Tokyo Babylon: Sound part 12: Chiming / Harmony Sumeragi Mirei sat respectfully silent through the wedding ceremony, watching as her grandson, her only grandson, her heir, married the daughter of their enemy clan. No, not the daughter, she corrected herself, *a* daughter. Midori-san had convinced her on that point... though it appeared they would never agree on many others. But if Toyuuki Midori made Subaru-san happy, Mirei thought to herself, then she could be forgiven much. And for bringing into the world and raising such a wonderful son, her relationship and obvious affection for the Sakurazukamori could be... overlooked. Mirei felt the eyes of the Sakurazukamori drift to her for a second and refused to meet them. Sakurazuka Seishirou, the bane of their art. The darkness, the evil within, that should have been destroyed... and he was in attendance at a Sumeragi wedding, sitting calmly within the ancient temple that had seen hundreds of Sumeragis born, trained, ordained, wed, and buried. Her nerves screamed at the violation. He had no right to be here, to profane this sacred place with his presence, and had she been younger, with more strength, she would have challenged and fought him. A subtle hand covered hers, causing Mirei to blink and look down at her great-grandson. He quietly shook his head and indicated that they should watch his parents. * * * Subaru-san had smiled softly at her as he introduced his future bride to Mirei. Mirei had calmly examined the young woman who sat quietly beside Subaru before speaking. The family name was unknown to her; the woman was no onmyouji, that was certain, and if her family held any important positions in the government, Mirei did not know of them. But still, there was something in the bearing and ki of Toyuuki-san that made Mirei wary of assuming anything about her yet. Something in those silver eyes knew too much for her to be just someone off the street.... "Might I ask, Toyuuki-san," Mirei began cautiously, "how you and Subaru-san first met?" "We met during the End of the World," Toyuuki-san replied, confirming Mirei's suspicions, "though we have not seen each other for several years since...." "I see," Mirei murmured. "Subaru-san has never mentioned you to me. May I inquire what role you played in the End of the World?" "A very small one, Sumeragi-san. I merely leveled the balance of power between the head of the Sumeragi clan and the Sakurazukamori, then departed from Tokyo." Mirei felt a shock go through her. This woman, dressed in a simple blue silk kimono...? It was impossible that she know enough even to comprehend what she was saying... wasn't it? * * * The bride and the groom exchanged gold rings during the ceremony, a concession to the modern Western tradition, and the look of affection in their eyes was enough to almost bring a tear to Seishirou's emotionless eye. These two deserved one another. Midori and Subaru would spend a lifetime together, with their son, quietly loving. Very romantic, and doubtlessly what the two of them had always wanted. And not a single person in this room, amusingly enough, was "normal." The Balancer, four Seals, three Minions, a former Sumeragi head, one future Balancer, and a young girl held in her mother's arms, contentedly gnawing on a stick of strawberry Pooky, who was the daughter of two Seals. And all save Kakyou and Kigai had received beautifully calligraphed invitations that Midori had carefully made herself. But somehow, it had almost seemed as if the pair had been expected when they had turned up... indeed, as if all grudges of the past had been forgiven between the Minions and Seals. Though Kishuu-san did keep a tense, frosty distance from the one who had killed her would-be lover. Seishirou glanced over at the other two Minions, and smiled slightly. That was a combination he would never have suspected to come out of their pasts. Kuzuki Kakyou and Kigai Yuuto... though Shirou Kamui and Nekoi Yuzuriha were also an interesting couple to contemplate. * * * Yuzuriha shifted Megumi in her arms and looked back at the wedding taking place. She felt it as Kamui's eyes rested upon her for a minute, and remembered briefly their own wedding, four years before. It had been even smaller a group than this, just the two of them, Arashi-san, Daisuke-san, and their memories. She wished that Subaru-san hadn't disappeared from them after the battles; it would have meant a great deal to Kamui to have had him there at the wedding. But Subaru-san had had to do his own healing, she supposed, away from the rest of them. And now here they all were, together again, Minions and Seals and Subaru's family, for the wedding of the onmyouji to his enemy's sister. And somehow it felt alright. The war for the fate of the Earth had taken its toll on all of them, and now that it was over, it was hard to see the other side as enemies. Yuzuriha smiled softly, sadly, as she remembered how she and Kamui had stayed with one another for years after the final battle, clinging to one another for strength as they tried to re-build their tattered lives into something coherant. It was something she would never have guessed, but slowly out of their friendship and mutual need had grown a feeling of peace with one another, and eventually something that felt like love. She hadn't hesitated in her answer when he had asked her to marry him. Though their wedding night had been amusing. Yuzuriha had since grown used to, and rather enjoyed, the feeling of Kamui's wings closing down over the two of them as they drifted off to sleep, but that first night they had both been awkward and unsure, sexually, and in sleeping compatibility. * * * Kamui looked over at his wife and their daughter and for a moment wondered exactly how Fate had curved around on itself so that he married her. Yuzuriha had been his closest friend for many years, but it had only been for the last few months before he married her that he had even been truly aware that she was a *woman*, and a beautiful one at that. He looked back up at Subaru and Midori in time to see the end of the ceremony, and could not help but feel slightly out of place in this temple. Maybe it was because Subaru was marrying the love of his life. Or... one of the loves of his life, Kamui thought, looking at Sakurazukamori. He still hated the three Minions in this room for what they had done, killing his closest friends, but he couldn't act on that any more than he could act on hating himself for what had happened to Kotori and Fuuma. Besides, he was trying to live a normal life now. He stood silently, with the others, and walked out of the temple into the courtyard of the Sumeragi home, Yuzuriha beside him. "Might I ask," Kakyou inquired softly, from his right, "why you continue to wear that illusion over your wings when there is no need to among those here?" Kamui shrugged, and let the masking spell slip, revealing the wings that arched from his back, over his head, and back to the ground, one as white and downy as a swan's wing, the other as dark and velvety as a bat's. "Happy?" he asked. "Merely curious," Kakyou replied quietly, and turned away from him, pausing to admire the koi that rested below a small red bridge.