Let’s stay together forever. Through sickness and health, through richness and poor, and definitely through crazy and stable times. Let’s just stay together because I love you and I know you love me too.
What had been an exceptionally average day turned unbelievably un-average in a matter of seconds. Kim and her usual crew were hanging out at the usual spot, Bueno Nacho, doing nothing in particular, as they tended to do when they all got together with no real activity in mind. Their time together had started out normal with Ron and Monique seeing who would eat the most nachos in the least amount of time. Felix made a remark about how unattractive it was to see his girlfriend doing that, which earned him the usual glare from Monique and the moment of distraction on her part allowed Ron to claim victory.
After the eating contest, everyone went and ordered their usual meals. Everyone ate and talked and things were mundane because it was all the same old, same old. They did not mind if things were boring considering how exciting their days could get if given a chance. They were often glad for a dull, normal day like the one that they were having. And then Ron did something unusual…and hell, maybe a little inappropriate for where they were.
The blonde boy got down on one knee and proposed to Yori right then and there in the fast food restaurant. Well, he never was a true romantic. Yori did not seem to care about the setting because she enthusiastically accepted the proposal and pretty much tackled him in order to kiss him. Ron fell to the floor and almost dropped the ring as the ninja attacked his mouth with her own.
“It’s about time they got married,” Monique commented. Ron and Yori had only been involved since they were seventeen years old and they had liked each other since they were sixteen.
“Totally,” Kim and Felix concurred. They were all wondering why it had taken the blonde boy so long to pop the question actually. It was not like they did not already act like a married couple anyway.
The engagement was not long, or so was the plan anyway. Ron and Yori wanted to get married immediately, but they hit a pretty big bump. They knew that their parents would want them to have a traditional wedding. Well, that would be quite a thing considering the fact that they came from two different traditions.
How in the hell were they supposed to have a traditional Jewish and Japanese wedding together? Ron, not being much of a help, coined the “Jewpanese” to refer to their wedding and surrounding the event. And that was pretty much all of the input that he offered. He really had no idea how to put the two traditions together and would rather not try. It was too much of a bother in his opinion.
Yori, taking things much more seriously than her fiancée, got together with Kim and Monique try to plan the ceremony out, but as creative as the three ladies were they could not figure out how they could possibly pull off both a traditional Jewish and Japanese wedding to please both families. It was bad enough that they were marrying each other in the first place, so they were trying their best to make the wedding presentable. It just did not seem like it could be done, though.
“Why not just junk this whole traditional wedding idea?” Kim suggested. She, Monique, and Yori were all sitting in the ninja’s living room, which was covered in papers, which contained dozens of failed attempts on combining traditions. They had considered just going with both traditions at the same time, but even that did not work out well on paper.
“If I did, what would we do?” Yori asked curiously. She was not really sure what other way there was to conduct a wedding. She did not know too much about weddings considering the fact that she had only been to one in her whole life and had not really seen others, except for in movies. Hey, she had spent most of her life on a secluded mountain, learning ninjitsu. So, until she had graduated from high school and came to the States for college, her knowledge was pretty limited in a lot of areas, which included weddings.
“I know, just have a reception. You two can go get a marriage certificate at City Hall and then we can just have a party to celebrate the joyous occasion. Besides, an hour into the party, everybody’ll be too drunk to notice there’s nothing traditional going on,” Monique proposed with a smile and Yori looked rather skeptical to that idea.
“Or you could do a traditional American wedding. Imagine, a Jewish guy and a Buddhist girl getting married in a Protestant church,” Kim joked and her friends laughed a little. “If God’s a Protestant, you might be in some trouble, but it could work,” she added.
“All right, all right. Be serious,” Yori said.
“Well, if we’re going to be serious, I’m going to have to agree with Mo. Instead of focusing on this ceremony that we can’t blend enough to look just the right amount of Jewish and just the right amount of Japanese, let’s turn our attention to the family and friends get-together. Unless, of course, your dream is to have a traditional wedding and everything,” Kim replied.
“No, not really. I never thought about getting married. I’m still surprised that he proposed. I was happy to just go on as we were. But, perhaps Ron-kun wishes to have a traditional wedding,” the ninja said.
“You should ask him. I mean, if you focus on the reception, it would be easy. No such thing as a tradition party,” Monique pointed out.
Yori nodded in agreement and decided to talk things over with Ron. The blonde did not mind not having a ceremony. He figured as long as the food was good, then everything was fine by him. Plus, no ceremony meant that they would get to the honeymoon sooner and he was all for that. So, they decided to skip the ceremony and went right for the party afterwards. Monique had a point after all; there no such thing as a traditional party. It was just going to be formal and everything else was on the table.
