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Heartfelt Vows

Summary:

Umi knew marrying Clef was a big step to make, but she didn't expect their wedding to overwhelm her with so many emotions.

Notes:

Okay, so I haven't actually finished the entire draft. I have about four out of five chapters drafted. I need to go back and rewrite a few scenes that don't flow right and finished the last chapter. I've been struggling with the emotional bits, and trying to keep the tone right. Also, just the general struggle of my medication making it difficult to make the images in my head into words on a page...

I just wanted to get something up today, because this week is going to be a little chaotic. The surgery I was supposed to have back in March has been scheduled for Thursday, 1 October. Which will obviously interfere with writing and all that.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Between detailed housework lessons, looking for an apartment, and everything else that happened in the past month, Clef really didn't have a lot of time alone to spend dwelling on things, so he managed to avoid giving very much thought to his feelings for Umi until the day before the wedding. Even then, he didn't choose to consider it so much as have it forcibly brought to his attention again.

They arrived at the venue in the morning. Umi's parents sorted their check-in, while Clef and Umi were led away to a room lined with racks of suits and dresses, where Clef found himself being helped into a more formal set of robes than he'd been given to wear for their New Years shrine visit. As far as he was aware, neither he nor Umi had requested this costume for the photographs, so it must have been Umi's parents who wanted it included.

Once he was dressed and the hairdresser was resigned to his hair's refusal to be tamed, Clef was led outside to a garden surrounded by trees just coming into bloom. The flowers were a delicate shape, soft pink against the otherwise bare branches.

As soon as he was introduced, the photographer gave Clef a direction - at least that's what he assumed with the hand gestures - in a language he was starting to recognise without knowing a word of it.

"I cannot understand English," Clef said, still amused by the number of times he'd had to use the phrase. "Please would you speak Japanese?"

"Ah. My apologies," the photographer said. "Would you please stand over here?"

Clef took his place and exchanged a few pleasantries with the photographer and her assistant before he heard Umi call his name. He turned, and his breath caught.

The elegant styling of her hair combined with the beautiful robes she wore elevated Umi's natural beauty to an almost ethereal level. Clef couldn't stop himself staring, as she walked over the little wooden bridge toward him - so entranced that he barely registered the sound of the camera.

"What are you gawking at?" Umi complained, cheeks flushed. "You've seen me in kimono before."

"You're beautiful." The words tumbled out of Clef's mouth before he had a chance to stop them.

The blush darkened across Umi's cheeks and she bit her lip, turning away as she took her place beside him, looking fixedly towards the photographer. "You look good too," she murmured.

Dozens of photos were taken of them standing under the trees, looking up at the flowers, sitting on a bench, and even standing on the little bridge crossing the fish pond before they were ushered back indoors to be changed into the first of the costumes they'd chosen themselves. Clef was able to dress himself this time, putting on the suit for the ceremony - the one he was going to wear to pledge his loyalty to Umi in front of at least fifty witnesses.

Standing in front of the mirror, he needed a moment to breathe at that thought; and another as he thought to wonder what Umi was going to be wearing this time.

If Clef thought Umi was dazzling in the kimono, the way she looked in the intricate white gown was utterly beguiling. Lace wrapped about her arms and over her chest, and scrolled white-on-white over the dress itself.

He couldn't take his eyes off her, but that didn't seem to bother the photographer in the least. Umi, however, kept glancing at him and then away again, and Clef struggled to concentrate on listening to the photographer's instructions and not staring.

The second set of photographs was taken in a large indoor garden space with a grand staircase that was perfect for showing off the long sweep of fabric that flowed from the back of Umi's full skirts. Making sure he didn't trip down the stairs at least gave him something else to concentrate on.

*

Once she was wearing it, Umi started second-guessing the final dress. While the white ceremony gown's body was just as low cut, it had the layer of lace that covered her from neck to wrist. The royal blue one she'd chosen for the reception left her feeling more than a little exposed; though, she wasn't sure if that was from the amount of skin it showed or the way Clef kept looking at her.

There was something more to his gaze. The same warm fondness was there but there was a new level of something, too. She had the sneaking feeling that it was the kind of look her mother's romance novels would call 'the sort of desperate desire of someone lost at sea seeing land for the first time'. Or maybe more like 'someone wandering through the desert finding their first drink of fresh water in days'.

