a flash and fluttered down to her chest, firmly draping himself against her skin and snuggling in. Bringing an arm around him, she closed her eyes, and then, at nearly dozing off, pulled the covers over them.

"Ryuuko," Senketsu spoke again, not exhausted at all. "Do you ever think about our future together?"

She flinched, caught off-guard by his question. "Wha... what are you going on about now," she said, wondering why he was starting this conversation now of all times. "You know... I never think too hard about the future."

"I was thinking..."

"Uh-huh?"

"If we cannot have children, let's adopt."

"Ch-children?!" Ryuuko lifted him up and stared into his deranged eye. "ARE YOU DRUNK?" she roared, shaking him. "What are you high on?!"

"Love." His eye gleamed.

"Y-you idiot!"

"You are beautiful, Ryuuko." His sleeves rubbed her arms. "Even your voice is..."

"Ughh!" she groaned self-consciously and dropped him. "Let's just go to sleep and talk about that later." She pulled the blankets over her head, hiding her full-body blush.

As she awkwardly pretended to fall asleep, the door flung open and rose petals scattered about the room, piling upon the floor and bed in heaps. "NOW WHAT'RE THOSE BAND NERDS UP TO?" Ryuuko erupted, flinging off her covers and grimacing at the huge mess. "The hell?!" She turned and found Senketsu melting into a pile of rose petals.

"Good morning!" Mako cried, revealing herself as the mastermind behind the flower attack. "I'm practicing for the wedding!" She pirouetted on in, tossing more petals and picking up speed, becoming a cyclone which pushed every piece of furniture halfway across the room—and forcing her friends to cling for their lives. "Ah, I forgot!" She ceased and checked her watch. "That's right, it's time to get ready for the rehearsal rehearsal!"

"Rehearsal rehearsal?" Ryuuko repeated, still clinging to the bed. With Senketsu tucked under her arm and the petals settling down, she jumped off and flopped through the debris.

"Uh huh." Mako nodded her head. "Today's the day! Did you forget?" She cupped her cheeks as they flushed pink. "Or did you sleep the days away in unknowing bliss?" She tugged her stockings and made disturbing fish faces.

Ryuuko's hair stood on end and her cheeks went pink as well. "D-definitely not," she sputtered and coughed, "Senketsu and I have been, uh, really incredibly busy with preparations these past few days! Isn't that right, Senketsu?"

"Uh... eh, yes," Senketsu answered unconvincingly, "incredibly busy."

"That's right," Ryuuko continued, "this is our first time alone together in awhile and we were trying to get some rest!"

Mako covered her mouth and smiled. "Of course, right right," she answered. "Don't worry you two, I won't tell anyone."

"Good, so have you seen my sist—heh?" Ryuuko emitted, Mako's disclosure just now hitting her. "H-hey... just how long have you been outside our door?" She hunched and pointed at it.

"Hmmm." Mako held her chin, a loud static signal blocking her usually-broadcasted thoughts. "Heh." A dark shadow hid her eyes. "Good job, Senketsu." She gave him a thumbs up and cheerfully stuck out her tongue.

"S-she's admitting it!" Senketsu cried.

"So you really were there!" Ryuuko ejected, her hands quivering. "Mako, Mako. What did you hear? Did you see anything?!"

"Oohwahh!" Mako emitted, examining her watch in forced ignorance. "Better get ready!" She waved at them. "I don't remember if I said this or not, I probably did, but congratulations! My whole family's coming so make sure you're there too!" She ran off down the hall and returned to her superhuman petal-tossing—the maids dashing after her with brooms. "Do your best Senketsuuuuu!"

The morning flashed by, and as the cathedral bells struck ten and the rehearsal break ended, the doors flung open and the wedding's guests flooded in. Left to herself, Ryuuko stood alone in the hall's side room, the stained glass window above illuminating warm sun and cascading seven-colored light over her white, ruffle-layered wedding gown. It was a dress befitting of her new, forced status as a Kiryuuin; beaded sweetheart bodice aside, it possessed giant puff sleeves and a massive skirt piled with trails of pearl-sewn lace, bows, precious gemstones, ribbons, and possibly—as Ryuuko surmised—live birds. This was the dress Satsuki had chosen for her, without any more arguments and with complete, uncommunicative compliance. This was the dress she wanted to see on her little sister the most.

