A/N. All right, all right, so I'm eating my words. @.@ I really shouldn't weasel out of the wedding chapter, so. ^.^; From here on out, this is just plain gratuitous fluff. Sorry if I'm letting anyone down with my giving in to the "wedding" cliché, but... but... aww, I'm just a sucker for happy gushy-mushy endings, is all. 'Specially after all that gloom and doom in the earlier chapters. Gomen, gomen! ^.^
This is, incidentally, a Shinto wedding. I didn't think Sano was religious enough to want a Buddhist one, and Megumi seems to me the non-fussy time who doesn't much care for a lot of rituals.
glossary:
nezumi = mouse
hanagami = a sort of Japanese tissue paper ^.^ (credit due to Nodoka-san of the KFFDISCML!)
kirei = beautiful, pretty
-jiisan = suffix denoting a grandfather-type relationship
miko = girls serving at Shinto/Buddhist temples, fulfilling many functions in various religious rites
kanzashi = women's hair ornaments
daisuki = i.e. "I really like/love it..."
tsuno-kakushi = big white ceremonial hoodlike headgear traditional Japanese brides wear. It's to hide the "horns of jealousy," and signifies the woman's obedience to her husband.
hakoseko = pouch-like bag carried by Japanese women
obi = wide, usually ornately embroidered kimono sash
uchikake = a brightly colored and patterned over-kimono worn by brides after the wedding ceremony proper; usually worn by young, unmarried women, this is the last time a bride can wear such a flashy-type kimono.
Yoake Mae no Yami ni
by Mirune Keishiko
Epilogue
Haru-ichiban
"'Kaachan, where's 'Touchan? You said he'd come home today..."
Megumi stifled a sigh at the plaintive tone and turned, quickly drying her dishwater-damp hands on a towel. Four-year-old Nozomi stood in the doorway of the kitchen, rosy-cheeked and fragrant from her evening bath, the long black hair her father refused to have cut slowly dripping down the back of her yukata. The pretty picture she made in her yukata with its opalescent pattern of plum blossoms was ruined only by the sulky pout on her face.
"Gomen nasai, Megumi-san!" The flushed face of the family servant popped into view. Apparently, she had chased the spirited girl all the way downstairs from the bath. "I tried to keep her quiet, but she keeps asking for her father..."
"Daijoubu. There's been no harm done." Megumi chuckled, moving to stand beside her daughter. "Please just put Kisho-chan to bed, and then you may retire for the night."
As the much relieved servant padded off down the corridor, Megumi smiled down at her daughter's mournful cinnamon eyes. Ara... with parents like hers, it's no wonder she's so stubborn.
"Come, little mouse who has to have people run after her." Gently she steered the girl with one firm hand on her shoulder. "You'll catch a cold with your hair so wet."
She led the child into her room and, from a drawer, brought out an ornately carved cedar comb. Nozomi's frown turned immediately into an excited smile as she knelt at her mother's side. Megumi's work was so demanding that she rarely had time to comb her daughter's thick, long hair; and though patient Michiko rarely pulled at tangles, she didn't use the pretty, aromatic combs Megumi did, nor were her hands as light and gentle.
Nevertheless, Nozomi would not be sidetracked, even as she picked up her mother's comb and began tracing the contours of roses with her small fingers. "Didn't 'touchan say he'd be home by today?"
"Hai, he did." More amused than irritated by the child's persistence, Megumi began briskly drying her hair with a thick towel.
"Well, it's night already. 'Touchan isn't here." Nozomi was beginning to pout again.
"Your father is as stubborn as you, Nozomi-chan." Megumi's lightly spoken words she punctuated with a pinch of her daughter's ear. "So when he says he'll be home on a certain day, he'll be home."
"But we already had dinner," frowned Nozomi, absent-mindedly rubbing her ear. 'Touchan never misses dinner. 'Specially when 'kaachan cooks it." She held the comb to her face, inhaled the delicate scent of the wood.
"I'm sure he has a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he's late, nezumi-chan." Megumi held out her hand for the comb. "He's never let us down before, has he?"
