Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Thief in One Life, A Thief in the Next ❯ Mate ( Chapter 20 )

A/N: Mwehehehehehe! Chapter twenty is here! And with the lovely new chapter comes the long awaited mating ceremony! Watch while I bounce in hyperactive joy. And for an extra treat, you get an extra long chapter. Oh, and check the end for an extra goody. Read and review!

“A Thief in One Life, A Thief in the Next”

Chapter Twenty

Mate

Kuronue was suddenly glad that Solo had never known his human name, and that the only pilot he’d told about the blond thief had been Heero. If it had been any other way, his secret would have just been blown wide open.

It had taken a while to calm the small ferrier down before the chimera could pull him aside, away from the two remaining ignorant agents.

“And you want to keep the fact that you’re the guy they’ve known and trusted for years why?” Solo asked once the long explanation had been completed.

“A prank.”

The blond grinned, patting the other’s shoulder. “Good boy.”

“So, since you aren’t dead, well, not dead and gone anyway, want to be my second?” Kuronue offered. “Kurama’s my first, and I don’t want him and Yomi sitting next to each other, so he’s my third. They guys will be Heero’s three just as soon as someone gets around to explaining exactly what a chimera wedding includes. Koenma has taken the position of the lord, and Botan and Yukina are standing as maidens, even though Yukina’s not one. Somehow I doubt any of the gods will care.”

Going over his old friend’s babblings a little more slowly, Solo grinned. “Sure. Can I be best man for your human wedding?”

“I think Quatre will want that role,” Heero said, walking up to them once he’d managed to escape the others. “How about ring bearer? Mariemaia can be the flower girl.”

“Rashid can give away the bride,” Kuronue added, winking at his betrothed. “And Relena can be the maid of honor.”

Heero snorted. “Once we pull her out of her faint. Who are we going to get to perform the service?”

“I was thinking Howard or the Une lady,” the thief said, tapping his chin in though. “Course that’d mean we’d need to invite the entire Sweepers crew.” The chimera paled even further than his usual fair. “Oh kami, that’s a lot a people already. Maybe we should just elope.”

“Or sick Quatre on the plans,” Heero suggested. “Relena could help, if we can force a no-pink promise out of her.”

“And Hiei’s staff.”

“They might notice their horns.”

“Damn.”

-

Kuronue and Heero were separated and confined with their three the day before the ceremony, a maiden wit each to explain the procedure of the wedding itself.

“You three and I will help you dress in the morning, after which you’ll be carried to a room just outside the great hall,” Yukina said from the other side of the curtain. Heero was bathing in a small pool in the corner of the chamber, hidden by a thick veil. “You will be carried in on a liter and then lifted onto the cushions by an appointed bearer. At no time from the moment you get out of that pool to the presentation may your feet touch the ground.”

Heero examined an odd smelling bar of soap with suspicion. “Why?”

The demoness sighed. “Chimera wedding tradition. Try to remember that Kuronue is from a winged species. It’s thought of as a bad omen.”

“Are all youkai so superstitious?”

Yukina giggled. “It’s not superstition when you know it’s true.”

“What about after the ceremony?” Heero asked, though he was suspicious that he already knew the answer to that one.

The koorime’s giggle didn’t sound nearly as innocent as before. “Ceremonies may change between different species, Heero, but that part is almost always the same. And don’t worry, the two of you will have a more secluded bed chamber here.”

Turning a furious red, Heero dunked into the water. She may have looked sweet, but Yukina was not innocent.

-

Kuronue was bouncing. He was still bouncing. He had not stopped bouncing since they had been locked into the room. If Yomi had ever wanted his sight back for one day, it would have been just to see the look of irritated “why me” on Kurama’s face that he had always seen accompanied by twitching tails, laid back ears and grinding teeth.

“I take it that you’re happy to be getting married,” Solo said dryly after sharing a glance with his blue-haired coworker.

“Are you kidding me?” the chimera asked in mock-disbelief. “I’ve been after this guy for years, and we’re finally getting married!”

“So, will you be marking him?” Kurama asked, thankful that his brother was finally holding still.

Kuronue paused, thoughtful. “I’m not sure. I mean, I’d love to, but it’s really up to Heero. You know what happens when youkai mark humans.”

“The reason Urimeshi never marked his mate,” Yomi said, nodding. “I have heard few things cause the amount of pain.”

“Exactly,” Kuronue said, drawing out the word. “And while I wouldn’t mind shouldering the it myself, that’d mean doing it against his will, which is something I absolutely refuse to do.”

“If the two of you do decide to do it, be prepared to carry him for a while, because I doubt he’ll want to walk,” Kurama said, smirking. “Lucky number seven.”

“Kurama!”

-

The lighting of the lamps woke Heero early the next morning. Having been ordered not to touch the ground, he sat up on the bed to wait as the others in the chamber got up, all gravitating toward the breakfast cart that someone had brought in. Quatre brought Heero over a cup of coffee being mixing his own.

“Your tunic was delivered too,” the blond said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “We can all start getting ready once we’ve eaten.”

“I’m not hungry,” Heero said, the thought of food making his stomach turn.

“Believe a married woman when she says that you’ll wish you had if you don’t,” Yukina said as she walked over determinately to press a muffin into Heero’s hand. “It’ll at least tide you over until the feast.”

He wasn’t allowed to begin dressing until he’d eaten the entire thing and had drunk his coffee. Once his leggings were on, Quatre and Trowa double-teamed against him to pull the tunic over his head before Yukina swooped in with the belt. Wufei sat back and hid a snicker.