It was almost time, but Satsuki had yet to arrive. In fact, she hadn't seen her at.

"You said," Ryuuko murmured, "you'd walk me." Her fingers hovered over the edges of her white wedding veil, her thoughts lingering on whether to wait a little longer or pull it over her crestfallen face. Did she have important business to take care of? she wondered, fumbling with her white leather gloves as the cathedral hummed with the chaotic sound of the orchestra tuning for concert sound. Soon enough, the band started the processional music—music which would lead into the groom's entrance theme and then the bride's, effectively becoming the soundtrack of a bride who would walk down the aisle alone.

I... what am I getting so upset for? Ryuuko thought, swallowing hard. I've walked through life's milestones alone just fine. There's no need to worry. That's right... I'm sure Sis has reasons. It's fine.

Minutes morphed into seconds and Nonon's band started into the "Trumpet Voluntary", signaling Senketsu's arrival.

"Alright, just get on with it," Ryuuko told herself and reached up, aiming to pull her veil down—when suddenly, another gloved hand lashed out and grabbed hers. Ryuuko exhaled sharply and then, as soon as she saw who it was, beamed with unrestrained joy.

"Let me," Satsuki said, dressed like a prince in an epaulette-shouldered military suit. Ryuuko lowered her head and Satsuki—with great care—brought the short end of the six-meter-long veil down over. With that, Satsuki offered her arm. "Are you ready?" she asked her little sister pointedly.

"Now you ask," Ryuuko joked, looping her arm in her sister's. With a brief glance, she noticed a strange weapon holstered on her sister's side. There was no time to ask however, for she was ushered out the side door, where Mako appeared and lifted the dragging veil off the ground, buzzing as she proceeded to trail them around the outside and then up the cathedral's front steps, where Ryuuko heard the same obnoxiously regal trumpeting that woke her up earlier.

"There it is, there is is!" Mako cried, throwing the door open for them and stepping in, the sun glaring on their backs and Mako's flower petals swirling as they entered the dim cathedral and its mysteriously blue, stained glass filtered light. Everyone who supported and fought beside them during the world's battle stood and turned their way, the pressure of their gazes pouring on Ryuuko unlike any showdown she'd ever faced before.

Satsuki stamped forward, resolutely, strongly, and willfully as she guided her little sister into the fray and right behind an ecstatic, petal-sprinkling Mako. At the end of the aisle stood Senketsu in a long-tailed white tux, wide-eyed and arguably, even more nervous than Ryuuko was. When he saw her, he glowed, entranced by her appearance.

As they reached him, Satsuki took Senketsu's cuff and placed it in Ryuuko's hand, and then—as she furrowed her eyebrows—scowled upon him furiously. "You will cherish her as stated in the prenuptial agreement," Satsuki said, leaning close so no one but them could overhear, "or I will have you destroyed and recycled into parachute cord."

"Sis..." Ryuuko murmured, biting her cheek so she wouldn't laugh at Senketsu's terrorized and agape expression.

"No... I understand," Senketsu answered, enduring the comment. "I will." He bowed to carry on with the ceremony, the three young women returning in kind. At that, Ryuuko parted from her sister and Mako and continued holding Senketsu's cuff, carrying him up the steps to the altar, where a foreign priest stood before them. Upon initiating another exchange of bows, the man began.

Satsuki sat down in the front row, and when she did, a hidden earpiece beeped quietly under her hair, followed by Inumuta's voice. "I see the ceremony is moving along perfectly," he said as she positioned her ear plug more comfortably, "my apologies for not attending it in person." Satsuki grinned in acknowledgement and glanced up at one of his many cameras hidden above the altar.

"Of course," Inumuta continued, "I've been monitoring the unidentified object closely as well." His voice became grim. "It's about to make contact. I'll switch you over now." Hearing this, Satsuki reached into her pocket and retrieved a handkerchief, feigning tears as she shielded her right eye and flipped her earpiece into screen mode. As her lens display flickered under her handkerchief, the image quality improved and provided her a live video satellite feed of space. The Kiryuuin Skyhook emerged above Earth's brilliant atmosphere, a behemoth despite its half-constructed nature, along with the Beach Orbital Net, the both of which crammed their red titles on-screen at once. The feed switched to the unidentified object burning closer among the black abyss, its heat shedding off in smoldering gusts and obscuring its shape. "Trajectory on course," an unknown, static-swamped voice said over the feed. "Absorption switch on. Counter pull stabilized and net ready."