Nozomi shook her head mutely, and as Megumi drew the comb down through the lustrous strands, she resolutely ignored the small, nagging doubt that was chilling the pit of her stomach. Sanosuke was often sent away for days on end on special missions for the police, but he had always returned on the promised date, and he had never been away for this long. It had been nearly a month now since he had left on another confidential errand.
"At any rate, I'm sure he won't miss your birthday." Chasing away her worries with a deep breath of the orange-blossom scent of her child's hair, Megumi teasingly touched Nozomi's cheek; she knew one principal reason her daughter was so upset about her father's unexplained tardiness. "You just have to be patient."
"Mou! But 'patient' takes time! And my birthday is in two days!"
Yare yare. Megumi sighed. When Sagara and Takani combine... "Patience does take time, Nozomi-chan, but it's usually worth the wait. Do you want to wait up for him with 'kaachan, so you can greet him when he arrives?"
"Hai!" And Nozomi clapped her hands, her eyes alight with such excitement that Megumi soon laughed. "Can 'kaachan bring out her pretty white kimono? I would very much like to see it again, if it's all right with 'kaachan," she said with a sudden solemn respectfulness that brought a smile to her mother's lips.
"Only for a few minutes, and you must be very careful, or it will wear away and not be so pretty anymore when the time comes for you to have it for yourself."
And leaving Nozomi-chan to clasp the comb in her chubby little hands, wide-eyed in wonder at the granting of her wish, Megumi stood and padded over to a cabinet she always kept shut. Unlocking it with a key from her sleeve and pushing aside various boxes and cases, she finally withdrew a large, shallow wooden chest. As her daughter hovered in speechless eagerness over her shoulder, she unlatched the lid and threw it back.
From the translucent folds of many layers of hanagami emerged a wedding kimono, the pearlescent silk with its tracery of cranes and summer roses untroubled by time. It was actually a very pale pink, not quite white; but in the shaded yellow lamplight, it gleamed like newfallen snow. The scent of cedar filled the room from the wooden pieces stored inside the chest to help preserve its precious contents. Megumi's smile grew wistful as she gathered the shimmering fabric and lifted it out of the case for her daughter to see.
Mouth hanging slightly open in admiration—this was only her second time to see it, and the first time her mother had been so tired from the day's duties that her father had sent her off to bed after only a few minutes—Nozomi reverently slid her fingers down the silken breadths.
"Kirei..." she breathed, slightly moving the long sleeves so that light caught and glimmered in the intricate embroidery.
For the briefest moment, Megumi brushed the cool, smooth fabric against her cheek, memories misting her eyes. "You will wear this when you get married, Nozomi-chan."
"Did your 'kaachan give it to you too, 'kaachan?"
Carefully folding the kimono back into the chest, Megumi paused. "Iie," she said quietly after a moment, stooping again to replace the protective layers of paper. "This was something your father had made for me. The one my mother wore, a long time ago... was lost when I was still quite young."
Nozomi waited silently until the case had been returned to its cabinet, then hurried forward and threw her arms around Megumi.
"'Kaachan looks so sad," she mumbled, eyes so like her mother's warm with concern.
Megumi smiled at that, even as she hastily blinked back her tears. "Shall we talk about something more cheerful, then?"
Nozomi clapped her hands again, eyes creasing in a grin. "Please! Please! About your wedding, and 'touchan!"
Her mother laughed and cuddled her close, picking up the cedar comb and resuming its soothing rhythm through her daughter's shining hair. "You've heard it a dozen times already, little mouse. Aren't you tired of that story?"
"'Kaachan isn't." And the little girl's bluntness brought another smile to Megumi's lips. "So me neither."
Obligingly, Megumi settled into her plushiest chair; it would be a long evening yet. "Well, where do we start?" she asked patiently, as Nozomi wriggled out of her lap and trotted across the room to retrieve, with some difficulty, an elaborately framed photograph from the wall.
"From the start." Nozomi stared at her mother as if to say, Duh! "Hiroshi-jiisan's garden."
