Chapter 266: Traditions and Transitions
July 6, 19914:34 PM
Ranko and Akane's wedding guests milled about in the bar, the sound system pumping a popular Japanese pop love song. The newlyweds had alighted to Hana's office for a few minutes, just to have a moment alone to talk and celebrate their union. There had been at least as much kissing as there was talking.
"So, you ready to head back out?" Ranko offered her hand to Akane, who took it with enthusiasm. The pair walked side-by-side down the hallway to the saloon door. Once they'd reached it, Yui switched on the dynamic microphone they kept behind the bar for announcements, thumping it thrice to get the crowd's attention as Mei turned off the music.
"Everyone?" Yui waved to the guests from behind the bar. "I'd like to introduce you, one more time, to my sister, Ranko Tendo, and to her wife, my sister, Akane Tendo."
The assembled guests clapped and cheered as the couple pushed through the newly-repaired blue door, Akane going first and holding the door for Ranko as it wasn't wide enough for them to pass abreast. Ranko wanted to chivalrously hold it for Akane instead, but Akane had quite practically reminded Ranko that she wore the more unwieldy of their dresses by far.
A loud pop on Ranko's right startled her, and she jumped toward Akane a bit as a champagne cork flew across the room from behind the service bar. Gotta take it easy with scaring me like that, Mei! I've already been jumped once today, Ranko thought with a shake of her head. The shaken bottle of bubbly spewed its frothy contents in an arc over the girls' heads, most of it spattering on the main bar counter or the floor just beyond it. The cork itself landed in Dr. Tofu's highball glass, eliciting a round of laughter and cheers. Mei took a little bow, grinning as if she had made the impossible shot on purpose.
The girls made their way around the room, greeting each of their friends in turn as Mei turned the music back up. Even with just a few minutes for each group of guests - long enough for a round of congratulations, a few fawning comments about one or both of their dresses, and a laugh or two at little details from the party that the brides had not witnessed - it took nearly forty-five minutes to work their way through the gathering. In that whole time, Ranko's hand never once left Akane's. I'm never letting go, Akane. Never again, Ranko thought with an enchanted smile as they made their way from the clique of cheerleaders toward Kage, Kaito and their wives.
Finally, Akane did pull her hand free of Ranko's, just for a moment, as the pair met up with Nanami and Mitsuru. Akane waved with an excited squeal to Nanami, before turning to her date, signing thank you so much for coming to her in Japanese Sign Language. Akane was taking an introductory sign language class as a college elective, having been inspired by her interactions with her friend. She was no expert, but she could manage the pleasantries, and Nanami helped translate the rest of the conversation between her girlfriend and the brides.
A tinkle of glass striking wood started with Nabiki, building to a chorus of at least a dozen around the room. Responding to the prompt, Ranko leaned over her skirts and placed both of her hands gently around the back of Akane's head, pulling her wife close for another kiss. As much as Ranko was enjoying the conversations with their loved ones, she wished to hell Nabiki would never stop banging that damned Collins glass. Between the emotional high of the wedding, the torturous sensations her satin slip was causing on her hypersensitive skin with every step she took, and the still-unexplained miracle that had reshaped her world with a splash of boiling water, Ranko was desperate for Akane's touch. Her body somehow had become one hundred percent girl, and all Ranko wanted in the world was to give that body to Akane. Repeatedly.
Another clinking of glass sounded, this one originating on the stage, and Ranko leaned toward Akane again, but then a voice came through the bar's sound system. "Hey, everybody, can I get your attention a minute?"
Dammit, Crash. Teasing me like that!
He'd gotten a haircut, so his blond hair actually framed his face better, and he'd actually shaved his face clean. Ranko could not fathom, as someone who had barely started shaving before her transition, how Crash could look like he hadn't shaved in three days, every day. Did he shave it daily and just do a consistently bad job? Did his facial hair reach that length and just… stop? It defied logic. Ranko had almost never seen him in a suit, either, but today he was in a pale blue long-sleeve dress shirt, a deeper, more jewel tone blue tie, and black dress pants. He'd already doffed his suit coat earlier in the evening, and it lay in an unused corner of the stage along with some other partygoers' belongings. He really does clean up nice, Ranko had to admit to herself. For a boy, anyway.
"So, anyway," Crash said into the microphone with a drunken grin down at his friend in the fluffy wedding dress. "This wedding's pretty girl-heavy, so there wasn't a best man. But, well, everybody knows I'm the best man in here tonight, so fuck it! I'm inviting myself." The assembled guests laughed as they turned their eyes toward the stage.