(New day)
“Hey, Bets,” Shego said as she entered the boss’ office.
“What’s up?” Betty asked without bothering to look up from the mountain of paper on her desk. She thought that one day she might actually learn to hate her job if she could not get through all of the paper work.
“I’m going to need next Saturday off,” the pale woman informed the chief. She was not sure why she had come to the office and told the older woman. She could have just as easily called in on the day in question and just said that she was not going to come in.
“You’ve got days, so I don’t see the problem there. Why?” the one-eyed woman asked curiously.
“I’ve got a wedding to go to,” the younger woman announced as if it was nothing. She knew that Kim had informed her of the event, she had not taken it as if it was nothing. She could not believe that someone had actually agreed to marry that crazy blonde boy that Kim hung out with.
“A wedding?” Doctor Director echoed in confusion. She wondered if one of Shego’s brothers was getting married and she was being forced to attend or something like that. Other than that, she did not know who her friend might know and liked enough to attend the person’s wedding.
“Yeah, a wedding.”
“Who’s getting married?”
“Some of Kimmie’s little friends,” Shego replied.
“Oh. Be careful. The brat might get some ideas,” the onyx-eyed woman teased.
“Her get ideas? Not likely,” Shego remarked.
Betty laughed. “You got me there.”
Shego only shook her head. She could not believe that she was going to that blonde kid’s wedding to that crazy ninja girl, but she could not let Kim go alone. After all, Kim would not let her go alone if the roles were reversed.
Besides, the pale woman knew that there would be all sorts of guys there, looking for some action. She damn sure was not going to let those guys even try to get into her little monster’s pants. So, she was going to the wedding; well, she was going to the reception. She had come to understand that there was not going to be a wedding in the traditional sense of the word.
She did hope that it would not give Kim any ideas too. The redhead had not seemed particularly affected by the notion of a marriage, but there was still time enough for that. She was not sure why she did not want Kim to get any ideas. After all, she loved Kim deeply, so why did the idea of Kim wanting to get married bother her so much? She was not sure.
Shego wondered what she would do if Kim did something crazy like propose. She doubted that Kim would do something like that. The redhead did sort of let her control the pace of the relationship, so she guessed that she did not have anything to fear with Kim proposing, but she did wondered what she would do if it possibly happened.
She doubted that she would decline if Kim ever did propose to her. She could not even imagine the pain that would come across Kim’s face if she were to do such a thing. So, she would accept, but would she really be ready for that? Would she really want that? She was not so sure.
(New day)
“Oh, man, can we get married like once a week?” Ron asked Yori as he looked down at all of the food. He just wanted to run through every dish there. He was dressed in tuxedo, even though there had not been a ceremony. The couple had just agreed to dress their best.
“You’re too easy, Ron-kun,” Yori commented. She was dressed in her best silk kimono. One would never know looking at her that she hated wearing kimonos.
Ron only smiled. He was trying not to think about the most nerve-wrecking part of the day and that would be meeting Yori’s father. She had met his parents months back and at first, they had been less than thrilled with Ron dating her, but they eventually warmed up to her. Now, they were starting to tell Ron that they were waiting for little “Jewpanese” grandchildren. Ron hated to admit that his phrase sounded, well, kind of stupid coming from his parents. He had to remember to never share any of his lingo with older people or he was going to have to start crossing words out of his vocabulary with the way they ruined things. He wondered if Yori’s father would accept having “Jewpanese” grandchildren.
“Yori, are you sure your father’s going to be cool with this?” Ron asked.
“Whether Papa is cool with it or not, it has happened. You are now my husband and he can accept it or resent, but that won’t change it,” Yori replied. She hoped that her father accepted it. He had not expressed any dissatisfaction toward her choice in mates when she spoke to him about Ron every now and then, so she did not see why he would have a problem with the fact that she married the blonde fellow. But, if he did have a problem with it that was not going to change the fact that she was married to Ron.
Ron did not argue with that logic and then the moment of truth arrived a little while after the newlyweds greeted their old sensei. Yori spotted her father with her sister a few feet away. They were looking around the hall and Yori took Ron by the hand. She tugged him over to her family without telling him why she was pulling him. She thought that he would be nervous if she told him that she saw her father and she would rather save him that stress.
“Papa, Oneesan (elder sister),” Yori greeted the pair as she stood before them.
“Yori-chan,” her older sister smiled and embraced the shorter female. Ron was worried for about a second and then realized that he knew them.