"Skyhook anchored," Inumuta replied. "Our end is ready."

"It jumped forward!"

Satsuki's eye widened as the sun-like mass slammed into the astronomical space net and began spinning in-place, like a saw blade, forcing against the net's entire slack.

"I see it accelerated," Inumuta said. "You will adjust your counter pull to the numbers I just sent you."

"These degrees are..." a Nudist Beach scientist said, "that's too high!"

"Do it now," Inumuta ordered, "or you'll be slung and smashed against the Kiryuuin Skyhook!"

The net retook its slack but the object kept sawing ahead, shredding through the glistening solar reinforced carbon fibers and then—with a relentless charge—breaking on through. Released from the net, both the skyhook and tether station drifted apart, disconnected by the tear.

"N...no way," the unknown scientist gasped. "It's entering Earth's atmosphere!"

"Keep drifting, we're clearing the path and initiating phase two," Inumuta explained. "Firing the Kiryuuin Laser Canon in sixty seconds."

Satsuki clenched the handkerchief against her eye lens and almost crushed it to pieces.

Mako, sitting on the pew beside Satsuki, noticed and smiled.

"It's only right," Mako said to herself, clueless, "if mom and dad are crying, so should Ryuuko's big sister!"

Her entire family wailed inconsolably. "Ryuuko!" they sobbed, clinging to each other. "Senketsu!"

Mataro Makanshoku was markedly regretful. "If only," he said, "if only I were born a sailor uniform!"

Mako squinted her eyes and nodded in agreement. "Mh-hm," she emitted dreamily. "But I'm so happy for them, all the same."

The vows began and the priest turned to Ryuuko, addressing her in a manner respectably dignified in light of who—or what she was marrying. "Do you take this kamui," he asked solemnly, "as your husband?"

"Yes," she said, fists clenched.

He turned to Senketsu. "And do you take this woman as your wife?"

Senketsu took a deep breath. "Yes," he pronounced audibly, loud enough for everybody to hear.

At once, the guests fell halfway off their seats and then murmured to one another confusedly.

"What do you know, he talked!" the Mankanshoku father said and then added stupidly: "Did he always do that? I can't remember."

The Mankanshoku mother clasped her hands together. "Of course not," she said, her soft eyes sparkling, "I would've remembered such a handsome voice! Especially if it were screaming in pain and begging me to stop."

"Senketsu did evolve enough, remember," Mikisugi said, poking in on their conversation from the row behind. "Because. A man should be able to make himself be heard when he's making important claims." He turned to his bulky comrade sitting beside him.

Tsumugu crossed his muscled arms and glowered. "Even if it has pockets, clothing can claim nothing. Even if a human wears clothes, the result is the same," he responded. "Let me tell you two useful pieces of information. One: hearing clothing speak is no big deal. Two: marrying clothing is an affront to nature."

"And yet you still came to the wedding."

"I owe them as much."

"It's not enough. You need to cry for them."

"I'm crying internally."

"It's too bad Doggy had to miss this," Nonon commented, sitting next to the Mankanshoku family, along with Sanageyama and a very compressed Gamagori and his settling of an equivalent third of the bench.

"I'm certain Inumuta is watching," Gamagori said, aware of the events transpiring elsewhere.

Sanageyama sat sullenly. "He's not missing much," he said.

Mako wormed between him and Gamagori. "Shhhh!" Mako shushed them. "The kiss, the kiss!" Her excited insistence made the larger man turn red.

The priest raised his hands. "You may now kiss the bride," he said.

Everybody hushed and leaned forward, watching in suspense.

Satsuki leaned forward as well, but for entirely different reasons. "Three... two," Inumuta's voice said in her earpiece, the lens screen displaying video of the Kiryuuin laser cannon's half-a-kilometer-wide barrel trained on the sky, "one... Firing."