Reaching the worksite for the day, the boss spotted me and smirked. After shouting a few orders around, he came over. "So, what're you here for today? It is your day off after all." Yet he kept a smug, knowing tone to all he said, like he knew what I was going to say. I told him I'd be quitting, as I found something else, and that I regretted not being able to tell him sooner. "Oh? Is that it. Well, I wouldn't want to take away from your lucky situation, or maybe unlucky would be better?" My situation? What would he have known? "So you haven't seen them then?" His smirk grew wider. He nearly seemed like he was going to laugh. "Alright, well I wouldn't want to hold or this job up any longer." A small bit of seriousness, but he did let out a chuckle. "See you around."
Odd exchanges like that leave me exhausted. I decided to wrap up the cleanup with a night at a bar. It was rather uneventful, outside of a few jabs towards me being 'lucky.'
And the very next day, I heard a loud knocking at the door again. This time however, it was not violent nor dangerous. "I'm finally here! All the paperwork and the mandatory classes on humans took a while!" It was her. The wolf that had ensnared me. I rushed, opening the door as soon as I could. Peering down at her, her smile once again took over all the thoughts in my mind. Her tail was wagging, seemingly more like a loyal dog than a dangerous wolf in this moment. "So, fiancé, are you ready for the time of your life?" She put extra emphasis on the word for our newfound relationship, and it caused my heart to beat worryingly fast. All I could do was agree. "Good, so let's get going." Right now? "There's no time to waste. After all, it was fate that brought you to me." She picked me and my luggage up, then started flying as fast as she could. On our way out, I noticed it. A flier. One likely posted all over the village. When had they had the time? It was advertising a wedding for today, hosted at the Hakurei Shrine.
Mid-flight, we held a conversation about our immediate future. "Right now western styled weddings are trending among the Tengu, and I couldn't miss the chance." Western? I had heard of them from a few outsiders who joined the village, but I had never seen one. "Don't worry, they're rather simple affairs. A few words, a kiss, and then we hold a reception for the rest of the time. More importantly, I'll get to see your lovely body in a suit!" Ah. I think I saw what she was after here. It was about the outfits more than the event. Well, outside of the importance of the kiss. I couldn't argue, I'm sure no matter what she'd be wearing I would find it inconceivably beautiful. "Once the wedding is over, we'll get to head over to your new home. Our first night together!" I couldn't begin to imagine how it would feel. "You'll love it." I'm sure I would.
Reaching the Hakurei Shrine was a quick journey. Turns out flight had obvious benefits. Upon arriving, a whole slew of things seemed unusual. A small stage had been set up, along with many chairs. Some stalls were strewn about, serving food, drink, and the usual water flavored shaved ice. As soon as we landed, I was dragged off by some other Wolf Tengu, while I saw my beloved run off in another direction. "Don't worry, it's part of the preparations!" Her shout helped, but I was still a little nervous.
I was brought to a small side room, where an incredibly fancy suit awaited me. The wolves who dragged me along all had stars in their eyes. The excitement for the occasion had clearly gotten to them. "There's a changing room over there, get into the suit quickly." It was a cold order, but their faces were anything but cold. I had the feeling if I weren't about to be married these girls would've pounced. Was a human really that appealing? Still, I did as ordered. I wanted to have the wedding too. The suit worried me, it was the kind of thing a standard guy like me could never afford. Where had it come from?
With the suit on, I walked back out of the changing room and was met with something I hadn't expected. My parents. In the chaotic whirlwind of events these past few days, I had forgotten to talk to them. Or rather, maybe I didn't want to. Maybe I was worried about how what they'd think of me. Here I was, their son, the child they raised, and I was determined to live with a youkai. I wasn't sure who or what had brought them here, but it was time to face reality. Thankfully, it seemed they weren't as frustrated as I thought. They looked happy. "So, you finally snagged yourself a woman? Why didn't you tell me right away, you idiot?" My father was the first to interrupt the silence. Not any amount of worry. Just a light tease as he slapped me directly on the back with full force. Meanwhile my mother took a calmer tone.
"Really, your father is such as hassle. Still I have agree, I'm quite proud of you. It's important you know, we could never hate you." Had I been that apparent in my worries? "It was written all over your face. This may be an unusual marriage, but you love her, don't you?" I do. "That's that then. It seems like the ceremonies are about to start, so you should get ready."