By the time they were finished, Heero felt like of Mariemaia’s dress-up dolls. He been dressed, shoed, his hair had been brushed and a king’s ransom of gold jewelry had been put on him.

“You look lovely,” Yukina said, stepping back with a soft smile. There was a knock on the door. “Just in time. We’re ready.”

The door opened, and Heero’s eyes flew wide. Each of the four youkai standing at the door was pale with dark hair. And they all had wings. Chimera.

They regarded each other for a before one of them stepped forward and silently bowed to Heero in greeting. He returned the favor and tried not to tense up when he was lifted from the bed and carried from the room, Yukina and his fellow humans in tow.

A chaired liter waited in the hallway outside the chamber, and Heero was set down on it before the four chimera lifted the entire thing up to shoulder height. Yukina taking the lead with the pilots in tow, they set off.

Kuronue wanted to pace. Really, he did. If it were up to him, he’d be pacing a worn path through the carpeted floor. Luckily for said carpet, Kurama had a firm hand attached to his elbow keeping him in place.

“You’ll be fine,” the kitsune whispered.

The door at the far end of the hall burst open as drums began to play. Catching sight of Heero, Kuronue’s mouth ran dry. Beautiful… Numb, he barely remembered when he was supposed to step forward to take the human’s hand as he was lifted down onto the cushion opposite the alter table from him. Koenma solemnly poured a single glass of sake before offering it to Kuronue and Heero, each of them taking a sip while neither took their eyes off of the other.

The chimera was thankful for his youkai hearing, which told him that Heero’s heart was pounding as furiously as he knew his would be if he were human.

A rice cake was next in being shared between them, followed by a second dose of the wine.

“I, Youko Kuronue, claim you, Yuy Heero, as my mate and take you into my clan,” Kuronue said formally. “I give you our name.”

“I, Yuy Heero, accept your claim, Youko Kuronue, and stake my own,” Heero said. “I take your name willingly.”

“Let nothing dare come between these two mates, Youko Kuronue and Youko Heero, for fear of the wrath of the kami and their own,” Koenma concluded, bowing from his seated position. “By the tear path, they are as one, so let it be.”

Heero was swept up from his cushion into a passionate kiss as the crowds cheered. In that first movement, Kuronue had placed a supporting arm under his mate’s rear while the other hand was tangled in short brown hair, holding the pilot’s head down as his mouth was thoroughly plundered.

When they came up for air, both were grinning. Kuronue was the first to look away, glancing about the hall. “Well, shall we eat?” Heero thwapped him upside the head, which the chimera took as a yes, before tanned arms wrapped around his neck for balance.

The feast was interesting, to say the least. The pilots were very careful to touch only meats they knew, Yomi’s earlier comment on the chefs of Gondara far from forgotten. Quatre spent a couple minutes poking at a… giggling piece of fruit until an all-too amused Kurama showed him how to open it.

Although he had a suspicion that he knew just what sort of fare graced the youkai’s plate, Wufei found a decent dinner conversationalist in Yomi, whose sharp wit reminded him a little of Dr. O. Trowa was practically kidnapped by Jin and Chuu, two youkai who had come with Yusuke, to meet an ice elemental by the name of Touya. How he could see without pupils remained a mystery to the green-eyed pilot.

The newlyweds spent most of their time seated at the head of the hall, where youkai came to talk to Kuronue or decide their opinion about Heero. More than half of them seemed to have known the thief from his and Kurama’s old gang, including a few that Kuronue had practically raised.

“I know I recognize those teeth,” he said, grinning as one female youkai approached. “Kuri-chan, you’ve changed.”

The badger demoness laughed, showing off sharp teeth. “And so have you, Kuro-kun. We never thought you would settle down. Does this mean I have to pay back my bet winnings to Tai?”

“Na, dieing kinda brings the end to most bets, no matter if I did come back to life,” the chimera said, shaking his head. “Heero, meet Youko Kuriko, my… great niece by adoption. One of the sibs brought her father home from a raid and he mated with the daughter of this minor lord we robbed, real ass, and then we got her. One of the many evil little brats who thought I was a chew toy. Kuriko, this is Heero, my mate and one of the strangest humans you’ll ever meet. Sets his own bones. It’s creepy.”

“At least I don’t insist that my gundam has feelings,” Hero said, smirking.

Kuronue glowered in false anger. “Ooh, you’re so going to get it tonight, Hee-chan.”

Kuriko hid a laugh. “Excuse me for intruding, but isn’t that the idea?” She grinned at the chimera as he growled. “Let me guess, ‘die screaming.’” At his grudging nod, Kuriko dipped into a mocking bow and left, tossing Heero a wink over her shoulder.

Youkai began to trickle out of the hall a few hours later and once there were only a dozen left, Kuronue figured they could leave the hall. He gathered Heero into his arms and the entire wedding party followed them from the hall.

Kurama stopped them in a sort of sitting room that had a spiral staircase on one side and several doors on the other. “A room has been prepared for you right at the top of the stairs, and there’s a bath just down the hall from there for your use alone.” Walking around a small potted tree and up to them, he pressed a kiss to each of their foreheads. “Be happy.”

With a smile and a nod, Kuronue carried Heero up the stairs and out of sight.

“And don’t do anything we wouldn’t!” the kitsune called after them.

The reply was more laughter than words. “That doesn’t limit us much!”

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A/N: As according to the site rules, I cannot post a lemon here. However, I will be posting a link to where I have this fic also posted on adultfanfiction and mediaminer for your reading pleasure. For those of you who don’t wish to read it, there will be a ‘safe’ version with any plot points you need to know. Love you lots!