“Nakasumi-san?” Ron said in disbelief as he looked at his new father-in-law.
“Stoppable-san?” the sister said incredulously.
“Miss Kyoko?” Ron asked. He could not believe that he was looking at the Japanese businessman Nakasumi-san and his assistant Kyoko.
“Ron-kun, you know my father and sister?” Yori inquired in a bewildered tone.
“Yeah, they called me and Kim out for missions a couple of times. Wait, I didn’t know your dad was that Nakasumi. And wait again, I thought you were his assistant,” Ron said to Kyoko.
“I am. I am also his eldest daughter,” Kyoko answered.
“But, don’t you two have different last names?” Ron asked in a confused voice.
“Ron-kun, I am also married,” Kyoko informed him with an amused smile. She had no idea that when her little sister had been going on about falling for a funny American named Ron that it was Ron Stoppable. It was starting to add up though, as she thought about all of the conversations that she had with Yori about the boy.
“No way,” the blonde said in sheer disbelief.
“I would introduce you to my husband, but I lost sight of Takeshi around a gozya platter. I’m sure you’ll meet him later on,” she replied.
“Especially if he stays around that gozya platter,” Yori muttered with a smile. She knew that as soon as she took her eyes off her husband, he was going to be near the food, so he probably would run into Takeshi.
“That is cool. Well, how about I introduce you two to my folks?” Ron suggested and he went in search of his parents. It seemed that he had been anxious for no reason at all. He figured that everything should be fine now. His parents liked Yori and her father liked him. All was right in his universe…or at least it would be if he could start eating sometime soon.
Kim was surprised to find out that Yori was the daughter of the Nakasumi; Ron informed her of that one as soon as he caught sight of her. By the end of the party, which went swimmingly, the usual crew was standing off to the side on their own. They had been saying farewells since Ron and Yori were preparing to leave for their honeymoon, but they managed to get caught in a conversation.
“Well, that’s two down. So, Mo, when are you and Felix going to tie the knot?” Ron inquired.
“We haven’t really talked about it,” Monique answered while taking a sip from her champagne glass. She had showed up wearing a black pants’ suit with white pinstripe. It was made from a fine material that people wanted to touch almost every time they saw her and that bothered her a bit. She did not want someone to mess up her rather expensive suit.
“Actually, Mo, there is something I want to ask you,” Felix said. Apparently, Ron’s question had been a set up.
Monique nearly choked on her drink as Felix went into his jacket pocket; he was wearing a dark blue suit with a matching vest with an aqua colored shirt. Monique started crying before he even managed to ask the question and he got nervous, even though it was pretty clear what the answer was going to be. They had been together for almost two years, so he felt that it was safe to put the question out there and she felt that it was safe to give him an enthusiastic “hell yes!” when he finally stumbled out the question of “Will you marry me?” When the rest of the party noticed the proposal, the place erupted into a loud round of cheering as Monique accepted and planted a deep on Felix’s mouth.
“Four down, one to go,” Ron commented while looking at Kim.
“Yeah, well, unlike you guys, I don’t just go around carrying spare engagement rings for when you say that. Besides, this dress doesn’t have pockets,” the redhead remarked. She was in a sleek black dress that went to her knees and hugged her body. The dress had attracted a lot of unwanted attention to her through out the course of the evening and Shego was really happy that she had come along to properly threaten every guy that tried to make a move on her lover. At the moment, Shego was not around to hear the topic of conversation; she had gone out for some fresh air.
“Hey, just putting it out there,” he replied.
“Hey, how about you just have fun on your honeymoon and leave me to handle my life,” she said with an amused smile.
“You know I will,” he replied with a lecherous smile.
Kim almost laughed because of the expression. Wow, her best friend had just gotten married and now their two other friends were engaged. It was amazing how time flew by. She could still remember when it was just her and Ron and that seemed like just yesterday. Now, everyone was grown up, coupled off, and two of them were newlyweds. It was just amazing.
Kim and Shego were unwinding from the eventful reception. They were both laid out in their rather large bed in their new home. Kim was resting across Shego’s stomach and Shego was propped up on a few pillows. They were in their pajamas, ready to fall asleep at any time, apparently without any funny business since they were wearing nightclothes.
“Your friends sure know how to celebrate a marriage,” Shego remarked. “It was a great spread.”
“Well, food is sort of Ron’s specialty,” Kim commented.
“I can tell. All of you just eat like there’s no tomorrow.”
“Well, we like good food,” the redhead said with a bit of a smile.
