Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Rules of Engagement ❯ Engagement Ceremony ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Digimon: Rules of Engagement

Part 3: Engagement Ceremony

By Lord Archive

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Saturday
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The phone rang as Miyako began to button up her sundress. "Could someone
get that?" The phone rang again. She grumbled as it rang a third time and
tripped just as she answer it. "Hello, Inoue residence."

Miyako's eyes flattened. "Koushiro? Where the heck have you been? Yeah, I
know you said you were busy, but busy doing what? So, you did know about
what's going on with the engagement ceremony. You creep, why didn't you
tell us?"

Miyako's eyes widened from shook. "Oh, my.... Oh, my.... Oh, my.... Ah,
right. Yeah, I can do that. I'll see you there."

Miyako slowly hung up the phone. "I just don't believe it." She then
started laughing and bounced back to her room.

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"Hey, dweeb, what's with the suit?" Jun asked.

Daisuke gave his jacket an annoyed tug. "I was invited to an engagement
ceremony."

Jun blinked. "So, you're going to watch Yamato's little brother get engaged
to Taichi's girlfriend?"

Daisuke shrugged. "I guess."

Jun frowned for a moment. "Why don't I tag along with you?"

"Why would you care about Takeru or Sora?"

"I care about Yamato, and I'm not convinced he's free of trouble."

Daisuke shrugged. "Whatever, but you'd have to dress up too then. It is a
fancy restaurant."

Jun laughed. "For you, maybe. Not for Yamato and me."

"Right, almost forgot that you spend all the money he makes at his
concerts."

Jun tried to smack her brother. "I do not!"

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The door opened slowly, and Takeru's mother, Natsuko, peeked her head
inside her apartment. She was a little concerned about what her youngest
son would be like after what she did. She cautiously walked in, but began
to wonder if her son was home.

Natsuko sighed in relief when she found him getting ready in the bathroom.
"Good. You're almost ready. I was afraid you'd still be asleep."

Yamato smirked. "Oh, he would be if I hadn't kicked him awake."

Natsuko smiled at her elder son. "Thanks, Yamato."

"No, prob."

Takeru stopped combing his hair. "Mom, who am I getting engaged too?"

Natsuko fidgeted. "Who would you like it to be?"

"Am I really getting a choice?" Takeru asked bitterly.

Natsuko frowned. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you doing this?" Takeru demanded.

"It's for your own good."

"I don't see how that's possible."

Natsuko shook her head. "Just be ready to leave soon." She then left the
room.

Takeru tossed his comb across the room.

Yamato smirked.

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Sora readjusted the obi of her kimono. She may hate what her mother was
doing, but she had to go through with it. She knew her mother loved her and
only wanted what was best for her. Though Sora had to admit it was
difficult to see her mother that way at the moment.

Sora noticed her mother in the mirror. "What do you want?"

Mrs. Takenouchi smiled sadly. "I... I was just making sure you were almost
ready."

"I'm ready at any time," Sora replied flatly.

Mrs. Takenouchi bowed her head. "Dear, I'm sorry about doing this."

"Then why are you?"

"Because I feel it's the right thing to do."

Sora glared. "What am I suppose to tell Taichi? 'Oh, sorry. We can't date
anymore. I'm going to marry someone else.' I'm sure that would go over real
well."

Mrs. Takenouchi straightened. "You'll just have to figure that out when you
see him. We should be leaving now."

Sora nodded stiffly.

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"Hello. I'm Izumi Koushiro." Koushiro bowed. "We're here to set up for the
engagement ceremony."

The waitress nodded as she checked the reservation book. "One of the guests
is already here."

Koushiro blinked and then shrugged. He could use some more help. He
continued into the restaurant.

Iori bowed slightly to the waitress as he dragged a heavy case. "Wonder
who's here."

Koushiro dropped the cases he was carrying as he noticed someone typing on
a laptop. "Ken?"

"Hello." Ken looked up for a moment. "I do believe the invitation list
should've been a bit longer. I'm going to rectify that by opening a
digiport so your digimon friends can attend as well."

Iori smiled. "Hey, that's great."

"It also has the advantage of doing this. Are you ready?" Ken seemingly
asked the computer.

"Whenever you are," came over the computer's speaker.

"Portal is open." Ken got up and moved away from the laptop computer.

"Waaah!" Mimi flew out of the monitor and fell to the floor and was
thankful that she had chosen to wear a long green formal dress. Otherwise
she might have given someone a free peak.

"Watch out!" Palmon crashed on top of Mimi.

"Ouch!" Mimi yelped.

"Sorry. But I warned you." Palmon looked at the computer. "What a wild
ride."

Mimi nodded as she stood up and straightened her dress. "You said it. I
don't think I'll ever get used to that." She then shrugged. "Still, it's
better than flying here in coach."

"Hi, Mimi." Koushiro waved at her.

"Hello, Mimi." Iori bowed.

"Hi, Iori, Koushiro. How do you do it?"

"Do what?" Koushiro asked.

"Get cuter?"

Koushiro blushed while opening and shutting several times.

Mimi giggled.

"You're such a tease." Palmon was also laughing.