Either way, that look combined with the heat of his hand on her side as they posed gave Umi a butterfly feeling in her stomach, and made her remember Junko's words:

"The guy moved all the way to Japan to be with you and looks at you like that, and you seriously haven't done it with him?"

Did she turn him on?

The thought made her oddly proud and just as equally discomforted, especially knowing she would be sharing a hotel room with him for the next two nights.

It wasn't that she didn't trust him. That couldn't be further from the truth; she had complete faith that he would never do anything like that without her wanting him to. She was just a little afraid of the part of her that wanted to ask him to, and staying on their own, with no excuse not to think about it……

She was just curious, that was all.

But no matter how good he looked in a suit, or how distracting it was that she actually knew how to get him out of that kind of clothing - unlike the complicated layers of his Cephiran robes - the last thing she wanted was to make their living arrangement awkward by asking to do that on a selfish impulse, so she pushed the thought away until they were finished with the photos, so firmly that she'd nearly forgotten it by the time they were safely back in their own clothes and joining her parents for lunch.

At least it was forgotten until Mama announced, "I've booked you two on a crafting excursion," and handed over a printout. "I know you've been doing a lot of them lately, I hope you don't mind." The last was directed rather apologetically at Clef.

"Oh! I've not done a wind chime," Clef said, looking at the picture.

"They should be a nice memento for your new home together," Papa said.

Clef agreed with a nod, but Umi was staring at the date on the paper. "This is for the seventeenth. We check out on the sixteenth."

Her parents beamed at them.

"We extended your stay," Mama said.

Papa added, "For a mini honeymoon!"

"But we only packed for two nights!" Umi tried very hard not to shout, but she wasn't quite managing it.

"I've taken care of that." Mama waved off her concern. "It's only two extra nights, after all."

"We can send you on a nicer trip during your summer holiday," Papa said. Both of them looked so pleased with themselves.

Umi swallowed. Two more nights would be fine. If they couldn't comfortably spend four nights together in a hotel suite, they would definitely need to rethink the little one-bedroom apartment they'd picked.

All the same, a hotel was different - especially one they were staying in because they were getting married. Wasn't it?

Clef didn't seem bothered, no matter how she'd thought he was looking at her earlier. Maybe she was just overcomplicating things.

Not looking at any of them, she carefully folded up the information on the class and tucked it into the front pocket of her handbag, wishing she could do the same with her traitorous imaginings. Despite feeling ridiculous, she couldn't face going upstairs with Clef after lunch - not even just to see what sort of suite her parents had booked for them - and talked him into taking a walk in the garden instead.

The walk was reassuringly normal. They were an hour or so into a wander around the hotel and probably five minutes into an argument about who was the better partner for the protagonist in the most recent drama they'd been watching together when Umi's phone buzzed.

She stopped mid-rant to read the message from Hikaru asking if she and Fuu could bring their Cephiran guests up to Clef and Umi's room for a short visit. Umi immediately shot back a message with the room number, saying they'd head up to meet them, before realising she hadn't asked Clef if he wanted company. He hadn't exactly had a quiet moment all day.

"Sorry, is that alright?" Umi asked after she told him what she'd done.

"It's fine," Clef assured her as they made their way to the lifts.

They had barely been in the suite long enough to investigate the tea options left for them and to put the kettle on when someone knocked on the door. Clef went to open it while Umi sorted out the refreshments.

Umi missed the start of the conversation in the doorway as she collected all the snacks from the minibar and carried them over to the table. It wasn't until she went back to make the tea that she realised what she was hearing; Clef was speaking a language she'd never heard before, one that sounded nothing like Japanese.

*

Clef had expected Ferio and Lantis to arrive with Hikaru and Fuu, as that's what they had all agreed, but it was Presea standing in the corridor with Ferio.

"Something came up back home, and Lantis couldn't make it," Hikaru explained. "Don't worry, we already cleared it with Umi's parents."

"Is something wrong?" Clef asked, but Hikaru shook her head.

"It's nothing they can't handle."

