Author's Note: Written for the prompt 'Close' at iy_themes. Word limit was 300 and this is part 4 of the serial Harsh Reality.
Inuyasha hated the stifling heat and the loud shouting. He hated having to smile and act grateful every time a drunken man would toast yet again to the happy couple. Most of all, he hated himself for doing the things that had landed him in this situation.
The hanyou would carry the memory of Kagome and Miroku's stricken faces to his grave, a proverbial millstone around his neck.
He glanced sideways to his bride; Sango sat, her delicate fingers curled around a half-filled cup of sake, her eyes downcast. Inuyasha knew that look: knew her thoughts now were for the friendships they both had lost.
"Shall we sneak outside for a while?" he murmured in her ear. Without waiting for her answer, Inuyasha took her hand and led her outside.
It was colder than he had expected it to be; he felt Sango gasp and snuggle into him for warmth. He rested his chin on top of her head, completing the embrace.
"Inuyasha? Should we look for them?"
One ear twitched at the unexpected query. Uncertain Sango made him nervous: Inuyasha was too used to her firm self-conviction.
"I... don't know. We can, if you want to."
"I do – but I don't know what to say," Sango confessed, looking up into her husband's shadowed eyes.
He grunted. "It doesn't matter anyway: they'll still hate us."
"We were so close to marrying other people, me to Houshi-sama and you to Kagome-chan, and we just had to go and screw that up, didn't we?"
The bitterness in her voice startled him. Inuyasha abruptly pulled her closer, apparently deciding Sango needed his support most of all now.
"Best mistake I ever made in my life," he said so softly she barely heard him.
Sango smiled, the almost-shed tears in her eyes completely forgotten.