"You are entirely too much like your mother, I'm afraid, Nozomi-chan." Enfolding her child in her arms, fondly rubbing her chin against the silky hair, Megumi looked over the top of her head down at the photograph of her and Sanosuke in their full wedding regalia. They had insisted on the picture being taken outside, at the site of the ceremony itself, despite the photographer's protests that a studio image was far more fashionable; and so Megumi found happy memories all the easier to recall in the roses edging the picture in pale spots, the sunlight dappling black and white outfits with frozen grays and sepias.
"'Touchan insisted that it be at dawn on a summer day. We had it in your grandfather's gardens, since he wanted to have the roses blooming all around us, and he said that was my kind of flower. I remember it was uncommonly cold the night before, so we feared it would rain, but then the day began bright and clear, and the scent of roses was headier than ever..."
The air was still chill and damp with night as many figures gathered on the smooth Western-style lawns of the Sanada estate. Bathed in the soft glow of the garden lanterns, two or three servants bustled about setting up a makeshift shrine under their master's supervision; several other men and women stood or sat around calmly, if rather stiffly in their traditional formal clothes, chatting in low tones; but one, among the tallest of them all, said hardly a word but kept moving around agitatedly, long limbs seeming to find no rest among the dew-wet blossoms and elegant vines.
"Pre-wedding jitters, eh, Sano? A grown man like you who's roughed it across the world and back and you're scared about a little ceremony." Myoujin Yahiko smirked at the older man, who responded with a lethal glare.
"Don't relive your own wedding on me, Yahiko-chan. I'll have you know it's just these silly clothes. Wish I were back in my old normal duds, not these stupid crinkly ones." Sagara Sanosuke rustled impatiently in his formal gi, hakama, and haori.
"I wasn't that nervous when I married you, was I?" And Yahiko grinned at Tsubame, who merely blushed and stammered something soft and incoherent.
"In fact, Sagara looks more like Himura did on his wedding day," observed Shinomori Aoshi blandly from where he leaned up against a trellis post. "A bit of a cross between joy and nausea."
"Really, Shinomori-san?" asked Himura Kenji, unexpectedly breaking a meditative silence he had preserved since waking up.
"Yeah, who'da thought my bull-headed son would get weak in the knees at a time like this?" But though his voice was scornful, Higashidani Kamishimoemon grinned at Sano from behind his pipe.
"It's a perfectly natural feeling," chuckled old Sanada Hiroshi as he joined the group, warming his hands with a cup of tea. "It's been a long, long time, but I do remember I felt much the same way when I married my Aoi." Behind him, his wife beamed at them from over a teapot.
"It's quite an unusual kind of wedding altogether, but it suits you two perfectly," said Higashidani Outa as he helped the elderly lady distribute cups.
"I apologize again for the trouble, Sanada-sensei—" began Sano, bowing awkwardly, but Hiroshi shook his head with a frown until the younger man trailed off, much gratified. Then he looked upset again.
"I'm just worried she's gonna change her mind, is all." Leaning gingerly against a stone lantern, taking care not to crease his clothes, Sanosuke accepted the offered tea gratefully, glad for the modicum of color it restored to his pale face. "You know how women are, and the Megitsune is definitely all woman."
"I don't think oneesan will change her mind, Sano-niisan," said Saburo soothingly from where he sat quietly with his own wife and Uki's husband on a nearby bench. The third Sanada son, younger than Sano by several years, gave Sano the smile of a man who had gone through exactly the same thing not long before. "You may rest easy on that."
"Yeah, it's not like you haven't been makin' eyes at each other practically since the day you met. And to think you used to beat me up whenever I said anything about it. Man, wherever he is, Kenshin's gotta be kickin' himself for not bein able to see this." Yahiko smiled down at his teacup.
Sano's well-aimed punch was arrested in midair by this last statement, and he reluctantly let his fist drop. "Aa. Kenshin and Jou-chan are all we're missin' now."
His voice had dropped a notch, but his words stirred the stillness of very early morning, and everyone heard them. In the sudden silence that fell, each man retreated into his own thoughts as the first bright rays cut across the somnolent sky.
