Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is property of Watsuki Nobuhiro. “From This Moment On” was written by Twain and Lange, and performed by Shania Twain.

A/N: This is just about as sappy as I can get, which might not be much when compared to some, but ah well…hope you like it…A/U. Possibly OOC. And I decided on a Western-style ceremony.

~*~*~*~*~*~

~*From This Moment On*~

By: Midori Natari Himura

~*~*~*~*~*~

I just swear that I'll always be there. I'd give
anything and everything and I will always care.
Through weakness and strength, happiness and sorrow,
for better, for worse, I will love you
With every beat if my heart.

“Well, it’s now or never…are you ready?”

Jade green eyes fluttered open and focused slowly. The reflection that stared back from the vanity mirror gave Misao pause. She looked…nothing like her normal self. She was dressed in a flowing white gown, trimmed with lace, and delicate as spun glass. A nearly translucent veil seemed to add a surreal glow to her pretty features, emphasizing her large, gold-accented eyes and ruby lips.

The gown was stunning. The filmy material clung to her gentle curves and flowed around her tiny feet, puddling into a silken pool on the carpeted floor. An ivory loop wrapped around one slender wrist, allowing her to hold the long train up and away from the ground. She felt like a princess; Cinderella attending the ball in spite of her step-family’s attempts to oppress her and prevent her happiness. Except she already had her prince, waiting for her on the opposite side of the church, and her family was clustered around her, wishing her well.

Allowing a small smile to curve her lips, she stood carefully, giving her cousin a firm nod. “I’m ready.”

From this moment life has begun
From this moment you are the one
Right beside you is where I belong
From this moment on

Butterflies were flitting madly inside her stomach as she stepped outside the small dressing room, smiling up at her brother through the diaphanous veil. She set her gloved hand atop the dark material covering his muscled arm, fighting off a wave of nervousness.

A corner of his mouth quirked up, a motion too miniscule to be termed a smile, but his icy blue eyes said it all. He was happy for her. She had found her soul mate, her perfect partner in life. She had found the man beside which she belonged for the rest of eternity and beyond.

There would be no more loneliness, no more moments of despair. She was leaving her prior existence behind, but she did it gladly. Her new life was beginning, and it felt more right than anything ever had in all her twenty-one years.

“Misao?”

At the soft sound of her brother’s voice, she glanced up at him once more. “Yes?”

For a moment, he simply stared down at her. It was the first time she had ever seemed him falter, as if uncertain of what to say.

“Aoshi?”

He started slightly, then smiled. It was one of his rare, true smiles, one that lightened his entire countenance and melted his normally frigid gaze. “I’m honored.”

Misao felt her lower lip quiver as tears threatened. There was no need for him to clarify his statement. It had always been assumed that their grandfather would be the one to walk her down the aisle, but after a brief conversation, they had both decided that Aoshi was better suited for the role. He had raised her from childhood and was more like a father than a sibling. It just seemed…right. When she had asked him, he had appeared indifferent to the entire matter, but she had known better. The offer had touched him deeply, even if he had brushed it aside with an unemotional response.

Blinking back the wetness that lingered behind her eyelids, lest she ruin her makeup before the ceremony even began, Misao squeezed his arm gently. “Thank you.”

From this moment I have been blessed
I live only for your happiness
And for your love I'd give my last breath
From this moment on

The air in the church felt stifling. Enishi resisted the urge to reach up and loosen his tie. To the guests observing him and whispering excitedly, he looked perfectly calm and poised. His frost white hair was in its usual elegant disarray. The graceful lines of the tuxedo complimented his leanly muscled figure. His jaunty smile was even set firmly in place. But inwardly he felt more anxious than he had the evening of his marriage proposal. His palms were sweating, but he quickly dispelled the idea of wiping them on the silky material of his tailored pants. He had to remain motionless. Enishi Yukishiro did not fidget.

It had felt like this day would never come. But here it was. He was standing beside his best man, Akira, waiting for his fiancée to appear behind the massive mahogany doors at the end of a carpeted aisle that seemed to stretch for miles. His fiancée…it felt so strange to think those words. Before Misao, he had never considered marriage. No woman had been able to hold his interest for very long. He had immersed himself in work. At twenty-eight, he owned a multi-million dollar company and ran it with the ruthless brilliance of a true businessman. Women had been things to toy with in scarce moments of leisure. He had never resented the fact that he worked more hours than most of his employees, that he constantly traveled, and lived in a Spartan apartment with no traces of human warmth.

Misao had changed all that. She had brought golden sunshine into the darkest corners of his life. She was his blessing, his saving grace, his angel fallen from the skies. He had chased her with the sole intent of possessing her, of guaranteeing she would be beside him always. There was nothing he would not do to assure her every happiness and pleasure. But she asked for nothing material. The only thing she requested for all her love and affection was the return of her feelings. Of course, that had been given long before it was demanded. He had been in love with her from the very start. It had simply taken several months for his mind to catch up to his heart. And once it happened, he had realized that his life would never again be the same. What made that realization so miraculous was that he never wanted it to be.

Compared to Misao, the rest of the world was dull and lackluster. She was the incarnation of his dreams.