With that, I was guided out of the waiting area, along with my parents following close behind. The seats had been filled, though mostly it was a lot of youkai. Lots of Tengu, clearly, and quite a few others. Even worrying ones like the flower youkai had been in the audience. Hopefully the shrine maiden would stop anyone from becoming a problem. The only humans I could spot, outside of a few friends, were the oddballs. The Moriya Shrine Maiden, along with the towering goddess of the shrine and a third girl I can't say I had ever seen before. Then there was Kirisame's daughter, only a given she would be involved in something this unusual. I knew it had to be done this way due to the nature of the marriage, though it worries me that the day had turned into a festival. Regardless of my feelings, I took my place on the stage, in front of the Hakurei Shrine Maiden.
Following my walk, my bride had exited her waiting area as well. Surrounded by a few other wolves, she took the spotlight clearly. The pure white dress was so captivating I nearly forgot to breathe. It was overly voluminous, frills everywhere. It had made her unusually sized body seem gorgeous in a tame manner, covering most of her skin. The uncovered arms only made it feel more pure, as if to say that the dress matched her very skin the way it did her hair and tail. She was a work of art. I'm sure if anyone else had been wearing it I wouldn't have had the same reaction. The dress alone wasn't what caught me off guard though, she had clearly put her all into her appearance. Her hair was styled and full of flowers, riding the outline of the dress all the way down to her shoes. A veil covered her face, but I could tell it was as clean as possible. Not a spec of dirt from the usual guard work. The longer I looked the more infatuated I got. It led to me hardly noticing that she arrived at the stage as well.
A fairly standard procession occurred, not all that unlike what I'd expect from a wedding. The veil was lifted. We thanked the gods for the auspicious meeting we had been granted. Following that, we were asked to give vows. She and I both agreed right away of course. Then, what I had been dreading and anticipating. "You may now kiss the bride." I worked up the anticipation to bend down slightly, though it turned out I wouldn't need to. She decided to play a little trick on me, flying up a bit to meet me at my eye level. It left her dress hovering, and her hair a little shaken. Seeing her face again so clear got my heart to skip a beat. Her beautifully young face. And so, we kissed. And kissed. It felt like an eternity. My body got hot enough to start a fire. I had never yet felt this passion in my whole life, and I wasn't sure I'd ever feel it again.
In spite of the feeling of endlessness that had taken me, it was a mere few moments before she floated back down and landed. I don't know where she had gotten them, but she had rings for us to share. The rings were also wondrous. A clear representation of the beauty of the Wolf Tengu which had taken my heart, a subtle red within a white exterior. I placed one upon her finger, as she did mine. Whilst she was closing in, she whispered towards me. "Say, do you know what it is all Tengu desire most? A laughably simple desire, one humans would never even consider. Tengu want nothing more than human husbands. The one thing that we can't easily get. They say the love of a human husband is a pleasure unmatched. I'm glad to have you as my pleasure." The ceremony had started concluding and giving way to the reception, and I was left stunned for a solid minute.
Moving past the ceremony was going to be hard. Sadly the world decided that I would need to adapt quickly, as the second it had finished the stage was rushed. Every Tengu in the audience scrambled towards us, and a few others also ran in. Meanwhile in the back, I could see the Prismrivers start to play too, while a few rowdy youkai got into some battles with the festive atmosphere. Surely the Tengu hadn't paid for a Prismriver performance too? I looked towards my new wife, and she merely gave me a smug grin. It seems the Tengu could not afford to spare any expense for the sake of showing off. Still, it was hard to think straight with so many Tengu around, especially all the wolves looking inspired. I think I may have even seen a few targeting some of the few humans who had shown up.
"How did it happen?"
"Do you think I have a chance?"
"Do you know any other good men around?" A bombardment of questions while an uncountable number of tails had wagged all around. I couldn't keep up, and instead took the hand of my new wife and ran off to find a place to rest. She seemed surprised by the gesture, though she was more than happy to go along with it.
Catching a break in a small side room of the shrine, I heard her finally speak up again. "So, dear husband, how did you like the event?" It was a deep surprise. I hadn't expected any of this, especially not for an event the outsiders referred to as a 'shotgun wedding.' "Wonderful. This is how we Tengu do things, how youkai do things in general. Thinking, worrying, those are all human natures. If a youkai wants to do something, she'll do it." It was clear right away what she meant. So much had been spent on everything happening here it was likely I would've never afforded even a tenth of it were I to save up for my whole life.
