Aoba soon changed back into the kimono he had worn for the photo shoot.
Now he sat on the bed with Kaguya. One was dressed in black, the other in white. Neither outfit was flashy, yet both had enough elegance that they looked very well matched.
Aoba did not immediately make a move. He held Kaguya's hand, waiting for her to settle her emotions.
Her slender, boneless little hand rested in his palm, delicate and lovely.
"Aoba, do you think that the way we are now... is already the same as being husband and wife?"
Kaguya lightly scratched his palm with her fingertips as she asked what was on her mind.
"Hmm... that depends on what you think, Kaguya."
Aoba did not answer right away. Instead, he asked her in return before explaining,
"It's not that you only become husband and wife after holding a wedding. What's more important is how you see it."
"..."
Kaguya did not answer immediately. She lowered her head as if thinking, then slowly began to speak.
"I don't know either... I actually never imagined that one day I would marry someone. Even during those thousand years in the sealed space... Aoba, do you know? The days in the sealed space were very dull. Every day I faced the same unchanging world. But even with that kind of life, I could endure it, because before that, I had always lived alone."
"..."
Aoba said nothing. He could tell she was not finished.
But he tightened his grip on her hand a little, wanting to comfort her in his own way.
Kaguya felt what he did, and naturally felt what was in his heart as well. The corners of her lips lifted without her noticing. She liked the feeling of holding his hand. It was because of that one time they had held hands in the sealed space that she had understood her own heart.
Her fingers opened, and their hands intertwined.
"But later everything became different, because you came. It was sudden and unexpected, like a light that suddenly entered my closed-off world."
"You often came to tell me stories, talk about the ninja world, and say you would help me get out and be free again... At that time, I could feel as if my heart was about to pound out of my chest. But later, you said you had something to do, and then you didn't come again for a long time..."
"At the time, I didn't know what that feeling was. I had never experienced it before."
As Kaguya spoke, she leaned against Aoba. Their clasped hands separated, and she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, as though trying to find the sense of security she wanted from him.
"Kaguya..."
Faced with Kaguya suddenly laying bare her true feelings, Aoba felt at a loss. Her heart held only him, while his own heart had been divided into countless pieces.
Not knowing how to respond, he could only hold her tightly in return.
But Kaguya enjoyed the feeling of this moment. The trace of reminiscence on her face faded, replaced by a smile that came from the bottom of her heart.
"But when you came back again, I suddenly understood what that feeling was."
As she spoke, she raised her pretty face.
"Aoba, that was the first time I knew what it felt like to like someone. In all these thousands of years, you're the first person I've ever liked. I don't know how long the future will be, but I want to stay with you forever."
Aoba looked into her clear eyes, as though they held no impurities at all.
The two quietly looked into each other's eyes for a while in the silent room.
"Then if that's the case, no matter what happens in the future, I will never let you leave me."
"Mhm."
Kaguya nodded.
"Then, Kaguya, will you marry me?"
Although they had already decided to hold the wedding a few days later, he had never actually said those words to her directly.
"Mhm!"
Kaguya's second response was noticeably brighter than the first.
Aoba wrapped an arm around her slender waist and kissed her.
Kaguya responded just as eagerly.
Before long, she relaxed against him.
Aoba's hand, resting at her waist, began to gently caress her.
He then removed the outer layer of her shiromuku and neatly folded it to one side.
Underneath, she still wore a more fitted furisode, which outlined the graceful curves of her figure.
The red collar of the kimono also gave her a warmer air.
Aoba could not help leaning in again to kiss her lightly twice.
"Kaguya, I like you..."
"Me too..."
———
After that, naturally, came a wedding night worth a thousand pieces of gold.
Originally, Aoba had thought it was Kaguya's first time and planned to take things slowly.
But afterward, he realized he had underestimated the terrifying physical constitution of the Otsutsuki clan.
Then again, Karin's Uzumaki constitution was already extraordinary enough, not to mention the Otsutsuki, who was the source of it all.
It had been a long time since he had met someone who could match him so evenly.
He even felt as though he had come up a little short, because after Kaguya got over her initial shyness, it was as if she had been completely set free and become an entirely different person.
Perhaps it was because she had suppressed herself for over a thousand years.
'Thinking about it that way, it actually seems quite reasonable.'
Fortunately, Aoba's recovery and endurance were both fairly good, and he managed to hold out.
Otherwise, he might not have made it out of Kaguya's room.
The next day, when Tsunade and the others saw the bowl of sekihan in front of Kaguya, they naturally understood what had happened. [T/N: Sekihan is Red Bean Rice served on weddings.]
But seeing that, aside from her rosy cheeks and the added gentleness in her expression, Kaguya showed no sign of discomfort at all, they found it hard to believe for a while.
In the end, they could only sigh that perhaps this was simply the power of the Rabbit Goddess.
With yesterday's group photos serving as a bridge, along with the change from last night, Kaguya had clearly become more integrated into the big family.
———
Over the next few days, every aspect of the wedding was gradually finalized.
The venue, the banquet, the decorations, and the arrangements for the guests arriving in Konoha from elsewhere were all properly settled.
And just like that, neither quickly nor slowly, time reached the final two days before the wedding.
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