Koushiro huffed. "Come on, Iori. We got to get everything set up."

Iori blinked in confusion, shrugged and followed Koushiro.

"I'm ready to help." Miyako ran into the room and stopped. "Mimi! Hi! When
did you get here?"

Mimi glanced at the laptop. "Oh, just now."

Miyako then noticed the laptop and the person working on it. "Hi, Ken!"

Ken sheepishly waved at her. "Hi. Don't mind me. I'm just an usher." He
went back to the computer. "Ready?"

"Anytime you are."

"Portal open."

Ken tried to back away again, but Tentomon crashed into him. Both fell to
the floor.

A young waitress looked over at them. Her eye twitched seeing the rather
large insect. "That thing is safe right?"

"Perfectly. I wouldn't even hurt a fly." Tentomon took a step forward and
felt something under his foot. He looked at what he stepped on. "Perhaps I
should rephrase that."

"Ken, is it safe to bring the digimon here?" Miyako asked.

Ken nodded. "We're in Odaiba. The barrier to the Digital World is at its
weakest here and this is also where Vamdemon attacked. It's hard to run
into someone who has not seen a digimon before. Besides, I checked for
their reaction to Wormmon."

"Wormmon?" Miyako looked around.

"Yes?" Wormmon questioned, he was standing next to the computer.

"Where did you come from?"

Wormmon shrugged. "I've always been here. You just didn't notice me. Not
that anyone ever notices me."

Miyako sweat-dropped. "Right."

"I better get back to work." Ken sat down in front of the computer. "I've
got less than an hour to find the rest of the Chosen Digimon."

Miyako looked at her watch. "Good. I've got enough time to get our digimon
and come back."

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"Why are you bringing him?" Jun asked.

"He's my friend." Daisuke shrugged while holding Chibimon like he was a
stuffed toy. "Besides, when this many Chosen show up in one place, trouble
is sure to follow. I just want to be ready for it."

"Wow. That almost sounds responsible."

"Isn't it!" Chibimon cheered.

"You'd better not be the one to cause problems." Jun warned the blue and
white lizard.

Chibimon blinked. "Why would I do that?"

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Takeru couldn't stop sweating. He wasn't hot, just extremely nervous. In a
few minutes all his questions would be answered. He would also be getting
engaged. He doubted it was to the one girl he would like to be engaged to.
She was on vacation.

Yamato walked next to Takeru and held onto Patamon, while both of their
parents followed behind them.

Takeru swallowed nervously. He saw Sora ahead of them and she was wearing a
kimono. Her face seemed to be etched like stone, like she was facing a fate
worse than death but would not lose her pride despite it. The sash on the
kimono was tied in a way he had never seen before. But considering
different knots indicated different things, it was probably to signify that
she was getting engaged.

As Takeru got to the door, he could only think of two things. He didn't
want to get engaged to Sora, and Taichi was going to kill him.

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Sora wanted to cry, to run away. But she couldn't do that. This was about
her family now. She couldn't get out of this without causing serious damage
to her clan. Hopefully the engagement ceremony would be the modern variety.
That way she could back out of it if she decided to, but everything felt
that this was going to be very traditional.

Sora saw Takeru out of the corner of her eye. Her heart sank into despair.
She was getting engaged to him. She couldn't understand why. He was three
years younger than her, had neither any real family clot nor money, and had
no trade skills. An arranged marriage simply didn't make sense.

She held her chin up. She wasn't going to let down her mother, even though
her mother had let her down by doing this. She would face this with the
courage she had learned from Taichi. That sometimes there was nothing you
could do but take the path before you.

Sora froze as she walked into the restaurant.

"Hi."

Sora continued to just stare, unable to move.

"Listen. I know what's going on, but I want to ask you before you'd fell
forced to accept. Sora, will you marry me?"

"T-Taichi?" Sora took a shaking step forward, tears streaming from her
eyes. Her disbelieving hands touched his face to be sure he was truly
there. "Oh, T-Taichi." She hugged him fiercely and sobbed into his chest.

Taichi hugged her back. "Is that a yes?"

"I'd say so." Mrs. Takenouchi smiled at the young couple.

The door to the restaurant opened, and Takeru entered. He wondered why
there were several flashes of light. He then saw Sora crying into Taichi's
chest.

TAICHI's chest?! Takeru stared in shook as Taichi and Sora stood nearby
hugging each other.

"Hello, Takeru."

Takeru turned and his mouth almost dropped to the floor. Hikari stood
before him wearing a kimono. He noticed the knot on her sash and then
compared it to Sora's. His eyes checked both several times to be sure. If
Sora's knot meant she was getting engaged, then that meant....

Hikari blinked as Takeru collapsed to the ground. She rushed over to him,
and placed his head on her lap. "He fainted?"

Yamato smirked. "He took that better than I thought."

Takeru slowly opened his eyes and found his head on Hikari's lap.

"Are you okay?" Hikari asked.

"I'm in heaven."

Hikari smiled ruefully. "He's fine."

Mrs. Yagami stepped forward and addressed the guests. "The engagement
ceremonies are a private affair, but you are all welcome to attend the
reception."

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