A/n- So I've finally gotten around to doing it. Took me long enough, huh? Anyway, three chapters planned, myabefour or five. See, the problem is, I don't know which my readers prefer: more, shorter chapters or less, longer chapters. I put a poll in my profile.

Dislciamer: Not mine.

Summary: Set a few years after the end of… whenever KyoAni decides to stop mutilating the series.

Vows

"You don't have to do this."

"I know."

"No, I mean you really don't have to do this. We could leave, right now, and go…" Ichiko's hands gesticulated wildly, "Somewhere!"

Yumemi paused, one hand resting on the recently closed lid of her suitcase. She turned a little to look at her friend standing in the bedroom doorway, hands folded over her chest.

"I don't want to leave. I want to do this." The other girl sighed. "I mean," Yumemi continued, "I've been waiting a very long time." Absently the girl twisted the gold band situated on the thumb, which was the only didgit it didn't fall completely off of.

"You're barely twenty! I'm barely twenty. Suzumei's not even twenty."

Now Yumemi was the one who crossed her arms. "She's already done it, and before we had even graduated."

"But that was different. That was a spur of the moment- done in secret- only her best friends knew kind of thing. This is way different."

"A wedding is a wedding, Ichiko," She turned back to her bed, trying to think if she had forgotten to pack anything. "I fail to see how the number of guests or the location can change what is felt between the two making the vows."

Her friend wilted, leaning heavily on wood. She thought for a moment, whirling her bottom lip against her teeth. "I suppose... there's no way to convince you."

A breathy laugh passed Yumemi's lips, "It's like you're expecting to never see me again. The gateway is open Ichiko, anyone can come and go as they please. Just because I'll be living perminantly in the Kingdom doesn't mean I won't come back to Tokyo. My familie's here, and my best friends are too…" She punctuated this with a meaningful look and then set the luggage down on the floor, tipping it up onto its castors. "I want you to be happy about this; supportive."

"I am…" Ichiko grimaced. "It's just different, that's all. I'm sure I'll get use to it. I haven't been there in a while… I know you have but it'll still be like the first time every time I go. I always get sick after anyway."

Yumemi giggled, "Yes, you do." At the look she received she knew the unhappy disposition of her friend was slowly dissolving. "All right, I'm all done. Where's your stuff?"

"Downstairs."

"Suzumei?"

"With Kazuya. They're meeting us when we get there."

"Anyone else? What time is it?"

Ichiko stood out of the way as Yumemi rolled her suitcase down the tiny apartment's hallway, the one the two had shared since high school ended. Yumemi had decided not to attend University- much to her parent's dismay- but had agreed to split the rent with Ichiko, who was studying business at the local campus. They would have had Suzumei there too, but the plans had changed once she and Kazuya has tied the knot.

"If you're alluding to Takashi, I'm deeply offended." Her tone was teasing. "And it's ten to twelve."

"I hear he's off the market."

Ichiko snorted, "God I feel sorry for that woman."

"Mmm…"

The pair hauled the luggage down the stairs, and Yumemi took a good look around at the place she'd called home for the minor part of four years. She only occasionally stayed on Earth during the week, still… this was familiar, and every change, no matter how small, was still a change.

Ichiko grabbed her duffle bag and they both exited the front door, Ichiko locking it while Yumemi rolled to the sidewalk. The other girl looked over at her car parked along the street and then at the beam of yellow light a few blocks over.

It was with little argument that the girls had decided to rent upon the now not-so-newly erected mountain downtown. Suzumei hadn't, living instead with her husband, but it was only natural that Yumemi would have wanted to be as close to Heaven as possible. As soon as the businesses reopened after the worlds joined and they graduated, they jumped at the first flat for lease.

They thought it was going to be difficult, that Yumemi would have been completely found out about her connection to the Magical Kingdom. But that was one thing Ichikocould commend the King for: his unwavering resolve to keep Yumemiout of the limelight. No one save the three girls, Kazuya, Takashi, and Yumemi's family were any the wiser. Even their trip to Heaven would go unnoticed, since travel between the worlds- although uncommon- was frequent enough not to warrant a flurry of cameras and questions.

It had been a few years; the general novelty had worn off by then. It was as much like the average Tokyo resident taking a trip to the the countryside.

The pair didn't have far to go. Just a five minute walk and they were at the park, the center of the town. As they entered through the cement walkway flanked with neatly pruned hedges and towering trees throwing immense shadows, the beam of light could be seen up ahead.

A few children were playing on the jungle gym nearby while their mothers chatted idly on the bench. Yumemi noted with a smile that one of the women, who had paused her knitting, was tucking strands of violet hair behind delicately pointed ears. The other mother, who was most definitely human, was laughing heartily at something, a hand on her friend's shoulder for support. The children ran in a circle, and the boy with hair like lilacs was pushing another on a swing.

Yumemi felt her heart fly.

Walking further, they entered the cleared patio at the heart of the park. The ground, a circle of entertaining labyrinthine designs seemed to ebb and flow and breath as they tread upon them. Perhaps it was the fractions of light thrown off by the pillar, or maybe it was the sun filtering in through the wide leaves above them, but the ground sparkled too. A wind was up, and the shh-shh sounds as it danced among the trees added to the already sacred aura of the spot.

The beam of light shuttered, and a pair dissolved out of nothing; a man and woman about Yumemi's age, both Heavenly Beings. The were holding hands, and had walked right out of the light and into the park.

"Let's go to that once place on fifty-fourth street," the boy was saying.

"Noodles!" The girl cried, "My favorite!"

Ichiko and Yumemi waited for them to pass before moving closer to the wide beam. "Ready?" Yumemi grinned at her friend, outstretching the hand that wasn't pulling the suitcase. Grudgingly, Ichiko took it, and together they stepped into the light.

A/n- epilogue done! More soon!

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