Ch 12: The Wedding

A/N: Ok, this scene is very similar to Bella's wedding in Breaking Dawn. If you haven't read it yet, why the hell are you reading this, go down to Walden Books and buy it now, then take it home, find the best display case you, and place it inside on a golden pedestal(after you have read it).

Chihiro: YuriFan5 doesn't own Breaking Dawnstabbing sound and cry of agony, which inspired my beautiful wedding. He also doesn't own Spirited Away or any other of Hayao Miyazaki's creations more cries of pain, YF stumbles over, suffering his imaginary wounds

YF: Jeeze Chihiro, freaking twist the knife- wince knives, why don't you!

Chihiro: Would you rather have lawyers after you?

YF: No please, keep them away!YF makes evil warding sign. Runs away and hides in corner. I swear, I don't have any money.

They had touched down a couple miles down the road and decided to walk hand in hand to the bath house. All signs of timidity between them seem to have faded after Chihiro's "death". They were greeted by a huge reception, with even more people than when Yubaba had given her the final test. No one showed any signs of confusion at her new form, which led to two different conclusions. Either, as Haku thought, Zeniba had sent word in advance somehow, or, as Chihiro thought, they were so glad to have her be a spirit in both smell and body, that they really didn't care what she was like. One of the first people to run forward and squeeze her in a bone breaking hug was, of all people, Lin.

"Oh my god, Lin, what are you doing here? I heard you took the first train out of here to see the world." Chihiro gasped when she could finally breathe. (1)

"Well, when I heard one of my cute little friends was getting married, I just had to show up." Yep, no doubt about it, they both groaned at the same time, Zeniba had sent word ahead.

"Well, I'm glad you two were able to resolve any issues that may have occurred," said Giyatso, "and of course, I will insist that you use the bath house for the ceremony."

"Really? You mean it?!" said Chihiro.

"Of course! With all the friends you made in your short time here, I will more than likely make a killing." He replied with a smile, showing that wasn't the real reason.

"Oh that reminds me," Lin clasped Chihiro's hands in hers, "you must let me plan your wedding."

"Do I really get a choice?"

"Absolutely not, and if you say no I will just pester you until you let me."

"Well then, I guess the answer is yes." Said Chihiro with a bright smile.

"Hurray!" crowed Lin, who pulled her by the hand into the bath house trailing words like theme and dress. And that was pretty much the state of things for the next few weeks. Lin was dragging her here and there to have her "opinion" on things.

"Chihiro, do you thing these streamers will be a bit much?"Chihiro opens her mouth to say something, but is interrupted. "Yeah, you're probably right, we'll go without." Things continued in this fashion, and eventually Chihiro just stopped trying to answer. Meanwhile, the bath house was in an uproar trying to get their biggest room (the one with all the baths) converted into a presentable entertaining room. The walls had been removed, which was relatively easy considering they were only sticking in the floor a bit. The part that amazed Chihiro was that, whether by magic or hard labor, the baths seemed to b edissapearing and were replaced by round sections of flooring. As if you had taken a cookie cutter to the floor to make room for the baths. Before she knew it, she was being fussed over by no less than five (count them, five) 

women to make sure her wedding dress didn't need any last minute adjustments.

"So Lin, what's it like in there?"

"That would spoil the surprise wouldn't it(2)?"

Chihiro groaned. It had been three days since Lin had kicked her out of the main room and assigned a couple of watchdogs to make sure she didn't peek.

"I swear I feel so ridiculous." She was grateful that Lin had allowed a hole for her cat tail, keeping it pressed down hurt.

"Chihiro, you always doubt yourself, even now, after you have been through so much, just trust me on this one. You. Look. Marvelous."

Just then some sweet music drifted up to where they were. "Oh, that's my cue. Think you can handle her Kamaji-san?"

"Of course." The whole situation was weird, in the place of her father, Kamaji was walking her down the aisle and in place of her mother, 

Zeniba was here. Practically every spirit she had ever met (and a good deal she hadn't) was here. As their turn came they slowly descended the one set of stairs to the main room. She slowly scanned the crowd, looking for familiar faces. There was the radish spirit, No-Face (on his best behavior), the foreman, and (with the Cat God's permission) Minako and Mikotah were there. She even, not really saw but felt, the Cat God watching from whatever corner of reality he resided in. She was wearing a dazzling red Kimono, white blossoms on woven into the design. Her tail waved agitatedly behind her.Her hair was tied up in a bun with chopsticks sticking through them (an early gift from Giyatso, who claimed they were his mother's). Before she knew it she was at the altar and Giyatso began to speak.

"First off, I'd like to thank everyone for coming. As owner of the bath house, I am entitled to certain privileges, one of which is marrying lovely couples, as does happen from time to time." He took a deep breath, and then started in.

(3) "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to honor the union between Chihiro Kaola and Kohaku River. They will join in the eternal bond of marriage and be linked forever. If there are any who object to this union, speak now, or forever hold your peace. a pause No? OK…" and on it went. Before Chihiro knew it, she was stuttering "I-I do." and sticking a ring on Haku's finger. Giyatso's voice once again broke through her reverie.

"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Kohaku River, you may kiss the bride."

"Haku leaned in, as did Chihiro. It was strange, she reflected, that even though they had been so close, they never actually kissed before, but then she dismissed it with it will make this one all the more special. She had heard stories of what it was like to kiss, how it felt like nothing else mattered; she had just assumed it to be exaggeration. But when her lips connected with hers, it was like reality had vanished. It reminded her of her most clear human memory, her death. It was similar in that 

everything was going black and being muted out. The only difference was it wasn't that she was losing all five of her senses, rather, nothing else other than them was significant at this moment, so it was blocked out. Giyatso cleared his throat quietly to get them to stop. Chihiro opened her eyes, realizing she had wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her without realizing it. She let go and looked away abashed, but didn't have time to meditate it, as she was hit by a wave of sound from the applause.

"Please, join us in the back for the reception. Feel free to help yourselves to all the food." announced Giyatso, signaling everyone to leave the two alone for a bit.

"Aishitseru(4) Haku."

"Aishitseru Chihiro."

They had never really said it out loud, but then, it hadn't really needed to be said, they both had instinctively felt it.

"Will you really be with me forever Haku? Will we really be together?"

"Of course Chihiro, this ceremony was just a bunch of formality. I would be with you even if we weren't married." Tears ran down Chihiro's face. Knowing, definitively, that Haku was hers, would always be hers, made her feel like everything else was that much more bearable. Yes, I can handle the future. She thought to herself, strolling down the aisle hand in hand with Haku. As long as we're together. Forever. She added as an after thought.

(1)- I meant to have Lin tell Chihiro her real name here, but I'm not confident or good enough with Kanji to even attempt to make her a decent name that can be skimmed down to leave Lin as just one or two Kanji.

(2)- Somewhat reminiscent of Bella and Alice's pre-wedding talk.

(3)- I never actually heard the ceremony so I'm just winging it from here, hopefully I'm close.

(4)- Japanese for "I love you"

A/N: Wow, I almost cried back there, and I was the one making it. Well, it's been a long trip, but we are done. A couple quick things to wrap this up. First off, it seems that no-one has guessed at the fanfiction point question, so I will be posting it in the ATC if no one guesses it. Also, on that subject, send me lots of reviews with questions so I can put them together in the ATC. If you don't I'll just end up putting questions together I always wished someone would ask.