Sanada Jiro had just arrived with the priest and miko when Misao emerged from the house, uncommonly feminine in a deep blue kimono that shimmered with embroidered sakura. Her hair was coiled and looped in an unusual but very attractive style; tiny silver flowers tinkled from her kanzashi with every dainty step. She bowed and spoke to everyone as she drew near, but her bright jade eyes went unerringly to Aoshi's; and Sanosuke, watching silently, thought he saw a smile flash for the briefest of moments across the normally impassive face.
"If everything is ready, the bride will be out right away."
"Everything is ready, Misao-chan," said Hiroshi softly, smiling as his wife, sons, and daughter-in-law moved to stand beside him.
"Yokatta." Misao's formal politeness gave way to a more characteristic, excited grin. "Harumi-san and Uki-san will assist the bride, then. Better brace yourself, Sagara, you're in for a really special treat," and elbowing Sano in the gut so unexpectedly he choked, she gave him a most informal smile and wink before going to Aoshi.
"Your icy eyes are melting again, Aoshi-sama, you must say something before you start drooling," she whispered wickedly to her husband, as she composed herself at his side. She was well enough rewarded by the twine of his fingers through hers and the quiet word "Daisuki" he murmured into her ear.
Perhaps it was simply mere coincidence or perhaps even divine intervention, Kenshin and Kaoru as spirits prevailing somehow on the ethereal powers-that-were; but just as Harumi, Jiro's wife, and Uki appeared on the path from the house, the first white-gold rays broke the predawn gray and swept the garden. And Sanosuke, staring eagerly beyond the two women, caught his breath as a slender figure in white emerged from the darkness of the house, like a pearl suddenly shining from the shadowy depths of the sea.
Sunlight caught and glimmered lovingly in the bridal kimono whose brocaded silk Sanosuke had obtained from friends in China. He hadn't much cared about the tradition of virginal white, but Megumi had refused to wear it; and as she moved slowly down the path toward the bower where everyone waited, the barely perceptible blush of the silk, echoing the pale hues of the fragrant roses that bobbed with the breeze all around them, caused not a few of those present to cast speculative glances Sanosuke's way.
But he never noticed, for his gaze was riveted to the woman who came to stand quietly by his side. She kept her head modestly lowered, and from his height the tsuno-kakushi concealed her face, revealing only the immaculate hairstyle whose kanzashi glistened with mother-of-pearl inlay. Sano had little appreciation for women's clothing, but now he took an unfamiliar pleasure in the embroidered cranes taking flight down her back, the silvery roses climbing along her sleeves. The motif was repeated in Megumi's traditional hakoseko, and even the fan tucked into her obi would open later to show roses delicately embossed in the paper.
The ritual passed in a blur, and it seemed to Sanosuke to last only moments and agonizing eons at the same time. When the purification rite was finished, the miko brought forth the ceremonial sake. No one broke the hush, although Sano's hands trembled visibly as he sipped from the little dish; Megumi's, by contrast, were steady and graceful. After they had made the offering of tree branches that signified the end of the main rite, sake was shared in solemn silence among the couple's now united families.
As the Sanadas passed on the drink to Yahiko and Tsubame, Kenji, Aoshi and Misao, Uki, Outa, and Kamishimoemon, Sano at last dared to take the slender white hand that was now his; he was startled to find very cold fingers upon his warm palm. In answer to his quick, puzzled glance, Megumi upturned her face to his very briefly, for a flash of red-painted smile. Smiling back, Sano carefully folded her chill hand in both of his.
The raucous reception that followed contrasted sharply with the quiet dignity of the wedding ceremony. Over her bridal kimono, Megumi wore a crimson uchikake, intricately sewn with gold-tinged irises by a former patient. She and Sano sat close together, rarely touching or even speaking in a most uncharacteristic fit of mutual shyness that lasted well into the second course.
But soon the free-flowing, excellent Aizu sake took its toll, and Megumi eventually reverted to her normal self—discussing a problem at the hospital with Sanada Hiroshi in the brisk, businesslike tones of a true directress, slapping at Sano's hands as he tried to put clearly too much food into his mouth at one blow, planning house decorations with Misao and Tsubame, laughing her loud kitsune-onna laugh as Yahiko slipped her a heartbroken letter from Akira.