"Keep tellin' yourself that, Crash," Shinji yelled through hands formed like a megaphone around his mouth.
Laughing at his friend's comment, Crash continued. "Here's the thing. I think it's probably the worst-kept secret around this place that I used to have a thing for Ranko."
Oh. So that's why you wore a suit, Ranko thought with a blush and a smirk as her forehead fell into her palm. One less thing for the guy at the funeral home to do after I kill you. Akane squeezed her wife's hand, silently conveying her hope that she would not need to maim a second person before their wedding day had ended.
Nodoka almost spit out the mouthful of screwdriver she had yet to swallow. Oh? Do I need to have a talk with that boy? Ranko, child, why did you not tell me about this?
"Well, the thing is, when I approached her about it, Ranko told me she had her eye on somebody else, and I'm over here thinking, may the best man win, 'cause, like I said, I am, no question, the best man." Another small round of laughter came from the group of wedding guests, and Crash joined them. "But turns out, the best man didn't win; the best woman did!"
Ranko turned to her wife with stars in her eyes. "Hell yeah, she did."
"And you know what? I couldn't be happier about it. Instead of me inevitably doing something dumb, screwing up a relationship in a couple of months, and going our separate ways, I got to be Ranko's friend for life. Gods, what a ride it's been! We've gotten into some shit together, ain't we, Ran-chan?"
Ranko cupped her hands, calling up to her bandmate on the stage. "And we're just getting started!" A loud cheer came in response.
Crash gave a small wave in the direction of the table Ukyo was seated at, his impromptu speech having interrupted her conversation with a few of Ranko's cheerleader friends. "Plus, it meant I got the chance to fall absolutely head over heels for the girl who really was right for me."
Out of the corner of her eye, Akane was fairly certain she saw Ukyo wipe a tear from her eye. Talk about shocking transformations… What the hell did Crash have to do to get her in a dress today?
"Ranko, your friendship has changed my life. All of us in the band, obviously. But it's not just your talent; that part's obvious. It's the person you are. You're sweet when you wanna be, and fierce as fuck when you wanna be. When you're lucky enough to call yourself Ranko Tendo's friend, you know somebody's always got your back." Crash nodded as the cheer of acknowledgement that had begun with his bandmates spread to every corner of the room.
The guitarist continued, lowering his glass in the hand that wasn't holding the microphone for a moment. The unplanned speech was running a bit longer than he'd expected. "And if you've got everybody's back, damn, Ranko, do you have somebody that's got yours. Akane, I gotta tell you, girl. The way you love Ranko? Shit, that's a hard example to follow, but a damn good one. I'm truly glad you won her heart, because it couldn't be in better hands than yours. I say that as her bandmate, and as her friend. You're the reason we have any happy songs to perform, for one! As I've gotten to know you, it's become clear to me where Ranko gets a lot of her strength from, and a lot of her softer side, too. I've just got nothin' but respect for you."
Akane wrapped her arms around her bride's waist from behind her, a happy sigh carried on a whisper just past Ranko's left ear.
"Anyhow, I just wanted to say, I think I speak for everyone here when I say we love the both of you, and we wish you nothing but the best." He raised his glass above his head. "To Ranko and Akane!"
"To Ranko and Akane," came the echo from two dozen loved ones, and the clinking of glasses started again.
Technically, I'm not sure if a toast counts as banging the glasses, but if it's cheating, I don't care. Ranko turned in Akane's arms, initiating a soft, loving kiss with her wife. When it ended, Ranko made her way to the stairs at stage left.
Yui, who had been nominated de facto emcee for the proceedings, strode up the ramp to the center of the stage. She extended her empty palm toward the Dapper Dragons' guitarist. "May I?"
Crash nodded and handed her the microphone before heading down the steps, where Ranko was waiting to give him a tight hug. "Where you get off tellin' everybody that?" Ranko gave her friend a playful punch in the shoulder while she still was hugging him with her other arm, but her smile was electrifying.
He laughed loudly, squeezing his friend back in a tight bear hug. Ranko whispered a silent thanks to Izumi for the pearlescent armor her sister had made for her, because that much pressure on her sore ribs would have been agony without it.
"You know I love you too, right? Not like that, but, ya know, like you said. Like, bro love." Ranko relaxed herself in Crash's arms. Man, it felt good to be able to get a hug and not feel like she needed to fight her way out of it. It was one of her favorite things about her new life, even though that list was getting longer by the minute.