Beside her, Ferio cocked his head, switching from staring curiously down the corridor to staring curiously at Clef. The first words out of his mouth were "You've gained weight!"

"Hello to you, too." Clef rolled his eyes and finally waved them into the room.

"It's not a bad thing," Ferio said. "Those last few months, you were looking practically skeletal."

"Any mage will lose weight if they are overextending their magic, and gain if they stop magic use altogether," Clef said. "I can't use magic here. It's not exactly a marker of health."

Presea dropped into a chair. "You look better rested - happier, even. Tokyo definitely seems to be agreeing with you." She glanced behind him and lowered her voice. "Though perhaps it's the company, not the location, behind the improvement."

Clef followed Presea's gaze, turning to find Umi standing behind him with a mug in each hand and confusion on her face.

"That's - Is that Cephiran?" she asked, and Clef mentally cursed himself for not telling her about the translation spell before this. Umi's eyebrows furrowed. "If I can hear that - Clef, have you been speaking Japanese this whole time?"

"Only the past month," Clef admitted with a shrug. "The translation faded away a little before your final exams."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Umi set the mugs down in front of Presea and Ferio before turning her attention back to Clef. "I could have been more helpful, or at least more formal, or something!"

"It wasn't instantaneous, it faded over a couple of weeks. And we manage, don't we?" Maybe he was wrong and they'd been miscommunicating more than he thought. But if she'd not noticed the change, surely there couldn't have been anything drastically wrong.

"I guess." Umi sighed and walked back to the minibar for the rest of the drinks. "I'm sure I could have done something to help"

"You had enough to worry about. Besides, I already had to learn in order to talk to anyone else." Clef followed Umi and took two of the mugs to Hikaru and Fuu before sitting down.

Umi took the seat beside him and thrust the last mug into his hand. "But it's going to be annoying," she muttered.

Ferio tapped Clef on the shoulder. "Um... I'm not sure if it's important, but I can't understand a word the two of you are saying."

"The translation spell faded off Umi about a month ago, so we're using the local language," Clef explained in Cephiran. He glanced between Umi and the others. "I suppose that is going to make this evening a little annoying."

"You learned an entire language in three months?" Ferio stared at him, flabbergasted.

"Just enough of the basics to get by." Clef shrugged. "Umi's been busy with school and university entrance exams, so it's not like I have anything better to do with my time."

"And yet you look so well-rested," Presea said with a grin, and Clef winced as he realised what it sounded like.

He forcibly ignored the innuendo. "Almost every moment I'm not alone is effectively a lesson, as it's what everyone around me is speaking the whole time. Even if I wasn't trying, I think I would be picking up a lot."

Beside him, Umi sipped her tea and nodded. "Yeah, this is definitely annoying."

"Sorry. You haven't missed anything important," Clef reassured her, switching language again. "Just comments about my learning Japanese and gaining weight."

Umi studied him a moment then poked him in the shoulder. "I guess you are less pointy than when they last saw you."

Across the room, Hikaru snorted and then repeated what Umi had said, much to the others' amusement.

"Did anyone say why Presea's here and not Lantis?" Umi asked.

"Just that something has come up," Clef answered in Japanese before switching to Cephiran to address their guests. "I'm happy you're here, Presea, but why couldn't Lantis make it?"

The other four all exchanged a worryingly serious look before Presea said, "Cephiro's been a bit unstable since you left. Maybe a better word is unhappy? I don't know. The earthquakes are a little more frequent and stronger, and lately, there have been more nightmares manifesting as monsters."

Ferio nodded. "The whole of the Guard are on call right now. I think LaFarga might have let Lantis have a pass considering the reason for his holiday, but it would definitely count as special treatment."

"And what about you?"

"I'm still not officially part of the ranks." Ferio reached for a packet of crackers. "I have too much work to do with the treasury."

With a nod, Clef turned back to Umi, to find that Fuu had been leaning in and repeating the conversation quietly. He sighed, thankful he didn't have to try and translate that himself.

"Sounds like Cephiro's not impressed with this whole exile situation," Umi said, looking at her drink. "Maybe the Council will realise the mistake they've made sooner than you thought."

"Maybe so," Clef agreed, feeling less enthusiastic about that prospect than he knew he should.