"No regrets yet, Sanosuke? You'll be seeing those fox ears a lot more often for the rest of your life." And grinning teasingly at his newly wedded friend, the descendant of Tokyo samurai stretched out beneath a hospitable maple tree.
"I'll make sure to torment her more than she torments me, anyway," said Sano with an answering smirk, polishing off a tray of desserts as compensation for the discomfort and inconvenience of his formal garb. "Oei, Kenji, why didn'tcha bring your girlfriend?" he asked of Kenji, who sat nearby, somewhat apart from everyone else. "I thought we included her in the invitation."
Flushing, Kenji paused with a cup of sake halfway to his lips. "Kiriko-chan sends her apologies. Her mother is ill, so she couldn't leave."
"Make sure Megitsune packs off Tsubame with a boatload of medicine, then. You plannin' on staying with us here for a while, ne? I ain't gonna be usin' Fuuko for some time."
Kenji brightened; he loved riding, and he was thrilled at the prospect of exploring the beautiful Aizu countryside. "I would very much appreciate that kindness, Sagara-san."
"Yeah, well, enjoy it while it lasts, kid." Sano grinned and leaned back, propping himself up on his hands and gazing around with what Yahiko suspected was affection. His quick brown eyes found Megumi, resplendent in her bright kimono some distance away, talking quietly with the Higashidanis.
Couched deeply as ever in his perpetual air of calm purpose, Aoshi strode toward them with a cup of tea. "I take it you'll be producing offspring soon, Sagara?"
Stoically enduring the odd looks Yahiko and Kenji shot him, he folded his long legs gracefully into a seating position.
Sano sweatdropped. "Trying out small talk, eh, Shinomori?"
"Frivolous though it is, I find it indispensable in certain situations. Such as when Misao is not around to engage in it for me." Imperturbably, he sipped his tea. "However, and more importantly, I also asked with regard to Takani-sensei's health. Her physique is exceptional, her constitution excellent, but at her age childbearing may pose difficulties for her."
Despite a second sweatdrop—only he could admire a woman's body so dryly—Sano nodded. At least this was more the Aoshi he knew. "Aa. I asked her this myself, but she said she'd be fine for a good while yet. She's the doctor, so..." He trailed off with a shrug and a ready grin.
"—So it's all right, then, is it, Sano?" Yahiko asked cheerfully.
Sano smiled, watching Megumi again as she poured sake for her adoptive family. For a long minute he did not speak, keen eyes tracking her every graceful movement, the elegant drape and sweep of her festive clothing. Then, "Aa. I guess you could say that."
As if sensing his eyes on her, Megumi turned in his direction and blushed slightly beneath his direct, unabashed gaze. Excusing herself from the Sanadas, she made her way over to them, still bearing the sake jug.
"And what have you been up to, boys?" she asked flirtatiously, kneeling beside Sanosuke and pouring him sake, as well as Kenji and Yahiko. "Have you been picking on my poor, defenseless husband while I've been away?"
This time it was Kenji who sweatdropped; Aoshi took another unruffled sip of his tea; and Yahiko grinned. "Of course we have, Megumi. You don't think we'd stop just 'cause he's gotten himself hitched to the kitsune-onna, ne?"
"On the contrary, Yahiko, I'd encourage you if you only needed it. The tsuno-kakushi was only for tradition, after all. This toriatama will always need keeping in line. Ohh-hohohohohoh!"
Sano sipped his sake with a grin and let it go. He would wait for his revenge, which would undoubtedly come with the night.
For now, he basked in the knowledge that real happiness lay behind the coy, well-practiced laugh, as it had not for too long; and tucking his hands behind his head, he lay back against a tree trunk and watched a flurry of rose petals drift by. When Megumi turned to him with a smile that was both teasing and apologetic—as only she knew how to put them together and still produce an extremely pleasing whole—he gazed in an unutterable satisfaction at the lively, beautiful woman in the bright robes before him. She laid her hand on his; he clasped the cool, smooth fingers without a word, and was content.
"Tadaima!"
"'Touchan!"