"Yeah, I know," Crash said, motioning up to the stage. "Um, Ran-chan, I think you're on."
"Huh?" Ranko looked up just as Yui turned her eyes toward her from the stage. Akane was already standing up there with her.
Yui thumped the microphone once on the side of her head, the hollow sound reverberating through the speakers. "Hey, blockhead! You gonna come up here and dance with your wife, or what?"
Ranko yelped. She'd completely missed what Yui had said while talking to Crash, but in her defense, standing behind the main stage speakers as she was, the sound tended to be a little muffled. "Eeep! Coming!" She trundled up her dress and started to make her way to the stairs, pausing and thinking better of the narrow passageway before heading around to the ramp. Her face was aflame as the girls' wedding guests laughed. "Sorry, Akane!"
"I see how it is," Akane said with a playful smirk. "Married an hour, and you're already ignoring me to go hug boys." Her voice was picked up on the microphone, and a smattering of laughter rose in response. "I suppose it's okay, as long as you always come home to me."
Ranko blushed, reaching her hand out for Akane's. She fingered Akane's wedding band, closing her eyes and sighing happily at the tactile reminder of what they'd done today. "Akane, you are home to me. In fact…" She nodded to Ariel at the little sound station off to the side of the stage. "I seem to recall writing a song about it once." She reached forward for Akane's shoulders as the first notes of You're My Song began to play, and Yui skittered off of the stage, taking the microphone with her.
Ranko's slow dancing skill had improved considerably; she'd asked her dance instructor at school for some lessons over the last few weeks. Still, she eschewed much in the way of fancy moves, owing to Akane's lack of similar training coupled with her restrictive dress and her sore muscles. Instead, Ranko leaned forward until her forehead made gentle contact with Akane's and slowly swayed with her, letting her lead. She just wanted every single part of her to be touching Akane that could. "Holy shit, Akane! We did it. We're fucking married! Can you believe it?"
"It'll sink in eventually," Akane whispered in response. "But not yet. Right now it feels like it's some kind of fantasy. I'm so glad you fought to keep today on track after this morning. I don't know if I'd have survived another day of not being your wife, either."
Ranko rested her cheek on Akane's chest, just above her left breast. "You'll never have to find out, Mrs. Tendo. Not ever."
"Promises, promises. I love you, Ranko." Akane grinned, turning her neck slightly and resting her cheek on top of her wife's forehead. She sang Ranko's words softly back to the love of her life as they swayed, every eye in the building on the two of them as they shared their musical embrace. "I hope you did, but if you didn't, I wanna tell you endlessly. Don't want a second to go by that you don't know you are the very best of me."
"Gods, look at her." Nodoka clasped her hands over her heart, watching her daughter dance and beaming with pride. "You'd never be able to tell that she hasn't been doing this her whole life." Nabiki shot a glare of daggers her way at the first part of her statement, but relaxed visibly as the rest of the sentence came out in a way that didn't expose any information that Ranko would have preferred not to spread.
Soun nodded sagely, the veneer of toughness on his face cracking a bit more as he watched his little girl move as one with the love of her life. "They've both changed so much. For the better, I think."
Enjoying the last few seconds of peaceful bliss, where all the world had faded out and it was just the two of them, Ranko lifted her head from Akane's chest. She almost looked sleepy; indeed, it had been quite the day and she was only running on about two hours of sleep. It wasn't exhaustion that had put that look on her face, though; it was absolute contentment.
She wasn't sure why, but she just couldn't seem to keep her hands off of Akane's face. Ranko just felt compelled to touch her, almost as if to continuously reassure herself that what she was experiencing was real. Cradling Akane's cheek in her left hand so Ranko could see her own wedding ring sparkling in the stage lights against it, she gazed up into Akane's deep brown eyes. Her own blue eyes were a bottomless ocean of adoration. She quietly sang the last line along with the recorded version of herself, a private little serenade for the woman for whom she had written the song in the first place.
"But when they see the joy I feel up on that stage, I'm just the singer. You're my song."
Yui switched on the mic again, speaking over the last few claps as Ranko and Akane descended the ramp hand in hand. "You girls are just so cute together. Makes me fuckin' sick." She giggled, more freely than Ranko was used to seeing from her. It could have been the atmosphere, but the constant stream of cocktails Sakura was pumping into her girlfriend at every opportunity may have contributed, too.
Yui gestured with her hand to the gap between the two bars, where Hana, Mei and Yui had just appeared from the kitchen with trays of food. "So, hey, who's hungry?"
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