"Speaking of Cephiro being unhappy," Ferio said, lowering his voice. "Are you sure it's a good idea to go through with this wedding thing?"

"It's not as if I'm agreeing to anything new. Umi and I have already done all the paperwork, so I've been part of the Ryuuzaki family for the past week." Clef felt Umi shift beside him when he said her name.

"Giving an oath is a bit different than signing a document."

"Yes. Here, the document is the binding part. Besides, there is no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to have a partner, and if Cephiro doesn't agree, maybe I'm wrong to stay Guru," Clef bit out, with more of a growl than he intended.

Umi reacted to his tone before Fuu could translate that for her. She reached over and put a hand on his arm. "Clef?"

Covering her hand with his, Clef shook his head. "It's fine."

"Now that you have voiced your concerns, can we let it lie?" Fuu said with the frustration of someone who has heard the same argument several dozen times. "You have already been told that you are worrying about nothing."

"How does Hikaru know it will be fine?" Ferio demanded. "She keeps saying it, but how does she know?"

"Former Pillar, remember?" Hikaru said. "Cephiro and I are still pretty close, and the rules I set haven't changed."

"I, for one, trust Hikaru's judgement on that. Anyway, we came here to celebrate our friend's relationship, not dissect its impact on Cephiro," Presea said, and Ferio flinched. "Is there any alcohol in here? We should have a toast!"

"There should be something alcoholic in the minibar." Hikaru bounced to her feet and across to the little refrigerator. She pulled out one of the bottles and looked at Umi, asking "Presea's suggested a toast - is it okay if we open this?"

"Sure. I doubt my parents would mind." She let out a laugh. "Honestly, I think they'd be happy to know we were celebrating."

After the first toast to new beginnings, Umi stepped away to order dinner for them. The number of dishes she rattled off into the phone made Clef wonder if she'd ordered everything on the menu. When it arrived, Clef wasn't entirely sure she hadn't. The dishes covered so much of the table there was hardly any room for their individual plates.

The conversation during dinner was filled with easy laughter, with Ferio calming down a lot once explaining the food gave them an easy distraction. Clef asked his friends their thoughts on Tokyo and was reassured to find their answers matched his first impressions - big, crowded, and confusing. They, on the other hand, looked almost worried by Clef saying the city was growing on him, but they were more interested in what Clef was doing with all the free time he now had.

"Well, I've been practising my Japanese and learning how to live here," Clef explained. "But when we move to Kyoto, I'll be keeping house - cleaning, cooking, and all that."

"You're going to cook?" Ferio asked.

"Just because it's been a few centuries doesn't mean I've forgotten how it works."

Presea smirked. "I bet Umi's heard that statement before."

Ferio nearly choked on his drink, and Clef wasn't sure if it was that or just the comment that had Fuu snickering, but he rolled his eyes at the lot of them.

"Do I want to know?" Umi asked, eyebrows raised.

"Presea's making dirty jokes."

Umi laughed. "Someone's been spending too much time with Caldina."

Clef shook his head and grinned. "No, she's always been like that after a little alcohol."

"On that note," Presea said, getting to her feet, "We should probably let you two have your space back to yourselves."

"Tomorrow will be hectic," Fuu agreed. "You should get some rest."

As they were all leaving, Ferio turned back and threw his arms around Clef. "I'm really happy for you. I don't know if I've said that, but I don't want you to think that I'm not."

When the door was closed and locked, Clef and Umi stood in the middle of the sitting room looking at one another. Sharing space with her shouldn't be any different than it had been before Clef realised his feelings for her. It wasn't as though the feelings were new, just his realisation of them. But he still couldn't help but feel he might be wrong.

If he was, that one-bedroom apartment was going to be more of a challenge than a few days here. But, hopefully, he was just tired, and anxious, and fretting about things which would turn out fine. After all, Umi was still one of his closest friends, no matter what else he might feel for her.

Umi yawned and rolled her shoulders - a movement that caught Clef's eyes a bit more than he would like to admit - before saying, "I want a bath. Mind if I go first?"

Clef shook his head and Umi headed for the bedroom. He watched as she opened the door and noticed what he had several hours ago when he'd shut it.

"There's only one bed!"