For Richer or Poorer

Akane rubbed her eyes, looking over the grid of numbers scribbled in the notebook in front of her. Unfortunately, it wasn't getting any better; in fact, with every new thing she remembered, it got worse.So, we've got rings, flowers, my dress, a cake, and invitations. We should probably at least pitch in for the food. Don't need a DJ – marrying a pop star has its advantages! What else am I missing? Photographers? Maybe we can skip that. Buy a couple of those cheap disposables, put one on every table and let people take their own pictures, and get them developed after. Somehow, I don't imagine Ranko's going to want a lot of pictures anyway, which is a damn shame. Fuck. Decorations. She wrote another number on the grid, tapping at her solar-powered Casio calculator.Akane growled in frustration, hearing the bedroom door open as she did. She looked up from the little study desk as Ranko entered the room in her Yusue school uniform, leaning down and wrapping her arms around Akane."Hey beautiful. How was your day?"Akane blushed, brushing her too-long bangs out of her eyes. I really gotta get this cut. She twisted her back a bit to face the door as her fiancee entered the room. "Hey! That's my line! How was school?"Turning to slide between the desk and the chair, Ranko sat on Akane's lap, dangling her legs off to Akane's right and wrapping her arms around her fiancee's neck, crossing her ankles. "So, guess what?"Giggling, Akane wrapped her arms around Ranko's waist to support her. "I don't know, baby. What?"Leaning into Akane's chest, Ranko lay one hand gently on her sternum, leaning up and kissing her partner on the cheek. "I love you."With a nod, Akane squeezed her a little tighter. "Well, that's good, because I love you, too. What's got you in such a good mood?"I sent Pop packing, and now I can just focus on being your wife, that's what. "You. That's all. Just you. Getting to be yours forever." Ranko motioned with her head to the budget sheet Akane had been struggling with when she walked in. "Sorry I'm so expensive."Shaking her head, Akane managed a bit of a smile. "It's not you, baby. It's just, weddings. There's a thousand things, and none of them are cheap. Honestly, you're way cheaper than most brides – you were able to get us a free venue, maybe food, music, and your dress! I don't know how we'd do it without all that help." She sighed with a hard swallow. "If I'm being honest, I don't know how we're gonna do it as it is. There's just too much going out and not enough coming in."Ranko frowned. Akane, I knew you shouldn't have spent all that money on Valentine's Day. It was the best night of my life, but I hate seeing you this stressed, she thought to herself. "What can I do to help? I'd do another signing, but after Saturday, I'm not sure there will be enough demand to do that around here for a while. Everybody's gonna have one who wants one.""I put up some more flyers around school looking for another couple of students," Akane said hopefully. "No bites yet, but fingers crossed."Ranko nodded, snuggling her love in apology. "My next check from Yokai won't be for like three months. Before the wedding, but not soon enough to really help us unless we just need some extra for after. I'm sorry, Akane."Akane rested her head on Ranko's shoulder, rocking her on her lap gently. "I could ask my dad to help us. I know you don't want me to, but…"The redhead shook her head. "Baby, we talked about this. I know he's cool with me now, but I can't have my first act as your spouse be a failure to meet my responsibilities in his eyes. Not now." She always had a hard time saying the word wife when thinking about Soun; the promises she'd made him about being both a husband and a wife to Akane still rang clearly in her mind. I gave my word, on my honor, as a Tendo, that I'd take care of her. I can't break that. Not after he finally accepted me.Reaching behind her girlfriend to the desk for her can of orange soda, Akane swigged from it thoughtfully. "I get it. I don't agree with it, but you're entitled to your position." It's about the only thing you've said you wanted for the wedding so far, so I can't really take it from you. "But, it's leaving us pretty thin on options.""I could go back to six nights a week at work for a while? Won't be much, but it might help a little, at least?" Ranko looked up at Akane pleadingly."No, ma'am." Akane smiled, poking her nose. "No more pizza oven nose dives for you. You're pushing yourself too hard as it is, and ever since we got engaged, you've been even more little miss domestic around here. I swear, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were pregnant with the way you're nesting."Blushing deeply, Ranko hid her face in Akane's shirt with a giggle. "If I was, one of us would have a lot of explaining to do." She traced a line on Akane's shirt with her index finger. "Is it a bad thing that I want to be the perfect wife for you?""Hey!" Akane spoke a bit sharply, shocking her fiancee out of her playfulness. "We've talked about this. You don't have to be anything other than you already are to be perfect. Do you understand me? I love you just the way you are, and I'm gonna marry you just the way you are."Ranko smirked playfully. "Oh, so you mean, I wouldn't be a better wife, if, say, I learned how to make fudge brownies today?"Laughing, Akane bounced Ranko gently in her lap. "Home skills?"The singer nodded, laughing and holding on tighter as Akane's lap rocked under her. "There's a tray on the counter.""I swear, girl," Akane said with a grin. "If your cooking gets any better, I'm gonna be big as a house by the wedding."Ranko looked up at her sincerely, resting her head on Akane's tee shirt. "You're not a house, baby. You're just home."Sighing happily, Akane squeezed her lover tight, kissing the top of her head. "Ranko, I don't know what I did to deserve you."The redhead shook her head. "You deserve way better, but you're not getting rid of me, so you're just gonna have to deal with it, I guess."Ranko's eyes widened and she emitted a high-pitched yelp as Akane swatted