“Can’t argue with that. So, Princess, your best friend is married to your little ninja friend and the other two are engaged.”
“I’m the odd man out as usual,” Kim remarked with a laugh.
“Well, do you want to get married?” Shego asked curiously.
“Someday,” Kim admitted, knowing that Shego was merely asking a question and not proposing in any way.
“Were you one of those little girls that pictured your perfect wedding?” the green-skinned woman inquired.
“No. You?” Kim countered. She was too busy running around all over the place and practicing her kung fu on every inanimate object that she could find to think about getting married. Marriage was probably the furthest thing from her mind when she was younger. It seemed like such an old people thing back then.
“Nah, I promised myself I was never going to get married. I didn’t want to be like my parents,” Shego replied.
“Well, mission accomplished,” the redhead said with a teasing smile. She did not even think to bring up that Shego had been engaged not too long ago. No point in bringing up sore spots, especially after such a nice day.
“Yeah,” the older woman said and she began to rub Kim’s lower back since it was right underneath her hand. “So, this someday, is it in the distant future or near future?” Shego asked curiously.
“Well, I figure now I’ve got to wait a few years because a certain someone promised herself that she’s never getting married and we all know how long it takes me to change her mind,” the slender hero remarked.
Shego smiled. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” she asked and then she began tickling Kim.
“No! Stop!” Kim begged as she wiggled around, hoping to escape, but as usual she was at the mercy of the older woman and Shego had no mercy.
“Now, let’s try this again. This future you’re talking about, near or distant future?” Shego inquired.
“If you stop, I’ll tell you! I promise!” Kim vowed. She would do anything to make the torment stop.
“Okay, so tell me,” the pale woman ordered as she ceased with her tickle torture.
Kim took a few seconds to get herself together. She got a few more chuckles in before she settled down. She repositioned herself on Shego. Now, she was straddling the older woman’s waist and resting on Shego’s torso.
“So?” the moss-hued woman pressed.
“I don’t really know if that someday is in the near or distant future. I never really thought about it.”
“You never thought about it?” Shego asked in a somewhat skeptical tone.
“Not really. I just chalked it up that someday I would probably get married. It wasn’t on my priority list or anything like that.”
“So, this wedding thing didn’t get you thinking?”
Kim was silent for a moment. She would be lying if she said that it did not get her thinking. She just did not think too much on it because of the peculiar relationship that she had been in for such a long time. Marriage did not seem like it was in the cards for them right now, so she did not think about it because it was a waste of brain power.
“I thought about it a little, but nothing too heavy. Did you think about it?” Kim countered.
Now, it was Shego’s turn to be quiet for a few seconds. She had thought about it a lot. First, she had been a little nervous that the marriage thing would give Kim ideas and the redhead might even think to propose to her. That led her to thinking about how she would answer if such a thing did come up and she knew that she would accept just to avoid hurting Kim’s feelings. But, the thing was that she was not sure that she was ready to get married.
Shego had also considered that maybe Kim was now waiting for her to propose, although that did not seem to be the case. Still, she thought that before they had their current conversation. She did not want to disappoint the little hero, but it did not seem that she would do that. So, far, it seemed like it was a good thing that they were having the talk that they were having.
“I did think about it,” Shego admitted.
“Anything you want to share?” the younger woman inquired.
“Nothing that you want to hear more than likely,” Shego answered.
“Well, you won’t know unless you tell me what you thought.”
“Kimmie, I don’t think I’m ready to get married anytime soon. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I want us to be together all the time. I don’t see us ever going our separate ways or anything like that, but I’m just not ready to take that step. I thought that you might be since all your friends have gotten engaged and things like that and I actually thought that you might propose since it seems to be in fashion and that worried me a little,” the pale woman replied.
“It worried you that I might propose?” Kim repeated back in a confused voice.
“Yeah, because I thought that I would accept just because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings and that’s no reason to accept a proposal. I should accept because I love you and I do, but for some reason, I just don’t think I’m ready to marry you,” Shego said. She hoped that made some sense and she hoped that her munchkin did not take offense to it.
“Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait for you to be ready. You should know by now that I’ll always wait for you,” Kim stated.
“I won’t keep you waiting too long,” Shego promised.
“I didn’t think you would,” Kim replied.
The redhead was in no rush to get married, so Shego could take as much time as she needed to. They had only made it to being somewhat normal, after all. Kim would like to just revel in that for a little while and Shego would agree with that. They were good where they were at the moment. Almost normal.
The End…
for the moment.
This saga shall be continued and hopefully ended in One in a Billion.