In a flash, Nozomi had slid from Megumi's lap and run out the door; her mother, shaking her head over the heedless enthusiasm of childhood, carefully replaced the photograph on the wall before heading out to greet her husband.
Nozomi was perched gleefully on his broad shoulder when she found him in the front hall. Megumi approached with a smile.
"Okaeri nasai, toriatama."
He grinned back and caught her up in a wordless embrace. Megumi sighed—she had missed the solid warmth of his arms so very much; laying her cheek against his chest, through the thick layers of his winter uniform she could still feel his heart beat, strong and steady and sure.
Tenderly he kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry I was late..."
"It's nothing." She smiled up at him. "You're home now."
"'Touchan hungry!" And Nozomi added emphasis to her proclamation by kicking sharp little heels into her father's shoulders until he winced and brought her down onto the cradle of his arm. Chuckling, Megumi went on to the kitchen to warm the food she had prepared.
"And what's my little mouse been doing while I was away? Not bothering 'kaachan, I hope?"
"I been collecting pretty stones!"
"Out in the frost? You coulda gotten sick..."
"No, Shinji-chan gets them for me, and I just pick what I like, then he puts 'em back where he got 'em."
"Ora ora! Making a slave of that boy already, nezumi-chan?"
"He wants to do it!"
"We've gotta keep a closer eye on her, she's just too cute at her age," muttered Sano as he passed Megumi by the stove.
She gave him a sweet smile. "Takes after her mother, I daresay."
"Too bad, but it definitely looks like that..."
In the gray days when winter turns at last to spring, a strong wind called haru-ichiban blows across Aizu from the southwest, heralding the coming thaw. In time, the plum and cherry trees bud and blossom. And the people bestir themselves from their wintry sleep, for the sun has returned, and life begins anew.
~ owari ~
A/N. Sigh... It's done at last. Getting sentimental now. Betcha couldn't tell, what with all the blushing and stammering and sweatdropping going on around here. ^.^
This will be yet another long and blathery, self-absorbed note not entirely necessary to enjoyment of the story... so just don't say I didn't warn you, ne? ^.^
1) I see Sano and Megumi as two very unconventional people: Sano the perpetual brash young rebel (now turned uber-cop ^.^) and Megumi the pioneering onna-sensei. This is due in large part to the enormous courage and strength of character they have, as well as the unique circumstances in which they grew older. Tomboyish Misao would probably be reined in a little by Aoshi, and Kaoru, even though she is a fairly violent kenjutsu teacher who can't cook to save her life (literally, in Enishi's case...) and who allows a homeless, unemployed man to live with her for at least six months, is still a bit too naïve and pure-hearted to truly go against the norm. But Megumi in order to succeed in her chosen career must dare to be a little more original, and Sanosuke, of course, will only encourage that. This in part is why I chose not to have her as a plain-white kinda bride. (Lemon readers will know this in a bit greater detail... ^.^) And anyway, off-white bridal kimonos weren't totally unheard of. I saw this really beautiful kimono on the Web that was bluish. Kirei!
My image also of these two as a married couple (...sigh...) is one of prosperity and stability. Megumi is, of course, the very hardworking and capable director of a big hospital now, so she's got to receive plenty of recompense for her skills. And Sano I imagine has had enough of the itinerant lifestyle and is all too happy to settle down and make babies with his beloved fox. ^.^
Megumi also strikes me as supremely feminine. I saw it once on a S/M website I now forget which: Sano and Megumi sort of complement each other because they're, like, super-masculine plus super-feminine. Hence the pretty combs and ornaments Megumi uses.
2) For once, I stopped haphazardly pulling Japanese names out of my limited anime databank (hence Takako, Hideki, Hiromu, Shinji, and so on ^.^) and actually did some research. "Nozomi" means "hope." I wanted it for Megumi and Sano's first child, seeing as how they're starting considerably late in life and are on the very brink of a whole new century, full of changes. It would also speak of how they've found the strength and courage together to keep looking forward to a bright, though uncertain, future.