her hard on the backside. "Hey! That hurts, you know!"Akane nodded. "Well, you deserved it. I won't have anyone talk about my wife that way. Not even you."Smiling gently, Ranko looked back over at the notebook on the desk. "So, about this. Is there anything we can cut back on?"With a sad groan, Akane shook her head. "Not really. You're already not getting half the wedding you deserve."Ranko turned, twisting at the waist on Akane's lap in order to look her in the eyes. "Hey. We've talked about this, Akane. I don't know how to be a bride. I don't know what I'll even be missing. If you want, you can say you'll be mine forever right here, and I'll say I'll be yours, and that's all I need. As far as I'm concerned, I'm already your wife in my heart. I don't need anything fancy to make it real." Especially not the damn dress Izumi wants to make me wear.Akane played with a strand of her lover's hair, sighing thoughtfully. "No. We're going to get married. Somehow." She blushed a bit. "Sorry, baby, but you're not getting out of this one. You are going to put on a pretty dress and you are going to have people fawning over you all day like the princess you are, and there's just no way around it for you. After everything you've gone through to master being a girl, you deserve to be shown off like that. You've earned the fairy tale, whether you want it or not."As she spoke, Akane slipped her hand down under the front of Ranko's school uniform. The redhead purred quietly at her touch, but rather than teasing her as Ranko hoped, Akane pulled the schoolgirl's silver necklace out from under her uniform blouse, unclasping the necklace. Ranko held her left hand out limply, turning bright red as Akane slipped her diamond engagement ring back onto her third finger."You're all the reward I need, Akane." Ranko leaned forward, cupping Akane's cheek in her hand and kissing her lips softly. "There's nothing in the whole wide world I could want more. How we get there doesn't matter to me, really. I just want it to be real. I want to hear you introduce me to people as your wife. I want to know I'm never, ever going to have to take another breath without you. I want everyone in our lives to know there's no coming between us. I don't want to be you and me anymore, separate. I just wanna be us." She smiled, nuzzling into Akane's chest with her cheek again."I'm so proud I get to call myself Ranko Tendo. I worked hard for that name and everything it means to me." Ranko dragged the backs of two of her fingers down Akane's cheek. "But, Mrs. Akane Tendo sounds so much better."Akane blushed, giggling at Ranko's touch. "But that'll be my name. How would people tell us apart?"Ranko purred against her chest. "That's the point. We won't be apart, ever again."Kissing Ranko's forehead with a smile, Akane laughed loudly. "Look at you, with all the sweet words. You should write lyrics for a living or something."I wish, Akane. I've been trying for two months to write a song for the wedding, and I've still got squat. Nothing will ever be good enough. Ranko sighed quietly, saying nothing.Akane's eyes widened a bit. "Hey, why did you and the guys stop booking shows outside the Phoenix? You were doing a few here and there for a while, before Rise. I bet you could make a lot more money for a show than you used to, now that you're more famous and you have more of your own songs."Ranko shrugged, sitting up a bit in Akane's lap. "Time, mostly. People almost never came to us. Crash was banging down people's doors. Kaz did a lot of that too, before he left the band. We just haven't had the time to put ourselves out there like that with recording new songs and shows so many nights a week. I wouldn't even know what would be fair for us to charge anymore." She chuckled silently, rolling her eyes with a goofy smile and reddening cheeks. "We aren't exactly business geniuses, baby. About the best marketing technique I know about this gig is that the shorter my skirts get, the more tickets we seem to sell – and we've pretty much reached the limit on that before you're gonna start hitting people in the audience for looking at me."Akane nodded, but she seemed to still be wrestling with something in her head. "Is there anyone who could help you with that? Your mom, maybe?"Ranko crinkled her nose and shook her head. "Naah. Mom's good at running bars, but she hates that business crap. She's handing as much of it off to Yui as she can already. She negotiated our album contract, but basically she just looked at it and said as far as I can tell, you're not getting screwed. She's not a ruthless shark, like…" The redhead's eyes widened with a little gasp of realization. "You don't think…"Ranko's fiancee grinned. She knew exactly who Ranko meant. "You're a genius, baby! I can ask her! Worst she can say is no." Akane squeezed her fiancee tight, and Ranko rested her head back on Akane's breast. "See? When we work together, we can figure anything out. We're unstoppable, you and me.""Mm-hmm." Ranko purred softly into her love's shirt, nuzzling her cheek gently against the hard spot in the center of Akane's chest where the two cups of her bra met under her shirt. After all she'd been through, after all she'd feared and fought for with her father, she knew better than to take the simple act of cuddling in Akane's arms for granted. However hard it had been, she'd never been more grateful. Fate had let her keep the things that mattered to her the most.Akane rubbed the redhead's back gently through her school uniform pinafore. "Hey, you got quiet all of a sudden. Is everything okay, princess?"Nodding softly, Ranko leaned up, kissing Akane's neck with her open lips before whispering into her ear. "Akane?"Biting her lip and shivering a bit, Akane let out a quiet whimper. "Yes, love?"The redhead ran her finger gently down Akane's neck. "Make me yours?""Well, yeah, silly girl, that's kind of the whole point of planning a wedd… oh. You mean like…" Akane's cheeks went dark crimson.Ranko nodded earnestly, her finger still exploring Akane's shoulder as she glanced over at their unmade bed. "Please?"