I give my hand to you with all my heart
Can't wait to live my life with you, can't wait to start
You and I will never be apart
My dreams came true because of you

He remembered every tiny, insignificant detail of the day he proposed, from breakfast to the moment he stood beside her on his private yacht, staring up into the starlit sky as he held her close to his chest.

He had planned it for more than a month. Everything had been perfect. It was New Year’s Eve, but the night was rapidly melting into day and the festivities had died down considerably. They had settled atop a blanket to watch the fireworks, and had been so lost in each other that they had missed the turning of the hour to midnight. But it hadn’t mattered.

In the horizon, scattered ships and smaller boats littered the surface of the water, and suddenly a spark of gold shot into the air and exploded into a thousand bits of wispy light.

“Look at that,” Enishi had murmured into her ebony hair.

She stirred against his chest, peering up into the sky with an expression of surprise. “I thought the display was over,” she said drowsily.

As a few more streaks of light shot into the velvet darkness, Misao had sat up abruptly, eyes widening. The fireworks were exploding into words. They flashed quickly, lasting only a matter of seconds before fading prettily, but every last one of them held her rapt attention.

Misao

Makimachi

Will

You

Do

Me

The

Honor

Of

Becoming

My

Wife?

As the letters of the last word disappeared, swallowed slowly into the blackness above, she had turned to him with tears sparkling in her jade green eyes. “You…?”

He had nodded briefly, his smile hopeful.

In seconds, she was in his arms, sobbing weakly into his shoulder.

“Misao? Misao…are you…will you…?” He had trailed off awkwardly, his eloquence vanishing when needed the most.

“Yes, of course!” she had cried happily, pulling back far enough to give him a watery smile and cover his face in kisses. “A thousand times yes!”

The laugh that escaped him had been full of joy and relief. It had been the first time he felt truly blessed, perfectly content with the gift that life had given him.

“You’re my heart,” he had whispered against her lips. And he meant it.

From this moment as long as I live
I will love you, I promise you this
There is nothing I wouldn't give
From this moment on

As the wedding march started, and her bridesmaids proceeded up the aisle, Misao clung to her brother’s arm like a lifeline. He gave her a reassuring glance and stepped forward, following the memorized instructions of the wedding planner.

She smiled at the guests who were observing her in awed silence, reminding herself to breathe before she started to cough. Her stomach was twisted in knots, her heart was pounding ferociously. For a few seconds, she feared she might faint, but suddenly her fiancé’s face came into view and all her anxiety fled as if it had never been present.

Aoshi paused before the alter, lifting her luminous veil to reveal her beautiful face and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. As he turned away, she thought she saw his eyes gleaming curiously, but was allowed no time to ponder this as Enishi reached out and clasped her hand gently.

She peered at him sideways, giving him a tremulous smile. “I love you,” she mouthed silently, and he grinned back, returning the words as the priest began the ceremony.

You're the reason I believe in love
And you're the answer to my prayers from up above
All we need is just the two of us
My dreams came true because of you

The remainder of the ceremony passed in a blur. They spoke their own vows, shared their first kiss as man and wife, and left the church surrounded by a plethora of clear, sparkling bubbles.

The reception was immediately afterwards, and they sat alone in the back of a long, white limousine on the way to the finely decorated hall.

It seemed as if Enishi could not tear his eyes away from his new bride, from her face, which held all the answers to the questions in his heart.

“I was so nervous!” Misao confessed with a quiet laugh. “I was so afraid I might trip or something.”

“You were beautiful,” Enishi assured her quietly, cradling her cheeks between his large palms. “You are beautiful.”

Misao smiled up at him, green eyes twinkling merrily. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

He smirked at her as the limousine rolled to a stop, kissing her so gently it made her insides ache with incredible sweetness. “Save all of your dances for me.”

From this moment as long as I live
I will love you, I promise you this
There is nothing I wouldn't give
From this moment
I will love you as long as I live
From this moment on

Hours later, they lay together, wrapped in the other’s comforting embrace.

Misao walked slender fingers across the golden brown expanse of his chest, leaning up on her elbows to gaze down into his face. “Today has felt like a dream. I’m so scared that I will wake up tomorrow and realize this was all just a figment of my imagination.”

Enishi stilled the motion of her hand and brought it to his lips, brushing a kiss over her knuckles. “If it is a dream, I hope we never wake up.”

Giggling softly, Misao draped herself across his body and reached up to thread her fingers in the silky whiteness of his hair. “How does it feel?” she asked with a grin.

“How does what feel?” Enishi questioned in return, tugging lightly on the ebony locks that surrounded them like the darkest night.

“How does it feel to be my husband?”

Smirking slightly, Enishi pulled her forward, whispering his response against the rose petal softness of her lips. “I’ve never felt so happy in my life.”

~*OWARI*~

Well, that is the closest I can come to fluff! I hope you liked it, minna-san! I love this song so much that it makes me cry sometimes, so I decided it deserved a fanfic. I chose a Western-style ceremony because it is closer to me and would be easier to describe. Thanks for reading! Review me and let me know what you think!

Don’t forget to get in your nominations for the RK Readers Choice Awards! The final day is February 28th!

~Midori^_~