"Ah, come on honey, ignore that human view of the world for a moment." The emphasis she placed on saying 'honey' started my heart racing again. "It was all worth it so I could be with you." Once again, she broke me. And once again, she had noticed. "Ah, you want to move that quick. I can feel it already." It felt weird to have her talk without explanation again. "Come, we'll spend this night together in the best way possible." With that, I was dragged off my feet. She flew out of the shrine, yelled into the crowd "We'll be leaving early to get started on our newlywed life," then started flying off towards the mountain. I could see more fights and general chaos happening at what was now just another festival as we gained more distance. At this point I could hardly care, I just wanted to be together with her.
Reaching the Tengu Village ended up less of a break than I expected. We were stopped a fair distance away, where we were taken to what appeared to be an office. "As is standard for Tengu society, you must now sign a contract to uphold some of our most important values. You must not talk of the village or what you see within it to anyone outside. You must not reveal secrets of the Tengu to anyone else. You must not go against the will of the Tenma. There's a great many more sub-clauses to our contracts, but they all follow that general outline. Most important though, is you must not betray or make sad your new wife." I couldn't hold back my shock that such a thing needed to be put into print. "Failure to uphold your relationship or any betrayal from your part will give her full rights over you, at which point you are no longer considered a person by law. You don't look the sort to do anything to that effect, but keep it in mind." The Crow Tengu running the office clearly wanted to make that last point especially clear. She looked like she was on the verge of saying something else, but seemed to decide against it with a mumble about 'not scaring any more humans for no reason.'
Signing the contract was easily done. I had no qualms with anything I heard anyways. "Oh, husband, don't be scared but I need to place a curse on you now." That was more worrying. "Well, our contracts can't actually hold any magic. We place the curse so we know immediately if a clause was broken, and so that we can take responsibility for our own husbands. It won't activate so long as you don't break any of the clauses mentioned." Perhaps I should've asked for more detail then. What was done was done though, so I let her go ahead.
A few minutes later, it seemed she was finished. I couldn't say I felt much of anything though. "Of course you wouldn't." It was the office worker who had just come back from filing our contract. "It would hardly be beneficial to if our clause-based curses caused others harm before any clause was actually broken. These are the result of years upon years of refinement, and a little bit of research of the oni artifacts left here." While we were here, I had to ask. Was I at risk of becoming a youkai? "Absolutely not. Maybe an increased lifespan, but losing your humanity? The Hakurei and the sages never would've agreed to allow these marriages if that was to happen. Ask your wife there more about that later." Seemingly the Crow had gotten tired of seeing me. My beloved picked me back up and started flying us back into Tengu society proper.
In the village, I saw many things. It was clear the Tengu had been hiding quite a bit from everyone else. Sizable buildings and technology beyond what I could ever associate with a normal life. I had seen one or two devices of this manner before from groups like the kappa setting up an event, but never to this extent. In spite of my surprise, the flight continued until we reached a nice, sizable home. The place we were to live. It seemed a bit too big for just the two of us, though I was already sure of what that meant. "The Dai Tengu greatly incentivize having large families." I could tell. This home looked large enough to house a family of five. "It's actually far bigger than that." Yeah? "The average home for a married Tengu is able to house a family of twenty." I looked at her to see if that was a joke. It seemed it wasn't. "It's tradition. Of the few male Tengu we have, they're all too stuck on making maps and 'GPS,' so it's rare to see one unless a pure Tengu marriage happens. We need large families to keep up with the work on the mountain, especially the guard duty." Yet even with the logical view of things, it seemed to me like her voice was hiding a different outlook on the matter. "Of course, if it's with you I wouldn't mind needing to move to an even bigger home." Ah, there it was.
So we took the time to move in, looking around the home. We decided on the bedroom we would use after finding one extravagant. We had a nice meal. We took a shower and bath together, much to my embarrassment. 'It seemed like it would be a good life' was the thought that crept into my mind. Then I saw her look as we entered the bedroom. It seemed we would be going in right away, on the first night.
It was a very sleepless night. I don't think I've ever been so dehydrated, even in the summer helping with the fields. I can't even recall what was happening during most of it, just the feelings the act brought about. She still looked full of energy though, as if our overly long and exhausting session had been rejuvenating to her. Just one more surprise. "Good morning sweetheart." I uttered a small greeting in response. Even if it were all a strange and rapid change, I'm glad this is the direction my life took. Though I did have to ask about her squad she was a part of, and this finally got her to seem a little shy about something. "I, ah..." She blushed. "Traditionally in Tengu Culture, a man would get married to a whole pack when getting with a White Wolf. You don't need to worry about it for now, but your life could get a bit more chaotic in the future." Well then, I guess I have to prepare for a long and eventful life.