Megumi and Sano's nickname for Nozomi is "little mouse" or "nezumi-chan." A bit of wordplay on my part. Gomen, gomen, just indulging myself here, again. ^.^
"Kisho" roughly translates to "one who knows his own mind." Okay, this was strictly Net research on baby names, so I really don't know if this name was already in use in late 1890s Japan... but it is a really cool and appropriate name for a son of these two, don't you think?
3) Megumi is 37 at her summer wedding, Sano 35. As women get closer to 40 years of age, the risk of birth defects like retardation increases alarmingly. But of course, Nozomi-chan and Kisho-chan are perfectly healthy, if precocious, children. And Megumi should be able to make it to at least three strong, robust kids, if I have anything to say about it.... _
4) Depicted above was, as I said, essentially a Shinto wedding. As Outa said, it's relatively unusual in that it's held not at a shrine but at a private home. However, such a wedding is not entirely unheard of.
Random notes about the ceremony and stuff: The bridal kimono and uchikake are usually passed on to the next generation, or made into futon bedding. Cranes mate for life, and so symbolize longevity and married bliss. Irises signify love. Red is a lucky color for the Japanese, promising wealth and happiness, and thus is a popular color for uchikake. Fans at weddings symbolize many long years of happiness, with the way they fold out to the end. A small encased sword or kaiken is also traditionally carried by a bride.
I'll repost this chapter if I have to, if I remember any more Author's Notes that I need to make... so sorry for my very bad memory. @.@ So I move on for now to the never-fading thanks that go to—
eriesalia, for never failing to promptly review my unworthy chapters. Both constructive, tactful criticism and intelligent praise. Here's yet another fan lookin' up to ya! I'm afraid I'm not too good with comedy, so I kinda flubbed the part you asked for about Sano and Megumi dragging the Kenshingumi into their wedding… But I just might follow through on the inspiration you've given me and craft an Aoshi-Megumi story of my own. Maybe.
redbandana, for the effusive, loyal reviews that only illness could hold back (harhar). If I answer your reviews in my chapters, that's the least I can do, and that's a habit I got from eriesalia. ^.^ I'm glad you liked the lemon! And about writing that kind of stuff... it's all right, it took me a long, long time of waffling before I finally wrote my first . And this is only my second. So you're not alone. ^.^
g3ozLizh, KitKat8, thank you so much for sharing your emotions so freely with me... I am so happy and honored to be able to touch another's heart. ^.^ Knowing that in my own little way I can commune with another spirit someway across the planet in the truths of the soul brings me much comfort... that the eyebags and sleep-deprivation zits are worth it. Sigh! KitKat8, I am especially honored to have received your review, especially since, as you said, you give those so rarely. Arigatou! And g3ozLizh, we're in agreement on that: I want them to live happily ever after too... Yay Sano/Megumi!
Linay, I do remember you way back from the KFFDISCML. This unworthy one is privileged to have such a venerable name in RK fanfic-dom on her reviews page! ^.^
jerjonji, glad to have shared my humble little "vision" with you. We just want what's best for the rooster and the fox, don't we??
Sailor-Earth13: nuh-uh! The fact that you've actually registered onto ffnet is an act of bravery. I myself took about three months hovering around the site before I actually got up the guts to actually sign in. Just keep reading, and then the itch to write will be so bad it'll call up its own courage all by itself. You just have to believe that you've got talent simmering in you. And as you've no doubt seen, the ffnet readers are usually very kind, so no need to be afraid of nasty readers... ^.^
To these oh-so-gracious reviewers and all the other readers who have taken time and energy to follow my story, I owe massive gratitude. To those also who have deigned to have me on their lists (the lost samurai, babeekoko, kaimamiru, Mistress Battousai, blahblahHOBO, purpo kitee katx, loyanini, CrismHeart, kakashi-fan, CEEGEE)—even if it's not for this story, but for my other thingies—my thanks and blushing cheeks as well. ^.^
I'm no Pulitzer winner, but I still hope I have, in some tiny way, managed to bring a bit more love and cheer and silly romantic shit-eating grins to your everyday lives. ^.^ If I have been able to do so, then I rest my pen for now and am content. ^.^ Arigatou gozaimashita!!